HIM in Them

This week is Student Portrait Week on the NOT Back-to-School Blog Hop. I never know what to do for this week, as I'm not really comfortable posting photos of my kids in public places online. Besides, summer is soooo not the time to get nice portraits of anybody down here. I usually take those in the winter when the grass is green and the temperatures are below the sweating threshold.

Anyway, I read an interesting question this morning that got me thinking about my kids. It was, "How do you see the image of God in your kids?" If they are created in His image, as I believe we all are, then I should see some reflection of Him in them. And you know what? When I got thinking about it I could see some of Him in each of them. 

So, instead of photographs of my five children, here are verbal snapshots of how each of them show God's image in their lives.

With my oldest I see God's sense of creative order. The building blocks of the universe (i.e. atoms) are so orderly, dependable, follow recognizable patterns and laws, even though it is all unbelievably complex (one science book I read suggested that you could study math for 4 years after Calculus in order to be able to understand it pretty well). My 11th grader is like this. Order. Precision. Complex, but with pattern.

In my 9th grader I see the Lord's servant heart. She jumps in to help in meek and quiet ways without being asked. She is trusted with the same duties and responsibilities as teens 4 years older than her, because she is so capable and reliable. Children that are problems for some of our church's adults respond to her and are well behaved when she is asked to sit next to them. I try to protect her, however, because her capabilities combined with her height (5'10") makes people forget that she is only 14. I worry that an inappropriate amount of responsibility might be thrown on her before she is truly ready. I foresee her being a linchpin (as Seth Godin defines it) in her church, quietly indispensable (very much like her grandmother, my mother-in-law, by the way).

My 5th grader has such a tender heart, both taking correction so quickly to heart himself, but also seeing hurt and needs in others around him. At only 10, he is more likely to see others' need for prayer than his older siblings. And he has God's hear too. His track record for quickly and impressively answered prayer and literal dreams come true is amazing. He prays for rain and it rains (which is more impressive down here than in say Seattle). Last week we received some sad news about a couple people in our church and we all prayed that it would be quickly resolved. However, in addition to praying, my son reported dreaming about the resolution and two days later we got news that it happened almost as he dreamed it. He dreamed that they showed up in a specific person's truck, but what happened is that they called that person to come get them with that truck. I honestly don't know what to make of this. Coincidence? Maybe, but things like that have happened to him before, although not quite this awe inspiring.

My 3rd grader is generous to a fault, giving beyond what is reasonable or deserved. Once my nephew-in-law was teasing him, asking for all the best candy from his piñata bag, and my son kept giving to him, happily. I could see that my nephew-in-law was just teasing, that he would keep asking until he got my son to say no, but I had to tell him that my son would give half his candy away before he said no. I totally see the Lord in this quality, giving unto us showers of blessings beyond what we have ever deserved.

My 1st grader is friendly and comforting to others, seeking out other children that are quiet or shy and pulling gently them out. She shares everything readily, without being asked. People of all ages are drawn to her. This friendly, welcoming spirit about her seems very Christ-like to me.

So, do you see Him in your children? It's so easy as parents that want the best for our children to always focus on the areas that need improvement. It was a blessing to me today to focus on at least one thing that each is doing that is godly and praise worthy.

Pretty Clipboards (with tutorial)

I'm kind of ridiculously proud of these. They are sooo pretty and yet so useful as well.

I recycled 10 ink cartridges at Staples last month and received a $20 rewards coupon this month for the effort. I needed Post-It Flags (i.e. bookmarks) and my freshman daughter wanted a new binder to hold her music, so off we went to Staples Saturday.

After the binder and Post-It Flags (and hitting the 1¢ sales for pocket tissue packs and spiral notebooks), I still had a lot of money left on the rewards coupon and I remember that I had considered getting a clipboard for each of the kids. I had tried it once before, getting them each one in their color. They liked having their own clipboards and used them a lot, but they were cheap plastic ones that broke in very short order. I knew the ugly brown Staples clipboards last forever (I have one that we've shared for over a decade), and at minimum I figured I could put a piece of colored duct tape on the back to signify who they belonged to.

So I got 4 of the ugly brown clipboards (my junior didn't want one) and had a flash of insight. Scrapbook paper! Mod Podge! Yes!

So after Staples we stopped by Michael's and I allowed everyone to choose what scrapbook paper they wanted, as long as it was the thinner kind, not the cardstock weight. The paper, and a sponge brush applicator for the Mod Podge, cost just over $6. I got the clipboards with the rewards coupon and had all the other supplies on hand (in my recently made neat and organized craft drawer), so the total for this project was that $6, or $1.50 per clipboard. Not bad at all for custom, pretty, functional school supplies.

