Gearing up for School (again)

The past few weeks have been heavy on the experiences (camping, rafting, nature walks) but light on the school work.  With all the packing and clean-up from camping trips, paperwork to prepare for the new house and some changes to our curriculum, things have been pretty loose. 

But, all that is going to change (sort of - I'm never all that strict).   I’ve finished setting up a modified workbox system to keep organized, set up creativity boxes for free times and prepared our plans for the next few months.  We are schooling year round because of the pretty random weeks we take off here and there.  If we took three months off for the summer in addition to the 2-3 weeks at Christmas, the random weeks when Georgie vacations with Granny Franny, weeks for family vacations, weeks with a lot of outside activities, and doing 4 day weeks we’d never get anything done.

I always liked the idea of workboxes but knew I didn’t have the time to fill them every night.  We don’t have a lot of space for bins or drawers so I decided to do a combination of magazine holders and drawers and organize a week’s worth of work at a time.

Our core subjects are in magazine holders.   Except for Math, most of these we just proceed to the next pages in the book so only one holder was needed for each subject. Georgie’s Explode the Code book stands up on the shelf next to the magazine holders. 

The holders contain:

-Handwriting Worksheets (although I may change this since we will be doing a lot of this using our Crayola Dry-Erase Activity Center).
-Phonetic/Emergent Readers
-All About Spelling
-Letter and Number dabber/sticker pages for Vicki to do while Georgie’s doing his work if she doesn't want to do her Tot Trays. (these are from Confessions of a Homeschooler, Making Learning Fun and itsy bitsy learners. They are usually called magnet pages).
-Fine Motor Skills – Kumon Cutting book and books of Mazes.
-Monday’s Math – we are going to alternate doing Time (using a Leap Frog wipe off book and geared clock) and Money (using workbooks and real money).
-Tuesday’s Math – MEP.  All supplies needed to do a lesson – teacher pages, student pages and accessories will be in the holder.
-Wednesday’s Math – RS Abacus and Activity book.
-Thursday’s Math – MEP.
 
The magazine holders sit on a shelf out of reach of little hands.  I know this kind of defeats the original purpose of workboxes which is to promote independent work, but with Vicki around it’s necessary.  Very little of Georgie’s work is truly independent at this point anyway.

Our History and Science activities are in three drawers of a plastic drawer system.  I’m planning/gathering materials for three topics at a time.  Each drawer contains the printouts, craft/activity supplies and lesson plan for a topic.

I plan to do the core subjects in the morning with Georgie doing his Reading, Writing and Math while Vicki plays with her Tot trays or does dabber pages.  This would probably take an hour or two at most.  Once we are done the kids will get a chance to do the Tot trays together (since I don’t think Georgie will be able to resist them), have creative time, outside play or we’ll play games until lunch.  After lunch we will do our History or Science lesson.  I plan to spend an entire week (or however long it takes) doing a History or Science lesson and alternating between them, rather than trying to do both in the same week.  I think completing a topic will make more sense to the kids and provide continuity.

Coming up:

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding Lesson D-1 – Gravity and Horizontal/Vertical

BFSU – Lesson D-2 – Day, Night and the Earth’s Rotation

BFSU – Lesson D-3 – Reading and Drawing Maps, Lesson D-3a – North, East, South and West, and Evan Moor Beginning Geography

A brief overview of US History

To see what others are doing, visit Preschool Corner & 5K too at Homeschool Creations.

Encouraging Creativity

*This is my first post using Windows Live Writer.  (Thank you to Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations for the suggestion).  I’m still getting the hang of it but I definitely think its a much easier way to write blog posts.*
During our camping trips, Georgie had a great time coloring and doing activity books.  It made me realize that I don’t bring out art supplies for them to just play around with often enough.  Having to keep things locked up makes them harder to get to so I tend to just forget about them.  So I set up two bins.  The idea was to have some things I could pull out for the kids to do on their own that didn’t need constant supervision.  I wouldn’t leave them alone for more than a minute or two but these are things that they couldn’t make too much of a mess too quickly.  The first one is a general art bin except for no paints (since paint can make a BIG mess very quickly).  Included in this bin (all washable) are markers, crayons, colored pencils, regular pencils, stampers, stencils, scissors, Cricut cut-outs and glue.   They were also provided with a bin of various colors of paper.  I made the separate cubbies by taping together plastic cups which I then stuck in a plastic tote.

Of course, messes are relative.  As usual when Vicki gets a hold of markers and stampers, she likes to color herself.

