DATE NIGHT IDEAS

DATE NIGHT IDEAS

How many of you get busy and forget to date?  Now there is no excuse, you can have 12 dates preplanned for the next year.  If you've been married for a few months or a few years and want to spend more quality time with your spouse, this is the project for you!

Have kids? No problem we have ideas for dates at home after the kiddos go to sleep.

Empty Nester?  No problem we have ideas for interesting places to visit throughout the metro.

Have a budget?  No problem we have dates that cost little to nothing.

Out of ideas? No problem we have oodles of ideas from people across the web.

Here are some useful websites to get started. 

Example of template with ideas

http://www.thinkingcloset.com/2014/01/21/12-months-of-date-nights-gift-free-printable/

Great original at-home date ideas

http://thehometeacher.org/2012/02/date-night-kits.html

32 Stay-at-Home Date Ideas

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/01/32-stay-at-home-date-ideas-plus-links.html  

101 Date Night on a Dime

http://www.thinkingcloset.com/2014/01/31/101-creative-date-nights-on-a-dime/

12 Date Night ideas in an envelope

http://shannonbrown.typepad.com/life_in_general/lets-go-on-a-date.html

TONS OF Ideas with links

http://loveactually-blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/date-night-ideas.html

Some ideas for dates in an envelope

http://lorrinteriors.blogspot.com/2012/01/date-night-pre-planned-date-basket.html

Ideas for leaving the house in the metro and beyond

http://www.homeschoolresourcesp.com/rich_text_3.html

Bookmaking & Journaling with Pre-K Students

Kaleb is over nine months old. As I had returned to work, my blogging project got thrown to the side. I started working as the Pre- k teacher in a privately owned learning center. I have used many great resources online to help design an interesting and stimulating curriculum. I love the curiosity of a five year old, and I am amazed at how much these little people pick up in just a year. All of my students are ready for kindergarten, and I am proud to say I helped them get there.

My first year teaching meant a lot of trial and error. I tried journal writing or bookmaking with three or four approaches, and I still don't like how the way I am doing it. Each child has a stapled packet of 10 pages. They each have their bookmaking spot, and we do this daily. We talk about possible topics before we disperse. Then they can draw about anything they would like. My only requirement is that they need to use three colors on each page. I circulate to add the date and any words they want on the page. Sometimes I label items for them. Sometimes they give me a sentence or many sentences. Sometimes we make bubbles with words inside. Sometimes they just say one word. There is no right or wrong way to do bookmaking.

Some of the problems are that the books get roughed up. The pages are coming apart. We have book bins with a pencil, some crayons, journals, and books to look at when they are finished. The book bins were new this year, and many of them are breaking already. (We got them from Oriental Trading.) I am going to have to rethink the organization method for next year. I also want the students to start adding their own words. I want to do less of the writing, and I want them to use the word wall and the sight words we have been learning this year. This part of the process will need a little more thought by me.

Everything has a process. Maybe we need to do a mini-lesson on using the word wall for bookmaking. We need to teach them every little step along the way, and I think my kids are ready for the next step.

Life of a Three-Month Old

As I am home with my child, I try to find things to do that are age appropriate. An infant enjoys being held, and the day mostly consists of sleeping, eating and diaper changes. Just recently, K has been able to grab items. Before this point, I didn’t know what activities to do with him.

We tried finger painting, but it was a fast experience quickly followed by a bath. It was more work and fun for mom. Maybe when he is older I will be able to do more in the area of art. The picture was sent to grandma as a birthday gift, and oh, she loved it!

I try to read to him daily. The books have to be short and if they rhyme that makes things a little easier. He does not like sitting and listening to a book that does not sound sing songy. Just the other day, I went to the library to add a few new books to our selection. Mom is slowly learning what works with him. Finding interesting activities to fill our day is mom’s science experiment each day.

He loves music. I am not a big singer, but for my son, I have turned into a natural musician. My lack of tone and beat does not matter to him. Heck, my husband will even sing along with us. (We have mutual singing ability.) The World Wide Web has become a great resource for songs, lyrics and finger play. Resources that every new mom should know about…

Finger Play- The Hennepin county library has lyrics and videos of finger play songs to learn and teach your children. K loves when I do the movements to a poem or song. http://www.hclib.org./Birthto6/EarlyLit_Fingerplays.cfm

Play Music at home- I didn’t want to buy a ton of new music, so I opened a Pandora Free Online Radio Station. K has his own station made of all kids music. First step is to add some artists that your child likes. I added Raffi into his selection, and the radio selects music that is similar. You can like and dislike the music to help the site select music that is similar to your preference. www.pandora.com

He loves to lay and kick, be outside, and go for walks. Our days are slowly filling with activities.