My New Shelfari Bookshelf

After a very busy first week of school, I treated myself to a BIG chunk of time playing on the computer! I am so excited that I figured out how to add a Shelfari bookshelf to my blog! On the bookshelf you can see all of the books that I have read this year except for one book. I read "Booster Shot! How to Energize Your Homeschool with Unit Studies" by Kym Wright as well but I couldn't add it to my shelf because it wasn't in the Shelfari database. I'm sure that books can be uploaded to Shelfari but I just didn't even try since the other books that I read this year were in the database. I went ahead and put "Loving the Highlander" by Janet Chapman on my shelf as well even though I am still reading it. Once I finish that book, I will have met my goal for 50 books this year!

I have to laugh looking over my bookshelf - there are homeschooling books, classic children's books, cozy-mysteries, thrillers, books about organization, and romance novels. At least I read a wide variety of genres!

Storage Closet in the School Room

My very wonderful and quite supportive sister-in-law, Auntie Kim, purchased a storage closet from her old workplace for just $5.00. Seriously, I do think that is one of the best deals of which I have ever heard! Being the very wonderful and quite supportive sister-in-law that she is, she thought of me and my family when she saw the storage closet. She thought we could use it in our school room. I really loved the storage closet from the first time that I saw it but I didn't utilize it to its full potential until my organizing spree this summer.

As you can see in the pictures, I was using it but there was quite a bit of unused storage space left in the storage closet. My master plan was to transform it into "school supply headquarters" for the school room. So, with my master plan in mind, I piled all the school supplies by the storage closet throughout the summer.

Here is the storage closet with the doors closed. I really like that the doors can be closed and it instantly looks so streamlined and tidy.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the storage closet before my organizational efforts. There is a lot of storage space inside!

And here is close-up of piles of school supplies waiting to be organized into their new home.My very favorite part of this storage closet is the many little drawers at the bottom that can be lifted out and placed on a table. I thought they would be perfect for pencils, rulers, permanent markers, etc. As you can see in this picture, I wasn't using the little drawers at all. So sad...This project actually took quite a bit longer than I had anticipated (nothing new there) but I finally finished completely organizing the storage closet into a happy home for all of our school supplies. I even sharpened all of the pencils. Every time I look at the storage closet now, I have to smile - it truly is a one of a kind, excellent storage closet.

In the close-up of these two shelves, you can see our multi-colored papers, blank file folders just waiting to be made into a lapbook, boxes of crayons, assorted school supplies in boxes, sheet protectors, comb binder, stapler, paper cutter, and a flower pot of paper clips.
At the top of the storage closet are larger bins with cardstock, assorted papers, and notebook paper. I also have a box of colored file folders and a mega three whole punch. You can also see the cute snowman cans that my children decorated filled with scissors, pens, and highlighters. Lastly, there is a plastic bin holding clear storage bags and roll-up colored pencils (the best colored pencils ever made).

Lastly, I utilized all of the bins at the bottom and I used my label maker to clearly mark their contents. There are bins for thin markers, fat markers, punches, tape, glue sticks, permanent markers, pens, pencils, rulers, and colored pencils.Perfectly organized school supplies in a wonderful storage closet - it's enough to make me smile every school day this coming academic year! Thank you Auntie Kim!

2009 Central Zone Championships

We recently returned from the 2009 Central Zone Championships in Noblesville, Indiana where my daughter competed in 6 individual events and four relay events. Central Zone Champs was her biggest, most important meet so far. The United States is divided into four Zones - Western, Eastern, Southern, and Central. Each Zone has a "Zones Meet" each summer. Both the Southern and Central Zones are divided even further into two separate meets for each Zone. We live in the Central Zone area and our part of the Central Zone includes the following states and geographical areas:

• Arkansas
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Lake Erie region
• Ohio (the rest of Ohio except the Lake Erie region)
• Oklahoma
• Ozark region (Missouri and part of Illinois).

