Work And Play, Day By Day

Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:44:00 +0000

The Tallest Cake Award

Pinewood Derby (Aidan is in the front on the left- khaki pants)

Bum leg (Ignore the scary toys!)

Our camera is still not working so these are all cell phone pictures. Sorry for the crummy quality.

Aidan

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:01:00 +0000

I have pictures of Aidan from his Cub Scouts Blue & Gold banquet (where he won the Tallest Cake Award with an awesome black and orange cake) last month and pictures from the Pinewood Derby this past Thursday where he was the second place Tiger Cub.

Unfortunately this post is not about any of those things.

Aidan broke his foot.

Doing gymnastics on his bed, despite about 8 million warnings against it.

For now I don't know that much other than it is a crack of some variety in one of his cuneiform bones. He is in a splint and on crutches and we will learn more on Monday from the Orthopedic Surgeon. I'm really praying the surgeon part of that title is precautionary not necessary.

I'll let you know more when I do!

Geography

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:41:00 +0000

I love the Montessori 3-6 Geography & Culture curriculum! The globes & puzzle maps are so intricate and interesting, the landforms are so tactile, the culture/continent boxes are so interesting! Honestly it is so in depth that before starting first grade, most Montessori students have covered an entire elementary geography curriculum. It is no wonder that a former Montessori student from our church has made it to the state Geography Bee for several years running!

We are Montessori purists when it comes to the 3-6 Geography sequence. The only material we don't have yet is a full set of puzzle maps. They are very expensive and take up a bit of space. For now we have a world puzzle and a North America puzzle. I'm working up to the full purchase.

Some of our favorite materials right now are the culture drawers. The boys like to take out a set of picture cards (all from the same continent) and other objects, sort them by country, and then get out our flags book and look up the flags for each country. Right now they are working on the Usborne Flags Sticker Book together. They have finished North America and Africa and are working on Asia. A side note on the Flags stickers- I have heard that some Montessori families purchase 2 sticker books and use the stickers to create 3 part cards. When the book is put together, however, it makes a great reference book with a numbered/labeled map of each continent as well. My sister is coming home from a month in Ghana this weekend and we are really looking forward to seeing what she has to share with us. We are also blessed that my dad has spent a substantial amount of time in Asia and Australia for work and we have some fun pictures and other artifacts from those places.

Beyond the 3-6 curriculum (which does not cease to be interesting as Aidan is fast approaching 7 and has moved out of this level in the other curriculum areas), we did a first grade unit on culture and culture research. You can see examples of Aidan's work from the fall here and here. We plan to continue discussing both culture and geography simultaneously when we begin working with The Story of the World this fall. I chose to wait until fall, because Geography has generally been a subject the boys work together and I thought it would be good for Caleb to be a bit older.

Other areas of culture include time (clock and calendar) and money. I intended to give Aidan lessons on these areas (since they are basically first grade standards). I gave a few lessons on time, but both time and money were better learned through practical application. I use both as in his weekly story problems and we've been giving him opportunities to earn and spend money. I'm not sure my lessons did much other than some basic terminology which he would have eventually picked up anyways!

Of all the curriculum areas, I think Geography might be my favorite! I know it is quickly becoming a favorite of the boys.

I here by interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:21:00 +0000

for sunny 61 degree days.

Thanks,

Heidi

A Weekend Funny For You

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:58:00 +0000

Disclaimer: I love my husband dearly. Any fun that I proceed to poke at his quirks in the next few paragraphs is out of love, not to mention he knows I'm writing it and is completely OK about it.

As background, you need to know that my husband used to be a terribly picky eater. When I married him he would not eat vegetables (except corn) or ANYTHING with tomato in it... except his best friend's mom's spaghetti sauce. He has since broadened his palette substantially, and has even learned to love to cook at lot of these things. He loves spices and seasonings and creating in the kitchen. I think its the scientist in him... I wonder what would happen if I added? He does almost all of the weekend cooking because he loves it so much (and who am I to complain about that).

Thursday, after lunch, I threw some spaghetti sauce together in the crock pot and put it on low so it would be ready for dinner. I had done my deal with it and left it alone.

Tim comes home from work and walks in the door and tells me it smells great. Right away he walks over and grabs a spoon for a little taste. I could tell from the look on his face that he had something in mind that could make my sauce "better". I told him he could add whatever he wanted as long as he didn't make it too spicy. He insisted that it was fine and I assured him that I wasn't insulted and walked away, fully knowing he would proceed to season. As always, he was unable to resist the urge to tinker.

A little while later I came back downstairs and myself sampled the sauce. To say the least, it was a little... um, off. Nothing I could imagine eating on top of a nice heaping pile of hot pasta. I'm not exactly sure how the next part of this conversation went, but it was something along the lines of me asking what he added to my spaghetti sauce and him replying with the words, "Spaghetti? I thought we were having chili for supper?"

Yes, my darling, tinkering, husband changed my Italian spaghetti sauce into a nice Southern Chili.

