I Tried to Take the Day Off. . .

Today we are supposed to be taking the day off from homeschool.  I had a long midwife appointment most of the morning with bloodwork, gestational diabetes testing, and a regular checkup.  So why is it that my oldest woke up and asked to do homeschool this morning?  This is the child who would rather wait until noon before we begin any work because it takes her a while to wake up. 

Needless to say, I let her do homeschool!  She wrote for 15 minutes in her journal first, then decided she wanted to try the test for our next chapter in math.  Yeah, the one we haven’t even done the lessons for yet. I figured she could always erase her answers and take the test next week after we do the lessons on reading different dials, gauges, and thermometers, so why not let her try it?  She got everything right.  That is one less week of MUS Beta for us.  The last chapter is on answering questions from data on a graph, which I am pretty sure she knows how to do already.  Then she’ll have the end of unit test over the last 1/4 of the book and the end of book test over the entire book. 

She was also asking to do Expedition Earth and learn more about India, so we’re going to do that this afternoon.  So much for taking a day off!

Would Our Homeschool Change Without Technology?

This week’s Blog Cruise question is “Do you use technology in your homeschool?” I thought it was an interesting question, and my answer is complicated, or more complicated than I was expecting. Read on to see what I mean!

At first thought, my answer was no, or very little. In a typical homeschool day I read aloud to my children, they work with math papers and manipulatives, draw, create, use real books, and learn with no real technology.

However, here are things I realized as I thought harder about it:

- We listen to songs with my iPod Touch as part of our Expedition Earth geography study and to our children’s hymns we are learning. Now, I own the CDs for the music and have used a CD player, but my husband helped me load the music onto my iPod and it fits into a handy speaker dock on the mantle to broadcast our songs.

- My children began having computer time this summer for typing or learning programs. They get on usually 3 times a week, for 20 minutes each.

- I use the computer to facilitate our homeschooling a LOT. I get many free resources, including e-books and lapbook files. These are printed out and so my children do not directly use the technology, but without it we would not be doing many of the things we do. I buy curricula, books, and materials online regularly. I order library books with my computer online.

- I can read so many free books aloud after downloading them to my iPod Touch, (you know - the old but great public domain titles).

- My children listen to an audio book every day during quiet time with my iPod. I plug my iPod into speakers in the hall between bedrooms so everyone can hear. This is not 'technically’ homeschool, but I think it counts. They are certainly learning as they listen to classics and fun titles alike.

- Depending on the unit study, we do have some that are internet focused, the Download N Go units. We’ve used a few as a family, and the internet links are integral to the unit for information and videos. We also get library books from the included booklist because it is hard to beat snuggling up together on the couch for great learning memories.

- I also use tools like a laminator and printer, though my children do not use them directly. And don’t forget my digital camera! I love taking photos, and my children are beginning to use it as well, though not really for homeschool.

What would our homeschool look like without the computer, internet, and my iPod Touch? About the same as it does now, time spent gathered around the table, on the couch, or spread across the floor working, reading, and learning as a family. However, we would spend more money buying books and materials that I can find for free online.

What about your family? What technology do you use in your homeschool? Would your homeschool look very different if you took those things away from your day?

Check out how my Crewmates use technology in their homeschools here on Tuesday.

New Curriculum Choice Post Up – Letter of the Week Review

My new post is up on Curriculum Choice, so click on over to read all about the Letter of the Week Curricula we love.  Here is your sneak peek:

“I have to admit that I am not able to be creative every minute of every day.  I just do not have the energy.  When I was preparing for our summer learning adventures I knew I wanted something fun for my younger 4 children, ages 1-5,  to do each day.  The other big requirement was that it was laid out for me.  Enter the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I am really not sure quite how I found her blog, but boy are my children glad I did!”  Click Here to read the rest.

I have been writing at Curriculum Choice for a while now, so if you are interested in reading my other posts over there just Click Here.

Do You Have Nature Study?

I thought it was time to turn the tables and get answers from my readers.  Here is my question, or maybe a few questions.  Feel free to answer any and all!

1. Does your family currently do nature studies?  If so, how?  Are these formal times where you set out to explore nature, or do they just happen while you are out?  Give me details!
2. Do your children make a nature notebook/journal where they draw and record their findings?  How does this work for you?
3. If you live in town, how do you do nature studies?  We live in town, and while we can explore our backyard and garden, there are no parks in walking distance really.  The backyard becomes pretty familiar after a few weeks or months.
4. Have you read any books that inspired your family to try nature studies?  I’ve just finished Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola and really enjoyed it. 
5. Do you have a favorite Field Guide or two?  We live in Ohio, so I’m especially looking for those that apply to my area, but list your favorites regardless!

Well, I suppose those are enough questions to be getting going with.  You can leave your answers in the comments or write and entire post for your blog and leave the link in the comments.  I look forward to reading what you have to say!

Workbox Plans X 4: India Begins

We have a fun week ahead with only three days of official schoolwork in our workboxes.  Tuesday has doctor’s appointments(though we will probably still do some basic homeschool) and Wednesday we meet with our Book Club turned Geography Club for a few hours.  The theme for Wednesday is China!  With that in mind, here is the homeschool plan for the three days of ‘official schoolwork’.

Math

Makayla will be testing out of the next chapter in MUS Beta, just going straight to the test on Monday.  It is subtraction with problems like 35,267-22,198= ?  She can do that, there is nothing new to learn.  Then on Thursday she will start the next chapter, reading dials, thermometers, and gauges.  I expect that to be an easy concept, but you never know!  She’ll also play Pyramath.

Joseph will continue working on writing numbers to twenty and I want to see if he understands the +1 concept without the blocks.  Emma will be doing the same thing.  I think we will pull out Chutes and Ladders this week for more counting.

Daniel will work on counting to 20 and recognizing the numbers, but not writing them.  Oliver will work on counting to 5. 

Spelling

Makayla is on Step 11 and it adds blends to vowel consonant E words.  Nothing too difficult.

Reading/Phonics

I am going to take a step away from Rocket Phonics for a few weeks to see how Joseph and Emma do reading from regular phonics readers.  We have the Now I’m Reading books by Nora Gaydos that are funny, so we’ll try them for a change of pace.  Daniel will keep playing letter sound games with mommy.

Writing

Makayla is going to write about whatever she chooses this week.  She’ll start working on writing reports from multiple sources the following week, maybe something on tigers to go along with our India study.

