Thursday, August 22, 2013

Grace not perfection:)

I want to show you my schedule for today:
Notice how nothing is checked off yet and how one of my children already has 3 sad faces on the board.

 This is what my children are doing instead of my lovely schedule.  Why?  Grace, not perfection.

My kids were having a hard time playing kindly, speaking kindly and just behaving with love towards each other this morning.  It happens...it happens often.  It will continue to happen if my husband and I fail to point them toward right attitudes and thinking and behavior according to God's word.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Mt. 5:9

So, I gave them 20 minutes to play anything they wanted as long as they were playing fairly and nicely.  

I read Matthew 5:9 and talked about peace and how we are going to have peace today and with one another.  

My personality likes lists, a plan and a routine.  It's as if my life is on a schedule in my mind and I have a hard time with 'detours'.  Basically, I have a hard time with GRACE, NOT PERFECTION.  But, I'm learning as, I teach my kids.  

Don't think that this blogger has it all together because of the nice pictures I show or links I put up.  Life here is real and tough and in need of peace and a whole lot of GRACE.

Love,
Kathie

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Our School Room 2013

This is the view of our room as you walk in the door.  

This is the 'window' wall to the right.  There's our green couch, the white Ikea 'side' school table, calendar and art work. 

The small wall on the right side of the window...calendar and small 3m hooks for our activity calendars and chore charts.  CLE learning to read cards are starting to line the door frame. 

Closer look at calendar and hooks.  I have our CC community calendar, family Google calendar printed out, kids ministries at our church calendar, and kids chore charts.
Another look at this table...I rotate puzzles and activities on the two shelves.  You can see that I use ordinary binder clips and 3m hooks for displaying work.   There are CLE sight word cards under the window trim, too. 

This white Ikea kids table is no longer sold.  But, I love it for the two shelves below.  I use this space for a lot of 1 on 1 time with kids.  I sit on the sofa as the child works at the table. 

Over and around the sofa are 3m hooks and binder clips to display artwork and school papers. Those are never in short supply.

The center of the room---our Ikea gateleg table.  This by far my favorite homeschool furniture purchase.  The stools are also from Ikea and work well with it.  I love that it folds down on both sides for extra floor space and room.

There are drawers on each side for a total of 6 deep drawers. 



You can see how this table folds.  However, we usually leave it out and occasionally fold up one side. 




In the corner, is our current 'extra' books for the week.  They are supporting books from our home library or the local library for the weeks' History or Science focus.

Above the table are these three boards.  I believe all of them are from Hobby Lobby.  The whiteboard on the right is the 'teaching' board.  That is where I write out examples and teach.  The whiteboard on the left is used for our schedule and behavior/attitude chart.  The center peg board has Prayer charts/schedule, our current Bible/Character focus and sibling rules chart.

A closer look at that center peg board and our 'tool box' of supplies.  That bin houses regular plastic cups full of pencils, colored pencils, dry erase markers, scissors and glue.  It also has two clipboards, maps, counting charts, dry erase pages handy for easy access.

A look at our schedule.  The red is behavior/attitude.  Bottom line if you have 3 sad faces = no reward for the day.  If you do not have 3 sad faces you get 15 min. DS or Kindle time and a pick from our candy jar.  If you get three smiley faces you get extra 15 minutes of DS/Kindle.  It works for us...and Dad can see how the day went as far as attitudes and behaviors go. 

The other corner houses one portion of our Legos.  These help the boys when I am reading a lot out loud.  Also our youngest likes to play in the room with us after his school work is done. 

A peak of one of the drawers...it can fit a lot;)

The wall opposite the window...TV and bookshelf, pics and closet.

This is another one of my favorite homeschool furniture pieces: Ikea Expedit.  There are two cubbies for me plus each of the kids (top/bottome).  My top cubby has Ikea mag. holders with coloring books, drawing books, file folder games, Bible and an atlas.  My basket house all of the teacher's manuals that I need for this semester.  The kid' top cubbies have their portfolio binder, any individual subject binder they need, a mag file for extra work or work not completed and they fave activity books.  Their bottom baskets hold all of their workbooks and assignments plus their supply box. 

