Spring Elation Event at the Detroit Zoo

This past week I won an awesome ticket giveaway through a friend's blog.  I was so surprised! I never win anything, haha.  It was 4 tickets to the Spring Elation event at the Detroit Zoo through JARC. 

JARC is an organization dedicated to helping families living with disabilities, etc.  The event was a private gathering at the Detroit Zoo.  Free parking, free dinner, fun with animals, etc.  It was a fun time.  The girls of course loved it.

When we arrived, the sky began growing dark and it became very windy.  Kelly and I started praying it away and that it would clear up.  Within an hour the sky was clear and it was sunny.  Beautiful!  So blessed and thankful God answers prayers.  I would have hated for the event to have been completely rained out.

The girls got to ride on the zoo's carousel.  That was Bethany's first time on one.  She was nervous at first, but discovered it was tons of fun.  Her face was priceless.  The train ride at the end of the evening was fun too.  It was funny, after the train was loaded and ready to go, it had a hard time getting started.  I thought we were going to have to get off and walk back.  A worker came over and gave it a few shoves.  It finally moved forward.  Since it was late evening, the train tunnel was a blast for the kids, haha.

It was a fun evening and wasn't your traditional trip to the zoo.  I love the private events that they put on for the public as well.  It was just nice to have one 4 tickets.  Originally $25 per ticket.  Nice!

Since the Detroit Zoo has been on my mind, it's finally time to get our yearly membership pass.  I think we will be spending a lot of our homeschooling adventures there.  The girls are beyond excited about that. Haha!

What is your favorite zoo memory with your children?

Summer Homeschool Planning

I can't believe May is winding down already.  We are slowly fizzling out of all of our activities and I am so ready for our summer schedule.

We do homeschooling in the summer just not as extensive.  More unit studies, lapbooks, and library visits.  We keep up on important subjects such as: Math, Writing, Reading, Language, etc.  Will we homeschool every single day?  No.  Probably will do the 3 day a week thing with occasional field trips, etc.

I am also trying to incorporate summer fun into the mix with waterpark ideas, a possible trip to Cedar Point, the beach, etc.  Gotta be traditional when it comes to "Summer Vacation." Haha!

On top of summer homeschool planning, I am slowly starting to plan out our next year.  I may be changing gears from curriculum.  The past two years I have done A Beka.  I love the curriculum, but it doesn't feel flexible enough for me to actually feel like we are homeschoolers.  Since I am a teacher trying to break away from rigid routines, I feel it's best to steer away for the time being.  I will; however, will be sticking with A Beka Math!  Love it!

I am planning on some sort of literary curriculum as the girls love reading and actually go through books from the library as if they were water.  I am trying to weigh my options along with comparing their interests, etc.  I am thankfully becoming more confident in our homeschooling adventures and ready to spread my wings a little bit more in some areas.

What are your plans for homeschooling in the summer?  Do you actually take the whole summer off or do you do some sort of summer enrichment to keep those brains sharp? 

Sorry so short and sweet today.  I'm a little behind on some work (life a mom, haha).  Have a blessed day!

May Fun and Memories

The month of May is a fun time for our family.   I am not just talking about end of year events like choir, gymnastics, dance, piano, etc., Check out our line up:

May 2nd: Kelly's 10th Birthday
May 12th: A Family Friend's Birthday and Mother's Day
May 13th: Bethany's 4th Birthday
May 15th:  Mine and hubby's Wedding Anniversary (We celebrated 14 years, whoot)

And many more. My sister-in-law's birthday is the end of the month as well. May most definitely is a money sucking month, haha, but we have learned to really get creative and start making our gifts.  Not only does it cut down on cost, it's something that is considered valuable and can be cherished for a lifetime.  Take these "Grandmother's Day" flower pots we decorated.  We know that they are missing their mothers (Our grandmothers) so we made a little something extra just for them as you can see in the pics below. 

They call my mom "Geegum" and my hubby's mom "Mema."  So cute and sweet.  Talk about blinging out the flower pots, haha!  Hopefully they cherish these forever.

Mother's Day was very sweet on my end.  The girls made me adorable crafts.  I forgot to take pictures...so bad, lol If I remember, key word being "If" I will post those as they are so adorable.  It was a blessing to be honored on Mother's Day.  I wore my "Brandon" necklace in memory of him as I will never forget that I am a mother to a precious son in heaven.

