His Turn

In exactly 25 minutes, we will officially finish our first week as a public school family.

I can't wait to pick her up and have her all to myself for a couple of days.  It's been an emotional week.  The first two days were tough for all of us, but I'm beyond thrilled to report that it all did a total 180 on Wednesday and the child is loving her school now.  I'm giving it another week or two before I give you the total run down on what it's been like to transition from homeschool to public school, but so far it's been a wonderful move for our crew.

I miss Josie like crazy during the day, but it means I'm getting a whole lot of face time with Gabe.

Which is something I've never really had.  This boy is funny and turning into such a human.  I'm loving that we have this time before he starts school in the Fall.

Speaking of, I'm also glad we have this time because, now that we know he'll be going to kindergarten, we've got some work to do to get ready. 

I started his 4th year with a list of things I wanted him to know before he turned 5.

It was a mild list compared to a lot of homeschoolers with kids his age, but if I'd learned anything from Josie it was that when they are ready, they learn it fast.  But now that he's going to school in the Fall, I knew I needed to be a bit more proactive about getting him what he needs to succeed.

Like being able to write his name.  Which he learned in all of 5 minutes once I sat down and actually showed him how to do it.

I'm still using (and loving) Mother Goose Time.

This month's box is all about dinosaurs, so right up Gabe's alley.  I did a Dino Unit with Josie back when she was in preschool, so I'm pulling out all of our books and activities from then as well.

This week, Gabe learned to write his name, figured out AB and ABC patterns, played a few games, did a few crafts, and mastered 10 letter flowers.  Pretty good week in my book!

can't handle the tongue.

These are the monthly letter flowers that come in each box.

We get three new letters (and some sight words) each month.  So far, I haven't done much with them.  Now that we are getting more consistent with preschool, I am using them as glorified flashcards.  I started by laying out four at a time and calling out a letter for him to "pick" for me.  Once he learned those four, I added another one.  Today he got the 12 I have correct, so next week I'll add January's 3 letters.

I'm super excited to really use these units as they are meant to be used now that he's getting all my teaching time to himself.

You can read my full Mother Goose Time review here.

Whole Lot Of Nothing

Man, it's been quiet around here.

We've been busy, just not with a lot of blog worthy stuff.  Dentist appointments and park days don't make the best reading material.  But my kids have Grandparents that demand a certain quota of kid updates, so here's a random collection of our recent adventures in Scottsdale.

We went to the pumpkin patch.

It's been tricky getting in the Halloween Spirit when we are still hitting the high 90's around here.  But the other day I decided that, with only a week left, it was now or never.  We headed to the Desert Botanical Gardens and had a very festive morning picking out gigantic pumpkins and going on a hayride.  I won't lie, it was hot.  But we survived without one single complaint, which signifies we are one step closer to being real Arizonians.

I've been promised by multiple sources that Halloween signifies the day the temps drop to the 80's and don't climb back up.  We will see.

School is still rolling along.

2nd Grade isn't as fun to blog about, which is a shame because this is the first year that homeschooling looks how I always pictured it looking like.  She's reading and writing and spelling and just acting like a sponge with how she is learning things.  She'll ask a question then come up with her own solutions for finding the answers.  It's kind of awesome.  Even more awesome that it just sort of happened.  I find little people brains to be fascinating.  When they are ready they just explode!  So cool.

Mother Goose Time is doing all of my preschool work for me.

I finally decided it was time to give the monthly letter and sight word flash cards another try, trying to not think about how when Josie was his age she already knew all the letters and their sounds.  I settled in to drill him and the kid got every all 12 right on the first shot.

How'd he learn them?  Beats me, but he did so my job here is done.

My Mom gets here next week so we will be starting our modified schedule.  I'm still working out the details, but it will have lots of field trips and some very basic daily school.  Leaving lots and lots of time for family!  I'm super excited.

I'm still married.

Andrew pointed out that it's been awhile since he made an appearance on the blog, so I assured him I'd put his pretty face up.  His new job is still going great.  They are about to enter their busy season and he had a couple of managers quit which makes his job harder, but he's always up for a challenge.  Well, almost always.

We sneak in a date every week.  Something we both desperately need after how intense our weeks can get.  Last Friday we went to the soft launch of a new restaurant.  We got on the VIP list through a new website I'm getting to write a little for (East Valley Moms Blog).  We had the best time.  I like this guy.

Last but not least, here's a plug for something awesome my brother is doing.

Most of you know he had a seizure a few years ago that lead to us finding out he has brain cancer.  This Halloween marks 3 years since that first seizure.  He made a reprint of the shirt he was wearing that day and is selling them to raise money for brain tumor research.  Here's a blurb from his wife:

One Halloween, Aaron had a seizure. Turns out, the reason for the seizin’ was a brain tumor. Turns out, that tumor was cancer. Turns out, he’s still kickin it in the face. Was the fact that he was wearing this t-shirt during his seizure a coincidence? Absolutely not.

Because this isn’t just a t-shirt. It’s a message to the world no matter what life hands you, giving up is for wusses and mama’s boys. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a brain tumor, a lost puppy or farting in a meeting, you’re still kickin. Because you’re a tough sonofabitch. Who likes to donate to excellent causes.

For every t-shirt sold, we’ll be donating the profits to the Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research, funding research grants that make it possible for more people to say they’re still kicking.

