Well after spending most of my evening downloading the video. Here is it. The 2009 Christmas Cantata with the girls. This is a 25 minute video so sit back and relax and enjoy. Also, please forgive the video. First, it was downloaded on One True Media so its not the original video quality. Second, not the best of hand holding with the camera. So please forgive some of the shakiness. We weren't in the best of spots. In hind sight we should have recorded it at the evening program because there were fewer people there and we wouldn't of been video taping the back of people's heads, or picking up background noise of children. Nonetheless we got it and I can say it was much better in person then it seemed on the video tape.
Here is our gift to you! Hope everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tape 2 and When in Rome.....
Okay. So I know the title is a little corny. I'm sure your rolling your eyes as you see it on the screen. But I have to share with you this strange fasination I have had with tape lately. You can come to my house and find , scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape and even medical tape. The tape that I find I go through the most though is packaging tape. So as you read this you ask yourself, well why? Why do you go through so much packing tape?
The reason is that my daughters love to play with the collection of file folder games that I have procured throughout the years of homeschooling.
If you google file folder games you will find that there are many free resources on which you can download and print various games you can glue, tape and laminate into a folder and they can learn... excuse me play games on various topice from math, language arts, from history to science and even Bible school topics. Today I had counted that for my older girls I have about 38 games thus far and for Maggie I have a total of ten. So you can see I have definitely given our printer a good work out. Out of all of those games I've maybe created 3 or 4 of my own from googling clipart and then making my own games. Even today I created a game for the girls so they could study their Latin vocabulary. They love it and had fun and told me it was much more fun then just sitting there trying to memorize it from their book.
Okay so you ask why are we talking about tape then? Early on I found that with my file folder games I could use packaging tape to laminate them. Instead of going out and buying a machine and then the expensive laminate I could easily go to Walmart and spend less then $8 for two rolls of packaging tape. If I was really spendy I would go to the Fed Ex store here in town and buy their really heavy duty packaging tape. Fed Ex tape to me is the gold standard in packaging tape and honestly the best for laminating them. In the real world though I can't always buy it and settle for my Walmart tape. It does the job well and they look fanstastic.
I think next to butt cream I could easily say that we could hold stock in packaging tape here and make a fortune. LOL. Or maybe I help the packaging tape business make a lot of money.
Well also since I've mentioned File Folder games. Today I had gotten a bit crafty as the girls sat and did their work. I decided to make something fun for them to help aid in learning their Latin vocabulary. They always find it a drag to use the flashcards. So I thought I'd spiffy things up a bit. So I Googled my way through clip art and this is what I came up with:
Our cheesy title for the game
The helmets with the Latin words on them.
The little soldiers with the definitions.
Once I had the idea in my head I found that the game was pretty easy to make. I plan on making some more Latin games to get us through the Latina Christiana series. I do like the series. Its reasonably priced and they have DVD's to help teach the concepts. I never had taken Latin so this is a new experience for me as well. I am learning right along with them. Its the beauty of homeschooling though. You learn all of the things you never learned as a child.
Here are the links to the clip art that I used:
Roman soldier
www.fotosearch.com/CSP140/k1400910/
Roman helmet
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/roman.html
The reason is that my daughters love to play with the collection of file folder games that I have procured throughout the years of homeschooling.
If you google file folder games you will find that there are many free resources on which you can download and print various games you can glue, tape and laminate into a folder and they can learn... excuse me play games on various topice from math, language arts, from history to science and even Bible school topics. Today I had counted that for my older girls I have about 38 games thus far and for Maggie I have a total of ten. So you can see I have definitely given our printer a good work out. Out of all of those games I've maybe created 3 or 4 of my own from googling clipart and then making my own games. Even today I created a game for the girls so they could study their Latin vocabulary. They love it and had fun and told me it was much more fun then just sitting there trying to memorize it from their book.
Okay so you ask why are we talking about tape then? Early on I found that with my file folder games I could use packaging tape to laminate them. Instead of going out and buying a machine and then the expensive laminate I could easily go to Walmart and spend less then $8 for two rolls of packaging tape. If I was really spendy I would go to the Fed Ex store here in town and buy their really heavy duty packaging tape. Fed Ex tape to me is the gold standard in packaging tape and honestly the best for laminating them. In the real world though I can't always buy it and settle for my Walmart tape. It does the job well and they look fanstastic.
I think next to butt cream I could easily say that we could hold stock in packaging tape here and make a fortune. LOL. Or maybe I help the packaging tape business make a lot of money.
