My Brave Lil’ Mustangs

Tucker has had a loose tooth for months, that just would NOT come out.  It even had a little help a few weeks ago, when the cattle gate swung & hit him dead in the mouth.  He wiggled & wiggled & it just would not give enough to be pulled.  Lucky for Tucker, my uncle is a dentist & when he heard Tucker had a loose tooth he graciously volunteered to pull it.  My little Tucker boy was sooo excited!  No tears, no hesitation . . .

Just a toothless boy that couldn’t be happier!  I sure am gonna miss that little gap b/t his 2 front teeth.

Our last night in TN was spent in the ER . . .

The boys were having a pillow fight & suddenly I heard Trevor screaming a deep hurt cry.  You know, the cry that make you jump & run QUICK!  As a mom of 4 boys, I don’t typically react to cries with much haste, but I knew something was wrong.  As I headed downstairs I met the other kids who let me know “Trevor was hurt”.  Usually, my kids give me some kind of forewarning to prepare me for the kind of injury I’m about to face.  When I reached the bottom of the stairs I realized I had not received near enough warning to prepare me to find Trevor laying on his back in a puddle of blood.  YIKES!!! 

. . . 5 Stitches later . . .

This boy is one tough hombre!  He definitely gave off a whaling cry initially, but his composer in the ER was amazing.  I was so proud of him.  A few tears & moaning was all there was as he bravely aloud the doctor to numb the wound in prep for stitches.  No screaming crying or freaking out – just one very brave little boy.  My Sweet boy!  I was so proud.  & he was just as brave when his daddy took them out later.

 

Trev is by far our toughest outlaw!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just incase you are wondering, this is what the wall looked like:

                          

EnRiChMeNt Classes!!

Summer break 2010 is officially over for us.  What a great summer we had!  We did not get near as much done on our summer bucket list as we planned, but our trip to Florida made up for all that B Besides, we have a ROCKIN’ schoolbarn that we are super excited to play in work in! 

The Texas heat has finally simmered down & if you look close enough you’ll find leaves on the ground.  Fall is definitely in the air.  Our first “official” day of school will be Monday, but today is our first day back to school at our enrichment classes.  I’m only teaching 2 classes this semester – “Dr. Seuss is on the Loose” for Trevor’s PK/K group & “Art Center” for K/1 with Tucker.  Then I get to spend 2 hours in the nursery playing with Truman & will even get to snuggle on a couple babies.  Here’s what the other kids will be doing while I’m teasing myself with baby fever in the nursery: 

Trevor

1. Bible Story Time
2. Dr. Seuss is on the Loose with mommy
3. Games Galore
4. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

Tucker

1. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles
2. Animals in Noah's Ark
3. ABC Books & More
4. Art Center with mommy

Tyler

1. Educational Games
2. How to build model cars & more
3. Beginning Origami
4. Badminton

     

Tyler is soooo excited about his Origami class & I can’t wait to see what he thinks about badminton!!! 

Creative Corrections: Introduction

For the past 5 weeks I have been leading a Creative Corrections Bible Study with a group of wonderful women from our homeschool co-op that I am lucky enough to call friends.  It has been difficult to juggle this study, construction in around our house, a growing photography business, being a wife & mommy, & blogging.  I intended to share my notes on my blog throughout the study, but I’m just now getting around to it :)

I have read A LOT of parenting books!  I have enjoyed many of them & learned a few things from several, but Lisa Whelchel’s book, Creative Corrections, is my all time favorite.  Perhaps it is because she is not only a devout Christian, but also a homeschool mom who can relate to having to correct children all.day.long.  She even has her own Tucker!   If there is one word that I could use to describe myself right now it would be IMPERFECT.  Totally an IMPERFECT mess!  So, when I read this in the introduction, I knew God was at work:

“I did not write the Creative Corrections trade book or this subsequent Bible study from a point of view that I’m perfect as much as from a perspective of imperfection.  I understand the frustration of saying the same things over & over again, wondering if my kids are ever going to “get it.”  I’ve experienced disappointment when I’ve “lost it” in anger, and I’ve enjoyed the astonishment of realizing that amazingly God can and will use me to shape my precious children into His image.”