Here's how I did it (aka the tutorial part). As always, click on a photo to see it larger.

Gather your supplies.

• clipboards
• normal weight scrapbook paper
• craft paint
• paint palette
• paint brushes
• Mod Podge (not shown)
• sponge applicator thingy (also not shown)
• brayer (not shown)
• fine grit sandpaper, 400 grit (not shown)
• smartphone and earbuds (for tunes ;) 

I started by applying craft paint, in a coordinating or matching color, to the edges of the clipboard. Since a standard sized clipboard is 13 inches long and standard scrapbook paper is 12 inches long, I also applied about 1.5 inches of craft paint along the top or bottom of each side to cover where the scrapbook paper wouldn't be. I did this in different areas on different clipboards, but I like the results of the pink one that I applied it to the top of both sides best. (Note, I didn't paint the board that was going to get the camouflage paper, because the camo matched the ugly brown quite well.)

Next, after giving the paint about 15 minutes to dry, I applied a liberal coat of Mod Podge to the back of a clipboard and then put the paper on. The découpage instructions I found here recommended using a brayer for smoothing out large, flat surfaces, and since I just happened to have a brayer on hand I used it. I know for a fact that I would not have bought a brayer for this project if I didn't have one, that I would have used one of my bone folders instead. However, the brayer worked really, really well and I was able to apply 8 sheets of scrapbook paper with not a single wrinkle. So, definitely give a brayer due consideration with this project.

After allowing the Mod Podge to dry for around 15 minutes, I trimmed the paper with the edge of the clipboard. I did this with an X-acto knife, with the paper side of the board down on a flat surface that I didn't mind getting X-acto marks. Since my dining/school/craft table already looks like this, as well as things you can't see in these shots like burn holes from melted metal and JB Weld, Gorilla Glue, and numerous kinds of paint stains, I just used the table surface. You should probably use a cutting mat or board.

Then I repeated the process for the front side of the boards. It was a bit tricky, but not really hard, doing it while holding the clip open, but otherwise this is an easy project. Instead of waiting 15 minutes for it to dry this time, I waited over night. It was bedtime, after all. However, I do recommend waiting at least a couple of hours before this next step, so that the Mod Podge is quite dry.

The next step I didn't get a photo of (sorry). I used the 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out the edges of the trimmed paper on both sides. The X-acto knife didn't cut perfectly smooth in all spots, plus sanding a bit took back the paper to smooth with the board, hopefully minimizing the likelihood that it will get caught on something and pull up or tear later. 

I did not apply a top coat of Mod Podge, even though the instructions I linked to above said I should apply at least two of them. More than pretty, I need these boards to be functional and I do not like the feel or texture of top coats of Mod Podge and I did not think it would be a good surface to write on. 

I am sooooo pleased with the result. They are pretty (or cute since the boys would object to theirs being called "pretty") and work wonderfully too.

Update: July 2014
The kids use their clipboards very regularly, especially the girls, and after a year of use they are still in great condition and still look pretty.

New update: Feb 2016
These clipboards are STILL beautiful and they get used all the time. The pink camo and butterflies are especially hard used, and the scrapbook paper isn't coming up at all. Two and a half years later and I'm still pleased as punch with theses.

My Craft Drawer

Earlier this week I posted photos of my very messy craft drawer, so my pride requires that I show what the drawer looks like after I spent the week (in spare moments) organizing it.

Messy Drawer

Neat Drawer

I love art and craft supplies, and I invest in some really nice ones too. But after a year of use, the drawer ended up looking like the upper photo and nothing could be found. If you can't find it, you can't use it. Then last month a friend whose only child is now a teen gave me a big box over flowing with more craft supplies, really cool ones too like air-dry ceramic clay powder. It was past time for a craft drawer extreme make-over.

By the way, how do you like my "ode to the pantry" organization system? ;D

Since I was going through the trouble of organizing the whole drawer, I took the bit of extra time to write down everything I have as well. That drawer looks full enough, but look at this list.

adhesives

     glue sticks

     Modge Podge

     repositionable glue sticks

     white glue

beads, pony multiple colors

bead craft kit, triceratops (x1)

beads, wooden bag multiple sizes and colors

brads, mini multicolored 100 ct (x2)

brayer

cardboard, stiff 4 pieces 12x9 in & 3 pieces 7 in square

CDs (x12)

ceramic plaster clay, add water (x2 buckets)

chalk pastels (few loose pieces)

container, flat w/ flip lid

cork, thin with adhesive backing

crayons

Draw Today drawing curriculum, w/ extra supplies

Easter felt craft kit (x3)

feathers, few in bright colors

fixative, spray

glassy jar, 8 oz w/ lid

glitter:

     tube mix red & black slivers

     tube purple

glitter glue, gold

glycerin soap

hole punches:

