New beginnings...

Join me and Mr. Darcy over at Brighton Park...

As many of you know I started a journey to simplify my life beginning in 2011. With that came the decision to combine my blogs, Wonderland Homeschool and Wonderland Kitchen, into one.  The new blog is

http://www.brightonparkblog.blogspot.com/. 

This blog is no longer active, but I don't want to miss you! So, Please come find and follow me over at Brighton Park!. Join me as I share our homeschooling journey, my life with my husband (whom I have called Mr. Darcy for these past 12 years), my minimalism journey, some great recipes, and all things Pride and Prejudice.

See you there!

Katie



Wonderland Homeschool is moving to Brighton Park

I am combining Wonderland Homeschool with my kitchen blog so that everything can be found in one place! You can go on and find everything now at http://www.brightonparkblog.blogspot.com/ and the move will be official as of March 1st. BE SURE AND START TO FOLLOW me at the BrightonPark blog so that you don't miss any posts and I will be doing an AWESOME giveaway once everything is all wrapped up to celebrate!

The Mitten Giveaway... win the book and a great mitten garland!

                                 Last week was very cold here in AZ. We had freezing temperatures 4 nights last week. Of course the kids loved it...the animals and the plants? Not so much. But with the temperature being unseasonably cold, it was a great week to do a mini-unit on one of our favorite authors, Jan Brett.  We read The Mitten,  The Three Snow Bears,  Town Mouse, Country Mouse, and Gingerbread Friends.

The Mitten by Jann Brett is one of my son Timothy's most favorite books. He loves all her books, but this one is his very favorite. We took a week to re-read The Mitten, do these great free coloring sheets and activities that went with it and then made a cute mitten garland to hang on the fireplace mantle.





The garland came from Oriental Trading Company.  It comes in a package like this:

The kids all took 2 sets and colored them.

When they were finished we tied them together and put them on the fireplace mantle.

 here's a picture a little closer...

The ribbon that ties the mittens together is included and I used blue painters tape to adhere it to the mantle without damaging the wood.

***********************THE MITTEN GIVEAWAY********************* you can enter here or at this same post listed at the new blog brighton park.

I am giving away three individual sets of mitten packs, to three different lucky winners.  This is what you will receive:

(This is enough to do the amount that was shown on my fireplace). Each pack has 8 mittens, 2 each of 4 designs so each winner will receive enough mittens to have a garland with 24 mittens on it.

But that's not all. The winner will receive their own copy of THE MITTEN by Jan Brett!

 All you have to do to enter for a chance to receive yours is:

1. Go to the Jan Brett Website and tell me what your favorite free activity available over there is and then come back here and leave a comment telling me.
2. I am combining this blog with my kitchen blog and they are becoming http://www.brightonparkblog.blogspot.com/  Become a follower at this new blog. (and that way you don't miss any great homeschool stuff when the move becomes permanent come March 1st!)
3. that's it!  That's all you have to do to be entered to win.  Three Winners will be picked Sunday Feb 27th via random drawing, with winners announced the same day.

For those wanting extra entry chances (and who doesnt love extra credit?)
** you can follow me on twitter for one extra entry.
***vote for brighton park (the new combined blog) on the picket fence each day. There is a picket fence icon on the right sidebar. We do the honor system here so voting once a day from now till the 26th can get you 13 additional entries! you can vote once a day. let me know on the 26th how many days you voted. you can vote by going here and then clicking on the picket fence icon!

More great Jan Brett books:


What's your favorite Jan Brett book? How fun it will be to win one, eh?

Stay Warm,

Katie

Valentine's Day Craft Ideas for your Homeschool

Grandma would love getting this bouqet of paper flowers...

I love St. Valentine's Day and the countdown to the 14th  is on! This week is the time to get those valentines made and crafts done in time for the big day. Here are some links to free color pages, great craft ideas and more.



Have holiday themed coloring sheets on hand and ready to go to keep little ones busy when waiting.

 For free Valentines Day coloring sheets, click here.




It should be an unwritten rule: Do not throw away empty toilet paper rolls...


For Valentine's Day craft ideas, click here.

Another great example of toilet paper roll crafts. So creative!

I think this cupid is my favorite... here is how to make your own here.

construction paper, scissors, glue, stickers, glitter and voila!

Don't forget to make those valentines. Kids love making handmade ones and those are the ones that Grandparents like getting the best!

Which Valentine craft ideas are your favorite?

Katie

From the bookshelf: February Valentine's Day unit

  Here are a few of the books we are enjoying reading to go with our unit on St. Valentine and Valentine's Day.

