A Day in the Life

There are many questions or comments we get when people find out we homeschool.  One of the most common ones is some variation on "What do you do all day?".  I think most are not asking this in a condescending way as if I've got my feet up eating the proverbial bon bond, but more out of curiosity of how school works in a home.  What does it look like to learn when you aren't sitting at a desk with 25 other kids for 7 hours a day?  How do you live, cook, clean, play, and now learn all in one day in the same place?

Best laid plans.  My weekly planner
(I try to plan out about 3-4 weeks ahead).
Color coded for each kid.

For us, a day in the life is not a simple answer.  We do not have a strict schedule, but rather a rhythm we strive for.  So, in my best efforts, I will describe the best way I can of how we 'do it' (or at least what we're trying right now because frankly it doesn't always work!)

I made our own calendar book in a
presentation binder with laminated pages

This year Monday's will have Izzy gone all day at a homeschool ancillary program where she will be doing classes in drama, art, music, science experiments, math games, Spanish, and gym.  It is also dance day for both older girls.  Therefore, Mondays I will be fitting in some learning time one on one with Liliana, but otherwise not much else school wise will happen.

A typical 'other day' looks something like this:

7-8:30--Wake up, breakfast, chores, dressed and ready for the day

One of my custom pages for k-2

8:30-- Calendar time and devotions.  We love starting our day together, laughing and learning.  While calendar is not needed for Izzy much, I have found it to be a great time of review for other concepts for her while Lili and I sing the days of the week song and such.  Lucy joins us and colors or sings along.  We pray and get ready to start the rest of our learning day!

9:00-- I pow wow with Izzy and go over her daily checklist.  This gives her the scope of the day and lets her see what the goals are.  This was something we started late last year and has helped build her independence as well.  Often I teach her new math concept and she then goes and does any work she can do independently- usually her math lesson, handwriting, and some of her reading/language arts or writing.  Then I do the best I can to do math and reading with Liliana while maintaining Lucy's attention as well. Since we have not done much school yet, this has yet to be determined to be successful.

Daily Checklist for Izzy- grade 3

   10:00-- snack and break time

   10:30-- Finish up and review any independent work.  I also use this time to have Izzy watch Lucy while I finish up with Liliana.

   11:30-- break for lunch, chores, playtime

   1:00-- While Lucy is napping I do the subjects with Izzy that she needs teacher direction including story of the world, spelling, and some language arts.  Lili often plays a game on the iPad or reads books.

   2:30/3-- hopefully most of our work is done for the day and the girls enjoy some quiet playtime while Lucy finishes her nap.

Late afternoon and evening-- I do the rest of my 'mom' chores like cooking and laundry as we finish our day.  Usually about this time I have the girls 'reset' the school room to make sure we have a clean table and fresh start to our day tomorrow.

Some days look like this

Others, like this!

And the big Asterisk to this is the fact that I have an 18 month old running around and an untested attention span of a 4.5 year old.  Life gets messy.  Crayons get eaten.  Puzzles get dumped.  Errands have to be run.  Some days are joyfully pleasant and we enjoy books and crafts together.  Others, I about want to raise the white flag and summon the big yellow bus.  You never know what you will find in the day in our life, but it is sure to be filled love (even if its deep down!).

You can check out more homeschooling families day in the life at the ihomeschool network blog hop today!

2nd Year of Homeschooling Launch- Our Room

Last year was our first year.  As much as I was warned and I tried to stay away, our room and set up ended up being more of a 'school at home' rather than the lifelong learning intentions I had.  While I found some benefits to the school at home set up, I did make a few adjustments going into our second year of homeschooling.  This was also partly due to the fact that the youngest is now 18 months old and into everything- so many things need to be 'locked away'!

Our room is a main floor office we had originally intended for a play room.  It has great natural light and some large built in bookshelves.  We used an old dining room table we had downstairs, an old sofa chair with a slip cover, and a massive white board found at habitat humanity ReStore.

