Meet the Students! 1st Grade and K4

I don't talk all that much about my kids on the blog, but today is a post all about them!  This year I have a first grader and a K4 kid.  My son turns 6 this week, actually, and my daughter is 4 and a half =)  We had a family birthday party for my son this past weekend, so we took the opportunity to get outside and snap some pictures!  Enjoy (or at least humor me)!

First up is Mackenzie.  She is so stinkin' cute =)  Like I already said, she is 4 1/2 and a complete girly-girl.  She is doing a great job learning to read and enjoys taking part in our homeschool days.  Really, though, she would rather be playing house and asks us to play with her all day.  She lives in a bit of an imaginary world, which drives my very logical son a bit crazy =)  You can pretty much always find her making 'crafts,' playing 'mommy,' or singing.  This girl loves music.  I have a feeling that music will be her thing. 

Next up is Trevor.  He is a brand-new 6-year-old!  I love how his birthday falls right at the beginning of a new school year.  That works so well for my structured brain =)  Speaking of a structured brain, this kid is me to a T.  He pretty much shares all my qualities, the good and the bad =(  When I see him struggling with something, I know that he gets it from me.  When I see him soar at certain things, I understand because his brain works just the same way mine does.  He is a deep thinker, a logical thinker.  He does not like to imagine.  He likes to understand why and to figure things out.  He is very smart, but easily frustrated.  He likes to teach others the things he has learned.  You can pretty much always find him reading a book, putting together LEGOs, playing the piano, or playing outside.  This kid will probably be an engineer or something like that.

It is so interesting to see how two children, two siblings, can be so different.  He is a strong introvert (like me), she is a complete extrovert.  He needs to step back when we are at family gatherings just to be by himself for a bit.  She asks me every day where we are going that day.  Even at age 4 she would much rather be out than in.  He is a complete realist.  She lives in an imaginary world.  "I'm having a baby today, mama.  No, really I am!  And my name is Emily.  Really, it is!"  He needs things to be logical.  Truth is more abstract to her.  They both excel at music (him at the piano, her at music in general), but for completely different reasons.  He studies pieces of music and wants to know exactly what each symbol means, and how to play each note.  She looks at any sheet of paper and sings her own song. 

They are very different, but they love each other!  I am excited to see what this school year holds for them!

Here are a few more pics, just for fun =)

 

Thanks for taking the time to meet my students this year!  Meet hundreds of other homeschool students at the 6th Annual Not Back to School blog hop hosted by the iHomeschool Network! (Starts Monday, August 18th)

Meet the Students! 2013-2014 edition

You've seen what curriculum we will be using this year, now it's time to meet the students!  This is a special year, because it is my first time with a real, school aged student.  Technically, up until now, it has just been preschool.  Today my son turns 5, so this is officially our kindergarten year.  Not much is practically changing, but it does add a little weight to how I think about this year. 

Enough about that, though...here are the kiddos!

Name: Mackenzie

 

Age: 3

 

Favorite Things: 

Drawing and all things crafty,

Gymnastics,

Dancing around the house like a "ballet girl"

Anything pink or princess

Name: Trevor

 

Age: 5

 

Favorite Things:  

Riding his bike,

  Reading,

 Figuring out how things work,
 
 Running and jumping and all things boy!

Want to see how they've grown since last year?  Check out my 2012-2013 Meet the Students post!  I just took a minute to read what I had wrote last year and I pretty much could have copied and pasted the same things here.  Funny how their basic interests and inclinations stay the same.

I'm excited to see how they learn and grow this coming year!  Who are your students this year?  Share in the comments or link up to the Not Back to School hop!

You can meet hundreds of other homeschool students by visiting iHomeschool Network's Not Back to School blog hop!

The Joys of Springtime

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  It was the first day with temperatures in the 70s here in Michigan.  In the afternoon it rained, like any good spring day should =)  My children got to go out into our yard when the rain calmed into a sprinkle and do what children love to do...play in the mud!  After a few minutes, my son came running to the door, popped his head in, and said this fine bit of wisdom to me...

"Mom, I've got two situations.  1: rain makes the flowers grow.  That is situation 1.  The other situation is this: mud is fun for playing in."

• LOVE these observation (er, 'situations') from a 4 year old boy.

• LOVE the learning that comes when children can get their hands dirty playing outside!

• LOVE the joys of springtime!

Happy Spring!

Top 10 Posts of 2012

It's the last day of 2012.  I want to thank each of you so much for visiting Living and Learning at Home over the past year.  It is always fun at this time of year to look back and remember...so here is a look back at 2012 for Living and Learning at Home.  Enjoy!

These little guys are my 'viral' post on Pinterest.  They are super cute corner bookmarks.  They are a great project for you and your kids!  Check them out...

Cute Corner Bookmarks  

This year I started creating copywork to use with my son, so I decided to make up ebook packs to sell.  This copywork pack for McGuffey's Eclectic Primer was my first and most popular so far.  You can check out all of the packs I have made at my new site Classical Copywork or check out the post dedicated to this pack....

McGuffey's Primer Copywork

This post was written in 2011, but it is my 3rd most visited post of this 2012...so does that count?  I'm going to count it =)  Here it is...

Cleaning Schedule Pages






 

This next one is a topic that is near and dear to my heart and I really enjoyed writing it.  I would love it if you would take a minute to read it if you didn't earlier this year...

