The Joys of Home Educating

Cat in the Hat...The Lorax

2012-03-03T11:39:00.001-05:00

Day 2 of our Dr Seuss, two week, teachings...

What we read....CLASSIC!

Watched this movie on the way to pick up daddy at the airport!

Printed off A LOT this week from Seussville.com

Funny tricks..(LIke the cat did in the book)

Cat File Folder Work

Made these "Green Eggs" and Ham themed cake

pops for snack.

At The Lorax in 3-D! Great movie! Surprisingly we don't own the book, but that will change.

Busy weekend - praying all is good in your home!

Be Blessed!

M is for March, Mulberry Street and MORE

2012-03-01T13:50:00.002-05:00

Today is the day!

We have 2 weeks of non-stop Seuss silliness at our house!

I just love reading and the kids do also!

Read Across America is a wonderful event/movement - whatever you call it!

Today we did all things "M"

"M" for March

"M" for Mulberry Street

"M" for madness!

Kids all received a silly Smencil (scented pencil)

Found this over at Ingles360 a while ago.

Molly and Zachary each received their Reading Passport today..

Zachary also received his bookmark.

One of the fun things we did - cut out pictures and words from magazines

that start with "M"...

What we read....our favorite book..

Putting their stamps from Mulberry Street into their passports..

(You can print off the stickers and passports on Seussville.com)

What the kids woke up to this morning....

Looking forward to sharing with you all about our adventures in Seussville....stay tuned

and BE BLESSED!

Linking up to:

http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/02/28/montessori-inspired-dr-seuss-activities-and-dr-seuss-linky-party/

Leapin' Lizards..I mean Frogs...

2012-02-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

It's Leap Day and we are, of course, celebrating!

Found these FREE Printables over HERE!

Made some marshmallow pops for a yummy snack...

Got out a lot of our Leap Frog games and toys to play...

Along with our dauber sheets weearned about the lifecycle of the Frog...found them all HERE.

Zachary read us to us all about some poisonous frogs. Very interesting!

I read these two books to the children.

Found THIS cute Leap Day printable HERE.

Little internet research on the difference between frogs and toads.

Craft time.

This was a craft we originally did last February for Valentine's Day..but it worked fine for

today!

Little "Stack the States" on the IPad...LOVE that app (thanks Beth)

Gearing up for March 1st tomorrow and Dr Seuss/Read Across America!

Can't wait to transform the schoolroom/playroom when the kiddies go to bed!

Have a Leapful Day!

Blessings....

Bullies

2012-02-28T15:30:00.000-05:00

We have been learning about bullies this week in school and the difference between being impolite and being a bully.

We read this book....I will say I was not extremely happy with how the

children handled the bully but the point got across.

Our Scholastic work

Little Bully word search

Also finished up our month long teachings on dental hygiene.

Finding some great apps for the girls for the IPad but would still

love more for the 2nd grade level if anyone has suggestions...

Getting ready for Leap Day tomorrow...little party and some fun!

I found a few great resources for tomorrow's work..I invite you to check out

our Facebook page to find them!

Be blessed!

Linking up to:

Birthday, a fire, push up pops, winnings and more....

2012-02-27T08:24:00.001-05:00

Where did the last two weeks go? Busy times here at The Joys of Home Educating!

My birthday festivities lasted for almost 2 weeks! Started out a few weekends ago when my IRL Blogger Friend, LaDonna came in from Texas to stay with us for 4 days! She has a great blog over at Santa Beso! In addition to my "Sista from anothea Mista"...my friend Deb came in from Syracuse to spend time with our girls weekend also! We did SO much in such a short period of time...NYC, coffee house, movie night, Chinese Food and so much more....

Kids and I met LaDonna at the airport - welcoming committee in place!

3 gals in NYC at 30Rock Cafe for brunch.

LaDonna and moi at the coffee house - great music that night!

The gals and I went into NYC to See Jim Brickman perform - nice Meet and Greet later on!

Hubby making us ladies - homemade Chinese Food! YUMMO!

