We were busy, busy, busy, having a blast with the letter B Along the Alphabet Path the past couple weeks, so brace yourself for another extra long post!
Bumble Bees with painted Blueberries and grass at the Base
Snuggles colored this picture from My Book of Letters last school year…
I pulled out the rest of the activity pages for the letter B…
I asked Snuggles to color the sky gray and the b his favorite color (which happens to be blue) and he went on to “finish” the picture by coloring the grass, tree, and bat as well. He even colored the moon white. He was determined to cover that page with color!
He went on to sounding out the names of four pictures and figuring out which three began with the sound “b.”
Snuggles loves forming the letters with Wikki Sticks!
When we were at the craft store looking for fleece for the Blanket, we also ran across a “Nemo” themed piece of scrapbook paper that the kids all thought would make a perfect Background for Snuggles’ A, B… Seas Ocean Box! After gluing the page into the box, he also added dots of white paint with the end of a pencil to create “bubbles.”
Mix 2 cups water with 1/2 cup dishwashing liquid and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a shallow baking pan.
Dip the tip of a straw in the bubble liquid and blow bubbles. The straws were fun, but Snuggles especially loved the bubble makers we made from pipe cleaners. This was such a fun and simple experiment!
Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats
Pop! A Book about Bubbles
The Big Dipper
I posted the instructions and additional pictures from this craft here: Angel Art for A Week.
I posted the instructions and additional pictures from this craft here:
B is for Blanket :: A No Sew Fleece Tie Blanket Tutorial
B is for Building, Boat, and Busting the Burglar! 😉
For the letter “B” I pulled out this little lego set for Snuggles to Build a Building, Boat and a Bad Guy/Burglar, getting Busted! 😉
Brushing paint on Building Blocks
Snuggles was Burn out on this after painting a few blocks… I took over the project. 😉
B is for Blessings
“Look, Mom, I’m reading it first, before I take a bite out of it! Oohh! B-b-b-bite starts with B!!”
Taking advantage of the letter B theme, we finally Began Snuggles’ Bible Narrations and Picture Study for this year. We are reading the New Testament Stories from Classic Bible Stories: A Family Treasury. (I decided to wait on the Old Testament since our whole family will be moving on to Ancient History next year.) After I read the story to Snuggles’ he narrates it back to me and then illustrates a page in his book based on the picture provided.
This week we made a cover for “Snuggles’ Picture Book of Saints” using another Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheet to protect the page after it was glued to the front of his book.
), St. Benedict (An Alphabet of Saints), and St. Brendan (S is for Saints) we also read a few picture books about these saints:
The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica
I Believe: The Nicene Creed
Brendan the Navigator
Bernadette: The Little Girl from Lourdes
Brigid’s Cloak
The Life of St. Brigid: Abbess of Kildare (Not Pictured)
Saint Brendan and the Voyage Before Columbus
Of course we had to read about Pope Benedict too, and the sacrament of Baptism!
Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat
Max and Benedict: A Bird’s Eye View of the Pope’s Daily Life
The Fish in the Fountain: A Story of Baptism
I also had ordered a copy of the new book Be Saints!: An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI but it’s on backorder and hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully it will arrive in time for All Saints Day!
I haven't heard of the Billy and Blaze books. I'll have to see if our library has some to check out. All the activities are wonderful, but I think my favorites are the personal colored Bible and saint books that he is working on. What a treasured keepsake that will be for him. God bless your day, Jessica!
so many great ideas! I have been reading yr blog for over a year and use many of your ideas and book recommends. Thank you!
Great job Jessica! Your alphabet path is so thorough and inspiring! I don't know how you organize and complete all of these activities while still teaching older children and caring for youngers!! Do you have any pointers on that topic?! Your children are truly blessed. Thank you for sharing your ideas. God bless, Marianne P.
I'm amazed at your projects…. I too have seven children and my son who looks to be bout the same age? No way would he finish coloring that so neatly, much less my 18 month old and my 7 month olds letting me help/bake/etc…. Feeling a bit inadequate here!