We won't discuss here the complete air headiness that this mistake involved... like the amount of sauce in the crock pot (not even close to 5 bowls of chili) and the fact that the menu was posted on the fridge and had been all week.

We don't normally eat parmesan cheese on our spaghetti, but after some re-tinkering of my own (and some hysterical laughing) I determined that it was going to be called for this evening and sent Tim to the store to get it as "punishment" while the noodles cooked.

In the end the spaghetti tasted just fine.

The slice of mile high cheesecake I found in the shopping bag also tasted good. I even shared a bite with the "chef".

Language Part 3- Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:45:00 +0000

I feel a bit of a scam even writing this post. I do not think I have the Montessori reading curriculum figured out. I know what it is *supposed* to be. I am following it the best I can with Caleb, but he's so early in the process it's hard to know if I'm really doing things to his ultimate advantage. I completely abandoned Montessori reading with Aidan after his rough 4 & 5 year old years (see Language Part 2) and went back to what I felt more comfortable with (more or less drill and practice on sight words, memorization of sounds/rules, and lots of painful word sounding out). Now, I'm trying to pick it back up to do reading analysis and comprehension activities with him. What has happened in our house is unlikely to be useful to someone else and may or may not even work! I certainly can't recommend our approach.

That being said, learn from my mistakes. Choose something and stick with it. Be consistent.

My plan from here on out is to follow the Montessori approach to reading, starting with sound and writing activities. From there we will move into the pink/blue/green series word lists and picture matches. My Boy's Teacher has some excellent examples of pink series work. Each series becomes increasingly more difficult.

For a more advanced look at reading rules, we are using the Muriel Dwyer cards and word lists. Aidan is currently creating his own reading and spelling dictionary. Yesterday, for example, we worked with the drawer containing all of the long o sounds. There are 4 word booklets for each of the ways to make the long o (oa, ow, 0-e, oe). He labeled the top of a page in his language journal with the words "Long o rules" and then made 4 sections. At the top of each section he wrote a letter combination that makes the sound and then, underneath, listed examples of each. Our spelling curriculum is also arranged by sound rules so we have extra reinforcement there.

For sight words, we use a combination of sight word bingo and simply playing the knock-knock game and memory with flashcards. To play the knock- knock game, turn all of the cards face down and then take turns knocking on the back and asking "Knock-knock". The other player answers, "Who's there?" and then the first player reads the card. If the first player knows the answer he "wins" the card. If he doesn't know it, the second player can "steal" it. If no one knows it, they ask mom and it goes back upside down. I started sight words with Caleb when he started to show interest. I have several envelopes with different "levels" of words.

Now that Aidan is reading real books, he does a certain amount of reading aloud each day. For the most part he chooses his books and topics. I find that he prefers picture books that are more challenging but have a good story/plot to easy readers or Bob books. He isn't quite ready for chapter books (he seems to lack endurance), but we do partner reading (I read a page and then he reads a page) and that works well for longer things. We don't do specific "comprehension" activities, but when he is more comfortable reading longer things by himself and Caleb is also reading better they will do novel studies together (with Tim or I) to discuss what they read.

We study genre by reading. A lot. We talk about fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc as we are reading examples of each. The Book of Virtues has been very helpful in this discussion!

For us, reading is not much of a subject in school beyond simply learning how to read. We believe reading is for learning new things and for enjoyment. We will not ever have a reading textbook. Assigned reading for older kids will be somehow related to something else we are studying. Maybe a novel study on Number The Stars when we are learning about WWII or a book of poetry from a certain region of the world. Whatever we read... and however we read it... I simply want my children to enjoy books as much as I do!

(Hu)Hot Eats

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

I'm sure you've gathered by my last couple of posts that we took a little side trip this weekend. We didn't go far (only about an hour away) but we left our computer and other life hazards at home and hit the pool with my parents. We also had the chance to eat some great food that happened to be completely safe for my gluten-free munchkin.

We ate at HuHot Mongolian Grill & Barbeque and I was incredibly impressed by the accommodating nature of the staff. From the host, to the waiter, to all of the cooks. Absolutely everyone helped look out for us! They had a printed list of all of the safe and unsafe sauces on their menu for all of the common allergens and gluten. All of the other food choices were easy to identify and choose safely.

For those of you who have never been to a Mongolian Barbeque, you take a bowl and go through a buffet line of fresh ingredients... meats, noodles (we had to avoid those for Caleb obviously), veggies, sauces, and oils/other seasonings. You basically make a bowl of personal stir fry and then bring it to the end of the line where the cooks pour your food onto a huge circular grill and cook everything. Its amazing to watch them circle the grill with 10-15 meals cooking at the same time! It takes 5 to 10 minutes from start to finish. It was fun for the kids to see their meals cooked and even though Aidan isn't the biggest veggie eater these days, he went back for seconds (it was all you can eat)!

