Think Outside the Box(well, maybe in is better, in this case)

From the moment we started to homeschool, we were familiar with the Work Boxes(Sue Patrick) method of organizing. I was introduced to it before our final decision was made to homeschool.

We started with Workboxes right from the beginning. Our lives are very busy, so the more organizational tools we can use to keep us on track, the better.

We have tried a couple things to use as workboxes.

I tried magazine holders. But many of our books didn't fit in the magazine holder, they had a tendency to tip as well. So that was scrapped.

We then moved on to try something like a pocket organizer. We used a binder with pocket dividers. It worked ok. It took little space, but we couldn't include text books, teacher guides, supplies. So better, but not the ticket for us.

I bit the bullet and got carts with drawers. I like to try and keep things tidy, I'm wondering if there is such a thing with homeschool. There is always a project happening! I had hoped to use Rubbermaid ones, for the clear drawers, but I couldn't get any locally. So I ended up with the scrapbook store types. They aren't perfect, as I couldn't get one in 12" width, but they work quite well over all. What I didn't realize, is that I'd have probably liked the 20 drawer as opposed to a 10, but space was an issue. This is working fine though. I have put 3 of our magazine holders on top to give us a couple extra boxes.



This was the first official school day of grade 2! She was so into it. She was nearly done at 10 am :) And we had 8 boxes!



She insisted she needed a school desk. It's so tiny, there just isn't enough room to hold a pencil box, so we adopt a kitchen chair to give her more work space by holding other things.



Over just a few days, our system has evolved a little bit. To what we are currently using. You can't see the velcro on our drawers because I found black at the dollar store that sticks awesomely! For $1 I'm getting 15 of each the hook and loop. Can't complain.

The boxes are working so well for dd6. Now to get into the groove for the older two. I have to admit, I haven't used the concept with them at all. They are using a school curriculum that wasn't handpicked by me, so I'm not familiar. I have to make time to do so.

The system is so customizable to make it work for no matter who you are! I really can't think of who it wouldn't work for. It is really just a way to focus your day and make it count. Less time wasted searching for something. It's there, in the box, ready to go. So much less stressful!

Our Grade 2 curricula

Last year, when we started, I had no idea what to use. We used lots of free worksheets online, while I investigated our options. I recommend to all new homeschoolers to do the same ;) I went to various curricula websites and printed off various sample pages. We ruled out many workbooks. Also check out local homeschool support associations. Many will have a lending library so you can see and hold the curricula.

This is our curricula for Grade 2.

Math - Math Mammoth - We are first finishing off the grade 1 workbooks over the next month and a bit and moving onto grade 2! Considering in April, she couldn't add or subtract, we're doing awesome. We LOVE this curriculum. It is very nicely laid out. There is lots of visual presentations, ideas for simple games to re-inforce what they are learning. Lots of built in review, so no need to get a bunch of different things, unless you want to, but it's not a need. The author is available to answer any questions. There is no teacher manual needed, it's well explained in the workbook. And best of all it is extremely affordable. If you are getting 1 year it is $34, if you order the first 5 grades it is $135, I believe! Awesome price.

History - Story of the World - we are using the first volume, with the activity guide. The little Princess loves it. We opted to get the pdf files, so it was instant, and we print only the activity pages needed. I think when we do the next one, I'll get the book for reading, but the pdf for the activity guide.

Religion - Enjoying God's Gifts workbook, along with the NIRv Adventure Bible for young readers. It is a fantastic bible! Simple language, yet a complete bible. The workbook scope and sequence supplies all the bible readings, so all the pages correspond with the verses you've just read. It is very cute and easy to do, and most importantly, quick to do!

Music - Pianimals. I do have a music background so I could teach on my own, however, this is such a well planned program, why re-invent the wheel. Even a parent with no music knowledge could get their child started in piano. Highly recommended!

Science - Elemental Science - Biology for the Grammar Stage. Great program, affordable, trivium based. It is simply laid out, it isn't an all-inclusive, you do need 3 different spines for the 3 topics, animals, body and plants. But very easy to use. Cute experiments.

Language arts. This is curriculum intensive.
Spelling - All About Spelling. We are starting Level 2. I can't say enough positive things about this program. It teaches spelling rules, gives lots of practice, uses manipulatives for hands on learning. I have learned spelling rules that made me go.... 'So THAT's why we spell it that way.' Not only does it help spelling, but it REALLY helps with reading. We purchased the readers with it. DD6 is so thrilled when she earns a new chapter in her book.

