The Crafty Classroom logo

You are here: Home / Archives for New Posts

New Posts




Investing In Your Students – Making Time

By Leave a Comment

23 Investing in Your Students Making TimeAs a teacher, you do more than simply teaching reading and writing to your students. You teach them how to be law-abiding citizens, how to be kind friends, how to be a good person.Teaching is about investing in your students, making time to teach them everything they need to know to be successful in life. Here are a few ideas for making time so that you can make it a priority to invest in your students.

Investing in your Students: Making Time

Investing in your students is important. When you make time for your students, you’re creating a connection. This connection will make it easier to teach your students what they need to know, everything from reading skills to character development. Investing in your students is something you won’t regret. Here are some things you can do to make time.

 Use Your Lunch Time

A great way to make time to invest in your students is to use your lunch time if you get duty-free lunch. They will notice it when you use your personal time for them, making them feel special. Once a week or every other week, take one lunch and spend it in the cafeteria with the kids. You’ll still get your personal time every other day, but making the effort that one special day every week will truly make a difference.

Join Them At Recess

The next time you’re on recess duty, join your students. Walk around and talk with them, join in on their game, whatever it takes to make use of your duty time to connect with them. If you have inside recess one day, start a game with all of the kids so that you can learn about each other. Since you already have recess duty regardless, make the most of this time in which you can invest in your students.

Stand By Your Classroom Door

When you students arrive each morning, stand by your classroom door and greet them. Take a few seconds to ask them questions about their lives, checking in on how things are going. This is the perfect time to invest in your students since you can’t use it for lessons anyway. This personal greeting will help set a positive mood for the day and will further develop your connection with your students.

Watch a Game or Concert

If your students have a sporting event or concert coming up, plan to stop by and watch. You don’t need to attend each and every one, but if you make a plan to go to a game here and there, your students will see you. They will appreciate the fact that you’re there for them, letting them know that you care about them and are invested in them.

Don’t Forget Self-Care

In order for you to have the time to invest in your students, you will need to remember self-care. If you burn yourself out, you won’t have as much to contribute to your students. Instead of obsessing about lesson plans or grading all weekend, make sure you take a day for you and your family so that you’re more refreshed when you start the work week. It might seem counterintuitive, but taking a break can make you more productive when you get back to it!

Investing in your students will be rewarding for both you and the kids in your class. This will help you develop a strong and binding relationship with your students, creating a fun and respectful atmosphere in your classroom. By making time for your students, you’re showing them that you care for each and every one of them.

Raising REAL Men: A Timberdoodle Review

By 2 Comments

There is just something unique about boys.

They are in constant need of adventure:

They enjoy creepy things:

And Slimy Things:

And REALLY Slimy things:

They don’t mind a little bit of dirt:

And they see the world from a completely different perspective:

They are just Boys
who will soon be MEN.

I have 3 of these little adventure seekers,
and if there is one thing I’ve learned in
my few 6 “BoyMom” years it’s that:

Boys are unique. They are different.
They are hard for me to understand.
They do the exact opposite of what I think they would do.

But the biggest difference that I’ve noticed,
is that Boys require SO MUCH MORE OF MY TIME,
SO MUCH MORE OF MY PATIENCE, and SO MUCH MORE OF MY PATIENCE

Oh and did I mention SO MUCH MORE OF MY PATIENCE?

(Yes, I’m aware that typing in CAPS is akin to yelling…that’s what I”m doing right now)
And I’d like to follow up all that yelling with a extra bold sigh:

SIGH.

There. Okay. Got it all out.
But really……Raising boys is tough.
(And I’m only 6 years in.)

Raising boys to be REAL men, is even harder.

About the Book:

raising real men

Raising Real Men, by Hal and Melanie Young
Raising Real Men is a book written specifically to parents of boys. There isn’t a step by step outline for how to have a real man in 20 days, there is just a simple outline of the REAL issues that today’s parents face, with some biblical suggestions for handling them. It’s a quick read, very straightforward, and written in a way that you feel like your sitting in your living room listening to Hal and Melanie gush their insider details of raising their own little fellas.

