Savvy on bars - 8.65
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Scarecrows
With Halloween coming up, I thought we'd make some scarecrows. My middle child is quite the comedian...
I'll let you guess which one is hers:( She said it had to go to the bathroom.
I'll let you guess which one is hers:( She said it had to go to the bathroom.
Bow
The girls have a gymnastics meet coming up, so I made a bow. I totally need to practice more, but it will do. On a side note, I can take a LOT of hot glue gun burns and still keep ticking.
Q-tip painting
Agendas
Ok...so homeschooling is like breaking in new shoes. When they're up on a shelf and surrounded by other pretty shoes looking so shiny and comfy, you think nothing could be better, right? You get them home and try them out, walking around the house and thinking about all of the outfits you can wear them with. You put them back in the box and make sure they are well taken care of. After a couple of days you notice that they are a little tighter than you thought, but you buck up because they're you're new shoes, yes? After three days you notice the blister welling up on your foot, and you pull your big-girl panties up because you invested a lot in those shoes. Finally, after four days, you are crying because of the pain and throwing them against the closet door because-well
dang it all! Like I said, homeschooling is a lot like breaking in new shoes.
Our first week, we were doing really well. We were up early, chores were done, ya-da...ya-da. After two weeks, my 7 yo starts avoiding work to play. After three weeks, she's saying math is yucky and can she just get on the computer? After a month, she's crying, I'm crying - even the fish is crying (because we are too stressed to remember to feed it). This is all because I am screaming at her to finish any one assignment that doesn't involve me sitting right next to her and using my endless supply of accents and funny voices. So...I started making agendas. Every day the girls get a list of everything they have to do (by subject). They have boxes that they have to check off as they go. If my 7 yo finishes it, she gets a sticker on her chart which will later be redeemed for a leotard for her doll. Yes, they make those. Totally worth it though because I'm not losing my &*(^, and little miss likes the possibility of getting something extrinsic out of it. Now, you may be asking, "What does the 10 yo get?" The answer is nothing. It's probably wrong, but I make it up to her with eggplant parmesan once a month. She's totally cool with that.
dang it all! Like I said, homeschooling is a lot like breaking in new shoes.
Our first week, we were doing really well. We were up early, chores were done, ya-da...ya-da. After two weeks, my 7 yo starts avoiding work to play. After three weeks, she's saying math is yucky and can she just get on the computer? After a month, she's crying, I'm crying - even the fish is crying (because we are too stressed to remember to feed it). This is all because I am screaming at her to finish any one assignment that doesn't involve me sitting right next to her and using my endless supply of accents and funny voices. So...I started making agendas. Every day the girls get a list of everything they have to do (by subject). They have boxes that they have to check off as they go. If my 7 yo finishes it, she gets a sticker on her chart which will later be redeemed for a leotard for her doll. Yes, they make those. Totally worth it though because I'm not losing my &*(^, and little miss likes the possibility of getting something extrinsic out of it. Now, you may be asking, "What does the 10 yo get?" The answer is nothing. It's probably wrong, but I make it up to her with eggplant parmesan once a month. She's totally cool with that.
Apple painting!
Our Homeschool Classroom
It's a work in progress....that is all.
Desks
Bought 3 of these from Target and zip-corded them together.
Cubbies
Bought six plastic cubicles from Target. Each girl has two. The bottom has their binders and teachers' manuals. The top one has two plastic dividers that they came with. I put their texts in the bottom "drawer", their notebooks in the middle drawer, and their folders in the top drawer. I have them color coded by subject. Each subject has a folder, notebook and binder. I put their work in their folder at the beginning of the day; after they are done with it they turn it into my box. When I'm done grading it, I put it back in their folder (on the left hand side), and they punch it and put it in their binder. This is great for my 10 year old because she is now so organized and can review lessons to study for her tests. We use their notebooks for various things such as writing spelling words, copywork, science definitions, etc.
