Toothbrushes and Toddlers

At the moment I have one child-size toothbrush jammed down the bathroom sink drain, one in the garbage can after being retrieved from the drain, and two just plain MIA. And no, that's not because I haven't thought to replace them lately, that all happened THIS WEEKEND.

What IS it with small children and toothbrushes?!

I'd fare better if I just bought a stockpile of them from toothbrushes"R"us and called it a day. Then they could be really disposable. Use it once, throw it away, kids!

And then I'd get a sharps container like the ones they hang on the walls in the mall bathroom.

That way they wouldn't be fished out of the garbage and used by little miss Babycakes to brush the dog's teeth right before shoving it in her own mouth.

Or brush the dog's fur.

Or scrub the floor/window/toilet/chair/piano/cupboard/stove/what-have-you...

Once I even absolutely insanely bought the kids these cool toothbrushes with suction cups on the bottom so you could suction them right to the edge of the sink - UPRIGHT so no germs contaminate them.

Except that it was much, MUCH more fun to suction them to the MIRROR, then laugh hysterically when the suction failed and they popped off and shot across the room, landing in random places all over the bathroom.

**shudder**

No matter how many times they were cautioned against it, those suction cups were entirely too entertaining to resist, and now and then after the children had all brushed their teeth and gone to bed I'd be sitting in the living room and hear the tell-tale "Pop!" of a toothbrush and the thud of it landing...

**shudder**

Those didn't last long.

At all.

My personal favorite is watching Evelyn get a hold of MY toothbrush and wander around the house with it. It doesn't seem to matter where I hide it or how high up it has been put, she has radar for it.

I thought toothpaste was bad. For a while there the kids would have toothpaste smeared around the sink like a hot glue gun gone wild, until I learned it was best to just hide that, too, and move the hiding place every few days so they wouldn't catch on to where it was coming from when I'd personally line them up and dot their toothbrushes every morning and night without letting them close enough to squeeze the ever-lovin' ENTIRE contents out of touch the elusive toothpaste tube.

I mean, I guess I could start hiding the toothbrushes, too, right? Maybe in a ziplock bag in a drawer in the fridge. Seems to be the only "hiding" place left that hasn't been stuffed full of other contraband not-for-children items until it gets discovered by grubby little hands, decimated beyond recognition, and shoved back into place surreptitiously until I discover the carnage at some later time.

Confession: Usually when I find that one of my hiding places has been discovered, I peek in, grimace and groan, then close it back up, preferring to pretend my house is NOT full of these pockets of disaster clean at all times and well-organized.

Maybe what I need isn't stock in a toothbrush company, maybe what I need is to hire someone to come organize my house (while I conveniently take a vacation, of course).

Then I'll have lots of new hiding places for things again!

Problem solved.

The Feel of Cheap Things On My Skin

I *like* the feel of cheap things on my skin. 

Raindrops falling softly on a spring day.

Flannel sheets on a cold winter night.

My husbands arms around my waist.

The sand between my toes at the edge of the Torch Lake Sandbar.

Silky baby hair brushed between my fingers.

Soft, warm kitty fur against my cheek.

Ice cold creek water against bare skin on a hot, sticky summer night.

 Wind through my hair on a drive with my husband.

A hot shower after a long night up with babies.

Big kid hugs and baby's butterfly kisses.

Sometimes I feel a bit deprived without the luxuries I see someone else enjoying, but if I stop to really think about it....

No amount of money in the world could come up with anything but "cheap" substitutes for the real-deal things I've listed above. I'd rather have my feet in the sandbar than in a pair of Louboutins. I'd rather run my fingers through a baby's silky hair than over dupioni drapes. I'd rather have the wind through my hair riding shotgun in my husband's old truck that's paid off and way more function than fancy than in a Bentley. I'd rather dive into Torch Lake than take a Caribbean vacation. I'd rather have those flannel sheets than 1200 thread count Egyptian cotton sateen confections!

Okay, that last one is a poor example of real-deal vs. expensive substitute, but flannel sheets just absolutely ROCK when you live in the cold white north. "Uninhabitable", as my dad says!

So next time I am tempted to feel deprived, I'm going to look around and think of the things in my life that are the Real Deal. I'm going to stop to thank God for them, enjoy them, and appreciate them for what they are:

"Cheap" things that make me one of the richest women in the world.

It's Intense to be a Mom to an Almost Two-Year Old

My last child. 

The last of the babies.

The caboose on this fast freight train of parenting. 

She is still a baby, 

still needing snuggles when she's sick,

still clingy when she's tired ("Uppa, Momma!"),

still unable to keep up with the big kids when they run.

