Valentine's Day Writing Prompt {Free Printable}

We've been writing little love letters to all of our favourite Valentines.  It's been great printing and spelling practice for B and she has enjoyed writing letters to mail to her friends.  I've asked W and A dictate what they want to say and I write it down for them.  I have to say, the things that they love about people are downright adorable!  This is why I love Valentine's Day!

They're also including drawing of their loved ones.  Because who doesn't love a hand drawn portrait?

If you would like to write some little love letters with your children, please help yourself to this free Valentine's Day printable by clicking the image below.  

Where I share: Mom's Library, Mommy Club Link Up,Valentine's Day Link Up

Pinterest Boards for Seasonal Crafting

We do a lot of crafting in our house.  I love all kinds of handwork and you will often find me nestled on the couch with a blanket and some knitting.  My kids have grown up surrounded by yarn and felt and all kinds of other mediums.  They have come to enjoy crafting just as much as I do (and sometimes more).

We also enjoy observing the seasons.  We are lucky to live in a part of the world that has four distinct seasons and we often tailor our crafting and homeschool lessons to fit with the season we are in.  Seasonal planning makes my life easier when it comes to choosing our projects for the year and it provides a whole lot of rich subject matter when it comes to learning.

If you are looking for seasonal crafting and learning ideas, please check out my pinboards!  I'm always adding new content.

Winter
Follow Kalista // When We're at Home's board Winter on Pinterest.
Spring
Follow Kalista // When We're at Home's board Spring on Pinterest.
Summer
Follow Kalista // When We're at Home's board Summer on Pinterest.
Autumn
Follow Kalista // When We're at Home's board Autumn on Pinterest.

Click the image below to see what the other blogger from iHomeschool network are pinning.  There's a huge wealth of information being shared and I'm quite sure there will be something for everyone! 

Day 2: Simplify Your Homeschool by Setting Goals

We're on day 2 of our Simplify Your Homeschool series and today we are talking about how setting goals can help you simplify.

January is kind of a popular month for goal setting.  And I know, lots of people love to hate on resolutions.  But when it comes to homeschooling goals can help you with simplifying.

It's so easy to get overwhelmed with the unending curriculum choices out there.  We all want what's best for our kids and we can get bogged down wanting to teach them every subject that every expert says our kids need to know. But we don't need to do it all.  We all have different priorities, different passions, different goals.

 In order to decide what to keep and what to toss (which is coming later this week), you need to know what it is that you're trying to accomplish in your homeschool.  What's important to you?  What do you want your children to learn this year? What do things will you teach them that you feel will best serve them in the future?  Knowing the answer to these questions will help you decide what to include in your days.

Start out by writing a mission statement for your homeschool.  Figure out what you think education should look like.  Think about why you chose to homeschool... about what it is that you most want your children to take from their time in school.  Now translate that into a mission statement that you can check in with when you're wondering what the heck it is that you're doing.

Our mission statement looks something like this:

In home educating our children, we hope to nurture their natural curiosity and cultivate a spirit of wisdom and virtue.  We hope to aid them in developing a love of learning and give them the tools necessary to answer questions for themselves.  We will expose them to great literature, art and music in the hopes that they will learn to love and appreciate the beauty that is all around them. We will give them ample time to explore and learn from nature.  We will help them to develop skills that we feel are necessary for success including good work ethic, self-discipline, initiative and creativity.  Above all, we want our children to learn to love God and serve others joyfully.  

From the mission statement, I can create smaller goals or themes for the year, like:
- read aloud everyday from a variety of quality books
-encourage creativity through various art projects and lessons
- find at least one tangible way to serve others in our community each month

Of course, you can break it down even further and make specific goals for each child.  For example, some of my goals for B include:
-achieve fluency in reading so she is comfortable doing so independently
- work on slowing down and doing her best work instead of rushing just to finish
-expose her to and allow her to experiment with different forms of art

When you've got these goals laid out in front of you, it's easy to see whether or not an activity or project will help you achieve them and it's easy to see what things aren't worth keeping. Things will be much simpler when you aren't filling up your schedule with frilly extras that aren't serving your purpose.

