Christmas Wreaths

Wreaths of Maine creates beautiful, fragrant wreaths for the holiday season. They're handmade from authentic Maine Balsam fir and make your house smell like Christmas! The business was started by homeschoolers and they now offer a fundraising opportunity for other homeschoolers. Big Sis is selling wreaths to earn money to buy a butterfly garden in the spring. She wants to raise a butterfly from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly, then release it for a science project. She wants to earn the money herself by selling these wreaths. I'm so proud of her! I'd appreciate it so much if you'd consider purchasing a wreath to help her out. You'll not only be supporting Big Sis in her efforts to earn her own money, but you'll be supporting a business created by other homeschoolers! The wreaths are 100% guaranteed, shipped direct to your door, packaged carefully to keep them fresh. If you order online, please enter her promotional code 4505 so that she gets credit. Leave a comment here so we can thank you!

Fun Fall Lessons: Word Wall & Family Tree

Since Big Sis is enjoying lapbooking and any kind of artsy-craftsy hands-on lessons right now, I decided to do a BIG visual that also serves as seasonal decoration in our house. Don't you love multi-tasking? I found this seasonal tree by Carson-Dellosa on sale for 10 cents at Book Closeouts! Yeah, 10 cents! It has all four seasons for the tree with the corresponding season words. The colors are bright and the drawings are really cute, though you can't tell that from my pictures. LOL It's designed for classroom bulletin boards (about 2x2 feet). We've got it on a door near our homeschool desk. (Maybe I should do a post about where/how we homeschool?)

This picture shows the tree after we added some things. The tree set came with some reproducible apples, leaves, and acorn cut-out patterns. It also came with some lesson ideas for different subjects/ages. Did I mention this was only 10 cents? LOL I love finding a deal! Big Sis colored the apples, leaves, and acorns, cut them out, and we used some old blank labels I had to write on them. Since our theme is "fall," we made an "-all" word family wall. I told her to think of all the -all words she could and write them down on the labels. She came up with all, fall, wall, tall, ball, mall, call, and hall. After she colored and cut them out, she put these labels on the apples and acorns and we taped them under the tree.


Big Sis then labeled the leaves with our family names so we could have our "family tree." We stuck those on the top part of the tree with double-sided tape. She included Grandma & Grandpa so there are 7 leaves instead of 5.

Big Sis had a lot of fun doing this and it tied in well with our Autumn Treasures unit study/lapbook. (I'll share more on that later. I've been having camera trouble.) I like the cheerful decoration for the house! I can't look at it without smiling. ;0)

Overheard

As I was doing laundry the other day, I put Baby Girl in the swing while Big Sis was sitting next to her doing an art project. Lil Sis was playing with the Little People barn in the floor next to them. I overheard this conversation:

Baby Girl: Stretch, grunt, coo

Lil Sis: Baby!

Big Sis: Yes, that's our baby.

Baby Girl: making a loud diaper, as breastfed babies are prone to do


Lil Sis: (laughing and pointing) Funny baby!

Big Sis: (in a wise, older sister voice) You can laugh at her now, but just wait till she gets older and wants to play with your toys. Then you'll see what being a big sister is all about!


Apparently, it's not all it's cracked up to be when it comes to sharing! LOL


For more laughs like these, visit Not Before 7 for Tiny Talk Tuesday!

Books for Christmas!

Want a simple alternative to traffic and hectic shopping malls, but still need a great gift this season? Think Usborne Books! www.qualityusbornebooks.com

Here are a few Christmas books for kids of all ages that might interest you:

50 Christmas Things to Make and Do, Spiral Hardcover $9.99
This inspiring book is bursting with fun, festive ideas for things to make and do in the weeks before Christmas.





Christmas Treasury Kid Kit, Hardcover, $11.99
This Kid Kit contains shape cutters, paints, colorful construction paper, glitter glue and sequins for making amazing Christmas ornaments and festive paper projects. These activities will keep excited children happily occupied during the weeks before Christmas.




Baby's First Christmas with CD, Board Book, $14.99
This magical book is perfect for a baby's first Christmas. They will love looking at the enchanting pictures and listening to the tinkly Christmas music.






Advent Nativity Book, Jigsaw Book, $14.99
Make your own Nativity scene and bring the Christmas story to life with this charming and original book.



Christmas Baking for Children, Spiral Hardcover, $14.99
From gingerbread houses and spiced apple muffins to Christmas cupcakes, this charming book is packed full of recipes that will fill your kitchen with the mouth-watering smells of Christmas baking. Just follow the simple steps to bake scrumptious Christmas treats.

