A Well-Stocked School Supplies Cabinet

I've been trying to get all the last minute things done for our first week of school next week.  I'm actually really getting excited about starting back to school and at least some of my children are excited as well!

I've posted before about the wonderful cabinet that my sister-in-law gave to me over a year ago in a tour of our school room.  This cabinet is absolutely perfect for storing all of our school supplies.

I spent much of one late afternoon and evening organizing and re-stocking our school supplies cabinet.  I even got my boys to help me a bit by testing all of our dry-erase board markers.

If you, like me, enjoy school supplies - you'll enjoy this peek inside our school supplies cabinet!

On the very top shelf, there is a box of cardstock in various colors, a box of assorted notebooks (college-ruled, wide-ruled, grid paper, and tracing paper), and a box of folders and file folders.  On the next shelf are stored:

• a box of loose-leaf ruled notebook paper
• non-glare sheet protectors
• file folders in assorted colors
• hole punches in a mug
• scissors in a mug.

The next shelf stores many shades of colored paper, some large storage envelopes, and a box of lapbooks mini-book pieces that were not used in other lapbooks.

Below the paper shelf is the odds and ends shelf.  Stored in these four baskets are:

• tape (scotch, packing, masking)
• velcro dots
• magnet tape
• big rubber bands, regular size rubber bands
• multiplication flash cards
• books of the bible flash cards
• erasers
• large letter templates
• medium binder clips
• bingo chips
• push pins
• unwrapped crayons
• wood markers
• flip-chart Sharpie markers
• construction paper crayons
• Dymo Organizer Xpress and refill
• brass plated fasteners
• staples
• white thin ribbon
• book rings
• protactor
• compass
• staple remover
• large and small index cards in both white and colors, ruled and unruled.

On the bottom two shelves are stored index cards boxes, glue, crayons, a stapler, long-reach stapler, comb binder, and comb binding.  I also made some space on one shelf to store some paperwork for our work together like lapbook pieces.

The very bottom of this fabulous organizer holds 14 removable baskets which I have labeled with the contents.  The 14 bins hold:

• pencils (2)
• pens
• watercolors
• colored pencils
• highlighters
• rulers
• sharpies
• big scented markers
• big markers
• thin markers
• glue sticks
• tape runners
• punches (circle, square, heart, hexagon).

So, that was a peek inside our school supplies cabinet.  Once more, thanks go out to my darling sister-in-law who so thoughtfully purchased this for us for $5.00!   

New Review Posted at Curriculum Choice - Growing With Grammar

I have a new review posted at Curriculum Choice for Growing With Grammar.  We will be using this curriculum again for both my daughter and my youngest son this coming school year. 

Our School Room

As I read some of my favorite blogs today, I noticed that many homeschool moms are working on getting their school rooms or school areas ready for the new school year.  Here is a tour of our school room that I posted last year.  Not much has changed in the school room except for a new rug and some different posters.  Enjoy the tour!

Some of my favorite posts on other homeschooling moms' blogs are posts that show school rooms. I absolutely love taking a peek into the school rooms of others and seeing how they are organized, how they are decorated, what ideas I can borrow.

I know that not every homeschooler has the luxury of a room that can be set aside as a school room - I am well aware that I am blessed. I also want to make it clear that we don't do all of our school work in the school room. Our school room is more of a jumping off point - a place to keep everything, a place to do most of our work together, a place for me to get things ready for the next school day. My children generally do their independent work in the kitchen, on the computer in my room, cuddled by the fire, or in one of our comfy chairs. My daughter enjoys doing quite a bit of her reading snuggled on her bed in her room. We always do our art classes in the basement.

In this first picture you can see the workbox station and a great table where I always sit and prepare the workboxes each evening. The computer is RARELY used - it is SO, SO, SO slow but I have kept it in the school room because every once in a great while Duncan plays some educational computer games on it.

Here you can see the inside of my homeschool closet. Yes, I really did collect a lot of books, curriculum, science kits, and manipulatives over 6 years of homeschooling. There are definitely some things I could give away or sell but...just the other day I got out the counting bears to use when explaining a particularly difficult math word problem to my 5th grade son.