Vocabulary Cartoons

We’ll just learn a new word each day and keep checking that we remember the previous words.  This review item has been easy to incorporate in our day.

India Unit Study

Ahh, where do we begin?  I’m pretty flexible, we grab a book and learn about what comes up in it.  We have so many books about India that we’ll just grab a few each day and explore the country until the children are finished.  That will be two weeks for sure, possibly three.  Here are my basic plans for our first week:

• We’ll listen to a song from India in Wee Sing Around the World daily. 
• We’ll get out blank maps of India and start filling in the details like Mount Everest, the Ganges River, and major cities.  I keep toying with making a salt dough map, so I really should go look up that recipe and see if I have the ingredients handy.  I know the kids would have fun with it.
• We will read Welcome to India and Living in India one day and talk about them.
• Read Children Just Like Me and Picture a Country: India on another day and see what would be different about being a child in India. 
• The third day will be Mountain Day, so we will read our book about Mount Everest as well as the entries on mountains and mountain ecology in Geography from A to Z and The Living World Encyclopedia. 
• We’ll color or draw the flag of India.
• We will also read at least one story from Indian Children’s Favourite Stories this week.
• A craft or art project that arises from one of the books we read.  I know something will catch my children’s interest, so I don’t have to plan it myself.

Gospel Studies

Our scripture friend this week is going to be Esther and we are going to focus on fasting and prayer.

Read Alouds

We are still reading The Hobbit.  I pre-read Soldier Fritz and the Enemies He Fought last week (it’s a review item) and it was really good.  I will start reading it to the children this week, and at 137 pages it will be a quick read I think.

What is your family studying this week?  Leave a comment or blog about it so we can follow your adventures.

India Resources Part 2

Well, see what a trip to the library can do?  I had a whole host of books arrive from other libraries in time for our India unit, found a few related books (tigers, Mount Everest, cookbooks),  and even came across a video.  So here is part 2 of the India resources. (See part 1 here.) I’m starting to think we may stay in India for 3 weeks, but we’ll just have to see.  Taj Mahal by Kate Riggs – This book is new, it was published in 2009 and surprised me.  It is a beautifully photographed reader that makes the story of the Taj Mahal come to life.

Taj Mahal by Caroline Arnold – The other end of the spectrum, this book is richly illustrated and tells the tale of the love story from seventeenth-century India and why the Taj Mahal was built.

Toot’s Tour of India by Laura F. Marsh – Based on the Toot and Puddle cartoon series(which my children saw once at Grandma’s house a long time ago), National Geographic sponsored this book’s creation.  Children follow the little pig Toot through India and home again.

Look What Came from India by Miles Harvey – A fun look at things in our lives that originated in India.

Living in India by Ruth Thomson – Simple text beside many photographs gives this book an easy reading quality to use with little ones just a few highlights at a time.

Foods of India by Barbara Sheen – Combination cultural immersion, history book, and cookbook, this will be fun to read, even if we don’t cook a single recipe from it.  Picture a Country: India by Henry Pluckrose – Introduces key facts and features of the country with simple text and photos.

Into Wild India: The Jeff Corwin Experience – I chose this one for my animal lover, Makayla.  She’ll enjoy this book the most.

Mount Everest by Megan Lappi – We will explore the beauty and danger of the world’s tallest mountain in this book.  I like that it focuses more on the mountain than those who are crazy enough to try climbing it.

Project Tiger by Susan Ring – Makayla wanted to learn more about tigers while we’re studying India.  She’ll be doing a lapbook as part of her project.  This book will be an interesting read for her.

Indian Children’s Favourite Stories by Rosemarie Somaiah – A collection of Indian folktales retold for ages 5-14.  Just a read aloud for fun.

Families of India – This video is part of the Families of the World video series.  I will be watching it before I share it with my children.  The video follows two children’s lives in India from breakfast to bedtime.

Apple Picking 2010

Today was the first weekend for apple picking so we loaded everyone into the van and headed to the orchard.  Just a little background on our family – we love apples!  We buy apples year round and eat roughly 9 lbs. of apples every week.  Our favorite time of year is apple picking season because we can get so many apples at a great price, with a little family fun thrown in. This year was Oliver’s first to actually be able to pick the apples, though wrestling with the tree for an apple was still a big job.  He liked carrying around his prizes the most. Daniel was having almost as much fun running up and down the aisles of trees as he was picking apples.  Emma was a little apple connoisseur, carefully inspecting each apple before she picked it to make sure she would not come in contact with a bug.  Joseph picked apples with a bit less care for bugs, though he did check them over before adding them to the basket.  His favorite part of the orchard is being allowed to eat apples right off the tree while we’re there.  Makayla was the big worker this year, able to find nice, balanced apples instead of crooked ones that don’t cut as well on our apple peeler-slicer.  Another way to say it was she got downright picky over which apples she plucked from the tree, but hey, whatever works!Daddy liked to show off that he could reach the tops of the trees.  It helped that the orchard is filled with dwarf trees to make for easy picking.    And Makayla snagged the camera from mommy long enough to take this shot.  Yes, that’s me, in all my pregnant glory.  I got the camera back as quickly as I could after that.

We bought a bushel of apples today, which means they will last us a bit, and we will go apple picking again later in the season.  Today we picked Gala apples – juicy and sweet.  Next time something else will be ripening to try.

Have you ever gone apple picking?  Do you have a favorite apple recipe?  Please leave a comment and tell me all about it!

India Books and Resources

We will be learning about India for two weeks and I promise to post those plans, but I wanted to share my India booklist and internet resources in it’s very own post. Then I went to the library and ended up with even more resources. I made a second post of India resources HERE, so click over after you read this post for more ideas. Children Just Like Me by DK – There are two children from different areas of India covered in here.

A School Like Mine by DK – There are actually three children from India who all have different school situations in this book.

Children Just Like Me: Celebrations by DK – This has 3 celebrations related to India, Holi, Raksha Bandhan, and Diwali. Welcome to India by Patrick Ryan – We’re really liking this series to give us a quick overview of many aspects of the country. It is just right for Makayla in 4th grade to peak her interest, and is more than enough information for the younger children.

Going to School in India by Lisa Heydlauff – Tells of many different kinds of schools across the diverse nation of India. This is a pretty long book, so we will read it over several days.

I is for India by Prodeepta Das – An alphabet book filled with photographs and descriptions of life in one part of India. I really like this one.

