Pryscilla Lost A Tooth

Didn't want to forget to record this very special day!! Pryscilla lost her first tooth this evening!! We were eating hamburgers.

Will post a pic soon

All Saints & All Souls Day

The past two days we've celebrated All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls Day (Nov. 2). We've prayed, learned, and done a few activities. Two very special days to start our next term.

Kindergarten/Prep Level/Year 0- Term 1

We've completed term 2 of Kindergarten here's the rundown
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So what have we done in 12 weeks?! This is my girls kindergarten year and we're following the Charlotte Mason philosophy, as outlined by Ambelside Online, Mater Amabilis (because we are Catholic), and Karen Andreola's book, A Charlotte Mason Companion. Plus lots of great ideas from some of my favorite books and blogs. This community is so rich and incredible. I'm very thankful to be able to read about how other moms have done it. I'm also in a few facebook groups - those have also helped at times too.

Here's What We've Done

Bible
We start every morning at our prayer board. We write down the the prayers people ask us to pray and then pray over that board. I read the bible to the girls after this. We learn prayers, listen to our hymns, and today we prayed the whole rosary! I also just got the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism, and soon I will get the Angel Food books to accompany that. We also read stories from our Little Visits With God book. Once a week, if our schedule and Silas allows, we start our co-op off at church. This time I would say would be like our Morning Basket.

I ordered these little angels on Amazon for the girls to have for Bible/Religion time.

Our prayer corner.

once a week we go to co-op. Mass and assembly takes place in this beautiful church!

Play, outdoor time, and nature study (science) 
The kids all play outside, freely, as much as the day allows. PLAY PLAY PLAY is so important to me!! Research proves there's no better way to learn than through play. We also have more structured outdoor time by taking walks and learning plant, tree, flower, and animal identification. We're part of a CM co-op where we take group walks together, the girls learn about painting, and then paint in their journals.


Learning About
Birds
Trees
Flowers
Bugs
Animals
Weather

Habits
When it comes to habits we've made progress! They have a morning routine that they follow very well. They get up brush teeth, make beds, pick up their room, and get dressed. They come to me with their brush and pony tail. Then we're all ready for breakfast followed by bible and prayer time.
Some mornings I put a small basket of their clothes in the room so they can fold those and put away too. Daily, I continue to focus on attention, helpfulness, and kindness. 

Children's Literature
The next most important part of our homeschool...lots of good stories! So what have we read this term?

The House At Pooh Corner

Bears On Hemlock Mountain 

Beatrix Potter (We have read all of her stories (the shorter ones) last year, but I still like to read them again from time to time. Plus their little brother Silas is getting close to 3 so he's starting to enjoy them as well. He asked for Peter Rabbit just the other day) 

Jame's Herriot's Treasury For Children - The girls LOVED this book!!! 

Kindergarten Gems (a few stories)

Little Folks Land (we've just started)

Christian Mother Goose Treasury II (We have I and have read it through a couple of times. We found treasury II at half price books for $5! Dandelion Sea is such a sweet place).

I'm so excited about accomplishing all of this reading with the girls in 12 weeks. We've also been learning to read and they are both making lots of progress! It's so exciting to witness this. I'm not pushing learning to read, we just do a little each day. I use early readers like Bob Books, Dick and Jane, and The Primer combined with Alpha Phonics. We still do lots of review of letters and their sounds. I'm introducing blends as they come up in our reading, naturally. I point them out and we repeat them together a few times. Their little brains are making the obvious reading connections, almost like magic. It's beautiful!

Copywork
We use the pages form Alpha Phonics that we are working on, poems, and prayers for our copy work (handwriting). We write letters and the girls copy all kinds of cards and things they find around the house. We do just a little each day, and I don't stress about handwriting right now.

