Wordless Wednesday

 

Making a Personalized Planner

Last year I used a weekly lesson plan page fastened to a clipboard (with about a million pages of miscellaneous stuff also on the clipboard!) for all of our homeschooling scheduling. This year I wanted something different (and a little more organized!). I was in the process of making TJ her own weekly checklist/notebook and decided that I should have one too! So I took that weekly lesson plan page, added a bunch of other pages, some dividers with pockets, a pretty cover, had it spiral bound, and now I have a personalized planner!

Here's what I decided to include in mine:

Right behind the cover I have a copy of our first grade goals, a 13-month calendar, a math game record sheet, artist and composer study plans, daily attendance form, and a few 2-page monthly calendars. After these basic forms, I added a pocketed divider for each term. Behind each divider I have a term plans chart, 2-page monthly calendars (for months specific to those terms) and 6-8 weekly lesson plan pages (formatting changed a bit when uploading, but you get the idea). Now I just need to grab my notebook instead of searching for bits of paper. So far it's working very well. There are a few minor changes that I'm making note of so I can improve the planner for next year, but overall, it's working for me!

From the Teacher's Desk

Here's the plan for week 6:

Morning Devotions: The Children's Bible in 365 Stories and Leading Little Ones to God; TJ's also reading one section of The Beginner's Bible each evening

Drill and Recitation: Matthew 6:9-13; Psalm 23; various poems (from First Language Lessons and others); systems of the body; counting by 2s; +5s math facts; counting in French; grammar definitions

Math: RightStart, lessons 59-60

Writing: Writing with Ease, week 13

Spelling: All About Spelling lesson 23

Grammar: First Language Lessons 1/2, lessons 49-50

French: Mission ABC, lesson 13; French lapbook

History: The Story of the World 1, chapter 14

Science: Animal study – shrimp; science experiments from Science with Water

Read-Alouds: Breakfast – Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Mr. Popper's Penguins; Evening – Betsy and Tacy go over the Big Hill and history or science books

Fall into Reading 2010

Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting her Fall into Reading challenge again this year!

Here's the list of books I'd like to cross off my reading list:

1. The Pilgrim's Progress
2. Till We Have Faces
3. Out of the Silent Planet
4. Perelandra
5. That Hideous Strength
6. On Writing
7. Gulliver's Travels
8. Teaching what really Happened
9. The Death and Life of the Great American School System
10. All Things Bright and Beautiful

Week in Review: Week 5

Another good week. Instead of schooling at the table we changed things up a bit. One day we did school in bed. Another day we did school on the couch. On our last day we decided to stay in our pjs. So it's been an interesting week!

The Basics: Math lessons focused on counting change so we pulled out the piggy bank and practiced! I had TJ do some review with telling time to five minutes as well. She finished lessons 21 and 22 in spelling ('nk' words and compound words) and she learned more about pronouns in grammar lessons. I find that spelling words with the tiles on the white board takes awhile. TJ makes the letters talk to each other which adds to the lesson time. Oh well, at least she thinks spelling is fun!

History: This week we learned more about Egypt, focusing on a few major characters – Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, and Tutankhamen. No big projects but we had fun playing a 'rob the pharaohs tomb' game (found an Egyptian kit for a steal last year at a used curriculum fair).

Science: No science co-op this week but TJ spent some time putting together her dolphin lapbook. She also collected some leaves to look at under the microscope. (Nature study without any work for me!)

Reading: I finished reading aloud Betsy-Tacy and Tib and we finished a bunch of audio books (our mealtime listening) – three of the Gooney Bird Greene books. I also read Rimonah of the Flashing Sword (an African version of Snow White), The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (which TJ thought was hilarious), and a few other picture books. TJ read Owl at Home, Amelia Bedelia, Mouse Soup, 3 Annie and Snowball books, and started Frog and Toad Together. We started The New Oxford Treasury of Children's Poems for our "Poet-tea".

