Days 3 and 4 of Creation: The Foundation

For this whole week of Creation, we really do the same basic concepts each day, just change them up a little bit by learning about the different things God created on that specific day!
So, for day 3, we did our circle time(pray, put day 3 poster up, review days 1 and 2, read Genesis 1:9-13, review signs and add night and flower, verses 1-3 of The Creation Song)
Then we did our number 3(color, cut and paste to poster) and an alphabet review. Today I had some puzzles that you matched up the upper and lowercase of each letter. Again, Gage did really good at this and it was total review, but I think since it was something new, he liked it! (They were from Targets dollar section this year)

Then, for Gage and Malia's favorite part of each day...snack time! We made dirtcups to show how God made the land and filled it with trees, plants, and flowers! After that we went outside to play for awhile. We had done more this morning than any other morning so far before snack and playtime, so, I felt like we were improving a little bit!
Then we made our page for our Creation book of day three. And for the first time, we actually listened to the song, "This is My Father's World"! I have to admit that I feel a little bad that it's the first time we got to it since MFW says we should do it daily, but it never seemed to fit in where I still had Gage's attention. We watched/listened to the song on youtube.com. I found a version by Amy Grant, that I liked! Gage then told me all the things in the video that God made! It is a beautiful video.

Later in the afternoon we made rainsticks from yesterdays study, but we didn't get to them. The kids seemed to like them. I basically had them made and they decorated them.
For storytime we read in our Bible again, reading days 1-3. Then at bedtime my mom came over to read them a story and she read them The Berenstain Bears Discover God's Creation.


Day 4 went pretty good as well! We did our circle time(pray, review days 1-3, put up our day 4 poster, read Genesis 1:14-19, reviewed our sing language we've been learning, and sang verses 1-4 of our Creation song.-while we sing, I let them get some wiggles out by dancing around and then when I say,"On day__ they hold up that number on their fingers!)
We sang the Alphabet song, the way we normally do since Gage does not like the way MFW has us sing it. He keeps telling me I'm singing it wrong! Ha!

Then we worked on our number 4 for our Creation Poster, more coloring, pasting, and cutting.
For snack time, I found fish crackers at Target that were spaced themed! When I saw them, I thought what perfect timing for these to come out! The kids liked to find the star, moon, and spaceshuttle shapes! We also had some star shaped marshmellows, just because I had bought them first and then saw the fish crackers, so we had both!

After this we had a longer play time than usual just because it was beautiful outside and I know that all too soon, Winter will be here! So, I'm trying to let the kids enjoy God's beautiful Earth He made for us!
Then we did our page for our Creation Book. The kids drew the sun and moon and I had some star stickers for them to add to the night sky!
Then I found another video on youtube.com of "This is My Father's World"-today Gage just listened.
At dinner time, we read our Bible for day 4 of God's Creation.

And that wrapped up our first week of Creation...we skipped one day and just played as mommy did not feel good...but I guess when you are homeschooling and studying God's Creation, it's OK, to take an entire day to just play in His Creation!)

the "MittelMommy" behind "MittelSchool"

Day 2 of Creation: The Foundation

What we are using for the Creation Unit

Wow, this is so long overdue! A few times I have sat down to type up our first week only to have something come up! Hopefully, tonight, with everyone in bed, I will get to write about our first week in Kindergarten using My Father's World! 

Being that I was really nervous to start, I decided that we would start on September 5th, that's right, Labor Day! This way my husband was home to both help me with Malia and more importantly, see/be there for Gage's first day of Kindergarten! The day went NOTHING like I had planned in my head! Ha! Go figure-it usually never does! But(and this is big for me!) I stayed calm, just went with the flow, and gave it to God trusting He knew the plans and they would work out His way....which is exactly what happened! It was probably good for me, because the rest of the week really didn't go on the schedule I had so thought out and planned either! 

 

So, I already shared about our first day, but I wanted to share what the rest of our first week was like! Our second day, which was without Daddy, actually went much faster! We did our circle time first(pray, reviewed day 1, put a poster of day 2 up, read Genesis 1:6-8, did signs for day, good, and the numbers 1 and 2, sang verse one and two of "The Days of Creation" song, and added in the song, "Do you know who made the world?"). 

Then we worked on the number 2 for our Creation Posters. They colored them and Gage cut his out all by himself and Malia cut almost half of hers out by herself! I was so impressed with both of them! This part of our day does not interest Gage at all. He could careless about coloring, but he does seem to like the cutting part of it! 

