1st Day of School

  

Ari looking at her new school supplies…

We did our morning devotional first…

Ryan creating animals

Ari earned computer time (after they complete a workbox, they take off the velcro number (called a ticket), after they have 2 tickets, they can choose an activity from an upcoming workbox).  Every third box is a fun activity such as computer, painting, etc. 

Ryan working on small, medium and big with his dinosaurs.  

Ari doing her Math

Ari drawing a picture of what the poem about Trees made her feel.

Ari doing a paint by number, she prefers to do creative painting…

Our new school room

We moved the school room from the dining room to the former playroom.  Here are a few pics of the new school room…I want to get some children’s chairs..

Ari’s filled workboxes for her first day of school…

Ryan’s filled workboxes for his first day of school…

This is where I organize all of the stuff for the workboxes…I have them organized by type of activity for each child…I have another bookshelf across the room with my curriculum planning books.  Last year, I found that I frequently forgot about activities that I wanted to do.  Now they are easy to find.

This shelf is an old office mailbox center that my Mom bought me from Goodwill.  I use the backside for the pocket chart and the front is pushed next to the table and is used to organize the different types of paper for school.The bins on top are for Ari and Ryan’s finished work. 

The rest of the room is set up in center’s similar to preschool. 

School’s About To Begin

Well it is that time again…it feels more real now since many of Arianna’s friends have already began Kindergarten!  We are certainly officially homeschooling!  Arianna did not get on the big yellow bus and head off!  Wow I feel such a huge responsibility for my children's’ education!  The truth is that it is not about me but about trusting God and relying him to meet the individual needs of each of my kids.  With that being said, here are our plans for the fall semester…Ari decided she wanted to begin school on August 17.

We are going to continue doing workboxes.  I already have a general outline for each child.  If you are interested in viewing them, I will try to link to them…Arianna (5.5 years) and Ryan (3.5 years)…the blank spaces are for inserting things from unit studies, art, etc. The yellow highlighted ones in Ryan's sheet are for things that will be done as a group

We will also continue to do Unit Studies.  Within the unit studies we will cover the basics (reading, math, science, geography, etc).  I also am doing more disciplined studies with Arianna.  Some of our treasures for the fall are:

Math:  Making Math Meaningful Level 1, Singapore Math 1A,

Reading:Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Language Lessons for Little Ones (also have one for Ryan)

History:  Early American History by Beautiful Feet,

Science: Classic Science:  Elementary Life Science

Critical Thinking:  Critical Thinking Company (Pre-K for Ryan and K for Ari)

Read Aloud List (for both kids):  Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Charlottes Web, Chronicles of Narnia:  The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh , Treasure Island

Nature Study: goal is to take nature walks twice a week

I know these are big plans, we will see how things go to determine what works:)

What's in the Box Meme 2

This week’s Meme is to interview our kiddos! I know all across the blog world, you can find ALL kinds of moms ranting and raving about the wonders of the work box system! So, let’s hear what the KIDS have to say?!

Not sure what you can glean from this but thought their answers were cute…

1. What is your favorite thing about the workboxes?

We get to do stuff. --Arianna (age 5)

Ummmm….playing a game with Spiderman--Ryan (age 3)

2. What is your LEAST favorite thing about them?

When we have to work.--Arianna (age 5)

I love Spiderman--Ryan (age 3)

3. Do you think the workboxes are helping you become a better student?

Yes--Arianna (age 5)

Yeah--Ryan (age 3)

4. If you could change one thing about the workboxes, what would it be?

I don’t know. --Arianna (age 5)

Um, a phone. I mean a clock--Ryan (age 3)

5. What is your favorite activity that you didn’t really get to do much before you started the workboxes?

Games with Mom--Arianna (age 5)

Ummmm, Ummmm I like to hear a phone now.--Ryan (age 3)

6. Anything else you want to add?

No--Arianna (age 5)

No--Ryan (age 3)

Confessions of a Curriculum Addict

Okay...the first step to an addiction is admitting a problem...well I confess, I am a Curriculum Junkie! I love browsing through various curriculum to do our lesson plans. I like having various books to use to plan our week. Maybe that is why I cannot go by just 1 single curriculum...

Anywho...I went to the worst place for a curriculum junkie today-The Homeschool Gathering Place. They have tons of new and used curriculum. I love the place!

I spent hours in there just browsing. I went specifically to buy our Math Curriculum for next year. I decided to combine Making Math Meaningful(which they had used) and Singapore Math. Yes, I chose 2 math curriculum... I told you I was a junky. I only bought 1A of Singapore to see if we will actually use it. Figured I could split up the activities in the workboxes. I just couldn't decide between the 2 curriculum. I like different things about each of them.

My favorite find today was Language Lessons for the Very Young by Sandi Queen. It has beautiful full color art work and poems. It uses various methods of Charlotte Mason. I am so excited about this! I went to their website and they have a book for 3 year olds as well. I can't wait to get that book to do with Ryan. I honestly was not taught a lot about "quality" art, poetry and literature growing up therefore I don't know much about what is "quality" in these areas. These books consolidate a lot of it into one book and will hopefully teach me to recognize what is "quality" and perhaps teach my children what I have yet to learn.

I also found a really cool Cuisanaire Alphabet Book for $2. I thought these would be great to use in the workboxes.

