Salt Dough Fun

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I have written in several entries about my love of playdough.  It’s hard to beat the stuff from the store because nowadays it is so cheap &, unlike when we were kids, soft right out of the can!  However I absolutely LOVE homemade salt dough!  We had not made any in 3 years so only my oldest even remembered doing it.  It is one of those things that you need to do every once in a while if for no other reason than the wow factor!  It is so easy & your children will be so impressed that you can make playdough yourself!  I call it Mommy magic- you’ve got to always keep them a little amazed at the things you can do! 

My absolutley favorite part of salt dough is playing with it right after you make it & it is still warm; it is really a delight to all the senses! 

I had lost the recipe for the kind we made 3 years ago which we all loved but I found it recently in a wonderful book that I am really enjoying.  It is Kids Create by Laurie Carlson.  I highly recommend this book for basic craft recipes & fun simple ideas to do with your children- things like what you did as a child before every craft came from Oriental Trading!

This recipe calls for 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tarter, & food coloring.  You put all the ingredients in a large saucespan & stir contantly with a wooden spoon over medium heat.  The soup will magically form a ball at which point you remove it from heat & turn out on a lightly floured surface to knead & cool.

Another thing I love about homemade dough is making your own colors!  These are the 4 colors my boys & I made recently.  To get these eye popping colors I recommend using bakers food coloring (for cake decorating.)  Mine is in a gel form & although a little expensive I have used the same few bottles for years on everything from salt dough, to cakes, to mashed potatoes!  We store our dough in recycled peanut butter jars & do not keep ours refrigerated (although that is what the recipes says to do.)

B1 & I played today.  I can’t imagine anything better for finger dexterity & the imagination!

This was HH’s supper plate that we had waiting for him when he got home- strawberry, blueberry, pear, french fries, ham, cheese, & bread- yummy!

Active Volcano!

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In Mystery of History II we studied Pompeii this week.  It is a tragic but fascinating story from the pages of history about a city that is literally frozen in time- buried in volvanic ash!  We also read Pompeii…Buried Alive! by Edith Davis.  We love the activity suggestions at the end of each MOH lesson & what better way to end a lesson on Pompeii than to make our own volcano!

Here F9 is helping L4 add the vinegar as E6 looks on.  We used a ratio of 3 tablesponns baking soda to 1/2 cup vinegar.  We added a few drops of red food coloring & dish soap for effect!

I don’t know why it suprised me that they went GA-GA over this little experiment.  They are all boy & what’s not to love- it’s messy, explosive, & and "dangerous" (it’s is a real volcano-remember!)  The looks on their faces says it all!

Mount Brookgreen was definately an active volcano.  They repeated the experiment many times- I finally had to put a limit on the amount of vinegar that could be used!  They even started experimenting with capping the bottle & added a little shaking to the volcano with very pleasing results- try that at home yourself to see!  Here are the unsuspecting Playmobile men oblivious to the impending danger!

And finally, the carnage left in the path of Mount Brookgreen.  The poor guy never knew what hit him; he’s still smiling!  Life with boys is sooooo much FUN!

ABC Beads

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We are in our second day of non-stop heavy rain at my house which can become stressful when you have 6 people (5 of them male) in 1000 sq. feet.  Yesterday, I had to banish the boys to the hay barn for a short noise break.  Today we all got involved with a box of ABC beads from Walmart ($3.67.)

The idea was to make one of those water filled bottles full of floating stuff to go in one of L4′s preschool activities in a bag which I use in his workboxes.  The basic idea is from Preschool Activities in a Bag Book 2 & is called ABC HIdden Treasure. The book instructs you to hide the ABC beads in rice but we had been wanting to make one of the floating bottles so we decided to do that instead.  Luckily our bag of beads included 300 beads so we’ll have enough to do a rice version as well.

Basically, we used an empty water bottle filled with 50% light corn syrup & 50% water (although I plan to experiment with this % & see how it changes) & added ABC beads (2 of each letter to make it a little easier) & glitter!  The whole crowd got invloved.  L4 found the letters to his name & then E6 & F9 wanted to do the same of coarse!

E6 & F9 went in order to make the complete alphabet in a line of beads (so we could make sure we got 2 of each letter in the bottle.)

Afterward we decided it would be best to store the beads sorted so we could easily find any letter we needed so E6 went through the remaining 248 beads & grouped them by letter alphabetically.  It was really great alphabetizing practice & fun for him too.

Here is E6 posing with his alphabetized piles of beads & the " ABC Under Water Search" we made for L4!

Poster Centers

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Poster Centers are an idea introduced to me by Sue Patrick to be utilized along with herWorkbox System.  We have been using them & my boys have really enjoyed them.  Although we use them during our workbox time poster centers could easily be added to anyone’s school day with success.

In the photo above L4 is doing one of his favorite posters which is a counting & number recognition poster.  It is called Colorful Crayons.  There are 11 cards (which we keep in a ziplock bag) that have crayons pictured on them ranging from 0 to 10 crayons.  I got the crayon cards from The Dollar Tree.  Then I used a regular piece of posterboard & added library pockets which you can purchase from Oriental Trading Company or easily make from paper yourself.  I printed the numbers on the outside of the library pocket & then added the corresponding number of dots below (so that as L4 tries to place the cards he can count the dots if he does not recognize the number.)

