Posted in Holidays

With Mother's Day quickly coming, here are a few great ebooks from CurrClick the help you get started learning about this wonderful holiday.

Mother's Day Unit Study

Mother's Day Unit, Crafts & More

                                                                            Mother's Day Activities             

 

Posted in Holidays

 

I hope everyone is wearing green today. I will be, as soon as I am dressed. I am a little lazy today. Hehe. I made our corned beef and cabbage last night for dinner because I have to work tonight. I love bolied dinner, so I didn't want to miss out on it.

Today, Chantelle is starting a lapbook on St. Patrick's day. We tend to celebrate it as a secular holiday, but I did find a rather interesting ebook (free of course) about the history of him and the other traditions that surround this day.

Spring starts on Thursday as well. That is a big day in our house (we call it Ostara), as well as the other Equinox and Solstice celebrations. This year, like every year, we will be coloring eggs, doing some crafts and making jello jelly beans. Our homeschool support group meeting is that night as well, and I am so happy that I can finally go to one. Thursday's is my day off.

 

 

Posted in Holidays

The 14 Days of Homeschooling
(tune of "THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS")
Author unknown....

On the first day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can you homeschool legally?"

On the second day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the third day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fourth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fifth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "YOU ARE SO STRANGE! What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the Sixth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "How long will you homeschool, YOU 'RE SO STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the seventh day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the eighth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you home school, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the ninth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "They'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you home school, YOU 'RE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the tenth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "What about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you home school, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the eleventh day of home school my neighbor said to me, "I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can they go to college, I could never do that,
what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they
socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: "They can go to college, yes you can do this, and they can graduate, we don't need the prom, we do it cuz we like it, they aren't missing anything, we'll homeschool forever, WE'RE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E., life it self's a test, they are socialized, AND WE HOMESCHOOL LEGALLY!

On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How can I get started, why didn't you tell me, where do I buy curriculum, when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE'RE STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, can we join P.E. and we'll homeschool legally.

Posted in Holidays

 

I started to write up my cards this week between lessons and after I got home from work (11:30pm). It has taken me a bit longer this year, mostly due to moving relatives and them not forwarding their new addresses, like my brother. Almost all the cards are done, I think I have two more to write out, my brothers included.

Next thing to do is get a nice picture of my kids in front of the Christmas tree to put in the cards. I do this mostly for my relatives that don't see the kids often, but I like to throw a pic in for all my friends. My fridge is covered my pictures of my friends kids and my niece and nephews. hehe

I spent all weekend wrapping up gifts. Well, Saturday was cut short because my hubby wanted to get the car we sold to a friends daughter out to their house so we could take it off our insurance. Having 4 cars on a policy is a little expensive.

I did manage to get all my relatives gifts wrapped and most of my kids done. My back ached for sometime, but my hubby always gives me a back rub every night. It is something he started when I was pregnant with our son and hasn't stopped since. He is so sweet.

 

Posted in Holidays

Free this week only at Homeschoolestore is a unit study on Saint Nick. Check it out!

Also on Clickschooling, there are a few websites all about Saint Nick that would add lots more information to this free unit study. Here is there more recent post:

 

CLICKSCHOOLING REVIEW:

Continuing with our Holiday Theme...

Recommended Website:
Saint Nicholas Center
http://www.stnicholascenter.org

St. Nicholas Day is tomorrow, December 6th, and is celebrated
worldwide. Plan to spend some time exploring this website that
reveals the history and cultural implications -- not to mention the
fun and meaning -- of St. Nicholas. An explanation of this website
will simply not do it justice. You will have to visit the site to see
the breadth and depth of the material here that includes three main
categories:

*Around The World -- Read the biography of St. Nicholas. Find out
about worldwide customs surrounding St. Nicholas from Australia to
the Ukraine. Discover the meaning of the figures in the St. Nicholas
story and the symbolism of icons associated with him.

*How To Celebrate -- Get ideas and resources for celebrating St.
Nicholas Day along with curricular connections to use at school or
home. This section also offers more specific information about the
religious and spiritual aspects of the St. Nicholas Day festival.

*For Kids -- Designed especially for children, this section of the
website offers three main topics:

1) The Real Santa -- a biography of St. Nicholas and how his story
evolved into the Santa Claus story.

