Homestead Academy: Dolch Kit

On last week's Fun Friday, I posted about the Dolch Word Bingo Cards from this website. It is a great FREE resource created by a first grade teacher in California who is now retired. She not only made cute bingo cards, but also a complete Dolch Kit. There is even a booklet of the words split up into lists! I printed one out for Farm Boy to use in the car.

Homestead Academy Fun Friday: Dolch Word Bingo Cards

It's FUN Friday at the Homestead Academy!  This week we played Dolch Word B-I-N-G-O!

Bingo Cards

Feedburner Finally Moved to New Blog

WOW! I got the email today showing where my Feedburner subscriptions were finally moved over. I apologize for leaving y'all out for so long! I hope that the update did not confuse or overwhelm you all! I am working to remove the very OLD OLD subject line for the Chandler Family Web Home. Hopefully by the time you get this update, it will be gone. Just know it is still us writing to you!

The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine Annual Open House

I am so thankful to live in an area where homeschooling resources abound! Spring has sprung in the south and with it we have many fun field trips available! Our next one is planned for Friday, April 2, 2010! Can't wait!!

The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine Annual Open House

Happy 1st birthday: Mother keeps McDonald's Happy Meal for a whole year... and it still hasn't gone off | Mail Online

Um, gross! And people think our eating habits are freaky! Really glad we gave up McDs and all the other fast food places!! BLEH!


Happy 1st birthday: Mother keeps McDonald's Happy Meal for a whole year

Craft Your Own Abacus! | Activities | Education.com

Craft Your Own Abacus! | Activities | Education.com

Announcing Earth Fare's Family Dinner Night!

Woo hoo!!! Finally a KIDS EAT FREE that we can participate in!

Announcing Earth Fare's Family Dinner Night!

Parenting Special Needs Magazine Winter '10

This issue features the son of a college friend of mine, Sarah Cook! It focuses on autism.Ain't he the cutest thing? His mom is a photographer too so the pictures of him are fab!

Parenting Special Needs Magazine

Raising Olives' Homemade Hamburger Buns

This is the first homemade bread I've ever attempted to knead by hand. It was super easy and so very yummy! I made child-size buns but unfortunately didn't get a picture of my own. I must say I am pretty proud of myself though!! I know they passed the picky eater test when Adin asks me to make them everyday! :)

Homemade Hamburger Buns

I Took His Hand and Followed

I Took His Hand and Followed
Mrs. Roy L. Peifer

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn't make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I...
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky

We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood...
My kitchen wasn't swept today
But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest,
Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill...
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,
That I didn't brush the stairs,
In twenty years, no one on earth
Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years, the whole wide world
May look and see and know.


I Took His Hand and Followed - BestHomeschooling.org

Money, Money!

This week's math lessons have focused on money. We dumped our big change jar out and I let the boys each have their own piles. They sorted the coins (using the pincher grasp for Music Man) and picked out anything that didn't belong in there (such as screws or foreign money.) Then we talked about what the different coins were and who was on them. The boys are fascinated by the Presidents this month since we just have the holiday and the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington. So we talked about the Presidents a bit as well. Then they were instructed to make $5 out of the coins. Farm Boy decided on two dollars worth of dimes, one of nickles, one from quarters and one from pennies. I showed him how to organize and stack the pennies so he could easier count my tens. Music Man struggled a bit with the difference between nickles, dimes and quarters. I abandoned him creating the dollars and just let him sort. We talked about the different shapes. We'll pick up money again at another time for him.

Two Months - Really??

It has been a while since I took so long to blog. The weather has been frightful the last few months and our computer was in a room that we don't heat up often. I came in today and realized there was much to blog on. However, I will just have to play catch up at another time.

There isn't a whole lot I can just begin blogging about because so much has happened since November!! I will attempt in the next few weeks to get you all caught up on our life since November.

The biggest news is that Farm Boy did not return to public school after the break. We are enjoying having him home with us and it has been good for Music Man and they learn from one another.

CURRENT CURRICULUMS
Explode the Code 1
Handwriting Without Tears
basic math - time, calendar, money, memorizing math facts
Bob Books
Exploring Creation with Zoology 1
Unit Study on Georgia

We are also taking some extra-curricular classes (PE, dance therapy class for Music Man and taekwondo for Farm Boy.) Several of the moms from the PE class are also talking about an American Sign Language class. We stay busy and it is tiring but I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Music Man still attends physical, occupational and speech therapies. So that's what we are up to at the moment.