The benefits of poster centers are many, when used correctly.  One major advantage of posters is that they are cheap & readily available.  The Dollar Tree & Walmart have even started carrying educational posters, maps & placemats.  If you are lucky enough to have a school supply store near your house you can get a poster about practically anything for about $2.  And as you can see above you can make your own!  The first poster we used was a small poster about the weather that was folded inside a free catalog from a school supply store as a sample.  The KEY to making posters work in your school day is to make them interactive!

Imagine all the posters you have around your house that no one ever reads or uses.  Now imagine making those posters NOT something to look at but something TO DO instead.  The easiest way to do this is to have 2 identical posters!  One you keep whole as the background & the other you cut up- picking & choosing words, pictures, etc that you want your children to learn.  Take those pieces & laminate them & add velcro so that your child can build on the background poster.  For example, we have an ABC poster.  We use one to hang on the wall.  I have cut the letters (upper & lowercase seperately) & the pictures that go with each letter out from the second poster.  L4 can match the uppercase letters where they go.  On another day he can match the lowercase letter & E6 can work on beginning word sounds by matching the picture that goes with each letter pair to where it goes.

Children really enjoy them & they allow them to learn while getting up & moving around.  If you want to use single posters you already own just photocopy small portions, draw them free hand or add vocabulary words or some other component.  

I have seen  some really great posters done for older students using maps, posters with geography terms, Roman numerals & more.  Another benefit is that although posters are large they don’t take up floor space & can easily be stored behind a cabinet or under a couch or bed.

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Pretty Pumpkins

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There is just so much to do with pumpkins this time of year- carving, roasting seeds, pies, painting- here’s one more to add to your repertoire- stained glass pumpkins.

The best part of pumpkins is picking them so if you can grow your own or visit a local grower.  Many pumpkin growers (at least in our area) don’t plan to sell any after Halloween so they will give them away.  Our crowd went & collected pumkins the other day so we could teach stained glass pumpkin art at our 4-H Club meeting.  Here is F9 showing off for the camera!

Stained glass pumpkins are not only beautiful & make great Thanksgiving table centerpieces but they also complement a study of color wonderfully.  We had a lesson on the color wheel & this project which utilizes layers of tissue paper allows the artist to experiment with color in so many fun ways.

Basically, you take a clean, dry pumpkin & wet a small spot using a sponge brush to apply a white glue/water mixture (about 50/50.)  Then you take small pieces of tissue paper (several layered together for vibrant colors or one for a more transparent look) dip them in the glue mix & stick on the pumpkin.  You use your fingertips to smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles & make sure the edges of the tissue paper are wet & flat.  You continue around the pumpkin in any way you desire.  With 20 kids doing this project you got 20 different styles & that is of coarse the best part of art.  Here are our family’s pumpkins, enjoy!

Perfect Picture Book for the Adventurous Boy

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Do you have an adventerous, inventing, imagination filled little boy at your house?  Well, here’s a really fun picture book to look for at the library.  It’s a bonus if you like Moon-Pies too!  We actually checked this book out because my E6 is a real live Jimmy Zangwow look alike!  When I saw the book I said, "E, if you were a drawing this is exactly what you would look like!"  They are a match from the red hair, freckles, boots, goggles, scarf, & big belt.  My E6 is all about costumes & accessorizing & he says he is going to an inventor when he grows up.

Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-this-World Moon Pie Adventure by Tony Diterlizzi is a really fun imaginary adventure of a boy who gets turned down when he asks for his favorite snack-moon pies of coarse!  And who can blame his Mom- she doesn’t want to ruin his brussels-sprout-noodle-bean casserole.  So to pass the time before supper he takes a trip in his junk jumbilee jalopy to see the moon, the Milky Way, Mars, some martians & one Grimble Grinder.
It’s just a fun book with great art & it showcases the imagination of a little boy.  It’s also a really fun time saying expressions like "Gadzooks, Jumping June bugs! & zip pip kaboodle."  This book could be be worked into a lesson on space, math (the milk is in pints, quarts & gallons & there are 999 mars men,) the spirit of inventing, sharing, or even poor snack choices (if you want to be a real downer.)  My suggestion however, is to check this book out & buy a box of Moon-Pies to enjoy together after you read it.

By the way, loud burping is used to save the day in the end so if that offends you pass this one up.  But let’s be honest if you’re not used to burping you probably don’t need books for boys anyway!  Here is my E6 with his own Junk Jumbilee Jalopy (what can I say, he was inspired!)  It even has an emergency shoot (umbrella,) headlights (mason jars,) & a Moonpie holder (cardboard box.)

Spontaneous Science

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We all know the best learning takes place when it is self-motivated!  We have borrowed a book from the library called Every Kid Needs Things that Fly! by Ritchie Kinmont.  We got it to go along with L4′s Fabulous FUN Family Friday on Airplanes but have kept it for several weeks because the boys are so interested in it. 

Above are F9 & E6 trying out their modifications of one of the hot air balloon experiments.  We did not have all the exact components on hand but they switched a few things around & tried it a little different.  The goal was to make a hot air balloon with a basket that would carry an action figure.  When their helium balloon would not lift the basket or the action figure by himself they decided to try a Playmobile man, then a legos man.  When it wouldn’t carry away even this tiny man they changed their idea & thought it might make a good parachute instead.

