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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Started preschooling the twins!!!

We started homeschooling the twins(almost 5) this week. I planned it out for a month, I subscribe to enchanted learning for $20 a year, and have used this site for about 10 years, I love it!!! I did not plan on starting so early with them, But they have adhd and have been showing signs of real boredom with playing all day, And they are just soaking up books and learning. So I made the decision to do it. I planned out about an hour and half to two hours a day 4 days a week. I use brightly beaming resources a free online leasson plan with some printouts. This week was cows theme, The letter A, The number 1 and the shape square. I printed out the lesson plan, and some of the printouts they had, I also printed off stuff from enchanted learning to go with it, and came up with a few of my own hands on crafty things. I can't believe how they took to it, I have homeschooled 3 older children for 10 years and I am still amazed!!! They followed directions really well, Loved doing the crafts and others writing type pages. The very best thing is I really got another look at their differences, Those of you with twins will know what I am talking about. I see that jacob is quick, and quantity and wanting to move on quick to fill up his brain is his strength and weakness all wrapped up into one. Joshua is much slower much more accurate and a wandering eye type. I loved learning this about them. So as I learn more about there learning styles I can taylor learning differently to each one. We took today off and will start again tomorrow and friday, They were a bit sad we were not doing it today, but took to playing just fine and enjoyed it much more then usual. Hubby was home on monday and tuesday to help out, And I see that will be a big plus in homeschooling the boys, He was not around with the others worked long hours. I am strict, organized, and a bit stuffy, He was lax, and fun. The boys responded well to having both of us teaching them, They looked to me for guidance, and looked to dad to have some fun with it. I will be searching for crafts to do for the holidays coming up, They love glueing, cutting, anything crafty. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Monday, October 5, 2009

FRUGAL THIS WEEKEND

Frugal things I did this weekend. I was on a roll this weekend, Frugal here, Frugal there, Frugal everywhere. I started with my twins elefun game, They have lost the little butterflies here and there, So I wandered around the house looking for things to make butterfiles out of.....And I decided on the plastic insert I saved from cereal boxes, I cut them into the shapes of the butterflies, and used permanent markers to color them, And they worked fantastic. The boys were happy to have lots of butterflies again.
I also cooked a ham on friday, We had ham dinner that night, The next night we had ham tetrazini and then Sunday I boiled the bone and dug out the bones and added veggies and some potatoes some seasoning and green beans, and had a great tasty soup.
I was cleaning the laundry room, Which doubles as storage for house working supplies, tools etc. And I found all the paint cans from the painting we had done to fix up the house, So I got those out and did touch up painting all around the house, Looked so good, It got me going and I rearranged some stuff, Now I feel like I have all new stuff.
I also tried a trick that I learned from thrifty fun, I made a bucket of hot water, added tea bags, let steep for several hours, added a couple capfuls of olive oil and cleaned all the hardwood floors downstairs, It was fabulous, gave them a little stain and a shine and looked great for little work.
I cut the little ones (4,4,2) hair and saved a ton of money, I have never taken them to a barber, I started young, When they did not care what it looked like hahaha, And with practice have become quite good at it.
We have a busy busy next couple of weeks, As it is turning colder fast, I have set up some shelves inside by a window and placed lamps all around, I am going to have to bring in my lettuce and carrots and tomatoes that I got planted to late, So I am excited to see if I can get them to grow indoors. We also have list a mile long of winterizing to do, Since we have no heat, Plus are still trying to decide wether or not to purchase a wood stove or one of the new radiant heat, heaters. I really love wood stoves, But it would be take alot installing and getting ready. Since we saw the commercial for home depot lowering the insulation costs in half this winter, We are loading up on friday and insulating as much as possible everywhere we can get into. And removing window air conditioners and recaulking, I also found a bunch of flannel flat sheets at a garage sale, and Am going to sew those on the backs of my sheet curtains to insulate for winter. And I found many old quilts at used stores and am going to hang those up in the bedrooms for drapes. Busy busy busy, I love busy.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Posting good deals

I am going to start posting good deals I find around town here in independence, kansas. I will post them on the day I find them. They will be for local businesses, Coffeyville, independence, cherryvale, some bartlesville, oklahoma. The best find for the last few days, Is for the cherryvale true value hardware store, They sent out an ad last week, The sales last until 10/11. I purchased 6 cans of the foam spray for insulation 2.99ea (lowest price I have ever seen or gotten it) smoke detectors for 4.99ea, We purchased 3, And really nice tool boxes 4.99ea for the twins for christmas. This came to $46, Then we signed up for their rewards card, and will be sent a $5 giftcard for signing up and a $10 card for our purchases, Since we got double points. I have to say also that I had never been to this hardware store, and these were the most helpful nicest employees I have ever come across, I left that store with a big smile on my face.

Also wanted to note that we had the baby's 2nd birthday party yesterday, Sniffle Sniffle, So hard to see the last one move out of babyhood, But also exciting. Anyway he is consumed, addicted, obsessed with to the point of therapy hahaha, with Disney cars. I got almost all of his birthday gifts free from walgreens with register rewards, But one thing I spent the big bucks on was the table cover, pack of stickers, plates, cups, napkins and banner. $2 each which I would not normally do but..... I reused all leftovers and was less guilty about buying these items. I took the tablecloth and cleaned it and cut off the edges that had huge cars characters on it, Hubby took these strips and tacked these up as a border in his room, Looks really nice, and the baby loved it. I also saved all the leftover napkins cups and plates, and the boxes from his toys, I spent last night cutting out the characters, I have some clear contact paper, and will today cover them with that, and then I am going to decorate his walls with these.