     3 hole

     cat

     circle, mini

     circle, standard

     flower

     frog

ink, for block printing, black (tube and tub)

lacing, black ~1.5 yards

markers, numerous colors, both washable and not

modeling clay (5 colors)

mosaic, paper, jewel tones

Nativity felt craft kit (x1, Belle's half finished project)

oil pastels (25ct & 50ct)

paint:

     3D "fabric writer" black paint (x3)

     craft paint, numerous colors

     powdered paint (red, blue, & yellow)

     water based crayola paint (10 ct)

     water colors, liquid (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, & black)

paint brushes, numerous sizes

paint palettes

panty hose, grey (x2)

pipe cleaners, black and metallic green

Sculpley clay, small amount neutral colors

sequins, bag of blue small

sequins, mix bag of mixed sliver rounds & gold stars

sequins, bag of large multicolored flowers

sequins, bag of large multicolored snowflakes

Sharpies, many colors, both fine and ultra fine

stamp:

     flower

     star

stamp pad, purple

stamp pad refill ink (red & black)

tacks, flat multicolored

water color crayons (12ct)
wire, thin silver

I think we need to get crafting!

School Room Week

It's School Room Week over on the NOT Back-to-School Blog Hop. My school room hasn't changed much (at all?) since I posted about it for last year's blog hop. My long dreamt of seventeen foot wall of built-in cabinets and shelves is still there, still beautiful, and still holding 14 years of homeschool stuff (preschool through 11th grade). My husband is awesomesauce and put in these beautiful built-ins a year ago last month. However, I don't have a wide angle lens and I can't get a photo of the entire wall in one shot. So here's two of them.

These fill up the western wall in our family room and in addition to serving as our school room it is also our dining room, toy room, computer room, entertaining room, and is open to our kitchen and living room.

Even though our school room hasn't changed since last year, these things do have to organized at least yearly. I had planned to get all the organizing and cleaning out done in time for School Week on the NOT Back-to-School Blog Hop, but so is life. So, instead, I took the opportunity (let's call it that ;) and am showing you "real life" photos. This is more or less what my school room looks like every Sunday afternoon. We live in that room, and it shows.

I have gotten the upper cabinets all organized. Here's the inside of two of them.

Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, started the rain gutter book shelves idea. The premise is that if kids can see the cover of the books they will be more likely to pick the book up to read it. The idea makes sense, but I simply do not have the wall space to pull it off. This is my compromise, and it works. Less than an hour after I set these up, my son picked up that Greg's Microscope book and started reading it. He has had access to that book for over a year, but this the first time he took it off the shelf. Note my microscope on the upper right shelf. It makes me smile every time I see it.

You can't see them, but the center lower cabinets is a drawer unit. It's three drawers, the top standard depth, the bottom two 8 inches deep. They are full to overflowing with arts and crafts supplies. The bottom one is all paper, drawing paper, scrapbook paper, printer paper (white and colored), construction paper, and much, much more. The one above it numerous kinds of paints, markers, crayons, glues, beads, art kits, and more that I probably can't remember because the drawer is such a mess. Plus a friend whose only child is now a teen gave me a box of even more supplies a few weeks back. Going through these drawers is high on my list for this month.

Lastly I want to show that basket in the middle of the second shelf from the top. It contains an idea I got from last year's School Room week. It's a nature basket. I want to get a flat tray so that the things will be able to be seen while it's on that shelf, but I haven't found one I like yet that isn't $$$.

In the basket is honey comb, a butterfly wing glued to cardstock, a burro vertebra, a coyote atlas bone, lots of sea shells, a piece of sand stone, a piece of petrified wood, a devil's claw, and a few other things. Not bad for only a year's worth of collection, huh? It's been very educational too, as we research each find. It took hours of googling and reading (not all at once) to figure out the smaller bone on the left was a coyote atlas bone. You can't buy curriculum that teaches skills like that.

Update: I organized that terrible craft drawer. See here.

Curriculum Week

ACK! August is upon me like a dust storm: fast, unexpected, and bringing all kinds of work with it. The 5th Annual "NOT" Back to School Blog Hop is in full swing already, and I haven't even gotten my first (and favorite) post written.

It's Curriculum Week at the blog hop, and as always I have a long old post to share. I'm an eclectic homeschooler with five kids, so really there is no adequate way to tell what we're using for curriculum in a short post.

