Nov. 11, 2009 - This Week and Workboxes

This week I finally got Anastasia a set of workboxes.  She decided she wanted to do them too.  We only do workboxes 4 days a week since we have co-op on Mondays.

So what is in our workboxes this week:

In Box 1 for everyone is 2-3 activites for our current unit study which is life cycles.  We are doing another lapbook from Hands of a child.  Anastasia's is called  Animal Life Cycles for grades 4-8 and the other kids is called The Circle of Life it is for grades PreK-3.  I love being able to do unit studies with both to their own levels.  The goal is to finish this lapbook by next Friday before our break.

Box 2- 6 for the girls is Cubbie book, Letter T activities we are doing the letter T for two weeks to tie in Thankful, Thanksgiving, Turkey and Turtles, They are also doing tracing activities and some phonics activities.  Also computer time to play on starfall.com

Boxes for Joshua- Spelling, math, reading, God's World News, handwriting, puzzles, phonics worksheets, Think it thru activities and Awana

Boxes for Anastasia- Math, reading, typing, sewing (the girls patches for Awana ), God's World News, All about me activities and Awana.  She just recently finished her vocabulary and spelling book so I need to order new ones.

This is what we will be doing the next two weeks and then we will take a break for the arrival of our new little one! My c-section is scheduled for November 23rd. 

Oct. 28, 2009 - This Week and Workboxes

After two weeks of slacking and just doing basics this has been a great week for getting things done and having fun with our workboxes!

What has been in our work boxes this week you ask??  We have been doing regular work plus throwing in fun Halloween activities.  Also I skipped the girls to the letter P for the week because after all pumpkin starts with P.  And boy are we having fun with it.  I was looking at this blog http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/  which is awesome by the way and I started to make my own letter P activities and then I noticed she had already done the letter P....so I have one of my own and then I downloaded her wonderful activities, printed, laminated and am so excited to do them with the girls.  ( I will post pictures of these in my Preschool Activity post next)

First off we made our annual Pumpkin Playdough.  This stuff always smells great!  Here are some of their creations:

Anastasia made the pumpkin

Here are two special activites from box 6 this week. Box 6 is the last box for both girls.  On Tuesday the kids found a baggie of popcorn, some candy corn, a glove, a spider ring and a piece of yarn...

They got to make spooky hands.  The candy corn is fingernails then they fill the rest of the glove with popcorn, tie it and put the ring on a finger.

Then today they found a baggie with 3 marshmallows, a pretzel and fruit by the foot and they made these cute creations.....

I thought these turned out great!  It was our first time making them and they are so cute!!!  If you want to try it do this.....Poke the 3 marshmallows onto the pretzel.  Open the fruit roll up but do not unwrap it.  Cut it in half horizonatally.  Then unwrap it as you wrap it around the marshmallows.  We didn't have black gel or frosting we only had red so we used that for the eyes.   It was a mummie day so we also had mummie dogs (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls for lunch).  We made little pumpkins as you can see in front of the mummies.  They are made from melted peanut butter chips, a can of vanilla frosting and orange food gel.  Then we stuck a pretzel piece in for the stem. 

You will have to wait and see what we come up with for Thursday.....

Sep. 4, 2009 - This Week and Workboxes

Ok I am feeling like a slacker this week!  There I said it.  The girls didn't get to do workboxes and they were fit to be tied!!  Looking back over the week I realize we still did get quite a bit of schooling done but not our normal routine that we had been so good about doing lately.

Monday- was our science experiment day so that was good.

Tuesday- I had my dr. appt and other errands to run so I took the two girls with me and Anastasia and Joshua did get their basics done with Jay home.

Wednesday- I am having a hard time even remembering what we did.  (Pregnancy brain! )  I know I ran more errands.

Thursday-  Anastasia got in a full day of Home EC.  She is helping some ladies from our church sew costumes for our walk thru Bethlehem that we will be having in December.  It was also my birthday and I was in a weird mood all day.  Birthdays have never bothered me before and I am greatful to have celebrated another one but this one bothered me.  I guess I was thinking about this more than likely being our last baby and getting older and what.  Anyways......

