In the Library and the Kitchen

Today is a very hands on day in the classroom, we are crafting with clay, building with bricks and so much more. I find the kids get so much more out of using their hands and heads instead of just using their head. I really need to cut the clutter in our classroom this Spring, but it truly feels as though we use it all. Oh the dilemma's of a homeschooler. 

For new book Monday, I will share what is in our new book basket and headed onto our shelves*:

1.With Jesus Always- My Mass & Reconciliation Double Sided book
2.A Christmas Treasury 12 Unforgettable Holiday Stories
(I like to pick up Christmas & Holiday books at big sales & clearance prices so that they are ready for next Christmas when Charlie our Elf brings the Christmas books on arrival!)
3.Meet the Monsters
4. The Offical Ninjago Guide
5. The Ordinary of the Mass in 8 Languages
6. Lord I give You This Day
7. The Barnes & Noble Guide to Children's Books
8. Art & History of Pompeii
9. Sarah Laughs
10. The Stable Where Jesus Was Born
(another Christmas find)
11. The All-Time Awesome Bible Search
12. Sammy's Fantastic Journeys with the Early Heroes of the Bible
13. The Middle Ages
14. Journey to the Center of the Earth Graphic classic
15. New Junior Cookbook
(My son is taking a cooking class and I wanted something that he can easily follow along with at home and begin getting even more comfortable in the kitchen)
16. Human body
17. The Lewis & Clark Expedition

(I needed something to go with a game that I downloaded and will share later this week!)

As the school year progesses, it seem that the shelves just want to explode and this is AFTER hosting a book swap! Time to host another one it seems! Anyway, on to our menu plan for monday!

Monday's are tough for us because the kids have classes from 3-5, then we pick up dad so he can join the evening activities, and then one more class from 6-7:30, this means we have to eat something quick in the car on our way to the final lesson. This monday evening class is only every other week, so that is a bonus. On this day, I have to have something portable that we can enjoy in the car or in the lunchroom at the final class. (I don't like feeding the kids dinner too late as it messes with their sleep cycle too much)

Monday - DIY Sandwich Bar with toppings & Cucumber Spears with Salt & Lime
Tuesday - Basil-Pesto Gnocci served over a bed of Sauteed Spinach and a Cucumber,Tomato & Vidalia Onion Salad
Wednesday- Broccoli Cheese Crockpot Soup served with Fresh baked bread & Avacado Salad
Thursday-Crockpot Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos with Rice served with  Build Your Own Garden Salad that can also be used as taco toppings
Friday- Out to dinner for Dad's Birthday!
Saturday- Out to dinner with friends
Sunday - Pork Roast with Potates, Carrots & Green Beans, Served with a Greek Salad

Enjoy every minute my friends!

Follow Michelle's board Fun with Food ♨ on Pinterest.

All of my recipes can be found on my Fun with Food board on Pinterest

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Classroom Confessions

:: Mondays make me nervous that I may not have the motivation to begin school work.
:: The closet of my classroom looks like 321 bins of classroom things threw up.

:: I have a secret stash of smarties hidden away, when caught chewing I swallow quickly!

:: Classical music plays throughout the day and sometimes I doze off

::My heart still soars when I visually see the children 'get' something.

:: I love organizing and reorganizing my book shelves

:: I have feelings of insecurity over their education daily
:: I love the smell of Expo markers

:: I worry

:: I laugh
:: I love

The kids each have Science labs in their bedrooms and the bases are IKEA coffee tables, needless to say they need to be replaced often. They get exploded on, wet, drawn on, experimented on and so much more...this leads to a lot of wear but I am so glad they love to create. As we replaced one, I was ready to toss this, but realized we could use it in the classroom as a gaming center or for group work. Our first project is to give it a makeover this month. Nothing that costs money and using things that are only found around the house. This should be interesting! Hahaha!

Last week I bit the bullet and signed up the children AND I for an adoration hour at our church. This is 1 hour spent in silence with the Lord. I know the big kids will be fine with it but I was worried about the youngest. I figured I would make Adoration Bags filled with things that they can do on their own to reflect and pray to the Lord. I will share 1 each day and they will remain linked over on my LITTLE CATHOLIC HOMESCHOOL post. This week the youngest will have a book on the 12 Disciples along with our foam playset of the 12 Disciples that he can use while reading the story. (I will post more on this playset on the LCH post later). He also has a chunky rosary with a Fr. Lovasik book on praying the rosary. A bible verses book to reflect quietly over and once he has done those things, he has his  Larry Boy book to read. This is more than enough to keep him occupied but I would rather have too much than not enough. All of it is tucked away in his Veggie Tales soft sided bag.

