History Timeline in a Folder

(Picture taken when I first made it.)

This is the folder timeline I made for our I Love America: Teachers Resource Kit curriculum. I was taking the timeline and all the papers back and forth from my house to my father-in-law's house, so it needed to be compact but still convey accurate scale. I ended up with seven pieces of paper taped together with a strip of paper at the "joints'' for reinforcement.

Each page is 50 years because most of the things that are covered in I Love America all happen close together so you need enough room on the paper. I also wanted Builder Boy to see the span of years between the discovery of America and the American Revolution period. The first page has to be glued to a piece of construction paper that is already in the folder or the pages won't fit properly. 

I love Velcro dots!

That many pages folded up with stiff "joints" stuck out a lot an kept wanting to unfold and bounce out, so I made a paper clasp to hold it all in. I taped the red strip of construction paper to the back of the piece of blue construction paper that I glued the first timeline page to. I folded over and glued the end of the strip of red paper to reinforce it. Then I used sticky velcro dots to finish the "clasp."





Since the pages load in the back, behind the timeline I put a page protector for holding the maps that are used for multiple lessons. All the pages that the kids color get three-whole-punched and put in.

Constitution Week with I Love America

I was given I Love America: Teachers Resource Kit by another homeschooling mom who was done with it. I was looking for a simple way to add some American history to our history plan and she very generously offered it to me. It was written for a full classroom but the times I have used it I have had no problem adapting for just one or two kids. My father in law is the one who used it with Builder Boy last year, so this is my first time doing it myself. (I planed it, printed the pages out, and got everything ready and 'Apa taught it when I was at Bible Study Fellowship with Early Bird.) It teaches early American history going with the holiday schedule, so events are out of chronological order. For that reason I made a folder timeline that also holds the coloring pages.

Reading the text of I Love America is where I first learned about Constitution Week. It was set up by Ronald Regan to celebrate the adoption of the United States Constitution and to serve as a time to remember what it stands for.  I Love America has a school week's worth of activities, finishing off with a class parade. We chose to do just some of the activities, but we read the story of Betsy Ross making the first flag, talked about the original colonies (Builder Boy remembered a lot from last year,) talked about the meaning of the colors, talked about the different flags throughout our county's history, the rules concerning the treatment of the flag, and more! There is also a hidden pictures page and a modern flag to color (I helped Early Bird with his.)

October's holiday in I Love America is Columbus Day and we'll be using I Love America to supplement the Holidays Around The Year when the day comes.

Slow and Steady: Week 5

For Age 0, Week 5 of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready the activities include introducing mirrors to your baby and pendulums.

The book recommends using an unbreakable baby mirror if you have one. I do, but after two boys playing with it over the years (as well as using it to bend light for a science lesson) its surface is so marked and scratched that the image is too distorted. So I held Lady Bug up to the bathroom mirror instead. She seemed more interested in the lights above the mirror, and didn't really respond to her own reflection. But she did seem to recognize me, which was nice. I took a "selfie" of us since I'm trying to be in more pictures this year.

For the pendulum activity I used the pvc pipe baby gym we made last week. I put the rattle and the spool to the sides and tried just swinging the foil circle side to side. Lady Bug was not interested at this time, though she has been enjoying the baby gym for a few minutes at a time this week.

This is a reminder that just because an activity is in a certain week it doesn't mean that an individual child is going to be ready to participate that week. For example, Lady Bug wouldn't follow a rattle with her eyes, a Week 3 activity, until after we'd been trying every other day or so for two weeks. She also took about two weeks before she was interested in following the flashlight light on the wall from Week 2. That is one of the reasons why the author reminds you at the end of each week (so far) to continue doing the activities.

________________________________________________________________
Slow and Steady Get Me Ready has a preview available at Google Books. It can also be purchased at Amazon.com (the picture of the book is an affiliate link.)

I don't get paid for reviews; all opinions are my own.

Citizenship Day

September 17th is Citizenship Day, and I almost forgot! It's not a common holiday so I guess that can be forgiven. Also, we're not back to doing school on a regular basis, either. Citizenship Day is the second holiday out of our Holidays Around The Year book that we will be celebrating this month. (Other options presented in the book that we're not doing this year include Hispanic Heritage Month, High Holy Days, Feast of San Gennaro, and Confucius' Birthday.)

Because I forgot about it until today, I did not get a book out of the library. But looking at the recommended book list I realized I already own one of the books! It's The Pledge of Allegiance and I had picked it up at a thrift store because of it's beautiful pictures illustrating the meaning of the words in a way that kids would understand.

