Core Four in a Bag Success!

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to test out our Core Four in a Bag somewhere besides our front lawn.  I am happy to report:  It is a success!

After Jack's E.I. appointment that morning, we piled into the van for a doctor appointment for Luke.  Before we did, I grabbed our Core Four Bag and a quick picnic lunch. With these in the van, I felt free to go wherever the day took us without worrying about breaking the habit of lesson time we have been slowly building again as summer draws to a close.

So, where did it take us?

After the doctor's appointment, since it was beautiful out, we stopped at one of the kids' favorite local playgrounds for a bite to eat and some nourishment for the soul.  I read aloud from one of our Catholic Children's Treasure Box books as we enjoyed eating al fresco in the warmth and sunshine.  Then, it was time free play time for phys. ed. and socialization.

Physical education halted when Luke spied a family launching air rockets.  Before long, he called Nina over and the two of them sat entranced for quite some time while I played with Jack on a nearby roundabout.

When the family stopped shooting off their rockets, Luke and Nina joined Jack and me for some roundabout fun and, then, Luke and I found our way to the shade under a tree for a lesson from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

Jack asked for "my turn" when Luke was done reading, so we did some speech work using pictures in our Catholic Children's Treasure Box book.  Then, Nina came over for her brief reading lesson while Luke went off on a Math Challenge around the playground, counting up different types of playground equipment and writing notes in his notebook about it.

After Luke reported back to me with his math notebook, we all enjoyed a bit more outdoor play before walking over to a nearby library to play in the children's room, color an pick out audiobooks and CD's, which we listened to on our way home.

"Formal" Faith, Reading and Math lessons.  Informal P.E., social skills, library skills and music lessons.  Not bad for a day when a relatively last-minute appointment took us away from the house.

Our Core Four in a Bag is a keeper!

What tools help you offer flexibility yet key lessons and routines to your children?

Pool Noodles for DIY Science, P.E., Faith and Sensory Fun

Pool Noodles + Butter Knives + Kiddoes = P.E

I recently wrote a piece over at Special-ism about using pool noodles as a sensory diet tool all year round.  When I wrote the piece, my camera, my computer and I were in the midst of a battle, so I could not offer personal photos to go along with the post.  Well, thankfully, technology is cooperating a bit better for me now, so please enjoy some photos and ideas below, before clicking over to Special-ism for more pool noodle fun here and here. (While at Special-ism, if you are a teacher, a parent or a professional who works with folks with special needs, I encourage you to linger.  Special-ism is such a rich resource for information on many special needs topics.  I stop there almost every day to share in the insights the professionals writing there offer.  Great stuff!)

Now, onto a photo recap of our morning of D.I.Y. pool noodle science, P.E. Faith and sensory diet fun.

Pool Noodle Marble Runs

First, we sliced one of our pool noodles in half.  (Sorry, no pictures of that because three young children, one mama, one pool noodle and a pair sharp scissors do not make for a safe photo opp!)

Then, we fetched Nina's marbles and a "catch" bin and headed over to the outside stairs for some visual-tracking and science fun.

Ready? Set...

Let 'em roll!

Curious about how they marble run would work in other settings, the kids worked muscles and cooperation skills by moving the set up to the driveway.

How will they roll if the ramps lay on a slight decline?

And how about if we change the angle by standing?

And, because they are who they are, Luke, Nina and Jack decided to make marble run machines, building and testing a variety of structures throughout the morning.  Ah, my young engineers working minds and bodies to make their creative visions realities!

"Oh no!" says Luke.  "Our long run isn't working.  How can we redesign it so the marble does not fall off where the two noodles connect?"

A tweak and... YES!  It worked.

But, perhaps adding more chairs to the machine would be fun...

Or more shoots?  Some open and some closed.

With many tests and tweaks, the kids sure got a healthy serving of proprioceptive, visual, tactile and even some vestibular input with this science-based activity!

Wicket Fun Obstacle Course

(Okay, only locals will get the subtitle I just wrote "Wicket fun" = "wicked fun", which I know equals local slang that will make Hubby cringe, but I could not resist.)

