Dreamnight at the Sacramento Zoo

Do you live in or near Sacramento and have a child with a chronic illness or disability?  Then you might want to check out this FREE evening of fun at the Sacramento Zoo on June 1st.

20 Activities To Do With Your Kids While Traveling

Memorial Day is approaching and you may have plans to travel.  Or perhaps a car trip is awaiting you during the summer.  I would like to share twenty activities that we do in the car with our kids, in no particular order.  {We try to go camping once a month and the typical drive to our destination is usually 3-4 hours, sometimes longer depending where we are traveling to.}

1.  Play "I Spy" (I spy something that is the color _____. )
2.  Play ABC game (find words outside the car that start with the letters of the alphabet, in order).
3.  Play Hangman (I like the Melissa & Doug traveling version).

4.  Sleep (I know, mostly improbable).
5.  Count a particular number of items (horses, semi-trucks, motorcycles, etc.).
6.  Search for out-of-state license plates (Melissa & Doug also have a version of this game).

7.  Electronic games.
8.  Watch a movie.
(iPad is great for #7 and #8)
9.  Crayola Color Wonder markers and coloring book (I LOVE these because if the kids drop the markers I don't have to worry about the ink staining the car seats or clothing!).

10. Have a snack. (I don't know why but my kids ALWAYS like to snack in the car.  I try to bring chewy snacks like beef jerky, fruit snacks, licorice, or gum.  Oranges cut into slices and stored in a cooler are great for quenching thirst. String cheese is easily portable and not messy.)
11. Sing songs (Listen to kids music CD's and sing-along).
12. Play guessing games (i.e. take turns making animal sounds and guessing which animal makes that sound).
13. Play Simon says.
14. Bring a travel-size Magna Doodle (great for tic-tac-toe).

15. Tell stories.
16. Play travel-size versions of your favorite board game, or learn a new one.
17. Read a book (individually or as a group).  Books on CD are great for this too!
18. Beware: Try not to get car sick.  (We keep a stash of Sea Bands in the car as we have several in our family who suffer from motion sickness.)
19. Print out a copy of the map and have the kids follow along (ours also like to use the map app on our iPhone).
20. Play Travel Bingo.  Get your FREE copy of my travel bingo game.  There are four different game boards.  I laminated ours and we use them with magnets and a magnetic dry erase board.  You can play individuals or teams.

How to receive your free travel bingo game:
1. Become an email/RSS subscriber to my blog and leave a comment below.
2. Like me on Facebook and leave a comment below.
Be sure to include your e-mail address as I will be e-mailing you all four copies of the travel bingo game you see below.

Have any activities to add?  Would love hear your suggestions.


~Nicole~

Unexpected Distractions

We had something happen today that was absolutely amazing.  And it got me thinking.  How often do we miss unexpected distractions blessings because we are so busy following our schedule?  

And yes, today was a great reminder of that for me.  *Smile*

We were going through our All About Reading lesson this morning and the kids (well most of them) were absolutely not interested.  Daniel (aka Daddy) is normally inside with us while we do school, but he has been working on installing a heater for our pool for the last 3 days.  The kids have noticed his absence, and so have I.  

While we do homeschool year-round, we are winding down for the summer and planning many more activity based learning opportunities.  We only have approximately 10 days left of our All About Reading and we will be done with this level.  SO, I really wanted to get through today's lesson.  Everyone finished their work except  our youngest.  It was time to take our usual break.  Those who need to have a snack grab one and we all go outside to play.  Daniel was also taking a break with us. 

We looked up to see this...

A female Robin making a nest.  This nest was not there a day or two ago.  We sat there watching, absolutely fascinated, as she would swoop down and fly away, then return a few minutes later with a beak full of nesting material.  

Luckily the nest was not very far up in the tree so we could see it all very easily.  I did retrieve the binoculars so the kids could take a look, but it was better just watching with our naked eyes.  We have a balcony off the second story of our house so the kids stood up there.  

  And yes, there was quite a bit of arguing over the binoculars until I finally had to put them away.  

Notice the colors of (what I am guessing is) the female

Along with our All About Reading, this month we are also studying about baby animals.  And we were able to watch a natural event right in our backyard that I couldn't have planned better myself if I had tried. 

