Well, the miss had her first dental appointment today. She saw a special on Reading Rainbow a couple of days ago that was all about the dentist, and she asked me to take her. Since I had an appointment the next day, I made an appointment for her as well. So, today we went.
How our dentist handles it, is they call it a happy visit. They first introduce the child to all the dental type stuff and then do whatever the child allows them to. They don't push anything.
But the miss sat right down on the chair, all smiles, with her mouth open wide. The hygienist could tell that this was going to be a good visit. And the miss actually stayed for 45 minutes, getting the entire cleaning. They even tried x-rays, but the miss had a hard time biting the plate the correct way, so they decided to try next time.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
First Trip to The Dentist
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Beautiful Birth Story
So, sometime in the next 4 weeks or so, I will be having a water birth at home. I have been spending time reading about other homebirths online.
I came across one, with pictures (that aren't graphic), and it was just beautiful. I had to share it with you.
You can read it here.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A House For Hermit Crab
This week, the miss and I are doing lessons based on the book, A House for Hermit Crab, by Eric Carle.
I found the ideas for most of the lessons at the Homeschool Share Site.
And for this particular book, there are tons of lapbooking materials on the Homeschool Share site as well.
I thought I'd go ahead and share with you what we are doing each day, as well as provide links to the other sources I found for this particular theme, just in case you may want to do the same lessons with your 3-6 year old.
Day 1 (Social Studies)
After reading the story, we talked about homes. We discussed various animals and their homes.
We then took a large piece of paper and drew a layout of the inside of our house. She then looked through magazines and cut out pictures of items found in various rooms in our house, and then glued them onto our drawing.
We didn't spend a lot of time on this particular activity, however. She got bored with it rather quickly, because it took a long time to find the pictures in the magazines. I think I should have already had a bunch of different things cut out for her to choose from.
What she was most excited about was getting to decorate a shell. In the book, the hermit crab finds a new shell to live in but thinks it's plain, so he wants to decorate it. So we ripped out the glue, glitter and cut outs of the crab's friends, and she decorated a shell. She had a lot of fun with it.
Finally, we used a My Address folder (lapbooking item from the homeschool site) and learned about our address.
Day 2 (Social Studies, Bible)
After reading the story, we talked about the Hermit crab's friends in the book.
We looked at how hermit crab made friends. He was nice to them and complimented the new friends that he met.
We talked about how it is important to be nice to people, because it encourages them and builds them up. And yes, we then opened up mommy's Bible to 1 Thessalonians 5:11.
We used another Homeschool Share's lapbook pocket for our Bible verse. So that we can put it inside our finished lapbook.
We also completed their Sea Creatures Tab Book.
Day 3 (Math)
Tomorrow we will review the months of the year. Since in the book, the crab does something new each month. We will use the
Month Cards and Pocket from the homeschool share site.
We will also look at our kitchen calendar and discuss how many days are in a month and what holidays occur in the different months.
We may also play around for a bit on the Starfall Calendar Site.
Day 4 (Art and P.E.)
On this day, we will do a fun collage painting art project, based on the art in Eric Carle's book.
We will also learn how to walk like a crab and we will have some crab races.
Day 5 (Science)
We will have some fun learning about different sea creatures, especially the ones mentioned in the book.
She will complete this sea animal shapes page.
We will also color and play with this Sea Animals Memory Game.
If there is still spare time, we will make Lantern fish puppets, using glow in the dark paint.
Day 6 (language arts)
It's vocabulary day. I will use the
prepared vocabulary cards, to help the miss learn some new words that were found in the book.
We will also color and trace a couple of Letter H Printouts.
And finally, we will finish off the lesson by baking Starfish Biscuits.
Using a star cookie cutter, cut out a star from refrigerated biscuit dough, bake. Then when only a few minutes are left on baking, add cheese strips onto each star limb.
Friday, February 15, 2008
This Is An Order
You must read this:
Another Post From Uganda.
The Compassion team with their team of bloggers is in Uganda posting their thoughts, their pictures, their journey.
And the post I linked to above, it just REALLY, REALLY needs to be read by as many as possible.
Here are a few excerpts from it.
"I asked him whether he thought it better for a child to be brought up in the wealth of America or in the poverty of Uganda.
"Oh Uganda. Uganda. Absolutely," he said with passion.
"In America, your plentifulness drives you away from God. Here, for the poor, for me, I am grateful for every meal. I am dependent upon God and I know it."
"Even the poor, you see, they are happy and they are thankful to God. One of the things we need to know is that Africa is very hopeful and that keeps us going even if there is nothing today. Tomorrow, we believe, will be better."
Valentine's Day
I only have a few minutes at the moment. We are about to run out the door for some errands and then I have a midwife appointment this afternoon.
But I wanted to post a few pictures quickly.
I took the kiddos to my friend's house, where we made Valentine's Day Crafts as well as cookies and cupcakes. So, here are some pictures of the fun.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Had to Share This Link
So, I have been eyeing a curriculum, Five In A Row, to do with my 4 year old miss. She will miss the kindergarten cut off this fall, since her fifth birthday is after October 1st. And I do want to work with her at home, and make sure we are taking time out each day to learn and do crafts and things. I've been slacking in that department, since I stopped doing day care out of my home.
Well, I haven't been able to budget in the Five In A Row book and other little add-ons just yet, but I will get there soon.
However, this evening, I came across this incredible site. It's called Homeschool Share, and they have free units to go along with various children's books. There are tons of ideas on using the book for math, science, social studies, language, art and geography lessons. Some even have fun recipes that go along with the books. And some come with printables for lapbooks. And I must admit, I am a sucker for lapbooks.
Best of all, it's free.
Some of the books listed have more activities than others. But each unit gives so many ideas for various avenues to explore, that I don't think it would be hard to find additional activities online, if need be.
So, we are going to start on a book next week, which we will take a trip to the library for. I think I will do the lessons with her while the mister takes his nap.
I will still, however, make sure to set aside time in the morning for fun and educational activities that he can take part in as well.
I think the miss and I will have a lot of fun with these units. And it will get her ready for the Five In A Row curriculum.




