Good Morning!

We started off our first full week with this.... Good Morning by Mandisa. Nothing wrong with a little dance party to get the wiggles out and help us get our minds and hearts centered on God.


If I had a camera on my kids, that would have made for a fun video to watch. Isaac, my serious and cautious one, wanting to dance but embarrassed to. Julia, a little less inhibited than big brother and all smiles as she dances with her Momma. Caleb, my outgoing and exuberant child. He certainly dances to his own beat. And Benjamin, in my arms squealing with delight as we bounced around room.  I hope my children remember moments like this. Carefree, dance parties with their Momma. I know I will tuck these memories away forever. And by the way, we all had this song stuck in our head the rest of the day. Not a bad song to be stuck on. Good Morning!

First Day of School 2013

Originally our first day of school was going to be August 26th but at the last minute I bumped it up to the 22nd. I thought it would be wise to have a "soft" start this year which would allow me to teach new procedures, schedules, and expectations without the pressure of getting all our work done. I also wanted to mix in a little bit of fun for our first day.

We started off the day promptly at 8:00. I am a stickler about this. I know from past experiences that if we don't get an early start our day unravels Our day begins with Morning Meeting. This is a time to do calendar activities, say the pledge and prayer, and have Bible lessons. Benjamin was not a fan of Morning Meeting on the first day. He screamed the ENTIRE time which only served to frustrate the kids and myself. Day 2 he found his way into my lap and fell asleep. He may or may not be just a little bit spoiled. :)

Day 1 screaming

Day 2 sleeping

At 9:00, Isaac and Julia head off to their work stations. Isaac's is in his room and Julia's is in my room. In the past I have always had the kids work at the dining room table. Last year I had a lot of problems with the kids wasting time by playing and talking. So now they have their own work space away from distractions (each other). So far it is working. Hope this continues!!

I am using my version of a workbox system. They have 10 drawers and in each drawer they will find their assignments and supplies. They have a time assigned to each assignment and use kitchen timers to keep track of this. I implemented this to help with my kids getting frustrated when an assignment takes too long. This way they know there is an end. If they don't finish then they go back and finish it during make-up work time in the afternoon. I am hoping it will give their brains a break on the more challenging subjects and help eliminate frustration meltdowns. (ex. my oldest and math) One of the drawers will always have a snack/outside card to give them a little break in the morning as well.

While the big kids are at work stations, I get to work with Caleb on his preschool lessons. He is a few weeks shy of turning 4 and very ready to start preschool. He has grown up a lot over the summer. He has a much longer attention span than he did last spring. His lessons include doing a journal, name book, math, Explode the Code, 100 Easy Lessons, Before Five in a Row, Handwriting Without Tears, and ABCmouse. I enjoy this time with him. Being the 3rd, I don't often get to spend one on one time with him so I enjoy snuggling on the couch to read to him just the two of us.

Working on that pencil grip

He drew a self-portrait for his journal

Caleb's daily schedule

The morning went by smoothly and the kids even finished up their morning lessons early so they had time to play before lunch. Usually after lunch I will have Caleb go play quietly in his room while Isaac, Julia, and I work on group work but on the first day of school I had some fun planned so he got to join us.

We started the afternoon taking pictures and making time capsules. Included in their time capsules was an interview, self-portrait, hand cut-out, and yarn to measure their height. These turned out so cute. I wish I had done these all along. Oh well, never too late to start a new tradition. It will be fun to get these back out on the last day of school to see how much they have grown and changed.

Next I took the kids on a mini-scavenger hunt with clues that led them all over the backyard and in the house. The last clue led them to the refrigerator which held the cookie making ingredients. We spent the rest of our "school" time icing cookies. I told them they were to ice a certain number of cookies certain colors but didn't tell them what we were going to do with the cookies. Once they were all iced I asked the kids to hide out in my room while I arranged the cookies to look like this....

A little corny I know, but the kids LOVED it! And that's all that matters! We snacked on cookies and milk then had the rest of the afternoon to play. A very successful First Day of School!

Friday we added in a little more work and less play and had a successful second day of school. The true test will be on Monday when we start full force with everything. Bring it on, I'm ready!

 My prayer this year is...
*to be a patient and gentle mother/teacher
*to listen to my children and not always be the one talking
*to find joy in the midst of ___________ (fill in the blank!)
*to daily be thankful for the opportunity to teach my children at home and to watch them grow

Looking forward to a great year!

 

T minus 15 days...

Four weeks of lesson plans written and prepped, carts loaded and ready for the first day of school, pencils sharpened... we are winding down our last days of summer and gearing up for the new school year.

I have given myself and the kids plenty of time off this summer. We usually never take this much time off but this year I needed it. Needed it, like I would have burned out within the first week back with anything less than 6 weeks off. When it is all said and done we will have had 8 weeks of break. Blissful, beautiful time off. Our official first day back will be August 26.

I haven't been kickin' it by the pool all summer though. I have been planning and changing and re-working things to get us ready for this next year. And.... I am so excited. I feel thoroughly rested and prepared to begin again.

This year I will have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader, and a Pre-Schooler... not to mention a very mobile and busy little "B" who is 8 months old. We will be starting MFW Creation to the Greeks as our main curriculum. The moment my MFW box was delivered I was digging into those books like it was Christmas! I am so excited to learn right alongside my kids this year. One of my favorite things about home schooling is that I get to learn it all again.

Here are some other books/curriculum (outside of MFW) that we will be using:
*Apologia Flying Creatures
*Draw and Write Through History
*A Reason for Spelling
*Reach for the Stars - Writing
*Just Write
*Rosetta - Spanish
*Song School Spanish
*Rod and Staff English
*Math U See
*Pictures in Cursive
*Write through the Bible
*Explode the Code
*Dance Mat Typing
*Circle C series -  A Long Ride Home and Badge of Honor
*Hymns for a Kids' Heart
*JOY Prayer Cards
*Object Bible Lessons
*Handwriting Without Tears
*Five in a Row
*Reading - 100 easy lessons

When I type it all out like that, I have a little mini panic attack. Sometimes I over plan. I have a lot of great ideas but struggle to implement them all. However, I am going to go into this new school  year with high hopes and nothing less. It's going to be a great year!

Because I am incorporating Caleb into the school day with a more structured schedule, I have had to move things around a bit in our daily schedule. A typical day around here will look something like this...

8:00 - 9:00 Morning Meeting
We will all meet together for this. During this time we will do calendar activities and Bible lessons.

9:00 - 12:30 Isaac and Julia will go to their desks/work stations to complete independent work. They will be using my version of the work box system. I will share more about that in a different post. While the big kids are busy working independently, I will spend the morning teaching Caleb.

12:30 - 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 4:30 Caleb will have quiet time in his room for part of this time while I work with Isaac and Julia on group work which includes all our MFW, Apologia, and other subject lessons/reviews.

At 4:30 the kids will do their chores, finish up any work not completed earlier, practice piano, and have free time until dinner. Makes for a very full and busy day.

Tuesdays and Fridays will be different. On Tuesday the big kids will have piano in the morning and P.E.in the afternoon. No regular school for them that day. While the big kids are at P.E., I will come home with Caleb and teach him. And Friday mornings we have our home school co-op. These different kind of days make it difficult to fit everything else in but somehow we always make it work.

Our lazy days of summer are slipping away. Ready or not... here comes fall!