SUMMER Topics of Interest

We went to see Disney's The Lion King on stage this afternoon - INCREDIBLE!  My jaw hit the floor in the first minute of the production and I was as wide-eyed as our three-year-old all the way to the final curtain.  Amazing.  Gorgeous.  Breathtaking.  Intriguing.  Go buy tickets.  Now.

This show piqued both my and our daughter's interest in so many areas; we have lots of new and exciting things to explore this summer!

• Facepainting
• Batiking
• Puppetry
• Theater
• African Dance/Music
• Costumes
• Measurement
• Science Experiments: Ice 
• Flags
• National Anthem

I foresee a whole summer of learning about Africa :D

Favorite Books about... BEES

Eventually I suppose I'll get my act together and start logging our homeschool adventures in a portfolio or something of the kind.  However, for now I need a place to stash pictures and thoughts before I simply forget them!

We read... a LOT.  Generally I watch to see what's piqued Baby Bird's interest for the moment and just run with that for awhile.  We choose books from our home library and local public library, we may do some activities that somehow tie into the subject of interest, and we explore till we're ready to explore something else.  It works for us :).

Inspired by Five in a Row's suggested book The Bee Tree and Baby Bird's interest in gardens and bees, we spent spring this year learning all about honey bees.  Here are some of our favorite books about BEES:


The Bee Tree
by Patricia Polacco

 

The Bumblebee Queen
by April Pulley Sayre

Healthy Changes?

It's been 1 week since I decided my life needs a change.  I'm turning 30 this year (eek!) and am in the worst shape of my life - overweight, out of breath going up the stairs, chronic pain and fatigue, and the worst part is I just plain can't keep up with our daughter.  She's two.  There are no excuses.

After receiving some great encouragement and advice from friends and family I started back to tracking calories and trying to making healthier food choices.  Livestrong.com has a great FREE food and exercise tracker that I highly recommend.  I'm doing well on calories but it's definitely been an adjustment.  Baby Bird nursed till just a few months ago.  While nursing I was hungry all. the. time.  When she slowed down then weaned completely I just kept eating as if she was still nursing like a young toddler... not so good for my waistline.  I was feeling good about making some healthy changes.

Life has a way of throwing curveballs though.

The day after I announced my goal of getting healthier I felt the teeniest tickle at the back of my throat.  By Thursday all three of us had full-fledged nasty coughs, fiery throats, and aches all over.  Thursday was supposed to be my PCS work day... A whole day dedicated to cleaning, sorting, and packing while Baby Bird played with friends.  The ONLY day we had available to get that amount of work done without a little helper.  A whole day.  Spent coughing in bed instead of packing.

Well, the movers come in just a few days and the house still looks like a tornado blew through it.  Our suitcases aren't packed, the shipments aren't sorted, the fridge and pantry are still full of old food, and we're still hacking, coughing, and sleeping away our sickness.  We don't have TIME to be sick right now.

I'm trying to make some healthy changes in my life right now, but I think for this week I'd be thrilled with NOT SICK!

Oops, sorry.

Well, that was fun.  In an effort to make this blog address easier to type and remember I decided to change the web address.  It didn't occur to me till AFTER I'd already changed the address and entered a new post for 2013 that it would mess with my followers' blog feeds.  Sorry!

I've changed the web address back to the original:

meanderingsofaclutteredmind.blogspot.com


I will be changing it to a NEW address this Sunday, 6Jan2013:

drops-inabucket.blogspot.com

I'm sorry for the confusion; please let me know if you have any questions or run into any more glitches!

Home Preschool Journal

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2013 is starting with a bang for our family.  It seems every year we've experienced big change of one kind or another, but this year may take the cake.  My husband's enlistment runs up in just a few weeks and we still have no certain plans for where we're going or what we're doing.  We know God has only good plans for us and we're trying our best to trust and remain stress-free!

