Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  While I thought about sending out some freebies this week, I remembered no one is doing school right now!  Hopefully everyone (besides my misbehaving 5-yr old) is taking time to enjoy a little down time.  But I wanted to wish you a quick Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Here are Oliver's hospital photos, plus a few I took around the tree at home.  

I love photography!  Here are 2 quick Christmas (or anytime) photography tips:

• A bad picture is better than no picture.  Keep that in mind when you get discouraged about low lighting, uncooperative kids, etc.
• Don't miss Christmas because you're too busy with the camera.  Take what you can and put the camera down.  Or, if you're like us, videotape the kids opening their presents.  I can't tell you how much these videos mean to me!  They are hilarious to look back on!  

That's it :)  I will be back with more freebies and posts after the new year!  

7 FREE B&W Winter Skip Counting Puzzles

I hope that you had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  This was one of my favorite years yet.  We usually stay home, as my husband is a fantastic cook, and I don't want to go anywhere else for a fine meal!  We always put up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving, especially this year since the baby is due soon.  I had plans to take photos of the boys in their new Santa jammies. But after setting up the tree, we found that one of the string of lights doesn't work!  We were debating on spending $100 on a new tree (not ideal with lots of baby purchases and hospital bills coming up), or trying to find replacement bulbs and fixing the string of lights (too tedious for me!!).   Either way, we weren't about to run out to the store at 5pm on Thanksgiving.  

Our new tradition is to record us decorating the tree as a family.  The camera caught our disappointment, but it also caught a lot of laughter!  My husband is a clown!  We have a small white Christmas tree and he told the kids to decorate that one instead.  It was HILARIOUS watching them wrap the HUGE garland around, and around, around the tiny tree!  So even though this pregnant mama's plans were ruined, we had a blast making the best of it.  We then watched Ernest Saves Christmas and died laughing!  I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!  I haven't been laughing a lot lately, not with pregnancy exhaustion and fog crowding my brain.  

But earlier in the day I did manage to take some maternity pictures, which is quite a feat when you are the photographer and the model.  Nothing like taking a bunch of pictures that look good on a tiny screen, only to find out later that they were underexposed!  :(  But thankfully, my computer is only one room away from the baby's room!  

Nothing fancy or overly creative, but treasures for me all the same.  It's almost over!  I have loved being pregnant the most this time around, although all 3 pregnancies were a pleasure.  

Now, on to today's freebie:

What a fun way to celebrate the Christmas/winter season! Download these free puzzles in my TpT store. Then, print! Have your children color the pictures, cut along the dotted lines, and glue their puzzles in the correct order onto a piece of construction paper.  These puzzles teach skip counting by 2's and 5's.  Kiddos are sure to love this activity!  Don't forget to comment below and as always, Subscribe by email so you're the first to get these and more!  

If you have been blessed in any way shape or form by the services I've offered on this blog, you may want to send a monetary gift my way.  If so, that would be most appreciated!  I love what I do and am looking forward to helping others educate their little ones.

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FREE Thanksgiving Craft/Cutting Practice

I'll admit it.  I am a bit of a control freak (which is one of the reasons why I homeschool).  I didn't give my precious (ahem, more like impulsive and careless) firstborn scissor privileges until he was a preschooler.  I felt pretty guilty when his best friend, a child I babysit, could cut beautifully, while mine didn't even know how to properly hold the scissors!

I've loosened the reins quite a bit since then.  We paint, cut, and glue constantly now.  When Mama wants some quiet time to play on the computer, I give them a folder full of scraps and let them cut and glue until bedtime.  The living room looks like a tornado whipped through it, but I park the trashcan in the middle and they clean up every single solitary piece so I don't even have to vacuum!  No television?  No bickering?  No vacuuming!?!?  Yes!  Let's do this more often!

I created a fun cutting activity for little (or bigger) ones.  It also serves as a craft too, a cute one that you'll want to display or give to Grandma.  There are enough images on the sheet I created to make two Thanksgiving scenes. 

Either bag up the extras for another day, or split between two kids.  I also included a simple Thanksgiving border page.  While this can serve as an easy background page for your child to glue the clipart on, it doesn't have to be.  I wanted to provide something extra that involves no prep, just in case. 

I loved the results of this printable, so much so that you'll be seeing more just like this with different themes (race car, Christmas, winter).  You can find this for free in my TpT store!  

