Busy Bags AKA Quiet Time Bags

Since I'm fairly certain that Four intends to give up his nap by summer (because...well, he's freaking brilliant and far to smart for day time sleep, DUH!) I'm trying to prepare several bags that I can swap out and rotate through for he, and Three to use during "quiet time." Currently, Three has quiet time when Four sleeps...and honestly, most days it consists of watching Netflix, or playing Wii. I LOATHE this reality, but most days I'm a.) exhausted because Four likes to wake when the first number on my clock is 5 or below b.) exhausted because we've been running all morning/week and I just want an hour or two of QUIET c.) helping One and/or Two with their assignments. Undertaking this project will eliminate this reality...and I like it.

If I get my stuff together, I can get started pretty quickly. I picked 20 activities to start, and only have 3 things to buy to be able to put it all together. Yeah, I have that much stuff lying around my house. Don't judge.

My list:

1. Color Wonder books...because no way in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks will I be giving Four "real" markers during unsupervised quiet time.
2. Beads and pipe cleaners. I'll use the big beads for Four, and the small pony beads for 3. Pipe cleaners work better in our house than laces. I go with it.
3. Stickers/crayons/paper. The crayons are really a maybe.
4. Hanging Felt Clothes on a clothesline. (Cut out clothing shapes from felt, string up a clothesline between a couple chairs, give them some clothespins...done.)
5. Pom-Pom transfer. Use either a big spoon (Four) or tongs (Three...maybe Four, his fine motor skills almost match those of his brother) to transfer poms from one bowl to another.
6. Pom-Pom push. Push poms through a hole cut into a lid of a container (raisin/crunchies type container.)
7. Water painting pages. I'm not sure how to describe these...I'll try to get a picture for you. I found them at Michaels, and Dollar General ($1 both places.) It's a picture like a coloring book. At the bottom of the page there is a panel of water colors. Give the kids some cotton swabs, and a cup of water and they dip and paint. It's self contained, easy, and non-messy. Win in triplicate form.
8. Rocks in a bottle. Put the small decorative stones you can buy at $Tree into a plastic bottle, shake them out and start again. Not so quiet necessarily, but busy, yes.
9. Clip matching colored paper clips to laminated construction paper pieces. Possibly more for Three than Four. I can see Four just throwing the clips around.
10. Peg Picture making with this toy.
11. Sorting pasta. We have different shaped pasta, and different colored pasta. Sort away boys, sort away!
12. Memory Matching Game
13. Matching Puzzles (items that go together, rhyming words, animal babies...those are the 3 I know we have.)
14. Popsicle Stick Puzzles (have you seen these??? Genius, someone was a genius.)
15. Velcro Dots/Popsicle stick building set (Again, with the genius. God Bless the Interwebs.)
16. Building Blocks (just our general wooden ones.)
17. ABC Match. Lay out the alphabet magnets and take a picture of them against a white background, then print it. Put it on a cookie sheet during quiet time, and have them match the magnet to the picture.
18. Collage Bag--cut out random pictures from magazines/newspaper/shopping circulars and throw in a piece of paper and a glue stick.
19. Dress-Up Joey (it's a large wooden/magnetic dress up doll.)
20. Shades of color (scroll down, it's a few activities down) I've been wanting to make this activity for ALL OF ETERNITY. Now, I'm going to do it.

Bonus: We have a magnetic set that I don't let them play with very often (which makes it SPPPPPECIAL) and I vow to let them play with it during quiet time occasionally.

I set up a Pinterest board about it and everything. So, you know, I'm serious.

I need to buy: velcro dots, felt sheets, and some of those decorative stones.

Lazy Housewife Dinner

Cheesy Manicotti Shells:

Manicotti Shells

Jar spaghetti sauce of your choice

Mozzerella String Cheese

Shredded Italian Cheese blend

Spray your baking dish. Slide a string cheese into your manicotti shell. Line a baking dish with them. Dump on sauce. Top with shredded cheese. Bake until shells are al dente.