One thing we do know for sure is we will be homeschooling.  Long term.  Baby Bird is not quite three years old, but this is a lifestyle we've prayed about, researched, and discerned is best for our family.

I'm a teacher by training and by choice which is proving to be both a help and a hindrance.  We've been blessed with some fantastic homeschooling mentors over the last several years - families who have opened their hearts, brains, and bookshelves for us to grill ponder.  I don't think we would feel nearly as confident or comfortable with this choice if it weren't for them (you!).  One challenge for me, given all those years of teacher "education," has been letting go.  I'm glad we're getting a bit of a head start on this... I'm gonna' need it.

It took a whole year for me to realize that it just. didn't. matter. how many letters of the alphabet our daughter knew.  She was ONE.  I didn't have to write it down, or report it to anyone, or worry that she wasn't meeting the benchmarks for her grade.  Yeah, I can be a little stubborn reluctant to change sometimes.

However, as Baby Bird gets closer to compulsory school age I realize we WILL need to keep records of some kind.  It's also nice to be able to look back and remember the funny things she's said or done... or share stories with our family who gets to see her for only short snippets on Skype.

I know from experience that if I write down a lesson plan or even the most general of goals for the week something undoubtedly changes.  I don't want a record of what I thought we'd do, I want a record of what we did.  I've also learned that the more blanks there are to fill in, the less likely I am to fill in any at all.

I've dug through the internet and perused our bookshelves and have yet to find a good way for us to keep records without getting either bogged down with lesson plans (dude, she's TWO) or putting it off till some future date when we can finally pull out all the scrapbooking toys supplies and make a baby book.

So.  I made my own.  And I thought I'd share.  Feel free to print as many as you'd like.  If you share online please be nice and include a link back to this page.  Thank you!

LINK TO GOOGLE DOC

This journal will (I hope!) be the happy medium between needing a record and my laziness desire for flexibility.

We plan to use one journal per calendar year with a goal of filling out one sheet per week.  We might get ambitious and do more, but I doubt it.  Even if we do only one per month it'll hit the high points.  The front page includes a spot for a 4"x6" photo or drawing.  The "Important Things to Share" pages we'll likely put at the front and use to list whatever curricula we choose for that year and major events such as moves.  When we hit the need for more detailed records we'll switch to lesson plans or whatever works for us at that time, but I think we'll use this setup for a few years at least.

It's formatted to print double-sided and either spiral bind or hole-punch for a 3-ring binder.  Apparently my husband can't handle sideways text next to horizontal text so there are two options for the individual journal pages...  A happy hubby makes a happy home :).

Here's hoping we've found the balance!  May this year bring you and your family abundant blessings and joy.

"The Princess and the Kiss: Three Gifts of Christmas" Book Review

 

I purchased this book because our nearly-three-year-old daughter has taken a sudden interest in princesses.  I'm a tomboy through and through so this is all new territory for me.  I was seeking a Christmas story that would interest our daughter and this one caught my eye.  A princess book I might actually be able to stomach AND it's about Christmas?  I figured we'd at least give it a try.

Oh my word.

McDaniels' watercolor illustrations are fresh and delightful but what impressed me most was the story.  Ms. Bishop artfully weaves a fairy tale worthy of any princess storybook... but one that hits home and ever so gently reminds us of Christ and His story during this time of rushing and selfishness that has become such a part of Christmas in the US.

My eyes filled with tears as the princess and her family shared a new (to them) way of celebrating Christmas.  Their gifts are limited, but chosen with care.  They all learn, together, that even the most precious of gifts becomes even more so when shared.

Merry Christmas.

Why you should never trust your GPS in Japan

Distance to Destination:  13 km  (8.1 miles)
Estimated Travel Time: 37 minutes

LIES!!!!!

Actual Travel Time: 61 minutes.

With a cranky two year-old.  In the rain.

This is normal people.  As in everyday occurrence, not unusual, par for the course, expected.

And family and friends ask why we don't travel much...