Letter of the Week Mm

Some letters are just more fun than others.  And the letter Mm is just a fun letter.  Meaning….lots of different kinds of fun activities to do.  I looked back at when I did "Tot School Letter Mm" with Parker…and my oh my…did she get the best of her Momma!  Ha!  I don't have the energy for half of that these days.  But that's ok.  We grow and change…seasons come and they go.  It's bittersweet.  And it's just life.

Ok- enough of that mumbo jumbo!  Onto the Letter M!  (We did M a few weeks ago…still trying to get caught up!)

Letter of the Week Printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week curriculum

Bub is just along for the ride in this family.  :)  And so he gets to do a lot of things that the girls do.  No…he was not searching for the letter M in that letter maze….but he needed to have a page on his cookie sheet just like his sister.  And he loved those magnets (yes, they are a choking hazard and I sit with him the whole time….the pacifier in his mouth also helps).

And those chubby little fingers!!!!

M&M week is fun.  Especially since we get to eat M&Ms!  Which is her favorite candy…and mine, too.  :)

We are reeeeallly working on number recognition over here.  :)  So we lined the cards up and practiced again.

For dessert one night we made Monkey Bread.

At first it was just Grace and Nolan helping.

And then all 3 helped me!

Geoff was about to put this in the oven and asked me, "You don't want to take a picture of this?"  Haha!  Ummm….no…I think I'd better not remember that ALL of this butter went into this that I am about to devour.

We watch Letter Factory (which she loves) some…but I've also gotten her to watch a few episodes of Word World.  Parker was CraZy about this show and so, naturally, I remember the names of the episodes and certain letters that were focused on.  And there just so happens to be an episode called "M-m-m- milk!"  So she watched that.  :)

I love these Alex activity boxes.  I asked for a few for Christmas from the grandparents and they come in handy!  M is for Mosaic!

When I pull my camera out, I don't always ask them to smile…most of the time these days I don't…. because, really, I just want to capture the moment.  But I guess I have her trained…because if I pull out my camera….there she is…smiling for me.  ;)  How pretty is she???

M is for Muffins!  They aren't homemade, but they're pretty good!

M is for Magnets!  Grace and Nolan had a lot of fun with these.

Then we took this magnet and tried to find things around the house that are magnetic.  She did really well!  I tried to get her to make predictions before testing….and she did sowell!

And then we did the 'science experiment!"  Idea originally from Candy Experiments.  You place an M&M in water…and all of the coloring and such 'disappears'…but the M stays intact and eventually floats to the top.  Nolan got his own jar and thought he was so cool.

Initially- they were a little too rough with their m&m's and so the 'm' would break apart…so I eventually just put one in the jar.  And we waited.  And it finally happened!

She found the M!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before…but we are having a little trouble identifying numbers 6,7, and 9.  A good friend suggested to do more tactile things…which is great!  I used sandpaper numbers similar to this when I used to teach and I do think they helped.  So we are using them here and there.

I used Confession of a Homeschooler's Letter Palm Tree to do a little assessment of the letters she knows.  She could identify all but 'Y'…but doesn't necessarily know all of the sounds consistently.  So I'm going to try to work more on this.

Homeschool days.  They're just flat-out hard sometimes.  But oh so worth it!

And just being silly.

We did the following activities, as well, this week, but I have no pictures!  I worked one day and Geoff did a few things with her.  And then other times, I just don't pick up my camera.  ;)

Letter M handwriting page from The Measured Mom

Letter Mm book for Rhymes also from The Measured Mom

I started introducing sight words.  Her first week we did 'a'.  I don't think I have any pictures.  The second week we did 'the'.  I've used a few printables like the Color by Number Sight Words from 1+1+1=1.  We've also been using these wonderful FREE emergent readers from The Measured Mom.  They are great and Grace loves to be 'reading' them!

And to keep it real…..the table at the end of a school day.

And please know, that while not pictured…the rest of my house looks the same! ;)

Meal Planning….again!

I'm heading into my 3rd week of meal planning.  This is practically unheard of.  This is an accomplishment for me for sure!  And it has been pretty great because I am reaping the benefits in so many ways.  Staying more on budget…but mostly…feeling more like I've accomplished something by being a better mom just by having dinner on the table…. and good leftovers for lunch the next day….. and great meals to send off with my husband to work.

This week my meal planning took me about 45 minutes.  I know that's looooong…and I think eventually it will get easier.  (I hope!)  But it is what it is now.  So what kept these 2 busy?  Beans and rice. (uncooked)  For a full 30 minutes.  Did it make a mess?  Yes.  Huge!  But it swept right up.  And did I mention it occupied BOTH of them for 30 minutes???

Red Beans and Rice….I used a can of Fire Roasted Tomatos instead of regular diced tomatoes because that was all I had on hand…and I think it added a little bit of flavor to it.  I don't know for sure…but regardless…this was pretty good and hit the spot.  We also just added our own red pepper sauce on our plate so that it wouldn't be too spicy for the kids.  Brown rice would be healthier, but this kids eat white rice, so I'm choosing my battles.  The kids ate the rice and sausage (I think Nolan ate the beans, too).  And…. I got another message from Geoff while at work saying that it was the best red beans and rice!




I mentioned last week that I made these Sweet Corn Chicken Tostadas.  I also mentioned that they were good and that Grace really liked them.  Truth is…that first night I just thought it was O.K.  I put the chicken mixture, cheese and chives on my taco….and it was good.  But the next day….I took my tostada and put a layer of bean dip…a layer of smashed up avocado (with a generous sprinkling of sea salt)….then the chicken mixture, cheddar cheese, and chives.  And ohmygoodnes….SO good!  The corn really adds a lot to this, too.  Try this!

BBQ Brisket- one night we ate it over Baked Potatoes with a salad and bread.  Then on another night…we had BBQ Brisket Tostadas.  This potato looks pretty ridiculous.  Ha!  It's a small potato, but really the perfect size.  Those really large ones…we never eat the whole thing.  I filled it with lots of butter, cheese, BBQ brisket, and ranch dressing.  But what it's really missing are the chives!!  We had this on Wednesday night before we had to leave at 5pm for church…..so we were rushed.

But this salad……YUM!  I added the ranch dressing before eating.  But what really made this salad so good... was the fresh tomatoes…. and a light sprinkling of sea salt and crushed black pepper.  And also, the ranch dressing.  ;)

A couple more dishes coming up this week:

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta with Ceasar Salad

Monday is supposed to be a little chilly here…so Baked Potato Soup with Salad sounds fitting!

Chipotle Beef Chili

Baked Burritos