Seriously.

If you're feeling ambitious, you can pre-boil the shells. Then you only have to bake for 30 minutes to melt the string cheese a little, and brown the cheese on top. :)

Blog Update!

Ok, so we've been getting a lot done, but I'm not finding time to blog. This is not the way I want things to be, as I love having this as a resource for myself, to offer to others, and to sort of keep track of all the cool stuff we do. ;) I'm going to try to do better, for myself AND you. Best intentions...yadda yadda yadda.

Last week, we covered the letter G. For some reason, Three has had a mental block about G and F. *shrug* Last week, the letter G just clicked. I think it was the groundhog, honestly. We predicted whether or not "Mortimer" the groundhog would see his shadow, and then on Groundhog Day we visited a local park and got to meet Mortimer up close and personal! Then we played a shadow game (they had stapled groundhog "shadows" all over the playground and you had to find all 6 of them.) Three also found the letter G on all the signs posted around the park. We also talked about hibernation, and what it means to hibernate, which animals hibernate, and how they prepare. We also learned how the sun changes your shadow by tracking our shadow on the driveway at different times during the day (he has asked to do this again this week, so it was a hit.)

This week we did a mini review of letter H (which he's known for awhile, but my OCD wouldn't let me just skip over it *eye roll*) and moved on to letter I. For letter I, we've only done one craft...we made Ice Cream cones with Three and Four's names on them, one scoop of ice cream for each letter. I have hopes of building an igloo (from cotten balls) this afternoon after we attend a Valentine's Exchange Party this morning. We've also been talking about adaptations that animals have to survive the winter (extra layers of fat, getting a winter coat....) We attended a waterfowl class, and talked about how some birds migrate to warmer climates, and how the ones that stay here survive (although, this winter has been one of the mildest on record for our state...so they haven't really struggled!)

Now we are in a full on Valentines Day blitz! We are going to an exchange this morning, we have a party on Monday-Wednesday next week too! FUN!

Looking ahead (for a change!)

Honestly, I was once one of the most prepared people....over the last year though, my personal life (meaning: the grown up stuff) has fallen apart around me, and as I've been trying to piece it back together others areas of my life have most definitely suffered. I'm trying to get THOSE parts back on track.

My plan for December consists mainly of a countdown to Christmas. We will only do "real" school through the 16th. The week leading up to Christmas has a birthday for our family (Two is turning 12....*sigh*) as well as Yule, and the week after we need to recover. ;) Plus, I think MIL is coming in for at least some of that time. We'll do a study of Winter in January (even though it starts this month.) For December, we're going to countdown and discuss some of the symbols of Christmas.

I found this link that gives some background to the different symbols of Christmas. There are Bible verses and biblical reference. I'm good at taking the parts of things that work for me, and leaving the rest...I recommend you do the same. *wink*

http://www.achristmastestimony.kingdomdesignministry.com/christmas-symbols-and-their-meanings

Our Christmas Countdown, which will start on the 1st, includes these activities:

1. Open new ornaments for the tree (Each year the kids get new ornaments for the tree, I try to find something representative of their year, and I'm SUPER excited about this years ornaments.)

2. Take Christmas Pictures!

3. Attend a Christmas parade.

4. Write letters to Santa.

5. Discuss St. Nicholas Day and leave out shoes!

6. Shop for a gift for Birthday Buddy (this is a birth board gift exchange.)

7. Shop for a gift to donate to Toys for Tots.

8. Train ride

9. Make Christmas Cookies!

10. Make a handmade ornament.

11. Make and leave gifts for neighbors on their doorsteps.

12. Drive around to see Christmas lights.

13. Buy presents for siblings.

14. Choose a special treat.

15. String popcorn for the birds.

16. Have a family christmas movie night, with special goodies.

17. Make Chex Mix and Muddy Buddies.

18. Make chocolate covered pretzels

19. Learn a French Christmas tradition

20. Make Christmas presents for family.

21. Visit the bookstore and choose a new Christmas book.

22. Christmas lights hayride and visit Santa.

23. Make a craft with Mom.

24. Make reindeer food, and Santa's cookies. :)

Random Fall Activities

This year we joined a preschool co-op with our homeschool group. We meet once a week, and so far it's been great. Three enjoys it, and Four....well, he likes the playing after. :) This is a picture from co-op where we did "nature painting." Here is Three painting a leaf, and a stick with a feather.

