Category Archives: Logistics

Circle Time Ideas

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– Welcome Song then any combination of the following:

Memorization work:
– Song Mo’s memorizing (primary)
– Scripture mastery from C
– Articles of Faith
– Poem

Mathematics:
– Date (days of the week, months of the year song)
– Counting by 1s, 2s, 3s, etc, forward & backwards.
– Finding shapes in room (shape scavenger hunt)
– What time is it?

Science:
– Weather (check forecast & temperature)
– What season is it?
– Planets song

Social Studies:
– Holidays this month
– States song
– Name continents and oceans
– Pick a postcard (from our penpal collection) and find on map

Show & Tell
Parent or older child read short story to younger kids

New Year, New Plans 2011

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* Sunday evenings (8pm, after kids are in bed) Kit and I will sit down together with calendars to go over the week. We do this currently in FHE but things quickly deteriorate with the kids’ short attention spans. We’ll still do a fast one on Monday nights, especially since I just started C with a calendar of his own for scheduling, but the real weekly calendar discussion for now will be on Sunday evenings with Kit and me. We’ll discuss any concerns we have for the upcoming week and then discuss each child and any concerns, academic or otherwise.

* Sunday afternoons we’ll do counsels with the kids two-on-one. Distract the other kids with something and then meet with the kids to discuss any concerns they have, to do something more formal to check in with them. We are resolving to be better about our one-on-one dates with them but that’s suppose to be a fun, informal time with them and I want a sit down talk with them to be more formal. Not unfun! But something in which we’re meeting with them specifically to talk and for them or us to bring up concerns or goals. This will be mostly to get in the habit with the younger kids but with the older two I want to do some structured discussion about setting goals and their academic and personal pursuits.

* For the new year now that C’s older and showing a lot more maturity we are passing more responsibility to him. He’ll keep a calendar in his binder, and we’ll do a new lesson planning program. I typed up the lessons he needs to get done each week and wrote it in a column where he can write the dates for that week at the top then check off as he does the work or write in which specific lesson he did (making it much easier to keep tabs of progress.) This lets him determine what days he wants to get it done and help him (I hope) teach him to NOT save it all until Friday.

* More to come… Emy and Bennett both want to start “lessons” like the big kids so I’m working on binders for each child that has work (worksheets, coloring pages, fun and/or serious work stuff) for them to explore. We also set up book bins and labeled them: board books, easy readers, library books, early readers (advanced just past the “easy” readers) and the novels. We also have our science shelf, our social studies & art shelf, math & language texts, etc. I am organizing!! 🙂

Fall Adaptations

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– Christopher was saying he hates math and that makes me sad because I knew I was leaving him to his own devices with lessons. We talked about it and realized he is having a hard time with the more intensive work, it’s a lot more at this stage (Saxon 54) and the problems are far more intricate. He’s such an extrovert, too, and he does best if he can talk through things so we tried something new. We read through the lesson together and he does the new practice problems aloud with me and then we alternate him doing the written work alone or doing it orally with me. After a week of letting him do the oral math version he said he just may love math now. 🙂 What a simple solution… and it allows me to immediately correct any errors and see how he’s working through the problems.

– I’m reading aloud the history to the kids (Story of the World) and the Lamb’s Shakespeare for kids once a week each. It’s forcing me to pay much closer attention to the story and characters as we have to review what we read the week prior. I’m learning a lot even if the kids are not!

– Christopher’s grammar is becoming far more intensive (and boring) as well so I’m making sure he has the concept down and can do a couple of the exercises and we call it good. It’s a lot of sentence diagramming right now and I’m bored personally with reviewing predicate adjectives vs. predicate nominative. Bleh.

– Both kids are working on the BBC typing lessons and Ben’s asking if he can, too. I realized they could probably pick that up pretty quickly and since I’m happy with their cursive skills I’m comfortable with them learning typing now. I know it won’t be do the detriment of their handwriting, which is quite nice if not a bit slow still. They are still so young, I know their little hands still tire quickly while writing and I don’t want that to slow down the spilling of their creative ideas. I’m also willing to have them dictate stories and reports to me and I’ll type or write it up for them – until they are 10 I don’t expect they will have the handwriting speed or typing skills to quickly capture their own ideas without it frustrating them and I don’t ever want that to stifle them expressing creativity. I’ll also let them do the reports on video if they want to do it orally. I love technology! I think it can be dangerous if used at the expense of the basics like handwriting, but I think it can facilitate creativity as well.

– More later!

Circle Time Ideas

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For little ones this is all the formal lesson they get but it covers a wide range, depending on what we’re in the mood to do that morning. This is followed by other lessons for the big kids but it’s a good official start for our day.