To get it 'fun' again, I thought we'd do snack time a little early and then go out to play. We had marshmellows and water to represent how God split the waters in two(marshmellows-clouds, and water-water)

My mother-in-law gave me two white pillowcases, which I cut out arms and a head for the night before. The kids were rather confused at what exactly their mother was doing, but they hung in there with me until I was done. With the pillowcases on, we opened the stuffing and filled the pillowcases up to make them clouds! Then I told them to run all around! I am most certain Gage thought I was crazy! Ha! They loved it though! They were running and bumping into each other and trying to see what they could all do as clouds...roll down the backyard "hill"(very small roll off our patio), ride their bikes, shoot basketballs, swing on the swingset, go down the slide, etc., but the most fun really was rolling down the hill!

We played outside until lunch time and then worked on our Creation Book. They each got a piece of blue paper and then we spread cotton over it to make clouds. Then we did an alphabet puzzle to review our letters. Actually, this was Malia's idea...she dumped all the puzzles, so, while we picked them up, I had Gage do the alphabet one...so, he had to find the letters in the pile of 10 or more puzzles and find each letters home! After that we sat down to read in our Read and Share Bible day 2 of Creation and then put the kids down for their naps! 

It felt so good to have completed two days, not on my schedule, but none-the-less, we did it and had fun! 

When I started this post I titled it, "Week 1 of Creation: The Foundation"...but my eyes have been getting heavy since the third paragraph, so, I changed it to "Day 2 of Creation: The Foundation"! Hopefully, I will get to the rest of the week and week two much sooner! 

the "MittelMommy" behind "MittelSchool"!

so much to write...so little time!

The title pretty much sums it up! We FINISHED our first week of homeschooling!!! I do want to blog about it and hopefully, I will soon. Our first week was a lot of changes...getting back to a routine after being on vacation for a little over two weeks(naps, bedtimes...fun!), not having Daddy home all day with us, starting school, starting AWANA, and Daddy's bowling league started up! It felt like a crazy week for this Mama who has been struggling to begin with! But...we made it!!! God truly was my strength! So, I hope that sometime this week I will be able to catch up a little on our first week! I got to blog it before I forget about it! 

We Survived!!!

Dry Erase Board welcoming the kids with their verse!

We did it! Our very first day of homeschooling is done and we are all still alive and no one lost any hair! (Although at one point, I did think that maybe throwing in the towel looked sounded good! Ha!) So, I love to plan, but am not good at staying on schedule! Nothing ever seems to take the amount of time I think it will! Does anyone else have this problem? I had our day totally planned out (to like where I was planning things taking 3-5 minutes past the hour! -You can tell already where this story is going!) and although not a single thing happened at the time I planned for it, it all still worked out! I guess all the 'off timing' was just God's timing! 
The kids got up a little later than usual which normally would be nice, but today I had big plans of doing this on the normal schedule. I was dead tired and didn't wake up before them to do my Bible time, but was still determined that this would be a good day and we will still go on! The kids crawled in bed with Nathan and I for a few minutes and then I got up and put the cinnamon rolls  in the oven. I wanted to do a little special breakfast for the first day and since Nathan was home and he loves these I thought I'd do something special! It's only special at our house because normally we have cereal or toast with sprinkles(cinnamon and sugar)! So, we prayed, ate, read our Bible, closed in prayer, and started school! 

Malia and Gage on their mats                         

I got the kids special mats to sit on during our morning 'circle/calendar' time. I had the kids close their eyes, told them what to look for, and then they turned around and ran to find their mat with their names! They thought this was fun! Gage got a frog mat since he seems to be all into frogs, turtles, and bugs lately(yuck...yuck...and yuck! but I know I have to watch my words and actions as I want him to see they are cool because God created them for some reason!) We call Malia either Cupcake or Bug(Ladybug) so the same store had a ladybug mat! These mats are really mats for kneeling on when you garden! Then I blind folded the kids and asked them what they could see...Nothing..although Gage tried to tell me where everything in the livingroom was by memory! We talked about how before anything was created there was nothing, the world was empty and dark. Then we read Genesis 1:1-5, where God spoke light into being and made the first day and night. This is where Malia was the handful I thought she'd be and took a few minutes of telling her to stop bothering her brother or to sit down. (Thankfully Daddy was home today to help, so, we'll see how Mommy does on her own-almost like another first day!) I think for being 2 though, she did really really good! I could tell they both needed to move so we got some wiggles out and danced while we sang a Creation song to the tune of "This old Man"! (We just sang day one's verse...we'll add to it each day!) After that I asked a few questions to see what Gage got from what we talked about and read. We learned the sign for "Day"...which they both did...it was cute! 