On this side of the school room is a tall bookcase. I do have the books in the school room pretty well organized by subject. This particular bookcase houses all of our drawing books, field guides, art books, educational magazines, and history books.

Right next to the tall bookcase is a short bookcase which houses all reference books. After years of searching for a dictionary every time somebody needed one, I set up a reference center. On this reference shelf are dictionaries, atlases, and many different types of Usborne encyclopedias.

Here you can see the middle of the school room which houses the new futon and butterfly chairs that I purchased this year. I had hoped the space would be a cozy space to sit and read but, so far, it has not really worked out that way. Our cat can usually be found sleeping in one of the chairs, though. I think we need a large area rug to warm up the space a bit. I think we might need a table as well. My cozy reading area isn't as cozy as I would like it to be. Perhaps it just has too much competition with other snuggly chairs, fireside sofas, and warm beds.

My husband brought this wonderful shelf home from work for me several years ago and it makes a great place to store educational games and the books from our current unit study. I also use the bottom shelves for my daughter's school books as I do not use workboxes for her. The smaller wire shelf next to it (another free gift from my husband) holds easy chapter books and other collections of easy readers.

Here is another collection of low bookshelves. On these I have lot of different books organized by subject. I also have baskets of picture books. On top, each of the children has a plastic bin with books that he or she has written. I put finished lapbooks in these as well. My daughter now has two bins because her bin was overflowing.

At the other end of the school room is the main work area for our school. This is where we work on lapbooks, geography, Latin and Greek roots, and any school work we all do together where we need to write and use the white board. I often work one on one with a child at this space since the white board is so handy.At this end of the school room is an identical closet to the one at the other end. I designed the closets in our house and my husband and dad put in all of the shelving units. I love my closets. This closet houses toys, tons of games, and even more puzzles.

At this end of the school room is also the absolutely wonderful shelving unit that my sister-in-law purchased for 5.00. I keep scads of office supplies in this unit and I just love having everything organized. Thanks again, Auntie Kim!

Lastly, here is a peek at my very favorite decorative element in our school room - the fabulous big collage letters that my middle completed when he was in kindergarten. He did such a great job with them. I also have a set that were completed by my youngest son in kindergarten so the letters stretch around most of the room. Here you see the apple-stamped A, the button B, and the crayon C. Both of my sons had so much fun making these collage letters. I sometimes wish I had another kindergartner so we could do them again!

So, that's a peek into our school room - the launching pad and gathering post for our academic work at home.

School Schedule for the 2010-2011 School Year

I have a confession to make.  I've been homeschooling for over 7 years and I've never had a set schedule for our days.  Now, I've followed a general routine for our school days - independent work in the morning and work together after lunch.  As well, workboxes have helped to organize the school day for my boys.  For my oldest child, a daily assignment sheet has worked very well to keep her on track.  So, even though I feel we've been functioning well with the use of a general routine, workboxes, and assignment sheets; there are a number of changes this school year that have urged me to design a schedule for our days.

• For the first time, my children are not all doing Science together in unit studies.  My daughter is starting high school Biology and I am using Real Science 4 Kids with my boys.
• For the first time, all of my children will be doing Science and History at the same time.  Up to this point, we focused on a Science unit study and then a History unit study.  I'll be using Winter Promise Quest for the Ancient World for history which is a 36 week Ancient History program.
• All three of my children will be working on improving their writing skills this year and learning new types of writing skills.  Therefore, I need time set aside to work specifically on writing with each child.
• I am introducing a new subject for my boys - Spanish.
• Amber has been wanting to take a sewing course and this is the year I'm going to make it happen.
• I've been wanting to incorporate music appreciation into our homeschool for years now and this is the year I'm going to make it happen.
• I felt like a ping-pong ball at times last year.  I just went back and forth between children as they needed me.  Now ping-pong mom syndrome cannot be entirely avoided in most homeschools, but the severity of ping-pong mom syndrome can be reduced with a schedule.  (At least I'm hoping that is the truth of the matter).
• I am tired of waiting for my children to finish this, that, or the other before they can work with me one on one.  I am hoping that with a set schedule, they will know when to expect me and will not feel like I'm intruding on their independent work.
• Lastly, there are a number of language arts concepts (poetry, metaphor, simile, idioms, basic literary terms) that I would like to introduce to my younger children and it simply won't happen unless I set aside a time to work with them.

