How to Make Eggshell Planters

It's that time of year again, when the weather gets better and everyone wants to head outdoors. Today we worked on making eggshell planters. I've seen this idea around on TV and such, but never tried it. The ideas I've seen usually use grass seeds to make the hair, but we used chive seeds.

This is a great hands-on lesson when learning about recycling and gardening. You can teach how eggshells decompose, so you can break up the bottom and plant it directly into the ground.

Here's how we made our decomposable eggshell planters:

First crack the top of the egg with a sharp knife. I just quickly tapped around the top of the egg, pulled it off, and drained out the yolk. Then I rinsed out the shell and put it back into the carton to dry.



This is how much egg we have left:




Next, we drew faces on the egg shells with markers.




Then we went outside and carefully filled the eggshells with potting mix and chive seeds. Then we covered the seeds with a bit more soil.




Lastly, we watered them.




They are now sitting in our windowsill. The pack says 15 days until germination, so I'll post an update of our egg people when they start to sprout. She had a really great time making these, and the egg shells will provide calcium to our garden when we transplant. Happy Homeschooling!

Signs of Dyslexia in Preschoolers

Preschool homeschoolers have a lot on their plate. Besides teaching, they have to look for and understand the signs of certain learning disabilities. The early years are when the symptoms come to light and you may notice some things unsettling about your child's learning behaviors. My advice is to never ignore any warning signs because you don't want to believe there is a problem. Many times what seems like a problem is a temporary setback and nothing to worry about. Other times it's a sign that your child will need a little extra help.

What got me thinking about this was the way Avlyn wrote her numbers in a game of hopscotch yesterday. She drew all the squares and wrote all of the numbers except 1, 4, and 8 backwards. Not only did she draw all of these backward, she didn't follow the typical pattern of starting with 1 and working her way up to 10. She wrote the 10first (01)and then worked her way down.

I've also noticed on occasion that when she reads she will read from right to left. She never opens the book from right to left or reads the right page first, but just starts at the end of the sentence and works her way to the beginning. Of course she isn't actually reading, but making up a story that corresponds with the picture and pretending that's what the words say. She also still struggles with some minor speech problems such as the hard /c/ sound and the /g/ sound. And it got me thinking that maybe we have a problem.

But rather than get extensive testing and start freaking out, I did a little research. I think with a little extra work and repetition we won't have a problem. She did not meet 90% of the signs, and the signs she does meet I know are also common things preschoolers do as they learn. It just seems to be a setback rather than a problem. But I found the following website useful in determining signs of dyslexia in preschoolers. If any of you are experiencing the same sort of learning issues we are, try this site if dyslexia is your main concern.

Bright Solutions for Dyslexia

Teaching Music and Theater Appreciation Involves More Than Baby Einstein

When I was pregnant with Avlyn I had a friend give me a whole set of those Baby Einstein Dvd's. I think we opened two before I resold it on eBay. While I appreciate the effort the company made at marketing a product to parents under the guise that listening and watching these makes their baby smarter, it just wasn't for us.

But that doesn't mean I'm against teaching music from a young age. It just means I want a more hands-on approach to a subject that should be fully experienced with all the senses. That's why I'm a big believer in live theater shows for young children.

I have some friends who tell me, "Oh, well I took baby to see Sesame Street Live-Nick Jr. Live, Dora Live etc.. They loved it." That's great. It's a start in the right direction. But is it true music and theater appreciation for preschoolers? I know, I know, you may be thinking that your child is not going to sit through a 2-hour show without misbehaving unless Blue is on an adventure to find clues. But have you tried?

The same parents who thought it imperative to play a Baby Mozart CD to their stomach during pregnancy are now assuming their child is too little to sit through the Nutcracker or a high school rendition of Oklahoma. Where did we lose them on the quest for increasing their child's brain power? Hopefully not for the reason that attending a live show is just too much trouble and a CD or DVD is easier.

