Service Day #1 - Baking For Heroes!

BAKING FOR HEROES

SEPTEMBER 11th 2015

We have decided to do a Service Day one Friday a month and our first Service Day fell on September 11th, so we wanted to do something in memory of our Police and Fire Departments.

Mackenzie made Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Katy made Snickerdoodles.

We made cards and everyone signed them.

The girls really had a great time preparing for this.

We also got to talk about September 11th and the significance of this date.

We visited 2 Fire Stations and our main Police Department.

The Firefighters at Stations 4 and 7 were so wonderful!

They didn't know we were even coming and still offered us a tour!

Hudson & Beckham were in awe of the Firefighter Lam.  

They also got to sit in the truck!

Our last stop was at the Olathe Police Department.

The Duty Officer was happy to pose for a picture with us.

Hudson was really taken with her.

We are grateful to live in a safe and caring community.  To have so many people who protect and serve our neighborhoods!  Our family appreciates all of our Firefighters and police and everyone of their families that support them in their jobs!

Homeschooling with Toddlers

Homeschooling multiple children is never an easy job, add to the mix a few toddlers and you can have a real circus on your hands.  It has not always been easy to find things for the littlest ones to do, to keep them intentionally occupied, not just busy.  But I have found that if you have a plan, you can make the days productive and pleasant for everyone!

We start out our days with breakfast and chores, then we have Bible study and Character Training with Character First.  Then I do schoolwork with the younger children and the older girls take turns working with the little boys.

We use learning tools that we have purchased and we use ideas for Practical Living, like buttoning buttons, zipping up zippers, snapping snaps.  Folding napkins, pouring rice or beans from one container into another, picking up beans or goldfish crackers with tongs, pouring water from a little pitcher into cups or bowls.  All of these tasks and a lot more are fun for toddlers and not expensive to do.

Here Katy works with the boys and their Counting Bears.

The boys love to count, sort and line up the Bears!

Here they are working on Sandpaper Letters.

Most of these learning tools were ordered from Amazon.  

They are Montessori based.

Mackenzie is going over the Magnetic Letters with them.

 

Madyson reading the BOB Books with the boys.

We also take them outside to run around.  In fact a lot of our mornings are spent finding ways to help them get their wiggles out!  

Little boys need to move their bodies about 40 minutes out of every hour!!

A lot of the ideas we use were found in the books 

"Teach Me To Do It Myself; Montessori Activities For You and Your Child" and 

"How To Raise An Amazing Child; The Montessori Way".