We noticed what we presumed to be the male, keeping watch.  His chest was much brighter and bigger.  At one point, another bird flew by the nest and it was very interesting to see how both of the robins chased it away.  

This was an all-day event.  It was completely unexpected.  And we embraced it.  I am not sure if the nest building will continue tomorrow, but if it does I'm sure we will be watching.

How do you handle unexpected distractions?  Do you see them as blessings?

 ~Nicole~

Mother's Day

I had an awesome Mother's Day just spending time with my family and friends.  The younger kids woke up at their usual time (read earlier than I wanted to wake up).  Then they ate their usual breakfast (same. thing. every. day).  I elected to make a quiche for our breakfast brunch so I got to working on it.  I love to cook and bake and I always appreciate new taste-testers.  My long-time friend, Heather, brought danishes and a fruit salad.  We were able to sit outside and enjoy the weather while we ate.  The quiche was quite tasty!

Heather and I 

My older daughter gave me yellow roses (my favorite!), a beautiful butterfly balloon, a card, and my favorite candy.  Wow, what a surprise that was!

When my mom arrived everyone was especially happy to see grandma and Michael as they have been on vacation in Hawaii for the last 2 weeks.  Grandma opened her Mother's Day presents:  a personalized t-shirt that says "This Grandma belongs to" (then has all the names of the grandchildren).  

                      And a personalized photo book from Shutterfly.

Next it was time for all of the children to go swimming.  It was really nice having the older children swim with the younger children so I didn't have to get in the *freezing* (70 degree) water.  We had 9 children total swimming.  It was very relaxing not being on any particular schedule today.

       

For dinner, my husband BBQ'd pork tenderloin and tri-tip steak and cut up a watermelon.  My older daughter made potato salad & pasta salad.  Heather and my mom pitched in to help with the salads and make corn on the cob.  James was so happy to help with the corn too.

The kids opened their presents from grandma and Michael's Hawaii trip.  Some of the kids went swimming again (gasp).  Then we had cake and ice cream for dessert.  Everyone was definitely tired out and ready for bed tonight!

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day as well.

~Nicole~

My mom and I

This is a Happy Mother's Day link-up with 5 Minutes for Mom.

Moments to Remember

Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that 

encompass the memories we want to remember.

The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end these are the moments that 

keep us going, the ones we need to remember. 

                                                                    

Five months ago we moved into a rental house after we listed our home for short-sale.  This was a house we purchased in 2006 as we began our adoption journey.  It was a BIG, brand new, beautiful home that we always thought would be our forever home.  But now I am happy and content in our rental house.  We have a rather large (& beautiful) backyard with a pool, tree swing, and a tree house.  Every child's dream backyard.  And we are loving it!  

The kids can't wait to finish their schoolwork so they can run out back to play.  It has been a great motivator and we are making family memories!  The weather has finally started warming up and everyone is anxious to start swimming.  Unfortunately the pool water is fre-e-e-ezing.

Johnathan (7)

James (8) and Amada (3)

Alex (9)

James (8) and Johnathan (7) racing their new remote control quads they received for their birthdays.  I am happy that they are playing together and not fighting.

I am relaxing on the swing with Johnathan and Amada.  Why is it so peaceful to sit outside on the swing and listen to all the sounds of nature?  Yes, I could get used to this.

Even our cats are happy and content with our new home.  This is Bear curled up on the rocks under the big oak tree.  Boots is undoubtedly roaming the neighborhood.

This post is a link-up with 1+1+1=1.  

~Nicole~

This Is How We Homeschool...Solar System

Window Clings Purchased from Oriental Trading Company

We have been learning about the solar system this last month.  I found some wonderful resources that we have enjoyed using.  For our calendar time, we used the Astronomy Calendar Connection cards from Carisa at 1+1+1=1.  These are geared for 3rd-6th graders, but we simplified them to use with our kiddos.  My husband commented that he learned many new things (& was fascinated) during this unit study.

