A Major Accomplishment

I can see my desk!

Okay, you can get on with your regularly scheduled evening . . . that is all.

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2011-12 Daily Schedule

For these first two weeks, I have been handwriting our daily schedule in a pretty journal, but the more I wrote, the less pretty the journal became.  So late, late last night, I came up with this daily schedule and filled it out for the next two weeks.  Two days fit on one page and it includes a place to record our loop schedule, making the overall schedule almost effortless.

Now let's see if I can actually follow the schedule...that's the challenge for me! 

How to Clean Your Room in 945 Simple Steps

Step 1. Make the bed.
Step 2. Pick up the toys.
Step 3. Pick up the clothes.
Steps 4-945:  Pick up the 942 tiny bits of styrofoam you and your sister threw around so you could have snow in August.

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Monkey in the Middle - Skip Counting Game

There was a lot of giggling going on at our house this afternoon.

I finally caved and bought a parachute for my kids at home and my 6-7 year old apprentices at Classical Conversations.  We needed some fun to accompany our memory work for the year and this seems to do the trick, for my own kids anyway. Our co-op doesn't start for another two weeks but I have a feeling this game will be a hit there as well.

We called the game we played today "Monkey in the Middle."  All you need is a parachute, a monkey (or other stuffed animal) and your amazing memory. 

To play, put the monkey in the middle of the parachute have the children hold parachute's handles of the while they gently pop the monkey up and down while skip counting: 2,4,6,8,10,12 . . . 24 or 4,8,12,16,20,24 . . . 48.  If the monkey (or other animal) pops out of the parachute onto the floor or the kids make a mistake counting, they start over.  When they get to the last number in the set, they get a reward like a sticker or an m&m or whatever I have on hand that floats their little boats.

I plan to use this game for learning other lists like the US presidents, states & capitals and books of the Bible.

Our School Room On Its Best Behavior

Welcome to our School Room!

School happens all over the house, yard, town and state. 
But this is our school room on its best behavior. 
It gets trashed and rearranged on a regular basis.

The table is covered in maps, a handwriting chart and a hundred chart,
all covered with a clear plastic table cloth
so the kids can use dry erase markers to trace. 
Washable paint comes off in a snap as well.



 

Glue? Check. Markers? Check. Crayons? Check. Pom pom balls? Check. Popsicle sticks? Check. You get the idea.
Charlie's workboxes live here, on the bottom shelf.

I found some flatware holders in the closet and didn't need them in the kitchen. 
They make a wonderful spot for the colored pencils, scissors and glue sticks.

Bulletin Board area

Here we have the curriculum books, paper supplies, games, light brights,
Classical Conversations resources for tutoring at our co-op, tall books and some other fun things.

This bookshelf holds math manipulatives, Miriam's workboxes, art work,
oversized books and holiday craft ideas.

This is where Miriam and Charlie put their workbox labels as they finish each box throughout the day.

The music nook in the living room is a favorite spot. 
They have shakers, tin whistles, recorders, all kinds of things.



This is our overflow bookshelf off the kitchen. 



Hubby bought school desks from a public school auction and we find they serve our purposes perfectly as mini-shelves.  This on holds puzzles, Bob Books and the globe.  I recently moved the globe from the school room so the kids have better accessibility to it.   This is off the kitchen across from our overflow bookshelf.



And this one hold Leap Pads. We LOVE Leap Pads!





I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Running Toward Our Second Week

So, we've finished our first week of school and I have to admit, we don't have a solid routine down. We didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to, school-wise.

You've seen the movie Airplane, right? You know the running gag where unexpected things keep happening and the guy says,
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking."
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking."
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."

Well, I thought I may have picked the wrong week to start school. But don't worry, there is a happy ending. Read on.

Day 1 of 180, Monday: We had a fantastic first day. The kids got up, got dressed, brushed teeth, went out to the driveway for a water balloon throwing contest, then ate breakfast before we started school. We began our lessons with a prayer and a devotional. Then we checked out our cool new calendar on the bulletin board and did some addition problems (thanks Khan Academy for teaching my kids how to use a number line effortlessly) and designs with the shaped blocks. Both kids sat happily while completing their reading lessons for the day. And the best part was what they found in their workboxes - six for each of them. We had coloring pages, cutting pages, Read with Mommy Time, snacks, felt play sets and a fishing game. It was a wonderful day in every way.

