Over the summer we have been taking it pretty easy-- busy summer schedule or swimming and park visits not included.  However, summer is coming to a close and with it Noah and I will be moving into a time of more focused learning and reading.  
I won't say that we are homeschooling per-se, but we are at least going to be using this year to pursue the possibility and see how it feels.   A part of that is having a greater sense of a theme, and with it thematic books.  However, I have been debating how I would like to present these books to Noah.  We aren't in a formal classroom, and I don't think that he would flourish under falsely created school-like conditions.  Instead I have been looking for a way to make sure that we are really getting to know the stories that we are pulling from our shelves and the library shelves and get to know the characters therein. 

Imagine my delight to come across a recent post at The Imagination Tree detailing her weekly link party of 5 In a Row Books.  As Anna Ranson on Imagination Tree states,

"The idea is that you choose 5 titles from among your usual books (or from the library) and read them every single day for at least a week....short picture books which feature strong rhythm and/ or repeated refrain so that the children can quickly memorise the words and join in with the story-telling. This empowers them to be able to "read" and re-tell stories from a young age, and also makes them very fluent in a range of text types and literature styles."

It is great to see other families interested in this and read of their experiences with reading the same books over and over for a week and seeing how their child responds.  Now, reading at least 5 a day isn't a problem out here for Momma Weston.  Often Noah will move between Jim and I having a book read 2 or three times in a row, and every night he knows he gets 4 books before bed, and catches me on it if I try to skimp. 

Some nights when I am exhausted before we go in there to read I wish I had set it up from the beginning as 3 before bed, but most nights I am curious what he will choose and excited as he notices more and more detail in the illustrations.  I won't be limiting myself at bedtime to read these selections every day, but it helps to have that built in time to focus on Noah and his burgeoning love of the written word.

Reading 5 a day is no issue, but it will be a challenge to be faithful and read each of these books every day, as Noah is lately scattered in his book choices, where he used to want to read the same books every day several times for months.  (I'm a bit happy to have the variety.) 

For our first week I am picking books from Noah's regular selections that he has been choosing lately and as we proceed into the month of September I will try to choose books more on theme.

Tonight was my second day of reading all 5, and this evening Noah had a minor meltdown at bedtime.  His Da is working a show at the Convention Center right now, which means he
 is up and away before Noah wakes, working the weekend and staying later in the evening, and Noah was enjoying some Da-snuggle time on the couch when it was time to go to bed and he wasn't very happy, but the meltdown showed just how much he needed the sleep. 

But, I digress.  I asked him what he wanted to read as his first book; usually something transportation themed wins out, but tonight he sniffed and told me,  "Bunny-- flower."  It took me a minute, but then I realized he had been speaking of Margaret Wise Brown's adorable book about a Mother Bunny whose son is threatening to run away. In one page her little one tells her that he will hide as a crocus in a hidden garden, and she tells him that if he does that, she will follow and be a gardener. 

Yup, after a meltdown all that would soothe my usual rough and tumble boy is reading about a bunny that turns into a flower-- he even sniffs the pages of books when he sees flowers on them, which is about the most adorably, achingly cute thing ever! 

Our Selections:

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Curious George and the Bunny  by H.A. Rey

5 Little Monkies Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

5 Little Ducks Went Out One Day by Pamela Paparone

Bill Grogan's Goat byMary Ann Hoberman

 Noah and I took advantage of the lovely weather we've been having at the end of this summer to full advantage.  We have had one of the hottest/coldest/wettest/ most humid summers I've seen and there has always been something interfering with us enjoying ourselves too much.  In fact, even tonight it has been storming here in Fridley. 

However, this morning was sunny and beautiful and mercifully in the low 80s for a trip to nearby Eidem Homestead-- a historical farm of the city of Brooklyn Park that was having a free event.  In spite of some serious busyness we couldn't pass up the chance to see real animals.

After wandering and seeing the sheep, goats, cow, chickens and ducks, we met up with Sharon and her son Matthew, who are members of a Meetup group I am involved in.  Our boys hadn't seen each other in quite some time, but in that way that little kids do, they were back to being friends in seconds.  Matthew took Noah by the hand and led him to the farm's large sleigh and they spent quite some time figuring out how to best conquer the mountainous wooden seat.  There was some unintentional apple eating from one of the apple trees on the property, and our stroller was almost eaten by a goat, but Noah was so brave with touching and feeding the animals and no fingers were eaten, so a wonderful morning was had by all.

 Are there ever small things that you never thought would annoy you, and then this little annoyance becomes a great big pet peeve? 

In our home my current annoyance has been the way that bills seem to accumulate and are never where I need them when the time comes to pay.  When bills enter our house, they typically go into a folder that hangs on a shelf in our kitchen until they head downstairs to the office to be filed.  Some bills we no longer get paper notifications for, and usually get paid as we get the notice in our inboxes. 

However, the phone is upstairs, my computer may be up or down, and it all results in bills that have been paid being in the same pile as bills waiting to be paid and much more paperwork than seems reasonable for a small family of three to have to deal with on a regular basis. 

To combat this I made this quick little sheet to help me organize due dates, amounts etc. and not have to wonder if I can carry that stack of papers or if I am forgetting something.  Now, when a bill comes into the house, I look at them each day, and write on this sheet the next due date, and when it is due.  When I pay a particular bill, I write the actual date it was paid, the amount and confirmation number.  This way I don't have to break out my computer or the filing system to know that we're keeping our budget buttoned up.

This is not a typical budget spreadsheet as it contains no way to add or subtract and no formulas.  I have simply laminated the sheet using my lovely recent birthday gift, and we write in permanent marker as the bills arrive.  Quick tip: If you run over permanent marker on many laminated or white board surfaces with a white board erasable marker, then the permanent marker will wipe right off. 

You can simply print off one of these sheets for each month as well, if it is easier to do so that way and have a permanent record.  Around every payday when we do bills and actually file the bills, I run the sheet downstairs to the office and enter in the info. into our actual budget. 

Download the jpg. here. 

Download the psd. here.

I used this lovely airplane doodle from lil blue boo and the yellow background fabric is a PS Action from the Coffee Shop Blog.  All the rest is mine and may be used for personal usage only.