Preschool at Home

We're a young homeschooling family. All that means right now is that we have kiddos that are under school age and we're planning to homeschool. But since Boo is nearly three and some of his buds are headed to preschool in the fall, I've been doing some preschooling at home. We call it learning time and he loves it. And it's a great way to ease us all into homeschooling.

With suggestions from teacher-friends and great resources I've found online, I've developed a very loose curriculum based on the alphabet. Each week or so we do a different letter. The activities and lessons for that week {or two weeks - let's be real, sometimes life gets too busy to keep up with it all each week} revolve around the letter. I made a learning board from a dry erase board and scrapbook accessories to keep track of what we're learning each week.

It's divided it into several categories: craft & activities, spanish words, cooking, and bible verse.

Crafts & Activities

We love crafts and always do a letter of the week craft. This blog has great ideas for those. Every week we work on tracing and writing that week's letter using print-outs from here or here. We often read a bible story about a person in the bible whose name starts with our letter. After reading the story, I have my toddler do a craft or color a picture of it.

Spanish Words

Throughout the week, we practice our Spanish vocabulary words that start with our letter of the week. We have a children's Spanish picture dictionary that we often look through and practice our words.

Cooking

We love to cook around here so it's only suiting that we spend some of our learning time in the kitchen. Some of our favorites so far have been making fruit skewers, mixing vinegar and baking soda to make bubbles, learning about Jesus feeding the multitudes by making our own version of fish {tuna salad} and loaves {toast}, and making fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Bible Verse

Each week Boo has a new bible verse to memorize. The first word of the verse starts with our letter of the week. I've used a song on a Psalty CD called The Bible Alphabet Song for our verses. They are short and easy to memorize.

Other Ideas

We also do computer time during the week where he can work on his letters using modules like those found on Starfall.com. He loves navigating through each letter and doing the educational games at the end.

Here are some other great resources I've found online:

NoTimeForFlashcards

ABC and 123

Occasionally, I'll share some of our lessons here. So stay tuned for more preschool at home ideas.

The Best Banana Nut Waffles

Not a very original name, but they really are the best. I love these waffles. My family loves these waffles. And our neighbors are jealous of the banana-nutty aroma wafting from the kitchen window when I make these waffles. Or so I like to think.

Meet my lovely assistant, Chubby Grubs.

If I utter the word "waffles", he immediately attaches himself to my side and refuses to let my hands touch a measuring spoon or whisk. He considers it his duty to measure and stir. A duty he knows is well worth what it pays: a stack of yummy waffles.

Anyways, on to the recipe. First, in a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, and 1 tablespoon of baking powder.

Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.

Stir with a whisk to combine dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, or in my case a large pyrex measuring cup, pour 1 1/2 cups milk. Add 1/2 cup of plain yogurt.

To the milk and yogurt, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla, a stick of melted butter and 3 egg yolks {reserve the whites}.

In a separate bowl, beat the reserved egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined.

Fold in the beaten egg whites. {Pardon the weird lighting.}

Peel and mash 3 medium bananas.

Add the bananas to the batter.

Get your resident apprentice to put those chubby hands to good use grinding pecans. Chop 1/2 cup of pecans.

Add them into the batter.

Gently stir the bananas and nuts into the batter to combine. Or sit back and watch your toddler do all the work for you.

Preheat your waffle iron. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into each reservoir.

Cook waffles for 5-6 minutes or until steam stops rising from the iron.

This recipe yields about 18 waffles. That's a lot! And even though ChubGrub downed 3 within minutes, we still had plenty leftover.

If you want to serve them all at once, keep them warm on a baking pan in a 200 degree oven. But good luck fighting off hungry kitchen loiterers as each batch comes off the iron.

If you can't polish off 18 waffles in one morning, let them cool and then keep them in a gallon ziploc bag in your freezer.

To reheat, just pop them in the toaster. Egg-O can't compare.

Here's the recipe written out in a friendlier version if you'd like to try it.

Banana Nut Waffles

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Combine dry ingredients.

1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 stick butter, melted
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine wet ingredients.

3 egg whites, beaten
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Stir together dry and wet ingredients. Fold in beaten egg whites. Gently stir in bananas and pecans. Cook in preheated waffle iron for 5-6 minutes or until done.