So how about you?  What are your goals for your homeschool?

To see the other posts in the Simplify Your Homeschool Series, click the image below.

This series is part of the iHomeschool Network Hopscotch.  Click the link below to see what series the other bloggers have up.  You'll be glad you did! :)

5 Days of Simplifying Your Homeschool

As mothers, we all want what's best for our children. We want to give them the best education, the most experiences and the coolest opportunities.  This, of course, is wonderful but it also means that we have a tendency to over complicate things. When you're a homeschooler, there's a whole lot more things for you to complicate.  And let me tell you...no one benefits from over complicated. 

Sometimes it's hard to step back and see exactly how we're making things harder but when we're in the moment, up to our eyeballs in laundry, sleep deprived and trying to teach a math lesson in the car on the way to tai kwon do...well... we start to realize that something needs to change. 

I'm here to tell you that you can simplify your homeschool.  It doesn't have to be chaotic and stressful and messy (well...not all the time anyway).  I am the queen of over complication so I know exactly what its like when things get crazy.  But I also know the peace that comes with simpler days.  I want everyone to know what that feels like. 

For the rest of this week, I will be discussing 5 simple steps that you can take to simplify your homeschool.  Hopefully by the end of the week, things will be a little simpler and a little easier.

Day 1:The Importance of Rhythm

Day 2: Simplify Your Homeschool by Setting Goals

Day 3: Re-evaluate What's Working and What Isn't

Day 4: Reduce the Clutter
Day 5: Schedule in Some Fun!

Click the image below to see the 5 Day Series that the bloggers of iHomeschool Network have written.  You'll be glad you did!

What to Do When the Curriculum Starts to Take Over

Homeschooling is hard.  It can be completely overwhelming to balance all of the roles that a homeschooling mom (or dad) has to play; housework, teacher, parent, spouse. Its a lot.  Sometimes, the scale starts to tip in one direction and one thing starts to take over.  This has been the case for us lately.  Specifically, it has been the curriculum that has been taking over.

I've mentioned before that I might be a little obsessed with checking off items on my to do list.  I might have a bit of a problem.  If I leave a box unchecked...well, it makes me a little crazy. This has served me well in some areas of my life but, unfortunately, homeschooling is not one of them.

Lately I've started to see our curriculum as a to do list...compulsively checking off each box everyday...even if that means letting other things slide.  And that is just what has happened.  I started to notice it in the beginning of November.  We would run out of time and wouldn't get to the craft I had planned or our outside time would get cut short.  By the end of November, we were all feeling a little stir crazy and that to do list I had created had started to feel a little bit like a prison.

When I started homeschooling, I chose to do it because I wanted flexibility.  I wanted the ability to follow my children's interests and create an environment that fosters a true love of learning.  I saw that innate curiosity in my children and I wanted to do everything I could to nurture that and watch it grow.  But its hard to do all of that when you let the curriculum take over.

Curriculum certainly has its place but I don't think it needs to be number one in our homeschool.  There are so many powerful learning opportunities that happen naturally that will be missed when curriculum is all that we do.

It's all about finding a balance.

So what can you do when you find the scale tipping to heavily in favour of your curriculum?

Be flexible.

Curriculum does not have to be a to do list so don't look at it that way.  There are some things that will not suit your family and that's okay.  Take what works and leave what doesn't.  And there you go! You've just opened up some room in your day!

Forget your timelines. 

It alright if it takes you a little longer to finish this stuff.  The public school's calendar doesn't have to dictate your school's calendar.  You can go longer into the summer if you need to or do some stuff in the evenings.  If you're having a bad week and are seeking balance, take a few days off of spelling and spend that time doing something else.  

Make time for the other stuff. 

Spend some time in nature, read aloud together, get active, do something creative, do some fun experiments just because, research something your kids are interested in, go on a field trip... 

