Santa or no Santa?

When my husband and I got married, this was one of the big issues that we had to discuss. We both "celebrated" Santa when we were children, but truly felt that it had become too commercialized and lost much of its Christian meaning to "gift getting".

Our church connect leaders (Sunday school teachers) told us of a true story that happened to them when their children were growing up. They had always actively told their children about Jesus, and that Christmas was a celebration of his birth. Likewise, Santa also came to visit on Christmas eve. When their youngest found out that Santa wasn't real, he approached his parents to discuss this with them. During the discussion, he said sometime to the tune of, "Well, if Santa isn't real, I guess Jesus isn't real either."

OUCH! To my husband and I, that statement really hit home. We NEVER wanted our son to doubt that Jesus wasn't real.

Telling our family wasn't easy. Their scrutiny over this decision has, at times, been even worse. We do live in the deep south, where entire neighborhoods are covered with Christmas lights and Santas on the roof. Needless to say, we've discovered other families around us who also don't have Santa visit their house. However, the majority do.... and that's perfectly fine. We have no issues with anyone else celebrating it; it is just our personal preference.

In fact, just this week, I've had to remind my son that we don't tell others that there isn't a Santa. (Honestly, it would be more to the tune of, "we don't believe in Santa" rather than stating that Santa doesn't exist.) Instead, I gently remind him that some people believe in Santa while others don't, just like some people believe in Jesus, while others don't. I really wouldn't appreciate someone else telling me I'm wrong about Jesus, just like I am certain most parents would be upset if their child came home telling that my son said Santa wasn't real.

There has been one other slight issue that we've had to discuss... those innocent grocery store clerks who always ask, "So, what is Santa bringing you for Christmas?" After this happened a few weeks ago, we had to practice what he should say in return (remember, we are still going on the "We don't want to ruin it for everyone else" pretense), and his response should be something like, "Well, for Christmas, I'd like....."

So, the big question most people ask us is, "Aren't you ruining it for him?" Not at all! He still gets presents, just like everyone else. He personally doesn't care whether they came from a stranger, or Santa, or from us. He's a kid... and he likes presents. However, it is absolutely the sweetest thing when he's asked if we could buy and wrap presents for Jesus (and he confessed he'd be more than happy to assist Jesus in unwrapping them).

We do have some other special traditions for the holidays that I'm sure I'll share this month with you.

Pre-K assessment update

You probably remember this post, where I shared the kindergarten assessment I was using to track Aikman's progress this year (even though he is Pre-K, it seemed that this assessment was pretty easy in terms of K).

Note: If you would like these files, please leave me a comment below, with your email, and I'll email them to you.

Please note this IS one school's assessment form. This does NOT mean that every school uses this same assessment form. In fact, I know our school system uses an entirely different system, which seems to be a bit more difficult and asks things I would not expect a child to know until the END of Kindergarten, which is why we're NOT using it.... maybe next year when he's actually in K!)

So, what has he learned in the past 3 months?

He can...

- recognize basic shapes, colors, upper and lower case letters, sounds for all letters.

- recognizes MOST of digits 0- 20. He missed 15, 13, 20, 19, and 12. He told me 20 was two-zero, then when I told him it was 20, he said, "Awww... I knew that!" Likewise, I think he figured out the last few were "teens," because he called 12 "two-teen."

basic skills: (top sheet shown in photo)

- recognizes name

- prints first and last name

- knows age, birthday, parents names, address, phone number

- left from right

- days of the week and months of the year

reading readiness:

- recites alphabet

- rhymes

- forms UPPERCASE letters properly

- is beginning to read and write CVC words

math readiness:

- ALMOST counts to 100 (counted to 89 the other day on his own, and then said the next number was 40! Darn! He was soooo close!)

