It's been a while since my last round up post of funny homeschool memes. And now, we have all the great covid ones to add :)

As always, I didn't create them, and have done my best to properly credit them and link back to the person who posted each one. 

Now, enjoy!

There is really nothing I enjoy about moving, except for [hopefully] the destination. Every thread of my emotions is tugged upon as we box up life and say farewell to home. Each of my kids feels differently about the move so conflicts are high. 
 
This week, I decided to share some tips that have helped keep my sanity a bit more intact as we prepare to leave Connecticut and head south to Georgia. 
 
1. Start by packing the toys with too many pieces. You know the things you clean up constantly, that wander into every room of your house? Put them in a box and tape it up. Feels good, right?
 
2. Next, tackle the "extra." Extra blankets, towels, dishes, clothes. Whatever is nonessential, now's the time to pack it or pitch it.
 
3. Clean out the closets. Closets are a great place to store boxes while your organizing for the move, but there has to be space in them first. Determine what's essential and what's not. For us, this meant deciding what clothing we'd keep in suitcases for the actual move, and boxing the rest of the stuff to make some room for boxes. 
 
4. Place limits on what you [and your kids] will bring. We have too many toys, who doesn't? I might love thrift stores too much and struggle saying "no" to that 50 cent toy my kids ask for. But, I did limit their own moving loads to 3 boxes each. This gives them the power to decide what they truly enjoy playing with and what's clutter. 
 
5. Use clothes/blankets to secure fragile items. Simply layering linens that need to be packed with grandma's glass picture frames helps to keep your breakables secure and gives your linens extra purpose!

Have any tips for me during this crazy time? I'd love to here your moving advice in the comment section!

​Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

         
​           Home School in the Woods has become a trusted source of unit studies for homeschoolers. We’ve heard about their programs for years and were excited to check out their Time Travelers U.S. History Studies New World Explorers. They have so many neat topics to explore including Make-A-State packs, Colonial Life, and even a US Elections pack, which is great for learning about the election this year!

                My 8 and 6-year-old had just wrapped up their study of the middle ages, and left off at the perfect position to jump into learning about exploration to new lands! I received a download of the program, and got off to a glitchy start due to my own lack of reading directions- oops! Make sure you “express” the files so that they open and function as they should. The program opens in an internet window which neatly lays out the lessons, the print outs needed, as well as helpful information on how to use the program. We assembled a binder to keep the worksheets in and began forming the lapbook, which becomes a final project for the program. 

​       Because we were technically on “summer break,” which is somewhat undefined in our house, we exclusively used this program during the start of our review time and my kids felt like it was an at-home summer camp! Each lesson comes with multiple activities that truly immerse children in a sea of learning and exploration. I didn’t even hear complaints about having to do school work during our break because they were having so much fun!

        In Lessons 1-5, we learned about reasons explorers would leave their home, about the ships they sailed on, and the living conditions within- made flags and even became “limey” and drank lime juice, which many sailors would do to prevent scurvy!  

It's a big birthday week in our house. My oldest daughter turned six and my dad turned 12x that... 
 
Years ago, my dad mentioned how his mom would make a blueberry pie on his birthday. Late July brings the ripest, juiciest blueberries, and lots of yummy baking, so since then, I've taken to making blueberry cobbler (pies feel out of my league at the moment) for my dad's birthday each year. 
 
This year, our normal birthday bash was broken up by lots of social distancing and no blowing out candles. It felt strange.
 
Then, my daughter wanted to head to the beach to celebrate, so we drove 40 minutes there, only to be turned away because the beaches had reached capacity. Once capacity is reached, all beaches shut down, and no one else if allowed in, regardless of how many people leave- at least that's what the police officer told us as they acted like we were public enemy number one. 
 
But- that's 2020 for ya. 
 
Anyway, we ate, and ate, and ate. 
Steak, mac and kale, rice, ice cream cake, and the cobbler...
...and I pretty much forgot to take photos of anything, even my daughter's lovely birthday outfit she picked out before it got paint on it...

But, I do have the Blueberry Cobbler Recipe to share. It's is super simple with just a few ingredients I usually keep on hand. 

