Halloween Fun Stuff

We have gotten in the cutest stuff for Halloween at Snootie Patootie! And of course, I just have to have one of everything. Little Buddy loves the Trick or Treat bags. They come in various patterns: Haunted House, Jack O Lantern, and Scary Cat! How cute!!!

And for me, I love the aprons. From the skull rhinestone, little black dress, and little black dress ruffle, these aprons are just so adorable. I couldn't believe how cute they were when they came in.

By the way, Little Buddy has decided to be Commander Cody from Star Wars this year. Should be cute as a button!

Book Reports and Bubble Gum

This past week, Little Buddy had the assignment of reading a book and completing a book report. At first, you would have thought I said, "stick hot pokers in your eyes as you write your book report." Oh my goodness - such fussin. When I told him he would be presenting his written book report orally to his Daddy and me, he surprised me by being totally thrilled! Go figure.

His routine assigment each week now includes reading a chapter book and providing a book report the following Monday. His favorite part? The presentation of his book report. That's a good thing!

Last week we also enjoyed making bubble gum as our science project. We have chewed so much bubble gum my jaws are throbbing! Remember that feeling of chewing a big ole hunk of bubble gum for way too long? Well, that's how my jaws were feeling. And I am way past knowing better. Oh well, Little Buddy loved it and so did I. How exciting it was to watch him create his very own recipes of bubble gum.

Funny Things Children Say

"Mama, your hair looks just like wood."

"Really. Is that good?" I asked.

"Sure, if you like wood."

Hmmm.... Thanks, I think.


This is just the latest in the hilarious things that Little Buddy has said. Usually, the funniest are his observations of life, something I'm wearing, or about me. Or at least I think the funniest are about me. In reality, he probably provides equal opportunity commentary.

I learned early on to not be super sensitive. I think Moms of boys understand. If I were sensitive, I would spend a great deal of time in the bathroom repairing my makeup.

And thankfully, I do love wood. So, thanks Little Buddy.

What are some of the funny things your children say? Please share!

Week Wrap-up: Week 8 - Snakes, Scorpions, and Tests

Little Buddy Spots a Copperhead

This week at golf, there was a copperhead snake on the 17th hole. Thankfully, Little Buddy spotted it. His golf instructor was pretty proud he spotted it as well. They just gathered up their stuff and moved right along to the 18th hole. I think that was a good idea. Glad they did.


We read about snakes in our region the next day. I especially wanted to be sure Little Buddy knew how dangerous they were. We read about their habitats, how to identify, but most importantly learned that regardless if they appear harmful or friendly - leave them alone!

The photo above is courtesy of The University of Georgia and is by J.D. Willson. I admire that he either got close enough or took enough time to take photos of these snakes. Hopefully he just had a great zoom lens!


Scorpions at the Lake

As we were busy reading about snakes, installers were busy replacing our hot tub at the lake house. One of the installers had to crawl under the deck to unbolt a support and got stung by a scorpion. Luckily, he's fine.

You guessed it, we then started reading about scorpions. According to what we read, scorpion bites occur 10 times more often than snake bites. While the more venomous variety are in Mexico, South America, and Africa, all scorpions are dangerous. Especially to children, older adults and small pets.

We learned to look carefully in dark areas, check shoes and towels that have been left outside, and have sprayed thoroughly around and in the house to keep scorpions away.

Tests

On a not as exciting note, we also started having weekly tests last week. I was a bit apprehensive about this to begin with, but am really glad we started. Each week, we have tests on each subject area. This is a quick round-up of tests that we have:

• Bible - Memorization of scripture.
• Spelling - 10 spelling words of the week along with five bonus words.
• Math - Right now we are working hard on our multiplication. So, each week we are learning a new group 0-12. Test is on that week's group.
• Grammar - Test of grammar we have learned. I write out sentences. He identifies the adverb, pronoun, noun, verb, preposition, and/ or adjective. This week's focus was on adjectives. He identified the adjectives in sentences and the noun that they described.
• Latin - Test of words of the week and meaning.
• Social Studies - Test from Story of the World book.
• Science - Test from BJU.

When I write this out, it looks like a lot. It's not at all. Our tests are Friday mornings and are really low key. The benefit: Little Buddy told me he was really proud of how well he is doing. Isn't that the goal - to build confidence while learning? It sure is mine.

So, I hope next week is a bit less eventful with venomous things that slither and creep about. Until then, be sure to check out the other Weekly Wrap-up postings at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Do you have regularly scheduled tests in your homeschool? I sure would love to hear about how you handle.

Meet Little Buddy

This week at Darcy's blog-hop, the subject is student photos.

Meet Little Buddy. He was bestowed his nickname when he was two days old from my husband. It stuck and could not be more fitting.

He is our only, our miracle child. He is like a bolt of lightening, full of energy. He is like a sunset, warm and sentimental.

He is smart, athletic, caring, quick to get mad and equally quick to laugh, loving, protective, and hard-working. He loves God, his Daddy, golf, animals, and his legos. (Maybe even me just a bit.)

Our School Room

This week at Darcy's Blog-Hop, we are all sharing about our school rooms (or places where we have school).

Our school room has just recently moved. Well, actually, this summer it has been all over the place. Let me tell you the story.

When we built our house, we finished what would have been the attic into an "in-law suite." Not that it was very practical to have an in-law suite on a third floor, but that's what we did anyway. The area is wonderful, but as Goldilocks would have said, "it was too big."

