Links I Like: Fall Fun

Somehow tomorrow is already October 1st!  I guess it's time to get into the Fall spirit, so here's some fun things I've found recently:

Homeschool Creations made these adorable Fall Fun Printables that includes a set for preschoolers and one for kindergarten.

Also check out 2 Teaching Mommies Leaf and Apple Centers.

We have so many Fall activities coming up and I can't wait to start digital scrapping them.  Designs By Krista has a free Harvest Time kit that will be perfect:

Abby has already decided she wants to be a veterinarian for Halloween.  I've got to get to the store to find a pattern and fabric for scrubs.  She wants them to have cats on them.  LOL! 

Are your kids counting down to Halloween yet?  Here's a DIY Halloween Countdown from Laura featured on I Heart Naptime:

Finally, these Cinnamon Caramel Apple Pumpkins from Bakingdom just scream Fall:

Aren't they adorable?!  I may have to try making some of these.  There is an apple in the recipe, so it's healthy.  LOL!

Feel free to share any Fall or Halloween related links you've found recently.  It's always fun to find new ideas!

Branson Vacation

Yesterday, I posted about day 1 of our Branson trip.  Today is a wrap up of the rest of our trip.

Friday morning, we went down to the free breakfast at our hotel.  We stayed at Best Western Music Capital Inn.  It could use some updating, but it was nice.  We had free breakfast, a pool and free wifi.  It was also clean, which seems to be increasingly hard to come by in Branson.  I found it by reading TripAdvisor reviews. 

After breakfast, we headed to Silver Dollar City!  The weather was perfect and we had a great time.





We were all exhausted and headed to bed.  The next morning, after breakfast we went to the Tanger Outlet, for the kids to go to the Disney Store.   Next up was Branson Landing.  My younger sister Holly and the kids LOVE to make Build A Bears each year.  Thanks Mom and Dad!



Matthew dressed up a kitty as Spiderman and named him Catborg.  He is so funny!  Andy loved the Snoopy and was so happy with him.  Abby and Holly made the same heart bears.

That evening we had Montana Mike's for dinner.  I look forward to their nachos ALL year.  They are so good and this year did not disappoint!  The boys and the kids swam, while I did some much needed laundry.

Sunday morning, was free breakfast again and day 2 of Silver Dollar City.  We are AAA members, so we bought 2 days for less than the price of 1 day at the gate.  We do this each year and it's perfect.



After Silver Dollar City, we wanted to go to Cracker Barrel, but it was not smoke free.  We ended up at Bob Evans and it was a nice restaurant.  There was plenty of room for our big group of 10 and in fact a group of 18 came in right behind us. 

Monday we headed for home.  Abby and Dave got up for the free breakfast, but I slept in a bit.  They went swimming while the rest of the family and I got ready to check out.  We followed each other to Mardel bookstore in Springfield, MO.  This is the closest one to us and I enjoyed it.  It was nice to look at homeschool curriculum in a store.  Usually it's online and you have no idea what you are really getting.  I didn't purchase anything, but have some things I want to look into more. 

We then decided to go to lunch together.  We were trying to find the Schlotzsky's in Springfield.  I think we drove around in circles for almost an hour.  We even had Dave's GPS and we couldn't find it.  I stopped and asked someone who told us to go one way and it wasn't there.  Then I stopped and asked another person who said the one I was looking for closed years ago.  He directed me to another Schlotzsky's.  We finally found it and we were all insane by that point.  I asked the guy about it and he said the other one is still open and apparently we were right near it.  URGH!

After that joyful ride, I passed out in the back seat and we headed home!

Unpacking, showers and loads of laundry later, I enjoyed sleeping in my own bed.

We had a nice trip, but next year we have all agreed it's time to get back to a more scheduled vacation.  We spent so much time driving around looking for places to eat.  We need to do what we used to do and have it all planned ahead of time!  Also, it sure seems like we spent a lot of time on bathroom breaks.  With 10 people, as soon as someone is done, the next person has to go.  LOL! 