So to "celebrate" Citizenship Day (the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution) we talked about what it means to be a citizen rather than a visitor, using a home as a metaphor. We talked about the things we are responsible for, like paying the bills and keeping the house clean, that people who visit us don't have to do. But both have to follow the rules!

We also talked about why we are so happy we are citizens of America instead of being born in another country (focusing on religious freedoms) and then talked a little about the citizenship process. The book comes with a sample of the citizenship test, but we didn't do it this year. Scholastic.com offers a plan and resources on Immigration and Citizenship for classrooms (for free) that can be adapted to a homeschool set up.

We finished up with reading the book again and practicing saying the pledge without it. The week of Citizenship Day is also Constitution Week. We're going to learn more about the American flag using our I Love America curriculum. (Sadly, it's out of print but you can still get it used on Amazon.com.)

______________________________________________________________
The e-book version of Holidays Around the Year is available at the Scholastic website, the picture is a link to the listing on Amazon.com.

For older students, here's a link to a great 12 minute video about American Exceptionalism. (Another way to explain why it's great to be an American citizen.)

Introducing Sandbox to Socrates

I am very excited to announce the launch of a blog magazine that I have had a small part in helping create. From Sandbox to Socrates was created by a group of homeschooling moms who've only met online but wanted to contribute to homeschoolers of the world with our ideas and our experience using a classical model, with varying styles, to homeschool our kids. We've got a large group to draw from so there will be things about babies all the way to graduates. I will occasionally be guest posting over there (once we're back to actually doing schoolwork and I have something to blog about.) It's a new site so it's a small site with vision to grow and enough contributors to keep it in new content so check it out!


I was also reminded yesterday that Sceleratus Classical Academy has a Facebook page! Right now it's not very big, but if there's enough interest I'd like to grow it.

And coming up on Friday I'm going to have a special collaborative blog post about deciding about having more children after a NICU preemie baby experience. I will also be posting my first poll and asking for feedback, so stay tuned!

Buy Yourself Something Pretty

As parents, and especially mothers, we sacrifice a lot for our children. Which is loving and wonderful, except sometimes we do it to the point of neglecting our own needs. And when we do that we put ourselves in a condition that affects our mood and can degrade the quality of our time spent with our kids.

Sometimes we need to be a little more "selfish" for the good of our kids. And if you're like me you need to be reminded of this and sometimes be given permission to do this.

Here is my personal example:
As my regular readers know, this year I did two very big, money-sucking things; my family moved to another state and I survived a very difficult pregnancy. The whole of 2013 has been emotionally, physically, and financially draining. We're short on enthusiasm, energy, and cash. Which is why I spent the money my mother gave me for my birthday on things we needed for the baby.

A few weeks ago I actually won a blog raffle (plugging IrishMum's homeschooling blog AirSkull) for a $25 Amazon gift card. I saw myself having three choices: spend it on things for homeschool, buy things we need for the baby, or spend it on myself. I have a wonderful group of internet mom friends who convinced me to spend it on myself. I chose to buy something I'd had in my Amazon wishlist for a long time but haven't purchased because I didn't consider it necessary or practical: a Raw Edge Tiered Ribbon Gypsy Boho Long Cotton Skirt . I got it in the mail this week and I LOVE it! This skirt makes me feel like Cinderella; and that's coming from someone who wears a skirt every day! Wearing it puts a spring in my step, makes me smile, and causes a tendency to randomly twirl. Best of all this small indulgence made me feel rich and beautiful.

Picture taken by Builder Boy

Now for you, your pretty thing might not be a skirt. It might be something you wear, something you decorate your house with, something that smells nice, maybe even something that most people wouldn't find all that attractive. The point is to find something that is just for you and makes you smile. Something you will use or see on a regular basis that when you see it gives you a brief rest of spirit and a reminder that you are worth something special now and again. Which can really raise your spirits when circumstances won't let you sleep.

So I'm giving you permission like my friends gave me: buy yourself something that will make you happy. (No, this does not make you materialistic.) Spend a little something on yourself so you can be a happier parent for the offspring you are sacrificing for. You are worth it, and it's good for them, too.

This post is part of a Gifted Homeschoolers Forum Blog Hop

Click here for the rest of the Blog Hop contributions.

___________________________________________________________________
I promise this post is not just an ad or an excuse to get you to click on my Amazon affiliate links. I included the links because when I posted the picture of me in the skirt on facebook I got a lot of people asking me where I got it. The skirt is also available in a somewhat shorter version. (Just trying to be helpful!)

