I'm not sure we could fit one more thing into next weekend, even if we wanted to! Here's what it looks like:
Thursday Evening -
Grandma and Grandpa come up for a weekend visit.
Social Butterfly has a piano recital.
Friday Afternoon / Evening-
Homecoming Parade for Night Owl's highschool and
Homecoming Game for Night Owl
Saturday Morning -
Football game for Builder
Football game for Jetter
Saturday Evening -
Homecoming Dance for Night Owl
Sunday -
Builder's Birthday party with his friends.
Grandma and Grandpa picked a busy week to come. I'm hoping to have all my ducks in a row so we can just relax and enjoy the activities!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Will this be the week?
The week that we finally settle in to our routine? I hope so! It seems that things have been in upheaval since we started school.
First, there was the work on the front porch. This doesn't seem like that much of a distraction but let me tell you - demolition, noisy power tools and workmen here most of the day do not mix with school when it comes to little boys! We called most of that day an "in house" field trip and talked about safety for the workmen, their tools and how they used them, simple machines, what it means to do a good job and not just do something half way to get it done, etc. So, it was educational, but I didn't get to check off any of those little boxes on my lesson plan sheet.
Then there was Catholic Mosaic. We had a great time, but it was difficult to have a regular school day with the preparations I needed to make. (And I thought I was organized!) We learned about St. Peter Claver, did a craft and played with friends. The kids had a great time and I would say, once again, the whole thing was very educational but ... I still didn't get to check off many of those boxes!
Friday was the first day back to piano lessons. Once we settle in, this will be a time to get some work done (and check off some boxes!). However, yesterday, being the first day, I wasn't prepared for Beany's reaction to this whole idea of waiting in the car while everyone quietly worked on Math and one child at a time went in for piano lessons. He and Builder were not as patient with this whole thing as I had hoped, so the child who was not taking the piano lesson was quite distracted by these little ones and didn't get their work done. Once again, boxes left unchecked.
BUT, this week will be different! Sure there are the usual football practices and piano lessons, but those are accounted for in our schedule. But there is nothing else on our schedule that should put a kink in our routine. Now I'm praying desperately that no one gets sick!
First, there was the work on the front porch. This doesn't seem like that much of a distraction but let me tell you - demolition, noisy power tools and workmen here most of the day do not mix with school when it comes to little boys! We called most of that day an "in house" field trip and talked about safety for the workmen, their tools and how they used them, simple machines, what it means to do a good job and not just do something half way to get it done, etc. So, it was educational, but I didn't get to check off any of those little boxes on my lesson plan sheet.
Then there was Catholic Mosaic. We had a great time, but it was difficult to have a regular school day with the preparations I needed to make. (And I thought I was organized!) We learned about St. Peter Claver, did a craft and played with friends. The kids had a great time and I would say, once again, the whole thing was very educational but ... I still didn't get to check off many of those boxes!
Friday was the first day back to piano lessons. Once we settle in, this will be a time to get some work done (and check off some boxes!). However, yesterday, being the first day, I wasn't prepared for Beany's reaction to this whole idea of waiting in the car while everyone quietly worked on Math and one child at a time went in for piano lessons. He and Builder were not as patient with this whole thing as I had hoped, so the child who was not taking the piano lesson was quite distracted by these little ones and didn't get their work done. Once again, boxes left unchecked.
BUT, this week will be different! Sure there are the usual football practices and piano lessons, but those are accounted for in our schedule. But there is nothing else on our schedule that should put a kink in our routine. Now I'm praying desperately that no one gets sick!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Tweaking
The schedule looked perfect on paper.
I thought the time I allotted for everything was sufficient. I assumed the kids would all embrace the "getting back to school" and I was looking forward to this first week.
Wellllll, I forgot to account for the extra time it would take to get everybody ready and get to football practices on time. I forgot to account for the extra driving time necessary to take Night Owl to the various functions he needed to be at like JV games and team dinners. I forgot the fact that the contractor was going to start work on our front porch this week, and waiting for him to come, as well as the distraction of the demolition that was going to mess up our schedule. I forgot that Jetter's personality causes him to resist anything with structure, like a schedule, even though he needs it more than anyone. I forgot that Social Butterfly would be watching the clock, reminding me when we were a few minutes late to move on to the next thing and driving me absolutely crazy. I forgot that Beany, now a two year old, would be resistant about taking his naps when I wanted him to, and that the toys I so neatly layed out for him to play with would probably not interest him as much as big sisters markers. And, I forgot that every year it begins this way!
So, I'm tweaking the schedule a bit, adding more time for driving here and there, taking advantage of the "fog delay" this morning to get a head start on next week's plans, and thinking of a better plan for Beany.
Despite all the above, we did manage to get started with the year though. We didn't get to every subject every day, but we did work on our routines and cracked the binding on most of our new books. So, it's a start. As usual, I'm praying for grace this year. I love homeschooling my children, but I know I can only do it with God's help.
I thought the time I allotted for everything was sufficient. I assumed the kids would all embrace the "getting back to school" and I was looking forward to this first week.
Wellllll, I forgot to account for the extra time it would take to get everybody ready and get to football practices on time. I forgot to account for the extra driving time necessary to take Night Owl to the various functions he needed to be at like JV games and team dinners. I forgot the fact that the contractor was going to start work on our front porch this week, and waiting for him to come, as well as the distraction of the demolition that was going to mess up our schedule. I forgot that Jetter's personality causes him to resist anything with structure, like a schedule, even though he needs it more than anyone. I forgot that Social Butterfly would be watching the clock, reminding me when we were a few minutes late to move on to the next thing and driving me absolutely crazy. I forgot that Beany, now a two year old, would be resistant about taking his naps when I wanted him to, and that the toys I so neatly layed out for him to play with would probably not interest him as much as big sisters markers. And, I forgot that every year it begins this way!
So, I'm tweaking the schedule a bit, adding more time for driving here and there, taking advantage of the "fog delay" this morning to get a head start on next week's plans, and thinking of a better plan for Beany.