There is something for Boy-Mom’s of all ages and stages, dealing with topics such as: Virtues, Heroes, Leadership, Competition, Violence, Stewardship, Responsibility and more!

You can read a sample chapter here

Here are some of my favorite quotes from this book:

“They will have heroes. For their own sakes, make sure they’re the right ones.”

“Too often, Christ is presented to boys as an unimpressive, feeble, almost effeminate character…”

Wow! What a reminder to teach the “full character of Christ” and to learn the fear of the Lord! How Awesome is He, and every knee shall bow. There is none stronger, none wiser and non more exalted then He. He is the ULTIMATE HERO and should be taught to boys as such!

On Healthy Competition:

“The Bible uses athletic competition as an analogy for the Christian life, with rules to obey, a struggle to overcome, and even a desire to come out on top of the field. It’s not a bad thing at all, if kept in the proper perspective.”

On playing with weapons:

“This is a distinction the world simply doesn’t get. They believe that if the environment is controlled, the heart will follow meekly along.”

There is even a chapter on homeschooling!

“Boys are girls are made by God to be different and that impacts how they learn and how they manage learning.”

About the Authors: (Real Parents!)


“Hal and Melanie Young have been blessed with six real boys (and two real girls). They have homeschooled through eight high-risk pregnancies, three re-locations, two decades, and 181 degrees of longitude. Hal and Melanie have served on the Board of Directors of North Carolinians for Home Education for over 14 years, including three terms as President for Hal. They have published articles with The Foundation for Economic Education, Homeschooling Today, the John Locke Foundation, Homeschool Digest, TEACH Magazine, Homeschool Enrichment, the N.C. Family Policy Council, the Heartland Institute and more.”

Where to Purchase?:


You can purchase Raising Real Men from Timberdoodle for $15.00,
or snag an Mp3 Audio version for $21.00

While your there, be sure to check out all of Timberdoodles “Boy Friendly” Toys!
They have TONS of fun goodies and homeschool resources that you’re boys are sure to love!

Disclaimer: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of Raising Real Men in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

Check out What other Timberdoodle Bloggers thought of Raising Real Men:

Buggy Boards: Fun Printable Math Mats!

By 7 Comments

Got Boys?

Do they Like Bugs?
(nevermind. Silly question)

Need to work on Math?

Check out these Super Buggy Boards!

buggy boards

And these Super Buggy Number Cards!

math printables

Designed to appeal to your little men, while sneaking in a bit of math
like vegetables in a ice cold smoothie.

printable math mats

They’ll be rolling and counting, and checking out all the different bugs
that they’ll never know what hit them.

printable bug

Poor, unsuspecting little men.

These are pretty versatile, Check out all the Game Ideas I posted too!

Okay, ya got me.

I only posted like three ideas….
How would you use these with your little ones?

Coming in June:

By Leave a Comment

speekee

Thanks to our June Sponsor: Speekee~

We love using Speekee, and you will too!
Sign up for a FREE Two week trial to try them out!
(btw-Speekee is unveiling a Homeschool Curriculum soon so Stay Tuned for that!!)

And I want to say a special THANK YOU to everyone for sharing a link to The Crafty Classroom!
Here are the Top Five referring websites:

Homeschool Creations
No Ordinary Moments
Spell Outloud
Totally Tots
Mama Jenn

Thanks Friends!!!

And here’s what is coming up in June:

Wait a minute.
Did You read that right?
JUNE?

ACK.
I cannot believe that it is JUNE already!!!

The weather here in Southern Oregon has been more like March
Which is actually fine with me,
as I haven’t lost enough baby weight to fit into my shorts yet…

Don’t feel bad for me,
It’s really for lack of trying.

I’ll get there. I’m sure of it, just as soon as I start getting a regular 8 (hours of sleep a night)
I’ll be invincible.
I’m sure that day is coming soon.
I’ve got my Super Women leotard in the closet on standby.

