Red and Yellow, Black and White

I started teaching my oldest two kids their colors several months before their second birthdays. I began by taking alphabet magnets in two different colors and having them sort them into two containers. It took a few easy lessons and they had the concept down pat.

A few months ago, I began this project with Owen. You know what happened? He had no clue what a color was, but he learned all the letters of the alphabet!! For awhile, I stopped working with him on colors and we fully immersed ourselves in letters and sounds. Just recently I decided to try colors again with a new manipulative.

This time I used colored math chips. I chose two colors and had him sort them into two bowls. He immediately understood the concept and by the next day, he was sorting four colors at a time. He is still very shaky on the names of the colors, but the first steps (understanding the concept of color and learning to sort) have been mastered!

(Another fun way to work on colors is using colored M & Ms! Fun for Mom, too!)

The Terrible Twos?

Today is Owen's second birthday! That means we are entering the "terrible twos," right?

I'm not worried. With him being my third child, I've learned that by age two, the toughest part is over. Not that two-year-olds aren't energetic and busy, but if they have been trained to obey from the time they were infants, age two is not a big deal! (I've always found 15-24 months to be much more difficult as it is an intense time of training.) By two, a child is old enough to clearly understand rules and commands, and follow them. So we go into this new year with much excitement and joy...

Happy Birthday, BoBo!

Before Five in a Row

Jenny asked me to share a little more about the Before Five in a Row book that I'm doing with my younger kids.

This book was given to me free when Gavin was four and Maddie was two. Since the recommended age range is ages 2-4, we thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try!

The concept is simple. Choose a book from the book list-- no need to go in order. (The list includes some well known favorites such as Goodnight Moon, Caps For Sale, and Blueberries For Sal and others not so well known like Yellow Ball and Angus Lost.) Next choose from the list of activities. This is flexible as well since there are SO MANY to choose from. You can even make up activities yourself because the point is to get the kids to remember the book! When I did Before Five in a Row with Gavin and Maddie, I had more time to do extensive activities. With this go-round, I'm also homeschooling a first grader, so we're choosing simpler activities.

Last week, we chose We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. We did things things like point to the different animals on the pages, growl like a bear, make a cave under the coffee table, and perform the actions like the people in the book (wading through a river, walking through a snowstorm...).

We really love this program because it is so simple (and inexpensive). It is great prep for future homeschoolers, but also a fun thing for non-homeschoolers to try! Keep in mind that little ones don't need lots of formal instruction. Just reading to them, talking to them, doing puzzles, cooking together, blowing bubbles, playing outside-- all of these are things that prepare them for more formal learning when the time is right.

"The Belly"

In response to Lu's comment,

here is "the belly" from about 3 weeks ago at 27 weeks pregnant! :-)

Seven Years

August 11, 2001

Today Brian and I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary! We were married on a hot and rainy Saturday exactly one week before I turned 21!

We have had some hard times-- the loss of a parent, the loss of a baby, the loss of a job...and also some wonderful times-- four children (the one in the tummy counts!), an amazing job opportunity, and unforgetable family memories.

I am so thankful for my husband. He is a gem! I look forward to many, many more years by his side! I love you, Brian.

August 2, 2008

0,1,2,3...

I've been asked whether it was a hardest going from zero to one child...or from one to two... or from two to three. In my experience, nothing even compares to the difficulty of transitioning from having no children to having a little baby that 100 percent depends on you for everything!

When Gavin came along, I thought I was prepared. My youngest sister was born when I was twenty and still living at home so I was experienced with babies and taking care of them. However, I was not experienced in having my own baby. It was overwhelming to me to not be able to cook or do laundry when it needed to be done. It was overwhelming to be woken at night and not know when I could go back to sleep. It was overwhelming to nurse every hour on the hour!

I found out I was pregnant with #2 (Maddie) when Gavin was 11 months old. I was afraid of what it would mean to have two under two! But you know what? While I certainly had more work, it was infinitely easier. The same when Owen came along two years later. My workload increased, but it was not overwhelming because I had done it all before.

I try to remember that God will not give me more than I can handle so with each new blessing that comes along, He gives me the strength and the patience and the skills to tackle the challenge.

How about you? What was the hardest (or easiest) transition for you in motherhood?

Keeping the Young Ones Busy

It is a challenge to keep the younger children busy and occupied during Gavin's school time. The best solution I've come up with is not to simply "keep them busy" but to involve them, too!

Maddie is four and mature enough to sit and do work at the table with us. This year she will be beginning the Get Ready For the Code series. This is a series of 3 fun workbooks that teaches letter sounds. (The best part is, once the work is done, there are lots of little line drawings to color in!) She will also continue working through a fun little workbook we got last year from Rod and Staff called Counting With Numbers. Her "school bag" is also filled with sewing cards, a small coloring book, pencils, etc. When it is time to move away from table time into reading time (history) , Maddie comes along with us. Her comprehension level is well beyond that of a four-year-old so she keeps up and learns just as much Gavin.

