What I Might Put in the Boxes

And as long as I'm thinking about it, I'm going to brainstorm my own list of things I can put in Banana Boy's boxes

Explode the Code

Singapore Math

Flashmaster

Computer time

Snack

Jumping on Mini Tramp

Mommy, It's a Renoir folders

Take it to Your Seat Geography Folders

Science minibooks

Books for him to read to me

Books for him to read alone

Books for me to read to him

Activity he can play with Sunshine

Playdough

Handwriting Without Tears activities

Tangram Animals

Animal sorting (little animals with cards like reptile, mammal)

Puzzles, especially GeoPuzzles

Journal writing

Story starters

Measuring activities

Board game with someone

Math Wrap-Ups

Art projects

Painting

Color By Number

Dot to Dots

AWANA practice

Bible to read

Wedgit cards to complete

Cards to play War

Play outside time

Movie to watch

GeoSafari Laptop and cards

Draw Write Now

Ed Emberley Drawing book

Choretime (as a minibreak between school activities)

I bet I can think of way more....

Gonna Hop on the Workbox Bandwagon!

I was just thinking of posting to some homeschooling boards this morning about ideas for organizing Banana Boy's day next fall.  

I am terrible about accountability and it's very easy for me to lose the kids when we get off track.  The phone rings and they all wander away.  We have to leave to go pick up Sunshine and we never get back to school for the rest of the day.  Someone has something hard, begins to cry and it gets shelved until next week.  They avoid (read: "forget" ) to do something they don't really enjoy and suddenly, we haven't done Spanish or written in journals for 5 weeks.

You know just what I mean, right?  Right?

So, I was looking for a very obvious, very organized way to chart what Banana Boy has and has not done for the day/week/month.  I've made oodles of schedules and charts and I just don't check up on them to see if the kids are checking off what they've done.

Lo, and behold, I travel to my new favorite homeschool blog, 1+1+1=1, and there are workboxes.  She posted about them earlier in the week with a promise to give more details.  Got 'em.

So I can't give you any details about them yet, as I haven't tried them, but you can look for yourself as to what's involved.  All I can say is I. Am. Excited!

Sue Patrick's Workbox System or, Where to Get the Book

Walking By the Way (on the sidebar on the right, scroll to "Wonderful Workboxes"  She has several posts about them and this way you can find them all including What to Put in Workboxes.)

Joyful Mother of Six  and more posts #1 #2 #3 #4 #5

Color Me Orange An idea for doing it in a space-saving way with multiple children (I was just thinking, this would be great for the girls, too, but where to put all those bins???)  more Color Me Orange posts on workboxes  #1 #2

Our Lifesong (using workboxes in a tiny apartment and what to do with the completed boxes and materials)

Ginger Snap Shots   

Ramping Up!

I worked on the girls' schedules today and got their binders organized.  They organized their school benches a few weeks ago and cleaned them out.

 

I am having serious thoughts of simplicity.  I am such a curriculum junkie.  Every time I read about something, it sounds so good and I think I have to have it.  But seriously, the only thing I've ever been really happy with and have worked consistently with, is Sonlight.

 

I always feel just a little disloyal when I am using something else.  Thinking about just sticking with the SL IG makes me feel like I am coming home. 

 

I was reading some threads on the SL Forums today comparing SL with other curriculums, particularly those that are hands-on.  The opinion that most struck a chord with me was that it is easy to add in a few hands-on things to Sonlight.  I have plenty of activity books, there are ideas all over the internet.  To choose a different curriculum just for the hands-on and then supplement with SL seems overkill.

 

I think Pepper will do just fine with Core 3 this year if we go straight Sonlight.  That she was so young was the major reason I was looking at other things.

 

So I'm thinking of going at the regular pace with Core 3 until we're finished, then jumping into Core 4.  I think we must be about at Week 15 in Core 3, so that leaves us with 22 to go.  That would be into about February and we should be able to finish Core 4 by that same time the following year. 

 

That would put Pepper at just-turned 9 when we begin Core 5 and that will be all right for her, I think.

 

Does anyone know if we can list and sell books on our blog?  My guess would be that it is not allowed--I've never seen it done.  But when I read the fine print, I couldn't decipher whether that was a rule or not.  Please let me know in the comments, if you know.

 

 

More Thoughts About Fall

I think I've settled on what we'll do for Bible, at least to start out.  Last year, I had purchased My First Catechism: An Illustrated Version of Luther's Small Catechism.  A few weeks ago, I was browsing the Concordia Publishing site and found a workbook to go along with it.  I've decided to have Daisy and Pepper work through the exercises together.  I think discussing the answers and taking turns filling them in will be more valuable than having them each fill in a workbook.  Plus Pepper is just a little young for this.  Working with Daisy, however, I think she'll be able to do it.

 

For Banana Boy, I'm going to continue with ABC Bible Verses and a new book I found for him at the half-price bookstore:  His Mighty Warrior: A Treasure Map from Your King by Sheri Rose Shepherd.  I love this little book!  It is written as letters to a little boy from God, includes a bible verse and a prayer.  It is very sweet and very empowering.  You can see an exerpt from the book on the CBD website at the link above.  BB and I are also reading through  The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name.  I also LOVE this book.  It is a fairly typical children's story Bible (except that there is some really funny parents-only-are-going-to-catch-it humor) but every story points out how every part of the Bible points to God's plan for salvation.

