"T" Party.

One of my most favorite things about having little girls is how I finally get to girly things up.  

Don't get me wrong.  I love Mario parties and construction parties and playing super heroes as much as the next guy, but there's something about doting on my girls and making things floral and frilly that is just so much fun for me, and thankfully my girls love it, too! (And even more thankfully, Isaiah has friends he gets to hang out with while we do girly things!)

I also really really love learning, and so when I see an opportunity to incorporate "school" into girly things, well, that's just about as good as it gets for me.

Izzy is in kindergarten this year, and her year is really just revolving around the alphabet.  Every week, we take a different letter and learn how to write it and what sound it makes and words that start with it.  A couple of weeks ago, I sat down to plan out the next few weeks, and I noticed the letter "T" was coming up fairly soon.  This felt like a great opportunity to do something extra special and fun for the sweet little girls we know and love...

So we had a "T" party!

You guys, this was the most precious thing ever.

At the beginning of the week, Izzy and I made invitations.  This was a really great way to introduce the letter to her, and then she helped me deliver them to her friends.

When all the sweet little girls arrived, they had to get ready before we could have our tea.  I set out all the dress-up clothes and shoes and accessories I could find.

We had so many accessories and dresses!

They got to figure out which pretty things they wanted to wear, and some changed multiple times.  (They are girls, after all...)

They got advice from one another about what looked best.

But all of them were such beautiful "fancy girls!"

After about forty-five minutes, they were all ready to go.

Even this one!

Okay...on to the lunch...

We talked a little bit about manners, so the girls walked as daintily as they could to see their table.

They were so excited to sit at a fancy table and use beautiful dishes!

They sat and ate like the sweetest little ladies I've ever seen.  

And all of their manners were minded.

I kept saying, "This has to be the calmest lunch I've ever seen with kids!" They quietly talked and ate and were as prim and proper as you could ever imagine.

And the tea...oh my word it was just too cute.

They ate so well, too, and always asked very politely if they could "please have some more."

Our menu was pretty simple.  We had strawberries and crackers and these adorable sandwiches for lunch.

And dessert was cupcakes, marshmallows, and donuts.

These pearls are candy, and I thought they added just the sweetest little touch.

I added the letter T everywhere I could without going over the top with it.  We talked for a few minutes about how "tea" starts with "t," and we sang "I'm A Little Teapot."

And we ended our party with dancing because every party with little girls should have twirling involved.

We had such a lovely day with some of the lovliest little ladies I could ever imagine.

And I don't think Izzy will ever look at a "T" the same way again.

(Tap, Tap, Tap) Mom! (Tap, Tap, Tap) Mom!

My kids used to tap on my arms all the time.

And I mean all the time.

In the grocery store: tap tap tap, mom!

While I was on the phone: tap tap tap, mom!

In the middle of church: tap tap tap, mom!

I seriously disliked it, and my mom (the first grade/kindergarten teacher) has said that the tapping was the worst part of her job.  

But let's be honest here.  They don't do it to annoy us.  They do it because they really really really want to be heard.  Everything in their little brains is the most important thought anyone has ever had in the world ever, and it's really important that they let us know exactly what those thoughts are.  It's precious, really, and I want my kiddos to feel like they are being heard.  

But the tapping had to quit.

This is the simplest little trick that I picked up from some really smart mom years and years ago, and I thought I'd share it with you.  I started this a few years ago with Isaiah, and it has worked wonders, and I recently just started with Izzy. They don't always remember, but we try to employ this as often as we can.

They know when I'm in the middle of a conversation or busy with something and they have something to tell me, they simply quietly come place their tiny hand on my arm.  This is their way of telling me, "Hey Momma, I have something super important I want to tell you!"

Then, I simply place my hand on top of theirs.  This lets them know that I fully recognize that they have something to tell me and will be ready to listen as soon as I've finished what I'm doing.

They can feel free to continue to hold onto my arm to remind us both that they were going to say something or take the chance I will forget and they can go back and play.  Either way, no tapping.  No constantly saying "Momma!  Momma!" and no mommy guilt for being slightly annoyed at my kids.  

Math...As Serious As It Needs To Be.

When I was in school, I hated math.

And I do mean hated math.

I could write a 20 page paper over the societal implications of The Scarlet Letter without hesitation, but my word, once letters entered into my math problems, I was out.

I guess that's why it never offended me that when people found out I was homeschooling our kids, their first response, almost inevitably, was, "Wait...what are you going to do about math...?"

I have sort of bounced around over the last few years about how to tackle this issue.  I didn't want to buy a whole curriculum set every year because, honestly, I needed to either actually understand it myself or have someone else teach it, and those sets tend to contain a workbook and a teacher's edition with little more than a basic overview and the answers.  I spent so many days and nights in tears trying to find something that I could teach but also something the kids would enjoy at an affordable price.

Then I met Fred.  He is a 5 year old math professor.  He is so cute and funny and entertaining.

This is a new and interesting way to approach math that I haven't seen in any of the curriculum packages I've poured through, and honestly, I'm a bit smitten.  Rather than page after page of problems and drills to work through, Life Of Fred teaches children (and their mothers in some cases) math through real-life scenarios that Fred finds himself in in a novel-style story where he encounters the need for math and learns the methods to solve his problems.  Never again will I look at a math problem and think, "Now when would I ever actually use that in real life??" because I can see exactly where it would be useful!

I really love this because even though we use it as our base curriculum, it's great for a supplement.  If you have a kid in school who doesn't seem to "get" math, this is a great set of books to order to help explain the "why" behind the concepts.

We are starting now with the elementary series, but this program runs through some college-level math courses, and even in elementary, we are learning things that we will build on to make middle and high school-levels easier to understand.

We do add a few extra worksheets or games throughout our week to reinforce what we are learning through this series since there are only a few practice problems as the end of each chapter, but with this approach to math, even I, the Hater Of All Things Numerical, am actually understanding it in a way that makes it possible for me to teach it, too.

And bonus!  I hear Isaiah giggle his way through his math lesson every day.  He has even requested to do math on days we aren't even doing school just so he can see what is going to happen next!

I would strongly recommend the Life Of Fred series for anyone who wants to learn not just the "how," but the "why" behind math in a funny and entertaining way!

Click here to check out the website!