it's all fun and games

ellie!

i picked up these wax sticks over christmas. they came in a crafts kit, but really just wanted the wax! my sis was laughing bec i bought like 10 packs....this is what i wanted them for!

you can manipulate them to make shapes and letters for ellie! i just cut them up, toss them in the tray and she pulls them out when she feels like making letters
not to bad!

the other night my friend made me go for a walk, she is training for a triathlon or something like that and needed to get her work out in. it was -11! with OUT the windchill! it was SOOOO cold!!! but i went with her came home and ate a bag of chips. hahaha

its funny, home educating is such a big part of our life/day and i NEVER post about it. its mostly because i dont take my phone in the school room. way to bad of a distraction! so i dont take pics. our school days are in a routine and flows quite well

the morning is open to play and me starting house work. putting supper in the crock pot, laundry etc...the kids have free time. no screens! just play, we have a snack around 11, then joey goes to bed around 11:30-1:30. nate heads up to the school room, starts his work, ellie goes in my room and watches a show. i then do all the one on subjects with nate, when we are done, ellie joins us and i do school with ellie while nate works independently. this really works well for us. mon, wed, fri and possibly thurs we have home school classes so we take off for those.

ellie is really progressing in her school. i wasnt planning on doing any school with her but im following her lead

practicing her sight words

being silly
with the program we are using with her, it mostly interlocks so i can use pass lessons. when we read the story, she now looks for the words and shows me. she can read mom, dad, nate, joey, ellie, nana, papa, stop, dog, see, the, and, up and a few other words

great job ellie!

oh and me! haha

she works on her lesson, i play the weekly song and if she is still not done with school she will join me at the desk to work in her work books

she is super into school and is insisting that she wants to read. like now. haha. im just following her lead and enjoying teaching her. she is a lot like chris, she thinks very analytical, she wont try something until she's figured it out in her head. she is a deep thinker and is always asking questions, a lot like nate BUT the difference is ellie plays. haha. nate never did. usually by 1, ellie is asking to wake joey up to play with her. i love that they play well together. ellies the bossy big sister, joey is the happy go lucky girl BUT joey will let ellie know when she is NOT happy. we hear a lot of "NO ELLA NO!" 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:37 AM

nates school

this is a quick round up of nates school. we are almost 1/2 way through the yr. its gone rather smoothly with a few minor bumps and adjustments... we are almost (we finish today!) finished all about spelling, so that will tell you how much we LOVE this program. i am going to keep going with spelling for the rest of the yr, just making up my own lessons and i plan on going with all about spelling next yr for level 5

i did nit buy a grammar program this yr. but next yr i will. this yr i am using these wipe cards that i picked up for 18.00. they work and nate uses them when im busy with the girls. ill tell him go do 3/4 grammar cards and off he goes. but i will need to get a solid grammar book for next yr. i have no clue what to use

i had to post this. i find myself drawing a lot of pics for nate for his science. i drew these up yesterday, i did add more details to them but not so bad for a gal who cant draw! (its a rat and a mole haha)

we are 1/2 way through apologia science, land animals. this is by far our FAVORITE book. nate and i read the book together bec i really enjoy it. i bought the work book for nate and most days i give him additional projects because i find there is so much information for him to record

im really liking the science

for history we are finishing up the discovering canada series. we are working through the last book, the railways. i plan on going into the pioneer days with another book i have, so these two time periods flow together. i read from the book with nate beside me, then i write up notes on the white board, then do the project. nate told me yesterday that he really likes this book!

i photocopy pics and have him write in the note book because dude NEEDS to practice printing NICELY! ha i scraped cursive writing, nate loathes it and its not worth the tears. i plan on trying again next yr

math! we just started delta! we hit a bump in the road with gamma. nate struggled to grasp the multiplication concepts (dbl and triple digit) as well as simply memorizing the time tables. i refused to move him to to grade 4 math until her knew it. finally, around christmas time everything clicked and he passed the last few math tests. so i decided to start delta in the new yr. its been 2 weeks of grade 4 math and we are starting lesson 8 today. he is flying through it, i think because he understands multiplication, he was able to grasps division and finds it "easy" so maybe we will finish delta this yr? so biggies if we dont. i work at the level the kids are able to work at. no pressure. im just glad he's back to loving math again

yes, he covers his shoulders with his blanket, the poor thing is tread bare!

for canada, we were reading a book and i made up work for him to do, mostly just free printables i find on line. yesterday we started the lets explore ccanada series and he told me he likes it

i also add explorers. he reads the book one week then spends the next week working on a project that both chris and i mark! last week he did henry hudson, this week he started samuel de champlain

his report last week. this is a GREAT independent project for him to work on, it keeps him busy and hes still able to work when im with the girls

writing is winning with writing. he hates writing, but i like the program so ill prob stick with it next yr

vocab is wordly wise. im not photocopying it, hes using the work book. we really like it!

