Just a quick video update on the chickens, and how they’re doing.
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crunchy conservative
Weekly Wrap Up: October 29
writing amounts using the cents sign, reading “I Can Read It: Book2”, Mister coloring blueberries on the letter B
I am so behind on weekly wrap ups, baby updates, etc. I am so sorry y’all! I know many of my readers really look forward to those posts, and I have been seriously slacking since the move…. and the move was over in August, so no excuses.
This is more like a monthly wrap up.
The past month the 5 year old has been working on:
- finishing AAR Level 1-learning new sounds for letters, open/closed syllables/
- working through Saxon K (which she LOVES, so glad I chose not to skip it!)- telling time to the hour, and writing money using the cents sign, ordering items according to price
- Sonlight language arts for supplementing- copywork, select grammar, I Can Read It book
- HWOT Kindergarten book-she loves this and asks to do it all the time
- Elemental Science (I will be honest, we haven’t been hitting this every week.. but the kids *love* science!)- we recently had a lot of fun learning about diluting using mud!
- art lessons from Artistic Pursuits- again, a favorite!
- Sonlight Core A- history, Bible, Read alouds, and geography- right now studying medieval times, working through Moses stories, and SL missionary stories. Our read aloud is Here’s a Penny and IT IS SO FUN! We love it so far; we recently finished up My Father’s Dragon which was also a favorite.
- supplementing with Grapevine Bible lessons (review coming soon!)- Lexie *loves* history, it is her other favorite part about school
- Lots of books- she reads to me a little, and the rest of the time I am just reading to all of the kids.
My 3 year old is working through:
- Tagging along with big sister’s books
- AAR Pre Reading level (just recognizing letters and their sounds, which he mostly already knows because of our ABC song)
- ThisReadingMama’s letter of the week activities-when he feels like it
- Before Five in a Row books- the last two weeks we have focused on the letter B and have been rowing Ask Mr. Bear. Mister has had so much fun with this book, and has especially enjoyed the rowing activities. He is at the age where he can listen to books and focus a bit longer on activities (especially if he gets to cut or glue!), and it is truly so much fun for us as a family!
- identifying numbers through 10- the boy is obsessed with counting, and subtracting then recounting. I made a number line for the back of our backdoor (where all our learning charts are) and I bet he points to the numbers and counts at least 10 times a day!
- Supplementing with Fun Time Phonics- review coming soon
- just having fun and learning through play- lots and lots of play for everyone!
We discuss each morning: our manners, character traits, Bible, talking about being a good friend, helping others … The most important of all this, for us, is building faith, relationships, and character. Those are our main goals.
It looks like a lot- and it would be- but we don’t do this every day. We don’t even hit on all of this every week! The kids are young, I am following their lead because we can. They LOVE our Sonlight reading and on days that we don’t have it scheduled they are pretty bummed out about it. Mister some days doesn’t want to do school with us, and I am 100% fine with that- he is learning all day long while he plays, and while we read books.
I don’t want our days to be so consumed by “we have to get this done,” that we forget why we are homeschooling, why we are trying to live simply, why we are trying to not be consumed, or super-consumers. So the list above is like a buffet, we take from it what we need, going slowly and having fun!
Of course Ila is only 13 months old and is just tagging along, while going through her own developments. Those will get their own post in her 1 year update (coming soon, I hope!)
We have acted out parts of stories, built castles with “dungeons,” used compasses, played with play doh, baked, spent tons of time outdoors, gone on nature walks, and read books galore.
I hope November is as much fun and full of learning for all of us as October has been!
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Raising Baby Chicks
Here we go again! In very early 2012 we got 6 rhode island red girls as 2 day old chicks, and a few months later I added 3 barred rock girls to our flock. Shortly there after we made a semi-cross country trek with our family and couldn’t take the girls with us, so we sold them and their coop.
But alas!
We have moved, and this time to a farm!
Our first animal purchase? Why 15 baby chicks, of course! They are a mix of Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Welssumers, and Easter Eggers. (literally they are mutts. But 2 are definitely barred rocks, and many are Easter Eggers, as you can tell by their puffy cheeks.)