The cooking process, however, is where they most scared and impressed me with their food allergy awareness. When we came to the front with Caleb's bowl, we informed them of his allergy and they cleaned a section of the grill and blocked it off with huge metal scrapers so it didn't accidentally mix with other meals. Then one cook worked with clean utensils on only his food until it was done. Even with others waiting in line, they took the time to be sure his food was safe.

My only small suggestion would be to put their allergy safe sauces on the back row of their two row buffet to avoid cross contamination. It would be safer to have gluten free sauces drip into the gluten ones than the other way around. Now granted, since I didn't spend too much time evaluating the sauce placement it could be they had the peanut/nut free sauces on the back for that reason.

Regardless, they made a repeat customer out of this mama!

Smiling, Happy Children

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:55:00 +0000

Weekend Sneak Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:28:00 +0000

Remembering

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:46:00 +0000

I'm a person who always thinks its important to remember where we started in order to fully appreciate where we are. We have been homeschooling officially for over 1 year now and I recently came across a post I wrote after a few weeks in.....

We are three weeks into our official homeschooling status and I have to report that I am in utter amazement at what these three weeks have brought to our family!

Aidan has learned to read. I mean gone from struggling with letter sounds to sounding out anything phonetic and knowing a (decent sized) handful of sight words. I didn't even have a concern about where he was, but seeing where he is blows my mind.
Aidan and Caleb are working together as a team. I've heard Aidan asking Caleb for help on a map when he couldn't remember the name of something (Caleb is a facts man) and I've heard Caleb ask Aidan to "please can I use the square one"
Tim is less stressed in the mornings because he is not trying to herd the kids out the door at 7:00 and is thus making it home earlier in the afternoons because he can count on getting his prep work done in the morning before school since the kids aren't hanging out in his classroom.
I am less stressed by the transitions in our day. I knew all of the transitions were disrupting Aidan, it turns out they were disrupting me to. More peaceful mom translates to more peaceful kids!
Everyone is getting better sleep. I'm not sure how this has anything to do with homeschooling, but I am not imagining it and the change was dramatic and sudden.
Kylee is in a nice rhythm since she is also not getting disrupted by comings and goings all day.
I have learned that not only can I teach my children, my children can learn with me as their teacher. I didn't really doubt my ability to teach, but I was unsure if our relationship would be impacted negatively by mom in the role of teacher. Quite the opposite in fact, I think they appreciate my availability and knowing what to expect from day to day.
I am also learning to let my clean floors go but at the same time balance the needs of the house and the needs of the family better.
Caleb has not had any unknown gluten exposures. It wasn't a regular thing, but he had several unknown reactions the first half of the school year that we never exactly identified. He has spent 2 of the 3 weeks with asthma issues, but February is his month so I'm not that worried about that and at least I'm not worried about how much time he is missing from school.

Suffice it to say I could not be more thrilled with our decision and am looking forward to continuing on in the journey!

Its great to read that and compare it to where we are now. In regards to reading, Aidan was loosely reading at the time and I was so excited. It took a lot more work from both of us to get him up to grade level now. I'm still trying to learn not to care about grade level, but I can't help it. I was also clearly kidding myself about not being worried about where he was.

Aidan and Caleb may have left the honeymoon phase in getting along, but I still think they work well together. They have both gotten more competitive, which has been a recent challenge we face.

Caleb's good health continues to blow me out of the water, both on the gluten free front and the asthma. I didn't start blogging until after he was through the worst of his infant years and already diagnosed with Celiac Disease, but he is honestly a different kid! In fact, he's one of the healthiest members of our family now!

Tim and I's stress level regarding the boys schooling is lower than it has ever been. Life is full of stressors, but our family is close. We are facing a possible (probable?) move in the next 6 months and school is just one thing I'm not worried about in the least. I have grown so much as a person, as a mom, as a teacher, and as a homemaker through this entire experience. I feel like I am where I fit - not trying to be something I'm not.

The last year has really changed the way I see my family and our future.

It is an exciting place to be.

Language Part 2- Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:05:00 +0000

Writing. I must be honest, this was the area I struggled with the most when we made the Montessori transition. I was always thinking things to myself. What do you mean they don't need to trace a million letters to learn to write? What do you mean they are going to learn to write all of the these letters before they can read them? What do you mean they are then going to read spontaneously after learning them? ARE YOU FREAKING NUTS?

Let me tell you the story of two little boys.

The first little boy went to an entirely typical preschool at 3 years old. His mother was the program director and she was positive that this was the best program for him (and at the time was). He practiced writing his name all year by tracing little dotted letters. By the end of the year he had it mostly down. He didn't really do any other writing activities, but he did learn how to hold his scissors correctly and did tons of cute art projects.

