As you know from my previous posts, I am in planning mode! I am working towards a schedule to keep us on track so that I can manage our home, school, socializing, and still enjoy down time and fun time.
Here are some nuggets I'm trying to remember as I make plans and set priorities.
~ I will plan my quiet time for early in the morning. I draw my strength from Christ, and do not want to train my children or relate to my family outside of Him. I will begin my day in the Word and in prayer, so that I will be working in His strength.
~ I will exercise more regularly. I need the energy and good health to keep up!
~ I am going to work on training my children to do more chores. The more help I have the more time I have to do fun things with my family.
~ I am going to schedule planning time into each week so that I can sit down to focus on our calendar or events, our school plans, menu plans, and the like. When I have a plan, I can get more accomplished and spend less time wondering what we will be doing, eating, going, etc.
I am going to plan school time for each of the girls this year. I have not been focusing enough on Anna, and while I don't think she needs formal schooling, she needs some intentional time from me. I am going to be compiling a list of themes, skills, and the like that I want to do this year.
I love planning time!!
What are some new goals you have for the upcoming year?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
What I'm Reading
We are headed to the beach tomorrow, and I have my reading bag ready! Want to know what I'm planning to read? Of course you do! Right?
Anyways, I'm going to tell you either way :)
~Managers of Their Homes by Steve and Teri Maxwell ~ This is a great book about scheduling for homeschool families. I've borrowed a book from another lady, but I will be ordering the book when my homeschool budget recovers from convention! The book includes a scheduling kit, and I know this is a book that I will re-read every year.
~Just Around the Corner by Steve and Teri Maxwell ~ This one is a devotion book by the same people who wrote Managers of Their Homes. She has written a series of devotions for moms and he has written them for dads. I am being encouraged and challenged by each one. This collection is from about five years (1996-2001 I think). They are still writing these monthly, and you can subscribe to them for free on their website.
Teri Maxwell has also written several other books including Managers of Their Chores, Managers of Their Schools, and Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit. You can read all about them on their website at www.titus2.com (They will be in my town this fall, and I can't wait!!).
The other two books in my bag are To Train Up a Child by Michael Pearl and Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Trip. I am about half way through Shepherding a Child's Heart and it has been wonderful so far.
What's on your reading list for this summer?
Anyways, I'm going to tell you either way :)
~Managers of Their Homes by Steve and Teri Maxwell ~ This is a great book about scheduling for homeschool families. I've borrowed a book from another lady, but I will be ordering the book when my homeschool budget recovers from convention! The book includes a scheduling kit, and I know this is a book that I will re-read every year.
~Just Around the Corner by Steve and Teri Maxwell ~ This one is a devotion book by the same people who wrote Managers of Their Homes. She has written a series of devotions for moms and he has written them for dads. I am being encouraged and challenged by each one. This collection is from about five years (1996-2001 I think). They are still writing these monthly, and you can subscribe to them for free on their website.
Teri Maxwell has also written several other books including Managers of Their Chores, Managers of Their Schools, and Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit. You can read all about them on their website at www.titus2.com (They will be in my town this fall, and I can't wait!!).
The other two books in my bag are To Train Up a Child by Michael Pearl and Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Trip. I am about half way through Shepherding a Child's Heart and it has been wonderful so far.
What's on your reading list for this summer?
Friday, May 22, 2009
Workbox Intro
The Work of Childhood blog is hosting a carnival of homeschoolers who are using the workbox system. She's titled it Thinking Outside the Box. This week we are introducing ourselves and telling a bit about our homeschool. . . If you are thinking about or doing workboxes, this should be a great place for information, ideas, and inspiration!
Here are some questions she posed on her blog.
How many boxes do you fill? Right now, my 5 year old is doing 9 boxes. I hope to move up to 12 before Christmas. My 3 year old will start with 6 boxes in Augusst or September.
Do you expect your children to go in order? Mary Helen (5) goes in order. I think I will probably let Anna (3) do in any order.
Do you use the schedule strips? no, but I am considering it beginning in the fall.
How long does it take you to fill the boxes? I try to plan ahead, which takes about an hour a week, then about 10-15 minutes daily.