Here they are trying to do a paratrooper jump from their playground cabin.  The wind blew their man way off coarse & then…he came untied!

The legos soldier landed safely in the sandbox but here is their hot air balloon escaping into the heavens above the tree field.  Like most of life, sometimes we learn the most from our mistakes!

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History Fair

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This week has been CRAZY for our family.  Smack dab in the middle of it we had our local homeschool support group’s History Fair.  Usually we would not take on extra activities during this time of year since we also started making wreaths this week & are preparing to harvest Christmas trees BUT our boys (& our entire family) love history so much & we believe public speaking is such a vital skill that we couldn’t pass this up.

F9 did his presentation on D-Day, on which he is an unofficial expert!  He did this presentation 100% by himself including his display board, deciding what he wanted to say, & memorizing the speech Eisenhower gave the troops just before the invasion (which he used as his opening.)  We were very proud of how well he did in preparing for this event & his love of WWII history.

E6 did his presentation on Cherokee Indians who are the American Indians who lived in the Appalachian mountains (where we live.)  Here he is posing with his display table which was the most beautiful there (in my humble opinion!)  E6 is ALL about the costumes & accessories!  He made the small fringed bag at his side & we worked really hard (well, I worked really hard-he supervised) on the rest of his costume.  He really had a great time & makes quite the little pale faced Indian!  I so love the way he enjoys dressing up & gets excited about all that stuff because I love costumes & dressing up too & F9 is way too serious & practical for that sort of thing!

This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you...

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The other day I was trying to explain this old saying, handed down from generation to generation of parents, to F9.  Tonight I got to refresh my own memory of what it means.

As we were getting ready to tuck in all the boys F9 looked in his treasure chest (his tiny few inches of private space in a room he shares with 2 brothers) & realized all his money was missing.  It took a few lines of questioning before L4 admitted that he had taken his brother’s money & put it in his own box.  I was devestated.  Just last week we had an issue of taking from each other’s boxes & had discussed with L4 the grave severity of not being trustworthy & taking things that do not belong to us.

By God’s divine wisdom & grace towards me, my HH walked in the back door as L4 & I were headed to the bathroom to discuss his offense.  HH took over for me & I know it was God’s hand because there is no way I could have done what had to be done.  In our home the consequence for stealing is asking for forgiveness & double restitution.  After discussing his offense with HH in the bathroom L4 came back to his room eyes swollen & heart broken.

He tearfully got out his own box & with HH’s help turned every penny he had over to F9 as restitution!  It broke my heart too!  L4 is the most loving & gentle child I have ever seen & to see his little eyes swollen with tears as he gave away all his money was more than I could have beared alone.  E6 must have been heartbroken too because he got out of bed & went to his box & gave L4 $5 of his money in honor of L4′s courage & honesty in admitting his offense!

I love my boys so much!  And I know that consequences that don’t sting a little won’t be remembered.  I hope L4 will remember tonight & I thank God that he made little boys to have a Mommy & a Daddy.  I don’t know if I could make this trek alone like my Mom did.  Thank you Lord for godly men & please Lord, make my 4 boys be godly too!

This Little Light of Mine

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…I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

That has always been one of my favorite songs & my boys & I have such a fun time singing it.  Hide it under a bushel, NO!  Won’t let Satan blow it out!  Let is shine till Jesus comes, I’m gonna let it shine!  And you’ve never heard that song until you hear old country southerners like us sing it.  We really make it SHIIIINNNE!

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

We also love carving pumkins & this is a photo of our little light shining.  We had such a fun time carving pumpkins at home & then getting all dressed up to attend our church’s youth service that night.  We even had 1 young man who has been riding our van to church a few weeks saved. On Halloween night!  God is good, all the time!  All the time, God is good!

Book for Reluctant Readers

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Has your son every told you he did not want to learn to read?  Afterall, boys have more important things to do like saving princesses, defending forts, digging trenches, planting crops, catching wild game, the list goes on & on.  Here is a great short book for you to read aloud to him. 

Prairie School by Avi

http://www.amazon.com/Prairie-School-Can-Read-Book/dp/0060513187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317762928&sr=8-1

This is the story of a nine year old boy living on the prairie in 1880.  He is a good boy & a hard worker & he has more important things to do than learn to read.  "Reading is as much use on the prairie as the stars!"  When his aunt come to visit she gradually helps him see that if he learns to read he can "read the world."  It’s a great short book, especially for little boys, who can’t quite see the value in spending time on letters & such!

Book Baskets

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Here is a peek into our school-maybe an idea you can use.  We have a part of each school day called book basket time.  We have been doing book baskets for 3 years now & have really seen great returns on this investment!  All of our boys enjoy books & book basket gives them time to enjoy books & allows me to make sure they are seeing/reading certain books.  Although we have used book baskets for several years, this year we have incorpaorated it into our workbox schedule & it fits beautifully.  Book basket is a center on everyone’s schedule & it provides a great break from seat work- my older children often enjoy their snack during this time too!

So what is book basket?  A basket of books, of coarse!  Each of my boys has a basket (ours are actual baskets but they could be anything- plastic bins, cardboard boxes, or even bags.)  Inside those baskets are books that I want them to look at or read.  There are several books in there so they may choose which books to read on which particular day but books stay in the basket until they are read so eventually they all get read. 

