Olivesprouts Mama

Hi! Homeschool mom here, I’ve done homeschool kindergarten 4 times. 😊 I love it. Here are some thoughts on how to do kindergarten at home!  So for kindergarten you want to have one hour or less of sit down, formal lessons each week day. I fill that hour with the basics: reading, writing, and math. 20 minutes of a reading lesson, 20 minutes of math, 10-15 minutes on handwriting. All About Reading is a great reading curriculum. You can buy it used and skip the readers to save money. I like Zaner Bloser handwriting. I order my homeschool supplies from Rainbow Resources website.  In addition, I definitely recommend you do a daily read aloud time. During breakfast or lunch or afternoon art time, sit down and read out loud for 20 minutes or as long as they will listen! Children’s poems, nursery rhymes, picture books, even a chapter book that they can understand. This is also a great spot to add a gentle history curriculum (I like Story of the World), books about famous people or ev...

Sometimes in our modern culture it gets forgotten that preschool children really learn best through play. If you have found yourself unexpectedly homeschooling preschool (or, you’ve been planning to anyway!) here are my best tips. First, I  would invest in some imaginative toys - play food and pans are usually a big hit (Ikea has good ones) dolls, a toy phone that doesn’t do anything (requires more imagination!). A sand box is great if possible. Play dough. Crayons and paper. Music toys! Play silks! Less is more but having good imagination building toys will really help your child learn to play and discover. Next, create an environment for learning. Have a gentle, flexible routine that includes read aloud time (with picture books), outside time, rest/nap time, and “helping” with house chores (life skills!) Play music around the house and keep the tv off as much as you can. Go for walks. Point out flowers and birds. Collect pine cones and paint them or turn them into bird feeder...

Morning time! We begin our Morning Time with singing The Lord's Prayer as our breakfast prayer. This  beautiful, simple tune  is an ancient one and I love that we are singing it daily and my children will carry it in their memories. Then, they begin eating and I begin reading! Here is our current version: Morning Time Liturgy The Lord’s Prayer (sung) (from Cantus Christi) (sheet music available here ) The Bible (we are using the Bible Reading Challenge plan so about 4-6 chapters a day. I start the audio and we all listen while I serve breakfast and the kids eat while I sip tea and watercolor.) The Christian Almanac Victor Journey through the Bible (if there’s something that ties into our reading) Life of Fred (we have been working through the series together!)  (Other books are rotated through as time allows - spelling, science, history, fun read aloud fiction, manners, etc!)  Psalm or Hymn from the Cantus Christi Then I send everyone to br...

Fall is coming! I'm so excited. Many people seem to get a fresh jolt of energy at New Years - meanwhile, I'm still eating my Christmas stocking chocolate - but my yearly burst of energy comes in September. Fresh markers and pencils! Fresh schedules! Changing colors! Perfect weather for sipping tea! Bonfires! Mums! Pumpkin everything! It's basically got all my favorite things, PLUS, I have a sweater body. So. It's a win. Hot girl summer can go put a sweater on and calm down.  Here are a few things on our fall bucket list so far... pumpkin pancakes family photos go look at fall colors in the mountains chai tea drink apple cider make leaf rubbings dry leaves in books take a fall nature walk

Morning time! We begin our Morning Time with singing The Lord's Prayer as our breakfast prayer. This beautiful, simple tune is an ancient one and I love that we are singing it daily and my children will carry it in their memories. Then, they begin eating and I begin reading! Here is our current version: Morning Time Liturgy The Lord’s Prayer (sung) (from Cantus Christi) (sheet music available here ) The Christian Almanac Bible reading Victor Journey through the Bible (Other books as time allows - science, history, fun read aloud fiction, manners, etc!)  Psalm or Hymn from the Cantus Christi Schoolwork to do during reading... Handwriting Geography tracing Free drawing We have been doing Morning Time consistently since last summer, and it just gets richer as we go!

I tried googling for something like this for my kids to read and couldn’t find it, so I wrote one. Feel free to take it and tweak it for your personal use with your kids. :) —————————— Birthday Manners When someone takes the time out of their day to come to your party, that is a gift. Time is valuable and they’re spending it on you. When people arrive, greet them cheerfully and say hi. If they say Happy Birthday, say “thank you!” When they leave, say, “thank you for coming!” It is important to be and act thankful for every single gift, even if you do not like it.  The giver spent time and money on you and it is rude to act disappointed or bored with a gift, no matter what it is.  Thank each person politely, with eye contact & with a smile as you open their gift.  When a gift is wrapped in a gift bag, take out all the tissue paper first, then the gift. This way the bag is clearly empty or not, and you don’t miss anything or look like you expect...