Do you fill your work boxes EACH night with all new items? Some of our boxes are themed, so I just pull the next math worksheet out of the book or add a new Bob book to the box. I am trying to have 4-6 that are the same theme, but not really the same exact all the time.
What do your kids do with the empty boxes? They go right back to their spots.
Do you put away the ‘supplies’ each night? or do your kids? I have a box on top of the workbox shelf where she puts completed items. I put them away weekly usually.
Anything else you want to add? I'm excited to get more done and we spend more time together. I am also using lots of the "extras" that I've purchased along the way. I hope I can do this successfully with Anna (3) this fall!
Here are some questions she posed on her blog.
How many boxes do you fill? Right now, my 5 year old is doing 9 boxes. I hope to move up to 12 before Christmas. My 3 year old will start with 6 boxes in Augusst or September.
Do you expect your children to go in order? Mary Helen (5) goes in order. I think I will probably let Anna (3) do in any order.
Do you use the schedule strips? no, but I am considering it beginning in the fall.
How long does it take you to fill the boxes? I try to plan ahead, which takes about an hour a week, then about 10-15 minutes daily.
Do you fill your work boxes EACH night with all new items? Some of our boxes are themed, so I just pull the next math worksheet out of the book or add a new Bob book to the box. I am trying to have 4-6 that are the same theme, but not really the same exact all the time.
What do your kids do with the empty boxes? They go right back to their spots.
Do you put away the ‘supplies’ each night? or do your kids? I have a box on top of the workbox shelf where she puts completed items. I put them away weekly usually.
Anything else you want to add? I'm excited to get more done and we spend more time together. I am also using lots of the "extras" that I've purchased along the way. I hope I can do this successfully with Anna (3) this fall!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Planning Time!
We're still doing beach week here, but that's not what I'm blogging about today.
Even though I plan to do school year-round, I can't help but see Fall as our "new year". I am gearing up to get us on a different schedule, one that will include some more things for Anna. I am going to do some "Tot-School" with her, and she is going to have her own workboxes.
So, I am evaluating and setting some priorities and goals for our family. I am prayerfully considering what our days, weeks, and months will look like next year.
I am making lists of cleaning jobs that have to be done, menu idea, theme ideas, workbox ideas, field trip ideas, things I want Anna to learn, etc.
Are you setting goals for next year? What would you like to accomplish in 09/10? What are you going to do to see that it gets done?
Editing after Mama Snail's comment ~
In your homeschool calendar, are you doing like 6 weeks on, 6 weeks off. Or 9 on 9 off? Or 3 on, 3 off? Or just take time off when you want? We don't set a calendar per se, but we will pretty much go all year. We will be taking breaks when life gets hectic, when we take vacations, or when we get overwhelmed with house duties such as deep cleaning or yard work :)
When will your girls "graduate" to the next grade level? In August? Which is why you think of it being the new year.... What about a first day of school tradition/ceremony...are you going to do something for that? Mary Helen began Kindergarten in March. If she were in the school system, she would be wrapping up her Pre K year now. We will continue on with Kindergarten this coming year, and she will move to first grade in the Summer or Fall of 2010. We will celebrate when we decide to end Kindergarten, and have our picture made for the first day of 1st grade. I don't know yet what I'm going to use to determine that she "passes" kindergarten :)
Are you going to make a home management binder? I have a home management binder, and I plan to do some purging, some adding, and hopefully a lot more utilizing of it for this year! I also plan to order Managers of Their Homes when my homeschool budget recovers from convention so I can fit everything into our day, and hopefully make better use of our time.
I am curriculum/material shopping planning now. I haven't set goals yet. But to make sure it gets done...I have you to help me! I am SO glad we have each other for accountability now! We will have to get together with our binders one day and all our plans, etc!
Even though I plan to do school year-round, I can't help but see Fall as our "new year". I am gearing up to get us on a different schedule, one that will include some more things for Anna. I am going to do some "Tot-School" with her, and she is going to have her own workboxes.
So, I am evaluating and setting some priorities and goals for our family. I am prayerfully considering what our days, weeks, and months will look like next year.