But they did manage to do some nice pictures as well.
Vicki’s:

Georgie’s:

The second bin I set up was for stickers.  This is for when I have something to do that may keep me from checking up on them quite as often (think dishes and laundry) or when I really don’t want any mess but still want to give them a chance to be creative.  I set up cubbies with all different kinds of stickers.   To start we have: paper stickers and an assortment of foam stickers – patriotic, Easter eggs, alphabet, shapes, glittery butterflies and general shapes (moons, suns, dinosaurs).   Each in their own individual cups (I don’t expect them to stay that way).

The kids had a great time with these.   Notice the paper bag I taped to the side for the garbage?  Notice the little pile of sticker backing paper on the floor?  Vicki didn’t quite get the idea.  But, picking up sticker paper is a lot easier than scrubbing marker and crayon off walls and furniture.
I am planning to pull out our paints more often as well.  I printed off a bunch of magnet pages for Vicki to do with our dabber paints (or stickers) while Georgie is working on his work.  Many of our planned History and Science projects will also involve lots of painting, molding and gluing.  I just can’t wait.
To see what others are doing visit Preschool Corner & 5K too at Homeschool Creations.

Rafting on the Delaware

We took another camping trip over Memorial Day weekend.  This time we were right on the Delaware River and we decided to take the kids on a rafting trip down the river.  They don't recommend these trips for children under 5 but our kids have their own life jackets and are used to going out on the ocean in Daddy's boat, so we thought they would do fine.  We did take the shorter 4 mile trip which ended up taking us about 2 1/2 hours since we went nice and slow and stopped along the way.  This section of the Delaware is very slow and easy with no rapids and only a couple of faster moving areas.

Both kids liked paddling.  Vicki only lost her paddle twice.  Both times were on the down river side of the raft so the current brought it right back to us.

We stopped for a picnic of potato chips and pretzels (at 10:30 in the morning) at a little clearing.  Stepping out of the boat was very muddy and twice I almost lost one of my (fairly expensive) sandals. 

Vicki liked looking over the side of the boat for fish.  In a lot of places it was shallow enough to see moss growing on submerged rocks.  We also saw a couple of painted turtles, a hawk and a pretty little waterfall.

Despite our stop the kids couldn't make it back without another snack.  Vicki must be in the middle of a growth spurt.  In one afternoon, in the course of about 4 hours she ate:  a turkey cheddar brat, macaroni & cheese, spaghettios, 1/2 a nectarine, 1/2 an apple, a few handfuls of blueberries and a bowl of Fruit Loops. 

Both kids said they enjoyed the ride.  I don't think the longer (8 mile) trip would have worked out as well - 2 1/2 hours definitely seems to be their limit for sitting in a raft.   Being able to paddle, lean over and touch the water, jump up and down and see how much they could rock the raft all helped to make the trip interesting for them.  My kids are definitely not the "sit still and listen" type but it was still a very pleasant journey.

To see what others have been doing this week, visit Preschool Corner and 5K too at Homeschool Creations.

Wordless Wednesday

Camping/Nature Study

We took the kids on their first Tent Camping experience over the weekend.  And of course, our first night there we had severe thunderstorms with almost continuous lightning and rain that sounded as loud as a waterfall.  Luckily the rain didn't start until almost 9pm so we were able to get the campsite set-up, have dinner and were almost ready for bed when it started.  Unfortunately, the kids were definitely not going to go to sleep with the light and sound show going on.  At first, they said they were scared by the storm but they gradually settled down and ended up having a good time in the tent.   Each of the kids had their own flashlight, which was a good thing since someone (who me?) forgot the camping lantern.

First they played a game where they took turns dancing in the "spotlight" from one of the flashlights. 

I had brought glow sticks left over from Stephanie's 13th birthday party (yes, 3 years ago) and the kids played a game throwing them up in the air and diving after them on the sleeping bags.  Daddy had fun playing this game with them and of course jumping around like lunatics helped them settle down to go to sleep {insert eye roll here}.

After about an hour, the initial wave of rain started to slack off and the kids started to wear down.  Mom was the only one awake for the three subsequent waves of rain, thunder and lightning.  Not a great start to the weekend, especially not when Vicki woke up at 6:30 am.

The campground we stayed at was not far from where Daddy grew up in South Jersey.  Previously a quarry to excavate clay for a local brick company, there are 25 "lakes" that are actually excavations that filled in with water.   I would call them more swamps or ponds than lakes but there are many paths and hiking trails weaving in and out of the ponds with plenty of opportunities to see native wildlife and leading to great discussions on camouflage. 

If you look in the very center of the picture, you can see there is a butterfly with its wings folded up, allowing it to blend in with the tree bark.

This is what the same butterfly/moth looked like with its wings unfolded.  I've been trying to identify the species and it seems to be an Admiral butterfly.  There were a lot of these flying around and one actually landed on the front of my sweatshirt.