– Welcome Song then any combination of the following:

Memorization work:
– Song Mo’s memorizing (primary)
– Scripture mastery from C
– Articles of Faith
– Poem

Mathematics:
– Date (days of the week, months of the year song)
– Counting by 1s, 2s, 3s, etc, forward & backwards.
– Finding shapes in room (shape scavenger hunt)
– What time is it?

Science:
– Weather (check forecast & temperature)
– What season is it?
– Planets song
– Colors song

Social Studies:
– Holidays this month
– States song
– Name continents and oceans
– Pick a postcard (from our penpal collection) and find on map

Show & Tell
Parent or older child read short story to younger kids

Throw in an art project and some outdoor time for exercise and exploration and you’ve covered all the basics!

Activity Ideas for Little Ones:
Usually I only need 10 to 20 minutes to focus on teaching a new concept and helping an older child check a lesson. When I need to buy us some time and keep little ones occupied here are some ideas (and reminders to self) – they require varying degrees of supervision/intervention from me:
– Busy Box
– Magnet board
– workbooks
– coloring books
– playdough
– educational links (see below)
– educational shows (PBS Kids, Hulu, Netflix I hear?)
– DVDs from library
– yard
– chalk outside or on black paper inside
– rice box (BIG mess but fun)
– obstacle course, relay race
– trampoline
– yoga DVD
– kid scissors & paper to cut into bits
– activity cards & dry erase marker
– storytime with older sibling
– rotate toy bins (trains, Little People, etc)
– put on puppet show
– dress up box
– play kitchen, assign a “meal” to prepare
– dollhouse
– scavenger hunt, draw or write them list of what to find around the house or give specific color, shape, etc and they must draw or write down item found and return to you.
– chores: sort clean laundry into piles, set table, pick up living or sunroom, sort crayons into colors, collect all kids’ books from around the house
– have them “read” book and draw book report
– stretchy sack, rocking horse, other OT games
– have them set up a library & check out books
– play doctor, identifying their body parts and giving them spare band-aids to use as they deem fit. 🙂
– puzzles
– dominoes
– Memory, Candyland, Chutes & Ladders
– give them “lessons” like write out numbers, ABCs, draw me certain shapes
– pictionary, tell them what to draw and let each other guess or they draw and I guess

New Charts for Lessons & Chores

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Week One:

Week Two:

I made charts for the older three kids, I needed a visual I could give them with daily reminders. I customized it per kid (and made Ben’s simpler with larger font and such) but they generally include:

spelling (includes handwriting)
language (grammar & handwriting & writing)
reading (includes narration & book reports)
math
PE (includes PE, motorlab, swimming, therapy)
piano
special (includes art, music, history, science, ThadenPierce plan)
chores
other (scouts, therapy, etc)

I put an x if they don’t need to do something that day and left it blank if I wanted to write what their “other” was for that week. I left reading blank for them to write in what they are reading, too. There’s a spot for me to write the dates covered and I can hole punch these charts and stick them in their folders for later reference/portfolio stuff. I can also include the lesson number for the language, spelling, math, history chapter and such so we can see what we’ve covered. I’ll have them color in (or put a sticker on) each grid when we get it done so if we don’t get our math lessons done then we know on our built in make up day we need to cover that.

I also left some blank spots at the bottom specifically for habit training – if there’s something I know we need to focus on that week then I can write in Habit: listening! Habit: not interrupting! 🙂 And if they do a good job focusing on it that day we’ll do a sticker or star or something.

We’ll see how this new system goes, it took maybe 20 minutes to lay everything out and Kit’s printing them up so not a big time investment – but I’m optimistic that this will help the kids be more independent in tasks and help us all stay on track better. If we get into the habit of this now then ideally when Olivia arrives we’ll have an easier time transitioning.

The only difference between week one and two is the chores, I decided to write those in so I knew what to have the kids focus on based on which team they are on – living room or kitchen chores. We still have the chore charts on the fridge detailing team duties but this gives a main focus: bathroom, linens, sunroom, bedrooms, etc. The kids put these in the front of their binders under the plastic cover – perfect! Plus they were excited when I went over the calender and wrote in the various playdates and trips planned.

Weekly Checklist

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First Language Lessons (grammar, narration, dictation, handwriting) – Monday & Wednesday for C & M

SWR (spelling & handwriting) – daily for C & M

speech – Tuesday & Thursday for M & B

reading/Teaching the Classics – daily for C, M & B; Friday story charts & book report

Saxon Math – 3x week for C & M, 1x week for B; flashcards, drills & games 1x week

specials – art, music, science, history, therapy

Plans & Activities (The Reality)

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Because my blog is where I dump my brain (so I can forget things which would work better if I remember that I was dumping things here that I later need to come back to and actually DO) I write down here my ideal – my goals, hopes, dreams, what I wish I could manage. (See ideal here.)