While I did not move everything at this point, I was in search of another area in our house for our dedicated school room. You see, my husband hates clutter. He does not want to see all the "stuff" strewn about around the house. It's a miracle that we are married and get along as well as we do, because I am most definitely the one to have stuff strewn about around the house. I definitely can leave a trail.

I digress.

On our main level of our home is a guest bedroom. I thought this would be perfect to convert to our schoolroom. So, I started one day by tearing the room apart. I had stuff pulled out of that room before my husband got home from work. It was a huge mess I'll tell ya. As he started helping me move furniture around, he asked me how I planned to lay out the room. Great question. As Goldilocks would have said, "this room is too small."

Thankfully, we have a room across from Little Buddy's bedroom that was set up originally as his study space when he was in regular school. So funny that I had not considered changing this room around just a little and making it our school room. Until now. Thanks to my oh so smart husband.

[I love my old farm table desk, white board, and bookshelf. The fun print in the curtain keeps the room cheery. My Mom gave us the old white school desk. Little Buddy likes to use it each day as well.]

[This is Little Buddy's desk. It includes a hutch and great storage and he likes to keep his laptop on the pull-out keyboard drawer. It is a great set-up for him. Also, we love this dry erase calender we got from Staples. I write the major activities for the week, including chores, projects, and appointments. Also, he likes to keep his workbooks on his desk in a magazine holder.]

[This is our reading area. You can see it is on the other side of the window across from my desk. This room is very cool in that it overlooks our living room. We keep the doors to that opening opened most of the time, but if there is noise in the house, I close them. There is a bean bag in the floor in front of the reading area. Sometimes we snuggle up on the bean bag together and sometimes I read from the chair while Little Buddy is on the bean bag. And sometimes, Little Buddy is doing flips on the floor.]

Since we are just four days into our new school room, please excuse the progress. The other bookcases should be moved in soon and our artwork, globe and maps are ready to be moved from the original school room, too. I just have not gotten to that part yet.

Where else do we have school? Well, anywhere that we are! In the car, RV, at the lake, in the living room, outside, you name it. While I LOVE having a dedicated school room, the room really isn't the big deal in homeschooling. It is great to have the dedicated space, do not get me wrong there. But I have quickly learned, at least for us, that learning is all about well, learning. Not the space. However, I do believe that Goldilocks would now say, "this room is just right."

And I could not agree more.

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 7

I can not believe we have just completed week number 7 of our homeschooling. Time has most certainly flown by over these past weeks. Veteran homeschoolers - does it always go by this quickly? Since this is our first year, I am a bit amazed at how much we both have learned.
What I have learned:
- To find ways to make the lesson more fun. For example, this week we began learning about bones. Little Buddy is fascinated with Ben 10 figures that you click together to make aliens or monsters or something like that. So, I asked him to bring his figures to our schoolroom for a little hands-on exercise. I think he was in shock that I actually asked him to bring toys to class. Anyway, after we made a couple of different "aliens," I asked him what these aliens had in common with humans. I took it back to the aliens by asking him to draw what he thought their bone structure would look like compared to humans. The lesson went from there.
- To always begin the day with our Bible lesson and prayer. How simple is that? Well, there have been two times in the past seven weeks that I rushed into our schoolwork and missed Bible as our priority of the morning. (I know, I am ashamed still.) What did I notice on these days? Well, for one, I was not in the right frame of mind (obviously) and from me being off-kilter, Little Buddy was as well. When we begin our mornings with the Bible lesson and then a prayer from that lesson, our entire day just flows better.
- A ton of other things. The quick list - take a break when Little Buddy or I either one run out of steam. It's okay to have school in the afternoons, in the car, in the RV, at the lake, or in a different room of the house (even outside) sometimes. A routine really does help. Little boys definitely need to run and have active, hands-on learning time.
What Little Buddy has learned.
- Mom means what she says the first time. Being an only child, Little Buddy has been able to "make deals" a good bit in his short life. He knows my pattern. Well, my pattern has changed and now he's getting used to knowing that I mean what I say the first time and not the nine billionth.
- Yes, we do have school today. Even though he asked to start school in late June, there are some days that his first question when he gets out of the bed in the mornings is, "do we have school today." After me saying, "yes, we have school today." since that day in late June, he is now understanding the pattern.

Weekday = school day. Weekend = no school day. Everyday = learning opportunity.

- I hope a ton more. If you ask him what he learned today, he might say, "that Macbeth was greedy like Lot." OR he might say, "Nothing much."
So, where does that leave us for our plans for week 8? Well, we have got a whole bunch of fun stuff and many "learning opportunities" planned.

1. We are making a Flat Stanley and plan to send him traveling. You can read about the Flat Stanley Travels project at Heart of the Matter online.
2. We continue our studies of bones. We'll be completing a lab project with a chicken bone. It's part of Bob Jones Science curriculum.
3. We have two field trips planned for next week. The first is to the mummy exhibit in Atlanta at Emory University and the other is to the Fox to see Grease with Taylor Hicks.
4. For recreation, definitely more golf. Lessons and practice.

Thanks so much to Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers for hosting this wonderful weekly wrap-up. I enjoy visiting with the other homeschoolers who link up each week. You know, sharing ideas and fun projects really helps the entire homeschooling community. That is surely where I have gained so much. There, prayer, and listening to Little Buddy.