I used the boys hand/arm to make the tree trunk by painting them brown. I put out "fall" colored paint--red/yellow/orange/green--and they dipped fingers in and made leaves using their fingertips. You can see (the top one) where Three made "falling leaves" in a line. :)

I added some fall items to our "oatmeal box." I put in a few leaves that are bright fall colors, some pine straw, some acorns and a small pinecone. The oatmeal box is a small box I bought at $Tree with a flip top lid. I filled it with dry oats, and try to switch out the small objects inside it. The boys will take a spoon (or their hands) and dig through the oatmeal to find the "prizes." It's usually a messy activity...but the clean up only involves a vacuum, and the large thing of generic oats is a buck.

I wrote out some "simple story problems" for Three to work on. Things like:

The squirrels are getting ready for winter. Brown squirrel collected 4 acorns. Grey squirrel collected 2 acorns. How many acorns do the squirrels have?

We'll work on learning what the "+" and "=" signs mean, as well as simple addition.

I printed these onto cardstock: http://scrapbooking.about.com/od/layouts/ig/Rebecca-s-Fall-Leaf-Layout/Fall-Leaf-Pattern.htm and let the boys finger paint on them with brown/orange/red/yellow...then I let them dry and cut the shapes out and hung them in the window.

Three did a leaf craft that I ordered from Oriental Trading (a couple years ago actually) that could be easily replicated. Cut out a leaf shape, and you would paint it with glue, and add small pieces of tissue paper crumpled up in fall colors. It's hanging in our window, but I don't have a picture.

In the spirit of thanksgiving, I'm putting up a tree trunk in the window, and from now until thanksgiving we will be adding one leaf a day with something we are thankful for written on it. I've been doing it since the girls were Three's age (sigh...8 years ago.) I used the same leaf templates from above to cut out leaves in orange/yellow/red to write our gratitude on.

Thanksgiving is coming!

I'm spending the next 2 weeks doing a thanksgiving unit that I downloaded from Homeschool Creations.

I'm also printing the "Roll a Turkey" game from A Lemon Squeezy Home.

And this: Thanksgiving Activity Sheet

As well as the corn maze, and color by letter sheets from Reading With Kids.

We also are collecting leaves and drying/pressing them for an activity with our co-op after thanksgiving.

Random Picture Catch Up Post

I know that I have severely neglected the blog...again. It was one of my "new year goals" to keep the blog updated regularly. Fail. Oh, well...there is always 2012. *wink wink*

My BFF and I took all our kids (minus Four, making a total of 6 kids) to a corn maze. Three worked on directions (left/right) and the big kids worked on working together.

After making his "mama snake" he counted "babies" and put them all in the nest.

He's rolling out a playdough snake. (I'm so glad I have a table cover on my gorgeous wooden table...look at what they've done to it.)

Do-A-Dot snake.

Three and Four painted a paper plate to make a snake...we hung them from the ceiling.

Finished snake.
Making his bead "mama snake."

Four making a "mama snake" out of beads as well....so serious.

This is probably one of Four's FAVORITE activities. It is wooden shapes (from a puzzle that had it's board broken, and a couple wooden shapes I picked up at the craft store) and an outline of the shape on index cards. Easy peasy, and he will do it three or four times in a row!

Frog paper bag puppet.

Going over a printable of the frog life cycle.

Putting the frog life cycle cards in order.

Painting a lily pad.

Finished lily pads.