Friday Fast Five- Homeschooling Tools Favorites

One of my 2 dear readers (Yes Aunt Dawn & Clare that's you!) requested that I put the new school table my husband made on my blog so she could pin it. So for today's fast 5, I am showcasing 5 our schooling essentials.

1) Our NEW School Table WootWoot! This baby was a piece of cake to make. I bought 2 cheap shelves at Wally World, and had my husband paint a blank door to match. He attached to the door to the assembled shelves with L brackets and Wall-la. A very useful/huge school table! Now to be honest this was about a $60 project with paint and brackets and everything. Plus it is slightly taller than a normal table so regular chairs don't work for kids. We are buying our guys saddle style stools (that also happen to come from Wal-mart). Just giving you the low down so you don't yell at me later;)

You will notice all the items on each kids "end". Those are the components to the rest of today's 5.

2) Their Daily Binders. At the beginning of the school year I bought each kid a cute binder and double sided pocketed dividers.

On each Pocket Divider I put one of the days of the school week.

On Sunday nights I take work out their Math Books, Spelling, Phonics, Etc. and put it in each day's front pocket accordingly. For those subjects that don't have tear out pages, or that have to be read aloud, or something "unpocketable" I put labels on that day's front pocket to remind the kids that we have to do those subjects also. For instance Bible and Science are mostly read aloud subjects, and we always do history together. The pockets are mainly for their "work alone" subjects.

Once that days work is completed it goes in the back of that days' pocket, so I know it is ready to be graded. I LOVE this system and it works really well for us. The kids know what needs done, and I can keep track of what is getting accomplished.

3) These HUGE white beasts are the kids cumulative binders. Once work has been accomplished for that week and graded, I move it to these binders. I keep these to show what they have done for the year.

I keep a clear page protector in the front to hold school work that isn't "hole punchable" such as unit work or crafts.

4) Each of the kids has their own Workbox. This holds all their essentials for schooling. They aren't suppose to use these for any other time. But I can't tell you the amount of times, I have been hollering because Gidey has lost his scissors, or someones gluestick was in their room:/

This small crate holds: A soap dish full of crayons, eraser, scissors, gluestick, and a jar with Markers and Colored Pencils. The kids actually really like this system and we seem to be able to keep up with things better than previous years.

5) Homeschooling...or is it Van Schooling?

My last item is the kids customized clipboards. I hate to admit but we school on the go sometimes. So the clipboards are awesome because they just grab the work from that days binder pocket, attach to clipboard and go. We usually bring a pencil pouch and sharpener too.

There it is folks some of my favorite school tools. I also have an awesome planner that I should share with you sometime...

Friday Fast Five- Closets

This Fast Five is because I am running out of "fun" things so you get practical stuff;P
I took pictures of 5 closets in my house, so you could get an idea how I organize stuff. If you have questions feel free to comment.

1) This our Main/kids bathroom. I couldn't get a good picture of the whole thing, due to the setup of that bathroom. SO you get a couple of different shot/angles. Do you like the dirty clothes in the basket:/

2) This is the Hall Closet. Suppose to be for coats but we don't need to many of those in NC. So I shoved it full of games, crafts, and educational toys. Oh and the Dyson, which looks naked cause I gave it a bath yesterday, and haven't put it back together yet!

3) This is my Bathroom. Nothing special, again I left the dirty clothes in the basket just for your viewing enjoyment;)

4) This is Gideyon's room. Probably my favorite closet. Simple & clean. Have had that shelf forever and used it in his closet all kinds of ways! He doesn't have any "nice" clothes to hang, and we hang all our jackets on peg racks in the family room. Hence the lack of clothing in his closet.

5) And now to finish off with our resident packrat:Gilly! I try my best but that gal has to many "special" things. Gideyon's fit all in the little basket on the top of his shelf. NOT Gilly, she pretty much takes up the entire top shelf of her closet:/

SO there ya have it,  a peek in my closets:) Promise to be more creative with my Fast Friday next week!

Friday Fast Five-Advent Edition

I am really excited about this Friday's Fast Five. It is something I have been thinking about the closer it got to Advent season. If you know my family at all, you know that my mother started a Christmas Countdown with all of her children that we all strive to duplicate in some form or manner. I have always done a small treat or activity/craft with my guys in past years. And in fact I will still give them little goodies throughout the month. However the focus of our Countdown this year will be on GIVING not GETTING! I had perused a bunch of blogs and ideas and here is what our family is doing this year:

This is a little baby food jar with slips/sticks of paper with Random Acts of Kindness on them. I took some from several different blogs, so I will share my inspiration with you in my Fast Five list!
1) This was where I got my "jar" idea.
2) This blog has some really easy/cheap R.A.C.K. ideas
3) This is a list of ideas for each daythat you could simply print out if you don't want to be fancy
4)This gal has a cute printable card to go with your give aways/RACK. Plus more ideas!
5) This is my favorite blog about this type of Advent! She articulates how I feel about it well. Plus a really awesome Printable Planner and Idea List:)
So hopefully I have inspired you a little this season, or at least given you some ideas for next year!