Despite all the above, we did manage to get started with the year though. We didn't get to every subject every day, but we did work on our routines and cracked the binding on most of our new books. So, it's a start. As usual, I'm praying for grace this year. I love homeschooling my children, but I know I can only do it with God's help.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Starting Our Day
In this post I talked a little about the importance that I place on the beginning and end of our school day. Here I talked about our Tea Time, which is the end of our school day, and one of our favorite times together. But the most important part of our day is the beginning. It seems that if we can start off on the right foot, the whole day goes well. That being said, there are days that it just doesn't work as planned and we make the most of it. The description below is of a morning that works as it should.
We call the start to our day our Morning Meeting. Unlike the rest of our school day, the Morning Meeting takes place upstairs, in the sunroom and the dining room. Often, while the kids are eating breakfast and getting their morning chores done, I'm gathering necessary items for this morning meeting. As always, the more organized I can be, the better it goes.
We start off with just a mention of the day's feast day, if there is one. Then we say our morning prayers together, which will often include a prayer to the saint who's feast we are celebrating. Then we look to our calendars. For this year, I will have two calendars posted. This one,
which I have used for several years now, and our new Liturgical Year Calendar. I decided not to get a Liturgical Year Calendar last year and I really regretted it. So here it is, waiting for the first day of the new Church Year.
It is simply attached to the wall with "sticky tac" for the picture. I'm working on a more attractive way to display it, especially since it's in our dining room. I'll post an updated picture when I get this all figured out.
For our regular monthly calendar, we just review the month, day and year and add the new number for the date. This is mostly for Builder who is in Kindergarten this year. The other kids don't mind since it only takes a minute. We sometimes sing songs to help with remembering the days of the week and months of the year. This site has some really neat ideas for using the calendar to help with math concepts. I am going to use the "School Day Count" idea at that site to help Builder grasp the concept of place value. Other than that, most of our "calendar time" as it is sometimes called, is based on the Liturgical Year Calendar.
When we look at the Liturgical Year Calendar, we will talk about the day, the liturgical season, the colors of the vestments worn, the feast days etc. This mom, who has a beautiful blog, uses tiny images of the saints and attaches them to her Liturgical Calendar. There are so many neat ideas out there. I wish I had the time to use them all! Along with our calendar, we will also make sure our home altar is decorated for the feast day, or at least the Church Season. Here it is, ready for tomorrow, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the past, we have always read a story or some information that goes along with the saint's feast day. This year, I'm going to do things a little differently, in the hopes of things running a bit more smoothly.
Instead of celebrating the feast days as they come, we will celebrate a feast day for the week on Mondays. We will decorate our home altar, and I will read a story about the saint whose feast day we are celebrating and the kids will usually color a picture or do a simple craft. I have several resources for these pictures, but one of my favorite is this blog, where the author provides coloring pictures for each saint that is studied in her homeschool (scroll down at that site to see the list of coloring pictures available). Since we use the suggestions from Catholic Mosaic, I also have the corresponding coloring book, Fenestrae Fidei, which we will use this year. Doing it this way, we will sometimes have to choose which saint to study, as there will be several feast days in one week. I think that it will still work better though, as we will have more time to concentrate on the one we are studying.
So, why only Mondays for feast days? Because that leaves time for the other important things I wanted to get to this year. Besides the Catechism and Scripture the children will be studying, I also like to include a very practical, "Living Faith" study. There are three areas in this Living Faith category that I want to focus on this year. First, there are the Liturgical Year Celebrations, which I spoke of above. But there are two other areas that I really wanted to focus on and, while they are touched on in the children's Catechism lessons, I wanted to give them more emphasis. These areas are virtues and the Mass.
We will study the virtues on Tuesdays. I am planning to use Amy Wellborn's Book of Heroes as a spine for this study. I like the way she breaks the chapters in her book down by the spiritual and moral virtues. For each, she explains the virtue, tying it into the life of Jesus. Then, she includes several stories of saints that used that virtue. I'm hoping to use other resources we have, like William Bennett's The Book of Virtues, to round out our study. The kids will d0 a notebook page for each virtue, then add a bit of copywork, a colored picture, or sometimes just a holy card of some of the saints that lived that particular virtue.
For our study of the Mass, which will happen on Wednesdays, I will be using a very simple little book, The Mass Book for Children as a spine. It is much too simple for Social Butterfly, but I plan to use it more of a launching off point and plan to round it out with other materials. I love Erin's Unit Study on the Mass and wish I would have found it sooner. I'm not sure I can get something so elaborate together by ... tomorrow! ... but I'm going to read through it carefully and glean some ideas. I especially like that she uses Maria Montessori's book, The Mass. It is one that I will certainly incorporate into this study. Like the days when we study a Liturgical Feast or a virtue, the kids will make some sort of notebook entry after we do our study on the Mass. I'm learning to keep these simple so we actually do them, and they don't take all day! Wednesday is also the day I am hoping to get to the Mass at noon with the kids, so this should all work together quite nicely.
I don't have a Living Faith plan for Thursdays. I am thinking it will be good to have a catch up day for when life hits us differently than we had planned and the schedule is forgotten. We seem to have one of those days frequently! This could also be the day that we do an art project, but that's another post.
We'll finish this time of day with individual Religion lessons because I think they will naturally flow together. Social Butterfly will be focusing on the Catechism this year, and well as some Bible History. Jetter, will be doing the same, but at a different level. Builder will be mostly learning the Bible stories. Beany will just be making messes of course! I'm looking forward to this special time of day starting up again. Our Morning Meeting and Afternoon Tea Time are the times we all miss most when summer vacation is here.
We call the start to our day our Morning Meeting. Unlike the rest of our school day, the Morning Meeting takes place upstairs, in the sunroom and the dining room. Often, while the kids are eating breakfast and getting their morning chores done, I'm gathering necessary items for this morning meeting. As always, the more organized I can be, the better it goes.
