Track

Night Owl is involved with track again this year.  He's not running as much though, which pleases his football coach who doesn't want him to lose too much weight.  This year Night Owl has been throwing discus and shot put.  He really enjoys it, and is learning very quickly.  I took these pictures at the meet yesterday.  The one above is the only good picture I took of the shot put.  The three below are the discus throw.  I love the determined look on his face!  (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

Jetter's First Communion

Another very special day for Jetter!  On Saturday, April 24th, he received his First Holy Communion.  He was so excited, and nervous about this big event.
God bless you Jetter!  We are very proud of you!

Of course, not everyone was quite so excited!

Can I Count This as School?

My kids are all running here and there this morning.  Social Butterfly was working very hard on "a secret" yesterday.  This morning she got up early and showed me all the little clues she had written so her brother's could have a treasure hunt.  There were about 50 clues!  She hid them before the boys were awake, and now they are searching for the mysterious treasure.  Any time I try to rope them in so we can start our day I hear "Oh please!  Just a few more minutes?  We need to find these clues!"  They are so excited!  I hate to tell them, but at the end of this grand hunt there is a ziplock bag of  leftover cookies for their treasure... the cookies nobody wanted yesterday.  Ah well, I guess they are reading and Beany is having the time of his life with all this excitement!

There isn't any snow or fog for a 1 hour school delay, so I guess we'll call this a "Treasure Delay". 

A Big Day for Jetter

Tuesday evening Jetter was Confirmed.  The Bishop came and did Confirmations for the area churches.  It was a huge crowd.  Jetter was so nervous at first, but relaxed once the ceremony started.  We are so proud of the fine young man he is growing up to be!

Next step, First Communion on the 24th!

Pictures from Spring Break

I don't have much time to blog but I wanted to at least post some pictures from our trip to Willimsburg VA, and Southport NC where we visited with family.  It was a great trip!  (You can click on the picture if you want to make them bigger.)
First stop: The Governor's Mansion at Williamsburg.  The kids are waiting for our tour to start:

Builder was impressed with the many swords and guns that hung on the

walls:

Outside the Mansion:

Inside the Printers Shop.  This was one of many shops that we visited.  We learned quite a bit.  Some of the favorites were the Dress Maker, the Blacksmith, The Gunsmith, and of course, the gift shop!

Lunch at Shield's Tavern was fun, but we really enjoyed our dinner at the King's Arm's Tavern.  There, we were visited by a School Master, the wife of the proprietor of the establishment, and even a musician.  Here is a picture from Shield's Tavern:

On to North Carolina.  We really enjoyed the ocean, even the first few days when we had to wear jackets!

Of course, the only days I remembered the camera were the cold ones!

Beany really enjoyed watching the many flocks of seagulls that flew over head.  Here he is on his new friend:

We loved our loooong deck that took us right out to the beach!  Jetter and Beany are waiting at the end:

Mom Mom and Social Butterfly:

Ditto!

Pop Pop serving the wonderful dinner that he, Mom Mom and Aunt "Dinky" brought:

Night Owl caught 7 sharks while he was fishing. Here, he is cutting up the last of one that he prepared for dinner:

Mom Mom, Aunt "Dinky" and Dad.  (Dad's the one scowling!):

Another picture but Dad doesn't look quite so grumpy:

Pop Pop played "sword fighting" with Builder and Beany:

Unfortunately,  the kids passed around a flu-bug during our last couple of days of vacation:

Despite the sickness though, we really enjoyed our visit.  We're looking forward to our next trip!

Workbox activity for Lent

Here's a great workbox activity for Lent!  The children will make a Stations of the Cross booklet.  I recently discovered  That Resource Site and I've been spending lots of time there, finding some great activities for the kids.

As we've been praying the stations this Lent, I have our pictures hanging form our mantel.  The pictures are from CHC .  Social Butterfly and I found some glass votive candle holders at JoAnn Fabrics  and they are working beautifully.  The children are much more reverent during prayer when the candles are lit - even Beany!

