SO Excited!!

We are leaving today to go visit my sister Danielle! We haven't seen her in over 9 months and I can't wait! For those who don't know, she is in a residential center in Southern Utah getting the help she needs to conquer her issues and learn to lead a happy and healthy life. She turned 18 on Sunday so we are praying that she will choose to stay and finish the program, now that she is able to choose for herself to leave or not.

She left in September so she missed Adam's 2nd birthday, Christmas, and all of Abby's little life. I can't wait for her to meet Abby and I'm even more excited for her to see how much Adam has changed in 9 months. She was always so wonderful with him and he just adores her! He prays for her every night and is constantly talking about her, even though he hasn't seen her for so long. We only get to spend a few hours with her on Thursday and Friday but we will treasure them!

Stay tuned for lots of pictures of Adam and Abby with their Aunt DeeDee (and me with my baby sister)!!

This was the last day we saw her before she left. She didn't know she was leaving, but I did. It was so bittersweet watching her play and love on Adam. It broke my heart (and still does) that she has missed so much of his life. Have I mentioned how excited I am for our trip???

Tot School – Week 3

- Adam is 30 months -

The book we read this week was Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. Adam loved it! I also checked out several other “Jesse Bear” titles and he loved all of those as well. Using the ideas in Before Five in a Row and Homeschool Share we….

Colored a red shirt and blue pants just like what Jesse Bear chooses to wear that day. I laid out a variety of colored pencils and asked Adam to find the red one and then the blue one. I thought he might revolt and want to color them whatever color (which would’ve been fine) but he happily chose to match it to what Jesse Bear was wearing.

Later, he colored them green as well. :)

He told me that he colored the buttons red. I’m noticing that he is beginning to color more with a purpose rather than just scribbling all over the page.

We made a “B” book (B for bear) and he used a glue stick to glue on other thing that started with “B”. He was a big fan of the glue stick!

In the book, Jesse Bear eats lunch (a very healthy lunch) so as we talked about the different healthy foods, Adam glued them onto a picture of a plate.

The hit of the week was this Melissa and Doug puzzle. I saw it on Amazon and knew I had to get it before we read Jesse Bear. He has played with this puzzle every day since I introduced it!

For our Tot School activities (you can learn more about Tot School and get lots of ideas from the blog 1+1+1=1) we did…

Aquatic Animals dominoes. He matched up all the jelly fish and then had fun lining the dominoes up.

Lots of play-doh.

He told me that this was a rainbow. How clever!

I want to work on number recognition a little, so I thought this would be a fun way to learn the numbers and also practice counting. I had to help him with this, although he chose to sort them into separate colors by himself.

After we counted, he wanted to sort the rest of the beads into colors but soon realized he didn’t have a space for black, blue, or orange so I got out the ice cube tray. He spent FOREVER sorted beads! He’d get them all sorted, then transfer them back into the egg carton, then back into the ice cube tray. He keeps asking to do it again so I think it’ll be an option again next week.

Hot or Cold? File Folder Game (from www.filefolderfun.com). He needed some help in the beginning to know what to do and also for me to explain some of the cards like volcano and igloo.

Another highlight of the week was swimming! I think I’ll be filling up this little pool many more times in the next couple of months!

I’m really enjoying doing Tot School and Before Five in a Row with Adam. I think the best part is the conversations we have while he’s coloring, gluing, or playing. He’s pretty hilarious with all the things he imagines and talks about.

Next up….Yellow Ball by Molly Bang (this book is out of print but I found it at my library).

Bouncy Fun!

A couple days ago we met up with my friend Katie and her girls Lexie and Brynlee, who are the same ages as Adam and Abby. We went to a bouncy place and Adam and Lexie had a blast! They didn’t really interact with each other much, but had lots of fun being independent and “big”. They just ran around while we watch or took care of the babies.

These were about the only times they were together in the same spot. Both Katie and I were amazed at how fearless they both were. Just a few months ago, Adam was scared to climb up the ladders and go down the big slides!

The Babies

Happy Early Birthday to Me!

My birthday isn't until next month, but I just couldn't pass up this steal of a deal! I heard about the deal on Carisa's 1+1+1=1 blog and also from Pinching Your Pennies. Because I have recently started making file folder games or other little things for Adam, I realized that using contact paper was far too time consuming. I had resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to have things laminated at the local copy center.....until now!

Amazon has a deal where if you buy this Scotch Thermal Laminator and a pack of the laminating pouches, you can get a $20 mail-in rebate. So originally these 2 products would cost you nearly $95 but with the sale on the lamintor and pouches, plus the rebate and free shipping, the total is only $21.49! Yay!! I already have a cupcake number game and a lady bug sorting game waiting in the wings for this little beauty to arrive! (Is it sad that I'm this excited?)

This week Tot School was....

- Adam is 30 months old -

...a little hit and miss. We all had colds and I pretty much just survived the week. Not feeling well makes everything harder! We did manage a few things though. This week we read Blueberries for Sal and Adam really liked the story. I wasn't sure he would so I was pleasantly surprised. Here's what we did using ideas from Before Five in a Row and http://www.homeschoolshare.com/.

Counting blueberries as we said "kuplink, kuplank, kaplunk".

Adam particularly loved saying the words in the book to describe the sound that blueberries make when they hit the bottom of a pail.

Yum....


Making Blueberry Buckle (basically a coffee cake) for our Family Home Evening treat.