We start off with just a mention of the day's feast day, if there is one. Then we say our morning prayers together, which will often include a prayer to the saint who's feast we are celebrating. Then we look to our calendars. For this year, I will have two calendars posted. This one,
which I have used for several years now, and our new Liturgical Year Calendar. I decided not to get a Liturgical Year Calendar last year and I really regretted it. So here it is, waiting for the first day of the new Church Year.
It is simply attached to the wall with "sticky tac" for the picture. I'm working on a more attractive way to display it, especially since it's in our dining room. I'll post an updated picture when I get this all figured out.For our regular monthly calendar, we just review the month, day and year and add the new number for the date. This is mostly for Builder who is in Kindergarten this year. The other kids don't mind since it only takes a minute. We sometimes sing songs to help with remembering the days of the week and months of the year. This site has some really neat ideas for using the calendar to help with math concepts. I am going to use the "School Day Count" idea at that site to help Builder grasp the concept of place value. Other than that, most of our "calendar time" as it is sometimes called, is based on the Liturgical Year Calendar.
When we look at the Liturgical Year Calendar, we will talk about the day, the liturgical season, the colors of the vestments worn, the feast days etc. This mom, who has a beautiful blog, uses tiny images of the saints and attaches them to her Liturgical Calendar. There are so many neat ideas out there. I wish I had the time to use them all! Along with our calendar, we will also make sure our home altar is decorated for the feast day, or at least the Church Season. Here it is, ready for tomorrow, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the past, we have always read a story or some information that goes along with the saint's feast day. This year, I'm going to do things a little differently, in the hopes of things running a bit more smoothly.Instead of celebrating the feast days as they come, we will celebrate a feast day for the week on Mondays. We will decorate our home altar, and I will read a story about the saint whose feast day we are celebrating and the kids will usually color a picture or do a simple craft. I have several resources for these pictures, but one of my favorite is this blog, where the author provides coloring pictures for each saint that is studied in her homeschool (scroll down at that site to see the list of coloring pictures available). Since we use the suggestions from Catholic Mosaic, I also have the corresponding coloring book, Fenestrae Fidei, which we will use this year. Doing it this way, we will sometimes have to choose which saint to study, as there will be several feast days in one week. I think that it will still work better though, as we will have more time to concentrate on the one we are studying.
So, why only Mondays for feast days? Because that leaves time for the other important things I wanted to get to this year. Besides the Catechism and Scripture the children will be studying, I also like to include a very practical, "Living Faith" study. There are three areas in this Living Faith category that I want to focus on this year. First, there are the Liturgical Year Celebrations, which I spoke of above. But there are two other areas that I really wanted to focus on and, while they are touched on in the children's Catechism lessons, I wanted to give them more emphasis. These areas are virtues and the Mass.
We will study the virtues on Tuesdays. I am planning to use Amy Wellborn's Book of Heroes as a spine for this study. I like the way she breaks the chapters in her book down by the spiritual and moral virtues. For each, she explains the virtue, tying it into the life of Jesus. Then, she includes several stories of saints that used that virtue. I'm hoping to use other resources we have, like William Bennett's The Book of Virtues, to round out our study. The kids will d0 a notebook page for each virtue, then add a bit of copywork, a colored picture, or sometimes just a holy card of some of the saints that lived that particular virtue.
For our study of the Mass, which will happen on Wednesdays, I will be using a very simple little book, The Mass Book for Children as a spine. It is much too simple for Social Butterfly, but I plan to use it more of a launching off point and plan to round it out with other materials. I love Erin's Unit Study on the Mass and wish I would have found it sooner. I'm not sure I can get something so elaborate together by ... tomorrow! ... but I'm going to read through it carefully and glean some ideas. I especially like that she uses Maria Montessori's book, The Mass. It is one that I will certainly incorporate into this study. Like the days when we study a Liturgical Feast or a virtue, the kids will make some sort of notebook entry after we do our study on the Mass. I'm learning to keep these simple so we actually do them, and they don't take all day! Wednesday is also the day I am hoping to get to the Mass at noon with the kids, so this should all work together quite nicely.
I don't have a Living Faith plan for Thursdays. I am thinking it will be good to have a catch up day for when life hits us differently than we had planned and the schedule is forgotten. We seem to have one of those days frequently! This could also be the day that we do an art project, but that's another post.
We'll finish this time of day with individual Religion lessons because I think they will naturally flow together. Social Butterfly will be focusing on the Catechism this year, and well as some Bible History. Jetter, will be doing the same, but at a different level. Builder will be mostly learning the Bible stories. Beany will just be making messes of course! I'm looking forward to this special time of day starting up again. Our Morning Meeting and Afternoon Tea Time are the times we all miss most when summer vacation is here.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Football Season
So, what does your living room look like on a Thursday morning in September?!
Click on the arrow for the short video below!
Click on the arrow for the short video below!Boxes, Binders, Bins and Bags (Part 4)
This Fourth and final post about how I organize our school time, environment and curriculum is about the workboxes. Sue Patrick's Workbox System was like a dream come true for us last year. We had had a very productive year, until about Spring Break when we went on our vacation. Spring Break marked the beginning of Spring Fever for all of us around here. It's like a runner hitting that "wall". It's so hard to keep going when the books are almost done, the weather is nice, the kids just want to play etc. It was about that time that I read Sue Patrick's Book about her Workbox System. I decided to give it a try since it seemed like an awesome way to plan and organize our school day. (Have I mentioned I like to plan and organize?!) It worked wonders. The kids loved it, I loved it and we finished our school year without the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth;).
This year, I've decided to start off with the workboxes in place, but I've made a few changes. Because our schoolroom tends to be a bit cluttered with all our materials (I'm a curriculum junkie!) the workboxes that Sue Patrick recommends just seemed too big and added to the clutter. I also decided that Social Butterfly really doesn't need the workboxes. She loves to arrange and organize her desk, and the workboxes aren't necessary for her. BUT, she still wanted some "fun way" to organize her assignment list.
