Back to School

I feel like I have been MIA.  We've just been a bit busy.  The kiddos all started school this week. With one in 8th grade, one in 5th grade and one in Kindergarten we are on the go, a lot. 

I ventured into the world of homeschooling this week.  G and I have been enjoying the flexibility and the ease of learning at home.  I've really had a ton of fun with it.  He is not a newbie to the school scene, he has been in pre school since he was 2.5 and loved it.  When registration time came around I thought about it a long time and my husband and I decided that homeschooling would be best for him this year for Kinder.  He already knows plenty of his sight words for Kinder so it's been great for him to show off to Mom. 

As a self proclaimed Pinterest addict, it has gotten even worse since the homeschool decision.  I have scoured page after page and board after board of amazing ideas.  Just this week, I used probably a few of my hoarded ideas each day. 

I will leave you now with our week in pictures....

Those would be Funfetti pancakes for the 1st Day

Loving his pancakes with sprinkles

Even 8th graders like sprinkles...

and fashionistas too!

T - 8th grade

R - 5th grade

G - Kindergarten

Writing in his daily journal

 We use the question of the day to inspire him to make a sentence and drawing for the daily journal. 

My take on the Number of the Day poster

My version of the Sight Word of the Day poster

Using Play-doh to spell out the letters and numbers for the Number of the Day/Sight Word of the Day

Sight Word BINGO

Using his cool "monster reader" to track his words

Mr. Cool reading his 1st Day of school book surprise

Our Homeschool Station....using vintage office goodies

Self Portrait time!  I traced his hands and feet and drew the body and face shape. He colored everything in and created his face and hair do.

All done!

This portrait idea came from a pin that I just glanced at knew immediately I wanted to try it out.  I never even clicked on the link until just now so I could give credit where it was due.  After I went to the website, I realized it was supposed to be a Falling in Space picture, the idea is from Oodles of Art.  Very cute idea.  We just free handed and traced and created our own kind of thing, and I like it.  We say it looks like he's looking through a glass floor.  

Studying Watercolors while making an awesome butterfly

New Paints!!

I realized as I uploaded these pictures, that someday I will look back at this picture and have a hard time remembering just how tiny those hands were.

Watercolor butterfly, all finished

 You can find this beautiful watercolor butterfly idea through The Artful Parent. I loved so many ideas there and will use more, I'm sure.  With this one, we checked out watercolor paintings online before he got started so he could see the softness of the paintings and the different ways to use the brush to make certain strokes.  This was such a calming activity and really helped his artistic side sprout. He will be using watercolors again soon.

Sight Word - 4 Ways

Our portrait with labeling for the 5 Senses study we did all week.

 I got the idea for this label happy 5 senses portrait from a post on Peace, Love, and Kindergarten.  Her blog is FULL of amazing ideas.  This was just one of many I found.  I look at the idea and use it as a framework for what we want to do. 
In our version, I cut out strips of yellow "hair", a few blue "eyes", a couple of different noses, and a few mouths.  The bow tie was a must for G.  He picked out what he liked best to make his 5 senses self portrait.  A bit like Mr. Potato Head. I cut out the face shape as well, freehand, and he glued the green paper on to make it stand out.

My little man coloring super hard, trying to get the job done. After coloring these bad boys he cut them out by himself.

We had so much fun really exploring and trying out new things.  He loved the 5 Senses I introduced on Monday so I decided to make my own week long unit.  We will finish it up on Tuesday by doing a Magazine Scavenger Hunt to find things to do with our 5 senses and gluing them in the appropriate column.  His favorite activity of the week was probably the taste test we conducted where he had to pinch his nose and taste 4 different liquids.  He has since performed this "experiment" on his dad, sister and grandfather. 

It was a successful first week, everyone came home from school happy and we are trying to get back in the groove of things. 

Happy Back to School, y'all!

Corner Art Review and Giveaway!

Corner Art
Review and Giveaway!!
http://corner-art.com/



Corner Art is an amazing company that truly gives back. You can tell this by the heart symbol on each design. 5% of the profit from each design goes to a charity that helps children. The ones that they mention on their site are St. George’s Home for Girls in South Africa, Salvation Army, Angel's Gate and the Foreclosure Angel Foundation. I have a soft spot for companies that choose to give back and especially to charities that help children have homes. They actually came up with the idea while in South Africa and trying to make an easy craft with the girls that could be sold at market. Of course, the girls became attached to their creations and kept them. :)



The Corner Art itself is so cute. They have 4 categories to choose from: Jungle, Angels, Cats and Dogs and Christmas. 15 designs in all! They are wooden designs meant to hang from your corner moldings; no hooks, nail or hangers needed. This is really a great idea for kid’s rooms or playrooms.

I love all of the animals; they have such personality and vibrant colors. Melissa, the owner of Corner Art, graciously offered 3 Corner Art pieces for giveaways and 1 for me to review! I picked Waffles for my house, because I knew my daughter would love this upside down puppy.

Waffles even came with this cute poem on the back.

Each piece comes with an original poem on the back and of course the heart that lets you know it comes from a company with a true heart for charity.


All three of my kids thought this was a great idea and wanted to see what other designs we could buy later. Always on the search for Christmas decorations that are easy to put up and put away, these would be perfect.

I love the Elf! The Angels would make a great addition to a new baby’s room and Stiltz the giraffe is just too cute not to display!


Can’t wait to give away 3 of these! The winners get to choose their design from any category and of course no need to worry about shipping! Even if you don’t win, there is free shipping on their site!


This giveaway is open to all US residents. To enter this giveaway you must be follower of this blog.


To win all you need to do is go to http://www.corner-art.com/index.html and pick out which design you would pick if you are lucky enough to win. Come back here and leave a comment letting me know which one. Don’t forget to leave a way for me to contact you in your comment.


This giveaway will close on May 29th at 11:59pm. Remember…there will be 3 winners!


Good Luck and thanks again to Corner Art!