Wordless Wednesday: Sunset

Sunset in Hartwell, Georgia (March 2012)

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday.

Wittle People Wednesday: Neighborhood Watch

I know I've shared this photo on my blog before, but it's still one of my favorites.  :)  This is a flashback to May 2004, when Robert was 7 and Josiah was nearly 2.  (He was a really big two year old!)

This post is linked to Wittle People Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesday

A barn in Tennessee we drove by (June 2012)

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's photo scavenger hunt items were:

1. Candid
2. Toys
3. Any of the five senses
4. Batteries
5. Half

Candid

You can call them candid shots...I call it stalking.  ;)

I stalked my children this week, catching Josiah (10) going down our driveway on his skateboard.

 
I caught Grace (6) sleeping on my bed...

and climbing a tree...

She was a little worried here, wondering the best way to climb back down.

and racing around our driveway on her bike.

I caught Robert (15) playing new music at our computer. 

I don't know how I managed to get this shot--he's actually looking at the camera and smiling, all at the same time.  It's not exactly a candid, but he's smiling, so I had to include it.  :)

Toys

Who needs toys when you have a dog to hug

and mimic...

 

and mimic some more?  (All because I said Josiah looked like Bono with his black camouflage shirt...)

And who needs toys when you have a tree to climb?

Yep--she managed to get down by herself.

 

Any of the five senses

On Saturday, we went to a free Christian concert event called Celebrate Freedom.  There were all the sights and sounds of the concerts

plus carny food.  My dear, sweet husband braved the always incredibly long line for funnel cakes! 

During part of the concert, I found my youngest children plugging their ears...and that tickled me, since they are among the loudest children I know.  ;)

Batteries

There are several things that dogs require; fortunately, batteries isn't one of them.  (That was just my attempt to include this sweet photo of Grace and Bono.  It didn't turn out anything like I wanted it to, but I love their looks of mutual adoration.)

Half

Our 6 year old looks to be about half the size of our 5 month old puppy. (Bono really does outweigh Grace but I couldn't tell you by how much.)

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in the fun!  

WFMW: Homeschool Organization

I've been looking around for some kind of inexpensive container that would work well with...well...containing each child's school books on a daily basis.  I know some families use plastic milk crates, but I knew that Josiah's box, in particular, would be a royal mess and we'd end up with damaged books, crumpled papers, a fussy mom, etc.  I was delighted when I saw these Sterilite Locker Crates for $4 each at Wal-mart!  They are essentially narrow milk crates with a solid bottom, and they are perfect for our needs. 

They come in a small variety of colors (Robert's, not shown, is red and is in his bedroom) and are stackable on the short end.

Grace (6) asked me why I needed a box.  Oh, how I laughed.

Grace packed her box full of any workbook she could find around here. She is an enthusiastic student.

I put a small piece of (bright orange) poster board in Josiah's box--at the start of the school day, all of his books are in front of the poster board.  As he completes a subject, he puts that book behind the poster board so he can clearly see what he still needs to finish.  (Otherwise, he will get up to go to the bathroom or to get water, return to find a closed book, and think he's somehow already finished everything when, in fact, he hasn't completed one subject.  Sigh...)

I have a small Ziploc bag in my box where I keep a few things so they will be handy throughout the day.  I occasionally use the die with the index cards as rapid addition, subtraction (on the reverse side of the card) or multiplication drill.  Since the die are kept in my bag, they don't sprout legs and run off.  (So far, at least.)

We typically use spiral notebooks for most subjects, but with two lefties (Josiah and Grace), I am moving towards using composition notebooks with them instead so the spiral wire is not in the way while writing.  (Plus, I've only seen the composition notebooks on sale for $.10 each this year, so I bought fewer spiral notebooks anyway.)  I'll still use the spiral notebooks with Robert.

This is where I store all the unused notebooks:  in a shoebox under my bed.  Fancy, huh?  If I leave them out in any other place (bookshelf, etc.), Grace writes in all of them.  I may have another author on my hands...

At the end of the school year, any partially unused notebooks are returned to the shoebox after tearing out the used pages.  In a pinch, partial is better than nothing.  :)

On an entirely different note, I have had the hardest time getting Josiah (10) to label his answers to math word problems.  Since it became a daily thing, I tried to keep it lighthearted as I questioned him..."Do you mean cookies?  bananas?  squirrels?"...and I always kept "squirrels" as one of the possible labels.  He finally picked up on this just this week, and this is what I found on his math page:

Cherries...not squirrels, mom  =)

Whoo hoo!  A labeled answer!  

And, yes, he wrote a sideways smiley face like he's seen on the computer.

A little bit of organizational improvement--and a little well-placed humor--works for me!


Check out We Are THAT Family for more Works For Me Wednesday posts.

On the Square

Photo is SOOC except for cropping

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's photo scavenger hunt items were:

1. School
2. Rule of thirds
3. Side Profile
4. Small
5. Motion

School

One of my friends said that with my three kids' ages (15, 10, and 6), it was as though I were trying to homeschool in the most labor-intensive way.   I don't know if that's entirely true, although there are some days I feel it.  ;)  During our school time, we have this

Printing (for Grace) and cursive (for Josiah)...and reading glasses for me.

and this

Some of Robert's 10th grade subjects

and everything in between!

Rule of thirds

Raindrops on vinka

Side profile

...of long-legged Bono and his long-legged monkey.

Bono (5 months old)

Small

Grace cleared off the table and wiped it well for me, and loved the results so much that she made a small attempt to keep it looking so great.  She wanted her note to read "Don't put stuff here."  Alas, suppertime arrived and things went back to normal.

Motion

OK, there is absolutely no detectable motion in this last photo, which is precisely why I am including it.  ;)  This huge light green moth found a safe spot on our front porch, and he apparently felt really safe there because he stayed for hours.

Photo is SOOC except for a little editing to "clean" my vinyl siding.

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in the fun!