This is what I've come up with for our workbox system. The boys will each be using this storage system I purchased from JoAnn's at a great half price sale:
This year, I've decided to start off with the workboxes in place, but I've made a few changes. Because our schoolroom tends to be a bit cluttered with all our materials (I'm a curriculum junkie!) the workboxes that Sue Patrick recommends just seemed too big and added to the clutter. I also decided that Social Butterfly really doesn't need the workboxes. She loves to arrange and organize her desk, and the workboxes aren't necessary for her. BUT, she still wanted some "fun way" to organize her assignment list.
This is what I've come up with for our workbox system. The boys will each be using this storage system I purchased from JoAnn's at a great half price sale:
Not too exciting to look at, I know, but it's going to work great. There are 10 drawers which is just enough for Jetter and more than enough for Builder. Like last year (see pictures here) I'll attach velcro dots to the outside of each box. There will be a number attached to each dot. When the child has completed the work in the box, he will replace the number with a smiley face, or other sort of "I'm finished" type label. On the top of each of these units I will have a box or basket (really?!) in which I will keep those items that the child will do directly with me. Everything in the drawers will be independent work. (But of course my children can and do ask for help whenever they need it.) When the classroom is in order (hopefully with new desks for the boys) I'll take a picture of the whole system in place.
Now, Social Butterfly's system is quite different and very girly. That doesn't surprise anyone who knows my feminine, creative daughter. It's one of the many parts of her personality that I enjoy completely. Here's a picture of her system:
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Boxes, Binders, Bins and Bags (Part 3)
(Warning: this is a long post! And, to make it worse, no cute pictures of the kids!)With the first day of school less than a week a way, planning is in full gear. This yearly planning, that takes all summer it seems, is about complete, but today I'm going to talk about how I do my weekly planning. The items in the picture above are what I use to get my coming week organized.
The basket holds a file folder dated for each week of the school year. In these folders are the copies, books, worksheets, etc. that I will need for each week. This basket is mostly geared towards the Liturgical Year activities we will do, since these have a definite date. For example, if I pull out the folder dated December 6th - 12th, there are activity suggestions for the feast days of St. Nicholas, St. Ambrose, and our Lady of Guadeloupe. Also in these folders are activities that might go with a monthly theme that don't have a specifice date. An example of this would be Advent activities in this same folder. This whole idea was inspired by Dawn's File Crate System at By Sun and Candlelight. It's not exactly like hers since I adjusted to meet our needs and my file crate is strictly used for school activities ...for now.
The binder with the light green cover (with holy cards glued to it thanks to my lovely daughter) is my "Liturgical Year Binder". I used this exclusively before I developed the file above, but I think the files will be more efficient. I keep this binder because in it I have lists of the years feast days and a chart that shows me what activities I have available for each. I also put copies of special prayers or other items dealing with our faith in this binder. Sometime, I hope to combine the binder and the basket, but I'm not there yet.
The blue binder is my Homeschool Master Binder. It's a 3" binder that gets used ALOT. I'm trying to find something inspirational to put on the front but for now the picture of the ocean is there. This is sort of like my "Teacher's Plan Book". I have sheets for lesson plans behind dividers for each of my children. I also have a section in which I write goals for each child. I have a list of all the books that we have on our bookshelves (which I take with me when I shop used book sales at our Homeschool Conference or the Library. Our collection of books is getting so large it's easy to buy something I already have!). I have the syllabi for each child which I typed into a checklist style to make it easier to keep track of. Finally, I have the information for my Mother Of Divine Grace consultant along with pages for notes.
The black planner is simply a monthly planner. After using this one for a while, I've decided that I really don't need a fancy planner. All I really need is a monthly calendar type planner with plenty of space to write, and a stack of paper on which to write my "to do" lists.
Finally, there is the clip board that I keep with me during the day. This is where I clip my to do lists, schedules, copies for activities we will use that day, menus, etc.
So, those are the components, here's the plan for planning. (Writing this all down makes it seem long and tedius, but really, it doesn't take long at all. Setting aside a little time for planning and organization allows the coming week to run more smoothly.)
Ideally, I take a little time on Thursday evening to start this. On Thursday, I do the planning that will bring some order to our home life. On Friday, I do the planning for school. My goal is to have this all done BEFORE the weekend. Our weekends are so busy and if I don't get to my planning before Saturday, it ends up being a rushed job on Sunday night, which I don't like.
So, Thursday evening, I pull out my black daily planner and I print off a weekly menu and grocery list from my computer. I also grab the school binder and open it to the new week's lesson planning sheets. I use the planner to note feast days, errands, appointments, etc. onto the lesson sheet and the menu sheet if they affect dinner. For example, on Monday night we have boys at football practice from 5:30-7:00. That evening we will have a meal in the crockpot for when we get home. If it's a feast day for which I have a special recipe to try, that will be recorded on the menu as well. I write up the menu then use that to mark needed items on my grocery list. Because I do my errands and grocery shopping on the same day, I use the grocery list to also jot down any errands I will need to run. The grocery list and menu are attached to the clip board. I also attach a "to do" list on which I write household chores, phone calls that need to be made, etc. This really only takes about 30 minutes. The thing that could potentially take alot of time is the menu, but I have a rotating menu that I use the keep things simple. It is a month of favorite recipes that I use. This changes for feast days, birthdays, holidays, etc. but having it really cuts down on the time and energy it takes to decide what to make for dinner every night.
On Friday I do my planning for the coming week's school activities. I pull out the week's file folder from the file basket, the Liturgical Year notebook, and the Homeschool Binder. Any activity pages that I need to make copies of are clipped to the clip board. I use the "check list syllabi" to write down the lessons for each child on the lesson plan pages in the binder. I then write down any other activities they will do for their workboxes that are outside of the syllabi. (I'll explain this in detail when I write about the workboxes.)