Someone To Take the Picture

I have literally 1,000's of pictures of my kids, starting from when Builder Boy was a baby. (Don't you love digital cameras?) I have 100's of pictures of my husband with our kids. I have very few of me with the kids, and even fewer of my husband and I together or together with our kids.

I've read several mommy blog posts and articles about moms needing to remember to have their pictures taken, too, and not being forgotten, unmemorialized. We're encouraged to have our picture taken even when our hair isn't perfect and we're wearing ratty clothes. That's a nice thought except....who's going to take the picture? When stuff is going on during the daytime, I'm the only one here to take pictures. I suppose I could always teach Builder Boy how to take my picture. But that still doesn't give us a picture of us as a family.

So I came up with the perfect answer: church. I'm guaranteed to be presentable at church and there are lots of people who we can have take a picture of all five of us. So using my blog as accountability to get me in the habit of having my picture taken, I am going to have a picture taken of our whole family every Sunday we go to church for a year and post them on here. I'm going to call it "Smile!" Sunday.

Here's our first picture:

Pill Bug Observations

Shieldy is on the tip of the stick.

This is Shieldy, Early Bird's roly poly pet for an hour. His name is "Shield-y" because he has an armored body. Early Bird came up with the name. He was actually trying to "hug" Shieldy by holding him up to his cheek, so I decided maybe we should make Shieldy a habitat that Early Bird could hold. This made him very observable, so we decided to do an impromptu nature lesson. (I love homeschooling!)





We made observations, named the category of the creature, used tools, and recorded information, just like we learned last summer when we went through Learning to Be a Scientist. After making observations and talking about pill bugs I had Early Bird draw a picture of Shieldy. We had a difficult time counting his legs, so we got the Pill Bug/Roly Poly card from the Insects and small critters full color flash cards that I found last year at Target in the $1 aisle. We learned that pill bugs are isopods, have 7 pairs of legs, 2 pairs of antennae, and have gills! We read about their habitat and diet and we tried to replicate the ideal home for Shieldy in the glass jar. This was a good time to review with Early Bird that animals need food, water, and air to live.

"This is a good home for Shieldy."

Then, once we had learned what we could, we released Shieldy back into "the wild" aka our backyard. We used the information we had learned to try to put him back where he would be most happy.

For more fun there is a Roly Poly game on PBSKids.org in the Sid the Science Kid area.

Slow and Steady: Week 4

For Age 0, Week 4 of Slow and Steady Get Me Ready the idea is to build a "baby gym" attached to the crib rails. But Lady Bug isn't sleeping in a crib right now (we're doing a mix of co-sleeping and using the Fisher-Price Newborn Rock 'N Play Sleeper) so we don't even have a crib. And I'm not sure how I would attach the string to a Pack 'n Play/playpen. So I walked around the house trying to figure out what I could use to suspend the objects over my baby using household items when I stepped on my answer: pvc pipe! I realize it's not exactly a common household item, but it's very inexpensive. I borrowed the pieces I used to make this from Builder Boy's PVC Building Set that I made for his 6th birthday. If you are cutting the pipes for the first time (ours are 1/2 in pipes) you might want to make the dimensions differently. I just worked with what we already had.

Day 1 of the activity you hang a red (or hot pink!) spool and let it swing. I chose to tie it low enough that Lady Bug could hit it with her hand if she wanted to. She did end up hitting it several times; mostly just by getting excited and flailing about. She followed the swinging spool with her eyes and head and really seemed to like it; she even smiled! This kept her entertained (and her brothers who wanted to "help") for over 10 minutes.


Day 2 has you add a plastic lid that has been covered with foil. I used a circle of cardboard instead. Lady Bug didn't seem as interested in the baby gym that day as she did the day before.

Day 3 has you add a bell or rattle. This is used to demonstrate some items not making noises when moving, and one that does. I did not have any bells (that I could find. I'm still only half unpacked from the move.) I tried making a rattle out of a plastic spice container and beans, but it didn't make any sound when it swung; only when it was shaken. So I attached a rattle I had bought, but it doesn't make sounds when it's swinging, either!

Lady Bug was not in the mood to play with it this morning. We'll try again later.

We are are still doing the stretches and touching from Week 1 every day and once every few days try to do Week 2 and Week 3.