At 4 years old, Little Boy went to a new full time preschool. This was a Montessori preschool, but he didn't have great luck with his classroom and had several teachers over the course of this first year who didn't seem quite sure what to do with him. Instead of backing up to the metal insets as a first writing work, or even starting at the beginning of the sand paper letters or moveable alphabet, they simply picked up somewhere in the middle. With not much rhyme or reason, seeming to pay more attention at any given point to where he should have been by age as opposed to where he actually was by observation. At the end of the year, his name looked just like it did the year before and he could still hold a pencil and use art materials.

At 5 years old this little boy's mama started to wise up a bit to the fact that her very smart little boy was very far behind! Without the proper moveable alphabet presentations he was without the tools to spontaneously read (which for the record, his mama still didn't really believe in) and without the repetition and the sensorial experience of the sandpaper letters most of the letters he did try to write were quite a bit of a struggle and many were misformed, backwards, upside down, etc. Little Boy's mama and papa decided to give *school* one more try, but first they met with the classroom teacher to express their concerns. This was (another) new teacher who really knew the Montessori method, but also believed that if Little Boy was not yet interested then it was best to leave him be.

Knowing her child, Mama knew that it wasn't that he lacked interest but more that he lacked foundations. He was filled with frustration that other kindergartners in his class could do things he could not and had decided to simply not care. He was having behavior problems at home and at school. Mama did some reading and research and after Christmas, Little Boy came home to try a new approach to school.

Mama went back to tracing because that is what Little Boy knew. At the same time, she bought sandpaper letters, a moveable alphabet, made a sand tray, and eventually set up pink series works. Two things were quickly clear. 1- Little Boy was uncomfortable with cursive having started with print at age 3. The transition was not working for him so Mama switched everything to print for consistency (school had been using cursive). 2- Little Boy was WAY out of the sensitive period for the sandpaper letters and quickly getting there with the moveable alphabet. Mama worked as quickly as possible through the presentations trying to balance the need for understanding with Little Boy's lack of interest in the materials. They were simply not special to him any longer.

Meanwhile, his handwriting was quite poor and in continued need of interpretation and tracing. At 6 years old, Mama added Handwriting Without Tears (1st grade level) for more targeted practice. This did the trick at improving handwriting. We also did some extra lessons on placing letters on the line (a moveable alphabet lesson he never had). For continued handwriting practice, Little Boy now writes regular journal entries and does a small amount of copy work, copying sayings, Bible verses, and poems into his language notebook. He no longer fights about his writing, but takes great pride in his work.

Little Boy never took the writing road to reading. He never read spontaneously, but that is another post. Little Boy did, however, teach his mother to trust the sequence in Montessori writing. This was a great benefit to the second little boy I would like to tell you about.

Little Brother never went to a traditional preschool. At just under 3 years old, he enrolled for a few months in a Montessori preschool because Little Boy was attending the same school. At just over 3 years old, he transitioned to home with his brother. In his first year at home (Little Brother has a November birthday) he mainly engaged in sensorial activities like the pink tower and brown stair. He also did lots of practical life! He enjoyed geography and maps and learned all of his continents and began with some basic eye spy games. Academics, however, were not his focus.

At just under 4 years old (the beginning of this current school year), Mama decided that Little Brother was ready to begin his writing work. She didn't want to purchase the entire set of metal insets, so she improvised with a simple shape puzzle. First Little Brother traced the shapes with his finger and then with the pencil. He then moved into filling the shapes in with parallel lines and making design booklets with several shapes at once. He found this extremely fascinating for about a month and hasn't done it since.

At the same time, Mama began introducing the sandpaper letters- one or two each week, with plenty of time for review. She also involved Little Boy in these lessons by allowing him to be the teacher, but that was just a ploy to keep him interested and practicing himself. Eventually Little Brother was working with the sandpaper letters and the sand tray regularly and had learned most of them. Around Christmastime, Little Brother became more and more interested in this thing called a pencil. Since kids are generally so proud to be able to write their name, Mama introduced writing letters using Rainbow Names. This led to an explosion of writing *notes* to other family members. Of course he had to read our notes to us because they didn't make much sense, but he was indeed quite proud... and he was writing!

With Little Boy, Little Brother had a lesson on placing letters on the line with the moveable alphabet. It was meant to be an introduction to the moveable alphabet for Little Brother, but instead it was more like a rocket launcher!

At shy of 4 and a half, only 6 months after starting the sequence of writing lessons, Little Brother is making the transition. He is sounding out the words that he writes and is finding sounds and letters in books. On a few occasions, he has taken out beginning pink series pictures to write with his moveable alphabet. He chooses to write.

What is the difference between Little Boy and Little Brother? I truly don't believe intelligence is in any way a factor. I believe there is really only one difference.

Little Brother had consistent instruction from a well laid out plan from the very beginning.

Period. That's the only significant difference.

Does Mama feel a little bit bad about that? Well, honestly, yeah- it wasn't Little Boy's fault. She has, however, had the importance of the approach demonstrated in an extremely personal way. She has taken notes and will work hard not to make the same mistake again. She will watch for the child's readiness and then she will encourage and guide them along a path that is both logical, effective, and interesting.

