Wordless Wednesday...



Mom's night...in

   A friend and I were talking the other day about getting together with friends more. We both have had a very long year and have missed having time to spend with friends. So we have decided to start making time to spend with friends. Since we can't always get out without kids or have the extra money to spend on a night on the town we came up with a few ideas to try.

I know how hard it is for moms to get out and spend time with their friends as much as we'd like so I thought I'd share some of our ideas. Yes, some are just silly ideas but it would be time spent with friends.

• Recipe Swap- Each person makes a favorite dish, side, or desert to share. Copy the recipe down onto a 3x5 note card for each of the friends. Everyone gets to enjoy something new and take home the recipe.
• Dollar Store Goodie Bag- Each person has a limit of $10 (spent at the dollar store) to put together 1 or 2 fun little goodie bags. Get together for drinks or games and everyone gets a goodie bag to take home.
• Book Swap- Everyone brings a few books they are done with to swap with the others. This could also be done with kids books or other household items.
• Game Night- Simple pot luck dinner and games. Kids love this too, just have some kids games available as well.
• Mom's Sappy Movie and Ice Cream Night- Obviously a sappy movie and ice cream for the mom's. Pj's are a must!
• Take a Hike Mom- Everyone meet up somewhere to take a day hike. No kids! Just mom's, sunshine, and lots of water. Oh and of course a camera!
• Mom's Spa Night-  Many have done this but make it what you want. Either get together and just spend the evening pampering yourself with friends, or each person puts together a spa goodie bag (set a dollar limit) and every swaps the goodie bags to take home and enjoy.
• Homemade Christmas-  I know many of my friends enjoy making Christmas gifts for their kids and families each year. Everyone can get together and work on their own project, or everyone can decide on one project and work together.
• Clothing Swap-  I know most women have tons of clothes that are just sitting in the closet gathering dust. So why not get all those clothes you have no need for and let your friends rummage through them all. If you sew, you can get quite creative as a group and put together some great Halloween Costumes or dress up clothes for the kids.

What do you think?
Any of those ideas something you and your friends would try?
What ideas would you put on your list?

Summer Fun Bucket List

                       
The kids and I have decided to put together a Summer Bucket List. We often have great ideas of things we want to do or places we want to go see, but we seem to forget all those wonderful ideas when we actually have the time and ability to go do something. So we decided to get a head start this summer.

This is our summer bucket list. Many on our list are typical summer activities, others are some fun creative ideas the kids came up with.

Have you made your Summer Fun Bucket List yet?


                          

• pool time
• playtime at the park
• bike rides
• lots of walks
• nature hikes
• camping
• play in sprinklers
• picnics -at parks or in the mountains
• art day at the art museum
• craft day with friends
• trip to local splash park
• costume party (kids love having Halloween parties throughout the year)
• day at the county fair
• spy party (the boys came up with this one)
• dinosaur party
• build bird houses
• pajama dance party
• movie and pizza night
• trip to the zoo
• field day with friends (just like last day of school)
• art walk (walk through downtown, taking in the sights and drawing what interests the kids)
• cooking day
• museum of nature and science
• dinosaur museum
• fossil beds (local attraction)
• dinosaur dig day (boys want to go dig for dino bones)
• family game/movie nights
• go to the movies
• trip to the ice cream shop
• roller skating
• ice skating
• and pool time (kids said this one many, many times)

I think that was most of them.

So far the kids are excited about the list. We are trying to go ahead and put some activities that we can on the calendar. I do much better if something is actually scheduled on the calendar. I'm not sure if we will get to everything or not this summer, but we are really going to try.

What ideas would you put on your summer fun bucket list?

Reading in their own time...

   
 As a homeschooling mom one of the most memorable moments is when your child reads their first words. With three children I have now experienced that three times, and it is awesome each time and with each child. I have to say it runs a close second to their first words or first steps. Yet, it's almost more, well for me anyway. As one who loves to read and one who has spent way too much time hiding in a corner, staying up all night, or locked in a room to read, that when my children learn to read I feel like the world has just opened its doors to the them. I have always felt that once a child learns to read, there is no limit to what they can learn, and I have made sure to tell them that as well.

     Yesterday, Little Man, my youngest read his first words! We have been working on letters and letter sounds for awhile now, but not very often and not near as much as I did with my other two. With Lady Bug and Wild Thing I had a set plan and schedule and we followed the phonics and reading curriculum to the letter. But with Little Man, I have taken more of an unschooling approach to his learning so far. I never planned to unschool, but this last year has been so far from what we planned and expected that much of the year was spent just trying to get by day by day and keeping up what school work we could, when we could.

     I will say I was a bit surprised yesterday when Little Man read not only his first words but 15 words in total. He was working on writing a few letters and practicing their sounds and we ended up putting a few of those letters together on our board and that was all it took. He just took off.

    Watching him read each new word and beam with pride and joy was wonderful. He was so happy and excited that by the last word he was smiling a huge smile and bouncing up and down. We celebrated with lots of hugs, kisses, and high fives! He told me he was so happy he was reading.

    Today was even better. Little Man wanted to read his words again so we wrote them each on a 3x5 card and he practiced reading each word. After he read most of the words he turned to me and he said, "Mama, I'm reading! I'm really reading! I'm so happy I want to cry. People cry when they are really happy. Do you know that?" He then jumped up in my lap and gave me the biggest hug and I was surprised to see he really did have tears in his eyes. I knew he was excited but I never imagined learning to read was so special to him at this age. (he just turned 5)

     I am beyond thrilled for him and happy that he too is excited about reading. I think that much of the excitement for him is because he has never been pushed to read. I have not made him sit down and do school work. I have asked and only when he wanted did we do typical school work. Otherwise we have read lots of books, played games, and answered any questions he had.  He will ask me many times a day what sound different letters make, what letter starts a specific word, or how something is spelled. And he is often rattling off words that rhyme or start with the same letter. Between all this learning that was not forced but of his own interest and my not pushing him, he has been able to learn naturally.


   So once again, I have been reminded how blessed I am to homeschool my kids and spend each day with them.