A New Year and a New Student

(Note: When we moved to GA last year, we continually hyped to the boys that they would be "farm boys" once they moved to GA. We explained that they would be living in the country full time, something they had only done for a week at a time on visits to see their grandparents. My youngest son quickly adopted the name "Farm Boy" once I began using anonymous names for them online.)

Around Farm Boy's birthday, we gave him the choice between going back to "school-school" or staying home with us. He overwhelmingly chose to homeschool. We continued our regular homeschool plan through the Christmas break taking the week between Christmas and New Year's off, but getting in our regular three days with him during his break. We hit a few snags since he is a rule follower, lol! He kept wanting to tell me how to do things and that I was making a "sad /l/." His teacher at school-school apparently used this term as they were beginning to form their letters. I finally had to tell Farm Boy that Music Man and I wrote differently than he was taught and that he was going to have to choose which way he wanted to write. We'll see.

As we hit the mid-year slump that always visits in January, I am exploring new curriculums. Both boys are on the same level for many things (math, science and social studies.) I am planning to go back to Explode the Code 1 to teach them both all the way through. Farm Boy loves workbooks and worksheets. Music Man does not care for them.

So here we go! Two students! I am so glad to have us all together again and to be embarking fully on this adventure called homeschooling!

But he's so social!!! How can you homeschool?

Ugh, how many times have I heard that since we started telling folks we were going to homeschool Music Man. People, that was the problem!!! He was TOO social at school! Music Man loves people. He loves to watch them, to see what they are doing, to mimic them. He gets super distracted just going to wash his hands before a meal. When you put him in a classroom (even a small one with only a few kids) he wants to see what each one is doing. Then another teacher comes in or the bell rings to change classes. Or it is time for a different activity. Then the speech therapist will come get someone for class. Oh the distractions in school-school!

Music Man needs quiet to concentrate. He needs to be one-on-one with a teacher or his assignment. He excels at the computer and concentrates hard when it is something he is interested in. The issue with school-school is that he cannot concentrate on something fully when there is so much going on. His resource teachers did the very best they could with him, but they had more than just him to teach. He couldn't be the center of attention with them. But he can with me!

Printable Telling Time Worksheets

Printable Telling Time Worksheets

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

Farm Boy finally let me pull his top tooth on Thursday evening. It has been loose a good while, but he was afraid to let me pull it on out. I had to promise him a whole dollar in order to pull it tonight but it came out easily thank goodness! I was really getting concerned it would fall out and choke him! The other one is also loose so he may be singing "All I Want for Christmas" this year for real!

Music Man's teeth usually came out because the permanent teeth were coming in. Farm Boy is losing them way before that so he ends up with the large gaps that most kids have when pulling teeth. This one actually looks like a crater it is so large!

Little Drummer Boy, Part 1

Music Man had his first drum lesson on Wednesday this week. He did so awesome! He listened intently to his teacher, Danny Garrett. He tapped on a practice pad and learned about the values of a whole, half, quarter and eighth note! Seeing him excited about learning make my heart skip a beat and made me nostalgic for band class. I so wanted to be a band director and hate I put down my contrabass once I left high school. Anyway, he's happy drumming and has kept rhythm perfectly since he could move. More to come ....

Homeschooling Special Kids Group

I created a new email group today for those homeschooling kids with special needs in the Athens, GA area.


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolingspecialkids/

New Look

You have probably noticed things looks a little different. :) I love our new template, Falling Maple! Maples are one of my favorite trees and this time a year in north Georgia is incredible! When I saw this blog template, I knew I had to have it! I am working through the ins and outs of this new template and will hopefully have it completely functional by the end of this weekend. It comes from an awesome designer, Lena, who owns Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates. If you are a blogger who has to rely on the generosity of freebies, check her out!! She is amazing!!! She also has very inexpensive customizable premades, Premades with Purpose, to help raise money for their adoption expenses. Go read her story and buy a template, even if you don't need one! :)

Undershirts Under the Jammies!

My latest stress saver is having Music Man and Farm Boy put their undershirt on after their baths at night. Living in a older farm house with no central heat means mornings are chilly! The boys often complain about having to take off their warm jammies even after we heat up the room to change clothes in. We save time, stress and whining by putting their jammies on over an undershirt at night. It keeps them warmer on chilly nights and I don't have to listen to "I'm coold!!!" We personally love the Hanes Tagless. One Hanes Place has great prices too!