Preschool Week 1: Letter C

With school starting this week for Pastor up at church, I figured #1 and I would start his home-school preschool this year. We've chosen to keep him home for sure for preschool and we'll reassess for Kindergarten (just depends on how much we all enjoy it together). Hopefully on Friday's you'll see a review of the week (minus Friday, since the post will be in the morning most likely). I will share "What We Used", Where I got it from, what #2 did, books we read, and crafts we enjoyed together.

What we used this week:

• Letter of the Week (LOTW) curriculum
• Caterpillar Art 
•  Hungry Caterpillar supplements 
•  Scholastic Worksheets for Preschoolers - Caterpillar Supplement 

Books we read (themed for letter C): 

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin Jr.
• Capes for Sale - Esphyr Slobodkina
• Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle 
• My "C" Book - Jane Belk Moncure

Daily Routine: 

Each  we do a calendar routine every day. This includes singing "Days of the Week" - tune of Adams Family, Talking about the day, the number, the month, ect, singing the weather song, dressing the weather bear, talking about how many days we've been "in" school, doing patterns, reviewing our memory verse for the week (from LOTW).

 Talking about "Today is..., Yesterday was...., Tomorrow will be"

 Dressing the weather bear

 #2 looking in her workbox (her boxes are just fun things right now, since she's JUST 24 months she'll join in when she wants, but plays too.

Letter C: Caterpillar 

Day 1:

 Caterpillar Puzzle

 I was shocked at how well he did, even thought the strings aren't perfect, not bad for the FIRST time. Lacing Card.

 Letter C Magnet Page - a FUN things they both enjoy a lot.

 Patterns, something we'll need to work on more.

 Finding the "C" on our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree

 Craft for the day, gluing noodles onto the letter C.

Day 2:

 White Board Writing. #1 did the 4th line all by himself, the rest was assisted.

 #2 is right by #1s side.

 Dot work. A favorite activity.

 Counting Caterpillars and putting them on the leaf. This was like pulling teeth, so we did it 3 times then stopped. I know he can count to 10 fine, and so I wasn't going to push it on day 2.

 Caterpillar Spelling (we used milk caps)

 Adding Lines to a caterpillar, again not his favorite thing to do, supplemented this.

Play-doh letters, he LOVES play-doh, so when I told him he HAD to make a C, he said, but mom I wanted to make a train, so we compromised, he did the C, then the train.

Day 3: We did some read alouds and other things I opted NOT to take pictures of.

 #2 follows in #1s footsteps.

 Cutting Practice. He LOVES to cut.

 Not bad for his first time, I did help him maneuver the paper though.

 Tanagrams, making a Car (starts with C)

Day 4:

 This was a hard activity, putting #1-10 in order. He can count to 10 just fine, but doesn't recognize the numbers, and he got frustrated easily because it wasn't "easy" for him.

 Cut and Paste Activity

 Today #2 had a fever of 100-102 all day, so she was in her PJS most of the day, but still "played" school with us.

 Caterpillar Story, finding the letter C. He did oddly very well!

 ART! Painting. We painted Caterpillars, we used plastic cups for the circles, then painted them in, and decorated them.

 

 Dice Game, played twice, then he was done. 

Day 5: 

I will most likely not blog about day 5, its usually "review" things or things we didn't get to...in this case this week its Hungry Caterpillar Day. If you want to find the printables we used, its up at the top. Friday is my "day off" sort of speaking, because Pastor's day off is Friday as well, hence why you'll see the post Friday, but nothing really about what we did.

Linking Up to:

What's On Your Nightstand?

 

I've been really bad about logging my books I've read. Its been a crazy and hectic summer. Here's to hoping that starting school with the kids at home, will help me stay more task orientated as well.

This is what I read this past month, in August.
F in Exams: HILARIOUS read, I read this in about 45 minutes. If you need a laugh, pick this one up!
Call of a Coward: I read this for a book review on my blog, a good book, not great.
God Never Blinks: Good inspirational read.

This is what's on my list for September.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: This is our September Book Club Book.
Lone Wolf: I LOVE Jodi Picoult as a writer, so I'm anxious to read her newest one!
Sarah's Key: Our October Book Club Book, wanted to get a head start
Gospel of Yes: A Book Review book

Here's to hoping I get all my books read this coming month!

Wordless Wednesday: OLD & EW finished DECK

Counting Fish

I got this idea from Counting Coconuts. I made them for #2s birthday party as a game, and then we'll use them for school too, because they are counting fish. They were really simple to make and the kids love playing with them. Go to the link above to see how to make them.

Double Couponing!!!

So, I'm back in the game...the couponing game that is. I went in to Albertsons with just my coin purse, and came out with change still in hand! If you want the WHOLE Albertsons match ups for doublers, go to Fabulessly Frugal. The dressing and the Teriyaki Sauce are "stock up" items for me. The rest we'll probably use in the next 4-6 weeks. Not bad when you see my grand total and average savings! I might TRY and do some Walgreens "Kraft & Veeleta" Shopping deals too, we'll see. Go here to find those.