I write down any items I will need to purchase for art, science experiments, etc. onto the grocery list that is attached to the clip board. I finish by filling the workboxes for Monday and making sure the school room is tidy and ready for another week.
Whew! Seems like alot doesn't it? It's really not though, and the planning makes a world of difference when Monday morning arrives!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Filling the Book Basket
Actually, the book basket is already filled as you can see by the picture in the side bar. The book basket is that basket which holds the books we read during our favorite time of day, Tea Time. I'm really the only one who drinks tea, but we usually have a snack. The snack is often something sweet, which is part of the draw, but truthfully, I also think it's the quiet that lures the kids. We have so much hustle and bustle around here on a regular basis that this short, quiet time of the day that is set aside for just listening (and chewing!) is a highlight. Tea Time works the best when Beany is taking his nap, but, his naps are becoming more sporadic since he is getting older, so I don't let that dictate whether, or when, we have Tea Time. If he's awake, I give him a pile of toys on the floor and we do the best we can. Some days, when we read a picture book, he will sit on my lap and listen. Most of the time though, he's too wiggly to sit so I rely on toys to keep him occupied.
Besides the snack and the good literature and the quiet, the other special thing about Tea Time is that it marks the end of our "school day". The kids have been on a schedule since they woke up and this quiet end to our day marks the end of scheduled time. We have dinner at about the same time each evening, and if there are sports practices those are at a certain time, but for the most part the kids are free to play once tea time is over.
I'm a big advocate of free time for kids, especially when they are outside. During the summer months my kids play outside all the time. It is not something I have to force on them, it is something they enjoy. They come up with elaborate games, look for bugs, climb the trees, and just enjoy the freedom to be kids. It reminds me of my childhood when it was common to see bunches of kids playing outside all the time. I don't see that as much anymore and I wonder where all the kids are. (One day, we met a neighbor from down the street for the first time. He said, "Oh, you're the family with all the kids!" We only have 5 kids, but I think it seems like there are many more than that because they are always playing outside when people drive by.)
Back to the book basket... In years past I have tried different methods of filling this basket. We've done author studies and themes. I've tried changing the books weekly, monthly and quarterly. Any way we've done it, I always seem to be changing books at the last minute, running to the library in search of books about our next theme, and totally forgetting to update the blog with what we are reading. This year, I'm trying a different approach. As I do every year, I purchased some new books to add to our school library and those will go into the book basket first. I also went through our bookshelves and pulled out a few of the books we haven't read in a very long time, or the books that were read by Night Owl years ago, but the others haven't seen yet. There is no theme or particular author, it is just more of a hodge podge of literature that I want the kids to hear and read. I will begin with this basket load, and when we finish all the books here, refill it with more. There is a mixture of picture books and chapter books, fiction and non-fiction, and some poetry. Several of the new picture books are written by one of my favorite children's authors, Jan Brett. Many of the others are Geography related. We will be hitting geography hard this year, with Jetter working on United States Geography and Social Butterfly working on World Geography. I decided we needed to add to the Geography shelves in our school room.
You can see the books in our basket over on the sidebar. Just click on them to learn more about them.
Besides the snack and the good literature and the quiet, the other special thing about Tea Time is that it marks the end of our "school day". The kids have been on a schedule since they woke up and this quiet end to our day marks the end of scheduled time. We have dinner at about the same time each evening, and if there are sports practices those are at a certain time, but for the most part the kids are free to play once tea time is over.
I'm a big advocate of free time for kids, especially when they are outside. During the summer months my kids play outside all the time. It is not something I have to force on them, it is something they enjoy. They come up with elaborate games, look for bugs, climb the trees, and just enjoy the freedom to be kids. It reminds me of my childhood when it was common to see bunches of kids playing outside all the time. I don't see that as much anymore and I wonder where all the kids are. (One day, we met a neighbor from down the street for the first time. He said, "Oh, you're the family with all the kids!" We only have 5 kids, but I think it seems like there are many more than that because they are always playing outside when people drive by.)
Back to the book basket... In years past I have tried different methods of filling this basket. We've done author studies and themes. I've tried changing the books weekly, monthly and quarterly. Any way we've done it, I always seem to be changing books at the last minute, running to the library in search of books about our next theme, and totally forgetting to update the blog with what we are reading. This year, I'm trying a different approach. As I do every year, I purchased some new books to add to our school library and those will go into the book basket first. I also went through our bookshelves and pulled out a few of the books we haven't read in a very long time, or the books that were read by Night Owl years ago, but the others haven't seen yet. There is no theme or particular author, it is just more of a hodge podge of literature that I want the kids to hear and read. I will begin with this basket load, and when we finish all the books here, refill it with more. There is a mixture of picture books and chapter books, fiction and non-fiction, and some poetry. Several of the new picture books are written by one of my favorite children's authors, Jan Brett. Many of the others are Geography related. We will be hitting geography hard this year, with Jetter working on United States Geography and Social Butterfly working on World Geography. I decided we needed to add to the Geography shelves in our school room.
You can see the books in our basket over on the sidebar. Just click on them to learn more about them.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Big Game
Taking a break from the planning posts to write about last night's big football game against the archrival team! Unfortunately, "the good guys" lost, but they sure played a great game. I was especially proud of this guy! Night Owl is #75. He looks good in red doesn't he! (Click on the picture to make it full size.)
Some great friends joined us for a tailgate party before the game and helped us cheer the red team on. 
The rain stopped before the game and didn't start up again until we were on our way to the car. (Someone must have been praying!)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Boxes, Binders, Bins and Bags (Part 2)
I thought I'd write a little about how I store all the various books and school supplies that come with homeschooling. Home organization is something I am always working on. Trying to keep the house orderly and clean is difficult with 5 children, but having them home all day makes it even more difficult. I'm not complaining - I LOVE having my children home. I'm just stating a fact. A house that is lived in all day is going to get messy and require cleaning more often. One of the ways I am trying to keep things orderly is by getting rid of the extra "stuff" we have. For one thing I don't have a lot of pretty things sitting around. It 's not that I don't want them, it's that they require dusting, which is something I don't want to spend all day doing. There is also the risk of things getting broken. So, for now, our house is very "utilitarian". When my children are all a little older, I will happily decorate to my heart's content.
