Free Printables!

I have added a new link to my blog so I can share some of the material I have created for Liberty.  Just click on the links under Printables to view and print the material.  Please print all you want.  If you post any of the projects or material on your blog, please link back here so others can enjoy as well.  I will continue to add things as I create them.

Enjoy!

T is for Turtle

I don't quit; I persevere.

This has been my favorite unit to date.  For this unit, Liberty focused on the letter T and learned all about Turtles.  As an introduction to turtles we read the book All about Turtles by Jim Arnosky.  Then, Liberty and I put together a lapbook with tons of fun turtle facts.

Lapbooking is one of my favorite ways to introduce new information.  It gives Liberty a creative way to organize all the facts about our current unit in one place.  Plus, it can be used over and over again.  This lapbook is from Homeschool Share.  Check it out here.

Liberty's verse this week was about perseverance.  There are just some verses that she latches on to better than others and this was one of them.  Earlier this week Liberty bought a new dress and needed new shoes to match.  We shopped all day and couldn't find the perfect shoes.  At the last store I told her we would just have to try again another day.  She said, "Mom, I'm not going to give up.  I'm going to persevere!"  It was so cute.  It took me a while to convince her that I was exhuasted and we would have to "persevere" another day!

Paper plate turtle

The best part of this unit was that Liberty started reading three letter words.  We are combining short vowel sounds with the consanants we have already learned.  I am so excited about Liberty learning to read!  It is definitely one of the things I have looked forward to the most.  We also did a vowel lapbook for this unit.

Doing something right

We were in the car this weekend headed to Texas, and on the way there Scott and I got into a theological discussion on how people got into Heaven before Jesus died for our sins. I said something along the lines of "How did Abraham, Moses, and Elijah get into Heaven?" Liberty chimed in from the back seat, "Mom, Elijah went to Heaven on a chariot of fire!" I wish I could truly illustrate how she said it. It was like she was saying, "Duh, this is a stupid conversation, the answer seems pretty obvious to me--definitely a chariot of fire."

Scott and I just looked at each other and laughed. Scott said, "We must be doing something right!" We are so blessed. Liberty never fails to surprise us with her insight and maturity!

N is for Nest

"God takes good care of me"

This unit Liberty studied the letter N.  She learned about several different types of animal homes and then we focused on Nest.  In the same way a baby bird's parents care for it while it is in the nest, God also cares for us.  We attempted to make a bird nest out of spaghetti noodles and chocolate, but it was a complete disaster!  I'm sure it would have worked fine if I had been prepared and had all the ingredients.  Rule #1--always be prepared!  Nevertheless, Liberty had fun making her own nest along with several other nest projects.

Bird nest in a tree

This week we read several books about bird nests and various other animal homes.  My favorite was "A house for hermit crab" by Eric Carle.

After reading this book, Liberty made a book of her own called "A house for..."  She thought of several different animal homes and illustrated them in this book.

She has been working so hard on her handwriting.  Even though the curriculum only has her practice once a week, I make her do at least one handwriting page a day.  She has improved SO much in just a few weeks.  This is her letter N for this week.  It's her newest letter, so she has some improving to do, however, the difference between today and Monday is significant.

I get her handwriting pages from http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/.  It's a great place to make your own handwriting worksheets.

Check out the carousel at the bottom of the page to view all the books we have read!

Liberty Can Tie Her Shoe

From Liberty Tying her shoe

Liberty has finally mastered tying her shoe. She has been working on it for months with sporadic success. Now, she finally has it down and can do it correctly each time. It isn't very pretty yet, but she will have it perfect in no time. At the end of the video she gives a shout-out to some of her family members. So funny!

Slowly but surely

I can already tell I am going to have a hard time keeping up with this blog!  Liberty is continuing to love "doing school" and is really learning a lot.  Even though I raced through the first 3 weeks of lessons to move on to something more challenging, it is still a little slow for Liberty.  I am trying very hard to be patient and remember that it's not a race.  Even though Liberty knows a lot of the material we are covering now, it is still extremely valuable.

I am especially enjoying the Bible lessons.  Each week Liberty has "words to remember."  They are basically simplified Bible verses.  She is so great a remembering and understanding what these verses mean.  My absolute favorite has been this week as we have learned about the fruit of the Spirit.  She latched right on to the one about self-control.  Liberty has a problem, like a lot of young children, with self-control.  Primarily this occurs in the form of tantrums or yelling at us when she doesn't get her way.  She is now working on controlling her emotions and outbursts :).

She seems to be struggling the most with handwriting.  This is my fault, I'm sure, since I encouraged her to write at such a young age.  She has been able to write all her upper case letters for quite sometime and most of her lower case letters.  The problem is that she has her own way of forming the letters which isn't always the correct way.  She is having relearn how to correctly form the letters, which sometimes frustrates her.  I also think her handwriting is terrible, but I know it will improve with more practice.  At this point I am just trying to make sure she is not being overly sloppy!