But besides fitting into my shorts this month
and *gasp* maybe even my bathing suit,
here’s what I’ve got planned for the month:

Homeschool Conventions!
I finally….finally get to attend my very 1st Homechool conference,
and I’m really excited about it! I hope to remember my camera
and share my experience with you too!

timberdoodle

I’ll be reviewing an amazing product for Timberdoodle!
(who will also be at the conference!!)
We received the product in the mail already
and my kids won’t give it back to me.
It’s super fun, educational, and all my children love it.
I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you but here is a clue:
It rhymes with Hedge-it’s.
*smirk

Australia Crafts!
We’ve finished our Unit on Australia,
and I’ve got some adorable crafts to post to the main site
I hope to get those up shortly.

Also I’ve been working furiously
on some new Fruit of the Spirit Printables
(If you follow me on facebook, you got a sneak peak of those!)

bible printables
I’ll be posting more Bible Verse Printables on Totally Tots!
We’ll be wrapping up the second CD of Seeds family worship music.
Have you been following along?
Buck Denver is! ;)

Other then that, I hope to relax a bit, and start Pinning.

Are you Pinning yet?

I often PIN at night….
when I’m hungry for chocolate…and reminiscing about my sewing machine.
(Look for me on Pinterest…. and come share my addiction)

Place Value Folder Game

By 1 Comment

This week, in addition to multiplication, we’ve been
really working hard on learning and understanding Place Value.
A few years back I picked up a set of Base Ten Blocks,
which really made it easy for my children to visualize
what I was talking about with all this “Hundred, Tens, Ones” talk.

base ten blocks

But it’s due time to to branch out to bigger numbers…
Thousands, Ten Thousands….maybe even Millions!

So today I whipped up this simple (no frills)
Place Value File Folder Game:

We played it this afternoon for Math,
and I’m quite pleased with the results!
Both children are easily reading numbers all the
way out to millions!

I’m surprised at how quickly they picked up on it!
The game is played by drawing numbers one at a time
and choosing where to place it on your board. You’re trying
to build the biggest number you can, so you have to be careful
as once you play a number you can’t move it.

I had my children read the “Place” they were putting each number, then at the end of the game they read their entire number to see who was the winner.

An hour later and they are experts in place value and didn’t
even realize they were learning.
(or gambling….for that ever evasive 9)

How do I feel about it all?

MuuuuAhhhhhhHaHa!
(said in an “I will rule the world” kind of tone)

I uploaded this game on File Folder Fun so
you too can feel this way!

Happy Ruling!

NOTE: If you like “everyone wins” games, just print one board and work together as a team, write down each number you make and try to beat the last one!

Multiplication Pocket Folder

By 8 Comments

We are all about Multiplication Facts around here lately
(Did you see our Math Keys)
(And our File Folder Games)

Well, I’m pulling out all the stops trying to get these important facts into my children’s heads.
Sometimes adding a bit of color….and incentive….helps!
So today I made the children a Multiplication Pocket Folder:

It’s really just a fancy way to store our multiplication flash cards
(we’re upgrading from ziploc baggies)

But the important part is the Multiplication chart on the front:

Everytime Sissy can get through a set of math facts she’ll get a sticker.
Ten stickers equals a small treat.
Each day she can earn up to 12 stickers
One for each digit….and no more.
(Ahhh……now you see my genius)

And if you want to make your own,
I’ve uploaded instructions, templates and printables for you too!

Magnetic Grid Games!

By 2 Comments

I’ve been Ooogling Mama Jenn’s Puff Ball Magnets for MONTHS

(Remember Mama Jenn is the genius behind Education Cubes)

Well she also has TONS of fantastic learning game ideas
throughout her blog too….puff ball magnets being just one of many!

They look so colorful and fun, and best of all Hands-On,
but I never made them because I was waiting for Monkey
to get a bit older……somewhere past the age of the
“Everything goes into my mouth” stage.

Well, the time is here, and Monkey is now progressing
to the next developmental stage of learning:

He’s now in the “Everything goes into my mouth but I realize that somethings shouldn’t, and I should quickly take them out and exclaim, ‘yuck‘ stage.”

That is a real stage….Dr. Spock Says So.

That and Mama Jenn’s new Grid Games
just sent me over the edge!

I had to make them now,
because they will be so handy for Sissy and Bubba too!

So I followed her tutorial, using a Glue Gun because I too, am completely impatient.

(TIP: In case you are a sleep deprived Mom like me, be sure and put the glue on the magnet part first, and not the fuzzy puff ball part. Trust me.)

