Hi Everyone
Just wanted to let you know my latest post on Molly Green is up.  This month I'm talking about Indonesia and a wonderful homeschool missionary family - The Wilds!

CHECK IT OUT HERE!!!

Places I Write

Hi Friends,
Just wanted to make sure you were all "in know" on what is new in the writing world for me.  I currently blog here, but I also blog for a great magazine, website, company called Molly Green.  If you've never heard of them - you need to!  Molly Green has a lot of amazing writers who contribute to one great website.  It's packed with resources on everything from recipes, gardening, homestead life, and homeschooling too!  Check them out - mollygreen.com

I write for Molly Green on a few different topics:

• Homeschooling Around the World: These are articles with some fun ideas on how to introduce a new country to your kids each month.  I try to give you ministries your family can follow, crafts, recipes, and a bunch of other fun ideas too!  My most recent article was on India - check it out - Homeschooling Around the World - India
• Heartbeat of Home: This is an article written for the Molly Green Magazine.  In this series I simply give you some ideas on making your dinner time more impactful, full of memories, laughter and heritage for years to come.  Check it out - Heartbeat of Home
• And every once in a while I write a random post.  Here is one of my random posts: Pancake Mix

If you keep up to date on my Vintage Burlap Barn blog you'll notice that several of my posts recently have been about our adoption.  There are a couple of fun new adoption writing journeys the Lord is taking me on and I'll keep you posted with details on those as soon as I am allowed to talk about them!  

Thanks for following my blogs, reading and giving me a place to dump my thoughts!

In His Love,

Jenny

Valentine's Countdown

Hi Friends,
I'm so excited today is February 1st.  This is without a doubt one of my favorite times of year!  I love Valentine's Day.  There is NO GREATER love story than that of our Savior sacrificing His life for us because of His great love for us.  Because of Jesus love I feel like we as Christians should really celebrate this holiday too- forget cupid, and candy, and all that love struck stuff.  We celebrate Valentine's because we have been loved with an indescribable, uncontainable love!

Each year with my kids I do a countdown to Valentine's Day starting on February 1st!  This morning my children woke up to our kitchen table decorated for Valentine's Day, yummy breakfast, and a large envelope attached to each chair.

Of course the coffee mugs have to match!

These are felt envelopes I found at Target in the $1 section!!!

Really isn't anything to fancy - it's a plastic table cloth and some cute paper goods to kick of our February 1st right.  I spent a total of $12 on this table and made some super fun memories for the kids this morning!

The felt envelopes I found at Target in the dollar section, but you could put notes in regular envelopes on the wall, decorate some paper bags, or just leave a note at each persons spot at the table each morning.  Inside our envelopes each day my kids will find a small printed card that has a Scripture verse that speaks on the topic of love and on the back I write a quick little note to each of the kids.  My notes range from things I love about them, ways I pray they love Christ, or my love of fun or comical memories I have of them.  Every once in a while I'll slip a candy in the envelope too.

The best part is that with the envelopes set up on the back of chairs - EVERYONE gets in the card making mood and before you know it our envelopes are bursting with cards, crafts, and coloring pages that the children have made for each other. It is the sweetest thing ever and hands down one of my favorite holiday traditions!

And because I love you all - I'm going to share the 14 day printable cards with you so you can simply print and write notes for your own kids too!!!

Click here for the 14 day Valentine's Printable

Do you have any special Valentine's Day traditions?  I'd love to hear what they are!

In His Love,
Jenny

Blogging with Molly Green

Hi all,
So along with my personal blog here I also blog for a great magazine called Molly Green.  Check out this homeschool blog I wrote for Molly Green!

http://mollygreen.com/blog/homeschooling-around-the-world-america/

Mom = Hard Work

Hi Friends and Mommies,
I sit writing with a "to-do" list that is longer than Niagara Falls todays, floors that need to be mopped, a side dish for a bbq tonight that I haven't made - let alone planned, a husband who is fighting a cold, and kids who need some squeezes, love, and direction today.  