- skipcounts by 10's to 100

- writes numbers correctly 0 - 10

- identifies coins -- quarter, nickel, dime, penney

- identifies numbers 20 - 100

Goals for the next 3 months (next assessment update on February 28):

- work on where are we in the world (city, state, country, continent, planet) See my friend Karen's blog for a GREAT idea on how to make this more hands-on, and very similar to the pink tower.

reading/writing goals:

- write full name (first, middle, last with proper formation of upper/lowercase letters)

- proper formation of lowercase letters (finish HWT book)

- work on CVC/pink Montessori words

- begin work on clapping syllables.

math goals:

- LEARN THOSE TEEN numbers!

- recognize and have some numerical understanding of 2 and 3 digit numbers

- skipcount by 5's and review 10's

- begin exchanging values, i.e. if 11 items are put out, exchange 10 of them for a 10-bar, and recognize that the number is 1 10-bar and 1 unit = 11. (In Montessori, this is the bank game.)

- begin counting money in terms of dimes/pennies and nickels/pennies

- introduce addition

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers! Have a wonderful day visiting with family and eating lots of yummy foods.

For anyone who missed them, Honey at Mondorfment posted some wonderful Thanksgiving 3 part cards for both 3-6 and 6-9 kiddos. You'll find them at this post.

In our simple family, here are some things that I am thankful for...

- a wonderful husband that is supportive of me staying at home

- an energetic and fun-loving little boy who still wants to hold my hand in the grocery store

- a house to keep us warm

- clean water to drink and enough food to keep our bellies full each day

- an awesome 91 year old grandfather who still has a sense of humor and loves to share stories

- unconditionally loving parents -- all 4 of them!

- an amazing God who loves me more than I know, helps me through those tough days, and blesses me on those days that I need a reality check.

So, what are you thankful for?

Fabulous Finds Friday!

Last weekend, we visited Gatlinburg, TN for a little rest and relaxations with my extended family. While there, my mom and I ventured to a couple of the thrift shops to see what we could find.

BOY OH BOY! What great shops we found!!! If you are EVER in this area and a bargain/thrift shopper, I would HIGHLY recommend that you go to the Goodwill, Sevier Medical Center Thrift Center, and the Salvation Army Thrift Store.... all 3 are within 3 blocks of one another, and Goodwill and the SMC Thrift Center are in the same shopping center!

Our first stop -- Salvation Army. (NOTE: The store location is incorrect on Google... it is located on Bruce Street, but it is on the West side of the Parkway, rather than the East side; its location is VERY obvious when you drive down the street.) The store is small, but it has lots of nick-nacks that can be used for geography studies or practical life activities -- at a dollar or less. On this day, I picked up a set of ice tongs for $0.59.

One additional note -- there is a 2nd Salvation Army listed on Google, but upon investigating it, we discovered that it is the Salvation Army CHURCH, and not a store.

Next stop -- Goodwill -- only 3 blocks away from the Salvation Army thrift store. THIS PLACE WAS A GOLDMINE! If only had more time, I'm sure I would have racked up on MUCH more stuff! From what I saw, books were 3 for $2 for hardbacks; 3 for $1 for softcovers; and just about any practice life items (baskets, ice cube trays, tongs, pitchers, etc.) were $0.05 - $1, with most being around a quarter.

So, what did I find?

- 4 Christmas cookie cutters for $0.25

- 12 small cookie cutters for $0.10

- long ice cube tray for $0.25

- woven divider tray for $0.25 (I wish I would have picked up the 2nd one too, as it matches the basket I bought a few weeks ago.)

... and a nice bag that they were giving away with each purchase.

YEP, I spent a whopping $0.93, including taxes, at Goodwill!

Unfortunately, the Sevier Medical Center Thrift store (only 2 stores down from Goodwill, in the same shopping center) had closed early that day, and we didn't get to explore it. However, it was just as large as the Goodwill, and looked like an equally excellent place to find some awesome finds!