We did not have any chop sticks or dowels available so we got creative in making our pool noodle wickets.  Yep, grabbed some butter knives, which hammered into the ground with ease, and then, we were good to go for popping on the pool noodles for some P.E. with a healthy dose of tactile (the grass!) and vestibular (all the different ways for going over, under and around) input.

Low crawl under, jump over...

Jump off the trampoline, stomp between, then jump over and around...

Faith

And, just because Nina is Nina, pool noodles even bring faith talk opps:

"Jesus Christ, lay down his life, for us...for us..."

 

Has any other child ever laid noodles down, laid atop them and begun to sing?  Probably.  But, it still took me by surprise, then, made me smile.  Children are hands-on learners who often synthesize knowledge by play-acting.  Pool noodle crosses?  Why not?

I encourage you to keep your pool noodles handy even as summer comes to a close.  You never know what learning and sensory fun they could bring!  (And, if you haven't got any pool noodles and don't see any on sale, do not panic. Foam pipe insulators can work, too.)

What are your favorite pool noodle games and activities?

Giving a Nod to Jesus, A Simple Game of Love and Respect

What are my children doing here, and what does it have to do with faith formation?

They are bowing to Jesus’ name.

About two weeks ago, we began re-reading Little Acts of Grace during our morning circle time.  This gem of a book introduces young children to gestures, thoughts and actions that can help to keep our minds and hearts focused on God.  After reading the page in it about nodding our heads in order to show love and respect when we hear the name Jesus, the children and I played an impromptu game to practice the concept.

Giving a Nod to Jesus

Since it was the week of the Feast of the Assumption, I told a brief story about the Mary and her Assumption into Heaven.  As I did, the children listened carefully, and every time I said the name “Jesus” within the story, they nodded their heads or bowed.

When I had finished telling my story, the children asked if we could take turns telling more stories and bowing to Jesus.  Of course, I agreed. 

Luke began with story about St. Anne, which he brought straight through to the Assumption.  In doing so, he amazed me not only with how often he managed to incorporate Jesus’ name so that Nina and I would nod or bow, but also with how he hit upon some of the main events of St. Anne’s life, St. Mary’s childhood and St. Mary’s experience as Jesus’ mother. 

Upon listening to Luke’s narration, I found myself bowing for more reasons than just to practice showing love and respect for Jesus.  Indeed, I bowed my head with thanksgiving that our Lord’s story is written in my son’s heart and how gifted I was at that moment with his exuberance to share his six-year-old-understanding of it.  What a moment of simple joy and blessing!

Then, it was Nina’s turn as storyteller.  Her choice of story – or, rather, song – was no less moving for me.   In her sweet, five-year-old voice, Nina sang a self-composed song of Jesus’ birth which transitioned into a chorus of “Jesus Christ lay down his life for us, for us...”  Nina sang with whole-hearted emotion.  Wow!

When Nina’s turn ended, Jack chimed in with his far briefer turn, which was but one word if I recall – “Amen.” 

I could not have closed the morning’s prayer time and game better myself!

Nor could I have imagined the impact our brief impromptu game would have...

Since we first played Giving a Nod to Jesus in our front yard, the children have requested to play it a number of times in the car.  They have also carefully bowed their heads more often at the mention of Jesus’ name during prayer time, faith story times and Mass.  A "little act of grace" that even I had been too often neglecting, is becoming a habit again in our home – one observed with attentive joy and love.

 

What little acts of love might you revitalize in your own daily habits and those of your children?  How can you make doing so fun as well as faith-filled?

 

(If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.)

 
Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here. Thank you!

Impromptu Mary Queen of Heaven Liturgical Tea

Our Queenship of Mary centerpiece:  Luke drew God the Father to the left of Mary, Jesus to the right crowning hr and Mary with a crown in the center.  he also made angels to surround the scene.  Nina made the sun to put behind Mary to cloak her.

When I mentioned during our circle time this past Wednesday that it was the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, Luke and Nina asked why we had not been preparing for a Liturgical Tea celebration.  "Um, because Mommy had other things on her mind and has to work tonight," did not seem like a good answer.  ""Maybe you can help put an impromptu one together" sounded better.

