Did I fall off the earth?

Did I fall off the earth?  Well... I feel like I have in a way but maybe that would have been better than what I've been dealing with... meaning floating in space not having to deal with everything.  So here it goes...

1.  Ohio regulations for child care (county certified... because only people who watch more than six become licensed) are that the county may choose to revoke your certificate if you haven't watched a county child (meaning a state paid child) in the last six months.  Well... I haven't been able to find a county child in my neck of the woods in 23 years... so guess what they planned on doing.  Yep... revoke my certificate.  So getting that all straightened out took much of my time to do.
     My big issue with this whole thing is... I've done everything they have asked of me... accredited by NAFCC, a gold seal on the "Care for Kids" program (Thelma Harms Rating Scale), never been out of compliance...EVER!  They always have great things to say about my program... yet I am no longer worthy of being county certified.  I am assuming Ohio just doesn't care to know what is going on in home child care's across the state if they have a rule that doesn't permit anyone to be certified.  You would think they would want everyone to at the least... be certified. 
     I'm glad to say I will be certified another year.  I am happy about this but am worried about next year... might have to invest in a pair of boxing gloves... ha...ha.

2.  We had to put our dog of 15 years down.  It was a difficult decision... very sad... but I know it had to be done for the dog's sake.  So we put her down one Saturday morning... my husband, eldest son, my youngest son, and I went and stayed with her through the process.  Well... if that wasn't enough for one day!!!! Right!?!  An hour and a half later I'm sitting in the ER.  My son (he's seventeen and the 4-th child) went ice skating with his best friend.  I didn't think nothing of him wearing shorts as it was almost 80 degrees outside.  May I say... NEVER GO ICE SKATING IN SHORTS!!!!!!!!!!  He was one of six on the ice skating backwards (he's a wanna be hockey player) and makes a quick pivot to go forward, gets his legs all tangled up and cuts his shin open with the skate.  I get the call from his friend that EMS is on the way.  I'm thinking...must be kinda bad... and high tail it back to the rink.  Mind you I just got home from dropping them off and was sobbing because my dog wasn't laying in her normal spot.  So I fly back to the rink and catch the ambulance just before they left.  I didn't get to see the leg but was well informed that "it was a good cut".  So I still have no idea what to expect.... but that still isn't enough stress to add to the day.  So I'm driving to the ER worried sick because at that moment we had no health insurance.  Deep breath... right!  My husband had just changed jobs back in January and his boss said don't do the cobra, I'll take care of you... taking care of us alright... this is Saturday and his insurance (after many promises and former dates that the new insurance was going to start and then... nothing, nadda) supposedly was starting on Monday.  Well another deep breath because when I saw my son's leg I almost lost it!  It was by far the  worst cut I've ever seen in 48 years of living.  You could see the bone, all the layers of tissue, everything.  The doc looked him over and called a plastic surgeon to come in and sew him up... and they were hoping he didn't need surgery.  Panic is taking over.  I looked worse than my son! After 8 interesting hours in the ER (it was St. Pat's day, should I say more) we finally got to bring him home.  He was off school the whole next week and is finally back this week.  It is healing well and he will have a nice scar!  And the best news... I still had time to purchase the cobra... so health care will pay a good chunk of the expense.

3.  I love to take on more than I should.  Probably what most teachers/homeschoolers/providers can say as well.  Well I walked into this one blind... and decided it would be a wonderful experience to train providers since I was so... and have been forever... disappointed with the trainings they offer.  So I took on the challenge thinking these classes are already put together... so some "me" adjustments and things would be good... right!?!  NOT!!!!!  I spent the last two full weekends (minus the ER trip) working on these classes.  4 of them.  Who would have thought it would have taken that long when they actually train you to teach these classes.  So overachieving me had to work until there was no more wax left on the candle each night to put it together like I would want it presented to me.  Needless to say, all but one turned out great (the one was good but I need to tweak it more)... most of the providers were happy and many asked when I am teaching again.  Thank goodness I have a break from them to re-group because... (read #4)...

4.  I still don't have my child care business taxes done yet.... or should I say barely started.   So that is the panic this weekend... sitting at my lowly computer plugging in numbers until I can't see straight and my fingers are bleeding... okay... getting a little dramatic.

So amongst life, being a mom and wife, running a business and a home... I've hit a few glitches. I'm hoping to recover after this weekend and catch my blog up and then begin creating more printables!!! Thanks for checking in... reading my posts... and I hope to get on with better and more daycare style things.  And I can't wait to have time to catch up on all the other bloggers blogs that I so enjoy and get so many wonderful ideas.