They turned out wonderfully didn’t they!

Then I printed out Mama Jenn’s Crown Grid game, and wrote each number 1-9 on the crowns three times each. There were three squares left over so I wrote 8, 2, 10 on each of them.

Then I slid the game into a page protector, and covered up the numbers with the Pom-pom’s.

To Play: Children take turns turning over two pom-pom’s at a time, with the goal of making 10. If a child makes 10, then they get to keep the pom-poms, if not, then they are recovered. Child with the most pom-poms wins. (I did write a 10 on one crown for a bonus pom)

The kids loved playing this game today, and we’re looking forward to more grid games! What Fun! Thanks Mama Jenn!


Hola Speekee!

By Leave a Comment

Today we have a special visitor!!

It’s Speekee!

Speekee is our newest sponsor,
and he has quickly become my children’s favorite T.V character.
(Elmo is so yesterday)

For the past month we have welcomed Speekee into our home not only to entertain us, but to teach us Spanish as well.

(I say US, because I am probably the only person on the earth who didn’t take Spanish in highschool, and thus can’t teach my children more then the first ten numbers and a few colors that may or may not be pronounced correctly)

So I’m learning from Speekee as we go too.

If you’ve never heard of Speekee,
take a quick second to view a sample episode:

Then come right back…..

Okay, so what do you think?

Cute right!

For some reason Speekee reminds me of E.T.
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.
Like E.T. and Barney collided together to form a
purple alien like creature.

Whatever he is, my kids LOVE him!
Even Monkey, (who calls Speekee: “Eeeeee” )
enjoys the episodes and looks forward to them.

Here is what’s included in the online subscription:

10 EPISODES, OVER 150 MINUTES OF PURE SPANISH LEARNING
LEARN SPANISH FROM REAL SPANISH CHILDREN IN REAL SPANISH LOCATIONS
FEATURES SONGS, ANIMATION AND PUPPETS
OPTIONAL SUBTITLES IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH
FREE ACTIVITY SHEET DOWNLOADS
GREAT FUN AND EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE
CREATED BY SPECIALIST LANGUAGE TEACHERS

What I like about Speekee:

First of all, I love that it spans the gap in my children’s ages and still keeps them all equally entertained. (2yr-8yr) He is adorable and memorable and my children really listen to hear what he is saying. (And if for some reason they can’t understand him, there are captions on the screen as well)

We officially welcomed Speekee to our classroom by making welcome signs:

Then, following one of the recommend activities,
we made sock puppets to use alongside our lessons.
What fun that was!

Here are Lilly

& Gerpoke

Yeah. Gerpoke.
The boy named his puppet Gerpoke.
(Grrrrrrr-Poke)
Just like it looks.
In case you didn’t know, it’s Spanish for….well,
Gerpoke.

Anyway, we have been using our sock puppets to repeat after Speekee, and to work on new words we are learning with each lesson.
Another aspect I really appreciate is the fact that all of the videos are presented alongside corresponding worksheets and suggested activities. There is like zero planning time needed, you just log on to the video you want and you can print from the same screen as your kiddos are watching.

The worksheets have really helped to solidify what my kids are learning from the videos, and help me to know what to focus on throughout the week.

I think Speekee is a fantastic program , and so far it’s been a great fit for our family.

You can subscribe to Speekee for a monthly fee, or purchase the 10 DVD set. They even have a School license which gives you access to a two-year scheme of work! I’m secretly oogling over this and considering it as part of our budget next year.

And of course if you like to try things out before you buy them,
you can sign up for a Free Two Week Trial

I received a free online subscription to Speekee.com for my honest opinion of the product.

Landform Diorama

By 4 Comments


We are wrapping up our lesson on Landforms!
We have been using Beginning Geography which took us though basic map reading, animal habitats and landforms. I can’t say enough how much I loved this e-book, and how much my children loved doing “maps” during school.

This week we decided to put all of our knowledge to the test by making 3-d models of the different landforms we studied.

And of course I took photos and jotted down instructions if you want to make your own!

This was a great way to wrap up our unit and prepare us for our next one: The 7 Continents!

And we are headed Down Under first,
so stay tuned for some AUS-ome crafts!