I don't write any of this to bore you with my life, but simply to say it's a lot.  This job of wife, mom, homemaker, homeschool teacher, and daughter of Christ is a lot to carry.  It takes work - exhaustive work at times and in truth it is should take a lot of work and energy. This job we are called to is not for the faint of heart.  When we read about the Proverbs 31 woman this is not a passive, laid back, unorganized woman.  No, this woman wakes up with a plan ready to fight for her day, her home and her family.  I love this woman - though I fail miserably at what she does with ease (maybe someday it will come a little easier!?!)  

But my favorite part of Proverbs 31 is the very end - 
Proverbs 31:31 
Give her the fruits of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.  

Friends, right now we are in the thick of work, maybe it's diapers and baby food, maybe it's toddlers and temper tantrums, maybe it's teen attitudes, maybe it's a special needs child, maybe it's messy floors and sinks full of dishes.  Right now it is work, but make no mistake we need to focus on the end goal!  

Our works will praise us someday.  That day we see our children leave to go on a missions trip, the day our babies walk down the isle having chosen a Godly spouse, our children walking with Jesus, and GRAND BABIES - these will be our rewards someday.  We do not work tirelessly day in and day out for today or even next month.  No friends, we are building a legacy, a heritage, and an eternity.  Do not grow weary in doing good.  Push hard and rely not on your own strength, but on His - for it is only in His strength that we will ever be able to keep our head above water.  

Love you friends,
Jenny
vintageburlapbarn@yahoo.com

Homeschool Room Open House Day 5

Hi Friends,
Today I'm showing you a few basic ways I keep my kids on task during the day without having to repeat myself 800 times! (that makes me crazy!)

Here is Cole's bulletin board, I have one for each of the kids.  On the board you will see our memory verse for the week, his sticker charts, spelling words, and a small whiteboard.

Details:

• Memory Verse: This month our memory verse is Colossians 3:12-17.  I put the verse on his board to use for handwriting practice throughout the week.
• Sticker charts: I'm a big fan of sticker charts, especially with BOYS!!!  My son needs to see big picture.  He needs to know the point of all this math is to get to the end of the year!  Sticker charts help him see the end goal.  A couple of the curriculums we use come with sticker charts and a couple don't.  I made a template for the subjects that don't have sticker charts, if you would like my sticker chart you can download it by (Click Here)
• Spelling Words: We practice these throughout the week in different ways and I've found having the words pre-printed for him to use really helps.  We write the words on the white board, with magnet tiles, and as handwriting practice!  
• White Board: This is without a doubt one of my favorite things in our homeschool room and something that keeps the entire family sane!  I write 2 groups of things on the board each day.  First, I write what individual homeschool work that is expected of Cole for the day and second, I write what chores are needing to be finished for the day.  My kids love knowing what they need to do and feel like they have accomplished things when they can wipe an item off the board.  We also have strict rule that if the whiteboard isn't cleaned off then free time isn't happening.  It's a simple little thing to have in the room and it makes a world of difference in the smooth runnings of our home!

I LOVE my maps!  I bought these at Costco for $24 and it was a United States and World map and the best part: it's laminated so we can white board marker all over them!  I only have up the United States map in our room because there isn't enough space for both - eventually I'll figure out how to stack them and roll one up when I need the other, but for now the World Map will have to wait.

I have 2 desks, these are Ikea desks and they are super simple - no drawers, just a great spot in the back that can hold a file holder.   The desks are left empty so that any of my kids can sit at any desk when they need a place to work.  

Since my children don't have a desk to keep there individual work at, we instead keep these individual file holders with their work.  They pick it up and take it with them to whatever location they want to work at - a desk, the kitchen table, even their bedroom if they are needing some quiet space!  Works really well for my family and I never hear "I can't find my notebook!"

