A Nest Full of Squishers

Brain Sprinkles Labels

2016-08-09T17:37:00.000-04:00

Of the many wonderful ideas I have come across in Pinterest searches, Brain Sprinkles has been a steady, quiet winner in our homeschool.

Years ago I made this jar. Brilliant move on my part.

Fill a jar with beads, glitter, glass stones, whatever you have on hand.
Glue the cap on.
Slap on a cute label.

The power of words + imagination is beautiful. When my children are having a hard time concentrating or having a frustration filled moment seasoning their mind with the magical Brain Sprinkles snaps them out of their funk. 80ish% of the time.

BONUS: FREE printable labels to make your own Brain Sprinkles! Color or B&W

Morning High Five

2016-06-09T07:30:00.000-04:00

Years ago when I had 2 toddlers and a newborn I made this chart and implemented 👋 Morning High Five 👋 into our daily routine. Almost 7 years later it's still working!!! hashtagallthepraisehands

I talk about the chart and how we have been using it in our home here: 👋 Morning High Five 👋 (on Periscope)

1. Make bed
2. Get dressed & put pj's away
3. Eat breakfast
4. Brush hair & teeth
5. Happy household helpers

It's more pleasant of an experience to ask, "have you done your high five?" than nagging about brushing hair and making beds. Number 5 changes every day depending what needs to be tackled. Starting a load of laundry, washing dishes, cleaning toilets, vacuuming, pushing in the dining room chairs. I have a mental list of these tasks to hand out, but they are all things that are expected because you are a part of our family. Chores are a drag and jobs are a privilege, but responsibility is a part of growing up.

Here is the FREE printable just for you!

Morning Time in Our Homeschool

2016-06-08T13:55:00.001-04:00

Here is a basic overview of our morning time in our homeschool.

Morning Time in Our Homeschool (on Periscope)

Read here for a little more information on how we use loop scheduling.

Folding Paper Airplanes With Your Littles

2016-03-28T21:32:00.000-04:00

My children love making paper airplanes. They only problem is I'm usually the one doing the folding, but I finally found a way to help my 6 year old and 4 year old sons fold their own airplanes! Grab a piece of paper and something to write with and lets get folding!

Pantry Planning Tips

2016-03-04T19:47:00.000-05:00

Having one place to keep all of your food can be a challenge in a small home. Here are my tips on tackling this conundrum.

Think outside the closet when finding one place to house all of your food.
Pull all of your food out, purge and sort into categories.
Store like food items together.

Bonus tip: use painters tape or washi tape as labels on glass jars

Here are a few items we have purchased for our pantry:
cereal containers
snack box
flour containers
glass cracker jars

G Clan Game Recommendations: Ligretto

2016-03-03T16:31:00.000-05:00

Ligretto Dice is a dice race game. You can play a quick round or keep score and play longer. Enjoy!

Schooling with Toddlers

2016-03-01T17:28:00.001-05:00

I often am asked the question, "how do you school with a little one?!" I am currently schooling for the fourth time with a toddler. I don't have all the answers, but talk about some things that have worked for us.

*Know your toddler.

what engages him?
how long is his attention span?
remember his schedule will change every few months

*Special activities just for school. Here are some links for inspiration:

tot school: 1+1+1+1=1
busy bags: my busy bag Pinterest board
search Pinterest or Instagram for Tot-school, busy bag, Montessori, and Waldorf inspiration

*Easy peasy

don't over complicate for your own sake!

Our list of quiet activities:

coloring
reading books (children love collections pull out all of your Golden Books or Dr Suess at once!)
Knights and Dragons TOOB
resting
puzzles
writing
cars
Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book
play dough
sensory bin: Snapware Box (7010 15.5-Inch by 11.5-Inch)
busy bags
felt sets
paper dolls
Blocks & Marbles Super Set
Foam Building Blocks
Basic Lite Brite
water play in the sink
scissors and paper

Remember when introducing a new activity with your toddler to sit down the first time and demonstrate what you expect from your child for this activity. Have fun including your toddlers in your homeschool.

And my cute Garden Birds Mug!

Family Closet and Laundry Tips

2016-02-29T17:57:00.002-05:00

Way back in 2013 I was working on posting a whole series to help you create your own family closet. Life with five littles is hard work, we had a loss in the family, and I just never got back to finishing the series. And honestly, breaking the whole process down into little posts was dragging me down. We have moved to a new home and took our closet with us and will be taking it again when we move to our next house. It's a must have for us and we will keep finding the perfect place to keep our family closet.

This is a video explaining how I started our closet and some tips of how we keep things sorted.

My number one laundry tip::

Sort laundry by type, not color. You will be washing, drying, folding, and putting away shirts. This gives you an assembly line mentality and allows your laundry duties to go faster and take less of your time!

Don't forget to check out the other posts I created for the Family Closet Series.