There are some things that are just as (and often more, in my opinion) important than sitting down to do lessons.  These are the things that encourage learning in a natural, unforced kind of way.  Make these things a priority and watch your kids as they do them, its kind of amazing what they take from it. You might be surprised at just how much they can learn all on their own.  

We're taking the month of December off.  Daddy is home and we are enjoying just being together again.  At first, I worried that taking a break from our formal lessons would be a problem but really, the learning hasn't stopped.  And we are really enjoying ourselves as we learn.  That's the kind of learning I want for my kids.

We'll go back to using our curriculum in January but in a less militant way.  I think we will all enjoy ourselves a whole lot more when I'm not letting the curriculum take over.

What about you?  Do you find it tough to balance it all? What do you do to keep things from taking over?

 

Why We Love First Language Lessons

I think I have mentioned in the past the my children do not like repetition, right?  Trying to get them to do anything more than once usually ends in a battle of wills.  This is super helpful in the home schooling environment where you, you know, review things in order to learn them.

After a LOT of research on grammar curriculum (seriously, I had dreams about this stuff for weeks) I finally settled on First Language Lessons for the Well- Trained Mind by Jessie Wise.  When I opened up the books and read through it, I started to sweat a little...there is a lot of repetition in there.  All I could think of were the temper tantrums and tears that were sure to come.  On the first day of school, I reluctantly pulled the book out and we did the lesson.  No tears.  The second day came and went.  No arguments.  The first week was completed without a single complaint.  Hallelujah!

Today was date night for B and I and I asked her how she thought school was going and what she thought of our curriculum choices.  Would you believe that she said grammar is her favourite?!  I know that sounds crazy because really, grammar is supposed to be no one's favourite.  But she really does love it.  And so do I!

So for the mom's out there who are worrying about finding a great grammar curriculum, here is my 100% unpaid, only-doing-it-because-I-really-do-love-it review of First Language Lessons (with bonus review by my seven year old!).

Why I love First Language Lessons

• The biggest reason: it's easy!  The lessons are scripted so I literally open the book and we start.  There is no prep time, no cutting out or laminating, no memorizing songs and rhymes, no setting up games.  Simple.  Easy.  Perfect for busy moms (and lazy ones like me).
• It's thorough.  We have been working on nouns since the beginning of school and let me tell you, she knows the concept inside out and backwards.  We've spent a good amount of time discussing each kind of noun in great detail and she gets it.   
• The "Four Strand" approach: they use a variety of methods to drive the point home which keeps it from getting boring. There's memory work, copywork, narration and grammar lessons. 

How we use First Language Lessons

There are 100 lessons in level 1 and 100 lessons in level 2.  We usually do one lesson each day but have, on occasion, done two.  Some of the lessons are really, really short so I don't feel bad squeezing two in here and there.  The lessons take no longer than 15 minutes, even with enrichment activities that are sometimes included.  

B has a binder that we keep all of her school work in and there is a divider for grammar.  In here we keep the enrichment activities and colouring pages.  There is very little writing at this point so there's not much in that section of her binder.  

I do sometimes add my own activities to liven things up.  We do a lot of fun stuff to help memorize the poems. I often pull up the paintings in the picture narration lessons on the computer so we can see them in colour and learn more about them and their artists.  

Why B (the seven year old) loves First Language Lessons

(I asked her to give me the top 3 reasons she likes this curriculum.  I'm not editing her answers...its good to hear it from their perspective.  Plus its cute.)

• "It's quick.  Lessons get boring if they take too long sometimes.  These ones are always fast."
• "I like looking at the pictures.  Especially when mom puts them on the computer so we can see the colours and we get to make up stories about them."
• "I like memorizing the poems because we can yell."

So there you have it.  We both love First Language Lessons.  If you're looking for something quick and easy while still being thorough, I highly recommend checking these books out! 

I just want to reiterate that I have, in no way, been compensated for this review.  When I was researching curriculum last year, I really appreciated all the reviews out there in internetland.  I just wanted to pay it forward!