I'm linking this post to Weekly Wrap-Up.

Crew Review: Schleich Animal Figures

We love Schleich animal figurines! Our package arrived during our 'staycation' week so I wasn't sure that we'd get much of a chance to play with them right away. But TJ couldn't bear to leave them home so she filled a small box with her "new zoo" and made sure that she brought her animals with her each day.

What we thought: We really love these toys! They are realistic depictions of animals that are beautifully hand-painted. A huge plus is that they are very sturdy (great for little hands that aren't very gentle with their toys!). TJ loves playing with these animals and she spent a lot of time looking at the catalog. Usually she will circle things that she likes in various toy catalogs, but after looking at this catalog, she said it would be easier to check off the figurines she already owned because she'd have to circle the whole book! ;-)

The figurines are detailed right down to the bottom of their feet. TJ thought it was great fun to compare their footprints and she informed me (in her most serious voice) that it might be a good idea to learn about the different animal tracks. I'm not sure when it will come in handy to recognize an Asian elephant's tracks, but now we do!

Schleich figurines can be found at many local stores. You can check their website for retailers in your area. Want to see what other homeschooling families thought of the Schleich figurines? Check out the Crew blog.

Now for the fine print… I received this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was provided.

Wordless Wednesday

Tweaking till we find what works!

As much as I love the workbox system (tweaked, of course!) it just wasn't working the way I wanted it to work. Each day we'd put our schedule strip together and by lunchtime I'd be moving things around. Because of Nick's work schedule our mornings have to be more fluid than following our workbox system allowed. And, quite often, when things got busy and we got behind schedule, I'd drop the fun stuff. So, after thinking and reading and thinking some more, I decided to start using a simple loop schedule. I made TJ a checklist that has four days of schoolwork listed, but if we don't finish the day's work by quiet time then we'll just pick up at that point the next day. I'll still be using my weekly lesson planner to keep track of lesson numbers, library books to order, etc., but I'm hoping that by TJ having her own daily checklist she'll feel like she has more choice in the daily homeschooling decisions.

The basic idea behind a loop schedule is that you only work for a certain amount of time each day, even if you don't complete everything on the list. The next day you start right where you left off – even if you have to finish up anything from the previous day before continuing on to that day's assignments. This way, you still get to those subjects that end up being pushed aside when life gets too busy.

Here's the checklist I made for TJ (it's linked below for those reading this post in a reader). I printed out enough for the year (one for each week), added a book log page between every 6-8 pages (to divide the terms) and then had it spiral bound. She loves having her own planner! Each day is listed at the top but we only work until our daily quiet time (with breaks and lunchtime added in too). Anything that isn't completed just carries over to the next day. Each morning we start with Bible, Recitation, and Drill (reading is later in the day), so we do those first thing - before beginning our day's assignments. Each day TJ gets to choose one enrichment subject and it gets checked off, so we end up rotating through all of them. I also added a section for afternoon activities. In the event that we finish early and TJ doesn't just want to go play (like that ever happens!) then she can choose something from the list.

Loop Schedule

From the Teacher's Desk

Here are our plans for week 5:

Morning Devotions: The Children's Bible in 365 Stories and Leading Little Ones to God; TJ's also reading one section of The Beginner's Bible each evening

Drill and Recitation: Matthew 6:9-13; Psalm 23; various poems (from First Language Lessons and others); systems of the body; counting by 2s; +2s math facts; counting in French

Math: RightStart, lessons 57-58

Writing: Writing with Ease, week 12

Spelling: All About Spelling lesson 21-22

Grammar: First Language Lessons 1/2, lessons 47-48

French: Mission ABC, lesson 12; French lapbook

History: The Story of the World 1, chapter 13

Science: Dolphins (Download 'n Go unit); Animal study - shrimp

Read-Alouds: Breakfast – Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Gooney Bird and the Room Mother; Evening - Betsy-Tacy and Tib and history or science books