India ABCs by Marcie Aboff – This alphabet book is illustrated (not photographs) and tells of the people and places of India, it is okay, but I like I is for India better. Mama’s Saris by Pooja Makhijani – A young girl who just wants to play dress up in her mother’s beautiful saris. I have a feeling my girls will want saris when we finish this story…

The Road to Mumbai by Ruth Jayaveeran – A little girl dreams wonderful adventures across India with her monkey one night.

Anklet for a Princess by Lila Mehta – This is a Cinderella story from India.

One Grain of Rice by Demi – This is a mathematical folktale of India about the power of just one grain of rice and doubling.

Internet Resources for India

• 8 Minute You Tube video of Henna being applied for a wedding.
• Sightseeing in India – made by Time magazine’s kids department, neat section of their website.
• Craft: Rangoli designs to print and color – with the legend of how rangoli came to be.
• PBS Taj Mahal – neat photos and a description of how the Taj Mahal came to be.
• National Geographic Kids India – we love the National Geographic Kids website. This is a click through set of facts, photos, and printable for India.
• The India Kids Portal – a section of the India national government’s website for kids.

Other things we may look at while in India are monsoons, the Ganges River, and Mount Everest. It just depends on the kids interest level.

Have you studied India before? Do you know of a neat book or resource I didn’t mention? Leave me a note in the comment so I can check it out!

China Booklist – A Little Late.

I realized when looking through my booklist posts for the unit studies we’ve recently that I forgot to post the books from our China unit.  So here they are, better late than never!  Children Just Like Me by DK – Has one girl from China and tells a bit about her life.

A School Like Mine by DK – Three different Chinese children’s school experiences are explored in this book.

Children Just Like Me Celebrations! by DK – They had a page about Chinese New Year in here.

Travel Through China by Lynn Huggins-Cooper – Our favorite book for the unit study!  This has lots of information on colorful, friendly 2 page spreads that could be digested in small chunks by my little ones, or large chunks by my oldest.

Watch Me Grow Panda by Lorrie Mack – A sweet photo filled book of a baby panda growing to adult.

Monkeys of Asia and Africa by Patricia A. Fink Martin – We only focused on a very small section in this book about the Golden Monkeys, though there were lots of interesting monkeys in here.   Snow Leopards and their Babies by Marianne Johnston – Nice but a bit long, it didn’t hold my younger children’s interest after seeing a few pictures, but Makayla liked it.

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack – A fun book about a little duck on the Yangtze River.  There is a free lapbook for it here.

Look What Came From China by Miles Harvey – Neat book that shows many things we are familiar with that originated in China. 

Count Your Way through China by Jim Haskins – A nice counting book that was just right for my younger kids, not too long, not to short.

Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin – A fun story related to food that my younger children liked reading.  Of course, then they wanted to try serving lots of little dishes of many kinds of food like in the book. 

Food and Festivals: China by Amy Shui – Lots of information in this book, it was a great one for our food-focused day.

Don’t forget you can check out my other booklists with the tab at under my header.  We’ve got booklists for the Civil War, WWI, South Korea, our Book Club, and more.

Week in Review #61: A Smooth Week

For a week back to the full workload it certainly seemed as if my children had plenty of time to just play and learn on their own. Thankfully I have learned that the real work of childhood is play, so I did not rush to fill the extra time with more ‘schoolwork’. I am really liking having our history and science split into different semesters! For those who wonder how our days usually go, check out this post to see our family routine.

Oliver turned 18 months old this week and has started trying to sing. It’s really funny, he’s still not very talkative, but every so often a song catches his attention and he tries to sing the notes. Other than that he has been all about the markers this week. He has worn as much as the paper has, as you can see in his picture above.

Makayla succeeded in another math chapter this week and actually took the test Wednesday, giving herself the rest of the week just playing Pyramath (review coming on 9/15). She is getting so close to finishing Math U See Beta! She also had no trouble in spelling, so we’ll keep moving along in that. Her writing project this week was to retell her own version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. At first she was not sure how this could be fun, but once she decided on her new characters she really got into it. She ended up telling a story about Yolk the Monkey and the Three Toucans.

Makayla also decided to start working her way through Goofy Geckos, a Download N Go unit study. She does this completely independent of me, and yes, it is wonderful to have a 9 year old! She decided she is not interested in filling in the pages, so we didn’t print things, she just does the work at the computer and enjoys learning about these crazy creatures.

Joseph worked diligently on writing numbers this week, which went along with his math lesson. He is not thrilled by the whole handwriting idea, but we keep it short and I’m just looking for legible. His big interest this week, aside from Legos, was reading Magic School Bus books. His favorite book was about electricity, with the one about germs running a close second.

Emma’s handwriting and math were the same as Joseph’s, and she’s happy to write all you want. It must be a girl thing. She also drew pictures for five or six books this week, each themed, and all are sweet.

I blogged about Daniel’s big accomplishment this week, potty training. He is already beginning to remind himself to go to the bathroom, so accidents have cut down dramatically and he is so proud of himself. I’m proud of him too! He has also discovered the joy of the Laura Numeroff books. This week’s favorite: If you Give a Pig a Pancake.

Our family unit study was a lot of fun all around. South Korea is one interesting place, with fun animals to explore for Makayla on land and in the water. Her favorite was the dhole. Everyone colored a paper doll for South Korea, here you can see them hard at work. We also learned how to say hello, and found out about the Korean foods, traditional clothing, and interesting places - including the demilitarized zone. Yes, it seems we just can’t get away from learning about wars. It was a very interesting contrast to Makayla, who learned about the American Civil War not that long ago, to see how very differently the Korean civil war turned out. Could you imagine a demilitarized zone running across the United States today, separating North and South? Those are the interesting connections you get to make when you homeschool.

We finished our read aloud Fablehaven this week. The kids all enjoyed it, and I will probably start reading the second book aloud soon. We are still reading the Hobbit slowly, so I may wait until we get through that.

Our review item Vocabulary Cartoons is going well. Makayla has learned the meaning of several new words and is remembering them, and it is a fairly painless way to add to her vocabulary. Simple is good around here!

Those are the highlights I can think of. The kids did a lot of creating and playing, including creating books, drawing, reading lots of Magic School Bus books, and reenacting history with Legos. They played ball and Frisbee in the house and managed not to break anything! Now I’m off to get our plans together for next week, India, here we come!