We've also done some memorizing this term:
Poems
Rober Lois Stevenson
The Sea
A Thought
Rain
Bed In Summer (WIP)
Prayers
The Meal Prayer
Hail Mary
Our Father
Our Lady Of Knock Prayer
A few bible verses
Other
The Pledge Of Allegiance

We've done some Geography:
Introduction to direction N,S,E,W
Maps (we color the states in on a map after we learn something about that state)

Our address
Some nearby Cities (where family members live)
A handful of states
Nearby Rivers, lakes
Oceans
Mexico
Alaska
Globe project
Reading through the books, "We Learn About Other Children" and "Children Just Like Me"

Math

Program wise, we use MEP math and Ray's Arithmetic. We also just discuss the basic concepts of math, numbers, counting, addition/subtraction as often as possible. We work through word problems I make up mentally, play math games, cook, and just do lots of natural every day learning with it comes to math. Right now they love MATH, it's really fun and hands on. It's a nice break between reading. I'm reading Arithmetic For Parents by Ron Aharoni and I love it! He's a mathematician and his book is awesome. Great guide to teaching elementary math based on research, history, and the foundations of math.

Handicrafts / Crafts / Projects 
Peanut Butter Pine Cone bird feeders
Globe project (HT)
Painted Pumpkins
Cooking
Drawing Lessons
Giraffes for NICU babies and Bundles - The girls help me with my nonprofit work and at meetings!
Clay

Artist Study
Degas
Renoir

Composer and Our Future Tea Time
We've just listend to a variety of classical composers a little each day. Maybe next term I'll choose 1 or 2 to focus a little more on or play specifically during our tea time. We've only had "tea time" once and we did our poetry while we drank pomegranate herbal tea. Sweet memory!! It was so much fun, the girls loved it. I'll be incorporating more of that over the next terms. I want to make it a time to talk about our composer, artist, and poem. Right now that's all been very scattered, particularly the composer and artist. It's fine, but I'd just like to carve out a special time for those types of things and tea time seems like it would be a perfect fit. I know lots of families do it and it's a great idea! It's taken me this whole term to get our bible/prayer corner and time established. Special things take time!

History
We're reading slowly through Stories Of Great Americans and just talk about history.

Other
Spanish class
Dance class
Tumbling class
1 day a week they are a part of full day co-op and all of the learning that comes along with that is just amazing both academically and socially.

Amazing Life Experiences
My sister had her sweet baby girl, Ainsley! The girls were there to meet her the day she was born. They got to witness my sister's pregnancy and be a part of their cousin's birth as they waited for her to be born and met her just hours later. What a blessing! They love her so much!

Preemie Prints 5K and Angel Baby Butterfly Release. We had our 3rd annual event for babies who are born prematurely or critically ill. The girls were a part of the planning process in more ways than one. They participated in the walk and enjoyed the day. The butterfly release for the angel babies is so very special. It's a wonderful experience for them to take part in that ceremony along with all of the angel families.
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We have absolutely had overwhelming moments; however, I want nothing more than to be teaching my children right now. I feel it's part of my vocation as a mother, my calling. I get one shot with these little ones and that weighs heavily on my heart. I want to give them the best that I can. It does not look perfect but it's filled with love.  It's been hard at times but the rewards are far outweighing the difficulties. Silas has been a trooper too. Learning right along with us. The girls imaginations are out of this world. All three are full of energy, playfulness, and love. This past week in particular was just about perfect, which is great since it was the end of our term. Next comes the holiday term. I'm a little nervous. I'll let you know how we do! Many thanks and blessings for the continued support.

~ Amber

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

Reading Rainbow is on Netflix!! We do sneak in a little TV here and there ;) I was pleased to find this addition on Netflix. I have great memories of Reading Rainbow.

As I was cutting up some apples for our snack after our nature study and painting lesson we tuned in for an episode. I was so excited to see that Season 1 Episode 12's feature book is "How to Make an Apple Pie & See the World by Marion Priceman. This is a geography book listed on the Mater Amabilis prep level syllabus. I have twin girls in prep level, so we watched it, ate our apples,  and visited afterwards about where she traveled to. I then checked off geography (and nature study) for the day!

Charlotte Mason Circle Schedule

Good Morning! As my five year old twins and I venture into our first official, well sort of official, year of homeschooling I needed an easy to use schedule. We are using the Charlotte Mason method, I've devised an easy way to set up our weekly schedule using circles! I'm a visual person, and I also like to check things off a list!! So this suits me. This will be my first year working with it, so I may neet to tweak it down the road. If you see an area where I should make some changes please comment below.