Reading - Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. Another huge RAVE from me! It teaches so methodically and logically that it only takes a short time to do, and the kids GET it! Built in review. No supplies needed other than a marker and some index cards to help out. It is considered a 2 year program. We are plodding through with NO resistance. She loves it.

Grammar - First Language Lessons A very gently introduction to grammar. Includes some fun memorization and some enrichment activities. 2 thumbs up from mom!

Writing - Writing with Ease(WWE) - With the PDF version it includes the teaching guide as well as all the reading passages, so no need to find your own. I coupled this with StartWrite so it could be penmanship too. WWE includes copy work. It is of a well written sentence. You go over it with the child, pointing out various things, punctuation, capitalization etc. That is 2 days a week, the other 2 days a week, there is a passage to read, and have the child do a narration back to you. LOVE IT!

Penmanship - StartWrite I use this to make worksheets. It is a consistent font with interlining. I use it for the copywork as mentioned above. I use it for spelling, for history. Anytime she has written work to do, I create the worksheet with StartWrite. This has eliminated the need for actual penmanship. It's interspersed into all her work. If I can multitask one assignment, I will. She has really nice printing! In fact our facilitator last year thought her penmanship was dd11's! LOL... was she surprised.

I also use a couple workbooks for reading comprehension and language, by Evan Moor. She loves the reading, it's all done orally. She reads the passage to me, then answers 3 comprehension questions. If she doesn't remember, she is learning how to review. The language lessons is a 1/2 page question with one sentence to correct(capitalize and punctuation), and 2 multiple choice questions about spelling.

Art - Atelier - this she loves! She is capable of really quality art with the instructions provided, that looks to be much higher caliber than one would expect of a 6yo. Now I don't know if it is the instruction or if she has that much artistic ability. I'd like to say it's her!

Phys. Ed - we do a variety of things! She is in Ringette(2x/week), Dance(1x/week), Basketball(1x week), Swimming Lessons. This are weekly(with the exception of swimming, but it's 2x/week for 5 weeks) and looking into rock climbing in the new year. We also plan a daily physical activity. As we live in the great white north, we have a few things at home we can do. She loves the treadmill. She is working her way up to 20 minutes, starting at 10. She mostly does a brisk walk. As long as she's moving, I have no requirements. She also uses the Wii Fit. I know, it's a video game, but it has it's merit, after doing hula hoops for 6 minutes straight, you are pretty winded! Try it..lol. Plus it's fun, and that is the key, keep it fun and you have a life time of movement going on. Make it drudgery, and it won't last. Basketball is new to her, so she is trying, if she doesn't like it, well, next year we don't enroll. Ringette is her second year. What is Ringette? Check it out! Another great Canadian sport.

We are also doing some fun unit studies. These are designed as a week project, however we take our time. If she is done with school, we don't do it, if she is wanting more, she works on her unit study. These are bonus learning activities, not mandatory. So it's as we feel like it.

So that is what we are tackling this year :) We'll see how it goes. We are progressing nicely, she does school work from 9-11 most days, and plays all afternoon! Her daily physical activity is usually in the afternoon as well.

Facilitator Meeting

Today we had our first meeting with our homeschool facilitator. In my province, we must register with a school board, be it public or private, it's a personal choice. They are responsible for 'supervising' the homeschool process to ensure learning is occurring. It is what it is, we follow the rules.

There are 3 ways to register with the school board.

1 - Aligned - meaning you are following the provincial guidelines to a T meeting all learning outcomes.
2- Blended - meeting provincial guidelines in some subjects and handpicking in other areas.
3- Traditional- parent decides on every aspect of the education, from topics to content.

Many homeschoolers do traditional here. But there is good in all 3 ways.

In fact, I have one of each!

My eldest girl is registered in fully aligned. She is very concerned with getting a provincial diploma to facilitate University application. Also she is just out of school, and prefers sticking with what is most familiar. With her school board, she is actually in a teacher-directed program. This has been wonderful! She is a learning a lot, works well independently. And has some one readily available to answer the questions I can't answer!

The middle one is blended. She is using many of the teacher directed curricula, but has a few she is doing with mom :) Again, she has been in a school until 3/4 of the way through 5th grade, so it is comfortable, the curricula is somewhat familiar. She is also a child that struggles with change. So it seems to be a decent fit for her.