Malia with her bin
                       

Then we moved to the kitchen table where our curriculum as a number to color, cut, and paste for each day of creation. I am not a good mommy when it comes to using scissors, so, I have to admit I was a little impressed at how well Gage did! He chose to color his one in yellow which I thought was great since it was for "light" and Malia colored hers blue! At this time they also got to have their special homeschool bin with their new binders and filled pencil boxes...these were a surprise to them as well!

Gage and his bin

                             
The next few steps in our curriculum were to work on learning the ABC's, but Gage already knows and can recognized them so we kinda just skipped over that part and did a little review for him and a start for Malia. I gave them each a bingo card and some little c-thru circle things to cover the letters as I said and showed them to them. I would say a letter, let's say "g" Gage would find it and say, "I'm done!" and Malia would look at it and then Daddy helped her find it on her sheet..she found a few of them on her own! Then I'd ramble off a few words that started with that letter until our boards were filled up! We sang the clean up song, put things away, and they ran outside to play!

the butterfly...it was huge!

                           
As I was making lunch, my mom called and said to come over that there was a big butterfly that had been sitting for over a half over, so we ran there(I left the food on the counters) and then came home to lunch..sandwiches with oreo cookies and milk for light and dark...day one of God's creation!
We played some more, read the book, The Seven Days of Creation(sung to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas) and then tried to do nap time! After our little rest time, we did paper mache to make a globe! They are rather wet so I think my idea of waiting more than 48 hours to the 8th day of this unit might have been a great idea! The kids took a bath and I made BLT pizza with tomatoes out of our garden...yummy! 

Gage's 1st day of Kindergarten picture!

                                   
So, I know we started later than I thought, but how do people do all of this in an hour/hour and a half? It took us pretty much the entire day! I think the kids did amazing though! I feel so good that we did it and am so excited for this new adventure! Praise the Lord!
Now I am off to do the dishes and cut my pillowcases for tomorrow!

Malia with her Daddy for her 1st day of tot school! Really she just had to climb the tree like her brother...we are pretty sure she's part monkey! 

                                  

Our First Day of Kindergarten is Today!

The last few days I have been a little nervous about us finally actually starting school(you know after over a year of just drooling over My Father's World catalog!)... and then yesterday I felt totally at peace and really super exciting! One, it just seems soooooo unreal that my baby boy is old enough to be starting KINDERGARTEN! How can this be?! It's a humongous change in our lives...he will forever be in school until he is an adult now! This just seems so crazy to me that it's here already, it's now! Second, I am so excited and feel so blessed God has chose ME, his "Mama" to be his teacher! I don't have to send him away in this new adventure and I get to see his growth right in front of these teaching eyes! Amazing!
Well, our day ended up being about 4 hours later than planned and now I'm on here so it's even later for this teacher, who should get a good nights rest before the first day of class! Praying we are all rested and our hearts and mind are ready to absorb what God has for us in learning all about His Creation!

Curriculum...curriculum...curriculum... Oh, How I Love Curriculum!

What we'll be using...
 Opening "My" Box!

Before I ever even started thinking about homeschooling, my friend already knew she would be homeschooling and started her search for what curriculum she would be using with her oldest daughter. Once she found one she liked, she bought it and then showed it to me! I instantly was like in love with it! I was so super excited for her and just wanted it for myself! Especially that teacher's manual! (Remember I always wanted to be a teacher?!) What I really loved was how it was all based on God's Word and His Truth! Suddenly, I started thinking about what I wanted in an education for my children. I just figured they go to public school and turn out fine like I did. But now, having my own children, their education and  "what" exactly they would be being taught became serious to me. I totally loved the idea of Gage and Malia seeing how God had made everything and how amazing His works are, and how He made this beautiful Earth for them! Something that I wish I would have taught at a much younger age...like right from the start! I can't change how I was taught, I'm just thankful God chose to show this Light to me, and so very thankful that I CAN educate my children this way!



So, when my friend showed me her wonderful Kindergarten package from My Father's World I was swept off my feet! Many months later when we felt that we were going to be homeschooling, I just looked up My Father's World and kept falling more and more in love with it (and each grade as I started reading more...a timeline...heart is melting!)! I didn't really feel much need to shop around anymore until it started getting closer to the time that I would actually be ordering it, but all I found was some great books or lessons here and there, and that My Father's World was still calling my name! I love how Kindergarten is all about showing how God made everything and teaching great Godly characteristics for my children and myself to soak up! 
When I was doing a little shopping around, I mentioned I did find a few other things I liked, so, I did buy Christian Liberty Press' The World God Made.