With our son we did the usual Sesame Street shows - and ultimately he really doesn't have an appreciation for music or the theater. With my daughter though, I decided to try something different. I decided to forgo the kiddie shows and start with a more adult show. Last year we went and saw the musical Mamma Mia! It was almost 3 hours long. She had recently turned 4, and she sat through every second of it without complaint. Later that year we saw a local production of The Wizard of Oz.

This year we saw Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which includes some of the best music in a Disney show, in my opinion. The play was not aimed at kids (the fact that I could see the broomstick Babette's butt any time she bent over was testament to that.)but was a traditional off-broadway show. Again, she sat through it all without complaint. She clapped, she cheered, she got scared when the lights dimmed and the wolves appeared, and she laughed at Lafue's antics. She truly appreciated the show and the music. And to me that is more educational than any cleverly marketed DVD program or CD.

To make it more enjoyable, I download the music from the musicals and we listen to it on our way to the theater. If the show isn't a musical, then I see if there is a movie of the play and we watch that before seeing the live show. I've yet to attempt a show that neither of us has any background information on.

Not only is she learning to appreciate theater and music, she's learning how to behave at an adult event. This is a life lesson that will prove good for her as she grows and experiences new things. She's learning what it means to get dressed up and act like a lady. Now my goal is to cast a line and reel my son back in. I'm convinced I can convince him to try a show next year. I would love to watch both of my children appreciate live theater and music together.



 

The Miracle of Birth

We are done having children. At least that's what we tell each other. The Lord could always have a different plan, but in our minds we are finished. Because of this, Avlyn will never experience a baby until she has her own. Her brother loved helping feed her and learning all about how to care for a baby. She is stuck pretending with dolls and plastic bottles. Or so I thought.

One day we picked up Avlyn's guinea pig, Adelis, and discovered that her belly was rather large. At first I just thought she was eating too much because her brother had gotten a little chubby, too. But she kept growing and wanting more food and tons of water. There wasn't a moment that went by when she wouldn't hear the scruffy sound of my slippers and start squealing for food.

In January, I realized she was expecting. We were very excited and nervous, not knowing what to expect. She had gotten pregnant before we got her, so I'm not sure who the 'baby daddy' is. We were careful not to squeeze her belly and mostly just left her alone. A few days before Valentine's day I held her and could feel the babies moving in her belly. I let Avlyn feel and we talked about how babies grow in bellies.

The night before Valentine's day, we held her again and felt the babies moving around. I assumed we still had a couple weeks before D-day. So I was quite surprised to check on her on Valentine's day and see a little white head looking back at me. (Adelis is all brown and her brother is black) The babies weren't there around 11 a.m., but when I checked at 2:00, there they were. Here is a pic of the piggies just a few hours after birth:


She had an albino, a black one, and a multi-colored one. Guinea pigs can be handled immediately after birth, so the kids were excited to see brand new, hours old guinea pigs. They still had their umbilical cords attached and were adamantly nursing. This experience has been a great lesson in the miracle of birth for us, and it's helped show Avlyn exactly what a mommy does for her babies.

She now has first-hand experience with the birthing and nursing process, along with how different babies develop at different rates. She thought it was neat when the babies ate real food after only 3 days. Sadly, we cannot keep five guinea pigs and the babies are off to new homes. They grow quite rapidly, and are ready to leave their mama after only a month. Aren't we glad our little ones depend on us much longer?


Above is a pic of the piggies from just two days ago. You can see how much they've plumped up and grown in less than 4 weeks. They've all since gone on to new families, which is another lesson all in itself. Happy Homeschooling!

Cheap Homemade Bubble Blowers

Spring is right around the corner. For those of you who have dealt with a harsh winter, there's nothing like being able to open the windows and let a bit of somewhat warm air circulate in the house.

If you're like us and are dying to get outside for some playtime, use these last few colder weeks to make some bubble blowers. Both of my kids love them and they do induce a lot of giggles.

