L is for Love Languages

L is the letter this week for the ABC's of homeschooling meme. L is for Love Languages!

About a year ago my husband and I got the "The 5 Love Languages" book written by Gary Chapman. This book is a must read for every couple.  It truly helped our marriage and made us realize what we both needed in order to feel more loved.

Did you know there are 5 love languages? They are Quality Time, Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. There is a love language assessment on Dr. Chapmans website so you can find out what you and your spouses love language is. Well it turns out mine is Words of Affirmation and Ben's is Physical Touch. For most of our marriage though I would perform Acts of Service (like keeping the house clean, calling his Drs for him etc.) thinking that was showing how much I loved him. He liked that I did those things and appreciated my acts but it didn't fill his love tank. And he would show his love for me by spending quality and providing physical touch. But it wasn't what filled my love tank. Now it is important to remember that all 5 love languages are necessary and should be expressed but your primary love language should be used more.



Now if you think that sounds like a great book it gets even better. Dr. Chapman also has a book called "The Five Love Languages of Children."  After we read the couple book we decided we must read the one for children. And this book just like the couple version this is a must have for have for any parent. This book helped us realize what our children were not getting in order to feel extremely loved. Again there is an easy assessment to help you figure out what your child's love language is. Gwyn is Physical Touch and Rowyn is Gifts. The assessment is so easy that a 3 yr old can comprehend the questions and answer appropriately. So we now try to meet our children s primary love languages daily so they have full love tanks. It works especially well with Gwyn. If she gets her cuddles, back rubs, legs rubs, hand holding, hugs and kisses she is much more pleasant and her behavior is better.



Now there is the problem. I am not a physical toucher and never have been so trying to meet both my husband and daughter's primary love language is very, very, very hard. For months I have been trying to express their love language more, but it is tough. So if this sounds like it will be an easy task I will tell you it is noy. Most of the time husbands and wives have different love languages and you are speaking the wrong one to your spouse. And you will possibly have a hard time speaking their love language because it conflicts with your personality.

I will end this post with the words off the back of the book "Every child (like every adult) expresses and receives love best through one of the five communication styles." If your love language is different from your children's, you'd better learn to translate-fast. Or you could miss your chance to meet their deepest emotional needs. Discover how to express conditional feelings of respect, affection and commitment that will resonate in their souls-and inspire them for the rest of their lives." Gary Chapman,. PH.D

I is for Indian History

This week my A B See Photo Meme is I! I is for Indian History! This photo was taken at the annual Mothers Day Indian Festival.

America Indian history is such an important part of US History especially since Indians and Tribes still exist today. There were and still are hundreds of tribes in the US and almost every state has Indian history. Take the kids on a field trip to learn about American Indian history. Here in GA we have the Trail of Tears, Chieftains Trail, several Indian Mound sites, museums (like Funk Heritage Center) and more.

I found this great quote on Wikipedia which pretty much says it all:

American Indians have played a central role in shaping the history of the nation, and they are deeply woven into the social fabric of much of American life.... During the last three decades of the twentieth century, scholars of ethnohistory, of the "new Indian history," and of Native American studies forcefully demonstrated that to understand American history and the American experience, one must include American Indians.

—Robbie Ethridge, Creek Country.^[63]

Here are some great resources to assist you with Indian lessons:

10 Little Indians - Flannel Board Set - .70 on sale - Ingles 360
History Scribe North American Indians - Unit study on different types of tribes in North America - $1.50 on Sale - Westvon Publishing CurrClick
Pioneers - Unit study on Oregon Trail includes information about North American Indians - $10.95 - Amanda Bennett
Native-Americans.org - Crafts, music, poems, photos, e-books - Free
Native-Languages.org - Information on tribes including homes, clothes, food, locations and more - Free PDF

Wado (Thank you, in the Cherokee language)!

June 3 in 30 Challenge - Week 3 Progress

Here's an update on the 3rd week of my June 3 in 30 challenge goals. Well it wasn't a completely awful week, but I still did not accomplish what I had hoped. I did continue to work on May goals.

Here are my June goals, each week I will let you know how I am doing.

1. Start packing for our big move to Savannah - No boxed packed.
2. Work on one of my OCD habits - Still doing well with this one. 
3. Try to get as much money saved before our move - Well unfortunately more things occurred and caused to spend rather than save. Hubbies phone when haywire and he needed to get a new one. He opted to get one just like the one he has off of ebay rather than use the Sprint rebate towards a phone (which would have required a 2 yr contract again as well as be more expensive). And his hard drive on his computer decided to stop working. And my car repairs aren't over. I need a new axle boot for the passenger side and some seals to take care of an oil leak. When it rains it pours....

So how did your week go?

K is for Keepsakes

K is the letter this week for the ABC's of homeschooling meme. K is for Keepsakes!

One of my other hobbies besides homeschooling, blogging and geocaching is scrapbooking. However I haven't had much time to devote to it lately and feel more like a scrapbook supply hoarder, lol. I love to take photos and collect keepsakes for our albums for every event or trip.

One of the pages out of our Dollywood album.

My keepsake collecting has even rubbed off on my kids. Every time we take a fieldtrip or have something exciting take place like a milestone, holiday or birthday they collect keepsakes for our albums. On fieldtrips they also insist I take pictures of them posing with everything we encounter.

So I thought....well maybe I can incorporate scrapbooking into homeschooling somehow. They love stickers, cutting, gluing, and coloring which is basically all scrabooking really is. And scrapbooking can be very educational. Kids can learn their colors, practice handwriting, composition, fine motor skills and more.