Wordless Wednesday: Branson Vacation Day 1

We are back from our 5th annual Branson family vacation!  Day 1 was spent driving the 4 hours to Branson in our 3 car parade, stopping for yummy sandwiches in Springfield, MO at a place called Dagwood's, swimming at the hotel and a pizza run for dinner.  After the pizza, I had to have some chocolate so we walked down the plaza to Kmart for some Junior Mints.  LOL!

Come back for the second installment of our Branson vacation tomorrow!  :)

For more Wordless Wednesday, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Fall Mantle Party

My Fall mantle is really a Halloween mantle.  I do a Fall/Thanksgiving mantle after Halloween.   If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll know this Halloween mantle is the same as it was last year and the year before.  I just love how it turned out a few years back, so I keep it the same!

I made these BOO letters with scrapbook paper and Mod Podge:

I just love this ragamuffin wreath.  It was so easy to make!

These candy apples, I made with fake apples, hot glue and caramel colored paint.  They look almost edible!

I also enjoy looking at these yummy candy corn and pumpkin candy apothecary jars.  Isn't candy corn so cute and festive?!

A new addition this year, is our built-ins on either side of the fireplace.  I haven't finished decorating them yet, but here's my favorite shelf:

Get the Halloween Subway Art at eighteen25!

Head over to The Lettered Cottage for more Fall Ideas.

Fall 2011 Curriculum Clean-Out-CLOSED

 Congrats to Gretta!

It's that time again for another Curriculum Clean-Out by Homeschool Creations!  For more information, click the pic or the link above.

This giveaway is for a set of Brand New Readers (Purple Set):

And the Brand New Readers Winter Fun Set:

Abby really enjoyed these books for learning to read.  They are labeled as preschool and up.  The sticker chart and certificate are not included, as we used them.  The books are all in excellent condition.

Leave a comment below, if you are interested.  U.S. addresses only, please.  This giveaway ends Friday, September 30th at noon. I will use random.org and contact the winner.  Make sure your email is in your profile or comment.

Thanks!

Don't forget to check out what else is offered at the Curriculum Clean-Out.

Wordless Wednesday

Abby has been playing with My Memories Suite again!  If you are interested, use code STMMMS40005 (affiliate) to receive $10 off and a $10 store credit.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review: September 12 - 16

Last week was our 9th week of homeschooling this year.  We got out of the habit of doing school first thing in the morning and I've noticed it's become a problem.  Abby just doesn't concentrate well later in the day.  She gets up between 6:30 and 7 and I'm just not ready yet.  I'd like to stay in bed to at least 8:30 or 9.  LOL!  I'm going to have to just deal with it, because by waiting later in the day, it is backfiring on me anyway!

Math

This past week Abby continued with Math U See lesson 14 and we began lesson 15 on making 10.  Abby completed this whole worksheet without the blocks:

Social Studies

Just like last year, Abby says Heritage Studies is her favorite.  She did lesson 17:  Where Did the Colonists Come From? and lesson 18:  Homes in the Colonies.  She learned about the English, Dutch, French, Swedish, German and African colonists.  She also compared the style homes they built.  The notebook page for the week was a Colonial Crossword puzzle:

We did this page at dinner together and I wrote the answers for her.  She wanted to write Bible  :)

Science

Lesson 5 in Apologia Anatomy and Physiology had us discussing health and nutrition.  Abby learned about atoms and nutrients:  water, protein, carbohydrates and fats.  We did one of the Try This! experiments in the book.  This was to measure how much protein her body needed.  We calculated she needs 1.3 ounces of protein each day.

We also did another Try This! experiment on fats in food.  Abby picked a few things from the pantry to lay out on paper.  We left it overnight and looked to see the fat content in the foods:

There's a shadow under the graham cracker, but there was no grease on the paper.  The rest of them you can clearly see the fat.  Abby loved this!

Language Arts

Last week was lesson 9 in A Reason For Handwriting.  Here's her weekly border page.  She left out a few words, because she thought they had to fit on the line like the example page:

Abby also did grammar lessons on past tense, subject pronouns and object pronouns.

