Super Powers!

So it's been hot out (which you already know if you've read that last post)!   And when you're cooped up inside you've got to get creative.    Hayden is way into super heroes and super powers.   And he's been showing a lot of interest in wanting to learn to read. (Proud Momma moment:  He can read 16 sight words on his own).

So what's a Mom to do when you're cooped up inside:  employ the super powers and turn it into a reading lesson!    See steps below for a super reading adventure.

1.  Don appropriate super hero attire.

2.  Show super hero how to spell words of various things around the house (i.e. wall, shower, oven, etc.)

3.  Send hero off into the house to place cards with words on said item.

4.  Smile proudly at your super hero!

Attempting to Beat the Heat.

My kids don't care that horses pee here!

We have had record breaking heat here in Southern California this week.   So if I didn't get the kids outside as early as possible we were trapped inside the house.   And those of you who have small children (or teach) know that kids being trapped inside can sometimes be a recipe for disaster.

Snack on the "big flat rocks"

Hayden has been asking to go for a hike so Tuesday morning I found a local hike and off we went as early as I could rally the troops.   It was hot at 8:00 in the morning when we arrived but we were loaded up with water and Rehydrate and didn't let that stop us from having an adventure.   Our original destination was an old 1900's water tower off a horse trail in Norco.    It looked like an easy hike with a cool destination, but also lots to see along the way  in case we never got to the end point.

Our new friend Cheryl!

Which we never did......

The trail is a horse trail that backs up to several horse properties in Norco and a local nursery.   We spent about an hour wandering about and observing all the animals in the backyards.   As we do, we also made a couple of friends.   Even though we never saw the water tower, we had a great time and both kids got to do a little impromptu horseback riding offered up by some super kind ladies who had a heart for children.   They were both in heaven!

Alice's first time on a horse.

The highlight for Mommy was Cheryl.   We had chatted with her on our way past her property and a bit later she was out riding her horse.   We were enjoying our snack on some large rocks and getting ready to head back to the car.  She had been worried about us out in the heat and came out on her horse to see if we needed any help.   My kids were over the moon to get the chance to ride back to our car on a horse.  It was such a blessing to have a total stranger care enough about us to take a moment out of her day and check on us.   

Once we made it home we took our hot sweaty selves out back to splash in the pool.   As Hayden has also been requesting glitter (Side note:  This Mommy hates glitter), I decided this was a good time to bust it out.   So we glittered, painted,  and splashed in the pool until we just couldn't take the heat any more.

Mom, I love Homeschool!

Today we embarked upon our journey into homeschooling.   I've been talking about it for the whole summer and as school was starting up all around me I decided it was time to put myself into action.   I've embraced this as a journey but the journey can only begin once I've started.

So today we officially began homeschooling and I am so glad that we did.   It didn't go according to my plan, but life rarely does.   A sick cat, and two trips to the vet kept it interesting, but made proceeded and were flexible.   After about an hour my 4 year old announced that he loved home school which made my heart sing because he has commented a bit over the last couple of months that he misses his old school (translation he misses his friends).   My commitment level went up to push through the tough days that will come and to celebrate the gains that will come and embrace the journey that God has let me on.

What did we get up to today, you ask?   Lots!    We started our school day with the obligatory first day of school photos.    It's pretty awesome when you can get the teacher and the whole class in a selfie!

My favorite learners!

The home school team!

We did the whole first day's lesson today minus the art activity I had selected.   While I would have loved to see my kids' depictions of their portraits, I was not going to push it.   Hayden is not a fan of fine motor writing activities and had already worked hard on writing his name and coloring some shapes with a proper pencil grasp.   His former preschool teacher would have been equally proud as Mommy!     Our activities included the Bible, Math, Language, God's world, Life Skills, PE, and a Memory verse.

Don't tell anyone, but Hayden had that verse memorized before Mommy!  Kids are so smart.   It was a highlight of my day having him proudly announce to his Daddy that he knew God's word and then quote the verse perfectly.   John 15:12 will forever hold a special meaning in my heart.

Here are a few pictures of our first day of learning together.   Hayden and I are having lots of fun taking pictures, and teaching him how to use the camera to capture these memories.   I want to take lots of pictures, but I also want to savor each and every moment of this precious gift I've been given to be home, so bear with me as the quantity of photos fluctuates.

Hayden's photo of his creation after studying God's creation of the world.  It's a Lego spaceship.

Mommy's smile was as big as his.  So proud of this boy.

 After reading God's story of creation, we squished into our coat closet and talked about how the world started as darkness and nothing and then God created light.   Hayden rushed out of the closet to get this shirt that glows in the dark so that he could create light in the darkness too. 

Alice created too.  A crab was her favorite creation today!

Hard at work! (Math/Reading)

Check out those "crabby claws."

If you know Hayden in the least, sitting down and working is not an area of strength.   He sat for nearly 20 minutes working on coloring these shapes.   We talked about the color words to help him color them correctly and focused on working on his pencil grasp.  He still prefers to palm writing utensils.   My dear friend Erika (an OT) recommended using broken crayons to help teach this and it's done wonders for Hayden's confidence in this area.

