On this struggling day....

Now, I know that you've never had a tough day schooling right? 

<wink>

Me neither.

I plan my heart out, carefully coordinating which reader goes nicely with our history. 

Then my sweet, literature-hating Thoughtful decides that this book is just too hard!  Forgetting the fact that his last three readers were leveled higher, he gave up. 

tears included, free of charge.

Now, I know that this little story is pulling on your heart strings, and obviously, the Momma should compassionately and patiently help him work through the stumbling block.

I didn't want to.

We were barely into our schooling for the day, which began late by the way.  As I looked at the clock, yet again, and my schedule, again, Thoughtful caught my eye.  He was giving up on himself.

Fine. <deep sigh>

Let's go for a walk.  We have beautiful weather this week, so we might as well soak it up.

In the first few steps of that walk, I realized that my boy was sinking in his frustration.  If I don't tread carefully, he's going to hate reading forever.  Worse than that, I see him disappointed in himself, over reading.  How dumb is that?  Isn't this one of the main reasons that we wanted to home school?  So that we could lovingly encourage our children in their studies, those desired and undesired equally?  yes! 

OK so, walk finished.  All smiles re-entering the house!  Yes, we can get back to it.

Roughly one assignment later, Perfectionist-Spunk's day falls to pieces because he can't draw the perfect grasshopper.

Oh my word!!  Why are my children so dramatic?  Everyone went to bed early last night.  Nobody has had a behavior-triggering food this morning.  What's the deal?  Inside, I'm screaming that I just want to throw in the towel for the day!!!  My fake smile is plastered on my face, while I explain to Spunk, that we can take a picture of his grasshopper, and he can paste it into his notebook.  That is, of course, not the right answer, and tears spring up in his little eyes.

Lunch time.  There are exactly four slices of bread left to fix two sandwiches.  One such piece is the end of the loaf.  Nobody wants it.  In fact, we call it "the butt."  Please don't judge, its a twisted family tradition.  You know you have them too.  Anyway, I make them flip a coin.  Spunk wins, Thoughtful's day is ruined all over again.

After lunch, (we are normally done with assignments before lunch, but on this day, there's plenty left to do), we return to hopefully finish the planned work.

In this moment, I realize there is no saving the day.  I look around, and decide there are still too many books to get to today.

 This stinks!!

I quit.  Not entirely, but no more books.  What can we do to save the day?  Just read-a-louds may do....no, we're past that point.  A HA!  A hands-on activity to the rescue!

So I dug out this 3-D puzzle that I wasn't ever sure we'd really get to, but it fits in with our current dinosaur study.

I buried some of the pieces in a bucket of dirt.

Then the kids had to dig them out with pain brushes and play dough forks.  No hands aloud.  No pulling out the bones until they were completely uncovered. 

They had to work together so they didn't bury each other's found pieces, causing them to start again.

Then they read the instructions to put the whole thing together.

VOILA!  FUN IN A BOX!  And an hour and half killed, smiles return.  School is done.

 

It almost looks like we had a good day, right?

 

 

What did Momma learn today?  Well, I know what I was supposed to learn, but I'm sure to forget tomorrow.  The Type-A thing stinks.  If another Momma was telling me about this day, I'd tell her to CHILL OUT.  Have some peace about your day, and don't sweat the small stuff.  Enjoy your time together. 

 

But me?  Not so much.  I thoroughly enjoyed our walk and watching my boys work through this activity.  But I certainly didn't rejoice in watching my children struggle today.

 

What can I do?  I will plan, its in my genes.  I can't help it.  BUT, I can set aside the plans when needed.  It'll be okay.  I know.  I hope that next time, I remember this sooner.

 

But oh, how far I've come.  I can rejoice in the fact that I showed patience today (even if I didn't feel it).  I did not raise my voice.  I know you're completely shocked that a mother might have yelled at her children out of frustration before, but I'm guilty.  Not this year!

 

So, thank you, Lord, for holding me together today.  For reminding me of your mercy and patience, that I might reflect your light, and be a better Momma for it!

A week off

We are loosley following the "Sabbath Schooling" this year, and I think that if I followed it more closely, I'd love it.

