Ice Cream in a Can

Ice cream will make anyone feel better, right?!  And after another week of being SICK...we needed some fun!  I was over watching movies, playing the IPad and watching movies again.  We've seen the movie Home at least 25 times in the last 2 weeks.  The cuteness is starting to fade!!!  

So I pulled a recipe, from my Fun with Food file, and we went to making and mixing "Ice Cream in a Can."  We usually cook on Fridays but on this Tuesday,  this is exactly what we needed.

Adding the Ingredients

Taping up our ice cream mix.

Smashing the ice cubes into smaller chunks 

(probably their favorite part)

Packed the ice and salt around the smaller can

Let's Rock and ROLL baby!

And we opened it up to check it out.
No ice cream!
We read the recipe and we needed to pack the ice in again and roll another 15 minutes.

Sick kids and this momma decided on having...
MILK SHAKES!

We got some much needed sunshine and a delicious shake on this Tuesday.  But most importantly, we made a great memory.  

Enjoy this FREE printable of this recipe...go make some yummy memories!  Happy Learning with your Little Ones!

Ice Cream in a Can FREE Printable Recipe

1 Thing I Don't Like about Homeschooling...

01/27/2016 
I wrote this post about 2 week ago when I was sick...and never published it.  My husband ending up getting sick this week which made me start to really see how greatly we work as a team.  He was down and out for the past 2 days and I felt it!  Life has tricky.  My 5pm rescue hero was unable to rescue me when my nerves and patience were wearing thin.

But there are days when he comes home, from a long day at work, and I overlook all that he does and how he helps.  He is a leader when it comes to making us all go for our family walk, dishing out plates at dinner, showering the boys, sweeping after dinner, picking up the living room after I shower, so I walk down to a neat place to spend an evening...I could go on!  

We are a team!  He and I work so hard together to make this life (and everyday) work.  And when one of us isn't apart of our routine and schedule, IT-IS-HARD on the other spouse!  I love this man that we call Daddy!  Can't imagine this wild journey without him.
But today, instead of writing a new post, I decided this was the perfect post to publish.  Read, reflect and Enjoy!


Got ya with the title, didn't I?!

This week I discovered 1 thing I really don't like about homeschooling!  Here it is...

Momma, being SICK!  I mean REALLY SICK!

I had sent a good 2 hours on Sunday afternoon planning and preparing for this great, new year (even though we HS year 'round).  I had those butterflies, was full of excitement and everything was ready to go!  

AND THEN...

I came down with a nasty sickness.  Fever, sore throat, aches - just nasty!

I don't have the option to drop them off a daycare and school so that I can sleep this off.  My husband needed to go to work for an important meeting, so him, staying home, wasn't a option.  Grandparents are hours away, so that's not gonna help!

Laundry had been stopped!  Meal planning had been stopped!  Daily life is altered BIG time when any mom is sick, homeschoooling or NOT!

Mommy being SICK is 1 thing I really don't like about homeschooling...

But on the flip-side, I also found out this week how much I LOVE Homeschooling!

Our family had to come together and quickly!  Kids had to grow up, just a smidgen, to help out Daddy.  Daddy had to rely on his awesome-self to come up with a new plan, like ordering pizza, riding bikes to get ice cream near by, warming up pizza for breakfast and tossing it out on the living room floor as he headed out to work.  

(Hey!  They got fed!) 

The boys were asked to leave me alone, watch movies and have fun...and they did just that, until Daddy came home.  (I did help feed them lunch)

My husband called in the troops and they got through it!  

I feel much better today (after sleeping for almost 2 days).  I walked downstairs about 9am this morning to a shiny kitchen (I was expecting dishes everywhere), noticed some folded towels and then walked around the corner to this sweetness...

As I sat, with my delicious coffee in hand, this started to happen.

 Jackson asked to use the USA puzzle which led to...

 ...a great discussion about state capitals, West Coast and East Coast and where we'd like to visit or live next.  And that led to...

 Using the computer as his teacher for the morning to learn about Minecraft Coding using Code.org
And this allowed me to put the little guys in the bath for some painting/shaving cream fun!

Life may have stopped for a few days, but learning seems to keep on going! And my husband and my kids are ok.  They survived!

And because we are a family, we survived it all...together!

Happy Learning with your Little Ones!