What kinds of things go in the book baskets?

4th grader:  Most of the books I put in his basket are supplemental books to go along with other things we are studying.  He consumes books much faster than I could ever keep up with & I don’t want his reading to be limited by my time.  Our history program is Mystery of History (MOH) & we read that text together in our family time.  I also choose living books to go along with some of the major topics from MOH, or ones that I think my boys will be particulalrly interested in, or great hsitorical fiction that I just think they should read.  Although we sometimes choose these living books as family read alouds we don’t have time to read them all so I put them in his book basket.  I also put in books that supplement our current science topics but which I don’t plan to read as a family.  Lastly, I include books which relate to the upcoming Fabulous FUN Family Friday (FFFF- see seperate post.)  For example, this week our FFFF is camo bugs so I will put bug books in his book basket for him to read before FFFF.  This whets the appetite for the upcoming unit study, creates a foundation of knowledge, & minimizes the amount we will have to read on FFFF.  Some of the books that I put in his basket are only to thumb through (unless he wants to read it all) or have specific pages to read & I denote either of those with a sticky note on the front.

Pre-schooler & 1st grader: The majority of the books in my younger son’s book baskets are books that relate to the upcoming FFFF.  My pre-schooler does not read & my first grader is not really confidant in reading solo yet so I include lots of books with great photos, drawings, & graphs.  This works great because by the time FFFF arrives they have already gathered quite a bit of info from the books & if there is something that they saw that particularly interests either of them I can read it in detail then.  This ensures that I am really helping them learn about the things that interest them instead of only what my mind sees as important.  When I collect our FFFF books I check out as many great books on our unit study topic as I can find.  I never expect to read them all aloud to them, that would be impossible in one day.  Instead, I pick a few pearls to read aloud & then pass the others through their book baskets during the week.  I am amazed by what they learn & the incredible questions they ask as a result of this process.  Another type of book that goes in these boy’s book baskets are free choice library books.  When we make our monthly library trip I allow each of them to check out a certain # of books of their choice.  They bring the books to me so I can make sure we aren’t bringing home anything that would go against our morals or beliefs but other than that I am pretty loose on what they select.  What that means is that we wind up going home with quite a few books which I think "stink."  They don’t have any objectionable content; they are just poorly written, predictable, shallow, based on cartoon movies, etc.  I don’t want them to be discouraged & I don’t want to read the books so I cycle those through the book baskets in the course of the month as well. 

For my younger boys I ususally put 2-3 new books in their book baskets each day.  They look through the books at their leisure (during their scheduled book basket center) & if they are finished with it they return to our library bag (or our bookshelf.)  This also makes it really simple for me to know which books are ready to be returned to the library & which ones need to be renewed.  The only part that gets a little confusing is that these boys usually look at all the same books so I occasionally get confused on who has had what since I do not write down the specific titles I put in the baskets.  When this happens I just ask if they have had a chance to read the book or not.

For my oldest son I usually keep 2-5 books in his basket.  Most of his books take more than 1 day to complete but having several in there gives him more choice on what he feels like reading that day.  He might have 1 very long novel in process, 2 informational books (like the DK Eyewitness books,) & then maybe some short books as well.  I even cycle through some of his younger brother’s books occasionally for some fun. light reading.  Occasionally I put in a magazine I want him to read too!  He follows the same process of leaving books in his basket until he is finished with them.  The only difference is that when he does finish a book he records it’s title & author on his reading log before he putsit away.  This way we have a record of exactly what he has read.

We love our book baskets; maybe it is something you might want to try in your little schoolhouse too!  I’d love to hear other’s variations; I’m sure many of you do similar things.

Books for Boys

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As I have spoken with other homeschool families around me I find a lot of talk about boys who don’t read well or who don’t like to read.  I also hear the same talk (& in greater severity & frequency) from the many families whom I know & love whose sons attend public school.  It seems to be a common concern among parents of boys. 

I have the pleasure of being a "hero mother" myself.  I must say right off the bat that I am very blessed in this concern (reading.)  Although I have varying degrees of like & love among my sons they all do enjoy books.  My eldest LOVES books.  He would be perfectly happy to spend his days emersed in books from dawn till dusk.  My second son loves books too but he doesn’t want to spend his life with them & he wouldn’t choose them as a Christmas gift.  My 3rd & 4th sons enjoy books very much.  My sons have not read particularly early but they do read well, in my opinion.  Anyways that is the background; what is the point?

I don’t suppose to be an expert by any means but I do think our family has been pretty successful in this area so I thought I would create a category within my blog to help others help their son’s love to read.  In this first entry I am going to suggest a few general ideas & in later posts I hope to highlight books that I think boys must read.

Things to ponder (based solely on my experience & no particular expertise):

1. Boys will not always choose books if there are other more visually stimulating options!  I think one of the most detrimental things to boy’s reading habits & abilities are television & video games.  Even a boy who eats, drinks, & sleeps books can be drawn away by the fast moving box of pictures.  There are all kinds of studies out there that you could research & read about how the speed at which images are brought to the brain during these activities & it’s effect on learning.  Our family loves a good movie but I am 100% positive that eliminating these habits from your daily life is a benefit.  And don’t even mention educational programming!  It’s like I always tell my sons, it’s not that the thing that you are doing is so bad- but ask yourself "Could I be using this time to do something better?"  Imagine how much time we waste doing things that aren’t so bad?  No educational television or video game could replace a good book!