Making the time cuts to go (Zone Cuts) is, by itself, a very impressive accomplishment. For those who know nothing about USA swimming (like myself, a little over a year ago), time standards for individual swim events are divided by age and gender and are ranked according to speed starting on the slower end at "All Times," B, BB, A, AA, AAA, and then AAAA. To attend the Central Zone Championships, a swimmer must have at least a AAA time in an event to swim the event at Zones. My daughter is in the 11-12 age group and was allowed to swim a maximum number of 6 events at Zones (not including relays). By the end of the long-course season, Amber had her maximum number of 6 Zone Cuts! She had Zone Cuts in the following events:

• 50 Long Course Meters Freestyle
• 50 Long Course Meters Backstroke
• 50 Long Course Meters Butterfly
• 100 Long Course Meters Backstroke
• 400 Long Course Meters Freestyle
• 100 Long Course Meters Freestyle.

Many folks attend with even one Zone Cut, so we were incredibly excited (and more than a little proud) that Amber would be able to swim the maximum number of events at Central Zones Champs. I am continually amazed and delighted by Amber's devotion to swimming. While she certainly has natural talent, her accomplishments are a result of her hard work and the excellent coaching she receives. Over the summer she practiced seven times a week for a total of 14 hours a week. She NEVER misses practice - not to do something fun, not when she's not feeling well, not because she doesn't feel like going - she just shows up every practice and swims. The ONLY time she misses is when she is forced to attend an out-of-town educational field trip with her family. The dedication and perseverance that she is learning through her disciplined approach to swimming will serve her well throughout her life.

The Lake Erie team travels to Zones together as a team, eats together as a team, and the team stays together in a hotel. Now, Amber had never been to camp or anything like this before so I was quite nervous about the arrangement. Amber, on the other hand, was very excited. She had to be at the bus drop-off location at 6am last Thursday. My husband and I drove her out and got her on the bus. I forced her to smile for a sweet picture with her dad...

and her roommate.

Amber knew a lot of the swimmers already and we also had three other swimmers from her swim team attending. I also knew the mom who was the 11-12 girl's chaperone for the trip so, overall, I felt pretty comfortable with Amber leaving without us and not being able to stay with us in Indiana.

Kev and I left later in the day for Indiana. Our boys stayed with the grandmas while we were away. Our first hotel was rather disappointing and too far away from Amber's hotel but we were able to stay the other two nights in Carmel, Indiana in a lovely SpringHill Suites. Once we moved, our hotel was only a three minute drive away from the hotel where Amber and the rest of the Lake Erie team was staying. I felt MUCH better being close to where she was staying.

While most of Amber's time was heavily scheduled, even when she wasn't swimming, we were able to visit with her early in the morning before each day's swimming events. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we took Amber out to breakfast with us at an adorable little place that we found, Brunchies. This little restaurant in Carmel, Indiana, is only open for breakfast and lunch. Brunchies is quite reasonably priced and they have very yummy food. Kev and I shared mushroom and cheddar cheese omelettes, hash browns, bacon, and a Belgian Waffle all three mornings of our stay. Yummy!

The swim meet was held at the Forest Park Aquatic Center in Noblesville, Indiana. We would have much preferred an indoor pool. On the second and third days of the meet, it was HOT, extremely HOT - and the heat was trying for both the swimmers and the spectators. I took a few pictures of the pool, the flags, and Amber warming up in the water.

If you ask Amber how she did at Zones, she will say that she did "OK" but she didn't make her best times in all of her events. If you ask ME how Amber did at Zones, I will gush with details about her fabulous accomplishments! The top 16 times in each event "place" at Zones. First place through 8th place receive medals, and 9th place through 16th place receive ribbons. The really neat thing about Zones is that the medals are awarded during a brief ceremony in which the top 8 swimmers for the event take their places on raised podiums and have their medals placed around their necks.

Amber placed 2nd in the Girls 11-12 50 Long Course Meter Butterfly with a time of 31.53 (AAAA).

Before calling the swimmers up to the podium, a hand-painted surf-board with the event written on it was brought out. The surf-boards were really cute and festive!

This picture shows Amber walking up to her second place position on the podium. She is wearing purple shorts over her swimsuit as she just came from swimming another event.

Here you see Amber bending down to receive her medal. The medals were lovely and we had them engraved for her at the meet.Amber tied for 3rd place in the Girls 11-12 50 Long Course Meter Freestyle with a time of 28.83 (AAAA). She tied with one of her team mates from the Lake Erie team! We were so proud of both of the girls!Amber also placed 2nd in the Girls 11-12 50 Long Course Meter Backstroke. We were so thrilled to see her up on the awards stage for 3 of her 6 individual events!

