Not Back-to-School Hop 2010: Curriculum Week

We have actually taken a summer break this year.  It just sorta happened.  I had every intention of doing lessons all summer with just a couple small breaks.  Then we took a week vacation to visit family the July 4th holiday, and we have been on break ever since.  I have been doing a lot of organizing around the house and working on my school planning for the year.  We will start back up soon.  I have some science, and review I want to cover the last few weeks of summer.  We will start our 2010-2011 year officially the first week of September. Indie is age 7, will be starting 2nd-ish grade.  Beluga is age 6, and starting 1st-ish grade.

Check out everyone’s entries over at Not Back-to-School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter


This year we are still using Sue Patrick’s Workbox System. I plan to use workboxes with our curriculum,  but this year I have decided to try it a different way, a way that doesn’t take up so much of our precious shelf space.  We have a lot of book shelves but it always seems like we need more!  It seems I’m forever organizing and reorganizing the STUFF in the schoolroom.  I’ll post on our new system soon.

Grammar – First Language Lessons 1st and 2nd grade We have been enjoying working though the poetry, and memorization especially. We do everything FLL suggest. We will be starting the 2nd half of the book this year.
History – Story of the World Volume 2 – Middle Ages
Geography Trail Guide to U.S. Geography, last year we did Galloping the Globe and covered a lot of the world.  We also continue to cover many countries using Story of the World.  I think we might rotate every other year between world and U.S. geography.
Science – I’m using a few sources.  We are using R.E.A.L. Science, mixed with Considering God’s Creation and we use Enchanted Learning as a resource as well and the Giant Science Resource Book
Art – Artistic Pursuits Book 1, I’m also looking into piano lessons for them
Home EC – We are going to be doing a lot of cooking and baking this year. We have started a food notebook that I’ve complied from many sources, one of which is this cooking lapbook from Homeschool Share.  It’s pretty neat!  Bible – We will be using Bible Study Guide

INDIE DS –  2nd-ish Grade – age 7.5
Math – Math-U-See, Gamma (book 4)
Phonics – Explode the Code 4 – last year he completed books 3 and 3-1/2
Reading – different books based on interest, science and history books from library, etc. He read an entire book 37 plus book series this past year in just a few weeks.  We also listen to a lot of audio books in the van.  Currently we are on book 6 in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I highly suggest it!
Spelling – Spelling Workout B, and Sequential Spelling 1
P.E. – we mix it out throughout the year…. Golf, and possible gymnastics, probably soccer at the Y

BELUGA DD – 1st-ish grade – age 6 (end of Aug.)
Math – Math-U-See Primer (we went ever so slow with her last year)
Phonics – Explode the Code 2
Spelling – Spelling Workout Book A
Reading lots of books together (we all hit the library 1-2x per week)
Bob Books (library)
P.E. – Beluga also tries different stuff through the year.  Gymnastics, soccer at the Y

Our School Room Update

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Darcy at Life with My 3 Boybarians is doing a Not Back-to-School Blog Hop: for School Rooms this week. Here is our school room.

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Our cluttered school room.

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There is B doing his math. To his right are our workboxes. We love these Ikea shelves. That whole 8 foot section on the left was $200.

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I bring my laptop in and keep it there on the shelf. I like being portable.

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The kids use our older iMac there. Again, more Ikea shelves. they have “desk shelves” that i LOVE. That is what the iMac is on. You can move them up and down to fit your needs.

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Close up of the workboxes. B and J both have 10 boxes each. Plenty for Kindergarten and 1st grade. We do our First Language Lessons and Ordinary Parents Guild to Teaching Reading at the kitchen table after breakfast or lunch.

Workboxes! I love them!!!

We started a new way to do school. it's summer now so everything is pretty relaxed... This is the idea though. These are called Workboxes. Every night I fill them, each with something different, 1-12. It's like Christmas all day. Finding little things to do throughout the day. As they complete each box, they take the number from the empty box and put it on the board to the left on the wall (velcro). Today I have phonics sheets in one, play doe, then a fun placement, a find and seek book, 2 level readers to read aloud to me, then just paper and a pencil in the next with a note saying - draw something you find in nature...... The kids LOVE it. During the regular school year I'll have their regular curriculum in each bin, broken down with breaks and fun stuff in between. The possibilities are endless!

We started a new way to do school. it's summer now so everything is pretty relaxed... This is the idea though. These are called Workboxes. Every night I fill them, each box with something different, 1-12. It's like Christmas all day for the kids. As the kids complete each box, they take the number from the front of the empty box and put it on a chart on the wall (velcro). Today I start with a phonics sheets in one, play doe in the next, then a fun placement (insect ID), a find and seek book, 2 level readers to read aloud to me, then in one is just paper and a pencil with a note saying - draw something you find in nature...... The kids LOVE it. During the regular school year I'll have their regular curriculum in each bin, broken down with breaks, and fun stuff in between. The possibilities are endless!<br> After this one, Indie can take a break, following the instructions on the inside back of the bin. We tweaked the Sue Patrick's Workbox System and didn't but the $15 Reorganize brand wire rack from Target she suggested. We are justing using existing shelves we have in our schoolroom. The shoe boxes are $1 at Target. (Sorry, I tired adding links though out this post but links aren't working today.)

This one has instructions to complete two pages... it's his Explode the Code book... The book is out of the bin because he was doing it as I took this photo.

This one has instructions to complete two pages... it's his Explode the Code book... The book is out of the bin because he was doing it as I took this photo.

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I cut out, then laminated the numbers.  These were a download after googling - workbook numbers.  I printed out 2 sets of numbers per child. The first one I cut up, the second one I used as the wall chart where the kids place the numbers after they have completed a workbox.

I cut out, then laminated the numbers. These were a download after googling - workbook numbers. I printed out 2 sets of numbers per child. The first one I cut up, the second one I used as the wall chart where the kids place the numbers after they have completed a workbox.At first I bought these velcro dots but they went too fast and were $5 for 32. I decided that a roll of velcro for $10 would be better and I'd have extra around for future projects.

I hung this on the wall right next to Indie's Shelves so he can visually see what he has to accomplish for that day.  Today, I only filled 9 boxes so you see 10-12 already on the chart.

I hung this on the wall right next to Indie's shelves so he can visually see what he has to accomplish for that day. Today, I only filled 9 boxes so you see 10-12 already on the chart. This is a great yahoo group I joined that has great people and neat files shared for ideas.