2)Reasons To Love St. Nicholas -- a celebration of the less
commercial aspects of the day.

3) Santa & St. Nicholas -- a comparison between these two icons of the
Christmas holiday. You will also find stories and poems about St.
Nick from around the world that your family can read online. There
are interactive activities including pictures to print and color, a
crossword puzzle, and a word search game based on the legend of
St. Nicholas. You will also find links to other fascinating St.
Nicholas activities too.

This site could provide all the curriculum activities one might need
for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Diane Keith
for ClickSchooling
Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved
http://www.homefires.com
http://www.carschooling.com
http://www.universalpreschool.com

P.S. Don't keep ClickSchooling a secret! Please pass this message
along in its entirety (including this part) and invite your friends
to join our free ClickSchooling list by visiting:
http://www.homefires.com/free.asp

Posted in Holidays

I snagged this from a dear friend of mine over at her blog. You have to check out her blog. It is the best!

 

Posted in Holidays

Every year, the first weekend of December is the time to put up the tree and decorate the house for the holidays. Every year, I put on some Christmas music to listen to while I decorate. Here are a few of my most favorite albums:

 

 

 

Ya, I know the VeggieTales, but that album cracks me up. LOL. You can click on them to see where to buy them and to listen to clips from them.

So the day started out nice. All the boxes were brought up and stuck in the kitchen.

 

A little messy (and yes I still had some of my Halloween stuff up. I love that witch sign and it is usually on our back door.) Matt was trying to find his gloves and hat. He was alset with helping me decorate. All he wanted to do was eat the chocolate mint candy canes I bought.

So, I finally get our tree up. Yes it is a fake tree. I am allergic to real ones. But, I do have a wonderful Christmas Tree scented soy candle that I got recently a friends expo. You can get them here at HeavenScent Candles.

Tree is up!. Time for the lights. I love colored lights on my tree, but white lights on the outside of the house. We have never lite our house up with lights, but we want to eventually. It all depends on the electricity cost.

While in the process of putting the lights on, I found out that two ofthe three strands I use on the tree, no longer work. I have astach of lights down stairs in the basement, so I send Chantelle down to get me two more boxes. One of the boxes no longer works (I bought them years ago on sale after Christmas) and the other box of lights keeps flichering on and off, and they are not the blinking kind.

So off to the store I went (with Matt) to get a couple of new boxes of lights. Eventually we got our tree all lite up and the bead garland put on.

Now that the tree is up, time to decorate it. I spend a hour or so doing it (maybe more because I had to stop and do other things.) But eventually the tree was all finished.

Time to take out all 16 of my Nutcrackers. Yes, I said 16. I collect them. Every year I get myself a new one to add to the collection. I have yetto find that perfect one this year however. That makes my hubby happy seeing how I am running out of room. So here is my collection:

 

This guy is 2 feet tall.

The Nutcrakers hang out in the window on either side of my tree. Here is how the living room looks now:

This was taken at midnight right before I went to bed, so you can't really see the lights lite up, but they are on. Matt put the candy canes on after eatting one.

The baniser in the hallway gets all decorated too and holds our stockings.

I made the bows myself. My dad showed me how years ago. He use to make them when he worked at a local nursery years and years ago and sold them. Now you can find premade ones every where, but not as special to me as my own.

 

This is also in our hallway (a closet under the stairs), directly across from out living room, where we place all the Christmas cards we recieve. Yes, I have already started getting some. This one came 2 days after Thanksgiving. I guess my aunt and uncle wanted to get it over with early this year.

 

Now that the house is mostly decorated, it is time to plan Christmas dinner. Normally we order Chinese take out, but my hubby has requested a turkey dinner. We normally have everyone, from both sides of the family, over for the day, but this year my sister invited us to her house. So, if the weather is nice (kind of hard to say nice about winter in New England), we will be heading to her place in New Hampshire.

 

Posted in Holidays

 

I haven't started mine, but I have already started to recieve them. Well, just one so far. From one of my Aunt & Uncles that live like 30 minutes from me.

But, getting that card, made me think about mine. I have always wanted to write something other than "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas". So today I went searching online for some messages that I could write in my cards. Because I mail cards out to many people that do not celebrate Christmas (I celebrate Yule for example), I went searching for all types or quotes, poems and sayings to write.