 We have a small bulletin board for sight words, clock, reference guides, and 100's chart.  Around the room we attached magnet strip to hang art work, maps, and counting strips.  The built in desk area houses our printer, pencil sharpener, and magnet boards for AAS.

 In one of the big cupboards of the built-ins we have added doors and child locks.  This way the markers, stacks of paper, and our pink bins of school books stay safe from the active toddler.  Our pink boxes hold our daily workbooks and TM.  Above the cupboards I have a blue bin of easy access glue, scissors, pencils, index cards, post its, and my green planning binder.  Both girls have a decorated mug filled with their pencils and pens of choice.

 The window wall hosts our chair and small play area to help keep the toddler and sometimes 4.5 year old (who's doing some K work this year) entertained.

Often our room expands into the dining area when the 3rd grader needs quiet work time or to the couch for read aloud time, but this is a great space for school central.  We are very thankful to have it. Welcome to our room!

My post this week is part of the not back-to school hop over at ihomeschool!

A Late Fall of "Field Trips"

Once November hit in our house, it was a season of day to day survival.  Many of our 'extra' projects and fun crafts went out the window.  We worked hard on doubling up on lessons some days since many days would not have anything at all.  While December was filled with the typical holiday rush, we also add a birthday 12 days before and 5 days after Christmas.  Really.  Its like one big, never-ending party.  Despite the hustle and bustle and the desire to keep some sense of structure and learning- we made room for some experiences that simply cannot be replicated in a classroom or by reading a book.  One of the reasons we decided to homeschool was to be able to freely say 'yes' to opportunities like this.

In early November, Isabelle had the opportunity to travel to Bangladesh to visit a children's home we have supported for many years which in turn allowed her to interact with 420 children and meet our three children whom we sponsor.  She went with her daddy, grandma, grandpa, a great aunt, a second cousin, an uncle, and a cousin who is about her age.  From the 24hrs+ of travel, new foods, new language, the heat, 11 hour time difference, and the flurry of that many children wanting to touch your pale skin and play with your blonde hair- it was quite the experience!  For our timid observer it was a stretch for her personality, but she did well after acclimating a couple of days.  She served the children meals, helped teach a song in chapel, danced Bangla, went to 'school' and learn some bangla words and writings, delivered gifts to sponsor children, played games of uno and double dutch, was the ultimate playmate, little sister, and even big sister to the children.  She showed God's love with a child like faith to the 'least of these'.  Her dad and I are so proud of how she handled herself and are so thankful she could take advantage of the opportunity.

In true 'homeschooling fashion' I had her journal while she was away.  Then, when she returned, we compiled her 5 favorite memories and wrote them in newspaper article form (It just so happened that our next unit in WriteShop was on newspaper narratives!).  It was a great way for her to process what she had done and seen and give her a chance to contemplate the 'why's' and feelings of it all.  It also gave me an opportunity to hear about what they did.

We squeezed in some good schooling in late November before Thanksgiving, but then early December we were off on a vacation with extended family.  18 travelers in all, including 8 kids under 10 and an 84 year old great grandma.  While I was tempted to do journalling or keep my eyes open for great learning opportunities, I decided that this field trip needed to be about just enjoying each other.  We watched our girls play in the sand, go down the watersides, and swim in the pools.  By being free to encourage and get excited with one another, Izzy finally warmed up to the idea of swimming independently.  We had done swim lessons in the summer which did not go over well (screaming and gnashing of teeth would be an understatement) but she was capable.  In her own time, she finally did it, swam across the pool, and was on her way.  By the end of the trip she was doing cannonballs and triple somersaults underwater in one breath.

What did I learn from all this?  Sometimes homeschooling adventures are about lifelong behaviors and reaching the heart of the children.  Sometimes it should just be about being.  Being 100% present as parents and cheerleaders and let kids just be kids.  Learning is still happening- sometimes more is gained when I stay out of the way.  Perhaps times of intentional 'absence' as a 'teacher' are the most influential.