To set up our schedule, I started with the organization that I already have in place for our days - workboxes, assignment sheets, and the basic routine of independent work in the morning and work together after lunch.  So, to get our days under control, I focused on organizing my time in the morning.  I finally realized that I mostly need to schedule ME.  In between working with me, my children can work on their independent work.  I don't need to schedule all of their time down to the half-hour - I already have a system of organizing their independent assignments that works well for us (workboxes and assignment sheets).  Focusing only on where I need to be and what I need to do really helped to simplify setting up a schedule.

So, without further ado, here is my schedule for our days for the 2010-2011 school year.

Monday and Wednesday

8:00-8:30 - Work with Amber on her Lightbearers Worldviews class. 
***Amber will not always need to work with me.  Some days are scheduled for independent reading assignments or independent writing assignments.  I plan to watch the videos with her and discuss the discussion questions.

8:30-9:00 - Work with Mason and Duncan on their Ancient History Writing Lessons from the Institute for Excellence in Writing.

9:00-9:30 - Work with Amber on Teaching the Essay from Analytical Grammar.  When she has completed the unit, this time will be set aside to go over her weekly literary analysis essays.  After we complete the Teaching the Essay unit, this time slot will often be empty.

9:30-10:00 - Work with Mason and Duncan on Megawords and Vocabulary Vine.  Amber will be included only with the Vocabulary Vine work.

10:00-10:30 - Spanish with Mason and Duncan. 

10:30-11:00 - Science with Mason and Duncan.

11:00-1:00 - Make lunch, Eat lunch, Clean up from Lunch, Check e-mail, Put in a load of laundry.

1:00-3:00 - History

Tuesday/Thursday

8:00-8:30 - Work with Amber on her Lightbearers Worldviews class.

***Amber will not always need to work with me. Some days are scheduled for independent reading assignments or independent writing assignments. I plan to watch the videos with her and discuss the discussion questions.

8:30-9:00 - Work with Mason and Duncan on their Ancient History Writing Lessons from the Institute for Excellence in Writing.

9:00 - 9:30 - Work with Amber on Teaching the Essay from Analytical Grammar. When she has completed the unit, this time will be set aside to go over her weekly literary analysis essays. After we complete the Teaching the Essay unit, this time slot will often be empty.

9:30-10:00 - Work with Mason and Duncan on Megawords and Vocabulary Vine. Amber will be included only with the Vocabulary Vine work.

10:00-10:30 - Sewing class with Amber.

10:30-11:00 - Special Language Arts topics with Mason and Duncan.

11:00 - 1:00 - Make lunch, Eat lunch, Clean up from Lunch, Check e-mail, Put in a load of laundry.

1:00 - 3:00 - History

Friday

8:00-8:30 - Spanish with Mason and Duncan.

8:30 - 9:00 - Work with Mason and Duncan on their Ancient History Writing Lessons from the Institute for Excellence in Writing.

9:00 - 9:30 - Answers in Genesis for Kids (bible class) with Mason and Duncan.

9:30-10:30 - Biology Lab with Amber.

10:30 - 11:30 - Science Lab with Mason and Duncan.

11:30 - 1:00 - Make lunch, Eat lunch, Clean up from lunch, Check e-mail, Put in a load of laundry.

1:00 - 3:00 - Art; Music Appreciation

I am certain that some of the planned lessons will not take the full 30 minutes and that is completely fine.  I want my children to know when they are expected to work with me and what they will be doing.  If we get done early, I can always put in a load of laundry!  Anytime they are not working with me, they are expected to work on their independent work (unless they are all done with their independent work of course!)

You might also have noticed that I scheduled a very generous time block for myself for lunch.  Due to my children's swim team schedule, lunch tends to be our biggest meal of the day and so I do "big cooking" at lunch and not lunch-type items.  We tend to have lunch-type items after swim team practice when it's much later in the day.

As well, while at the beginning of the year, we definitely have to stop at 3:00 due to their swim team schedule, swim team practice changes to a later time in the fall and we will have a bit more flexibility to watch an educational video or spend more time working on art on Fridays.  As well, if we don't need the entire time block for history or art - that's fine as well.

