Another Week has Begun

This week was the first week that we were able to use our workboxes and have the school room more ready for school. It was great!! We have only done Monday, but I wanted to get some pictures posted of our system that I talked about last post. Kameron loved it. He loved seeing that he was almost done, and he was excited to see what was in the next box.

Here are some pictures of what our school area is. All the shelves will be filled with resource books, our books we have here, and most of the children's books. So it will be a wall of books!!

Lots of planning has gone into my system, so I make sure that I have it right for us. I am so in love with workboxes. I'm thankful for the Internet that gave me the resources to search it out and find the idea. I'm greatful to all of the fellow bloggers and homeschool families that shared ideas and thoughts about it. It is truly going to be a blessing in our homeschool journey. I used Target's awesome containers because they are stackable. Kameron is able to stack them after he gets done with each one. He stacks them beside the table we do school on. I don't have my strip ready yet, because I'm modify the design and making it more fun!! I have my box labels done, but still have to laminate those. I am going to make him cards that he will be able to have to ask for help, tell me he needs a break and a few others. I am so excited to get more things going with that. I love that I am better utilizing the things that I have.

Workboxes oh Workboxes

During my search for homeschooling ideas, I came across Workboxes. It is a shoe box system that uses 12 boxes to help organize the child's school day. You place lessons and activities into each box and the child works left to right and top to bottom to work through each box. I fell in love. I couldn't wait to get started. I bought my containers from Target and am using shelves built into the wall. I'm not following the exact format for the workboxes, but I am doing something that is going to work for us. My containers are green, and I plan on getting pink ones for my youngest. I love these containers because they are cute and the handle folds out so they can be stackable. I have searched many blogs and am so excited to start next week with our book, Meerkat Mail, and the workbox system. I have been planning out my lesson plans by numbering 1-12 to write down what is going in each box.

Homeschool Share, a free website that has so many resources and unit studies just added a new section to their site for workboxes. I was so excited to be able to check it out and get some ideas from it. I look forward to printing and preparing several of the items to use in our workboxes here at the house.

I have read that it is an adjustment to your school day as your child goes through each box, to help your child understand the order that they work through. But, once they get the hang of it, they thrive and do awesome with it. I will post some pictures of my area once I get it all set up. I have to finish painting the brackets for the shelves. I will finish that tonight and get my boxes set up Saturday evening. I can't wait!!

How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A.

Last week we rowed, How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A. I really enjoyed this book. I can't wait to do the next book by the same author. We reviewed the book we read previously and went over the letter of the week. I introduced the new book and asked Kameron what he thought it would be about. In the story, the girl wants to make a cherry pie, but the bake shop is closed and she has nothing to bake in. She travels around the U.S.A. gathering materials to make the supplies she needs. I introduced 5 vocabulary words this week. As we read, every time he heard one, he was to point it out. That worked really well for him. I put cotton balls all around the kitchen and had him gather an armful of cotton. He estimated how many he thought it would take to make the oven mitts. He picked 39 cotton balls. Then we practiced measuring with a measuring cup. He learned 1 cup and 1/2 a cup. I colored the water red so he could see it easier. It was another great week.
I am taking a break for a few weeks because I have so many ideas and resources that I want to implement and get together. I think I jumped the gun, and got started before I was ready. I want to be the best that I can be at this, and I am just not as prepared as I want to be. I know I will never have everything there is to have, but I also know that I should be using the things I do have. I haven't used them because I am just not organized enough. I need to better organize myself and my school area so the things we need are close at hand. I learned several things in my 2 weeks of lessons and plan on adjusting and lots of list making. I have a ton of copies I need to make along with planning the lessons for the end of July and August. Before I start again, I want to have at least a month of lessons planned.

On another note, Kameron wanted me to read Hank the Cowdog to him one night. I read a chapter then searched I-tunes for the audio book of that book. I found it and spent the best 10 bucks in a long time. He laid on his bed for almost 45 minutes straight just listening to that book. He finished it the next day. I am now going to buy him a new book every few weeks and add it to my I-Pod. Gotta love technology!!

Success...

We finished our first week, and I have to say, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I totally loved it! After the first day, it just felt right. I can't even explain it right, it was just an awesome feeling, and Kameron loved it too. We rowed the book, Blueberries for Sal. We focused on the letter "B" for the week. We learned about bears and blueberries, and we even got to go blueberry picking.

For bears, we learned about black bears since they are the types of bears in the book. I started by helping Kameron fill out a mini book about bears. Things he knew, wanted to know, and what he learned. He had some different coloring pages to color. I had a fact sheet about the bears that I filled in so I could teach him about the different things.

We learned about the best climates for blueberries and things you could make with the blueberries. We practiced counting one we had went and picked the blueberries. We made waffles with blueberries and blueberry muffins. We used some pictures of buckets with blueberries to learn about amounts. One was half full, full, empty, 3/4 and 1/4 full. It was fun. We added those buckets to his lapbook. We also had from that same site, a spinning life cycle of a blueberry bush that showed it growing from a seed to the bush we know and love!

I used my letter pocket chart and focused on the letter "B" He practiced writing both the upper and lower case letters. I wrote out words on the board and he told me which words used the letter b. I had him name off as many words as he could think of that used "B". He would make the "B" sound, and then name a word, it was great to hear him go "bbbb, bike!'

I had so much fun and look forward to our next week of rowing. We are going to do How to make a Cherry Pie and see the USA. I'm super excited about this book too. It doesn't have a planned lesson anywhere, so I'm excited to be doing this one solo again. I don't know why I enjoy that so much, but I like making the lesson plans. It is about a girl that wants to make a cherry pie for the 4th of July. We will be learning about cherries, the letter "C" and the USA!

Until next week......

So it Begins

Here begins our homeschooling adventure. We are embarking on this journey after a lot of debating back and forth, worry over learning enough and socializing, and prayer. I am so very excited about this decision. I know that I can do more for Kameron and Kaydence, teaching them at home, then they will get from a school environment. I don't have to worry about them not being able to pray before their meal, or talk about Jesus around the other kids. Kameron is so full of questions that he would be in trouble constantly because he wouldn't be able to stop asking. I love that with me teaching him, as he asks a question, we can get off topic and answer it. There won't be a test afterwards, or a specific topic that is being covered that leaves no room for questions. He will be here, safe in our house, getting the best of what we can give him. We will have time for camping, fishing, bi-weekly field trips, zoo days, park days, pajama only days and so much more. We don't have to answer to anyone. As long as our kids are learning, then we are going in the right direction. We will be able to teach what we want, how we want, and when we want. A classroom without administration dictating what can happen, it's on us. We control our classroom and that is the best feeling in the world!!!

We are going to use Five in a Row. It is a program that uses the same book for a week, incorporating different subjects each day. I am finalizing the lesson plans for our first book we are going to "row". The book we are doing is called, Blueberries for Sal. We will be picking blueberries next week, so I thought that this book would be awesome for our first attempt.