I'd love to tell you there is some important science principal to be gleaned from doing this experiment (and there probably is, somewhere), but this one is mostly just for fun and it looks pretty freaking cool. Other than the Alka Seltzer or denture tabs you will need, you probably already have all the necessary ingredients on hand to perform this experiment. You will need: water, vegetable, olive, or some other kind of oil, food coloring and a clear glass. (bonus points if you wear goggles. They're totally not necessary, but very cool nonetheless) Start by coloring your water any color you want, I used blue. Pour about two inches of oil in the bottom of your container, then add another two or three inches of your colored water. Allow this to settle for just a second, then add an Alka Seltzer or denture tablet and sit back and enjoy the show.
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We're about 9 weeks into our homeschool year and all over the FB groups and such, I am seeing a lot of "Homeschool Mom Burnout", HMB for short. (I just made that up) Moms who are ready to give up and ship their sweet little hellions back to public school. Don't give up yet, Mama. With a few tips and tricks, you can turn that frown upside down and start to enjoy homeschooling again.
The key to a having a good morning, is to start at night.
1. Make sure they get plenty of rest the night before. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean put them to bed at dusk, if that works for you, fine, if not, that's fine too, just make sure they get enough rest, so they can focus the next day. 2. Make them eat some kind of breakfast. Something. In their belly. Not junk. I get it, some kids are just not morning people, or afternoon people, but your body didn't get the memo and it wants food. Break it down for them, explain it to them like this... Your body is like a car, it needs fuel to work properly. It's been at least 8 hours since your last fill up and your "car" is empty. Then proceed to feed them something with some kind of nutritional value... scrambled eggs, toast, oatmeal, something. 3. Set the mood for the day. No, I don't mean dim the lights and light some candles, unless that helps, then, by all means... I mean if you are in a good mood, they will be too and vice versa. If you are excited about learning, they will be also. You are their barometer as to how the day will go. 4. Tell them exactly what you expect and give them an outline for the day. I find if a kid knows what they need to do, they will pretty much do it, but if they are left to their own devices, they would probably read a book and doodle all day. When you start "school", let them know, "We will do this, this and this, then we will take a break and have lunch.". Then, their brains go ahead and accept it and start to move on.
5. Be prepared. I can not express how much this one has helped me. Last year, we were mostly just winging it. I had some really fun workbooks and we went to the library a lot and we did other fun stuff, but this year, I decided to really get organized and it has helped me (and Micah) immensely.
Being organized doesn't have to be hard or complicated. You don't have to use some elaborate book and system with stickers and colors for every day and all that mess (unless that works for you, then, by all means, color code away). For me, simple is better. Maybe if I had multiple children that would be necessary, but with just one, I find this method works amazingly well.
For this schedule thingy, I used a calendar from Dollar Tree and some Post-Its. I wrote each subject on a Post-It, so he would know exactly what we were doing each day. I let him choose which subject to start first and as we finish, I let him pull the Post-It off. It's simple, but for us, it works. You could always add to this and write each assignment, for an older kid who is able to work independently.
As you can see, this is a very basic student agenda from Dollar Tree. It has just enough room for me to write down a brief description of what we are doing in each subject, each day, with room left over for extra curricular activities.
When I got the agenda, I took about two hours and sat down with my Little House 123 lesson plans and wrote out everything for a 9 week period. It was a bit tedious for my ADD brain, but I got through it and I can not tell you how much easier my whole day is now. Seriously.
The Little House curriculum has been amazing for me. I am not very good at lesson planning. I will find a million fun things to do, but none of them tie-in to each other, so it all ends up being a weird, jumbled mess of random information, I get frustrated, give up and we end up reading five books and calling it "school". That was last year. This year has been soooo much different. Each day, I look in my handy dandy book and I see what I need to do and we do it. No whining, no fussing, no crying. (I'm still working on Micah though) *rim shot*..... *crickets* Jokes aside, Micah has really taken to this curriculum. I love that it utilizes videos, because Micah is a very visual learner so this is perfect for him, especially since he figured out how to stream them to the living room TV, via the Xbox. We can sit on the couch, in our Pjs and "do school". How cool is that?!
I also feel that a routine is key to having a (relatively) stress free morning. Notice I didn't say a schedule. Routine is different. Schedule is: "We must do this at 8:01 or else puppies will die!" No, That sucks. Don't do that to your kids. Isn't part of the fun of homeschooling, the luxury to do things at your own pace?!
Do something fun in the morning to get the day started off right. (and get those bodies moving) I have recently been introduced to a fun (read as: low impact for Mom's old bones) yoga series for kids, Cosmic Kids Yoga. Micah loves this and will actually participate without whining. Cosmic Kids also has a "Zen Den" series which I really love. It's a series of videos that help children focus, be more mindful and have better coping skills. I have actually listened to several of them and found them very relaxing and helpful. (and short-ish, which is great for my ADD brain)
This is one of my favorite ones. In this video she refers to the smell of fresh popcorn and I just happened to find a caramel popcorn candle at the Dollar store. One morning, Micah was being especially jerk-ish, so I lit the candle and we watched this video together and it really helped him to refocus and relax. (and Mom too)
What I'm really saying, as I ramble on is: find what works for you and don't get discouraged if it takes you a little while to figure it all out. It took me a year to find my groove and realize I wasn't like other homeschool Moms and that's OK. In that year that I was "screwing up", Micah learned to read and spell. Yes, my five year old reads and spells better than most second graders. Somehow, someway, the learning happens, whether you are using an Erin Condren planner or just flying by the seat of your pants, so keep on keepin' on, Mama. You got this!