So, we will see how this schedule works out.  I'll be sure to post an update after our first week of school which is coming up right around the corner!

What about you?  Do you schedule your time during your homeschool day? Do you ever feel like you have ping-pong mom syndrome?

2010-2011 Sixth Grade Curriculum

Our back-to-school date is right around the corner - August 2nd!  I've already posted about my fourth grader's curriculum and my eighth grader's curriculum.  Lastly, this post focuses on the curriculum that I will be using for my sixth grader.  As well, to access links for most of the curriculum listed below, visit my Curriculum page by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog. 

Language Arts

• FOCUS on Drawing Conclusions and Making Inferences Level D
• FOCUS on Making Predictions Level E
• FOCUS on Recognizing Cause and Effect Level E
• FOCUS on Understanding Sequence Level E
• FOCUS on Understanding Main Idea and Details Level E
• FOCUS on Drawing Conclusions and Making Inferences Level E
• FOCUS on Comparing and Contrasting Level E
• FOCUS on Understanding Main Idea and Details Level E
• FOCUS on Understanding Sequence Level E
• A Reason for Handwriting Cursive (Book C)
• The Great Editing Adventure Series, Volume 1
• Grammar Puzzles & More; Games Kids Can't Resist
• Junior Analytical Grammar
• Megawords Volume 1 and 2
• Vocabulary Vine
• Phonetic Zoo

Independent Reading - To read more about my sixth grader's independent reading list, read this blog post. 

Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis
Frindle - Andrew Clements
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J. K. Rowling
Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
The Red Pyramid - Rick Riordan
Breaking the Curse (Time Flyers, Ancient Egypt) - Perdita Finn
Holes - Louis Sachar
Scholastic Book Files, A Reading Guide to Holes
Killer Pizza - Greg Taylor
Guardians of Ga-Hoole, Book One, The Capture - Kathryn Lasky
The Wanderings of Odysseus - Rosemary Sutcliff
Hank The Cowdog (#1) - John R. Erickson
Sheriff at Waterstop - Andy Thomson
Book Links, Journey Into Literature for Sheriff at Waterstop - Bob Jones University Press
The Forgotten Door - Alexander Key
James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
Shiloh - Phyllis Naylor
Iqbal - Francesco D'Adamo
Mountain Born - Elizabeth Yates
Book Links, Journey Into Literature for Mountain Born - Bob Jones University Press

Math

Teaching Textbooks 6

History/Geography

Quest for the Ancient World - Winter Promise

Science

Real Science 4 Kids Biology, Physics, Chemistry Level 1

Art

Atelier Art Level 5/6
Ancient Art and the Orchestra - Harmony Art Mom

Bible

Answers for Kids - Answers in Genesis

Spanish

La Clase Divertida Level 1

Physical Education

Mason is on a USA swim team and practices 4 times a week for a total of 8 hours of swimming per week.  He participates in one to two swim meets per month.

Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others Review

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others by Donna Rees which is available as an e-book from The Old Schoolhouse Store for $12.45.  Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others is a treasure trove of ideas for creating baskets of blessings to bless relatives, friends, or even your own family!

Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others is a how-to book that focuses on teaching the reader how to put together gift baskets for others (or your own family) to entertain, educate, and inspire them on long car trips. 

Now that my youngest child is 9, I have to admit that long car trips (or even short car trips) are not nearly as difficult as they used to be when my three children were younger.  They bring lots of things to keep them occupied for long periods of time and we also have a DVD player in the car.  But, I can clearly remember struggling to keep toddlers and preschoolers occupied and happy in the car!  What a tremendous blessing a gift of a Travel Kit would have been back in those days!

Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others is an information-packed resource of 93 pages.  One of my favorite aspects of the e-book was all of the colorful pictures.  Just by looking at the pictures throughout the e-book, the reader should be inspired with lots of gift ideas to put in Travel Kits.

In 14 chapters, Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others covers everything one could possibly want to know about putting together Travel Kits.  The chapter topics include:The Basics; Let's Get Started; The Plan; Presentation and Distribution; The Package; The Presents; A Little More Detail About Edible Gifts; A Lot More Detail About Books and Stories; A Little More Detail About Games; More Inspirations!; The Payoff; Variations on a Theme; Helpful Websites for Traveling Families; and Now It's Your Turn.