I saw the idea in Family Fun magazine a few months ago. They are super easy to make and can be used outside or in the bathtub. I'm going to have our playgroup make them when we do an Earth Day activity at our house. That's another idea - you could file this away and bring it back out for a recycling lesson on Earth Day.

Project: Bubble blower
Time: Between 5-10 minutes
Cost: Less than $3 if using items on hand.

Items needed:

1 plastic water bottle
1 wash cloth
1 or 2 rubber bands
1 bowl of soapy bubbles

Directions:

Cut the bottom off the water bottle. Attach a wash cloth to the opening using a rubber band. We had to double up because the wash cloth got so heavy after it was wet. If you use a lighter material, you probably just need 1 rubberband. If needed, trim the edges of the cloth to make it lighter. Just make sure there is no opening between the cloth and the sides of the bottle or the bubbles won't really work.

Dip the cloth into a bowl of soapy bubble water and blow through the top. This won't blow big round bubbles, but make more of a bubble 'snake.' Increase the fun by adding colors to the water or having the kids race to see whose snake grows the fastest. Happy Homeschooling!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss - Free Dr. Seuss Preschool Activities

It's time to light some oversized candles on a wacky cake and wish happy birthday to one of the world's most innovative children's authors - Dr. Seuss. If it weren't for Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat probably wouldn't even exist. And no one would have the pleasure of actually trying to make green eggs and ham. And when people unexpectedly talk in rhyme when trying to make a point we could never retort, "Who are you? Dr. Seuss?" Without Dr. Seuss's bright books and wacky stories, many beginning readers would have had to suffer through beginning reading instruction with a Dick and Jane book.

To celebrate this author, we are going to crack open a handful of his books today. My kids got two sets of Seuss books for Christmas one year, so there are very few that we're still missing. We're also gonna spend some time over at
Seussville, playing online games and printing out fun activities. I've already got my printer set to spit out Dr. Seuss's activity book.

And to quote Dr. Seuss, make sure you remind your little one that: "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose." Happy Homeschooling!

Teaching Preschoolers About Friendship

Preschool seems to be the time when kids start making real friends. The experts say toddlers are too little to make real friends and a part of me believes that, but another part thinks that's not entirely true. However, I've seen both of my kids make true friends between the ages of 3 and 5.

I think it's important to teach kids exactly what friendship is on a level they understand. My son had to leave his best friend Diego when we moved from Florida to Missouri. This was hard on him, but we taught him that the memories he has of Diego would last his whole life. (The incident of when they both peed on our dog is the most talked about memory.) To do this we play the Memory Friend Game. This is a simple game that can be played during dinner. You simply name a friend you've had in life, and talk about all the memories you can remember, both good and bad.

Role playing is a great way to show kids what it's like to be a good friend. Preschool is the time when kids are still learning to share and not be bossy. By playing a game where you're the bossy friend, or the friend who doesn't like to share, you and your child can talk about why it's not fun to play with someone who doesn't act nicely while playing. You can then reverse the roles for more discussion and role playing.

I also like to make a "Why I Like...." list. For this my daughter picks a friend and then I write down all the attributes she likes about that friend. Then we take two different friends and see how they're alike and different. Then we talk about how you can have all different sorts of friends because everyone brings something different to your life. Her attributes are pretty basic right now. She likes her friends because they have pretty hair or because they have a pink sparkly bracelet, but it's a start to learning how to pick out good attributes in a person.

As my kids get older, we talk about respect and peer pressure. My 9-year old is currently learning about what it means to respect your friends and expect the same respect in return. He's also learning what it means to stand up for yourself and not be intimidated by someone just because they act a fool. I'm hoping that by teaching about friendship from a young age, my children will grow up with a good group of friends. Because when it comes down to it, there will come a point where their friends' opinions are more important than mom's and dad's opinion. Hopefully they'll make friends with the types of kids we'd choose for them to be friends with.