DISCLAIMER: A huge "thank you" to the nice folks at Aldi for sponsoring today's post.
Providing good, healthy food for your family should not cost a small fortune, but unfortunately, for many families, it does. I saw a meme on Facebook a few days ago; it was a picture of a fast food burger, a soda, a bottle of water and a salad. Below each picture was the average price to purchase each item and of course, the soda and burger were about half as expensive as the salad and water. Making healthy food choices should not be this hard.
Since children model what they see, we have been making more of a concerted effort to eat more healthy foods and keep healthy snacks on hand and I have to admit, it can be rather costly, if you don't know a few tricks.
Most bloggers will tell you to get out your scissors and weekly paper and start clipping, not me. I am not a fan of coupons, because most of them are for foods we will never eat. Give me a coupon for fresh veggies and fruit, now, that, I can use! Since coupons are not an option, I had to get creative and think outside the box... store that is.
DISCLAIMER: Special thanks to "Clangers" and Coolabi for sponsoring today's post. All opinions and information in this post are my own.
Children are natural born learners. From the time they come out of the womb, they are already trying to figure it all out. Admittedly, in the beginning, it's usually very simple tasks, like figuring out where their next meal is coming from, but they are learning, nonetheless.
From the time they learn to walk and talk (and even before), children are curious about the world around them and for good reason: there's a lot of cool stuff going on out here. The sights, smells and sounds of nature are all around us and it's our job to make sure they experience it. You don't need any special training or equipment to enjoy nature, just use your eyes, ears and heart. Hello, my name is Niki and I have a serious problem. I am addicted to the educational section at Dollar Tree. I've tried to stop in the past to no avail, so instead of trying to fight my problem, I have decided to just go with it. My "pain" is your gain. Here's my latest "find", D.I.Y. spelling manipulatives. This is a super easy way to introduce spelling and phonics to your child. All you need is a Sharpie and a set of counting blocks from Dollar Tree. I wrote the entire alphabet once, then I added a few more vowels and the most used consonants. Super easy! (Tip: Let each side dry, before writing more letters)
There are several ways you could use this, you could put all the blocks on the floor and encourage your child to find letters they know and point them out or you could place all the blocks into a "hat" and let your child pick a few out and see what words they can make with the letters they pulled or you could even turn it into a game with the sight words printable I am including at the bottom of this post. The possibilities are endless, just make sure you have fun.
Gardening has become one of my very favorite hobbies in the last few years. Notice, I say "hobby", not "mega money making venture", as I am not what one would call a "master gardener". (except in my own head)
For me, gardening is relaxing and very rewarding. Seeing something start from a tiny little seed and turn into a huge, robust plant, with delicious fruit is a truly remarkable feeling, kind of like raising a child, in one short season. Speaking of the kids; gardening can be a great way for kids to start learning about responsibility. Plants and veggies need daily care, as would a pet. Thank goodness if little Johnny kills your bean plant, Animal Control won't be knocking on your door, you just plant more. No harm, no foul. A common misconception is that gardening is a very costly hobby, (for me) it is not. I'm sure it can be, but you can have a perfectly nice garden, without spending a crap ton of money. Here are a few ways I have found to save some "green" on your garden, this year...
#1. Make your own bed.
Buying a raised bed from the store can be a bit expensive, build your own raised garden bed and save the money for important stuff like soil. The one below is a simple design, but you could get fancy, if you want to and frame out the sides.
#2. Make your own compost!
I have heard tale of people who buy their compost from a store. Why would you do that, when you can make it at home, for FREE! Compost is nothing more than kitchen scraps, a little bit of dirt to start it off, a bucket with a lid on it and a few worms. I save everything from onion skins and butts to pepper peels, rinds of oranges, apple cores. Anything that is not meat or eggs goes in the bucket.
#3. Source your own worms.
Yes, that means dig them up from your own yard. Worms are beneficial for the garden and for the compost bucket (and for fishing) and can be found in almost any back yard or dirt pile, if you know when and where to look. Right after a good rain is the best time to find them, as they are close to the top of the soil. If you can't wait for it to rain, you could heavily saturate with a garden hose and sit back and wait. (If you're not "digging" the idea of touching the worms, you could always get the kids to do it)
#4. Acquire free plants & seeds.
For me, the biggest cost, in my garden is usually the plants or seeds themselves. Yes, they have tons of seeds at the discount store, but I had zero luck with them and you have no idea of the history of the seeds. Are they old, are they gmo, will they even germinate? Instead of worrying about all those variables, I make sure to get really good plants or seeds. There are several ways to do this, but my favorite is guilt. Yep, good old fashioned guilt. Every year, I guilt my kids into buying me plants for Mother's Day and sometimes my birthday. This year, I got 3 varieties of tomatoes and a habanero pepper plant.
If you don't have any family you can guilt, no worries, you can still get free seeds from various sources. The least likely place I have found seeds: the library. Yes, I said the library. I found a ton of amazing flower seeds at my library seed exchange. I got some morning glories, some cosmos, some milkweed (for the butterflies) and a few wildflower mix packs too. Check with your local library and see if they have a seed exchange, if not, start one. Here's a very inclusive list of seed libraries, worldwide.
No matter how you get your garden started, the goal is to have a beautiful place to relax and if you get some yummy fruits of your labor, that's a plus. Throw some seeds in the ground, sit back and let the magic happen. Happy gardening!
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