This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap-Up.

Lists are Motivating

I am so glad it’s Thursday!  I woke up feeling not terribly motivated to do things.  Do you ever have mornings like that?  I knew there were things I needed to do as we have missionaries coming to dinner tonight.  I always feel more productive if I write a list (yes, very type A, I know), so the first thing I did after setting the children down for breakfast was make the following list.  (I’ll mark items off as they get done).

• Grind wheat.
• Bake 4 loaves of bread.
• Vacuum/Sweep the downstairs.
• Get kids to pick up toys and return to their rooms.
• Stuff cloth diapers (ours are pockets, so I need to put the inserts in).
• Clean off my desk.  You know, the one right by the front door that collects piles from anyone who walks past. 
• Clean off tv/mantle area.  This is my husband’s messy spot.  :)  His laptop is here and things spread.  I clean it off every so often if he forgets. (insert evil chuckle here)  Then he gets to try and find everything again.
• Package books for the post office.  I’ve got 10 books going out through Paperback Swap this weekend.  Whoo Hoo!  I love it because then I can get 10 books for my kids.
• Clean the porch.  Our porch is glassed in and we keep all the shoes out there, as well as the mini-trampoline, a bench, and a chair.  The shoes never stay on the rack long.  The kids will pick those up and I’ll vacuum the carpet out there.
• Homeschool the kids.  Yep, it’s just a fact of life around here.  Math, spelling, phonics, and our South Korea unit study are on the plan today. 
• Wash a load of laundry.  Remember, we’re still potty training.  Actually, Daniel only had one accident yesterday, so I’m hoping the trend continues today.
• Cut veggies and make a salsa salad.
• Make sure the meat is thawing for dinner tonight, we’re making Chinese again!

I think that’s a good start for the day.  Now that I’ve taken a quick break to type it all up I’m off to slice some of that nice warm bread for snack time.  Oh, and I’ll read The Hobbit aloud to the kids while they munch!

What are you up to today?  Do you find it motivating to list out what needs done, or does a list just make you feel more stressed?  Let me know in a comment!

The Essential Family Routine

This week’s Happy NOT Back to School theme from Heart of the Matter is A Day in the Life, telling how a day goes at our house.  Each day is a little bit different yet the same.  How’s that for an explanation?  We stick very closely to a family routine tied to meals and snacks.  However, what we do in between those varies a bit.  Here is a typical day:

6:00am – Mommy wakes up, eats, reads scriptures, and checks in on the computer.

6:30am – Joseph (age 5) is usually awake by this time.  He likes to start his day with a toy, usually magnetics or lego.

7:00am – Mommy wakes everyone else if they’re sleeping still.  Makalya (9), Emma (4), Daniel (2), Oliver (1.5).  Diaper changes and breakfast are the first order of business. 

7:30am - Next come chores for everyone.  Makayla feeds the outdoor cats no matter the weather, the other children unload the dishwasher, mommy starts a load of laundry.

7:45am – We get homeschool going at this point unless I need to bake bread.  If bread needs done I get it started first.  Math is almost always done early to get it out of the way.  Then spelling, handwriting, writing, or phonics depending on how old you are.  When your work is done you’re free to play.

10:00am – Snacktime, followed by more homeschool, usually our unit study if we’ve not gotten to it yet.  The unit study is done as a family and often begins on the couch with some books and songs.  Then they’re free to play games, do puzzles, read, or just be kids.

12:00pm – Lunchtime and a read aloud, then chores again (cleaning up a bit).

1:00pm – 2:30pm/3:00pm – Quiet Time/Nap Time for the whole house.  If you’re here, you’re down.  The older 3 may get out of bed at 2:30pm, the littlest two are woken around 3:00pm.  During quiet time the kids have books to look at and an audio book is playing in the hall between the bedrooms.  Oliver and Daniel always sleep.  Emma sleeps most days.  Joseph and Makayla never sleep unless they’re sick.

2:30pm – The big kids have computer time many days.  Makayla is working on Typing Instructor For Kids 5.0 (it’s great!).  Fridays she can do a Magic School Bus game or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego instead.  Joseph and Emma usually play a Dora numbers game, Blue’s Clues Reading game, or Starfall.com.  Daniel plays Starfall some days after he gets up.

The kids are free at this point other than dinner at 5:00pm with the accompanying chores.  The boys like to build with Lego and Duplo.  The girls like to make things with paper, yesterday it was classification books (a plant book, water animal book, etc). 

8:30pm – Bedtime for Makayla, my oldest.  Yes, this seems a bit backward, but she needs more sleep than the others to get out of bed semi-willingly.  So she goes to bed first.  We’ve told her when she’s able to get up cheerfully (and the first time we ask) with less sleep she’s welcome to have a later bedtime.

9:00pm – Bedtime for Joseph, Emma, and Daniel.  They all go to sleep pretty easy.  Usually within the next 45 minutes Oliver will fall asleep in my arms as well.  I have found for Daniel and Oliver it is essential that I don’t let them sleep as  long as they could for nap time.  If I let them sleep beyond 3:00pm they are awake later and later. 

Thanks for stopping in!  You can read my other Happy NOT Back to School posts below:

• Week 1:  A Curriculum Plan in Two Semesters
• Week 2: Homeschool Takes Over the Dining Room
• Week 3: 2010 School Pictures

Potty Training: Our Adventure and My Tips

Guess what we’ve been doing? Did the picture give you a clue? See my big boy in underwear? Daniel is learning to use the potty!

I’ll be honest, Monday I was apprehensive. I do not enjoy potty training, and my last potty trainer was a stubborn girl who simply said “No, I like to wear my cloth diapers.” Literally, she said those very words and handed me back the pretty princess underwear she had been begging for. She was nearly 3.

On Monday Daniel had around 6 accidents and 8 successes. Some accidents happened on the carpet, and one happened as he was standing on the back of the living room couch. Yes, really. Thankfully it’s a leather-ish material that wiped right off, but that’s one of the hazards of potty training. Accidents happen!

Daniel looked at me the second time he was actually peeing in the potty and said, “It’s working Mommy!”. Too funny! He says that nearly every time now. I noticed after about noon that he knew how to ‘perform on command’, when we sat on the potty he just peed and we moved on with our day. He had figured out how to do it.