I think the thing that defines whether a person really understands friendship is not just knowing how to make a new friend, but how to maintain that relationship. Even though my closest friends and I have moved to different states, if I saw them tomorrow it would be like I'd just seen them yesterday. I'm hoping to teach my kids how to make and maintain lifelong friendships that stand the trials and tribulations that time brings. And if you're eventually sending your kids off to school, there's no better time to start teaching them about friendship than at home.

How to Make a Valentine Heart Flower

Today we made a valentine heart flower. It's so simple, and yet such a fun project too. I used it to reinforce the writing of the letter V and its sound. We are just about finished working with our letter sounds and are going to move on from sight words to phonics reading. Our current list of sight words include: A, An, And, The, It, Is. Soon we will be working on: In, On, Up, Boy, Girl

We will also be starting our Bob Books in March. Math is moving along nicely. She's definitely on a K level with math, but still a PK level with reading. But I do believe she's advanced in her computer skills. I can set her up on a website and she can navigate it all without any help. Her favorites are Starfall, PBS Kids, and Nick Jr.

Anyway, back to the craft. This is a quick craft and would work well for a large group.

Supplies:

Pink, red, green and a favorite color of construction paper

Scissors

Glue stick

Tulle, felt, or cotton ball

Draw three hearts on both the pink and red paper. Cut out. Cut out a long rectangle from the green paper for a stem. Glue the stem onto your favorite color paper. Using the gluestick, overlap the hearts to create flower petals in a circular shape. We alternated the colors, but you could do one side red and one pink, or however you like. Glue a small piece of tulle, cotton, or felt to the center. Have your child write the letter V on the paper and review the sound it makes. Happy Homeschooling!

Free Magazine for Missouri Homeschoolers

If you live in the state of Missouri, there is a free magazine published by the Missouri Department of Conservation called XPLOR. This nature magazine is aimed at children, and I would say it's suitable for PK-5th or 6th grade. All you have to do is sign up at the website for your free copy.

We just received our first copy for Feb./Mar. and it's full of all kinds of neat stuff. To celebrate valentine's day, it talks about the different courting rituals of animals. It also has stories about how owls digest food, the edibility of dandelions, black bears, and a lot more little tid-bits of fun nature information. This is a great subscription to start if you're currently studying Missouri or plan on studying Missouri in the near future.

And if you're in a surrounding state that doesn't publish its own magazine, you can get a subscription to XPLOR for only $5, so that's fairly cheap. Happy Homeschooling!

How To Make a Robot Valentines Box

Tonight we all worked on helping Gavin make his valentines box for school. He finally decided on a robot. We think it turned out really well. Here's the instructions for making your own robot valentine box.

Supplies:
1 large shoe box
1 small tissue box
Duct tape
2 mini slinkies (found at walmart in the party section)
2 soup or bean cans
4 mini kaleidoscopes (found at walmart in the party section)
heart stickers (came in the box of kids' valentines)
box cutter
black permanent marker

Start by wrapping both boxes in duct tape. Once that step is completed, start working on the head. Cut two eye holes a little smaller than the circumference of the kaleidoscopes. Push the kaleidoscopes into the holes for eyes. Gavin added heart stickers as the pupils. Then he drew on a face. Do the same thing on the sides of the tissue box for the knob ears.

Next, work on the body. First we cut a slit for the valentines in the center of the stomach and wrote INPUT HERE with a small arrow. Then we cut circles a little smaller than the circumference of the bean cans. We then stuffed the cans into the holes for legs. We then drilled a small hole into the sides of the shoe box and threaded the slinkies through the holes for arms. Gavin then decorated the body of his box with more stickers.

Finally, using more duct tape we attached the head to the body. There is one piece of duct tape on each side of the head and two pieces in the back. And that's how we made our robot valentines box. Happy homeschooling!

