Five in Five - November 14th

Yes, I know it's not Friday, but let's pretend it is.  I meant to post this last week and decided I wouldn't let a little thing like the calendar stand in my way.

Unfortunately, this is fairly typical for a Monday here.  I'm not sure what it is about Mondays, but we all seem to have a hard time getting back into the groove after a weekend of playing.  Corner standing is a fairly typical punishment in our home and everyone gets their turn.

Just keeping it real.

One of my favorite things about our school room is the wire strung along one wall where we get to display every one's completed artwork and projects.  We got off to a slow start, but it's finally filled.  We'll rotate out the oldest for the newly finished the rest of the school year.

I've been reading a great book called "Cleaning House" by Kay Wills Wyma.  In it she details a twelve month experiment to get her kids off the enable train by teaching them life skills, also known as chores.  I have a few notebooks I take notes in while I'm reading, but if I don't have one with me I often take pictures of quotes I like.  This one is a gem.

Josh in deep thought.  If only the ceiling really did have all the answers.

This is how my area of our school room table often looks.  Just in case you can't tell what these are, they're multiple stacks of Spanish flashcards.  Why?  Well, I decided it would be a great idea to complete Makenna's Spanish course with her.  Not surprisingly, it's been challenging and, unexpectedly, fun. 

I'm pretty competitive (it's in my genes, I blame my dad) and it turns out my daughter is too (probably something to do with that whole gene thing).  We compete to see who can get the best grades on chapter tests, with the winner getting taken out to ice cream by the loser.  We both really like ice cream.  A lot.  Which of course leads to better learning, and better grades, from both of us.

Leah

October 31st - Five in Five

I've decided to start something new as part of my effort to preserve my normal life. 

Not preserve as in keep it safe, but preserve so I don't lose all the memories.  The funny, sweet, frustrating and annoying ones that come together to make up my life.

I knew it needed to be simple or there was, an is, no way I'd be able to do it with any consistency.  And it is very easy.

Throughout our five day school week I'll take pictures (Yay for camera phones!).  Then, I'll choose five that represent different parts of our week.  Or that are just funny.  Or sweet.  Or embarrassing.  I could go on for a while.

I can't promise they'll be exciting because my life is pretty unexciting as a rule.  Which I actually kind of like.  Boring isn't always bad. 

So, this week for my very first five in five we've got:

Our first book report done.  Yipee!! 

When I told James we get to pick out books for our next book report on Monday he groaned.   Huh, I guess he's not quite as excited as I am.

I've copied and pasted pictures of simple projects for each holiday we intend to celebrate through our school year.  I then printed them out and stuck them in a binder so I could pull them out, pin them to our white board and have a "list" of fun and easy projects to do without any last minute searching. 

These are our Halloween ideas.

This is what my school room table looks like in the middle of our school day.  Every single day.

Makenna joined a book club last month and has been having a lot of fun.  She won this cute bookmark at her meeting on Monday.

I've been having a pretty great time, too.  It's fun to sit and talk with other homeschool moms.  I don't get to do that often.  Ever. 

And this is how we all feel at the end of the week. 

Well, I do anyway.

Even though this is actually Josh.  Asleep. 

How?  I have no idea.  A boy I knew in college once told me that all boys can sleep anywhere and I'm pretty sure this is proof.

Leah

School Days

I was reading through a few different blogs last week when I read something that really struck home with me.  This specific blogger hadn't been posting very consistently and the main reason she gave was that nothing exciting was happening.

 

I totally identify with that.  At least once a day I think about my blog and what I could be posting, especially when it comes to homeschooling, and I'm stumped.  I've always felt like it needs to be a big project or field trip.  Something special.

 

So, I don't post anything.

 

Which is funny when you consider that some of my favorite bloggers just blog about their days and every day, normal life.

 

So, here's a smattering of our life lately:

 

Josh read his very first book all the way through on his own.  I was more afraid of trying to teach my kids to read than anything else in school.  Terrified, actually, and it has turned into one of the most rewarding areas for me.  Watching the world of books unfold for my children is awesome. 

We learned a little about the life of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni and decided to find out how it might have been to paint on a ceiling.

I had each child pick one of his works of art which I printed and taped to the bottom of our school room table.  Then, we taped up a piece of watercolor paper and they laid or sat on the floor to get their paint on.