Family dinner is so important and so good for us - but sometimes bickering or lack of good conversations make it seem less enjoyable for everyone. Here are some ideas to get everybody talking and engaged! 1. If you could live in any book...what book would it be, and why? (Alternative: If you could live in any movie...what movie and why?) 2. What is your favorite memory? Or, what was your favorite thing this week (or today)? 3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?and why? 4. If you wrote a book - where and when would the story take place? 5. If you were in the Great British Baking show - and you could bake whatever you wanted - what would you design to impress the judges? 6. What is your favorite song and why? Can you sing it for us? 7. If you could have any animal as a pet - what would you pick? 8. If you could have one superpower...what would you choose? And why? 9. If you could turn into any animal for a day - what would you pick? 10. ...

Hi, McDonalds! Mother of 4 kids aged 4-10 here. Big fan of your southwest salad. And iced coffees. And 20 piece nuggets. Also cheap drive thru cones! We recently took a weekend road trip & we visited two different McDonalds Playplaces. They were a huge hit with the kids, eager to play and full of  excess energy from hours in the car. So... I’m sure you’re not aware, but the sound reverberates hellishly in your children’s Playplace. This is partly because children are loud, but largely because the room is a glass and metal amplifier. I’m going to assume that you don’t intend to torture parents who have just purchased 4 happy meals and want to sip their caramel macchiato in relative peace while their offspring race for the top of the slide. I’m going to assume that your architect somehow dropped the ball and failed to adequately explain to you the value of good acoustic tiles, and how, unlike METAL CEILINGS, they do not bounce sound back at people like a deranged game of ...

Have you heard about Ebates ? This is a quick way to get the most out of your online shopping. It’s basically giving you a percentage back from your spending - so if you’re spending the money anyway, it’s great to get a little bit of it back. Click my affiliate link and give it a try! I have gotten one check already from purchases I've used Ebates with - and I have another one coming soon. They do come in the mail on a schedule - which is a tiny bit frustrating when you see your earnings and can’t access them. This literally only takes ONE CLICK per purchase  once it's set up and you download the browser extension. Or, you can click directly thru to sites from the Ebates website. Let us know in the comments what your experience with Ebates is!

Butterflies are beautiful and ethereal - like real world fairies! What better theme for an imaginative, creative kid's birthday party? Here are some awesome finds I ran across while planning my daughter's butterfly party... DIY & low cost ideas... Coloring sheets are a great activity, decoration, and favor! String some colored versions on ribbon for a quick inexpensive decoration.  This page  has a large selection of both more cartoon style and sophisticated zentangle style butterflies! The Butterfly Site  has some pages of specific types of butterfly as well as a life cycle page. Mom Junction has a page with a lot of different species of butterfly as well as a color by number . DIY butterfly mobile! Amazon finds...  Melissa & Doug Decorate Your Own Wooden Butterfly Magnets Craft kit! Melissa & Doug Simply Crafty Whimsical Wands Kit  Butterfly necklace kit - makes 6! This Dover Butterfly sticker book would make a great favor ...

Amazon links are affiliate links - thanks for supporting my writing with them! 1. These nice but not expensive colored pens . I put them in my Walmart grocery pickup but they're also available from Amazon! 2. Halo Top peanut butter cup ice cream in a 4 pack at Costco. 3. Fresh mango - so good. 4. Traditional Medicinals Lemon Echinacea Throat Coat tea . I'm currently fighting an earache, lingering sore throat and cough, and congestion, and having this soothing tea (which I also love the taste of!) in my Yeti mug to sip is really soothing. 5. Magic in a Bottle arnica menthol lotion. I've been dealing with a sore neck this past week and this is such a lifesaver! Also, it's particularly awful having a sore neck and a cold. Sneezing has been excruciating! So that's my current list! What 5 things - or 1 - are you loving right now?

I wasn't really planning to do a party this year, for this child, but the week before I discovered my kiddo really did want to celebrate with friends this year! I got to work outlining options. I made a list of our favorite local parks that would be good for multiple ages and had bathrooms. We picked a theme and cake design together. And I texted all the moms and asked them which of two dates and times worked better - since it was only 4 days until the big day and he wanted to celebrate as close to his birthday as possible. I then emailed out the finalized plans so there would be no confusion. As the RSVPs came in, I put together my Walmart grocery order. I bought a plastic tablecloth (optional - I actually forgot to use it!), plastic forks, a box of granola bars, a pack of water bottles, a bag of pretzels, an 18 pack of nice colored pens as favors ( also available on Amazon ), and a big box of sidewalk chalk (optional). I set the party time for clearly after lunch, but ...