80's Night Roller Skating! FUN TIMES!

Few nights later - we had a Chimney Fire in the fireplace chimney

Everyone is fine - reacted quickly and efficiently! Thank you Lord.

I won this over the last two weeks from Cupcake Stand! Oh Happy Day!

Even though Hubby treated all us gals to NYC the weekend before, I still received some very special gifts for my b'day!

This arrived over the last two weeks - you MUST check out Pizzazzerie if you have not!

Courtney works her magic with a plethera of Push-up-Pop recipes and the pictures

will make you gain 10 pounds just reading it!

a new adventure is about to begin for me...my new planner

arrived from erincondren.com (more about this later this week)

Some highlights from my Casino Themed Birthday Party on Saturday Night

(oh what a night!)

(notice my new cupcake/cake pop/push up pop stand)

Whew....I am tired just reading all this...

today hubby leaves for the week for California for work - so it's momma

and the kids! Pray for me! lol

Be Blessed and Loved! (I know I am!)

Casino Party

2012-02-24T13:36:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow night is my birthday party - Casino is the theme...I have had a lot of fun with the theme and found SO many ways to jazz up the party with a small budget!

Can't wait to share on Sunday with you all!

Happy Friday and Be Blessed!

Thankful Thursday

2012-02-23T13:25:00.002-05:00

Today is sunny bright breezy end of February suppose to be Winter but it's more like Spring Thursday!

We were outside all morning - energy to burn!

So Thankful for the Spring like weather today!

My birthday, yesterday, was awesome! Besides some wonderful gifts (The Help and an IPad) I went out to lunch with my mom and family - and dinner! Also got my annual Mamogram! Why not do it on your birthday - a great way to remember! My gift to myself so to speak!

(BTW - would love for some apps suggestions for the kids for school!)

This weekend is busy with a small party for myself (yes I even throw my own party) on Saturday night and our Annual Daytona 500 Party at a friends house. Busy busy busy...I am also working on 4 parties at once!

Here is a sneak peak at Sammie's 3rd b'day coming up in May!

Can you guess the theme?

Be Blessed!

Happy Birthday - to ME!

2012-02-22T07:26:00.001-05:00

It's Pancake Day!

2012-02-21T14:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras

Happy Pancake Day

All 1 in the same!

We had a great time today with our Mardi Gras learnings and our party!

What the kids woke up to this morning...masks, coins, candy and more...

Had to have our pancakes!

Found some FREE printables for these at Tomkat Studio.

Hope you were able to celebrate the day!

Be Blessed!

Getting Ready for Fat Tuesday

2012-02-20T10:29:00.001-05:00

We have the day off of School today, since Daddy is home and spending time with the kids...I am getting ready for our Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday Celebration!

Be sure to check out our Facebook Page so you don't miss out on FREE Printables and Worksheets!

Be Blessed!

DIY Marketplace for the Kids

2012-02-17T12:30:00.000-05:00

It was sunny here in NY today, little chilly but we still got out anyway! I pulled out our Newell Marketplace and we played for hours!

Something that you can easily build as my hubby did a few years ago!

Using some wood pieces, stain, a few tools, chalkboard paint...
the kids love it and use it often!

Have a wonderful weekend and BE BLESSED!

Linking up to:

Four score and seven years ago...

2012-02-16T14:12:00.002-05:00

We reviewed what we learned yesterday about President Washington

and started on President Lincoln...

Did you know that President Lincoln lived in a 1 room cabin while growing up...then later

moved to the 132 room White House...wonder what he thought of that?!

On her own, Molly decided to make a Cherry Tree with President Washington

chopping it down!

We also had health today - Dental Month!

Snowy and yukky here today in NY...

Working on some party stuff...

Be Blessed y'all!

Presidents Week

2012-02-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

Next Monday is Presidents Day and we are starting our Presidents Unit this week to bring us up to Monday.

Today we were learning all about George Washington.

(just a little bit of Trivia - George and I share the same birthday - Feb. 22nd)

Did you know that George and Martha had one of the 1st Ice Cream Machines in their home? FUN!

