Our School Day

A few people have asked me recently about how school is going for us, what are we working on, what kind of schedule do we have, etc.  I thought a blog post and some photos would be the best way to answer this question.  This will be a longer post, I apologize in advance!

First, let's have a look at our school/play room.

This is where we sit to do most of our work.  Nothing fancy, just a cheap card table, but it's working so far.

Art supplies, workbooks, teaching materials:

And some space to play:

When I was preparing to homeschool, I did a LOT of research . . . and I know I barely hit the tip of the iceberg.  There is SO much to read out there about homeschooling!  Many people ask how I know what to teach, and if there is a certain curriculum I must follow.  Well, that is both the best and the most frustrating thing about homeschooling -- I can pretty much teach whatever I want.  So it's great in that we have a lot of choice, yet difficult in that at times there can be TOO many options.  I mentioned in a previous post that we purchased math and reading programs for Alex this year.  The rest, I'm making up as we go along.  With kindergarten especially, I don't think we need to be too rigid about having high goals for all subjects.  We will get more serious as we go along.

I also spent much time debating on our schedule.  Did I want to commit to being home in the mornings and getting our work done in one chunk?  Did I want to do school with Alex in the afternoon while Thomas naps?  Did I want to have the same schedule each day, or be able to change it up?

After much deliberation, I decided on the workbox approach.  This is a pretty popular movement in homeschooling, look it up on Pinterest and you'll see tons of photos.  Everyone does it a little differently, and I've tailored it to meet our needs at this point -- I'm sure things will be constantly changing and evolving as we continue along this process!

Basically, our day begins around 7:00.  Both boys get up around that time, or soon thereafter.  They eat breakfast, we may play some games or they may have some computer time, and we are usually ready to begin school around 8:30.  In our room, I have set up workboxes for the boys.  Each evening, I fill their boxes with different activities for the next day.  Thomas, on the left, has 9 boxes, and Alex has 12.  We usually don't fill them all up, it depends on our schedule and how much I want to get done on any given day.  In this example, Thomas has 5 boxes filled and Alex has 10.

Alex is great with the system already.  He takes the work out of his box, completes it, and then removes the velcro number and attaches it to his chart on the wall.

At this point, many of the boxes require my help, although you can see how this would be great to encourage independent work as he gets older.

So, what's in the boxes?  Well, here's a look at tomorrow.

#1 is the same every day: calendar.  He records the date and day of the week with a dry erase marker on this chart.  He likes that his first box is done in about a minute.  :)

#2 for tomorrow will be working on the months of the year.  We will be learning a song to help remember them in order. 

#3 is reading.  Alex did some work last week on letter combinations like "scr" and will use these puzzle pieces to make words.  We do have a reading workbook we use as well, but I try to mix it in with other activities so Alex isn't bored with it.

#4 is math.  The Horizon math program we are using introduces a new concept each day (below, word problems) and then does a spiraling review of older concepts.  He is working on first grade curriculum.

When we're not using the workbook in math, we might be playing math games or doing work with manipulatives like clocks and pattern blocks.

#5 is science.  We don't exactly have a plan for science yet, so we are making a book with pictures we took at the zoo and the aquarium this summer.  Each day, we pick 2 of our animals, find a few basic facts online, and I type them up for him.

#6 is more reading.  Tomorrow I will be reading Owl Moon to him.  We are going to be working through a list of some of the best children's books.  Other days, Alex reads to me from an easy reader book or some of the short stories in the reader that came with the Horizons program.

#7 is a craft to go with the story.

#8 is handwriting.  Probably his least favorite, but I make him do it each day.  He either does one side of a page from a handwriting book I bought, or will practice writing his name and address.

#9 is Bible, we will be reading the Adam and Eve story together from one of his picture Bibles.  This particular one is in comic book form, so I think he'll like it.

#10 is social studies.  We have no plan for this yet, either.  We have been learning a little bit about maps (he loves looking at the map when Daddy takes him hiking at Middle Creek).  Tomorrow he will be using one of Erik's games, 10 Days in the USA.

We have him go through some of the game cards . . .

and try to find them on the big map.

And that's his day!  Now, the beauty of this is that we can work it around anything else we want to do for the day.  For example, tomorrow our moms club is having a breakfast get together at one of Alex's friend's houses.  I know he will enjoy getting out to see his friends.  So, more than likely, we will do a little bit of work in the morning, go spend time with friends, come home and have lunch, and then do a little more.  He still has quiet time in his room while Thomas naps.  After that, if we still have work to do, we finish it up in the afternoon.  But often we don't.  This may look like a lot, but it really doesn't take that long to get through.

I may spend a naptime or two during the week getting ideas together, and maybe some time on the weekend.  Then each evening, as long as I have it planned out, it doesn't take too long to get things organized to put in the boxes.  But I definitely am busier than I used to be and I do feel like I have added on a different job!

Things I am trying to get to every day:

Calendar work

Math

Reading 

Writing

Bible

Art or Music

Science or Social Studies

Time outside

So . . . you may be thinking, what is Thomas doing during this time?

It is my belief that young children need time to PLAY.  Especially since Thomas is still not quite 3, I don't believe that he needs to be pushed into any formal schooling at all.  However, he often asks me to "do school work", and there are some skills I would like him to be working on.  He is great with shapes and colors, pretty good at counting, and needs to work on letters.  So I try to come up with some learning activities each day that are at his level and engaging.

Unlike Alex, he is allowed to work out of order, and he can even pick and choose what he feels like doing.  If he just wants to play, that's fine with me.  I set up a little "play scape" for him with his animals, and I have some ideas that I will be using to change this up for him every few days.

Here's what I have set up for Thomas tomorrow:

#1 -- Number recognition -- he rolls a die, finds the matching numbers on the worksheet and stamps them with the dot painter.

#2 -- Cutting practice.  He LOVES to cut but is not at all ready to hold scissors correctly or cut on lines.  So I give him the opportunity to practice but most likely he'll end up just cutting little tiny pieces off of this paper and they'll end up all over the floor. :)

#3 -- Puzzle.  Just threw in a random one he hasn't done in a while.

#4 -- Letter recognition.  He has to sort the "Big D" and "Little D" dinosaurs.

#5 -- Counting.  He counts the objects on each section of the circle and finds the clothespin with the correct number, then clips it on the circle.

#6 -- Colors.  Sorting out animal stickers.

Thomas is pretty hit or miss right now.  Sometimes he will feel like doing this stuff, and sometimes he won't.  It's hard sometimes to find learning things that I think he will like.  It is also definitely a challenge to try to help them both at the same time.  I certainly don't want Thomas to feel ignored, yet I want to make sure Alex gets what he needs from me. I assume this may get easier as Thomas matures and they both become independent.

Thanks if you're still with me after this LONG post!  I have much more I could talk about, but I'll save it for another day.  I hope to give a school update at least monthly.  If you have any questions for me, I'll be happy to answer them!

That's it from Boomerang Drive!

-- Holly