This is a Northern Water snake.  When we first came up to it, we startled it into the water.  It came out again immediately and when it stopped to hide in the brush it had a baby snake on its back.  Everything I've ever heard or read about snakes indicates they do not care for their young beyond a couple of weeks of birth but this one didn't seem that small compared to the adult.

Painted turtles, red-eared sliders and box turtles are all native to New Jersey.   We were pretty far away and it was hard to tell what he might be but Daddy thought he was a painted turtle.  If you look in the bottom left corner of the picture you will see the much larger turtle lying just under the water with his head sticking up between the lily pads.

Vicki checking out the swans, geese and ducks from one of the many bridges around the ponds.

The babies were adorable yellow puffs.  I'm pretty sure the white birds are Tundra swans but I've been unable to conclusively identify the gray and white birds.

One of the gray birds out of the water.  Anyone know what it is?

  In addition to the great hiking trails and abundant wildlife, the campground also had a great playground.  The kids loved climbing on the geodesic dome.  Georgie was actually pretty brave and climbed all the way to the top and dropped down through the middle.

There was a school bus-looking structure that had rotating letters that Georgie used to practice some of his spelling.  Since we haven't actually done any spelling and are still working on short a words in reading, I think I may need to step things up a bit to catch up to where he's actually at.

Making scary flashlight faces is a camping requirement.

Looking for tadpoles.  Cousin Zachary came to visit one day (after going out fishing with Daddy).

Despite the wet start the kids had a great time exploring the outdoors and enjoyed their first camping trip.


To see what others are doing check out Preschool Corner and 5K too and Homeschool Creations.

Field Trip to Crystal Caves

We took a field trip to Crystal Caves with our local homeschool group.  I made the mistake of telling the kids we would pack a picnic lunch to eat there.  Georgie decided he needed his backpack to carry his lunch like he used to when he went to school.  Not a problem, I actually even knew where his backpack was.  Vicki decided she needed her Dora backpack.   After searching the dress-up box (where most of the backpacks, purses, etc. wind up), the toy cabinets and the hooks where the rest of the tote bags are kept I suddenly realized.....Vicki doesn't have a Dora backpack.   I managed to convince her to use the backpack that came with one of her baby dolls instead, which of course meant a baby doll had to come along.

The picnic area was right next to a small stream and field of wildflowers.  Vicki had fun poking the water with a stick and eventually ended up wading right in, soaking her shoes and her jeans to the knees.  Another mom was nice enough to offer me a dry pair of pants but I told her we'd be fine.  I'm glad I didn't bother changing her since once we were in the caves Vicki proceeded to jump in every standing patch of water in there (and if you've ever been in caves, you know they are WET.)

Georgie accidentally got his shoes wet so sat down for a while blowing dandelions so his shoes could dry.  It was a pretty warm day outside but the caves are chilly.  Vicki didn't care that she was wet to the knees but Georgie hated that his shoes were a little damp.

Once we hiked up the path to the entrance to the caves (and mom recovered from her near-heart attack from carrying Vicki all the way up) we saw a brief presentation about the caves.  By this point, everyone in the place knew Georgie, both from him going around introducing himself and from me constantly calling "Get back here George", "Don't touch that George", "Sit down George" and just plain old "GEORGE!!"  It also helped me make a very important decision.  I was thinking about attempting to take the kids to see Toy Story 3 in theatres this Summer.  I don't think its going to work.  Georgie cannot sit still for more than 2 seconds at a time, while Vicki likes to provide commentary while she watches a movie.  "Look an arrow. It's pointing to the rocks", "Look a waterfall how pretty", "Oooo those rocks are Bea-U-ti-FUL".  The mom sitting next to me was laughing and observed how Vicki doesn't miss a thing while I just wanted to hide.

Once we were in the caves I tried to stay toward the back so the kids wouldn't be too disruptive of the guide speaking.  The kids had to be watched very closely since the floors were wet and slippery, there were a lot of steep, rough stairs and I didn't want them falling down a crevasse.  We made it through in one piece.  The kids both enjoyed looking at the different rock formations but Vicki had the most fun stomping in the various puddles and swinging from the walkway railings.

 

After our tour of the caves we did some panning for pretty rocks.  The gift shop provided bags of various stones (quartz, peridot, pyrite, citrine, amethyst) in a lot of sand.  The kids poured the bag into a screen and held it in running water to wash away the sand and reveal the stones.  This was a lot of fun and something I've been thinking about trying to adapt to do at home when we study rocks and minerals.

Vicki also had lots of fun playing in the water flowing into the trough.  The little girl was quite wet by the time we were ready to head home.

Overall the trip was a lot of fun but I don't think I'll be doing it again until they are a little older.  It ended up being a two hour drive each way, I don't think they actually learned much since they payed very little attention to the guide and keeping track of both of them in the caves was exhausting for me.

Wordless Wednesday