Here is a list of some of the websites that I found, just incase you have no idea what to say in your cards either.

Flower Shop: Christmas Card Message Ideas

Christmas Card Verses

Christmas Card Sayings and Verses

Christmas Verses, Poems & Quotes

 

Oh, did you ever wonder about the history of the Christmas card? I stummpled upon this site while in my search for the perfect holiday message:

How Did the Christmas Card Come To Be?

 

Posted in Holidays

This year, Matt wanted to be a cop for Halloween. I found this really cute costume at our local Halloween store (they are noly open in Sept and Oct). It was 35.00, but it had everything except a baton (didn't want one) or a gun (we have cap guns but could not find them). Anyway, here he is:

 

Chantelle was, well, I am not sure. We died her hair black and added purple highlights ( you really could not see them). She wore a black and purple velvet gown that had kind of a midevil thing going on.

 

This year, I just decorated with a fall theme instead of a Halloween then Thanksgiving theme. Here is what we have on our porch:

 

Oh and here is the one little Halloween thing that I put up. I love her. She is one of those pekaboo dolls.

 

 

 

Posted in Holidays

Last Sunday, my husband and Matt started to carve our 4 largest pumpkins. One of them had started to rot a little on the bottom, so we left it alone and will end up painting a face on it later on. But they did carve two of the biggest ones.

 Hubby got to use the battery powered carver this year. I think he had more fun than Matt did.

 

 Ooo fun time!

 

Me doing the gooey part. Matt took the picture. Not bad aye?

 

Another picture by Matt of the seeds.

 

Carving Time!

 

Time for the mouth.

 

One down. This is my favorite one.

 

Being silly!

 

Working on the second pumpkin.

 

While they were carving the pumpkins, I washed the seeds and set them aside to dry out over night before i salted and baked them.

 

All done!

 

Pumpkins at night. The tap lights were too big to go into them, but I wanted a shot of them all lit up. I was going to get smaller ones, until......

 

Our neighborhood squirels got a little hungry! This is what they looked like the next day and still do. My favorite is now a cyclops!

 

Posted in Holidays

Our 4th was a busy one. Chantelle's 4-H group entered a float into the parade in Wakefield, MA. Each float is judged too and her group won 1st prize in the small float division.

My daughter is the person holding the banner clsest to us with her head turned away.

Stupid balloon/toy cart guy in in the background behind the float so you can't really see it. There were a million of those people around driving me nuts. They got in the way of so many shots.

We got to the leaders house at 9:30 to dewcorate the float and we were almost done at 12:30, but I hadto leave because my hubby was complaining that he was hungrey (he was at home calling me on my Nextel constantly).

So we headed home to eat, then we had to meet up with the rest of the 4-H group at where the floats were to be judged and where the parade starts. I drop Chantelle off there with the assistant leader and I went in search of parking so that Matt and I could see the parade.

 We had 2 hours to blow until the parade started, so we walked around the commons and down Main street. Matt has had a cough for a few days and he was coughing alot so I stopped at cvs and got him some cough strips. He loves them and they worked great. He got bored eventually and I bought him some snaps to occupy his time. I also got him this stuffed toy dog on a stick leash that he was "walking" around everyone.

A very bored boy. He was running around in circles when I snapped this one. Once the parade started he was ok though.

At least until it started to rain. We at least had a huge tree to cover us from most of the rain. But it was windy and all the drops from the leaves were making us more wet. At least it wasn't really hot out. We actually were getting cold.

I snapped some more pictures of the parade that Matt wanted me too. One was a "LIzzy" car. If you saw the movie "Cars" you would know what I am talking about. I got a few of this awsome large float of a pirate ship that had a sea monster (well I think it was an alligator because it was a Peter Pan themed float) that one "pirate" was beating up.

Well once the parade was over (around 7pm) We decided to get some food before the fireworks started. My hubby called to say that her just heard on the news that a huge thunder cell was heading our way and that there will be downpours in an hour and a half, which of course is about the time the fireworks were to start. Sureenough, the sky opened up at around 8:30pm

So we grabed some food on our way home and Chantelle went to a friends house where they have the perfect view of the fireworks in Boston and one other town near by. Matt and I went up to my room and we were able to see fireworks from 5 towns not to mention plenty of neighborhood fireworks. One of the neighborhood displays was right outsite the window that is at the foot of my bed. So I was able to lay on my bed proped up to watch it. It was pretty good for a low budget show. LOL.