Well also since I've mentioned File Folder games. Today I had gotten a bit crafty as the girls sat and did their work. I decided to make something fun for them to help aid in learning their Latin vocabulary. They always find it a drag to use the flashcards. So I thought I'd spiffy things up a bit. So I Googled my way through clip art and this is what I came up with:
Our cheesy title for the game
The helmets with the Latin words on them.
The little soldiers with the definitions.
Once I had the idea in my head I found that the game was pretty easy to make. I plan on making some more Latin games to get us through the Latina Christiana series. I do like the series. Its reasonably priced and they have DVD's to help teach the concepts. I never had taken Latin so this is a new experience for me as well. I am learning right along with them. Its the beauty of homeschooling though. You learn all of the things you never learned as a child.
Here are the links to the clip art that I used:
Roman soldier
www.fotosearch.com/CSP140/k1400910/
Roman helmet
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/roman.html
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Girl Scout Party
Of course you would think I had pictures of this too. But I don't. Its funny that I have a video camera and a regular camera and I don't take either of them with me half of the time.
Today the girls had tons of fun at their Girl Scout cookie party. They had Christmas arts and crafts, pizza and exchanged cookies. Let's just say that this time of the year is not good on my figure. LOL.
Actually I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. This month has gone by so fast that's for sure. I can't wait until this winter is over that's for sure. I'm finding the older I get the less tolerace I have for this sort of weather anymore. No fun I tell ya.
School is going so so for us right now. I'm just feeling so schooled out. I'm glad that in 3 more days I'll have a break from my own school work for the next two weeks. I'm also glad to know that by Feburary I'll be half way done with my degree. I'm far from being done as my ultimate goal is getting my bachelors degree. But I'm taking this college thing one step at a time.
I'm also rethinking next year as well as far as schooling the girls is concerned. I know something needs to change. I like the K12 , the girls like it too. But I'm just feeling a little burnt out. Having three children and two of them need my direct attention at all times is tough. Then stretching myself even further for Marilyn when she has questions and trying to keep track of my 3yr old is not easy at all. Then by the end of the day I'm working on my school work. Its just an exhausting cycle. I am hoping that I can just homeschool on my own , maybe use a combination of Christian LIght , Ace and add in some good books from Sonlight. That would be my perfect world.
Anyways here is to a good day and that is all folks!
Today the girls had tons of fun at their Girl Scout cookie party. They had Christmas arts and crafts, pizza and exchanged cookies. Let's just say that this time of the year is not good on my figure. LOL.
Actually I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. This month has gone by so fast that's for sure. I can't wait until this winter is over that's for sure. I'm finding the older I get the less tolerace I have for this sort of weather anymore. No fun I tell ya.
School is going so so for us right now. I'm just feeling so schooled out. I'm glad that in 3 more days I'll have a break from my own school work for the next two weeks. I'm also glad to know that by Feburary I'll be half way done with my degree. I'm far from being done as my ultimate goal is getting my bachelors degree. But I'm taking this college thing one step at a time.
I'm also rethinking next year as well as far as schooling the girls is concerned. I know something needs to change. I like the K12 , the girls like it too. But I'm just feeling a little burnt out. Having three children and two of them need my direct attention at all times is tough. Then stretching myself even further for Marilyn when she has questions and trying to keep track of my 3yr old is not easy at all. Then by the end of the day I'm working on my school work. Its just an exhausting cycle. I am hoping that I can just homeschool on my own , maybe use a combination of Christian LIght , Ace and add in some good books from Sonlight. That would be my perfect world.
Anyways here is to a good day and that is all folks!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
File Folder Games , oh my!
Okay. So I usually have a picture to post on my blog about the things I talk about. I may even post a picture later on when I get a moment and its not almost 1 o'clock in the morning.
But I'd thought I'd take a moment and talk about File Folder Games.
I was just looking at our little stack of File Folder games in our living room. Did you know there are tons of free File Folder Games to download and print on the internet? If your really crafty you can even make them yourselves. I'll admit, I'm crafty but not that crafty. No, just kidding. I could do it if I had the time. Between teaching the girls, doing my mom duties, and college school work there is only so much time left in the day. So there are other moms out there that take the time to put these games together and they post them for free. All I can say is bless their hearts that they are actually help make my life a bit easier.
What are File Folder games you ask? They are bascially educational games made out of file folders. Minus the printer ink, they are easy to put together and the kids have fun and learn all at the same time and they don't even know it.
They can be as simple as using a coloring book and crayons, file folder, and glue.
Or if your like me finding premade games so all you need to do is print them , cut, glue and laminate. There are many free ones online and there are some that you can purchase online. I've even found you can purchase them in workbook form so all you have to do is cut them out of the book , glue , then laminate.
