Child's Play

I found this book in a gift shop and bought for our summer exploring this year and beyond. I was getting a little bored with our usual outing spots and this was just the thing to get us out exploring and trying new things!

(Source)

This book is a gold mine. It's written by a mom who took her kids to each place and then wrote a review telling you the mom-approved version including if you can bring your own food, age group it's good for, restroom availability, cost, hours, annual special events and much more!

One day we were going to a park that's listed in the book but it ended up being too windy so we looked to see what else was close by (another great feature about the book) and they had a children's museum that looked like a great indoor choice.

The kids loved it and we thought it was fun, too!

Checking out the fishes underneath the huge pirate ship.

The sand box.

Ah hoy, matey!

ARGG!!

What's going in there? (It was a rain demonstrator)

The puppet theater.

Going through the drive through at the bank... they even had a working shoot that sends the money inside the building and out to the car, just like at the bank drive through!

A Colorful Day

Back at the end of April, our family had signed up to do the Graffiti Run through downtown. When I signed us all up I didn't think twice about the logistics, I thought we will figure it out, it will be fine! But as the race day approached I started getting nervous about whether it was a good idea or not to take the littles mostly because of the color powder. I was worried about it getting in their eyes or if they would be able to breath. The website for the race said it was non toxic and safe for all ages and I reassured myself that they would know!

 I decided we would go and at anytime that it wasn't going well we would leave. We didn't have to pay anything for the littles to do the race, just my mom, Brandon and I.

It turned out to be a blast! And a learning experience...

.... Get there EARLY and get as close to the front of the starting line as possible. We were walking the 5k so we knew would take longer to get through, but add in littles 3 and under and it takes even loooonger. By the time we crossed the finish line they were cleaning up and the color parties were over. But we finished and everyone had a great time. Caleb even took a nap in the stroller for half of it!

We had our own color party after we finished (that's when everyone that's crossed the finish line gathers up and on the count down they all throw their color packs up in the air at the same time, they did it every 15 min) and the kids danced and threw their color powder on us and each other. The powder wasn't even an issue. It's a real fine powder of corn starch and it would dissolve in the air before you could breath it in and no one complained of it in their eyes.

Lastly, the clean up was surprisingly easy too. We brought extra clothes for the kids and changed them before we got in the car. We used wipes to clean their skin as best as possible and then we just put towels down over the seats for us. I never saw a trace of it in the car.

The littles talked about it for months and still mention doing the 'color run' when they are doing laps through the house. They have asked when we could do it again! We may just have to make it a family tradition to do it each year.

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God's Word is a Treasure: Day 4

We ended up having a sort if snow day to round out our first week of school. We still did a few of the activities but we enjoyed the beautiful snow fall too.

First Evie cut out 5 'gold coins' that said 'God's Word is a Treasure', one word one arch coin. Then I hid them around the tv room while Nana sang our week's songs. After music Evie went on a treasure hunt and found the coins. She would have a 'treasure hunt' every day if she could. Loves it!

Next she glued the coins in order on a brown piece of paper we decorated to look like a treasure box.

Then I set up a bean sensory tub with jewels and x's made from two Popsicle sticks glued together. The kids played in there while I made play dough. After making up two batches the kids used the play dough tool kit they got for Christmas and played their hearts out with play dough!!

And that was our first week of school!!

God's Word is a Treasure: Day 2 & 3

DAY 2

We started our day making a treasure map from a paper sack that we will use to display our themes through out the year on. We added a bible for our first week, God's Word is a Treasure. And we sang our song for the week with Nana, our music teacher!

I had a wooden treasure box I got at Joann's awhile ago and we decorated it with markers and gluing jewels to the outside of it. We will keep all our school supplies for the year in the treasure box!

We had a snack of cheese {cut in thin slices} and crackers and made 'x's out of the cheese on the crackers. While we ate we talked about the sound that the letter 'x' makes.

After snack we went on adventure in search of rectangles, the shape of the week, all throughout the house! The kids used their binoculars they made, their flashlights and their magnifying glasses {I found those in the dollar bins at Target!}.

One thing I love about this program is that she includes practical and life skills to learn. So we headed to Evie's room and practiced making her bed. She just has a blanket right now but it's a good habit to get started on early!

We finished off the day reading Blueberries for Sal and then went outside to fill up our own pails! We didn't find any blueberries but there were rocks, sticks and sand to be played with! The weather was gorgeous.

Only two days in and I've already seen the fruits of this program. When we were outside Evie pointed out on her own that the design on the garage door was made up of rectangles. And while we were driving Evie saw two jet streams crossing paths on the sky that looked like an 'X'!

DAY 3


Today we started off with reviewing what we learned so far this week. We had music time with Nana.

After music we watched the first part of 'What's in the Bible?' DVD. I love these DVDs because I actually learn so much!

Next we played 'X' freeze with our music, dancing to the music and then when I stopped it the kids had to freeze making an 'X' with their bodies.

After our dance party the kids did a worksheet of writing x's inside a bigger x and then Evie cut out her x and glued it to a piece of construction paper. She'll do this for every letter.

Lastly, to finish off our third day, we read two books on sharing: 'Rainbow Fish' and 'Sharing Words.' We role played how to share and what to do if someone won't share.

God's Word is a Treasure

Week 1 "God's Word is a Treasure"
Day 1

We started our first day of school by going on a treasure hunt. Evie hunted throughout the house for the first 'X' {this is the letter of the week} and found her first and most important treasure, her Jesus Storybook Bible!

Next she went searching for several more treasures consisting of school supplies, magnifying glass, and flashlight. We made a pair of binoculars from a paper towel roll, tape, and a string.

We also had music time where we sang song about our theme. One song is a hyme: Wonderful Words of Life, a Seeds Family Worship song: Word of the Lord, and a Sunday school song: the B-I-B-L-E and we will sing those all week.

Evie also decorated the front of what will be her alphabet book throughout the year. She colored and glued letters to the cover.

And lastly, we read Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? {checked out from the library!} and after reading we talked about what clothing we wear for different weather.

And I threw in my own activity of using cooked spaghetti noodles to make the letter 'X' and rectangles. Of course they made a yummy snack too!

It was a fun first day and not nearly as stressful or chaotic as I thought it might be. Evie was really excited to tell daddy all about what she learned and did.

Caleb was doing his own kind of school with Brandon called Potty Training! Fun stuff...

God's Little Explorers

We started preschool this week! I know it's not in line with any traditional school year, but I guess that's one great thing about doing homeschool. We can start/stop/take breaks when we want to!!

I came across this mom-made, FREE preschool curriculum through Pinterest called God's Little Explorers and just reading through the lessons I love it!! {Can't even beat how perfect the name is for our blog.} It's all learning through doing and I think that's perfect for this age group.

We spend 45 min to an hour a day, 4-5 days a week and that's it! Unless we want to do more then we can, she gives suggestions for further studying.

My plan is to chronicle our 'year' of school, mostly for fun but also to see how we grow and change in the homeschooling area.

Let the learning fun begin....