Review: Toad Hats

We bought the kids a wii for Christmas and with it came Super Mario Brothers Wii. One of their favorite character from the game is Toad. I'm not sure why, seeing I've always pretty much like Mario.  It's funny how you think certain characters play "better" when in reality they all have the same functions. Or at least with this Mario game and the Mario game I grew up with.

So I had Toad Hats made by For The Love Of Scarves. We got them today! Don't the kids look great in them?

Superstar and Web-princess in their toad hats.
See how much taller SS is then WP?

I've bought other things from the For The Love Of Scarves. Like the hats I gave to my nieces for Christmas.
 

I swear the kids since getting the hats this afternoon have not taken them off! Well they did take them off for lunch, because we went out to eat and they didn't want anyone to steal them. They also took them off for baths. Those have been the only exceptions this afternoon. I'm thinking they may even sleep with them on!

Everything that is made by For The Love of Scarves are custom made. As you can see from her store the toad hat is shown has white and red. I just asked her to change the colors so they were the colors my kids wanted and give her my kids' head measurements!

Not only do I think she does great work, but by buying her products you are helping to supplement the income of a homeschooling family.

Disclosure: I was NOT paid or given anything to share my thoughts about For The Love of Scarves and their products.

Kids: When they stand side by side now I can't believe that they are only 10 months apart seeing SS stands so much taller now. At 10 1/2 years of age he's standing at 5 foot! I only stand at 5'6"-5'7". It won't be long and he'll be taller then me!

Mealworms!

So we've completed chapter 3 of our science book "Behold and See 5".  The lab works at the end of this chapter suggested we catch some animals, feed them, and observe their behavior for a period of time.  Seeing its the dead of winter catching animals isn't the best option right now. The book did suggest if we can't catch any to buy some mealworms or crickets to watch, feed, and observe.

I chose mealworms over the crickets because with the mealworms we can watch metamorphosis take place. The beginning of the chapter dealt with metamorphosis so it seemed to be more fitting. Plus from reading the book taking care of the mealworms seemed like an easier task. Keep them in a jar with some dry oatmeal and with some fruits or vegetables. 

I bought the mealworms at a local pet store just over a week ago. I bought 50 of them for just over $3. Several of them didn't "wake-up" after warming up. The pet store keeps them in the refrigerator and I was told to put them back in the refrigerator so they don't move around. Of course moving around is what I wanted so I didn't follow that advice.

We measure several of them last week when we bought them and the average length was about 1 cm. Now the average length is about 2 cm. We think we have lost about 20 of the 50 we started with, but are hopeful that several will make it adulthood.  I'll have pictures to share in a future post about our mealworms.

Consuming Kids!

If you have just over an hour to spare I suggest you watch the video above!  I watched it and was amazed on some of the things I was hearing and seeing. Then I started to wonder if my kids were "abnormal".

I say that because my kids still use make believe. They'll grab a stick and pretend it's a wand, sword, or whatever it is they want it to be at the time. However, the video gave me the impression that's abnormal compare to "today's kids".  What's your thoughts about the video above?  Is there truth in it? What are you doing in you home to help curb any of the effects advertising had on your children?

Digging, Reading, Baking, History.....

Thankfully Superstar is not sick and even though today is Martin Luther King Day we did school work today. This morning started off rough. Superstar had a bit of an attiude about math. He picked it as is first subject but started to cry over it because it was division. He really loaths division and if he had his way not do any.

I did allow him to pick a different subject to start with so after some science, history, and reading he decided to tackle those division problems. Thankfully the rest of the day for him went well, school was done for him by noon, and he got to enjoy the rest of his afternoon doing other activities.

Seeing I've split the kids up Superstar in the morning and Web-princess in the afternoon, Superstar is free to do other activities in the afternoon. He spent his time digging for dinosaurs bones (a kit he got for Christmas) and making corn bread to go with tonight's dinner.

He did these activities while Web-princess did some reading with the McGuffey reader and online tutor. I've only used the online tutor videos for two days now. I'm not sure if that's the direction I want to go to completely, but so far Web-princess does enjoy it.  We've had the readers for a while now and have been using them. The tutor was something a friend of mine told me about. I've had the link for a while now and just started to use it. Web-princess also read some of her history text book while Superstar was busy being a baker!

Oh and if you use currclick and have any times in your wishlist go check them out. I got an email from currclick today saying that some of my items on my wishlist were on sale. One item on my wish list was $25 dollars but it was mark down to $2. So you know I got that today. I'll have to look it over more closely now that I have it, but I'm thinking I can use it for some American History in the near future.