Because at the end of the day, that's what teaching is really all about.

Language Part 1- Sounds & Spelling

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:51:00 +0000

In deciding where to begin my discussion of language, I had a difficult time on where to start. Writing technically comes before reading in the Montessori curriculum, but there are many sound games and other pre reading activities that come before writing. In addition to that co-mingling of areas, the spelling approach we use intertwines with both and starts even before a child can do either!

Spelling wins, which means I'm actually starting with a non Montessori curriculum for my in depth look at our blended curriculum. For spelling, we use Words Their Way, a developmental spelling program that covers early childhood through adult spelling for less than $100... for as many students as you can think to use it with. No supplemental materials needed. Ever.

The most expensive book is the main manual and it outlines the method and approach. It has instructions on how to assess the level a speller belongs in and how to present the materials. There is a lot of great information... far more than I can share here. That being said, I didn't buy this book because Tim took a 2 day training course in using this spelling method and said I didn't need it. I honestly haven't missed it, but I might feel differently if I didn't have his brain to pick!

The first level, Emergent, is for pre readers and writers. Caleb is in this book. This book focuses on pre reading skills like rhyming words, word families, beginning sounds, sequencing, and word directionality. It is different from the other books because it includes not just sound sorts, but poems and nursery rhymes, and connections to literature.

A sound sort is exactly what it sounds like! The curriculum provides a set of pictures and then the speller sorts them by the sound that they begin with (or end with in the case of rhyming word sorts). Sorts grow in difficulty throughout the levels- progressing from pictures and sounds to words and spelling rules, but the principles remain the same. I like this approach because I don't have to buy (and store) 8 million phonetic objects for the sorts and boxes in the Montessori method, but my kids still have the advantage of working with a manipulative material to learn their sounds and spelling rules.

After Emergent, comes Letter Name Alphabetic. This is Aidan's book right now. This book reviews consonant sounds, introduces short vowel sounds (at the beginning and in the middle of words), blends and digraphs, contractions, and -r driven vowels. The beginning of this book is done with picture sorts and the end transitions to word sorts while introducing the concept of an "oddball" word. These words look the same, but sound different!

Letter Name Alphabetic also introduces the idea of a unit assessment. This is not a weekly spelling test, but rather a brief assessment after a number of sorts on a related topic. Some units have only 2-3 sorts and others have more. I think there were about 20 sorts in the unit on blends and digraphs!

From there the program moves onto Within Word Patterns (primarily long vowel rules), Syllables & Affixes, and Derivational Relationships. Students naturally progress at their own pace with the materials being appropriate for a wide range of ages. Tim (in his 4th-6th grade classroom) has students in 3 or 4 books at the same time, with the majority being at Within Words and Syllables and Affixes. According to the research, many adult spellers are still in the Syllables and Affixes level!

One thing I have done with the Emergent sorts is to create pink construction paper envelopes (to go with pink series materials- more on that in reading) to store our letter sound sorts in. Instead of printing out a new page for each level, I have a pink envelope with 2 sounds on the front and all of the cards for those 2 sounds are inside the envelope (printed on card stock and colored instead of b&w on regular paper). They are displayed in a small vertical file holder so they can be used freely. Caleb does use these during choice work time on occasion, usually in conjunction with the sandpaper letters. He will bring out the two letters he is working with and sort the pictures onto the letters. I started out with only 2 envelopes at the beginning of the year and now all of the letters are represented.

We have also had fun creating little art projects with the nursery rhyme pictures. Nothing like a little cutting and glue action to make spelling even more fun!

This curriculum has been an absolute gem of a find. I can easily see that the boys are progressing in their understanding of spelling and sounds without regular testing and pencil/paper work. They adapted very naturally to the use of picture/word cards from their experience with the Montessori materials. There isn't much record keeping due to the nature of the program, although if you have state requirements, the unit assessments could certainly become a part of a portfolio of work. In regards to planning, Aidan is working with a new sort each week... repeating a sort more than once before moving on. Caleb has one lesson per week introducing either a new sound sort or another concept. I anticipate both boys will finish the book they are in before the end of the school year and will move up to the next book in the fall. This is ahead of the recommended pace, but because of the Montessori approach it makes more sense to start the Emergent level in preschool than to wait until Kindergarten as recommended.

One thing I didn't talk about is SpellQuizzer. I will talk about our use of that product when I talk about reading, although you can read what I had to say about it here. I like to make things intertwine a little too much to consider SpellQuizzer a part of our spelling curriculum! That would just make too much sense, wouldn't it?

If you have any questions about Words Their Way or our approach to spelling, be sure to leave a note and let me know!

Amazon.com Widgets

A Gift From A Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:53:00 +0000

Thanks, Rachel.

Trying Something New

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:05:00 +0000

I'm going to start a series of posting by topics on our Montessori blended homeschool approach. I have noticed a few other bloggers posting by subject area and its been fun to read more details on their total approach. I will start with language and go from there talking about how we apply Montessori at home, when and why we deviate from Montessori, and a few specifics about where each of the kiddos are in regards to that area (that parts mostly for myself and family).