Tuesday he had a few accidents (including pooping once, sigh). But again, if we said, “Hey, it’s time to potty”, he just climbed on, got his business done, and was happy to move on.

The next goal is to get Daniel sending himself to the potty, paying attention to his own bladder and going before he has an accident. Yeah, that may take a while. But I’m okay with that! I’ll be mommy reminder for a week while he gets using the potty into a habit, then hopefully he’ll start taking over reminders.

I thought I would offer my potty training advice, culled from my first 4 children:

1. Wait until they’re really ready. They need to be able to know they’ve peed and pooped, can pull down their clothes (and up too hopefully), talk and understand well enough for some easy communication, and like to be read a story. Oh, and don’t make it a battle of wills, you’ll lose. You can’t force a child to pee or poop on command.
2. Don’t tell them there is a treat involved for actually peeing or pooping in the toilet until they’ve done it. I made this mistake with my first few and they just begged for the treat the whole time while I suspect they really didn’t know how to make their body pee when sitting on the toilet. With Daniel we just kept sitting and reading stories until he happened to have a success. Then I introduced the “here is an M&M because you did it” concept. It was magical.
3. Have lots of underwear and shorts on hand. Also plan to do laundry a lot. Enough said!
4. Keep them close. For day 1 I didn’t let Daniel wander upstairs to play. We brought toys down to the main living areas so I could be timely in taking him to the bathroom.
5. Don’t get stressed, upset, or grumpy over accidents. They happen. Just cheerfully wipe them off, change into dry clothes, and say, “Oh, it’s no fun getting all wet and sticky, is it? Let’s try peeing in the potty again.”

Now we just go straight for the regular toilet. That’s a personal choice. I just don’t enjoy cleaning a little kid toilet and don’t want my younger child playing with it. Daniel hops right up on the regular toilet with no trouble. If they feel wobbly and don’t like it you can get a cushioned seat ring that fits on the toilet for a few bucks at WalMart.

Oh, and until I get a waterproof cover for his bed, Daniel is in diapers for nap and bedtime. I will pick one of those up this weekend. We also have some bed-wetting history, so I don’t rush staying dry when asleep. My 4.5yo still wears a diaper to bed at night and only wakes up dry about half the time. No big deal. Her body just has to mature enough to be ready, and it’s not something she has any control over.

So there you have it, all my toilet wisdom and this week’s adventure in the kingdom of the potty. Do you have any great tips, funny stories, or related advice? Leave a comment and tell me all about it!

This post is also linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

South Korea Resources

So far our South Korea adventure is going well.  I thought I would share the a few books and things we’re using.  Some are mentioned in our Expedition Earth curriculum, some I found through my library.

Children Just Like Me – This DK book is great, taking you alongside a child from the country and sharing a bit about their life.  The Korea page highlights twin brothers.

 

 

A School Like Mine – Also by DK.  It is interesting to my kids to read how differently school works around the world.  Some children attend school all day, others walk miles just to get to school, and each wears different clothing or uniforms.  Some even wear slippers!

 

Welcome to South Korea by Patrick Ryan – This book was a fun introduction to the country Monday with simple pages about people, food, land, history, and more.

 

Bee Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park – Bee Bim Bop means mix-mix rice, and this story tells of a little girl shopping and cooking dinner with her mother.  We’ll be making our own mix-mix rice this week.

 

The Green Frogs: a Korean folktale retold by Yumi Heo –  Two frogs always do the opposite of what their mother tells them.  She realizes this and before she dies tells them the opposite of where she wants buried.  However, this one time they listen to their mother.  The legacy the frog children leave behind: "in Korea, children who don't listen to their mother are called chung-gaeguri or green frogs."  This book may not be for everyone.

A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno – A little girl gets new shoes.  This is the story of what happened after she cracked the new clogs playing the weather-telling game and so longed for a bright, shiny new pair to replace them that she almost did a dishonest thing.  Very sweet.

Beyond these books we have discovered free paper dolls for many different countries we will be studying here.  There are 4 pages of links, and the country is in small print on the bottom corner of each paper doll page.  We used one last week for China and have another this week for South Korea.

Makayla is also doing her own independent research for the animals in the Expedition Earth supplement.  The animals for South Korea are:

1. Dugong
2. Tube-nosed Bat
3. Long-Tailed Goral
4. Fin Whale
5. Dhole
6. Harbor Porpoise

She does a mix of checking books on our shelves and searching the internet (with me sitting beside her). 

Next week I think we’re heading to India, does anyone have favorite books to go along?  Leave me a comment, or feel free to ask a question!

More Blog Awards . . .

Aww, I’m honored to have received two blog awards over the weekend.  Kris at Homeschooling Momma3 gave me the Sunshine Award, and Very Blessed Momma at Training Children Up for Christ passed along the One Lovely Blog Award.  Thank you very much ladies!  I’m to say 7 things about myself and pass the awards on to no more than 7 other bloggers, so here goes…

1. Right now I’m in a parenting reading kick.  I’m reading The Happiest Baby on the Block for the first time (interesting, but he’s very much not a creationist), and I’ve got some goodies ordered from my library that I’ve read before from Dr. Sears and several from Elizabeth Pantley of the No-Cry Sleep Solution fame. 
2. Despite the fact that I’ve potty trained 3 children already it is something I dread.  I’ll be posting more about it later this week, but Monday Daniel began the potty training adventure and as of right now it’s not going too badly.  Phew!
3. Growing up I had a younger sister and no other siblings.  Now with some step-parents added in I have 4 sisters and 3 brothers, ranging in age from 30s down to early teens.
4. God laid homeschooling on my heart when I was pregnant with my oldest, Makayla.  My husband was quickly on board, and 9 years later we couldn’t imagine life any other way.  Jason is my biggest supporter for homeschooling, though I have some other big supporters in my family(you know who you are!), as well as some family members who are sure we’ll give this whole thing up long before high school rolls around.  (Ha!  Only if God tells us to.)
5. I want to write a few books some day.  There is not time at the moment, but I’ve got ideas for a few parenting and homeschooling books just waiting in my head.
6. If I had to choose between dark chocolate or milk chocolate it would be dark every time.  The darker the better.  And no nuts please.  Just hand over the chocolate and nobody will get hurt.
7. I don’t like being pregnant.  You would think, considering I’m on pregnancy #9, that I loved it.  You would be wrong.  3 months of wanting to throw up, 3 months of being not so miserable, and 3 months of heartburn, sciatic pain, and feeling bigger than a whale just aren’t my idea of a fun time.  I can’t even say I’m a baby person.  Don’t get me wrong, I love mine from the moment I know they are coming, but if I could skip ahead a few months to the middle of that first year I wouldn’t mind.  ;)

Well, that’s enough about me!  I’m going to share the One Lovely Blogger award as last week I shared the Sunshine Award.