Friday-  Today we went swimming all together and met some friends at the pool.  So it was a fun relaxing day.

Also we decided to add in another week of Oceans and cut back our Disney study to just one week.  After looking thru the lap book there isn't a lot for the younger kids to do and they are loving all the ocean stuff and there is stuff we haven't even touched on yet.   We need to stay focused next week and get our lapbooks together and we are going to make our own autograph books.

The staying focused I think is my issue as well as the kids because it is a toss up as to who is more excited about our up coming vacation them or me!  LOL  We have a lot to get done this next week before we go and I am as excited as a little kid!    So I need to stop blogging and go make my list for all we need to accomplish next week.

Aug. 24, 2009 - This week's Workboxes

I know I have said it many times before but I LOVE using workboxes!!!  My kids are so motivated and stay on task now.  We are working out most of the kinks for the mornings to run smoothly.  For example today I told the kids if I am already working with one of them and someone else needs my help then they need to not interrupt and pick a book to read or a puzzle to do.  That really helped especially when I was trying to read with someone.

Anastasia is wanting me to put her work into the boxes as well so I have been laying it out for her and I will buy another rack and boxes when we get back from our trip.

Here are some extra things in the boxes this week.  I posted earlier the standard things in them each week (spelling, math, reading, Awana workbook) 

Anastasia's workboxes pretty much stay the same I try to add some fun things.  She just got her sewing machine fixed so we have been working in time for her to sew.  She is working on a baby blanket for her cousin that will be born soon and then one for her soon to be new baby brother.  She also practices the guitar for 30 min a day (Jay does a lesson with her once a week and then she practices on her own the rest of the week)  Her other extra right now is typing.   Then she has 2-3 Ocean activites a day.  This is all in addition to her regular math, reading, spelling and vocab.

Joshua:  Think it Thru tiles, drawing practice, computer this week is starfall.com, Ocean workbook (I made from learningpage.com), story to read with mom (I read at least two books to them all together each morning and then I pick a book to put in one of their workboxes that just that child and I get to snuggle on the couch and read together.)  Ocean animal report

Savannah and Alexa are also doing starfall.com for computer and this week they are doing the letter D activities.  They both got their Cubbie books this week so we are doing those activites as well.  Alexa is finishing her color book and Savannah has a Ocean workbook to work on.

That will pretty much be our workboxes for the next 3 weeks until our trip.  If I find anymore "fun"  or creative things to add for a change I will let you know.

Aug. 3, 2009 - This Week's Workboxes

This weekend I planned out the next six weeks for school. This will take us up until our Disneyland trip.   I am officially now counting the days for this school year (2009-2010). For the month of August we are doing school four days a week and then will go to the pool one day a week.  Co-op will start on Monday's in September so then we will be home Tuesday-Friday for school.

I use Sue Patrick's workbox forms and I color coded mine for each child to match the colors on their workboxes so it is easy to see.  (See May 17th's entry)  I have standard everyday things that go in the boxes and then I add in some other activites each day.  I don't put in our unit studies because we need to do these all together at the same time.  It is just easier for me that way.

Anastasia this week:  Spelling, Vocabulary, Math, Reading, Awana, are the basics.  She also does typing 20 min a day and guitar 30 mins. a day.  She just finished a lap book on the American Colonies and is getting ready to start a history pocket book on the American Revolution.  When her unit studies are different from the other kids we work on it during the afternoon while the 3 girls are napping.

Joshua this week: his first spelling book (he is very excited)  I am using A Reason for Spelling with him, Math (both him and Anastasia use Horizons math), Reading (hooked on phonics), handwriting (I pull wksts. from the net), Awana,  those are the basics.  Others I add in are drawing, computer time, phonics games, story time, the science folders I made, Writing we are using WriteShop Primary book A.  Then with Savannh and Alexa they are all working on finishing up their 5 senses lap book.

Savannah: She loves school and her workboxes.  She is always looking for things to put in them!  Her basics are her preschool workbook, the letter of the week activities, computer time, science folders, phonics folders, preschool activity bags, puzzles, etc.  In September I am going to start the Saxon K math with her.  It is more of a PreK math and I used it with the other two.