Hopefully this is something that will be valuable to a variety of readers, particularly my poor Montessori readers who probably think I've dropped off the bandwagon as I've been so bad about talking about it.

First up will be language with 3 posts- reading, writing, and spelling! Leave me a note if you have a specific language question or a suggestion of which subject area you would prefer I cover next!

Garboburgers

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:15:00 +0000

My good friend, Leigh, recently shared this recipe with us when she heard about my dairy and meat issues related to this pregnancy. Mainly just that I keep getting sick when I eat either of them. The same thing happened during my pregnancy with Aidan, but then it was just dairy. Thankfully I did *recover* once I delivered, so I"m hoping that will be the case again. I do love vegetarian and vegan foods, but I still like my meat every once in awhile!

Here is Leigh's recipe:

Garboburgers: 6 servings

1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, drained

1 1/3 cup rolled oats

1 cup water (I've tried using the juice drained off the beans and it works well)

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 small onion, minced (we used dried onions and that works well)

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1 1/2 T. soy sauce OR 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. olive oil

Run beans through food processor until they are like the texture of ground meat. Add remaining ingredients (except oil); let sit 15 minutes.

Heat oil in skillet. Make into patties and fry in oil (we find it easiest to use a cookie scoop and put it directly into the pan). Cook both sides until browned. (Note - we've found we have to be a little more generous with the oil so the burger doesn't stick.)

Tastes good with normal burger toppings!

If you mix a double batch, just keep the leftovers in the fridge - we've found it's best to fry them up fresh; they don't taste quite as good if they're fried and then cooled.

The kids completely gobbled these down (minus buns) and we did take Leigh's suggestion to mix up a double batch and put the extra in the fridge. The next day we made them into smaller chicken nugget shaped pieces and fried them in a little bit of oil and those were an even bigger hit! Next time we are going to TRY to bake them, but I don't know if they will hold together well enough for that.

Submitted to Gluten Free Wednesday at The Gluten- Free Homemaker.

My New Adventure!

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:42:00 +0000

I've been hinting for awhile now that I had some new things going on in my life and I finally get to share one of them with you! I recently became an Independent Consultant with Usborne Books & More. This is exciting to me because A) I love books and B) I get to help other people indulge their love for books.

This may seem all completely irrelevant to my extra special blog readers, but guess what? It's not.

I am announcing several ways for YOU to make the most out of my new opportunities.

Option 1- Click on the Usborne link in the upper right sidebar. Once you reach my website, you can click on my name and place an order for books. This option expires March 5th. I will be holding a drawing for a free book for all web orders placed through this site at the end of the promotion period.

Option 2- I discovered (quite by accident) that Usborne books offers a tracking program for affiliates. In other words, you can place a link to my Usborne Books & More website on your blog and with a special tracking code you can earn a % of all sales you have referred. As an introductory offer, I will be giving 10% commission to all affiliates who join by February 28th. Affiliates joining after February 28th will receive 5% commission on all sales.

Affiliates also have the opportunity to serve as a hostess an eshow and earn free books in addition to their typical commission. To sign up as an affiliate, email me at heyhohideo(at)hotmail(dot)com with your full name, a valid paypal address, and your website information. I will email you back with instructions and additional information!

Option 3- Because I am a new consultant, I have the ability to get you a great deal on the business started kit if this is something you have ever been interested in doing yourself. Email me for more information. As a blogger, you have a market right at your finger tips and I would be glad to help you get started!

Be sure to think fast! The best options expire soon!

Slumping

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:59:00 +0000

Some bloggers go through slumps during their first trimester. Nausea and exhaustion are the rule of the day and survival becomes the game. I've seen lots of first trimester apology posts followed by "phew, I'm finally feeling better!" posts a couple of months later.

Has anyone else noticed I had the opposite problem?

I posted almost daily for my entire first trimester. Now that I'm feeling better and reenergized I'm barely cranking out a post per week! When I do blog, I'm barely blogging about our school work... which I know is why many of my followers come here. I still haven't worked up a Faith & Family index page, which I promised months ago!

I won't apologize though. Life comes before blogging.

In the meantime, I will attempt to re-achieve balance.

Valentine's Day Menu

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:17:00 +0000

Without the assistance of any yummy food photos to make you hungry**, I wanted to share our Valentine's Day Popcorn Feast menu! Of course, it would have made more sense to share this yesterday but when have I ever made sense? Don't answer that, please.

**No pictures because the camera cord disappeared, and now the camera itself has stopped taking pictures. I guess it is replacement time, which quite frankly isn't going to happen for awhile!

For those of you who aren't aware of our popcorn night tradition, we eat our Sunday dinner/big meal at lunch after church and have a popcorn & movie or popcorn & game night instead. Sometimes we share the night with friends or family, but usually we stick to family time to end the week. Our meal is always simple, snacky foods that everyone can enjoy and even if we don't watch a movie, we eat on the living room floor which adds to the fun.