So it was that we found ourselves re-reading the Mary: The Mother of Jesus book that we still had out from the library to focus on the feast day and inspire us for a simple, impromptu "tea":

Decoration

While I put Jack down for an afternoon nap, Luke and Nina spent their quiet time in the afternoon adapting their Assumption Day centerpiece for the Queenship of Mary.

The centerpiece before it was adapted for the Queenship of Mary.

Luke wanted to put other souls in Heaven around the box.

We put this on the table for our dinner tea and also set out out candles again:

• a white candle for the purity of Mary
• a blue candle to remind us of the traditional color of Mary
• an Immaculate Heart of Mary candle to include images of Mary and Jesus at the table.

Tea Time Fare 

Not exactly the most balanced, plant-strong fare, but fun and GFCF, we had make-your-own-Queen-Mary turkey burgers for our dinner tea time, along with juice (because it is a treat to drink juice and the kids prefer it to tea).  

Mommy's sample Make-Your-Own-Mary with 12 squash stars about her head, GFCF corn chip crown, sweet potato fry hair and smile and corn eyes.

Ah, Luke!  Twelve corn chip stars, an olive oil mayo face and one lone pea for ???

Like brother, like sister, but with peas for eyes.

Jack wanted my help, so he got squash stars, a sweet potato fry crown, pea eyes and a carrot mouth for his Queen Mother Mary.

And bringing in the abstract, Daddy just wanted to show that there were vegetable choices at the table, which, for the record, the kiddoes were encouraged to nibble on post burgers, pre-sweet treats.

We followed the burgers up with chocolate almond ice cream (brown to remind us of the earth where Mary was mother to Jesus) and coconut sorbet (white to remind us of the heavens where Mary is mother to us all).

Prayer

Of course, we prayed the Hail Mary and added some personal intentions, too, especially for two friends with cancer.  Please join us in prayer for both.  One is battling the disease with success; the other may be joining Jesus and Mary soon.

Activities

Since I had to scoot out to work, our tea-time activity was simply playing with our food to make our dinners.

However, as I already mentioned, earlier in the day, Luke and Nina spent time making our centerpiece.  Plus, we all enjoyed this beautiful artwork online, which we found especially amusing after a friend pointed out on Facebook that the angels in it resemble our Jack.  So true! 

From Wikimedia Commons

Did you honor the Queenship of Mary this past week?  Did you find yourself following your children's lead in letting activities for a portion of a day unfold?

Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make any Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but it is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and sharing how we are doing it with you. Thank you!

2012-2013 School Planning: Math (Or, Accepting the Gift of a Shiller Math Kit)

Nina works on lengths with Shiller Math.

Trading blessings.  Bartering.  Whatever you want to call it, it makes for a wonderful homeschool economy – or any local alternate economy for that matter.  And, that is exactly how we came upon the core of our math curriculum for 2012-2013.

A while back, I tutored a homeschool friend’s son in reading and, in turn, she offered me the almost-like-new Shiller Math kit that was not working for her and her children.

I immediately tested it out with my own children and it worked for them... but not quite for me.  I wanted more freedom than the scripted lessons seemed to allow and I also just wasn’t ready to be disciplined enough to actually take out the box on a regular basis to “do Math” with the kids.  So, our Shiller Math moments were sporadic last year.  However, whenever I did take the kit out, our children enjoyed it.

Luke uses unit cubes to demonstrate coin values.

Fast forward to recent weeks:  As we warm up for the new school year, I have been taking our Shiller kit out to the front lawn on some days to “do math” with Luke and Nina (and even Jack, at times).  They love it and want more of it.  And, for some reason, I do, too.

We are blessed to have the kit, which did not cost us anything.  We are further blessed to have three children who are interested in it.  Who am I to continue to dismiss such blessings rather than to embrace them?  I certainly would not be a prudent homeschool Mama living a mission to S.M.I.L.E if I did so.    The kit works well with our family mission:

• We spend one-to-one (and sometimes one-to-three) time together using it.
• The simplicity of (and interest my children currently have in the kit allow me to focus my energies on something besides piecing together my own creative math curriculum ideas or searching for a "more perfect" math curriculum for us.
• The kit is portable (to a degree), so we can exercise our minds using it indoors or out!