2. There is no replacement for reading aloud to your sons!  I am convinced that this fact has had a great influence on our sons.  I read to my eldest in utero (I had time!)  I read to him while nursing from birth on & I still read aloud to him today at almost 10 years old.  And I don’t just mean picture books or directions-novels.  Invest some time in a great family read aloud & you will see a difference in boys.  Reading a novel aloud to boys allows them to sit back, relax, & imagine the story without having to do all the work of decoding the written language.  You don’t have to be Jim Weiss & have 100 different voices to read with enthusiasm & excitement.  Read aloud books that are above your son’s reading level- real living books!  They will see that books are the key to exciting journeys, unknown lands, & incredible adventure.  They can & will follow the story line of complex novels & inticate vocabulary.  Not only does reading aloud make them want to read themselves, it also helps them learn to read with tone & inflection, increases vocabulary & attention span.

3. Narration.  This goes right along with reading out loud.  My educational philosophy is Charlotte Mason & I learned about narration from her writings.  In a nutshell, narration is reading aloud to your son & having them tell the story back to you.  You begin with short passages that your son can handle- a few sentences ro a short paragraph.  You progress to entire chapters.  This is a very positive, oral activity- not a book report.  We began narration in kindergarden & staretd with books from the Childhood of Famous Americans series which I highly recommend.  If you get your hands on the old ones they are not so politically correct & you cna find books that highlight the boyhood adventures of all kinds of famous men.  Does your son like sports- try Lou Gerig, history- Jefferson Davis.  Find soemthing they like & begin there.  The benefits of narration are incredible including real story comprehension, sequential skills, attention to detail, & pre-writing skills.

4. Listen to audio books.  This is not a replacement for #2!  My boys have always loved audio books- from books on tape with little readers to Adventure in Odyssey(not actually an audio book) to novels like Undaunted Courage.  Although not a replacement for #2 I do think it can have some of the same benefits & you can do it while driving (unlike #2.)

5. Give books a place of value in your family.  Why would your son want to read if books aren’t important to his family.  I read- at some points in life I can’t find time for more than a magazine article but I always read & my sons see my reading.  My husband also reads & we talk about the things we read at supper as a family.  My husband has even raced my oldest son in reading a book- talk about an incentive, nothing like a little healthy competition to spur on a boy!  F9 started reading D-Day by Stephen Ambrose (yes, the really huge book.)  Neither of us had ever read the book & we wanted to make sure we knew what was in there so HH (aka Hot Hubby) started reading it too.  Well it developed into a race, down to the wire.  F9 would read during the day, HH at night.  F9 even resorted to hiding the book the last few nigths to slow HH down!  Point is-let them see you read & talk about what you read.  On the same note, show that books have physical value.  Writing in & tearing books is a capital crime at our house so we teach our youngest sons not to do this.  Then we can keep books out & available all the time.  If books are only on the top shelves & need special permission to be used, will your son read?

6. Don’t forget the Good Book!  The best reason to encourage your sons to read is so they can read God’s word- the Bible.  I explain this to my sons.  God has written a special letter to each of them, an instruction manual for life- reading is the key to unlocking that.  To emphasize this fact I have a special tradition in our family.  When each of my sons begins to read independently I buy them thier own real Bible & cover.  I pick it out especially for each of them & write something in it about thier accomplishment.  I can honestly say that of all the experiences I have had as a mother teaching my sons to read has been the greatest.  In my mind there is no greater gift that you could give anyone than the gift of reading & I consider it a miracle that God has allowed me to participate in this great endeavor!

Little Britches by Ralph Moody

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My first book that I would like to highlight in my new blog category- Books for BOYS is one our family just finished reading as our family read aloud.  We loved this book!

This book has everything a boy would want in a book- horses, cowboys, indians, farming, gunslinging, & adventure.  It is the true story of Ralph & his family during the early 1900s as they start their life as tenant farmers.  Ralph is 9-11 years old in the book & the story focuses on his relationship with his parents (especially his father) & his becoming a man.  There is some mild swearing in the book but it is not presented as anything glamorous & if used as a read aloud can easily be passed over.

We all loved Ralph’s adventures including learning to ride a bucking donkey, "hunting" pheasant, starting school, & becoming a real cowboy.  There is also tons of very detailed information about the times in which he lived (irrigation wars & the gold panic) & how crops were grown, harvested, & stored.  It would make a great addition to any study of this time period.

We all laughed several times over the remarkable similarities between Ralph’s mother & me.  My HH gave me a knowing look when she got caught up at an auction & said she just "couldn’t let those lovely Buff Orpington pullets go by at twenty-five cents apiece."  And when Ralph described how "Mother always did kind of like operations," after he got a huge splinter in his rear, all my boys & HH rolled with laughter.  I have been accused at times of enjoying my duties as head nurse, surgeon, & veterinarian a little too much.

In addition to being a book any boy would love to hear read it also contains so many pearls of wisdom that every boy needs to know.  Here are a few of my favorites:

"A man’s character is like his house.  If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin.  If he tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn’t do but wants to, his character will soon become a ruin.  A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth."

