MAY grocery shopping deals!

Now that it's May we can shop for seasonal products at reduced sale prices. In May look to buy:

• Memorial Day: BBQ Sauce, Condiments, Charcoal, Salad Dressing, Potato Chips, Dips, Grilling Meats, Hot Dogs, Hamburger Meat, Marinade, Salad Greens
• Paper Products: Plates, Utensils, Insect Repellant, Sunscreen
• Cinco De Mayo: Salsa, tortillas
• Seasonal Produce: Artichokes, Asparagus, Avocado, Beans, Green, Beets, Blackberries, Carrots, Sweet Vidalia Onions, Peas, New Potatoes, Raspberries, Strawberries

What TO wear... Family Portrait Style

I always say COORDINATE do not match, meaning pick 3 or 4 colors and everyone wear a variation of them . I love COLORS patterns and layers and accesories

These are my opinions based on My experience of what I think photographs well:)

Here are some of my Do's and Dont's

DONT wear all WHITE shirts (or black or red or ANYTHING where everyone is in the same color. This is a very dated look (90's:)) Also everyone blends together and makes the image less interesting.

DO wear patterns! I love little boys and men in a colorful plaid shirt. I then would have others bring out one of the colors of the plaid shirt and wear a plain colored shirt and pair it with a cute scarf, boots or heels.

DONT wear LOGOS!!!!!! No NIKE, PATAGONIA, GAP or other labels. This is VERY distracting in an image. There is a slight exception to this... if you prefer a more urban style sometimes graphic tees work:) For example a "Rockstar" shirt, make sense?

DO layers! Put a polo shirt under the little guys plaid shirt. Bring a denim Jacket to wear over the dress. A cute Pea Coat with matching heels is just darling! Switching out layers changes up the look and feel of the photos.

DONT wear something unflattering. This seems like a given right? BUT Im constantly surprised when women complain that they hate their arms yet they choose a short sleeve shirt. To this I say 3/4 length sleeves:)

DO go shopping and purchase new clothes (or at least some new items). I figure, if you are investing in a photo session than you would like the images as awesome as possible right? Put some thought into the outfits:)

What TO wear

I should be on a TLC special. My wardrobe needs serious assistance, some purging, some watchful eyes and some 'friendly' imput.... I definately have the Wardrobe Essentials: 1) Classic White Blouse

2) Little Black Dress

3)Basic Pant Suit 4)Pencil Skirt

5)Neutral Tone Pants

6) Jeans

7) Tank tops & Tee-shirts (layer-able) 8) Shells (sleeve-less tops) 9)Cardigan

10) Cocktail Dress 11) Assortment of Jewlery 12) Assortment of belts, scarves and bags 13) Basic flats, basic heals and tall boots 14) Tailored Blazer 15) Long 'trench' Coat 16) Crew or Polo Sweater 17) Comfy Sweatshirt 18) White Cotton T-Shirt 19) Leather Jacket

...More Scheduling

A traditional school year is five to six hours a day, 5 days a week for 36 weeks or 180 days.

As a home-schooling family, we could have chosen to follow the same schedule of the local school, but we chose to customize a schedule to suit our family’s needs.

According to the state of Connecticut, we do not have to do every subject every day of the school year.

I have been struggling with the amount of activities in which to enroll my children and just beginning to face the realities that I do not have to enroll my children in every class or outside activity that their/my friends do.

I have decided to enroll each child in in only one pay activity per week. Of course I will schedule play dates and the like, and invite other children to sit in some of our activities and lessons, but I do not want these things to interfere with the educational purpose of home schooling.

Our Fridays will continue to be left for field trip days whereas, Monday through Thursday will hold the highest concentration of academic study. I do however, plan on teaching some things on Fridays and Saturdays.

I am such a planner that I cannot help myself about planning out everything. Of course, I do not anticipate a play-by-play daily run-down, but I will specify subject area topics for each day.

The amount of time spent on each subject depends upon the age, small motor skills, learning style, and abilities of each child (ranges as follows: 3-5 minutes for preschoolers, 10-20 minutes for 1st -3rd graders, 20-45 minutes for 4th – 6th graders, 45 minutes or more for 8th – 12th graders). Although Jonathan is at a preschool age, his attention-span, learning style and abilities enable lessons to run approximately 10-15 minutes.

The total number of hours spent each day in one-on-one instruction ranges as follows: thirty minutes in Kindergarten (broken up into several five-minute sessions), one to two hours in grades 1 – 6, two hours or more in grades 7 – 12. Again, more can be accomplished orally than handwritten for children with handwriting difficulties. In our planning, our TOTAL home-schooling daily agenda is two hours — which conveniently is the amount of nap-time for the baby.

The remainder of our school day is spent in independent book exploration, free play activities with his siblings and friends, complete own “chores”, exploring an instrument, create an art projects, and/or participate in any other activity that can be done independently. The television and computers are not available during the school day, and are limited to ninety minutes weekly, other than for educational purposes.

