We took Monday the 19th off so that I could finish recovering from traveling and a busy Sunday. We walked outside, pulled weeds, worked on the lake/dam in the side yard (of course!), et cetera. Very relaxing. The children did watch an episode of The Blue Planet at some point.....
Tuesday, May 20
We did Miquon math and Explode the Code in the morning, and I dovetailed handwriting into the ETC work. Art class in the afternoon, followed by the natural foods store, co-op, and visiting and playing with a younger friend. In the car as we ran our errands we listened to my children's favorite: The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter. Oh Ginger and Pickles, how we love you.
Wednesday, May 21
Finn was feeling sick this morning, so it didn't look like we'd be able to do school. However, after a couple of hours of saying he was nauseated, he bounced back and was dancing around the house. So we did school! Miquon first (addition). Then I reviewed some phonics work with him and had him read two Mouse Tales to me aloud. After that we read two Aesop's Fables (he narrated one back to me) and read about the Phoenicians in our history book. We do picture narrations for history--one index card per chapter--so he drew a boat (they were great sailors who built ships with cedar of Lebanon trees) with letters on the side (they invented the precursor to our modern alphabet) with a man on board wearing purple (they used snails to create a rich purple dye for linen and wool, and they sold it as they sailed). Finally I had him copy a sentence for handwriting: "The Phoenician boys learned their alpha beta." In the car on the way to spend the afternoon with a friend we listened to The Story of the World chapters on the Phoenicians. Bedtime story: Beatrix Potter. "The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, PLEASE MOMMY!" begged the three-year old. Okay!
Thursday, May 22
We started with Miquon--three pages. Then three pages of Explode the Code. After that Finn read one of the Mouse Tales to us aloud, and then I read a section of Little House in the Big Woods and had Finn narrate it back to me. We read the next chapter in Life of Fred and did the problems, and Finn finished up the day with copywork (a sentence from Little House). The afternoon included a sunshiney walk and the children's choice of DVD: Andre Rieu in Vienna. (I forced them to choose a movie by design: it was time for me to shovel out and organize Finn's room, and it is virtually impossible to do it with my sweet and lovely 3 year old nearby).
Friday, May 23: We had a day off and out! I had a chiropractor appointment. We met friends at our local Cuban restaurant for lunch (practiced a little Espanol). Then Finn had a makeup art class. I spent the afternoon recovering from a raging headache and preparing for a poetry-reading date night. We did listen to Beatrix Potter in the car. I wanted an easy day because for the next three days, we did standardized testing. I administered one section per day. Finn and I celebrated yesterday when he finished the last section!! Hallelujah!
Finn also finished building his lake and dam on Saturday (with Daddy). The children went on a nature-y hike with Daddy on Monday (Memorial Day).....while the schoolmarm bought some shirts for herself at the thrift store and purchase a new pair of sandals (TOMS)....and got a manicure and pedicure. Very nice.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Schoolroom Organization
I enjoy learning how people organize their spaces, and this is particularly true for schoolrooms. So here's how I did ours. It is very simple and it works for me!
Our schoolroom area is a finished basement. The basement looked like this for many years--lots of exposed studs and insulation. (The single window is now a double window, pictured later in the post.)
Our schoolroom area is a finished basement. The basement looked like this for many years--lots of exposed studs and insulation. (The single window is now a double window, pictured later in the post.)
Now we have walls!
In the living area we have a little space for music--the piano, toy instruments, and a guitar reside here. Our other two guitars are in another part of this room. A basket to the left of the piano (you can't see it well in this photo) stores piano lesson books. The cross-stitch above the piano is one my grandmother did years ago. The large abalone shell underneath it was my mother's. The piano is a behemoth antique with real ivory keys; I learned on it when I was a child.
The photos on the wall near the guitar are black and whites of my father--because he's a music lover and a guitar player.