I'm linked up at the Hip Homeschool Hop this week!  Check out the other great posts!

From Moses to Jericho in Crafts

The past couple of weeks we have been studying the Israelites slavery in Egypt, the birth of Moses, the Exodus, desert wanderings, and finally conquering Jericho as part of our survey of bible stories through the school year.  It has been a fun couple of weeks with neat crafts and activities I'd thought I'd share.  I referenced any sources for original ideas, otherwise they were ones I came up with on my own.

Birth of Moses- paper basket weaving with nylon babies (this was my inspiration)

For the birth of Moses we learned how to weave construction paper together.  Then we stapled up the sides to form a basket.  Then, I cut of the last few inches of an old knee high, stuffed it with cotton balls, tied one rubber band about an inch below the top to create a head, and then one at the bottom to close, and then drew on a face.  The girls have been playing with their baskets and moses' for a long time now!  I would recommend this craft for ages 7+.

The 10 Plagues- paper plate illustration (Inspiration from an artists palate)

To illustrate the 10 plagues I found inspiration from someone who used an artists' palate.  I figured a paper plate would work just as well, and in fact give them more room to color on.  We took one of the larger white paper plates and I pre-drew the lines to divide the plate into 10 equal pieces.  I also wrote on the back what each one was for my youngest.  Then, after each plague in the story we drew it.  This took us two days.  Some are easier than others to illustrate, but it was more fun for them than putting together the mini-books.  With some extra help this is great for ages 4+

Crossing the Red Sea- blowing paint
I loved learning how to blow thin or water color paint to make neat designs as part of my 'art for teachers' class in college.  So I thought I could apply the same concept to the red sea drawings.  I thinned blue paint ahead of time.  We used heavy white card stock.  The girls pre drew the walking path in the middle.  Then I place a few drops of paint on one side and they blew it around towards the edge.  Then they turned their papers, I placed more paint on the other side of the path and they blew it towards that way.  It was a lot of fun and Lili liked getting in on the action.  They would make great backgrounds if you were using finger puppets to help tell the story.  With help this could be an ages 2+ activity.


The 10 Commandments- Tracing hands
I had the idea of tracing each girl's hands and writing the 10 commandments out on each finger in an abbreviated form.  Like the 10 plagues, I split it into 2 lessons.  Overall, this was a great way to help review each commandment, but they girls didn't have as much fun with it.  They were more interested in wanting to decorate their hands and fingernails on paper.  It would be best for older elementary students.


God's presence in the desert- textile art
This was one of our favorite activities that was super easy and used things we already had on hand.  Our lesson was on God showing his faithfulness in the desert by showing his presence through cloud and fire pillars and by providing the needs of the Israelites through manna and water from a rock.  The girls divided their papers and used cotton balls for the cloud, crumpled tissue paper for the pillar of fire, small brown beads for manna, and then we just drew a rock- but I would have found something different to do that next time.  The girls loved using the different textiles of art and it has been a great reminder for us of God's faithfulness.


Jericho- Edible wall snack
I had a revelation as I was preparing for this lesson.  I remembered making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and frosting.  I thought- why not make a Jericho wall, knock it down, and then get to eat it!  Each girl got two graham crackers split in two so four squares all together.  We then spread frosting the edges to 'glue' together the corners and make a wall.  We added a peanut butter cup for a gate and chocolate candies as windows.  Our dum-dum Joshua then marched around the wall as directed by the story and we trumpted with our voices.  It was a delicious activity and I like that it didn't require a paper project to hang on display in the school room (we are a little crowded at the moment!)  Any ages will love this activity!

Head over to the Hip Homeschool Mom blogroll hop to see other great ideas (plus you'll see my cuties in the post as we were a highlighted activity from last week about our book character dress up day!)

10 Unexpected Benefits to Homeschooling!

While we have many reasons (see part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) for choosing to homeschool after two years in the public school system, here are 10 unexpected benefits to homeschooling we have discovered after 1 month into our new way of learning.

