School Week 3!

So this week we finished up a few activites I wanted the kids to complete last week, but we didn't get around to it. We did some more "A" activites:


And an Apple Tree Handprint page!


Then we moved on to the letter "B"!

We did all sorts of "B" activites! Every week, Essa has a letter collage to do, which she fills with things that start with that lettter (ex. for letter A she did apple cereal, the letter B she filled in with beads ... [even though they kept falling off because they were too heavy])


She did butterfly size sorting, buttefly lacing, buttefly prewriting cards, and lots more! Including: Bottlecap letter match up




And making coffee filter butteflies:



(Which we hung above the girl's bed)



This week the kids had their very first baking class with Jemma's mother-in-law (she used to be a professional cake decorator). They loved it!



He looks so serious!








We then used the cakes to celebrate my Mom's birthday with her!

We worked on our Christmas Cantana. If you can come, please do! We are not sure of the date yet, but the kids are working really hard gearing up. They will be doing a song to handbells:



Playing their choice of song on the piano:


And doing a skit to a very special book... "The Shepards Suprise". It is a tradition that my dad created when Jemma was born that he reads this book every year at Christmas. So this will be a very special skit! I'm SO excited!

We also began our country study this week! The first country we are learning about is the US!

So we sewed together a US flag, and learned what all those stars and stripes mean!




We learned about major landfeatures(such as the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, etc) and labeled some maps!

We learned about the animals in the US, classified them on our animal board, and made animal mini books! We also made some of them out of playdough! (Like Enoch's rattlesnake??)

[By the way, did you know that a rattlesnake grows a new button every year? So you can easily tell how old one is by looking at their tail!]

Which turned into other playdough critters:


Then we had to learn all the different layers of a forest! Enoch had this worksheet he had to complete:



So to make it really hit home, I decided it would be much easier to learn the layers of the forest if we actuallly made one! So we did! We made a forest diorama!



He took all the animals that were listed on his worksheet and cut them out of construction paper, then we classified them into different layers on the forest!
See his bald eagle?



Can you spot the lemur and the monarch buttefly?



We also learned about Dwight L. Moody and the great Chicago fire (back in 1871).. which was So cool- seeing how we were just there last summer!

Then to wrap up the week, we made native american indian war bonnetts!



While listening to none other than Indian music (which we danced around the house playing follow the leader to.... just as the Indian kids do!)




Don't let those sweet little faces fool you! I have a very skiddish dog who absoulty HATED the war bonnetts! She barked and growled, so the children felt the need to chase her around the the house with it, until she eventually ran and hid under my bed! Hey.... I thought we were all raising wild Indians!!

What a FUN FUN week we had!

The "Flow" of our Day!

I've had a lot of questions about the "Flow" of our day. What we do, how we are set up, and how I keep track of everything. So if your interested, read on. If not, just skip to the next post ;-)

First off... this is my little homeschool corner:



I also have a bookshelf (beside it), another bookshelf in the laundry room, and each of the kids have bookshelves in their rooms, filled full. I've tried really hard to contain all my home school stuff into one visable room (instead of the alternative - which would be taking over my entire house!)

We start every morning with the Pledge of Allegiance, then onto our calendar board.



Here we cover the date, the color of the day (and sing the color song so we can learn to spell it), our address and phone number, we make the date with money, the weather (we sing and graph the weather for the day), how many days in school (covering place value), memory verse, skip counting, and lastly, our shape of the day).

Each child also has their own school binder, with their own calendar things in it. They all have the weather graph, and Enoch also has place value (days in school), make the date with money, his own calendar, and a page to write the date.


Then we move on to group time, which everyday is different. I make a calendar for the week with the things listed that we need to cover. It looks like this:

From 3rd Week of School

(Don’t let all those “FREE”s fool you. Thursday is NOT a free day, but they don’t have workboxes that day [I’ll explain that later]. Instead, we spend the entire day on our major art project for the week [an art piece from the country we are studying] and working with the Russell’s on our Christmas Cantata!)

We do Bible, geography, science, history, music, and art all together as a family.