For Valentine's Day (or any other *red* day):

Strawberry & Banana slices on toothpicks (mini kabobs)

Homemade Cheeseballs in Marinara (recipe below)

Popcorn

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Berry Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

Red fruit punch for the kids (it may be 100% juice, but I just can't make myself drink it)

While we ate, we watched the movie Down and Derby. Tim borrowed it from their Cub Master to watch before the Pinewood Derby next month. It's basically a story of Dads who make the derby a competition among themselves instead of letting the boys do the work. I knew Aidan would enjoy it, but I was a little surprised that everyone seemed to enjoy it!

We also opened up our Valentine's Day box before we ate to discover cards from Grandma & Papa, a small gift from Mom & Dad, and an abundance of homemade cards from the boys to everyone else. I love seeing how the boys have come to embrace this tradition as their own each year!

Now for yummy recipes :)

Berry Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup frozen mixed berries defrosted

8 ounces of cream cheese softened

3-5 cups of powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in a blender (only if you have a strong one) or with an electric mixer. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until the desired consistency is reached. I used a blend of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries which made a gorgeous purple color that actually elicited *ooohs*!

Homemade Cheeseballs

1/2 pound of shredded cheese (1- 8 oz bag)

3/4 cup of quick cooking oatmeal

2 T flour (any would work I think- I used rice)

2 eggs

salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste

Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. Think about making a meatloaf or meatballs and just use your hands. It's easier, I promise. As seasonings we used onion & garlic powder, I actually think dried onion and dried garlic would have been tastier, but the powders added excellent flavor. Form into golf ball sized meatballs (or smaller if you prefer) and set aside.

Heat about 1 inch of oil in a pan on high. The oil needs to be very hot so that the cheese on the outside will fry to keep the inside cheese inside when it melts! When the oil is hot, brown the cheeseballs for approximately 5 minutes, turning regularly. They are done with the outside is a golden brown. They may stick to the bottom of the pan, but they can be gently moved without falling apart. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on a paper towel.

Serve with marinara sauce. Buy it pre made or make your own, whatever floats your boat, but simple is best.

Makes 10-15

I haven't forgotten you!

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:41:00 +0000

I have lots of fun posts in my brain and updates and all sorts of fun stuff (like I haven't revealed our little one's gender u/s results here yet!).

UNFORTUNATELY, however, we have to stomach flu.

All 5 of us.

For the last half week or so every 12 hours, someone new came down with it.

We are recovering.

My laundry may never recover.

No really, you have to push it out of the way to get into the bathroom.

We finally started moving the clean piles into our school room where we can close the door so no one puked on it.

So on that note, I hope to *see* all of my bloggy friends soon.

But for now, real life is demanding my attention!

February Giveaway- More Language Files

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:43:00 +0000

This month I am giving away an electronic set of 3 part cards to work on word types and definitions. For each card there is the symbol, word type, and a brief description. Word types included are article, noun, verb, adjective, and adverb.

Here is a sample:

Sorry for the spell check lines, they won't be on the final cards but I used screen shot to upload the sample. The link cord for my camera has *ahem* disappeared (probably had a little help), so I can't post an actual picture of the finished material yet, but I will as soon as we find it (or replace it).

I didn't use these cards until after each type had been introduced separately, but you could also use them earlier as an introduction to word types. The first lesson is to simply match the 3 pieces to the control card. The second lesson is to turn the control cards upside down and match the 3 pieces without the control.

To encourage comments (aka entries) on this post I want to motivate you with a few of the more charming things my boys have said to me this week.

Caleb, "Smell my teeth mommy!"

Aidan, (trying to come up with a way to serve Caleb after an uncool offense) "I could wipe his butt for him for a week."

Oh please, could you?

Contest will end on February 15th! Increase entries by blogging, tweeting, or otherwise spreading the word, just make sure to come back and leave a separate comment for each entry!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:14:00 +0000

We've been really playing with our diet around these parts over the last few weeks. For several reasons, including the fact that I seem to have developed some sort of possibly pregnancy related lactose issues, we have been experimenting specifically with vegan foods. We've never been huge meat eaters, and we cut red meat out of our at home diet a long time ago (with one exception which I'll talk about some other time when a- I have a better idea of what we ARE doing with our diet and why and b- I have more time to write it all out).

I actually won a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule, which has a gluten free version. I do like to bake, so I've been enjoying trying some new recipes. Everyone loved the Oatmeal Banana cookies from Vegan Lunch Box. That recipe was great because it was naturally gluten free (with an eye to the oats). They were also completely lacking in processed sugar, which is always nice as well.

These little soft chewy beauties, however, have been the best by far!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies from the Post Punk Kitchen blog. My friend Holly recommended the recipe and sent me on my way. I won't (can't) copy out the recipe here, but I will tell you the changes I made to make these cookies gluten free.

