Field Trip Scrapbooking

We're going through a homeschool metamorphosis this year. At some point I realized that we were spending a lot of time and energy just trying to get through the material without losing it and experiencing very little enjoyment and excitement over new information and acquired skills. Next year we'll be shifting what we do and how we do it and possibly switching over to year-round school (gasp). One of my goals/hopes is to get more joy out of learning for all of us. I've already made some attempts to shift the scales with some project focused learning.




One of our new undertakings is scrapbooking our field trips. We usually come home with great pictures, brochures, free kid stuff, stickers, etc. What better way to put everything together than in a scrapbook. Thanks to Grandma, the boys already had scrapbooks ready to house their work.

Distracting the Distraction & Toddler Fine Motor Sticker Practice

I may have already mentioned this, but this has been a tough school year for the Loverbees. Mateo's work load has significantly increased and we got off to a rocky start with two trips and two horrible rounds of sickness right off the bat. All that to say, we really didn't get into a groove until right before Christmas break.




Another factor in our homeschooling saga (okay, "saga" may be a tad dramatic) this year is a little miss pretty pants who loves to distract us while we're trying to work. She's a total people person, so there aren't many things she can do on her own that will keep her attention. But that girl looooooooves her some stickers.

Advent Drawing Journal

This year the boys and I are drawing our way through Advent. My guys LOVE to draw and I wanted to really engage them as we prepare our hearts for Christmas as a family. So, I put together a simple printable book to take us through each day.

This year we're drawing our way through Advent with this homemade Advent Drawing Journal.

Each page has a line for the scripture for the day, a box for drawing, and a few lines for jotting down any reflections we'll talk about together.

There are a few different lists of scriptures you could use for this project. I opted for my Anglican family prayer book's list:

Week 1 of Advent
Mark 13:33-37
Isaiah 2:1-5
Luke 10:21-24
Isaiah 25:6-9
Matthew 7:24-29
Psalm 27:1-6
Psalm 147:1-12

Week 2 of Advent
Isaiah 11:6-9
Isaiah 35:5-10
Matthew 18:12-14
Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 11:7-10
Psalm 1
Psalm 80:1-3

Week 3 of Advent
Philippians 4:4-7
Psalm 25:1-8
Matthew 21:28-31a
Isaiah 45:5-8
Psalm 30
Isaiah 56:1
Luke 1:46-55

You could also use the traditional Catholic list of verses. If you want a more nativity focused story, you can use the list from John Piper's "Desiring God" website. I've left the top line of the journal page blank so you can insert the scripture readings of your preference.

Each day I'll read out the scripture reading for that day from a kid friendly version of the Bible, like the New Living Translation (you can use any translation you like). Then, we'll talk about what was read, what it might mean, what it has to do with Christmas, our thoughts and feelings, etc. After that, the boys will get a chance to draw and color anything they like having to do with the reading and our discussion. Finally, they'll write a couple of sentences about what they want to remember about that day's selection.

You can staple the book together or use a hole punch and weave in a pretty ribbon. Also, you may want to print the cover on cardstock. Here are my templates for printing:

Happy preparations y'all!

Back to School: Prepping Our New Homeschool Space

This homeschooling mama is gearing up for the new school year. It starts NEXT WEEK! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'm only slightly panicking and lamenting and wondering where my summer has gone.

Most moms are rejoicing right now as their kids are starting school. I love those pics of mom's jumping for joy or lounging in a pool while their children, all dressed and ready for school, watch on. Ha! So great. Homeschool mamas enjoy that experience at the end of the school year when summer starts. We all get to take turns celebrating.

Okay, back to gearing up. I've been working on revamping and reorganizing our school area. Nora got her own room this past year and we moved the boys into the nice big room we were using for school. We spent the end of the last school year utilizing half of the dining room for school work and storage. Not a pretty sight.

We've got the benefit of sweet morning sunlight flooding our new homeschool space.

Fortunately, we just got rid of an old couch that was on its last leg. That cleared up a whole bunch of space in our spacious living room. I divided the room in two and moved in a work table and a couple of bookcases to house our school supplies. Now my dining room is free to be pretty again. That is very happy for me. 😂



A new space is exciting and encouraging for me and the boys as we jump into a new school year. When I was little new clothes, new school supplies, and a brand new backpack and lunch box helped launch me into a new school year with excitement and a better attitude than I would have had otherwise. Since we homeschool we don't really need a lot of that same equipment that worked so well to motivate me, so I'm getting creative.



Along with our new work space, some new supplies gorgeously displayed and a slew of exciting school snacks on my docket are just the right touches to boost our morale as we get back to formal learning.

An easy back to school snack mix made up of our favorite snacks.

To kick things off I put together a quick snack mix full of the boys' favorite store-bought snackies. I filled a big jar with cheese crackers, BBQ kettle chips, pretzels, and cheese puffs. Having something like this on hand makes my life so much easier. We can grab a handful without losing too much traction when we're right in the middle of something.

I've also been trying to anticipate the Nora factor. I'm using the bottom shelves of our new school storage area for wood puzzles and baskets of toys that will, hopefully, distract our little princess from distracting us during school time. I'll let y'all know how that goes. I'm not super hopeful, but I gotta try. Wish us luck.

Stay tuned for one of my favorite new school-time snack recipes.

Wrapping Up School

I am so excited! School is almost over. I think I'm more excited than the boys are. I have so many plans and visions about what I'll do with my time off over the summer - baking, organizing, art with the boys, more baking, exploring, blogging, even more baking - copious amounts of BAKING!!!

The boys have been busy finishing up math and working on their final projects. They were tasked to research an animal of their choice and make a diorama of the animal's habitat. Ezra chose to do his project on black widows. Teo chose tigers.

The boys working on their animal reports.

We checked out some books from the library and the boys took notes while I read to them. Teo read some of his own books. 💖 Then we worked on their dioramas and their reports.



I think the boys had the most fun creating their animals. Mateo, of course, wanted no help. He created his tiger all on his own by rolling up orange paper that he had decorated with stripes. He used scotch tape to tape the parts together to form his tiger.



Ezra let me make suggestions for him and we worked together to glue some puff balls for the body and twisty ties for the legs onto a small round paper base to form his spider. Then he painted the whole thing black.



He also had a blast making a messy web with the glue gun. "Because black widows spin messy webs," he said. This was his first time using that coveted tool. It really made his day.



Mateo made grass and trees to add to his tiger habitat.

Ezra also made a bee trapped in the web for his black widow to dine on. He originally wanted to catch a real insect to put in there. I convinced him otherwise.

For the boys, these projects represent their own creativity, ideas, knowledge, and preferences. They are very proud of themselves and pleased with their projects - as they should be. For me, these projects represent the culmination of a year of hard work (on their part and mine), the amazing independent ideas of two sweet little boys come to life in recycled boxes, and the start of a much needed break from scheduled learning. 

We'll still learn over the course of the summer as we create together, bake together, explore together. It's just a different kind of learning - a restful and free-er kind of learning that happens on the fly - while we're exploring a new hiking trail, trying out a new recipe together to surprise Daddy for his birthday, stopping in at our local library to get books on camping or whatever topic is on the boys' minds that week, discussing what we know about rain forests over Sunday brunch at our favorite local restaurant. You know, on the fly. 😉