DaBrickaNate YouTube Channel

Nathan has started a YouTube Channel, DaBrickaNate, reviewing Lego sets.
We have now posted 2 videos and he's already planning to review some custom builds.
He is so cute, I can't even handle it. And I'm partial to the user name he used; DaBrickaNate is a variation of DaBrickaShaw, which is what we called him before giving him the name Nathan. I love it but the challenge will be keeping up with his videos and getting them posted!

Why VidAngel has my Support.

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So Long School!

This is our customary end of school picture of Nathan with all of his schoolwork, which does not include his homework papers.

The difference in this year's caption is that I don't have a breakdown between language, math, writing, papers.

Because I can't. I just can not. I don't have time to count this endless pile of papers nor do I even want to. I have 30 other things to do and counting these papers is not even at the bottom of my list. So there goes that fun & ridiculous tradition. 

I'll just summarize by saying 'Nathan worked really hard this year and he made good grades.' The end.
So long 3rd grade!

Peace out.

Mother's Day

There he is, the very reason I get the privilege and responsibility of Motherhood. And there is more than enough reason in that little 4 foot, 70 lb person to love and laugh and fear and fret and risk and sacrifice like I never have over anything else in this life.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you who know exactly what I'm talking about!

Summer School At Home

 Isabel & Nathan

In May, as the school year was closing and Summer Break was on the horizon, I was racking my brain for a way to occupy Nathans time during my work day.  Summer Break is every working mother's conundrum, though I realize I have a major advantage working from home full time.

 
I could easily let Nathan watch hours of tv & play endless video games but I could not do that with a  clear conscious.  So in an effort to find a productive way to occupy Nathans time,  I started constructing a Summer School curriculum. Before school was out, Nathan had a holiday which gave us a chance at a trial run of this genius plan of mine. I have just two words for that day.  Epic Fail. I spent all my time managing Nathan instead of working and he finished his assignments within a couple of hours.  Not exactly how I envisioned it in my mind but that's what trial runs are for - to work out the kinks. 

Summer School Schedule

One Sunday, as I took care of one-year olds at church and served alongside a particular 12 year old girl, another plan formed.  I was always impressed with Isabel.  She was actually very helpful with the babies,  needed little direction and carried herself beyond her years. Other folks at church often made the same observation, we all thought she was a few years older than her age.  From my point of view, she was mature, smart and most importantly responsible.  Lightbulb moment; I needed HER to oversee the 'At Home Summer School Project'!  I asked if she would be interested in a job over the summer tutoring Nathan.  From her point of view, she could go to a babysitters with her brother or she could work and earn some money over the summer.  She took the job.  We ironed out details around schedule, weekly pay, benefits, etc. hahaha!

Typical Sunday night; curriculum planning

Modicum of the subjects covered

Isabel's schedule was Monday through Wednesday, 7:15am - 3:15pm. As a result of this week to week schedule, Isabel became like a big sister to Nathan and a natural addition to our family.  I cannot sing enough praises about Isabel and how much I enjoyed getting to know her better.  Her quick wit and sense of humor had me cracking up quite a bit but it was her kindness and patience with Nathan that really touched my heart and meant so much to me. She was such a perfect fit for this job.  However, I'll be the first to admit, Nathan gave her a run for her money on some days, quite literally.

Building a T-Rex model

Nathan grudgingly accepted that he would have school work over the summer but I promised he would have fun too.  That was the deal we made and I did my best to bring that balance.  Most days, Nathan went with the program without much weeping or gnashing of teeth.  However, there were some days Nathans attitude made the day more challenging and less enjoyable - par for the course and just being a kid, I think.

 Electronic Circuit Board Project

Music time

As soon as the list of school work was completed, the kids had free time to spend however they wished.   Games became a regular part of the routine.  Isabel learned how to play Hand & Foot.  Nathan became a better Chess player, thanks to Isabel's competitive chess skills.  We ALL learned how to play Mancala.  After lunch, the kids were able to go swimming, I think they enjoyed this part of the day the most.

 Pool Time

 

The advantage of Pinterest.  Isabel and I set up a shared Pinterest board and we were able to incorporate projects we both found interesting and pinned.  As with all Pinterest projects, some were wildly successful (pictured below) and some were Pintrocities (i.e. make your own bouncy ball).

 Pinterest Project: Puffy Paint

As summer came to a close, I wanted to know Isabel's thought about her summer job, so in answer to a few questions I asked, here are her words:

"Responsibility plays a big role in any job, big or small.  I had some responsibilities such as being a good role model and teacher.  I also had the responsibility of keeping Nathan entertained which, in my opinion, was pretty easy...some days.  My summer job tutoring was, in one word, fantastic and if I had the chance to do it again I definitely would."

Pinterest Project: Stacking cups

In closing, the 'At Home Summer School Project' was a great success for a few reasons; I had productive workdays, Nathans continued education kept him ready for back to school and most of all we adopted the sweetest big sister to our family. The truth is, it simply would not have worked without Isabel.  Period.  She saved us all, haha!

 Pinterest Project: Name painting on canvas

We are back to school this week...here we come 2nd grade!

First Grade Today

448 Math worksheets

288 Language worksheets

192 Spelling worksheets

142 Reading worksheets

34 Weekly Reports 

31 Handwriting sheets 

5 Poems

Other = Countless

This is just the classwork.

It does not include the homework.  

Imagine another pile for homework.

The spelling notebook looks like hieroglyphics.

 

This is what First Grade looks like in 2014.

Its hard work!