Found this at our local Dollar Tree! SCORE!

LOVE Lakeshore Catalog - scored this (almost new) Sentence Puzzle

on Ebay for 1/2 the price!

Molly decided to make Flags today...LOL..no clue why...

Putting together our funny sentences!

We also went to our weekly library class and trying to wrap my head around Mardi Gras

Celebration for next week!

Be Blessed!

Valentine's Day School Party

2012-02-14T13:48:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day School Party!

Today's Party was changed at the last minute from our home
to the home of the other HSing family that joined us....

The kids got to dip strawberries...

Painting Craft

I made push pops this morning with Hershey Kisses on top.

We finally got to give away our Heart Crayons we made.

Always a little time for dress up!

Be Blessed!

Once again on my quest to only have a $ 10 budget for a school party...I have DONE IT!

DECOR and PAPER PRODUCTS:
I had paper products left over from last years' party so cost this year was ZERO for them. I did buy a new table cloth at the Dollar Tree. I had all decorations left over from years' past, so nothing was new this year. Cost: $ 1.00

FAVORS:
For my favors I made homemade heart shaped crayons and downloaded a FREE Printable from Shindig Parties to Go for the goodie bag topper. To make the crayons I used broken crayons from the children's school crayon boxes, broke them into smaller pieces and put those pieces into a heart shapped silocone cupcake cup, baked at 250 until melted, cooled and then bagged 'em up! Cost: $ 0.00

FOOD:
Lunch: Pasta with red sauce, a salad . Our friends supplied the fruit and carrots for the kids. Made for less than $ 1 a person! (8 of us ate) Treats: Made push pops cupcakes and frosted. (already had both items in the pantry) Cost $ 8.00

CRAFTS:
The craft was the painting pages and those I got on sale at Michaels Crafts for $ 1.00 for all 8 of them. Cost: $ 1.00

I will make sure that I seek out some deep discounted Valentine's Day items at Target and CVS after the holiday also!

Here is what the kids are waking up to....

2012-02-14T06:33:00.002-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day

Molly made the napkin rings out of TP Tubes, paper and stickers.

Each child received a personalized mailbox with some

goodies inside.

We are joining another HS family today for lunch and I am bringing

the party to them!

Can't wait!

Cookie Cutter Art

2012-02-13T17:22:00.002-05:00

Making cards for Daddy!

Linking up to

Girls weekend...

2012-02-12T06:11:00.002-05:00

It has been a few days since I have been here in blogland...not because I don't miss ya all but because it's been a wonderful girls weekend SO FAR!

Today we head into Manhattan for some brunch at 30 ROCK, then shopping and a concert. I can't wait to show my gal pals around....TTYL

BE BLESSED!

Let's Hear it for the Boys

2012-02-09T07:25:00.001-05:00

Linking up for the first time with the M.O.B. Society and Let's Hear it for the Boy's Linky party going on! Do you have something special or a story you want to brag about regarding your boys? Do it!

Zachary is such a smart and talented young man. His imagination and engineering mind when it comes to machines and LEGOS just amazes me! He has build some pretty awesome things using his Legos...I want to brag about that today!

He is always thinking up something to make out of various misc. bricks.

this was a moving elevator he made out of LEGO Education pieces

some of his favorite kits from LEGO Education

He submitted a piece into the LEGO EDUCATION CHALLENGE in 2010. The theme was

Renewable Energy. He made a Police station that ran on solar power.

His DESIGN BY ME kit. He designed this on the computer and then

his Grandma bought the plans, and they ship you the LEGOs and plans in your own

box. Pretty Cool!

At the LEGO FLAGSHIP STORE IN ROCKEFELLER CENTER in 2010.

GRAND OPENING DAY!

OF COURSE WE WERE THERE!

He helped build this BIG APPLE by building a red brick to put into it.

Can't let a birthday go by without having a LEGO Themed one!

Just having fun with LEGOS

As you can tell by the picture, he was about 5 here..this was one of his 1st very hard

kits - Star Wars - even at the age of 5 he put this together!