The Logic Of a Six Year Old

Builder ran outside to play when the sun came out this afternoon.  Because we have a dog, and because the yard is quite muddy from all the melting snow, AND, because he had just put on his new shoes, I yelled "Be careful where you walk in your new shoes Builder!"  It shouldn't have surprised me when he stopped, looked down, took off his shoes, and carried them the rest of the way, without a worry about where he might step in his bare feet!

Science Olympiad

Night Owl took the silver medal in one of his competitions.  His school took the bronze medal over-all.
Great job kids!

Praying for Night Owl

I'll be leaving in a few minutes to take him to the next Science Olympiad competition.  This is the state competition.  We hope everyone on the team does well!

Adjustments

Sorry about the never ending changes in backgrounds here!  I haven't found the one that fits just right.  I'm really frustrated at the moment because I can't figure out how to get that banner centered!

Solemnity of Saint Joseph

Go here for a beautiful prayer to Saint Joseph on this special feast day!

Planning Notes

I mentioned that I am in planning mode here.  I think I'm always in planning mode!  It is one of my favorite things to do.  Currently, I'm planning for several things but the most long term topic is school for next year.  Reading this thread  over at the 4Real Learning Forums has inspired me to post about what I've been thinking in this regard.  I still basically follow the method I spoke about here:
http://academyofthegoodshepherd.blogspot.com/2009/09/boxes-binders-bins-and-bags-part-3.html

But I tend to tweak things when I find something that works better, so I've made a few minor adjustments.

When a new year begins I immediately set up a file on my computer called "Notes for Next Year" and make notes there all year long.  Then, about this time of year I go through them all and evaluate what is working, and what needs to be changed for the coming year.  As far as weekly planning goes, it's mostly working but I've included the use of clipboards for each of the kids, along with an assignment sheet.
This assignment sheet originated when we broke away from the workboxes for a while.  But now, as we're returning to our workboxes, I see the benefit of the assignment sheet and have continued it.
As you can see in the pictures below (click to make it bigger), they are pretty basic.  I keep them very general on purpose.  I don't need to write the lesson numbers in subjects like math, because we just follow the book and do one lesson a day.  I don't need to write the title of the book they need to read for history because it will be in their workbox.  All this information is written in my own plans though so that I can keep track of where we are.  So, why bother with the checklists?  Because I've discovered that my kids are like me - they are much more productive when they have a sense of accomplishment that comes from making that little check mark in the box.  For Social Butterfly, who doesn't have workboxes, it also ensures that she accomplishes all of her assignments for the day.  Notice there is also a checkbox for chores and piano practice.

So this is one of those things that I noted, in my file, as "working".   The only thing I would like to change about these checksheets is their appearance. There are several examples of beautiful plans in the thread that I linked to above and they've inspired me to add a little beauty to our plans as well.  My children and I are very visual.  They notice the little clip art picture I try to change now and then and even the font if I change it.  I would love to give these checksheets a more attractive appearance since my kids have to look at them all day.

The one other thing I would like to change a bit is the plans I make in my own lesson planner.  This is the record I keep of the pages we will read, the lessons numbers, etc.  Currently, I plan for each week.  I would like to change this to a monthly plan, or maybe even six weeks.  There are things we study in science or history that usually take 4-6 weeks to complete, like a unit.  Planning for a month or so at a time will help me to categorize by unit a little better. 

For now, these are just ideas.  I'll be sharing what I come up with once I get it figured out.

.............. .Planning

Sorry for the quiet.  We're in planning mode here!  It seems that all my time on the computer is taken up with planning for various events.  Here's my current list.  (You can see why I'm a bit frazzled lately!)

