20 Best Tips

3 Things I’m Loving This Week

Just to have a little fun, here’s a little vlog update on the last few weeks and the three things I’m currently in love with. :) 

  1. Meal Planning Master List – I’m creating an alternate master list for Laurianna’s restrictions (as we try to see if a diet change will help with some of her health issues). It’s making it easier for her to have a quick reference list of what she can/can’t grab when she is hungry. I may feel like I’m losing my mind every now and then. 
  2. My Instantpot – oh my word. I’m in love. I was scared to death I’d literally blow up the thing, but I’ve used it every day since last Thursday and love how easy it has been to use. Yes, a learning curve like anything, but so far, everything has worked great, and some things I’ve just guessed on – so YAY!!
  3. This book – having such a hard time putting it down! So far (I’m about half way through) and as it loops between the present and past, tying in the lives of two ladies, it is sucking me in – enough that I’m in bed early to spend some extra time reading and hauling it with me wherever I go in case I can sneak a few pages. (Updated to add: there isn’t any language, but once one of the characters is married there are a few parts you may want to skip over like I did.) 

That’s it for this week. Hope you all are getting back into the groove of school and would love to hear what you all are loving right now too. :) 

Our Homeschool Happenings (via vlog)

Above you’ll find a little update on what we’ve been up to in both our homeschool and home. Truthfully, a vlog was the easiest thing for me to do today (and besides, it makes me feel like I’m sitting down and actually chatting with you all). Feed readers can click here to see the video

The quick sum-up: 

  • All is well in the homeschool realm and I’ll be sharing a few tweaks/add-ins to our curriculum soon.
  • I’m VERY MUCH looking forward to this book by Sally Clarkson.
  • Starting any type of home project is a downward spiral into finding a billion other projects, like a chain reaction. Doing said projects around the holidays is d.u.m.b. But for some reason, we’re doing one, or five. 
  • We’ve been dealing with some health issues with one of the kids. Watching your kids hurting is hard. Very hard.
  • Taking a long break in December is essential for my sanity. Not sure where my brain was in planning at the start of the year. 
  • My idea of quick is apparently keeping it under 12 minutes. There are no prizes for watching through to the end, other than – well, nothing. :) 

Hope you all are having a great day, and I look forward to hearing how you are doing as well. I’d love for you to leave a comment and chime in with how things are going for your family. 

Homeschool Classroom Video Tour

When I initially shared that we were finishing off an area for our homeschool classroom a year and a half ago, I posted a short video clip of the ‘in progress’ work. Since then I’ve shared pictures of the room, but many of you have asked for a video tour. Sometimes pictures are helpful, but a video can really help give you a little more perspective.

Each video will have short blurbs telling more about the pieces and there will be links at the end of this post as well. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!

Would you like a tour? This is the closest that I can give you to a personal visit right now, so grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and spend some time with me. We love our schoolroom and are glad that you are here for a visit.

Come on in!

Homeschool Room Tour {Part 1}

 

Homeschool Room Tour {Part 2}

 

Things You See in the Video {in order seen}:

Note: Ikea keeps changing location on their links, but names are provided for the various items we are using.

Other Helpful Posts

Phew!! If you stuck around for it all – let me know if you have any questions!! Leave a comment and I’d be happy to answer you!

 

Your Kids are Normal {and Mine Are Too}

Just to keep it a little ‘light’ around here and so you all don’t think that our days all fly by in perfect order with all the correct answers and such, I grabbed a quick video clip of Kaleb in ‘whiney’ mode. The day before this he went flying through all of his workboxes and finished his work in 20 minutes.

This day…not so much.

Not because he couldn’t do it, but because he got in a funk. He saw a workbook on the shelf that he wanted to do, but one that generates MAJOR whining on his part, so it’s a ‘no go’ {says Mommy}. Sometimes I try to get him to move onto a different box or do something else {something FUN}, but he is a boy of ORDER and gets stuck, stuck, stuck.

Email subscribers click here to watch the video clip.

But, I post this to let you know that life isn’t all happiness and sunshine…we are actually rather normal. Sometimes over-achievers in the normal department {grins}. Do you hear another sibling even chiming in with the whining at the end?

Jolanthe Signature affiliate button

Visit these great companies!

 

    Preschool Corner: Months of the Year Song

    Apparently I should start taking song requests. I’ll just pull up a chair, set up the camera and have a great year singing to my video camera…and feeling like a lunatic talking to nobody.

    Not that talking to myself doesn’t happen on a daily basis ~ because my kids sure miss the majority of what I say every day.

    But I digress.

    You all taught me something new last week because I had never heard the Adams Family version of the Days of the Week song. Or if I did, it has been forever replaced with Tim Hawkins ‘Homeschool Family’ song {I’m leaning heavily toward that option}. Since the days of the week song was such a huge hit, this week my ‘at the mic’ feature will be the months of the year song. Before I forget, I popped on over to the Discovery Toys website to browse their catalog and they have the ‘Sounds Like Fun’ cd available for $15.

    Months of the Year
    {no idea what tune this is….
    but it’s definitely not Ten Little Indians}

    January, February, March and April,
    May and June, July and August,
    September, October, November, December…
    These are the months of the year.

    Twelve, twelve, twelve, twelve months,
    Twelve months come in every year.
    Twelve, twelve, twelve, twelve months,
    Twelve months come in every year.

    {Repeat until you know the song so well you are singing it in your head when you wake up in the middle of the night}.

    And you all and your guesses about the tune before I posted the video are cracking me up!! :)

    About the Preschool Corner:

    The Preschool Corner is a place for us to share the ideas we are using during our “preschool time” with our kids. You can join in the fun and record what you are doing in your house. Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below (if you have questions feel free to ask). Be sure to link back to this blog post so that your readers can find some other great ideas too!

    The guidelines can be found here if you need them.

    Share what you’ve been doing in your house this week!

    Photobucket

    Preschool Corner: Days of the Week Song

    For some strange reason, I’ve been thinking about vlogging for Preschool Corner.

    Why? Well, other than the fact that I am low on sleep and flying on Dr. Pepper lately, there really isn’t any rational explanation as to WHY I would sit myself down in front of a camera and think that singing is a sane idea.

    Especially because it depended on having at least 5 minutes of uninterrupted and quiet time in order to get it done ~ something that is nothing short of miraculous in this house.

    So….here’s me. Live. Rambling {which I do extremely well} and singing one of the songs we sing frequently in our house to help the kids learn the days of the week.

    Days of the Week Song
    {to the tune of Oh My Darlin’ Clementine}

    There are seven days, there are seven days,
    There are seven days in a week.
    There are seven days, there are seven days,
    There are seven days in a week.

    Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
    Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
    Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
    Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

    About the Preschool Corner:

    The Preschool Corner is a place for us to share the ideas we are using during our “preschool time” with our kids. You can join in the fun and record what you are doing in your house. Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below (if you have questions feel free to ask). Be sure to link back to this blog post so that your readers can find some other great ideas too!

    The guidelines can be found here if you need them.

    Share what you’ve been doing in your house this week!

    Photobucket