One of my favorite parts of our school room is this white board and we use it throughout the day.  In the lower left hand corner is our calendar, the seasons and a weekly weather chart.  On the right we have a few facts about the state we're learning about while the rest is written on and erased every day. 

 

The kids might write their spelling words, I'll write down people and places we're studying in history, we'll draw pictures and anything and everything else.  It's amazing and fantastic.

 

One of my kids favorite parts of every day are projects and experiments.  This video is a simple science experiment we did earlier this month.  I often make slight changes to our experiments so we can use items I already have at home and the results vary.  This didn't go quite as far as we thought it might, but the boys sure had fun trying.

Happy Schooling,
Leah

Getting Your Homeschool Groove On?

I've been thinking lately about how long it takes to get into a new homeschool groove.  Even if you don't stop for a long summer break like we do, there will always be times when you start new curriculum or new activities which require a slightly, or more than slightly, different schedule. 

Our first couple weeks were spent trying out our new curriculum and adapting to having an additional full time schooler I needed to help every day.  It was interesting because we swung between much shorter than normal days due to only reading through instructions and much, MUCH longer due to trying to implement those unfamiliar instructions. 

I think we're starting to even out a little bit this week.  Of course, it'll take more than one week to be sure, but after having shorter days and longer days, things seems to be settling in the middle.  I'm finally seeing our groove, thank goodness.

If you're still struggling, or just starting out, my only tip is to keep moving.  I know, it's not profound.  It seems to take time, no matter how much planning I do, I have to put in the time to feel out and adjust to the new-ness.

So, how are things going for you?  Do you have any tips to help get into a groove faster?   

Happy Homeschooling!
Leah

First Days of School

I'm not sure if I said it before, mostly because I'm pretty sure my brain is really going, for real this time, but I was fairly terrified of the first day of school.  The first week of school.  And then, maybe, the whole month. 

While the month is still up for grabs in the terrified or not department, after finishing the first week, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Actually, amazed and astounded would be a much more accurate description.

Now, before you think we've already comfortably settled into our daily routine, we haven't.  Our first few days were shorter.  The schedule was lighter.  Which made a huge difference in the tone our of days, helping to make those first few days as great as they were.

That and my children were just fantastic. 

I can't help but compare these first few days with the end of our last school year.  They did not go great.  We were all ready to be done (that I remember mentioning before, maybe I haven't completely lost it yet) and smooth wasn't what it went. 

Agitated, clamorous, complicated, difficult, rough, turbulent, and unstable more closely define our last few weeks.  Just in case you were wondering, those are all antonyms for smooth.  As well as a pretty darn great definition of our last weeks last school year.

Not this week though.  We were smiley and working hard.

Okay, Ben wasn't smiling, but I did surprise him with the picture.  He smiled afterwards, does that count?

 

The first week taught me to have hope.  Even while changing our schedule, starting new curriculum and adding another child to my homeschool schedule, things can go smoothly.  We can even have a good time doing it.  I know so because it happened so.

Happy schooling,
Leah

Happy New School Year

My oldest child was sad to discover that her plan to pretend school wasn't really starting this morning, alternated with yelling, "OH NO!!" over and over, did not in fact stop it coming.

While there are always things we love about school, none of us love trying to get back into the groove after a whole summer away. 

Today Makenna informed me that History is her new favorite curriculum.  Why?  It's one of the few that remained the same from last year.  I think it feels like a comfortable, old friend and the rest feel new and scarey. 

Fortunately, the solution to the new and scarey is to get going.  After a few weeks, we'll be back in the swing of things.  Yep, we will.  For sure.  Mostly sure.

What I am sure of is that my children like making funny face pictures a whole lot more than the smile and try to look good (please) pictures. 

Josh started Kindergarten today.  My baby.  He's also the only one that jumps up and down shouting things like, "Zip-ee-day-dazz!" whenever I mention school.

After expressly telling anyone who would listen that he was NOT looking foward to school, James excitedly told his grandmother that today was AWESOME! 

And I just have to say, his funny face picture is a little freaky.  It looks like his head is stretching out toward the left.  Not normal.  I haven't shown him yet, he's going to love it.

Do you think Ben looks a little bit like a little old man in that first picture?  Good, I'm glad it's not just me. 