1st grader - I suspect this little bundle of pink energy might just be ADHD. She can't focus if she isn't moving, she has the attention span of a gnat, and she talks excessively. Thankfully, we homeschool, so she can do math on the floor, listen to history while folding towels, and practice reading between running back and forth between Daddy-Boy (her name for my husband) and me.

• All About Reading Level 1. She's been working on this since April or so, and is still only on lesson 9 out of 49. I am thankful this program is designed to go at the child's pace, because having to slow something down this much if it wasn't designed this way would be hard.

• Miquon Math Orange. Followed by Red when she finishes Orange. She will be the last of all of my kids to do Miquon. It lays the foundation for mathematical thinking and understanding that follows them into high school math and beyond. Couple that with the fact that it's inexpensive and easy to use, and I can't stop singing Miquon's praises.

• Handwriting Without Tears 1.

• Renaissance through early 20th Century with Sonlight Core C, for the first semester (or less, if we can get through it faster), then moving into American History with Sonlight Core D. I considering her "tagging along" in these Cores, as she is below the age range Sonlight recommends them for. However, she is getting a fair amount out of Core C and with everything else we have going on having her tag along with her brothers is better than having her own Core that we never get around to doing.

• Apologia Astronomy with A Journey Through Learning Lapbook. Her brothers and she share this lapbook, each doing mini-books at their individual level to create one lapbook total. We're more than half way through this and will move into Sonlight Science C after.

• Egermeier's Story Bible with memory verses from Sunday School and Wednesday Bible Club. We're almost finished with Egermeier's and will move into Leading Little Ones to God.

3rd grader -  This guy is a math wiz, but has more struggles with reading. His comprehension is great, and he has no fears about attempting harder books, so I'm confident that he'll be tearing through harder and harder chapter books this year.

• Partnership Writing, from Brave Writer, with copywork and Activity Sheets from Sonlight Grade 2 Language Arts. (Look for an upcoming review of Partnership Writing).

• All About Reading Level 2. He is nearing the end of this and will be moving into Sonlight Grade 3 Readers. I hope he is ready for the Core D Regular Readers by the time we start Core D.

• All About Spelling 2, then 3. He'll start this when he finishes AAR 2.

• Singapore 3A, then 3B. He finished Miquon a year early, at the end of 2nd grade, and is now tearing through Singapore 3A. I definitely foresee calculus in this kid's future.

• Handwriting Without Tears 3.

• Journible Psalm 119. In this he'll be copying out the entire 119th Psalm by hand, a verse a day. He'll also be listening to Egermeier's Story Bible, then moving into Leading Little Ones to God, as above.

• Sonlight Core C, then D, as explained above.

• Apologia Astronomy with A Journey Through Learning Lapbook, then Sonlight Science C, as explained above. 

• Draw Squad. 

5th grader -  This middle child is dyslexic, and works hard to be just on grade level in all areas.

• Sonlight Core D, after we finish Sonlight Core C. I updated my 2007 Core D to match the 2013 version, because I love the new Landmark book and the Children's Encyclopedia of American History. However, I only got the 4-day option as I don't like the 5th-day History books and wasn't excited about the 5th-day Read Alouds either. I will add in a few of the 2007 books that were removed to make my own 5-day version. The titles I'll be adding back in are: Paddle-to-the-Sea, Sign of the Beaver, maybe Secret of the Andes, and Winter at Valley Forge (this one is a 5-day book in the new IG).

• Partnership Writing, from Brave Writer, with copywork and Activity Sheets from Sonlight Grade 4-5 Language Arts. He'll move into Core D's LA (included in the Core D Instructor's Guide) when we get there.

• Sonlight Grade 4-5 Readers, moving into Core D's Advanced Readers. 

• Singapore 3B, moving into 4A and Challenging Word Problems 3. I know I said he was on grade level in everything, and doing Singapore 3B in 5th grade seems to contradict that. However, I spent some time looking at other math options at the Phoenix homeschool convention, and he would be ready to go into 5th grade math in a couple of other programs, so I am confident that Singapore 3B is grade level for a 5th grader, especially one with learning difficulties.

• All About Spelling 4. He'll move into All About Spelling 5 about mid-year or so. All About Spelling 7 is high school level spelling, so level 4 is quite appropriate for 5th grade.

• Science and Bible the same as his brother and sister above.

9th grader - My newest high schooler. 

• Sonlight Core 100. This will count as 1 credit in American History and 1 credit in American Literature English (we're only using one of the Core 100 Bible books). I'm using the 2012 version of this Core, which has a few books different but is generally much the same as the current version.

• Journibles Book of Romans, The Case for Christ, Why Pray?, and Pilgrim's Progress (in the original English).

• Life of Fred Beginning Algebra. She's going to try Life of Fred out for Algebra I, since I already own it. We can go a different route if she has too many difficulties with it.