Her introduction also gives a wonderful glimpse of the study’s goal:

“ . . . we’ll discover that creative alternatives not only serve as effective ways to correct our children but also allow us to teach them in the process….what God is wanting to teach us, as well as what He wants us to teach our children.”

Whether you have good kids, bad kids, or outlaws, I highly recommend adding this book  toolbox to your personal library.  Grab your favorite highlighter while you’re at it!

During our first meeting we each shared something about ourselves that had nothing to do with our children.  Although our group ranges from mothers with very young children to some with a few grown children, & from mother of many (6+) to mothers with just a couple kids, this activity was surprisingly difficult for us.  What is something about you that has NOTHING to do with your kids?  This is my blog, so if you know me or read it often you know I love to scrapbook, take as many pictures as I can, & blog about all of it & some.

Once we accomplished finding a little of our own identity, we add the kids to the mix.  We  color coded our kids.  Here are my kids “in color”:

 Tyler

“Mommy’s boy”

-My first born, most like me, sweet, caring, “Big Brother”, starting to identify more with daddy, funny, very hard worker!

Tucker

- My nature boy, loving, gorgeous, stubborn, loves to draw, mischievous & sneaky, very silly.

 

TrEvOr

-My sweetest, but meanest, “HOT” tempered, CrAzY, very smart, cute as a bug, sweet little laugh, most like daddy.

 

truman

“The Baby”

- So sweet & a total snuggler, very demanding, loves to be a brother, just not sure about this boy yet . . .

 

Taylor

“Daddy’s Girl”

-Care-taker, struggles the most, loving, needy, miss attitude, deceiving, ditzy, helpful, “little mama”.

 

Tiya

-Strong, distant, athletic, misunderstood, “all about me” attitude, funny, daring

 

Talon

 

 

What would you “color” your children?

Finally, we shared an embarrassing moment our children blessed us with.  I shared a Walmart story.  I took all the kids (as usual) grocery shopping & we had just reached the final stretch of the trip:  The Checkout Line!!  As we get behind a middle-aged couple they remark at “how full my hands are.”  (GRRR!!)  With a big smile on my face, I kindly assure them of how full my heart is as well.  I proceed to assure them of how good my kids are only to turn & find Tucker & Trevor in a drop-dead drag-out boxing match.  I don’t mean a few swats at each other.  I mean, fists are swing, they are flying back into the shelves & knocking things down!  It is seriously a UFC match in the middle of the Walmart Checkout line.  Ohmygoodness!  I was so embarrassed. 

Have your kids embarrassed you lately?

Mustangs School 2010-20011

As I consider curriculum & a plan for our upcoming school year I find myself in the same position I was in last year – Right in the middle. . .

Last year they were passed most of the PK goals, but weren’t quite ready for Kindergarten so I called them PreKinders.  This year as I reevaluated their “level” I found that Trevor could pretty much keep up (if not surpass) his Irish-Twin brother.  Trevor’s fine-motor (writing & cutting) are the only area that he isn’t equal or ahead of Tucker.  He is a very sharp little mustang!  He loves learning & memorizing is fun to him.  Tucker is doing great!  He has found a new motivation called “brotherly competition” & works very hard to stay ahead.  He is my hands-on child & loves to draw & color right now.  Here is are some of my goals that we still need to work on:

• Recognizes sight words
• Recognizes beginning sounds of words
• Identifies & writes last name in print
• Simple rhyming
• Illustrator, Author
• Memory Work
  • Easy poems, nursery rhymes
• Tie shoes
• Independence - CHORES!
• Understanding of city/town, state, country, continent
• Recognizes Texas on a state map
• Directions (N,S,E,W)
• Oceans & Continents
• Understands concepts of addition & subtraction
• Adds to 10
• First – Fifth
• Simple graph
• Counting by 2's & 5's