Day 2 of 180, Tuesday: We went to the amusement park with another family and had a second amazing day. Charlie has added vegetables and fruit to his diet, so guess what? He grew tall enough to ride some real rides. A fabulous time was had by all.

Day 2 of 180, Wednesday: We had been having a minor problem with ants coming in through our kitchen window for a few weeks, and with my (and my husband's) paranoia about spraying chemical poison around, my routine was 1) get up, 2) kill an ant or two, 3) make coffee, 4) wash counters, window sill and sink with cleaner and 4) no more ants until the next morning. Wednesday I got up and there were ants in one of my cabinets. Several were trying to crawl inside a bottle of infant's motrin drops. Flipping out mildly, I spent the morning emptying the contents of 13 cabinets and six drawers onto my dining room table, bookcase, buffet and chairs. And then I held my breath and sprayed poison.

Meanwhile, my daughter asked to get on the computer to work on an art game she enjoys, so I let her and called it "computer." This was fine since I was busy and I needed a good place to start on my loop schedule wheel anyway. After lunch, we finally started our lessons and were able to cover all of our subjects; we did Bible, Reading, Math, Computer, Latin and Spanish. The highlight was during the devotional when I asked the kids, "If you could have anything in the world, what would you want? Charlie answered, "I would want to be a flower so Miriam could pick me."

Melts your heart, right there . . .

Day 3 of 180, Thursday: Okay, I forgot that we were going to D.C. for the day to see our dear friend, Pum from England, and her nephew. We can count this as a field trip, but I won't count it as a school day because I hadn't planned and had no answer for my kids' questions. Plus, I was super crabby half the time and I don't want the kids thinking their teacher is a jerk . . .

By the way, another FABULOUS day.

Day 3 of 180, Friday: I woke up and did not anticipate how utterly exhausted I would be after a day of traipsing around D.C. with my two children, who grew increasingly rambunctious as the evening went on. Before starting our two hour journey home, we had driven around looking for food for one child for oh, about an hour (9-10pm), and as soon as we found a McDonald's to grab a milkshake for her, she took three sips and promptly feel asleep. Home at midnight-thirty, I was in dire need of coffee when I woke up. And I'm trying to quit coffee, so I was conflicted.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit coffee.

My husband was tired as well and slept in considerably late, not leaving the house until around 10:30, with request that I run a rather long errand TODAY. This was an errand I had sort of done, but not completely, and it had gotten to the point of affecting him negatively, so I really couldn't ignore it. But what about school?? I've already had two cups of coffee I'm not supposed to have, and a large piece of chocolate, which I'm not supposed to have, and it's now noon and we haven't even started lessons. We ran the rather long errand, stopped for lunch at our church youth group's hot dog (which I am not supposed to have) stand and arrived home.

Remember Wednesday? The ants? The poison? I thought 48 hours might be long enough after spraying ant killer to replace my cabinets to their former state of bursting full and honestly, I couldn't take having to walk to the dining room table to retreive a spoon or a dish or a towel for another minute, so I restocked my cabinets whilst the children made Cooties and got along. (happiness)

My husband came home and asked them why they were making Cooties and not playing Cootie. They told him they'd never played, didn't know how. Oops, my bad. He taught them how to play the game, played three rounds and went back to work. I could stretch it and say that was math since they used dice, but I won't. (By the way, I forgot to mention that I forgot to order the math workbooks so we are playing it by ear until next week for math lessons.) Both kids did their reading lessons, with one child having an emotional breakdown one minute and then asking to do another lesson the next. Can you guess if it was the boy or the girl?

Well, by this time the sun was setting and we have a big day planned tomorrow, so I sent the kids to bed, feeling a little bit like I had failed. I wanted our first week to be flawless and smooth, with five full days and a routine down pat. It didn't happen.

School-wise, I think we could have done better. I could have planned better.

But life-big-picture-wise, this week was unforgettable and wonderful. We had enormous fun and lots of laughs, frolicked with precious friends and had great family time. I realized tonight that my children never once mentioned or asked for television all day. The got along and loved each other well. All in all, I call it a success and I wouldn't change a thing. We're looking foward to Week 2.

Loop Schedule Wheel

This is our loop schedule wheel so we don't miss any subjects. Reading, Math and Bible are not on the loop because we hit those subjects every day most of the time.