"…a man always makes his troubles less by going to meet them instead of waiting for them to catch up with him, or trying to run away from them."

"Any man who says the world owes him a living is dishonest.  The same God that made you and me made this earth.  And He planned it so that it would yield every single thing that the people on it need.  But He was careful to plan it so that it would only yield up its wealth in exchange for the labor of man.  Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest."

"You know, Son, sometimes a fellow has to take a licking for doing the right thing.  A licking only lasts a short while, even if it’s a hard one, but failing to do the right thing will often make a mark on a man that will last forever."

Learning to Fish

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There is just something about boys & fishing.  I am so thankful that we live way out in the boonies on a farm where our boys can roam & have creeks & ponds to fish in whenever they want.  But fishing in the ocean is a whole nother ball of wax.  For starters the whole environment is new to us- we live in the mountains & see the ocean once a year.  I really like it that way myself, not being a beach fanatic.  I never tire of the smell & sound of the ocean & am always amazed at it’s vastness & my insignificance.  Then of coarse all the mechanics of surf fishing are entirely different- the lines, rigs, bait-everything.

My husband has been coming to the beach fishing with his Daddy since he was five years old.  As a child his Dad had business on the coast & they would visit many times a year.  His Dad tells a funny story about bringing my husband & his little brother down to the beach to fish once.  Their Mom came down to surprise them & when they saw her walk in both boys starting crying.  I geuss they thought the fun was over!

One thing is for sure, there is a special bond developed between Daddy’s & their boys during times like these.  I see it between my husband & his dear father & I see it in my husband & sons.  I’m just thankful they let me tag along without crying too much!

Learning to fish with Daddy!

FRUITS of our labor

National D Day Memorial

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Today was Fabulous FUN Family Friday by F9!  (If you don’t know what that is see my post on FFFF in Homeschool with us.)  F9′s topic was D-Day.  He has been studying this independently for months now.  He read D-Day by Stephen Ambrose (in a race with his Daddy) & is now reading several other shorter books on the topic. 

For his FFFF we decided to travel to Bedford Virginia to visit the National D-Day Memorial which we learned about from Ambrose’s book.  This was a really amazing memorial & well worth the trip.  It is a memorial so respectful behavior is expected & it is not very interactive but it is spread out enough & massive enough to keep even young ones interested for a few hours.  We were only doing a day trip but if you had more time there were lots of other surrounding attractions including the Booker T. Washington Memorial.

This photo shows part of the memorial garden.  Did you know the foresight & daring investment of an independent businessman was responsible for the US aluminum industry being prepared for WWII?

There was soo much to see & learn about from this memorial & having studied beforehand made the experience even richer.  I was very impressed with how everything about the memorial had some type of meaning & significance right down to which way the monuments were facing!  There were statues, artifacts, & plaques representing every aspect of the D-Day invasion.  Upon entering you are provided with a detailed map which creates your own tour if you follow along with it.  There are also guided tours (on foot or golf cart) for an additional fee.  We decided not to do the guided tour because F9 could be a D-Day tour guide himself.  I did manage however to find one fact to stump him- he did not know who the WAVES & WRENS were!  But they had a plaques describing their contribution to D-day so he went on a search & knew before we left.

Three of our boys in front of a WWII type propeller plane.  This type of plane was used for survielance & to locate bombing targets & troop locations.  It held 2 men (one piloted & the other had a cork board with a map across his lap to relay locations.)  The plane’s wings were made of canvas so bullets could pass right trhough & the plane keep going!

This was an especially touching trip for all of us because both of our grandfathers served in WWII & we are always amazed at what it cost them-"comfort, safety, innocence, youth, blood-even life itself."  As one of the plaques stated so well, "That you yourself are free and here today is but a portion of their rich and enduring legacy.  Treasure it."

I strongly encourage anyone who can to visit this monument.  Unfortunately with the current economic state of our country their donations have dropped by 50% & they are facing possible closure due to budget restraints.  Children ages 5 & under are free, ages 6-16 are $3 & adults are $5.  You can get more info about the memorial or check on their budget status at www.dday.org

This part of the memorial was my boys favorite.  It includes a scene with 4 bronze sculpture series to represent one of the D-Day beach landings complete with a granite Higgins boat & hedgehogs (the large metal obstacles that you see in the left side of the above photo.  Hitler used these on these beaches to make them harder to land boats on.)  The details of the bronze statues were amazing down to the Bible coming out of the fallen soldiers knapsack.

The beach scene also included spouts under the water that went off sporadically & made it seem like the "men" were under fire.  We all thought that was very cool!

I can’t stress enough how much I think every boy should study this topic & realize the sacrifice these men & veterans of other wars have made for OUR freedom.  Our earnest desire at Brookgreen Academy is to raise young men who would have the courage & selfless spirit to do what these men did & our prayer is that they never have to!

Workboxes at Work

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I enjoy sharing about our workbox adventures with all of you because I know it is a topic that a lot of homeschoolers are interested in or trying to implement.  I am using the workboxes today in a way that I have never used them before so I wanted to let you know how it was going!

We have been out of workbox school for 6 days now while we took a wonderful field trip to the coast (look for a post on that soon!)  I must admit that when we get out of the regular groove at home getting started back is the hardest thing for me!  I have about 10 loads of laundry that need to be done, a backlog of farm emails & chores that must be done, & lots of putting away to do- so I took F9′s advice! 

