File Folders

I had a mountain of paper growing on my desk. I attempted to reclaim my desk with binders but then I had a binder problem. I had a binder for every child, every subject and another binder for completed work. I also had another crate full of TMs, CDs, and other resources that I use throughout the year. I was starting to lose items that I needed to load our workboxes and the clutter was disrupting our day.

Then I read this blog post from Springs of Joy Homeschooling and found our solution!

Each quarter is color coded and has 10 File folders. 9 for each school week and 1 for the extras that I will use for the whole quarter. Each weekly file has a folder for each child that contains all the loose items they will use during that week. Currently each child's folder has their MFW sheets, LA sheet and math sheets. The orange folders in the back contains the resources that we will use during the entire year such as our phonics game, TMs, CDs, etc.

I was able to eliminate all our extra binders! Now I only need to look in 2 places....instead of 7...... when looking for items for our workboxes. So Simple!

Now I need to decide what to do with the papers once the child has completed the assignments. We are already on week 8 of MFW Adventures so the MFW sheets will continue to go into Sam's history notebook. I believe for now all the completed work will be returned into the weekly folder so I will have a clear visual of the progress the kids have made for the year.

Hopefully this tames the paper monster!

The beginning of Charlotte's Kindergarten Year.....

Where oh where has the time gone? Little Charlotte --whose big claim to fame at the start of the little blog was that she had just moved from her crib---- is almost 5 and it is time for the schooling to begin.

She has been enjoying a long and wonderful Charlotte Mason Preschool but it is time to add in a little bit of schoolwork each day. We have added a little bit this past year as she desired but in no way have we've been consistent or required that she participate.......and most days she did not. However, she would often stand beside Sam as we worked through a concept and she has been able to pick up quite a bit in this manner.

Our Kindergarten philosophy is still the basic plan for this next year. We will still spend a great quantity of time outside exploring our world but we need to add something to start developing the habit of schooltime. The difference between Sam's Kindergarten year and Charlotte's Kindergarten year is that Charlotte will have a slightly older brother's studies to tag-a-long. She already participates in some of the science projects, craft projects and read alouds that are scheduled in MFW Adventures. There is little need to plan on scheduling extra stories----unless she requests a re-read of her particular favorites of the past few years. So the big additions will be handwriting, math and phonics.

We will use Handwriting without Tears and Math-U-See Primer just as we did with Sam.

The big questions is phonics. She has already picked up quite a bit of the phonics by listening to Sam's lessons. 100 Easy lessons is going to be a step back. Honestly, I just don't think I'm willing to work through 100 Easy lessons for a 4th time! Since I plan on using All About Spelling with her next year for spelling that is the first option. I hear rumors of people who are using this spelling program to teach their children to read. Phonics Pathways is the second option. For the next month we are going to experiment with these two resources and see which "clicks" with her and is easy enough for me to pull together with minimal effort.

So the plan for Charlotte's Kindergarten year.

---Daily use

MUS Primer,

HWOT,

and our phonics program to help develop the habit of schooltime.

---Encourage her to participate in Sam's studies with MFW Adventures.

---Continue to spending lots of time in play both indoors and out.

Let the Adventure begin!

Big Bro' - Our Family's Newest Sailor

Spring 2010

We've been busy since January!

Big sis is doing well in college and Big Bro' left in February for the Navy...


Sam finished MFW 1 and has started MFW Adventures. We started using workboxes in our house and it has been a very nice addition for us.... Sam even decorated his sheet for the his American History studies.




Each day I follow the MFW grid and fill the boxes.


Box 1. Bible. Tomorrow we start our Names of Jesus poster...



Box 2. Spelling....


Box 3. Primary Language Lessons...



Box 4. History...

Box 5. Science...

Box 6. Math...

Box 7. Reading...

Box 8. Art....

Box 9. Read Aloud...

I have Sam work on Book Basket while I'm working with Charlotte and we haven't started doing Foreign Language yet.

The books that aren't being used the next day are kept in a crate so I never have to search for a book....

Sam's loaded workboxes......

Sam's Year 3

History/Geography/Language Arts/Reading/Literature/Science/Bible/Art/Music appreciation/handwriting/handicrafts

My Father's World Adventures

Addition Language Arts resources

Primary Language Lessons

First Language Lessons

Writing with Ease



All About Spelling

Math - MUS Gamma

Poetry/Memorization/Speech-IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization

Last Quarter update for 2009

This quarter update is a little late because it appears I quit blogging in September.....


Drum roll please.....

Speech therapy is behind us! It was a long hard road but Sam is done and we couldn't be prouder of him.


As far a school there isn't much to talk about. We have a nice rhythm to our day. Big Sis' leaves for collegeat 9am and we head upstairs to do school work. Sam just sits at the table and gets to work.


Currently for Sam....


Math- Lesson 13 of MUS Beta. Math remains easy for Sam.


MFW 1--currently on lesson 111. This has been such a huge hit! Sam enjoys reading the Bible Reader. He does very well with all the lessons. He calls the writing portion the "hardest part of school" but he is doing well. A bonus for me is that it is completely open and go so very little planning for me.


Poetry/Memorization- IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry is another huge hit. Sam has memorized ten poems.


We did drop All About Spelling again but only because we were covering spelling with the phonics instruction in MFW 1. We will pick it back up when we complete the phonics with MFW 1 in the next few weeks.


The only minor change is that we are no longer reading a different selection on each day instead we pick a title and read it until it is complete.


We did organize our material using a modified workbox. I'm using these Sterilite drawers to organize our materials. Using the workbox system has completely eliminated all the "how much more" comments from Sam.


Currently for Charlotte...


In addition to all the activities that we do during the preschool years, we spend each day working with MFW Preschool materials and reading a selection from AO Year 0. She also participates in the books I'm reading aloud with Sam and listens in on his phonics lessons.

She has picked up quite a bit of phonics doing our very informal preschool. She knows many of the phonograms and can read .....a little. She is not going to need to work quite as hard as Sam with learning to read.

Plan for Winter Quarter...

---- Get ready to start MFW Adventures!

-----Do a quick review of All About Spelling book 1 and then start book 2.

-----Resist the urge to start MFW K with Charlotte before her 5th birthday. It does help that I lent it too a friend and do not anticipate having it returned until next fall!

Sam the Recruiter

Every once in a while you get a glance of the person that your child is becoming. I got such a glance last week during a Cub Scout Rally. I really didn't have a clue what I signed us up for but we headed to the school. Sam was the only Scout that showed up to help recruit 30 boys and entertain their siblings. He was amazing. Sam is strong in interpersonal skills there is little doubt about that- he can make a friend in any setting with ease. I just didn't realize how intuitive he was to other's needs. He automatically changed his emphasis on scouting to meet the desires of the different age and abilities of the boys that he spoke with. While talking to older boys he spoke of camping during the winter, shooting off rockets, and bb guns. When talking with the younger boys he emphasized the family aspect of scouting and how much fun it was do things with your dad. There were several special needs boys and he intuitively knew that they wanted to know that they were going to get to participate just like everybody else. Is is going to be such a joy to watch this young person grow to a man!