Stay tuned for more fun to come!    This homeschooling Momma is going to settle in for the night and share more details of our adventures with hubby!    Looking forward to more learning tomorrow.

Twas the Night Before the First Day of Home School.........

Tomorrow begins our adventure as a homeschooling family!   For the most part I'm extremely excited about this new adventure and extremely thankful and blessed that God has provided a way for us to even think about embarking upon it.   But I'm also a bit nervous about the whole idea.

My own children, at 4 and 1 have had opportunities to learn throughout their whole lives.   Hubby and I did what we could in the few short hours in the evenings and weekends we had with our kids.  I was lucky to be a teacher and to get a bit more time to pour into my children.  But the reality was that most of the waking hours our children had were with other people.   They are great people and loved our children and poured into them with all they had.   But they weren't us.

As we took advantage of the most amazing opportunity, and put into place a plan to bring me home full time with the kids, we started to be bombarded with articles and stories of our friends homeschooling.    And as, for the first time in our lives, we began to dream about what life would look like if we lived it on our terms we began to realize that we wanted our children to be able to spend more equal amounts of time both here in the US and in hubby's homeland of New Zealand.   And homeschooling began to make more and more sense for our journey through this world.  And then it became part of our plan for our family's future.

The what to teach is the easiest part of it all!   I taught elementary school for 7 years in both general and special education and worked as a teacher's aide and an ABA therapist across many ages for years before that.    I understand how to teach skills and break them down and reinforcement and all the technical parts of teaching.     I understand how to motivate kids and push them to be the best learners they can be (even if it doesn't always produce the outcome I think it will).    But to date, it has always been other people's children that I have had the pleasure of teaching.  And it's been other people who have been the one's pouring into my kids.

This summer as I was beginning to think about what our fall would look like, and savoring finally getting the opportunity to be the one to pour into our children all day long, I began to think about my own kids as learners and quickly realized that I was going to need to get to know them in this role if we were going to be successful at homeschooling.    Since Hayden is still of preschool age and Alice is still quite little, I started searching for preschool opportunities.   

A friend recommended the Bright Beginnings preschool curriculum.    It provides learning opportunities for all major areas, including the Bible, and is super flexible with how you can use it.    I read a bazillion reviews and the only negative one I came across was that it was two books instead of 1.    So I decided to give it a go.  I love the idea of having the "what" to teach all laid out and being able to adjust it to meet the needs of my kids.   My focus this year is to really learn my kids as learners and get to know them in a way that makes me an effective teacher for them.

So wish me luck as I lead my family into this new adventure.   The curriculum for tomorrow is pulled out, the kids are asleep and I'm signing off to hit the hay myself.    Stand by by and keep reading for stories along this journey!   And if you have some tips and suggestions I'm all ears/eyes.   I'm going to be learning as much as my kids on this path and wouldn't have it any other way!

Pillow Play

Pillow Islands

What an awesome day today has been!   I can't believe how blessed I am to be home all day with the kid and get to be the pouring into them.    After a couple of very busy weeks, I decided that it was time for a little downtime around the Butcher household.   So we closed our doors to visitors and play dates and just enjoyed being together.  

Avoid the lava.

After a fun morning at the park where we made some new friends in the neighborhood (downside to extrovert mother of two extroverted children), we came home had some lunch and I set about making our play room into Pillow Island (The Preschooler's Busy Book)  H and I had a great time avoiding lava while trying to jump between pillows.    It was so much fun!

Pillow Piles

And then I sat back and watched a little bit more and that's when the real fun started for Mommy!   My nearly 4 year old little man ran into some problems when he noticed pillows were too far a part.  This lead to lessons in problem solving.  Then he got tired of avoiding the lava and started using the pillows in whole new ways, leading us into a whole afternoon of adventures.

Breaking Free!

Our 15-20 minute activity developed into a couple of hours of pillow fun.   There were forts built that had to be destroyed.  Mommy and H took turns being hidden by pillows only to explode out of them and surprise one another.   Pillows were linked together to form a bigger pillow island.    There was more jumping and laughing and being silly.  And because we were being so active and having so much fun, our pillows were also able to serve as a "hospital" after H bumped his head on the floor.    It was a pretty spectacular leap that landed him there.  A. eventually joined in on the fun and some wrestling with her brother ensued.  

A's in on the fun!

When it was time to change the pace up again, we made homemade popcorn (including a little popcorn dancing when it began popping) and settled back into the pillows for a snack together.  This was the highlight of my afternoon.  A was curled up in my lap, H sitting across from me and we are just chatting.    We played high/low  (state your high point of the day and your low)!   My heart soared when H announced that that moment was a high for him.   And nothing else mattered in that moment except the joy on my children's faces as they shoveled popcorn in their mouths and celebrated the fun we were having.

Pillow Hospital

After all that playing we found one more good use for every pillow in our house; comfy cuddle area for a movie!   So we spent the next hour or so in various stages of cuddling on the living room floor watching The Lego Movie!   It was the perfect ending to a much needed low key afternoon.   There will definitely be more days like this where all of my attention is on my little ones and taking our ordinary every day moments and making them extraordinary for my children.   

Movie Time