Brightly Beaming Resources: Week 3- Kittens

This week our theme was Kittens.  Vocab word- claws. Shape- diamond. Number- 3. Letter- C.  Nursery Rhyme- Pussy Cat.  You can find a thorough lesson plan at Brightly Beaming Resources.

So our basic schedule looks like this.  I take about 10 minutes a day for "school" time.  That's about all Shrade and I can handle.  I usually review the poster and then jump into the "lesson."  I also read a book related to the theme and have an art project or activity/game to play.  Like I said, it's very short, but meaningful.  Then when daddy gets home we talk about what we learned.  It's great to see him repeating what we talked about earlier in the day.  Very good exercise for the brain!

Educational Toys Planet Review

Educational Toys Planet

Shrade and I had so much fun reviewing a toy from Educational Toys Planet.  This company selects products that are the best in educating your child as well as having features for safety and quality.  They guarantee customer satisfaction, reliable and fast shipping and excellent customer service.  There are so many fun and engaging toys to choose from and all in convenient categories by interest.

We were given the Build a Buddy Mixed Up Pets toy for Shrade to explore.  This was from the Pets category on the website.  This toy has 14 double sided shapes that can create many different pets with endless possibilities!  On the box it states that "building 3D puzzles improves spatial awareness and teaches sequencing, mixing and matching, stimulates problem solving and develops manual dexterity."  Wow!  We found that to be so true.  Shrade was very absorbed in creating many different animals by putting the shapes into specially created fitted holes.  It was fun to watch him look for what he needed.  I also had a chance to use descriptive words to identify colors and shapes.  It was a very unique and silly way to play together and learn!

Ta-da!

Be sure to visit Educational Toys Planet soon!

What's Cooking? Sweet Potato Waffles

My son absolutely loves these waffles.  I found this recipe at Finding Joy in My Kitchen.  Hey, what's better for kids than a good dose of veggies and Vitamin A at breakfast.  Check out the recipe there and all the other great food!

Toddler Talk Thursday: Growing our family

 

We have been trying for #2 since the spring of 2010 with no luck.  But right before Thanksgiving this year I found out that I was 15 weeks along.  You'll have to read my other story about why I didn't know that I was pregnant.  Anyway, we were really hoping to add to our family soon since I just turned 36 in September.  We also only want two, but it's going to be an adjustment.  I was getting really used to just having one.  Thankfully I've had a really good pregnancy besides just being tired a lot.  So, come May we will have another one and we are going to wait to find out what it will be, so stay tuned!

Growing Kids God's Way: Principles of Obedience

This was probably my favorite chapter in Growing Kids.  First, Biblical discipline involves HEART training.  Obedience is essential to family government.

What is Biblical obedience?
*It is to be immediate
*It is to be complete
*Without challenge
*Without complaint

Don't become a threatening, repeating or bribing parent!

But how?  Use some aids.  This is what works for us:

*Expect Yes Mom/Dad after giving an instruction
*Look child in the face

Delayed obedience is disobedience.  Is your child characterized with a heart of obedience?  We are working on that right now while our son is young so he will be a joy to have as an elementary school child and teenager, but most of all we want him to follow God's word and be obedient to Him!  It starts in the home!

Next time: Discipline with Encouragement

What's on Our Bookshelf? Tall by Jez Alborough

Next to Hug, Tall is one of the cutest books for babies and toddlers!  This is about a little monkey that is small, but wants to be tall.  Everytime he thinks he's tall, he sees someone taller and becomes sad.  Eventually he falls and his mama catches him.  That's when being small seems just right.  This book worked great for our Jungle theme and my son learned about being small and tall.  He even pretended to be Bobo on our recent hike and he's named one of his stuffed monkeys Bobo and re-creates the story in our home.