Ultimate Guide to Keeping Young Children with you at Church

Here is a look at the curriculum we are using this year.  I'm happy to report that we are still using it! Ha!  We read a bunch of books that are not listed here, but these basic books are all still the same...

2012-2013 Curriculum

We do not use FIAR as our curriculum, but I know a lot of people do!  Some on you must like it since it made it into the top 10 posts of the year!  Here is a look at the FIAR lesson for The Story About Ping that we did with our homeschool group earlier in the year...

Five in a Row - The Story About Ping

This one is perfect if you are planning ahead for Valentine's Day.  We made a cute wreath out of popcorn and cranberries to feed our bird friends =)

Valentine's Wreath for the Birds

This is another one for this time of year (if you live anywhere like I do!)  This was a fun science activity that we did last year to learn about how much water is in snow...

Science Activity - Melting Snow

At the end of this past summer, my family moved into a new home.  We are so thankful to be here and it has been fun setting up house, including our school room!  Well, it's more like a half of a room, but it works for us right now...

A Peak into our School Room







The last one is from a series I have been doing since summer called the Early Grammar Stage Series.  The post that made my top 10 is about discipline.  Check out the whole series while you're at it =)

Early Grammar Stage - Discipline



I hope you enjoyed this look back at 2012 as much as I did!

I wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and I look forward to learning and growing with you in 2013!

Meet the Students - 2012

You've seen our curriculum, you've seen our school room, now it's time to meet the students!

First up is TREVOR!  He is four years old.  In fact, he is four years old today!  It is his birthday!  Trevor is all BOY.  He is almost always JUMPING or RUNNING or BOUNCING somewhere!  He likes to figure out how things work.  He is learning how to consider other people before himself and how to put his strength to good use =)  He is very INTELLIGENT, but lacks confidence.  This year we will be working on not getting discouraged so quickly and quitting, but instead being a DILIGENT worker and being motivated to finish what we start.  Trevor loves to play BALL with daddy, ride his BIKE, and EXPLORE in the outdoors. I'm so excited to see what this new school year will bring for him!

Next up is MACKENZIE!  She is two years old and my little SWEETHEART.  She is everything that embodies 'little girl.'  She is NURTURING, CALM, and loves to CUDDLE.  She loves to COLOR and is fantastic at occupying herself with things like blocks or flashcards.  She always wants to help with with housework, and works very DILIGENTLY at the jobs she is given.  She loves to SING and to look PRETTY =)  She is obsessed with playing with WATER (in a cup, in a pool, with a hose, or any way you will give it to her!) and loves to ride her BIKE.  I love to see her learning her letters and numbers, and am excited to see what she will all learn this year too!

From day one, my kids have been very different from each other, and I am beginning to see that academically as well.  Trevor is very good at memorizing things and figuring things out.  I'm sure he is 'left brained.'  But, he has never been good at creating things, or occupying himself.  He thrives on structure and not thinking of things for himself.  Mackenzie is not so quick to memorize things like the alphabet, but will sit and create something with crayons and paper and glue for an hour by herself.  I'm sure she is 'right brained.'  She does not need structure like her brother does, and loves to work hard at something until it is finished.  It's amazing to me to see how each piece of each child fits together and am interested to see how these learning styles and tendencies will play themselves out as far as school goes in the coming years.

Well, those are my kids!  How about yours?  Did you link up to the Not Back To School blog hop?  Head on over to link-up or to just meet some other families!

A Peak Into Our School Room

We're gearing up to start school over here!  We just got moved into a new house and I am so excited to have a real space for doing school.  It's not all that one day I hope it will be, but it is perfect for right now and I am so thankful for the space!  Would you like to take a peak?

 Ok, so it's more like a half of a room =)  The other half of the room has a couch (pictured), a TV, and a desk.  I really didn't want a TV in view of where we do most of our school, but that's how it's working out and as long as it is not a distraction it's ok with me.

I'm still moving things around on the shelf, deciding what things I want in the kids reach.  One of my goals was to have more arts and crafts materials for the kids to use freely, but the problem is that they are messy =) so it's trial and error figuring out what things they can truly have the freedom to use unsupervised right now!

The cork boards on the walls hold the daily schedule and also a list of things that I want to get done for the month in school.  The items (on both lists) are on sticky notes so that my son can take them down as he accomplishes them.  This is a new method for us, so we will see how it goes!

A close up of the kids desks.  My kids are little, so simple will do.  They are those cheap ($10?) Lack IKEA end tables, which little kids chairs (garage sale!) fit under perfectly!  My little girl likes to put stickers on hers =)

The other side of the room...my desk!  Another IKEA piece, their Expedit bookshelf which I'm in love with. Soooo much storage and looks clean and orderly.  Itso bins from Target fit in perfectly.

I just love these!

A close up of my planning pages up on a cork board over the desk.  Last year i tried keeping sheets like this in a binder, but I neglected it too much, so this year I'm trying a new method.  Maybe I'll share these printable planning sheets with you all if you're interested =)  You can download these pages for yourself here!

In the living room I'm working on a whole wall of book shelves!  Yes, those are the same IKEA shelves as by my desk, just the 4x4 size.  There are two of them, one in front of the other right now.  I have to wait until we get rid of another piece of furniture on the opposite wall before I can set these up like I want to, but I'm excited to get all our books up!  What I love is that as our collection expands, I can get more of these (smaller sized) shelves and stack them onto of these 4x4 units to create floor to ceiling shelves!


How is your school room coming...or how is it working, if you've already started school?

Happy Decorating!