A Peek inside our Week!

What a fun week we had!  I was sick last week, so all of last week's lesson plans had to shift forward to this week.  And that's ok...that's homeschooling!

So here's a peek inside our week.  Enjoy:0)

Monday

  

Writer's Club!  You know you are "living the dream" when you can hand pick your own class while teaching your very own!   Every Monday, I teach writing to these amazing kiddos at the library down the street, while N and MiniM stay at home and play with Moms and other littles.  

After class, we all walk back to the house, have some lunch and host a sharing session.  Each kiddo gets to share their writing for that day with their moms and siblings.  So sweet and so perfect!

Quick Subtraction make-up lesson is just what we needed to do Monday afternoon while the little guys napped.

Isn't Math a little more excited when you learn how to subtract with CANDY!  

Tuesday

What a great morning to learn at the bank AND the grocery store!   

N enjoyed watching the suction tubes at the bank drive-thru while J wrote out a list of change he wanted to trade in for his $50 bill.

 

Shopping for fruit is WAY more fun when you get to measure it on the electronic scale, right?  They each get to pick out their own bag of fruit, as long as they weigh it and print off the sticker.

 Tuesday afternoons are special for J.  It's his PE class followed by a few hours at the Skate Park with friends.

Wednesday 

Learning at home was what we did on this morning.  Colored sand is always fun...just add a 2 year old and some construction trucks!

That afternoon, our Cubetto came in the mail! N and I hacked into this mini-coding machine to see how it worked.  (And we will share that with you in a blog and Periscope broadcast REAL soon!)

Thursday - oh! Thursday!

Not - a - good - day!  I packed our learning and we headed to the post office to wait in line for 3 hours (yes! 3 hours) to get my passport!  It was a morning of patience and practice, for sure!

Jackson "writing around the room" at the Post Office

Friday

It was a MUST to make up for a nasty Thursday!  So we made it very memorable!  

We rode the train to downtown Austin, walked to the State Capitol building, had a picnic and rode the train back home.  

Seriously, one of the best days we've had (just us 4) in a LONG time!  The weather was perfect and we had nothing but time to soak up every bit of sunshine.  

Our week...another one down and many more to go. 

Happy Learning with your little ones!

Looking Back...

I felt like it was just August and I was planning the beginning of our 2015 homeschooling year. And now, we are ringing in the new year, ready to launch our Spring “semester”.

So many wondering things have happened and so many amazing things have been learned.  Our family has learned how to embrace the flexibility of homeschooling over the past few months. And we took a BIG leap of faith by launching our school year in Colorado at our family cabin.  

September to Remember!

As we moved into October, we had big plans for burritos and 2 brothers.  We had submited a “business plan” for The Acton Children’s Business Fair at the end the month.  I knew it was going to be fun but never expected we would have learned SO much through this one experience.  

The Burrito Brothers

Leaves are starting to fall and the weather is getting cooler.  So what did we decide to do?  Head for the beach!  Once again, we embraced the moment and headed south to Mustang Island, Tx.  The beach was empty, the weather was perfect and the learning was fun.  

This was a giant shark that I drew in the sand without any of it's fins.  We had been learning about the different shark fins and their purpose.  They drew the fins on to complete our "Sand Shark".

A week prior to our trip, we began our Shark Lapbooks. http://www.homeschoolshare.com/sharks.php

This simple experience ignited a love for learning in my 6.5 year old. He has become obsessed with learning about Sharks…all due to this family field trip. 

I planned to take our learning too (and my in-laws) I can’t think of a better way to spend time as a family than with these two, lovely people.  They were the ones that suggested homeschooling to us in the first place.

                             

We even made time for a rainy day field trip into the Aquarium.  And who would have thought... they had a special exhibit on SHARKS!   

As the calendar turned over to a new month, I was starting to realize time was going WAY to fast.  We were about to celebrate our first born that was turning 7 years old…how could that be? 

Birthdays are a BIG deal. (probably because I make them that way!)  With so much to do, I decided to invite J into planning for his own party.  After all, he does know WAY more about Minecraft than I!  

I put “schooling” on the back burner for a few days.  Instead of what I had formally planned for school, we:

*researched and picked-up FREE boxes for “real Minecraft backyard building”.  

*shopped online for materials to make the Nether Portal

*Used Google Drawings to make Minecraft Food Labels for the party.