Makenna is in 8th grade. 

Yes, I know you can read, I've been repeating it to myself at random intervals today and thought I'd share.  She's growing up.  I know, crazy right?

People can tell you and tell you, but until you actually experience it, I'm pretty sure you can't know what it's like to watch your children grow. It's exhilarating and terrifying at the very same time.

Our first day went pretty good, better than I was expecting.  Probably due to my awesome kids.

We have some wrinkles, but I'm sure they'll work their way out as we keep on keepin' on.

Happy first day of school, from our slightly strange and wonderful family to yours!

 Leah

A Brand New Year

Sometime in the last three years I read that the average homeschooler only lasts three years. 

Okay, what I read probably didn't state it like that, but that's what has been running through my head this past summer.  I'm not even sure how accurate it is as I can't remember where I read it, but that's not really the point.

Sort of like poking a bruise to see if it still hurts, I kept examining and re-examining myself to see if I was ready to send my kids out of my house and back to a brick and mortar school.

While there were times I thought, "YES!!"  I don't think I thought it any more often than any previous year.

Although, at the end of the school year, I did find myself looking forward to summer break with much greater impatience than normal and I remember wondering if I would be ready, mentally, for school in the fall.

Amazingly, miracle of miracles, I am.

Even as I worried a little about feeling ready on the inside, I was slogging through getting ready on the outside.

We keep all of our toys in a closet in our school room.  I had to take EVERYTHING out so I could sort through them.  All of them. 

For some reason, the toys manage to find their ways into the wrong bins until one day, each bin seems more like a mixture of every sort of toy found in the closet.  Those darn toys.  I'm sure it's just my toys.  Uh-huh. 

Once that was done, I then had to pull out our old curriculum and school work and sort through it.  I also knew I wanted to reorganize our shelves a little as last year didn't work how I intended (more on that in a minute).

Even though it really is a lot of work and makes I big enough mess that one day I walked out, closed the door and pretended the room wasn't actually part of my house, I love it when it all comes together in the end.  Walking into an organized room with everything in its place makes me smile. 

There are a few changes from last year. 

I got a new map of the United States.  A HUGE map, at least compared to the one I had last year.

Due to its size, I moved our coat of arms underneath the table glass (the kids smaller ones are on the wall to the left above the white board).  When the kids saw it they told me the coat of arms looked like it was actually part of the table!! 

I also ended up getting some wire from IKEA along with clips to hang our art work.  It's long enough for about four projects, so as we complete the fifth, I take down the first and we slowly rotate out the old for the new throughout the year.

I also added the cube shelves on each side of the white bookshelf.  At first I thought it might make things a little claustrophobic, but I love the extra storage.  When it comes to homeschool curriculum and supplies, I've yet to figure out exactly what too much storage is.  Does it exist?

I also busted out my labeler and put it through its paces.  Now my kids can put everything back in the bin it belongs in and I will always be able to find what I'm looking for...in theory, at least.

Last year each of my kids got their own shelf, but we ran into issues.  We first tried standing all the curriculum up next to the binders, but everything kept falling down.  So, we laid down the curriculum and left the binders standing up.  Except, the binders still had issues and we would "lose" books in between the binders (they're narrower at the back end allowing for books to be back there and not be visible from the front). 

While it's possible the "losing" wasn't always accidental, we still needed anther solution.  Especially when I realized I had another child beginning "real" homeschooling and not another shelf.  At least not one I wanted to empty for him.

So, this is my solution.  We put every one's binders on the top shelf.  Binders and only binders make their homes there which should stop all but the purposeful "losing" of other books and curriculum.

Then, I gave each child half a shelf divided by a smaller bin that houses some of their folders used for our lapbooks.  My only worry is that there may not be enough room for their flashcards on their individual shelves (there are some on there now, but I have new containers that are much bigger).

I thinking we'll figure it out as we go.  I'm flexible like that.

Okay, if you knew me you'd either be laughing hysterically or looking at me in shock at that last statement.  But, I am trying to do a little more rolling with the flow.  It's good for me. 

Right?

Okay, now onto curriculum.  I'm not going to go into too much detail.  You can read about what we chose last year here, we're still using A LOT of the same curriculum. 

Makenna

Makenna has the most new curriculum.  Like normal.  She's so lucky, she gets to be my experiment child.  Luckily, I'm also an oldest child so I do have some empathy for her. 