The good thing is that I am using much more of my "curriculum" books since we now do the workboxes.

What’s in the (work)Box??

This week in the workboxes...we are continuing our unit on Ears and Hearing.  I have gotten so many great ideas from others that I thought I would share some of my ideas for this week… (I have a 3 year old son and a 5 year old daughter)
1) Leading Little Ones to God—Work on our memory verse for this week:  Proverbs 4:20

2) Coloring to the Classics: Godly Composers 1

3) Rocket Phonics Bingo Game

4)  Sign language letters for cutting and making own name in sign language

5)  Match It ABCs

6) Kids of the World Foam Activity Kit (bought from Michael’s on sale for $4.99)—Ari loves paper dolls so thought she would enjoy thi

7) Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

8) Yarn and cups to make our own telephones. 

9) Puzzle to Color that I bought at Michael’s for $1

10) Glass cups to make instruments using varying levels of water  to hear the different sounds

11) Make own Time Capsule to be opened next year

12)Animal Moves (Snakes and Frogs) from Slow and Steady Get Me Ready for Ryan

13) Playdough with tools

14) Moving So Carefully—walk on a chalk line outside while holding a full glass of water (idea from library book-the 2,000 best games & activities)

15) Read Aloud—Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum

16) Nature Journal

17) Dinosaur sorting toys for learning more and less and sorting with Ryan

18) Tin Can with Clothespins-Ryan can take them off the sides and try to toss them in.

19)Telephone for teaching telephone manners and working on our own telephone number

Thinking Outside the Box Meme

This week's Thinking Outside of the Box meme for those of you that use worboxes is filling out a little questionare so here it is below. You too can participate by visiting Work of Childhood Blog

* How many boxes do you fill?
24 total for two kids.

* Do you expect your children to go in order?
no...in general they do because they tend to be children of order (wouldn't know that by looking at my house). I have 3 bins that says "Need +2". These bins need to have 2 "tickets". Tickets are the numbers from other bins.

* Do you use the schedule strips?
no. I honestly have not purchased the book. We are very relaxed and didn't want the "school" feel of the schedule strips.

* How long does it take you to fill the boxes?
about 20 minutes. Shorter if I have all of the ideas ready

* Do you fill your work boxes EACH night with all new items?
yes unless there was something not finished from the day before. My 5 year old finishes all of her boxes but my 3 year old usually does not.

* Do you have some boxes repeat each day so there is less filling/refilling?
not every day but every couple of days I will put a similar thing in the box to reiterate the activity especially for my 3 year old

* What do your kids do with the empty boxes?
put them in a cardboard box next to their shelf.

* Do you put away the ‘supplies’ each night? or do your kids?
I put them away at this point

Bitten by the Workbox Bug

 

I recently discovered a cool way of organizing our homeschooling activities.  I am really great at planning my week but not as great at implementing each intricate part of the lesson.  Well I found a wonderful solution.   You can buy Sue Patrick’s book here.  She details the hows and whys of the workbox system in her book.  I honestly haven’t read her book yet but created my system around her general idea. 

I think she is a much more structured homeschooler…what I would call someone who does school at home (someone who follows pretty closely what the public schools do just in a home environment).  Even though we have different styles of homeschooling, I have modified the system to fit more of our style.  So if you are a more relaxed homeschooler, you can make this system work for you too!

We still do circle time around our unit theme (currently it is hearing/ears) but I organize the additional activities (art, math, reading, etc) into these bins.  The bins also include other activities such as computer time, games with Mom, practice dance for recital, etc.   In general the kids go through each of their bins in order and then when they complete 2 of them, they can pick one of the “Need +2 bins”.  I am amazed at how much “fun” stuff we are doing now.  Things that I wanted to do before but never seemed to have the time.   I am a curriculum junky, so I have lots of books.  Now we are finding time to do activities in so many of the books that we just haven’t had the time before.  The workboxes also are great at making sure I am planning activities for each child’s interests and levels.  It also helps hold me accountable for implementing more of the activities from our lesson plans.

Above is Arianna’s workboxes for the day and below are Ryan’s

The kids were so excited to get started that they began right after they woke up.  This is Arianna’s shelf as she was working. 

Ryan listening to a Spanish CD from the library. 

Arianna excited that she completed two activities so she can have 15 minutes of computer time. 

 

Arianna works on counting by 10s

Arianna is putting together a house that I had put in the closet and not found time to do before

Ryan playing a matching game with Mom.  He found a match.

Ryan working on hand eye coordination by hammering tees into styrofoam. 

Arianna finding pictures of different ears

Arianna labeling a diagram of the outer, middle and inner ear.  

If you are interested in this, here’s a basic how to get started…

I bought the shelf from Target for $15 (see pic below).  It is found near the laundry basket area.  The bins are also at Target for $1/bin.  I bought 12 bins for each child.  Ryan doesn’t always do 12 but Arianna has been pretty consistent with getting 12 done.  Also, I bought the little velcro circles from Target.  I needed 3 packages.  I made the labels with index squares and laminated them.  If you buy the book, she gives you access to the label templates. She also has a schedule template but we don’t use it, since I don’t like regimented schedules.  We go at our own pace.  WE LOVE WORKBOXES!