Teaching 9/11

Teaching about holidays is one of our homeschool gaps. Besides Christmas and Easter we haven't discussed or taught our kids much beyond mentioning "oh, yeah, today's Valentine's Day" or "what do you want to dress up as for Halloween?" I really want to remedy that. I got discouraged last year when I picked up the Hurray for Today book and found a lack of actual facts, invented facts, and a completely anti-God viewpoint. This year when I was looking through the dollar deals I found The Scholastic Big Book Of Holidays Around The Year. Their brief explanation of the different faiths that holidays come from is respectful and much better than pretending that none of these holidays came from any religious observance.

The book is written for teachers of regular sized classrooms, and is adaptable for any elementary aged child. It gives a brief summary of the origins of each holiday, the meaning of it's symbols, and some activity ideas as well as several books recommendations. They cover all the major holidays, all of the national and minor holidays, and even add in some that I had never heard of, including celebrating the birth of Confucius and Hispanic Heritage Month. We're not going to do every single holiday in the book this year. But we will be using it through the year, possibly for several years in a row.

The first holiday we will cover (skipping over Labor Day and Kite Festival) is September 11. I was initially surprised that it was included in this book, but I think it very right that they did. The events on September 11, 2001 are not something I had told my kids about before. But I think the kids are ready to hear the general details now. First I told them that 12 years ago some bad people hurt a lot of people in New York City and that I was going to show them a video about it. I showed them the Brain Pop video explaining what happened and why. I think it was an excellent, child appropriate video. (I previewed it ahead of time.) After we watched it was talked a little bit about it and I told them how I found out about it when it was happening.

While searching online for resources for teaching about 9/11 I found a teacher's website that put an emphasis on appreciating the volunteers and rescue workers.That gave me the idea to make cards thanking our local firefighters for their service. I don't know when we'll get them to our local station; probably this weekend.

Then Builder Boy made a video thanking all the firemen (and women) in America for keeping us safe. (He improvised it all on his own.) So to all the "fire rescuers" (as Early Bird puts it,) 

Thank You for your service and sacrifice. Thank you for working so hard to keep us safe. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

More resources: http://teachinghistory.org/spotlight/september11
______________________________________________________________
The e-book is available at the Scholastic website and as of September 11th was still $1.

Homemade Halloween Costume (2008)

Stopping for candy at the grandparents' house

This was the first costume I ever made for Builder Boy. It is a bumble bee costume made on a black sweatshirt. I made it on a black sweatshirt because I wanted it to be warm and not be covered up by a jacket. I used cheap yellow fabric for the stripes and tacked it on the jacket, thinking I would take it off and use as just a jacket latter (I didn't.) I got a cheap, textured black fabric and made two ovals for wings that I sewed on the back (no picture, but they lay flat like a cape.) For the antenna I used the same black fabric and made two slender cylinders that I stuffed to make stiff and sewed on the hood. 

Homemade Halloween Costumes (2009)

Halloween is coming soon! I make the kids' costumes so I have to think about them ahead of time. I've posted about the costumes I made last year and two years before that. These are the costumes I made in 2009. Early Bird was a clown and Builder Boy was a cowboy.

Early Bird wore a sleeper that I already had. I made a pom pom and attached it to the top of the baby hat and tacked on felt circles.

Builder Boy's costume was a hat we already had (got it at Walmart) and a $1 bandana (also from Walmart.) I tried looking for a sheriff's badge, but I couldn't find one at the time.

Slow and Steady: Week 3

This week for Slow and Steady Get Me Ready Age 0, Week 3 we started trying to get Lady Bug to follow an object with her eyes and/or head. Our chosen object, a bunny star rattle that came with her bed did not interest her enough. We tried for several days, in different ways, but she just wasn't interested in it. She was, however, interested in her brothers' faces and followed them wherever they go. She also really likes looking at her musical Soothe and Glow Seahorse that lights up, which is an extension of Week 2. We also stretch her arms and touch her hands every day from Week 1.

We'll keep trying to interest her in a rattle or something. And once we do we will begin left to right eye movement training like the book suggests. 

Magnesium Sulfate SUCKS

Magnesium sulfate is sometimes given through an IV to pregnant women dealing with severe preeclampsia. Its purpose is to prevent seizures and strokes that are a side effect of preeclampsia and high blood pressure. It is an important, necessary thing; especially when you're going to be in the hospital for an extended time trying to give your baby a little more time to "cook."

Right before Lady Bug was born.

But the side effects are from hell, and seem pretty unfair to do to a woman who has already had a very difficult pregnancy. Common side effects include:

• Muscle weakness and lack of energy
• Blurry vision
• Slurred speech
• Headache
• Nausea and vomiting
• Flushing
• Stuffy nose

Or in my case, ALL THE ABOVE.

