Booklists

Posted on Apr 05, 2010 under Homeschool | 1 Comment

oh my, it’s been a long time since I blogged! I guess I have not had much to say or share. But one thing I do love is a nice list of books. So I thought I’d share some of the books we’ve read this years.  This is of course, in addition to the scores of self read books, early readers, comic books,  picture books and what not!

The kid who invented the Popsicle
Dinosaurs Before Dark
Chalk Box Kid
Ralph Mouse
Matilda
Two times Fun Clearly
Wizard of Oz
Chocolate Fever
Harry Potter
Jody’s Michigan Adventures
Aesop Fables
Value Tale Books (over and over again!)

We are still working on our list, which is not nearly as checked off as I’d hoped. But we will continue to read everyday.

We just discovered the power of audiobooks in the car! I had been listening to a few on my own and the kids were really interested. So we will be working though some classics and other fun ‘listens’ as the summer goes on.
20000 Leagues under the Sea
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
In Defense of Food
Ivy and Bean

Working on 2010 2011 Homeschooling plans. Maybe I will post those too! I also may post what else we’ve done this year and the fun lessons we’ve learned!

Any other wonderful suggestions you may have? Or favorite book list websites?

Hunger

Posted on Sep 29, 2009 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments

I finally got Carter though his 2 year hungry, growth spurt! Yipee, right? It seems Skye has caught it.
She asked about breakfast before bed, then again at 6am. She is my hungry, growing girl!

Time4Learning

Posted on Sep 28, 2009 under Homeschool, cool websites | 1 Comment

It’s been a month since we started time4learning for Carter, 6. I always had the site in my bookmarks when considering what we should do with our homeschooling. In the past, we’ve done Five in a Row, Unit Studies, and a mish mash of whatever was working at the time.
But I was finding what I put into planning (hours of work), was not what I was getting out of it.
My son struggles with phonics, as do I. I was concerned that we couldn’t find a program that worked for him. With in a day of using time4learning, he was reading sentences! I love that the program uses a combination of sight words and phonics to make learning fun! I love that I can change his level if I feel it’s too challenging. Or in the case of Language arts, I started him in K and found it too easy, it was simple to bump him up!
Yesterday, was one month. I thought the decision to continue on would be hard at first, but it was not! We are learning and we have more time together for playing together!
Now, this is just my opinion and what is currently working for my family! If you do want to give it a try, please be sure to mention that I referred you :) There is a two week, money back guarantee! Thanks so much!!

a few notes on Skye

Posted on Sep 24, 2009 under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

she hums. just like me, always a song in her head. she hums while working, hums while walking, hums while eating…
Skye is also an expert snapper. I will try to post a video this week….

Goodbye Summer

Posted on Sep 21, 2009 under Homeschool, Thoughts..., family | No Comment

I”m sure that I’m not the only blogger who has become completely disenchanted with their blog upon finding facebook right? It’s fun to share my pictures there where they can JUST be seen by family and friends.

So, what does this mean for the future of my blog? I have no idea, but I’m not ditching it yet! I really only ever considered it a place to share my simple kind of life with those who care. So, are there those who care that are not on facebook? I don’t think so….

Summer is over! Carter declared it a good summer! And it truly was! One where we were blessed with wonderful friendships and many adventures!

  • Lots of cottage trips
  • Berry picking (raspberry, wild blueberry, blueberry and elderberry!)
  • Spree
  • Park Days with homeschoolers
  • Joe Riley Concert
  • 4 of July parade
  • Birthday parties
  • Horseback riding
  • We actually saw The Shrine of the Pines
  • Messy Party 09
  • Hikes in the Woods
  • Greenfield Village trips
  • Belle Isle
  • Playing in the Sprinkler
  • Pool School
  • Camping
  • T-Ball
  • Toledo Zoo
  • S’mores
  • NAMI potlucks
  • Swinging outside
  • Neighborhood walks
  • Carter on 2 wheels
  • Mainstee/Ludington Lake Michigan

Summer Fun List!

Posted on Jun 22, 2009 under Summer | 8 Comments

Inspired I create our own Summer Fun List!

Lots of bike riding
Working at the Community Garden :D
Swimming :D
Northville 4th of July parade :D
Picnics :D
Blow up Pool in backyard :D
Sparklers :D
Free Movies on Mondays @ Civic Center Library
Plymouth concerts
Farmington concerts
Tunes on Tuesday Northville
Farmer’s markets :D
Water Park
Garage sales :D
Plymouth Spray Park
Redford Spray Park :D
Nature Hikes
Summer reading program though Livonia :D
Fire in our new fire pit outside with marshmallows :D
VBS (need to find one fast!)
Toledo Zoo (been on my to do list for 4 yrs, it’s happening this year!) :D
Lots of Village trips :D
Air Zoo Museum (free till September!)
Make milk shakes
Freeze and can the summers bounty
Family Game Night
Slip and Slide
Make Stepping Stones
See fireworks
Howell nature center
Play in sprinkler :D
Real camping :D
Cottage trips :D
Lots of BBQ :D
Livonia Spree :D

Ice Age 3 when it gets cheap.

 

:D = done!

Firsts

Posted on May 11, 2009 under Pictures | 5 Comments

First t-ball practice
Carter and coach

First hike with camelbacks
100_3553

First (official) haircut
100_3576

First time tie dieing my himself
Tie Die

First time swim suit shopping!
First time swim suit shopping!

Busy

Posted on Apr 13, 2009 under Pictures | 3 Comments

Wow, we’ve been busy lately. Honestly, I always thought people were crazy to claim to be too busy. But we’ve made it!
I’m not going to bore you with all the details of what we’ve been up to. But I do want to put a plug in for google calender! I love that I can add my events to it and so can Paul. We each have our own color so we can easily see what the other is doing! Plus, it stores what I’ve done. So it’s a sort of time capsule as well! If I wonder, when was the last time we went to Farmington library? I can just look it up!

Here is our spring nature table
Spring nature table

Egg Hunt at Great Grandma’s
Egg hunt

Carter and Skye with their (most of) their cousins (we added another 2nd cousin to the mix this week! plus one more in Flordia. All MY cousins kids)
Cousins

Kids went skating last week. We had a blast!
Carter skating
Skye skating

We had a visit with my Grandma
Grandma fixes my jacket

Auntie turned 25!
Auntie Monique is 25!

Did some geocaching
Geocaching

Had a great visit with Kazoo Grandmas!
Skye swinging with Grandma Dianne
Carter and Grandma Dianne

Happy Easter
Skye found her basket

Carter and his basket and ball!

Finally today, we met some friends up at HFM for more bunny fun!
Bunny fun

Sugarbush

Posted on Mar 21, 2009 under Pictures, Sugarbush, Videos | 1 Comment

We had the great honor of being invited to the Battel families sugarbush in the thumb yesterday. What a wonderful day! It’s such a treasure to have the kids be even more connect to the food we eat and see where it comes from. We’ve done the metroparks sugarbush in the past, but nothing beats going to a real sugarbush farm. They did such a nice job of educating both the homeschool kids AND their parents.
The syrup, is like golden drops of sun. Amazing!

The haircut

Posted on Mar 21, 2009 under Carter, Pictures | 5 Comments

Before
before

After

after