From the Bookshelf: Groundhog's Day

Groundhog Day just gets a couple of days here at our homeschool.  We read a few books that go with this day and utilize the internet as a good reference for free color pages (http://www.crayola.com/) and simple crafts. Here are the books we got this year to help the kids learn about this day.  If you are looking for a few groundhog day crafts, here are a few I found online that may fit the bill for your homeschool:  here and here . At both links, just scroll down and there are so many cute crafts with color photos that are great for the preschool and elementary age student.  Happy Groundhog Day!

Penguin Unit Crafts!

We are wrapping up our January Penguin Unit. It was so fun.  Crafts do not have to be complicated for kids to love them. Here are some of the penguin crafts that were low on effort but high on creativity!

and

and this mosaic penguin was great for fine motor practice for the boys--cutting the paper into strips and then ripping the strips into the pieces we used for the mosaic was fun and therapeutic...

This last picture, I found on the internet. How cute is this? Someone took their Halloween pumpkin and turned it into a penguin. I definitely plan to borrow this creative idea for this coming Halloween:

I hope you enjoyed our Penguin Unit as much as we did.  I hope you will stop back by in February, when our learning units will be St. Valentine and COOKIES!

Happy Winter,

Katie

Got Penguins?

March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition)




These  movies made for a great addition to our winter / penguins unit!  My boys who have special needs love TV; unfortunately (for them!) they live with a mother who can't stand TV.  We limit all the kids watching to one hour a day unless it is movie day. On movie day there is no TV and the movie is typically either a family favorite (Harry Potter, Sound of Music, etc) OR a movie that goes with our homeschool themes.

For Sean and Tim, I think watching the movies that go with and enhance our unit studies really help them to understand the material more and retain what we have been learning about.

After a week of penguin games and penguin books and penguin worksheets, a movie day with "March of the Penguins" and popcorn was a big hit!

A wonderful friend of mine (who is an elementary school teacher)  also shared some other great penguin unit ideas with me; including:

*make penguin masks, have everyone dress in black and white and waddle through the house having your own "March of the Penguins"
*eat goldfish crackers as a snack. Talk about penguins favorite food.
*There are 17 species of penguins. Choose your kids' top five and create a life size "march of the penguins" graph with butcher paper and attach to the wall. (The Emperor penguin is 46 inches tall; as tall as most first grader. It's neat to see kids compare themselves to these birds!)

What units did you do for January?

Equal opportunities

Timothy and Coach Teri

Timothy, one of my twins who has special needs, got the opportunity to try ice skating this month.  The girls take lessons weekly and turns out one of the coaches where they go has years of special olympics experience.  I am thrilled that Tim gets a chance to try something new.  If your homeschooler has special needs, be sure and seek out extra curricular activities for them. You may be surprised what you may find and/or who may be happy to work with your child!



Determination



learning something new...

From the bookshelf: January green unit

     My kids love the book The Adventures of an Aluminum Can. It is a great story about how aluminum is made and the journey a can takes after being recycled into different items. The Three R's  book is one of the better ones I have found for the price with regards to how much information it has.  I read it in segments to the kids, depending on what we are studying.

Green Units

I read once that this generation of students is the first who are taught and aware of environmental issues from grade school on.  As a homeschooler, I wanted my kids to be active learners in this area as well, so when  this new school year started, I planned a "green unit" for each month.

Teaching your child about environmental issues is as simple or as complex as you choose to make it.  Books, science programs (discovery channel, animal planet, etc), and simple explanations can all make your points about what is good and bad for the earth.  And, don't think your kids aren't interested...my twin boys who are 10, and have special needs, became very excited about recycling....when I became excited about recycling.

Here are some ideas for your next "green unit":

• Recycling
• Composting (worm composting is simple and kids love it)
• How paper is made
• Planting (seeds, herb garden, flowers, vegetables)
• Conservation
• Energy
• Sustainability
• Making and Using Organic Cleaners
• Reduce/Reuse/Recycle (the three R's)
• Importance of decreasing consumerism
• Chickens
• Homesteading

TIP:  Homeschool green units are a great way to tie in field trips...Gardens, Farms, Florist, Nursery, Lowes, Science Centers...endless options!

Love your Mother...Earth, that is.  What are some of the green units you have done?

Katie

From the bookshelf: Penguins & Winter

Here are a few of our books we are using this month with our learning units on penguins and winter.  For a full review of the Four Season Books by Nuria Roca, you can check out a review I wrote for Examiner.com here.