With all this in mind, I can confidently declare that I am now feeling the will to “do Math” with our hand-me-down Shiller kit quite regularly this fall.  I am accepting the blessing of it and will go with it as our main math curriculum, supplementing it, of course with "real math" through daily living (think shopping, cooking, etc.) as well as any fun math games, tools and materials I rediscover as I continue decluttering and organizing our home.

Jack explores weight and balance.

Now, with this decision made, just one Math hurdle remains:  boxes.  (And for once I am not talking about the ones I have yet to declutter, organize or find homes for.)  Although the Shiller Math kit comes in a handy box, that box, like all cardboard boxes, does not seem to stand the test of time and use.  Ours is already taped together and bursting at the seems again.   I want to find better "housing" for our Shiller kit materials –something easily accessible, portable and inexpensive.  Ideas are welcomed!

How do you store and present your math manipulatives and materials?  What are some of your favorite early education math curriculum resources?

Note: It would appear that as I have been taking my planning in bits, I have sharing it that way as well.  The other portions of our planning to date can be found by scrolling through School Planning 2012-2013.

2012-2013 School Planning: Reading and Writing with the Daily Five, Adjusted for Homeschool

A Late Afternoon Book Break...

I would love to provide my children with an authentic, traditional Montessori-style reading and writing program, but, truth be told, I just don’t have it in me right now.  The preparation of materials and space for presenting and storing them all present too large a hurdle for my mental muscles to jump over.

Luckily, along with Montessori, both Classical and Charlotte-Mason approaches appeal to me.  An intentional diet of skill-building and knowledge-gaining lessons...  Rich, living books...  Love for language and literacy!  Ah, yes, these things I adore and think I can manage to facilitate this year.

Thus, I have decided to begin the year with a simple, methodical approach to basic reading and writing skills, using a variety of sources, but mostly Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Handwriting Without Tears. 

In fact, I have already begun easing back into academics for the fall by briefly working on lessons from these books out on the lawn with Luke some mornings, and I will pick up again with Nina in a few weeks.

Balancing Our Textbook Approach

Anyone who knows me might be quite surprised that I am going with a “textbook” approach for Reading and Writing this fall.  It is quite uncharacteristic of me.  When I was a classroom teacher, textbooks almost always remained dusty on the shelves.  As a tutor and homeschooler, they have, to date, been resources to glance at once in a while, not core learning materials.   However, in this season of our life, textbooks seem "right".  They will work for the moment and with our big picture.

Sort of.

To be honest, for me to feel like me still, the textbooks have to be balanced with plenty of free reading and writing as well as self- and mama-directed projects.  So, Mike and I will to continue to read, read, read aloud to our children and to encourage them to read and write for themselves at their own paces, too.  And, along the way, we will surely involve ourselves in many projects.

Indeed, a lot of this reading and writing will continue as it has been happening all summer – naturally.   

Testing a New Framework

I am also going to try a new framework for some of our focused reading and writing times, one that I have borrowed and adapted from The Daily Five, a book that caught my eye recently and one that I devoured despite the fact that it is aimed at classroom teachers, not homeschool ones.

(As a side note here I might add:  If there are any classroom educators reading this who have not read The Daily Five, I encourage you to do so.  Quite honestly, if my children were to go to a traditional school–and if it could not be my dream Montessori school or Reggio school, which would not need a Daily Five inspired system– I would hope that their classroom teachers had read and employed the ideas in this book.  In doing so, they would afford students choice and independence, while still promoting effective communal learning and focused mini-lessons within an excellent classroom management system.  Their classrooms would be abuzz with the focused activities of engaged readers and writers.)

From a homeschooling perspective, all facets of the The Daily Five are not necessary,  In fact, implementing the The Daily Five as it is written might feel a bit contrived.  However, I think that understanding the key ideas of the book and weaving them into a homeschool day might help a home ELA program remain well-balanced, which is exactly what I am aiming for this year.