Reading

Abby continued with Explode The Code, Book 4. 

She just loves these worksheets.  She thinks they are hilarious. 

Misc.

We ran lots of errands this past week.  We cleaned church and went to lunch on Monday.  Wednesday we made a trip to the library and Friday we went out to lunch and shopping with my sisters Holly and Heather and the boys.  Dave's parents were in town this past week and they came over Wednesday evening.  Abby loved showing off all of her dances, toys, etc, etc.  Friday evening we went to his sister's house to see his parents again before they left.  Here's Abby with her cousins, Jesse and Peter:
















There was also some exciting news:  Dave's brother is engaged!  We are so happy for them.

This week will surely be busy, as we start getting ready for our trip to Branson!

10 FREE Scholastic eBooks

Thanks to STLMommy for posting this deal on Scholastic eBooks:

Until September 20 (Tuesday), The Scholastic Store is offereing $1 ebook downloads. 

Use the coupon code 10THANKS at checkout to get $10 off, making them FREE!

I just tried it and got my free ebooks. 

Enjoy!

Links I Like: My Little Pony

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but I have a 7 year old, so I am in the know!

Saturday is the premiere of season 2 of My Little Pony on Hub.  Abby is so excited and has been waiting for weeks for it to air.

I thought I'd share some links for the other households that are celebrating this most magical event.  LOL!
 
Abby loves My Little Pony and has even started her Christmas list with all of the new Canterlot pieces.

**There is a 20% off My Little Pony Canterlot coupon on Target.com**

The other day, I did some searches for My Little Pony and found a neat tutorial for Styling Pony Hair at My Little Pony News.

We might have to try this on some of her older ponies.  Their hair is a tangled mess.

I also found an Elements of Harmony printable mobile at Hasbro.

Abby will love coloring this!

This next link I found fascinating.  I know my sister will too.  My Little Pony Hair.com

Who knew you could buy replacement hair for your ponies?!  I have that same pony and Abby plays with it now.

Lastly, this Pony Creator by General Zoi is so fun.   Yes, I know I am 31 years old, but I just spent about 10 minutes making a pony.  LOL!  Abby is going to have a great time with this!

Who else is having a My Little Pony Season 2 countdown this weekend?  Surely, it's not just us...or is it?

Wordless Wednesday

Last Saturday was my Mom's company picnic at Purina Farms.  We all enjoyed it so much last year and were looking forward to it.  This year was awesome too!  There were tons of carnival games and I actually won a few things!  The kids enjoyed the bumper cars and Abby loved the Ferris wheel.  We hope Mom's work does their picnic here again next year!

For more Wordless (am I the only one who types "worldless" every single time and has to go back and fix it) Wednesday posts, head to:


Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working On a Full House

Bible Studies

Have any of  you done a bible study?

This past Sunday, I started my second bible study:

David, Seeking a Heart Like His by Beth Moore

 

This is my first Beth Moore bible study and I'm enjoying it so far.  The class takes place at my cousin Jackie's church and my sister and I signed up to do the study with her. 

The first bible study I did was Kelly Minter's Ruth:  Loss, Love and Legacy.

This was the perfect first bible study.  My sister and I both loved her writing style and  how easy to follow everything was.  This was the first time I had actually opened a bible to reference.  I've tried to read the bible before, but it didn't really make sense.  We've been going to our current church for 2 years now and I'm happy to say that it's all starting to come together!  Our church is really good at describing the setting and history behind the passages and how they fit together. 

Anyway, my point is that even if you've never opened a bible, you will get a lot from this bible study!   Also, this Ruth bible study can be completed on your own.  As long as you have the members book, the bible study  information is all included.  The Beth Moore study seems like you have to be at the class for it, as there is a DVD to watch at each session.

Please share if you've done a bible study or which ones you're interested in. 

If you would like to do a bible study, but your church doesn't do them (like mine) or you don't have a church or you just plain don't have time to go to a class, check out Women's Bible Study Online.  You can register to be part of the bible studies or just follow along on your own. 