G Clan Game Recommendations: TENZI

2016-02-25T16:23:00.000-05:00

We love playing this game as a family. My youngest was 2 when she would sit and roll or stack the dice as we played. Great when you only have a few minutes to play, but will also entertain for much longer.

Tenzi Game

Tenzi 77 Ways to Play Tenzi

Tenzi Party Pack

Next time: Ligretto Dice Game

How We Use Loop Scheduling in Our Homeschool

2016-02-22T18:32:00.000-05:00

I have read bits here and there about loop scheduling before but when I watched Alicia Hutchinson talk about her loop scheduling lights starting going off in my mind! Then Jen posted a picture of her son's language arts loop and the last puzzle piece fell into place for our family's loop.

Here is how we use loop scheduling:

I made a quick second video (with major camera issues!) explaining a little more how we loop our weekly and monthly topics into our everyday. The numbered lists is below.

How I recommend you plan:

Pray
Write down everything you want to include in your school
Break that list down into priorities: every day, daily (will be done 2-3 times a week), weekly (will be done 2-3 times a month), monthly (will be done at least once a month), and independent (students will do each of these 2-3 times a week)

Group Daily Loop

History
Grammar
Fairy Book
Natural History
Weekly Loop

Folk Song
Nature Study
Art Study
US Geography
Shakespeare
Monthly Loop

Handicraft
Composer Study
Science

Here is an excerpt of a conversation I had with a friend showing what a typical week might look like for us:

Daily loop means we do stuff on there every day. We usually do 2-3 each day which means we ideally do them all at least 3x a week. When the bookmark is pointing at "weekly loop" that means we do 2 or 3 of those in a given week.
A week might look like this:
M: history, grammar, fairy book
T: natural history, weekly loop (folk song)
W: history, grammar, fairy book
T: natural history, weekly loop (nature study), history
F: grammar, fairy book, natural history
The following Monday we start with weekly loop (art study) followed by history

Product links I mentioned in this video:
Get to the Point bookmarks
Time Timer
Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum 5 (we are just now starting this so I have no feedback yet for this program)

My Current Read and Tips for Taking Your Littles to the Library

2016-02-18T20:30:00.000-05:00

Currently I'm reading A Spoonful of Sugar: A Nanny's Story by Brenda Ashford. If you can snag the audio Jean Gilpin is a beautiful reader. And I will be starting The Siren by Kiera Cass very soon.

Other books I talk about:
Nothing Ever Happens at the South Pole by Stan & Jan Berenstain
Do You Want to be My Friend? by Eric Carle
Winter Trees by Carole Gerber
Cool Coins by Pam Scheunemann
Katie Meets The Impressionists by James Mayhew
Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema
Scholastic Encylopedia of the United States at War
Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty
This Is My Home, This Is My School by Jonathan Bean

Tips for taking your littles to the library:

Everyone has their own library bag with their library card attached. We use a small carabiner with a key ring and never lose our cards!
Kids may pick any three books to check out.
When we are leaving I have one of my older girls check out and then go stand against a wall nearby. Then the others know to go stand next to her when they are finished checking out. They stand or sit with their back touching the wall until I am finished and ready to walk out.

And my most important tip: add your due dates to your phone's calendar so you will get a reminder the day of returns. Get into that habit after everyone is buckled in and before you pull out of the parking lot!

Must Have Homeschool Tools

2016-02-15T19:32:00.002-05:00

Time Timer
Planner

Pencil Bags
Audio Books (Librivox; library: CDs, PlayAways, and OverDrive)
Listening devices: CD players, digital devices, external speakers
or external speakers, headphone 5 way splitter
or two way splitter.

Get to the Point bookmark by Folio

Canon printer
Personally I prefer a printer that will print double sided documents, but this one does not. I will be more careful when purchasing our next printer.

Favorite curriculum sites:
Abebooks.com
RainbowResource.com
Amazon

Are you on Periscope? You can follow me at @appleandigould.

How We Use History Odyssey in Our Homeschool

2016-02-12T15:30:00.000-05:00

History Odyssey by Pandia Press

The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times
The Story of the World, Activity Book 1: Ancient Times
The Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages
Life in Ancient Rome Coloring Book
Life in Ancient Greece Coloring Book
Life in Ancient Egypt Coloring Book
History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grades 1-3
History Pockets: Native Americans, Grades 1-3
Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide
Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide
Days of Knights and Damsels: An Activity Guide
More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life

We also love to read the "Who Was" books. Recently our favorite was Who Was Abraham Lincoln?

G Clan Game Recommendations: Zippy Cars

2016-02-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

Another great Haba game that we love is Zippy Cars
. A quick, fun play for the youngest of players.

Backyard Bird Watching Nature Study

2016-02-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

We love birding and this has been a great nature study for us.