Drawing with a blue pen like the blue ink illustrations in the book.
Letter recognition using little alphabet blueberry cards.
I was surprised to learn that Adam knew 18 capital letters (the right pile). Just a few weeks ago when I tested him, he only knew 10. Don't ask me how he's learning them....I swear I'm not teaching him intentionally!

Activities from his Tot Boxes included this Garanimals Memory Game that I found at Walmart for $5. I had him match the cards. He did these 12 and wanted to more so I put out the other 18 sets but he lost interest after matching about 6 of them.

Painting

I love this set from Crayola.

It's called Crayola No Drop Watercolors and I think we got them at Target.

One of the highlights was going out to watch the excavator that was working down the street. They had been working for a few days and Adam had been watching through the window whenever he heard them. We have a book about different trucks so Adam knows about excavators and loves to point them out whenever he seems them when we're driving.

Beading with large wooden beads

He didn't last long actually beading, preferring to build towers instead.

So although I had more things planned for the week, I guess it wasn't too bad! It was nice being lazy for a few days in the middle of the week as we all worked on getting better.

This week we're reading Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?

I Have No Words....

Our First Week of Tot School!

Adam is 30 months old

This is our very first week of Tot School and we had a lot of fun! Carisa at 1+1+1=1 created the idea (or at least the name!) of Tot School. It's not really school....it's just focused time each day with your toddler. I found that since Abby, the days seemed to pass by so quickly and I often realized I hadn't really done anything with Adam other than absent-mindedly played with him that day. With so many other things occupying my time and attention, I knew I needed to plan something beforehand if I wanted it to get done. Every week, 1+1+1=1 posts about their week of Tot School and provides a link-up for those who want to post about their weeks. It's a great way to get more ideas and to see what other kids Adam's age are doing.

About the time Adam turned 1, I started having little thoughts pop into my head. Crazy thoughts. The idea of homeschooling was brought to my attention by my Mom actually. I can't remember what I was telling her about, but it promted her to ask, "Are you thinking about homeschooling?" Um....no! That idea had never even crossed my mind! But since that day, the feelings and thoughts have flooded my heart and mind. I kept telling myself that Adam was way too young to even be thinking about it so I pretty much shrugged it off. During my pregnancy with Abby and the first few months after having her, I really didn't think about it much. But then....the crazy thoughts started again! I'm lucky to have a Mom who is supportive and listens to me ramble on about it. And I'm even more lucky to have a husband who agrees that homeschool our children might be right for our family. We worry about the world in which we live and want to protect our children as much as possible. We want to teach them the values of the Gospel and the values that this country was founded on. We want to teach them correct history and above all, we want to be able to teach our children in the best way they will learn and foster a love of learning that will continue with them throughout their lives. Even though Adam is only 2 1/2 years old, I feel like I should start now. Not teaching him academics, but teaching him through play. Showing him how much he means to me by reading with him, playing with him, and giving him the tools and opportunities to learn all the basic skills and building blocks that will help him succeed later on.

I came across a book/program called Before Five in a Row. The idea is that you spend a week reading a book and doing activities and having discussions that relate to it. I got a lot of the printable activities off of Homeschool Share which made it really easy!

The book I chose to do first was Caps for Sale because it is already one of our favorites. I grew up loving this book and can still hear my Dad saying, "Caps, caps for sale. 50 cents a cap!" Adam also loves it when his Papa reads this book to him!

Counting monkeys and caps

Pretending to be the Peddler. It's not easy balancing all those caps on your head!Hat Matching Game
Adam surprised me by how quickly he matched all the hats together. We also talked about the different hats: fireman, policeman, cook, etc.
Flipping Through the "Whose Hat?" flip book
This was too hard for him. He was supposed to match up the body, head, and hat. I knew it would be too hard while I was putting it together. Oh well. Maybe we can try it again in a few months.
Playing "Monkey, monkey, sittin' in a tree. Throw the blue cap down to me!"
I would insert a different color each time and he'd have to find the right one to throw down to me. Of course he sailed through this too. He knows all his colors except grey. But, we giggled the whole time and that's all that matters!

These are our naughty monkeys that fell off the bed while they were jumping. We acted out "5 Little Monkeys" and he loved jumping around and then throwing them onto the ground. He then pretended to give them medicine, a band aid, and a kiss on the bumps on their heads.


The rest of these pictures are all of activities that Adam had the chance to choose between each day. I have a little 3-drawer plastic box and each day I would put something in each drawer and he could choose to do whatever he wanted, however long he wanted. He seemed to really gravitate towards the art which makes me happy! I was amazed at just how long he sat and painted the first day. He's never lasted more than 5 minutes or so, but this day, he painted for over 30 minutes!


Color matching blocks....again.....way too easy

Instead, he decided to just make towers and knock them over. Always a favorite!

Stickers

Lots of play-doh time!

Pouring and counting little balls of play-doh

He drew a piano (the zig-zag lines)

Playing his piano

Stringing beads. My friend gave me the idea to use hemp cord because it stays stiff while they are stringing beads. Although it worked well...he was more interested in playing with the beads themselves.

Lesson Learned: Small beads are NOT a "play by yourself" activity! I went to make lunch and that is when he decided to throw the beads around like it was raining.

It was a great week even though he came down with a fever Thursday and Friday. We're both feeling under-the-weather today so hopefully it doesn't hamper this coming week. We're reading Blueberries for Sal and I have lots of fun ideas! Including making a yummy blueberry dessert for Family Home Evening tomorrow! (Family Home Evening is a night set aside each week to spend time together learning about the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and having fun. We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Go to http://www.lds.org/ for more info)