This week’s theme is Sharks!!! Woo Hoo!

Math: Shark maze, Shark On-line Puzzles, we’ll also be working out of his workbook this week.

Reading: Shark Info Page, Shark Tiny Book, The Smiling Shark Poem

Writing/Comprehension: “Sh” writing page, “Sh” book page 1 , and 2

Learning to read these words this week: Shark, fish, we, mad, sad, bad

Science/Sensory: Life Cycle of a Shark,

Art: Shark craft – teeth gluing project. Any more ideas? I looked like crazy for ideas and can’t seem to come up with any.

Bible Verse: Genesis 1:21 -  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Field Trip: Local Children’s Museum – any more ideas? We do have an underwater aquarium fairly close by, but it’s really expensive and so, off the list of possibilities!

So – the main idea here is a pretty easy week since it must be easier to do a straight up underwater theme – ugh! This is probably best since all we’ll BOTH want to do this week is play outside!!!

Please let me know what you’re planning for this week. Any more (PLEASE!) ideas for Shark Week?

Math: Balloon on-line puzzle, balloon counting,

Comprehension/Writing: Kite poem, K is for kite,

Art: Balloon and basket craft

Science/Sensory: Balloon popping game, kite flying game, balloon ride experiment

P.S. Yuk! I meant to do this Sunday – actually, I did, but my computer pooped out on me. Help a siata out of you have any more ideas. We’re just sort of floating this week. Kites and balloons do that, right?

Ok, so I’m going to give this another try.  (Insert smiley, grumpy, exasperated, annoyed, disappointed face here.)

It got to be too much, so I put the blogging (and, mostly, the home schooling) down. But God delivered me from my part-timer and I’m home (for now) with my little man until he goes off to 4 year-old kindergarten in September. I’ll hopefully have a job by then, but if I can get this under wraps before that happens maybe I can continue to stay focused on my main job – raising my amazing boy!

So here’s my first edition. Not to be confused with my first blog. I still don’t have time for blogging. I’m not that organized. (Like you amazing people.) But hopefully getting this all down and linked up will help. Some?

Math: Number the bottom of an egg carton 1-12 then draw dots on plastic eggs (or put something???) in them and have Sam match up the egg to the correct spot. This maze ,  Bunny/basket counting, Bunny graph (love this idea!), Easter ordinal.

Reading: Easter by Gail Gibbons -got this at the library (not recommended if your child is older – it presents the Easter bunny and Jesus and the Bible as “beliefs” and suggests that some of these ideas are only stories. But it does give a very clear presentation of every Easter idea.) The Legend of the Easter Egg – LOVE this one!

Comprehension/Writing: Bunny book, The Easter Bunny’s letter, Jesus poem, Jesus Taught Us How to Pray song.

Learning to read these words this week: egg, cross, spring, did, at, them, with

Science/Sensory: We’re going to start our Marigold seeds in an empty/cleaned out egg shell. We’ll also hide the plastic eggs in the sandbox and dig for them. We’ll buy a white carnation and put it in food coloring and water – watch it over the course of the week.

Art: Trace and color egg, roll the stone away project, Cross scissor skill project, stained glass cross – I think I’ll probably melt the crayons because Sam loves making messes!

Cooking: Easter story cookies – I am so excited to do this – finally! – this year. I love that I’m explaining to Sam the full (albeit abridged) story of Easter finally!!! We’ll use walnuts, however, because we don’t have pecans – hope it still works.

Bible Verses:  Of course, The Bible – these passages tell the story:

• Matthew 28:1-20
• Mark 16:1-19
• Luke 24:1-53
• John 20:1 – 22:25

Field Trip: Park, Egg hunt at Grandma’s, special Easter service at church

As always, thanks so much to the wonderful resources used this week. I am so thankful for your creativity and dedication to children!

Happy Easter  – God BLESS YOU ALL!!!

Sam and I are feeling so much better, and we are ready for a fun, full week of Halloween fun! We kicked things off last night with pumpkin pancakes, turkey sausage, and apples and pumpkin butter for dessert! Yum! Also,  a lot of this week will be repeated since most of last week was spent in front of the TV and reading books – but not all of it!

