New Home- New Classroom!

Last month we were in Port St Lucie, Florida.

Now we are in Puerto Rico!!!

And with New Home comes New Classroom (yeeeeeee!!).


Thanks to Abuelita (grandma) for our school corner. The boys love the table, the tree on the wall and their letter's and stickers for crafts.






We are so happy to be here and...






I can't wait to start blogging again!








:) Nayeli

Mom - Job Description

POSITION: MOM

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term team players needed for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work various hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in faraway cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
This is for the rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated at least temporarily, until someone needs $5 to go skating. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, and embarrassed the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT AND PROMOTION:
Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
None required, unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:
You pay them, offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered, job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.
~~ Author Unknown ~~

We take Play VERY Seriously

I believe that through PLAY children...

Learn to solve problems.

Expand their imagination.

Develop physical, social and emotional skills.

That's why at our Home "We take Play VERY seriously".

:)Nayeli

An outdoor playroom

One of our favorite places to go is "Oxbow Eco Center", an outdoor playroom for my family.





As we observe colors, textures, smells and sounds, we allow Nature to be our teacher.

And even Perla (our Black-Lab) loves going to Oxbow!

Hum? You are going to have to trust me on this one, but yea, she loves it!!

"Nature inspires creativity in a child demanding visualization and the full use of the senses"
from the book "Last child in the woods:Saving our children from Nature-Deficit disorder" Author, Richard Louv

:)Nayeli

It's "Crabst" Time!

Craft time will bring my boys to the dinning room table faster than any meal during the day.




I can safely say that our mornings are many times divided in "BEFORE Crafts" and "AFTER Crafts".

And I must admit it, I many times take advantage of this: "If you don't brush your teeth, you won't have Crafts today". Hey! It works.


Anyways, here are some of our "crabsts" for this month.


Our first one and perhaps there the relationship between craft time and "crabst" time (how they call it).

Yes! It is a crab. We reviewed our shape -the circle, learned crab's body parts (head, legs and claws or pincher), we counted to make sure we had 8 legs and even had some math-fun: 4 legs on this side and 4 legs on the other side 4+4=8


And they thought we were only having fun!!


An octopus. This day was fun. We watch some videos online (Youtube) to see how octopus move, how and what do they eat, where do they live and how intelligent they are!

During Craft time we reviewed our shape-the rectangle and we had math fun again. Hey! crabs have 8 legs and Octopus have 8 arms.



You could see their eyes, WOW! what a cool coincidence.





And you can't have "Down by the Sea" as a theme without a Fish.




We reviewed our shapes -the circle and the triangle and learned that fish's tails are called fins.

"When you learn to awaken your families creativity, wonderful things will happen: you'll make wonderful connections with your children in large and small ways; your children will more often engage in their own creative discoveries and your family will embrace new ways to relax, play and grow together"
from the book "The Creative Family: how to encourage imagination and Nature family connections" Author- Amanda Blake Soule

:)Nayeli

Down by the Sea!

Our Fun-Schooling theme for this month was " Down by the sea". It was sooooo refreshing to start the year at the beach! The power of the ocean, the energy of the wind, the seagulls flying all around us, the sand under our feet, the music of the waves and THE FREEDOM TO ENJOY THEM All!

We had:

Lot's of playing...

and learning!

Because "Playing=Learning"

from the book, “Einstein Never Used flash Cards: How Our children Really Learn--and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less”. The authors, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D., Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D. and Diane Eyer, PD

:) Nayeli

Mami, Are we having school Today?

It's early in the morning, about 8:00-8:30am. Kids have been awake for about 30 mins already and suddenly... it just hits them. Perhaps all the posters on the wall reminds them of it.

So, they have to ask:

Boys: Mami, Are we having school today?

Mami: No, not today.

Boys: AHHHHWWW! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

Mami: Well...today is Sunday, we don't have school on Sundays. (or Well...We are taking a day off today- with a big smile!)

Boys: BUT MAAAAAAMI...WE WANT SCHOOL!

Mami: I know, I know, we'll have school tomorrow ok?

Boys: AHHHHHWW! BUT WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

Mami: Like I said, we'll have school again tomorrow. Now, go play!

BOYS: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? I WANT SCHOOOOOOL! ...AND ME TOO! (yea there's two of them).

Mami: I know, I know.

BOYS: AHHHHHWWWW!!

:)Nayeli

Stay tuned, I am here to stay!

Here I am, sitting in my boys' bedroom hoping to write more than 2 lines before they ask for water, or juice, or milk, or bathroom, or a blanky, or anything that could stretch their time to be awake a little longer, while making sure Mommy stays busy too.

...(juice, milk & blanky)...

Ok, back here!

I am so excited to start this blog! I have had not enough sleep for the last few days after discovering the blogspot world. Actually, I was briefly introduced to Blogspot a while ago. I even created an account but put it on the back burner with the excuse that I was too busy with two toddlers (15 months appart), a homebusiness, cooking, driving, teaching, etc etc etc.

Well, imagine my surprise when I started going from blog to blog and meeting all these Wonderful Moms with not 3 but 4, 5, 6. children. Boy I was challenged! ...and I mean to write not to expand my family!


10 years ago (1999) I married a handsome Dutch man that, I must say, loves sailing and MOVING! Yea, we have lived in Tennesse, Norway, Michigan, California and Florida (for now). Anyone familiar with the "Flying Dutchman" story? Well, I think they should post a disclaimer somewhere there saying -"Any similarites to real life are co-incidental and should be taken as such."

Today, Flying Dutchman and I have 2 handsome boys, 3 and 4 years old. While he works at a Golf Club (if you can call that a work place ha ha ha!) I am AtHomewithmySons and we play school every day. It is our favorite game, so we play it at the library, nature parks, the beach, playgrounds, museums, everywhere! You'll see a lot about "Fun-schooling" in this blog.

My main desire for this blog is to connect with other Moms as I share my stories.

I hope to make new friends as we find the many similarities that unite us in motherhood and the differences that make us unique.

Welcome to my world and...Stay tuned, I am here to stay!

:)Nayeli