A headache that Tylenol, the only thing they'll let you take, barley helps. Vomiting everything you try to take in; even water. Vomiting so violently that you pee yourself a little bit (remember, you're pregnant) every time you heave. And you're too sick, weak, and dizzy to make it to the bathroom, so you have to have a nurse wipe you off. Another side effect that should be included is "loss of any dignity or modesty." I'm not sure if my speech was slurred, but I couldn't focus my eyes on anything and I couldn't hold thoughts in my head for very long. I couldn't read! "Flushing" really mean "feel like you have a fever that never goes away." "Stuffy nose" means "can't breath through your nose," which means breathing through your mouth, which is dry because you're vomiting and that just makes it dryer. Oh, and impossible to sleep deeply, even though you're exhausted and doze off a lot. Another symptom on not on the list is that it burns in your veins of the arm the IV is in.

It was in this horrible state that my doctor first told me that he wanted me to wait a week before delivering my baby. When you're in that much physical hell, dark thoughts come. Thoughts like it doesn't seem fair that you can kill your baby through legal abortion, but you can't decided for yourself when a viable baby should come out. (I am against abortion except when the mother will die otherwise.)

Thankfully your body does start to adjust. After a day and a half I could hold down fluids. After two days my headache diminished. After 4 days I could see, read, and think, though nothing complicated or long. Unfortunately you have to stay on it for 24 hours (or more!) after you have your baby. This is unfortunate because your body has to readjust and the horrible process starts all over again. Also, the magnesium does get into the baby's system and stays in it for a while afterwards and that can cause some minor issues that may delay your baby coming home right away.

I really wish someone had warned me about this stuff. I don't know what I would have done differently, but at least I could have been emotionally prepared for that hell. Principal Daddy was as supportive as could possibly be, and through trial and error, and the help of the experienced nurses, we discovered what helped with some of the symptoms.

For the burning in your arm from the meds, use hot pads to ease the pain. At my hospital they used the small packs that you start a chemical reaction in that last for just a little while. I used up so many of those that they brought out a water pad that plunged in and constantly heated.

For the "flushing," ask for a fan. A big one. And a cold washcloth with someone to refresh when it warms up.

For the headache, keep on top of the Tylenol. At my hospital I had to request the Tylenol, they didn't automatically give it to me. Make this the job of your significant other who is there in the hospital with you for the first few days. The cold washcloth also helps the headache. I found that on the back of my neck or over my eyes were the best spots for it.

For the stuffy nose, ask for a humidifier. At my hospital humidifiers actually have to be prescribed by the doctor, so ask as soon as you think of it.

For the nausea and vomiting, ask for IV phenergan instead of the pill form. I can't remember if they gave it to me at the beginning or not, but it did help near the end.

For everything else, sleep as much as possible.

If you are the significant other of the person on magnisum, here are some tips:

1. Don't take anything they say while on magnisum sulfate personally.
2. Do not expect them to remember anything said to them. Keep on top of what is going on, be the one to really listen to the doctor. This also applies to any issues with your baby.
3. Intervene and don't let visitors or callers take too much time. Yes, it's very nice they took the time but when you're that miserable and fuzzy brained you don't have much stamina for answering or talking to other people. Answer all the questions about your significant other's condition and baby's condition.
4. See if your hospital offers massages and see if you can get her signed up. 
5. Never leave. (Just kidding.) Take care of your needs so that you're not a cranky, stressed mess who's not good for anything.
6. Pray (if you believe) and if your church does it, see about getting anointed.

 _______________________________________________________________________
Do you have other tips that can help? Comment and share!

Preventing a Fear of the Dark

This is something we started with Builder Boy and continued with Early Bird and Lady Bug:

Every time we put a baby in their own room and their own bed we walked into a dark room with them, using only the hall light coming through the door. That way we weren't turning the room light off when we left and our baby wasn't associating darkness with the loss of mom and dad/security. We did this from day one. (They also slept in completely dark rooms with no night light.)

As they got older we also avoided books and stories that are intended to "fix" a fear of the dark because we thought it would give the kids the idea in the first place. And so far, it's worked. Neither Builder Boy who will be 7 in a few months nor Early Bird who is 4 have been afraid of the dark.

Now that the boys are older we don't need to keep doing this with them. But we are doing it with Lady Bug so that she will hopefully avoid a fear of the dark, too.

_________________________________________________________________________
Do you have a tip that resulted in preventing a fear of the dark in your child? Comment and share!