Bonus information at the end of Travel Kits includes recipes for snacks perfect to take in the car, travel tips from others, and a list of recommended books by age.

Not only does Travel Kits provide almost endless ideas for gifts for children and teens, information is also included about how to wrap the gifts, how to present the gifts to the children in the car, and how to identify which gift is to be given to whom and in what order.  So, for example, armed with a Travel Kit as described in the e-book, a mother of young children could dole out one small gift every 50 miles, when crossing over state lines, or every time a cow is spotted - the possibilities are many.

Another aspect of Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others that I really enjoyed was the very detailed suggestions given for gifts.  Separate chapters are devoted to food gifts, book gifts, and game gifts.  As well, specific suggestions are given for all of the following categories:

• food
• crafts
• books
• music
• puzzles
• inexpensive toys
• games
• hats
• electronic games.

Lastly, the author of Travel Kits offers several suggestions for variations on the Travel Kits theme.  For example, she describes, in detail, the inspirational message kit she made for her daughter when she left home for an extended period of time.  After reading the book, I'm sure most women could think of lots of other ways the basic idea of a Travel Kit could be adapted for other gift-giving opportunities.

Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others is available as an e-book from The Old Schoolhouse Store for the price of $12.45.

The opinions, thoughts, and suggestions expressed in this review are my own.  I was provided with a copy of "Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others."  No other reward, monetary or otherwise, was given as a result of writing this review.      

Getting the School Room Ready for the New School Year: Part 1

This past week has been blessedly quiet - our first truly quiet week of the summer.  My daughter started tapering for the Speedo Champions Series swim meet in our Section of the United States, so she didn't have any double practices all week.  After a summer of double practices 3 times a week, it was wonderful to have only one practice a day!

I did a lot of organizing and prepping for the new school year this past week with a focus on getting our school room in order.  I made a huge list of tasks that I wanted to accomplish in the school room and have been slowly working through the list.  Organizing and planning definitely take time!

So, what have I accomplished so far?  One of the biggest projects that I completed was to move all of the books on the low bookshelves below to another location.  The books are primarily picture books and nonfiction books for younger children arranged by topic.  While this arrangement was wonderful when the children were a bit younger, now only my youngest regularly pulls books from these shelves.  Therefore, I decided to move the books to make room for this year's curriculum, the children's independent reading books, and all of our history books for our Ancient History study this year.

I moved all of the books to our living room in our low cabinets under the bookcases.  Of course, to make room I had to go through all of the games that were currently stored there.  By culling some games that are much too young for our children now, and moving the rest; I was able to clear out ample space for the picture books and nonfiction books that I want to keep.  I did manage to cull a small box of books, but I kept almost all of the books.  Here are the books in their new location under the living room bookcases.

I also purchased a cozy rug for the area in front of the bookcases.  Hopefully, this will become a cozy place for the children and I to gather in the school room.  I still have more curriculum and independent reading books to move to the newly organized bookcases but I am quite pleased with the result. 

In addition to the big book-moving project, I reclaimed our dining room from new curriculum and end-of-school year assessment notebooks.

I also cleared off the small table in the school room by the workboxes.  I had been piling odds and ends there all summer.

Lastly, I put up the Ancient Egypt bulletin board set that I purchased from Amazon.  I just love the way it looks and the pictures have been getting my children excited about our Ancient History studies!

I still have lots of odds and ends I want to accomplish in the school room and with planning before the new school year starts for us on August 2nd.  But, I'm feeling quite positive about all that I've managed to get done so far!

2010-2011 Fourth Grade Curriculum

After much, much consideration, I finally have the curriculum list finalized for my fourth grade son, Duncan for the 2010-2011 school year.  One of the biggest changes I made this year was to plan out all of his independent reading in advance.  Another big change is that I'm not putting together my own unit studies this year - we are using Winter Promise Quest for the Ancient World for history and geography studies.  I love their unit study/hands-on approach but I don't have to do all the planning.  Finally, for the first time, my boys will be studying science with a textbook curriculum rather than in unit studies.