But then, she's not a baby any more in so many ways that are achingly obvious, too.

Like how she is on the fast track to potty-training herself.
("Go potty, jelly bean!")
...and then when sitting on the loo..
("ABC's, Momma, sing ABC's!")

The lady-like way she has of doing things properly and keeping things in the right place and order.

The way she loves saying big words with such gusto, quickly progressing with her sounds until she has it right. 

("Yook Me, Momma!") 

Yes, she has her opinions about how things should be done and is driven to learn, to grow, to do things in a way that makes sense to her reasoning little mind. She's a lot like her big brother. Different dynamically from each of her sisters. 

She may, indeed, be the "baby" of the family, but she'll never settle for being the one that deals with Mom when Mom goes through the Empty-Nest syndrome as the older three fly from the nest. 

Nope, not this girl. She'll be free in her soul long before she flies from my nest.

It's in her nature to be so.

And so, in many ways, as I watch her go from baby to big girl in the blink of an eye, I know I'm also saying goodbye to the neediness of "baby"hood in more ways than one. 

And I don't think there's any way to prepare a mother's soul for the next stage. It's like learning to walk. 

First, I must crawl. 

There will be bumps and bruises along the way.

I'll fall down as I learn.

There will be tears.

But as I watch her accomplishments I know my heart will soar with hers.

So maybe...

...just maybe...
 there will be moments the empty nest will be forgotten as I, with wonder, watch them fly.

"Bye, Momma!"

(riding off into the sunset with Prince Charming)

It's Exhilarating to be a Mom to a Six-Year-Old

I have an amazing six-year-old daughter.

Her eyes sparkle when she smiles.




The fascination and love for God's little Creepy-Crawlies is something He put into her little soul and it must make him so HAPPY to see her staring at a snake or squealing over a dragonfly.





Her laughter is that honest-to-goodness "infectious" laughter you read about in good literature. It's the kind that catches you in the middle of a serious sentence and throws you into deep belly laughs of your own, unstoppable, intensifying with hers until she stops.



Having Emmy in your life feels sort of like riding a roller coaster. Once you step on and are strapped in you're not sure which way you'll go next or what the next drop and roll will feel like. Any chance of being bored? Absolutely not!





Some days I'd still like to replace "exhilarating" with "exhausting" but those days are few and far between, now, where they were the majority of my days when my little Emmy-girl was 3. Yes, 6 is much easier, much more fun, much more rewarding than life with 3-year-old Emmy. But those days had to be fought through to get here.




And here is where I learn that despite all of my mistakes with 3 year old Emmy, 6 year old Emmy still believes in me. Forgives me. Grants grace to me. Loves me. Thoroughly. With that infectious laugh till your sides ache sort of thoroughness. I will always need her in my life. I need her laugh, the growth she brings to my soul, the exhilaration of being her Mom.

TOS Crew Review: Pearson Homeschool EnVision Math

 

Pearson Homeschooling offers complete build-your-own core curriculum packages for grades Pre-K - 12 at affordable prices for homeschooling families. On the home page of their website you can choose your state from a pull-down menu that links directly to your state's homeschooling requirements!  The Program components Pearson offers are all well-researched and proven effective. On the website, for each element there is a heading called "Research and Validity" that lists the specific studies done proving its effectiveness.

When I opened the package from Pearson with the gorgeous enVision Math Grade 3 book in it, I was really excited.... and a little nervous. You see, all year long we'd been using a math program that was a completely different format than the typical public school math book, and the enVision book, while colorful, looked kind of like...standard PS fare. 

Joshua had been doing so well with our chosen curriculum that I was hesitant to add confusion with such a completely different approach. I really shouldn't have worried.

At all.

He opened the book to the introduction/test prep pages in the beginning and dove in. My son is 8 years old and a very strong reader, who loves (LOVES) history, and this little Math book is stuffed full of interesting historical facts like I've never even *imagined* a math book could possibly be. He was lost in the book, reading through it, searching for the little boxes to tell him more, more, more facts, then popping his nose up above the edge of the book to tell me things like, "In 1818 a law was passed that the flag should always have 13 stripes and there should be one star for each state!", and "The Space Needle is 605 feet tall!", or "A giraffe weighs 4,255 pounds!!!". Really? Giraffes?! Wow.

What an interesting way to get my son excited about doing his math lesson: "You can't read ahead until you've finished this page, Joshua!"

As this is a standard, non-consumable text book with no corresponding workbook, it took him a while to get used to writing his answers on a separate sheet of paper, but once he got the hang of it he did fine. The Teacher's Edition CDROM also give you the option of printing out each page so the problems can be worked on the page, though we didn't opt to go that route ourselves.