Yes, there is a ton of info on raising chicks out there- and YES you should read it all because most of it is useful and you can pick and pull what works for your set up. I use Backyardchickens.com for most of my reading.
Here is my bit of info on raising chicks from my point of view:
- a good laying breed will give an average of 5 eggs a week. For a typical family, 4 chickens provide plenty of eggs.
- there is this thing called chicken math- learn about it because I promise, once you have (pet, backyard) chickens you will be infected with chicken math!
- baby chicks are cute, they’re dirty, the spread dust everywhere, they will drown in their water, they will poop in their food, they will suffocate each other (or themselves) accidentally, they grow FAST, and they are pretty loud …
- baby chicks eat chick feed known as crumbles; you want to feed them from a feeder that is covered
(a typical chick feeder at farmer supply stores) because they will roost on it, knock it over, poop in it, and throw the feed out ‘erywhere! (did I mention they are dirty little things?)
- you don’t have to use a teeny tiny chick waterer (they out grow them SO fast, like, as in 2 weeks!) put marbles or rocks (we used rocks form the driveway) in a full size poultry waterer
to prevent them from falling in or drowning if they do fall in (something to catch their footing and hop out).
- despite being fairly hardy, baby chicks are prone to illness if their conditions are not kept clean- they need dry, warmth, food, and water. check their bottoms for pasty butt (where poop covers their bottoms and they get clogged), keep a red light on them at one end of the brooder for warmth, and check feed/water at least twice a day. You never know what those little crazies have done!
- chicks need PINE bedding
– cedar bedding will cause respiratory illness in poultry. PINE. PINE. PINE. Say it with me now .. PINE bedding.
- be sure to keep their brooder dry: moisture plus baby chicky dust equals SICK chicks
- you don’t have to have a thermometer
in the brooder to keep the temp. You can tell if the chicks are too warm by how spread out or how much panting they are doing; too cold by how piled up they are. When they act too hot, raise your brooder light up. Each week you want to cool them off by 5 degrees until their temp reaches that of the outside (or there abouts- once they are fully feathered they can keep warm), so raise it up a few inches each week. For us, raising fall time chicks, they will need to get acclimated to pretty cool temps here in Kansas. I got a thermometer and taped it in the brooder because it was $1.79 at the tractor supply store … so it is up to you.
- each chick needs about 1 sq foot of space until they are about 6 weeks, then they need more (but they should be going out to a coop by then, so be sure they have enough room in there or you will have bickering, unhappy chickens) I guessed on our brooder
size; I made it BIG since we got 15 chickens. You can use just about anything for a brooder0 totes, boxes, make one by taping boxes (like I did), or buy a kit.
- at about 2 weeks you can introduce chick grit
to get them ready for nibbling on sand, dirt, and rocks outside. Our chicks enjoy scratching around for the grit.
- most of the time you will know if you have a rooster when they are 5-8 weeks. Look for a very red, larger comb and depending on the breed you can look at their markings (some males have lighter, more defined, or no markings, etc-just depends on breed).
- Chicks like going outside; provided you have something like milk crates, you can take your chicks out for fresh air for a while. Again, if they get too cool they will all huddle up and sleep. Ours hopped around eating bugs and scratching.
- Enjoy- Like babies, they aren’t little for long!
Next time I will post about our coop!
Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!
Hanging Laundry Out on the Clothesline: Farm Life
I have line-dried our cloth baby diapers for nearly 5 years (as soon as one was potty trained we had another). But I have never had a large enough line for all our clothes.
When we bought the farm, the previous owners had hung a wire clothes line from the power pole to a tree. It works just fine, although we need to tighten it up a bit.