Directly across from the music area is the pantry. I use a shoe storage organizer to corral all the many, many different office supplies we own--from binder clips to staples, from push pins to Sharpees, from scissors to post-it notes, from tape to glue...it's all here. Each section is labeled in yellow so that we know where things go.
My inside-the-pantry shot was very blurry, so I'm omitting it. The top two shelves of the pantry contain acrylic paints, science kit materials, ribbon and gift cards, melty beads, craft supplies bin, and a bin with colored pencils, pastels, and stamps. Having the craft items in one place is so, so helpful.
To the right of the pantry is the stairwell that leads upstairs. Portrait is by a sweet and dear family friend.
And to the right of the stairwell is my mother's childhood rolltop desk. A silver compote, Native American pottery my husband brought to me from Colorado, and a geode we purchased in Oregon sit on top. The watercolor is by another friend.
To the left of the piano we have a bookcase. This was made by my husband's grandfather! The bins on the top of the bookcase contain all the books we use for the current schoolyear. This makes it very easy for me to just grab what we need each day and go. On the second shelf we have two baskets that hold DVD cases. The purple bin holds the small selection of VHS tapes that we still own, and to the right of that are a few music collection cases. The second shelf contains some 'boxed set' movies, a big black CD case, my special round picnic basket, a small wooden container with the few cassette tapes I have left, and a few books. On the bottom we have bins holding scratch and blank paper--easily accessible for my young artist. (The little high chair you can sort of see to the right was made by my grandfather for my mom and her brothers. It is beautiful!)
Our schoolroom is an aqua color. I love the built-in cabinetry. I still can't believe we were able to do this--I'm very grateful.
The schoolroom walls are aqua, as this blurry and dark photo shows. We have a very large dry erase board mounted on one wall (thanks to my brother-in-law, who owns a dry erase board manufacturing company). My husband found old school pull-down maps of our state and the world on ebay and installed them above the board. My desk, not pictured, is below the dry erase board--it is exactly as wide as the board. Our history picture narrations are currently at the top of the board, but I hope to put up a corkboard in the adjoining laundry area for those soon.
To the left of my desk is the filing cabinet. Why did I not close those drawers? Anyhow--the top of the cabinet contains photos, some of my favorite little trinket-type items (mostly from Finland), and pewter cups of pencils and pens......and a few things that remind me of my late, great mother, who was a public schoolteacher.
A pink magnetic basket on the side of the file cabinet holds my dry erase markers. The rest of the side of the cabinet is for a penmanship chart, three inspirational notes, a sticker chart for my eldest, my son's soccer photo from last year and a beautiful photo my sister brought me from Prague.
(Also, the plates on the wall were painted by my mother and are intentionally crooked! One was cracked, and I feared putting too much tension on the crack. So I just hung them askew! Why not!)
I like binders. Here's my collection. On the top shelf there's a financial course for children packet, the flash cards box, a Delta Science in a Nutshell kit and my beloved label maker in the purple bin. The next shelf holds my binders: everything from my husband's CNC router building instructions to my home management binder to the binders I use for school. To the right are some old primers.
The cabinets below the bookcases are maybe my favorite thing ever.
There's the toy cabinet.....
The photo album/scrapbook cabinet.....
The games cabinet.....
The cabinet containing bins with index cards, CDs, labels, photos, scrapbook paper, and stationery......
The cabinet with the paperstuffs: binder of sheet protectors, pile of legal pads, pile of composition notebooks, pile of spiral notebooks. Below this we have construction paper...and our old yearbooks!
The last cabinet on the wall contains the printer, power strip, printer paper and various related accessories (in the big clear bin).
I keep a big basket of board books on the floor. I can't stand to part with any of these treasures.
In front of the double window we have our former dining table--a farm-style table I bought for a song at a consignment store several years ago. The basket in the middle contains softback picture books. We have a globe, a bunch of books piled up on the left for flower-pressing purposes, and a random bunny as well....
