The end of the first week

It went pretty well this week, all things considered.

1. I wasn't ready Sunday night and stayed up half the night getting stuff printed out.
2. Christopher wasn't feeling well, so we only got half the classes in Tuesday.
3. Only got a few classes done on Wednesday because it was Micheal's birthday and instead of doing some work while I'm at work, we only got a few classes done before they went to spend a few hours with their Dad.
4. Only did Math today before they went for their weekend visit with their Dad. He's going to have them watch a couple of the videos on YouTube I have saved for the classes, though, so at least they can get that part done.

We've done a little bit of changes in Math and Grammar. Christopher is comfortable with the Grade 6 Math work, so he will remain in Grade 6. Micheal, however, is uncomfortable in Grade 4 Math AND Grammar, so we went down to Grade 3. I told him that it's okay, and that if he can pick up on the concepts he's struggling with, we can skip back up to Grade 4, it's just that we need to make sure he "gets" these concepts so that he can succeed in his future Math classes. He seemed content with that. Every now and then I may throw in a Grade 4 Math assignment, though, to challenge him more.

I'm trying to create a way for their Dad to be involved. Well, as involved as I'll let him be. I think I'm going to have to do what the schools do. I'm thinking about having a folder for each of them and when they are done with their work for the week I'll put it in their respective folders, then on the days they visit their Dad, I'll send the folders with them so he can look at the work they are doing. Then they bring back the folders and all the work when they come home (so I can keep record of it). I wish I had a fax machine or a photo copier or a scanner so I could just copy them and send him the copies. I don't entirely trust him to not lose the work.

So tell me, when does your homeschool year begin? What kind of schedule are you going to set up for your children? If you're homeschooling your children by someone you are no longer with, are they involved somehow?

Welcome To the First Day of School!

Which started 1 1/2 hours later than planned. lol

I was up so late last night getting things printed out that I couldn't get up with my alarm clock this morning. So I slept in. So did the boys.

It's not really a BIG problem with the schedule, considering the subjects we're doing before I go to work because they are the ones the boys need the most attention on really aren't that many. Math, Grammar, and Science (Tuesdays and Thursdays will add Social Studies). Handwriting, Vocabulary, the second part of Bible, and Spanish copywork they don't need me around to do and will do that while I am working. When I come home I'll take them to the park for 30-45 minutes, then come home and "grade" their papers. Or take their papers with me and grade them while the boys play. Yeah, that sounds good.

And by "grading" I mean go over and make sure it was done correctly and if it wasn't, it gets re-done the next day. I don't do "grades" on the work just yet. Right now our grading system simply consists of words of affirmation. The Dollar Tree stores in the area sell positive reinforcement stickers....Good Job! A+! Well Done! Those kinds of things. I just feel at these ages that method of grading is better than your typical letter or percentage grading. We'll start doing that in grade 7.

They've finished Math, and only needed a little bit of help. Now they are doing Grammar. I think when they're done with Grammar I'm going to have them go outside and run around for 20 minutes or so.

So even with the late start we are doing rather well as far as time goes. And the boys aren't complaining yet.

First Day of "SCHOOL" !

Well, we start school in the morning (10th). I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. Of course, it came a lot faster than I expected, so while I'm mostly ready there are still some things I am totally NOT ready. I may be up rather late tonight just making sure I have everything organized and ready, and preparing those things which I don't have ready.

Wish me luck. The couple of months before the boys went on vacation with their Dad were a practice. Now we REALLY get into it.

Summer's almost over

The boys will be back from their vacation with their Dad on the 3rd. I originally was going to start their homeschooling that week, but I've since decided that we'll wait a week. They need some time to get back into the right schedule before we just jump into schooling. And since they stay up until midnight or later at their Dad's and don't get up until after 10am, they need some time to get back into OUR schedule....bed by 8pm, up by 6am.

I've adjusted the Creation Unit Study a bit. Week One was just going to be a general Creation study, but now I've decided to omit that week and just start into Day One of Creation. So instead of nine weeks (with the ninth week being a review week), we're only going to be doing eight weeks. I hope they enjoy the things I have planned for them. It would be better if I didn't have to work at all, but we need the income, so fortunately I'm able to do a part-time shift starting at noon and ending at 4pm.

I'm still slowly working on my Unit Study website. I'll start adding more information as we go through the unit study. I think Week Four is complete, so I'll start working on Week Five when we're doing Week One at home. It's just an awful lot of work and I don't have the time to focus solely on developing the site.

A little bragging lol

I am a HUGE advocate for the Freecycle network. There are so many wonderful things you can get through that, all at no cost to you.

For example, I have a shelf FULL of projector slides AND a working projector I got from Freecycle that will be VERY beneficial for our homeschooling.

And today I picked up the 1974 edition of Encyclopedia Brittanica. All 30 books.

All free.

Freecycle. It's the way to go.

Blog Personalization Customization?

I've seen a few homeschool blogs (as well as others) that have their blogs personalized. I don't mean some really cool background they got from some other website. I mean their very own personalized background and graphics.

Like....ok, I'll use this blog as an example.

We now have our school crest completed. I'd like to have that either on the top left corner, top right corner, or one on each corner with a banner in between with the name of our homeschool. With the background and other customization being the colors in the crest.

But I don't know how to do that.I know how to MAKE the graphics, I just don't know how to code it so they go where I want them to go.

Any suggestions?

Summer Vacation

The boys are away for seven weeks with their Dad for Summer vacation. Well, sort of. He has to work, so for at least two weeks they are up at their paternal Grandparents without their Dad. I miss them so much already, and they've only been gone two days.

While they are gone I am taking the time to begin compiling lesson plans and resources for the unit study we are going to do after the first unit study when they get back (Creation Week). Our second unit study will be a character development unit study based around The Book of Virtues by William Bennett. I found the book for only $10, but it's awfully thick...both in size and comprehension. I'm going to take a look at The Children's Book of Virtues to see if it's a little less deep. Somehow I doubt it will be. From what I gather already, it's just a minimized version of the book I already have.

First unit study: Creation Week (7 weeks)
Second unit study: The Book of Virtues (length yet to be determined, could be 10, could be 20)

I'm finished creating the lesson plans for Creation Week and am in the process of creating the website documenting the unit study lesson plan. It's up and running already, just not complete. I'll place the link on the right side of this blog. I'll be adding the BoV unit study to it, too, once I'm done with Creation Week.

Right now I'm going through the BoV one chapter at a time, determining which stories and poems I want to use, determining which virtue they discuss, and then I'll be finding other books from the library to complement the stories/poems. THEN I'll be developing lesson plans that include History/Geography/Social Sciences, Science, and some field trips. Although Science may simply be Behavioral Science as opposed to SCIENCE Science.

I did come across a BoV lesson plan that another homeschooling mom created and shared. I'm probably not going to use it, because going over it I don't think it's as extensive as I'd like it to be. It's not a bad unit study she created, not by any means, it just doesn't include things I'd like to be included. So while I'll be creating my own, I'll be adding the link to her blog for those who may be interested. A bit of warning, however.....it is a 990 page unit study lesson plan. She has some good resources in there, and you don't have to use all of them. She's just provided activities for multiple learning types, which is why it is such a large document.

So that's pretty much everything. I'll be adding the links in the near future, so keep an eye out if you're interested.

Peace out!