Memorial Day

Summer Theme

Topic: Our Country (usually done the week of 4th of July)
Memory Verse: "Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord" Psalm 33:12

Activities this week are very easy to plan.

With the 4th of July we have many things going on!

Fourth of July Parade

Fourth of July Rodeo

Bailey's Uncle Daniel

who came out from Arizona to ride in the rodeo

(We miss you guys!)

At the library we checked out books about early America such as

Ox Cart Man



and song books like
This Land is Your Land

We made button jewelry using red, white and blue buttons 
with silver star buttons to top them off.
There's a tutorial over at Family Fun.

More Summer Clothes

I love when I become friends with a pattern.

A couple of dates and I know things about it

I didn't when we first met.

Frida and I are becoming fast friends.

Another Frida Dress

Chloe picked this fabric out and says

with utter confidence that it smells like candy.

(I smell fabric, she smells happiness)

With the extra I made a circle skirt from this pattern

(we have been friends for a while)

You could just as easily use the tutorial over at The Polka Dot Chair.

It's a nice and easy tutorial but uses a lot of fabric.

I made a jumper for Bailey using Nicey Jane fabric.

It looks adorable on her and I'm very happy with the results.

Nice and cool and summery

The pattern I used was vintage and horrible.

(My first awful vintage pattern-not bad considering how many I've done!)

I put it together and the waist was so high she looked like Steve Urkle

So I took it apart and did it my way.
Maybe I'll make my own pattern for ya and do a tutorial.

I still have a couple skirts to finish for the girls

but I need to get a few odds and ends for them 

and I won't be going to town til this weekend.

Perhaps I'll get my summer planning done!

Summer Theme

Topic: Fruits of the Spirit
Memory Verse: "Good fruit comes from a good tree"  Matthew 12:33,  we also discussed Galatians 5:22-the fruits of the spirit

We made fruit salad 

using melons, grapes and other "soft fruit"

 the kids could cut with a butter knife.

Watched the movie Beauty and the Beast.  

The girls LOVE this movie and Belle exemplifies all of the fruits of the spirit.

Made a Fruit Tree

This was a great tool for positive rewards and we'll be doing it again this summer.

Each time we "caught" the girls displaying a fruit of the spirit they

could write their names on the fruit they displayed and put it up on the tree.

{We did make a rule: no asking for fruit, they had to be caught-

although sometimes they did hint at the good deed they did}

Dana picked up some canvas and sewed lengths of fabric 

weighted at the ends

on to the top of the canvas.

(she filled the ends of ours with rice)

That way it could hang over a door like this:

I painted the trunk and the background 

then the girls used sponge stamps to paint on the leaves. 

We made the fruit from card stock,

different fruits representing different qualities.

we used velcro to stick the fruit to the tree 

(so we could take them off and do it again)

The kids were really excited to have something to work for

and it allowed us to discuss fruits of the spirit throughout the summer.

Do you Match?

Before I had girls I hated pink.

Didn't think twice about Hannah Montana

And I didn't think matching your children's clothes was normal.

Ah, how parenthood changes us!

Matching dresses for our upcoming vacation.

Maile, Chloe, and Bailey's

Last Day of School!

I sent Bailey to school today with these in hand to give out

You can download them for free here at Texas Chicks Blogs and Pics

Busy Bees also has a cute play card here.

We made Bailey a t-shirt for her friends to sign

(this is the one we made last year)

And sent her with a little gift for her teacher

Tonight we'll have our summer kick-off dinner with the cousins

and hopefully sleep in nice and late tomorrow to welcome in the season!

Summer Schedules

As I work on this year's Summer schedule I thought I'd share with you some of the ways we organized summer last couple years and made it easier (and more fun!) for all of us.

1. Team up!  I teamed up with my friend Dana.  You can just have something planned once a week with someone or do babysitting swaps so you can have some quiet time (to blog...).

Dana and Em

on a trip to Alaska

2.We chose a theme each week.  Our children go to public school and so we decided to emphasize a religious education during the summer (along with reading and math).

Dana, her daughter Mackenzie, Em and Bailey

We took the girls to tea as part of our "Virtuous Girls" theme

3. We had set items we did each week.  Monday we'd go to the library and the park.  Wednesdays we'd go to the beach or the pool and then have a movie.  Fridays we'd plan our field trips.  Tuesdays and Thursdays were free days for running errands or letting the kids run around in the yard.  We would add in different activities but the frame of the schedule stayed the same and we could dress it up (or down) as much as we wanted to.

Chloe at the beach

4. We had a set learning time every day, most of the time in the morning before we got going.  Some days we would do science experiments, other days a workbook, sometimes they would just read.  We also did do our journals every day.

5. Journal.  Our girls used an unruled composition notebook.  I would give them lined paper which they would write their story of what happened that day (or the day before).  It would be pasted into the book and they would then draw a picture to illustrate the story.  At the beginning of each week I would insert a page including the dates of the week, the theme, our scripture verse for that week, and a place to jot down note like what books they had read.

Making pine cone bird feeders on our annual camping trip

to Polipoli

6. Go through your craft books with your kids and mark the things they're interested in.  Pick a few and see if you can stretch it into one of your themes.  For instance one week our theme was Reaping what you Sow-we planted a miniature garden.

7. Blogs I always refer to when planning summer:

      Crafty Crow

      Make and Takes

      Pre-Kinders

      Family Fun

      DLTK bible activities
      No Time For Flashcards

8. Plan a trip.  We always go camping.  Sometimes we take a big trip to the mainland.  Sometimes we camp out in our front yard.

  

I'm planning on doing a few more detailed posts on our summer activities we've done in years past, including the themes, their activities, and scriptures.  Sound good?