A side view of the table--littered with papers, The Story of the World on CD, and pencils. Someone is also checking out his nature journal......
The desk looks out to the patio, crabapple tree and under-construction playground.....as well as great-grandma's house on the hill.
To the left of the window is our nature shelf. The reticulated giraffe print is one that we carried around for years--a gift from my father-in-law to my husband--and that I loathed. I finally decided to try it out on the wall and lo and behold--it fits right into the schoolroom. Go figure!
In this photo the nature table contains items of winter: found rocks, feathers and yes, a squirrel's tail. Just don't even ask about that--Squirrel Nutkin is still feeling violated, I'm sure. A dormant orchid waits patiently to rebloom.
That's how we organize our schoolroom. I keep things as simple and uncomplicated as possible. I like to use what I already have and I feel very content with my little system. We are so grateful for what we have and for the little tools (like that over-the-door organizer!) that help keep things organized!
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Removing Stubborn Dry Erase Ink
Everyone in the universe probably knows this already, but this map (from our Classical Conversations class) was like this for A WHOLE YEAR. I didn't know what to do to clean it off--water didn't work, dry erase spray didn't work--and frankly I was too busy to be bothered, but I couldn't stand the idea of throwing it out. Someone who was 2.5 at the time did this lovely handiwork.....
Finally I googled it. The suggestion was nail polish remover with acetone--which I have magically sitting in my bathroom closet. It worked beautifully. I was so pleased. Now we can use this dry erase map in our schooling--it doesn't look like the earth is being destroyed by hurricanes, tornadoes and hail storms anymore.
So satisfying.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Journal of Days, May 5-16
I *completely* forgot to record anything from the week before last except for one day--Monday, I think! Oops! On Monday, April 28: Miquon--finished the book! Did a lesson from our phonics book (The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading). Read aloud 2 Mouse Tales. Read Pippi Longstocking (2 chapters). Looked at Thailand facts on Time for Kids website, then watched a short video on shark tagging and another one on tornadoes. Done for that day!
There was also a day that week that Finn decided he was going to do a ton of his Explode the Code book. I think he did something like 10-12 pages (almost 2 full lessons) before I stopped him and moved us on to something else!
Monday, May 5
Two pages of Miquon. Reviewed -ea- sounds. Then I made up a story using those sounds and had Finn read it. After that I put "eat" and "seat" in the corner of white board and had Finn write 2 sentences (using his own spelling) using those words. "I will eat ice cream, yum yum yum. I will reed in mi seat." He finished watching a numbers video with little sister, then we read two chapters of Pippi Longstocking, read the next chapter in Child's History of the World (and then we talked about it at length, and Finn illustrated it on an index card--I like "picture narrations" for this age). Finn narrated one Aesop's Fable and then the children begged to read more, so we spent some time flipping around reading Aesop today. We spent the afternoon enjoying the company of a friend who came over to play; Finn also worked on building the lake and dam he is designing in our flower bed. Bedtime story: Mr. Popper's Penguins. An easy, quiet day.
Tuesday, May 6
Two pages of Miquon. A little confused about how his mother knows that if I have 20,000 prs of socks I have an even number of socks....we'll get there! Two pages of Explode the Code. Played at the park with friends for an hour (recess?). Art lesson, then the rest of the afternoon spent at farmers' market, Fresh Market and local Mennonite market! Lots of time in the car meant listening to the entire Disc 1 of The Story of the World....more than once. Fortunately Finn got in some good quality time working on his dam while I made dinner. He also decided to make a golden apple, inspired by the Greek tale of the origins of the Trojan War.* Bedtime story: ditto Monday.
Wednesday, May 7
Today we attended the schools of dam-building outside and planting liriope, lilies and columbine. Gardening! Lots of configuring, designing and trying to figure out how to use scrap wood to create a good dam for his lake.
Thursday, May 8
No formal school today, as we enjoyed a full-day field trip (left the house at 8:15, home around 4:15) to a different city to see a performance of Mary Poppins. The set was great, there was confetti blasting out of a cannon at the end (those in the know will know what this means to Finn--he's a confetti maniac), and the children were enchanted for three straight hours (with one 15-minute intermission). So fun! Back at home Finn worked very hard on creating his own set--he's also an obsessed, interested set-designer and has designed backdrops for fairy movies, the Swan Lake ballet, and many variations of Andre Rieu's orchestra. He also worked on making confetti--an ongoing project. We also read copious quantities of Beatrix Potter--my 3 year old daughter Annie is addicted. Bedtime story: we finished Mr. Popper's Penguins!
Friday, May 9
Three pages Miquon. Worked on phonics (I create my own lessons at times). Finn had to write 2 sentences using the words "clean" and "great". We started reading The Little House in the Big Woods. (Finn was really impressed by the smokehouse idea. "Wow, that was smart!") We read two chapters of Life of Fred: Butterflies, we sang our hymns and learned the next verse of our current hymn ("For the Beauty of the Earth").
On Monday the 12th we left home and traveled to Charleston, South Carolina for the week. My father and stepmother live there and we wanted to get some sunshine. So we swam in the pool, went to the beach twice, celebrated my father's birthday and spent a lot of quality time together. We also did school while we were there--but just Miquon and Explode the Code. Very simple, basic and easy.
We are back at it now!
*The Golden Apple was supposed to go to the most beautiful goddess. I can't wait to see whether Finn decides his mother is The Most Beautiful Goddess. Stay tuned. {UPDATE: He says his sister should get it. You know....I agree.}
There was also a day that week that Finn decided he was going to do a ton of his Explode the Code book. I think he did something like 10-12 pages (almost 2 full lessons) before I stopped him and moved us on to something else!
Monday, May 5
Two pages of Miquon. Reviewed -ea- sounds. Then I made up a story using those sounds and had Finn read it. After that I put "eat" and "seat" in the corner of white board and had Finn write 2 sentences (using his own spelling) using those words. "I will eat ice cream, yum yum yum. I will reed in mi seat." He finished watching a numbers video with little sister, then we read two chapters of Pippi Longstocking, read the next chapter in Child's History of the World (and then we talked about it at length, and Finn illustrated it on an index card--I like "picture narrations" for this age). Finn narrated one Aesop's Fable and then the children begged to read more, so we spent some time flipping around reading Aesop today. We spent the afternoon enjoying the company of a friend who came over to play; Finn also worked on building the lake and dam he is designing in our flower bed. Bedtime story: Mr. Popper's Penguins. An easy, quiet day.
Tuesday, May 6
Two pages of Miquon. A little confused about how his mother knows that if I have 20,000 prs of socks I have an even number of socks....we'll get there! Two pages of Explode the Code. Played at the park with friends for an hour (recess?). Art lesson, then the rest of the afternoon spent at farmers' market, Fresh Market and local Mennonite market! Lots of time in the car meant listening to the entire Disc 1 of The Story of the World....more than once. Fortunately Finn got in some good quality time working on his dam while I made dinner. He also decided to make a golden apple, inspired by the Greek tale of the origins of the Trojan War.* Bedtime story: ditto Monday.
Wednesday, May 7
Today we attended the schools of dam-building outside and planting liriope, lilies and columbine. Gardening! Lots of configuring, designing and trying to figure out how to use scrap wood to create a good dam for his lake.
Thursday, May 8
No formal school today, as we enjoyed a full-day field trip (left the house at 8:15, home around 4:15) to a different city to see a performance of Mary Poppins. The set was great, there was confetti blasting out of a cannon at the end (those in the know will know what this means to Finn--he's a confetti maniac), and the children were enchanted for three straight hours (with one 15-minute intermission). So fun! Back at home Finn worked very hard on creating his own set--he's also an obsessed, interested set-designer and has designed backdrops for fairy movies, the Swan Lake ballet, and many variations of Andre Rieu's orchestra. He also worked on making confetti--an ongoing project. We also read copious quantities of Beatrix Potter--my 3 year old daughter Annie is addicted. Bedtime story: we finished Mr. Popper's Penguins!
Friday, May 9
Three pages Miquon. Worked on phonics (I create my own lessons at times). Finn had to write 2 sentences using the words "clean" and "great". We started reading The Little House in the Big Woods. (Finn was really impressed by the smokehouse idea. "Wow, that was smart!") We read two chapters of Life of Fred: Butterflies, we sang our hymns and learned the next verse of our current hymn ("For the Beauty of the Earth").
On Monday the 12th we left home and traveled to Charleston, South Carolina for the week. My father and stepmother live there and we wanted to get some sunshine. So we swam in the pool, went to the beach twice, celebrated my father's birthday and spent a lot of quality time together. We also did school while we were there--but just Miquon and Explode the Code. Very simple, basic and easy.
We are back at it now!
*The Golden Apple was supposed to go to the most beautiful goddess. I can't wait to see whether Finn decides his mother is The Most Beautiful Goddess. Stay tuned. {UPDATE: He says his sister should get it. You know....I agree.}
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Thailand
We are ready to move on after reading and learning about Thailand for
a few weeks. I began our geography/cultures study with Thailand simply
because I love Thai food and I wanted to do a lot of takeout......
We began by reading about Thai people in a Peter Menzel book (we have Hungry Planet and Material World), and then we read about Thai children in Where Children Sleep.
We added the following books (from the library):
Thailand (an overview of Thailand's geography, history, politics, religion, animals, etc)
An Elephant in the Backyard (my children now want an elephant in our backyard--cows aren't enough!)
The Umbrella Queen (a neat little picture book about a girl who learns to paint umbrellas in the tradition of the women in her village--but she paints hers with a twist!)
Hello, Bumblee Bat (simplistic picture book about the bumblee bat, a tiny bat that is only found in certain Thai caves)
The Story of Silk (details on the process of getting silk from a silkworm, though I edited heavily due to the uber-conversational writing style)
In addition, we used Time for Kids to look up a few fast facts on Thailand and review a few photos. We also became fascinated with looms and watched some videos on looms on youtube.
And a great deal of red curry, green curry and chicken satay were consumed...all in the name of academics, of course.
My approach to education at this point is centered on simplicity. I've found that if I introduce places, people and events to my children via books or other resources, they come up with their own projects, extracurricular ideas, hands-on activities, etc. This means I do not have to create involved projects--they do it for me. And they learn to teach themselves and solve problems along the way...with an absolute minimum of busywork. This works for me!
We began by reading about Thai people in a Peter Menzel book (we have Hungry Planet and Material World), and then we read about Thai children in Where Children Sleep.
We added the following books (from the library):
Thailand (an overview of Thailand's geography, history, politics, religion, animals, etc)
An Elephant in the Backyard (my children now want an elephant in our backyard--cows aren't enough!)
The Umbrella Queen (a neat little picture book about a girl who learns to paint umbrellas in the tradition of the women in her village--but she paints hers with a twist!)
The Story of Silk (details on the process of getting silk from a silkworm, though I edited heavily due to the uber-conversational writing style)
In addition, we used Time for Kids to look up a few fast facts on Thailand and review a few photos. We also became fascinated with looms and watched some videos on looms on youtube.
And a great deal of red curry, green curry and chicken satay were consumed...all in the name of academics, of course.
My approach to education at this point is centered on simplicity. I've found that if I introduce places, people and events to my children via books or other resources, they come up with their own projects, extracurricular ideas, hands-on activities, etc. This means I do not have to create involved projects--they do it for me. And they learn to teach themselves and solve problems along the way...with an absolute minimum of busywork. This works for me!
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