I am making lists of cleaning jobs that have to be done, menu idea, theme ideas, workbox ideas, field trip ideas, things I want Anna to learn, etc.
Are you setting goals for next year? What would you like to accomplish in 09/10? What are you going to do to see that it gets done?
Editing after Mama Snail's comment ~
In your homeschool calendar, are you doing like 6 weeks on, 6 weeks off. Or 9 on 9 off? Or 3 on, 3 off? Or just take time off when you want? We don't set a calendar per se, but we will pretty much go all year. We will be taking breaks when life gets hectic, when we take vacations, or when we get overwhelmed with house duties such as deep cleaning or yard work :)
When will your girls "graduate" to the next grade level? In August? Which is why you think of it being the new year.... What about a first day of school tradition/ceremony...are you going to do something for that? Mary Helen began Kindergarten in March. If she were in the school system, she would be wrapping up her Pre K year now. We will continue on with Kindergarten this coming year, and she will move to first grade in the Summer or Fall of 2010. We will celebrate when we decide to end Kindergarten, and have our picture made for the first day of 1st grade. I don't know yet what I'm going to use to determine that she "passes" kindergarten :)
Are you going to make a home management binder? I have a home management binder, and I plan to do some purging, some adding, and hopefully a lot more utilizing of it for this year! I also plan to order Managers of Their Homes when my homeschool budget recovers from convention so I can fit everything into our day, and hopefully make better use of our time.
I am curriculum/material shopping planning now. I haven't set goals yet. But to make sure it gets done...I have you to help me! I am SO glad we have each other for accountability now! We will have to get together with our binders one day and all our plans, etc!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Imagine the Possibilities!
This is very random, but I think we are going to enjoy it!
I was making some craft stick word families for Mary Helen, and was trying to figure how we could keep them separated . I decided these small bathroom cups would be perfect, but I didn't know how I could make them stand up. I pulled out this foam board from some other project and hot glued the cups in rows. As I was glueing, I thought of all the fun things I could do with the board!
Here's the board ~
use for patterns (can use pom-poms, beans, noodles, etc)
use for sorting
for word families
I was making some craft stick word families for Mary Helen, and was trying to figure how we could keep them separated . I decided these small bathroom cups would be perfect, but I didn't know how I could make them stand up. I pulled out this foam board from some other project and hot glued the cups in rows. As I was glueing, I thought of all the fun things I could do with the board!
Here's the board ~
use for patterns (can use pom-poms, beans, noodles, etc)
use for sorting
for word families
you can also use them for alphabetical order, sight words, adding, etc.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Beach Day 2!
Today was one of those days. We got a late start and Mary Helen and I seemed to take forever to do our jobs this morning. So, we had lunch late, quiet time late, and school WAY late. But, we got it done and we didn't stress out about it.
First up, I'll show you what was in our boxes. I had a math sheet and her Bob books that I didn't take a picture of. In the first picture you see a sheet about jellyfish that we read and then she colored, the supplies to make a jellyfish craft, and a card that says "Help Mommy make a special recipe". those were her last three boxes.
Here you see her Draw Write Now book, a set of word family craft sticks (-at was today's family), and her sign language cards.
This is a sorting/counting activity we did using colored goldfish.
Here are pictures of her doing her thing! 
First up, I'll show you what was in our boxes. I had a math sheet and her Bob books that I didn't take a picture of. In the first picture you see a sheet about jellyfish that we read and then she colored, the supplies to make a jellyfish craft, and a card that says "Help Mommy make a special recipe". those were her last three boxes.
Here you see her Draw Write Now book, a set of word family craft sticks (-at was today's family), and her sign language cards.
This is a sorting/counting activity we did using colored goldfish.
Here are pictures of her doing her thing!Sorting goldfish.
Making jell-o aquariums.
showing off her jellyfish...
All in all, we're having a great time!
All in all, we're having a great time!Beach Theme Books
Head over to the Bookworm's Booklist for some great recommendations for a beach theme!
She has great booklists for lots of themes. Her blog is bursting with books! Enjoy your visit and show her some love with your comments!
She has great booklists for lots of themes. Her blog is bursting with books! Enjoy your visit and show her some love with your comments!
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