Our JANUARY HOMESCHOOL Plans

Now that the holidays are over, we're getting back to normal life and normal homeschool again. While the holidays are fun, it's nice to relax back into a regular routine. 

Our homeschool routine includes reading, art lessons for Ashtyn, learning letters for Parker, and doing journals. In addition, I like to do a special activity with them each day. Here are the activities I'm planning to do in January. 

Monday, January 4 

Make Snowman Names. This is a craft I had planned earlier and never got to. you simply make a snowman out of paper and each part of his body has a letter of their name. I think this is a great activity with Parker and Rylee learning their letters right now. 

Tuesday, January 5

Fizzing Ice Experiment - This is a baking soda experiment, but with ice. My kids love all things fizzing baking soda, so I think they'll love this one. 

Wednesday, January 6

Play board games - We have quite a few games that the kids love to play that help them with skills like counting, small motor movements, and hand/eye coordination. 

Thursday, January 7

Painting Day - The girls got some different painting activities for Christmas and they are really excited to do them. 

Monday, January 11

Snow Globe Letter Find - I found these cute little worksheets on Pinterest, where they can color the snow globes and find the letters there. Again, letter recognition activities are great for Parker especially right now. 

Tuesday, January 12

Snow Storm in a Jar Science Activity - This is a really fun and simple science experiment that demonstrates how oil and water don't mix, while looking like a snowstorm in a jar! 

Wednesday, January 13

Animal Movement Activity - I'll have cards with different animals or bugs written on them. The kids take turns pulling cards and then act like that animal or bug. 

Thursday, January 14

Playdoh - The kids love playing with playdoh, but it does make quite the mess, so we don't get it out as much as they would like. I'd like to start planning days when we can get it out, so we at least do it that often. 

Monday, January 18

Winter Dot Painting Pages - My kids love dot painting, so I like to find them different pictures like this for different holidays. 

Tuesday, January 19

Build a Snowman from Marshmallows - This is a STEM activity, where they use marshmallows and toothpicks to make as snowman. As a bonus, they can eat the marshmallows when they're done! 

Wednesday, January 20

Letter Hunt - I'm going to hide different letters for the kids to find, as a sort of scavenger hunt. 

Thursday, January 21

A One-Paper Book - We know how to make little books out of one piece of paper. Today, we're going to make some together and then the girls can color their books. 

Monday, January 25

Design Your Snow Globe - This is another worksheet I found on Pinterest that looks fun. Ashtyn especially likes activities like this. 

Tuesday, January 26

Maple Syrup Snow Candy - This is a really fun, historical activity. You boil maple syrup and butter until it's at a soft ball stage, then place it into snow outside. We also have a picture book of when Laura and Mary had maple syrup candy from the Little House books, which we can read with the activity. 

Wednesday, January 27

Playdoh with letters - We're going to get out the playdoh again, and as a twist, I thought I'd get out our magnetic letters for them to spell things in the playdoh with. 

Thursday, January 28

Lines of tape on the floor - This is a simple activity where you tape lines of different shapes along the floor for the kids to walk along. We've done similar activities in the past and the kids really liked it. 

So there are our activities! I try activities that are simple (little or no set up) that will teach the kids a variety of different of skills and allow us to spend time together. My main goal with homeschool is to teach my kids to love learning and to help them pursue their passions. I love spending this time with them and I can see the way it is growing our relationship. 

My Testimony of the Savior

 With Christmas fast approaching, my thoughts have turned more and more to the birth, life, and atonement of the Savior. Today, I just wanted to share my testimony of His love and life. 

I know that Jesus Christ lived on this earth, and that He lives still. 

I know that Christ was born to Mary, of the Holy Ghost. I know that He is both the son of man and the literal Son of God. 

I know His life was the perfect example for us. He loved all, even those who it might be hard for us to love. He cared for those who needed it most. In each instance, He chose to do as His Father would have him do. And everything He did, He did out of love for God and love for us. 

I know He has called me to do His work here on earth. I know that He will strengthen me as I face trials and give me the capacity to love and serve as He would have me do. Even when it's not easy, I know He will be there with comfort and peace. 

I know that He suffered and died for me. Because of His sacrifice, I can live again, with God and with my family. I know that He atoned for me. He suffered for my sins and imperfections. Because of Him, I can repent each day, and continually strive to become like Him. His atonement strengthens me during hardships. I know He is always there for me and loves me. 

I know He loves me personally, but I also know He loves each of us here on earth. He will always be there for us. He is the only way to make it back to God and the one who truly understands what we are going through, no matter the circumstance. I am so grateful for all He has done for me and I love that I can celebrate that each year at Christmas. Each year, we get a new chance to show our love and gratitude for Him by being a little better than we were the year before and by truly loving and serving those who are around us. 

Merry Christmas! 

Our CHRISTMAS PRESENTS this Year!

 I love Christmas! I love everything about Christmas, but I especially love Christmas presents. It actually is really easy for me to go overboard, so I have some systems in place to help me not to. Today, I just wanted to share what we do for presents each year and what we've gotten for the kids this year. It's really just a way for me to talk about it, because I love thinking about Christmas morning :) 

We try to not buy too many gifts for the kids. One year when Ashtyn was two, I bought way too many gifts and ended up opening most of them on Christmas morning for her. We ended up with too many toys afterward, and in fact, four years later, we don't have many of those toys still. That year, we decided to try something different, and changed to getting one big gift for each child. We also get a combined gift for all the kids. We budget $50 for each child, though some years, this is less. 

For each other, we also budget $50. Some years, we get something we really want, though some years we just get the cash to spend on whatever we want. This can be really fun. While we're trying to pay off the house really fast, we don't usually budget spending money for ourselves. 

Anything smaller I want to get the kids, Santa brings. We budget $50 for stockings and try to get some nicer things, though I do make a stop at the dollar store for things like puzzles. 

My grandparents also gives us $25 for each child. I pick out the gift from them and then we wait until we're at my grandparents for the kids to open them. 

One other tradition we have is for the kids to make gifts for their siblings. I try to keep these as cheap as possible, though sometimes I need to buy some craft supplies. 

We don't exchange gifts with my in-laws. Instead, in December, we find a family in need and put together a little gift basket and give the money we would have spent on gifts to the family. It is one of my favorite traditions.

We do exchange gifts with my brother and his wife, and I love to find a way to give a gift to my parents and Ben's parents still. Often, I try for more sentimental items, or I'll find a book I think they'd really like. I also love to find a book to gift to the ladies I minister to.

Now onto the presents I'm getting this year!

Ashtyn's main gift is Legos. I'm really excited for this, because I think she will LOVE it. We have big blocks, but this will be the first time we have little Legos. She loves to build and create, so I think they'll be very well used. My mom actually gave us some of her old Legos, so we were able to not budget for Ashtyn's gift this year. 

Parker's gift is Disney Polly Lockets. This is another thing my mom gave us, and I'm so grateful because it's the perfect gift for Parker, but I couldn't find anything even similar online anywhere. I loved them as a child, and I know Parker will be ecstatic. It has a Cinderella castle with it, too, and I can't wait to see her face when she opens it. 

For Rylee this year, we got her a Little Tykes slide. This is something that I honestly never thought I'd buy for our kids, but it's the perfect gift for Rylee. She doesn't really play with toys very well, but she loves to climb and she LOVES the slides at the park. We decided to not wrap it, but to simply set it up on Christmas Eve so she can come down and see it on Christmas morning. 

For their combined gift, I got them some Kelly Barbie dolls. Parker and Ashtyn were asking for Barbies for Christmas, but I was really reluctant to get them. I honestly don't think Ashtyn would play with them very much and Parker is still young enough that she would need a lot of help (dressing, undressing, etc.) to play with Barbies. In October, though, my mom brought her Kelly dolls and let the girls take some into the bathtub. They LOVED the Kelly dolls and I found some for not very expensive. I also found a couple of mermaid ones that can be bath toys, which I think they will really love.

From Santa, Parker is asking for binoculars, Ashtyn is asking for a bike bell and a bike basket, and Rylee is asking for Winnie the Pooh and Minnie Mouse (wooden puzzles). They also are asking for a princess dress each, and I'm most excited for Rylee's (it's ADORABLE). Santa is also planning on bringing little writing tablets, which they've used before (their cousins have some) and really liked. They also have puzzles, scarfs, and candy for inside their stockings. 

Ben just wants cash this year, so I put his money in an envelope and wrapped it up for him. He also sent me two different games that he wants from Santa, and I managed to get both of them (I think that will be a little surprise for him). My gift this year is a little bit of a splurge, because it's over budget (I'm putting all my Christmas and birthday money towards it, and we still needed to add some to the budget), but it's a new phone, a Google Pixel 3a. I'm very excited. My current phone's battery is dying (and it has other issues as well), and my new phone will have an amazing camera. That will be great not only for taking pictures of the kids, but also for my YouTube and Instagram things that I do. I can't wait! 

Deciding on gifts from my grandparents felt tricky this year. For Ashtyn, I ended up deciding on stencils and sticky notes that are black and turn to rainbow as you draw on them. For Parker, we got her toy sunglasses and a little toy purse that has things like keys and make up in it. For Rylee, I got an adorable Winnie the Pooh train and little Winnie the Pooh hand puppets. 

For sibling gifts, Ashtyn made Parker a little tie quilt, Parker made Rylee some puzzles from popsicle sticks, and Rylee made Ashtyn a picture frame with a picture of the three sisters for her nightstand. Ashtyn also upgraded to real pillow this year (she was using a small doll pillow before) and is going to give her old pillow to Rylee. This was something she came up with on her own and really wants to do. It was so fun this year to make the gifts and then help the girls wrap their presents and put them under the tree. 

I am very excited for Christmas morning! As a parent, it's even more fun to get gifts for your kids than it is when you're a child and on the receiving end. I have been loving the Christmas season and am so glad we can end 2020 on such a positive note. 

Our Thanksgiving!

November was a fun month for us and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating!

Thanksgiving morning, we started the day by watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on YouTube. I made sure to get the turkey in the oven, but my pies were already done and that was the only thing I needed to do until the potatoes close to when we ate. 

Once I got the turkey in, we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which Ashtyn especially loved. I also read in my book and the girls drew for awhile. When it got closer to when everyone was coming, we cleaned up the house, got out the paper table cloth (I got it at Walmart, it had little activities and pictures on it) for the girls to draw on, and started the potatoes boiling. 

Then Lindi, Danny, Hannah, Dalin, and Ben's cousin Chris with his wife Ashley came over and we had our Thanksgiving feast. We did most of the traditional dishes, though we didn't have stuffing. It was delicious. 

We ate at one, so I let Rylee stay up for our late lunch, then put her down at 2:30. The girls had so much fun with everyone and doing the activities on the tablecloth. They liked the food for the most part and especially loved the chocolate pie. My favorite this year was my apple pie, it turned out really well and we had made vanilla ice cream to go with it. 

After dinner, we turned on Christmas music and everyone visited. Caleb also called and was able to talk for awhile in the evening. After everyone left, we turned on Miracle on 34th Street, which the girls watched the beginning of, but lost interest in by the end. We relaxed together and had more turkey and pie before bed. It was wonderful to spend time with family and relax together. 

A few days later, on Saturday, Ben's dad's family had their Thanksgiving get-together, so we did a second Thanksgiving. It was nice to see everyone and the good was yummy. After dinner, Grandma Leah got out 3D wooden puzzles that we helped the girls put together. Then afterward, we went to Ben's parents and Danny helped Ashtyn and I make a wooden manger. It was a great day! 

Some other highlights from our month: 

We did a thankful tree during the month, and each day when we did scriptures, we would each write down something we were thankful for on a leaf and then put the leaves on the tree. I forgot to take a picture of the tree at the end of the month, but it was cute and a fun way to focus on gratitude. 

Our dancing popcorn experiment was a huge hit! All three of them giggled and giggled as the popcorn kernels floated up and down in the jar! 

We had a lot of fun painting these leaves with water paints. All three of the girls had me help them, but they had a blast and loved the way their leaves turned out. 

When it snowed, we did this little experiment. We made a mini snowman and took it inside. We measured it, and then each took guesses for how long it would take to melt. Then we measured it every half hour--it took about four hours to melt. 

The day it snowed, Ben ended work early and we went out to play in the snow together before the sun disappeared. This was the snowman I helped them build, but Ben helped them build an even bigger one. They had so much fun, though true to past years, Rylee and Parker didn't last nearly as long as Ashtyn out in the snow.

Another of our science experiments was making butter. You put cream in a jar and shake it until it turns into the ball of butter. It took forever to shake but we persevered and it was fun. Even Rylee loved shaking the jar! I was also able to talk with them about the science behind it, which was fun. I added salt to our cream and our butter actually turned out pretty yummy.

We did a lot of crafts, but their favorites were probably their toilet paper roll turkeys. We covered these papers with colored paper and then put a face on a toiler paper roll and glued it on. They were fairly sturdy and the girls loved both making them and playing with them. 

Ashtyn also did a lot of holiday art lessons on YouTube. 

These were our gratitude turkeys. The girls drew a picture of things they were grateful for on the feather and loved making the faces for their turkey bodies. 

Our final science experiment was this salt and popcorn in a jar. You mix up the salt and popcorn kernels, then tap the jar against the counter. As you tap, the popcorn kernels float to the top of the salt and it's actually really cool to watch. It was also something the kids could do themselves (the tapping part) which was fun for them. 

Our month was a great one and we're having a lot of fun with December now! I love the holidays as a parent, maybe even more than when I was a child myself. It is so fun to share the magic of these holidays with them and the kids bring such a special spirit to them as well. 

I hope your holidays have been wonderful so far!