School in Progress Part 9

School does not need to be complicated! 

In fact, it's better if it's kept simple.

1- For mother's sanity

2- The kids don't get overwhelmed

3- It keeps it fun!

For Christmas the kids received more Curious George science books! to which they were thrilled!

This is by far the easiest way of doing science for grades K-1. Story based learning should be incorporated in other areas of school too, I think!

 Reading, reading, reading, is one of the best ways for them to learn, even if all you do is read to them! And some days that's probably the easiest for mom, because I am battling with health issues. 

(Don't get me wrong, we do school every day, math and reading and writing!) 

So, if are struggling with homeschooling, that's OK, you just do what you can do, and don't sweat the rest, the important thing is, they're learning!! 

The kids each have a Curious George book with 8 stories. They are fun stories, though the monkey gets in to a lot of trouble. We use that to talk about what he should have done, so as not to get in trouble. Turning it into a lesson helps them enjoy the story, but realize there are consequences.

 I came across the first book of Sophie the Mouse at our second hand store. My daughter 'fell in love' with them, and wanted more for Christmas. So you can imagine what we had to read during the Christmas holidays! I believe there are still 6 more books in the series that we do not have yet, and she will probably be looking for those for her birthday! Isn't it great when they want books!!!

These are adventure filled books about a mouse girl and her brother and friends.

 I also got these for our daughter. She loves Brambly Hedge, the pictures and adventure stories are very well done, and mom enjoyed them too. The Princess Twins are also very well written, easy to read, though she is still learning, but she's great at sounding out words.

 These are some of our favorite Bible story books. They are no longer in print, so I have hunted them down second hand. I believe there is probably 4 more in the series that we don't have yet. I really like them for the reason being, the Bible stories are spot on. These are called The Muffin Family Bible Stories, by the way, and with every Bible story, there is a Muffin family story to go with it, teaching a lesson. The kids love it, getting two stories together, and they 'get it' when it comes to the lessons.

 I have just started reading Billy and Blaze to our kids, and my son LOVES them. A boy, his horse and dog, and my boy just laps the adventures up. We're starting to read them all over again! I wish there were more! This collection has 9 books all together. I noticed that Billy and the Indian Cave was not included, and is the only book not with this collection, so there would be 10 in all. I'm not sure why it's not included, but that's OK. Though I will be on the look out for other horse stories by this author. He did all his own illustrations and they are lovely drawings!

 And since my son loves Thomas, readers that he WANTS to read, are very important for incentive. 

These are great, and we have more than are pictured.

I hope this inspires and helps someone out there. Happy Homeschooling!

S.L. Kliever

School in Progress Part 8

Wanted to show you all some books we're using for school.

First off, Curious George Discovers Science books are outstanding.

They're in story form, and the kids really get it. If I had bought these before getting our school science work books, I would have opted to just get the Curious George books. I think we still have another 3 to get, as they're not all here.

 These have been some of the best books I've seen in Phonics books. We are doing them right along with their Sing Spell Read and Write kindergarten book and readers. 

One of the reasons I really like them, is the kids are able to read a whole list of words by the end of the lesson, which is five pages. It gives them confidence that they can read.

 And these readers are the best beginner readers I've come across so far, apart from the Sing Spell Read and Write.

And that's just a little look into our school!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for October

Calico Critter Wardrobe 

This was so easy, and cute.

All you need is a small wood box from the dollar store,

wooden beads and dowels, also from dollar store.

Cut the dowel to size, and use wood glue and both the dowel and feet.

The hanger is made from a paperclip bent to a hanger shape.  

You can add more to decorate it, like a mirror on the front.

Put the dowel in lower and add a shelf.  

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

School in Progress Part 7

Everybody started the new school year?

This is only a sample of what I got for this year, but these are the ones we are working on right away. 

Sing, Spell, Read and Write supplementing with some other books.

I really like the Word Family Books, because I think they give the kids a little more than their Sing, Spell book. And the Interactive Notebooks had some extra a,e,i,o,u activities.

 I am a firm believer in the need for school to be fun. I struggled through school myself, so I understand this first hand. So... Curious George it is! Half the time they don't even know they're learning with this Adventures in Learning books, story-based learning.

I also was impressed with the 180 Days of Reading, not only does it help with their reading comprehension, the K book goes nicely along with our phonics books and it came with a CD that I could print the pages off for both kids to do. 

The Abeka books were nice and colorful way to learn about Health and Safety.

 I didn't get the math books I wanted... so hopefully these will do. 

My daughter is always drawing things, so I made sure I got some drawing books. 

And I picked this beginners Geography because it covers more than one grade, no need to buy something next year.

 Keeping it fun.... my kids don't know about these books. I'm keeping them hidden. When the time comes to practice reading, there will be NEW books to read, making it exciting!

Craft for July

This is... How To Make A Doll House Chair From A Bottle Lid... perfect size for Calico Critters

 I cut out two square pieces of cardboard for the back, and cut the fabric large enough to fold over the sides. 

One lid, and one piece of cardboard cut out in circle to cover the underside of the chair. 

And One circle of fabric cut out large enough to fold over all sides.

And we need some stuffing, and a hot glue gun.

 I had to hold the back of the chair on the seat until it dried. Being that it's round the backing dosn't really want to stay in place by it's self.

 Add wooden beads on the bottom for feet and there you have it!

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

Craft for June

School Craft with the kids!

So I bought this stencil set for my daughter, 

and we decided to do an art project/craft with it for school.

Come take a look-see!

 I got them to 'paint' the clothes they wanted.

 I took a sharpy and did the outlines.

 We also used the stencil's on scrapbook paper.

 The stencils only had girls. (Three Girl heads to choose from). So I turned one of them into a boy, since my son was interested in doing this with us.

Download our PDF File here for the dolls and their clothes to print off! :D 

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

Craft for May

Calico Critter Furniture 

This kind of furniture is so easy to make, there's really no need to buy stuff like this for the critters. 

Come take a look see

 You can make just about any combination you want, here I made a double, single and baby bed.

All you need is 

Cardboard

Fabric

Stuffing (even cotton-balls work) 

Hot-glue gun

Here's the steps of making a couch and chair.

When you cut your cardboard, make sure you measure them back and seat the same size and the two ends the same as well. You may want a Critter to give you an idea of how deep you want the seat so they sit nicely without falling off.

 It's nice to put stuffing on the seat and back, the ends are optional.

If you don't have stuffing, you can still make these, they'll just come out flatter.

Once you hot glue the fabric on, folding it over...

 You'll then hot glue your furniture pieces together. 

The ends to the seat first, then add your back.

 Feet are optional. I used wooden beads. Wooden blocks work too, or some other kind of bead.

 The chair is the same idea. I only used stuffing on the back and seat.

Folded the fabric over tightly and hot glue in place, then hot glue your pieces together.

 And you have a chair and couch for Calico Critters. Just like that!

I've made beds before, but never a bunk bed, but it turned out alright. 

Four cardboard's, all the same size, two for the beds with stuffing, and two for the ends.

 Tightly fold over fabric and hot glue in place.

 Four pieces all covered, now for assembling.

 I glued the bottom on first and then the top...

 ...adding craft sticks just to strengthen the bed so it doesn't wobble.

 you can add more if needed. Or even a large cardboard covered in fabric for the backing.

 For a double bed, stuffing on the bottom, and one head-board. 

You can also do a head-board and a foot-board if so desired, I have done that.

 There you go, the only thing left to do is make pillows and blankets!

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever