Workboxes

Some days I feel like a traveling circus.  Today was one of those days.  My apologies to anyone who met us at the library.  That was when the circus turned into chaos and we immediately went home.  

School was alright today.  The workbox idea needs some work.  And actual boxes.  Work folders didn't work so well.  I ended up with disorganized activities all over the room.  But here is what I learned:  1) This is a good idea, it just needs fine tuning.  2)  Adeline thought it was great.  Braxton seemed indifferent.  3)  Five workboxes is too much for Braxton.  I'm prepping 4 for tomorrow with the hope of getting through 3.

Here are the activities that were in the workboxes/folders:

This week we are covering fire safety.  I made these booklets, one for each kid, from the U.S. Fire Administration website.  We'll do 2 pages a day.  This was their first workbox so we could do it together.

Braxton's next box was counting.  He thought this was fun.

Adeline's second box was also a counting activity.

Her third box was number tracing.  She loved getting to use the dry erase marker!

Then a missing letter activity.

Braxton is starting over with letter A this week using the Letter of the Week material from Confessions.

For her final workbox, Adeline had a couple mazes.  

The workboxes are in addition to our regular curriculum.  It lengthens our day by about an hour.

We started reading Matilda today, too.  I think we will do a chapter a day.  The first chapter was a bit long.  Adeline enjoyed it until the last page or two, then she got tired of listening.  I think I'm really going to enjoy re-reading books from my childhood and sharing them with my kids!

Oh, we also started our first Five in a Row book today, Madeline.  We will read the book each day and have a different lesson related to the story.  Today we read the book, then found Paris on our map.  Tomorrow we will talk about some of the big vocab words in the story like "appendix" and "solemn."

And we made it!

Week one is done!  I learned a lot this week - both good and bad! - but overall I'd say the week was a success.  I had a good time, the kids had a good time and I think they just might have learned a thing or two!

Here is our Friday.  Our friends woke up sick, so they didn't get to spend the day with us.  We were bummed, but we plan to see them one afternoon a week for the next couple of months, so the grief was short-lived.  :)

Braxton matched up some ducks.  It's part of a new set of material we're going to be using.  More on that later.

Adeline has a pretty easy Friday.  We do a quick review of the things learned Monday-Thursday, then we work through a reader.  The first two readers are wordless.  Her homework for this weekend is to "read" the book to Daddy and complete one shapes worksheet on her own.

Adeline made some patterns in math.

For the final reading of The Kissing Hand, Adeline "read" the book to her brother.  She did really well!  Isn't that a sweet picture?

So here's what's brewing in my planning process.  I thought it would be easy to pull something together quickly for Braxton's one-on-one time.  And it probably should be.  But the truth is, the rest of our day takes so much of my time and energy that I've slacked on his activities and yank something out of our cupboard as a last minute "plan."  So after downloading some of the freebies from Confessions of a Homeschooler, I decided to pay the $20 and get the Letter of the Week curriculum and K4 curriculum.  I'm going to add it to what we are already doing.  I'm going to implement a workbox strategy to our day.  I think it will make better use of our time.  I have a break for Adeline planned in to the morning, but all week she spent her break sitting with Braxton and me wanting to do what he was doing.  So Braxton's one-on-one time is going to transform into Workbox Time.  I ordered storage carts to use as the workboxes (another Confessions idea!).  Each kid will have one stack of ten boxes.  I probably won't use all ten boxes this year, I'm thinking 5-6 a day.  They will be filled with activities from the Confessions curriculum (and other stuff I have around here) that supplement what we are doing in our curriculum.  The activities will be things that I can help the kids get started on, but they should be able to do on their own.  The picture above of Braxton matching the ducks is an example of a Confessions activity.  I'm looking forward to starting the workboxes.  I think the kids will really like them!  The carts will probably arrive next week, so we'll do workboxes sans boxes until then.  :)

I'm also going to start reading Matilda to Adeline after the other two go down for naps.  A friend has been reading a "big" book with her homeschooled son and they both really enjoy the time.  I haven't decided how long/how much we'll read each day, we'll just see how it goes.

Whew!  And that's a wrap!  Monday is just around the corner and I have much to do.  I have a fun Chicka Chicka Boom Boom project in the works, but that's a post for another day!        

School & the Zoo!

What a busy day!  We worked hard in school in the morning, then went to the zoo in the afternoon.  I don't know about the kids, but I'm ready for bed!!

Adeline's journal entry this morning was a picture of her family... and Tinkerbell.  Tinkerbell got the most time and attention.  I asked her what we were doing in the picture and she said, "Cartwheels."  Of course, why didn't I see that!

As requested, Braxton got his marker board activity.  Tracing a line is still above his ability level, but he enjoyed the activity, nevertheless.

He was more successful at lacing.

Adeline chose to play with blocks while Braxton worked at the desk.  Then she wanted me to take her picture.

Adeline played the cupcake file folder game during math.  She did really well!

And Sadie used her time to tear apart the art center.  She looks pretty proud of herself, huh?

 We talked about triangles in math, then made triangle hats.  They look a bit like dunce caps, but the kids don't know that!  They had a great time decorating them with glitter glue.

On the fourth day of reading The Kissing Hand, we discussed nocturnal animals and then completed a worksheet about the things we do in the day and at night.