F9 suggested to me on the day we were packing that I just give them a day with not many "Work with Mommy" boxes.  I did not take him up on that day but today my 3 oldest sons are doing thier workboxes solo.  I included no WWM boxes.  Now please know that this is NOT the way to do workboxes all the time!!!  One of the joy of the workbox system is to have individual time with each child scattered throughout the day.  However, on a day like today- when you really want to get school done but you are overwhelmed with _____ (you fill in the blank- new baby, unpacking from trip, sick child, etc.) -this is a viable option.

My children have been doing workboxes for 2 months now so they are well accustomed in the routine of workboxes.  You certainly would not want to do this when they were just learning the system.  And again, I stress that you don’t want to make this the normal way your school operates because the children are definately not receiving the instructional supervision that I think is crucial.  Most importantly, you are not actively involved which is one of the greatest reasons to homeschool (in my opinion)-to be learning & having fun with your little lambs!  But so far today it has been a success for us.  I am able to get some things done that must be done & am available to answer questions but for the most part they are managing themselves in a productive & orderly fashion.

Just another way you can make workboxes work for you!

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Daily Schedule for Workboxes

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This is what my daily schedule for workboxes looks like for F9.  I created this sheet & use it in place of the schedule page that my youngest sons use (I posted a picture of thier schedule in the blog titled Thinking Inside the Box.  I like how this sheet gives me plenty of space to write so I actually put assignment directions on here (as oppossed to putting sticky notes or flags on the books.)  Of coarse this only works for proficient readers.

This is how it works.  As I do my nightly planning I use this sheet to list assignments that go along with each box.  Workbox #3 has a Math-U-See workbook & pencil; the corresponding schedule box says "MUS, watch lesson 24, do p.24A & B."  Centers & snack break are also listed on this sheet.  I give this sheet directly to F9 to use with his boxes & he checks off each workbox or center as completed.  This sheet also has 2 smaller versions of what you see here on teh back side.  This is where I record what I put into E6 & L4′s boxes.  They never see this sheet but it gives me a record of what we have done & where we are in each area.

At the end of the school day F9 gives the schedule sheet back to me & I put in my notebook so I have a record of the whole day & can use it to plan for tommorrow.  Just another glimpse into how we are using workboxes at Brookgreen Academy!

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Lego Mania

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Lego Mania has struck at Brookgreen Farm! 

At our October 4-H meeting one of our families led a triathalon- mind, body, & soul.  For the mind portion we had a jeopardy game with great categories such as 4-H, Presidents, Animals, Quotes, Elements, and more.  For the body segment we had an obstacle course with all kinds of great physical activities like walking paper & other fun things that were great exercise without being ordinary.  Lastly we had a spirit station where we were challenged to build some detailed & creative projects from legos.  We entered a room with more legos than I have ever seen in my life.  They had spread a king size sheet on the floor & in the middle was a mountain of legos (I’m not sure the photos does justice!)  

BTW Moms, this was my best Mommy tip for the day- when you want to play legos or any other small multi-piece thing put down a giant flat sheet.  Then the kiddos can dump the whole bin on the floor & get to all those little pieces in the bottom & when it is time to put everything away- just pick up the corners & carefully dump back into your bin!  Cool huh?  So simple & yet it had never occurred to me!

I discussed with the Mom of this family how in the world you accumulate this many legos?  She is the mother of 6- 1 boy (now 22) & 5 girls (17-9.)  She said that her son began the love of legos but all of her children loved them & they just kept adding to their collection over the years.  In fact she said that when her adult son comes home the first thing he & his siters do is put down the giant sheet & play legos.

I must confess that I have never been a legos fan (gasp!)  My boys have received a few sets where you built a specific item & it always seemed like they were yelling for help to find 1 specific microscopic piece to complete the thing.  Then once it was built it became a shrine that provoked screams of injustice when anyone knocked it down or "accidentally" broke a piece off.  Then add to that the fact that I have had a baby or toddler almost nonstop for the past 9 years & legos scream "choking hazard."  As a result of my lack of excitement about legos they were all boxed up & put in the barn.

At the 4-H meeting my boys (and every other child there) remained enthralled with this lego mountain for more than an hour.  Some built specific items using manuals but many just picked up pieces & created whatever they imagined.  On our drive home legos were the topic of discussion.  They wanted to get their few legos out of the barn & promised to be conscientious in their picking up of them & making sure B1 doesn’t eat them.  They were so excited I was actually contemplating how I might get them some more legos cheap- yard sales, etc.  Then someone mentioned a garbage bag of legos they had seen in the barn.  It all came flooding back- when we bought our farm & I was cleaning out one of the barns I had found an old box of lego pieces.  The box was falling apart & I certainly had no plans of bringing them in the house but I knew one day we would meet someone who appreciated legos & so I dumped them into a trash bag until I decided to give them to a lego person.

My attitude toward the legos reminded me of this anti-playdough lady I met years ago when I only had one child & went to such things as "play group."  She explained confidantly how playgroup was great because she never let her child use playdough (or paint)at home.  I usually try to keep my opinions to myself (feel free to laugh here if you know me) but I was so agast I had to convince her of her misleadings. 