You'll find all these great books and more at www.qualityusbornebooks.com. Let me know if you'd like personalized recommendations based on age and interests!

Homeschool Blog Awards 2009 Part 2

Okay, remember the Homeschool Blog Awards that I mentioned just yesterday? Well, apparently the last day for nominations is TODAY! Duh! I almost missed them again! So if you were waiting till the last minute to nominate someone . . . this is the last minute! Don't check back next week and say to yourself, "That Sara, she told me I had time to do this." Because you don't. And I won't be held responsible for your procrastination. I can barely manage my own procrastination. LOL Have fun!

Homeschool Blog Awards 2009

I just "discovered" the Homeschool Blog Awards last year, about a week too late to nominate anyone. I think it's a great idea and I hope you all will participate! I found some very worthwhile blog reading through the nominees and winners. The contest is divided into 25 categories and you can nominate one blog in each (even yourself!). Head on over and check it out. Nominations are being accepted for a limited time only, so go today! You'll find inspiration, humor, encouragement, and great ideas from fellow homeschoolers. Plus, you get a chance to appreciate the efforts of someone who has helped you in your homeschool journey. You can't beat that!

Did I mention the GREAT PRIZES? ;0)

Mr. Popper's Penguins -- Our first lapbook!

I've been wanting to write about our studies for the new school year and the fun learning we've been doing, but I'm sure you can understand that having a baby on August 25th has sort of kept me busy. *grin*

I do really want to share what Big Sis and I have discovered, though -- lapbooking! Not a new invention in the homeschooling world by any means, but it is new to us. I've been reading about lapbooking, looking at lapbooks, thinking about lapbooks, but generally not doing lapbooks for the past two years. I liked the concept, but had the sneaking suspicion that it might just be busy work. Well, as it turns out, Big Sis loves it. And it's not just busy work! For us, it has increased her already-enthusiastic desire to learn, enhanced skills like handwriting & cutting/pasting, and built a foundation for some very nice literature and unit studies in the process.

We have delved into books and a new level of reading comprehension, thanks to deeper question and answer time with the lapbooks. Big Sis craves hands-on "stuff" for learning. Lapbooks are great for this. We read a little, research a little, and lapbook a little. The only thing I have to do in advance is find the resources and print what we need. Big Sis starts everyday with, "What are we going to do today? Did you find more stuff for me?" She looks over my shoulder as I scour my lapbooking and homeschool sites for printables and ideas. (I'll share some of my favorite links in an upcoming post.) Fun!

We began with reading Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. Big Sis loved the book so I decided it would be a fun place to start. Homeschool Share (an awesome site for quality free resources, especially if you also use FIAR) provided the outline and printables for us to follow. Here are some pictures of her first effort:

Here you can see she labeled the parts of a penguin.

An overall view of the inside of the lapbook. She colored the states where the penguins traveled -- great geography lesson!

We included a food chain (science), penguin alliterations (language arts), and Mr. Popper's infamous icebox. Big Sis added details from the story to the icebox, which covered reading comprehension, as well as fun artwork.

The outside flaps included a definition of pinnipeds (dictionary skills & science), a q&a booklet about the design of penguins' black and white coloring for camoflage, and Big Sis' hand-drawn seals. The encounter with the seals was her favorite part of the book, so she wanted to include them somehow. She drew them free-hand, then cut them out and pasted them onto the front to go along with the pinniped definition.

We used some additional resources from Usborne Books, too:

Where do penguins live and what do they eat? Find the answers, and lots more about penguins, in this delightful touchy-feely book. Hardcover Board Book, $15.99, Deluxe Touchy-Feely Series

What is it like to live in Antarctica? How do penguins travel quickly across the ice? Who discovered the South Pole? And why are seals so fat? In this fascinating book you’ll find the answers and lots more about life on the ice. Hardcover, $4.99, Beginners Nature Series

Dive down deep into the amazing world of penguins to find out how they swim, feed and travel across land. Then follow a penguin chick from the very start of its life, to the time it can take care of itself. Hardcover, $6.99, First Reading Series

These books have beautiful photos and illustrations! I'm an Usborne Books consultant, so I get a good discount but I love these books anyway. {Ask me how you can get a discount, too! And it doesn't involve selling anything -- you can become a Valued Customer or an Affiliate to get discounts!}

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I've learned some things in the process of this first lapbook. I now know how to do extensions, how to make and fold mini-books, and the importance of cardstock and/or colored folders. Our current work is already showing improvements as we learn together about the art and craft of lapbooking! I'll post more photos in the future as we continue to learn through lapbooking.

I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions!