Day #2: A Little Bit of Home Economics

Today we decided to do a little bit of hands on learning. Since homeschooling as a parent is a new concept to me and school in general is a new concept for Liam, I decided that mixing up our days, between workbooks and hands on learning, would be beneficial for both of us. We made cookies for our lesson today; I let him add ingredients, run the mixer, and be my official taste tester. During the whole process I tried to take advantage of learning opportunities; for example, we talked about where our egg came from (which in turn lead to the question from my bright little boy "Is there a baby chicken in there?", I then had to try to explain to him, while being totally honest, that chickens lay eggs normally but not all their eggs are babies, a Rooster has to help put a baby in there. OH BOY... I am not ready for these questions yet).

Here is a look at our day:

*Disclaimer: You will see us in our pajamas some days, I let the kids make their decision 

most mornings what they would like to wear around the house.*

My little helpers pouring in the mix and butter for our cake mix cookies

All ready to put the batter on the cookie sheets

 When our cookies were in the oven baking we went and got out our paper and markers so we could talk about what we just learned and Liam could draw a picture of the experience from his point of view

(It is super cute to see the parts that they love and remember)

From Liam's description of his picture: the brown circle is the cookie, the brown dot in the circle is the cake mix, the yellow dot is the butter, the black drawing to the right (that looks like a bike) is the hand mixer we used to mix every thing, the brown drawing in the top left corner is his interpretation of a chicken. He did not draw the egg because he said it would blend in with the paper since eggs are white, how cute is he.

 Our cookies are done, now it is time to enjoy our hard work

I think that they enjoyed their cookies more then any other cookie before, because they helped make them. I am not sure if it is just me hoping or if it is really true, but I like to think that they have a new appreciation for homemade cookies and the process behind it. 

Thank you for following us on our journey!

Our First Day

First let me give you a little introduction to my family: my husband, Matt, whom I have been in love with for 11 years and we have been married for almost 9 years; we have had our share of ups and downs, but with God, family, and love we make it through it all and the plan is for many, many more years to come. Next is me, Lauri, I have mainly been a stay at home wife and mother, besides a short 6 months were I worked in an assisted living facility as a nurse; both jobs are very rewarding, but I believe God has placed me in this family to be a wife, mother and mentor to my kiddos first, I will work again outside the home when the time is right. Then there is our awesome boy, Liam, whom has recently turned 4 and is full of life, love and curiosity. Last, but definitely not least, our spunky, silly, and mischievous princess Alexandra, who is 2 1/2, with a personality that gets bigger every day.

 Now, for the reason of this blog; my husband and I have talked about trying home-school for our kids even before there were kids to consider. Then as we had our kids we talked about it a little more, but nothing serious because they were just barely walking and couldn't talk or color or write. It has always been on our hearts as a possibility, and now that our first born, our awesome son Liam, has turned 4 it is time to get serious. We have never talked about sending either of our two to preschool; since I stay home with them, we decided that it was time to try homeschooling, to see if it will benefit our children and their personalities. Today was our first day, I have been procrastinating starting, because to be honest I am unsure of my abilities to give them the foundation they need for school. But, I hope you will join us on our journey and maybe this could give other preschool homeschooling families some fun (inexpensive) ideas and maybe you can help and inform me along the way. I am definitely open to advice and as any one would like, encouragement would be great!

Here is a look at our little set up of our worksheets, crayons, paints, books, things like that:

 Our little classroom:

 I picked these workbooks up at Target in the $1 section to use as our curriculum for now, instead of buying curriculum this year (I will let you know where we find our resources, I have a lot of print outs I found on pinterest all ready to go too) 

 Liam working on his worksheets for Day #1

 After his worksheets it was time for a little dancing and learning through song, this song to be exact.

Little sister, Alex, came to join us for music and dancing.

 Here are the worksheets Liam completed on his first day:

His numbers and letters still need some work, but hey that's what preschool is for right?

Thanks for reading and I hope you follow us on our journey. I hope to show all the honest ups and downs, what we have learned through this journey, and I hope mainly to be a good example to our kids and make sure they know that Matt and I support and love them no matter what may come in life.