So where does all this leave us with curriculum for next year?  I feel like we are almost ready for first grade so we will:

• Finish MUS Primer & start Alpha in January
• Winter Promise Advanced K “Just Learning To Read” (includes handwriting & spelling practice)
• Trevor will use Handwriting Without Tears K book
• Tucker will use Handwriting Without Tears 1st grade book
• Possibly Wordly Wise for a little vocab
• Writeshop Book A for beginning writing concepts

I am prayerfully considering our Science & History work . . . My mind is a mess in this area!  I have considered several options.  If I were ONLY schooling the mustangs I would choose Winter Promise’s Hideaways in History hands down!  However, I have truly enjoyed schooling ALL the boys together this year with our Animals & Their Worlds studies.  I was very diligent in our schooling & it was much easier to keep up with as a group so I am very hesitant to separate them.  (Hideaways is NOT an option for Tyler.)  So, I am debating on Hideaways in History or using the younger learners guide in Tyler’s studies.  To confuse me even more WP has changed a few things i the Hideaways package, so I’m not sure I would use the old guide & books or the newer version.  AHHHH!!!  And to make me even crazier, we are leaning towards joining a Classical Conversations group.  I am convinced this is a great opportunity for my big kids; however, I am super worried about how this will work for my MUSTANGS!!  To summerize these ramblings:

• Winter Promise Hideaways in History 
• Winter Promise Hideaways in History & CC
• Winter Promise Sea & Sky Younger Learners
• Winter Promise Sea & Sky Younger Learners & CC
• Or just CC

. . .  I’m praying diligently!

W – Worm Boys!!

During “W” week my WILD Mustangs had a LOT of fun playing with WORMS!

. . . Candy worms that is :)  Okay, they dug for worms in the yard, but they did NOT cut them up & put them in order from smallest to biggest like they did the candy worms:

And they did NOT put the earthworms they found in patterns like they did the candy worms: 

They also did NOT put make a “W” with the real worms either:

They did however, chase me around the house with their worms!  Fortunately, they spared me the disgusting dissection lesson, as our science lessons have paid off – Tucker reminded Trevor, “Worms are good for the ground.”  Wh-ew!!

Reading Activity . . . with little brothers!

To help build Tyler’s confidence in reading I have been having him read to his little brothers.

Recently he read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie to his mustang brothers:

And if you read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie to mustangs . . .

Chances are you are going to have to make cookies too!

And give them a cup of milk!

While we waited on our cookies Tyler read, If You Take a Mouse To School

They sure do love it when their big brother reads to them.

And so do I!! <3

Kinder Goals

Although we are planning to school off & on throughout the summer, the warm weather & lake callin’ my name has made me start to take into consideration my plans for the Mustangs for next year. At the beginning of this school year I started PreKinder – a mix of Preschool & Kindergarten. I just didn’t feel that Tucker was completely ready for Kindergarten. As our year progressed, Trevor blew my mind when he started grasping all the concepts I was hoping to teach Tucker. At first, Tucker didn’t care – he had fish to catch & goats to chase. Slowly, he realized though that his little brother was passing him up. The competitiveness in him got the better of him & he began to learn with leaps & bounds. I realize that a lot can change in the next 3 months, but at this point it is looking like both my boys will be moving into mostly 1st grade work. ((sniff)) ((sniff))

Last year I made a L-O-N-G list of goals for our “PreKinder” school year. Here is where we currently stand:

Language:
Recognizes capital letters
Recognizes lower-case letters
Matches at least half capital letters with lower-case letters
Copies/Writes letters
Recognizes letter sounds
Recognizes sight words
Recognizes beginning sounds of words
Identifies & writes first & last name in print
Names time of the day
Names days of the week
Names months of the year
Simple rhyming
Repeats simple 8-10 word sentences
Retell stories/events (first, middle, end)
Tells what's happening in a picture
Understands basic parts of a book (front, back)
-Illustrator, Author
-Holds book correctly
-Indicates where to begin reading
Memory Work
-Easy poems, nursery rhymes, scriptures (ABC scriptures)
Personal Info:
Address
Phone number
Birthday
Age
Parents Names
"About Me"
Boundaries at home
Motor Skills:
Zip
Button
Snap
Tie shoes
Catch/throw ball
Maintain balance
Skip
Pull/Push
Bending
Stringing Beads
Cutting
Puzzles
Hold a pencil
Social Skills:
Understands Rules
Listens w/o interrupting (LOL)
Stays involved in self-selected activity for 15-20 minutes
Follows simple verbal directions
Recognizes dangerous situations
Understands cause & effect
Sharing
Independence - CHORES!
Self-control
Identifies feelings
Social Studies/Geography/History:
Holidays
Common occupations
What is a family - family members
Understanding of city/town, state, country, continent
Recognizes Texas on a state map
Understanding of a globe & maps
Directions (N,S,E,W)
Understanding of lake, river, pond, island
Our World
-Space
-Oceans & Continents
American History
-Our country
-American Flag
-President
Science:
Seasons
Weather
Earth
Plants
Animals (simple life-cycles)
Human Body (sensory)
Magnetism
Science Opposites (sink/float, solid/liquid, etc)
Math:
Recognizes numbers
Counts to 20
Copies numbers w/o reversal
Pairs & counts objects
Counts objects in sets from 0-10
Constructs objects in sets from 0-10
Matches objects in sets from 0-10
Pairs
Understands concepts of addition & subtraction
Adds to 10
First - Fifth
Identifies, names, & draws basic shapes when shown an example
Identifies left & right
Sorts objects (classifying)
Places objects in order
Demonstrates with objects: on, above, below, beside, under, on top of, behind, over
Understands: more than, less than, equal, one more, one less
Patterns of at least 3
Halves
Full, Half Full, Empty
Identifies size, length
Identifies money (penny, nickle, dime, quarter)
Tells simple time
Understands a calendar
Simple graph
Counting by 2's, 5's, & 10's

ABC

   

My Mustangs had a great time reviewing the letters they have already learned.  We are working on matching lowercase & uppercase letters.  I put the entire lowercase alphabet in a gift bag & put the uppercase letters on a magnetic board.  Then I had the boys draw out a letter without looking.  Their job was to find the matching uppercase letter. 

We used Melissa & Dough magnetic letters.  I really liked these for this activity because the upper & lowercase matching letters share the same color.  Once the boys caught on, this trick it made narrowing down the difficult ones a little bit easier. 

I’m Gonna Miss This . . .

I can always count on Tucker to brighten my day with a handful of wildflowers. He loves to bring his mommy flowers!

And he is teaching his little brother well!

 

I love your heart boys!! <3

My Sidebar Confessions

Yesterday, I realized my sidebar needed a little updating, but before I get a little too crazy I decided to make a few confessions. . .

*Before I begin, incase you didn’t notice, I added a “FUTURE POSTS” list to my left sidebar.  I also added a couple new links to the left – go check ‘em out! 

Soon I will be cleaning up the curriculum list a lil’ bit.  But first I must make a few confessions before they just disappear into cyberspace. 

As you visit blogs, begin to follow a couple or let’s say “more than a couple” – in my case, & you see all these wonderful projects, lists of great curriculum … you know the “Super Homeschool” – Do you ever wonder “HOW DOES THAT REALLY WORK”, “HOW LONG DID THAT LAST”, “DO THEY REALLY DO ALL THAT” ????

We are no SUPER HOMESCHOOL.  Here are the true confessions:

Mustangs:

Little Hearts for His Glory:  Although, I used this VERY successfully with my first 2 guinea pigs outlaws, it was NOT the match for my Mustangs.  Our Winter Promise studies took much of the time away from this area & was a more enjoyed time for my mustangs.  So, at about week 3 – WE QUIT!

MUS Primer:  They play with the blocks more than anything.  I didn’t introduce the workbook & lessons to the boys until January.  We have completed a few lessons & will be working through it during the summer.