Sometimes I forget on my school blog to include this disclaimer and thus people think that this blog is an actual representation of some idealized homeschool life. HAHAHAHA! If you’ve been in our home then you know the reality but for those of you who’ve not yet ventured into our place (though y’all are welcome) then let me give you the reality. I realized I wanted to record this for the kids’ sake mostly, though reassuring other homeschool moms that blog does NOT equal reality is a side benefit. I don’t know if knowing the truth will make you more or less inclined to be my friend but hopefully you’ll like me more for it. 🙂

Reality – I spend way, way, way too much time on the laptop. I get distracted IMing my husband (we’re working on that, I’m the problem – not him) and I get sidetracked by blogs (I’m now trying to ONLY read blogs on weekends) and I get on to find a recipe and end up browsing other recipes and then it’s just all downhill. And on my bad days I absolutely let the internet take me from reality while I stick on a movie for the kids and tell them Mommy’s in TIME OUT. I’m working on this.

I believe the internet/laptop is a tool that can be wielded for good or evil and I’m working to use it for good. It’s a daily struggle.

I let my own aversions prevent me from being enthusiastic about some subjects (like math and grammar) and I’m working on that. My attitude influences how my children respond to new materials or reviewing old and I fear my avoidance is contagious. Which means we can go weeks without doing some things – yes, WEEKS in which I use every excuse under the sun to justify why I’ve not touched a math book. I know children need some consistency (and some spontaneity) and I’m really working to (a) approach all subjects with enthusiasm or at least a neutral attitude and (b) be more consistent. (Thus my plethora of schedules and lists. Which I ambitiously make and then fail to follow through on…)

But over the years each new schedule and list has helped me refine what my goals are. Each time I try something new I retain some of the old and some of the new and eventually I WILL get into a rhythm that works well for us. Each new assessment helps me better refine what works for our family and what does not work.

That’s why I LOVE talking to other homeschoolers (or pretty much anyone who has or works with school age kids) because I learn something new from every single one. There’s always some new trick or book or idea I can try and I love the inspiration I glean from others.

So, what works for us at this point with schooling 3 kids (8.5, 7, and 5 years old) and keeping two little ones busy (3.5 years and 21 months) with a new baby on the way?

– We school year round with more lesson time in winter & summer. We have lighter therapy/activity schedules then and the weather is too cold/hot to be outside as much. In the nice weather months we want as much unstructured outside play time as possible, plus we’re busy with speech, swimming, horseback riding, scouts, PE, etc.

– We strive for some formal lessons 5x a week year round except for vacation weeks but in reality we do lessons 2 to 3 days a week sometimes and other times (bedrest, first trimester, postpartum) we don’t do “lessons” at all. (We still do writing and reading and learning, we just don’t focus on the textbook lessons.) Since we only have to do 180 “school” days a year I know we’re meeting that and then some.

– We consider math and language our core subjects, everything else is extra. We know as the kids get older we’ll NEED to focus more on the science and history and fine arts but for now (all kids 8 years and under, grammar stage) we are just fine making sure they get a strong reading, writing & mathematics foundation.

– I’m trying to give us credit for all those lessons that don’t feel like “school” to me but are really lessons: taking care of a new baby, spending hours playing outside, reading novels, park days, time with friends, cooking, typing skills, listening to music, playing music, making art, library trips. I’m still fighting against the notion that if a textbook isn’t involved that it’s not “school” but that’s not the point. We are learning every single day, even if they are not doing structured textbook math & language lessons. Related to this…

– We’re trying to create a learning environment in our home. We don’t have broadcast tv so the only shows they can watch are what we own or check out from the library and we try (when I’m not on bedrest/postpartum) to limit the tv time. We love the educational shows we’re finding though, especially the science stuff. It does convey materials in ways a textbook cannot. We limit computer and game time and do educational websites (I know, I’m a hypocrite re: computer time.) We also try to do library trips at least once a week and explore the nonfiction books. We are careful about the toys/gifts the kids have – we want stuff that encourages imagination and creativity. (We also like if it’s sturdy, educational, encourages group play, etc, etc.) The goal is that anything the kids pick up to play with around here will be teaching them something – whether it’s an overtly science related activity or something that motivates cooperation and imagination like the dollhouse or sharing clay to make sculptures. That way on the days I’m not up for lessons I know they are not just rotting their brains. 😀

– In large part because of the Charlotte Mason readings/group I really believe that we need to assess what our values are and how we feel children learn. I believe playing outside for hours IS a crucial learning experience and I count that as schooling. (Read more re: Charlotte Mason here.) Ditto spending time learning to get along with our siblings, attending events for children with differing abilities/special needs, volunteering, taking care of a new baby. I want our kids to have a strong academic foundation but more importantly I want them to (a) love and serve others and (b) love to learn.