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Tip and Tricks of the Trade

Happy Thursday, it's time to share a round up of tricks and tips for the house, classroom and life in general! Book organization is HUGE in our home, mainly because every room in our house has a bookshelf or 2 or 3 or 6!! We love books here, even our benches and tables have stacks of books on them. For books that have spines that cannot be read, we put them in baskets and bins so that they face forward for easy finding. For larger books, they go in normally and then we use paint stir sticks to label the subjects. I also keep a master list of books so that I can keep track of what we have and where. Whenever new books come into the classroom, they sit in a basket until I can catalog them. I also use the top of the bookshelves as storage space to keep things organized and off the ground!

Keep recyclables handy for storing items!  I use upcycled containers in my large bags to store bandaids, hand sanitizer, bobby pins, chapstick and anything else that is too small and gets lost easily. I don't like using cosmetic bags because if something leaks it makes a mess & I don't like using ziplock bags because they are still hard to find in the bag. These make it easy to grab something! 

I saw this on a blog earlier in the week and could not wait to have the kids try it out for the train village! All it takes is an open window car, an ornament hook and pliers. Thanks All Things Beautiful! 

Our library sells magazines from .10-.25 each and many are just last month's editions! I pick up a few every month just to cut up for collages and the larger letters for our letter box. Perfect for spelling words and other fun things! 

As daddy gets our tree in place, the most important part is the train board. It is a week long process that has my kids giving their undivided attention to Daddy as he tells stories of how this train used to belong to his grandpa and all the memories he has. In the background you can see Charlie, our Elf on the shelf taking advantage of the free train play! See what else Charlie has been up to this year HERE!

Remember to enjoy every minute!

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Corner of my Classroom

Today's corner of our classroom holds our globe, hundreds counters and an old straw dispenser that now holds pencils!

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DIY Water Table

As I have spoken about last summer and the one before that and on and on with my Thrifty sandbox and water table, it is AWESOME! What I started noticing though, is that we get a lot of neighbor kids in the area as well and it was getting a little too wet on the floor when too many kids were involved, which meant wet bottoms on kids. I decided it was time to TAKE A STAND :) Less than 20.00 in PVC and it was ready to go!

It sits inside with our 'water toys' as the PVC glue dries but will then be spray painted and ready to roll!! It took less than an hour to put together and is perfect for bigger kids, as those tiny toddler tables are too short and too small. Great for many lessons, play and fun! We cannot wait to get started! Thanks friends and enjoy every minute!

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Classroom Confessions

Happy Thursday, today I felt would be a great day to let you into my head a little bit! It's a colorful place with too many ideas and thoughts floating around. I would imagine it's much like a tornado if they were colorful and instead of debris, left mountains of glitter everywhere! Today's blog post is all about classroom confessions!
::My desk is always messy. From the beginning of the day, until I head to bed.
::I drink home made iced mint tea non stop throughout my day.
::I have a nasty habit of always sharpening my pencils. I love pointy pencils.
::I love to doodle. I keep a notebook on my desk that is solely for doodles.
::If I am not addressing someone, I am on my computer creating new blog posts to post for when I go away for extended periods of time.
::I use a packing tape dispenser as a cup holder!

::Even though the kids have jobs to clean the shelves every day, I still go over it at night, because I enjoy it.

::I like to run my hands over everything in the drawers and on the shelves.

::When left alone in the house, I come to the floor of the classroom and just stare at it all.
::I rearrange my classroom at least once a week.
::My books all have book pockets in them like a library.
::I hope to one day own my own card catalog!

::I collect containers of all sizes and shapes, even if I do not know what they will be used for at the moment.

::I have photos of my travels throughout the classroom.

::I often wish I had a room like this growing up, I would have never left it.
::We listen to Classical music all day in the classroom and it switches to Country once the day is over.

::Whenever I see a box of crayons on sale, I must buy them. MUST.

::School supplies are my weakness, I love the way they smell and how everything feels new.

::I have to stay out of stores, because no matter what it is, I can find a way to incorporate it in my classroom & even the automotive store was deemed too dangerous for my wallet!

::I doubt myself daily

::I worry about my children
::I love the way a book feels in my hand
::I am grateful that there are people like you all out there reading my ramblings.

I really hope so!

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Saturday School Round-Up

Our new school year started on Monday! I know, I know, we school year round but we made it special none-the-less! Fresh supplies were put out, new books had their spines cracked and I added a desk to the classroom. I now have my very own teacher desk, with a new schedule. We spend the first 2 weeks tweaking our schedule and seeing what works for us and what does not. I also spend this time making notes on curriculum.