Homeschool Weekly Review September 5 - 9

First, I need to apologize for these awful pics.  I ran out of daylight time this weekend and had to take them Sunday night.  That will teach me!

Math

Last week, Abby worked on lesson 14 in Math U See.  This lesson was about doubles plus one.  Such as 4 + 4 + 1.  We will continue to review this week and then move on to lesson 15.

Social Studies

Abby completed Heritage Studies, lesson 15:  Gifts From The King.  This lesson covered how the king gave land, discussed William Penn and introduced Abby to more of the original colonies.  Lesson 16 was next:  The Last Colony.  Abby learned about Georgia.  She also had 3 notebook pages this past week.

This page involved reading a pictograph and making a bar graph.  Abby already knew about these types of graphs, so that was good.  I read the instructions wrong and thought she was supposed to make a bar graph of the pictograph, but that wasn't correct.  Oh well, she had fun coloring the whole thing.

Science

We finished up the Digestive and Renal System in Apologia.  Abby labeled a picture of the digestive system and one of the teeth.  She added the renal and digestive systems to her "personal person" notebook page, worked on a vocabulary crossword puzzle and also did a vocabulary pocket:

Behind the tongue, is a pouch that holds different foods.  On the back of each food, is a word about the digestive or renal system and then we wrote in a description to go with it.  Abby enjoyed this and refused to put the cupcake in.  She ended up keeping that one just for her.

Language Arts

Abby continued with A Reason For Handwriting.  This past week, was lesson 8.  Abby has started to complain about handwriting.  She says it hurts her hand.  I've noticed she holds the pencil really tightly and pushes hard.  She goes over her marks too at times.  My cousin, who is a special ed teacher, had a great suggestion.  She said to try mechanical pencils.  They train the kids to hold the pencil lightly.  I bought a pack and we will try them this week.

She also did grammar worksheets, covering:  linking verbs, past tense verbs and irregular tense verbs.

Abby did really well with this worksheet.  Sometimes she uses the wrong tense when talking, but she knew them in writing!

Reading

Abby is still loving Explode The Code.  We moved on to book 4 last week and she was surprised a first.  Book 3 and 4 are quite different from each other, but she got used to it and had fun:

She loves to color in the pictures!  As you can see, she has trouble fitting her handwriting on the small lines.  I wish book 4 still had the dotted lines for writing.

Misc.

On Tuesday, we went to the Butterfly House.   I didn't bring my camera, but did take some pics with my phone:



Um, I like my Nikon much better.  LOL!

Wednesday, we were home all day waiting for Direct TV to be installed and for the AC/Furnace check.  That was a LONG day.  We were so happy to get rid of Dish Network and Dave and Abby are loving Direct TV.  I don't really watch TV, so I wouldn't know the difference, except for the joy I received when making the call to cancel with Dish!  :)

On Friday, we meet up with Heather, her boys, my Mom and my younger sister Holly for our favorite meal...pizza from Stephanina's Pizza!

We also went to my Mom's work picnic (pics to come soon) on Saturday and celebrated Grandparent's Day on Sunday. 

What a busy week!  This week, Dave's parents are visiting from Florida and they might be coming over on Wednesday.  Abby will be so excited to show them all of her goodies, ballet dances, tricks with the cats, etc.

Do you have any plans for the week? 

Links I Like

Is the weather cooling off near you yet?  Finally we are starting to notice the days changing.  I've seen a few red leaves on trees, we've had the windows open and the days are getting shorter.  Fall is coming.  I LOVE Fall!

I found this great list of 101 Festive Fall Tutorials from Everything Etsy on Pinterest.

If you haven't used Pinterest, let me know and I'll send you an invite.  I'm not sure why it's invite only, but it's really fun.

I know not all of my readers are homeschoolers, so when I found these adorable Lunch Box Notes from Melissa Bennett, I had to share:

There are 7 more links to freebie lunch box notes on that site.  They are all adorable!