We're moving away from Latin (although she'll still be slowly reviewing her flashcards so she doesn't lose everything she learned the last two years) and on to Spanish.  We're trying out Breaking Through the Spanish Barrier having heard it really focuses on a grammar approach, which we already know we like. 

To be totally honest, I'm pretty terrified to teach/try and learn this with her.  I don't speak Spanish (even though I've been doing the Spanish app duolingo all summer to give me a little bit of an edge) and it looks likes a demanding curriculum.  Wish me luck.  Lots and lots of luck.

She's also doing a computer programming course through Homeschool Programming, Inc and I've finally purchased Artistic Pursuits after reading about it since before we began our homeschool adventure.

Ben

 

Ben is pretty much working his way through the next level of each curriculum he was using last year. 

 

The only exception is in writing.  I've discovered I'm not a huge fan of Writing with Ease for the later grades.  I love that it introduces my children to so many fun books, but Ben was done with dictation less than half way through last year.  The rest of the year was sort of torturous (or very, depending on the day).  So, we're trying out WriteShop this year.  I've read some good things about it and I already love the detailed lesson plans.

 

James

 

James is starting a few new to him curriculum, but ones I've used before and still like.  He'll do a few words from English from the Roots Up each week and he's transitioning from Horizons math to Teaching Textbooks.  Everything else is a continuation from last year.

Josh

Josh is ALL NEW.  Well, it's all new for him, but he'll be using the same curriculum James did two years ago.  I'm not sure if we'll start with all the workbooks at once, we might hold off on the Spelling Workout, for at least a little while, and see how he does. 

Science
 

Our last new curriculum is science.

I'm really excited to try out NOEO.  It looks like something I would design for myself if I had a lot more time on my hands.  They find amazing science books, great experiments, and put them all together with a syllabus. 

Makenna will be working through Physics 3, while Ben, James and Josh will work on Physics 2. 

Now, even though they're both physics, the material they cover throughout the year won't match up at a weekly level, but I've decided we're still going to do all our experiments together.  All my kids LOVE experiments and they love doing them together even more.

Then, we'll split up and do our own assigned reading and assignments.  I'm not sure exactly how it'll look just yet, but, you know, I'm going to go with the flow. 

We will be using our weekly checklists this year to help us stay on track.  I've made up the rough drafts and even have them printed out sitting on our schoolroom table already.  I've also grabbed a pen and made a few changes already, too.  That'll happen through most of the first month as our "flow" gets a little more normalized.

I think I'm ready.  Inside and out. 

How about you?

Leah

Homeschooling in the Summer?

My first few years of Homeschooling I had big plans for the summer.

Huge.

We were going to continue with some subjects, do some extra things (fun things, of course), and go on great field trips. 

Every year, summer would come and we would all have so much fun doing absolutely nothing, I'd put it off. 

Just until the next week.

And then, before I knew it, school would be starting again.

What I've learned is that we just need down time.  To put our school books away, close the door to the schoolroom (metaphorically, we took the door off to give more room for our white board), and PLAY.

So, what do we do in the summer?

I change up my kids chore charts, giving them the opportunity to learn new skills (aka, a few more chores).

We go and do fun things.  We hike, visit museums and play at the park.  But not every day.  We really spend most of our time playing in and outside our home.  Free play.

One thing we do continue from the school year is reading a book together as a family.  I am amazed at how much we all love it (okay, my 5 year old mostly tolerates it).  They ask everyday when we're going to read and if we're too busy, they're disappointed.  I love it.

And that's pretty much our summer.  It's pretty wonderful.

What's your favorite thing to do while not in the midst of schoolwork?

Leah

The 7 Habits of Hightly Effective Teens

This year Makenna and I have been reading through The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens and, I have to say, it's been pretty great.  I would highly recommend reading it with your teen. 

While it's true you could assign them sections or pages to read, reading it with her has led to MANY great discussions.  She has a question, or I think of an experience I've had, and we end up sitting and talking.  It's pretty great.

We've kept it really low key, just reading 7-10 pages once a week, so it didn't add too much to her already full schedule.

Each chapter has "Baby Steps" to help you implement the topic you've been reading about.  We didn't start out doing them, but just recently decided to go back and work through the ones that we either needed the most help with or just thought sounded fun.  I'm loving how well it helps to think more about the steps and how we can really LIVE them.