If you ask him "What do you want to be when you grow up?" He will say

"A Lego Deisgn Master"

We are going to LEGOLAND in Orlando in October and he can't wait!

On to my other son, the 1st born.!

Jeremy!

(seen here with his girlfriend, Kerri)

I am so proud of who he has become. Being a single mom for most of his youth

was certainly not easy, but we made it thru! He has a great job, great head on his shoulders

and is going places for sure!

Love you babe!

Thankful THursday

2012-02-09T06:42:00.002-05:00

I am thankful today for my friend LaDonna who is a blogging and RL friend over at Santa Beso. She is flying in to NY to spend 4 days with me and my family TODAY!! Thank you to the Relevant Conference for being the catalyst that brought us together!

BE BLESSED ALL!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

Molly - age 2

Samantha - Age 2

Can they be twins or what? lol

Now that's a horse of a different color....

2012-02-07T13:49:00.000-05:00

This week we went on a field trip to a local museum. This is a unique museum. It's a Harness Racing Museum. Horse Harness Racing. It's only a few miles from us and we always have a lot of fun when we go. The day was a little chilly but the horses were still practicing - what a treat!

(Be sure to go all the way to the end to see the video of the horses practicing today!)

This is a spot where they play "horse auction". They are the trying to guess when to stop the auction for the horse is that shown on the big screen. The 1st horse sold for $ 8500. They were surprised!

A ton of stuff for the little ones to look at and do!

They can pretend to announce a race. There is script there too for the kids who can read. They really hear it over the loud speakers.

Betting machines for them to touch.

So much to see and do. Great educational place!

We were able to go down to the track and watch about 5 horses and the Jockey practicing.

The track looks wet, but it was not.

Another out building - The Blacksmith Shop (real working shop)

Did I mention the entire interactive museum is FREE of charge every day!

(Can't beat that for our homeschooling budget!)

Here is a short video of the practice today...listen for the horses..

Guess where we went for lunch?

Have a wonderful day and BE BLESSED!

Writing a Book

2012-02-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Our daughter, who will be 5 in April, has decided to write her 1st book!

The Sunshine Mystery

Could not be prouder!

Illustrations are almost complete...words will be added today!

Time-out for "ME" time

2012-02-06T15:18:00.000-05:00

I love being a stay a home, home educating, do-it-all for my children and husband kinda mom. There does come a time when the balancing act gets a little too "heavy" on one side.

That is when I KNOW I need a time out from my every day responsibilities and duties and let my hair down. This week is THAT week! I can't tell you in words how excited I am to be having some "girl time" towards the end of the week!

These two ladies will be a guests in our home.

My gal pal, Deb! We have been friends for over 15 years. Deb is such a great friend and so kind to our children. She travels 3 hours each way to come and bake all our children's birthday cakes! She is so talented. Not only with her baking talents, but God has given her the gift of singing! Oh man she is good!

LaDonna! My Sista from another Mista (I have several of these types of friends). We have so much in common and the only way to describe our friendship (which has been under a year) is to say it's OF GOD and FROM GOD.

The way in which we met is a story you MUST read!

I encourage you to hop over to her blog Santa Beso and check it out!

LaDonna, is leaving her husband and her children for 4 days to hop on a plane from Texas to NY to come see me and spend quality time together!

I have so many wonderful, fun, girly things planned for us! We will be going here...

and seeing HIM in concert!

My husband has planned a wonderful dinner (he is making for us) one night and so many other fun things!

My blogging will probably be a less from Thursday - Monday this week!

I ask you to pray for the safe travels of these two women and that the weather is sunny and nice for our outings! Also pray for LaDonna's family back in Texas that they will be safe without her there.

Pray for Deb's parents, as she does help care for them, that they will be ok and without any incidents while she is away!

Thanks in advance!

Be Blessed!

Superbowl 2012 - 2 parties in 1

2012-02-06T07:10:00.000-05:00

The Super Bowl has come...and gone...a good time was had by all!