Basically, its school 6 weeks, rest a week, as modeled by God's Creation of work 6, rest 1.  Taking the time to chill out and not think for a while, resetting our brains, feels good.  However, we've been schooling for 10 weeks, and yep, we could've used this break a month ago!!  I will change this when I'm planning next year!

We had some fun together, but I know a planning space when I see one!  I used this week to prepare for the next 6.  My Type-A-self can't help it.  Its a flaw, I know, but I'm a planner.

I cleaned out spaces in our home, making donations around town between friends and organizations.  I deep cleaned those areas that haven't been super-scrubbed since June (you know, on top of the upper cabinets in the kitchen, YUCK!). 

I caught up on work that I was behind on.

I planned dinners for the next month and a half, including loose grocery lists, so those needed ingredients will all be here, and I can just add to them on a weekly basis.  This will be extremely helpful during this busy season of Tae-Kwon-Do belt-test prep and Baseball practices and games.

And I planned some school! 

Ten weeks in, and I had zero papers pulled for the boys' portfolios and zero pictures printed as I would have liked.  So first up, start putting those babies together.  I am cropping with an online digital scrapbook company, Heritage Makers, and I couldn't be happier with it!  I threw together some field trip pages first.  Then, I went through all of those pictures that I take of manipulative-based school stuff.  Spunk's spider tangram, or the like, can't exactly be inserted into a notebook.  Science experiments and any other hands-on object lessons are documented by pictures in our home school.

Then, I looked at what we'd like to cover during the next 6-week block, and I planned away!  Actually, I had already written this out during the summer, before we started school, but we are ahead or behind the original plan, (depending on subject and child), so this needed tweaking.  Lesson-learned, only plan the six weeks at a time.

When this block is up, it'll be the week of Thanksgiving.  We will take off from our traditional curricula from that point to News Years.  We'll still school, but it'll be fun-filled lapbooks and holiday-themed stuff.  We're also looking to try out Life of Fred during our "off" time, and of course, lots of reading!

What kind of schedule do you follow during the year?  What have you found the benefits vs. drawbacks to be?  I'm always looking to improve upon our own.

Ahhhh, This is the life!

Just like you, we have extremely hectic days, and then we have our nothing days.  I like both for different reasons.  But we also have our "normal" weekdays, my favorite days, when all goes according to plan.  We have chores, school, work, playtime, and our extra curriculars.

Here is how my favorite day goes:

Morning Routine:

I am the early riser.  Can't help it.  I'm up by 6:30 most days but some days earlier.  I get my quiet time with my Bible and coffee first, followed by checking emails, reading blogs, and work.

After a quick calendar check, I glance at our school planner.  I set up the whiteboard for the boys' boardwork and fill their workboxes. 

If there is time before my boys need to get up, I'll do some general light pick up around the house, or whatever chore I have slated for that day.  I get myself together, and do a "swish and swipe" as taught by The Fly Lady.  If you aren't familiar with her or her household cleaning program, I encourage you to check her out!

Thoughtful and Spunk get up, ideally at 7:30, while I make breakfast and tidy the kitchen.  We have our Bible Devotional time during breakfast with discussion and prayer.

Morning responsibilities are next, and if they finish quickly enough, the boys will often go ahead to tackle their chores.  We have 10 minutes of quick clean up time every morning and every evening so that our home is never out of control messy.

Then free play for a bit.  Breakfast, Bible, chores, and free play total about an hour's time.

School:

8:30 / 9:00-ish, or roughly an hour after the boys awake:  When I call "school time,"  the boys sit down at our school table and begin on their workboxes.  I alternately interrupt their box time to give them each a daily lesson in phonics, spelling, and language.  New math lessons only come at the beginning of the week, and I stagger those within their workboxes so that I can watch their Math U See DVDs with them.

I would like to give the boys 45 minutes with their workboxes then let them have a break.  However, most days, they continue through their boxes until finished.  This takes about an hour and half, max. 

We break for a snack and playtime.