I just scrolled up and am relieved to see Snuggles is five, not three as I'd imagined him being (my child #5 is turning four in January…. But like I said above, not anywhere near so willing to produce artwork, do neat projects like that, etc)
Oh my goodness! What an unBelievably fun B week – looks like Snuggles had a Blast! :0) All of your themes & projects turned out so cute – & I love the idea of making the various collections/books…I Bet those will Be sweet memories for Snuggles (and his Mama 😉 from this school year!
I checked out the link from your Alphabet coloring pages (I really like those!) – and was excited to see the book is from AllAboutReading! We've been using the AASpelling for several years, and I've been adapting our level A materials to teach all the letter sounds to my son, instead of *purchasing* the Reading program, lol. But it looks like they really have done such a nice job with AAR – did you enjoy the program?
I have to agree – Snuggles has quite a special talent with his coloring 🙂 So sweet to see how carefully he worked on his pictures!
Can't wait to "C" your C-week pics!
Have a great weekend!
Snuggles is such a good artist! I can't Believe how much you are getting done! Amazing!
Thank you, Kelly! I really love his personal Bible & Saint Book too! They really will make such precious keepsakes!
I hope your library has the Billy and Blaze books! Our oldest collected them when he was younger, and he has been really enjoying reading them to his younger brother. 🙂
It's tough! I probably struggle just as much as anyone… It is really hard finding time to do everything I'd like to do with all of the kids.
I have (finally) figured out that homeschooling requires being HOME a good amount of time. This year we have really cut back on all the extra curricular activities that take us out of the home. Especially since everything is quite a drive for us. We've decided to focus on school during our school year, adding in all the fun sports and activities during the summer. (Golf Camp, Swimming Lessons, etc) I just can't be driving kids around all the time and still be able to homeschool well. The benefit of this has also been more family time. I'm sure this will get harder as our children get older, but this year it is working out well for us.
Also, even though I do have more children to homeschool now, I also have "helpers!" My big kids will take turns playing with the little ones while I work with our 2nd grader and Kindergartner. They are also more than willing to help read some of the picture books to all the little ones, or help with a craft project. I couldn't do what I am doing with Snuggles this year, without their help.
One last thing… I do tie in a lot of cooking "crafts" and projects for my kids, versus real "arts & crafts." I feel like this is killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. I have to feed my kids anyways, and then the results don't need to be kept, displayed, or stored! 🙂
Yes, Snuggles is 5. He is also WAY more artistic than ANY of my other children have been at his age!
Also, don't be so hard on yourself…. You have three babies 3 and under!!!! I haven't had that since our first 3, who were born in three years. These (current) last three of ours were born over a 4 1/2 year period (I had a miscarriage in there, which is why I have the bigger gap between Snuggles and Rose, but still there is a 2 year gap between the last two), and that extra year makes a big difference!
I really love the Alphabet Activity Pages from All About Reading! I know you can find printable worksheets online, but it is so nice to have such a great collection all in one book, with perforated pages! 🙂
I just purchased All About Reading Level 1 and haven't started using it yet, but the Pre-Reading level is very well laid out and I do like it.
I'm really torn between using All About Reading (AAR) and Primary Arts of Language (PAL): Reading from IEW. I love them both! I am already using the PAL writing program for him, and I love that the PAL reading goes hand in hand with that, plus I have been so happy with the other IEW materials we are using. PAL also includes All About Spelling in their (writing) lesson plans which is awesome too. I'm thinking that I will probably end up using a combination of the too – with PAL as our base and supplementing with AAR… decisions, decisions… 😉
Fun, fun stuff! How do you keep your youngest 2 occupied throughout the day? My 2 year old is writing on herself or walls if I am not paying attention! I keep moving the markers and crayons up higher and higher, but she must be friends with Spiderman…
And your home always looks so perfect! Are your children good at picking up and helping clean up? It seems to be a struggle around here…
One more question, do you allow your children "screen" time much? wii, tv, gaming device? We need to find a balance around here!
Thanks for all your ideas – I only have 4 (and 1 on the way) but cannot begin to keep up with you! Bless you for sharing so much!
You are amazing Jessica! That blueberry buckle looks delicious and I can't wait to get some of the wikki sticks for my 4 year old to make letters with. Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the reply Jessica. You have given me a lot to think about re. activities and staying home.
I'm so sorry to hear about Rascal's accident! Sending prayers for his complete recovery…
Blessings, Marianne