how to teach your kids to count to 100

or, the year I began my New Year's Resolution in February.
or, maybe by spring I'll be motivated to do more.
or, at least I'm off my butt!

A few of you have been following my new workout plan via facebook.  For the rest, here it is: on the first day, I did one sit-up, one push-up, one squat, and one jumping jack.  That's it.  On day 2, I did 2 of each, and so on and so forth.

Fast forward a bit and here I am at day 31.  I think I can officially call exercising a habit again!  I've skipped a few days, but who doesn't, ya know?  I've made up for it by adding in walks whenever I can and I really do hope that by the time it's warm enough to work out outside I'll be ready for all the work required for the digging of a brand-new garden, trips to the pool, and house renovation that will hopefully surely occur.

Sit-ups are aided by weights on my feet. Also, this is the only reason I can smile during exercise.  You should see them try to jump with me...hilarious.

Push-ups are REAL ones, thankyouverymuch.  I do stuff in sets now, so don't go thinking I can do all 31 at once!  For the record, 31 days ago I couldn't do much more than 10, so there has been some progress.

Squats make me look pregnant.  Which I'm not, for the record.

Jumping jacks are hard for a kid to photograph, as it turns out.

When I'm done, boy#1 writes the current number on the chart (noticeably without much supervision!).  Both he and boy#2 count out loud while I do the exercises when they're not participating.  This has really helped them both remember what number comes next.

And there you have it.  I have no idea what I'll do next, probably a scaled down version of Crossfit.com's workout of the day, as long as hubby is close by to explain the acronyms. I'm nowhere near the fitness level of this pretty mama, but these things take time, ya know?!

in the bins

We have a set of shelves that hold 4 big bins and 8 smaller ones.  Each older boy gets his own row of 4 bins with school"work" in them each day, and the baby gets the big bins on the bottom 2 shelves. Theoretically.  So anyway, when I say "go get a bin" the kids know it's time for a little schoolwork.  These pics were taken over the course of many days, so don't go thinking we're superschoolers or anything ;-p

The grid game, this time with snack instead of stickers (draw a grid, roll the dice, place that many pieces.  Keep going until the grid is full).  Number recognition, counting, patience.

 

Story sequencing with three and four part cards.  These are from when my mother was a teacher in an entirely different state before I was even born! 

 Beginning addition with legos.  I have some paper that is longer than normal and have discovered that if I fold the end over it makes a perfect place to hide answers.  Or sometimes it's a pocket.  For this one, I folded and then cut so boy #1 could fold back individual answers and not see the rest.  He really liked this!

 Boy #1 has not been very interested in drawing for most of his life. The day we got our new dry-erase board that has a slot for papers to be inserted and holders for the markers and eraser changed all that.  To our surprise, he's pretty good at drawing recognizable things, especially vehicles.  Some of them are so great he has to take a picture before erasing.  This one is a rocket ship, inspired no doubt by the Space Exploration book we got out of the free box at the library :)

 Mittens.  I think this day I had him organizing them by # (1-25), but they could also be sorted by color or matching pairs (left and right.  not too hard since they're all solid).  We went on to measuring how many mittens tall or long various objects were.

Beads on a shoestring (or sweatshirt string in this case) never get old. I think he did some patterning.

Ordering dinosaurs biggest to smallest.  We continue to be fascinated and I admit I can name most of the ones pictured here.

I downloaded some "Mitten" things to make my own preschool pack.  This one was matching beginning consonants (the letters are written on the clothespins, the pictures are of animals in the book).  The popsicle sticks have words from the book written on them, Boy #1 matched the word in the text to the word on the stick while I read.  Surprisingly fun for him, as was the rest of the pack.

My mom made this number thingie.  Boy #2 moved most of these marbles to their proper position using a spoon, and then gave up and did the rest by hand.  Good counting and 1:1 practice.  We also talked about all the different possible shades for each color.

