Little Tiny Baby Pretend House...the bathroom

This is the second part, in a series of parts, of the tour of the Little Tiny Baby Pretend House. If you missed the tour of the boys' room, you can see it here. Yes, it is possible for a family of four to live in 594 square feet of space.

So, here is the bathroom...the one bathroom.


This is the view from the hallway. Let me just say that I LOVE my shower curtain. It has all of my favorite colors in it. It makes me smile. :o) The tall, thin dress was rescued from the dumpster. It really works well in the small space since it is so narrow. It is missing two drawers, but it actually is more functional for me. The top shelf is holding my makeup in a Shabby Chic basket that I am able just to pull out and the second shelf holds our supply of toilet paper. I am thinking about making a little curtain to cover up the t.p. though.


This is the view of the other side from the hallway. The mirror above the sink is a medicine cabinet and we also have a cupboard with three shelves above the toilet. I am also considering a curtain to go around the sink so that I could store stuff underneath. What do you think? Would it be too much? Do you think it would make the bathroom seem even smaller? Please, let me know your opinion.


This is the view behind the door and above the tall dresser. I call these my "grandma" pictures because it looks like something my grandma would have hanging up. I love looking at the scenic pictures and dream of living in the bottom one (looks like a quaint cottage in England) and vacationing in the top one (looks like the south of France or Italy).

This is also hanging in my bathroom. It is a very special gift given to me by my beloved Grandma on my wedding day. The handkerchief was actually given to her by her beloved grandma on her wedding day. Oh, and our wedding anniversaries are only 2 days apart...but 58 years! I really want to paint the frame, but all I keep hearing in my head is my dad saying, "Punky, that's oak. You can't paint oak!" (Mom...I feel your pain! Dad...I love you! ;0)

I want to add, that although we really are doing well in such tight quarters, I DO NOT LIKE SHARING A BATHROOM WITH TWO LITTLE BOYS WITH NOT-SO-GOOD AIM! Whew! Glad I got that off my chest!

Anyhow, thanks for coming on the tour. Please stay tuned for another. We still have the kitchen, living/school room, the master bedroom, and the patio to explore.

Weekly Report...Week 3

In the words of Collin..."Just call me butter because I am on a roll"! Seriously, we had another great week. We have been getting our seat work completed in the morning and the boys have had good attitudes, which means that my attitude has been good too. We are all winning!

Tapestry of Grace (Both)
I am going to have to give TOG some thought. Not about not using it, but how to better use this wonderful program to meet our family's needs. There is so much to it and I am afraid that I am not using it enough. We seem to be pretty light on history each week and the boys are always asking for more. Right now we are doing each week in two weeks and only two days a week except for the week Collin does a project with them. I think the work load is perfect for Thane, but Magnus needs more. I just need to figure out how much more and what. Maybe I'll look into more hands on activities.

History...This week is the first week of week 2 for us (we are doing each week in two weeks). I read from The Story of Europe by H.E. Marshall about Pope Gregory and the Lombards, or Long Beards, and the rise and fall of Justinian's empire.

Geography...I had Magnus label a world map, from memory, of the 7 continents, the 5 oceans, and several of the major rivers. Look at his work! I am proud of him!Literature...Magnus is continuing to read many books written about this time period. I have set out a basket in the living room full of library books for him to pick and choose from.

Timeline...I wanted the boys to be able to visualize when history happened. I want them to "see" that St. Patrick was ministering in Ireland the same time Attila the Hun was conquering other tribes. I wanted something simple and something that gave them a "larger picture" view. I don't have much room in the Little Tiny Baby Pretend House, so I had to get creative. I saw on another blog...I wish I could remember who so I could give them credit!...exactly what I needed. I created a "snake" like line on a large peice of paper a hung it on the pocket door that leads to the hallway! That way it is out of view when the door is slid into the wall! We just started, but here is what we have so far...

The green part of the line is the Ancients and the blue line is for the Middle Ages.

More battles occurred at our house. The boys, Collin included, build towers and forts with Playmobil peices and blocks. Then they set up all of their Playmobil guys behind the fortified castles. They each are armed with a cannon and then shoot the plastic cannon balls at the enemy's fort with the hopes of "killing" their soldiers and destroying the building. They always have a good time with this.



Language Arts (Magnus)

Grammar...Magnus is doing great. This week he did some review and started learning about action verbs.
Spelling...I am happy to announce that we finished Level One this week! Yeah!!! He still can't seem to grasp this rule though...