And then the zoo!!  The kids had a lot of fun in the butterfly house.  The butterflies seemed extra friendly today.

One more day and we will have the first week down!!  Tomorrow we have 3 friends joining us for school.  Wish me luck!

Day 3

Today didn't feel quite as exciting as yesterday.  Maybe it was simply that the activities weren't as "fun" as yesterday or maybe it was that my level of enthusiasm matched my level of energy, which I'm pretty sure was/is in the negative range.  It wasn't a bad day, just more of a ho-hum day.

I decorated our bulletin board last night with our kissing hands.  

Braxton worked on a file folder game and did really well!  I made it a couple years ago for Adeline.  This one is nice for colors, shapes, matching and counting to 2.

More practice at the marker board.  Braxton told me that he wants a marker board activity tomorrow.

Farmer Brown lost his sheep!  Adeline helped count them and put them in their fence.

Another day of reading The Kissing Hand.  Afterward, we traced our hands, then estimated how many "kisses" would fit on the drawings.  Adeline thought 2 kisses would fit on her hand.  Of course, Braxton said the same thing.  Turns out, Braxton fit 16 and Adeline got 18.  They were both allowed to eat 3.  :)

Tuesday

Another day down!  Even though I was happy with yesterday, today went a LOT smoother.  Sadie was content more often than not, I made a few adjustments after re-examining yesterday and I think everyone was more relaxed in general.  I don't know - it was just a good day!  We had some fun activities today.  

In science, we experimented with mixing colors.  You can't go wrong with finger paint!  

 Sadie thought this was GREAT!

After the experiment, Adeline decided that her favorite color to make is purple and that she really likes purple butterflies.  However, she couldn't find her purple crayon, so she chose to draw a blue butterfly in her journal.  The purple crayon was located at the end of the project, so the butterfly got a couple purple dots.  For now, I'm doing most of the writing for her, but she did write "Adeline" and "purple" by herself.

Braxton had fun with Unifix cubes during his one-on-one time.  We worked on counting to ten and stacking the cubes - a nice fine motor skill activity!  We did a little bit of pattern copying, too.

Adeline practiced writing letters and drawing shapes with sidewalk chalk.

Then we decided to play alphabet hopscotch!  I got in trouble because my "big feet" were erasing the lines.  So I sat in the shade and watched instead.  :)

Hopscotch... or Twister... whatever!

"Hopscotch" is actually the name of our curriculum's mascot.  Last night he was busy making bunny trails on our marker board for Adeline to trace.  Sadie thought it was hilarious to watch him bounce across the board.

"Look, Mom!  Choking hazards!"

Adeline had a turn with the Unifix cubes, too.  She made stacks of cubes from 1-10.  The biggest challenge here is keeping your baby sister from knocking over the towers!

We read The Kissing Hand again today, then made handprints with heart shaped "kisses" on them.  I placed a small heart cookie cutter in the wet paint and let the kids pour glitter into it.  I think they turned out cute!  Sadie wasn't a huge fan of getting her hand stamped.  Can you tell?  :)

We were done again today right at lunch time.  8:30 to 11:45ish seems to be our schedule.  We are all looking forward to tomorrow!

And we're off!

We did it!  Day one was a success!  I am utterly exhausted, but pleased with the day.  So here's how it went.  After a yummy egg, toast and smoothie breakfast, school began at 8:30.  Here's the crew:

 I don't know how to get them to give me natural smiles.  This is what happens every time a camera is pointed their way.

Sadie enjoyed lounging in the doorway during lessons.  Check out her cute toenails!  Daddy painted them last night.

During Braxton's one-on-one time, he stamped the letter Aa.  It's suppose to be a do-a-dot sheet, but the one place that sells do-a-dot markers was out of them when I was there.  This worked just as well.  The sheet came from the Confessions of a Homeschooler blog.

About halfway through the morning, we headed outside to burn off some energy.  We made a "grocery store obstacle course" because earlier in the morning we read about a new family moving to town and the community helping them out by bringing over groceries.

The kids weaved in and out of the canned goods on the scooters Daddy made.  We (yes, even me!) went on our backsides, tummies, and knees.  Then we took turns pushing each other.  Super fun!

Back to business.  Adeline reviewed the alphabet by naming the letters.  I'm glad she remembered so much from Pre-K!

Math this week is a review of basic shapes.  Today it was circle.  This week will be pretty easy for Adeline, but I'd rather start off too easy than too hard.  I'm pretty sure she's giving her brother the "preschoolers are soooo immature" look.

"Mom!  Take my picture!  CHEESE!!"

They were actually really excited about this activity.  Can you tell?  :)  Even though it might seem odd since the kids don't leave me during the day, I wanted to start the year with the book "The Kissing Hand."  Love it, such a sweet story.  We have activities based on that book all week.  Today we made heart shaped sugar cookies (like the heart kiss on the raccoon's hand).  Yes, we did it in the basement living room because Miss Sadie was asleep.  :)

We finished the day with a puzzle - one that I bought on a garage sale and consequently is missing a piece.

Well, there are the highlights!  We made it through our entire schedule just in time for lunch - which was followed up by sampling the tasty cookies!

Now this mama needs to get some sleep!  Tomorrow promises to be just as busy!