Confessions of a Homeschooler – Not only does she have a lovely blog, she shares her talents!  My children love her Letter of the Week curriculum and we’re enjoying her brand new Expedition Earth adventure too.

Large Family Mothering – A blogging mother of 15 children, I enjoy reading her thoughts.

MommyX12 – Another blog I read regularly, and another large family blogger.  She posted a great quote on Sunday, go read it here.

Our Family – A blogger that I know in real life, she’s as lovely in person as she is on her blog.

The Story of Us – My real life sister, who blogs less often than I do, but has way more going on in her life with her four sweet children and a military husband. 

Making Friends (and Enemies) in History

My new post is up over at Latter-Day Homeschooling, Making Friends (and Enemies) in History. If you read my post yesterday about our workbox plans for the week you know we’re starting something new. Go read my new post to learn what it’s all about!

As always, here is your sneak peek:

“I have been reading What the Scriptures Teach Us about Raising a Child by S. Michael Wilcox lately. This post came from an idea in there that has really been percolating in my mind. In chapter 7, Enlarging the Memory, the author tells how listening to his mother read scripture stories to him from a young age gave him friends like Nephi, Samuel, and David. Then he tells of a time when his daughter went to Russia to teach. She was listening to a very persuasive professor, whose logical arguments were difficult to combat yet made her very uncomfortable. To find out what happened next click here and go read my post!

What friends and enemies live in your children’s hearts?

Workbox Plans x 4: South Korea and More

It’s time to get back into a full schedule now that our company has headed home. This week we will have quite a few things going on, including some review items we’re trying out. I’ll break the plan down by who is doing what.

Family Workbox Plans

Gospel – We are choosing a friend or enemy from the scriptures (or from history) each week to learn about. I’ll explain this more on Monday, so watch for that post. This week our friend is Nephi and the character trait we’ll discuss that relates to him is cheerful obedience.

Read Alouds – We are working on The Hobbit and Fablehaven currently. We will also be adding in at least one of the books we received from Salem Ridge Press to review, though I do not know which one yet.

Vocabulary Cartoons – Another review item, and one that is technically for my 4th grader, but we’ll try it as a family. Basically you have a word, the definition, and a cartoon based around a rhyming word. As my plan is to learn one new word a day I think even my younger children can participate in this.

Expedition Earth – We’re traveling to South Korea this week and learning about life there. I will post more as we go along for this, so come back as our week goes along. Not familiar with Expedition Earth? Check it out here. I’ll be offering a review of it around the beginning of October.

Makayla’s 4th Grade Workbox

Math U See Beta – Lesson 27 is about subtraction with money and borrowing. After this she only has 3 lessons to go, plus a week or so of testing for the end of Beta! Hooray! That means we’ll have plenty of time to start into MUS Gamma before baby Caleb is born.

All About Spelling Level 2 – Step 10 covers the 2 sounds long U makes, as well as the 2 ways to spell the /z/ sound.

Writing – Using what we’ve learned with IEW I’m going to assign Makayla to retell a familiar story such as the 3 Little Pigs or Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. She’ll make a story sequence chart and then decide if she wants to change the characters or give the story a new plot/ending. I think this pattern writing will be a fun week for her, but she’s proven me wrong before….LOL.

PyraMath – A math card game we’re reviewing, we’ll play this a few times as the days go by. It’s pretty fun and gets her to practice her math facts.

Joseph and Emma’s Kindergarten Workboxes

Math U See Primer – Lesson 13 and 14. We’ll keep playing with lesson 13, adding 1 to a number. Lesson 14 is counting to 20, which both Emma and Joseph can do. However, a little practice never hurts and I think they’ll have fun teaching Daniel this.

Rocket Phonics – We just keep plugging away at this. It’s fun, what can I say? I am seeing progress in Emma and Joseph in different ways with reading. Joseph is sounding out more words, asking how to spell things that interest him. He doesn’t want to actually write anything yet. Emma is different. She is sounding things out because she is writing things down, be it a little note to daddy, a name on a picture, or a menu. Yes, she came to me Friday while I was cooking our Chinese dinner and asked each item we would be eating that night. She wrote it all down and while her spelling is questionable, it generally worked phonetically! Not bad for a 4 year old! (Yes, she intimidates me sometimes. What will this child be doing when she’s 8? Ai-yi-yi!)

Daniel’s Preschool Workbox

Math – Counting to 20 and recognizing those numbers. We’re going to play with some number cards as well as let him ‘join in’ with big brother and sister’s MUS Primer lessons.

Letters/Phonics – I hope to really figure out which uppercase and lowercase letters he knows this week. I’m pretty sure he knows most of them, so this will give me a better idea of which ones to point out more often in books and on signs.

* * Each child also has file folder games and centers, art supplies, and board games available to them all the time.

It Can Be Done Anyway

For this week’s Blog Cruise the questions are:

1. How do you afford to homeschool?  AND . . .
2. What are some ways to save money on homeschooling supplies?

I’ll offer my answer to each question, but please realize that while what I say may sound “great” we’re still figuring it out as we go too.  We are not perfect, and I know there are more things we could be doing.  Still, we’re further along than we were.

The biggest things we do to afford to homeschool center around the ways we choose NOT to spend our money.  My husband is the sole provider, and no, we aren’t wealthy – not even close!  The U.S. government considers a family of 7 to be living in poverty if they make less than $33,270.00 a year.  We fall below that amount and will be a family of 8 before the year is out.  A family of 8 ‘should’ be making more than $37,000.00 a year to escape poverty according to our government.  With that in mind, know that it can be done anyway, and done without living in debt up to your eyeballs.  Our only debt currently is our home.