Then its off to workbox time! I have a drawer set aside in my filing cabinet for the kids. Each child has a color of file folders assigned to them and they are given up to 12 folders to complete a day. Each folder has a number on it. They are also given a workbox strip, with numbers 1-12. They go to the file drawer, get out folder number 1, do whatever is in the folder, then take the number 1 off their strip, attach it to the folder, and put it in a little black crate next to the filing cabinet to signify its done. Then they move onto number 2, and they work all the way through the folders- then the school day is over! These folders contain a lot of their core subjects (grammar, writing, reading, math, math drills, spelling, etc), but also fun stuff, (like PE, snack, and any fun activity I think they would enjoy [Enoch made a flying pig the other day]), to help give them a little fun time to help the break up the day. I will be honest, it is A TON of work to fill these every night (it takes me about ½ an hour)… but it helps the day run smoother. Each child picked their own character at the start of the year. I love it that Enoch picked Inspector Gadget (that was my favorite when I was his age), and can you guess who picked Hannah Montana?

From 3rd Week of School

As far as planning for this, my weekly planner has little numbers off to the side, and I color coded my children, so I know which activity goes in which folder for the day.

From 3rd Week of School

Then for my legal requirements, the state of MO only requires that you complete 1200 school hours- and keep a log of said hours, and a sample of some of their work. So the first week I was finding it hard to keep track of those hours, I needed a system. So I created this sheet:

From 3rd Week of School

I keep it beside me as we work, so I can easiy jot down how much time we are spending doing what. At the top there is a space for the date, and our core hours (as listed by the state law):

From 3rd Week of School

Then on down is a list of the non-core hours that we usually do, and a little note section to keep track of any important things we did that week:

From 3rd Week of School

It has helped my day flow so much smoother!
I hope that has answered some of your questions, and encouraged you today!

DISCLAIMER: Let it to be known that we do NOT school Mon-Fri, but instead, Tue-Sat. We decided God wanted us to homeschool for 2 MAIN reason. Number 1: to put God first in EVERYTHING. Number 2: Family! Adam works Tue-Sat, so thats when we school. We don't school when Dads off. That way, Mon is left for our family day!

Our Behavior System!

I have really been torn over what to do about our behavior program. Its not that our kids have “bad” behavior, but they really need to get a grip on their attitude sometimes… and I have been praying about how to deal with it. Then I came up with this (borrowing ideas and putting things together from others to make it work for us). So this is our new system, and I love it (so does the kids)! This is how it works…

Posted on my fridge is this

If you notice, each kid has their own clothespin with their name on it:




First off, I’ll explain the clip up chart.


At the beginning of the school day, each kids begins on the green spot “Ready to Learn”. This way they advance up, or down- depending upon their behavior. I like this better than starting at the top and only advancing down when your in trouble, as this gives me room to compliment good behavior. Throughout the day, if I notice them following our school rules (such as working diligently, or being kind to others)- I tell them to “Clip Up”… then they move their clothespin up a notch. If I notice them NOT following the rules-I simply tell them “You weren’t following the rules. You disobeyed this rule: __________(fill in the blank). Please go Clip Down”. Then they have to move down a notch. This works awesome for me… as having to clip down really upsets them, whereas clipping up makes them all giddy. They even have the chance to go to the “Top of the Chart” … or even “Off the Chart” (where the clothespin gets clipped on ME! At the end of the day, they earn tickets- based upon where their clothespin is.



They keep all their tickets in the front of their school binder (each kid has their own)- so no tickets get lost.

At the end of our school week (which for us is Saturday).. we have “Celebration Saturday” and the kids can either choose to cash in their tickets, or save them up for a bigger prize! Our rewards are as follows:



Its working great for us. Its fun to watch them pick out and save up for their prize! If your interested in this program, I wouldn’t mind to email you my documents I created, and of course, if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Back to School Pictures!

This year we did a Back to School Photo Session! After all, public school kids get photoshoots... so shouldn't ours?? I was so pleased with the way they turned out. Mom got me some school frames for part of MY school supplies for the year, so I printed them out and have them framed in my little "school area". I am really enjoying looking at them through the day. Enjoy ;-)