I've gotten a lot of great feedback about it in some of the Charlotte Mason groups I'm in. So I've decided to set up this post so that others have access to it. You can click here for access to a public google document. The fields are all left blank so you can add your subjects and details. You just need to hit the T button (text edit) to start filling it in. The top portion is also editable. I added a few circles because the older years may need more. Once you're done, just hit the file button and create PDF or JPEG. Then print! I initially created this for Year 0, see below. Possibly, as we move on, I will add more ready made years. I'm a graphic designer, so the other option is for me to do it for you. If you need my help, I'm asking for a small payment of $10, just to cover my time. I'll fill in the top with your desired title and year and then the main subjects you want in the circles for the year. Then you will need to write in the details as you proceed through your year.

Sample of our YEAR 0/PREP Level schedule: 

Take me to the editable google doc

Here's how our Year 0.5/Prep Level Term I went!!

Hot Shots Soccer

Eden & Pryscilla are having fun with friends at Hot Shots playing soccer!! Here are a few pics. 

Our Obligatory (AND FUN) Picture With E.B.!

On the way!

Looking Around For Him...

Cookie while we wait

Here He Comes!!! 

After a few tears from Silas and some rearranging...WE GOT IT! Official Pic!

The First Days Of Spring!

I love the first days of spring & how they coincide with Easter! There's nothing quite like coming out of the cold rainy days of winter. Here in Texas, one day you're wondering when it will end, and the next it's HELLO SPRING! It's similar to the transformative nature of lent ending with the restorative beauty of Christ's resurrection.

I see God in nature throughout every season, but there's something very special about observing tiny budding blooms, bright green leaves peaking out of dead branches, the first colorful flowers, the bright new sun, and the sweet melodic song of the birds waking up! It's a very spiritual season.

Today the memories of my family working and playing in the bright warm sun of this breezy March day will forever be in my mind, and I'm writing this post to ensure that. As lent draws to a close and my 10 year wedding anniversary approaches, I've been all the more reflective.

Today the sweet smell of fresh cut grass brought back my own childhood memories of springtime and helping in the backyard. My parents always had a job we could help with and our backyard was so great for exploring! I have backyard memories as far back as I can remember. I thought about the house I grew up in as a little girl a lot today. It was such a cozy house. I hope our home & backyard will stir up the same sweet nostalgia in my children when they grow up.

Today we cut our grass, trimmed our trees, pulled our weeds, and planned our small garden. The sun was bright but the air was cool. The kids laughter was our music and their pretend world was our background. I could not dream up a more lovely atmosphere to work in! The joy of our children surrounded by the beauty of spring.

I'm about as happy as one could be here, so very thankful for the gifts we are such proud stewards of. Today as I was dragging a tree limb across the backyard I looked over at a picturesque moment that I failed to capture with my camera. It was Eden (5), Pryscilla (5), and Silas (2) sitting shoulder to shoulder on the back porch. Barefoot. The little guy in a star wars t-shirt and a diaper. Pryscilla in a pretty (but dirty) dress, lace on top sea foam green net on the bottom. Eden in a hot pink shirt with a panda on it with a polka dot skirt. All three...dirty from a long day of playing outside, hair a mess, bag of cheetos in their hand, and smiling orange cheeto faces. I dropped the stick to go grab my camera, but by the time I got back moment was over. Thank goodness I stopped long enough to capture it in my mind before running for the camera.  :)

These days are treasures. So fleeting. Please take life slow, enjoy the simplicity, be present, and gratify God many times a day.

Today....

~We found that we have a resident Mockingbird living in our front yard tree, with a nest! We also have a Carolina Chickadee who has taken up residence on our back porch at night. ~
~We put up two birdfeeders one for hummingbirds and a normal one~
~Silas tried to grab a lizard~
~Lots of bike riding, scooters, and playing in oversized boxes~
~A relaxing and fun family picnic outside of Churches Chicken~
~All three kids helpled daddy and spent lots of time pretending to fix things!~

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"In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother's first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time..."

Hot Shots Soccer With Friends!

The girls have started their second round of soccer. This session should be extra fun since they're playing with a couple of their best friends!

Spring Cleaning The Sandbox!

Here are Eden & Pryscilla working hard! They are clearing the weeds out of their sandbox. Good work girls!

Silas' 2 Years Dr. Appt

Silas was an angel at his 2 year appt. Screamed for the two shots he got but stickers and a lollipop fixed him pretty quick. He's growing too fast. He's talking in full sentences & he's in the 95th percentile! Big boy!