I am a laundry perfectionist- I loathe dingy clothes that don’t smell fresh. I LOVE fresh laundry, so I was worried about moving to another house with a water descaler. But, I did a little googling and realized, after 2.5 years of having a softener, I’ve been doing it all wrong! You can use less detergent and get cleaner clothes with a water softener! Whew, was I excited to read that. By the way, if you’ve not got a water softener of your own, then you may want to take a look at some WSE water softener reviews, as one of these could completely change the way you look at doing your laundry. That is the place to look for water softeners for in the home, but obviously hotels and laundrettes and similar businesses can also suffer at the hands of hard water. They don’t have to though, as you can find industrial water softeners here. These are aimed at water treatment on a more industrial scale.
Anyway, I thought I would give the clothesline a try today after washing my first load of clothes at the farm.
I am now on my third load today, and can probably get in a fourth!
HOLY COW!!! Have you smelled freshly line dried clothes before? They are crisp, clean, and BRIGHT!
For the soft water, I used half a lid of gain detergent on an Xlarge load, with two rinses. They smell so delicious I want to roll around in the laundry basket (ok, take that mental image out of your head). But in all seriousness- this is forever how I will dry our laundry in warm, dry weather! Hubby and I have talked about it and will probably put in two lines on the side of the house where there is no shade or tiny people running around. 🙂
Do you use a clothes line?
Also, do you use a water softener? I think if I’m honest, part of this lovely washing has to be down to me using the water softener properly for the first time, haha. If you don’t have one, I’d recommend you read reviews on sites similar to https://allgreatappliances.com/best-water-softener-system/ to find the one that would suit you best!
Let me know what you think guys!
Homesteading on The 40 Acre Wood: So It Begins
watching the hummingbirds
Since I was little, maybe four or five years old, I knew I wanted to live on a farm. I dreamed of rolling hills, trees, and white fences, and of course a barn full of animals that would keep me busy.
Though my mom, dad, brother and I lived in the suburbs, all our family lived in the country; both sets of grandparents gardened, canned, sat on porch swings, shot BB guns with us, fished from their ponds, and cooked from scratch. It was truly living the dream for my brother and me, every summer, all summer long.
I’ve always wanted to live on a farm and that is a goal of mine till this day.
I never stopped dreaming of the farm I wanted, but I never saw it in my future. It seemed unattainable.
*Enter my husband*
My husband is a dreamer. But he isn’t a dreamer by definition- he is a dreamer that sees a dream, sets a goal, and gets ‘er done. So, maybe he is in fact a “do-er.”
About 6 years ago he told me one day we could have a little homestead.
I couldn’t see past our current situation, and told him with 100% certainty, he was crazy.
But here we are; in 2015 moving into our dream home, on land.
By dream home, I don’t mean what most people would define as a dream home. It isn’t brand new, fancy, or big. It doesn’t have 5 bathrooms, or a bedroom for every person in the family.
(It does have my dream front porch, a lovely kitchen with a window that overlooks the back yard where my babies will play and the chickens and guineas will run around, a big gas stove perfect for canning, and a big fireplace that heats the whole house. That is my *DREAM*)
The kids love it; there is tons of room for them to run, play in the dirt, ride their bikes. They like picking tomatoes in the garden and playing with our inherited barn cats.
What is most important to my husband and me though, is that it our kids can mostly free range on our property, safely. We can raise our family on our own land to: hunt, fish, ride 4wheelers, garden, raise our own food, and learn how to appreciate God’s hard work.
We can live slowly and simply without the busy rush, rush, rush of the rat race life so many consider their dream.
It is going to be a lot of work, but man is it all going to be worth it. I can’t wait to share updates with you all, as well as things I learn on “the farm.” We will spend the winter getting part of the barn in order for our chickens and guineas, expanding the garden, prepping firewood, and maybe working with fencing.
What to name a farm?!
We started calling it “the farm” after we started working on in the garden and yard this summer. I am trying to give it a real name, so far all I have really loved is The Forty Acre Wood- but that seems kinds silly. So we will see. =)
Sonlight Box Day Core A {2015/2016}
Last week we began our official 2015/2016 homeschool year.
By most standards but we don’t go by most standards, now do we? this is early, even for year round schooling. However, with all the chaos of moving and the uncertainty of living in a rent house, the kids needed more structure and routine than we had going.