And my baby, who will be 7, is registered, with a different school board, as traditional. When she started at home last spring, we essentially started her grade one over. She hadn't learned a lot in the seven months of school at the ps. So it was easier to just start over and be sure there were no holes, than it was to push and struggle. Isn't that the essence of homeschool? We skimmed what she did know, and studied and learned in areas she needed to learn. We are following a pattern of Classical Education with her. We are covering all of core subjects that is required by the province, however we aren't necessarily covering the content on the same time-line. So, while we aren't aligned, I would estimate that by the end of 6th grade, she'll have covered everything the province required and then some.

Anyway, back on topic..lol. Today we met, dd11's facilitator. I was a little nervous about it, but it was painless. I have experienced that this school board really pushes their teacher-directed program, which is why the littlest one isn't with this board. We'll see how it goes.

The lady was perfectly lovely! She knows why we pulled the girls from school, and is very sensitive about it. She asked dd11 what she was doing with her work. She complimented that she is leaps and bounds ahead of other families, (because mom was technologically savvy) already. She saw where dd was strong in her work, and complimented her. And praised her in areas she's hesitant for getting it done. She had a check list to see what books we were using, asked dd what topics she was doing. She had some forms to dd to use. Reading log, phys ed. log, a few information sheets. It was great. She wasn't demanding of dd11. She didn't intimidate her at all. They even had a discussion on Harry Potter and Star Wars, they were both big fans.

Once she was gone, dd was singing her praises. So with any luck, this is not a super good day for the facilitator, but her usual sweet self and we are off to a fantastic year!

Let the good times roll!

Let's get ready to rumble!

I've been debating for months on whether or not I should start a blog. I've seen some absolutely fabulous blogs out there, they cause the perfectionist in me to scream: DON'T DO IT! YOU'LL FAIL!

Well, I battled my inner perfectionist and decided that I'll do it anyway.

About me: I'm a mom of 4. Ages ranging from 16 down to a tender 6. I've been blessed to be a SAHM, from the time my eldest was 2. Although a SAHM, I'm also a WAHM. We do what we must to survive. I live in Western Canada with my kidlets, hubby, 2 dogs, 4 geckos and a tank or 2 or 3 of fish :)

We are just beginning our adventures in homeschooling and have many years to grow into it.

This is our story:

In April 2010, we did an emergency extraction from a local school. Our 11yo was being horribly bullied and it had gone way to far. The school would not work with us on trying to fix the situation. Their solutions just singled out our child. So we pulled the 11 yo along with our 6yo from the school.

Are we ever glad we did!

Once we brought them home, it became apparent that their education was seriously lacking in many areas. In fact, the youngest revealed, as weeks went by, that the teacher would never help her, never answer her questions. My daughter was a shy child to start with, so she wasn't disruptive, and as a result didn't get the help she desperately required. The older daughter had gaps in her education as well. So for the 3 months remaining in that school year our focus was math and reading. Reading and more reading.

Over this period, our 13 yo daughter started wondering if maybe she wanted to homeschool as well, she saw the fun projects her younger sisters were working on. She saw that they slept later, that they weren't leaving the house at 7 am to catch the bus. BUT she was positive she'd miss her friends. She was really torn. As much as she enjoyed her friends, she didn't enjoy the drama a school setting provided. The bullying by both peers, elders and teachers. Her major reason for the hesitation was she really enjoyed participating in school sport teams. As a family, we discussed, and we found a community basketball league, and the deal was sealed. She would be my 3rd homeschool student.

So this fall, homeschool started with THREE students. Mom is having a crash course in lesson planning and organization. It's a whole new dynamic to my day.

We are into week 3 on Monday. I am feeling a little scattered, it's busy, I'll admit. But I love having my girls around me! They are growing so fast.

Now, notice I only homeschool 3 kids. My eldest is in high school and quite content to remain there. And that is ok. He's doing fabulous, he's quite studious overall, so we have no concerns, and he'd be quite resistant to working with mom; just our personalities, we clash sometimes. For us, it is likely best he remain in school...lol. He'd be overwhelmed by female hormones if he stayed home, or that is his excuse anyway.

That is us in a nutshell. Hopefully, I'll be posting frequently, and building a blog that is fun to read. If nothing else, it'll document our crazy lives and our homeschool journey.