The first round raised over $7,000 and broke the record of shirts sold on Cotton Bureau (insert proud sister face).  If there's enough interest, they will do another round, so if you need one (you do), enter your email HERE.  No commitment to buy, just trying to raise enough interest for them to bring it back.

Here's Aaron's Still Kickin site, where you can be inspired by all the people that are Still Kickin.

And that, my friends, brings us all up to speed.  

On deck from here, a couple reviews and the obligatory Halloween Costume Post.  See ya soon!

Mobile Preschool

So it's no secret that I love Mother Goose Time.

Without it, Gabe wouldn't be getting any school time.  And honestly, he's 4 so that wouldn't really bother me, but after 4 comes 5 and we are planning to enroll him next year in the same enrichment school Josie goes to so he kind of needs to know some things*.  Like the difference between blue and yellow.

* forgive my excessive run on sentences.  yes, i homeschool and still can't get a handle on most grammar skills.

Mother Goose Time has been the perfect solution.  Little time from me needed with some major advances in his little brain.  My one problem has been all the awesomeness that comes each month and finding a place to put it.

Christy (you remember her, my almost Farm House neighbor?) is also using MGT and she came up with a fabulous idea for all the extra supplies and all that come in the box.  We are doing her exact plan.  So that left me with finding a way to use the Circle Time material without having to hang it up in my house.

I've told y'all before, I love homeschooling but do not love having school stuff all over the house.  It's just not my thing.  So when I saw someone use a tri-fold board to display the material, I was sold.

$3 and an episode of Law & Order later, I had a perfectly put away-able board to use with Gabe!

Each month, Gabe adds a new color bird and shape card to our board.  The flowers in his hand are his sight word and letter of the month cards.  The blank spot on the left hand side is where I clip the big letter card that we are working on that week.

It's working great for us! 

* we aren't using all of the circle time material.  i stink at doing calendar, so that's not on our board.  neither are the center labels, sign language chart, or weather tracker items.  i only added what i knew we would use.  just wanted to let you know that there is even more great stuff than this!

Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes

Last week, Gabe started his My Amazing Body box from Mother Goose Time.

We talked about the parts of the body, made puppets, learned about letter B, and started his journal for the month.  One week in, I can tell this is going to be a perfect fit for my gentle approach to pre-k.  It gives him something constructive to do while introducing some new topics.

Our actual lesson time only takes about 20 minutes total.  The crafts take longer because both of my kids love them some glue.  I'm supplementing just a little with a handwriting program and a phonics program, but I'm so happy with what Mother Goose Time adds to our day.  I can't even imagine pulling all of this together by myself.

Gabe decided he hated life halfway through this craft so no picture of his finished product

every month comes with a new book.  this year, the book characters show up all 

throughout the month in different activities!

this month's character training word

this craft was supposed to be done on a yellow circle, but we had

just bought a bag of balloons so they were the center of all activities.

Next week we are going to learn about the 5 senses.  I remember doing this unit with Josie and it just happens to line up with her biology unit.  Love when that happens!

Mother Goose Time 2014

Over the Summer we dabbled in Mother Goose Time's boxed preschool curriculum.

I originally found out about it through a friend's blog and felt like it was something Gabe would enjoy.  And when the first adorable box showed up on our porch, I knew I was right.  Trouble was, it was Summer and not only was it Summer, we were smack in the middle of moving across the country.  I wasn't able to put out all the fun circle time materials and we only got through about half of the curriculum.

We still aren't totally settled, but we have gone full speed ahead with September's box.  This curriculum is such a perfect fit for us and I can't wait to share it with you, but today I want to show you the newly designed circle time material and give you a glimpse at what come in the box each month.

First thing's first.  The box is a school bus.

Which gets Gabe all kinds of excited.  My kids like getting any mail, but mail decorated with cartoons? Forget about it.

The Teacher's Manual lays out exactly what you'll be doing each day.  

All of the activities are very easy and, so far, Gabe has enjoyed them all.  I'd say the school part of our day takes about 20 or 30 minutes, longer if we have a craft.  I am supplementing a bit with a handwriting and phonics workbook, but the farther we go in the month the more I'm thinking I don't really need to.

Also new this year is a large teacher section on the website.  I am just now getting a chance to poke around on it, but it looks like there are some great ideas and printables available.

When you sign up for the monthly boxes, you get the circle time set up for free.

We got a set when we first started getting boxes over the Summer, but they have been totally redone for the 2014 school year and man are they cute!

don't worry mom, no walls were harmed in the hanging of our materials!

Each month, you'll get a new color bird and shape to add to the display.  There are also different flowers each month that you use to teach 3 sight words and the letters of the month.

There is also a world map, letter line that flips up to teach phonics, and the weather pieces.  Since we aren't in our official set up, I haven't taken everything out.  I recently saw how one mom put hers on a foldable poster board so that it could be moved around.  I loved that idea and am pretty sure that's what we will do with ours.

The meat of the box is the daily lesson packs.

These make it so flipping easy to use Mother Goose Time!  All you do is open the bag and everything you will need for that lesson is in the bag.  If anything extra (like glue or scrap paper) is needed, it will be listed on the paper inside.  I try to open ours the night before because sometimes I need to cut things out.

Each week is a different theme that fits under the monthly topic umbrella.  This first week in September we learned about body parts.  This week was full of crafts and games that I'll share with you later.

I am so happy with Mother Goose Time.

It's gentle, interactive, and very well rounded.  I feel like Gabe is getting all the fun of preschool without me having to scrounge things together.  I can't wait to see what all we learn this year!