Art Center
Here is our Art Center. I bought paint and construction paper at discountschoolsupply.com. Since we just moved, and I'm still unpacking, I can tell you that this isn't even half of our art supplies. We have more wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners, cardstock, etc. to add to this. Oy vey!
Bulletin Board Area
So here is part of our bulletin board area. I have two dry erase boards. One has our "Number of the Day" instructions (I'll post about that later), and the other is our work board. We do A LOT of math work on the board. We also have a calendar for my 4 yo. I hang various things off of this on the hooks located on the bottom (right now it's the 10 Commandments). I also have magnets on the dry erase board, so we hang things there too. There's a weather wheel of course:) Finally we are counting the days to see how many days we've been in school. Each pocket is teaching re-grouping (ones, fives, & tens). We also have a "number caterpillar" to keep track of the days. It's along the bottom of the wall. I'll post more about that when we have more numbers:)
All-Star Work
We have a few of these hanging on the wall. Clipboards covered in (you guessed it) duck tape.
Desks
Bought 3 of these from Target and zip-corded them together.
Cubbies
Bought six plastic cubicles from Target. Each girl has two. The bottom has their binders and teachers' manuals. The top one has two plastic dividers that they came with. I put their texts in the bottom "drawer", their notebooks in the middle drawer, and their folders in the top drawer. I have them color coded by subject. Each subject has a folder, notebook and binder. I put their work in their folder at the beginning of the day; after they are done with it they turn it into my box. When I'm done grading it, I put it back in their folder (on the left hand side), and they punch it and put it in their binder. This is great for my 10 year old because she is now so organized and can review lessons to study for her tests. We use their notebooks for various things such as writing spelling words, copywork, science definitions, etc.
Art Center
Here is our Art Center. I bought paint and construction paper at discountschoolsupply.com. Since we just moved, and I'm still unpacking, I can tell you that this isn't even half of our art supplies. We have more wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners, cardstock, etc. to add to this. Oy vey!
Bulletin Board Area
So here is part of our bulletin board area. I have two dry erase boards. One has our "Number of the Day" instructions (I'll post about that later), and the other is our work board. We do A LOT of math work on the board. We also have a calendar for my 4 yo. I hang various things off of this on the hooks located on the bottom (right now it's the 10 Commandments). I also have magnets on the dry erase board, so we hang things there too. There's a weather wheel of course:) Finally we are counting the days to see how many days we've been in school. Each pocket is teaching re-grouping (ones, fives, & tens). We also have a "number caterpillar" to keep track of the days. It's along the bottom of the wall. I'll post more about that when we have more numbers:)
Prayer Table
We have a few of these hanging on the wall. Clipboards covered in (you guessed it) duck tape.
Caddies
So here I was at the beginning of the school year trying to decide how to organize our school supplies. Do I go the "village" route and throw everything in the middle for the kids to grab at their leisure, or do I segregate them into their own spaces? Visions of quiet bickering turned into visions of rampant fighting which turned into full-on wrestling matches over who gets the big glue stick on the right. Divide and conquer it was!
I bought these caddies at the dollar store and then decided that they just weren't fun enough. And being that it's the beginning of the school year, and I'm all ramped up with motivation and good tidings, I was still energetic enough to try and make it fun (that energy quickly faded).
Somehow over the last year, I had accumulated enough duck tape to fix all the furniture in a small trailer in Louisianna (I've lived in a small trailer in Louisianna, so I can say this). The girls had a blast decorating their caddies, and I'm happy to say that there has been no fighting about school supplies:)
I bought these caddies at the dollar store and then decided that they just weren't fun enough. And being that it's the beginning of the school year, and I'm all ramped up with motivation and good tidings, I was still energetic enough to try and make it fun (that energy quickly faded).
Somehow over the last year, I had accumulated enough duck tape to fix all the furniture in a small trailer in Louisianna (I've lived in a small trailer in Louisianna, so I can say this). The girls had a blast decorating their caddies, and I'm happy to say that there has been no fighting about school supplies:)
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