Ultrasound!

I had my ultrasound today, and everything looked great! We are having another BOY! The kid's are very excited. It has been six years since we had a baby boy, so I'm excited too! Now if we could only think of a name.

Play-doh fun!

I wanted to make some new play-doh for the upcoming school year, our last batch needed thrown out. For fun I decided we would make a rainbow of playdoh instead of just one color. I quadrupled the recipe and then diveded it uncolored into seven bowls. Once divided we colored and kneaded them. I knead the dough like pizza dough with plenty of flour until the colors are fully mixed and it is no longer sticky. I had to add yellow food coloring to the the yellow, because the yellow Kool-aid did nothing. Also the blue was made with food coloring because apparently the blue pack of kool-aid I bought turned out to be red. Here is the recipe:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 packages unsweetend Kool-Aid
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons oil
Mix dry ingredients together in bowl. Mix the liquids together and pour them over the dry. Stir the mixture until it forms a ball. As the mixture cools, it will become less sticky. After it cools take it out of bowl and knead until smooth.

Sweetpea is very excited about all the new colors to play with!

Buster is 6!

Well our little man turned 6 on Sunday! I can't believe it has been that long. He is getting so big ;( At his 6 year check up he weighed 58lbs and is 4ft tall now. We had a Superhero party planned for a local park, but of course the only rainy day of July was Sunday. We ended up having it at my moms instead. Buster says it was his best birthday ever, so I guess it was a success! Here are some pictures of the big day.

Curriculum/Scheduling '09-'10

I do have pictures from Buster's birthday and I will post them shortly. I finally recieved all the books I purchased for school next year. I'm really excited about it and wanted to share my plans with you all. Here is a list of what Buster will be using for first grade:

Math: Horizons 1
Phonics: Explode the code books 4-6
Phonics Pathways, Reading Pathways
Science: Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3
Christian Liberty Nature Reader, Book 1, Second Edition
Live Butterfly Garden
History: History For Little Pilgrims
Geography: Map Skills, Grade 1
Art: Draw Write Now, Book 6: Animals and Habitats - On Land, Ponds and Rivers, Oceans
I can draw animals, Usborne playtime(I found this at Salvation army for 15 cents because it was 50% off day)
Writing: He will be finishing 1st grade handwriting without tears, and journaling
Spelling: Basic Skills 1st grade spelling, and these two sites http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/spelling-levela.html
http://www.spellingcity.com/
Bible: The Explorer's Bible for Kids: Explore and Live God's Word (Nkjv), The Children's Illustrated Bible
Spanish: so far I have Spanish Write and wipe book, but I hope to find something else to. Buster Keeps begging me to teach him Spanish ever since he heard his soccer coach speak Spanish.

We are doing animal themes that will last 2.5 weeks each. This will coincide with his science book for the most part. I have been collecting a bunch of childrens reading books from thrifts store that go with our animal themes, and we will use the library to fill in what I don't have. Also I plan to do some lapbooks and I will find most of them here:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php
Here is a list of the animal topics:
Animal Classifications
Dogs
Bears
Cats/Rabbits
Marsupials or Birds
Monkeys
Mice/rodents
Elephants
Farm Animals
Reptiles
Frogs
Dinosaurs
Spiders/Insects
Snails/Worms or Fish
A couple of these I am unsure of yet.

I purchased my books from Amazon and CBD

For Sweetpea I will be doing PreK work. For her I have purchased
Get ready for the code, Get set for the Code, Go for the code by Explode the code
Phonics pathways (she insists that she's going to learn to read this year. We will see)
Christian Liberty Nature reader K (It has one story for each letter of the alphabet that goes with an animal) and a mess of little dollar tree workbooks.
For her I will be doing one letter of the alphabet for every 1.5, and she will be making an alphabet notebook. In this order based on her ETC books. Here are some sites I plan to use for her:
http://www.carlscorner.us.com/
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/index.html
http://www.goodnightstories.com/images/alphabet/alphbet1.htm
http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/
http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/
A
B
F
M
K
R
T
E
P
J
I
H
S
N
D
O
C
L
G
W
Y
V
Z
Q
X
U

I will be introducing Buttercup to TotSchool
http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/
http://totallytots.blogspot.com/http://

Here is a basic schedule of what subjects we will cover weekly:

For Buster:

Monday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Spelling
Bible

Tuesday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Writing
History
Science

Wednesday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Spelling
Art
Music

Thursday:
Phonics
Math
Reading
Writing
Geography
Science

Friday:
YMCA
Lapbook
Notebook
Special Activities

Sweetpea:
Monday:
Phonics
Math
Bible

Tuesday:
Phonics
Math
History

Wednesday:
Phonics
Math
Art
Music

Thursday:
Phonics
Math
Science

Friday:
YMCA
Alphabet Book
Special Activities


I will keep you posted on how it goes. So far all the books look great ;)
Here are a few more sites I found lately that have been helpful:
http://thehomeschoolclassroom.blogspot.com/
http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/
http://thecurriculumchoice.com/
http://heartofthematteronline.com/
http://www.ourlifestyleoflearning.com/
http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/#

I couldn't do a homeschool post without a plug for the Old SchoolHouse Magazine.
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/
Finally here is a site I have found very helpful when choosing curriculums:
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/

Cmping/Beach/July 4th

We had a great 4th of July weekend! We decided since my husband had a three day weekend we packed up the van and headed over to the coast as soon as he got off on Thursday. The first campground we tried was full, but there was a small private one next to it. We were able to find an opening there for Thursday night. The kids were so excited they have been asking to go camping for months. The camp site was really close to the beach, and it had its own trail right to it. We had a really fun time there, and came home Friday evening. We set off of few fireworks Friday night when we got home. On Saturday we went to my Aunt and Uncles for their annual barbeque. In the evening we went to my sisters for some fireworks, and then walked over to the city park for the big ones. It was a great fireworks display and all the kids including Buttercup loved it. Also this weekend I reached the halfway point for my pregnancy :)
Buster turns 6 on Sunday, so I will be posting more pics soon.