Outdoor Explorers

So we're finally finished with the business of  packing and moving thankfully and we're working on the settling in process.  We found a unique rental a little ways from town surrounded by nature and lots of trees.  The house is working out well for us and the boys.  The front porch is a family favorite and with this amazing Autumn weather we use it!

We have been spending our time walking trails, builiding forts, and entertaining "special' visitors i.e. caterpillars, a turtle, and a family of snails.  We have not had the pleasure of meeting the lizards that live around the porch.  However, the last lizard catching attempt did leave Tru with a tail that he was very fascinated with...talk about science lessons at your front door!

 Then ofcourse we have the "Wildman" aka Liam who would proably happily live most of his life outdoors if we let him.  He can't get enough of being outside.  He is a little explorer.  Levi, who enjoys the outside too, loves collecting rocks.  Anytime we walk outside and he will come back in with both little fists full of rocks.  Isn't it funny the things that a parent will do because their children love doing it.  I  would not call myself an outdoorsy person, but I  love that kids are enjoying the outside stuff and I enjoy that!   So I would say so far the new place is working out great.

Looking Ahead

So I haven't fallen off the face of the planet and I have no other excuse for neglecting this blog other than I just haven't gotten around to it lately. So I think an end of Summer recap is in order...

We've spent the last bit of summer celebrating birthdays, mine included as well as Tru's. He turned 7 last Monday...CRAZY! It really is mind blowing how fast kids grow up. We also got to visit with some great friends  from out of town last month.   They took a little time off and hung out with us on a Sunday and we really enjoyed that.  We did have a major project going renovating a house we were going to lease to own but that actually fell through over the weekend. It seems to all worked out okay.   We were bummed at first, but we know that God has something better on the horizon for us. So never the less we will be moving sometime next month which has us packing and searching for a home all at once. If there's something this family can do it's pack. And in the middle of the packing we are homeschooling and I'm working a little part time job on the side. I'm actually waiting on the curriculum to come in this week. Tru is starting 2nd grade this year and we're ready to get started.

A little busier, but who can complain with cooler weather, hopefully, coming and Fall almost in full gear! I love the Fall! So be looking for a few Autumn projects in the works as well as some Fall homeschooling ideas. It's the best time of the year and I can't wait for it to get here.

Can't keep a Little Boy Down

This is one of my favorite pictures of Liam. He is non stop from the time his little boy feet hit the ground in the mornings. He's always climbing, bouncing, playing and he rarely walks anywhere, he runs. He has always been our busy guy. But last week was the first time I had ever seen him slow down. He picked up a little cough the weekend before and by Monday you could tell he wasn't himself. He wasn't playing or running through the house. In fact he spent a lot of time on the couch watching his brothers play and looking somber. He even let me cuddle him for as long as I wanted to. Which for anyone with busy toddlers knows that's a rare thing indeed! We had never seen him so under the weather before.

Definitely not the norm...

.

So I took him in to see the doctor and found out he had a little upper respiratory
infection and it was affecting his ears. This was the first sick visit we have ever had since the twins were born and I have to say we have been so blessed when it comes to having healthy kids. God gets all the praise for that! So after getting a very disgruntled Liam to let the doctor listen to his heart and look at his ears, she prescribed some medicine to help with his ears. He wasn't keen on being a patient or taking his medicine, but he did it with moderate resistance. It took about a day and half for him to be back to his former self, but by the end of the week he was smiling and bouncing around the house like normal. There's nothing I enjoy more than hearing our boys play and run around through the house and I am so thankful Liam recouped quickly. God is so good!

Recipe Turn Around: Chocolate Frosting Pops

So I stumbled on a healthy chocolate recipe a couple weeks ago. I found it at Chocolate Covered Katie's site, where she specializes in making desserts healthy. Her recipe for Chocolate Frosting Shots looked amazing! I had to try it. The recipe is pretty simple and you can get it here. But basically it calls for full fat canned coconut milk, cocoa powder, vanilla, and a little sweetener(I used Truvia). So I made it this weekend, but I accidentally picked up the low fat version of canned coconut milk. It tasted good, but it wasn't working for a frosting. It didn't have the same look or texture as frosting. So there I was trying to figure out how to salvage the recipe when I thought of something...

Chocolate Frosting Pops!