Five Little Astronauts Rhyme from the Aa is for Astronaut unit on Homeschool Printables (Maureen also has an M is for Moon unit on the same page).  I laminated and added magnets to each piece.  The kids took turns reciting the poem using a cookie sheet.  This activity was a big hit!  I even caught the kids playing with the pieces and making up a story after we were done with school time.

We found several magnet/dot paint pages on Making Learning Fun:
A is for Astronaut
M is for Moon
S is for Spaceship

Melissa & Doug Solar System Puzzle

Books we read (These are NOT affiliate links, but rather used to give an example.  I would recommend checking with your nearest public library first):
On The Moon by Anna Milbourne
The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklin M. Branley
There's No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library)
Goodnight Moon
What Makes Day and Night
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Sign & Singalong)
Rockets and Spaceships
Astronomy (DK Eyewitness Book)



We used the Astronaut Printables from Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations.  I insert the pages into the Dry Erase Pockets I found in the dollar section at Target and the kids rotate through the different pages.  We worked on beginning letter sounds, tracing color words, tracing astronaut words, and many other activities.

We LOVE the Read! Build! Write! Vocabulary cards from Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations (available on the Astronaut Printable page).  The boys have magnetic white boards purchased at Lakeshore Learning and I made a set of magnetic letters to use with them.  Since the boys have difficulty with fine motor skills this is a  great activity for them.  Breaking the words down letter-by-letter really helps.  James just recently learned how to write some of his letters independently.  You can see all of their proud smiles below.

 

Johnathan

Alex

James

We also use the Read! Build! Write! word cards for James to practice typing, either on the iPad or our home computer using the Crayola keyboard.  James has mild cerebral palsy so his motor skills are delayed, but we are finding lots of fun ways for him to learn!  As a side note, James also has a cleft palate that he's undergone 3 surgeries to attempt a repair, but all have failed.  Since his palate remains open, his speech is sometimes difficult to understand especially to unfamiliar people.  We are working with James to learn how to use a communication program (Proloquo2go) on the iPad.  I will be doing a post on that once we really get going.  

Carisa from 1+1+1=1 also made a Solar System Preschool (& Beyond) Pack.  We are continually working on our sight words and below you can see the boys using the sentence building cards in our pocket chart to create then recite sentences.

You are not seeing things.  Johnathan is indeed wearing a wetsuit!  Johnathan has sensory processing disorder so we use it for pressure which helps calm him and help him focus.  He used to have a pressure vest, but the wetsuit covers more body area and costs a lot less.  We found ours at Costco for under $30.

Since Alex is older, I have him build a sentence then write it down on paper, several sentences at a time.  This helps with organization in completing his work and allows him to work independently.  Alex has PDD-NOS (autism spectrum disorder with speech delay and mild cognitive delay) so we have made adjustments with his curriculum and take a more "hands-on" approach.



One way we incorporated this into our Solar System unit was by learning the phases of the moon using Oreo cookies.  Beth at Living Life Intentionally made this printout.  The kids had fun and were able to tell me the different phases when I quizzed them.  Of course, we had left over Oreos so we had a little snack when we were done.

Dramatic play: We had an astronaut costume and the kids took
turns wearing and pretending to be astronauts.  We watched a
short video of the crew at the International Space Station from
NASA's website and talked about and pretended what it would
be like without gravity.  Fun fact:  Without gravity we wouldn't
have runny noses.  :-)







A couple of afternoons a week we try to watch a DVD or TV show related to what we are learning.  For this unit I found these DVD's at our local public library:



Check out whydragonfly.com for a great activity guide, especially for your kinesthetic learners.

During art time we marble painted the Earth.  Really it was just a circle template on a white sheet of paper.  I found an old box lid, blue and green paint, and some marbles.  It was neat for me to see the kids helping one another on this project.

                                   

The timing of this unit couldn't have been any more perfect between the meteorite shower earlier this month (confirmed pieces landing in Coloma, CA about 45 minutes away from our house) and the brightest and biggest full moon of the year yesterday. Our oldest daughter took this wonderful picture in our backyard.

My gift to you...a simple Solar System  power point I made for my children and I am sharing with you FREE.  We used ours on the iPad, but it may be used on your computer or printed out to enjoy.  If you would like to share it, please link back to my blog post and not the google document.

Thank you!
Nicole