Lexie kept telling us she didn’t like this home (I don’t blame her, it doesn’t feel like home), and wanted to go back where all our books and things were (most everything is still boxed since we will be moving again in about 36 days, with the exception of our necessities and a few toys/books).
So I felt like we needed something to make the next 2 months feel more secure and emotionally safe for the kids- so what better way than to break out Homeschool Box Day! 🙂 (you can read about our very first Box Day HERE)
They were over the moon excited while unboxing everything. (Please excuse the rather sloppy photo editing, it was mostly done from my phone, since we have very limited internet usage in the rent house.)
They are most excited about Curious George
We will take it slowly; right now we are focusing on AAR, SL LA, math, doing our daily Sonlight reading from Core A, and the Mister’s BFIAR story. He is listening along for most of the books, but the Before Five in a Row book is specifically for him. Because I don’t have my printer, laminator, etc unboxed, he isn’t exactly “rowing” the books right now. We can always come back and do that later.
Aside from George, Boxcar Chldren
Anyway, Box Day was a success and getting back to school time has completely changed the feeling of our home! The kids are happier; you can just feel the intention in our day and it is wonderful!
Have you done box day?
Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2015/2016 (K5 & Preschool)
Wow- I can’t believe I just typed in title! This year has truly snuck up on us; but alas, I am ready! (I think ..)
I am going to break this down by child/age. It is hard with Lexie, mainly because she is 4.5 years old, 5 in the fall, and doing a mix of kindergarten and first grade work, but is still not old enough to register for school. So while she will be doing mostly first grade and K work, I am not sure what to tell you in terms of “grade” for you to compare or look at for your child. This will be her K5 year (next year will be K6 and she will start 1st when she is 7).
I would recommend looking at the curriculum’s scope and sequence for each level, and ALWAYS do their placement test (at least look over what will be taught in that level and what prerequisite skills are needed to be successful). I will say, Lexie probably didn’t HAVE to begin with AAR Level 1, but I am SO thankful we did because she got that firm foundation before moving on. I know a few parents can get overwhelmed with the school curriculum, which is totally understandable as we’re not professional teachers and have no idea how to even do this work half the time, so seeking advice or a little help can be really useful when setting work for children. Some parents choose for their child to use a tutoring Adelaide service and others choose to use online tools, like YouTube, but whatever the method is, as long as children are learning something it’s all worthwhile.
Good foundation ALWAYS trumps advancement in my opinion, no matter the subject.
Lexie (4.5/5 in the fall, working on K and 1st Grade Level)
- Core: Sonlight Core A– (history/cultures, geography,Bible) We did P4/5 last year and Lexie just flew through it; she never skipped a beat and I swear she still talks about some of the stories which I have long forgotten … She LOVES it, and so does Max. So we will do Core A next, and Mister (and Ila, too) will sit in with us. I plan on stretching this core 18-24 months, and using it as her “Kindergarten” year curriculum (when she is 6 and we register with the state). We are adding in LOTS of sequels, and I will probably buy the Five In A Row literature pack from RRC (I already have the teacher’s book and a few of the read alouds) to add in also to help stretch it out. This core is SO exciting; we get to begin our timeline book, learn more about geography, look at maps, and expand our learning tremendously! It will be fun!
Language Arts:
- All About Reading Level 2– Here, AAR is going to give her all the reading skills she needs
- All About Spelling Level 1– They suggest beginning AAS when your student starts AAR Level 2. From what I have seen this will mostly just reinforce the reading rules she already knows and teach encoding. For all intents a purposes, we will say she will be 5, which is young for a spelling program; but after looking at the scope and sequence, I think she can do it and it will help with her writing. If we aren’t ready, we can shelve it til she is =)
- Sonlight Language Arts 1- this is really just for extra practice; I like that they include spelling words, narration, comprehension questions, and copywork so I thought we would use it mainly for that. I bought some of the readers, but not all of them. We will just see how we like it. (I don’t feel like their LA’s is “enough” for us, so we will use it as a supplement)
Math:
- Saxon Math K
– we were going to use Saxon K this past year, but I just continued on with Singapore K (early bird)
. Because Lexie isn’t registering for school I am going to use this as a “review,”/nail in the foundation year for math. Plus Saxon will go a bit further & deeper than Singapore did. It will start very basic, but that is fine with us. Max will probably sit in on some of the more basic lessons.