We'll definitely continue reading it through our next school year and I'll plan on reading it with my boys when they're a little older.

Leah

When Do I Start Planning Curriculum for the Next School Year?

I'm a planner.  Big time.

In fact, I sometimes like planning more than doing.  Does that sound crazy?

I think it's because during the planning stage I'm in complete control.  I can envision things however I'd like without any stray details (called life) to get in my way.

Because I love it so much, I also tend to focus a little TOO much on what's coming up instead of what I'm doing right now.  As a result, I try to force myself to dwell in the present, to be thankful for what I have instead of longing for the fun of something new (sort of a grass is always greener complex).

So, then, when is a good time to start the planning process for a new school year?

Well, even though I try to stay in the present, I'm always sort of background planning.  As we make our way through our current curriculum (you can read about the choices we made for 2013-14 over here), I notice what does or does not work. 

I also read a few blogs that talk about different homeschool topics and occasionally I'll stumble across something that sounds pretty great (and then stick it in my Evernote homeschool folder, I'm a HUGE fan of Evernote).

I suppose those are more like note taking and a little less like actual full on planning.

About half way through the school year, I printed out a form I found online called Curriculum Resources. 

I got it from an amazing website.  If you've never visited Tyna's Dynamic Homeschool Plus, well then, you should.  You can make your very own planner or just pick out a few helpful pages like I did.  A lot of it is even editable.  And, guess what?  It's FREE!!!!  I know, I couldn't believe it either.

With one simple page I could write down those few observations I'd already made. 

I first noted the curriculum we already used and knew we wanted to continue.

Then, I stuck it in my binder and kept my eyes open for holes I needed/wanted to fill.  As I came across curriculum, I wrote it on my handy dandy sheet.

It worked fantastic.

Except for one small thing.  I probably should have used pencil.  Except I really don't like pencil.  Maybe I should invest in some erasable pens...I wonder if they work (anybody have any recommendations?).  I've made a few changes (as you can see by my scribbles) and a few more since this picture was taken.

I love that I can see at a glance my plans for each of my kids (in some cases our plans, my oldest has a lot of input on exactly what curriculum she uses).  It keeps me organized and feeling like I've got a head start on next year.

Once the school year is over, I'll turn this simple list into a more detailed spreadsheet of each item we'll need (some of the curriculum requires multiple purchases) along with costs.

Sometime in late July, I'll start to purchase our supplies so I have time to organize them in the school room before our new year starts in mid August.

When do you start to plan?  What's your favorite tool?

Happy Planning,
Leah

What a Wonderful Valentine

I know it was last week and all, but I have to share with you how well our Valentines went. 

The reason it went so well?  I had very little to do with it. 

Well, that's not entirely true, but I did make myself stand back and not participate other than to say things like, "That looks awesome!" because I have a tendency to think everyone is doing things wrong if it isn't the way I'd do them. 

Before we got started (minutes before, while my kids were outside on lunch recess) I got on Pinterest so I could copy and paste some starting off points.

This is what I ended up with. 

As they came back inside, I told them they could make whatever they wanted.

After they got over the shock (maybe some slight exaggeration), they ran to get some crafting supplies and dug in.

They all sat there for MORE THAN TWO HOURS!  Every one of them (ages 4 through 12) LOVED making various heart animals, naming them and creating elaborate back stories for each and every creation (okay, that last one was mostly just the 12 year old). 

I couldn't believe how little work it was for me and how darn much fun they had.

To keep myself close enough to nod enthusiastically at their creativity, but far enough away to allow for it to happen, I made some sugar cookie dough on the other side of the kitchen.

As it was rolled and ready, they came over and cut out various heart shaped cookies, because, you know, it isn't really a party unless there's food involved. 

I'm sorry, but it's true.

We'd planned to decorate them after they'd cooled, but my super amazing husband came home early and took me out.  Surprise!

A few days later, as I was going through the pictures on my camera, I found this one...

I guess they decided to decorate a few without me. 

So, the moral of the story is, structured creativity (is that a real thing?) is good for my soul, but letting the kids take off on their own is pretty darn great...as long as I'm not too close.

Hope you had a FANTASTIC V-day!

Leah