Speaking of freebies, I came across another September Desktop over at Leelou Blogs:

There is a picture and non picture version available for download.

Also on Pinterest, Pressed Leaf Butterfly Art from Martha Steward:

Abby would love doing this.  I hope I remember by the time the leaves fall.

I must share some recipes, as I always sit here feeling hungry and wishing I had something sweet.  These "Diet Killers" from Bake @ 350, would help the craving:

Really they are Cream Cheese Triangles, but I think her term Diet Killers says a lot here. LOL!

Another Pinterst favorite this week is Peanut Butter Brownies from Baked Perfection.

Yes, please!

Do you have any great links you've found?  Share them in the comments.  I love finding new things.

Have a great weekend.  We are headed to my Mom's work picnic on Saturday and celebrating Grandparent's day on Sunday.

Wordless Wednesday: Snack Time at Aunt Jenny's

Last week, we watched my cousin's boy Jacob and also my sister's boys, Matthew and Andrew.  Abby got out a blanket and gave everyone snacks while they were watching tv.  I thought this pic was too cute.

 For more Wordless Wednesday posts head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review: August 29 - September 3

Happy Labor Day!  I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend.

The days are just flying by lately!  This past week was week 7 of homeschooling.

Math

Last week was lesson 13 and lessons A and B in Math U See.  Lesson 13 was about rectangles, squares and counting by 5's.  Abby knows these, so that was a quick worksheet.  The appendix of Math U See has lessons A and B, which cover using the blocks to tell time by minutes and by hour.  Abby knows mostly how to tell time, but this was a great review and she enjoyed using the blocks.  Seeing the math has made such a difference in math this year.  We highly suggest Math U See!
This worksheet is a systematic review of previous topics:

Social Studies

Heritage Studies continues to be a great fit for us too.  This past week, we covered Lesson 14 about Finding Freedom in the Colonies and lesson 14:  Out from Massachusetts.  Last year, she had learned about the settlers and Indians, but this year it is going into more depth about why the settlers came here and the names of the colonies.  She learned about Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

Here's a notebook page about what the colonists were looking for when finding new land:

Abby colored the houses that represented what was important to a new settlement.  Then she was to draw a picture of the settlement with those items.

Science

We started Lesson 4:  Digestive and Renal System last week in the Apologia Anatomy and Physiology book.  I took A&P in highschool and also in college and I have to say that I love the way this book covers the topics.  Generally, I would say it's for older kids, but introducing this to Abby has been fun.  She enjoys telling her Dad new facts that she learned.  She especially loved when I got out the measuring tape to show her the small intestine was 20 feet.  She nearly fell over!

This lesson covered:  mechanical digestion (teeth), chemical digestion (saliva), the stomach, chyme, the small intestine, liver, gall bladder, villi, pancreas, large intestine, appendix and renal system.

These are the coloring pages she worked on as I read from the book:

I was ROTF at the girl's hairy legs.  She then told me that she was trying to use the brown pencil lightly like I do to color the skin.  We giggled about the hairy legs for awhile.

Language Arts

Abby was a bit rushed with her handwriting on Friday, but this is lesson 7 of A Reason For Handwriting:

Abby also did grammar worksheets covering:  plural nouns, possessive nouns and action verbs.

She wanted me to color the blue parts and she did the yellow.  She said the alien HAD to be green.

Reading

Abby continues to enjoy Explode the Code.  She finished book 3 last week and we'll start book 4 on Monday.

Misc.

Abby and Matthew took a homeschool gymnastics class on Tuesday.  We were going to continue to take the class, but Matthew isn't that into it and they both just want to take swim lessons.  We think we'll do private swim lessons for both of them once a week.  They'll like being the only ones in the class and it will be nice for them to get the extra help.

Last week was so hot with a heat advisory!  When will it stop?  Doesn't the weather know it's September?

Also, I want to thank my Mom and Dad for having Abby over for a few hours Saturday.  Dave and I were able to run errands a lot quicker without the extra "help".  Plus, I think us moms need a break every now and then to breathe.  LOL!