Tracing letters and shapes in a bag filled with some hair gel and food coloring.  Note: you don't need nearly as much gel as you would think because you want the drawing to stick around long enough to be completed.  This works on fine motor control and muscle memory. I duct-taped the sides for longevity.

Hmm, bad pic.  this is putting nuts and washers on various bolts and screws that have been first sorted by size. 

Boy #2 LOVES puzzles.  These 2 are vintage, and he made them more difficult the next time by putting them together upside down.  His idea.  I love the colors and crazy shapes of the pieces.

I lined up the clothespins along the can's edge, he took them off and put them in.  Over and over.  I presume eventually he'll line them up himself.  The other 2 boys helped him with patterning the different size pins.

We read a LOT of books.  Boy #1 read his first book all by himself last week!!  I should show you my bookshelves sometime, they're overwhelming impressive.

I got this stacking block tower from an etsy seller.  When put together correctly, the pieces alternate between dark and light.  This one keeps him occupied for a long time, especially if I line up the pieces in the right order (which is not always followed, lol).

rub-a-dub dub, three boys in a tub

and who do you think they be?

...and while they were in the tub I altered a pair of jammie pants into FOOTIE jammie pants for the oldest boy. Yes, I am that crazy talented. Thanks goes to my hubby for paying attention to the kiddos and to my mom for supplying the practically vintage feet fabric.

ps: does anyone care about homeschooling updates? I have a ton of pics but at this point they might be gratuitous. Yes, kind of like posting about the boys just so I can brag about mad altering skilz is gratuitous. The alternative is bathroom reno updates because we're diverse like that. lmk.

What I Wore Wednesday

I LOVE this plaid wool skirt and was impressed with myself for sort of following a pattern/tutorial to make it. The gores are not all the same size because I was running out of fabric, but it is symmetrical and the colors are so great for winter. And, I always did want to be a librarian so it's OK if by the end of the day my glasses are a little low on my nose and my hair is in a bun. At least I have cute boots instead of the flats I was originally going to go with...pic courtesy the 5yo, and I also love it, crooked and all. Here's a close-up of our blurry smiling faces:
I'm pretty sure Puxatawny Phil was wrong, it sure looks like the beginnings of spring out there to me!

beware the casual dinner invite

I might just put you to work while you're here ;-p. Don't worry, at least you'll have a cheering squad.

In other words, my dad and brother came over.
There was a lot of pointing, grunting, and adjusting but not a single cross word uttered and not a dent left behind.
and by the end of the day the cast iron tub had made the fateful voyage from upstairs bathroom to front porch.
Maybe probably admittedly, there were a few scuff marks and dirty looks but I'm ok with that!

The remaining rotten floor felt so lonely that it broke up and moved downstairs as well. Crowbars may have been used to coax it along.


At least the dinner I invited the laborers family to wasn't taking place at my own house! Thanks Pastor Joe and associated youth group, the spaghetti and dessert were GREAT.


Now, who wants an antique clawfoot tub?!

guilt-free sloppy joes

step 1: find your favorite recipe for sloppy joes.
step 2: replace the ketchup with tomato paste and maybe a bit of bone broth to thin.
step 3: add some chopped carrot in with the onion and garlic and celery.
step 4: replace the ground beef with turkey or (better yet) venison. Mine was sweet italian flavored and had a bit of pork sausage in with it.
step 5: use half as much meat as you normally would and add an equal portion of soaked and then really really well cooked beans (like lentils). Mash a bit if desired.
step 6: season a bit extra (b/c of the beans). I used creole seasoning.
step 6: serve open faced on whole wheat roll.
step 7: add a serving or two of veggie on the side.
step 8: don't tell anyone you did steps 2-6 until AFTER they say yum. Which they will.

tot school

Once again, I'm copying an idea found on several other homeschooling blogs: a post all about what the tot does while the olders do school.
*beads on a knitting needle*