Many days, we do read aloud time during snack.  Our "break" often includes a walk or bike ride.  We usually finish chores, play educational games (or just games, because let's face it, they're always learning something when we play), go fishing, ride the 4-wheeler, shoot bb guns, or some other way to play outside.

We usually have lunch sometime between 11 and 12. 

This is where it gets a little crazy.   Our home days are Monday, Thursday, and Friday.  When we're home, we hit group studies after lunch, which include Science, History, Spanish, Nature Study, and whatever Unit Study we're working on.  This goes no later than 2 or 2:30. 

Afternoons are for playing or random running around our little town, library, grocery, .... boring stuff like that.  TV comes back in the afternoon.  We have quiet time for a bit, for all of us to rest our brains and calm our bodies.  I don't mind the TV being on during quiet time, in fact I like it.  Usually, they choose an educational show anyways.

Extra curricular stuff & my cleaning schedule:

We go go go Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings, and Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

Tae Kwon Do Monday and Thursday nights
Baseball Tuesday and Thursday nights
Park day with homeschooling friends on Tuesday
Art class on Tuesday
Co-op on Wednesday morning until lunch
piano lesson on Wednesday

We'll hopefully go nowhere on Mondays and Fridays.

I break up house cleaning to do a part everyday so that its not an overwhelming job.  I do all of the laundry on Mondays, starting when my feet hit the floor.  Then I give the house a once over on Fridays, scrubbing bathrooms, etc.

Weekends:
I use it as my "catch up" time for the stuff that got missed during the week. Thoughtful should have baseball games coming up on Saturdays too.  We relax and play, have lazy time, swim, fish, and enjoy each other on our weekends.  And of course, Church on Sunday morning!

Our nights:

In my perfectly scheduled mind, the kids would get showers and a snack at 8:30 and be in bed by 9:00.  Some nights, we aren't even home until 8:30, so realistically its quiet time at 8:30, then bedtime is usually 9:30 with lights out by 10:00, (and lately, more like 11:00, but Hubs and I vowed to break this TONIGHT!).

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE, WITHOUT ANY NOTICE, AND FOR NO GOOD REASON.  Sometimes, Hubs comes home during workbox time.  We all drop what we're doing to excitedly love on him.  Sometimes, my office calls with an emergency "Can you do it today?" request, and our afternoon studies get pushed aside. 

And then there are sick days, or tired days, or I'm-having-difficulty-with-this-assignment-so-I'd-like-to-make-your-day-harder-Mom days and field trip days.  I truly dislike the disruption that these "sometimes" moments cause.  I wish that everyday would go without a hitch.  A girl can dream right?  But I know that we're all learning, even in those moments.

What's your day like?  I am really, REALLY excited to read all about it!  Perhaps I can get some ideas to make the glitches transform into smoother days.

I'm linking up to I Homeschool Network's Not-Back-To-School Blog Hop.  Click the button below to connect with other homeschooling families! 

Menu Plan, August 20, 2012



Alrighty, y'all!  I'm a planner.  Yep, that means food too.  I've been known to plan a month's worth of dinners at a time.  I've seen people look at my calendar and laugh.  I never understand why.  Its good to be prepared right?

So here goes:

Monday: 
Breakfast:  Cereal and fruit (we usually sleep in late on Mondays so we need fast and easy.)
Lunch:  Hot dogs & fries
Supper:
We have Tae Kwon Do, right slap at supper time, 6:30-8 (usually 8:20 before we actually get out of there).  Early supper time with easy clean up = taco salads!

Tuesday:
Breakfast:  Waffles and sausage
Lunch:  We'll be at Jump Zone! for a party, so probably overpriced pizza.
Supper:  Baseball practice from 5:30 to 7:15-ish.  Since we'll be out most of the day, I've decided to use one of our pre-made freezer meals.  Chicken Alfredo Bowties, with broccoli and cauliflower on the side.  I'll stick it in the oven on low before we leave, and it'll be ready for us when we get home.

