Friday, September 26, 2014

Tiny Town - Our Homeschool Space & Get Fun In





 You don't need a huge schoolroom for Learning

After perusing the internet searching on homeschool curriculum (yes, I am a curriculum junkie - I admit it and my kids don't mind). I noticed all the elaborate homeschool rooms. Well we don't have that much space.

Each of my kids have their own desk in opposite corners of our basement.

Bookshelves are a must.

Workboxes that are (1) Numbered (2) Labeled with the subject and topped with (3) Weekly Lesson Schedule with box #, Subject, Test/Quiz and homework is in a notebook on the top.



Walls that teach have,
Calender
Personal Cork Boards and Dry Erase Board allow me to note homework, projects, special notes
Spanish Speaking Posters
Logic and Fallacy Map
History TimeLine

Weekly Wrapup

We had mostly good days.

This week nothing went as planned. That really bugs me because I am an obsessive organizer and planner. After a few deep breaths I figured it out.

Hubba had knee surgery and was home from work for the week. Hubba actually enjoyed Speed Racer sitting in bed with him to do school work. Otherwise, he said he'd been bored. My older son took him to the hospital for the surgery and my oldest daughter Rose came over to look after him so Mommy (me) was able to go to work since I'm saving my vacation leave for a few vacations we are going on later this year.

Ended up moving Thursday's homeschooling day to Friday and doing school on Saturday.

Fun Diversions:

Hanging out in bed with dad while his leg was elevated to watch magic shows on Youtube, selected and picked by Speed Racer (showing off part of his Science Project below).


Changes! Yep, I'm always searching for a better way to teach my kiddos so...

New Courses added to block schedule

IXL.com - 10 minutes a day is added for Language Arts Drills
Spelling You See - 10 minutes a day to help Speed Racer with Spelling replaces Abeka Spelling
ArtTango.com - Art Class instruction for Speed Racer - he wants to learn how to draw
Mark Kistler's Virtual Classroom - Tiger Lilly loves Virtual Classes and Art. So picked this up for her. Yes, that lady wanted to start it this 'semester' (we break her schedule up like a college semester system).
3D Animation - YouthDigital.com (Tiger Lilly loves their products) and wants to do Animation
DigiPen 3D Animation Virtual Workshop - Tiger Lilly won't start this until January and it's on Saturday's from 1-3pm


Why adding more courses?

Goal: Cutting Time Sucking Computer Game Time
Some of our other classes are winding down. Also, I'm finding time to keep the kids active in fun ways to keep them from wanting to play video games all the time.

Socialization...
2-3 hours of their sports
2 hours of gaming time or playing outside with friends daily.

Recreation Cheerleading

I help coordinate Tween and Teen nights a few area Co-Ops so my kiddos meet kids that are homeschooled AND kids who aren't homeschooled in order to give them a well-rounded group of friends.


Big Plans for 2015:
I start planning our trips and schooling for the next year over a year early.

Good thing I do because I found this wonderful opportunity from Landry Academy.

Mission's Trip to France! Yippee! I can start paying on it now for next summer.

*Both Tiger Lilly and her older sister Rose will be going on a France Mission Trip, sponsored by Landry Academy*


Working Parents Reflection:

Meal Planning: I slipped up with the prep this week. So it was a 'fast food' stop and go eat week. Bad for my Hubba and me. The kids enjoyed it though.

House Cleaning: The house is a wreck. Didn't get to do Saturday cleanup because Hubba was in bed and we had a cheer-game, martial arts class, church, and hair appointments.

Lesson Planning: I was hoping to get done 2 weeks of lesson planning out of the way - wrong! It didn't happen. So I will try again this weekend.

Yard work: The kids cleaned the yard on Sunday, just in time for the trash to go out.

Rest: I did it! I got 6.5 hours sleep 4 days this week.Now my husband is a self-proclaimed night-owl so I make him hang out with me for the weekends by going to a movie or out to dinner in order to make up for our hang out town we get during the summer when we aren't homeschooling.


6 comments:

  1. I hope hubby's recovery goes well. It is good that your older kids can help you. Looks like you had a very busy week.

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  2. Your homeschool space looks great! I've heard lots of good things about Landry Academy.

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  3. A quick recovery for your DH! I'm adding stuff to our homeschooling too, and taking some other stuff away. It's always a fluid thing around here! Just like our homeschool space! Everything is stored in one space, but the doing is everywhere! LOL Happy planning for 2015!

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  4. How on earth do you fit it all in? I can just about home school and feed everyone. The rest? I'm not so hot at! Hope your husband recovers swiftly!

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  5. I am obsessive about schedule. It's blessing and a curse.

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  6. couldn't agree more! after 7 years ... we have a corner for resources and end up learning anywhere! looks like a great week.

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