Social Butterfly's Birthday - March 17th

Dad's Birthday - March 29th

Vacation to North Carolina - Spring Break

Jetter's Confirmation - April 14th

Jetter's First Communion - April 24th

School for next year.  (Yes, already making plans!)

Add to the above the need to plan on a weekly basis for our school work, menus, shopping lists, etc.

This is a busy time but you know, I really love the planning!  Everything looks so nice all layed out on paper.  The hard part is when things don't go as planned, which happens often around here.  I think God is trying to remind me that He is ultimately in charge!  So I'll make these plans making sure we have the right clothing for each event, the right food packed or prepared, the right gifts purchased, the right curriculum for each child and their individual needs ...  But God will decide how things go.  I just trust and know that His plan is the best!

...................Interesting Conversation

These two boys can be best friends one day, worst enemies the next.  I suppose that's pretty normal for brothers.  When they are getting along, their conversations can be quite interesting. 

Here's one  I overheard today that I thought was particularly amusing.  First the setting:  The two boys were playing with their Legos and for some reason or another they started arguing.
Jetter:  "Well, your ugly"
Builder:  (silence)
Jetter: (Feeling guilty now because he really is a good hearted kid) "No, you're not really ugly.  You probably look good enough to get married, if you weren't going to be a priest."
Builder:  "Yah, it's a good thing I'm going to be a priest.  I'd probably have 100 ladies fighting over who would get to marry me."
Jetter: "Yep."

Builder has been saying he's going to be a priest for a long time now, which is interesting in itself because he's the one that always gets in trouble for misbehaving at Mass.  I think he's going to have to grow in humility before he becomes a priest though.  I'd say he's a bit vain.

.........................Seasonal Changes

Sometimes I feel like we should be called "Seasonal Homeschoolers".  It seems that our routine changes with the seasons.  For years this has been a frustration to me, but this year ( finally after 8 years of homeschooling) I've come to accept it.  Perhaps it's my personality, or maybe my children's, but either way we seem to crave a different order to our day as the seasons change.  I believe, within the structure of the homeschool environment, this change can be freeing and add new life to our day.

For the current year, I can look back and clearly see the changes I made with each new season.  In short, it went like this:  Because we ended last year with a bang using workboxes, I decided that we would start this year with the same routine.  It didn't work so well, so I changed it. 
With the beginning of Advent, and the start of winter, our basement school room seemed to become rather dreary, so we moved upstairs to the dining and sunrooms where there is more natural light.  The routine changed a bit more.
Now, as we are into Lent, and the thought of Spring is on the horizon, I'm thinking workboxes again!  We'll make that change after we take our Spring break.  For the most part, these changes are all very positive and the kids respond well.  Where something had begun to get stale, the little change brings new life and the kids are enthused again.  It reminds me of when I was a classroom teacher and the bulletin boards were changed for the new season.  The kids and teacher both were energized by the changes to the environment.

 For those that might be interested I've posted our current routine, or schedule below.  You can see I've built in some breaks.  During this season, we seem to need some mini-breaks throughout our day.  It's working better than our previous routine of getting all the work done and taking one long break.  The mini-breaks seem to help the kids (and maybe Mom too!) stay on task and focus on their school work.  I've also set it up in sort of a "block schedule".  After each block, we take a little break.  You'll see some times for each "block".  These are our guidelines.  I don't worry about being exact, but they help me to stay on track.  If we're supposed to start our Math at 10:00 and it's 10:15 I don't worry.  However, if I look at the clock and it says 11:00, then I know we need to get moving!

Our Current Routine:
1st Block ~ 8:00 ~ Getting Started:
The kids are all up by now.  Morning chores are done.  We say our morning prayers together and then we have breakfast.  During breakfast I read from our current history read aloud.  The kids draw if they finish breakfast and I'm still reading.  (I'll be posting about what they are drawing soon!)

Mini break until ...