Some states require an excess of four to five hours of home schooling daily, thankfully Connecticut is not one of them. However there is a difference between “actual teaching time” and “school attendance” time.

DIY chalkboard creation

I've been trying to figure out what to do with the "old" closet doors that have been sitting in the garage idol for well over a year, when it finally dawned on me.... We NEED a chalkboard! And while we're at it, it should be magnetic! Oo ooh and cork someplace.... O oo oo and a felt board too!
I spent a few days taking the door panels apart, re configuring them,cleaning them and prepping them for painting BEFORE I actually started my new "project".
I finally painted and re painted and corked and felted and bordered until I felt it was use-able... and the final, the kids LOVED it!

Menu & Message boards -COMPLETED!

On the left is the menu board, days of the week labeled with stamps and laminated to create a dry-erase-board-esque area for hand-printing the meal of the day and ribbon and colored clothes pins are handy to attach recipe cards for meals as well.

On the right is the important message board, equipped with a dry-erase area, ribbon for clothes-pinning and sticky notes...making it easier to keep track of the essential tasks of them week.

Scheduling

MATH

An ability-appropriate level math textbook for each child. 4 days per week. — I am completely against math texts for young children, instead I would recommend a workbook, or series of worksheets.

Drill work on math facts, 3-10 min/day, 5 days per week (while learning math facts). — Starting as simple as rout counting.

Math reading: Each Friday or 2nd Friday of the month, as needed.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Phonics: (for beginning readers), daily.

Handwriting: (while learning penmanship), 2 days per week, Tuesday & Thursday.

Spelling: Monday, Wednesday & Friday. —To begin only AFTER ‘cvc‘ words have begun to be mastered.

Grammar: 2 days per week, Tuesday & Thursday.

Reading Practice and Literature: (read-alouds, personal reading, fluency reading, vocabulary development, reading comprehension, american and world literature) daily, integrated into other subjects.

Composition: 2 – 3 days per week, Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Use compositions to reinforce grammar instruction as well as for additional handwriting practice while your child is learning penmanship. —-NOT until fluency in reading is established.

Vocabulary: daily integrated into reading/literature, as well as other subject areas as needed.

HISTORY/CITIZENSHIP

Use a grade-level history (textbook daily or) complete 3 to 6 history history units per year. If doing units, spend 1-1/2 to 2 hours per day, 2 days per week (Tuesday and Thursday) for 36 weeks, incorporating reading, hands-on activities, art, music, and composition, as appropriate.

Integrate citizenship into history curriculum or complete one or two special classes per year.

Geography and Mapping Skills: Mondays

Current Events: daily

SCIENCE

Use a grade-level science (textbook daily or) complete 3 to 6 science science units per year. If doing units, spend 1-1/2 to 2 hours per day, 2 days per week (Monday and Wednesday) for 36 weeks, incorporating reading, hands-on activities, lab work, art, music and composition, as appropriate.

ART

Each Wednesday, as needed.

MUSIC

Each Monday, as needed.

COMPUTER SKILLS

Each Saturday and/or integrate into other subjects, as needed.

Keyboarding: daily (after child has learned to write in cursive and until he can type a minimum of 40 wpm with only 1-2 errors).

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Keep track of 75 minutes of physical activity per week.

Attend one or two special classes on Tuesdays, as needed.

HEALTH/SAFETY

Integrate into science curriculum.

ELECTIVES:

Bible: daily

Foreign Language: briefly integrate into lessons daily, as needed.

Field trips: Fridays or occasionally substitute for Monday – Thursday school day, as needed.

Social Activities: daily play time with friends after school, during field trips, Fridays, special classes, or weekends

Daily Schedule

Our daily schedule is very flexible to allow for unplanned events or other opportunities that may arise throughout the day. Some days we do not fit all this in....but we try!
We have a movie day once in a while, especially on rainy days. I choose the movie. Sometimes we will have a picnic on the rec room floor with a large blanket and lots of pillows.....and we eat our snack while watching the movie. This is only done as a special reward "because we had such a good day"!
We do go outside every day to play in the backyard (weather permitting).
6:45 – 7:00 am Arrival/Free Play
7:30 – 8:00 am Breakfast
8:00 – 9:00 am Constructed Play
9:00 – 10:30 am Learning activities with snack
10:30 am - 11:45 am Arts & Crafts/ Indoors or Out
11:45 am - 12:00 pm Clean-up Playroom - Lunch
12:00pm – 1:00 pm Free Play
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Story & rest time
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm Snack
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Constructive Indoor play
4:30 pm – 5:00 pm Clean-up & Meal Preparation
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Dinner & Desert
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Walk, Family Time
7:30 pm – 8:00 pm Bedtime preparation (bath/shower, teeth brushing, story time)
8:00 pm – 8:15 pm Bedtime