• Apologia Biology. We are doing this as as a teeny co-op with two or three other families, getting together for the labs. It won't start until Sept.

• All About Spelling 7. She's more than half way through this book, then she'll be finished with All About Spelling and will move into Winston Grammar Advanced.

• Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish, Level 1 moving into Level 2.

• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I'm working through this with her.

• Guitar and Choir, we're tracking hours in these for high school credit.

11th grader - Can I just spare a moment to stand in shock that my baby is /this/ close to being an adult? Anyway, this kid is bright to somewhat advanced in all areas and really wants to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Prescott for a degree in Aerospace Engineering. While legally we are still homeschooling this kid, we are outsourcing a lot of this (and probably next) year's school.

• English 101, at the community college. Yep, he only completed Sonlight through Core 100, with Brave Writer's Help for High School thrown in, and yet he tested well above where he needed to to place into English 101. This will be his English credit for his Junior year, plus it will transfer to ERAU as Com 122 "English Composition". 

• Strategies for Success, at the community college. This is an electives credit, but both my husband and I know that this course will teach skills that will help him greatly in the long term. From the course description,  
  

  "Strategies For Success is course designed for students to develop and enhance their academic and personal skills. Emphasis is placed upon promoting a successful college experience through improved study skills, critical thinking skills, and general life skills. Topics include: self awareness, career exploration, college resources/policies, memory techniques, test-taking strategies, note-taking, time management, goal setting, learning styles, technology, values clarification, community involvement, and effective communication. The course will encourage students to examine their own behaviors, expectations, and attitudes to help them exercise more effective strategies for success." 

  
• Constitution class, through our local Freedom Library. There is a $1000 scholarship opportunity attached to taking the class as well. For a full 1/2 credit in Civics, in addition to the class I am having him read the Communist Manifesto; Whatever Happened to Justice?; Are You a Liberal? Conservative? or Confused; and Ancient Rome: How it Affects You Today. 
• He is reading the Bible through this year for Bible, as well as reading Do Hard Things and Foxes' Book of Martyrs. I might add one other book as well, but I haven't decided what yet.
• Life of Fred Trigonometry. This is only a semester course (full year trig courses actually add other things to it, as there really isn't that much to trig), so he'll move into Life of Fred Calculus at semester.
• Finishing Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish, Level 3. Assuming he finishes this fall, and does well on the practice test, I will have him taking the SAT subject test, Spanish with Listening.
• Advanced Welding. Last spring, my son got a personal invitation from the public high school's welding teacher to attend his Advanced Welding classes. This teacher has been Teacher of the Year multiple times, and is known the county over for his outstanding students. The Advanced Welding class is first and second period each day, meaning my son would have to be out the door no later than 7:10 in order to drive himself to the 7:30 class time (he's usually rolling out of bed at 7:15). He still wanted to go, which told me something about his dedication, so we did all the paperwork and standing in line to get him partially enrolled and registered, including having to buy uniforms. Many (most?) kids that come out of two years of this class (junior and senior year) are ready to sit for their welding certificate, and the content corresponds to the community college's welding classes, so for an additional fee (but less than the college classes cost) he'll get 6 credits a year.
• He'll read a play (we haven't decided which one yet) to finish out a 1/2 credit in Drama (he's acted in a couple plays and a few skits since he was a freshman). 
• Finishing up How to Listen to and Understand Great Music. That, along with attending a number of local civic orchestra concerts, for a 1/2 credit in Music Appreciation.

Little Things: Binder Placeholder Thingies

This is another "Little Things" post to show people a handy binder tool I use for school but I don't know what they are called or even if they can be bought.

Quite a few years ago I was working the Sonlight booth at the Arizona Families for Home Education convention in Phoenix with a former Sonlight consultant, Colleen. She had these plastic things that pop easily in and out of binders and stick out the top to mark your place, but they had the wrong contact information on them so she couldn't give them away to just anyone coming into the booth. So, she let me take as many of them as I want. I took 6 or 7, and honestly I have wished more than once over the years that I had taken more. They are soooo handy for marking your place in a binder. Last year I even took one of the binder labels for the Cores we were using and marked the top of the tabby thing so that I even more quickly flip to Core C or Core 100 in my working binder (I keep about 4 weeks worth of each IG, along with a few other things, in my 1" binder).

You'll see on the right photo that I have Post-It Notes on the backside of the tabby thing and that the Post-Its have been printed on. This page has templates for printing on a couple of different sized Post-Its, and it works quite well. I prefer to print any notes I will be using over a longer period than just once or twice.

