Meeting Monday with Karen from Tots and Me

I wanted to thank Lori for allowing me to introduce myself and my blog here on Meeting Monday. It's a real pleasure to be here.

My name is Karen and I've been blogging over at Tots and Me for a little over 3 years.

My husband and I have 4 young children who we are homeschooling, though we both have older children from previous marriages who have gone through/are going through the public school system. Our older children do not find their way on to my blog very often as they are out of the house (being 21, 20, 20, 20, 19, 18 and 16 years of age). Dealing with the school system for so many years is one of the many reasons we know we want to homeschool our young children.

When I started my blog, Tabitha was 2 years old and I had been doing random crafts with her for a while. We had just started focusing on a letter of the week and I wanted to be able to share with other moms. Tabitha is now 6 years old and we started our My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum back in August. She has been reading since she was 3 1/2, loves to draw and seems to be a natural at math. She loves to make believe with her imaginary friends. She is such a big helper with her siblings, but mainly with her baby brother.

Amelia was only 1 year old when I started my blog, however, she was involved in a lot of the crafts and activities we were doing. She was learning right alongside her sister. She is now 4 1/2 years old and has been tagging along in the My Father's World curriculum. Thanks to the Schoolhouse Review Crew she also has her own math curriculum with TouchMath. She has just recently started reading beginner books to her dad and I.

Hannah was not yet born when I started my blog. When I was pregnant with her (and during her early newborn months) we didn't get a lot of "schoolwork" done. However, she has been included in our schoolwork for a while now. She is going to be turning 3 in less than a month and has been learning her letters, colors, shapes and numbers. She loves to draw, in fact she would probably draw all day if I let her (and if I could afford the paper).

Baby Harold came along last year and has made everything a real challenge. There are days I am not sure how to handle 4 children, but I wouldn't have it any other way. By the Lord's grace I have been able to continue with our school time. Harold is now a year old and I think we are finally getting into a routine, though I worry that I don't do as much with him and Hannah as I did with Tabitha and Amelia. He has been crawling and climbing steps for a while. He can stand without holding on and is just starting to take a few steps. Out of all my children he is my latest walker. Sometimes I wonder if younger children don't walk as soon because it is easier to keep up with older siblings while crawling at top speed than while toddling unsteadily on two legs.

I started my blog to share the different activities and crafts the girls and I were doing. As time went on we started officially home "preschooling" and I would share our weekly updates along with books we were reading, recipes we were making, and lots of random pictures.

We are very relaxed in our homeschooling for the present. I have a background working in a Montessori Children's House, so I have included some activities in the past. I have just recently started them up again with Hannah. I only have experience with the toddler and preschool age in Montessori, so I am at a loss of how to implement it with the older girls. I don't get to blog about our weeks as often as I would like because I have trouble finding time to get on the computer and actually concentrate. The blog has evolved a bit over the years, but I am trying to bring it back to what it was.

I have several weekly features I try to keep up with, plus reviews and giveaways.
I invite you to stop over to check out Muffin Tin Monday, Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up, Wordless Wednesday Linky, Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen and Lovin' The Weekend Blog Hops (and Giveaway Linky). I also participate in the photo challenge, Scavenger Hunt Sunday and have just started to attempt Blogging Through the Alphabet.

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