So there you have day 5 in my homeschool room!  Questions or comments feel free to email me - vintageburlapbarn@yahoo.com

In His Service,
Jenny

Homeschool Room Open House Day 4

Hi Friends,
Forgive me, this post should have happened last week and I can give you a million reasons why it didn't, but I won't bother - I'll just say sorry!  

Here are a few more  areas in our homeschool room!  First, meet our class pet, Spike:

Spike is actually my sons tortoise, but we've all adopted him as the class pet!  And yes, since our room is patriotic and in my grandma's wealth of bulletin board pictures she just happened to have a huge picture of the white house I decided to decorate Spike's tank too!  I know this is silly, but my kids think it is hysterical - so Spike gets his tank decorated pretty often (he's sat with the pilgrims at thanksgiving and he does get a Christmas tree at Christmas!)  What tortoise wouldn't want the White House lawn as the background of their tank?!?

Next, I have to show you my newest addition to my homeschool room this year and without a doubt my favorite organization piece I've ever had in the room!

Thank you Ikea!  These buckets were all of $1.99 each and the rod they hang on was $2.99.  I added the Chalkboard labels, because I love labels (I have a problem, I know!)  These buckets just hook right over the curtain rod so you can take them down to put at the homeschool table when someone needs them, but I can stick them back on the wall when I want them out of the way!  Here is the big picture so you can see the wall.  

I bought 2 sets and the buckets hold the following items:

• scissors
• glue sticks
• pencils
• tape
• crayons
• markers (skinny and fat)
• white board markers

I had my darling husband mount them for me right under my whiteboards.  Side note on my whiteboards: originally I looked into buying one large whiteboard, but holy cow those are a couple hundred dollars so that plan was scratched really quick!  

I found these whiteboards last year at Costco for $15 and instead bought 4 of them and again my husband mounted them up on the wall for me all right next to each other.  I LOVE having the separate whiteboards because it divides up subjects while we are working throughout the day.  I'm so glad I didn't spend big money on one big white board!  

Here is my Art Bulletin board:

We did a unit study on Van Gogh and did this Sunflower Art Project through See the Light.  It's a 4 part DVD with step by step instructions.  This was such a fun project to do with the kids.  Click Here to check out their website, LOVE them!

Alright that is all for today, I still have at least one day, maybe 2 more days of fun stuff to show you in the homeschool room.  Hope you enjoyed today!  Questions/comments feel free to email vintageburlapbarn@yahoo.com 
In His Service,
Jenny

Homeschool Room Open House Day 3

Hi Friends,
Hope you are enjoying the open house.  Today I'm showing you my reading wall, nothing complicated or fancy.  The basic idea is that every book we read is written on a star and attached to the wall.  I've done this for several years and my kids LOVE it!  They love to see the wall fill up as we read.  You can print shapes from the computer or the dollar store usually has cute cut out shapes you could use too!

Another thing I do is plan our fun reading books.  These would be the books I don't have to read for curriculum, just the fun, cuddle with the kids reading books.  I've found that if I have a bookshelf filled with books a few things happens: 

1. The books get ignored
2. When I ask the kids to pick a book for us to read they pick the same favorite ones - over and over and over!  Leaving many books unread on the bookshelf and my mind mush as I read the same book for the 800th time!
3. When my kids were little the books would always end up in a huge mess on the floor (why do little kids love throwing books off the bookshelf?)

 I decided it was time for a book intervention!  Introducing - Planned Reading Books:

At the beginning of each month I head to the kids bookshelf  and pull out books to read for the month.  I split the books between 5 rubber maids and try to keep each box with 10 - 15 books in them.  Some books are too big to fit in the rubber maids, those ones I just stack on the side (The Wind in the Willows and All of a Kind Family in the above picture)  I try to mix up the books - some fun easy reads like Amelia Bedelia or Henry and Mudge.  I'll also have a couple of bigger chapter books that might take us a couple of days to get through.  If I know we are studying a subject in school or a character trait that might effect what I put in the buckets too! 