Young Adults Have Disturbing Ideas About Homeschooling

I've never been one to care about whether or not someone approves of homeschooling. If they're not paying my bills or supporting my family, they can stick their opinions wherever they want. But I always find it interesting to hear different opinions and the reasoning behind them. The opinions usually come fast and hard, but the reasoning is usually like "Well, uh...."

My friend who has the blog SAHMville posted an account of what happened when her husband asked a group of college students their thoughts on homeschooling. Now keep in mind these are the opinions of very young adults, late teens and early twenties. And this is a small sample in little ole' southeast Missouri. But it's disheartening to hear so many young people feel that homeschooling should be illegal. Didn't we already determine that parents can do just as well (if not better) at teaching their kids as any school system? This is just a reminder (or a slap in the face depending on how you take it) that the fight for educational choice will never end.

Visit My New Blog

I have a new blog in the works. It's called Our Money Saving Ways and can be found HERE. It's not homeschool related, but I know that many homeschoolers are interested in saving money. This blog will follow my family as we utilize certain techniques and practices to save money on everyday things. This isn't one of those get your groceries for .50 type blogs or anything like that. I think of it more as a blog that shows how we live comfortably on one and a half incomes (I work p/t from home). I hope you'll visit and share how you save money.

Valentines Day Card Boxes

Today we went over to a friend's house and worked on our Valentines Day card boxes. We've recently become acquainted with a family across the street who is also homeschooling preschoolers. I thought it would be fun if the girls got together and made Valentine boxes. Avlyn likes to make one because her brother makes them for school parties each year. And his school goes all out with some of the designs. We're talking a three story castle with a working drawbridge that the valentines fall out of. None of these staple two paper plates together, draw a heart, and write your name on it like they did when I was in school. So in lieu of all the valentine box excitement at the local elementary school,the tradition of making Valentine's Day boxes was born.

She's still at that age where she doesn't have a concrete idea for her box. She just wants to attack it with glue, glitter, paint, paper, and whatever else I give her. She wants it pretty and sparkly and for it to have her name on it, but that's about it. Her brother is working on turning a shoebox and a tissue box into a robot. I'll post pics and directions for that box when he's finished.

We started by taking a smaller-sized shoebox and covering the top with red paper. She then decorated it with pipe cleaners, stickers, paint pens, confetti, and crayons. She drew her name on the top and attached a 3-D heart made out of a craft stick and pipe cleaner. Here's the end product:


Her box has a flip top lid to add cards and goodies. Last year we used a regular shoebox with a full lid and just cut a slit in the top for the Valentine cards. We use the boxes to put Valentine goodies in for Valentines day and to keep any cards from friends organized. Next week we are having a small valentines party with the girls across the street, and will be filling up the boxes with all sorts of fun stuff. Happy Homeschooling!

Need a Free Field Trip -Try the Pet Store

If you need a quick field trip idea, visit a pet store. Many pet stores will work with a large group and provide a field trip, but a small family can also benefit from a self-guided field trip to a pet store. We have two pet stores in our town. One is a family run store and one is a chain store. Both of these stores provide ample opportunities to learn about animals.

Avlyn and I recently read a book about coral reefs. Today we visited the chain pet store while wasting time until it was time to pick up her brother from a birthday party. This pet store has one large saltwater tank full of coral and sea anemones. It also has a rock fish, clown fish, hermit crabs, and snails that live in the coral tank. In smaller displays they sell saltwater fish, shrimp, and sharks. They even had one stingray they were holding for someone.

Even though we don't live near the ocean, Avlyn was able to see all the things she read about in the book first hand. Well, we didn't see a sea cucumber or a lobster. But we catch crawdads in the summer, so she's well aware of the general makings of a lobster.

While fish and sea animals are one thing you can see at a pet store, you can also visit when learning about snakes, mice, birds, and other small animals. We spent 30 minutes exploring the store and talking about the animals. She didn't even realize she was learning when she was asking me a bunch of questions. Do you have any ideas for a fun, free field trip? Let me know. Happy homeschooling!