*We made a VERY tough piñata together.

But most importantly, he discovered how much I love to plan parties and how much I love him.  That sweet boy told me over and over how thankful he was that he was homeschooled so that he could help me plan and prepare his own party.  THAT’S WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT…AMEN?  And it’s the memories and connections that we made as mother and son.  He will remember these moments so much more than a phonics lesson or math assessment.  

We’ll have plenty of time to get to that in the new year...

Wishing you and your little learners a blessed 2016.  Remember to love always, learn a little and play a lot!

Why we went to having a Screen-free WEEK!

Our September vacation to Colorado impacted our lives in so many way!  And if you need to revisit my posts about that experience - there are the links:

Part One - The Planning

Part Two - The Learning

Part Three - The Reflection

This amazing cabin holds an awesome secret that we discovered will change the way we set up our tech-time at home.  

Get this...THERE'S NO INTERNET SERVICE!  Yes, you can hike up a small hill about the cabin, if you need to make a call.  But you can't just turn on a tablet or flip up your laptop just to check your email or play a quick game of Minecraft.

Not having THIS luxury for 2 weeks really changed our lives. 

  

We connect more, talked often...we found ourselves NOT needing anything... but each other!

But THIS was the biggest discovery!  We watched our kids imagination come to life - NO internet needed!

These were the ONLY toys the boys had all week!  It's amazing how they made up games, created stories and interacted with just one, small basket.

So my husband and I decided that this needed to carry over into our daily life back at home.  We decided to make "tablet time" more of a privilege than part of our routine.

And this is how we did it...

We have this assignment board that tells the boys what they are expected to do for learning that day.  And each assignment is worth a number of points that is undetermined until AFTER it's completed or taught.  

I base their points on attitude towards the assignment, focus during the process and their finished product. 

Make sense?

After dinner, the boys are responsible to add up their points and document them...on this:

Click here and download your FREE printable!

On Friday evening, they total up their weekly points to see how much screen time they will get to use over the weekend.  Some weekly totals have been small and they know exactly why!  Some weekly totals have been BIG and we celebrate that with high fives and tablet time! 

Do you remember waking up on Saturday morning, pouring a GIANT bowl of Lucky Charms and watching these until your parents stumbled out of bed!?

Well, our learning point system seems to be working the same way!  Our kids wake up early and are SUPER excited to have the PRIVILEGE to use their well-earned tablet time.  

My husband and I get a chance to wake up slowly and enjoy some Saturday morning quiet time while the kids enjoy theirs.  

All inspired by a simple vacation that forced us to UNPLUG!  And we sure have enjoyed getting back to the simple life.  No more asking if they can play IPad!  No more arguments about when and who gets to play.  It's all posted here for ALL to see...

Is this a system that you could see working in your home?  If so, I'd love to hear about it.  Feel free to leave comments or questions below!

Happy Learning with your little ones.

Got Gingerbread? You Gotta do this!!!

I randomly bought a packet of 4 gingerbread boys at HEB today.  $2.45 - SOLD!  

I knew I wanted to decorate them with my boys this year and this was the easiest (and cleanest) way to get this done!  I am all about making messy memories - but a nasty sickness is going around our house.  I just needed something easy!

And this was lil packet was perfect!

This packet came with 4 gingerbread cookies!  One for each boy (I have 3 boys, if you haven't figured that out by now) and one for ME, right?  

No thanks!  I'm not a big fan of gingerbread, so THIS is the idea that came about and I hope that you can join in on the fun!

The final #4 Gingerbread Man will be apart of my kids lives for 1 week.  (Similar concept to the Flat Stanley idea)

They will decorate that #4 Gingerbread Man together and we will place him in a ziplock baggie.  

Wherever they go, that Gingerbread Man will go!

And we are going to document it all with Iphone pics, drawn pictures and journal entries.

I can not wait to see what he "looks" like after a week with us!  Park play, bike rides, walks to the library and so much more!

I created this cute printable, just for you, to help you get started!  Have fun, learn lots and make memories along the way.

Printable with lines

Printable with NO lines

Be sure and check back here for our Gingerbread Man adventures!

And be sure and post yours on our facebook page!

Mommy's Little Learners Face Book Page

Happy Learning - there's LOTS to learn with you are little.