Daily, I intend to have Luke and Nina choose several of the following five categories as a part of their language studies, encouraging them to explore all of the options at least weekly:

• Read to Self—Luke and Nina will independently read to themselves for increasingly long periods of time in order to practice literacy skills which we will work on during mini-lessons.  As per inspiration from The Daily Five, they will self-select “just right” books that they can “read the pictures”,  “read the words” or “retell a familiar story” with.  This option will likely happen during a “quiet time” or “bedtime” work period.

• Read to Someone—As with Read to Self, Luke and Nina will self-select books for “buddy reading” with each other, me or someone else.  Luke or Nina will read, and after each page or two read, whoever they are reading to will say, “I heard you read...” to review what has happened in the story until that point (which is Charlotte Mason-esque).  This will help them both gain fluency and comprehension skills.  And, just so Jack does not get left out, we will count him as a buddy, too, even if he cannot narrate content back yet.  Our read to Someone tome will likely happen during our morning learning period or around lunchtime.  It might include bedtime reading with Daddy, too.

• Listen to Reading:  To build fluency skills, Luke and Nina will listen to audio stories, read alouds and online audio-visual books.  The first two things we do on a constant basis here anyway.  The last will be the real treat for them!  Some of the “Reading Websites” we may use are:  Story Nory, Starfall, Storyline Online, Tumblebooks, Wired for Books, Robert Munsch and MemeTales.  Midday quiet time will likely be the period when computer-based listening is chosen.  Car-time, quiet time, bedtime and "reset" time will be other periods for audiobooks.

• Work on Writing:  Writing seems to happen spontaneously in our home between self-directed copy work, book making, etc.  However, I would like to add letter writing to Nana and Papa and other folks into the mix, as well as journaling for self.  Plus, I may ask Nina and Luke to occasionally complete Listen to Reading reflection sheets with drawings, sentences and ratings about the books they have listened to.  

• Word Work:  Luke and Nina (and Jack  if he wishes) will choose from a variety of kinesthetic writing materials to practice words they that they find challenging to read or spell.  Should we return to workboxing at any point, this will be a biggie for the boxes.  It could also work for Montessori shelves and trays or just as a kitchen table activity during morning or afternoon focused study times.  Basically, it entails short spurts of FUN, focused work on spelling and vocabulary, including many phonics and sight words.  That work might be done on white boards, with a moveable alphabet, with modeling clay and a golf tee (the tee becomes the pencil and the clay the paper), a salt box, playdough and stamps, file folder games, wikkistix, bottle cap letters...  You name it. The actual content for the kids’ word work will likely be words that I notice they need practice with (i.e. invented spelling in their spontaneous writing or ones they stumble over as we read together).  They might include challenging words that the kids find in their “good fit” books, Dolch Words/Sight Words that I notice they need help with, words specific to topics we are studying or good old phonics words.

As with all new things, whether the framework I have borrowed from The Daily Five will be a keeper in our home will depend on how it plays out.  At this point, I love the idea and think the kids will, too.  It lends itself nicely to flexibility while defining a balanced structure for learning.  Plus, so long as the kids stay true to selecting all five options at least once each week, I think we will hit all possible Kindergarten and First grade learning Reading and Writing objectives without even consciously trying to do so.

In the meantime, I should probably stop this long explanation of what we will be doing for reading and Writing this year in order to get to actually doing some of it today.  Further, allow me to apologize, for a teacher/tutor who specializes in reading and writing I must admit this is probably one of the most poorly written things I have put out for public sharing lately.  It is a first-draft thing just to get my thoughts down "on paper" and to share them with others who, like me, are late planners for the coming year.  So, forgive the syntax and read for the content, please!

What are your reading and writing goals and strategies this year?  Do you have favorite audio books or “reading websites”?  I’d love to know what they are – especially if they are rich in classics and modern living books!

Note: It would appear that as I have been taking my planning in bits, I have sharing it that way as well.  The other portions of our planning to date can be found by scrolling through School Planning 2012-2013. 


Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make any Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and sharing how we are doing it with you. Thank you!