Bird feeder:
Wishing Well 360-Degree Bird Feeder

Bird cards:
Sibley Backyard Birding Flashcards

Dover coloring books:
Audubon's Birds of America Coloring Book
The Birdwatcher's Coloring Book
State Birds and Flowers Coloring Book
Birds of Prey Coloring Book
Backyard Nature Coloring Book

Alternative Lesson Planning for Homeschooling

2016-02-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

I have been using this method of lesson planning for the past 4 years and it is working out great! The planner I now use is the House of Doolittle Teachers Planner. Check out the video for all of the details on how I use this alternative lesson planning method.

G Clan Game Recommendations: Catan Junior

2016-02-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

We are big fans of Catan and Catan Junior does not disappoint in our home.

G Clan Game Recommendations: Board Game Storage

2015-12-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is how we organize our family game collection.

G Clan Game Recommendations: Orchard, the Card Game

2015-12-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

Orchard by Haba is a great game for many ages and a bigger group of players.

G Clan Game Recommendations: Animal Upon Animal

2015-11-05T18:56:00.001-05:00

Animal Upon Animal from Haba
is an absolute favorite in our home. But be careful of the wibbly wobbly pyramid when it rises too high.

Are you on Periscope? You can follow me at @appleandigould.

G Clan Game Recommendations: The Scrambled States of America

2015-10-29T18:38:00.000-04:00

The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller is a family favorite for us. Today's game is based on the book and is a newer game for our family, but becoming a fast favorite. You will not only be learning all about US state names and capitals while having fun, but players will also be brushing up on reading and spelling skills. Scrambled States of America game

Are you on Periscope? You can follow me at @appleandigould.

G Clan Game Recommendations: Fill or Bust

2015-10-22T20:29:00.001-04:00

Hello dear friends!!! Today I attempted to broadcast my first ever Periscope video. Are you on Periscope? You should hop on over there and set yourself up with an account. There are a bunch of great homeschool moms encouraging their followers. Also, some fun crafty folks. So you know I'm digging all my peeps over there. You can follow me at @appleandigould.

Back to my first attempt. Well, it wasn't so great. I have some really awesome Instagram friends who joined me to watch all about one of our family favorite games. I had some connection issues and the video stopped streaming mid way. Fortunately I had the autosave option turned on and the video saved to my phone in it's entirety! [and the cheers were heard throughout the land] I jest.

Fill or Bust has been a family favorite since I was in middle school. A family friend introduced us to this game and we have been playing since. Grab it for yourself on Amazon, Fill or Bust Great Card and Dice Game.

Without further adieu here is my first Periscope.

HelloMornings Advent Power Pack

2014-11-24T14:43:00.000-05:00

Have you joined the HelloMornings community yet? Well I think you are missing out! If you need accountability and love making new friends there is a group for you. You can register for free here on the HelloMornings Challenge site.

Joining a group isn't your cup of tea? There are still plenty of perks for joining the HelloMornings community. All registered members will receive the free 4 week advent bible study: Then Came Jesus the Light of the World, by Laura Williams.

And if that isn't enough HelloMornings also has a Power Pack to accompany the advent study. Treat yourself or a loved one to an early Christmas gift this year.

Hop on over to purchase the power pack including: the study, companion journal, and "God with Us" a new Christmas song by Shaun Groves. All this for only $5!!!

This post contains affiliate links. When you shop through these links you are supporting my family. Thank you!

Why I quit Twitter

2014-09-03T22:17:00.000-04:00

No you didn't click the wrong button. You were not incorrectly redirected to this page. I quit Twitter and I will tell you why.

Years ago I joined the hashtag fad when Twitter was still a baby bird learning to fly. Turns out it wasn't really a fad; it's still here eight years later. In the grand scheme of life eight years might be considered a fad, but in today's terms Twitter is a legit social media outlet.

I tried to tweet, but never really got the hang of it. When my account was hacked, a kind had to friend let me know, since I was seldom on to find out myself. I quickly deleted everything and went on my merry way with MySpace, and Facebook soon after.

Then a few years ago I set up an account all over again to join in with some online communities. I learned how to tweet, retweet, and even join a twitter party. But hard as I tried, I could not make myself enjoy it. Once I started bumping into my new online friends on other social media outlets, my Twitter days fizzled fast.

And I don't mind one single bit.

Dropping Twitter off my list of apps to check and comments to respond to has given me some extra free time. Free time I can give to other communities I adore. Free time I can give to causes I support. And most importantly, free time I can give to my family. If you are here because you love Twitter, that is rockin' good for you. I'm glad you love it. It's just not my thing.

I would love to connect via other social media networks. Come follow me on Instagram, @appleandi!

Lip Balm Give Away

2014-02-03T09:54:00.000-05:00

One thing I hate during the winter season is chapped lips. But I also hate all the crap that's loaded into the mass market products available in stores. So I solved both problems by making my own lip balm, which I'm now sharing with you. My natural lip balm is now listed in my shop!

This week my sweet friend, Lindsey, is giving away a 3 pack of my lip balm to one lucky winner! Head over to her blog for your chance to enter. Let's get our puckers ready for some Valentine's Day smooching!