Alexa:  She is really catching on and doing well with her boxes.  She still doesn't know her colors yet!  So once a day in a box I put a paper plate a small square of a colored piece of paper (let's say red) then a magazine.  She has to look thru the magazine and find red things and then glue them to her paper plate.  I am going to tie the plates all together with some yarn for a book for her.  She also does, puzzles, computer time, story time, science folders, letter of the week, and preschool activity bags.

Natasha:  She naps from 9-11 while we try and get workboxes done during this time!  Then she is up for snack while we do our unit study at the table all together.

Do you use workboxes?  If so what are you putting in them this week?

Jul. 12, 2009 - Workboxes Are Working Great

I can honestly say we have all been having a great time using workboxes for school.  They have been such a great motivator for the kids!  Savannah asks me every morning (even Saturday and Sundays) if we are doing workboxes today.  So I am going to try and post each week what we are doing with our workboxes.  I will do most of my planning on Saturdays so my goal is to post stuff on Saturday for the following week.  If you would like to join in please feel free.  I would love to know what you are putting in your workboxes.  You can even use the image above.

Here are some pictures of what has been taking up my blogging time.  I have been working on getting these centers ready.  It is time consuming but oh so worth it especially when I know at least 5 kids will get use out of them.

I think in a previous post I posted pictures of these books that make these games.  Well I finally got them all put together.  This first set is language games:matching letters, beginning sounds, ending sounds, syllables, etc.  Joshua can do all these right now and Savannah can do some.

I put these all in large envelopes and it works great however I think my preference is to use the file folders like pictured below.

Pocket folders are all on sale right now with school supplies so go stock up!!

These are all science activities.  Savannah and Alexa can do these.  I think Joshua will still like them but most of them might be too easy for him.

I have one more book of about 12 activities that I need to put together.  They are math and language games.

These are posters I had laminated.  I bought two of each and cut one up.  I put velcro on them and the kids match up the pieces.  The posters are sitting in a corner in our school room and I put the pieces in a workbox for them to do.

Now for the best news I just found out.  I love the site Homeschoolshare.com  I have shared about them before.  Well they just had their summer contest and now have put up all their new stuff.  (It's all free everyone contributes and shares)  They have a new catagory!!!!!!   It's called Workboxables and there are soooooooo many activities and ideas!!  I am going to have to go buy some more laminating pouches and have some late nights!!!

May. 17, 2009 - Our first two days using workboxes

The kids and I love these workboxes!!!  It really is helping us stay focused and get work completed.  I also found 2 yahoo groups for discussion of workboxes and all sorts of forms.  These ladies are great for sharing ideas with.  The groups are: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/workbox_fun/    and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/workboxes/

 We started the workboxes on Thursday.  The kids started with our group time which I listed the activities (pledges, prayer, calendar, story and Bible verse) on the white board.  Then when we were done with those I had them come sit in front of the boxes.  They were so excited.  I explained whose was whose and how they had to work in order.   So I sat in the middle of the floor and monitored and helped them.  They like to work on white boards when doing worksheets and stuff so they can sit on the floor by me.  As they finished a box they stacked the boxes in a corner and turned in their work in another bucket I have under the table.

Workboxes disappearing from the shelves.

 Empty workboxes stacked in the corner.  (At the end of the day I have one of the kids put the empty ones back on the shelf.  It saves me time and it is great number recoginition for them) 

Turn in tub on the floor. They place all completed work in here. 

 Alexa was so excited to have her own computer time.

Joshua posing for a picture doing his reading.

These are the work box forms that I fill out each week to plan what goes in each box.  I color coded them to match their colors on their boxes so it is easy for me to see whose is whose.

Now this week I am working on getting all my file folder and center games that I bought laminated.  I will post about them as they get done.

May. 9, 2009 - Workboxes

I am so excited about workboxes.  About two weeks ago I was reading another blog and they were talking about them.  Well my curiosity was peaked and I started "googling" away.  Sue Patrick developed this system.  Be sure to visit her site and I would recommend buying her book.  I bought the ebook for about $18.00.  I always do ebooks so I can have it instantly .  It is a quick read and very informative.  Also when you buy the book you then get access to forms and such on her website. 