Recap Of Our Week

Last week I shared how I was going to split the kids up and work with Superstar in the morning and Web-princess in the afternoon. It's only been one week, and Superstar has been sick for 1/2 of it so I haven't been able to really test it out.  Although the days that I was able to follow this new schedule/routine it worked out pretty good. The house was quieter, there was less stress for everyone, and the days seemed to be more productive. Of course it will be only a matter of time before we know for sure.

I'm starting to miss my friends and our co-op. I-HOPE, the co-op,  has been on break since the beginning of December and won't start back up until February.  In the mean time I'm planning to meet up with some of the families before February if my kids are well enough.

Since Christmas we have been battling fevers, runs, vomit, etc.  This week just happens to be Superstar's turn. The only symptoms he has had this week is sore throat and fever. Today is temp is closer to normal, but seeing he had a temp of 101-102 the previous 2 days I decided no school again for him today.

It's been a bummer for him seeing yesterday we FINALLY got snow fall and a good amount of snow too. The kids have been itching all winter for snow! Our first snow fall this winter season and Superstar is to sick to go out and play in it. Web-princess on the other hand has been enjoying the snow. I gave her a snow day yesterday and she spent the nearly the whole day outside in the snow.  I could have done school, but honestly it would have been an battle seeing I know all they have wished for the last month now is for some snow to go play in.  

SAHM ARE LAZY!!

Clearly I do NOT think that! Seeing I AM a SAHM! However there are some moms that do feel that way:

I'm in shock that we have come to the point where working mothers would label stay at home mothers lazy!! I'm not sure why they would label stay at home mothers as lazy.

The Comedy Mass

My kids and hubby made a video while I was out today. I think it's hilarious and I hope you feel the same way.

New Year, New Schedule, New Routines

Or at least that is the plan. I've been reading, my dear friend, Judy Dudich's book: I Surrender and have been participating in the discussion group on facebook.

Recently Judy mention, in the discussion, how she's been reconstructing her schedule and not doing "school" with a few of her children until the evening. This is because her family structure  is such that it's easier for her to give more attention to those children in the evening. With 10 children I'm sure that makes more sense.  In response several other moms mention they did similar things.

I may have only 2, but it gets difficult for me. Often Superstar is waiting for me to help him with one thing because I'm helping Web-Princess.  Web-Princess has to wait for me because I'm helping Superstar.  They get annoyed with each other and impatient. I'm jumping back and forth like a pinball and often feel bad because we get the bare minimum done. That's good, but I would like more. If only I could just focus on ONE.

Out of the two Web-Princess is the child that needs my help more because she's a struggling reader. I don't just want to focus on her I want to be there for Superstar. Jumping back and forth just isn't working. Some subjects go every fast others take longer. There is no way to really plan it well.

Judy's post, in the facebook group, was I light bulb moment for me! Why don't I just restructure our day and focus on just ONE child at the time.  I'm not a very good morning person. It's a bit of a struggle for me to get into the grove of things. Superstar like to start first thing in the day and seeing he often doesn't need my help as much I figure I would focus on him in the morning. I can still get other things done, but be available for him when he needs it. So I could not only be there for him but get some housework done.

Then after lunch it will be Web-princess time to start school. By lunch Superstar should be done if not soonner and I'll have the rest of the afternoon to work with Web-princess. I choose to put her in the afternoon because she does require a lot more of my help and in the afternoon we'll have more time.  Seeing it will be easier to work up to dinner if needed or pick it back up right after dinner and finish it up.

I don't foresee us going that late all the time but the possibility is there so I thought it was best to put her in the afternoon. The other bonus of putting her in the afternoon is that if Superstar gets done before lunch, whihc I see happening several days, I can start her early

I'm going to start this new schedule tomorrow and see how it goes!

We have some ovaries on our kitchen counter.

We've been working with our science material: Behold and See Science 5. The current topic we are working with is the anatomy of a flower.  Our book describes the ovary as the part of the flower that will become fruit.

So my kids, thinking that it's funny, has decided to use the word when asking for the apples, oranges, or whatever other fruit we've had on hand this week.  Mama can I have a red ovary? (apple).  Mama can I have a orange ovary? (orange).   We have NOT discussed human reproductive anatomy yet, so they have NO idea that this is a name of a female reproductive part. They just think it's a funny sounding word and are proud that they have understood the lessons.

They even said it public at the store today. Mama can we buy more red ovaries?  I love that my kids are learning and absorbing the materials. It's good that they can look at the fruit and understand that when it was a flower that was the ovary and the seeds inside were the ovules.

However, given the word you can imagine why my face turned flushed at the store while doing a quick look around to see who heard and if they were given me some crazy looks.