1)  No fundraisers!  I am so thankful to not have to say no to my pleading eyes daughter who wants to win one of the 'prizes' for selling or collecting the most books, magazines, pledges, etc.  I am so thankful to not feel pressured into giving more and more money to school.  We were bombarded with 4 fundraisers within the first 3 weeks of school last year.

2)  No buying an extra pair of gym shoes that hardly gets worn and usually gets lost at some point for gym class!

3)  Snack Freedom!  No worries about having nut, peanut butter, milk, egg, sugar free anything for snacks and lunches!

4)  No more book orders!  My kids love books.  I love books.  We have a huge collection of books from my teaching days.  But, I am a garage sale/goodwill kind of book shopper.  I also love the library. The temptation for any of us to buy beautiful new books from those newsprint flyers once a month was hard on the heart!

5)  I'll be honest that I love having my oldest at home because she can be such a huge help.  Shopping has become easier with her there to push the cart or play pat-a-cake with baby while I grab what we need.  She is also able to keep an eye on things at home if I need to make a phone call.  She loves being a helper and so it is neat to see her nurturing skills develop.

6)  Izzy can make her sisters laugh like no one else can.  I missed the giggles coming from her and Lili's room when she at school last year.  Let's face it, I'm not nearly as fun as she is in my 3 year old's eyes.  I love hearing the laughter in my house all day long!

7) NO HOMEWORK!!!!! Oh the tears, trials, frustrations of trying to help your child get through an hour or two of homework every night after they are tired of 7 hours of "learning" and just want to play. Oh how hard it was to help her when the homework was filled with "fuzzy math" concepts and writing personal narratives on topics she had no background on (ie: she had to write a 5 sentence + paragraph on how bullying is bad for school- poor girl loves everyone and is well loved, had no idea what bullying was and why it was always being pushed at school).  I love the freedom of being able have pedagogy that fits her learning style and to take breaks when we need to.

8)  We have oodles of family within a 10 mile radius.  I'd say one of Izzy's favorite parts of being homeschooled is getting to spend more time with her Grandparents and cousins.  She loves family and now she doesn't have to miss out on Tuesday lunches or getting to be babysat by grandma when mommy has a meeting.  It is good for her soul.

9)  School is no longer the rock in the jar (follow link on great illustration on fitting things in our lives) we must work around to fit everything else in our life.  School no longer dictates our schedule, bedtimes, diet, after school activities, vacations, and more.  Our focus is now on learning through life (though we do thrive on structure and schedule here, it is not something that dictates or defines us).  I had no idea how much time and effort it took to do 'school' and how much it influenced my time.

10)  This is more of anticipated hope and prediction but I'm thinking I'm going to really like homeschool so I'm not constantly reminding my daughter to bring home lost lunch boxes, coats, gloves, shoes, folders, etc.  Especially come winter, it will be nice to have all of our winter gear in place when we need it, not left in our cubby or stranded in a lost and found.  Stuff is home, where it belongs :)

I linked up to other great lists for List it Tuesday at www.manylittleblessings.com and www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com!

Weekly Wrap Up: Getting into a Groove

We have (almost) completed our third week of homeschooling.  This week's theme was finding our groove.  It was about trying to establish a 'new normal' in our routine, fitting in our fall activities, and focusing on intentional influencing of the hearts and minds of our girls.  Here are a few things we experienced this week:

Our first writing lessons with WriteShop Primary!  This was the curriculum I was most excited about, partly because I was not pleased with the writing pedagogy in public school.  We have done the first 3 lessons (out of 8) and Izzy has done very well.  Her attitude towards writing has already improved.  It requires a lot of hands on from me through guided writing, but I see a boost in her confidence so it is worth it!

Math was focused on reviewing time and learning money.  New common core standards do not introduce money until 3rd grade so this was new for her beyond earning quarters for chores.  We worked on adding money together.  A time and money workbook was a great find from goodwill and dollar store play money were awesome tools to keep learning fun.  We have a few more 'catch up' things to learn (fractions and standard measurement) before we start CLE Math 200.  Common core put her behind the  grade for most curriculums.