Coming in May:

By Leave a Comment

Welcome to May!



First I’d like to welcome our newest sponsor: Speekee!

Speekee is an online language learning program filled with entertaining characters that teach your children Spanish! My kiddos have been enjoying learning with Speekee and we’ll have a full review later this month! If you just can’t wait for it,
you can try out Speekee FREE for two weeks here.

I’ve also got some more Homeschool Recon to share! (I hope you’re not tired of me posting the new things we’ve been doing around here). I’d like to cover Geography and Language Arts because I’m absolutely in love with our newest programs!

And alongside Language Arts I have a few Writing Prompt printables that I’m working on as well. Sissy is needing a bit more practice in the “writing” area, so I’m hoping these writing guides are going to help her develop her skills.

And to organize all our new resources,
I’ll be using the amazing new EDITABLE Homschool Planner
by Jolanthe! Stay tuned for a review of this as well!


I’ll also be guest posting at Kiboomu later in the month, and continuing my biweekly post over on Totally Tots.

Phew.

Hope I can get it all done!

Oh yeah! And I’m really hoping that I’ll make it into the
Top 25 Homeschooling Blogs

currently #39, so if you have a second to vote for me
I just might be encouraged enough to get all that done before June.
maybe.

Stained Glass Easter Cross

By 5 Comments


Today we started off our day making these beautiful
Stained Glass Easter Crosses!

They turned out wonderful and made a fantastic
display in our window!

We used watercolors so that the light would shine through,
Look how pretty:

I uploaded a free template on ChristianPreschoolPrintables
where you can print it out for your own kiddos to try!

easter cross craft

Stained Glass Easter Cross

These would make fantastic bulletin board displays if you
have a large classroom too!

What Easter Crafts do you have planned this year?


Free Birthday Bash File Folder Game

By 1 Comment


birthdaybash

Today I’m participating in Spell Outloud’s Birthday Bash!

I made a special party favor just for Maureen who is hosting a a week of giveaways and free printables to celebrate!

file folder game

Primary Party
This ia a file folder game for children to sort balloons into primary or seconday color bunches, and it’s perfect for your little budding artists!

This game is not on my site, its just for her party so visit her site to download the game!

There are some other wonderful party favors to take home, as well as a few more to come so follow Spell Outloud for updates!

Van Gogh & Matisse

By 1 Comment

We have completed a couple more of our Famous Artist crafts
this time we learned about Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse.

We are continuing to use the “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists” series

For Van Gogh we turned this:
van gogh craft

Into this:

van gogh printables

And for Matisse we used these:

famous artist printables
matisse craft

To make these:

matisse craft kids

All instructions are up on the main site as well as printable artist cards for each artist!

artist printables

Stay Tuned or Subscribe for more Crafty Fun!

Warhol & Pollock

By 1 Comment

I just finished uploading two more of our Famous Artist Crafts!

jackson pollock craft for kids>

Jackson Pollock

This was a well loved activity for my kids,
they loved blowing with the straws!
Me? I wan’t really into passing out
for an art project, but they were in dizzy oblivion.

andy warhol craft for kids

Andy Warhol

These were really fun, Sissy enjoyed this a bit more then Bub,
who found it daunting to color in one color for each open space.

andy warhol printables

I included some fun Warhol printables,
you can snag the boy & the girl as well as
some adorable cupcakes or some sneakers!

Older children can design their own!

Eveything is uploaded to our Famous Artist Craft Section!

PSSST…. Here’s a sneak peak at who’s coming next:

Stay Tuned!

HS Recon: Spelling Printables

By 3 Comments

That’s right… Spelling!

Spelling is supposed to be fun!

And we’ve been a bit at a standstill with all the worksheets
that have been printed and cut apart and glued, and tossed
into the trash.

It is time for something NEW!

Time for Homeschool Recon: Spelling!

So Sissy (8) has a brand new Language Arts Curriculum that I’ll be posting about shortly, which includes her spelling resources.

(I’m so excited to share…I can hardly stand it!)

But Bubba (5) was in need of his own spelling program…..somthing fun to keep the boy busy, and learning at the same time.

So you know, of course that I just had to make him something.