Ingredients:

1 stick melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour, we use gluten free
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flour and baking powder. Gradually add in the melted butter and milk.
Grease an 8 x 10 baking dish (in the above, I doubled the recipe for a larger pan)
add the blueberries to the bottom of the pan and cover with your patter

Cook for about 55 minutes, until slightly browned on the top and a toothpick comes out clean!

Then enjoy!!

I'm fried this week- like so fried I can't comprehend how fried I am. I'd guess you know the feeling! We've been busy learning [we're officially back to school, and this mama is taking summer courses], playing, visiting a lavender farm -and sewing! Sewing is such a lovely escape. To delight my littles, I made this simple, free, bee applique pattern. You can download it below:

Bees are such important pollinators, and their simple shapes are great for beginning sewers to practice their stitches on. We chose three fabrics I had on hand, one for the quilt square, one for the bee's body, and one for the winds, but I hope you're inspired to craft as you please!

For simplicity sake, we didn't use interfacing and simply stitched one piece at a time, but you can certainly use some iron-on adhesive if you so- or shall I say- sew- desire to!
​
Here's my five year old's bee:

I wanted to try out some new embroidery stitches on mine. Flowers seemed like the next logical thing to embroider on a bee square, so these are my sweet little flowers. You can learn how to sew them here.

I'm not too sure what we'll do with the finished squares. Maybe we can work within the color scheme to make a family quilt- or pillowcase, because let's be real, a quilt at this stage might be too ambitious for my crew, but fun is the name of the game!

Any thoughts on how we should use our bee squares?

Have a good week! 

​​​Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

​MaxScholar offers a unique online approach to teaching children to read and improve their comprehension. By using Orton Gillingham Software, MaxScholar has become a trusted program used by school districts and homeschoolers alike. It is considered a “reading intervention program,” and provides thorough testing to develop a starting place for learners, identifying troublesome areas for each student to work through. 

​As a homeschoolmom, I was really happy that there was a placement test so my students wouldn’t be working through concepts we already spent our time on. My five-year-old,  who will be starting 1st grade in the fall, began with a letter placement test, which quizzed her on each and every letter. It took about an hour to complete, but she was frustrated after 20 minutes. Guess who finished the test and knows all of their letters?

​If you feel like your student has mastered their letters, you can simply log into the teacher’s account and manage whether or not your student needs to take the placement tests. If you're confident in their ability, you can assign them to a level and turn off the test feature.

​ I set my five-year-old’s level to “blends,” and my pre-k on “alphabet” so they could learn where they’d left off and I could see the differences offered in the two levels.  For older students, a reading test is offered that focuses on comprehension is recommended to determine a starting place. 

From the teachers account, I allowed my two youngest students (4 &5) had access to MaxPhonics and MaxReading and opened up all of the programs for my oldest student.
​
The most basic level on MaxPhonics is the Pre-K, followed by the Alphabet Level. This level goes through each letter, children learn to recognize it by its form, it’s verbal sound (watching and listening to a person speak it), and by its drawn form, as well as practice forming it on a computer and identifying words that start with (or end with) that sound. The next level offered is the Blend Level, which offers lessons in a similar format as the Alphabet lessons. Digraphs are the final level covered under MaxPhonics.
 
MaxReading, for the youngest learners, involves looking at pictures and answering questions. This helps children focus on main ideas and attention to detail. As they advance, they are presented with reading material appropriate to their level and asked to read and answer questions.  
 
Additional programs offered include “MaxWords, MaxMusic, MaxPlaces, MaxBios, and MaxVocab.” My oldest learner enjoyed MaxMusic the most, which uses popular songs to help children practice reading and identify parts of speech. MaxPlaces was also a neat way to learn geography. It provides access to a map, with places to click on and learn more about. These additional learning programs really increased the educational value of MaxScholar and added something interesting for everyone!

I felt like MaxScholar was unique in their thorough placement test which isolates areas your student needs to work on and target their learning accordingly. This maximizes your time spent on the program and is a valuable feature for homeschoolers and traditionally schooled children alike. I was impressed with how much material was available for older students, which made me feel like this program would be ideal for 3rd grade + students looking for an online learning program to increase their phonics awareness and reading comprehension.  