More later… 🙂

Summer 2010 Plan & Activities (The Ideal)

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Focuses:
– handwriting (Cursive First)
– math fact families/flashcards & memorization, math tests/drills
– ThadenPierce plan

Monday:
art (new book & projects)
preliminary SWR
First Language Lessons
math
motor lab/outside time

Tuesday:
new spelling words
Mo & Ben speech
PE
math

Wednesday:
music (DSO site – composer study & piano lessons)
spelling words review
First Language Lessons
math
motor lab/outside time
Cub Scouts (off for summer)

Thursday:
history
Mo & Ben speech
spelling enrichment activities
math
PE

Friday:
Teaching the Classics (Shakespeare)
catch up
field trips/day off
swimming (off for summer)

Saturday:
science

Sunday:
journal

Trips & Activities
– Fort Worth Science Museum (May 25th)
– Frank Buck Zoo (we have family pass)
– blackberry picking (June)
– ward camp out (postponed)
– DCHSA end of year event (May 29th)
– library summer reading program (June 5th)
– library storytime special events
– stake waterpark night (August)
– DCHSA back to school waterpark night (August)
– 4th of July parade & fireworks (July 3rd)
– Ray Roberts beach/lake
– individual speech therapy (T/Th 8:15am)
– PE summer program (July 20th – August 10th)
– backyard campout
– Joseph/Emy/Kit bday (August 6th)
– 10 year anniversary pictures, cake, B&B (July)
– boy scout museum on Monday (free day)
– Frisco fire station safety house classes
– Dallas science museum (activate membership August)
– State Fair (end summer, free passes)
– Six Flags (free passes)
– Dallas Museum of Art (first Tuesday free)
– free family movies at Rave, need to get dates

I’m sure I’m forgetting things…

Summer-Fall 2010 Schedule & Goals

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Monday: art, motor lab/outside time, preliminary SWR, First Language Lessons, math

Tuesday: Mo & Ben speech, PE, new spelling words, math

Wednesday: music, Cub Scouts (off for summer), spelling words review, First Language Lessons, math

Thursday: Mo & Ben speech, history, PE, spelling enrichment, math

Friday: catch up/field trips/day off, teaching the classics, swimming (off for summer)

Saturday: science

Sunday: journal

daily – SWR (spelling) reading aloud, outside time
4x week – motor lab/PE, math
2x week – grammar lessons (MW), speech (TTH)
1x week – music, art, history, science, out of sync activity, journal writing
2x month – science experiments, field trip

Add in: shakespeare (Lamb for kids) (F), blackline maps (Th)

Christopher
math – Saxon 5/4
language – First Language Lessons 3 & 4, SWR for spelling, reading aloud to us , journal, and read with family (novels, poetry, parables, etc)
history – Story of the World I, 2x month special projects
science – read for fun, experiments 2x a month (creation)
music – piano volume 2; basic music theory intro, orchestras, composer study
art – weekly art/craft project, artist study
PE – 4x week (exercises & motor lab, games, PE in fall

Moira
math – Saxon 2
language – First Language Lessons 1 – 2, SWR for spelling, reading aloud to us, journal, read with family (novels, poetry, parables, etc)
history – SOTW 1, 2x month special projects
science – experiments 2x month, creation unit
therapy – 2x week motor lab, 1x week swim lessons (fall), 2x week movement for special populations, 2x week speech (summer/home in fall), 1x week horseback riding (fall), sensory activity?,
music – piano volume 1, basic music theory, orchestra, composer study
art – weekly art/craft project, artist study
PE – 4x week (horses (fall), swim (fall), movement class

Bennett:
math – Saxon 1
language – SWR for spelling, reading aloud to us, read with family (novels, poetry, parables, etc), enunciation, handwriting Start First Languages Lessons January 2011
history – SOTW 1, 2x month special projects
science – experiments 2x month, creation unit
therapy – 2x week motor lab, 1x week swim lessons (fall), 2x week movement for special populations, 2x week speech (fall), 1x week horseback riding (fall), sensory activity?,
music – basic music theory, orchestra, composer study, start piano 1 when feel ready (fall or winter?)
art – weekly art/craft project, artist study
PE – 4x week (horses (fall), swim (fall), movement class