September Handprints

In September of 2009, Nathan and I started a little custom of painting his handprint on a small canvas.  I thought I would retire this little custom of ours this year but Greg actually expressed otherwise.  So we are continuing to do this.  Its fun to look back at the pictures...so just sharing the cuteness. :)

2009

 

 

2010

2011

2012

2013

Kids Remember Journal = Complete!

Years ago, when Nathan started talking, I made it a habit to occasionally jot down funny things he would say or his toddler pronunciation of words.  I used yearly calendar books to record the things he said and I still continue to do this.  These are the calendar books which have accumulated over time.

My entries weren't for every day or even every week, just whenever I could manage it or remember to do it. For example, here is just a single entry that I quickly scribbled one week in 2010:

A while ago, I took advantage of a Paper Coterie special and ordered the journal where I planned to consolidate all these calendar entries.  The journal turned out really cute (photo by Amy Kaylor) and it would seem I was ready to start.  My hangup though was which pens to use.  I deliberated over this for an unreasonably long time. For this type of memory book being passed down to someone, I think handwriting is best because it's personal and nostalgic.  However, I hate mistakes and I didn't want this cute little journal filled with scratch-outs.  I needed a good quality, multiple colored, erasable pen.  Enter the Pilot Frixon pen set.

These pens saved my project!  The ink is thermo-sensitive gel ink that disappears with erasing friction.  The end of the pen includes a gray rubber nub, used to rub away ink. Best part is there are no eraser crumbs.  I consolidated all my calendar entries entering each one in my Remember journal and used multiple ink colors to differentiate between the years.

I'm all done and the journal will sit and await the remainder of the entries for this year.  Oh. I just realized by typing that statement this project isn't really complete...it's ongoing.  I can never mark this off my project list? Well, it's totally worth it.  As I worked on this I had already forgotten some of the silly and at times, profound things, my little one had said and I was so glad I had written those things down.  And therein lies the whote point! ;)

Disneyland. Best Surprise Ever!

Greg and I pulled off the best surprise this Summer.  We didn't tell Nathan we were taking him to Disneyland until we were ready to walk into the park.  It was awesome. :-)


None of us have ever been to Disneyland, so it was a first for Greg, Nathan and I.  After our trip, we now understand the tagline "The happiest place on earth." There is just something about it, that makes it a happy place.

We have friends in AZ that seem to go to Disneyland once a year.  We didn't get it and they didn't get how we had never been!  Now...we get it and fully understand the magic of Disneyland. 

I guess I brought back some magic pixie dust with me because I was able to pull together our family vacation video within hours instead of days which is more my speed.

I love that Nathan will have this video to look at in the future so he can remember this very special surprise Dad and I pulled on him!

How I became a Lego Nazi.

I love Legos. And I hate Legos.

I love Legos because they are an excellent toy.  They build fine motor skills, require complex problem solving, etc, etc.

But I hate Legos because they end up everywhere...every room in the house, my car, etc. etc.

The situation at our house was out of control.  Therefore, control measures had to be put in place
and that's when I became the Lego Nazi.

This how a Lego kit is packaged.  A box, separated parts in bags and instruction booklets.  It's great. Nathan builds the kit, plays with it.  Add 10 more Lego kits.  Nathan builds them, plays with them. Now Lego parts are all mixed together. Nathan tries to rebuild a kit but can't because there are missing parts, insert a meltdown, weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And now Mom is finding Lego pieces every-freaking-where. It's not so great anymore.

When I thought about the dollar value for each of  these kits and realized they were an investment, I began the process of creating a Lego Library.

The first step of the process was collecting every Lego and separating them by color into individual buckets.  Second step was take each Lego kit booklet, which provides a part list that makes up the kit. Thank goodness, Lego does this!

This is what the sorting process looked like.  This process took months.  I even had friends pitch in to help one night.

Each kit was assigned a Sterilite box, 3 different sizes available, found at Wal-mart, between $1.99-$3.99, very affordable when you need multiple boxes!
 

I copied the front of each booklet, taped it inside each box on both ends.  

Once each kit was completed, it went in the Lego Library.  The key here is only 1 kit can be 'checked out' at a time. Judge if you want but this way parts do not get mixed together and the kit stays in tact, which is the ultimate goal for these 'investments'.

When Nathan completes a build, he puts it back in the box and returns it to the Lego Library and checks out a new kit.  I quietly check the kits once in a while to take apart what's built, so they are not already built when he checks them out again.

Believe it or not, Nathan completely respects the process and checks out/in kits on his own. He's ok with this system because he enjoys the building process and when all the parts are available, there's no frustration, just fun.

So that is how I became a Lego Nazi and I have no shame!

This is what Kindergarten looks like today.

This is what Kindergarten looks like today....

Above is a picture of Nathan's homework and classwork for his Kindergarten year. 

• 137 pages of homework (yellow section of paper)
• 743 pages of classwork (white section of paper)
• 19 phonogram tests (10 blue ribbons for scoring 100%!)
• 6 recited poems
• 180 days of school

Two weeks before the end of school, Nathan came home with 'Graduation' pictures, much to my delight...

On the last day of school, there was "Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony"...

The children were awarded certificates for moving up to First Grade...

As part of their performance the Kindergartners recited the Preamble of the United States Constitution.  Seriously. Here's the video:


Lastly, I discovered as I read the program from the Kindergarten ceremony that Nathan has formally started his political campaigning....Hahaha!!

In a nutshell, that's what Kindergarten looks like today.  I have a sneaky suspicion that everything I just described is far from what you personally experienced as you moved from Kindergarten to First grade, right?! My, how times have changed!