Best,

Rose

Last Week in Feb. 2012

We had a fun week as we took off to study Hawaii... and the children just love doing the state studies.
Here is what we did while learning about Hawaii...

Our Hawaii Book and Activities

We identified the state on our map... a state map that has velcro state pieces.  We

colored in the state name and the state.  We talked about how Hawaii is an island

and what an island is.

We found Hawaii on a map... I had to use one that showed the children exactly

where Hawaii is.  We talked about the state capital and each child made a

flower lei as a welcome to Hawaii.

 Here we are with our flower lei.  We had a difficult time with this project

and I will have to rethink it for future use.  We used yarn with a taped end as

the needle, foam beads (but were going to use straw pieces which would have

been the better idea, but the holes in the flowers were to big and it didn't work) 

which we had a hard time lacing, and flowers that were a little big and

 the center holes were too big. 

The next page we talked about the state flag and colored one to look like the actual

state flag.  We then cut up letters and glued down the state name (middle of page), and

lastly we traced and wrote the state name on a folded piece of paper.

We learned that the state flower is the yellow hibiscus and colored one.  Then we made

a paper yellow hibiscus.

We took pre-cut paper piecings of the yellow flower petal and leaves

to create the flower.  We didn't glue down the entire petal but instead

folded the bottom of the petal about 1/2 inch and glued that to give it

the hibiscus effect.  We used a red dot marker to make the center and put a

yellow pipecleaner through two holes in the center f the flower to make

the stamen.

We talked about the state bird... the Hawaiin Goose and we colored a

goose in our books.  Then we waterpainted a Hawaiin Goose.

Here are a couple of the waterpainted Hawaiin Geese.

We talked about the state mammal... the humpback whale.  We watched videos

of the creatures and then matched pictures of the whale.

Here is the video we used...

We talked about Hawaii Volcano National Park and how there are many volcanoes

in Hawaii.  We did a book on this page to explain how a volcano erupts.

We watched these videos...

We then made our own volcanoes by cutting brown construction paper into volcano(es)

and coloring the background.  We then took red fingerpaint to make erupting

an erupting volcano(es).

We talked about how pinapples are grown in Hawaii. Did you know if

you cut the top off of a pineapple and plant it in the dirt it will grow a

pineapple?

We made a pineapple mosaic by cutting yellow and green paper and

pasting it to the paper.  We had to add gold and green glitter glue dots

to give them the final touch.

And lastly we talked about hula dancing.  How fun this was!!!  We

watched a few videos to get a feel for what hula dancing was all

about after we colored the picture in our book.

 After watching these videos we had to give it a try... but we needed

the grass skirts.  We made then out of construction paper.  They thought

this was G-R-E-A-T!!!  And then we let the hula dancing begin...

We also finished our occupations unit this week by doing the following...

The Chef

We talked about what a chef and waiter do and role played there jobs.  We then did these

dictated responses to what they would make if they were chef's.

 And we talked about the concept of open and closed.

We talked about open and closed, demonstrated it on objcets, found things in

the room that were open and then found things in the room that were closed.  We

then did this coloring page in which we colored the open box blue and the closed

box yellow.

 And that about sums up our week.  Hope you had fun seeing what we've been up to.
Best,
Rose



Learning Activity Boxes ~Last week in Feb. 2012

Hi Everyone!
Here are our learning box activities for this week.

The Tooth Game

 This is a tooth board game I made.  You can download it here.  My children really

love playing board games these days so I need to have one for them.

Tic Tac Toe

 Another favorite is tic tac toe and I found this cute tic tac toe board in my files.

ABC Uppercase/Lowercase Matching

 This was in my files from "Musing of Me".  I loved her materials but she is unable to

share her wonderful creations anymore.  Sure glad I had this one!

Magnet Sheet

 I got this magnet sheet from Jean at 123 Learn Curriculum in her member section.

Trace and Color

 This is a trace and color page from Making Learning Fun.  I'm sure I will have

to print more as coloring is another of my children's favorites.

Sizes Magnet Sheet

 This is a magnet sheet that you have to match the size of the magnet and color.  I

got this from Jean at 123 Learn Curriculum in the member section.

Number Tracing

 This is a tracing book from 1 - 20 from Musings of Me.  This is another

printable that she is no longer able to share.

Tooth Lacing

Tooth lacing from my graphic.  You can download the graphic here and

add your own holes.

Best,

Rose