If you'd like to read this list complete with links to much of the curriculum, click on the Curriculum tab in the header of this blog.
 
Language Arts

• FOCUS on Drawing Conclusions and Making Inferences Level D
• FOCUS on Making Predictions Level C
• FOCUS on Recognizing Cause and Effect Level C
• FOCUS on Understanding Sequence Level C
• FOCUS on Drawing Conclusions and Making Inferences Level C
• FOCUS on Comparing and Contrasting Level C
• FOCUS on Understanding Main Idea and Details Level D
• FOCUS on Understanding Sequence Level D
• FOCUS on Recognizing Cause and Effect Level D
• FOCUS on Comparing and Contrasting Level D
• FOCUS on Making Predictions Level D
• A Reason for Handwriting Cursive (Book C)
• Growing With Grammar Level 4
• Phonetic Zoo, Level A
• Megawords Volume 1 
• Megawords Volume 2
• Vocabulary Vine

Independent Reading
***For more details and links, see this post about Duncan's independent reading.

• Amazing Rescues (Step-Into-Reading, Step 4) - George Shea
• The Trojan Horse:  How the Greeks Won the War (Step-Into-Reading, Step 5)
• Tornado - Betsy Byers
• Pompeii...Buried Alive! - Edith Kunhardt Davis
• The Gold in the Grave - Terry Deary
• The Plot on the Pyramid - Terry Deary
• The Magic and the Mummy - Terry Deary
• A Question of Yams by Gloria Repp
• Vacation Under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne
• Pockets of Time for Vacation Under the Volcano, Fortunately For You Books
• A Place in the Sun by Jill Rubalcaba
• Mice of the Herring Bone by Tim Davis
• Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne
• Pockets of Time for Mummies in the Morning, Fortunately For You Books
• Day of the Dragon King by Mary Pope Osborne
• Pockets of Time for Day of the Dragon King, Fortunately For You Books
• Tut's Mummy Lost...and Found - Judy Donnelly
• Usborne Beginners Egyptians
• Haiku On Your Shoe - Eileen M. Berry
• Greg's Microscope - Milicent E. Selsam
• Looking For Home - Eileen M. Berry
• The Treasure of Pelican Cove - Milly Howard
• Book Links Journey Into Literature, The Treasure of Pelican Cove
• Pulling Together - Dawn Watkins
• Book Links Journey Into Literature, Pulling Together
• The King's Warrior:  A Story of Ancient India - Jessica Gunderson
• Stranger on the Silk Road:  A Story of Ancient China - Jessica Gunderson
• The Shepherd and the Racehorse - Susan Blackaby
• The Lion's Slave - Terry Deary
• The Clue of the Left-Handed Envelope (Third Grade Detectives, Book 1) - Edward George Stanley
• The Torchbearer - Susan Blackaby
• Catacomb Rescue, The Story Keepers - Brian Brown and Andrew Melrose
• Ready, Aim, Fire!, The Story Keepers - Brian Brown and Andrew Melrose
• Sink or Swim, The Story Keepers - Brian Brown and Andrew Melrose
• Roar in the Night, The Story Keepers - Brian Brown and Andrew Melrose
• Captured!, The Story Keepers - Brian Brown and Andrew Melrose
• Trapped!, The Story Keepers - Brian Brown and Andrew Melrose
• Stone Fox - John Reynolds Gardiner
• Tut Tut (Time Warp Trio, Ancient Egypt) - Jon Scieszka
• It's All Greek to Me (Time Warp Trio, Ancient Greece) - Jon Scieszka
• See You Later, Gladiator (Time Warp Trio, Ancient Rome) - Jon Scieszka

History/Geography

• Quest for the Ancient World - Winter Promise

Bible

• Answers for Kids - Answers in Genesis

Spanish

• La Classe Divertida Level 1

Math

• Teaching Textbooks Grade 5

Art

• Ancient Art and the Orchestra - Harmony Art Mom
• Atelier Art Level 5

Science

• Real Science 4 Kids Level 1 Chemistry, Biology, and Physics

Physical Education

• Duncan is on a USA swim team.  He practices 3 times per week for 1 1/2 hours each practice.  He participates in one to two swim meets per month.
• Duncan will also participate in a youth bowling league this fall.