i scored some awesome writing prompts while away in november. so every day nate picks a card, reads it and writes. another awesome make work project for him to do

they cost 1.00 for 8! i wished i got more

his planner is still going strong. total time and life saver for me! im buying 6 more this yr at conf. ha

nates school cart. all his books fit in the top drawer, school tools are in te bottom and school supplies (paper, work books etc) are in the middle. love it

i also have nate work on 2 sheets of these bad boys, awesome reviews and keeps him focused

love it

i also added an in box this yr. in order for me to stay on top of his work i have him drop work sheets in the basket, and when i can find a few minutes i mark them, that way fri im not over loaded with school work!

so nates school takes about 2.5 hrs a day. he also does independent reading for 30 mins and we do a quick devotion. i plan on adding bible back in his school work next month...

school itself is the best part of our day. nate is a hard worker and is taking pride in his work. i never hear "do i have to do school?" its a part of the day, its what i expect. no arguing. period.

i find with the extra home school activities, play dates and errands, our days are full but NOT over booked. i enjoy getting out of the house and socializing with other moms. i joined the secular group this year and all our activities are with them, im not a member of the christian group, i find there are more issues and arguments and silly things that i just dont have time for

so thats a quick peek into our school day! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:36 AM

kitchen play!

last week, i took the kids to the library (yes, i rotate libraries, they are FREE and we can get out of the house!) and they had a new kitchen! it was super cool. i was chatting to the librarian and she told me the library received a gov't grant and they bought a bunch of new toys for the play area! awesome. anyways, joey enjoyed the kitchen and didnt miss the baby doll that she normally plays with (they got rid of it)

joey is my little mommy. she loves to take care of her babies and puppies, cook and clean. she is super sensitive and loves to cuddle and hug

i now have a new nightly routine, after the girls have their story together i take joey to her room for some one on one cuddles and hugs. she LOVES this time. and so do i!

amazing kitchen! it can be yours for 300.00! yikes! ill just keep bringing the kids to the library to play for free. hahaha

nate took my socks, he said they were red and not pink. he fits them. actually, i can wear most of his shoes! these are the socks you knitted for me ursi, about 5 YRS ago! i get about 5-7 yrs out of the socks you make for me!

ellie was watching for daddy. chris came and joined us for a quick break. he works about a 5 min walk away

friday we had our last mad science class, ive decided to sign nate up for the winter session because he is really enjoying the classes. its a great place to have the class. i have a place to take the girls and okay and there is other mom's around to talk to

on the way home i put some music on and i hear "mom!. look!" i turn around and there was joey shades on (upside down) bopping her head to the music! i took off fri night for some ME time, and hit up sally ann. they had their annual 1.00 kids clothing, i got 20 pieces of clothes for the kids (jeans! under armour! and nike for nate!) and a pair of jeans and a sweater for me. all for 30.00! AWESOME!

saturday i put joey for her nap (yes, she still naps!) i took ellie out for some one on one ellie time. she LOVES going out, always asking for MORE stores, MORE places to go and esp likes the treats i buy her ha

we were playing at the kids play area in chapters and i turn around and find this fella looking at me. ellie wanted me to have company as i watched her play. haha

its been a busy week, but its been good. i dont mind having full days...that way i dont get bored! ha 0 comments

Posted by mel at 9:39 AM

movies and jumping

i took nate to the movies on saturday, i insisted we get there early to get a seat. we did. lol. the place was empty, we picked our prime seats and about 5 mins later the place filled up! ellie was suppose to come but she was still sick, i left her on the couch all bundled up

and came home to this

out cold, asleep on the couch

my sleeping princess!

monday it was flipping COLD. an awful -22! we went to get air, it was joeys first time and we had the place to our self (the home school group) there was almost 200 home schoolers there! i tried to chat up with friends, but i spent most of the time chasing joey!

joey and ellie played together for the most part, then ellie left the toddler area to join the bigger kids. joey was confused at first but after 10 mins she went off and played with some other kids...and kept me busy chasing after her...making sure she didnt go in the big kid area

2 workers played organized games with the older kids, its nice to see how well they play, and they even played that banned game of dodge ball! ha

my friend lise watched joey while i was able to spend time with ellie. joey loves lise and spent most of the time jumping with her

so the cold turned to rain! we had a crazy rain flow yesterday so the original plan of having claude over to build forts in the snow turned into game day! and everyone knows how much i LOVE board games. sigh. i did it for the kids. but im impressed with how little screens the kids had and how they really enjoyed playing games and lego. the boys even let ellie play with them

i had to keep joey on my lap while she was awake. joey is a little fire ball, leaving a blaze of ashes when she leaves

can you see a foot? and a hand? this is what they did after supper. they buried each other under piles of blankets and pillows and ellie jumped on them!