Friday Fast Five- Current Obsessions

So this Friday I am sharing 5 of my very favorite things ( for the moment). These are things I just can't get enough of:)
1) Vera Bradley is one of my all time faves! Currently I love the new color Safari Sunset. I have the XL duffel on my Christmas List!

2) Pintrest! I spend entirely to much time on here, but I love all the fun ideas. I have actually made a few of them here in the last couple weeks, GO me!

3)Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte! I ♥ these. I have actually only had 3 this season, due to the fact that our Starbucks isn't close and never on my way anywhere:( Still tops my fall faves list!

4)Cookie baking and decorating. SO I see all these beautiful cookie on Pintrest and drool. Of course I think "I can do that". Turns out I CAN'T do this! I am determined to master this, so stay tuned for results...

5)Burlap! I have always loved burlap, but lately I am OBSESSED with it! I have decided to do my new Christmas decor all in burlap and cream, with brown accents. So if you spot anything I need to buy or craft let me know:)

So there ya go another fast five! Hope you have a great weekend:)

Friday Fast Five- 5 things I have recently made in my Crockpot

So now the weather is finally cooling off here in the South. So I am using one of my favorite kitchen appliances again. My crock pot! I have made several yummy yet easy things in it lately. Here are 5 of them.

1. Ham & Beans. This "recipe" is a treasured one from my dear friend Amy. I love the simplicity of it. I stick it all in the crockpot and whip up some cornbread and "Wall-la" dinner:) Here is the "Recipe" : 3 cans of Pinto Beans, 1 can Rotel ( I run mine through my food processor first, cause I don't like chunks!), and a large ham steak cubed. I have substituted the ham steak for pork remnants which are easy to find and cheap here in the south, you could also use a Ham Bone if you ever happen to have that handy;)
2. Bear Creek Soups! You may remember these from last year's post. All these soups are SO tasty and easy to jazz up with a little meat. Stick in CrockPot and Done!
3. Baked Potatoes! These were SO easy. I washed my potatoes, wrapped individually in foil, and then put in Crockpot on low for about 6 hours. Perfect Baked Potatoes with NO effort required. We topped ours with chili & cheese and made a lunch out of them, but I am sure they will be reappearing as a side sometime in the near future.
4. Beef Stroganoff. I simply took my favorite Stroganoff recipe and put the stew meat & wet ingredients (minus sour cream!) in the crock pot on low. I then cooked the noodles and added the sour cream right before serving. My recipe came from Gooseberry patch and I was unable to locate it online, so if you are dying to have it please comment me and I will see what I can do.
5. Hawaiian BBQ Chicken. This is one that has been floating around on Pintrest. I served it over rice. Steve and I really enjoyed it, the kids not as much:/ It was actually surprisingly spicy! You can find the blog and recipe here.

Sorry there are not any pics this week. Forgot to photograph my dishes. Not that Stroganoff or Baked potatoes are that photogenic anyway;)

Friday Fast Five-The Pumpkin Version

So since Muffin Tin Monday has been fairly easy for me to keep up with and post on, I thought I would try out a new topic for Fridays. So I give you the Friday Five, a list of 5 items. The themes will vary;)
This week is Pumpkins! So here is my 5 favorite pumpkin related items for the moment...

1. Pumpkin Spice Bread from Pepperidge Farm. This bread is so yummy toasted with a little butter. I have had it for Breakfast every morning this week! Hence the half empty bag in the photo...

2. This is our new Bathroom Soap: Cinnamon Pumpkin from Bath & Body. Gilly Bean LOVES it!

3. My ALL time fave! Ben & Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake IceCream! I was exuberant when they brought this back this fall:)

4. I made my two little "Punkins" pumpkin applique shirts for our trip to the pumpkin patch. Here is one of them:

5. And last I am sharing these fun Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows I found at good ole Wally World. I think these will be so fun in Hot Cocoa! However eating plain marshmallows...bluck:P

There it is: 5 of my favorite (or just fun) pumpkin things. What is one of yours?

P.S. I don't know how it didn't make the list!! But here it is as a bonus- PuMpKiN SpIcE Latte! My all time very fave fall drink:)