Science:
- Elemental Science– I went around and around on our science choice for over a year. Every single time I landed back on ES. So I finally said, Okay! This is it! You may have read that we enjoy the Charlotte Mason and Classical Education models. I like teaching and organizing this way, and the kids seems to thrive learning with these models (for now), so it is a win win. ES is a classical/CM combo curriculum, and I like that! I will do another post entirely on why we chose ES some other time.
Extracurricular:
- Gymnastics at a local gym
- Violin lessons with a local teacher
- ARTistic Pursuits (best art curriculum EVER)
Max (2.5/3 yo in fall) Preschool
Ah, I can’t believe I just wrote my baby will be “doing” preschool. Honestly, I am not sure where to begin with him. haha
Mister is definitely a boy- he is developing much faster physically than Lexie was at this age, and isn’t quite where she was cognitively at this age. (for instance, he just started gymnastics and is MUCH better at it than Lexie was when she was 2/5, but he isn’t reading cvc words like she was at that age, either).
- Before Five In a Row: You know I love some BFIAR! It is easy, fun, and means lots of snuggles with my baby. He *loves* the stories and I think he will really enjoy all the activities, too. My favorite resource for all things homeschool is Rainbow Resource Center- they almost always have the best prices, and here is their literature pack. Trust me when I tell you, you cannot buy all those books, even used, at that price; many of them are also out of print so to get them brand new from RRC is pretty awesome!
- Language Arts– I know a lot can change in just a few months, but for right now I don’t think Max is ready for ThisReadingMama’s curriculum. Whenever he is, that’s what we will use as a supplement and beginning curriculum. I think maybe by fall or Christmas he will be ready to start! Until then, we will just review a letter a week or so, and continue with BFIAR. The other option is when he is to start him on AAR Pre-Reading; I never used that with Lexie, we just did our own thing to learn those skills, so I may just teach him myself without a curriculum.
- Math: I don’t have anything in particular ready for Max and math. We have a TON of manipulatives and will just use them to learn basic math concepts and number sense- 1:1 correlation, sorting, patterns, more/less, etc. We are already playing with some of those concepts and will just continue down that path. Also, we will work on recognizing his numbers (he surprised me the other day by recognizing way more than I thought he knew!), and counting past 20.
- Play, Play, Play, Play, Play! We will play a LOT. He is not my desk learner; he does LOVE to join us for learning time, he enjoys sitting at the counter and writing and listening in on Lexie’s lessons, but he isn’t ready for a long stretch of school yet, and that’s A-Okay! So we will play and learn through play.
- Sitting in- Mister will sit in on our read alouds, join us for science lessons (and probably keep his own little science notebook), and anything else he shows an interest in.
- Extracurricular- He has started gymnastics and *loves* it. He keeps asking about violin, but unlike Lexie I don’t think he will be ready at 3. So, we will see if he still shows interest as he gets older.
That’s it! That is our curriculum choices for 2015/2016.
Sonlight P4/5 Read Alouds and Weekly Wrap Up (MOY 14/15)
Well, we are in our 27th week of Sonlight P4/5 and *loving* it. Homeschool this year has been wonderful for all of us. This is a Middle Of Year 2014/2015 Update.
We love Sonlight and have enjoyed most of the read alouds immensely. So far our favorites (and by “our” I mean Max-2yo and Lexie’s-4yo) have been Uncle Wiggly
I will say I was a little annoyed with the Berenstain Bears book by the time we finished reading it, but the kids loves it! And The Favorite Stories from the Bible book is very honest and straight forward, which I love. I only chose to skip one story, about Cain and Abel, but the rest we have read and discussed openly. Lexie has been able to answer all the questions at the end of each story, and Max has been able to answer a few, too. But they both ask to get it off the shelf often.