Many other members of the Homeschool Review Crew checked out MaxScholar, be sure to check out their thoughts on the program by clicking the image below!

This year has been so filled with uncertainties and unknowns. Perhaps, there has never been a time to renew a sense of patriotism and unity within our homes. Though we're technically on summer vacation, I decided to tie together some resources for a week long “Independence Day Unit Study.”
​
We began with an important video to understand the background of the Declaration of Independence, and then watched a moving five minute video of what happened to many of the signers of the Declaration. I got quite teary at the end after getting a glimpse of the cost of freedom. 

Next, we worked towards memorizing my favorite part of the preamble from The Declaration of Independence.

I made two worksheets to help familiarize my kids with the preamble. One was suitable for practicing writing the words, while one was for younger learners and involved coloring the words. 

​We followed our learning with some great books:

Old Glory walks through important stages of American History, while focusing on the importance of the American flag. 

Wonders of the USA is a fun "shine-a-light-book" where kids can use a flashlight to see hidden pictures on the pages.

Red, White, and Blue is an easy read book about the creation of the American Flag.

The Story of George Washington is another easy read book chapter book that tells the story of George Washington's life.

The Children's book of America is a treasury of beautiful stories!
This week, I selected "I hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman.
"The Bravery of Abigail Adams," 
and the Story of "The Star Spangled Banner"

Finally, ​we concluded by sewing some patriotic clothes to wear for July 4th!

I'm sure some yummy baking and grilling will also be in order!
​
​How has your family celebrated the 4th of July? Any fun book recommendations?  

Well, I had intended to share a little girls dress pattern with you all this week, but life through a boomerang and my four year old was diagnosed with Lyme Disease.

I had pulled a tick from behind her ear about a week ago and froze it in the freezer, than thought nothing more of it. But, Monday evening, she complained that her ear hurt.  When I looked, I could see a red rash around where I had pulled the tick. The next morning, she spiked a fever and we saw a doctor through the convenience of zoom.  She started antibiotics right away, and her temperature continued to climb over 105 degrees. I had never seen numbers like that on a thermometer, and we started a round the clock battle to keep her temp below 105 with ibuprofen and acetaminophen to avoid a hospital trip. 

Thankfully, she seems to be healing and improving each day. One of the most startling experiences has been watching the Lyme Rash. We're certainly not strangers to Lyme, living in Connecticut, I've been treated for it 3-4 times. But, I had never watched a rash develop like this- so I wanted to share the images for other people who might encounter strange rashes and not be certain how to identify it. 

The flash was on for this photo, so it looks bit worse in the picture than in person. I do believe it's healing. We're using neosporin and antibiotics 3x a day.

Thanks for keeping her in your prayers!

​I've been running on well past empty these last few weeks. Trying to balance work, school, and homeschooling, plus the demands of four kiddos has absolutely drained me. With all the writing assignments due for school and work, it is hard for me to want to write another sentence. So, yesterday I took out my sewing machine to take a break from reality.
 
When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I would go in pinterest and look at all the cute sewing dress patterns. Then, she was born, followed by two more kiddos and my lovely idea of sewing cute dresses vanished between the diapers, and craziness of life. 

I love the style of the circular neckline on one of her dresses, I'm not sure of the technical term, but it's just elegant and adorable. So, I traced the outline on to some white knit fabric and hand stitched the delicate pieces for the neckline. I don't recommend using a delicate knit, at all! Though it looks lovely, I'm concerned it won't hold up in the washing machine.
 ​

You do, however, want to use a flexible fabric that will stretch over their heads. For the second dress, I decided to cut the neckline from an old t shirt in my "donate pile" and stitch it to the bottom dress pieces. ​

​Both dresses were simple, easy, and managed to capture the vision I had in my mind. Plus, the sewing process was a needed mini naptime vacation for this tired mama.
 
How do you refresh when you're on empty? I'd love to hear in the comments!