For our anniversary, my hubby brought me home some pretty amazing roses. Amazing meaning that the aroma coming from them was so sweet and beautiful.  I don't think I have ever had roses that smelled as sweet as these.  They almost smelled like candy, not kidding!  Of course it's my opinion, haha. 

A close and dear friend of mine runs a home cake business called; Custom Cakes by Kimi!  She is so talented and the cakes are phenomenal not only in appearance, but in taste as well.  She surprised us with a Vanilla Bean Cake (Laced with Strawberries) yesterday.  So beautiful, I didn't want to cut it.  I was going to post a picture that I had taken and posted on Facebook, but for some reason the photo has disappeared.  Not sure how that happened.  Oh well!

My parents have offered to take our sweet girls for a full weekend (2 nights) so that we can have an anniversary getaway.  That is going to be so wonderful.  Pretty pumped about that!

I think that's about it.  We are winding down now with our homeschooling adventures and end of year activities.  Lyssa just has her first homeschool concert.  It was so cute!  Next, we are gearing up for Kelly's Gymfest for Gymnastics, then dance and piano. I will be ready for a nice long break, haha.

I am starting to plan our summer homeschool adventures, will keep you posted on that. 

Many blessings!



Spanish For You Crew Review: Estaciones

 

Since our family culture on my mother's side is Spanish-Mexican, I have always wanted to learn Spanish (Espanol).  I took two years in high school and have been rusty ever since. I remember my sweet grandma tutoring me in the language and have always been intrigued.  Rest in Peace, grandma Dolores.  We miss you!  I am excited to teach my girls the language all the while brushing up on it myself.  Spanish For You is our recent learning adventure with the language.

Spanish For You is an affordable Spanish Curriculum for grades 3-8.  We recently utilized Estaciones (Seasons) 3rd-4th grade.  Here is what I received for this review:

• Soft Cover Book
• 24-30 Week Lesson Guides (PDF Downloads)
• MP3 Audio Download for the Book
• MP3 Audio Download with Native Speaker
• Worksheets
• Flashcard Pictures

Everything was easy to download.  All the downloadable items came through email and were pretty quick and easy to install onto my desktop.

Kelly and I spent a lot of time with the flashcards and book getting to know commands, etc.  Here is what we have covered so far:

• El alfabeto (The Alphabet)
• Common Words and Phrases: si, no, hola, adios, por favor, gracias, de nada, lo siento, etc.
• Mandatos (Commands) 
• Los meses (The Months)
• Los dias (The Days)
• El tiempo (The Weather)

In the lesson 1 worksheet (Leccion 1)  Kelly copied each sentence such as Hoy es martes and then would write it in English.  In this case the translation is "Today is Tuesday."

She is comprehending pretty well.  So far the audios are not working the best with her as she is all visual.  I am hoping to use the audios after we master everything in lesson 1.  I cut out and created flashcards.  This seems to be helping a great deal.  Playing games such as: Memory, Listen and Draw, etc., is helping her comprehend the words and sentences.  Surprisingly she is understanding conjugation.  This is where Spanish verbs must be changed to fit who we are talking to or about.  For example:

• Miro=I look at
• miras= you look at
• mira= he, she, you (formal) look at
• miramos= we look at
• mirais= you all look at (Spain only)
• miran= they, you all look at

I remember disliking Conjuguemos! Haha!

I plan on continuing with the curriculum until the end of the lessons.  We are taking our time to make sure we understand the language without breezing past.  We ended up doing Spanish For You 3-4 days a week for about 30-60 minutes each.  We are continuing into the summer.  Our goal is to complete it by September and move on to the next grade level.

How much does this package cost?  Theme sets that contain materials for all grade levels is $64.95.  If you just want specific grade level, it is $39.95.  For extra books etc., it is $12.95 each.  If interested in learning more about the materials or purchasing them, click here.

I think that this Spanish Curriculum is excellent.  It is very orderly and non-confusing.  The soft cover book appears to be thin, but it is full of everything you need to know when learning the seasons.  Perfect! I highly recommend this program to anyone interested in learning Spanish.  Spanish For You is most definitely, for you!

If you liked this review, you may also like reading other reviews from my fellow reviewers from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  

Educational Videos on Animals: Animal Planet L!VE!

Do you and your family watch Animal Planet?  I used to and haven't given it much thought as an educational resource for homeschooling, but now considering it for the online resource.  Animal Planet now has a website; Animal Planet L!VE

The website has 11 live cameras of everything from baby chicks, calves and whales to penguins, kittens and puppies.