2012-2013 School Planning: Core Four in a Bag

As I reflect upon last school year and look ahead to 2012-2013, I have decided that the best way to keep myself on track with our Core Four is to keep a skeleton for it in a single grab-and-go bag.

Why? 

Because history proves that I can delineate a wonderfully rich plan of study, only to have other academic and life needs supersede it.  I can delineate an ideal daily rhythm and framework for learning, which includes large blocks of at-home learning time, only to discover the kids’ appointments blur the lines.  And, I can set up a lovely learning space, only to have it overcome with clutter. 

Yes.  Experience shouts at me:  Simplicity and portability!

Who am I not to listen and act?

I listened. I gathered.  Our Core Four Bag now hangs ready on a hook for whenever we leave the house. It currently contains:

• a Catholic Children's Treasure Box book  
•  a copy of  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• a blank lined notebook for each child and one for Mama, too
• a clipboard with some blank white paper on it 
•  a baggie with pencils in it
• a box of chalk
• an Arts & Crafts for Kids Supplies 100 Piece Art Set that I picked up on deep discount

With these, we can enjoy exploring our core four – Faith, Reading, Writing and Math – no matter where our days might take us.  For, while I know that one can teach without any “schooly” materials at hand, I also recognize that having a few key resources at the ready helps me maintain focus and ignite inspiration even on the craziest of days!

What skeleton supplies do you like to carry with you to help keep you focused on your children’s learning?
Note: It would appear that as I have been taking my planning in bits, I have sharing it that way as well.  The other portions of our planning to date can be found by scrolling through School Planning 2012-2013. 


Please note:  Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones.  Should you choose to click through such a link to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale.  This doe not cost you any extra, but is a choice we thank you for.  Anything we make through our Amazon affiliate relationship goes straight back into training our children up and to much of what we share with you here.

Five-Minute Devotions for Children: Celebrating God's World as a Family: Our Latest Favorite Kids' Devotional

When you find a great resource, you just have to share, right?

Well, Five-Minute Devotions for Children: Celebrating God's World as a Family is one of those finds.

We first read the book about a year ago as a part of our Morning Prayer Peg time and talked about the otters in it at bedtimes.  The kids enjoyed the book then, but they really loved it over the past few weeks as we made our second annual reading through it’s 21 rich stories.   

We love this book!

Jack, at two, demanded to sit where he could see the playful watercolor illustrations that accompany the text of each page.  He giggled as he points to the different creatures depicted throughout the book.

Luke, at six, and Nina, at five, delighted in the details of each story.  They talked about the facts they have learned and reminded one another of the faith and character principles that each animal exemplifies throughout the book.  They now try to be patient like penguins and hard working like ants; to avoid being selfish like cuckoos; to remember their safe places and strategies like geckos when afraid.  They also enjoy teaching the new facts that they have learned to their Daddy as they re-tell the devotional's stories to him at night sometimes.

Luke often asked to "read" the devotional to himself after we had read each day's stories.

Me?  I simply had stand strong that we could only read two stories a day despite the children always asking for more.  If I had given into their requests, we’d have buzzed through the devotional too quickly.  Then, I'd have had to find new readings for our Morning Prayer Peg all too quickly.  Plus, I am not sure we'd would gained the full benefit of the Five-Minute Devotions for Children: Celebrating God's World as a Family if we had raced through it.  Since we tended to review prior stories each day before moving forward, faith principles and Bible verses had more time to be written strongly on the children’s hearts.   A faster read-through might not have encouraged this.

Simple, engaging and rich, this book is now a perennial favorite on our home.  Even after focusing on it for a second year's reading, the children have not tired of it.  In fact, they have asked me if we can read it again.  So, our intention it to read it annually until Jack reaches Luke's current age and, then, to maybe gift it forward...

In future years. I can absolutely see us using this devotional a base for a unit, lapbook or other exploration of animals with a faith-centered twist.  It would lend itself effectively towards such explorations.  This year, however, we simply enjoyed it as a faith-based read-aloud and conversation starter.   Well, that, and the impetus to build nests in the year. But that is a story for another day...

What are some of your favorite children’s devotionals? 
 
If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.

 
Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here. Thank you!