Math: We’ll probably do some of this again, since he LOVED it so much. Match the pumpkins (for this and the gost maze I had to copy the picture and paste on Word, then print), Ghost maze (this looks really hard, but we’ll give it a shot!), Witch Maze.

Reading: Short “u” on Starfall, Make Five Little Pumpkins Book, P is for pumpkin

Science: Halloween Senses, Make “Alien” Goop - add green food coloring for the alien part!

Music: I ordered this CD from half.com for .97 cents! Sam loves it!

Art:  Computer Paint Activities (Sam LOVES these!), Egg Carton Spider, Spiderweb craft, Ghost Windsock Craft

Cooking: Pumpkin Pancakes!

Books: We checked out a ton of Halloween books from the library. Do you know about your library’s holiday section?

Bible Verse: Isaiah 43:5 – Do not be afraid for I am with you. We didn’t do this even ONCE last week, so we will be sticking with it for this week. Afterall, Halloween spookiness IS kinda scary!

Field Trip: Trick-or-Treating and leaf hunt.

Happy Halloween! Be safe and have a great week! P.S. So sorry this is late.

I wish I watched less TV. I wish I ordered less pizza. I wish I read the Bible more. I wish I was more patient with my son, more gentle with my husband, had more time for my dog. I wish I called my best friend more often and never sent birthday cards out late.

I wish I journaled more than two days in a row. I wish I could stick with my diet. I wish I could find JOY in my at-work job and more joy in pre-schooling Sam. I wish I went outside more, sewed more, cleaned more deeply, cooked more often. I wish I was always on time with bills and always had enough to pay them. I wish I would never fall asleep while Sam watched cartoons in the morning and woke up to find that he’s been watching them for three hours (oh yeah, it happens!).

I wish I always flossed.

I wish I could be more forgiving of my family, of my friends. Especially my husband. I wish I could forget it all.

I wish my hair would stop falling out and that at 29 my teenage zits would go away.I wish my boobs were perky again. I wish I hadn’t made that pledge to never again dye my hair or paint my nails. I wish I didn’t have to shave everyday. I wish I didn’t have to shave EVERYTHING everyday…

I wish I had a pretty winter coat with all of its buttons. I wish I could find shoes that fit. I wish I had a savings account and a college fund for Sam and a 401K. I wish my parents had taught me about money and I wish that Rick and I weren’t so bad with it.

I wish I hadn’t given my two favorite people the flu.

I wish the snow hadn’t knocked down a power line. I wish I had cleaned better for the landlord to come over tomorrow. I wish we had moved into an apartment.

I wish our new baby was here instead of not here at all – not even a little bit yet. I wish I wasn’t fat so I could not worry about another pregnancy.

I wish I could give all my worries away. Instead of holding on to them because I think that gives me control. I wish we were already there. Already perfect. Already Home. Already Whole.

Today was a good day. A really pretty good day. And those are still all the regrets I had. So anyway, you’re not alone. We’re all the same.  I wish every mom could know that we are all the same.

For more info go here. Thanks to Crystal for the info!

That’s all for now – back to bed for me!

Remember this post? About how I wasn’t sooo scared anymore? Well, who knows if I have Swine Flu, but I can surely tell you that I’ve got something. So, let me just give you my advice for getting better:

Netflix Watch Instantly, Emergen-C, Advil, a sweet, amazing boy who doesn’t mind so much to watch Star Wars everyday (the gun scenes fast forwarded, of course), and the ability to just give it up and let go (that’s the hardest part)!

Benefits: Me time, catching up on movies, my husband bringing me things, resting – finally, and a few needed days off of work. I feel like crap but I am anything but stressed, that’s for sure.

Now, these are not the best ideas. If you have any costructive suggestions, please DO share them. For now, lunches will be applesauce, green smoothies (I add protein powder and carrots – no apples), and popcorn (with coconut oil, of course)! See? There. At least I’m trying a little bit.

Math:

Reading: Short “u” on Starfall, Fall Rhymes, Autumn Poems

Science: Leaf Rubbings, Fall Sorting

Music: The Leaves are Falling Down, We will be listening to a lot of Putumayo Radio on Pandora this week, too – it’s perfect for staying inside and chillin out.