Transition Time

Avlyn turned 5 in December and I've noticed a transition already in her eagerness to learn. My once eager learner has turned into a hesitant, I-don't-want-to-be-bothered-with-school attitude. It could be the December break we took, or the fact that she just got over an illness that took a lot out of her, butI'm finding myself struggling to work with her.

Today she wanted to do our cooking projects, but not her reading or math. And I'm not a sit-down-and-do-your-workbook-or-else type of homeschool mom. Since we've had a long break with the holidays and then her illness, all I had planned for today was a review. Any ideas for dealing with a hesitant preschooler, or at least one unwilling to go back to 'school'?

Learning About Food with an Ice Cream Maker

I got an ice cream maker for Christmas. I love, love, love, love, it! Not only is the ice cream delicious, but we can custom-make our own flavors and not have to worry about anything getting discontinued and bumming us out. We made a batch of cookies-n-cream ice cream yesterday. This morning we made one of my favorites - strawberry.

Avlyn loves to help make the ice cream, and I used the opportunity to teach her a little about food additives. I want my kids to understand that not all foods are good for us, no matter how the company markets the food as being high in vitamins or fiber. While I know she doesn't grasp the terms 'preservatives' or 'high fructose corn syrup,' I tried explaining why the ice cream we make at home is healthier than the ice cream we can buy at the store.

Strawberry was the perfect flavor to start a discussion since it doesn't come out bright pink like the stuff sold in stores. I told her that most companies use red dye to make the pink color, and that it's not that good for our bodies. I also explained how some ice creams have gum paste and other items to give it a hard appearance and make it easier to package and sell. We went over each ingredient we put into our ice cream maker and how each of those ingredients didn't have any added 'bad stuff.' We also reduced the amount of cream in the strawberry recipe, resulting in a softer ice cream than yesterday's.

We're slowly phasing out packaged foods and taking baby steps to improve our eating habits. I think homeschoolers have an advantage since they don't need to rely on the schools to provide lunch or worry about their kids filling up on junk during a class party. Below is a picture of Avlyn stirring the milk and strawberry juices, along with the fresh-out-of-the-ice-cream-making-machine finished product. It's very soft right out of the maker, but hardens up once put in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Here is our recipe for strawberry ice cream:(use original recipe instructions if you want a richer, slightly thicker ice cream)

2 cups of whole milk (original recipe called for 1 cup of milk, 2 cups of heavy cream)
1 cup of heavy cream
1 bowl of chopped strawberries
1 cup of sugar
dash of vanilla
dash of O.J.

Add a Tbsp. or two of O.J. to the strawberries and 1/2C. sugar. Stir gently and chill for a couple hours or overnight. Mix together milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and juices created by the berries. We then pour this into our ice cream maker and add the fresh berries the last 5 minutes of mixing time, so just follow the instructions on your ice cream maker. That's it! Happy Homeschooling and happy ice cream making.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We are back in the groove starting Monday. My daughter has decided that she wants to try kindergarten at the local kindergarten center next year. I have my reservations, but pretty much all of her friends are going there and that's what solidified her decision. Our educational decisions are based off of our children's needs and wants. Homeschooling remains an open option for us at all times, but we've decided that we won't tell our kids they have to be homeschooled unless the public school system becomes unsafe or horribly underserves their needs.

My son decided to try school in first grade, and he's doing fine. My daughter, who has always been more social and active than my son, has decided she wants to be where her friends are. This does affect our homeschooling since I will no longer plan my preschool lessons based on where I want to be by the time kindergarten starts. In all honesty, I'm actually going to be doing less. I've already researched the general outline of the public school's kindergarten benchmarks, and we're already at many of those benchmarks. My biggest fear is that she'll start kindergarten and be bored like my son has been the last two years. This is the first year he finally feels challenged because he's learning new stuff.