2nd Block ~ 9:30 ~ Religion:
During this time I work with Jetter and Social Butterfly on their Religion.  They both use the same resource each day, but at different levels.  It's working well.  Builder plays with Beany.  I will do Religion with Builder in the next block.

Mini break until we move down to the school room for:

3rd Block ~ 10:30 ~ Math
Jetter and Social Butterfly work mostly independently while I do Religion and the other subjects with Builder.  Since Builder is doing kindergarten work, it doesn't take too long to go through his Religion, Math, Handwriting and Reading.  We usually finish about the time the others are finishing up their Math.

Snack and Mini break until ...

4th Block ~ 11:30 ~ Language Arts
During this time I cycle through the kids and we do spelling, handwriting, reading, copywork, grammar, etc.  Social Butterfly also has Latin during this time.  Because I don't know where else to put it, this is also the block of time during which geography and written history work are done.

5th Block ~ 1:00 ~ Lunch and Science
While the kids eat their lunch I read to them from our current science book.  After eating the kids pull out their science notebooks and do the sketches or other activities that go with the day's lesson.  This is working so well this year.  The kids are really enthused about each of the units we've studied. 

Big Break during which I require the kids to get some form of exersize.  No electronics.  Getting exersize is rarely a problem with my active bunch.  It seems that they are constantly in motion.  Just ask the people who sit behind us at church!  But the call of those electronic devices is strong so I have to be pretty strict about when they are aloud to use them.

Final Block of the Day ~ 4:15ish ~ Tea Time with Literature and Poetry
This is one of the favorite times of our day.  Since Night Owl needs to be picked up from school the time varies but he joins us for Tea Time whenever he is home for it.  I'm the only one who actually likes tea.  The kids just mostly have a snack.  But they all enjoy hearing poetry and reciting the poems that they are each learning.  Then I read to them, once again, from some sort of literature.  This is just for fun reading and there is no narration, journaling, sketching or assignments required.  Those things often just happen naturally though.  They enjoy telling Dad about what's going on in the books we are reading.  These narrations are often more detailed than the ones they are assigned to do.  Sometimes there are pictures to go along with it.  This is the sort of narration I like best;  the kind that comes from enthusiasm on the part of the student.     

Finally we come to the end of our structured day.  The kids do their afternoon chores and, if there is school work that didn't get done they do it after Tea Time.   The rest of the hours of the day are free for them.

That seems like a long day on paper, but in reality it's not bad at all.  There are some days when extra curricular activites change the schedule, but that is usually on Fridays when we have a lighter academic day so it works out fine.

Night Owl had a two hour delay today so the kids have one here too.  I've enjoyed the extra time to post to the blog since I don't seem to find the time for that much.  My two hours are almost up though, so time to get back to it!

.....................Fat Tuesday for the birds?

The woods behind our house are just alive with birds this morning.  We have the "usual gang" at the feeder - finches, chickadees, junkos, tufted titmice, sparrows, and more. 

BUT, we've also been watching birds in the the trees and there are so many varieties!  Cardinals are on of my favorites, but check out this beauty: 

I think she must be a female cardinal but she's gorgeous! 

There are also quite a few Cedar Waxwings which we rarely see,

and ... are you ready?  Robins! 

There are also the woodpeckers, which we see frequently.  But today there are quite a few!  Red Bellied, Hairy, Downy, there all there.

 It's like a Bird party.  I'm reminded of the Dr. Seuss book, Go Dog Go, where all the dogs are going to the dog party.  Maybe we'll write a new story, Fly Bird Fly!

Science Olympiad

We're praying for Night Owl today.  He left at 5:30 this morning for the Science Olympiad Semi-Finals.  He is involved in 5 competitions:

Trajectory
Ornithology
Fossils
Volcanos
and something called Write It, Do It

He was up late last night finishing the graphs and other information that need to be on display regarding the catapult he and a friend made for "Trajectory".  I know he'll be tired today, but it will be an exciting day so he probably wont notice til tomorrow morning!