Here are some other fun videos that can be seen on Animal Planet L!VE:

• jellyfish cam
• They have creepy too --  cockroaches and ants on demand

 You can download footage here.

Animal Planet L!VE currently is available across desktop and mobile platforms at APL.TV and on Samsung Smart TVs, and will be coming to Roku and Xbox LIVE in the coming months.

Here are some other L!VE cams:

Ant Cam
apl.tv/leaf-cutter-ants.htm
A childhood ant farm has nothing on this colony of leaf cutter ants from Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium in New Orleans.

Beluga Cam
apl.tv/explore-beluga-whales.htm
In one of several cams from explore.org's Pearls of the Planet collection, the sleek Beluga whales from Vancouver Aquarium are put in the spotlight, entrancing audiences.

Calf Cam
apl.tv/calves.htm
Watch baby calves find their legs and explore a whole new world from the South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, Maryland.

Chick Cam
apl.tv/chicks.htm
Spring has sprung for these adorable chicks that, along with the calves, call the South Mountain Creamery home.

Cockroach Cam
apl.tv/cockroaches.htm
While feelings may be mixed on these creatures that have inhabited our planet since the Cretaceous period, viewers will be mesmerized by their activity and surprise setting inspired by the southern home of Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium.

Kids and Organization

                       

The past few weeks have been a definite learning experience for my girls.  I am trying to teach them the importance of neat and tidy along with organization.  The consequences of not cleaning up after themselves and putting things back where they belong?  I take the particular toy away.  That's right, I take it away.

Wow, tough right?  I don't think so, haha.  It was getting to the point where I had to do something as they weren't keeping up with their chores properly.  You know, things like shoving things under the bed and dresser drawers thinking I will never check......  I'm sure you can relate to that one.

I pulled up boxes from downstairs and gave them all a dose of reality.  I picked up the toys that they seemed to forget about and put them in a box.  I told them it was up to them to earn it back.  Tears? A few.  They weren't taking my warnings seriously, but now they seem to understand that mama wasn't playin'.

I told them that each time they remember to put things back in their proper place, they will receive one toy back. It has been a challenging time, but hopefully they will start to see the light.  I remember shoving stuff under my bed and calling it a day. Mama is onto them...hahahaha.

Last year I decided to go to Target and pick up a bunch of bins and shelves so that it would be easy for them to see where things go.  This worked out swimmingly for a while, but kids get lazy and have to be reminded over and over again.  How about mixing up toys? Phewww that drives me nuts, but it's bound to happen from time to time.

I am thinking of creating a separate chart for each girl to go along with their chore chart.  Some sort of color coding system might be in place.  I haven't fully decided as of yet.  Because we have small spaces, it can be a challenge to keep things organized, but I want them to learn the importance of this before we end up moving and they have a bigger room to deal with.  Baby steps is best.

As far as school work goes, I bought work trays and put their names on them to keep papers organized.  It does help, until papers overload and become unsightly.  This is when it is time to sort and/or throw away.  You should see their homeschool portfolios...yikes!  I can't wait until summer when I can re-structure and reorganize our homeschool.  It will be so refreshing to do so.

What systems do you have in place to keep your kids organized?  Feel free to share.  It's always nice comparing ideas and possibly adopting new ones.

Spring Learning Adventures.....

I am so happy the weather is cooperating and becoming warmer....Yay!  With sun and warmth comes joy and laughter in our homeschool.  Those winter blues were really causing some moods that I was ready to chuck out the window....pheww!

Last week as we were headed indoors to homeschool at my parent's home in the country, we discovered an old cocoon right in the bushes.  It looks like it may have been messed with as it was very noticeable to many of the birds out there.  The side was slightly torn.  The girls were pretty excited to examine it.  A natural learning experience right there.  Those are the best kind, love it!

The other day we whipped out our grill and hubby threw some hot dogs on.  We decided to let the girls shuck the corn to speed things along.  They loved it!  3 extra pair of hands is always nice.  They took time out from "chalk the walk" as you can see on the driveway, and gymnastics fun as you can see from the mat.  Very eclectic things going on all around them, the best kind of homeschooling. ;)

We took a mini field trip to the Exploration Station in Canton with a few other homeschooling friends.  It was quite impressive as you can see in the pics below.  Children could walk, climb, and slide through a variety of demonstrations, pretty cool. It was located in the basement of St. Joseph Health system off Canton Center Road in Canton.  They open this up once a month for only $1 per child and $2 per adult.  Perfect!  We can't wait to return to do some extra learning.

Inside heart and lungs!

Intestines