First of all, I doubled the recipe (2 dozen cookies and 5 people is just never enough) which increases the flour amount to 3- 1/3 cups of flour. I used 2 Cups of brown rice, and 2/3 cup each of tapioca starch and potato starch. Per Holly's recommendation, I also used 7-8 Tablespoons of non-dairy milk instead of 6.

Do you want to know the best part of these cookies? They are SATISFYING! The little kick of heat at the end makes you only want to eat one cookie. Not so much you feel like your mouth is on fire, but enough that the taste stays with you so you don't feel like you need to eat another one right away.

Then again, I'm sure I'm the only person who has that problem when it comes to cookies.

Lever Lessons for Little Lads

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:22:00 +0000

As fun as our incline plane experiments were last week, everyone was excited to jump right into our science lesson this week. The topic of the day? Levers.

Now today we started out nice and boring with a nice traditional looking lever. We learned about the parts (pivot, load, and force) needed to make it work and practiced a couple times. I checked out a book from the library last week on simple machines and we read the section on levers, but the experiment they had was quite a bit more complicated then I really wanted to get into (it was a three part marble works type set up). I envisioned Kylee ripping it apart as we were putting it together!

What was I to do? Well, we (I) decided to talk about every little boy's favorite example of a lever - the catapult.

We crinkled up little scraps of paper, got out a few spoons and fired away.

Don't worry, I did not neglect my children's education for a morning of pure entertainment. I forced them to identify (between launches) the pivot (holding hand), load (paper ball), and force (releasing hand).

If you are feeling as free spirited as I was this morning, you may even suggest target practice in the living room. Blue painters tape (yes its from 3M Dad, you bought it for me) works great.

Too further your child's education (or if you are just lazy like me) refuse to create a scoreboard or to do any of the writing and addition. After all, everyone has been practicing writing their name, right?

And the 1 year old? She makes a great retriever.

I will admit, however, that when she began demonstrating her understanding of levers by loading her hand with anything she could find and applying the force of her arm around the pivot of her shoulder (aka throwing everything in sight) the fun was somewhat over!

The Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:57:00 +0000

Those of you who have been reading for awhile, may remember my post on kids and church back in August. I had many great comments and a lot of feedback that helped Tim and I make some decisions.

The first thing we decided was that when there is a nursery attend is available we will use it for Kylee on Sundays. We also attend a family worship service on Wednesdays for her to practice sitting with us, but on Sunday everyone is getting more out of service without her there. She is also getting more used to new people which is something she has a hard time with.

It has taken almost 6 months, but she will now consistently (and happily) separate on Sunday mornings. She is doing so well with it, that twice she has fallen asleep in the nursery in the arms of a stranger. Those that know Kylee personally, know that this is a huge deal for her!

Now, this is not the *moment* that I am excited to blog about. The *moment* is actually something far more exciting to me.

Aidan is reading in church!

He's been reading for awhile, but he was not putting 2 and 2 together at church. Maybe the print was too small, too far away on the screen, went too fast, or maybe some other combination of circumstances led to his resistance to participating. The reason I posted about Kylee initially, is that I suspect her constant activity may have been one of the things distracting him.

Since he is following along, he is participating better and his behavior in church has drastically improved. Not only that, his younger brother has also drastically improved his behavior as well. My moms of many friends tell me that getting the first child focused and behaving is key to the whole ball game. My experiences the last two weeks are telling me that they may indeed be correct!

Good work, Aidan!

Oops- Contest Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:33:00 +0000

So on the 25th of January, I just realized that I never drew a winner of the SpellQuizzer spelling software! Oops! One would think after 6 months of running monthly contests, I would have the date a bit more firmly in my mind.

So without further chatter, the winner is Monessori Moments. Congratulations! I will email you with information on claiming your prize.

The Jesus Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:39:00 +0000

The Jesus Book, by Stephen Elkins is a great book for little (and a little bit bigger) minds. Each section of the book answers a who, what, when, where, why, or how question of faith in child friendly language. We enjoyed sharing it together by reading the main topic headings on each page and stopping to look at the various maps and read more on the in depth pages. You can see sample pages by clicking on the title above. The book also includes a CD with kids Bible songs and scripture. We enjoyed listening and dancing to the tunes during our Friday morning family cleaning time!

The music CD included is appropriate for infants through big kids. A preschooler can enjoy the story through the simple headings. Early elementary aged children will enjoy listening to the longer sections of text, although probably not all at once. Upper elementary aged children will be able to use the book as an independent study resource for their personal faith growth. No doubt, adults can learn a lot as well! Overall, I think this is a great book a family can use together to grow in their faith walk.

To purchase this book through Amazon, click below.

This book was reviewed as a part of the Book Sneeze program sponsored by Thomas Nelson Publishing. In order to complete the review, I was provided with a complimentary copy of the book. I did not receive monetary compensation.