Now, for the homeschool stuff. I use a system of baskets, boxes and bags to keep things in. I also use my dining room china hutch and bookshelves in the school room. I'll try to go through each room and explain what sort of homeschooling things we do there and how I store the necessary materials.
We begin our day in the Sunroom. This is my favorite room in the house.
It was a screened in porch at one time. We remodeled in order to use it year round because we enjoyed the view of the woods and river that are behind our house. You can see there is not much furniture here - something I hope to remedy some day. 
We gather here for a family morning prayer and I read a picture book or some other reading about the current feast day on our Liturgical Calendar. I will tie an art lesson in with this too, which I will write more about below. We call this time our morning meeting and make sure to discuss anything new or different on our schedule for the day. After that, we do religion in this room. I work individually with the kids one at a time. The children I am not working with are busy with independent work or sometimes they may be able to start on their art lesson. I don't need a whole lot of supplies for this time of day. What I do use fits into these two baskets that I store behind one of the rockers. 
After Religion, we move to the dining room table for art. I've decided to move art to an early time of the day because I have a habit of putting it off, and then we don't get to it. I'll be tying many of our art lessons in with what we are doing for Religion so it naturally follows.
The window sill behind the table is where I put our "home altar". It's decor changes with the church seasons. For now, we have our statue of the Good Shepherd there, on a green cloth because it is ordinary time. Social Butterfly made the basket, which holds our collection of holy cards, and the wreath which our statue of Mary is standing in.
This is the china hutch in which I store the art supplies.
Each drawer holds a different medium - the watercolors drawer holds paints, a container of brushes, and paint palletes. The coloring drawer holds crayons and markers. The clay drawer holds modeling and Sculpey Clay and clay tools. The paper drawer holds drawing paper and construction paper. In other drawers there are pencils, colored pencils, block crayons, and rubbing plates. There are more art supplies in the cabinets underneath, where I also store items for our home altar and table cloths for the table. I don't know what I would do without this china hutch!
After Religion and Art we head down to the school room where the bulk of our school materials are stored. Most everything goes on the book shelves that line the back wall.
I also have a book shelf between the windows, and cabinet space against the other wall. The kids have desks in which they can store the books that they are currently using. However, since we started using workboxes (another post) the boys don't really use the desk drawers for books.
Later, in the afternoon we have tea time. The kids and I enjoy sitting on the couch in the living room for this time of day.
I keep a basket there, filled with the books we are reading, or will read, during this time. 
In the first picture, can you see the over-stuffed bag that is peaking out from the corner of the couch? That's my home office. Really! I'll write more about that later. Tea Time is one of the favorite parts of our day. Unfortunately, because it is in the afternoon, after all the other school work is done, it sometimes gets pushed out by extra curricular activities. I try to fit it in at least 2 or 3 times a week though. When I don't, we all miss it.
In the next posts, I will talk about our workboxes a bit more, and describe how I do my planning for our homeschool.
Now, for the homeschool stuff. I use a system of baskets, boxes and bags to keep things in. I also use my dining room china hutch and bookshelves in the school room. I'll try to go through each room and explain what sort of homeschooling things we do there and how I store the necessary materials.
We begin our day in the Sunroom. This is my favorite room in the house.
It was a screened in porch at one time. We remodeled in order to use it year round because we enjoyed the view of the woods and river that are behind our house. You can see there is not much furniture here - something I hope to remedy some day. 
We gather here for a family morning prayer and I read a picture book or some other reading about the current feast day on our Liturgical Calendar. I will tie an art lesson in with this too, which I will write more about below. We call this time our morning meeting and make sure to discuss anything new or different on our schedule for the day. After that, we do religion in this room. I work individually with the kids one at a time. The children I am not working with are busy with independent work or sometimes they may be able to start on their art lesson. I don't need a whole lot of supplies for this time of day. What I do use fits into these two baskets that I store behind one of the rockers. 
After Religion, we move to the dining room table for art. I've decided to move art to an early time of the day because I have a habit of putting it off, and then we don't get to it. I'll be tying many of our art lessons in with what we are doing for Religion so it naturally follows.
The window sill behind the table is where I put our "home altar". It's decor changes with the church seasons. For now, we have our statue of the Good Shepherd there, on a green cloth because it is ordinary time. Social Butterfly made the basket, which holds our collection of holy cards, and the wreath which our statue of Mary is standing in.This is the china hutch in which I store the art supplies.
Each drawer holds a different medium - the watercolors drawer holds paints, a container of brushes, and paint palletes. The coloring drawer holds crayons and markers. The clay drawer holds modeling and Sculpey Clay and clay tools. The paper drawer holds drawing paper and construction paper. In other drawers there are pencils, colored pencils, block crayons, and rubbing plates. There are more art supplies in the cabinets underneath, where I also store items for our home altar and table cloths for the table. I don't know what I would do without this china hutch!After Religion and Art we head down to the school room where the bulk of our school materials are stored. Most everything goes on the book shelves that line the back wall.
I also have a book shelf between the windows, and cabinet space against the other wall. The kids have desks in which they can store the books that they are currently using. However, since we started using workboxes (another post) the boys don't really use the desk drawers for books.Later, in the afternoon we have tea time. The kids and I enjoy sitting on the couch in the living room for this time of day.
I keep a basket there, filled with the books we are reading, or will read, during this time. 
