Been Livin it Up!!!

"Where have you BEEN all summer?" you ask... my answer is, "LIVING!"

I can't believe we've only got a week of summer left. This time has truly sped by! Perhaps it is because we have seen so much growth, learning, completed projects, and a healthy dose of fun?

Emmett went from scooting in an army crawl...to full on crawl...to pulling himself up and toddling his first steps with a walker! He's in the "troublemaker" phase of life and we LOVE it!

Caroline went from crazy athletic bundle of energy to a crazy athletic bundle of energy who is pretty much ready for preschool (she has been working on her letter recognition and early reading) and she is looking so grown up in her FIRST haircut ever!

Gwen went from being scared to put her face in the water to swimming like a fish (actually, she insists she swims like a mermaid) and trying to see how long she can stay underwater. She also went from a toddler bike (her gangly legs were WAY to long for it) to getting a big 20 inch bike that she can balance on up and down hills without training wheels! (We haven't put the pedals on yet, so can't officially say she rides a bike... yet). She's really excited to start 1st grade and show off her reading and math skills that she's been honing with daddy all summer! 

Both girls also learned a few sewing skills this summer. From small hand-stitched pillows to mini quilts...but the crowning achievement was definitely Gwen's completed cute little bag! Yes, she sewed that herself! (I helped with the cutting, ironing, and turning it right side out. whew getting the whole bag through that tube was a chore, I tell ya!)

As a family, we took a trip to Virginia for a Hart family reunion---  we experienced the Atlantic Ocean for the first time!

  So here's to a great summer, as it begins its departure. The Ohio Allans have definitely enjoyed it! 

Scripture Study for Kids-- Developing Independent Habits While Keeping it Fun

I love the word of God because it guides me closer to the WORD of God, my Savior Jesus Christ. Want to know something amazing? My little 6 1/2 year old girl LOVES her Savior too! She tries so hard to follow Him-- her relationship with her sister being her thorn in the flesh, I'd say-- and is eagerly anticipating her baptism in a year and a half (in our faith, children are not baptized until they turn 8-- an age of accountability and conscious choice). I wanted to do something for her to strengthen her developing relationship with Christ. Knowing how pivotal the scriptures have been in my continuing conversion, I thought it appropriate to encourage her in the same direction.

Our plan is to give her a nice, leather-bound copy of the scriptures when she turns 8 as a baptism present. And I thought, 'wouldn't it be wonderful if she already knows how to mark verses properly and is familiar with where each 'book' can be located and maybe even knows where her favorite scripture stories can be found?'...and then I stumbled upon Latter-Day Homeschooling and Dana's post about a scripture study plan for young children... and I was so very inspired and excited to do something like this, tailored just for Gwen!

(image from Latter-Day Homeschooling blog)

I hit the jackpot with Prepared LDS Family and Valerie's post with accompanying printable study guide (she was coincidentally ALSO inspired by Latter-Day Homeschooling!). Don't you love it when someone has already done the work for you? But I wanted to find a scripture study guide that utilized BOTH the illustrated scripture stories AND the actual scriptures, so I knew I'd need to tweak her program to Gwen's needs. Valerie kindly provided me with an Exell version of her study chart (and updated her site with the editable version--- go check it out following the link above if you want to customize one of your own!) so I could edit out the videos (which we don't have) and add in more scripture mastery verses (I only did ones I thought my almost 7-yr-old could understand and I added a page number to help her find it), and omitted a Sunday assigned reading for each week. I figured she can 'browse' once a week. I added lots of thought-provoking questions and I hope it encourages her to ponder rather than just skim.

This way Gwen gets a) the stories from the illustrated scriptures in a comprehensible format, b) learning where the stories can be located in the actual scriptures, c) becoming familiar with the language of scriptures, d) learning how to find verses in the scriptures, and e) practice marking verses.
We have been doing her study guide for over 3 weeks now and Gwen is loving it! She asks "mom, can I study my scriptures now?" all the time!

Some things we do to keep it fun:

• colorful tabs to help her find the book she needs (a diy project of my own invention: you just use Post-It tabs, stick down on one side of the page, fold it over, and tape it down on the other side)
  
• a personalized scripture journal with a picture of Christ 
  
• colored pencils for marking AND for drawing a picture about what she read each day. 
• stickers for scripture stories (I found these transparent ones that go IN the scriptures and are familiar Gospel Art Kit (GAK) images--free printable ones here at MeekMom, 
  
• or these opaque ones from Latter-Day Homeschooler that go in the scripture journal. New Testament free here and Book of Mormon free here)
• a pretty little bag I sewed for her using this adorable pattern (designed by a friend of mine--- so happy to say I know Ashley of Mommy by Day Crafter by Night personally!) so Gwen can take her scriptures to church. The bag is not huge: it fits her scriptures, her journal, and some colored pencils with room to spare, but this is not a 'take-all-your-toys-and-chapstick-to-primary-and-be-distracting' kind of a bag. I think it is perfect!!!
  

And, just in case anyone is curious, Caroline (age 4) also does scripture time. But she cannot read yet, so there are no journal prompts. She gets to have me read to her and then color pictures in a scripture stories binder we are building little by little. 

And the exciting part is that I can tweak the study guide each year to add in things as she is ready for them: adding in my favorite verses, topical or seasonal study, attribute study, Articles of Faith, missionary study, etc. Another thing I'd like to add in the future would be 'definition' stickers that she can put in her scriptures to define new vocabulary she might not be familiar with. Another great resource (not free) that I'm considering investing in are scripture timelines that go on the wall with attachable figures (sounds like a great way to 'advent' the study of the text and keep it interactive for the kids, right?) available here.