Sound It Out series

For the month of November, I have consciously concentrating most of my efforts on language. My dear son has been asking about words (off and on) for a YEAR now, but he just has not progressed past identifying beginning, middle, and end sounds. This probably has something to do with me being a math teacher and how I can find math in just about EVERYTHING. In fact, my dear hubby, a former accountant, and I have kidded for years that our son will be able to multiply by the time he starts kindergarten, but won't be reading until 3rd grade!

Okay, so that's an OVERSTATEMENT, as I am definitely not striving to teach my son multiplication before kindergarten; however, teaching my son to read does feel like an impossible task. Unfortunately, I must admit that I feel like a failure when it comes to teaching reading. (I can just hear many of you now saying to yourselves... "patience, grasshopper, patience...")

So, for the remainder of November and most likely the beginning of December, you can expect to see quite a bit on our work on phonics and sounding out CVC words. Hang in there with us, and maybe you'll pick up a new game or technique (or two) as we go.

(Note: the above picture is of Aikman concentrating on the letters and copying them on another sheet of paper... he wasn't actually trying to READ the words. I just thought it was cute and fitting for his concentration!)

Chihuly 3 part cards

After loving the Chihuly art exhibit so much, I wanted to make some 3 part cards that cover this exhibit.

The cards consist of photos that I took at Cheekwood during the day, with each pieces corresponding name. Janet, a sweet friend of mine and fellow Creative Memories consultant (and avid scrapbooker!), also went to the exhibit, but at nighttime. She generously provided images of the glass at night.

Finally, there are 2 pieces that are named after animals, which I included a card for each animal.

So, how can you use these 3 part cards?

Well, the child can match and/or compare/contrast the animal with the glass artwork.

The child can match the daytime image with the nighttime image.

... and of course, the child can use these cards as typical 3 part cards -- matching a card with its identical mate and name card. (print 2 copies of this file, if this is your intended purpose)

Finally, you can get the cards here.

Chihuly-inspired art

After going to the Chihuly art exhibit, I decided that we could attempt to make some pieces that were similar to the Chihuly art, without being so made out of glass nor quite so fragile.

These are the Persians, which were located inside the Learning Center. There were approximately 2-3 feet in diameter, which you can't tell from this photo. Aren't they pretty?

Our version -- coffee filter Persians (complete with one of our dogs looking through the window), as suggested from Cheekwood's teacher resource packet. Directions: lay a coffee filter flat on the table. Color with water-based markers. After drawing is complete, spray with a water bottle. Let dry and hang up!

This is in the Japanese Zen garden. You can see several large (4-5 ft tall!) glass spheres in the garden, and the "moon" on the hill in the background.

Our version -- sand and marble Zen garden. In the gift shop, Cheekwood was selling large glass marbles; however, any marble would do! Place marbles in sand (or gravel). Then take a fork and go around the marbles to make designs. DingoFamily at The Homeschool Den did a similar activity like this.

One of the things that was most difficult for me was letting HIM take the lead, as the Clay Lady suggested on one of our field trips. This allows the parent to see growth of the child's artist ability over time. So.... here's his final piece, complete with over-emphasized groves from the fork!

See ya tomorrow with some 3 part cards from this exhibit!

Chihuly at Cheekwood

A few weeks ago, we toured Cheekwood for the Chihuly glass exhibit. I was absolutely floored on how beautiful his glass pieces were. The exhibit had cost over a million dollars, just to get it to Cheekwood, and that's for LOANED pieces! Chihuly had specifically asked for photos all around Cheekwood, and had made several pieces specifically for this exhibit.

Here are some of the amazing works that we could photograph... (the inside of the home were off-limits for photography, so I was unable to capture the amazingly beautiful chandaliers; however thanks to Jan at nashville.about.com for allowing me to post her photo of the chandalier at the top of this post -- it was BY FAR my son's favorite piece!)

Stay tuned as I share how we made our own Chihuly-inspired artwork tomorrow, and some 3 part cards on Wednesday that I've made from this exhibit.

Art 3 part cards, part 2

Dee, a fellow member on one of my yahoo groups, has created 10-grid gameboards for two famous artists, and is sharing with everyone!