The low fat coconut milk didn't get thick enough for frosting, but was the perfect consistency to freeze. So I poured my "frosting gone wrong" concoction into a Popsicle mold and was very pleased with the results. Next time I will add a little more sweetener to cut through the bitter in the cocoa. Now I can't wait to try this recipe with the right ingredient. But I think I found a new healthy summer treat, because the boys loved it!

DIY: Burlap Wreath

I love to decorate with burlap and when I found this great idea for a burlap wreath on Pinterest I was hooked! So after pinning it, I followed the link over to the Top This Top That blog, where I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this wreath is to make! Seriously, it was so simple and I only needed 3 items to make the wreath. Check it out for yourself here!

So I swung by Hobby Lobby and picked up a metal wreath form, burlap ribbon(found it in the floral dept too), and a little embellishment and I was on my way. I was able to start and finish it while the twins were napping last Saturday. So with a quiet house I started looping the burlap through the wire...

pulling and fluffing as I worked it top, miidle, & bottom. Once the wreath was finished I fluffed a little more. Then tied some bright summery flowers with twine and hung it on our front door.

It makes a great summer wreath, but it could work with any season with a few changes to your embellishments. I love it when I can make something that works all year round. Oh and be sure to check out the Top This Top That blog, she has lots of great inspiration and ideas for making your home beautiful.

A Beautiful Vue: Growing Boy

Wow! Look at this kid...where did our baby go? I took this picture after his last night of soccer camp. He had a blast and he's played hard, can you tell? I looked at this picture later on and thought to myself when did he get so tall and that I can see a glimpse of the boy face giving way to a man face. It's crazy to think how fast time has passed since he was born. I could go on and on but I wont! Tru you are one awesome kid who never ceases to amaze us and we are so grateful God blessed us with you. Man I love this growing boy!

Review: Time4Learning Online Curriculum

This past spring Tru and I hit a wall with his school. He was getting bored with the traditional book work curriculum and we were butting heads a bit when it was time sit down and get his work finished. So I did a little research and came across Time4Learning. It looked like it would be a good supplement to what we were already using. I also thought a we both would appreciate a change. So we signed him up and we've been using it about 2 1/2 months now and it has become our main curriculum that we use along with our more traditional workbook lessons.

Basically, Time4Learning offers 4 different subjects Language Arts, Math, Science, and Language Arts Extensions (which is like social studies) all in one online package. Once your signed up, your child can log in to their account, and get started. You can pick which subjects you want your child to work on and even build a lesson plan. We focus on the language arts and the math, but sometimes he will use the other subjects. When it comes to science and history I pull a lot from our local library. Both the language arts and math lessons do a great job of getting the material across to him while keeping it engaging and fun! The math lessons have pages you can print out to go with the lessons, too.

Within the first month his reading had improved and he was much more confident about reading on his own. I think he actually enjoys reading a little more now. Tru is in the first grade level, but Time4Learning gives us the option to go a level below or ahead anytime we want. Also, we can retake any lesson if he needs to. I can log in to my parent account and track his progress. It helps me see where he might need to review a lesson, how long he spent on each lesson, and records everything he's done. I can also set up how long his sessions are and use a variety of parent resources like spelling word lists, science supply lists, and reading lists. You can also put together your lesson plans which I found helpful. When it comes to price I think it's pretty reasonable for our family living on one income. It's 19.95 a month for one child and then 14.95 for each additional child after that. There isn't any kind of contract either, so we can cancel at any time if we need to.

Now when Tru is working on his lessons it doesn't give him the option to pause a lesson. So if he's in the middle of it and needs to use the restroom or gets distracted (it happens) he might miss something and can't go back over it with out retaking the whole lesson. It would be nice to have a way to pause the lessons or come back to one particular place in the lesson. It hasn't posed any major problems, but he's not always as enthusiastic about a lesson the second time around. It is not a Christian based curriculum so you wont find any bible lessons or anything like that. I'm with Tru while he's working on his lessons and we've never had any problems with the curriculum conflicting with our beliefs or anything like that. I think Time4Learning would work well with everyone's approach to schooling their children.

All in all as a homeschooling family we have had a great experience with Time4Learning and will continue to use it as Tru finishes first grade this summer. I hope this has been helpful to anyone who is thinking about using Time4Learning and I would be happy to answer any questions. I enjoy teaching my boys at home and using this curriculum with our first grader has helped make it a little more enjoyable for all of us!


***As a member of Time4Learning, I have been given the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. For more information, check out their standards-based curriculum or learn how to write your own curriculum review.