But wait!  There's more...(said in a cheesy infomercial voice)

I've put together some vintage-y colouring pages to go with the poems.  After B successfully recites a poem she gets to colour it's page and put it in her binder.  She loves any excuse to colour and sometimes it serves as motivation when she's dragging her heels a little.   If you would like to use them, please click the image below.

This Week in Preschool: Thanksgiving Theme

This week was our Thanksgiving Theme in Preschool.  It's a little early for you American readers but us Canadians are celebrating this weekend.  I'll enjoy some turkey and stuffing for you. ;)

Thanksgiving is... - Gail Gibbons

A Pioneer Thanksgiving- Barbara Greenwood

One is a Feast for a Mouse- Judy Cox

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving- Louisa May Alcott

                                       

Using cinnamon play dough, we made turkeys.  Along with the play dough I set out card stock beaks, feathers, googly eyes and pipe cleaners.  

It was a short week for us this week because we spent two amazing days at a friends' farm.

Baking: That will be happening this weekend as the kids and I help grandma prepare for our Sunday dinner.  

Painting/ Drawing: I printed out this how to draw a turkey page for the kids.  They traced the steps in the boxes and then attempted their own.  

Craft: The kids have been very interested in plasticine illustrations since seeing it in a book last week so we tried our hands at that this week.  We made Thanksgiving turkeys. 

The worksheets I used for this week all came from this Thanksgiving Printable Pack.  We used the pre-writing, shape tracing and cutting practice pages from the tot pack. We also did a Turkey Do a Dot page. 

Don't forget to check out my Thanksgiving Theme Pinterest board for more great ideas!

Follow Kalista // When We're at Home's board Pre-K: Thanksgiving Theme on Pinterest.

Preschool: Apple Week

Here's an overview of our Preschool Apple Week. If you're looking for more apple-y ideas, check out my Apple Theme Pinterest Board.

This week we read:
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
An Apple Pie for Dinner retold by Susan VanHecke
The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson
Our Apple Tree by Gorel Naslund
Apples for Everyone by Jill Esbaum
One Green Apple by Eve Bunting

We don't do an actual circle time right now because I spend too much of it chasing a rogue baby.  I try to incorporate songs and fingerplays into the natural pauses in our day instead.  I like to use songs for transition periods (coming inside after our walk, for example) and fingerplays are great for diaper changes or while cuddling on the couch. 

Apple Circle Time Song and Action Rhyme

Apple Tree Fingerplay

Monday: bake an apple pie

We started our week off with an apple pie.  Grandma even got in on the action (which is good because I despise peeling apples and we couldn't find the peeler). 

Tuesday: wet-on-wet watercolour apples

We are big fans of the Waldorfy wet-on-wet watercolour painting.  It's such a forgiving medium and it always produces such beautiful results.  I set out green, red and yellow (apple colours). 

Wednesday: make apple pies with play dough (rolling pin, pie plate, crimp cutter)

We didn't actually get to do play dough this week, sadly.  If we had it would have looked something like this.  I love incorporating things I have lying around the house (especially things from outside) into their play and the cinnamon adds and extra sensory experience with that lovely scent!

Thursday: Button Apple Craft

Whenever possible, I like to tie projects from different days into each other. It's especially nice to use paint projects in crafts because, well, you can only hang up so many paintings before you get overrun.  I had the kids cut apple shapes out of their water colour paintings from Tuesday.  They glued them onto construction paper along with a stem and leaf.  Then they traced the outline with white glue and added buttons. 

The kids really enjoyed the worksheets this week.  Every morning A would ask when we get to start school.  She took it all very seriously and actually cried when I told her we were taking Friday off!  It's been nice to have them working on something instead of destroying things while I work with B.  

You can find the worksheets we used below:

Number Apples

Apple Prewriting Sheet
Apple Do-a- Dot
Apple Counting Book
Another Apple Prewriting Sheet


So that was my week with the preschoolers!  Overall, it went very well.  We're still working out some scheduling kinks but I am confident that this year is going to be awesome!