Car fun kit

Now that we are back in the car daily, I wanted to gather some things that the boys can do during the ride. They have been using it for a couple of days now and they are loving it.

I already had this tote from some cleaners that were kept under the kitchen sink but are now in a cupboard out of reach of little ones.

 I cleaned it up and started putting together activities for each of the boys.

I included coloring books, several reading books, a little sports activity pad for Bubby, our alphabet I-Spy bottle,

 crayons, and some printable activities. I almost put in dry erase markers but then thought better of it, I really didn't want the markers to end up all over my car. Instead I put in regular crayons, they don't seem to work very well on our dry erase activites though, so I'm thinking about getting dry erase crayons or window crayons to include instead. I'll have to think of something else next summer, we've learned the hard way that crayons melt in the car.

Alison over at Oopsie Daisy posted some fun travel bingos at the beginning of summer. I printed out one copy for each of the boys, along with a fun face page that I found through The Adventures of Bear. I took each activity and ran it through my Purple Cows laminator so they will be reusable. I put the sheets and a clipboard in their activity box as well.

Some of the activites will stay longer, but I plan to change things each weekend so it stays exciting. I went through and put our "flashcard" sets on binder rings a while ago so I may include these, Bubby thinks going through flashcards is playing a game, more power to him.

The rule is that everything has to be back in the box before they get out of the car. So far it seems to be working :).

Carschooling

I realize this isn't exactly what the term "carschooling" was coined for, but it just works.

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We have a 30-45 minute drive from our house to my sister's house where the boys are staying during the day. I have been coming up with all kinds of games to keep Bubby entertained (I can only play I-Spy and the "color car game" so  many times). This morning I suggested we look for all of the numbers we can find. There really aren't that many because we mostly drive highway/freeway.



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Bubby started calling out numbers from miles posts and signs. He would say "three eight" and I would reply "thirty-eight" then he would say "five five" and I would reply "fifty-five". I didn't explain anything to him, I just replied with the correct phrase. After about twenty minutes of this he started saying "eight eight so that's eighty-eight" and "three two so that's thirty-two". Ha! In a thirty minute car drive he learned to identify double digit numbers just by listening to how I said them. 

I love homeschooling!

Gift Ideas for Kids

Now that fall is officially upon us (sigh) I figure it's time to start thinking about the holidays. I am not one of those crazy people that starts decorating three holidays ahead of time, but I make a lot of my gifts and this year in our family we are doing $1.00 gifts, so.... there will have to be some creativity involved. 

I have scored several great things at garage sales over the summer. I'd love to share, but that would spoil the surprise for some of my readers/family members :).  

Here are some projects I've saved as great ideas for kids.

Treasure Stones from Sew Can Do

Felt Travel Mat from guest post at Imperfectly Beautiful

Pretend makeup from The Polka Dot Daisy

Chalkboard Templates from Ruffles and Stuff

Magnet Funny Faces from Fireflies and Jellybeans

Animal silhouette puzzle bocks from Chasing Cheerios

Deep Dish

I'm still reading this (well listening to it actually) but so far I am loving it. I guess if I absolutely hate the ending I'll change my posting :).  This is an easy read with a little romance, a little adventure, and a lot of laughs. If you need some light hearted bedtime reading, or you're headed for a road trip, this is a great choice.

From Amazon:

From Publishers Weekly

"Andrews (Savannah Breeze; Hissy Fit) delivers a trademark romance set in her native Deep South. Gina Foxton is a 30-year-old chef with a health-conscious approach to classic Southern fare whose public access cooking show gets canceled when the show's big sponsor pulls out after finding the show's producer (and Gina's boyfriend) in bed with his wife. So news that the Cooking Channel is looking to add a new show is a welcome development. The producers are also interested in another local cooking show called Vittles, hosted by Kill It and Grill It Tate Moody. The competition between Gina and Tate ramps up when the network decides to turn their competition into a reality show. The close quarters and competition create the right atmosphere for the two chefs to fall in love, though things never get too racy. Andrews takes a long time to get the romance off the ground, but when it starts moving, it moves fast. Andrews's readership will eat this one up. (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. "

 

 

I will be looking for more of Mary Kay Andrew's books!

Mouse Tales

This is one of those books that has been on our own shelf for who knows how long. Bubby wanted me to pick the bedtime story the other night and I was looking for something "new" (I love Dr. Seuss, but really, there's only so much one can handle). The story opens with the dad tucking his seven children in at night. He tells them that he will tell a story for each of them, if they promise to close their eyes and go to sleep at the end. Each story is only a few pages long and are accompanied by cute little pictures.

It was a fun read aloud and would be good for early readers. Each story has a funny surprise that will tickle your little one, like the wishing well that says "ouch!" every time someone throws a penny in.

FIAR Apple Pie Pattern Strips

Here's another activity I put together to go along with our Five In A Row: How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World.



The link includes eight different pattern strips and matching cards to fill in the blanks.

FIAR - How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World Missing Numbers

These missing number strips are made to go with my apple counting cards. Simply add the correct apple card to fill in the blanks. I did a few for the lower numbers because Bubby doesn't need as much work here, but I included all of the teens.