Wednesday: 
Breakfast:  Chicken tender biscuits.  We have co-op from 10-12, and last week we were hungry way earlier than lunch time.  So this week, I'll combat the grumbling tummies with a breakfast full of protein.
Lunch:  sandwiches at the park with friends after co-op
Supper:  meatloaf, green beans, ranchy potatoes

Thursday:
Breakfast:  fully-loaded oatmeal (bananas, walnuts, cranberries, apples, and brown sugar)
Lunch: sandwiches again, with fruit and veggies on the side
Supper:  This is the craziest night for us.  Thoughtful has baseball practice from 5:30-7:15.  Spunk has Tae Kwon Do from 6:30-8.  So, everyone gets a snack before we head out, then we get a pizza on our way home.

Friday:
Breakfast:  pancakes and bacon
Lunch:  cracker stackers (never store bought) & fruit
Supper:  Beef stoganoff in the crockpot and broccoli.  Even though we plan to be home all day, its my cleaning day.  The last thing that I want to do is prepare a big meal and clean up afterwards.

I can't wait to see what's on everyone else's menu for the week.  Bring me some new ideas!  I'm linking up to Orgjunki at http://orgjunkie.com/category/menu-plan-monday where you can find more menu ideas!

Preparing the School Room

July is here!  Will someone please tell me where did May and June go?  Our summer break has been busier (and now longer) than I intended.  Good grief, right?  I still need some time off for laziness, fun, and of course my ever-loving planning.  The first part of my planning process is getting the school room ready.  Not that we always school in this space, it IS a place to put everything at the end of the day.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 ways this Momma prepares our school room:

construction paper, stamped subject, glue, laminator

Books First, I go through all of our books to figure out what we've read and what's left, and I take out what has already been read.  I have never understood the need to keep books.  Sure, we have a few favorites that we hang on to and read over and over again, and we keep the essential reference books.  I've recently discovered a great local book swap store.  I take used books there, pay a very small fee, and get a whole new stack of used books to stock our shelves with.  Next, I take my boys shopping for new books.  I like to let them pick SOME of their own readers.  I feel it helps to build their desires for reading, (this of course is all in my head for Thoughtful, the reluctant reader).  They become interested in different subjects when they get to browse on their own.  Last, I sort.  I've seen posts of other blogging mommas' libraries.  Oh dear, my hoard-free self gasps for air at the mere thought of keeping so many books.  But, to each her own!  This is certainly not me, so sorting is fairly quick and simple.  I start piling books together by subject first, to get a handle on what we can add to our upcoming unit studies.  Then, I separate by reading level.  Last, I choose which books I will read aloud for the year.

Momma space  Our school room is also a space for me to work at home, and it houses my scrapbooking, craft, and sewing stuff.  I must have an orderly space to function.  My desk is a place where I can keep scrapbooking supplies at the ready.  I also keep my household binders (another post to come), the boys' working portfolios, and my school planner.  Please note that I'm in planning mode so it currently looks a bit messy.  Rest assured that everything has a space to be tucked away in a fancy box or drawer.


This old scrappy handheld tote is for daily use.  I can carry it wherever we end up schooling, but its home is on my desk.  Be sure to give yourself a space that is off limits to your children.  It doesn't need to be right near the schooling area, but it needs to exist.

Work space  We've tried separate desks, but I felt like it was "school at home."  It just wasn't a good fit for us.  So, we sold the desks and bought a Craig's List gem.  A table pushed against the wall.  It works for us, as we're a small homeschooling family.  We can all sit together, and I am in the middle.  This makes it easy for me to help and teach each child.  The boys each have their own supply boxes on the table, and I keep whatever books, maps, etc. that we'll need for the day.  Our bulletin board holds a calendar and some helpful charts.  The idea here is to create a place where the children can focus on their lessons.  If the seat is too high, give them a step stool at their feet.  If they need to repeatedly see how to form their letters, post their little reminders next to them.  You could make a mini office to hold such reminders if you wanted. 

Supplies  My very gracious and awesome mother in law takes us school supply shopping every year.  She loves to do this for all of her grands, and insists that the quirky homeschoolers must have a list of their own.  So, I make each child a list, and we pick up Nana.  Opening and setting up new supplies is another advantageous way to get the boys excited for starting a new year.  Who doesn't love new school supplies?  So its out with the old, and in with the new.

