During the Blog Vacation

Just some of what we did during my blog vacation in no particular order...

Despite the crazy drought and heat, we have had a pretty good garden this summer.  It was our first time to grow okra.  This is a picture of the okra bloom. It's a beautiful flower that lasts for a vary short time.

The kids had fun creating their very own bows and arrows.  And then shooting them off was even more fun!

Our trip to Chicago...Jaime and I became god parents again.  This is my teeny tiny niece, Hailey.

Chicago 'burbs cousins

Chicago cousins

Auntie time.  Can't wait to meet the newest cousin...arriving in January!

Curiosity

Exploring Curiosity

After watching a video of Curiosity, Alexander went and built his own out of Legos :)

Back Again :)

Hi everyone...if anyone is still around after my month long break.  School and life just got busy there for a little while.  I'm hoping that with this upcoming semester I can keep up here a least a couple of times a week. My family and I went on a fantastic vacation to Chicago.  Jaime and I both have sisters that live in Chicago and the suburbs so it was great getting to see both sides of the family for the first time in 2 years!  We went to the beach, the Children's Museum, and other fun Chicago things.  If you've never been there, we highly recommend visiting. :)
The start of school is quickly approaching!  The 3 older kiddos start next week.  It'll be Penelope's first year of preschool and she is more than ready and extremely excited.  Alexander starts 4th grade and John Paul begins 1st grade.  I start back on the 20th and will be taking 2 courses this semester.
Pray for rain and enjoy these last days of summer!

Quiet Time Boxes

I mentioned Quiet Time boxes last week.  My kids have enjoyed these more than I thought they would!  And that makes me SO HAPPY!  I had to put in some rules for the boxes and had to put some kind of large motor activity in for John Paul (my very active one).
RULES:
QT boxes are for after lunch
to get a treat/snack in the box, must have GREAT morning behavior and chores are done
during QT box time it must be (does this really have to be stated? yes, they are kids!) quiet (quiet does NOT mean silent though)
each child has his/her own box
QT box time lasts 30-45 minutes

BOX FILLINGS~just a start and by no means complete:
special treat/snack
grade appropriate workbooks
Think Fun games
PopBeads
Bananagrams letter tiles with sight words
books
crayons, pencils
paper 
Tangrams
Matchbox cars (just a couple)
small bumpy ball (and a bag of duplo blocks to be stacked and knocked down by rolling the ball)
water paints
pony beads and pipe cleaners
puzzles
Legos (I don't put these in because they play with them ALL THE TIME)

I think it's important to put a mix of items in the boxes.  They may not get to it all, but there's plenty in there for them to do.  The mix helps to meet what the kids want/need to do.  I can create a desire to play with something by putting it in one child's box and then in another child's box on a different day.  Keeping toys in a rotation helps to keep them fresh/new and therefore exciting.  By limiting the QT box time, the kids don't wear out, they know that there will be an end to the time, the special activities in the box stay exciting.  I don't tell them ahead of time what they get in their boxes.  The mystery creates desire and excitement! :)

Marking the Passage of Time

Do you ever have the same events happen year after year (aside from birthdays) and look back and reflect on how life has changed?  I find myself constantly doing that especially now with kiddos.  And, oh my, what a difference a year makes this year right now!  Yesterday was the first day of VBS for the kids.  We had a great time!  The boys are with their grade levels, Penelope is in the nursery with other friends, and Stella is with me as I volunteer in the kitchen.  Last year at this time I had Stella with me as well...11 weeks pregnant with her.  I spent this time last year in the hospital.  And the several weeks prior as well as another 11 weeks after, throwing up so much that the kids practically didn't give it a second thought and took to imitating me.  I much prefer where and how I'm spending my time now :)

 

No Summer Brain Drain Ideas

Ahh, summer, relaxing, long days filled with nothing but what you want to do, swimming, playing, baseball, reading, and fun games.  No summer brain drain here.  There are so many activities to do with the kids that are fun, stimulating, and prevent them losing what they worked so hard to learn all school year.  I do some of our NSBDs during our quiet time and some during other parts of our days.  Some NSBD ideas include:
Rush Hour game by Think Fun--we have several Think Fun games and I highly recommend them
Deck of Cards (variety of games can be played and made up)--math facts
Tangrams--we have tangram manipulatives as well as some on our computer and iPad.  Here, here, and here are for the computer. The tangrams are fun to create pictures with and then trace around and color the picture in, create patterns, and grab a handful or two and create a bar graph with them.
Marbles--good for physics, counting, patterning, problem solving, graphing
Writing Codes--use shapes, numbers, mixed up letters, create a code and write secret messages

I recently found this mystery word idea and can't wait to use some Scrabble game pieces to set it up for the kids.

Source

Nature Walks--my goal is to do this at least weekly.  This fun nature scavenger hunt idea is flying around the web and I think we will have to use it as well as make up our own.

Creative Art--I've had fun giving the kids a variety of items and letting them create and play.  Last week the items found on our nature walk were used to create.  I, of course, had my idea of what they should make, but they each made their own creations, none of which were what I had in mind.  I've also given them some straws that I cut up in to various lengths and some pipe cleaners (not cut) and let them play.  The idea is not original to me, but I can't find where I got the idea :(

Have a great week and never stop learning...my Gen Psych class starts today!

7 Quick Takes

1)  This first week of summer has been quite fun with my kiddos.  We've played games, gone on a nature walk, built forts, and today we're headed to the zoo.

2) John Paul and Penelope begged to sleep in the fort last night.  How could I possibly refuse?! Indoor camping :)

3) Swinging, gotta love it

4) I've got the kids so completely excited about and hooked on their quiet time boxes.  I'm in heaven watching them quietly engaged and working on their activities and enjoying a special snack. 
5) Since they don't nap anymore, but I need just a bit of down time (and they really like the chill time) we break out the QT boxes for about 45 minutes each day after lunch.  The boxes have a variety of items to work/play with quietly.  They also include some school review type things and a book. (More about what's in these next week.)
6) If you've got non-nappers who are go go go all day, I highly recommend QT boxes. 
7) Can't wait to make this  Pasta with Cilantro Peanut Pesto

Summer Inspiration and Fun

Summer has officially started! :)  Yesterday the kids went swimming, bike riding, got to watch a movie, had friends over, ate water melon, built with Legos, built a train track, and worked on our 750 piece puzzle.  Oh my, what are we going to do today?!  Good thing we wrote out a summer list of things to do!  Also, Pinterest has come to the rescue with more ideas.
 We will be going to Chicago this summer, so I want the kids to learn more about the city.  Over the weekend I bought a large wall map of the United States.  Along with checking out our new map, learning about Chicago also means at least one trip to the library for some books, maybe create our own maps of where we want to go while in Chicago, create a cityscape, learn about some places to visit while in Chicago.  I also downloaded the Stack the States (Lite) iPad app.  {It's a great little game to help learn about the states.}
I want to make mobiles with the kids...inspired by Alexander Calder.  Did you know that today, May 29th, is national paper clip day?  I think we're going to have to break out the paper clips and see what we can create--bookmarks, mobiles, chains, 3D sculptures.
{Speaking of Chicago, here's a conversation between Jaime and Penelope yesterday:
P: I wanna go on a walk, Daddy
J: Ok, where do you want to go?
P: To a city
J: A city, what city?
P: Chicago
J: Chicago?! How about the arboretum?
P: Okay!
And to the arboretum they went :) }

Create, have fun, play, and learn...it's summer!  Don't forget the building challenge, Hello Summer.