Things we choose NOT to spend money on:

• Cable or any television channels – much of what is on there is bad anyway. 
• Extensive cell phone service – we spend $20.00 a month total to pay for service for our two phones because my husband is a truck driver and needs a phone.
• Disposable diapers – we use cloth diapers, saving literally thousands of dollars per year. We have had 2 and 3 children in diapers continuously since 2004(yes, the last 6 years), and that’s not likely to change for a few years yet.
• The newest/coolest clothing, shoes – we keep an eye out for clearance sales, keep tubs of clothing in every size for both sexes, and shop in the ‘mom store’ aka the basement.
• We wait to buy ‘things’ until we can pay cash, be it a computer, television, or new appliance.
• Vacations – we don’t go expensive places.  The last big vacation we went to Palmyra, New York.  To save on cost we went camping.  We also like to do local activities as a family.
• Eating out – I’m not saying we never eat out, we do.  But for us a big eating out trip is grabbing McDonalds or a pizza.  Having food allergies really limits where we can take the kids, which is good for our budget.
• Going to the movies – we go maybe three or four times a year, and at least two of those times it is just me and hubby having a date.  Honestly, it is cheaper to buy a dvd than to pay for us and all the kids to see one movie!
• New video games – we buy used or trade in old games toward new titles every few months if daddy and the kids are ready to.

We have found that you can pay very little and homeschool your children.  However, we choose to invest money in our children’s education.   We do not look for the cheapest way to educate in every thing, but we do look for used materials when we can.  We try to buy multi-level or reusable materials as we already have baby #6 on the way.  A non-consumable curricula that may seem ridiculously expensive for an only child breaks down to be much more cost-effective for our large family in the long run.  A $200.00 non-consumable writing program for grades 1-12 only costs us $34.00 per child.  Dividing that number out over the 12 years each child could use it makes the cost less than $3.00 per year!  If we have more children that cost drops again(and around here children are a blessing we love to receive). 

We spend more than the average family on books, I’m sure.    We buy books on Amazon with the gift cards I earn through Swagbucks each month.  I have earned over $200.00 in Amazon gift cards just for searches I already needed to make, and searches my friends have made.  (You can sign up here and I will get credit.)  Other ways to earn Swagbucks:

• Turn in old cell phones that are just hanging around because your husband doesn't want to throw them away...
• Subscribe to the Swagbucks blog and watch for Swagcodes for free Swagbucks
• Trade in old video games and consoles for free Swagbucks!
• Shop through Swagbucks Shop and Earn program and earn Swagbucks for every $5.00 spent at hundreds of stores - you even find specials, coupons, and codes for your favorite stores!

We also shop used curriculum sales each year with a list in hand.  We also use our library and interlibrary loan system regularly and avoid late fees like the plague.  I check my library’s book sale room every time we visit and half of the books in this house are probably ex-library treasures.  Paperback Swap has also been a great way to get books and recycle those we no longer need.

One great way I’ve found to save money on homeschooling supplies is to commit your needs and even your wants to prayer.  God will answer these prayers, be it with the item you need, something better, or even the realization that you don’t need an item!  The next step after prayer is to do what you can to find the items.  I put out the word to friends, family, and homeschoolers I know (the internet is a wonderful help).  I send a list of just what I’m looking for, or even what I’m ready to sell at a great price to earn money for those things I’m looking for. 

It is completely possibly to homeschool with only a library card and math book (which you may find at the library!).  Add in some paper and something to color and write with.  It doesn’t take a lot.  Music studies and art can be learned through many library resources, be it books, music cds, or dvds.  History, science, literature and language arts are all there.  My library even has foreign language programs to borrow.  Yes, it takes more preparation work on mom’s part to pull everything together from the library, but if money is a real issue it can be done.  Just make a standing date to return books so you don’t rack up late fees! 

So that’s my advice for today on how to afford homeschooling.  Next Tuesday you will be able to read my Crewmates’ thoughts on the Blog Cruise here.  Until then feel free to browse my blog.  If you want more advice on homeschooling, maybe you are just starting out or things are not going as smoothly as you would like, read my thoughts on the importance of homeschooling here or feel free to email me and ask your questions!

Our China Dinner

The hubby and kids were all good sports about trying Chinese cuisine for dinner tonight.  I say they were good sports because I cooked everything myself, we can’t just grab food at a restaurant with the food allergy Joseph has.  We all used chopsticks with more or less skill.  Mostly less. 

Here is what I made:

1. Mongolian Beef and stir fry veggies.
2. Rice, lots of rice.
3. Cold Sesame noodle salad.
4. Fortune Cookies (okay, technically, I didn’t make these).

The verdict?  Favorites were the rice and fortune cookies.  One child liked the sesame noodles (thank you Oliver!).  Mommy and Daddy liked the Mongolian Beef stir fry.  The kids tried it, but generally thought it would be better with no sauce.  That means I get leftovers for lunch tomorrow, so I’m not complaining!  Yum!

Week in Review #60: Ni Hao!

We had light homeschool plans this week, so here’s my report:

Math – Makayla had no trouble subtracting 4 digit numbers for her new chapter, and Joseph and Emma did great with adding one to a number using the blocks.  Daniel’s counting is getting better and he’s recognizing more numbers.

Spelling – Makayla’s lesson this week (when to use c, k, or ck in vowel-consonant-e words) went smoothly too.  She’ll be on to Step 10 next week.

Rocket Phonics – Honestly, it didn’t happen much this week.  I’ve been working with Joseph and Emma on reading things around us.  We’re not in a hurry.

Read Alouds – We are further along in the Hobbit and Fablehaven.  The kids also listened to all of The Secret Garden this week during quiet time.  I’m not positive what audio book we’ll start next. 

Expedition Earth: China – Tons of fun and learning.  It never ceases to amaze me how diving into a subject and learning all the aspects that relate to you makes a topic come alive.   If you ask my children about China they may tell you about any of the following things after this week’s fun:

• pandas, bamboo, and snow
• ni hao – hello in Chinese
• interesting facts about the Great Wall of China
• rice, wheat, chopsticks, and what those have to do with China
• Chinese New Year and Moon Festival
• kites, bicycles, crowded cities, and interesting music
• art, especially blossom paintings like the ones in the picture at the top of this post
• funny writing (Chinese characters) and the red flag

We’ll be cooking some yummy Chinese food tonight as a wrap up.  On the menu are the following:

1. Mongolian Beef and stir fry veggies.
2. Rice, lots of rice.
3. Cold Sesame noodle salad.
4. Fortune Cookies.

That’s the end of our week in China.  You can see Next week we are off to study South Korea, so I’ll post our books and resources this weekend. 

This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap-Up.

Happy NOT Back to School Day!