 

For science, I found a little book at Concordia Publishing called Even the Sound Waves Obey Him.  The subtitle is "Bible Stories Brought to Life with Science."  It is for grades PreK-2, but I think the object lessons are well-done and perhaps the Bible point is even more valuable than the science concept in each lesson.  For example, the first lesson is Genesis 1-2, God creates everything in his own image.  The science activity is to look at your reflection in a metal spoon.  You talk about reflections and the concave/convex concept.  The upside down concave image reminds us that sin distorts our image and we no longer resemble God.  Plus, as Science Losers, I'm sure there will be lessons we haven't done!  There are only 44 in the book, so we should be able to finish this in one semester and then tackle something else.

 

Banana Boy is all signed up for Kindergarten.  His class eats lunch at 11:40, so he'll get dropped off at the office on their way to lunch and I'll pick him up.  This way, he won't be leaving in the middle of an activity and won't stand out so much as being different.  Plus his best friend will be attending half-days, too, (yay!  We can carpool!) so there will be two of them leaving before lunch.

 

Here is what he is missing in the afternoon:

Lunch

Recess

Rest time

Math

Recess

Free/Play time

 

Instead, he'll be at home, bonding with me! 

 

 

Thinking Out Loud About This Fall's Plan...

I'm feeling led to get rid of some of my books. I buy things because other people rave about them and then we never use them. I'm trying to scrape up the courage to get rid of some and not regret it. I'm pretty certain of our style by now (although I can always justify keeping things because "maybe the boys will use this when they get older!"). At least I'm fairly certain what I do and don't like. I am finding that the girls (Pepper and Daisy) enjoy many different things than Rose Bud did, and vice versa.

Anyway, I thought I'd ponder what I want to have them do this fall.

For sure:

Rose Bud in public school 7th grade

Banana Boy in public school K, half day

Hopefully:

Sunshine in Christian preschool two mornings a week. He has to be potty-trained. He's also SO distractable. I'm on the fence as to whether preschool will help him to focus or whether he's just not ready and will be a distraction to the rest of the class. He was in an informal preschool class for an hour or so a day at the orphanage, so maybe....

Daisy:

Singapore Math 4 A & B. She is finishing up 3B this summer and should be ready for 4 by fall.

Rod & Staff English 3. We'll take the rest of next year to go through this book (I think we're on chapter 3 or 4) and then we'll move into R & S English 5 (skipping 4).

Sonlight LA 3 Advanced (2004 version) Probably illegal, but I'm going to reuse the sheets I had from Rose Bud. I SO loved this program and they've revised it so it is much less meaty. Rose Bud learned SOOO much from this about grammar and good writing (and so did I!) and I really want Daisy to benefit from it, too. So I'm retyping the worksheets from the answer keys that I have.

Trail Guide to U.S. Geography Finish our study of the 50 states and begin the presidents. I think I'll just make up some biography sheets for them to fill out about each president.

American History Not sure if I'm going to follow the Winter Promise American Story I guide that I bought, or continue to strike out on my own. I'm finding that I'm not that fond of The American Story BOOK, although it is used as a spine in WP AS I.

Sequential Spelling We are loving this and it is perfect for Daisy. Her spelling has really improved with this method.

Piano lessons

AWANA

Bible Not sure what yet

Pepper:

Singapore Math 2 A & B

R & S English 2 (we're in chapter 2 of this now)

Trail Guide to U.S. Geography (see above)

American History (see above)

Explode the Code All my kids work through this when they are first learning to read. She burned out on it at the beginning of first grade, but I'm going to have her pick up where she left off and keep working through it. She's such a good speller, I think if I have her work through these books, up to book 6, we might be able to hold off on a spelling program for quite a while.

AWANA

Bible Not sure what yet

Things I'd love to work in somehow:

Latin for Children or Spanish of some sort

Science --aack! I am such a science loser. I totally get that whole, "You can do science informally when they're little" thing, but I still feel like we should work through a program. Science programs are something I could so sell, I think! I have NEVER completed a science program with any kid! I take that back. Rose Bud worked through most of Christian Kids Explore Biology. Of course, we didn't do most of the projects (she hates projects) none of the notebooking (she hates notebooking) and none of the vocabulary (she hates vocabulary). I might just sent them all to public school for 6th grade. The sixth grade science teacher is fabulous and did a great job. Rose Bud loved it! This is the mark of a good teacher: She said to me one time, "Each time I get ready to start a new unit, I think, 'Oh, this is my favorite unit to teach!' but then when the next one comes along, I like that one even better!"

A Child's Geography Another program I just bought that looks so good. We'll see if we get around to this.

Things we should do but never will:

Music study

Nature walks & a nature notebook

More art

Poetry

Banana Boy:

I think I'm going to aim low, since he'll be doing PS Kindergarten. I'm going to shoot for Bible with him and some math. I'd love it if he could start listening to some chapter books read aloud. He's not very auditory, except with music.

Piano Lessons

AWANA