(Any excuse to make a printable, and I’m there.)

So for the little fella, I came up with an easy to follow 5 day spelling program.

Nothing fancy, but lots of fun.

I posted all about it here, with details and links to the specific resources we’ll be using.

You’ll find some fantastic Letter Tiles:

printable letter tiles

And even a Spelling Train to use with your little ones:
Spelling Train

printable spelling resources

These are super adorable when you cut out the window and put your child’s picture in!

So, go check it out!

But then come back and
Tell me how you make spelling fun for your children,
I’m sure I could use a few more ideas for these rainy Oregon homeschool days!

Pssst…..
I’m participating in Spell Out Loud’s Birthday Bash!
Mark your calendars!

Teach Me Joy Winner!

By 1 Comment


Teach Me Joy

Thanks to everyone for participating in our Teach Me Joy giveaway!

I drew two winners over the weekend using Random.org:

Winner #1 = Blessed CP
(Comment #26)

Winner #2 = Diane
(Comment #115)

Don’t worry if you didn’t win, you can still snag your choice of curriculum while it’s still 20% off!

Thanks to Teach Me Joy for such a great giveaway!

Homeschool Recon: Art History

By Leave a Comment


Since I’ve already posted all about our
instructional Art Curriculum,

I thought I’d better share what we have been doing for
Art History.

It’s actually something I’m just making up,

…gasp!

Okay, I actually took a few courses of Art History in college

And Believe it or not, I got an A+.
(I know….everyone gets an A in art…..
but indulge me with the plus will ya?)

Anyway, we found this great set of
children’s books at our local library to help us along:

picasso art

They’re called, “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists,”
and they are just the right level for my children.

You get to read a little bit about the artist,
and most importantly, view pictures of their most famous masterpieces.

So lately, we’ve been choosing one artist at a time, learning a little about them,
then making our own masterpieces based
on their specific techniques or style.

We’ve been having a blast!

And I’ve posted a couple of the projects weve done so far up on the main site:

Mondrian

Seurat

I’ve even made little sheets with a
picture and facts about the artist.

famous artist printables

We paste these on the back of artwork.
(that way we can review what we learned later!)

I have more to upload and share soon!
Everything will be posted on our Famous Artist Page.

Incorporating Art History into our routine has
been a HUGE blessing for my son!
I never would have thought!

But, he is fascinated with each new artist
and style we learn about.
All over town he seems to find a way to compare posters and artwork to the artists he knows.

The boy is 5. and I love it.

Except, not so much when he points out
what he knows to other people.

He’s really not bragging,
just carrying on conversation about Mondrian and Pollock,
(as if they were old buddies)

And maybe it’s just me but
I hate that “look at my smart kid” kinda of feeling.

(Does anyone know what I’m talking about here?)

You know That “look at me, my five year old knows about art”
kind of a feeling.

It’s kinda yucky.

I’m much more comfortable with the
“look at my crazy unruly children who apparently
have never heard of the word manners”
kind of a feeling

I’m used to that one more…..

I’ve got a slew of quirky antidotes to pacify
those types of situations.

But situations in which my child wants to discuss impressionism and pointilism with the dear sweet Granny ahead of us in line at the supermarket

….I’ve got nothing.

Thank goodness that doesn’t happen all the time
And thank goodness I’m not alone in this
or I might never leave the house.

Homeschool Recon Update

By 4 Comments


Mission #1 of Homeschool Recon: Restocking Rations

How did we get here?

And, What does that mean exactly?

Well, if you read my previous post, you might be a little more keen to what is going on around here.

But basically, I had enrolled Sissy (7) my oldest in an online charter school this year….

Which wouldn’t have necessarily been a bad choice,

as I know this homeschooling method WORKS for many families.

But my choice was made out of FEAR…which is never good.

And ultimately it didn’t end up working for us.

No big deal right?

Except for the fact that I withdrew her last month without having a replacement curriculum in place.

(Ahem…..not one of my prouder moments)

But it had to be done.

I’m a firm believer that learning should be fun
(or at least manageable)

And when a child is dreading….complaining…. and dragging
their feet at the very mention of “school”
then something has to be done….differently.