Reading was a bust. Really struggling to like our CLE reading.  The stories are ok, and I do appreciate the life lessons. However, the phonic studies are over the top in depth and the story review questions lack application.  Having to fill a lot of my own, which is requiring more time on my part (hard with a 3 year old and 9 month old underfoot).  I have a progeny press book I will be pulling out when we finish this light unit (want to give the CLE a fair shot at the start).  Any other good reading curriculums out there that focus heavily on comprehension?

In Bible explored Noah's ark and Abraham this week making button rainbows as our craft.  We are learning what it means to trust God (memory verse Proverbs 3:4).  Loving all the online resources for color pages and activity sheets for various bible story.  Just google the story and there's a plethora for all ages.

In art last week we did primary color paintings, and today we learned about secondary colors using food coloring and water.  I'm enjoying the easy lessons in How to Teach Art to Children.  Simple, quick, age appropriate, and I can pick activities that suit my kids best for now.

Lucy has done her own learning by figuring out the art of emptying a drawer and climbing the stairs.  At 8.5 months, I'll consider her gifted and talented for now :)

With a great week under our belt- we are off on a surprise 'field trip' to enjoy open gym at our local gymnastics company- For the Kidz.  Meeting some homeschool cousins and jumping around for 2 hours sounds like a recipe for fun!

My favorite school item of the week- The Whiteboard!  Picked up this large beauty at ReStore for Habitat for Humanity for $35.  It has been priceless for math review, guided writing, and letter practice for Liliana.

First Day of Homeschool- EVER!

I desired to ease into our first year of homeschooling and provide a couple weeks of review/catch up to get Izzy to needed skill level for curriculum so we started school today! (By law, public schools in Michigan don't start until after Labor Day).  We are only adding a couple subjects at a time so no one is overwhelmed.  Our first day included:
Pictures!

Izzy is 7 years old starting 2nd grade!

Liliana is 3 and doing PreK work!

Baby was napping :) But here was a pic from her first day of 'school'...because she's part of the family and adorable after all!

Lucy is 8 months and SO BIG!

We prayed, read aloud, went over new chore chart, and did Calendar time.
Then we filled out first day of school fun sheets (From the Life in Bloom chic and savvy homeschool planner- free download!!!).

Lili's loves the color green and mac & cheese.

Izzy loves pizza and playing uno.

While Izzy worked on some basic addition facts to get the cobwebs out, Lili worked on coloring the letter A, learned about the color red, and identified/drew circles.

Izzy and I then reviewed place value for math using legos as manipulatives.  Then she independently did the first two days worth of handwriting lessons in A Reason For Handwriting.

Our subjects for our first week are calendar, handwriting, and math.  We were done in less than an hour.  I'm pleased with our first day and the excitement the girls had.  Liliana was sad her first day was 'done'.  Perhaps if the next couple of days go well I will bravely add more subjects at a faster pace.

My heart is happy and full!

Joining in on the student photo blog hop at ihomeschool! 

School Room

School Room is (mostly) Complete!  We remodeled the old playroom (which was a dark forest green office when we moved in) into the new school room.  Most of the toys are in new places to make room for the table and supplies.  We have quite the collection of books, so keeping the bookshelves was a must.  They have also come in handy for other storage.  We used our old dining room table which has a great formica top that will resist any paint, scratch, project, etc.  I bought a bench to match (amazon) and a small office chair (ReStore).  We purchased metal strips for magnetic hanging (Menards) and a large whiteboard (ReStore).  We already had the bulletin board.  Covering an old sales model arm chair with a slip cover helped warm the room.  The walls are 8513 Still Creek on the Graham Paint chart.  I'm happy with how it all turned out.  Hoping it will be a fun place for us to learn from this year!

Check out the other school rooms at ihomeschool blog hop!