'doubling f,l, & s in a one syllable word if it follows a short vowel sound'

Phonics...Explode the Code is going well for him. However, I am not sure he is "getting" the rules in that either. He gets the exercises correct, but then when he is writing something else in a different subject, he gets it wrong. Maybe he's just not making the connection that these rules apply to all writing and not just the workbook pages. Am I making sense?

Phonics (Thane)
This week he worked on D, E, & F. I can pretty much hand him the worksheets and he does them on his own. He is also continuing to work through his Get Ready for the Code books.

Thane also went to Mrs. P's class this week at the charter school. Their letter of the week was B. He is making friends and looks forward to going every week.


Math
Magnus...worked on adding 10 & 100 to a number. He caught on without any difficulty. He also worked on some lessons about telling time, but that is pretty much review for him. Right Start is a great program and I am more and more impressed with it as we move along. We have finally hit the half way mark through Level B. If I am not careful, Magnus and Thane will be working on the same level soon! Oh, and we also started doing a couple problems in the Singapore Challenging Word Problems workbook this week.

(It's a little difficult to read, but he got them all correct!)

Thane...he is continuing to "get" it. I think he is more geared towards numbers than the rest of us. He ws excited about getting to do his first worksheet. He had to write out the tally marks for the quantities of each object...

Science (Both)
Noeo is going great and I am glad we are doing it. However, like with TOG, I need to think about "beefing" it up for Magnus. He needs to be challenged. I am thinking about supplementing with more experiments and hands on activities. They don't provide a lot of that in the curriculum.
We continued talking about weather this week, specifically rain, snow, and wind. We are going to set up our own weather station and record our findings.

Magnus also went to his class at the charter school. She gave the a poem about animals that they could use as copywork if they chose to. I left it up to him and I am happy to report that he chose to! He is really taking his time, forming his letters correctly, and paying attention to his word spacing. I will post it when he is finished. It is good work!

Latin
Unfortunately, we did not start it this week. It is on the schedule for next week though!

P.E.
Still pluggin' away at the tennis lessons.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday...a bit early

Okay...a few words. My baby lost his first teeth! Notice the fat lips? He fell off his bike and the result was this! Too cute!

Homeschool Memoirs...

I stumbled upon this great way to record some of our Homeschool Memoirs this year. The Homeschool Post...home of the Homeschool Blog Awards...is posting a different theme each Wednesday that we can write about. I think it'll be a great way to connect with other homeschooling moms. I am a little behind and have some catching up to do so here goes the first one...

This year we decided to enroll the boys in a charter school. This was a hard decision as I wasn't sure about having "oversight" from the government. I struggled with the idea of having to meet with an advisor every other week to show her what we were doing. I didn't want someone "telling me what to do". However, since we were moving across country, leaving the homeschooling community we had established in TN and we are having to live on a strict budget, I thought this would be the best route to go. It would give us an instant community and they purchase our curriculum.

I am pleased to say that my fears have not come to fruition. Yes, I do have to meet with an advisor, but Ms. Judy is great. She is really encouraging and the boys look forward to showing her the work they have completed. It's nice they get to show someone, besides Mom and Dad, their work. I pretty much call the shots and they are there to encourage and support me in educating my children the way best way I see fit.

There are several field trips set up for us to participate in throughout the year. A visit to the pumpkin patch, a train ride to San Jose to tour the Tech Museum, and attending various theatrical venues are just a few of the activities we can do. Oh, and it's all paid for by the school! How cool it that!

The school also has a group of families that have chosen to educate their children classically so we get together once a month to discuss all things classical. It has been wonderful meeting others who prescribe to the same values as I do as far as education goes. There are also opportunites to attend workshop and lectures. I will be going to one next week about Writing With Ease, written by Susan Wise Bauer. I have yet to decide on a writing program so I am anxious to see what this is all about.

AND...the reousrces that are available for my use are amazing!!! There is so much curricula, books, games, videos, ect. that I have access to. It is heaven for a curriculum junkie like me! The best part is that I don't have to pay for it!!! Perfect for a family of four living on a budget.

Anyhow, I just wanted to share something that is new for us that is working well.

If you would like to see how others have responded to this "assignment", you can click on this link and scroll down to the Mr. Linky and click on one that catches your eye!

