Updating the windows

It may finally be spring here. I say may, because it hailed last Wednesday. :(

So here is what our first window used to look like.


There are snowflake clings from Wal-Mart, and kirigami leaf decorations. The idea for the leaves came from Zakka Life, I used origami paper.

Here is the second window.


On top we have shape and color clings from Dollar Tree. And on the bottom is an tree idea from Frugal Family Fun Blog that can be found here.

We are currently doing some crafts to update our windows, so hopefully I'll be posting some more pictures soon.

Week Three

I know now if we are going to order printer ink online to do it when the printer first starts protesting that it is running out of ink. It took a lot longer to get than I thought it would, about a week and a half. And with my mother visiting we hardly had time to get anything done.

Our travel plans for Thanksgiving got pushed back until the first week of December, and as far as I know we don't have any other plans so hopefully for a few weeks at least we can get back on track.

This weeks theme is Kittens and the vocabulary word is claws, but I changed the theme and the vocabulary work to "Cat," because I think that cat is a reasonably easy three-letter word to spell. I got the picture of the cats from http://a2.vox.com/6a00e398f645e4000500f48d1521a20001-320pi through Google images.

Monday: We went over the letter "C" and did a capital "C" worksheet from School Express found here.

Tuesday: I could not find a diamond activity, so I ended up printing a diamond outline. Later I found shapes and colors window clings at Dollar Tree.



So we will be using those to help Jasmine learn the shapes and colors. They also had a border trim for the shapes with the same pictures as the clings and I cut up one of the trims to use on the Learning Poster.

I also printed out some different colored ice cream scoops from here, and will be using them as we follow the Letter of the Week curriculum.



Wednesday: was the letter "C." Jasmine made an Caterpillar C using the letter "C" and some sparkly pom-poms. I got the idea from No Time For Flash Cards.

We also made a cat with "C"s for its legs and tail, but unfortunately I cannot remember where I found the template for it. I did learn that if a craft needs to be colored and cut that it should be done on separate days.

EDIT: I found the webpage, it is from First-School. And can be found here.



We also colored a "C" worksheet that had an upper and lower case "C" with pictures of things that started with "C" from Mommy Nature.com. Here is the worksheet.

Thursday: was number three. Jasmine can already count to three (and beyond, although she always forgets eight, I don't know why.) So, we continued to count to ten using the number strip. I placed it lower so she can easily reach it.



Friday: the nursery rhyme for Friday was Pussycat, Pussycat. I got the image and rhyme from Mama Lisa, again.

Here is a view of our Learning Poster.


For October we had tons of pumpkins on our calendar.


I also got an alphabet wall border from It's Educational, our local teacher supply store.


I liked how this border had pictures to go along with the letters. It also came with a mini alphabet that I could hang at Jasmine's height.


What we are currently reading:
Jasmine's selection: Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak


Jasmine loves this book. One night during bath time my husband read this to her and it has been non-stop ever since.

My selection: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart


I got the first book because it sounded interesting, and when I finished that one I had to get this one, the second book, right away. I don't know how I'm going to be able to wait for the third book to come out in paperback.

Our homeschool setup

I asked some fellow homeschoolers, and did some searches to see how people organize their classrooms and supplies. I thought I would share what I've done for our stuff.

Starting on the left side of our dining area (we have an open floor plan for the kitchen/dining room/living room.)

Here is Jasmine's easel with her project "Caterpillar C," from No Time for Flashcards.


Here are the new days of the week and weather for our calendar.

I put them on the wall between our two windows to keep them out of the way and so Jasmine wouldn't mess them up.

Here is our right-side window. I added some Autumn leaves that I got from Michael's craft store for about $1.49 (I think, I'm not positive on the price,) they have little bits of gold glitter on them.

I ordered some Autumn/Halloween/Christmas crafts from Oriental Trading Company so we will be adding to this window and maybe the left-side window. I maybe rearrange this window because Jasmine's easel sits in front of the left-side window, making it impossible to see the window.

I lowered Jasmine's Learning Poster so I could fit this number poster where she could reach it. For some reason Jasmine has decided to skip 3 and 8 in her counting, even though she previously counted 3, but never 8.


I got this five drawer unit from Wal-Mart. I wish one of the two bottom draws had been file folder size, that would have made it perfect.


In the bottom drawer I put our large packages of craft supplies, crinkle grass and multi-color feathers.


In the second large drawer I put our paint supplies and glue.

There should be some dot-to-dot paint dabbers, but they were on the easel to use on the caterpillar.

In the bottom small drawer I put all of our scrapes, paper and felt.


The middle small drawer holds my glue gun, glitter glue, paint wheel and paints that Jasmine isn't ready to use.


The top small drawer has triangle crayons, jumbo crayons and word strips that I use for Jasmine's Learning Poster.


Underneath that is two packages of pipe cleaners (one white and the other multi-colored,) glue gel pens, goggly eyes, more word strips and some cheap paint brushes.


I got this file folder crate from Wal-Mart.


It holds 26 pocket folders, in rainbow colors also from Wal-Mart, for Jasmine's Letter of the Week work.


I keep the print-outs and instructions on one side, and finished crafts on the other.


I also made seasonal folders.

Most of the crafts I ordered from Oriental Trading came in sets of 12. I figured we could do 6 this year and I will put the extras in the folders to save for next year. I also plan on making folders for holidays (e.g. Halloween) since I did get separate crafts for Autumn and Halloween, Winter and Christmas.