Art:  Scarecrow TP Craft, Computer Paint Activities (Sam LOVES these!). We’re also going to cut the center out of a paper plate and glue fallen leaves to make a wreath.

Cooking: Zucchini Bread and Pumpkin Pancakes!

Books: Have any suggestions?

Bible Verse: Isaiah 43:5 – Do not be afraid for I am with you.

Field Trip: Pumpkin Patch/Apple Picking with the family! Hopefully we’ll find a cornmaze and maybe even a haunted house as well! We will also be going on a fall leaf hunting walk.

Hope you have a fun week! Let me know if you have any other fun ideas or activities!

Lately I’ve had this desire to go shopping  – often! We are on a very strict budget and I really CAN’T shop for anything other than food, toilet paper, and dog/cat food. Meaning, in all truth, I can’t afford to shop for anything extra. But I’ve been buying it anyway. This started in the spring when we got our tax rebate check. We kept it in savings FOREVER, but once I started spending it I just never stopped. And once the money was gone I had created a lovely new habit! (Awesome.) Instead of the penny-pincher, love to save and get things for free, “Oh look Sam, it’s even on CLEARANCE!”, I just spent and spent and spent.

Another habit this created was guilt. Because deep down inside I knew we couldn’t afford those things I started to associate shopping with guilt. This is sad because as much as I am NOT a girlie-girl, I really do love to shop. I think that has something to do with being able to provide for my family – something ancient and satisfying. But because   I went shopping for something I did need I also bought something I DID NOT need I have come to associate any shopping at all as a guilt-ridden experience.

So God is fixing this. And I am learning to say no to things I don’t need and ask, “God, will you please find me some ________? I really need/desire them.” And every single time that I have decided not to buy something that I really needed or really, really wanted He has provided for me.

Here are just a few things I’ve experienced:

A few months ago I was absolutely going to run out of conditioner. This might not really seem like such a big deal to you, but I have very long, curly hair and without conditioner my quality of life (sadly, sadly) really is lowered. So I told God I couldn’t afford any more and asked him to please find a way for me to make this last for an extra week until payday. I had what I thought was about three days left – tops – and that was with using less than usual. That stuff lasted me up until the day we got paid.

I went shopping and bought three sweaters and a pair of jeans – all for $40 from the second hand store. I thought I did a pretty good job, but deep down I wasn’t supposed to be there. I kept the sweaters, but took back the pants (they were from Target) and the next night my friend gave me TWO BOXES of sweaters! AND Yesterday she gave me a new pair of jeans! (They were actually new as she bought them just days before she found out she’s pregnant!)

If you remember this post I put on my to do list that I wanted to start thinking of ways to add color to my living room. While shopping at Target last night I found this for $5 on clearance to cover our yucky white and purple couch. So far it kind of looks college-roomy, but I think as I add to it the whole room will start to even out. Now, I know that God didn’t necessarily give that to me for free, but we were only able to buy it since my husband located three checks that have been waiting to go through since February – giving us an extra $50!

Next I have asked God for new underwear. Gross, I know, but I have about three nice pairs. I can’t wait to see how He pulls that one off. I also can’t wait to tell you about it!

These are all just “things” and have no value in reality, but I needed them. Because God is good and loving He gave me the desires of my heart.

What has God provided for you lately? What will you be asking Him for next? Please let me know what you’re waiting for and come back when you have it.

While watching a great video from our local library today Vaccinations?: Assessing the Risks and Benefits I thought I’d check out Dr. Jay Gordon’s website. The primary reason I checked out this video was to evaluate the risks/benefits of the flu shot and H1N1 flu shot for this year. The video is great – maybe a little long with too little information on what EXACTLY to do (which is understandable as he wants every child to be seen and to have this discussed with their pediatrician – that’s my problem – no one will talk to me about it!). However, I did find more updated information on the website. My favorite piece is this. In the article we are given info on herbs and probiotics to take and how much. My second favorite (and just another reason why I won’t be getting the H1N1 flu shot, nor for my three-year-old) is this article. Now, please also research this information before you take one man’s word for it, but from what I’ve heard/read I’m liking this guy. I’ve bookmarked the site and will be visiting it soon for more information!