I keep a basket under our coffee table with our books for the week.  I've found that with the books right next to the couch and changing on a weekly basis we read together often.  It's also a lot easier to squeeze reading a book in while cooking dinner if the books are accessible and ready to grab.  Larger books that we can't get through in one week I'll leave in the basket until we are done, but the rest of the books get changed out every week, even if we didn't read them!  

The only book that stays in my basket all the time and never changes is my Egermeier's Bible Story Book - if you don't have this book I highly recommend it.  Stories are written through the Bible with the passages included.  The stories are detailed and information packed.  We all learn and enjoy reading these stories together daily!  (Click Here) if you want to check the Egermeier's Bible Story Book out on Amazon (this is an old book and a little pricey, but worth every penny!)

I've been really happy with my book organization and know that we read many more books with the system in place. I'd love to hear if you have a book system or how you plan the books you read with your kids.  

One other thing I do with my kids is have them keep a book log for yearly records.  In the Grow Homeschool Planner we had a Book Log - (Click Here) if you missed that post and the FREE Book Log PRINTABLE. 

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me jenny@growaustin.org

In His Grace,
Jenny

Homeschool Room Open House Day 2

Hi Friends,
Today is Day 2 in my homeschool room open house.  My heart is that as we walk through pieces of my room it will spark ideas, thoughts, and creativity for your homeschool space and day.  Feel free to ask questions and of course please share ideas on how you do things in your homeschool room too!  I would love to see your homeschool space, hear your ideas, and be sparked with new creativity because of you!

I don't know about you, but I do a lot of reading during my homeschool day.  Whether its reading a book, history textbook, science textbook, or reading fun books it seems like a lot of my day is spent reading.  I have found that busy hands make good listeners.  Simple things like legos, crocheting, and making rubber band bracelets are all great ways to keep kids minds engaged while reading.  

I rotate different activities for my children to do on different days of the week.  Here is one bulletin board station you will see in my homeschool room:

I'll call this the "Mail Station".  My kids love sending and receiving cards and pictures in the mail.  The white mailbox in the picture above is from Target.  As my children are working on coloring or drawing pictures and writing cards they leave them in this box.  It helps me not accidentally throw away a coloring page left out that was a treasure my children were working on for an aunt or friend! (I don't like mess, if it's left out I throw it away!  We needed a system for the papers everywhere and this was my solution!)  

On the hook below the mailbox you see a ring with Christmas cards attached.  I wrote a blog in great detail about my address ring for my kids (Click Here) to read more, but the cliff notes of that blog is that I stick the address on the back of the Christmas photo and then my kids can address their own envelopes, saving me so much time looking up addresses for my kids!  

The cute picture of the mailman comes from my Grandma.  She was a teacher and saved every bulletin board decoration she ever used.  I was blessed to be able to inherit this box of decorations and I love them.  These bulletin board pictures are old, some are so funny (I seriously need to do a blog post just on the funny pictures) and all of the president posters end at Nixon, but it's sweet and I love having a little bit of my Grandma's heritage in my homeschool room.  You will see more of these posters in days ahead! 

The board on the right in the photo is my "Dates 2 Remember" board.  I add friends and families birthdays, anniversaries, or other special days we want to remember and I make sure that if there are dates in the month that need pictures and cards made we work ahead and get them in the mail early! Don't know if you have a "Dates 2 Remember" print out, but if you want one I made a FREE Printable that matches our 2014 -2015 Homeschool Planner.  To get this Free Printable (Click Here)

Here is another favorite for my kids during reading time.  These are simple step by step drawing pictures.  I found those cute little paper holders at Michael's in the dollar bins and they are just perfect for the kids to practice drawing these simple pictures on. (white index cards on a ring would work great too)  I love step by step drawing because it needs no explanation they can sit and do these while I'm reading and learn how to draw something new at the same time!  Often I'll see these pictures they have learned to draw, re-drawn in birthday cards or in mail that is being sent out.  It's a fun way to pass the time while I read!  I keep these in a bucket on one of desks in the homeschool room

The last spot I'll show you is my file hanger.  I won't get into all the details now, I'll just talk about the coloring page file for now.  Both my Bible Curriculum, Answsers Bible Curriculum and our Science curriculum, Apologia have coloring pages that go with each week of lessons.  I keep these coloring pages in the coloring pages file and one day in the week the kids will color these pages.