At 10pm, I turned on the tv and watched the Boston Pops perform (I grew up going to the fireworks in Boston every year) and to watch the fireworks. They have the best show in the US and I am not just being partial because I am from Massachusetts, they really do. They have every firework timed perfectly with music. They were playing the theme to The Pirates of the Carribean movie and just watchign the fireworks they used for it made me feel like a battle was going on.

So that is how my 4th went. Not to bad, but not the way I wanted to celebrate. Mother Nature didn't want to help at all. I hope everyone else had a fun time.

Posted in Holidays

Like everyone else I am sure, we send out and recieve many Christmas cards every year. I hate to throw them out and I had a huge pile of them collecting dust. So I started to weed threw them and started to turn them into simple ornaments. I cut out or around the picture I wanted and added some string to the back. You can hole punch a hole on the top, but I didn't want to. Here are some ofthe ones I have done so far with the cards I recieved this year.

Posted in Holidays

Every year, we make garlands for the birds in our neighborhood. Here is a pictureof Chantelle making hers.

 

We also make a ginger bread house. This year Chantelle got a premade kit from a friend, so we decided to make that. The frosting was a pain to make. Way to thin and no matter how much powdered sugar I put in it, it would not thickin up. Then we had problems putting the house together. None of the pieces were cut to fit together at all. So I ended up getting out my old nifty hot glue gun and glued the house together. Chantelle started to decorate it and the frosting kept sliding off the roof. Eventually we got the stuff to stick.

 

Posted in Holidays

We had a nice Easter here at home. My sister and her gang came down for dinner as well as my dad and brother. We got to see my new nephew, Caleb, for the first time since he was born. He is a 1 1/2 months old now and soo cute. He definitely takes after my side of the family. He looks just like my sister.

 

 

 

Matt holding his new cousin, Caleb

 

We had a big ham dinner (the only time I ever make ham is on Easter) and a bunch of deserts all home made by me. Cheese cake is soo easy to make, just 3 easy steps, but I don't seem to make it any other time of the year but for holidays. After dinner, the kids had an egg hunt. It took me longer to hide the eggs than it took them to find them. Our yard was kinda a mess (husband had been taking out a ton of bushes the day before) so they didn't have a big spot to do the hunt in. Thankfully it was sunny and dry. It was a little chilly and very windy. We live near the ocean so it is usually cooler here than farther in. It's nice in the summer, but very cold in the winter.

 

Posted in Holidays

Today was the Valentine's Day party through our homeschool group. There were a ton of kids there, most we have never met. There were tons of art's and crafts to make, games to play and other activities.

 

 Matt was soo grumpy today. I think it's because he has a cold, like me, but he did not want to do anything. I had to force him to sit down and make a bracelet, that he gave to me. He made a heart necklace out of pipe cleaners and ribbon and decorated a cupcake. I made him a picture of a caterpillar, he calls it a worm, out of hearts. He didn't want to play any of the relay races. So while the other kids were doing the races, he sat and tried to pick up conversation hearts with chop sticks. It was funny watching him try to use them like I was. After awhile he gave up and used his fingers.

 

Chantelle took a bit to get away from me and to get into doing the games and things. She played all the relay races and did all the crafts. She decorated 2 cupcakes. She did find some kids she remembers from the games day that we go to once a month, so that was nice. I just wish Matty could make friends fast like she can. Chantelle is like me when I was growing up. I had one very close female friend and a ton of male friends. She has the same, although she doesn't hang out with the boys, at least not yet. She is only 11 after all.

 

I made Matt 2 Valentine themed books and printed out some Valentine themed activities for Chantelle instead of giving them candy. Chantelle wanted candy bad, but Valentines day to me is for husbands/wives and girlfriends/boyfriends.  

Posted in Holidays

That is all I have heard all week long from my 5 year old.

 

The other day my brother in law dropped off the gifts he got for the kids. We have a tradition in our house where no gifts go under our tree until Christmas Eve after the kids are asleep. Well, It seems that my brother in law thinks that is a stuid tradition, so when he brought all his gifts over, and there are about 25 per kid, I am not kidding, he put them all under the tree. Needless to say when I got up that morning, I moved every single one of them into our "playroom"/office. Now we have a ton of gifts in this room that the kids go in constantly through out the day, their school books are in here.