In the beginning of the book is a little 12 page "Problem-Solving Handbook" with specific strategies for problem solving, including detailed work-throughs, pictures, and examples. Strategies include: draw a picture, make a table, look for pattern, act it out, work backward, and solve a simpler problem. No matter how your child learns, there is something useful in the PSH to help them help themselves when stuck on a problem. It is meant to be used through out the course as a handy reference tool.

For my son, who is a strong reader and very interested in the real-life fact-based problems used in this format, enVision Math Grade 3 works very, very well. We will continue to use this as our 3rd grade math curriculum for Joshua even though some of it will be review material that he has previously covered. I know the addition of real-life problems will only reinforce these math facts in his mind!

I do, however, think the layout and bright colors could be distracting for a special needs child, one who is on the spectrum, or one who is easily overwhelmed with busyness. If your child is not a strong reader, the reading comprehension in this book might be adding too much at one time.

We received the enVision Math 3rd Grade bundle, which includes Student Edition text book, Teacher Edition CD-ROM, Parent Guide, and Mind-Point Quiz Show CD-ROM. This bundle is available here for $99.99

Click on the link below to read what our other Schoolhouse Review Crew is saying about enVision Math Grade 3 and other Pearson Homeschool products!

Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

 



 

TOS Crew Review: Dive Into Your Imagination

Dive Into Your Imagination is a production company started by Annie Crawley, an underwater cinematographer and educator, who hopes to change the way a new generation views the ocean. Because we "protect what we love", says Annie, the goal of Dive Into Your Imagination is to help people of all ages fall in love with our ocean!

While the goal and purpose of the educational videos and guides is to help people of all ages fall in love with the ocean and its beautiful creatures, it's not all pretty pictures and basic information. By engaging the wonderful tool of Imagination within the context of learning pertinent facts and starting in-depth conversations, these videos and the corresponding Educator Guides become a relevant and useful tool in a classroom or homeschool setting.

Great effort has been put into gathering together a set of activities and curriculum that meets up with the CCSS (Common Core State Standards) not only in the area of Science, but Math and Literacy as well. Furthermore, the lesson plans are also designed to achieve benchmarks for the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, and Ocean Literacy Standards. Yep, not only is Annie passionate about getting us all to LOVE our oceans, she's also passionate about providing relevant curriculum that meets or exceeds our expectations and provides a fact-based platform for learning to have that Love relationship!

We were sent a copy of the DVD "Who Lives in the Sea?" and given access to the corresponding educator guides pdf files for grades PreK/K and 1-3. Both individual guides have over 300 pages each, containing a wealth of information and ideas. Each chapter corresponds with a portion of the video and includes a list of required materials, objectives, character education, treasure chest of vocabulary words, imagination play script, classroom activity stations (really cool!), extension ideas (including lots of suggested books!), CCSS alignment, and more!


Educator Guides

If you have children who are interested in knowing more about sea creatures, have a classroom of curious kids that you want to give sea-life unit studies to, or have an interest in spreading love for our oceans to the grandkids in your life, this might be a great resource for you!

The Who Lives in the Sea DVD is part of a series. Each DVD is available for $19.95.
The Educator Guides are available as a printed version for $299 (for the set of two grade level guides pertaining to each DVD) or as individual PDFs for $69.95. As a special for the Homeschool Crew and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and followers Annie Crawley (of Dive Into Your Imagination) will provide a set of PDFs with purchase of the DVDs FREE of charge! When you place your DVD order, just let her know in the notes that you are a Homeschool Parent! What a great deal!


With products from books to DVDs to colorful greeting cards, there is something to engage the hearts and imaginations of everyone in the Dive Into Your Imagination store!

We found that watching through the video straight through was an enjoyable rainy-day activity, though the overall feel of the speech and songs had more of a preschool feel than an elementary feel. We did watch this several times before diving into one of the chapters of the educator guide for grades 1-3. By that time, the kids were very familiar with dolphins and coming up with answers to the discussion questions was automatic. The kids had a blast pretending to be scuba divers and then pretending to be a pod of dolphins! I was very pleased with the conversations we had about how there are stories of dolphins protecting humans, "So why don't humans protect dolphins?". They enjoyed the activities and worksheets, and I found the Educator Guides to be thorough, arranged well for ease-of-use, and of top quality. I'm not sure what format the printed version of the guides is, but if the pdf version is any indication, you won't be disappointed if you make that purchase for your classroom.

To read what other TOS Crewmembers are saying about Dive Into Your Imagination: Who Lives in the Sea? and other DIYI products, go to the Crew blog post here!


  

Disclaimer: As always, I was provided with this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.