I love this system because it is very similar to Worshop Way which I used in my class room when I used to teach and also used some with Anastasia.  The best thing about the workboxes is that you can use them with any curriculum you have and it allows to add in all that fun extra stuff that we tend to never get to.

Here is the set up:

I got two shoe racks (found in an orange box in laundry/storage area at Target)  12 clear plastic shoe boxes on each shelf.  Joshua will have 12 activities each day and Savannah and Alexa will share a shelf for now and each have six.  Anastasia really likes the way we already do her lesson plans and will be using Switched on Schoolhouse next year so she is not going to use this system.

This is the cards on their lesson plan.

Sue also suggests having the students "clock" in and out each day.  I thought this was really neat and would motivate the kids.  (Sue has clip art already done for this but I made up my own)  I used Library pocket cards and made two for each child.  One is Time for School and the other is finished.  Then they each have a book mark with their picture and cute clip art on it.  I laminated everything and they move their mark from one to the other.

What I like about the system is the break up of activities.  Joshua has 12 boxes and for example here is what will be in each one on Tuesday:

1.  Handwriting wkst.

2.  Two Wrap N learn cards  (This is an activity we have had from discover toys)

3.  Math workbook with his lesson marked

4.  File folder game (math)

5. Computer disk to play a phonics game for 20 min.

6. Practice cutting worksheet

7.  Reading book with pages marked (this box will also have a work with mom card)

8. Phonics worksheet

9.  Color in some of his Dinosaurs

10.  Lap book activity for Dinosaurs

11.  Phonics Center game

12.  Activity bag.

The boxes vary from sit down work to fun activities that he can see and will keep him motivated.  When all the boxes are done he is done with school for the day. 

I also just got some books from our local teaching store:

Take it to your seat Phonics Centers Level A  by Evan Moor.  This has 13 full color centers that I just have to put together and laminate.

Take it to your seat Science Centers PreK-K

 and File Folder Games for Language Arts and Math.

I am so excited to start this.  The girls will each have 6 containers and Alexa is not quite three yet but she wouldnot want to be left out so she will get puzzles, activity bags and tracing activities and some file folder games to do with me.

Here is another blog Walking by the way of a mom who is using this system and she has links to other blogs.  So check out her blogs, Sue's site and then just google workbox homeschool.

May. 7, 2009 - Our New School Room and Workboxes

I know most of you are winding down for the school year and getting ready for summer but we are getting ready to gear back up.  With packing and moving and unpacking the kids have just been barely doing the basics for the last month and a half so we are going to continue schooling this summer.  It is way to hot to go outside anyways except for swimming.  I also want to school this summer because we will be taking a week off in September for our Disney trip and the new baby is due the end of November which means we will be off school from Thanksgiving thru Christmas.  I have to say this is such a great benefit of homeschooling is deciding and fitting our schedule around our family needs. 

So we finally got the school room painted and my bookshelves painted thanks to my great hubby.  I love primary colors so the walls are yellow and the shelf is red and blue.  I have another white cabinet that I would eventually like painted green.  Our school room is right off of our family room and kitchen.  I doesn't have a door just an open arch way.  So we keep the school stuff all in there and work in there but also the kids "spill" out into the family room. 

I have so many books and curriculum (what homeschool mom doesn't? lol) and I don't use them all all the time but I can't part with them.  So I put them into banker boxes and on the front of each box I put a number.  Then on a piece of paper I listed what was in each box.  Now as long as I don't lose that paper  I can find the stuff in the boxes easily.  I put these boxes on a shelf in the garage.

Now I have a place for everything and everything in its place. Although this is a great saying it never works with a two year old in the house!!  Here are some pictures of our school room and I will tell you all about the workboxes in my next post.  They are soo cool and you might even want to incorporate it into your schooling next year.

 These two pictures are just to show you what the shelves looked like in our old house.  (The white shelving in the back of the pics)

And here is what they look like now after some spray paint and a handy hubby:

I just love them!!!  Inside the red cabinet I have paper, centers, activity bags and what ever else I could put in there. 

Now I will do a seperate post about the workboxes.