*push the brother around*When I make up the older boys' bins full of schoolwork for the day, I try to also include at least 2 bins for the baby. The Montessori crowd call the "prepared environment," wherein our home is set up for learning so that it comes about naturally.
*key in a little plastic container: open, insert, shut. open, remove, shut.* *snakes (or straws or sticks) in a colander*
*balance blocks on the trailer*
*balance in the now empty basket and fall over. repeatedly.*It seems to me that if he is doing something that imitates real life, a "legitimate" activity, or real work, he is more focused and the activity keeps his attention a lot longer than a mere "toy" might. So, pint-sized brooms with real bristles, clean containers from the kitchen found in the tub, wipes and spray hiding behind the mirror, etc.
*chopstick+playdough*
*Bible reading*
Sometimes this buys us a few more minutes of attention for the olders and their work. Other times, not so much. Win some, lose some! Note that I did not include pics of the stuff he does when I do NOT prepare his environment! (read: huge mess).

rip. pull. stab. hook. tug. slip. repeat.

because of *course* I need another hobby. For the record, this is the tutorial swagbucks told me to use, and I cannot WAIT to finish my yellow and white patchwork duvet cover so I can make matching bedside rugs exactly like the ones in the tute. I've had a discarded jean pile for a couple of years (yeah years) with this project in mind. It took me all of 2 tv shows to dispatch of that pile, and as you can see this is not a very big rug yet! Anyone want to donate to the cause?

What a pretty plate

Our dinner was so pretty and so well received (Boy #1 had seconds of everything, Boy #2 almost finished his thirds, and boy #3 cleaned his plate...with a bit of help from the dog) I thought I should probably document the event. Except that's not really true. Really, I just wanted to show you the pretty Meyer China plates I picked up for $0.50 each at my local thrift store. They are the same color as my classic Buffalo China pattern, but prettied up a bit. I especially like that there is a little tiny lip around the edge; it's very helpful when spooning food AND keeping it on a plate is still a challenge.

What you see: mixed veggies, baked sweet potato fries, and baked lemon pepper tilapia with chives and collard greens (oops, thought I was dumping more frozen chives until it was too late). yummy. What you don't see: pictures of the kids eating. You're welcome.

Do like a duck does

On wet days like this, I miss our ducks. I hope you're enjoying them, Mr. Craigslist guy with big ambitions for a small property. All that to say, today we went out to play in the mud for awhile, just like ducks. quack.

Boy#1 worked HARD (his emphasis) at spreading hay. About 90 pounds at a time, *if* you can believe it. Until he found an earthworm. Then he played HARD (my emphasis) at finding the perfect new home for wormie, complete with hay to sleep under and dirt to sleep on and neon orange walls to give a sense of...containment.


Boy#2 quickly tired of spreading hay, preferring instead to use his "dirtbike" to flatten some ruts in the yard and his new shovel to flatten some dinosaur heads (giant snowballs).


Boy #3 discovered that the sidewalk makes a perfect escape route,

and was NOT thrilled to be re-routed back to our area again. Mollification came in the form of snack. And then he wanted to nurse on the porch before going off on another rambling adventure. Yes, we still do that and no, it's not weird.


Even the dog was out, if only by default. According to her, cold mud is only slightly more appealing than whining almost all alone in the house (apart from the sleeping dad).


I spread a little hay and took a few pictures. The lilacs are forming buds, I cannot wait to see them in full bloom for the first time.


The grape vines are looking pretty dead, but I pulled a bunch of them over to our side of the fence (neighbors don't seem to want to harvest) and I know from last summer that this vine still produces yummy concords.


I also grabbed a handful of tiny bulbs to bring inside to force. I don't know what they are, they were a surprise found in the side yard when I was planting a little tree last fall. I'm hoping for daffodils, but they're pretty tiny. Do snowdrops have bulbs? And, for the record, this is why I don't *do* my nails. Though I have heard mud is good for your skin?



PS: If you have a kid who still likes picture books, do try to find Do Like a Duck Does at your local library. Super cute, even for a girl with no rhythm like me.