Neat Homeschooling Website

Summer Education Update
Well, so far so good.  Katie has read two of the books from the "Bob" books series. She recognizes some words, but needs help with others. The one thing I love about these books is the same words are popping up every time you turn around. I think this is helping Katie to remember them. Grant it, the other day was the first day since last week that we've read her books. I've been busy running around here. I'm in the middle of re-decorating my bathroom, doing some repair work. On top of that I was planning a special little girl's birthday party. Yay! So yeah, I've been a little busy. Poor Katie at first, while trying to read her book, she was getting frustrated and said she just can't remember because it's been a long time since she read it last. Once she got those word soundings in place, we were back in business. She was so happy and that's another thing about these book, I love! They are very encouraging to her and me.  I recommend them to anyone! 

I have a great website that I've used from time to time called Color Mountain.com.  It's a great learning tool for preschool plus.  Katie loves the dot-to-dot coloring pages, but she can practice with her number recognition.  They have great worksheets on any topic (bible, fairy tales, & animals).  They have mazes, learning numbers, alphabet, writing skills, tracing and math.  Once Katie learns to add and subtract, I plan to use this site to practice.  All you have to do is type in your numbers and it automatically creates a worksheet for you to print, you'll have to check it out to see what I'm talking about.  I love it and so does Katie! 

Education.com "Bringing Learning to Life" is a great little website to learn Social Studies, Science, Reading "Sight Words", Writing, Math and more Arts and Crafts. They have some cute Phonics worksheets that Katie likes to do. You'll have to check it out.

I'm loving Homeschool Share! It's great educational information for both children and parents. They include: geography, the notebook pages are really neat, science resources and language arts. I think I can use a lot of these resources for Katie's age (5 years old) this Summer. She's always asked questions, since she could speak. She's one smart cookie and she puts things together at her pace. The other day while watching the weather forecast, she saw the map of the United States and asked where exactly we lived. Her little brain is nothing but a sponge and I hope she'll plug up one end, while I'm filling it full. The Language Arts gives parents a helping hand on how to make sure your child is comphrehending what he/she reads. It seems like a great exercise and I plan to try it out soon.

Other creative and inspiring homeschool blogs to follow are 1+1+1=1 and ABC and 123. I've been able to find some great teaching websites like Homeschool Share and Education.com "Bringing Learning to Life".

If you know of any other devoted homeschooling websites, please send me a comment and I will make sure to check them out. Thanks!

Remodeling
We're hoping to do some remodeling to the house, getting ready to sale.  Please keep in mind, we're not putting our house up on the market yet.  I'm hoping with all the renovations that it will be complete within three years.  I've already started on the bathroom.  The tub needed to be re-caulked and the knob to the shower needed to be taken off and cleaned. 

Word of Advice - Don't waste your time purchasing the "Pro Caulk" because I did and it wasn't any help at all.  Thankfully, I have a father that's a retired "Steam & Pipefitter."  Dad told me the caulking that's in the "Pro Caulk" kit wouldn't work good because he's tried it.  And the different caulking trim tools don't work either because it makes more of a mess than just using your finger.  I had a terrible time removing the old caulking with the plastic hook the kit supplied.  After working with it for 10 minutes, I called dad to see if I could use a putty knife instead.  That's when we got to talking about the kit, I bought.  He bought one similar a while back and had the same problems.  He told me a putty knife or pocket knife would work just fine.  Oh the difference it made once I got started with the putty knife.  I guess I cleaned it all out within 30-40 minutes.  Dad came over the next day and helped me put new silicone caulking back in the tub. 
Tips on applying silicone caulking:

1. Purchase 100% Silicone  - I bought it for my bathroom, so I got the "Kitchen & Bath"
2. Remove the cap and cut the tip of the caulking at an angle, of course the caulk is inside the caulking gun.
3. You'll have to puncher the seal inside the tub of silicone.  You can do this by using a wire clothes hanger.  Cut the wire hanger into and stick it down inside the tub.  You'll know that the seal is broken by seeing the silicone on the wire.
4. Apply little beads of Silicone into the desired crack at an angle with the cut angle of the tube facing the crack. Only apply the silicone in small sections at a time because the silicone begins to dry in a very short time. For instance, dad applied the silicone to the shorter sides of the tub first, one side at a time.  For the longer side, he applied the silicone one half at a time. 
5. Once you apply the beads of silicone, you rake your finger through it and wipe it off on a rag.  Keep raking your finger across until you are satisified {nice, clean and smooth surface}.  If you see the silicone has began to dry a little and it seems hard to smooth out, dip your finger in water and it should help. 

I guess it took dad about 5-10 minutes to apply and smooth out the silicone onto the crack.  GREAT JOB DAD!

It's been a few years since we've painted in the bathroom, so I'm changing the color completely.  I've fallen in love with purple in the past few years.  As you know, I painted our bedroom a grape color.  I just love it!  I have visions of our bathroom having a lighter purple.  Well, it's official the colors will be Mystic Purple and trimmed in Winsome Lilac.  I found rugs that are the exact colors that I've picked out.  So, I went ahead and got them along with the matching bath towel, hand towel and wash cloth.  I haven't bought the paint yet, but I'm keeping my eye out for a set of curtains to put in there.  My creative juices are flowing and have purchased a few decorative accents for the bathroom.  

Peggy and Millard gave me a day off the other day.  They took the children with them for the day.  Honestly, I didn't know what to do first.  I purchased Colton a new fan for his room, but I got the wrong one.  So, I knew I had to go back to Lowe's to return it.  Like always, I had a BLAST in Lowe's and Hobby Lobby.  You talk about having a hard time FOCUSING on one project at a time.  Ugh!  It was so hard because I kept finding great ideas for each room.  Between decorating ideas for Colton's bedroom, pretty home accents for the Living Room and nice slate tile for a backsplash in the Kitchen.  I bet people thought I was crazy because I finally had to tell myself - "FOCUS MIRYA, FOCUS!"  {lol}

Speaking of one of my favorite stores, Hobby Lobby, they had a great sale last week and an even better one this week {for me}.  They had all their wall decor and candle holders 50% off.  I wanted this iron wall decor for the bathroom, but all they had left was the color black.  It would have been perfect, but it won't look right black.  I thought about re-painting it an antique white wash and I may still do that in the end.  I couldn't see paying full price for a few stem flowers to go with the glass candle holder, I got, which would have been $16.  Their pretty good about putting their items on sale, especially the floral department.  I'm glad I waited now because I received an email ad from HL and their floral stems will be 50% off this week.  YAY!  I plan to use the stems and make a candle ring out of them.  It will go around the new glass lilac/purple candle holder.  So pretty! I'll be sure to post photos as I go.