I would also like to do a scripture treasure hunt journey together as a family, using this awesome idea

AND Trina's awesome reading charts:

 I am excited to incorporate the AMAZING scripture journaling resources (not free, but still awesome!) over at Red-Headed Hostess . I think that will be part of her "scripture gift package" when she turns 8! There are great things there for teens too and I can hardly wait til she is ready for those!

(image from Red-Headed Hostess)

I just LOVE studying the scriptures!!!  In fact, I've kind of got things tentatively planned out on when I will introduce each new element so that scripture study stays fun and fresh throughout the years! I get so excited about these kinds of teaching things!

Gwen is eager to share what she is learning and reminds me often, "I love reading my scriptures because then I feel closer to Jesus". What a good girl. What a good example to me too. Hope something here inspires you to get your little ones excited about reading the word of God!

Veggies and Gardening Preschool

I love to garden. Love it. I'm going to blame (thank) my dad for that. He is a passionate gardener and I have vivid memories of summer mornings spent out in the garden pulling up rocks (10 cents per 5 gallon bucket. Ugh. We hated that injustice. :) But I learned to love having my hands dirty and cultivating something til fruition. All kinds of wonderful lessons there. 

We have a modest family garden and our kids enjoy helping us with that. Of course, at their ages they are not yet doing the 'hard' work of the garden, but we are hoping to start them loving gardening and self-sufficiency early. I was really excited to do this week of science-y seeds, veggies, and gardening with Caroline!

I LOVE this free printable! It is perfect for this time of year when Caroline is pretty strong on recognition of letters but needs practice on the sounds they produce. This is a beginning sounds veggie clip sheet with upper case letters on one side and lower case letters on the other. You could alternatively cut out each card to make clip cards, but we opted for easy here. Those candies are "carrots":) free printable from Pinay Homeschooler

pumpkin life cycle word trace printable

I happened to have these wonky shaped pipe cleaners that were PERFECT little carrots! Caroline rolled the die and harvested that many carrots. Then she did it again and replanted. We harvested and planted repeatedly bc she really loved this activity! idea for pipe cleaner carrots from Sorting Sprinkles.

Books we read:

Rah Rah Radishes

Creepy Carrots (which the girls really thought was hilarious. They quote it now and bust up laughing every time. Kid humor is hilarious. I thought it was cute but didn't realize it was THAT funny!)

For our Veggie/Gardening book club: 

Books: 

The Carrot Seed

Carrot Soup

Tops and Bottoms

After The Carrot Seed we sang "This is they way we plant the seed" (...so early in the morning) with all kinds of carrot-appropriate verses that we made up on the fly!

-plant the seed

-water the seed

-sun shines down

-pull the weeds

-patiently wait

-harvest the carrots

-wash the carrots

-peel the carrots

-eat the carrots!

After reading Carrot Soup we did wheelbarrow races which the kids thoroughly enjoyed!

After Tops and Bottoms we shared our favorite vegetable and named whether it was a top, bottom, or middle. 

I was originally going to do some carrot art with mud paint with 2 equally awesome options:

real mud plus glue:

mud-copycat paint: 

I still think both those ideas are great and would like to do them in the future. 

But when I got RSVPs back for over 16 kids, I decided I didn't want to do a messy art project at our kitchen table. So instead we planted seeds in wet paper towels that the kids could take home and watch grow in a window. 

 look at those 'octopus' roots!

It is so fun to have Caroline checking on the progress of her seed every day, multiple times a day!

Our snack was, naturally, raw veggies with ranch. We sampled carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, sweet peppers, snap peas, garden-grown baby spinach, and even an avocado. The kids loved tasting a garden! :)

and unrelated to preschool or book club, but relating to gardens... here is a pic of our seeds coming up! the girls helped plant all of this before we put up the bunny fence.

 Sweet Candy onions

Amethyst beans (they are deep purple!)

our dwarf lemon tree is happy to be outside after a bleak winter!

Do you garden with your kids?

Spring Exploring

Spring is upon us (finally!) and we are loving the color and outdoor exploration!

flower-themed ABC practice

flower pattern-making

little daffodils (these were made at book club--- all the kids wanted to use these mini cupcake liners because they were so cute, though the flower size would look better with regular sized liners)

Gwen has been enjoying our rainbow of flowers

Caroline is loving running around outside and looking at the dirt in the sidewalks

trees need to be smacked by sticks. It is a right of childhood passage, I think. 

We had a week themed around rain and rainbows. I happened to have found these rainbow water beads on clearance (SCORE!!!) and pulled em out to do a little 'science' activity. See how small they start out? This is awesome...

Caroline and I talked about what she thought was going to happen and defined that as a 'hypothesis'. 

She was pretty excited to see them growing bigger only 20 minutes later. 

 

After 2 hours, they were huge! and they have this AMAZING tactile feel that just demanded exploration. Lots of squishing and sorting ensued. 

They tried to sort out which colors grew the largest and which ones remained the smallest. 

Moving the beads from one receptacle to another was just pure joy. I couldn't believe that these 15 cent things could keep my kiddos entertained for OVER AN HOUR!!!! Now THAT is a fabulous kid activity! :)

ps. you know what else is cool? They shrink back down as the water evaporates!