In the first picture, can you see the over-stuffed bag that is peaking out from the corner of the couch? That's my home office. Really! I'll write more about that later. Tea Time is one of the favorite parts of our day. Unfortunately, because it is in the afternoon, after all the other school work is done, it sometimes gets pushed out by extra curricular activities. I try to fit it in at least 2 or 3 times a week though. When I don't, we all miss it.In the next posts, I will talk about our workboxes a bit more, and describe how I do my planning for our homeschool.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Boxes, Binders, Bins and Bags! (Part 1)
While everyone else in the world seems to be starting back to school, whether it be homeschool, public school or private school, summer is still here at the academy. Where we live, public and private schools don't start until after Labor Day. So, even though some of our homeschool friends and most of our out-of-state family and friends have already started back, we are still enjoying the freedom to sleep in late, enjoy late night bon fires with friends, jump on the trampoline all day, cook wonderful feasts for the family, attend numerous Vacation Bible Schools, play football, swing, picnic, eat popsicles, etc., etc., etc.
Click on these pictures to enlarge them. Beany's expression in the popsicle picture is cute!
HOWEVER, as I am reading lots of school planning posts, schoolroom remodel posts, and other posts entitled "Our First Day of School" on various blogs, I'm thinking I need to get it in gear. Actually, I think about school all summer. I end one school year with books already ordered for the following year and to me summer means more time to plan. I start with a list of goals for each child then I plan a schedule, type up my syllabi, reorganize the classroom, and on and on. I love it! I guess I'm just a one of those people that enjoys planning.
Reading posts like this one by Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles and this one by Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight are always inspiring for me. I really like both of their planning systems. The pretty papers make what could be a very drab stack of notebooks visually appealing. I'm not quite so creative, but I'm happy with how my planning system is coming along. I've decided to divide this post into a series because it is getting quite long. I will describe my planning system in part 2!
Click on these pictures to enlarge them. Beany's expression in the popsicle picture is cute!
HOWEVER, as I am reading lots of school planning posts, schoolroom remodel posts, and other posts entitled "Our First Day of School" on various blogs, I'm thinking I need to get it in gear. Actually, I think about school all summer. I end one school year with books already ordered for the following year and to me summer means more time to plan. I start with a list of goals for each child then I plan a schedule, type up my syllabi, reorganize the classroom, and on and on. I love it! I guess I'm just a one of those people that enjoys planning.
So far, this summer, I have decided on academic goals for each of the kids, and ordered the curriculum that I think will meet those needs. We are enrolled with Mother of Divine Grace School and for the most part I use the books recommended by them. I do adjust things a bit for my children's individual needs, and I work with my consultant from Mother of Divine Grace to do that. It's a real blessing for me to talk to someone on a regular basis about what we're doing, the areas in which we are doing a great job, and the areas in which we are struggling.
Currently, I am working on various systems to help keep things organized around here. I think that is the most difficult part of homeschooling for me. We are blessed with a school room in the basement, but school stuff still manages to clutter the upstairs as well. I don't call books clutter - especially really good books. A stack or basket of books doesn't bother me at all. It's the paper, and the folders, and the notebooks, and the pencils, and the erasers, and the glue sticks, and the craft supplies!!! I could go on and on.
Besides organizing the stuff of homeschooling, I also need a system for planning. It's my plan for planning that helps me when I feel like there's so much to do and so little time to do it. This feeling usually hits about the second day of school! Over the weekend, if I can sit down, and in an orderly way go over my goals, write up the week's plans, make a list of the "to do's" that have to happen before Monday, and actually do the "to do's", life is so much more peaceful.
Reading posts like this one by Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles and this one by Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight are always inspiring for me. I really like both of their planning systems. The pretty papers make what could be a very drab stack of notebooks visually appealing. I'm not quite so creative, but I'm happy with how my planning system is coming along. I've decided to divide this post into a series because it is getting quite long. I will describe my planning system in part 2!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Social Butterfly's Catchy Quote
"A Grandma without wrinkles is like icecream without sprinkles!"
She spoke these words of wisdom during an info- mercial about some sort of wrinkle cream.
Wrinkles or not, we think grandma's are pretty special people!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Am Appetitlichsten! Delicieux! Delisiozo!
A Meal From Switzerland!
Night Owl was not too thrilled about getting his picture taken!
am appetitlichsten is "delicious" in German,
delicieux - is the French term for "delicious",
and delisiozo is "delicious" in Italian
Dad and I felt like we ate dinner at a restaurant in Switzerland last night! Night Owl and Social Butterfly worked together to make a most delicious dinner. We started with a cheese fondue, made with 3 different Swiss cheeses and white wine. Night Owl actually made a Swedish bread that we used for dipping. I was very impressed with the bread! It came out beautifully. The cheese fondue which chef Social Butterfly worked on was no easy feat either. Keeping it warm enough to melt all the cheese but not so warm that it scorched was difficult.
The main course consisted of chicken roulades made by Night Owl, an incredibly delicious potato dish made by Social Butterfly, and fried apples also made by Night Owl, with Social Butterfly helping. Wow! Dad's going to take the leftovers to work tomorrow to make his co-workers jealous. It was one of the best meals I 've ever eaten.
As if that wasn't enough we had an incredibly rich chocolate fondue with strawberries, pound cake and marshmallows for dipping. I'm sure I gained 10 pounds.
Night Owl was not too thrilled about getting his picture taken!During all this cooking we were wondering about the language spoken in Switzerland. Dad already knew but he let us figure it out. This neat site shows that there are actually 3 main languages spoken there, French, German and Italian.
This morning I did another search to find out how to say "delicious" in each of the languages:
am appetitlichsten is "delicious" in German,
delicieux - is the French term for "delicious",
and delisiozo is "delicious" in Italian
Friday, August 14, 2009
Football Season
Football season has officially arrived around here. Night Owl returned from football camp safe and sound, Jetter is signed up for Rocket football, Builder is signed up for Rocket Flag Football, and Dad watched his first Steelers game last night. "Already?" I asked. "Already?! It's been six long months of no football!" came the reply. (I wish I had the little smiley "eye-roll" icon here.)