These are designed to be used with dice, spinners, etc. The child would roll die or spin spinner, and then he/she would place that number of items (rocks, coins, erasers, etc.) on the gameboard -- one item per square. The child continues adding items until all of the squares are filled. Another idea that you could do with these gameboards is to use them as a matching game or memory, or as an art extension -- comparing and contrasting the artists.

I'm going to use them as a math manipulative, which I will be sharing with you over the next few weeks, on how we are introducing the basic addition facts up to 10 (this is similar to the Montessori black and white bead stair).

The gameboards are for Picasso and Van Gogh. You can download the Picasso one here and the Van Gogh one here.

Pumpkin seed counting and cooking

Remember the pumpkin day we had last week?

Well, we had to leave the seeds out to dry overnight, before we could count and cook them.

Our first task: guess how many seeds there are and then count them.

If you recall, his initial guess was that there were 100 seeds. I printed off a 100 chart from here. Aikman placed one seed on each number, while saying each number (woo hoo! practicing counting to 100 -- he's almost got it, but he forgets that after 39 comes 40, and not thirty-ten).

After we finished counting the first 100, we then talked about how the numbers start back over, but we add one hundred in front. He then made it to about 120 before he got tired of placing the seeds out. For the sake of finishing, I helped him finish the second board, and we STILL had more seeds.

So, how many seeds did we have? Around 220. After we got to 200, he was DONE counting seeds, so we stopped.

Our second task: roasting the seeds.

We found a recipe for Halloween-y pumpkin seeds here.

The result: NOT-so-yummy roasted pumpkin seeds. Aikman did not like them at all. I thought that they smelled really great as they were cooking and tasted yummy at first, but, ugh, the tummy ache afterward!

Fabulous Finds Friday!

While we were out trick or treating on the Square last Friday, we stopped by our local library, which was also passing out candy. I noticed that the back room was having a bag sale -- everything you can fit into a bag for $1!

So, here's what I picked up for $1... (and still had room for more books, but ran out of time!)

- general readers

- nature reference and readers

- history and geography readers

- homeschool reference book

- art history interactive DVD

- Hebrew alphabet workbook/textbook

Here's another view of the Hebrew alphabet book. It has activities in it, just like a normal alphabet book. This page directs the child to color in the symbol that is identical to the one being studied. It also has a little saying to help the child remember the sound for the letter.

My plans are to cut up the mountains book and the Hawaii book, in order to make an "activity" about volcanoes.

I'm also REALLY excited about the art history DVD, which allows you to insert your own images into their predesigned presentations. So, I'm hoping this will lead us in studying more famous art pieces, while also giving me some background information on the artist as well as the style.

Van Gogh meets weather prediction -- I wanna win this!

Don't you want to win it too? (I must say that Van Gogh looks quite dapper in his handpainted suit!)

My dear friend Karen at Little Acorns is having an uber-cool giveaway for a "Van Gogh the metereologist" activity. She took the painting "Starry Night" and made it so that the city was detachable, and then she created different sky backgrounds, similar to those in his other works.

The idea to let the kids check the weather, and then make the city's weather correspond with the sky.

Starry night on a sunny day!

Cloudy or snowy weather

Tornado approaching! Take cover, little town!

To enter her contest, you post a comment stating HOW you would use this activity with your kiddos. Good luck winning!

Art 3 part cards, part 1

Jan Sheppard, one of the MT followers, created some wonderful Van Gogh 3 part cards that she is graciously sharing!

She made these 3 part cards a little larger than normal cards so she could post them around her classroom. She also added that she pastes them to paper in the corresponding continent color for continent boxes. If you would like them to be closer to the normal size, she recommends that you print at 50% (or I use the 2-in-1 feature, which pretty much does the same thing).

You can get these Van Gogh art cards here.

If you are like us and diggin' art right now, stay tuned for tomorrow's post, about a giveaway going on this week at Little Acorns.