Lexie’s Homeschool (4yo)
Lexie is reading so much- she brings me books from downstairs that she has read all by herself, and rereads them to me. She is learning to read th and sh words in All About Reading. We really love this program!
Her handwriting has improved drastically- we began writing on just blank pages (which is developmentally appropriate), moved on to large lined dry erase board, and now practice on both first grade lined dry erase board and on lined paper
Math is still just number sense; she has been coloring graphs, working on perception, and counting backwards. We have also introduced number lines in a very simple manner, and she understands them. She can do simple addition using manipulatives, but we haven’t worked on number sentences yet. She is still only 4, so while we do things she enjoys & she would probably enjoy that, I don’t think we are ready for that yet. To me, getting a good foundation in number sense is very important before moving on.
Science is random activities, youtube videos, books from our SL core, and anything the kids show an interest in. We will use a science curriculum next year (Elemental Science) as an intro to sciences but we won’t do it very strictly. It will introduce nature studies more formally, and how to keep a science notebook.
Max’s “homeschool” (2yo)
Mister loves joining us for learning time. His favorite things are definitely: sorting by color, glueing, and using scissors.
We are working on reinforcing his letter recognition and learning to identify his numbers. I have started introducing the “little” letters along with their “big letters” when we play around with IDing letters of the alphabet. Lexie was just so visual; You told her what a letter was one time and she knew it. Max doesn’t seem to learn that way, so I am trying to find his learning style.
He listens in on our read alouds and enjoys that time snuggling (or running around, building with blocks ..). I am actually amazed when he is “writing” and coloring, he holds his markers and crayons correctly, naturally. That was not a skill that came naturally to Lexie, I still have to correct the way she holds her pencil at times.
It has been such a mild winter, compared to the previous two years in NE. But, I think January got confused with March, because it has been colder in Feb and march than it was in January and December. So, outside time has been a little limited this winter. We haven’t done any nature walks or nature studies lately. We cannot wait for spring to finally arrive (and stick around..)!
I am planning out our curriculum for next fall. We will continue SL P4/5 through the spring/summer, taking off the month of June for vacation, and then continue with some learning time here and there until fall. In the fall, I plan to start Sonlight Core A with Lexie, Max will sit in while also enjoying BFIAR books. I will use my favorite free online curriculum from ThisReadingMama, for his PreK (OMG how is it possible he will be 3?!). Together we will all do Bible, history, and read alouds, science activities, and some art. Then they will each have their own “work” for reading and math.
That’s it! This is our middle of the year update; I can’t wait to see how we end this year.
How is your school year going so far?
19 weeks Baby Summary {babywise}
Well, tomorrow marks the beginning of Ila’s 20th week of life; we just finished week 19. Oh my goodness! She has two more weeks before she actually turns 5 months old, so I am using that as a way to console myself that she is already this old. It is just going by so quickly.
Ila is simply a joy. My oldest was a happy girl, but was colicky- gas, a little reflux, etc. Mister was a bear of a baby (and still is)- very fussy, screaming with reflux, sensitive, didn’t nap well because of it, etc. (they both have dairy sensitivities/allergies)
I think I sorta thought that babies = crying, gas, etc.
Boy was I wrong! Next to “happy” in the dictionary should be a picture of Ila James! (Provided I am dairy free, and she is too, so that is probably most of it. She is able to eat and sleep well, and it just makes a HUGE difference.) She is the baby that meets your eyes and just starts smiling for no particular reason except that you’re there!
She has gone through her wonder week 19- it was a doozy, and she got her first tooth during it! It broke through a few days ago. YAY! As of now, her schedule looks like this:
- 7am wake/nurse/bottle
- 8:15am down for nap (soon to be 8:30 I think, some days she stays awake a while before falling asleep) and she has decided this first nap is a great time to have a poopy diaper!