I do have to admit though, nearly 20 years of watching the Steelers during football season has kind of grown on me. I don't mind watching them, in fact sometimes I enjoy it.
The guys I really enjoy watching are my own sons though. I look forward to their games. There will be a "first" for all 3 of them this year. Night Owl will be playing on the varsity team for the first time. Jetter will have his first year in "contact football" and is quite excited about wearing all the pads, and Builder will have his first year at flag football which is sort of an introduction to the whole football thing.
Here at home, we have our own football camp going. The coach is of course Night Owl and the youngest member of the team is Beany. It's a riot. Even our neighbor likes to come out to the fence and watch the antics of these boys when they're practicing. Night Owl just has fun with it and his brothers love him for it. I'm proud of him for taking the time to do this with the boys. He's really growing up.
Here's some pictures:
First the pep talk. Notice the dog intently watching, waiting to steal the ball and run.
Then come the warm up exercises and a few laps around the yard.
Working on the "3-point stance":
Finally, the tackle drills! This is the favorite part!
These boys are such a blessing to one another. They might not always appreciate what they have, but I sure do.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Picture
Last week we all went to the Company Picnic at my husband's place of work. We had lots of fun getting faces painted, jumping in inflatables, eating icecream and cotton candy and meeting some of the people that Dad works with. One of the activities offered this year was an opportunity to get a family picture. The person taking the pictures happened to be the owner of the company who is also a talented photographer. This picture of us is probably the most interesting family portrait we've ever had taken! Obviously, we weren't all ready with smiles painted on, backs stiff, little ones crying, etc. The picture was taken before we were "properly posed" but what a treasure! Night Owl and Dad look handsome as ever. Jetter and Social Butterfly look great in their face paint and the picture captures Jetter's personality just perfectly. Beany is the star of the show (as usual) with his smile and look of wonder at the balloon. Builder is looking away, but then, Builder always looks away when he gets his picture taken. He's more concerned about whether or not everyone else is smiling. I feel like I look a bit frazzled, but ... I guess that's me!
I took a picture of the portrait to post here on the blog and in so doing, I lost alot of the clarity of the original. It is of beautiful quality and we are very thankful for such a treasure!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Posting mix up
I finished a post about our daily schedule, but because I started it several weeks ago, it actually posted a few pages back. Here's a link if you are interested. It's basically about our daily schedule for the coming school year, with a few old pictures added just for fun.
http://academyofthegoodshepherd.blogspot.com/2009/07/schedule.html
http://academyofthegoodshepherd.blogspot.com/2009/07/schedule.html
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Zoo Weekend
Zoo Weekend 2009 was a big hit! We had a great time visiting two very nice zoo's. Saturday we were at the Cincinatti Zoo and Sunday we were at the Detroit Zoo.
And watching a very cool 4D movie!
Beany enjoyed seeing all the animals. He was determined to stay out of the stroller though. That made it a bit frustrating, but Dad, Night Owl, and I traded the task of carrying him. He walked a lot too, but that tended to slow us all down, especially when he wanted to keep backtracking.
Here are some of our favorites from the Cincinnati Zoo:
The White Tiger, which we learned was NOT an albino: 
The Red Panda that looks very little like the black and white pandas we're used to seeing:
The very cute tiger cubs, that wouldn't stop playing to pose for a picture:
Gorgeous birds - lots and lots!
And these majestic white lions:
The zoo closed at 6 and we were hungry, hot and tired. We drove about half way to Detroit and found a very nice hotel in Findlay Ohio. It was perfect. The next morning we went to Saint Michael's Church, which was gorgeous. I just had to take a picture afterwards, even though two of the kids had already jumped in the van and taken their shoes off!
At the Cincinatti Zoo, we all enjoyed seeing the animals,
Riding on the train,
And watching a very cool 4D movie!
Beany enjoyed seeing all the animals. He was determined to stay out of the stroller though. That made it a bit frustrating, but Dad, Night Owl, and I traded the task of carrying him. He walked a lot too, but that tended to slow us all down, especially when he wanted to keep backtracking.
The three middle kids all had matching t-shirts, something that Night Owl wanted no part of. I was actually surprised at how much easier it was to keep track of them.
Night Owl seemed to enjoy telling his siblings about the many animals we saw.
Here are some of our favorites from the Cincinnati Zoo:
The White Tiger, which we learned was NOT an albino:
The Red Panda that looks very little like the black and white pandas we're used to seeing:
The very cute tiger cubs, that wouldn't stop playing to pose for a picture:
Gorgeous birds - lots and lots!
And these majestic white lions:
The zoo closed at 6 and we were hungry, hot and tired. We drove about half way to Detroit and found a very nice hotel in Findlay Ohio. It was perfect. The next morning we went to Saint Michael's Church, which was gorgeous. I just had to take a picture afterwards, even though two of the kids had already jumped in the van and taken their shoes off!
We all decided that the Detroit Zoo was more visually pleasing. It seemed like a nice place to take long leisurely walks. The statues, fountains and flowers were all beautiful. Unfortunately, we had run into two traffic jams on the way there so our time was limited so we kept pushing on, occasionally stopping for pictures!
"Amphibiville" was an interesting display of amphibians (obviously!). This gentleman, a docent who really seemed to enjoy his job, helped the kids find the tiny frogs, salamanders and snakes hiding in the foliage of their displays.
One of the most impressive areas was the Arctic Ring of Life. It included an underground, glass tunnel we walked through. We watched the antics of a seal swim back and forth over the top of us.
We were hoping this big guy would jump in the water, but he seemed to enjoy just chillin' out on his little "iceberg".
Some of the other animals we enjoyed at the Detroit Zoo:
`
Beany really liked these guys that walked around both zoo's. He followed them, but was afraid to get too close. Their colors were quite striking.
So, a good time was had by all, though we're a bit tired today. I think, in the future, one zoo will be enough. We could have spent 2 days at the Cincinnati Zoo alone. But we enjoyed ourselves and the time together as a family will be a treasure to remember.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)