Stay tuned this week for more peeks into my homeschool room.  Questions or comments feel free to email me jenny@growaustin.org

In His Grace,
Jenny

Homeschool Room Open House Day 1

Hi Friends,
Today is the first day I start sharing pictures of my homeschool room and showing you around.  I was going to do this all in one post, but seriously it would have been overwhelming long and no one would bother reading it - so small chunks over the next few days to show you around my room I'm hoping will be much better!  

As always let me say feel free to ask questions, comment, and ignore any and all of what I say.  I'm just showing you around, hopefully sparking some fun creativity or organization for your homeschool room, and maybe and idea or 2 that will make this school year a little easier for you!

Today I'm simply talking themes with you.  Here are my very unfinished boards (don't worry, they will be more finished in future pictures!)

We are doing a year of American History.  My oldest is doing American the Beautiful with Notgrass and I'm doing a modified version with my youngers.  Since we are learning American History I was planning on doing some kind of patriotic blue and red themed room and then I found this:

Really, can you get any cuter and more American than cute kid cowboys?!?  How could I resist these faces?!?  

And so I bought this cute fabric and my cowboy American homeschool decorations began.  

Themes are such a fun way to add creativity and color to your homeschool classroom and space.  

Here are a few thoughts on themes:

• Pick themes your kids will love: If your kids love legos do a lego homeschool room, if they like Frozen start cutting out those snowflakes!  Decorations made at home are great!
• Pick themes around what you will be learning.  Doing a study on bugs - get bugs all over your room, world history - globes and airplanes and suitcases would be fun!
• Don't forget seasons!  During the holidays make sure you add some holiday cheer to your homeschool space too!  This can be as simple as having your kids make turkeys out of paper plates that you hang on the wall.  You don't have to buy decorations - kids crafts make great decorations!
• Put up photos of your children in the theme.  If you decorate the room in dinosaurs, take a trip to dinosaur park and have your children pose with a T-Rex!   Print out the pictures and stick them on the wall = instant decoration!  If your kids are like mine - they love having pictures of themselves in the room, too!
• Don't let the decorations distract from what needs to be accomplished in the room.  Meaning don't hang beach balls for a ocean room and expect your kids not to hit the beach balls!  Simple decorations are always best.  
• Need some ideas one classroom themes?  Mardel in Cedar Park is packed full of great classroom decorations or head to Hobby Lobby and check out their fabric for ideas.  Another great place to find themes for your homeschool room is at your local party supply store.  Ask your kids what they would like the theme to be - you might be surprised on the ideas they give.  And Pinterest is packed with fun ideas for decorating homeschool rooms too!  Grow has a Pinterest page so check us out: (Click Here)

Alright that's all for today, more to come in the days ahead - wait till you see what I did to Spike our tortious's tank! hehehe!
Questions/Comments feel free to email me, LOVE being a support to you!  
jenny@growaustin.org

Farm Printable

Hi Everyone,
Just had to share this cute printable I made for a homeschool farm workshop.  It's an animal sounds game!  You can have your pre-schooler match the correct sound to the correct animal.  Super easy fun game to play with little ones.  I love printables like this!  They are small and can easily be kept in you purse for quick entertainment in a pinch (eating out, waiting at the dr.)

I've posted this printable over at Grow.  It's my families homeschool group that I'm a part of.

Click Here to download the printable!

In His Grace,
Jenny
vintageburlapbarn@yahoo.com