I was able to create 2 parties in 1!

The Children's Party
(where they could be loud and have fun - even though the game was on)
I used ZERO Money to create this party
(other than food and drinks)

THEME: Green & Brown - Football Generic Colors

Each child received a Super Bowl Ticket to wear. A friend of ours thought

they were real!

In The Kitchen - Pretty much the "moms" were in and out of this food area

White Sangria - LARGE Bottle of White Wine, Lemons, Limes, Oranges, 5 shots of Gin,

3 cans of Sprit

Kids party area - other side of the Kitchen - table was low for them to have it all at their reach

(Used a piece of Green Felt to made the football field and brown paper (dollar store) to

go under it. Made the tissue pom poms with left over Christmas Green Tissue Paper)

The Kids made cards for Valentine's Day for us to bring over to the Nursing Home.

Karaoke!

Sammie got real into the singing!

You see al lthe paper hanging up on our school boards behind the kids.

These were printable BINGO Cards that had the Super Bowl Commercials categories

on them. The Moms had fun crossing them off...

Green Cups I had gotten at Pick Your Plum a while ago and worked

well for this event.

The Adult Themed - Downstairs Party

(In our family room)

Used the Team Colors...red, white and blue

Pulled things from my home to create a themed mantel

NO COST TO DESIGN AND DECORATE this party.

Used one of my chalkboards to make up a playboard

Hubby has to have a TV over the bar area also (lol)

I used indoor/outdoor carpet piece that i Have used for many other parties
(Easter, Baseball etc)

All in all everyone had a great time! Now time to clean the mess up and get decorated for Valentine's Day!

Be Blessed!

Linking up to Bird's Party!

CREDITS: (ALL FREE PRINTABLES)

Giants &; Patriots Party Printables & Touchdown Banner
Football cupcake picks, football popcorn boxes, and football field snack trays
Football Subway Art
Kids Party Printables - party squares and signage
Superbowl Bingo Cards
Superbowl Tickets
Cute Flags

Happy Birthday Elmo!

2012-02-03T11:32:00.000-05:00

Yuppers, that little fury red monster turned 2 again today! We had fun celebrating...

What the kids woke up to:

Each child received an Elmo School Journal

(Zachary started a To DO list in his already)

Made these cute cupcakes

(using my cups from Pick Your Plum - if you are not familiar with them, check em out...awesome deals each day, but it's 1st come, 1st serve and stuff goes quickly!)

So fun to eat this for breakfast!

What we did in school....

I had saved a punch of these Sesame Street Magazines from years ago..

dug them out!

Little Elmo Coloring

Elmo Puzzle

What we read....

Praying you all have a FABULOUS Weekend..

Working on a great Super Bowl Party...be watching

Also be sure to link up to our Kids Valentine's Day Craft Linky Party...get inspired!

BE BLESSED!

Linking up to:

Valentine Kids Craft Link Up

2012-02-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

You might be gearing up for the upcoming holiday of Love! Valentine's Day! We are ALWAYS crafting around here at The Joys of Home Educating and I wanted to share a few of our VD crafts from the past..and give you a chance to link up your Kid Friendly Valentine Crafts!

Valentine Frog Craft

Valentine Doggy Craft

Valentine EZ and Budget Friendly Home Decor

Valentine DIY Heart Crayons

TP Tube Valentine Craft

I invite you to link up your Valentine day - Kid Friendly Crafts!

Let's all get some inspiration!

Groundhogs Day teachings

2012-02-02T13:49:00.000-05:00

We all gathered around the computer this morning to watch the festivities over in Punxsutawney, PA. It was crazy. I can 't believe that many people show up to see Phil and find out if Winter will stick around for another 6 weeks!

Predictions....

2012-02-01T14:27:00.001-05:00

Today in school we learned about predictions....Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow? Who will have more M&M's left after our game? What colors will they be?