To the left of the tv are the current 'books of the week'.  This week it is: Blueberries for Sal for our youngest.  For our oldest two: Patrick the Patron St. or Ireland (Medieval Period)

A different view...not a whole lot of room but totally doable.

Kinder girl working.  The stools are stackable and also from Ikea.  It was one stop shopping for me there;)

On the other side of the tv is a clear paper holder/organizer from Office Depot.  It houses our planners from A Plan In Place.

Here are the shelves and cubbies.  (I greened out names.)



This Filetastic hanging file is from Mardel.  This is probably my favorite store--ever;) 

A peak inside our school closet. 

This is the other side of the closet.  This one closet helps with organization of the entire room.  It stores, supplies, books, paper, printer, files, etc, etc....

This room always seems to have someone in it working or......

playing;
I'm sharing this post on:http://www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com/school-room-week-2013/

Thursday, August 8, 2013

2013-2014 Curriculum



2013-2014 Curriculum


Discipleship
Character Traits: Hubbard Cupboard Joyful Heart Character
Bible Memorization
Bible Portion to go with H.C. Joyful Heart


Discipline
Organization/Planner
We have the Teacher edition for me (customized), Deluxe Student for 2nd grader (customized),  and 2 Early Learner Planners.

Memory Work and Subject Focus: Classical Conversations Cycle 2

Math: Core- Christian Light Math
Reviews that sum up why we like CLE Math
Math Facts: Classical Conversations Addition and Multiplication Flashcards

Pre-K
Core: Rod and Staff ABC Series
Literature: Five In a Row inspired activities and book list

Kindergarten
Phonics and Reading: CLE Learning to Read
Early Math/Letter Formation/ Critical Thinking: CLE Kindergarten II

Literature: Five In a Row inspired activities and book list


2nd Grade
Handwriting: Memoria Press New American Cursive 1 and 2
2nd grader is almost finished with NAC 1 and will move into 2 soon.
Writing Composition  2nd Grade (1st 3 quarters): Essentials in Writing
Poetry Composition: Crafty Classroom Poetry Journal
Grammar/Spelling (2nd Grade): CLE Language Arts 1 & 2
2nd Grader will finish LA 1 and then go on to LA 2 (We started CLE LA late last year after making the decision to switch from First Language Lessons.)
Independent Reading/Comprehension: Veritas Press More Favorites and 2nd Grade Comprehension Guides
·  Danny and the Dinosaur
·  Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective
·  The Hundred Dresses
·  Mouse Soup
·  My Father`s Dragon
·  Now We are Six
·  Owls in the Family
·  Sarah Plain and Tall
·  Baby Island
 ·  Boxcar Children
·  Little House in the Big Woods
·  Little House on the Prairie
·  Milly Molly Mandy
·  Pinocchio
·  The Railway Children
·  Winnie the Pooh

Read Alouds: Booklist inspired by Classical Conversations Cycle 2

Discover
Science: Apologia Exploring Creation through Astronomy (2 days a week)
History: Story of the World Vol. 2 Middle Ages (2 days a week) (book, cd, and activity book)
Geography: Classical Conversations “The Core” by Leigh Bortins Ch. 8 suggestions/ Geo Trivium Tables
Tracing and continent blob maps
Geography Trivium Tables

Delight
Classical Conversations Extra Activities, Projects, plans: Sola Gratia Mom CC Cycle 2 Plans
Art Projects Video: Homeart Studio (K, 1st and 2nd year)
Arts and Crafts

Outside the home activities
-        Classical Conversations Community Day (2 oldest) http://www.classicalconversations.com
-        3 hour once a week Athletics program (2 oldest)
-        Kids Khoir Fall and Spring (all three)
-        Junior Bible Quiz (2 oldest) http://nationaljbq.org
-        Ranger Kids/Mpact Girls (all three)
-        Area co-op  once a week: park day and chess club (all three)
-        Field Trips all year:)

I'm linking up to: iHomeschool Network's Not Back to School blog hop!  If you would like to see what hundreds of other homeschool moms are choosing for curriculum this year, make sure to check it out!