FIAR - How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World Counting Cards

I put together another printable for How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World. These are simple counting cards, 1-20. Bubby can identify his numerals through 8 but gets confused after that, especially with the double digits.

You can print two copies and use these for matching games, sort even and odd numbers, or skip count.

I will be adding a missing number activity to go along with these number cards as well.

I'm so excited!!!!

I've been waiting and waiting to share this bit of news until I knew for sure that it was going to work out. I was recently contacted by one of the creative directors over at Purple Cows regarding some of my blog posts. I started using a Purple Cows laminator about a year ago and I'm slightly obsessed!

Anyways, Purple Cows contacted me to see if I would be interested in sharing some of my blog posts on their blog. Um...yes! In exchange, the very sweet Paula is sending me some laminating sheets to keep my supply going. Yeah!

My first post is up and going today, Paula used the Color Book I made recently. They have some other really fun ideas so you should go check it out!

Getting Organized

I recently came across two different posts that inspired me to get a little more organized. With the Mister heading back to school soon, and getting ready to start our homeschool year, things are going to get pretty hectic around our house.

I combined two different cleaning/organizing plans to keep myself in gear on the day to day stuff. I've also found that it frees up more time. I have a set schedule, I finish my tasks, and then I get to go do whatever I want without feeling guilty that the livingroom might need to be picked up.

I'm working on getting in a rhythm myself at the moment, once everyone is back in school and our schedule settles down, I will be adding Bubby into the plan. He still likes to help clean and organize!

I found this "get your butt in gear" idea originally on Tip Junkie, the printable came from Sugar Tot Designs

40 Bags in 40 Days

The idea is to assign yourself 40 different drawers, cabinets, and junk spots over a course of 40 days. The authors goal was to rid her house of 40 bags worth of junk. I generally clean things out frequently so I don't think I'll be able to come up with a bag a day, but I am using the idea to clean stuff out, and having a goal to fill a plastic grocery sack everyday is giving me a license to purge.

This is day six for me and so far I am loving it! I figure if I keep up with a continuous list (starting over after forty days with new areas) I will have gotten to pretty much all of our problem spots before the holidays.

When I made my list I picked completely random areas to keep things interesting and to focus some attention a little bit of everywhere.

The second piece of my little plan was inspired by Somewhat Simple's post on speed cleaning.

The idea behind the post is a speed cleaning technique you can use when you get that phone call that so and so is in town and wants to stop by....in thirty minutes. Or whatever. You really should go read her whole article.

I decided to incorporate the plan into my nightly chores.

This is the schedule I made myself. It's all nice and colorful and girly in real life, but it's not copying over very well.

I basically assigned myself three different areas to spend 10 minutes on each day, plus a few extra daily things like putting in a load of laundry.

10 Minute Speed Cleaning

Monday: Kitchen, Livingroom, Front Porch

Tuesday: Kitchen, Shower Bathroom, Entry

Wednesday: Kitchen, Boys’ Room, Diningroom

Thursday: Kitchen, Bathroom, Back Porch

Friday: Kitchen, Diningroom, Den

Saturday: Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Boys’ Room

Sunday: Kitchen, Laundry Room, Misc.

Misc.: water plants, school area, pets, hallway,

Nightly: Pack diaper bag, pack lunch, car loaded, load of clothes, 40B, school journal

Weekly: Clean carseats, inside car

The kitchen is on every single day because it is the biggest problem area in our house. Between cooking, playing, and dumping (the kitchen is right off our entryway) it needs consistent help. The boys' room also is assigned twice because it is in a constant state of chaos. I am hoping that Bubby will take over that room on certain nights and I will be able to focus attention elsewhere.

I've been playing around with this idea for a couple of weeks now and trying it in different areas. I've been pleasantly surprised! When you set a timer for 10 minutes and get moving it's amazing what you can get done. I can unload and load my dishwasher in under four minutes. Yes I can clean our bathroom, including toilet and shower stall in less then ten minutes, and I usually have time to do things that wouldn't normally get done like wipe the baseboards.

I hung up both sheets of paper inside a kitchen cupboard so I can glance at them anytime.

Obviously I have a million other things that get taken care of here and there, but my plan at least keeps me motivated to do a little something every night without feeling overwhelmed.

FIAR - How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World

I'm working on putting together some printables to go along with our FIAR books. This is the first one I put together and it includes six trace it, build it, write it pages. 

I printed and laminated each page so they can be reused. To save on laminating sheets, I printed the pages on regular printer paper, put them back to back, then ran them through my Purple Cows Laminator. 

I will include the pages along with some type of letters (magnetic, paper, scrabble tiles, etc,) in one of Bubby's workboxes.

Five In A Row

I'm so excited for the school year to start. My sister and I are combining forces (she'll be watching the boys while I am at work), and we've decided to use the Five In A Row series. I've been scouring the Internet looking for ideas and reviews and what I found is fantastic!

