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Stay at home mom with dreams of perfecting all things mama.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Learning with garlic

Did you know you can plant garlic cloves and they will grow? I just learned this recently, so the kids and I tried it!

 We buried them on Wednesday and this is what they looked like by Saturday!

Every morning the kids ask to see the garlic and every time they look at it and say "woah!" in unison. It is so cute.

Holding a plant while taking pictures results in blurriness...
These pictures were taken yesterday..can you see how much taller the garlic is from just Saturday to Tuesday?


It will take a while to be able to harvest but I think it will be well worth our efforts. I love cooking with garlic!

Take Ten!
Watch something grow.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Slacking

I've been slacking on taking tens with my kids lately. Not just regular old take tens, but planned, thought out, take tens. So today I made a schedule and made myself stick to it.


Yes I wrote it on a magna doodle because it's kid friendly! ...but I also took a picture of it in case someone erased it. I showed the kids the schedule when they woke up and they were excited for it! They kept asking "what's next?" after we would finish something.

Everything on the list went smoothly except for math.

I made math worksheets and I should have foreseen the problem. I should have known the kids would get frustrated trying to do a math problem while their mom was in the shower unable to help. But I still like the schedule idea. I can see this helping for a homeschooling future.

Take Ten! Make a schedule :)

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Pinterest math

I got this idea from Pinterest and my kids LOVED it!

1.) Get a piece of blank paper.
2.) Fold it so that when it is unfolded there are eight little squares from the fold marks.
3.) In each square write an addition problem.
4.) Show the kids how to make dots for each number. For example, if the problem is 1+2 the child would write one dot for the 1 and 2 dots for the 2.
5.) Have the kids count all of the dots together to solve the equation.

Pictures below:

Take Ten!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

A little modification

Modifying things for people is not my strong point. It's hard for me to think of different, better ways of dealing with people or situations.

Today, Melanie was not making good choices. To put it simply, she was being downright disobedient.

I sent her to her room and told her to think of 2 good choices she could make today. A few minutes later I came back to hear her thoughts. She said "I can't think of any." (In a whiny voice.) I said, "ok well you can stay in here until you think of some and I'll be back to hear your answer." Next time I came back it was the same thing. Whiny voice, no answer.

This time, instead of making her voice her answers I told her to get a pen and draw 2 good choices. She loves to draw.

The next time I went upstairs to get her good choices answer she had drawn 5 pictures. Here are my 3 favorites.


The green picture is her holding my hand in a parking lot, the yellow picture is her walking nicely next to the shopping cart while I'm pushing Skyelynn, the orange picture is her saying "yes, Mom".

This little drawing modification worked out a lot better than the first option of just thinking of good choices to make.

Take Ten! Modify!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

No yelling unless there's a fire!

My kids scream when they get riled up and it's something we're working on changing. Sometimes it makes me jump out of my skin when a random squeal of delight is mistaken for someone being hurt.

I've taken to telling them that there is no yelling in the house unless there is an emergency. Yesterday, not on purpose, and not at all planned, we got to take a tour of the fire department...The place that helps us during emergencies!

We went to hang out with grandma and while we were out we decided to get new bike helmets from the fire department. Little did we know we would spend a little time there and the kids would have some fun!

Go check out your fire department. They seemed to be really happy to entertain the kids! Take a look at our pictures below!






Take Ten!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

P.E.

I do not care for exercising. It has never been my thing, unless it is playing pickle ball, or some other game like dodge ball or frisbee. That is fun for me.

I want to make exercise more of a priority, so the other day the kids and I exercised...and it was fun! I taught them jumping jacks, push ups, running in place, lunges, and touching toes. We still need to work on form, but they are so cute learning.

Try it! Take ten for exercise!