Supplies don't have to be fancy or overly expensive. Dollar tree has supplies as well as the dollar sections at Target and Michaels. You can also use recycled items likes brochures, newspaper, fabric, wrapping paper and magazine clippings. If you prefer you and your kids can also make digital albums on websites like shutterfly and snapfish. (see one of ours below)

Click here to view this photo book larger

Here are some ideas I came up on ways to incorporate scrapbooking and keepsakes into homeschooling.

• Create a yearbook! Just because we are homeschooling doesn't mean we cannot have a yearbook too or a class photo. Take pictures of the kids on fieldtrips, playing and homeschooling. Journal about accomplishments, goals, favorite subjects, interesting things that were learned. And don't forget to include handwriting samples, workbook pages (could be used as background) artwork,  and  projects (or pictures of projects if they are large). Your yearbook can also serve as a annual progress report for family or maybe even the state? And of course be a cherished keepsake for your child to preserve your their memories and school days.

• Have more fun with unit studies and lapbooks! Unit studies already involve a lot of cutting, gluing and coloring. But how about expanding on that and including pictures, keepsakes, etc of items relevant to the unit study. For example if the unit study is on trees have your child take pictures of trees, or include a piece of bark from a tree.

• Create story books! Have your child make up their own story and use family pictures, keepsakes etc.
  
  
• Create cards! Rather than purchasing store bought cards have your kids use their scrapbook supplies to make them. They can create their own Thank you cards when they receive gifts and include a picture of themselves with the gift.
   
• Create a pet scrapbook! If you have a pet your child could create a scrapbook when they learn about that animal.
  
• Create handmade gifts! Around the holiday's have the kids create handmade gifts using their scrapbook supplies. Kids can create handmade story books, pencil/pen holders (like the one below) and candy bar wrappers.

Pencil/Pen holder made with a tin can and scrapbook supplies.

So what are you waiting for? Go gather your supplies and get the kids started.

My other ABC Posts:
E is for End
F is for Fabulous Fun Filled Field Trips on Fridays starting in the Fall
G is for Grateful
H is for Helping Hands
I is for Imagination
J is for January and June

Currclick Back to the Beach Sale/Nature Scavenger Hunt

Have you participated yet in the CurrClick Summer Freebie Scavenger hunt? If you haven't you need to head over to their site so you can get your 8 great freebies. They are also offer 40% off summer learning resources. The beach creatures are easy to find and are located on the information pages (located on the left near the bottom of the webpage) and in the account options (blue area top right). If you have trouble finding any let me know and I will give you hints! You have until June 30th to participate.

CurrClick is an amazing site where you can download free and/or very inexpensive unit studies and lapbooks. The website was conceived of by 2 homeschooling moms. Various authors upload their material to the site for homeschoolers to purchase and download.

Bombus The Bumblebee Book Review

The kids and I had the opportunity to review a book called "Bombus the Bumblebee". The book was written by Elsie Larson and Illustrated by David Haidle and Elizabeth Haidle.

A Mothers Review
It is a 40 page beautifully illustrated book that teaches several important lessons. The book is about a bumblebee named Bombus (which is actually the scientific name for bumblebee). Bombus was created along with many other creatures by God.  But he was different than the honeybees because he was larger, hairier and nosier. So the honeybees made fun of him and told him wasn't meant to be a flying insect. Bombus decided they were right so he joined the creeping things on the ground. Then God called to Bombus and asked him what he was doing. Bombus explained what had happened and how the honeybees had treated him. God told him that he had made no mistake and that he created bumblebees to fly despite their shape and weight. So Bombus joined the flying insects again and from that day on bumblebees have always flown.

At the end of the book there are several educational sections. There are 2 pages "...about Bumblebees" that provide scientific information and describe how bumblebees fly in an easy to understand manner.  "A Talking Time" offers discussion questions to spark conversation between you and your child about self-confidence and self-acceptance. And 3 pages of "Creative Activities" such as making plaster casts to show uniqueness of each person.

This book hit home for me and brought back childhood memories. I was teased throughout elementary school because of my birth defect. My ears stick out and one is bigger than the other (despite having surgery when I was 5). So when I started school I was called names like Dumbo and radar dishes. I  used to tell kids that teased me, that God created me that way and I was special. So if they didn't like it they could talk to him.

Kids will learn lessons about self esteem, bullying, creation and why God created everyone/everything differently.

A 5 1/2 yr old's review:
After we read the book I did the "Talking Time" activities in the back of the book with my daughter Gwyn. I also added a few other questions to our discussion as well.

My little girl showing off her 1st lost tooth!

1) Gwyn said that Bombus couldn't fly because he was too heavy.
2) He believed the other bees because they tricked him.
3) In her PreK class a girl made fun of her because she wears glasses. And she was sad.
4) She was teased because she wasn't as fast as other kids in her PreK class.She walked away and played something else. 
5) Yes she has acted like a bee but she cannot fly.
6) She had a hard time answering this question. So we discussed how being an individual and not being like everyone else was okay. We are all different and that's what makes us who we are.
7) She had a hard time with this one too, we didn't discuss it.
8) Bombus could fly because God told him that he was created to fly and he tried again.
9) She had a hard time with this one too, we discussed how Bombus was the one who took away his ability because he let the other bees convince him that he wasn't meant too.

Gwyns favorite picture because it has all of the animals in it!

Gwyns least favorite picture because the honeybees were picking on Bombus

Bombus the Bumblebee is available in hardback through New Leaf Publishing Group for only $11.99.  This is a great book for children and for families.

We even got to meet Bombus!!!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes only from New Leaf Publishing Group. No monetary compensation was received.