The Ants Come Marching

The ants come marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.
I squish them with my great big thumb, hurrah, hurrah.
They picked the wrong day to mess with me;
I'll send them screaming to their knees
And they all go falling down to the ground,
Oh get out of my house. Boom Boom Boom

We are going to have to do school in the afternoon today since this morning I get to remove everything out of my cabinets for the Great Ant Massacre of 2011. Unless they want to pay rent or help with the dishes, they have got to go.

Bursting Into Our First Day

Is there a better way to celebrate the start of school in the heat of summer than with a water balloon throwing contest? We don't think so.

First Week! and 2011-12 Curriculum

The day has almost arrived and there is a buzz of excitement in the air as we prepare for our first official day of home education of both children tomorrow . . . Kindergarten and First Grade, hoo-ray!

Thankfully, I got the organization bug recently so I have been plowing through my school room, getting rid of old papers and other treasures that no one treasures or even remembers anymore. We need more shelves, baby! I re-vamped the room in May and truly cannot believe how trashed and overstuffed it has gotten over the summer months. This is what it looked like before we started "living" in it.

It is pretty much the same now, furniture-wise, but I have added several organizational elements which I will show you later.

The subjects we will cover this year are reading, language arts, math, science, geography, history, Latin, Spanish, fine arts, typing, computer skills and health.

I'm a total control freak and didn't want to buy a cookie-cutter curriculum, so I have put one together myself, with the guidance of the Classical Conversations focus for this year (cycle 3). The following is a list of books we will use for first grade. The kindergarten curriculum is the same, minus First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind. Charlie is ready for Saxon 1, so we are going to skip Saxon K for him. His math skills are beyond Miriam's at this point and I don't want to stifle him. His language arts book is Language and Thinking for Young Children by Ruth Beechick.

Reading:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann (Simon and Schuster)
Bob Books series, Collections 1-3 by Bobby Lynn Maslen (Scholastic)
Language Arts:
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise (Peace Hill Press)
Horizons Penmanship One Manuscript by Mary Ellen Quint (Alpha Omega Publications)
Spelling Workout A by Phillip K. Trocki (Modern Curriculum Press)
Math:
Saxon Math 1 by Nancy Larson (Saxon Publishers)
Science:
My Body Book by Patricia Carratello (Teacher Created Resources)
Lyrical Life Science Volume 3 – The Human Body by Dorry Eldon (Lyrical Learning)
Janice Van Cleave’s 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre and Incredible Experiments by Janice VanCleave (Jossey-Bass)
Geography:
A Child’s Geography Volume 1 by Ann Voscamp (Bramley Books)
History:
The Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times by Susan Wise Bauer (Peace Hill Press)
The Story of the World Volume 4: The Modern Age by Susan Wise Bauer (Peace Hill Press)
The Story of the World Activity Book 3: Early Modern Times, edited by Susan Wise Bauer (Peace Hill Press)
The Story of the World Activity Book 4: The Modern Age, edited by Susan Wise Bauer (Peace Hill Press)
Foreign Language:
Song School Latin by Amy Rehn (Classical Academic Press)
Instant Immersion Spanish Level 1 software (Topics Entertainment)
Fine Arts:
Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes (Tarcher/Penguin)
Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga (Bright Ring Publishing)
Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music! by Robert Levine (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers)
Computer:
BBC Schools Dance Mat Typing
Various age-appropriate computer games
Bible: Bible Study Fellowship, I Can Read God's Word by Phil A. Smouse, Devotions for the Children's Hour by Kenneth N. Taylor, Children's Illustrated Bible and Awana

Additionally, we are using the Classical Conversations Foundations program, along with the Classical Conversations Foundations Curriculum Guide for Grades K4-6, Third Edition by Leigh A. Bortins (Classical Conversations, Inc.), to enhance our home school lessons. Subjects include Math, Science, English Grammar, History, Geography, Latin, Bible and Fine Arts.

We will do Reading, Math, Penmanship, Bible and our Classical Conversations memory work every day and will use a loop schedule for the other subjects, planning to hit each additional subject one to two times a week. Here is the little contraption I made so we won't forget which subject to study next:



We are really looking forward to a lot of learning and fun this year! And I use the word year literally. We will have a year-round schedule, with four weeks on, one week off, plus extra weeks off for the big holiday seasons. Oh, and don't tell anyone, but Glenn already has us playing hooky one day this week to go to an amusement park . . . we'll make up the day on Saturday. You've gotta love the flexibility!

Okay then, here we go . . .