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Showing posts from November, 2014

Pre-Christmas Simplicifaction

In  my last post , I wrote about how eager I was to get the house in order before Thanksgiving.  So far, I've organized the toys and tackled the mountain of outgrown clothes (10 bags for donation and 4 bags of garbage).  I still need to clean off the mantel and the kitchen counters.  I have quite a few craft/sewing/knitting projects to finish up as well.  All of this is done with the goal of having a simplified Christmas. The Plan: We follow the "4 Gift Rule" at our house: something you Want, something you Need, something to Wear, and something to Read.  With three kids, I like the "4 gift rule" because it makes it really easy for me to plan out the giving.  I get similar things for each kid: a toy, a practical thing, a book, and pjs.  I even do the "4 gift rule" with my husband.  We also do stockings and a "big toy" for sharing.  This year, I'm doing a dress-up box; last year, it was a play kitchen. The other way I simplify is by ge

u is for universe

This week, we focused on the solar system and specifically our relationship to the sun.  We sang a fun song about the earth going around the sun once a year while dancing around a big yellow ball.  We also talked about how our closeness to the sun effects the seasons.  I'm not sure how much the kids understood.  Big concepts for little kids. Follow In Our Pond's board "u is for universe" on Pinterest.

g is for groceries

It's turned bitterly cold around here so I'm hoping that the colder weather will get me back on track with Mommy School. The theme this week was groceries.  We watched a few Youtube movies about how food is made and how it gets from the farm to the store.  We also made chocolate chip cookies and talked about how Daddy works so we can buy food.  In the future, I'd like this theme to also be an into to using money.

Pre-Christmas Preparations

I don't know about anyone else, but I almost feel the need to countdown and prepare for Christmas Season in the weeks before Thanksgiving.  I need to organize the toys (and donate some), clear off the mantel (our prime child-proofing area), and clean our bedroom to make it ready for hiding gifts.  It's a bit overwhelming to think about, since there are big reasons why those things haven't been done yet.  I also have a goal for this Christmas of being able to find a Christmas stocking for every member of our family (we have them- I just need to locate them).  Here's to hoping that writing them down will actually translate to doing them.

Homeshooling Fail

For the last 2 months, most of our homeschooling has been VERY basic.  I've read them books about our topics and I've taught them the ASL letter of the week.  We talked a lot about the subjects in casual conversation but we've done hardly any "real" homeschooling.  As least we haven't home-schooled like I had been planning.  But, the kids have played outside a lot (we had a long, unusual "Indian" summer) and they played together a lot.  Besides, they're 3, 2, and 1 currently.  There's plenty of time for schooling later.  Sometimes I feel like a failure... but I'm also learning to accept life as it is happening now.  And, really, it's not that bad. Here are the themes I didn't blog: d- duck (pond)            number line busy bag           spelling folder game e- eggs (metamorphosis, frog and butterfly life cycles)*           folder games r- rain (water cycle, rainbow, colors)           color spelling           writing