Workboxes Evolution

I first attempted a form of workboxes way back in the spring of 2009 and it was a quick crash and burn. It was a single bin with file folders and it kept falling over and didn't motivate my then K'er at all.

I attempted it differently, and more fully, in the summer of the following year, and I am glad to say that while parts of the system I detailed in that post have gone by the wayside (like the whole workfolder system), the heart of that system is still in use now 3 years later.

In this post a year later, summer of 2011, I detailed the slight changes that happened to our system over the first year of use.

Today I'll give you the run down of how our workboxes have functioned day in and day out for most days over the last two years.

First, I am no longer doing workboxes, workfolders, or any thing of that sort with my teens. I simply email them a pdf schedule with 5 days worth of assignments in every subject and they work off of that. They do use a large bin (like the ones pictured below, but deeper) with file folders in it to store finished work. Books they are using either go on the school book shelf or on their own book shelf in their room (or, more honestly, on the floor next to their beds). My elementary students, 5th, 3rd, and 1st grades as of today, are the ones still using workboxes.

Here is what our school bins (as we refer to them at home) look like. They are 6.2 quart flat stacking bins with locking lids measuring 15" long by 11" wide by 3.25" high or, more simply put, big enough so that even the largest workbook lies flat. Sadly it seems the only ones available currently are no longer colorless but are all over aqua. Ugh. Sterilite now has a slightly different clip box that would serve the same purpose that you can get at Target for the same price as the visually shocking agua ones. Google "workboxes" to see the million different types of containers other people use.





Since my husband put in built-in cabinets and shelves for me last summer, our school bins have lived in a cupboard, out of sight when we aren't actively doing school. I used colored duct tape to "label" both handles of each bin with the student's color so everyone can tell at a glance whose bin is whose.

At the beginning of a school day, the bins are removed from the cupboard and moved across the room or under the table or wherever the kid wants their stack to be for the day, except not in major walkways or strewn over 10 linear feet of floor space (because sometimes I just have to be a mean mommy, sigh). Then they work through their school a bin at a time, putting each bin back in the cupboard as that subject is completed. They are free to choose the order of their bins for the most part, although I occasionally intervene and require them to do a troubling subject earlier in the day. When all the bins are back in the cupboard they are done with school. We tried, briefly, to do the whole take-a-number-off-and-put-it-on-a-grid thing but it seemed purposeless when moving the entire bin from the stack to the cupboard was a much more climatic visual of finished work.

I do not put "fun" things in our workboxes. I tried it at the very beginning of our workboxes adventures, but it was a pain for both me and the kids. I keep an almost obscene amount of art and craft supplies, educational toys, games, DVDs, science projects, lapbooking stuff, historical projects, nature study objects, and more on hand and I freely encourage the kids to use them as they want (with permission, mostly so they aren't pulling stuff out before putting other stuff away). With all that fun stuff of their choosing, what was fun about something mom chose? Day after day there were asking, "Do I have to do this?" Um, no that painting project I spent 10 minutes putting together yesterday afternoon so that you would have something "fun" in your workboxes isn't really "school", and if you aren't going to have fun doing it why bother. Yeah, I gave up on choosing fun things for them pretty quick and just went back to encouraging them to pick whatever fun stuff they wanted. That works better for all of us.

I will add that I did fill a couple bins with fun but quiet and independent activities for my preschooler, when I still had a preschooler. It gave her something to do and kept her busy and (mostly) quiet for a while as I did school with her brothers. I did things like ready-made tea parties, games like Mighty Mind and Activities in a Bag, play dough (homemade, of course), sand letter cards, Tot Tray ideas, and many other things. Surprisingly, I didn't have to switch out the things in her bins daily in order to keep her entertained. Even though she had the shortest attention span of any of my kids (and still does, but that's a whole other blog post, sigh), she still would play with the same couple bins for up to a week before growing bored of them.

For a while I put shared subjects, like Sonlight Read Alouds and Science, in one child's bin and when he got to it he knew we had to all do it together. However, for the last year or more I have had kept shared subjects on the school shelf and we just know that we have to do them as well. Since we do the shared subjects all at once, either first thing when we start school (9:00 ish) or first thing after lunch, it's just easier for them not to be in the bins.

I do not set up our workboxes every day. I just don't. Many subjects, like Math and Handwriting, are workbook based and we simply do the next thing each day. Post-It Note Flags, in each child's color of course, are ideal for keeping our place in each workbook. It would be more work, more mess, and more likely to cause lost papers if I cut the workbooks apart to put in just one day's work. Of course, some subjects are done on loose papers, like Sonlight's Language Arts Activity Sheets and copywork work assignments, but I put blank lined paper and Activity Sheets in that bin for up to a month at a time. I rarely need to mess with more than one or two workbox contents each week, let alone messing with every workbox for every child every day. A system that required that just wouldn't last two days in my house.