- 11:00 wake, nurse, oatmeal with breast milk and applesauce, bottle
- 12:15pm down (soon to be 12:30 I think), asleep by 1:00
- 3:00pm up, nurse, bottle-soon to add solids here
- 4:30pm down, asleep within a few minutes usually, sometimes asleep at 5pm
- 7:00pm up, nurse, bottle
- 7:40pm in bed, asleep
- Sleeps until DWT of 7am
At 23 weeks there is another wonder week, and I imagine during or after that phase she will start trying to drop the third nap. So at that time we will probably move dinner up to 6:15 or so, and bedtime up to 7pm. Depending on her needs it may be even earlier than that. (It always has been for my other two.)
Development
During her waketimes, Ila is talking like crazy! She discovered her voice this past week and she loves to talk. Usually she does it if she is by herself in the living room, or pack n play. I have to sneak up on her to get it on video. Usually once someone is there she gets quiet again.
She is trying to roll form her back to her belly, so that is fun. She is almost there and can get twisted over on her side, but needs help to get all the way over. And she has discovered her thumb … I am not thrilled about this; we already have one thumb sucker (Mister) to break eventually, so I am hoping this is just a phase since she found her hands and is able to get them to her mouth. But I don’t want a pacifier either, since she sleeps fine without both I am just pretending like she isn’t doing it, and hoping she stops. 😉 (maybe she is just rubbing in the teeth? There is another coming in.)
She is not reaching for things, like purposely. She wakes her arms a bit but has no interest in stuff around her or in front of her yet.
She hasn’t lost her hair yet, so maybe she won’t? Lexie and Max both lost some; Ila just has a thin spot on the back where she sleeps. I have to spry in conditioner and comb out the tangles a few times a week (there is just so much hair!).
Eating
So far, Ila is still a nursing champion. She loves to nurse; she has started talking while she nurses. Sometimes she just stops and looks up at me and babbles while milk pours out of her mouth. It is pretty funny; then she will just smile and go back to nursing. After practicing for a few weeks, she is finally taking food from a spoon. I know she is young, and she doesn’t really need it. However … this baby is nursing 15-20 minutes, then taking an 8 ounce bottle. EIGHT OUNCES! Every 4 hours … of a $45 per can formula. Which equals $150 a month! She has gone from going through one can in 10 days, to finishing a can in 6-7 days. She is HUNGRY! Plus, good fats are good for her. I am going to give it another week of practicing with homemade oatmeal and breast milk, then start giving her soft boiled egg yolks. She has had avacado and liked it. Introducing her to good fats at 5 months isn’t going to hurt her or cause problems. We will hold off on veggies, meats, and fruits for a while. Solids aren’t needed right now, but because she is so hungry, I think healthy brain-power fats are fine.
Sleep
Ila is still double swaddled to sleep for naps and bed time. Doubling swaddling is a great method for babies that can get out of the swaddle during sleep, but aren’t ready for their hands to be free yet. I don’t think unswaddling her is far off, but I have tried SO MANY TIMES to transition her with one arm out, and it just disastrous. So for now, she is still double swaddled and goes to sleep perfectly this way. Once she starts rolling over this will for sure have to stop.
As for me, postpartum not much has changed. I am getting sleep, so I’m a happy mama! I am working on healing my diastasis recti, which means no traditional exercises like crunches, or other things that are in most all of my workouts (T25, the 21 day fix workouts, BBL, or Turbo Fire). I am using Fit2B.com to heal my DR and strengthen my transverse muscle FIRST, while I walk/run on the treadmill.
My mom and some others have asked how I knew I had the DR; I discovered I had DR a few ways- my back was constantly hurting. Provided, I have been overweight for 2 years (since after I had Max), but I knew that wasn’t causing the pain. Every time I worked out with any of my workout dvds I couldn’t get out of bed the next day, let alone walk, even after doing the modified moves. I also just couldn’t feel my abs anymore; after Ila there wasn’t even anything to flex. When I came across DR, and tested for it, it was the most disgusting thing I have ever felt. Basically, when you have a DR, your abs are split and you can put your fingers down between your abs. How many fingers fit determines just how bad yours is. Mine is 3-4 wide. *ewww* I remember after Lexie my abs were split, but I don’t remember ever trying to “heal” them, I just sorta went on with life. But this time I knew I had to do something. So, I signed up for Fit2B and I LOVE IT. I am finally starting to feel my abs again, and although this isn’t going to burn 600 calories in 40 minutes, it is healing my body so I CAN eventually burn 600 calories in 40 minutes doing my favorite heavier exercises. Exercises like crunches, planks, and basically every. single. move. in all my workout DVDs cause DR to worsen, not heal. So for now, those are on the back burner.