I did 5 transactions:
Transaction #1:
3 Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce - $1.99 - used  3- $1.00 - doubled.
Total- .18


Transaction #2
3 Suddenly Salad - $1.00 - used 3- $0.55 - doubled (no overage at our store)
Total - .10

Transcation #3
2 Quaker Soft Baked Bars $1.67 used 2-$0.75 - doubled
1 Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce - $1.99 - used  1- $1.00 - doubled.
Total- .50

Transaction #4
6 Kens Salad Dressing $1.00 - used 3- $1/2(SS 08/12/12) - doubled
Total- .18

Transaction #5
2 Kens Salad Dressing $1.00 used 1-$1/2 (SS 08/12/12) - doubled
1 Suddenly Salad - $1.00 - used 1- $0.55 - doubled (no overage at our store)
Total- .10 

TOTAL OOP- $1.06. 
Total Savings - $50.65
Average Savings of 99.2% 
 

Texting Clubs...pay off!

So one day in June (I know a while back) I was sitting in the Papa Murphy's waiting area, waiting for my pizza to be made and I saw a little thing about a texting club and a promotion, so I joined. They send you monthly and bi-monthly promotions and coupons. Hey, pretty neat. So I joined. I texted PAPA to 74499. Then about 2 days later I got a text from them. It was a coupon. Then a week or so later I got another text....that I had WON a YEARS worth of PAPA MURPHY'S PIZZA!!!!!!!! I was apprehsive because I've recently got some texting scams. I brought my phone into Papa Murphy's and sure enough, I had won a years worth of free pizza (which is one pizza a month, or 12 FREE ANY SIZE ANY TOPPING pizzas).

I learned it PAYS off to join the texting clubs, now I have unlimited texting because between Pastor, my mom, my sister, and my bestie from Ironic Adventures, I sent over 1,000 texts a month so it doesn't cost me anything to get the texts from the restaurant or other stores. So I recommend joining a texting club and see what happens!


**I was in no way reimbursed for this review, I just thought it was AWESOME that I won the pizza and wanted to share it with you**

FREE 5x7 photo at Walmart (NO COUPON NEEDED)

Walmart is offering one free 5×7 Photo Print per child at all of their One-Hour Photo Centers. No coupon is needed.

This offer is good through the end of September! I think I'll take some cute "FIRST DAY" pictures (even though we're homeschooling) and use this with those pictures! 

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 2nd Birthday #2!

Fish Soap

This past weekend we made our "Fish Soap". #2's party is coming up this weekend, and so we got ready and made these party favor for her birthday. I found them on pinterest. Its from the blogger. Little Birdie Secrets. If you want a more "detailed' explanation of how to do this, go here.

You'll need:
Microwave safe bowl
Funnel
Rubbing Alcohol
Spray Bottle
Tweezers or fondue sticks
Baggies (I used the taller party favor bags, CLEAR)
Fish (from the dollar store)
Glycerin Soap (I used 5lbs and only have like 1/2lb left after making 16 bars of soap.) Ordered from Hobbie Lobbie, already cut up!

Put about 5 or 6 individual blocks into the microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave until melted. Mine was about 1-1.5minutes

You'll need to have a bowl of ice water ready. When the soap is melted, pour (using a funnel) into the baggie. (No pictures of this, because it was hard to take a picture and pour with only me as the adult around). To get the small bubbles out spray it with the rubbing alcohol.

Then place the soap in the ice water, and gently put your fish in the bag. The tweezers are for making sure your fish is "upright" unless you want a "dead" fish in your soap.

Leave the soap in the ice water for about 2-3 minutes, until hard, then you can remove it. Make sure you let it completely harden on a flat surface.

Then tie shut!

TaDa! This was my first attempt, and some turned out cloudier than others, not sure why, but it still looks like the kids will get a "bag of fish", but really it's soap! How neat is that.

This project cost about $20 make, pretty reasonable for the amount of soap I was able to make.

FREE Pretzel Dog...

You can print a coupon for a FREE Pretzel Dog at Pretzelmaker plus, today (8/20) is National Lemonade day so they are giving out FREE 20 oz cups of lemonade at participating stores. Yummy!

Thanks Raining Hot Coupons!

FREE Glade Expressions...

I was browsing through the Walgreens ad on Sunday morning and I found a SWEET deal and now I'm wishing I would've printed more of the coupons when I had the chance, they are gone now. I only printed one, and could've printed 4. BUMMER. Lesson learned.

I've kind of taken a break from Walgreens/drug store shopping, because I wasn't seeing the numbers like I wanted, so I took a break, and our Walgreens isn't always the easiest to work with, with coupons. So it was more of a hassle so I decided to take a break. Well today proves I can go back and try some more.

I did this deal.

I picked up my 2 FREE 8x10 collages from Walgreens. Use code GETONEFREE, not sure if its still working.
I also got 1 Glade Expressions Air Freshner Starter Kit. $4.49, on sale for $2.99. I used a $3 off coupon from Coupons.com and I looked the coupon isn't available anymore, shoot! The lady at the register had to mark the coupon down to 2.99, since they don't do overage. OH, and the best part about this is, you're going to get a $1 Register Reward back! You'll MAKE money on this transaction.

Total OOP: $0.18
MADE: $2 RR

What a sweet deal! I wish I could've printed more, I hate spending money on air fresheners, so getting them for free is the best deal ever!