Workboxes  Ooooooooh, aaaaaaaaahhh!  This one is new to me.  I've recently read Sue Patrick's Workbox System and have looked at others' systems through the blogosphere.  We are going with these handy Sterelite drawers, that sit 3 high, and measure roughly 13"X14."  I have three sets for each child to give them nine drawers to work through.  The idea is that each drawer contains one assignment and anything required to work on said assignment.  The kids can move independently through their daily work.  There will be an official workbox post eventually, but for now, just know that this is a step in our preparations.  (decorative #s still to be added)

Supplements My children, especially Thoughtful, learn best when they don't realize they're learning.  When its all school, they mentally check out and decide they don't like school.  So, I'm creating more time for supplemental learning.  Things like sorting nouns, verbs, & adjectives, or a place value game, perhaps using light boards to practice handwriting for my dysgraphic guy, money bingo or card games, are all ways to reinforce the curriculum that we're using.    After looking through the Tables of Contents in all of our curricula books, I'm able to make a list of skills that will need to be practiced.  Google, Pinterest, the local teacher store, and the dollar store will become my best friends when compiling supplemental teaching aids.  What can you add to your children's days which don't involve pencil and paper? 

Around the room The single most highly-functional item in our school room is our $12 whiteboard. We bought this 3 1/2' X 8' piece of wall board at Home Depot last year. It has a smooth, shiny finish and erasable markers work great with it. Next to it, I keep a basket of dry erase and wet erase markers with erasers.


We also have our Spelling corner for use with All About Spelling letter tiles.  A rug on the floor is the best place for Spunk to read.  He usually brings a pillow in too.  Games and art supplies are all housed in the closet. This year, we are using hanging pocket charts and adding a poster center to the wall, but I haven't quite figured that out yet.   

Physical Labor  Yeah, I know "labor" doesn't sound pretty, but its necessary.  I wouldn't want to sit in a small room surrounded with white walls, and neither do my children.  So, first, paint is needed.  We have neon green and gray walls, trimmed with a bright orange.  The colors aren't so loud as to cause a distraction, but they aren't dull either.  This goes for schooling around the kitchen table too, or wherever you are.  Make sure that the space makes you and your family happy.  After paint, comes a thorough cleaning.  Walls, baseboards, desks, tables, chairs, shelving, lights, floor, everything needs a good dusting and mopping.  Using a scented cleaner only adds to the exciting freshness of the new year.  And last, move the furniture around to create an efficient work space.  I wish that I had room for a big comfy couch in our school space.  I would put one right under the window!  But I'm stuck with what we have for now.  How can I make it new?  I'm considering painting some of the bookshelves.  I've moved everything around just so that it feels new.  Also, take this time to replace burnt light bulbs, dead batteries, and used up ink cartridges.

Curriculum So the curriculum has already been bought, but its scattered around the room. EEK! At this point, I can't think. I don't even know where to begin the planning process like this. Gathering EVERYTHING that I intend to use for the year is essential. Then, I separate it between Thoughtful, Spunk, and Group. Group subjects are Bible, Science, History, Read Alouds, Unit Studies, and any related hands-on activies. Which brings me to planning.

Planning a/k/a my absolute favorite part of the new school year.  Just the thought of planning makes my heart go pitter pat.  I'm a dork, what can I say?  Planning for a planner, Type A, organizing-junky sounds quite simple, right? You would be wrong if your answer was "yes." See, I've recently learned that I can not plan every minute of every lesson, for every day.  Doing so is setting myself up for failure.  It will never go down as planned, and when it doesn't, I feel defeated.  We're homeschoolers, for crying out loud! Flexibility is our friend!!! So, I do plan, carefully, but I have to learn to save room for change. There are going to be times when the stomach bug hits the family, or there are just too many pretty days in a row to bother with that pesky schooling, or Momma just needs a break.  There will be a later post specific to planning but I wanted you to see how its the last step in my top 10! 

Please tell me how you prepare you schooling environment.  I look forward to reading your comments!

I'm linked up to Many Little Blessings and her Top Ten Tuesday.  Please go look around!  I'm sure you'll get more ideas for your school space here.




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