Just a Few of my Favorite Things: Homeschool Edition

Once in awhile I like to post a list of websites or other things that I find helpful. This week I'd like to share my favorite homeschooling resources. I know, I know, my kid's only 6! So my list will be short! ;-)

These are my go-to resources for general homeschooling questions:

• The Well-Trained Mind
• Charlotte Mason's books
• The Well-Trained Mind Forums

Favorite Bible Time resources:

• My First Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes
• Everything a Child should Know about God
• The Jesus Storybook Bible
• The Children's Bible in 365 Stories
• Leading Little Ones to God

Favorite Preschool – First Grade resources:

• Rod & Staff preschool workbooks
• Explode the Code
• RightStart Math
• All About Spelling
• The Story of the World series
• Sonlight Science Discover & Do DVDs
• Download 'N Go unit studies

Other things that I love:

• HomeschoolShare
• My planner/journal
  
• Digital camera (to record all those wonderful memories)
• My library card!
• A wonderful husband that carries bags of library books for me!

The Homeschool Crew is hosting a weekly blog cruise and this week's topic is favorite homeschool resources. Come check it out!

Week in Review: Week 4

We had a great week – things went smoothly and we finished everything I had on my to-do list.

The Basics: TJ practiced counting by 5s around the clock, got a 100% on her French test, worked on 'k' and 'ck' endings in spelling, and learned about pronouns.

History: We finished two chapters in The Story of the World this week. We spent a day learning about ancient Africa and readings some Anansi books. Then we wandered back over to Egypt and read about the Nubians and the Hyksos. We watched a documentary about ancient Egypt and TJ made Egyptian bracelets.

Science: We finished up our dolphin study. Next week we'll put all the pieces together and make a lapbook. We're also doing a weekly animal study with some friends. This week we learned about spiders. The kids made a scotch tape web and threw cotton ball "flies" at their web.

Reading: I'm reading Betsy-Tacy and Tib for our evening read-aloud. We finished two audio books (our mealtime listening) – Ramona and her Mother and Gooney Bird Greene. TJ read Arthur's Birthday Party and is about half-way through Owl at Home. We also finished reading through Never take a Pig to Lunch during our weekly "Poet-tea". Any recommendations for other poetry books we might enjoy?

I'm linking this post to Weekly Wrap-Up.

From the Teacher's Desk

Here are our plans for week 4:

Morning Devotions: The Children's Bible in 365 Stories and Leading Little Ones to God; TJ's also reading one section of The Beginner's Bible each evening

Drill and Recitation: Matthew 6:9-13; Psalm 23; various poems (from First Language Lessons and others); systems of the body; counting by 2s; +1s and +2s math facts; counting in French

Math: RightStart, lessons 55-56

Writing: Writing with Ease, week 11

Spelling: All About Spelling lesson 19-20

Grammar: First Language Lessons 1/2, lessons 45-46

French: Mission ABC, lesson 11; French lapbook

History: The Story of the World 1, chapter 11

Science: Dolphins (Download 'n Go unit)

Read-Alouds: Breakfast – Ramona and her Mother; Evening - Betsy-Tacy and Tib and history or science books

Week in Review: Week 3

This week was a 4-day week since Nick was home on Monday. This didn't really change much since we only school 4 days each week and save the 5th day for projects and fun things; we just had to fit those fun things into four days!

The Basics: We completed all our scheduled basics – recitation, math, writing, grammar, spelling, and French. TJ practiced adding 1s, 10s, and 100s to a number in math, 'idea' nouns in grammar, double consonants in spelling, and learned the pronouns 'je' and 'tu' in French.

History: We spent the week in ancient China reading about Lei Zu and the silkworms and farming in the Yellow River valley. Our history project this week is making a ming bowl - her clay bowl is drying and will be ready to paint later today.

Science: We're still working our way through our dolphin study. TJ learned about echolocation and food chains and added some more pieces to her dolphin lapbook.