Speaking of loosening the reins and doing more cutting, gluing, and painting- we made some fun crafts this week as we gear up for Thanksgiving!  Are you like me and are tired of seeing 100 turkey crafts and few revolving around the Pilgrims and the Mayflower?  My oldest is 5, so this is the first year I've really taught him the first Thanksgiving!  I found 2 easy crafts from one really great site. 

First up- a paper plate Mayflower!

1) Paint paper plate blue (yes, it sure does look purple, doesn't it??)

2) Cut another paper plate in half and paint brown.

3) Cut another paper plate into fourths- making 2 sails.  The other half of the plate is extra or for a second child.  Glue a craft stick down the middle of the ocean and into the boat pocket.  Glue on sails.

4) Staple brown boat onto the blue ocean plate, but only around the edges so a pocket is formed.  This is where you'll put the pilgrims.

4) Color a picture or two of pilgrims, cut, and glue into the boat (pocket).

He's a messy one, ain't he?

Easy craft number 2- an Indian Corn with the colors of salvation.  I was thrilled to find this Christian craft!

1) Print worksheet.

2) Let children paint the Indian corn with q-tips.  We painted the husk green with a paintbrush.

These were cute, easy, and had such a great message.  My little guy walks by the fridge and says, "The red is for Jesus' blood."  I love to hear him say that.  A lot.

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If you have been blessed in any way shape or form by the services I've offered on this blog, you may want to send a monetary gift my way.  If so, that would be most appreciated!  I love what I do and am looking forward to helping others educate their little ones.

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3 FREE Christmas Roll and Cover Games!

If you're like me, you're tired of the same boring math homework that is sent home with kids.  One of the kids I watch after school has a sheet with a list of math activities to choose from.  Problem is, the activities don't change throughout the school year!  And the activities are not even challenging enough for him.  So why not replace one of those activities with something on their level?  Especially when the teacher (or me for that matter) doesn't even know whether or not the kid played the game listed?

Whether practicing math facts for homework, tutoring, or at a math center, here is a fun activity I'm sure you've seen- Roll and Cover games.  I made 3 different games for 3 different skill levels- basic addition, basic subtraction, and subitizing.  If you are teaching children on different skill levels, this is a great activity to pull out.  The younger ones (like my 2-yr old) won't know that older brother is playing a different game than he is, and vice versa.  

Playing is very simple.  For the addition and subtraction games, players simply roll 2 dice.  If they are adding, they add the numbers and cover the correct sum with a game marker (buttons, gems, etc.).  If they are subtracting, they subtract the smaller number from the larger one and cover their answer.  For the basic roll and cover game, child rolls one die and covers what they rolled.  Game is over when the page is filled.  These can be single or multi-player games.

Everything comes easy to this 5-year old, so I love challenging him.  While he knows the 0, 1 and some of the 2 addition tables, that's as far as we've gotten with addition. But who says he can't do this game?  All he has to do is count the dots!  And I have to say that he does need help counting those dots.  He likes to start from 1, but with this game I was able to teach him that you don't start counting with 1 if you already know there are 6 dots on that die!  He was getting the hang of that shortcut by the time we were done!  

He loved this game, and what makes this Mama proud is that hours later he told me when he has a 4 on one die, and 2 on the other, that makes 6!  So with little or no prep, and while having fun, your child can learn their math facts too!

I love adding color graphics to all of my printables, as it really makes learning so much more appealing!  Print in grayscale if you wish, but I think the cost of color ink is well worth it when a child learned something and had a good time doing it!

Find this download for free in my TpT store!

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If you have been blessed in any way shape or form by the services I've offered on this blog, you may want to send a monetary gift my way.  If so, that would be most appreciated!  I love what I do and am looking forward to helping others educate their little ones.

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2 FREE Christmas Bell Addition Games!

Another Christmas freebie?  Yes!!  I made this game to help my favorite 2nd grader work on her basic math facts.

Players spin a sum (spinners included), and find a math fact that equals the number spun.  Players alternate turns until game board is covered.  Player with the most playing pieces on game board wins!

A practice sheet is included for practicing any math facts that were answered incorrectly during game!

Get your game for free here!  I love making these freebies, so be sure to Subscribe to get them all!

  

If you have been blessed in any way shape or form by the services I've offered on this blog, you may want to send a monetary gift my way.  If so, that would be most appreciated!  I love what I do and am looking forward to helping others educate their little ones.

My Pay Pal Account