Social Studies: Piece by Piece

As most of you following my blog know, my oldest kids, my 10 yr old twins, have special needs. A great benefit to homeschooling them is being able to be creative with using their strengths to help them learn in a way that is enjoyable and gets the job done. This need not be clever or complicated. For example:


Tim loves puzzles. LOVES THEM. So this past week, we turned his love of puzzles into a way to help him work on a social studies lesson that involved maps and locating a few states on a map (currently: our home state and states where family live).

What better way than a USA floor puzzle? This one is great. 51 puzzle pieces that are great for little hands to manipulate. Made for the floor, but fits on the table just as nicely. Towards the end, he enlisted help from his sisters.

TIP: Be creative in working with your childs strengths to teach what needs to be taught, especially if they have special needs, but remember that a simple solution might be the best one!

**I was not asked to review this puzzle, nor did I receive any compensation. We just really liked it and wanted to pass it on!

Teachable Moments...

We limited TV coverage following the tragedy here in AZ, as to not have the kids overwhelmed with the news coverage. Instead, what little they did overhear, we made the first teachable moment about prayer.

Prayer for Rep. Giffords and all those individuals and families affected. We made the second teachable moment "Be kind to each other". We need to be kind to each other.

If you find yourself in a disagreement with someone this week, respect their differing opinion, keep dialogue open, and be kind. Your children will learn their current and future conflict resolution skills from your example.

The best hope our youth have is for adults to take the time to teach them to be patient, tolerant and kind.

God bless,

Katie

Cutting the Fat: Getting the most of TIME

The simple truth is, we are only given a FINITE amount of time each day. No matter what our best intentions are, we are only given 24 hours, not a minute more, each and every day to accomplish what we plan.

Most plans, especially within a homeschool environment, do not always fail due to a lack of preparation, but fail because too much was planned (or should I say "tried to be packed in") for any given day. How do we stop setting ourselves up for these time failures and stress induced frenzies?

A good place to start is by listing your main priorities of your family/homeschool and how much time they take (these are your good time takers); then make a list of all those other things taking your time each day. These things may be good things too, just not important enough to make the priority list. Now the fun begins, find 3-5 things you can immediately cut from your schedule. You can do it.

Here's a few more suggestions to get the most out of your time in your homeschool day.

• Do not overschedule the kids outside the home for fear of needing multiple socialization opportunities; you cannot homeschool if you are never home. Pick the activities that are most worthy of your family's time and talent. It doesn't take very many lessons, sports teams, church activities and scouts multiplied over multiple kids to put your schedule on overload.
• Write out all your obligations on a calendar so you can see them a month at a time. Make sure there is ample "white space" on the calendar. If you must, block out "white space" at the beginning of the month and guard it as importantly as you do meetings and other committments.
• Limit distractions. TV off. Cell on vibrate. PC (unless being used for that particular subject) off. You cannot be in the moment if you are constantly plugged in. People deserve face time. Our family deserves uninterrupted face time. Schedule times during the day to check voicemail and return email and calls and manage your electronic correspondence in scheduled "chunks" of time.
• Limit blogging. I know, funny coming from a blogger, but the simple truth is if you are always writing about your life or reading about someone elses you are not LIVING your life. Schedule specific times a week to write your posts for your own blog. Schedule and limit amounts of time spent social networking and reading others.
• A word about blogs...There are AMAZING ones out there. Follow blogs that fill a need in your life. Does it bring you much needed comic relief? Does it provide useful information, ideas, links, or resources? Does it fill a need you have for encouragement? If so, then follow. If not, don't. Who has time to read about so and so's baby going through 10 diapers on a given day. I can see that in full color right in my own house. Blogs that are negative or contain negative family dramas written out for the world to see are not worthy of your time. Your time is your most precious resource. Pick who you follow wisely.
• Same with facebook. Do you go on FB "jut to check" and then get sucked into the world of cyberspace for the next hour? If so, your family is the one feeling the effects of your social schmoozing.
• Don't feel obligated to continue time takers that aren't working. A few months ago, I thought it was wonderful that I had applied for and gotten a free lance writing job with an online magazine. A good opportunity? Yes. A good use of my time? Not necessarily. When I spent some time to think about it, the online magazine was not what I had written on my priority list, so why should it merit being a priority time taker? It doesn't. The lesson learned? Just because an opportunity is a good opportunity, doesnt make it good for you at that particular time in your life.

2011 is the year I am getting serious about what is worthy of my finite time I am given. Make your priority list. Check it twice. What made your list? What are your good and your naughty time takers?