I see our workbox system continuing pretty much as-is for years yet. They provide a visual list of what needs to be done each day so that both the student and I can see at a glance what is left. They also provide school storage and organization along with portability. Workboxes are a huge and very successful part of our homeschool.

The Missing Dollar

There are many variations of this problem out there, but this is the one I saw first. Give it a shot.

Have your kids give it a try too. This is a great introduction to how bad reasoning can sound good. I'm not going to give the solution. I think there is a huge benefit to be found from struggling through this to figure it out. Besides, if you google "missing dollar" you'll find solutions for similar problems that will make this one clear as well.

School Room Week

It's week 2 of the NOT Back to School Blog Hop, and this week I get to share with y'all my school room. I'm so excited about it!

We don't have a "school room" really, but rather much of our school takes place in our family room. This room is the largest in our house, and serves as our family room, dining room, play room, library, school room, and probably a dozen other functions as well. It is open to both our living room and kitchen, and you have to go through this room to get to our backyard. In addition to all these other things going on in there, it is the room we entertain in when we entertain. Obviously, it's a busy place.

Here's what is used to look like. (As usual, click on any image to see it full sized.)

Here's what it looks like now, from the same angle.

 Sooooo, much nicer. SO MUCH! I took this on Saturday afternoon, with Lego's all over the place and other little messes, but it still looks so much nicer than it used to even when it was as clean as it could possibly get.

I have dreamed of built in cabinets and shelves since long before we even bought this house. In fact, when we looked at this house before we bought it we discussed that 17 foot long wall would be perfect for my built-ins.

My husband and I planned what we wanted, and we took that plan to Lowe's and ordered kitchen cabinets. It took five weeks for the cabinets to come in, but in the mean time hubby painted the wall (he chose the color too, but I love it). Then he installed the cabinets, making the wooden "counter top" and shelves himself. It took me longer to go through everything and fill up the cabinets than it took him to install them!

The result? Beauty and organization. ALL of my homeschool stuff, plus craft supplies, plus my vacuum, plus all of our board games and puzzles, plus all the books we own, plus more fits in those cabinets with room to spare. I am in love. I love it so much that here are some more photos from different angles just because.

All four Sonlight Cores we're doing this year are out on the shelves, but neat and attractive, along with some nicknacks and books from my childhood. Those wires are hook ups for our surround sound, whenever we get a new one, since the the very old one went boom the moment we turned it on last week. Notice the comfy chair in the corner there. By the way, that's a school book she's reading, yes on a Saturday afternoon while the boys play with Legos. Sonlight. It's that good.

This is what it looks like when we're doing school in there. Here we are doing art, recreating Van Gogh's Sunflowers using oil pastels. It's one of the lessons in Confessions of a Homeschooler's World's Greatest Artist curriculum (which is amazingly free!).

Curriculum Week - Long Answer

I did a short and sweet post that hits the big things we are using for homeschool this year, but I really am a long answer kind of person (just ask my husband, he'll tell you all about my long answers ). Anyway, I just couldn't let it go with such a short post that only mentions a handful of the numerous things we are using this year. So, here is the full list of curriculum for each of my kids.

10th grader - Auditory/tactile learner with strong Math and Science tendencies and more average in English and History. He wants to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and he has recently started thinking about a dual major with Mechanical Engineering too (he learned that it is the Mechanical Engineers that build jet engines).

• Bible - reading the Bible and the books: The Bible Jesus Read, The Case for Christ, and Pilgrim's Progress (the original). If we have time he'll get to Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. 
• Math - Life of Fred: Geometry.
• Science - Apologia Physics. 
• English - Sonlight Core 100. The Literature in Core 100 is all of his literature (23 titles including such classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Call of the Wild), and the Creative Expression in Core 100 forms the majority of his writing for the year, although I am the type of person to throw in my own ideas for writing on occasion too. For example, this week we are finishing a 3 week writing unit on the idea of the Monomyth (aka the Hero's Journey tale) using a short story retelling of the Theseus and the Minotaur myth by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the movie Star Wars: episode IV (the first Star Wars), and finally another movie, tale, or book of my son's choice (it looks like he'll be using The Hobbit for the final essay). Anyway, this idea came from a Currclick product.
• History and Geography - Sonlight Core 100. We are using all of Core 100's History, but I am also adding in Hewitt's tests for Hakim, am scheduling all the History of US Book 11 source documents, and am scheduling in the book What Hath God Wrought by Dr. William Grady for some Baptist perspective on USA history.
• Spanish - Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish, plus talking with native speakers (aka approximately 50% of everyone that shares this county with us, so it's not hard to find native speakers)
• Fine Arts - Listening to and Understanding Great Music from the Teaching Company.