WP PK/K Basic Phonics:  We have stuck to our guns on this one & they are loving it!

Math Play 80 Ways to Count & Learn:  I wish I would have found this book last year, b/c they outgrew it nearly immediately.

Story Time Read Alouds:  I am really really trying to bring story time with the mustangs back, but it has been difficult.  This is a hit & miss activity, but they truly enjoy the books that I have used during this time when we do it.

HWOT:  WP Language includes handwriting pages & we are using them instead; however, we will be using this workbook during one of our fall enrichment classes.

WP Animals & Their Worlds:  I am working on a complete review for this, but we have faithfully stuck to our animal studies & I cannot express enough how much we have enjoyed this part of our homeschool day.  We are half way through!

 

Momma’s Boy:

TOG YR 2, Units 3 & 4:  We completed unit 3, but I decided to stop.  I love this curriculum, but had other more important areas in our homeschool to focus on. 

WP Animals & Thier Worlds:  He is totally loving this!  He loves his extended supplement work for older learners. 

Drawn Into The Heart of Reading:  I love this curriculum, as I used it for a couple years with my daughter, but my son just isn’t ready yet.  Hopefully next year we can use it.

Reading List: Our reading list was overwhelming for Momma’s Boy, so we have mixed things up quite a bit.  I will be posting regularly on all that I am learning about reading.

Explode the Code:  We have temporarily put these books aside as well.

First Language Lessons:  Last year, we slowed these studies down to twice a week, so we got a little behind.  We are almost done with level 2.  We enjoy this time of our day, as it is a quick study.  Momma’s boy has learned so much in using this curriculum.  I look forward to beginning level 3 soon!

Spell Well:  We have completed book B & are currently working through book Bb.

HWOT:  Almost done with beautiful cursive handwriting to show for it!

Mind Benders:  Occasionally

Math U See:  Momma’s Boy loves math!  I have not allowed him to work as quickly through this book as previous books – I’m saving the time for free time & focusing mostly on reading & reading skills building.  He is halfway done with his Delta workbook!

Whew!  Now I can hit delete!!  Although, there are things that didn’t work, things we may seem “behind” in, there is much we ARE doing & enjoying, & are truly successful.  If there is one thing I have learned in my years of homeschooling it is that it’s okay to stop what isn’t working, try something new in the middle of the year, or sale curriculum that I loved.  As curriculum buying season quickly approaches, I caution you in overwhelming yourself with what everyone else appears to be doing because as you can see, sometimes we aren’t really doing it all.  :)

It’s A Brother Thing . . .

These 2 . . . They are WILD mustangs!

They are 20 months apart.

They are total opposite:

Dark hair & green eyes, blond hair & blue eyes.

Dark skinned, light skinned.

Quiet & mischievous, loud & demanding.

Leader, Follower.

Lover, Fighter.

Big BROther, Little BROther!

Brotherly Love.

“I’m smiling because you’re my brother

& I’m laughing cuz there’s nothing you can do about it!”

Fall

This time of the year is just beautiful. About 2 weeks ago, the leaves started changing color & God’s signature was all over our property. BEAUTIFUL. It didn’t last long – at least not long enough for me to snap some pictures to share the beauty with you. We certainly enjoyed it. Now the leaves are all falling off the trees, the temperature is dropping & winter is looming around the corner. I am so NOT a winter person. In fact, I won’t let the kids play basketball b/c I don’t want to have to leave this house unless it absolutely necessary. I lived in California much of my life, so anything below 50 is FREEZING to me. Laugh . . . go ahead . . . I know, I’m a big winter baby. I would never make it in the north!

Before the freezing weather sends me into secluded hibernation, we are enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. We’ve been to the park, on nature walks, 4-wheeler rides, & had lots of fires burning in our fire pit outside. Perfect marshmallow roasting weather! YUMMY!!

Here are some pictures I’ve been editing at Picnik from our trip to the park a couple weeks ago . . .

I heart Mustangs!