Jesse Tree: Jonah Ornament and Other Ideas

Oh, I love how this one turned out! Here is the Jesse Tree ornament for our Jonah devotional during Advent. I used a pattern from this Softies book: I just scaled it down to ornament size and omitted the little bird from the top of the whale. Cute, huh? And the cost, less than $1.50, makes it even cuter somehow.

Hey, I'm making a pretty good dent in these ornaments. Hopefully I'll get them all finished before December rolls around. We'll see.

My friend Becca had some great suggestions for other ways to create a Jesse Tree. She thought of buying a bunch of picture frame ornaments and putting a picture of each symbol in them. This would make quick work of assembling a set and the tree would have a very uniform look to it.

Another of her ideas is to use a tree branch instead of a large Christmas tree. You could hang gift tags with the symbol drawn on them instead of ornaments. She also suggested using this wire card holder as the "tree". These are great ideas if you don't have the space for a Christmas Tree. Thanks for sharing, Becca!f

From the Tree to the Table

Hooray! The cherry tree my dad planted in our yard not only survived this time, it thrived. We had to put a net around it to keep the pesky birds away. Not the prettiest thing ever, but it worked.

Last weekend we harvested our first cherries and besides eating handfuls of them straight away, we saved enough to bake a pie. It was fun to pick them together. Boo was giddy with excitement and not only helped pick them, he pitted all of them with our new cherry pitter.

We made a delicious cherry crumble pie from a recipe I found in the Farm Chicks cookbook.

The pitted cherries.

I recommend their cookbook, it's adorable, full of wonderful recipes and tips, and has the cutest craft and gift ideas. I love it!

And we loved this pie.

Deee-lish.

Dreaming of Dishes

Oh, there is this store.This store, Peppercorn. And I'm in love with it.

This part is like a library, but better. Any and every cookbook you could imagine.

Forget that we went up to Boulder to spend the morning at Colorado's largest farmer's market. Nope, it's these dishes that I came to see.

And these.This gorgeous urn would make Kool-aid seem fancy.

These little farm-inspired beauties were begging to come home with me.

I brought home their picture instead.

But I didn't come away totally empty-handed. My husband got me this to celebrate the first fruit from our cherry tree. Pretty snazzy. And the best part, it's easy to use so my toddler can do it. Only problem with employing your toddler to pit your cherries is that you'll end up with half the cherries you started with. He's big on "quality control".

I just love kitchen stores and Peppercorn is my all-time favorite.

Price My Space: Dining Room

The Nester is having a Price My Space party and I'm linking up with the price tag on my budget-friendly dining room. There are still some things I want to do with the space as far as decorating goes, but it's come a long way since we bought it and without breaking the bank.

First, this is what it looked like when we closed on the home {it still had the previous home owner's stuff in it}.


Here's what it looks like now...

Quite a difference! And since this was our first home and we were on a budget, I had to decorate it without spending a lot of money. So here's the breakdown:

1. Large Mirror: $50. We remodeled our downstairs bathroom and replaced the outdated vanity with a pedestal sink and framed mirror. I saved the standard builder-installed mirror that was previously attached to the wall. I wanted to get it custom framed but it was going to cost a fortune. Instead, I opted for one of Hobby Lobby's pre-made open back frames. I waited until they went 50% off and bought the largest one that matched our dining room. It was only $35. Since the mirror was a little too big for the frame, I went to a nearby glass shop to have it cut to size. The guys there told me that they couldn't remove the adhesive left on the back of the mirror without ruining it. Instead, they grabbed some leftover mirror in the back of their shop and cut it to my specifications. They typically charge $10 per cut so it would have been $20. The guy tried to give it to me for free but they had been so nice and generous that I insisted I pay for it. So he charged $10 to my card. And then I took the mirror and frame to Hobby Lobby to have it backed and hanging hardware put on for only $5.