But that is okay! I am working on waking early in the mornings to get my workouts in (this is hit or miss, sometimes I have to fit them in during the day or before bed), but I feel good and eat good, so there you go.
And that is pretty much it! Ila’s 19th week of life. =)
Homeschool Curriculum Choices Part III: P4/5 Broken Down {with Sonlight Booklist}
I am working on catching up with my Preschool/Sonlight curriculum series.
Here is a breakdown of what we are using this year for the lady; she was 4 in September. We ended up starting in the summer before baby Ila was born, and are still trucking through. This is Sonlight P4/5 materials with some supplements in Math, Bible, and Language Arts (we are not using SL LA because she is too far passed it developmentally, but not ready for the next level up). My 2 year old son joins us for all the read alouds, and then he colors/plays while we school.
Sonlight Read Alouds labeled and on the shelf
Preschool Choices Part III
Bible
- 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible
- The Beginner’s Bible (the original out of print version, read 2 stories each night)
- Memory verses from Sonlight
- Character lessons (really discussions) using different online resources, based on Sonlight memory verses; I am also incorporating our We Choose Virtues cards.
Reading/Language Arts and Readiness Skills
- All About Reading
- Developing the Early Learner Books 1-4
Math
- Singapore Math early bird
- Saxon Math K (we will go at whatever pace she needs, doing a lesson or two a day) *edit* we are probably going to save this for 2015/2016 school year)
Read Alouds
- A Treasury of Mother Goose
- The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book
- Uncle Wiggily’s Story Book
- Usborne Stories from Around the World
- The Children’s Book of Virtues
- Eric Carle’s Animals Animals
- A Child’s Book of Art
- American Tall Tales audio CD
- The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit
- The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook
- The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit
Science
- The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature (Dover Children’s Science Books)
- Ox-Cart Man
- What’s Under the Sea
- Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?
- How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World
- What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?
- Why Do Tigers Have Stripes? (Usborne Starting Point Science)
- How Do You Lift a Lion?
World Cultures/History and Geography
- Things People Do
- Stories From Africa
- People
- Then and Now
- New Toes for Tia
- Miss Rumphius
In addition to each of these books, we will expand on topics as the kids are interested. We just began a new science book, “What’s Under the Sea,” and they LOVE it. So we have been watching some youtube clips of octopi, coral reefs, whales/dolphins, and sunken ships. We go at our own pace. =)
I know, it looks like a lot for a barely 4 year old and a 2 year old. Keep in mind this is spanned out over 36+ weeks. And I am under no illusion that we will complete every single thing, or that what we do complete will be on “schedule.” This is they first year I am not piecing a bunch of different things together, printing everything, and that I won’t be making our schedule myself *yay*
Our days are filled with lots of fun- playing outside, dancing, music, playing pretend, singing songs, building forts, etc. We are just adding more great books, and conversations to our days! Fun!
Our learning routine looks like this:
- 4yo, 2yo, and I snuggle into the big chair to read SL books together
- memory verse
- AAR, sight word ring (10-30 mins)
- Developing Early Learner pages (she loves these)
- Handwriting Without Tears pages (this program has built her confidence drastically in writing and coloring!)
- Math pages, math concepts with manipulatives
I alternate the days we do math and HWT, so Lexie isn’t sitting for long periods of time.
Even if you don’t choose to go with Sonlight, keep in mind they are known for their great book lists- and you can get most of them on Amazon or in used book stores.
See my other Sonlight posts here:
- Box Day (p4/5 2014)
- Beginning Sonlight Part I
- What I think so far
- Sonlight Part II-Homeschool Organization