Reading: I finished reading aloud Betsy-Tacy this week and we started Betsy-Tacy and Tib. We finished two audio books (our mealtime listening) – Ramona and her Father and The Light Princess. TJ loves the Ramona series but we're alternating them with other books (I can only take so much Ramona!). During our poetry tea we read from Never take a Pig to Lunch. TJ thinks that book is just hilarious.

I'm linking this post to Weekly Wrap-Up.

Well-Educated Mind: Wrapping up Don Quixote

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not very good at analyzing books! (yet!) I really had a difficult time applying the questions in The Well-Educated Mind to Don Quixote. It was especially hard to analyze the first book and I think it's because that first book doesn't really focus on Quixote. It begins with him as a central character but he ends up on the sidelines while all these other characters are 'on stage', so to speak. The second book was easier to pull apart because that seemed to follow the format that I'm used to seeing in a novel (rising action, climax, etc).

There's one question that I'm still trying to answer though – was Quixote truly mad or was he just deceiving himself? Hopefully learning to analyze these books will get easier with time!

Goals for September:

1. Finish reading The Pilgrim's Progress

From the Teacher's Desk

Here are our plans for week 3:

Morning Devotions: The Children's Bible in 365 Stories and Leading Little Ones to God; TJ's also reading one section of The Beginner's Bible each evening

Drill and Recitation: Psalm 23; various poems (from First Language Lessons and others); major pharaohs of Egypt; counting by 2s; +1s and +2s math facts; counting in French

Math: RightStart, lessons 51-54

Writing: Writing with Ease, week 10

Spelling: All About Spelling lesson 18; Spelling Workout A lessons 35-36

Grammar: First Language Lessons 1/2, lessons 40 and 44 (yes, we are skipping a few lessons!)

French: Mission ABC, lesson 10; French lapbook

History: The Story of the World 1, chapter 9 (finishing up a few things) and chapter 10

Science: Dolphins (Download 'n Go unit)

Read-Alouds: Breakfast - All-of-a-Kind Family; Evening - Betsy-Tacy and history or science books

Week in Review

A successful second week! Yah! It started out a bit rough; TJ was very wiggly after our weekend trip and she found it hard to get back into our routine and I was cranky because my computer was acting weird. But after those minor road bumps were taken care of things improved dramatically! The rest of the week was great and we sailed right on through more work than I expected to. We even fit in an extra chapter of The Story of the World (TJ loves that book!). This week we learned about the Assyrians and the first civilizations in India. Her big project of the week was an archaeological dig – excavating coins. She thought it was great fun and I was kicking myself for not taking it outside to work on. I'm still cleaning up bits of sandy residue!

Now for some very good news – I made new friends! ;-) We joined a homeschool co-op last year but we just didn't fit with that group. I am an introvert by nature and don't do well meeting new people. And the people there were very hard to get to know – they had their cliques already formed and weren't very welcoming. So… we haven't had a good experience with finding a homeschool group. Well, a dear friend decided to homeschool this year and she had a friend in a homeschool group and that friend invited us to join a group she was involved with (did you get all that?). So today we went to their "not back to school" picnic. I went with a churning stomach, not knowing if it was going to be one of those groups, but they were sooo nice! What a lovely bunch of ladies! TJ and I had a great time.

So the week started off a bit bumpy but ended very nicely indeed.

I'm linking this post to Weekly Wrap-Up.

Back to "Homeschool" Giveaways at Lapbook Lessons!

I found a special treat when I opened my inbox this morning – an email announcing Lapbook Lessons newest event – a Back to "Homeschool" Giveaway. This 2-week event kicked off by offering a Time Traveler's CD from their sponsor, Curriculum Share, (it's not too late to enter!) with more giveaway's to come over the next two weeks.

Now for the fine print… I'm not receiving anything by sharing this news – I just think it's a great event (and I've got my finger's crossed that I'll win that Time Traveler's CD)!