Music Notes: Animal Songs by Raffi

Oh, my!  This is probably one of my favorite CD's from Raffi.  There is some classics like Down By the Bay, 5 Little Ducks and Who Built the Ark?  I especially love this CD because the music arrangements are so catchy and easy to learn the words.  The song I like best is Octopus's Garden.  The reggae is so appealing.  There is also LOTS of learning that takes place when kids listen and move to good music.  My son and I could dance and sing to this CD all day!

Brightly Beaming Resources: Week 2- The Jungle

I am using Brightly Beaming Resources Preparatory Curriculum for 2-4 year olds Lesson 2.  As you can see I made a poster with the key learning points- Weekly Theme (Jungle), Color (Green), Number (2), Vocab word (vine), Letter (B) and Nursery Rhyme (Lion Prowl).  I also put out a few of the books I used for this week.  We had lots of fun discovering the jungle and learning letters, colors and numbers.  I don't follow the lesson exactly on the website, but I get my main idea and add some things of my own.

Day 1: Jungle Obstacle Course

Day 5: Art activity- hide the tiger (using green paper grass)

Books by Tara Review and Giveaway!!

Books by Tara has offered for me to do another review and awesome giveaway!  Have you ever wanted to have more fun and interaction with your child while reading?  Well, Books by Tara offers this unique opportunity for you to help your child develop language skills and enjoy photos of things that they know.  The possibilities for learning potential are endless.  All of Tara's books are about 20 pages and have an introductory poem and 19 photographs.  Each book is spiral bound with glossy pages.  These books are beautiful!

Shrade and I got to experience her brand new book, Green.  Tara chose to do a color book and because green is everywhere.  She wanted to capture more than just a color, but concepts like different shades, items and even abstract terms like green living.  This book takes a look at the real world and even explores the differences between colors like a green tomato vs. a red tomato.

Tara takes special care to find the right pictures for her theme.  She says that she probably spent about 1.5 years making this book.  This dedication shows how hard she works to create an enjoyable and interactive product that many kids will love as well as their parents, like me!

So, Tara, what is your favorite part about making a book?  Each book is very exciting to make, but my favorite part has to be when I finally get the image I have in my mind - or better yet something BETTER than I even imagined! Like the lawn mower/grass photo, I was going for more a more drastic difference in the grass being cut from long to short, but the photo I ended up choosing just had some details that really captured my memories of watching the grass being cut as a child. I was excited to see how the grass and the pink and white highlighted the cat's green eyes too. I like trying to capture what appeals to children, because children have taught me to appreciate little things that might go unnoticed due to the constant demands and distractions of life. These are all opportunities to connect and think and learn together.

Shrade and I had so much fun exploring with Green.  Every photo gave us an opportunity to talk about what it was and even to find those items in real life.  Tara does such a great job of capturing life and Green is probably the first in a series of color books (hopefully!).  Tara also gives Extension Ideas for this book.

Win it:  You can win Green or another book by Books by Tara by filling out the entry form below.  Giveaway ends Monday, January 31.

To enter:  Be sure to connect with all the links before filling out the entry form.
1. (Mandatory) Be a follower on my blog (2 entries)
2. Tell me another book by Tara that you want to read. (required)
3. "Like" Milk N' Honey on Facebook (link on my blog)
4. Subscribe to Milk N Honey by email (link on my blog)
5. "Like" Books by Tara on Facebook
6. Sign up for Tara's newsletter (book giveaways every month)
7. Post about this giveaway on another site (Facebook, Twitter, Blog) (1 entry for each)

Entry for Books by Tara Green book

125 Brain Games for Toddlers and Twos by Jackie Silberg

Oh, my goodness!  This is a must have book for every mama with a busy toddler who seems to be getting into everything.  These are simple and fun games designed for ages 12-36 months.  Jackie breaks them down into 3 month increments and offers 15 different brain game activities to experience with your child.  These are invaluable for connecting with your little one.  Also, each game has a specific brain research tidbit.  So, if you are stuck with a whiny little toddler, start to play these games with them and watch their brain grow.