Amber also placed 10th in the 100 Backstroke and she had her best time yet in that event. She also participated in every 11-12 Girls Relay for the Lake Erie team. The girls took 5th place in the following relays:

• Girls 11-12 200 Long Course Meter Free Relay
• Girls 11-12 200 Long Coure Meter Medley Relay
• Girls 11-12 400 Long Course Meter Medley.

The girls took 9th place in the Girls 11-12 400 Meter Free Relay.

Overall, the whole experience was a wonderful one for Amber. We are so proud of her and are looking forward to the Short-Course season.

5th Grade Curriculum

My middle son, Mason, will be entering 5th grade this year. He is doing more workbooks than in the past this school year. After he took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills this year, I identified some areas in which he needs some additional practice. Hopefully, the addition of some skill-specific workbooks will help bolster those areas in which he needs additional practice. Mason's curriculum has large areas of overlap with his older sister's curriculum as we do a number of subjects together.


Language Arts

• Spectrum Word Study and Phonics Grade 5
• Spelling Workout Level D
• Evan-Moor Daily 6-Trait Writing Grade 4
• Bob Jones English 4
• Capitalization and Punctuation Rules and Writing
• English From the Roots Up Volume I
• Latin Everywhere, Everyday
• Happy Scribe Copybooks - Ancient Greece, Colonial Times, Stars and Planets
• Writing assignments related to unit studies in Science and History.

While this seems like a ton of resources, it is important to note that I use English from the Roots Up Volume I and Latin Everywhere, Everyday with all three of my children as a together activity in the morning. We cover just a few word roots each week which they add to their English from the Roots Up notebooks. I am adding Latin Everywhere, Everyday to our morning together work this year and plan to cover just one lesson a week. I also plan to cover the Capitalization and Punctuation Rules and Writing book over a two year period.

Reading

• FOCUS on Reading Comprehension Level D Understanding Main Idea And Details
• FOCUS on Reading Comprehension Level D Understanding Sequence
• FOCUS on Reading Comprehension Level D Recognizing Cause and Effect
• FOCUS on Reading Comprehension Level D Comparing and Contrasting
• FOCUS on Reading Comprehension Level D Making Predictions
• FOCUS on Reading Comprehension Level D Drawing Conclusion and Making Inferences

American Revolution

• George Washington's Socks by Elvira Woodruff

Ancient Greece

• D'Aulaires' Greek Myths
• D'Aulaires' Greek Myths Study Guide, Cheryl Lowe and Leigh Lowe
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• Aesop's Fables Literature Pockets

***Mason will have additional reading assignments tied in with our Unit Studies in Science and History. The American Revolution Unit Study and the Ancient Greece Unit Study are the only ones that I have fully fleshed out right now.

Math

• Finish Teaching Textbooks Math 5
• Evan-Moor Daily Math Practice 5
• Evan-Moor Daily Word Problems 5
• FOCUS on Estimation Level D
• FOCUS on Estimation Level E

***Mason will complete Teaching Textbooks Math 5 during the first semester. Rather than move on to the next level, I have decided to spend the remainder of the year in review and practice of Grade 5 math skills.

Geography

• Trail Guide to U. S. Geography
• Trail Guide to U. S. Geography Student Notebook

We will continue with our states study that we started last school year. Much of the work in this subject we do together.

Science

• Great Science Adventures: Discovering the Human Body and Senses
• Great Science Adventures: Atoms, Molecules, and Matter
• Stratton House: The Astronomy Adventure

History

• Ancient Greece Unit Study
• Ancient Greek Mythology Unit Study
• American Revolution Unit Study
• Early 19th Century American History (if time permits)

***We are starting the year with an American Revolution Unit Study. I will post the details of our unit study in another post.

Art

• Atelier Art Level 5
• Independent work with Sculpey 3

Nature Study

• Outdoor Hour Challenges
• Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock

Physical Education

• USA Swim Team - Practice 5 times per week, 1.5 hours each practice

Typing

• Typing Instructor for Kids Version 4