So here is what we did...we have these placemats that we are using (in between themed placemats..lol)

I gave each child a handful of random M&M's (we buy the HUGE bag here..lol) Told them to put 1 M&M on each circle. Then I asked who they predicted would have the most left at the end of the game...what colors would they be...As we went along I would say things like "eat all the M&M's in the 3 rd colomn, then eat all the green M&M's, etc

Funny thing is...both Zachary and Molly had 2 left at the end of the game and they both had the same colors..could have NEVER predicted this!

We also wrote out our predictions for school tomorrow...Will Phil see his

shadow? Who knows!

February is Dental Awareness Month

We started our Month long health unit on

Teeth, Dental Hygiene and more...

Getting closer!

have a great today and be blessed!

If you have time...why not stop over to Three Thinking Mothers and link up your projects!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-01T06:24:00.003-05:00

Will our resident Groundhog see his shadow tomorrow?

Will our cat finally realize that he does have a friend?

Will we EVER get some sustainable snow here in NY?

Stay tuned to find out tomorrow....when we Celebrate - Groundhogs Day!

There was an old lady.....

2012-01-31T15:50:00.000-05:00

Bye Bye January - Hello February!

February is extremely busy (good busy) for us.

So much going on in Homeschool and our social lives!

We have two versions of this book today and used them for a lesson...

Felt Story Kit

Back in June of 2011, I won a drawing for this adorable Story Felt Kit with book from Education Jump Off (Joyce is a fellow homeschooling mom) It's SOOO cute and fun. I read the story and we used the felt kit to animate it all. The girls loved it!

The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

(Story Time Felts - Joyce Wheeler - Education Jump Off)

Book: Usborne First Reading - The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly

Hope your day is blessed!

Superbowl Inspiration and Tutorial

2012-01-31T13:12:00.002-05:00

Creating a cute Superbowl tablescape is easy and can beinexpensive with just a few items! Idownloaded these cute party printables from Catch My Party last week and knew Ihad to “girl” them up a little…lol…

Thank you 9 to 5 mom for creating these!

We are having a few friends over for the big game!

(Let me put a disclaimer here...we are NEITHER Giants Fans or Patriots Fans, we are Vikings Fans, but since they are playing golf instead of football right now, we are routing for the Patriots, ONLY because the hubster is in a "pool" at work and momma needs a

new pair of shoes...lol)

TIP 1: Mix and Match things...

Took the food tents and some of the other printables..used a toothpick

to insert it...cute way to incorporate the two...both found at Catch My Party

at the link above.

TIP 2: REUSE and RECYCLE

I have used this indoor.outdoor carpet piece for Easter Grass, Football turf,

Baseball turf and more for parties...worth the $ 8.00 I spent on it! REUSE!

TIP 3: Use what you have!

Here is an easy tutorial on making Cray paper pom poms to help fill up the tablescape…

Layer out about 8 layers of your craypaper (only about 6 inches long)

Tie off in the middle...

Cut the ends to cut off so you dont have the creases and then cut up..then you just

carefully separate the sides until you have a pom pom

I tied them to the bottom of these little stands that I have (use them for almost every party)

There you have it...just a cute way to spruce up the Football decor...

Be watching on Monday Morning for our Superbowl Party!

http://www.aglimpseinsideblog.com/2012/02/catch-glimpse-party-65.html

The Time In Between

2012-01-31T06:34:00.003-05:00

Finally all the children are healthy again...boy last week was rough!

End of the month is always a time of catch up, mish mosh for us...usually we are about done

with our unit studies for that month so we are just doing some

clean up work...

As a reward for really being good last week while all under the weather, I decided to take them to one of their favorite places, Chuck E Cheese.

We had the place to ourselves for the two hours we were there!

When we returned, we had school....Read this today!

LOVE IT!

Zachary had an assignment to make something using his educational LEGOs that

had the theme of Renewable Energy...he made this wind turbine. Ran on a motor

and worked like a charm!

Linking this LEGO Creation up to

Looking for some ideas for February for themes or celebrations...check out THIS post!

Ideas galore, printables and more.

Getting ready for the Superbowl!

Be Blessed!