I really liked this book. I didn't really think I'd add anything, but when I saw this book, I loved how simple, but rich it is in sharing how God made it all! I plan to use a page or two with several of our units. The first two weeks of MFW-K are Creation and we have a lot of Bible story books, but believe it or not, not really much just on creation...so, this will be our main reading book/information book for creation! I like how it explains what God did on each day and gives a craft type idea to go along with it! 



Our other additions are from Carisa, from 1+1+1=1, and Jolanthe, at Homeschool Creations, two blogs I found about a month or so ago...they have tons and tons of great ideas and FREE printables that go along with our units! I have gone threw two things of ink and 3 packages of paper since finding these sites! Needless to say, I've printed just about everything they have!



And last but not least....Homeschool Creations shared on facebook a sale on Little Passports and I thought it sounded like so much fun and a nice way to introduce Gage to "the world" outside of our little town! I also thought it might be nice to go back to when we study the Continents and Countries later on! 



 


This is what Gage will be doing and I hope to include Malia in as much as possible! I printed off a lot of things for her to do more at her level that are the same theme as what Gage will be doing along with some extra Princess stuff, since she's all into Princesses right now(I so love it!) Miss Malia is one of the reasons I am so nervous. She is a very busy active girl and it worries me, but I'm praying that it will work out and she'll do some stuff with us, some special stuff of her own, and play! 





I am so excited(and totally nervous) for our first year homeschooling! It looks like we'll be having a lot of fun adding into our learning! I think this will be great for Gage as well! I'm praying that we have a wonderful year learning together(another thing I am so stoked about..I will be learning so much Bible history that I don't(sadly) know already! Plus, I'm way more interested in science and geography now than I ever was in school!). I'm praying that it really draws us closer as a family and that we all have a new appreciation for all God has made and done for us as well as more Christ-like heart attitudes that shine for Jesus!!!

the MittelMommy teaching MittelSchool

Starting MittelSchool soon!

Well, I totally failed at blogging just about our daily life! Twice now I have said that I was going to start doing it again...and well, it never went past that post saying I was going to do it or at least try! But now I am so super excited(and honestly nervous) about us praying, deciding and now starting to homeschool Gage and Malia that I could shout it off a roof top(!!!!!!), but since both sides of my family are not for it, I just keep quiet about it to not stir more issues up....so, that's where this blog comes back in! I'm really hoping to blog about our weeks and have a little online 'scrapbook' of our new adventure!
Like so many others say, we, too, did not plan to homeschool our children. I really feel it was God's leading and I am so excited to be spending this precious time with my children and to be able to show them just how amazing our God is in everything they will be learning! My husband was homeschooled and for all six of our dating years and just about two years into our marriage we both felt that we would not homeschool due to somethings that my husband felt and I agreed upon. Then a friend starting searching into what she would be using her first year of school and my heart struggled with, "wow that seems so exciting!" and "well, you can't get excited b/c one, you are not doing this and two, how stupid are you going to look when you've made it clear you would not be homeschooling"...and I really think that's when God starting working in my heart and leading us towards homeschooling. I have always wanted to be a teacher, I was always playing school with my brother and Granny when I was little, so my desire to teach has always been here, but when it came time to go to college for an education in teaching, I honestly just didn't go because I was scared of the student teaching in front of a teacher(I've always been scared to talk in front of people...guess out goes the "you'll be able to socialize if you go to public school theory"!). So what better teaching position is there than teaching the two(at least for now!) most precious children in the world to me, whom, I truly care about their education and what exactly they are being taught, than to get to BE THEIR teacher!?!? So, I started getting excited about this...but then there was my husband, who still felt the way I was starting to 'use' to feel. Clearly God was in control and already working in my husband's heart...When I just 'mentioned' homeschooling a little...like a tad little hint of it, making sure he knew I still wasn't thinking about it of course...his reply was, "If you are feeling like we should homeschool, then I'm in this with you and I think it's what we are suppose to do" ...What?! I thought we had agreed we weren't doing this and so quickly he is "yeah, if you feel God leading us, then let's do it"...only God can soften a heart like that! And now here we are a little over a year later, our curriculum bought, organized and ready to go on our start date! So there you have it, my "I wasn't planning to homeschool story"!