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Showing posts from March, 2016

Math Toolbox

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Next year, we'll be starting Kindergarten with Dragonfly.  I made this math toolbox to help us prepare for her math needs.  As a bonus, I even used a toolbox that we already owned!  The box is filled with manipulatives to make math concepts easier to grasp.  Your toolbox may have different needs depending on your curriculum, etc, but here's what we put in ours. Cuisenaire Rods (aka C-rods) in a "small group" pack, which I'm hoping will give us enough pieces to work all the math concepts that we might ever need (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square root, fractions, etc).  If not, we can buy more (wink).  I'm also planning on using the blocks for base-10 blocks, adding a 10x10cm squares for the 100 block and 10x10x10cm cubes for the 1000 blocks.  We'll have to add those later. Plastic 3D Shapes for learning geometry.  I honestly got these out of the box and everything I had struggled to understand about geometry made sense to

Travel Time Tuesday- Cheap and Easy Chalkboards

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I've been enjoying Travel Time Tuesday so much and have been posting so much content (twice a week lately) that I decided to move all of it to it's own blog.  The Star Wars Matching Game blog post is now at my new site-  Party Through the USA . Click on the picture to go to the matching game post.

R is for Resurrection (year 2, week 29)

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You can read about what we did last year for Holy Week here. This week, we didn't do anything.  I looked into homeschool curriculum for next year (Dragonfly will be starting Kindergarten), and I talked to another homeschool mom about what works for her.  I did a lot of research about homeschooling schedules and techniques.  The kids played outside and continued learning how to ride their bikes (we bought a bike this week, too).  We went to the park one time this week, and had a playdate a different day.  It was a good week.  To see what we could have been doing, check out my lists below: Printables - resurrection spelling words - spring color gradient work - resurrection opposites 3-part cards - Easter preschool printable pack - Easter blessings preschool printable pack - preschool resurrection printables - hummingbird counting cards - resurrection eggs 3-part cards - 40 days of Lent "Jesus Tree" Devotionals - Messianic Passover lapbook Ideas - Easter

New York City 3-part Picture Cards

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I've been planning on doing a few more Safari Toob cards, and this is the first one- New York City .  The Safari Toob comes with 8 figures, for which I've made matching cards.  Print two copies to make traditional Montessori 3-part cards.  Please visit again soon for more toob printables. To download the card, click here . />

Travel Time Tuesday- Pirate Maps

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I've been enjoying Travel Time Tuesday so much and have been posting so much content (twice a week lately) that I decided to move all of it to it's own blog.  The Star Wars Matching Game blog post is now at my new site-  Party Through the USA . Click on the picture to go to the matching game post.

D is for Desert (year 2, week 28)

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This blog is an Amazon Associate We started our week with a family movie night.  The kids saw Princess Bride for the first time.  They liked it (although they were a bit young to follow the plot).  Fortunately, some parts of the movie were perfect for family nap time. {Monday} Pie Day - felt circle fractions - Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi - Sir Cumference and the First Round Table - Pi Explained in 3.14 minutes - Pi Day song And we made some apple pies! This was Dragonfly's first time cutting with a real knife.  I was right next to her the whole time.  She was very conscience of the danger and was very careful.  She did awesome! {Tuesday} We introduced the topic of " deserts " today with a Wild Kratts episode and a bit of discussion about what a desert is like.  Dragonfly offered that the desert was hot, sandy, and full of snakes. {Wednesday} This is our "socialization day" with Bible study in the morning.  By the time naps are

Travel Time Tuesday- Car Busy Bag

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I've been enjoying Travel Time Tuesday so much and have been posting so much content (twice a week lately) that I decided to move all of it to it's own blog.  The car busy bag blog post is now at my new site-  Party Through the USA . Click on the picture to go to the cars post.

Pi Day! Felt Circle Fractions (pattern)

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source Today is the third month and the fourteenth day so that makes it Pi Day.  We're a geek family and this is one of our favorite holidays.  All weekend, I've been working on some felt circles for fraction work.  Dragonfly surprised me by knowing that one whole circle divided into "half" then makes "two pieces."  I'm looking forward to playing with these circles today with the kids. How to Make Felt Fraction Pies 1- Print the free pattern! 2- Follow the directions on the pattern. 3- Sew the pieces for stability. 4- Start playing!

F is for Food (year 2, week 27)

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Here's what we did this week: The kids loved making their own pbj sandwiches!  They did a great job at it too!  The best part was that they got to eat them when they finished. Dragonfly is in the middle of the "helper" stage.  Here, she is using the cloth to pick up food from the floor and then shaking it out on a plate to be dumped in the garbage. The kids found a favorite snack this week- dried cranberries and peanuts.  One of them called it "a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my mouth."  The kids also tried almonds for the first time this week.  I'm excited to add these to our snack rotation and plan on bringing them on our road trip. Printables - grocery count and clip - food worksheets (same/different) - food worksheets (quantity comparisons) - recipe book for kids ($) - picture recipes ($) - money counting cards - alphabetizing foods cards - where food comes from cards - ingredients that equal meals cards Ideas - coins in t

Pizza Pretend Play and Counting Activity

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I've been enjoying Travel Time Tuesday so much and have been posting so much content (twice a week lately) that I decided to move all of it to it's own blog.  The felt pizza blog post is now at my new site-  Party Through the USA . Click on the picture to go to the pizza post.

Thread Storage

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I have a simple storage solution to share with you today- a thread storage box.  I'm a beginner seamstress, but I already have quite a collection of thread colors.  I saw an idea on Pinterest for storing the bobbins and the thread together and the idea for this box was born.  I started with a plastic shoebox, but a larger box would be fitting as well.  On the bottom of the box, I placed a custom-cut piece of peg board.  Then, I cut dowel rods to be five inches long or so (you want them short enough that they won't interfere with the box).  Next, I hot glued the rods into the holes of the peg board, spacing them to leave room for the thread spools (mine was every other row).  To finish, slip the thread spoons on the rods and stack the bobbin on top.  Easy and done.

M is for Monster (year 2, week 26)

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This week was all about math.  We counted and added and practiced identifying numbers.  I had intended to bake "monster" cookies, but it didn't happen.  One really neat thing that happened this week was Dragonfly doing a handwriting worksheet for the first time.  She did so well and felt so grown up.  I love her "concentration" lips in the picture below.  I also "tested" her kindergarten skills with some monster worksheets , picking out difference in monsters by comparing details.  She did great and is getting very excited about starting "real" homeschool next year. Dragonfly's first time writing.  Obviously, we're still working on pencil-grip skills. Printables - size sorting - word sorting - math monsters - roll and cover - pattern worksheets - same comparisons worksheets - differences comparisons worksheets - count and clip cards - not-so-scary monsters printable pack - preschool pack - number line cards 0-130

Wish List- Road Trip Edition

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I've been enjoying Travel Time Tuesday so much and have been posting so much content (twice a week lately) that I decided to move all of it to it's own blog.  The wish list blog post is now at my new site-  Party Through the USA .  Click on the picture to go to the post.