Pittsburgh Trip Part 2 - The Hard Rock Cafe

Previously I posted about our trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo during our overnight stay in Pittsburgh.  We truly packed so many fun activities into our short trip, it seemed like we were gone much longer than just overnight.  After our great day at the zoo, my husband suggested we go to dinner at Station Square.  Since we were planning on ordering a pizza and playing a board game in our hotel room, I was quite surprised by the suggestion!  I quickly jumped on board with my husband's plan and we headed out to Station Square.

Right in front of the Hard Rock Cafe there is a dancing fountain.  The dancing fountain was quite fun but we were told that it is truly spectacular at night due to the lights.

While my husband and I had been to a few Hard Rock Cafe restaurants over the years, this was the first time any of our children had been to a Hard Rock Cafe.  Of course, they all thought the restaurant was really cool.  My teenage daughter, in particular, thought it was so cool that there are Hard Rock Cafes all over the world.   

Duncan quite enjoyed his milk and kid's meal of macaroni and cheese.  Yes, he pretty much orders the same things no matter where we eat.

I love this picture of Amber and I with her fancy drink.  She now has the cup proudly displayed in her room.

And, of course, if Amber ordered a fancy drink, Mason had to order a fancy drink too.  His cup is also proudly displayed in his room too!  We plan to visit the Hard Rock Cafe in Indianapolis when we travel there next week for the Summer Sectionals swim meet (Speedo Champions Series) but we already told the kids, no fancy drinks this time.

After dinner, we rode the Monongahela and Duquesne Incline but that is definitely another post!

10 Ways to Motivate Children Regarding Their Schoolwork

A common remark I've heard over the years when people learn that I homeschool is "I could never homeschool, my kids would never listen to me.  I can barely get them to do their homework."  My usual reply is that my kids listen to me regarding their schoolwork because that is all they know.  If my children were used to somebody else being their teacher, they probably wouldn't listen to me regarding their homework either! 

Having said that, though, I have tried over the years to keep my children motivated regarding their schoolwork.  I want my children to try their best and finish their work in a timely fashion without excessive dawdling.  While I certainly don't have any foolproof methods to guarantee highly motivated children, I have used many methods to encourage my children in our homeschool.

• Offer choices when choice is an option.  I have had success using Writing Menus in the past with my children.  A Writing Menu allows them to choose writing assignments from a list of acceptable writing assignments.
• Offer small rewards/tickets for excellent work.  I have used a system of small rewards or tickets for larger rewards in the past and it has worked well.  I don't think this system works as well when children get older (because the rewards teens desire are often too expensive) but when children are little and enjoy inexpensive treats and toys, a trip to the "reward basket" can be quite rewarding!  Rewards can also be non-tangible such as playing a game of the child's choice with Mom or getting to pick the restaurant for after church on Sunday.  Kris from Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers has used a Treasure Box for rewards and has had success with it.  A great place to order inexpensive treats and toys is Oriental Trading Company.  They have many toy assortments to choose from on their website.
• Keep a running list of the child's independent reading and offer a prize when the child reaches a certain number of books.  Each of my children has a Reading Chart.  All of the novels they read for school and all of their independent reading is written on the chart.  When 50 books are reached, I pay the child $10.00.  We follow our local library's reading club guidelines that 50 pages = 1 book and the book has to be age-appropriate.  Again, the Reading Charts were more motivating to my children when they were younger but they do appreciate the cash reward for the reading!  As well, I have ready-made lists of all of their reading for the school year to put in their portfolios for year-end evaluations.
• Put stickers on completed workbook pages that reflect excellent work.  When I grade, I always use stickers to complement my encouraging words.  Sometimes, my children even ask if they can pick the stickers to put on their pages.  Stickers are fun, relatively inexpensive, and bring a smile to a child's face.  And, my teenager still enjoys the stickers!
• Snacks, snacks, snacks.  One of the most motivating things I can do for my children to keep them moving through their schoolwork each day is to provide snacks and a hearty, comforting lunch for them.  A small bowl of fresh strawberries can really brighten the mood of a teenager who is struggling through a difficult math lesson.  A cup of animal crackers can be just the motivation needed for a 9 year old boy who is trying to match Latin and Greek word roots with their meanings.  I know that snacks can be a distraction with very young children but I find them a welcome addition to the homeschool day now that my children are a bit older.
• Drinks, drinks, drinks.  Right on the heels of snacks, snacks, snacks is the importance of keeping my children properly hydrated during the day.  I encourage my children to drink lots of water throughout the day.  Hot chocolate, smoothies, or juice often accompany the children to the living room for our after-lunch read-alouds.
• Publish their writing.  I can think of few things LESS motivating than completing an assignment and then watching my teacher chuck it in the garbage.  While I can't save everything and I do toss some workbook pages after they have been graded, returned, and reviewed; I do make a point to publish the vast majority of their writing assignments.  What do I mean by publish?  Through publishing, I try to share their work with others and celebrate their writing.  I wrote a series of posts about different ways to publish student writing including:  Publishing Student Writing, Paper Bag Books; Publishing Student Writing, Tall Tales and Bare Books; Lapbooks and Folder Books; and Publishing Student Writing, Bound Books.
• Gush about their work on your blog.  I love the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers because it gives me a weekly opportunity to showcase art projects and accomplishments from the week.  My children enjoy seeing their schoolwork showcased on my blog and it gives their work a much wider audience than our immediate family.  I always share encouraging comments with them.
• Showcase their work throughout your home.  While I primarily display art projects, other schoolwork could be proudly displayed as well.  I wrote an article last year for The Homeschool Classroom about different ways to display children's artwork.  Jimmie from Jimmie's Collage wrote a great article about displaying schoolwork at Heart of the Matter.
• Look for ways to share their work with others in the community.  Our state homeschool organization has a yearly Showcase where homeschooled students can come and share their accomplishments with others.  My middle son will be putting together an art exhibit of some of his best artwork to share at the Showcase.  He is already very excited about the opportunity and the Showcase is months away!

