Gosh, I LOVE to teach. LOVE love LOVE to teach my kids… my kids and their friends…my kids and co-op’ers… This is such a tremendous joy and it is a blessing to find others who are as enthusiastic about learning. Dr Jean is one of those people. Her site is chock full of great ideas for multisensory educational ideas. If you hover over any of the left sidebar subtitles you will link to many activities across the curriculum. Give yourself some time. You will be here awhile. <g>
Tasha Tudor on Stress
"Nowadays, people are so jeezled up. If they took some chamomile tea and spent more time rocking on the porch in the evening listening to the liquid song of the hermit thrush they might enjoy life more."
A Peak Experience
Pardon my tardy photo blogging. We are without a camera at the moment so we are using Colin’s. However Colin cannot find the cord to said camera so we have to jump through a number of hoops (which involve dh taking the camera to another computer blah blah blah) to upload pics and half the time they still aren’t clear. I soooooo wish Santa would bring me a digital SLR, even if one of my children knocked my last camera off the counter….
Anyway, a highlight of the summer was the Pike’s Peak Marathon. The idea is you run 13 miles to the top of the mountain then run 13 more back down. You may wonder what would possess a person to do this? Allen would say, because he can. : ) It is indeed good to be alive.
tess at 8mo
The Loveliness of Family Games
Learning2Love is hosting the Loveliness of Family Games carnival today. Go visit!
The loveliest games played at the ranch as a family during this late summer/early fall are outdoors. Somehow everyone migrates out front after dinner. Not sure if the pull is the cool evening air or an aversion to dishwashing but there they all end up. You can see the biggest kid is always in the thick of things. <g> The favorite last spring was kickball but that has been replaced by football these days. It makes no difference to me. It just makes me happy watching them together.
We seem to have always had outdoor games as an integral part of our lives. I can’t recall a yard without a kickball/baseball diamond worn into the grass. There have always been children – ours and neighbors – trailing after Allen in the driveway, the culdesac, and now the pasture as he led one impromptu team or another. I can’t think of a better way to end the day. : )
Reflective Blogger thanks
Alice and Meredith tagged me for the Blogger Reflections award and I must issue public apologies that I have taken so long to thank them. An author I am reading these days has said "The unexamined life is not worth living." To that he added that the unlived life is not worth examining and I have to voice my hearty agreement. Blogging has helped me to reflect upon my life and my decisions and to articulate those for others. Living that life and making those decisions takes time, however, and I don’t want to miss a thing.
Many of my favorite blogs have been tagged for this award which "should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, or have been a Godly example to you. Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy… of knowing them and being blessed by them." Here are a few you might enjoy:
Once again I have to tag the Lady of Virtue, even if we haven’t had coffee irl yet. : ) If you haven’t visited in a while do go for some encouragement and excellent resources. I think Sherry tagged me in recent weeks as well. Agh. I am so behind. Apologies!!
Although Donna at Christopherus and I come from different theological backgrounds her insight about who children are and how we can best help them grown are challenging and inspiring to me.
Stacy MacDonald reminds women daily of their Sacred Calling. She is convicting!
Funschool D late additions…
…’cause I just don’t get that much sleep. ; ) Occurred to me I didn’t type up all our stuff.
If you already downloaded the plans for D please recheck that link. I added the Montessori Dropper tray, duck duck goose game, a letter sort, and links to the saint/bible hero of the week: David. Remember we won’t do these all at co-op. There is plenty to do the rest the of the week so pace yourself and enjoy just a couple things each day.
Attn Funschool Bloggers
If you are following the Funschool posts in your homeschool and blogging about it please leave your links in the comments section so we can visit!
Funschool Friday D
The Letter of the Week is brought to you by Flickr : )
D is for Dental Health.
D template filled with paper dots. Kids can use the hole punch for fine motor practice and then glue their dots onto the template.
ASL D and Dad
Letter sort – b’s and d’s. Save frozen juice cans and make the letters on craft sticks. Put a corresponding letter on the can. Great visual/perception game
Trays: Playdough, dots (punched). Intro the Montessori dressing frames if you have them. If not, then gather pieces of clothing with zippers, buttons, and snaps and allow the children to try to tackle them independently. Dropper and suction bottomed bath mats. Mix up some colored water and have children very carefully squeeze one drop onto each little suction cup. Include a small sponge and he can absorb each little cup when finished. This will occupy a preschooler for a looooooong time.
Math: diamond shape, dimes, diagonal lines. Have children sort the diamonds from the other cards in a playing card deck. Sort dimes from pile of change. Discuss how many other coin combinations make up a dime. Make diamonds of different dimensions (hey, alliteration ; )) on the geoboard. Look for diamonds in clothing (argyle) and rug patterns this week.
Number 4: make a page for the notebook with the numeral and a set of four things like 4 seasons, the four sides of a diamond, four limbs on a person, 4 gospels etc. Discuss 4 operations – add, subract, multiply and divide – informally by dividing a sandwich in two, giving two cookies to three friends, combining your legos with your brother’s etc.
Snack: Veggies and dip or doughnut holes
Music: drums – make your own with empty oatmeal box. Consider reading about Drummer Hoff.
Game: Duck, duck, goose
Dental Health – there are LOTS of fun activities here. We liked cutting out a large tooth from yellow cardstock and painting it white with our brushes to model thorough brushing. The painting with dental floss would be fun too. More dental printables and crafts here.
science project -(from same site) what are cavities? Take an apple and poke some large holes in it with a pencil or kebab. Let it sit for several days til the holes turn brown. Use as an object lesson. Lots of links at the above site for brushing charts and more.
Some lit:
George Washington’s Teeth – a funny book in rhyme detailing our first president’s dental woes
Diddle diddle dumpling
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his stockings on.
One shoe off and one shoe on,
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.
Practice the rhyme when dressing this week. Rolls off the tongue. <g> My oldest two boys used to sing song this nursery rhyme whenever a baby lost a sock.
Saint/hero:
King David – there is a very very cute book to make based on these pics. (would make great notebook pages) And there are more page ideas here.
Tasha Tudor
Jenny at Allsorts must have the same Victoria magazine back issues as I. I have poured over these very same pictures of Tasha Tudor’s home and farm for years. This IS fall in my mind. Go visit!
Starry Sky Journal 