Things to Celebrate in February with Links and Printables

2012-01-30T07:20:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that we LOVE a celebration here at The Joys of Home Educating.

In fact, we celebrate every chance we get

(heck just waking up in the morning is cause for a celebration!)

I am going to start a monthly post about events, things to celebrate for the upcomng month, with links to FREE printables, games, websites etc.

My hope is that you can find something you can use in your school, lives and with the children and CELEBRATE!

February Events for Celebrations

American Heart Month

American History Month

Black History Month

February 2nd - Groundhogs Day

Click HERE is a site for some great facts,

GO HERE for a cute printable exercise to do with the kids

(Courtesy of First Grade Fever)

February 3rd - Elmo's Birthday

Who doesn't love to celebrate with a little Red Monster!

ELMO Coloring Pages, Bookmarks and Activities HERE.

Click HERE for an entire FREE Elmo Birthday Party Printable Pack for you to celebrate with!

February 5th - Superbowl Sunday

Cute printables HERE to use for your Superbowl Celebration.

February 6th - National Frozen Yogurt Day

February 6th - Chinese Lantern Festival

This celebration marks the end of Chinese New Year

(still time to make some great CNY Crafts and Celebrate this great tradition)

February 7th - Charles Dicken's Birthday

Why not read some Dicken's with the kids...

February 11th - National Inventors Day

I know on this day, I will be challenging my 7 year old to invent

something using his Legos!

February 14th - Valentine's Day

So much out there for Valentine's Day - I picked a few favorites!

An entire collection of printables for your homeschool HERE

(Thanks Carisa over at 1+1+1=1)

Yet another great valentine's day homeschool pack is at Over the Big Moon!

One more I love is by 2 Teaching Mommies!

FREE Party Printables over at Catch My Party - an entire selection to download and print!

Why not make these cute DIY Heart Crayons like we did!

February 15th - Susan B. Anthony's Birthday

February 20th - Presidents Day

HERE is a link to a ton of activities for celebrating.

February 21st - Mardi Gras

Click HERE for a link for a ton of Mardi Gras printables and activities.

February 22nd - My birthday - LOL

Throwing a Casino Party this year and having some gal pals over!

February 29th - LEAP YEAR

Leap Day - Click HERE your guide to throwing a great Leap Year/Day party.

I invite you to add links to the comment section if you know of other

February events to celebrate!

Don't forget, our Chinese New Year Craft Link Party is still going on!

Come on over for more inspiration!

Have a wonderful week and Be Blessed!

Snowball Shooters and Lost Mittens

2012-01-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

The snow has come and gone here 8( Sad because we are THAT family who loves the outdoors and loves the Winter months. Usually here in Southern NY we have snow and it's stuck by now, however, this year seems to be out of the norm.

SO that being said, it was high time we had an INDOOR snowball fight! Good Ol' fashion one! First we created these mini marshmallow poppers (aka snowball launchers) then we went to town!! (found this over at Real Simple (after pinning on Pinterest) Snowballs were mini marshmallows!

FUN FUN! Easy to make!

School today

finally back into the swing of things...

all children are feeling much better

(thanks for all the healing prayers!)

Children had to sort words by Nouns and Verbs..then use each in a sentence properly.

Just a pic of our school table...not always clean...lol

Rarely do I get a geuniune smile from Zachary...when I do...it's picture perfect!

He was laughing at the sentences he was making with his verbs and nouns.

Molly wanting to try cursive writing...

Sammie working on some Snowy Day Printables that I made

into a lapbook for Sammie.

Science today - learning about why and how water freezes.

Not seeing double?

I have two copies of this book so Zachary and I took turns reading to the girls.

Great Story!

Testing at The Magic Treehouse..

Be Blessed and have a wonderful weekend!

Linking up today to these awesome BLOGS...won't you come take a look at others!

Colorful Snowflakes and Cookies

2012-01-25T15:51:00.002-05:00

I love to subscribe to Homeschooling blogs and when the posts come right into my INBOX I knew we HAD to make these! Our craft idea today comes from Mom To 2 Posh Lil Divas!