Weekly Report...Week 2

I am feeling good about this week. In spite of suffering with a migraine for two days, we were able to complete everything I had planned. It was a good week full of good attitudes and good work.

Tapestry of Grace (Both)

History...This week is the second week of week 1 in Unit 1 for us since we are taking two weeks to complete a week. This is a good pace for us. We listened to the first three chapters in SOTW vol 2 and the boys colored a picture of a Roman soldier.
Literature...I read Brigid's Cloak to them. This was particularly interesting for us as St. Brigid is one of the Patron Saints of our church in TN...St. Patrick's Anglican...oh how we miss it!
Geography...We reviewed our geography, locating the 7 continents, 5 Oceans, and many of the big rivers and read Geography from A to Z.
Project...On Friday, the boys had the privilege of working alongside their dad, creating a salt dough map of what looks like the shape of Italy, but then they added several mountain ranges, rivers, plateus, gulfs, and bays. We are waiting for it to dry so we can paint it.

Update...since we don't have space in our Little Tiny Baby Pretend House, I had to place the salt dough map outside. Well, it got wet somehow and turned into a big blob. Bummer.

This week, I am going to add in some simple timeline activities. I hesitated to do this before since we have no place to put it (I wanted a wall one so it was easier to see the progression), but I found the perfect place! It's going to go on the pocket door that leads into the hallway! When we need to see the timeline, I'll just pull the door out of the wall! Perfect!

Language Arts (Magnus)

Grammar...completed 5 lessons this week concentrating on pronouns.
Spelling...worked on plural words in step 23 of Level 1. He caught on pretty quick but I noticed he is still having a difficult time with the rule of 'doubling f,l, & s in a one syllable word if it follows a short vowel sound'. 'Dress' becomes 'dreses'. He knows it doesn't look right, but can't figure out why.
ETC...the above problem in spelling is confirming my choice to start him on level 4 of ETC. He is doing a lesson a week and is understanding it so far.

His difficulty with spelling and phonics is hard to understand since he reads so well. Our advisor at the charter school gave him a reading assessment and he is not only reading at a 6th grade level, but also has the comprehension of a 6th grader! He even stumped the test at one point. When he was reading aloud, he changed a couple of the words in the text, but the words he changed them to were better choices and didn't change the meaning of the text! He actually enhanced the story! The test didn't know how to score that. I am still trying to figure out what this means now as far as schooling him goes.

Phonics (Thane)

He worked on letters A, B, and C this week. So far so good! His handwriting is improving as we go too!


Math

Magnus...we got to work with a new manipulative this week...the balance! This tool is so cool!

I placed a peg at one end on the 10 and then he had to balance it with two other pegs on the other side...8&2, 9&1, 6&4, ect. It is another great way to visualize partitioning. He caught on really quick.

Thane...he got to work with the abacus this week. He is understanding the concepts fantastically. He is memorizing the "Yellow is the Sun" poem Right Start uses.

"Yellow is the sun...six is five and one.
Why is the sky so blue...seven is five and two.
Salty is the sea...eight is five and three. Ect."

Science (Both)
I caved. I have been drooling over NOEO Biology 1 for the past couple years. It is a fantastic science program that uses literature, among other things, to teach science. It's one of the curricula our charter school offers so I decided to add it into our week. The boys love science and I want to cultivate their interests. So, we started learning about weather this week. They drew diagrams of how the earth rotates around the sun causing the different seasons, the water cycle, and the different layers of the clouds.

(This is Magnus' drawing)

Magnus also had his science class and learned more about the eco systems.

Mrs. P's Kindergarten Class
The letter of the week was 'A'. Thane took an airplane to share with the class. He was a lot more comfortable this week and asked me to just drop him off at the door and not stay. I did peak in and watched him paint with sliced apples.

Latin
We received Song School Latin on Friday. After looking through it, I am so pleased with the decision to do it this year! It looks like a lot of fun and a slow enough pace that I am going to catch on! We'll start lesson 1 next week!

P.E.
Collin gave them some more lessons. They are really enjoying it and show me their new moves when they get home.

Thanks for attending this week's open house! See you next week!

Overheard through my screened door...

Magnus to one of the neighborhood boys..."Attila the Hun was one of the most blood thirsty men in history!"

Neighborhood boy..."You mean he drank blood?!?"

Magnus explaining..."No...I mean he left a trail of death and destruction wherever he went."

Guess he was listening!