I am sure there are lots of other ways to encourage and motivate our children at home.  What have you done that has been successful in motivating your children to do their best on their schoolwork?  I'd love to hear your ideas. 

Independent Reading - Sixth Grade Curriculum

I've finalized my sixth grade son's independent reading list for the 2010-2011 school year.  Some of the titles tie in with our Ancient History studies this year, some are Newberry Award and Newberry Honor winning books, a few books are from Bob Jones University Press, and some are more recent, popular titles.  I even included one title just because my son really, really wanted me to do so (Killer Pizza). 

Independent Reading List for Sixth Grade

• Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis
• Frindle - Andrew Clements
• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
• Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J. K. Rowling
• Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
• The Red Pyramid - Rick Riordan
• Breaking the Curse (Time Flyers, Ancient Egypt) - Perdita Finn
• Holes - Louis Sachar
• Scholastic Book Files, A Reading Guide to Holes
• Killer Pizza - Greg Taylor
• Guardians of Ga-Hoole, Book One, The Capture - Kathryn Lasky
• The Wanderings of Odysseus - Rosemary Sutcliff
• Hank The Cowdog (#1) - John R. Erickson
• Sheriff at Waterstop - Andy Thomson
• Book Links, Journey Into Literature for Sheriff at Waterstop - Bob Jones University Press
• The Forgotten Door - Alexander Key
• James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
• Shiloh - Phyllis Naylor
• Iqbal - Francesco D'Adamo
• Mountain Born - Elizabeth Yates
• Book Links, Journey Into Literature for Mountain Born - Bob Jones University Press

How will I assess Mason's understanding of his independent reading?

• For some books, I will prepare reading comprehension questions for each chapter and he will answer them orally.
• For some books, Mason will simply narrate to me the major events of the book or chapter.
• I am using Book Links from BJUP for two books, Sheriff at Waterstop and Mountain Born.
• I will be using Reading Response Trifolds for 40 Favorite Novels for several of the books.
• I will be using Teaching With Favorite Newberry Books for several of the books.

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lastly, I will be using some reading response activities from a few different Scholastic Teaching Books:

• Quick and Creative Reading Response Activities
• Graphic Organizer Booklets for Reading Response (Grades 4-6)
• The Big Book of Reading Response Activities
• Independent Reading Response Activities