Math Mats

I'm in love with Lakeshores I Can Add & Subtract Math Mats! I was introduced to these when Emilee was going to public school. When I started homeschooling again this was one of the first things I bought. They sell for $24.95 at Lakeshore stores. These mats teach adding and subtracting up to 10 in a fun and hands on way. In the photo above the #4 is red so the child places 4 red ducks in the pond. There is a yellow #1 so the child places 1 yellow duck in the pond. The child then adds up the ducks in the pond and finds the correct foam number to place above the black line. The mats come in three different styles (all included) cars/garage, ducks/pond, and pigs/mud puddle.


After the child has a good grasp on adding you can flip all the cards over for subtraction problems. You start by having the child put the # of ducks in the pond for whatever # is in black (in the photo it's 5). The child then takes out (of the pond) the number of ducks in yellow (in this picture it's 1). Then the child count's how many duck's are in the pond and finds the correct foam number to put above the black line.




This is what the card looks like without any foam pieces on it.

This is a great beginning adding and subtracting program for Preschool, Kindergarten, or Special Needs students!

Dot Art

I found this really fun Dot Art Workbook and Dot Art Paint at Lakeshore (LOVE that store) a couple of days ago. I knew my kids would LOVE it and I was right!

The workbook has ABC's, #'s, and Shapes. You use the Dot art painters to dot the circles then they write the letter or number below. On the ABC worksheets there is a letter in the upper left corner which the kids find the match to (on another worksheet) and cut and glue it in place. They're learning lots of skills and having fun at the same time!

Hard at work!

All done! My oldest didn't want to be left out so he did his own Art project while the girls were doing their worksheets. These worksheets are great for Pre-K and K.

On another matter I went to the school district to have a meeting today about my daughter getting speech therapy. They were saying that the State of Utah says you can't be homeschooled and receive those services. Though I did that exact thing in the school district I just moved from (same state). Working with them is so frustrating. And I REALLY hate it when they ask me what curriculum I'm using. It's really insulting because it feels like they're looking down on me like I don't know what I'm doing! I really just want to say, "You mean Nickelodeon isn't a curriculum?" (and just for your info we don't have TV). Anyway hopefully we get it all straightened out.

Happy Homeschooling!

Fall Harvest Party

Last Friday we were able to go to the Sanpete Valley Homeschoolers Fall Harvest Party. It was great to connect with old friends (we lived down here 5 years ago) and make new ones! After Sterling changed our flat tire we had a little trouble actually finding the building the party was at, and to top it off my casserole for the potluck took about 20 min. longer than usual to cook. So needless to say we were about an hour late to the party. Luckily they hadn't started eating yet. After dinner the kids bobbed for apples, played tag, and then watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. The adults all had a great time visiting with each other. A great way to start off our homeschooling down here! I volunteered to be over our next big get together in Jan. which is going to be a Family Winter Ball! I'm excited to plan this event because I love Parties!

I decided to start a blog about our Homeschooling Journey!

I have four kids ages 9, 8, 6 and 3.

Homeschooling four kids is no small task but it's fun to learn and grow together!

Last year I took a break from homeschooling. I was planning on homeschooling again after we built our house. We just moved (into a rental while we build) and I went to check in my kids at the local public school. They informed me that they didn't have special ed classes for my special needs child. They take special needs kids out of the class a few times a week to work on things, but are main streamed most of the time. Right then and there I knew I would be homeschooling again a lot sooner than I thought. It was stressful because we had just moved so there were boxes EVERYWHERE, but I dug through my boxes and pulled out some homeschool stuff and started the next day. We hit the ground running!

Our latest project was to make paper plate turkeys. The kids had a blast making these! We just cut a paper plate in half and the kids colored them with markers. I found a turkey feather template and copied it off on colored card stock. The kids cut the feathers out and glued them to the back of the plate. They then added googly eyes, an orange beak, and brown pipe cleaner feet.