(Like everyday dread…not just the occasional schoolwork grumps.)

Soooo this past month, We’ve been doing a mish-mash of things, making sure we hit all the core requirements,
but we haven’t exactly settled into a routine.

(And I am one of those people who NEED routine)

(NEED)

(LIKE AIR)

So, I’ve been really busy finding just the right resources for our family,
and I’ve found some really great things I’m going to share soon!

I’m actually quite excited about it!

But first I thought I’d share an update
on the line-up around here:
(perhaps to explain why there will be piles of laundry in the background of my photographs)

Sissy 8 years: 2nd Grade
Bubba 5 years: First Grade
Monkey 20 months: Tot School
Freckles 2 months: Life School

Phew…I’m overwhelmed just posting that.

Life is busy around here.

Somedays I have moments of clarity…
and realize that I have FOUR children…

But most days are just a blur
of diapers, colored pencils, and Clorox.

So stay tuned for Homeschool Recon updates….

Don’t give up on me quite yet….

I’m sure to have another lucid moment sooner or later!


Make Your Own Geo Shapes!

By 5 Comments

Oh….How I want these:


Folding Geometric Shapes

But I’m in the middle of Homeschool Recon, and I just don’t think I’ll be spending any more money on math manipulatives this year.

(Someday, I’ll take a photo of our math resources…you’d think my children we members of Mensa or something)

But this week Sissy has been struggling with geoshapes, and I needed to make something quick for her to get a visual of all this “face” “sides” “edge” business. Not to mention help with the idea that there are hidden faces when the shape is presented in 2-d on paper. Uggh. I’m over trying to explain it, and I’m off to make some shapes:

I found this fantastic site where you can print a slew of buildable shapes!

I got out my colored cardstock, and started printing:

And Walla! Geo Shapes for tomorrows lesson.

I was so excited I had to share!

Have fun printing!

Teach Me Joy Giveaway!

By 143 Comments


What a fantastic opportunity we have today!



Joy Bryant of Teach Me Joy has created three insightful programs that centers educational themes around important biblical character qualities.

This past month I’ve had the pleasure of looking over her different curriculum packages and today I’m delighted to share them with you:


Animal Play for 2 & 3 Year Olds

A program for 2-3 year olds. It uses colorful books, songs, games and activities about animals to introduce the alphabet, numbers, shapes & colors. This program is designed to excite your child about school. Each day has different ideas to keep your child busy as well as the flexibility to work at your own pace. Bible time will introduce creation and other Bible stories that will give a Biblical foundation. You will also learn some Biblical characteristics by looking at animals

Fruit for Tender Hearts

A homeschool program targeting students in K3-K5. The programs Biblical focus is on the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. The student will learn Bible verses and stories that teach different “fruit” and character qualities. In this program the student will master letter sounds using a vertical phonics approach. Math concepts cover counting, number recognition, colors and shapes, measurement, ordering, and more.
They will explore the body, nutrition and healthy habits for science. Each lesson tries to target different learning styles. There is a variety of different worksheets and activities to keep learning fun and engaging. There are “Bigger Step” options for those students who are ready to do some book work and are ready to read.

The Joy of Handwriting
A program developed when a homeschool mom couldn’t find a cursive program that she was 100% satisfied with. As a result, The Joy of Handwriting was born. She took the best methods and ideas that she thought would work best and developed a program that is high quality and easy to use with kindergarteners as well as older elementary students. After having such good success with her own kindergarten student she wanted to make it available for others to try. The program was originally developed for cursive handwriting, but updated with a manuscript version

Don’t you just want to get your hands on these?
(I can hear your printer warming up already!)

Joy has graciously offered to give TWO winners their choice at the above packages!

Yup, that’s right! Your choice!

Ready to WIN?

Here’s How to Enter:

(Required)
1. Visit Teachmejoy.com and create an account – opt in for the newsletter
2. Leave me a comment below with the curriculum package you would choose if you won.

(Optional)
3. Extra Entry – Post the giveaway on Facebook
4. Extra Entry – Add the giveaway and link to your blog/website
5. Extra Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter

Contest is open until Friday March 11th!
Winner will be drawn at random and this post will be updated.

Good Luck!