So for the next few months I'm going to make sure she has her letter sounds down pat, a handful of sight words, and we're gonna work very hard on her speech problem. She struggles with the hard /k/ and /c/ sounds and pronounces them as /t/, /g/, or /d/ depending on what she's saying. Her math skills are already at kindergarten level. So for the blog I'll mostly be posting fun crafts and projects that we do.

Quick Christmas Recipes

Here are a couple quick recipes we use around our house during the holidays. Enjoy!

Quick Christmas Breakfast Danish

1 or 2 cans of crescent rolls
Fruit pie filling (we use blueberry and cherry)
1 can of vanilla icing

Unroll crescent dough. Take each triangle and roll into a log. Braid two together and then attach the ends to form a wreath shape. Smush the middle together with an indentation in the middle. Add a tsp. or so of pie filling to the middle. Cook 375* until browned. Let cool slightly, melt vanilla icing and drizzle over danishes. For a Christmas touch, tint the icing green for cherry danishes.

Rolo's Cookies

1 package of sugar cookie or peanut butter cookie dough
1 bag of Rolo's candies
Bowl of sugar

Take off a chunk of cookie dough and roll it into a golf-ball sized ball. Push a Rolo into the middle and re-roll the ball until smooth. Roll in loose sugar. Repeat. These spread, so put at least an inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake according to cookie dough directions on package.

Christmas Charity

Hi, everyone.

We have been so busy. Homeschooling is on a hiatus for the month of December which is why I haven't posted much. I always plan to do school through the month, but we get so incredibly busy. However, we have done a few charitable things that I think are far more educational this time of year than the typical school work.

We did our Angel Tree child at the beginning of the month. We had a little girl who is 7, and the kids and I had a fun time shopping for her favorite items. (Barbie and Jonas Brothers) I have done Angel Tree since my son was 2 to teach them that there are kids and families who need a little help sometimes. So this was our seventh year doing the tree.

A couple new things Avlyn and I did was singing Christmas carols at a local nursing home and ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. The nursing home was okay. I think it's a little scary for small children to be surrounded by older people in wheel chairs who either want to touch them or want the kids to go away so they can go back to sleep.

She had a blast ringing the bell at the red bucket for the Salvation Army. A friend of mine does it every year and invited some of us to join her. Although I talked with Avlyn about where the money goes and what it's used for, I'm not sure she understands completely. But it's a start in the right direction. My 9 year old was a little disappointed he couldn't go with us to ring the bell. I think teaching kids to be charitable is a wonderful thing. While it would be nice if it happened all year long, we tend to foucs our charitable works during the holidays.

We're doing something for March of Dimes in February, but after that we'll probably be done until next Christmas. My greatest hope is that my children will want to continue to do things for other people even when they're older and on their own.

How to Make a Preschool Grocery List

One thing my daughter loves to do is help me grocery shop. Unfortunately, I find myself annoyed at having to constantly tell her what we need over and over as we shop. It makes me lose my train of thought, and then I get so hung up on helping her find the one thing she's looking for I forget to grab whatever else I need from that aisle. The other day I was downloading and printing out coupons and had an idea on how to make it easier for her to help me grocery shop.

I started by looking at all the things on my list. Then I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down stuff from my list onto her list. Since she's just learning to read, I then drew a picture of the item next to the word. I put most of the produce we needed on her list because it was the easiest thing to draw. So her list would say apples and then have a picture of apples, bananas and a picture of bananas, and so forth. She ended up with about 15 items on her list. Before we left, I had her go over the list with me to make sure she knew what my little outline drawings actually were. (She thought my crescent rolls were more bananas.)

She loves this idea and now won't shop without her own list. Another way to customize the list includes cutting out pictures of the items you need and pasting them on the list. You can also give your child coupons that you're going to use and have them find that item for you. Since most coupons include a full-color picture, it's easier to find than a hand-drawn box of sugar. Now when we shop we both have a list and a pen. To make sure I don't forget what's on her list, I include it on my list with a small line through it as a reminder. Happy homeschooling!