Organization is key in homeschooling and this year is no different! I purchased a storage unit from The Container Store, to keep everyone's school books, folders and notebooks in line. Everyone has a drawer and this is where they can find everything and put it all away. My master copies of books are also in a drawer!! I plan on finding cute tags to tag the unit properly.

New year, means new decor. There is only so much I can do in a one room classroom but I like to change it up often. New in our classroom is our book garland! These little books get a title written on them when we complete a book and they are displayed for all to see that visit us here. 

They are eager to learn and having a blast working on new books!

This is next week's topic in creative writing and it really has me thinking about what exactly would it be....more on my answer next week. Enjoy the weekend my friends.

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Happy July! Vacation Memories

Happy July my friends! Sorry for the silence, but we have been out of town enjoying our family and learning about our United States! We visited Springfield, Illinois to learn about our government and for the kids to learn all about what was going on. After a day there, we spent the rest of our vacation in St. Louis, Missouri.

We are a Disney World family and are constantly saving for the next trip along with our big trip to Europe that we are hoping to take in 3 years. That was all changed when we purchased this little Passport to Your National Parks!! This is the most fantastic thing I have ever seen! It's full of National Parks in the USA and has places to get your passport cancelled when you visit those parks, just like a real passport! There is a large map, stamps and other fun things included in this. This is absolutely perfect for homeschoolers, talk about hands on learning!! Many of these places can be done on a long weekend, on the way to longer trips and are all great adventures to take your children on. Our first destinations of Springfield & St. Louis were 2 of the places in this passport that we could tackle in one trip and our first adventure was planned!

We made sure not to rush the trip, which allowed us time to take in so much, but there was still so much more to do!! This is definitely a trip that must be repeated. We made sure that there was a learning aspect to all of our stops and the kids didn't even know it was happening. They thought this was a vacation from school!  We learned about how kids played in the days prior to electronic toys and enjoyed learning how to play many of the games.

The Botanical Gardens had us smiling and relaxing as we watched winged creatures up close and sometimes even land on our heads. Sitting and watching these Butterflies made for quite a Science lesson.

There was a lot of walking where we calculated how much we walked and the distance to certain destinations. We learned how to use maps properly and also calculated long driving distances.

Every time we go out to a new city, we visit children's museums and taking them in is a learning experience in itself! Here we are examining Gabriel's eye and exploring the new place.

Beautiful fountains you can play in?? City Gardens in St. Louis got our vote for the #1 fun family thing to do that was FREE!! It was a great way for everyone to cool off and enjoy a break in the day.

Vacation Tip? Buy postcards and mail some to yourself so that you can have postmarks from your destinations along with memories of what you did that day! I like to have the kids each write 1 line about what we did in that location and then at the end of the entire trip, we have the front desk mail them out. It's a fun and inexpensive diary of our vacation.

Where have you vacationed to recently? Share your destinations with us in the comments!

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Welcome Wednesday & Classroom Tip!

Happy Wednesday and a great big WELCOME to all my newest readers! I hope you all know how much I truly appreciate your finding my little corner of the Internet and following along. I love reading your comments and e-mails and enjoy chatting with many of you over on my Facebook Page. I hope you enjoy what you find here and know that it warms my heart to share with you the ups and downs in our life!

Our mailman came bright and early today and showed up with many packages! Don't you just love days like that??? Each and every package was chock full of books! We ordered some for our Summer Curriculum and others just for fun! What's your favorite thing to get in the mail?

I found this LARGE cork board at an estate sale for a whopping 1.50 on half price day and I couldn't wait to get it home. Behind this space is where our fuse box is located and it's hideous as are all metal doors. I first framed out the box in wood and then put 2 nails into the wood, so that I could suspend this cork board over it and completely cover it up! Now it's easily removed and yet covered nicely. The next step was to make this board somewhat prettier. I didn't want to spend any money on  bulletin board sets at the teacher store, so I only used what I had on hand.

Voila! I love the punch it packs with color! It holds important information that we have going on at the moment, along with our reading chart. Our goal is to read 100 chapter books this Summer!! Hopefully we can do it!

 Now, about that Classroom Tip. Look below the cork board. See that curtain rod? It's a skinny cafe rod (about 2.00, but our house came with 50 or so of them when we bought the place!). I have it held up by 2 cup hooks and now it holds an assortment of flashcards! The cup hooks make it easy to remove when needed and the binder rings on each set of flashcards make them easy to flip through and store. No more torn and bulky boxes.

Enjoy every minute my friends!!

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