Happy Not Back to School Day, or Happy Homeschool Day!  This is the day we are celebrating our freedom to educate our children at home, a day where we are grateful for that we direct the family schedule instead of turning over our family to the government.  We started off our morning with homemade cinnamon rolls – yum!  No need to toss down a quick bowl of cereal on the way out the door far to early. We spent time playing together, parents and children, because we happen to know and like each other.  Families who are fractured apart by age-segregated, peer dominated schools see their children’s sibling friendships wane as peer dependence takes over.  After all, children identify with those they spend the most time with.  Isn’t that a frightening thought??  The local public school child in our area spends 7 hours a day or more in a godless classroom beginning at age 5.  35 hours a week, more than 1200 hours a year, or 16,380 hours by the time they finish high school.  Add in to that the time spent on homework, sleep, or outside sports and activities and it is easy to see why families are starved for time and children know more about their peers than they do their siblings or parents.  I am grateful that our family has the time to be a family, that through homeschooling we are given the time to fulfill the scripture in Deutoronomy 6 to teach our children “when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up”. 

After a relaxed early morning we went on a field trip to Ye Olde Mill, the home of Velvet Ice Cream.  The kids had fun outside watching the ducks before our tour.  We got a family photo taken by the mill wheel.  The tour was interesting, and they happened to be making mint chocolate chip ice cream today, so it was neat to watch the flavoring, adding in chocolate chips, and learn the history.  The children were wonderful, so much so that one of the tour guides came up to us and thanked us for such well-behaved children, which is always nice to hear.  We topped off the trip with ice cream cones for everyone, (sorry for the blurry picture on this one). Once we were done exploring the world of ice cream we went home for lunch and quiet time.  While the kids rested, daddy played a game, and mommy stopped in at the library to pick up books.  The kids were thrilled to find out what books I brought home for them and sat down right away to look through them.  I love that they love books!

Now, here is where I get really honest, so skip this part if you want(wink, wink).  Right this minute I’m sitting in the house listening to my oldest sobbing because everyone else is outside playing and she is not allowed to go.  Sigh.  She had a bit of a temper earlier and was yelling at mommy and daddy over something.  When she would not calm down or be respectful she lost the opportunity to play outside for the day.  Sometimes it stinks being the parent.  (Yes, mom, I apologize for all I put you through in my growing up years!  You must have been a saint because I certainly have a hard time being kind and quiet in my response to a raging child some days.)

The rest of our day is not yet planned out, though it will involve spending more time having fun with daddy, maybe we will get out some art or craft material to make a mess.  Family movie complete with popcorn is on the evening agenda.  Dinner is still a mystery, even to me!  I guess I had better go get that figured out so I can enjoy the rest of our holiday.  What has your family done today?  Did you get to decide, or did the government choose your family’s schedule for you?

Books I’m Reading Now

I thought I would share a quick peek at the books I’m reading (or have recently finished)just for me.  You see, we read a lot of books as part of homeschool, but sometimes I just want ideas of something for me.  I would love it if anyone wanted to share their own list of recent or current reads just for mom in the comments.

Change Your Questions, Change Your Life by Wendy Watson Nelson – Oh my, this book is wonderful.  I really was not expecting the beautifully done, interesting pages full of art and graphics that pull me along the topics.  At 270 pages I would usually finish in just a few hours.  This book gives me so many things to ponder, do, and consider that I’ve been reading it for two weeks. 

  What the Scriptures Teach Us about Raising a Child by S. Michael Wilcox – This is another book I’m going through slowly to digest.  The chapter I am in right now is about helping our children find ‘friends through history’, specifically focusing on scriptural friends.  I love how it encourages parents to read out loud, tell, and retell the stories of the scriptures until those people become familiar for their examples both good and bad.  Imagine the power of teaching the story of Naaman, who was asked to do a simply thing to be cured of his leprosy, but who was offended and wanted ‘some great task’ to do.  Then as we and our children are seeking answers to our daily problems and struggles, there may come a time when that story, or a gentle reminder of Naaman, will help us do the small and simple things that God asks of us, things that will bring great, even miraculous results.

Famous Men of the Middle Ages edited and updated by Rob & Cyndy Shearer – This is one of the books I hope to use with my children when we study the Middle Ages, so I am trying to read it through and see if it will be a good fit.

 

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – Talk about a walk down memory lane, this book is one I read first as a teen.  It’s the story of children who train for a war in space as part of a game, while the war draws ever nearer their home planet, or so they’re told.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer – Yes, I’m working my way through the series again.  What can I say?  I enjoy it.  I’ve also got The Host, by the same author, an interesting book where humans at large have become the host bodies for a peaceful alien species.  There is a small pocket of resistance left, humans who are not hosts – yet.

Next up on my list to start is the Leven Thumps series, which we received as a freebie with an order from Deseret Book.  The first in the series is Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye.

So, what are you reading?

Projects Accomplished!

Guess what I forgot when I typed out the plans for the week???  I forgot we’re off on Thursday!  Pregnancy brain strikes again.  Thursday is Not Back to School Day, the first day public schools will be in session, which is a fun day off for us.  It looks like Daddy may get to be off of work that day so we have some special possibilities opened up. 

The kids decided we are doing a few of the fun plans from Thursday’s exploration of China today, and a few of them will be shifted to Friday, because they are really enjoying it. 

Yesterday one of the neat things we learned about was the Great Wall of China.  The kids created one together out of playdoh.  Isn’t it cute? Bet you can’t guess who did the blue section!  Yep, Makayla did it.  I was impressed by the detail. 

The other big thing I’ve been doing is sewing.  Now, if you know me, you know I can’t sew.  However, with the help of my visiting mother in law we have gotten the sewing machine to work.  First we made a flannel blanket for baby Caleb.  We found cute marine animal fabric for the front and orange for the back that matches the crabs on the front.  Just this morning I finished an apron for myself.  Let me just say I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I chose the pattern – elastic and casings, gathers for ruffles, and lots of ironing.  Here is the finished product, I was so happy with the fabric I chose!  (It even fits over my pregnant tummy, whoo hoo!) Makayla also got sewing lessons from Grandma with some scrap material from my apron.  She made this skirt for her 18” doll, and used the iron and the sewing machine for the first time:  Now the kids are all in quiet time.  Our plans after that are some Chinese blossom painting over a bowl of M&Ms.  Which reminds me, I need to go mix up some pink paint for the blossoms!