Such as this one. I have found Rainbow Resource has great prices on them.
Or better yet,, if you want to skip the whole cutting process and you just want to open and go then something already made for you might be beneficial. Such as these:
I'll admit though that would take the fun of the cutting , gluing and laminating away. For me the very act of sitting down and cutting paper can be relaxing after a crazy day of school.
As I was saying I've accumulated quite a few of these games in the past few years. I counted about 40 of them today. That doesn't include the ones I make for Maggie to sit and play with.
I have found they make great 'distractors' for one child when I am working with another child. Plus I know they are learning something from them in the process. Its much better then having the usual chaos of have the other three running around while I try to teach one of them something.
I'll admit, File Folder games are right up there with making Lapbooks. They are fun for the kids and educational all at the same time. They are very hands on and great for kids who learn best doing hands on things. Even if they don't all children love games.
Here is a list of my favorite places to go for my freebie games:
www.filefolderfun.com
www.preschoolprintables.com
http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp ( great for toddlers)
http://www.myffgames.com/ ( this one you do have to purchase but they are the only ones at the moment that i know of that have File Folder games up to 4th grade)
http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads_foldergames.html ( has a few simple games to print out for free)
http://www.gigglygames.net/freebies.htm
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/ChristianFileFolderGames.html
http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleFileFolderGames.html
http://www.childcareland.com/free.html ( games and file folder games for prek-K)
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/printables/filefolder.htm ( there are three of them on this website)
http://www.filefolderheaven.com/shop/ ( have some freebies)
I'm sure there maybe other sites but these are the major ones that I have been able to find that offer free file folder games.
I do hope in the future that I will be able to find games for children in upper grades. I've made one of my own so far and one of these days I'll have to share it on here so others can benefit from it.
But I'd thought I'd take a moment and talk about File Folder Games.
I was just looking at our little stack of File Folder games in our living room. Did you know there are tons of free File Folder Games to download and print on the internet? If your really crafty you can even make them yourselves. I'll admit, I'm crafty but not that crafty. No, just kidding. I could do it if I had the time. Between teaching the girls, doing my mom duties, and college school work there is only so much time left in the day. So there are other moms out there that take the time to put these games together and they post them for free. All I can say is bless their hearts that they are actually help make my life a bit easier.
What are File Folder games you ask? They are bascially educational games made out of file folders. Minus the printer ink, they are easy to put together and the kids have fun and learn all at the same time and they don't even know it.
They can be as simple as using a coloring book and crayons, file folder, and glue.
Or if your like me finding premade games so all you need to do is print them , cut, glue and laminate. There are many free ones online and there are some that you can purchase online. I've even found you can purchase them in workbook form so all you have to do is cut them out of the book , glue , then laminate.
Such as this one. I have found Rainbow Resource has great prices on them.
Or better yet,, if you want to skip the whole cutting process and you just want to open and go then something already made for you might be beneficial. Such as these:
I'll admit though that would take the fun of the cutting , gluing and laminating away. For me the very act of sitting down and cutting paper can be relaxing after a crazy day of school.
As I was saying I've accumulated quite a few of these games in the past few years. I counted about 40 of them today. That doesn't include the ones I make for Maggie to sit and play with.
I have found they make great 'distractors' for one child when I am working with another child. Plus I know they are learning something from them in the process. Its much better then having the usual chaos of have the other three running around while I try to teach one of them something.
I'll admit, File Folder games are right up there with making Lapbooks. They are fun for the kids and educational all at the same time. They are very hands on and great for kids who learn best doing hands on things. Even if they don't all children love games.
Here is a list of my favorite places to go for my freebie games:
www.filefolderfun.com
www.preschoolprintables.com
http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp ( great for toddlers)
http://www.myffgames.com/ ( this one you do have to purchase but they are the only ones at the moment that i know of that have File Folder games up to 4th grade)
http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads_foldergames.html ( has a few simple games to print out for free)
http://www.gigglygames.net/freebies.htm
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/ChristianFileFolderGames.html
http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleFileFolderGames.html
http://www.childcareland.com/free.html ( games and file folder games for prek-K)
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/printables/filefolder.htm ( there are three of them on this website)
http://www.filefolderheaven.com/shop/ ( have some freebies)
I'm sure there maybe other sites but these are the major ones that I have been able to find that offer free file folder games.
I do hope in the future that I will be able to find games for children in upper grades. I've made one of my own so far and one of these days I'll have to share it on here so others can benefit from it.
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