Owen (almost 2) is a bit more of a challenge. Last year, he chose school time as cry time! Some days he would sit on my lap and cry through an entire school day. This year, he is older and has benefited from another year of being trained to listen and sit still. I've given him his own "school bag" this year. I put in a pack of jumbo crayons in a zipper pouch so he can clean up on his own. I also included a sketch pad and a set of alphabet cards for him to occupy himself.

Very informally, I am starting Before Five in a Row with the two little ones this year. All you do is read a picture book 5 days in a row and talk about it or do a short activity! So simple! I don't know if we'll do this every week. I'm also not sure whether we will do this during Gavin's table time or some other time of the day.

Even though it sounds like we do a lot, we really only spend about 2 hours a day in formal school time. Of course, we also do lots learning activities like reading, taking walks, playing, and watching nature throughout the day. It is easy to learn without even knowing it!

It's That Time Already!

Today is our first day back at school! We've chosen to have our homeschool run from August to December then take off the whole month of January. (Due to the nature of Brian's job, he is off the first two months of the year so we like to take off and spend some quality time with him.) We are back to school from February to May. I'm not sure how it will all go with having a new baby in the house in October. We'll probably take a short amount of time off, and then give ourselves a few more weeks to ease back into the swing of things.

This year, Gavin will be in first grade! As promised, I'm sharing with you what we are planning to do this year. These are only our core subjects. I'll take another post to share what we do for art, music, nature study, and poetry, etc.

Bible-- We plan to continue using Bible Pictures to Color by Rod and Staff (a Mennonite company) to guide our Bible reading. Each page has a simple picture to color and a Bible passage reference. We started this last year so we plan to pick up where we left off. Their prices are SO reasonable, I bought Maddie a copy to color this year, too. We also plan to continue My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt. This book includes a verse to memorize for each letter of the alphabet.

History-- We will be using TruthQuest History: American History For Young Students I. This program has you reading books (not a textbook!) chronologically through American history. It begins with the Vikings and continues on through Columbus, Colonial life, and the American Revolution. I love that there is an immense book list to choose from so you are bound to find something your library offers that fits your interest, comprehension level, and style.

Math-- Gavin will be starting Making Math Meaningful Level 2. He completed the Level K book last year. It lays such a foundation for math principles that by the end of the year, he took off and conquered so many math concepts on his own that we are skipping the Level 1 book and going straight into Level 2.

Phonics and Handwriting-- Gavin will be starting the Explode the Code series. I also plan to have him continue making the alphabet book he started last year. Each double-page spread concentrates on one letter. On the "D" page, for example, he has written a neat row of the letter in both uppercase and lowercase. Then he has drawn a picture of a dinosaur and copied a scripture that starts with D.

Table time (Bible, math, and phonics) should last about an hour and then we'll allow 30-60 minutes for reading (history).

Winner of the Bookmark Giveaway

The winner of the random drawing for the Four Seasons Bookmarks is...

Comment #3, cdziuba!

Congratulations! I will be contacting you by e-mail.

If for some reason, he/she does not claim the prize,

I will announce another winner mid-week!

"See Owen Run!"

Owen is a big boy. He was my smallest at birth by far-- 7 pounds, 12 ounces-- but he was 2 1/2 weeks early. By 2 weeks, he was over 9 pounds, and he didn't stop. He was well over 20 pounds by 5 months! After his first birthday, he slowed down and grew taller instead of wider, but his feet have maintained their baby chubbiness. It makes it super hard to find shoes for him.

For summer, we bought him two pairs of shoes. The first was a pair of sandals. We found a basic pair at Target. To get the Velcro closed enough to keep the shoe on his foot, the top of his foot is squished! If you loosen it to make it more comfortable, the sandal falls off his foot! His second pair of shoes is a play pair for the pool or beach. We bought him a pair in his size at Old Navy and couldn't even get them on because his foot was too chunky. We found another pair at Target that we settled on, but they are a struggle to squeeze on!

So we were in a dilemma for fall. I heard about a company called See Kai Run that makes shoes just for kids with feet like Owen's. In fact, their website says these shoes "accommodate even the chubbiest little feet." I wrote to the company and asked them to donate a pair for me to review on my blog...and they did!

The box arrived one evening and a few days later, we put the shoes to the test. Owen immediately took to them. After easily slipping over his little toes (something that has never happened), he looked down at his feet and said, "Boo-ful." One evening he found the shoebox and said, "Mama, put shoes on." When he took off the lid and noticed it was empty, he put his whole face in the box and said, "All gone!" Now if I send him to find his shoes, he inevitably brings these to me!

I love how flexible the soles are. They are rubber and sturdy, but yet bend easily for toddler movement. The shoe itself is made of soft leather. (Am I the only one who loves to inhale that wonderful scent?!) We are totally sold on these shoes. The only negative I could find is the price. Moms shopping for multiple kids may find these out of price range.

With my next baby due in October, I was excited to learn that See Kai Run is coming out with a line of booties for babies 0-18 months this month called Smaller.