 

I am totally done shopping and wrapping gifts. I am done with all the baking and cooking the food we give as gifts. So why is it that my husband has yet to even start shopping? Why do men like to shop on Christmas Eve? It makes no sence to me. I asked for one gift from him, a splatter shield for my Kitchenaid mixer he got me for my birthday. He also has to get my brother his gift. He asked for a rachet set to work on his car, so seeing how that is man heaven, I left that gift up to my hubby. He is going to be in Sears for hours I just know it. All I say is he better be done by 3:30 so we can go to church at 4.

 

Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions is to go out driving around to look at all the lights. We haven't been able to do it the past 2 years due to the nerve damage in my hubbys neck. (He fell off his cement truck while in the yard and landed on his back and neck. It took the docs almost 18 months to figure out what was wrong with him). So this year I am really looking forward to this. I know I can take the kids out and drive around, but my hubby knows where the best homes are and I don't see much when I am driving . hehe It may be a little selfish, but the hubby hasn't complained yet.

Posted in Holidays

Posted in Holidays

This year my brother in laws have FINALLY decided to do "kids only" for Christmas. (My sister and I have been doing this for years. We usually make each other something like soaps or a blanket.) I still hate to be empty handed so I have dug through my cook books to find wholesome easy to make snacks, cookies and breads.

 

I have found a few Chex Mix style snacks that I will be making for friends. My mom will be getting the Maple Nut Granola from Marmee's Kitchen (the recipe was in the fall 2005 issue of TOS). I am thinking of doing a little of both the granola and chex mix as well as some cookies for my sister. For my husbands younger brother, he will get some peanut butter cookies (his favorite) as well as some chocolate chip cookies. (Chantelle will be making both for our home economics "class"). And for my hubbys health  nut older brother, he will get the granola.

 

I have already printed out the recipe cards (I always give out the recipe with our gifts of food) and labels. (I got the recipe cards and labels from here: http://www.graphicgarden.com/ just scroll down to where it says free printables on the left hand side).  I just have to pick up some more ingredients, most I have at home always and a couple of cute jars to place the granola in.

 

Anyone else have ideas for easy to make gift ideas for Christmas?

Posted in Holidays

I am taking a break from our big clean to catch my breath. So far I have picked up a very messy "playroom" (dubbed that because our kids toys always seemed to gather there), did a load of laundry, tons of dishes (2 days worth, I know I've been slacking in that department. I hate washing the dishes). I still have the kitchen and the living rooms to straighten up as well as vaccum. I'll probably vaccum first thing in the morning, well second thing, turkey goes in first.

 

 I was going to make up some cookies and a pie, but I am not going to go over board like I have in past years. We usually have so much food, I don't have to cook for a week. I was going to get a small turkey, but my brother-in-law Bobby gave us a 17lb one for free. So we will have plenty left over for turkey sandwiches and turkey noodle soup. This year only my dad is joining us for dinner. I have no idea what my little brother is up to. He has been back from Iraq for a while now and moved back in with dad a couple of months ago. My sister and her clan will be coming down later in the evening for dessert.

 

When I started writing this it was around 3pm, it is now 8:30pm and I have just now gotten off the sofa, I fell asleep watching Star Trek Voyager (I love how it is on DVD now so I can go back and watch it again). I still need to pick up the kitchen although it isn't too bad because I have been doing little bits all week. Most of our schooling goes on in the kitchen so it tends to stay messy. We don't usually eat in their, at least not since September. I need to have it clean for tomorrow so we can actually eat in there. I can pick up the living room in the morning while we watch the Macy's Parade on tv. One of these days I have to go into New York to watch it live, although I am not to fond of freezing my butt off. Maybe I should move out of Massachusetts then.  Texas sounds really good around this time of year, and it is a very homeschool friendly state. Not that Mass. is as bad as some think it is, it's just a pain in the rear to have to send in a letter every year to let the school officials know we intend to homeschool. I just hate how in my town we have to see the superintendent once in September to show him our curriculum, if we use one, once in February with work samples of the kids work, then again in June with more work samples. Ok I am getting off track here.

 

Happy Thanksgiving All