Coffee Filter Tie Die Snowflakes

What we read after our craft...

In the afternoon I made some of these cuties to bring to a Moms Night In

tomorrow night - GAME NIGHT!

(Being on Weight Watchers, I am trying hard to really watch

all I eat and these are small enough not to feel guilty and

have a few!)

Made some BIG hearts for the kids to nosh on...

If you are interested in receiving The Joys of Home Educating blog posts

directly to your email, I invite you to SUBSCRIBE (look at the sidebar to your right that says Follow by Email)...

Have a wonderful day and BE BLESSED!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

I tried to capture Sammie saying the pledge the other morning, but she caught me taping her 1/2 way thru...so cute...

Chinese New Year Party and Link UP

2012-01-23T12:35:00.002-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year
Gong Hey Fat Choy
(in Cantonese)!

The Year of the Dragon

Despite 3 sick children, and having to cancel our original plans to celebrate with another homeschooling family for a Chinese New Year celebration, the children STILL wanted to have school and celebrate the day!

We started the party with reading this book:

Then we colored these Dragon Masks and wore them..
(found at Skip To My Lou)

We ate and enjoyed some special treats at snack time!

I made Chinese New Year cookies and took plain fortune cookies

and "chocolated" them right up!

While the children had some "down" time (original plan was to do the Dragon Dance with our masks on, but with all the coughing and runny noses, we went for what was behind curtain 2)

While they watched, I prepared the FEAST and set the table...

Each placesetting had a plastic red champagne glass (wouldn't be New Year without some), a Chinese Red Dragon Money Envelope, a "firecracker", a gift - Chinese Yo Yo, the surprise Fortune Cookies I made out of felt, chopsticks...

Overcome, adapt and improvise!

Yo Yo-ing

opened up the Felt Fortune cookies...SURPRISE!

Just like her momma - good til the last drop! lol

****Once again on my quest to only have a $ 10 budget for a school party... have I DONE IT? (well almost)

DECOR and PAPER PRODUCTS:
Dollar Store for red napkins and plates $ 2.00 Decor: Paper Lanterns - I had and embellished with some Christmas Ornaments I found at Hobby Lobby at 80% off total of
$ 2.50. Other decor, I made myself with existing materials. I made the Fortune Cookies (with treats inside) and you can see the tutorial HERE. The gold placemats I found at the dollar store for $ 1.00 for 8 of them. The red plastic champagne "glasses" were from the dollar store but 1/2 off as they were "Christmas" decor and they wanted to get rid of them
$ .50

FAVORS:
I had some Chinese Yo Yos left over from a party a few years ago! Cost $ 0.00 The Red Envelopes we had.

SWEETS and TREATS TABLE:
Fortune cookies dipped in Chocolate and Sprinkles. I made the cute printable pics myself. I bought the cookies at the grocery store and decorated them with stuff I had at home.
Cost $ 2.50

FOOD:
Lunch: Pasta with red sauce, a salad, egg roll and bread and juice. Made for less than $ 1 a person! (for the orginal party attendees of 8) Cost $ 5.00

CRAFTS:
I found THESE cute Dragon Masks over at Skip to my Lou and printed for the kids to color. Cost: $ 0.00

TOTAL COST: $ 13.50 (not bad for an originally planned party of 8)

Hope you enjoyed our party and pray the children recover quickly (and that momma stays healthy!)

Gong Hey Fat Choy

Be Blessed!

Your turn to link up your Chinese New Year crafts, recipes, schooling, parties or anything related!

Link party will be open for the entire 15 days of

Chinese New Year!

Have fun and tell your friends to come on over!

Sneak Peek at some parties....

2012-01-20T08:40:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday all!
Hubster went back to work today, even though he is still sick 8(
Zachary caught what hubby has and sounds horrible 8(

I think we will be laying low today and no school...expecting snow tonight!

Working hard a few parties over the next few months....here is a sneak peak at a few...

Having fun!

Be blessed!