8th grader  - Good all around learner, although with visual strengths. Loves to read and is a good writer. She has no definite future plans as of yet, but she's thinking maybe nursing school.

• Bible - reading the Bible and right now she's reading The Bible Makes Us Baptist by Mary E. Bamford. I don't know what else I'm going to have her do this after this. Yeah, I need to get going on to that.
• Math - Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra I with Biology along with Singapore's Challenging Word Problems 6.
• Science - Apologia Physical Science.
• English - Help for High School will make up the first semester of her writing, maybe a bit longer than that, and then she'll pick up the Sonlight Core H writing. She's also doing Winston Grammar Basic and will follow with Advanced. She will do All About Spelling book 7 sometime this year as well.
• History and Geography and Literature - Sonlight Core H with Mystery of History III. Since Mystery of History IV still won't be published for another year or more, she'll use Story of the World IV to finish off Core H.
•  Art - This girl is resistant to art, so I'll be bringing her into what the younger ones are doing. It might be "young" for her, but she needs things that won't cause her to be frustrated or upset by the process.

4th grader - Dyslexic, strongly visual learner. He is 4th grade by age, but working on a 3rd grade level pretty much across the board.

• Bible - Egermeier's Story Bible with memory verses from his Sunday School class (I'm his Sunday School teacher too). Here soon our Wednesday evening Bible class will be starting to use a Patch the Pirate curriculum that will have assignments to be completed at home as well.
• Math - Miquon Purple. He is nearing the end of the last Miquon book, so he'll be starting Singapore Primary Mathematics 3A in the next month or so.
• Science - Apologia Astronomy with A Journey Through Learning's lapbook to go with it.
  
• English - The Sonlight Grade 3 Readers, Handwriting Without Tears 3 (he's learning cursive), and All About Spelling book 3. For writing he is doing a mix of Language Lessons for the Elementary Child volume 1, Brave Writer's newest book Jot It Down, and things I make up myself. (For example, this week he had the idea to write letters to two sisters whose graduation ceremony we are attending this weekend. Our family is close with these girls, so he felt he had something important to say to them and I thought it was a great idea for this week's writing.)
• History and Geography and Literature - Sonlight Core C. Oddly enough (for me), I'm doing Core C pretty much as written, well except for Bible as I am reading Core A's Bible with Core C. 
• Art - I'm really trying to get to Art more this year (as opposed to the not at all last year). I've gotten set with Artistic Pursuits K-3 book 1, lots of Pinterest ideas, and I bought a beautiful art project idea book at the convention last month, called Amazing Art Projects for Children. I'm also going to work through Confessions of a Homeschooler's World's Greatest Artists units.

 

2nd grader - Also dyslexic and behind in reading, but ahead in all other areas. He is a visual learner, but does well with auditory learning too.

• Bible - He'll be doing everything that his 4th grade brother does, only he finds memorizing easier even though he is two years younger.
• Math - He is quite the little mathematical thinker. He is less than a week away from finishing Miquon Green, and will move into Miquon Yellow. That equates to him being a full year ahead in Math.
• Science - see what the 4th grader is doing above.
• English - All About Reading level 1. At the rate he is working, it may be January before he finishes this level even though he started it in March or so. He often takes him 2 to 3 days to make it through a single lesson. He is making improvement, but reading does not come easy for him. Anyway, he is also doing Handwriting Without Tears 2, Language Lessons for Little Ones volume 2, and Brave Writer's Jot It Down. 
• History and Geography and Literature- Sonlight's Core C. He is especially loving the mapwork with the Geography Songs workbook and CD.
• Art - see above.

Kindergartner - I'm still not sure yet if this one favors visual or auditory learning, but she is surely kinetic. This girl moves all the time. She also has the attention span of a gnat.

• Bible - Sonlight's Core P4/5 Bible, the Family-Time Bible, along with memory verses from her Sunday School class and the Patch the Pirate workbook when that starts later this month.
• Math - Singapore's Earlybird Math.
• Science - Sonlight's Core P4/5 includes Science, but she is listening in on the Apologia Astronomy book too.
• English - All About Reading level pre-1, with Handwriting Without Tears K. 
• Social Studies and Literature - Sonlight's Core P4/5. My 8th grader is actually reading this aloud to her sister. It's our compromise for me to keep reading aloud to my 8th grader, but I think it's good for them both too.
• Art - She joins everyone else for arts and crafts and has for years now. She loves to do it, but speeds through it (see comment about her attention span above).