Her favorite part of her lessons usually include any of the activities that require her to make something.  She especially loves to make books.  She recently made a book called "A Tree is Nice."  I was so impressed with her illustrations.  After she was finished with all the drawings, she told me what to write next to each picture.  It is so cute.

I am really looking forward to the day she can read.  Scott and I love reading and I hope that she will too!

Three months old

Emory continues to captivate our hearts more and more every day.  She seems to have a double portion of everthing that is good about having a baby.  God continues to show us His goodness and Emory is definitely one of His best examples :-)!

Emory's personality is beginning to emerge more and more and she is beyond the happiest little thing I have ever seen.  Her smiles abound day and night.  Her little mouth will stretch into the widest grin possible when anyone approaches to talk to her.  Sometimes I catch her smiling when no one else is around.  She is perfectly content with herself and doesn't need others around to show off her gorgeous grin--she is more than pleased with herself :).

Her most recent achievement is her giggle.  She isn't quite laughing but has the most adorable little giggle.  I never know what is going to excite her beyond a smile and into the giggle.  It's fairly random and the same activities or sounds doesn't neccessarily produce a giggle every time.  Scott and Liberty were the first to make her happy enough to giggle for the first time.  Needless to say, I am horribly jealous that I missed it! Nonetheless, I have been able to produce that sweet sound several times with various sounds and faces :).

At this point, she is still content to have just about anyone holding her.  However, she definitely prefers her mommy over everyone else.  She rarely cries except when she is tired.  If I let her get over-tired, she will throw a huge tantrum which includes her screaming this horribly high pitched scream that should only come from a child who is hurt!  Thankfully I don't have to deal with it very often because it is very difficult to hear.

When she gets tired she has started rubbing her eyes.  It is SO cute.  My other girls didn't do this.  If I give her a soft blanket, she will rub it on her face until she falls asleep.  Again, I have never had a "blanket baby" and I just love watching her comfort herself.

She still needs to be swaddled at night and will sleep between 5-7 hours at a time.  Her nightime routine is the cutest.  I take her to bed between 9-10 and swaddle her and lay her in her bassinet.  She doesn't go right to sleep, but lays awake for 10-15 minutes before finally dosing off.  It's so sweet to watch her lay there so happily before she drifts off to sleep.  She usually wakes sometime between 2-4 to eat.  After she eats, she goes right back to sleep.

She can now hold her head relatively steady for an extended period of time.  This so much fun because she can take in so much more of her surroundings.  She can also sit upright while being supported, which makes her look like such a big girl!

Her favorite thing is still her swing.  She can sit in that thing forever!  She loves to take naps in her swing, but she will also just sit there swinging while she is wide awake.  I am dreading the day when she is too heavy and that day is rapidly approaching!  She is well over 14 pounds now, though I'm not sure exactly how much she weighs.

She hasn't shown any interest in rolling over yet.  When I put her on her tummy, she cries.  When I lay her on her back, she just looks around with her little legs in the air and sucks on her fingers.  She has just recently discovered that she can intentionally put her fingers in her mouth instead of them just happening into her mouth as her arms fly wildly about.  Since this discovery, she rarely takes them out of her mouth and usually then only to pull her blanket up to her face.  Consequently, she is drooling more than ever.  I have even wondered if she is beginning to teethe because there is such and excess of drool!  Liberty got her first teeth at 4 months, so that guess may not be too far off.

To my amazement, she still hasn't lost any of her hair--not that there was much to begin with.  However, it is considerably lighter than it was when she was born.  It is now a very light brown/blond color rather than dark brown.  My guess is that it will look a lot like Liberty's hair does.

She is now is size 2 diapers.  Scott told me that keeping her in small diapers does not actually keep her small.  So, I reluctantly decided he was right and put her in a bigger size.  She has completely outgtrown most of her 0-3 clothes and is on to 3-6.  In some cases, she can fit into 6-9.  While it usually fits around her chubby little tummy, it is usually too long.  She is still rather short and fat :).  She is still eating every 3-4 hours during the day.  She is so funny because she doesn't really cry when its time to eat.  I feed her because I feel like she should eat.  Maybe I'm just not waiting until she gets hungry...

We are enjoying her so much.  She continues to amaze me with all she can do and her incredible personality.  I feel like I missed so much with my other two babies.  I don't think I was in awe of them like I am with Emory.  I obviouly know the reason for these intense feelings.  I didn't know what I was missing then.  I wish I had paid more attention with Liberty and Lilly and truly soaked up every unique detail.  We are so incredibly blessed to have Emory and we are so very much in love with her!