Playing with Word Families

We had a great time the other day, making our own word family sliders. Do you know what I am talking about? You take a sheet of paper and cut two side-by-side slits in the it and thread a thin strip of paper through the slits. Then you right the end of a word family on the larger paper, and as you slide the thin paper through, you write the initial letters in the opening so you make a whole set of words.

Wow, that sure was clear! Anyway, we made a bunch of them and both my kids got into it and learned more about letters and their sounds. The one in the photo is the -AT word family so I wrote AT on the blue paper. Then on the pink strip, we have B C F H M P R S. So as you slide the strip through, you get to make 8 different words.

We also made -OT, -IT, -OP.

The Month After the 30 days of nothing!

So, how much did I spend in October? I thought that would be an interesting thing to look at since I did the "30 Days of Nothing" Challenge in September.

In review, basically I tried to buy only necessities and limited my grocery budget to $200 for the whole month of September.

In October, I spent $400 on groceries. While significantly more that the previous month, it is right inline with what I want to be spending in a regular month. I also started my Christmas shopping and bought some items I had been putting off like new shoes for my son, vitamins, and reusable water bottles.

Overall, I am pleased. I did not go overboard in October and I stayed within my budget. Having the surplus in September helped me dig out of some holes so now I am right on track.