fun and free resources for kids at home!

this morning involved
listening to disney songs and feeling our bodies move to the music.
exercise {for me} on the stationary bike and reading under the tuscan sun.
a brief quiet play time for the boys in their room {and a subsequent mess of cars, blocks and books covering both their beds.}
a relatively unmessy but definitely poopy accident by jude.
laundry {both washing and folding}.
a free, fun and educational activity that suited both my boys' learning levels.

this free printable can be found here  {a fantastic site. check it out!} and is all about matching colours and words in an ice cream store!
i decided to split the activity into two - noah's involved matching popsicles to the correct colour word and he really enjoyed sounding out the colours and trying to find words that matched {or at least matched the first letter}.

noah decided he wanted to tape his popsicles down after matching them to the correct words.

jude's sheet involved matching up the right ice cream scoop to the cone with the same colour on the top. i hadn't planned on this happening, but both activities fit where the boys are at exactly.

and jude decided that he wanted to glue his scoops onto the sheet.

this was a really simple and easy activity to do with both my kids and teaches about colours and fine motor skills {or at least, it ended up doing that as both wanted to affix their "cold treats" to the paper}.
and they focused on an activity.
for all of about 10 minutes.
awesome.

some other great resources for fun learning that we make the most of in our house are:

we give books - a free, online library of books that you can read to your kids just like you would a book. not as great as holding a book, but when libraries are limited {as they are here} it's a fantastic opportunity to read, read, read! my boys' current favourites are big, red lollipop {the same book we took out at a library in guelph and loved back then, too!} and max's chocolate chicken.

starfall - i mentioned this in another post, but it's a great, free website that teaches kids all about letters, phoenetics, and reading in a simple but fun way. i think it's cute to see noah maneuver the mouse and click away and hear him echo the sounds of letters.

robert munsch's free audiobooks - when i found out almost all the robert munsch books are available as audiobooks for free online, i immediately set to work downloading all of them. now it's noah's most requested thing to listen to during his afternoon quiet time. i love that he knows so many of the books i grew up reading and it's super cute to hear him reciting along with the story.

then of course there's the millions of fantastic websites and blogs that can be found by googling or looking on pinterest. my next plan is to make up some quiet time bins or bags for noah and jude that i can vary throughout the week. stay tuned for some fun ideas for that!

the miracle of learning

it's amazing to watch your child learn a new skill.
this past year if we were in canada, noah would have been {probably} in junior kindergarten at a public school. he'd probably have learnt how to count higher than he can now, more social skills and possibly how to read small words. however, since we were moving to uganda, i decided to take on homeschooling. i figured, it's just j/k. how hard can it be?
we've been pretty lax this year. reading lots. doing crafts. playing games. noah really likes starfall, a website that teaches letters and sounds and then moves on to reading and it's all quite interactive. mostly we've just been enjoying life together and learning about day to day stuff like dressing yourself {he now completely dresses and undresses himself every morning and night! which also brings us to the dilemma of multiple outfit changes a day}, making the bed, folding laundry and helping with kitchen duties like setting the table and cooking & baking. i was amazed the other day when noah helped me fold all his own clothes - from shirts and socks to underwear and shorts!
sometimes jamie and i have worried that perhaps i'm not structured or organized enough with his curriculum {which is...not really a curriculum at all, to be honest} and when the evil monster called Comparison pops up and we see what our friends' kids are learning or can do we think, uh oh. maybe he's behind. even though i know he's a smart kid who picks up on things quite quickly.
and then it happens.
he starts to see words and recognize them.
and he's now asking how to spell certain words so we sound them out and he just writes it down. usually just remembering the letters from his head.

this is his "STOP" sign that he wrote on his own and then asked how to spell "STOP". i was so impressed that he figured out the 'O', 'T', and 'P' all on his own.

this is noah's "zoo" that we sounded out together. {animals include a sloth, a wooly mammoth, an elephant and a giraffe}

later on noah asked to spell out the word "wild" and eventually gave up {after writing two "M"s} but i'm encouraged with his interest in words and spelling and amazed that it really does just happen. 

my question for you is, do you correct your child flipping a letter/word around {like in noah's "zoo", the "z" is flipped and looks like an "s"} or do you wait until later when s/he is more confident with writing? when and how does correction fit into learning? is it dependent on your child's temperament {easy going or highly sensitive, etc.} or is there a general rule of thumb that should be followed?

for me i've just encouraged noah and at this point i'm not worrying about him flipping his letters around. i'll probably write out words for him to see and continue to show him, rather than tell him how to write the letters properly. 

where i find myself

i didn't ever expect to be homeschooling my kids.
i grew up in the public school system and in general it was an extremely positive experience for me.
of course junior high was awkward but i look back with no regrets.
i loved high school.
public school turned out to be best for me.
but i know that is not everyone's experience.
and it's okay.
but i always assumed i'd be sending my kids to the public school "just down the street".
and i think if we were staying in Canada, that's probably what we'd be doing with noah come september.
but we're not.
so i'm not.

so i find myself immersed in this {daunting and extremely overwhelming} world of homeschooling.
it's unreal how vast and varied the options are.
and to be honest, because i've been so overwhelmed by it all, i haven't done much research.
i keep telling myself,

it's just junior and senior kindergarten. how hard can it be?


i've downloaded a few free resources from the internet and a friend gave me one of those all-in-one curriculum books you can buy at costco and so...it was on my "to do" list before we make the big move.
and then i stumbled across some lesson plans on the focus on the family canada website.
they aren't necessarily "homeschooling" resources, but are a resource for raising and training children up in the Lord. they're called Kids of Integrity and they're F R E E.
i quickly scanned one of the lessons {go figure, i choose the one on obedience. where do you think we're struggling right now?} and download it. then proceed to download the rest of them.
i don't know if i'll use every single point of every single lesson, but what a great foundation to build upon and use to help teach and train noah and jude {although i'll mainly be focusing on noah at this stage}.

i'm actually starting to get excited about homeschooling and i have no idea what my game plan will be for when we get back, but i'll trust that God will continue to lead me and us where He wants us to be. my job is to respond in obedience. whatever that looks like.

so this is where i find myself.
starting the homeschooling journey.
and i'm okay with that.
for now.

what route have you chosen for your child(ren)'s education?
do you have any resources you love?
and helpful tips or websites?
i'm all ears...