I played a game with Shrade where I hid a little stuffed animal and repeated a fun rhyme to find it.  This was great for language and spatial play.  He even hides stuffed animals by himself and says, "Where is it?"  We look all over until we find it and yell, "I found the _____________."  See, easy and fun!

What's on Our Bookshelf? Monkey and Me

This book Monkey and Me is so adorable!  It is a rhythm and rhyme story that features a little girl and her stuffed monkey and what they pretend to be.  It's really fun for the reader to guess what the little girl and monkey are posing as before turning the page.  It would also be a fun book to act out as well.  Happy reading!

Music Notes: Getting to Know Myself by Hap Palmer

Do you want to get your little ones up and moving?  Check out Getting to know Myself by Hap Palmer.  I have used Hap's music in my Kindergarten classroom and now I get to use his wonderful way of teaching children through music with my own son.  This CD is great because it has lots of songs about body parts and how to move.  My 2 year old son is just starting to learn body awareness and it's fun to watch him try to touch his elbow to his knee, jump and turn in circles.

Play Activity: Matching

There is nothing more enjoyable for me than to PLAY with my son.  I constantly look for fun, easy and educational activities that I can do with my little guy on a daily basis.  I was so glad to discover Play-activities.com.  I signed up the for the weekly free play activity email.  I'm so excited to experience these activities with my son.  Sign up today for your free activity email today!

Monthly Plan: January

Here is the first monthly plan for Shrade Playschool:

*Bible verse-  Songs for Saplings

Winter verse  Psalm 51:7 "Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."  (Sung to a very catchy tune)

* 2 Brightly Beaming Resources Lessons: (I will do a blog post about these next month)

Kittens

Eyes

*Daily Music time: CD's from Music Notes and CD's we get at the library

*Brain Games: Ideas from Jackie Silberg
-Can you find me...where is ____________?
-Learning with play
-Singing Names

*Play Activities:
-Matching with cookie cutters

*Sensory Activities:
-Playdough
-Sink/Float

*Art- ?

*Field Trips:
Weekly Library Story Time
Play to Learn
Learning Sprout Toy Store
Play dates
Indoor play areas
Children's Museum

*Chores
Put dishes in the sink
Clean up toys
Throw away garbage/recycling

Brightly Beaming Resources: Week 1- Cows

So I have finally decided on a "curriculum" that will work for me as my son is now 2 years old.  I found Brightly Beaming Resources which offers parents a fun, easy and unique way to "teach" your child while not doing a whole lot of work.  I am starting with the Preparatory Curriculum which is the first program in the Steps to Reading for ages 2-4.  There are 26 lessons and each cover a Weekly Theme, vocabulary word, color/shapes, letters, numbers and nursery rhymes, not to mention books that support the weekly theme.  I made a little poster that covers the topics for the week as outlined on the website.  I'm very flexible and I actually spent about 2 weeks on this lesson.  Anyway, take a look and see if it's something you want to try with your little one.  I love it and it gets me ready for lesson planning in a small way when I move to homeschooling some day.  Also, I do refer to this time I spend with my son as "school."  I'm not regimented or anything, but I try to get him to focus for 5-10 minutes a day.  My goal is to do about 2 lessons a month.

This first week (Lesson 1) I made a poster using the theme (cows), shape (square), number (1), vocab word (calf), letter (A) and nursery rhyme (Hey Diddle Diddle).  Shrade was very interested in the calf and we had fun searching for squares and learning letter A.  He even found the letter o in the Nursery Rhyme on the poster.  I leave the poster out so he can look at it frequently and also I review what we learned at night with daddy and I use it for reviewing what we learned the previous day.  It's so fun to teach this little sponge!

Theme Poster: Cows

Day 5: Art project (cow made of squares)

Happy New Year Sale from Heavenly Homemakers!!

RIGHT NOW until January 6...

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This is a fabulous curriculum that you could purchase for yourself or give as a gift to a family member.  There is downloadable ebook and a printed version.

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