I've already gone through the FIAR Volume 1 and marked the things I want to include. I love how the program spans such a wide age range and covers a wide variety of topics. I've also found some fun supplemental activities while looking around the web, and I plan to create a few printables to go along with the lessons. I wish I had found this program last year so we could have started with the Before Five In a Row program.

Here are three of my favorite sites for FIAR inspiration

Free printable copywork pages and other really fun ideas from All Of A Kind Family

Delightful Learning is rowing over a series of five weeks instead of five days and plans to include tons of fun supplemental activities and trays.

Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations is using the Before Five In a Row program this year and as always she is offering fun free printables to go along with all of the books.

Color Book

I saw this really fun idea at Oopsey Daisy where she used fabric and ribbon scraps to make her little guy a color book. I don't sew much yet so I don't have an awesome stash of scraps like she does.

I do however scrapbook and have endless amounts of paper scraps.

I started each page by using a stencil and putting the name of the color on the bottom of each page. Normally I would have used the Cricut to cut out my letters, but the point was to use up scraps, not make more :).

I used photo-splits to stick down my scraps then ran each page through my Purple Cows Laminator. This worked fairly well but some of the pages ended up a bit too thick so the laminating sleeves didn't stick properly. It did seal around the edges so at least the boys can't get to the paper pieces and pull them off which really was my goal anyways.

I used my crop-a-dile to punch holes along one edge and put the pages on binder rings. Then I tied short pieces of ribbon around the rings just for fun.

Monkey likes it!

Paper scraps

I have a paper obsession. Joanns has an entire aisle of paper stacks and I want ALL of them! I don't just collect them though, I do use them. When I organized my scrapbooking stuff and claimed our built in bookcase as my own, I realized I have approximately 3' of paper. I've been refraining from buying more until I use some of it up, mostly because I physically can not get anymore in my little paper holder thing.
  
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On to the point of this. Scraps. I end up with lots of them. I use to have bits and pieces everywhere. Now I keep them organized by color in gallon ziplock baggies and stored in this plastic 12x12 paper holder I bought at Joanns. I also make myself throw some of them away. The Cricut is a little temperamental about cutting on very small pieces of paper, and I do most of my cutting now with the cricut.

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So unless I use scraps to make tags, which I do a lot of the time, I work to keep them cleaned out. If I am keeping little tiny pieces for tags, I put them in small ziplock bags so I can pull them out at any time and just use what I have on hand. This was the whole point behind my "scrappy tags".

I also don't plan my scrapbooking pages ahead of time. I just pull out my pictures and go with it. Usually I will get an idea and then decide on what paper to use based on what I have. I check my scrap bags first and go from there. Usually I have big enough scraps to use for lettering or embellishments, then I can find full pieces of paper to match.

I've seen scraps tossed into mason jars by color and set on a shelf, pretty and functional. Or you could use scraps to cut embellishments to use later. Rather then saving up bits of paper, use paper punches to cut out shapes you use on a regular basis and always have some on hand. I use a lot of flowers on my scrappy tags so if I'm cutting on the Cricut, I sometimes fill in empty space with flowers to use later.

Here's some other fun ways to keep your scraps under control

Love this idea! Once again, I don't have room to do this with my current set up, but if I had a larger area it would be at the top of my list.

This is a great idea if you had a large craftroom. However, I think the visual messiness of it would make me crazy after a while.

Perfect for a compact space! I've seen lots of craft rooms combined with offices, bedrooms, even laundry rooms. With this set up you can easily hide the mess by opening or closing the door.

Toobs

I have a slight obsession with these little toobs. I've seen them at Michael's Crafts and Joanns Fabric Store. I'm sure they sell them many other places including online. They run about $6.99 each regular price. During the holidays when Joann was putting out lots of extra coupons I picked these up whenever I could. They were perfect for stocking stuffers.

They have animal toobs, cat toobs, desert toobs, truck toobs, ocean toobs, the list is endless. I think the boys have most of the animal toobs either from us or other gift givers.

Most of the time these are mixed in with all of our other various animals and the boys get to play with them freely. We have the Knights and Dragon tube that they use with their wooden castle.

We have used them for specific activities, plus I have more on my future list so I thought I'd share some.

"Land, Water, Air" animal sort

The Adventures of Bear. I love the jars she used to show "land" "water" and "air". I plan to use our toob animals rather than pictures. You can use the toobs for other types of classification such as invertebrates/vertebrates, amphibians/reptiles, etc.

Polar Playset

Arctic habitat from Superheroes and Princesses. I did this with the boys and they had a great time. I froze a bowl of water, dumped it out on a cookie sheet, then added some salt for "snow". The salt also made the ice melt creating a small amount of water as well.

You can use this same method to set up other environment playsets including ocean, desert, and this fun bear habitat from The adventures of Bear

Build a zoo using just about anything. We use our trusty maple blocks.

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Space sensory box

I included black beans and glow in the dark beads

"Land, Water, Air" Transportation Sort

I used the land, water, air sort that was part of Homeschool Creations tot kit and put the sorting sheets along with objects from our toobs in one of Bubby's work boxes.

Include them in abc drawers

Kindergarten....kindergarten