Wife, Then Mama

The discussion questions that start all of the activities can be difficult for us.  Getting a reasonable answer out of my son can be a bit like pulling teeth.  Apparently it is REALLY hard to think of something small when you are three years old.  The only answer he wanted to give me was "a turtle".  Not because it is small, but because there is one on his shirt.  Eventually, with a LOT of prompting, he said that a seed is very small.  This was just to lead into the fact that molecules are EVEN SMALLER than that.  This could have been a very bad omen for the day, but thankfully it wasn't! The first thing we did was Atom Sort.  *Side Note: Little Guy thought I said Adam, and asked me if it was like Adam and Eve.  I said no, and tried to enunciate better. ut at least in my "accent" atom and Adam do sound very, very similar.*  The pipe cleaner was a molecule, and the beads were atoms.  He sorted out all of the red ones, then str...

I never really thought of doing science with my tiny children.  I don't know why, but it never occurred to me that I should be teaching them anything other than the basic reading, writing and arithmetic.  I figured that when they had a handle on those, THEN I would work in the other subjects, like science and social studies.  Mother Goose Time has helped me move beyond that.  Although I still think that it is important to teach them a firm foundation in the basics, Little Guy really enjoys the more complete education that Mother Goose Time provides. Reactions was probably his favorite day ever.  Why?  Four words: Baking Soda and Vinegar.  We have done this experiment twice already, and the first time he didn't really care about it, mainly because I did the pouring since the instructions called for food coloring and I wasn't going to have my 2.5 year old pouring food coloring all over my dining room table.  The second time we did it he LO...

The last three weeks were crazy busy.  Day camp, swimming lessons, appointments, errands, and then a beach vacation.  I did not get a lot of school done for anyone.  Little Guy misses Mother Goose Time  when we don't have time for it, and asks me at least a few times a week if we can do it.  Let me tell you, I feel REALLY guilty when the answer is "no" over and over again.  Today we had swim lessons, but that was it, and I am working to get him on the school year schedule which has a much later nap time than the summer schedule (to give me time to help the girls after school) so he could stay up later. I really wanted to be on it with the Science Lab.  Little Guy loves science, and I knew it would be a really fun curriculum for him to use.  I was not on it, and we will probably be adding in bits and pieces of Science Lab into the next couple of months, as well as the last part of The Art Studio.  Today we combined States of Matter an...

Fading Starlight is a creative novel.  Throughout the book a number of things could have gone in a few different directions, so while it wasn't a suspenseful read, it was intriguing.  From the back of the book: Lauren Summers is in hiding. Her fashion house internship was supposed to launch her career, but a red carpet accident has left her blackballed. The only job she can find comes with little pay, but at least it offers a free place to live--a run-down cottage in the shadow of a cliff-side mansion. Planning to live on savings until she figures out what's next, she's unprepared to be contacted by a reporter. Kendall Joiner is researching Charlotte Montgomery, a former Hollywood ingénue who lives a reclusive life in the cliff-side mansion. Rumors have swirled for decades about Charlotte, and now Kendall wants to find the real story. In return, she may just have the key to getting Lauren back into the fashion world. Desperate to restore her dreams, Lauren'...

Most of the books I review are for adults, but I got a chance to review God Made You Just Right, which is a board book.  From the back of the book: You're brilliantly created, and there's no one else like you!  With simple, rhyming text and whimsical illustrations, this book is a welcome reminder for little ones that God created each of us in just the right way. I love the artwork, it is colorful and engaging, which should catch the attention of small children, but still nice to look at for adults.  The text is encouraging and has a good rhyme pattern, which I always appreciate in books for small children.  It isn't a story, but poetry telling children that God knew exactly what He was doing when He created each part of each person.  I love that it talks about the things you uniquely need to be able to fulfill God's plan for you. At the end of the book is Jeremiah 29:11, which gives scriptural support to the rest of the book.  My only...

From the time I can remember, all I wanted to do was be a mom.  In Kindergarten, when we were told to draw a picture of ourselves when we were grown up, I drew a picture of myself with 10 children.  Imagine my surprise when it turned out I sucked at this mothering thing!  As a child I felt that my mom could do anything, so I, for whatever reason, anticipated being just as capable when I was a mother.  No dice.  My mom spent lots of time with us, while still making sure we learned to be independent.  She cooked fairly well rounded meals everyday, kept her house clean, and knew how to do EVERYTHING!  I spend lots of time with my kids, but in all honesty it is sometimes more out of obligation than desire.  Everyday I try to figure out how I can get Michael to order pizza or let sandwiches count as dinner.  My house is a mess.  I yell to much.  And I just am not that great at most things.  Everyone else seems to have a han...

August is all about SCIENCE with Mother Goose Time !  Little Guy LOVES science experiments, and really just loves the word science, so he was pretty excited when I told him about it.  There are quite a few experiments to do this month (including his favorite baking soda and vinegar experiment - although he has done it before, I am pretty sure it will be his favorite all over again!), and we started with a project that mixed science and literacy! It was called Spicy Name.  First I wrote his name on a nametag.  I should have let him write it, but I wanted it to turn out pretty...  Anyways, I wrote his name, then handed him a cotton swab and a glob of glue.  His job was to trace his name in glue.  After that, I got out some cinnamon (you could use a variety of spices for a classroom of kids, I stuck with cinnamon and ginger because of the consistency) and let him sprinkle it on the glue.  Then we shook off the extra and VOILA!  A Spic...