In theory, I would love to celebrate Easter at the level of Christmas. When you think about it in terms of the story, Christmas is the "enter stage left" of the Messiah, but Easter is when the enemy is vanquished. And isn't the glorious victory worth a big party? Yes. In reality, Easter for us is smack dab in the middle of "birthday season" - 4 kid birthdays in 3 months - so it tends to sneak up on me and get a bit overlooked and hastily slapped together on a small budget. This year may not be much different, but we've progressed over the last 5 years in our celebration, and Lord willing in 5 years we'll be that much better at it. Practice makes perfect, or closer to it, and practice at celebration and rejoicing is no different! Maybe someday we'll have a beautiful sit down Easter dinner, host all the neighbor kids for a glorious egg hunt, roast a lamb on a spit on the front lawn, surprise the kids with big gifts, and generally party it up ...

1. Prioritize rest Yes, you are busy - too busy to crash from exhaustion mid afternoon or halfway through family dinner! Go to bed early, sleep in when you can, and try to listen to your body. Don't assume that what your body needs most is to wake up at 4 am to work out. If you're short on sleep overall, maybe it needs the sleep more. 2. Hydrate Always have water within arms reach when you’re sitting down. A good stainless steel or glass water bottle is a great way to do that, or a lidded mason jar with a straw. Caffeinated beverages - while wonderful - do NOT count for this! The Plant Nanny app is a great way to track and motivate hydration! 3. Routines Pick a healthy breakfast and make it every weekday morning. There’s nothing wrong with sweet potatoes and eggs for a week! You can rotate weekly, but just having a plan and being able to put a healthy choice on autopilot makes life easier. For me, breakfast on weekdays is always a rocket fuel tea latte ...

This week is our spring break from our homeschool co-op. My husband is working, and we’re not leaving town, so we’ll be having a chill, restful break.  I do have some ideas for low cost, low prep fun, though! Library trips  We have some things that need returned, and a whole stack of holds to pick up - including some movies like Ponyo, The Sound of Music, and Hidden Figures! I'm looking forward to curling up with Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes and also reading   Balanced and Barefoot :  How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children Plus, we all love going to the library and enjoying the kid activities they frequently have laid out, and just sitting and reading there. Park days The weather looks lovely today, so hopefully that holds!  I think it would be fun to take a morning or afternoon and head to one we haven't visited in a while. Plus, I wouldn't mind sitting on a park bench for...

All Amazon links are affiliate links. If you click and buy, it supports my blog and pays me to keep writing! So please feel free to click through and buy a stack of books. 😉 (Or, add the incredibly helpful  Chrome Library extension  to your browser, and put a stack on hold while viewing them on Amazon. So handy!) Living Life Backwards: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us To Live in Light of the End This is an excellent book! I did it with my ladies Bible study and it was a really good few months of deep discussion about death, legacy, and gratitude for the good gifts of God. It's good to thoughtfully contemplate the meaning of our lives and how to joyfully live the short time we have on this earth. There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids Thought provoking read on the cultural differences and how Scandinavian's cultural emphasis on outdoor play for children is something our culture should l...

I'll never stop loving great older books, but I have to say that I am amazed by the creative, well written, and inventive newer books I'm enjoying now with my kids. Many of these recommendations come from Read Aloud Revival , one of my favorite podcasts/blogs - if you don't already follow Sarah Mackenzie and listen to her podcast , you're missing out! She also has a brand new book out that I cannot wait to get my hands on - The Read Aloud Family  - and I definitely recommend her book Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakeable Peace  as well. I read it last summer and it really was a recharging and refocusing read for me. 1. Edge of Extinction (2 book series) This is a great first dystopia for kids. I read these and loved them and was so excited to hand them to my 9 year old - and I was not disappointed! He devoured them and we had great discussions about the story and characters. Dinosaurs roam the earth again, and you have to move quickly...

Hey y’all! 👋Happy February! Around here February is a whole month dedicated to hearts, doily decorations, and generally amping up the theme of love. 💕 In line with that theme...here are some books we're reading this month that we love and you might too! All Amazon links are affiliate links. If you click and buy, it supports my blog and pays me to keep writing! So please feel free to click through and buy a stack of books. 😉 (Or, add the incredibly helpful Chrome Library extension to your browser, and put a stack on hold while viewing them on Amazon. So handy!) So I read all of book 3 and most of book 4 of the Gregor the Overlander series this weekend, catching up to my 9yo. We've been getting them from the library but may need to spring for a box set since I foresee rereads in our future! (2/26/18 update - I read the last book this weekend and I was SO SAD to be finished with such a great series. Fortunately, the littler kids were clamoring to be involved ...