2. Antique Dresser/Buffet: FREE! Well, I say free but really I did buy stripping gel, stain and varnish. Not to mention the hours of work my mother-in-law {Thanks, Jan!} and I spent stripping the layers of old turquoise paint off of it. I found this beautiful piece on Craig's List. I saw a posting for an Estate Sale's leftovers in the free section. I noticed there were tools and thought maybe I could find a few things for my husband. When I arrived, I saw this gorgeous dresser in the basement. I couldn't believe it was there. Apparently, the guy in charge had sold it the day before for $150 but they couldn't get it up the narrow concrete stairs of the basement. The house was REALLY old and they were going to level it and build a new house in its place. I couldn't bear the thought of this dresser being bulldozed with the house. But there I was with a one year old on my hip and without tools or extra hands to solve my dilemma. An antique-hunter was there and she ran out to her car and grabbed a screwdriver for me. I took the top off quickly, trying to make sure my toddling child didn't touch anything sharp and rusty. There were two guys there that were gathering scrap metal for money and they generously stopped their collecting to try to maneuver the dresser out of the basement. And it worked! Several people helped carry the dresser, drawers, and top to my car while I carried my baby. I was so excited about the incredible find but more than that, I was amazed at the kindness of strangers.

3. Chairs: $65 each. I found these on sale at Steinmart. They were originally twice as much. The only catch was I had to drive to every Steinmart within 60 miles to make a complete set. It was worth it!

4. Dining Table: $180. Our dining room was empty {besides the chairs} for months before I found this table. I knew we couldn't afford anything brand new but I desperately wanted a table for our dining room. I mean, you can't dine in the room if there isn't a table, right? Plus it's one of the first things you see when you walk in our front door. This great find popped up on Craig's List and we jumped on it. It comes with another leaf {not shown} and is perfect for us. I loved the price and was glad to find something that was in good shape but not brand new. Slightly used furniture puts this momma at ease with little boys running all over the house. I don't have to worry about a super-expensive fancy table getting scratched - this one already had a few scratches.

5. Chandelier: -$25. That's right, I made $25 on this update. I still can't believe it. I listed the awful 1970's thing that was hanging there on Craig's List thinking nobody would even look at it. Well, two days later a guy emailed and said that if I saved it for him {like people were banging down my door for it}, then he'd pay me $50. "Well, I suppose I can save it until tonight," I replied. I did the happy dance all the way to Sam's Club where I found my new chandelier on sale for $25.

6. Window Treatment: $70. I found the curtain rod on sale for $13. I sewed the panels using leftover red fabric from chairs I reupholstered for the top, clearance trim for the detail, and bought the chocolate fabric on sale. Only $70 total for both panels.

I'm happy with the way it looks but do think it needs a little color. It's a bit dark. Any suggestions?

Also, I'm at a total loss for what to put on either side of the mirror. That wall is very high - it goes up to the vaulted ceiling. I'd love some ideas!


Check out other bloggers' spaces at Nester's party.

Jesse Tree: Lamb Ornament

I just finished the lamb ornament for our Jesse Tree. The lamb {or ram} is the symbol for our devotional during Advent about God calling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and then providing a ram instead.

My mother-in-law and I were at Crate & Barrel after Christmas this year and found this little guy on sale for like $1.

I snatched him up and brought him home with plans to transform him from a shabby gray sheep into a nice white lamb {ram} for our Jesse Tree. Even though I didn't start from scratch, you easily could if you want to make something like this.

The following is what you would need:
One small sheet of white felt
White yarn
Small wooden knob
Black and white paint
One small dowel rod
Hot glue
Fishing line

Here's how I transformed this little guy. First, I tore him apart and gave his old gray fur a toss.

I cut out two circles of white {or in my case, off-white because I already had some} felt and hot glued them together.

His legs are 2 1/2 inch lengths of dowel rod painted black. I glued those onto the felt circle. Ignore the remnants of gray yarn and dried hot glue from his previous life.

I'm thinking for the head, you could use a small piece of wood or even a small wooden knob. Paint it black and make two white dots for the eyes. Cut two small ovals out of black felt and hot glue them to either side of the head for ears. Glue the head to the center of the felt circle on the same side as the legs. I obviously just put his old head back on.

For the fur, hot glue thick white yarn to the felt circle. Start near the head and coil the yarn around as you glue it until it covers the entire circle. Do the same for the back side.

I had some white yarn already that I wanted to use but it was a bit thin to just glue on as is. Instead, I knit a cord of it for either side, making it thicker and fluffier.

To hang, thread a strand of fishing line through the top of the ornament with a needle and tie ends together.

That's it. Little time, little money. That's my kind of project!

I have a couple more of these ornaments in the "nearly-done" phase and I'll post them here soon.