"Playdough is the greatest thing ever made.  It feels so good on your fingers, you can make so many cool things, it’s so cheap, & it smells like childhood!  How can you deprive your child of playdough?"  She then calmly asked me if I knew how hard it was to get out of carpet, between couch cushions, out of hair, etc.  

"Oh," it was painfully clear, "a playdough snob!  Hopeless!"  Well I’ve realized I was a lego snob.  I was  more concerned about having to pick up little pieces (or stepping on them-ouch!) & about being able to maintain a complete set (who cares?) than I was about the educational & creative opportunites that they offfered my boys. 

I am reformed.  We brought in their small box of legos & the garbage bag from the childhood of boys who are now grown & have children of thier own.  To my boys’ amazement there were even some of the same pieces they had used at the 4-H meeting in our trash bag legos!  Our collection is no where near the giant mountain of legos in the picture but it’s sizeable enough to entertain 4 boys.  They have made some really cool stuff, all from thier imaginations, & I am sure legos will be on someone’s Chrsitmas wish list, who knows maybe even mine!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

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We’re goin on a bear hunt…gonna catch a big one!

We have been enjoying We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury.  I’ve always known this song from my days of working at camps & the boys & I have enjoyed singing & acting it out.  It’s so fun to read the book now & see the wonderful illustrations in this version.  I highly recommend it!

Imagine then how excited we all were when my dear husband came home tonight with a REAL bear!  He was bow hunting on our farm & harvested this good sized male black bear.  Quite an accomplishment with a bow even for a experienced hunter like him!  He doesn’t usually hunt bear but we are all so excited every time that we see a bear or it’s sign that the excitement overtook him.  We plan to make a bear rug from this beautiful animal & the boys are excited about making things from bear claws!  His skull will also make a wonderful specimen for our collection.  We have a family policy that we never kill anything that we don’t eat (with the exception of predators & varmits) so I will have to blog soon about how bear tastes & the best recipe; that will be a first for all of us!  Let me know if anyone has any recipes!

Fabulous Fun Family Friday

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A new creation that we came up with this year are: Fabulous FUN Family Fridays!  Our goal is to get in 4 good solid days of school work each week.  If we can get 5, that’s gravy.  One way we motivate ourselves to get 5 is with the new FFFF.  Every Friday we take a break from our regular studies & do a one day wam bang unit study.  I have always wanted to do unit studies & it just never fit my personality exactly.  I suppose I am a little too structured (strict) to give my whole school curriculum over to unit studies & they always seemed like a lot of work.  Well, no more.  Here is what we do.

On the first Friday we have 4-H which is an all day affair.  After that (and because we are in town) we make our monthly library trip & often visit the second hand store in town to see if they have any treasures.  That is our FFFF for the first Friday of the month.  I have 3 boys who are old enough to voice a reasonable opinion & they each receive one of the 3 remaining Fridays of the month.  On the 2nd FFFF of the month L4 gets to pick the unit study topic for the day, on the 3rd FFFF E6 gets to pick, & the last FFFF of the month goes to F9.  On the occasional month where we have 5 Fridays we get to catch up if we’ve missed one (like this month when we went out of town.)  Of coarse this would work just as well with more or less children & just letting each child pick every 6 weeks (for six kids,etc.)

FFFF has been wonderful for us.  The children have to select their topics for the month by the first FFFF when we attend the library.  I check out a ton of books on each of the 3 unit study topics of the month.  As the month progresses I include these books in my younger sons’ book baskets for them to look through.  Longer, more detailed books for my oldest are included on his literature list & he has all month to read them.  On the week of the unit study I do some searching through materials I have at home & on the internet & try & find a paper craft or hands on project to go with the topic.  I select a few books from the librabry assortment that we will actually read together & flag any pages from other books that I want to look at together.  I think about what information or skills will be appropriate to each boys age & plan to include that in our study.

So far we have done a lapbook on each FFFF.  These are not meticuluosly planned; we just record info we learn in appropriate fold-its & then fit everything into a lapbook at the end of the day.  These have been a lot of fun for sharing with Daddy & friends & the boys are very proud of all they have learned.  So far we have had FFFF about Alligators & Crocodiles, Lizards, The War of 1812, Airplanes, Camoflouge Bugs, & D-Day.  I will try to post pictures of some of our lapbooks soon!

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Thinking Inside the Box

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We are always trying to get outside the box; this post is on thinking inside the box- the workbox that is!  This is the schedule my boys use for their workboxes.  It is an adaptation of the schedule strips which Sue Patrick recommends.  I like to tweak everything a little & make it my own.  I decided to put the schedule on one 8.5X11 laminated sheet & designed my own graphics/schedule chips to put on there.  This is where the boys go first thing.  In addition to telling them exactly what they are suppossed to do it also reinforces top to bottom/left to right orientation which is great for my little guys.  The #s represent workbboxes.  The other chips tell them when to do centers (like computers, listening, science, book basket, posters, etc.)  I also include chips for things like snack.  As the boys accomplish each task they take it off their schedule so they always know exactly where they are in the day.  If we get interrupted or come together to do art they know exactly where to pick back up when they return to their workboxes.


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Science Experiment

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Today we had our first science experiment of the school year.  My boys really enjoy science so much & since my background is in the sciences I have a lot of fun with it as well.  We useApologia Science.  This is our second year using this curriculum & this year we are usingExploring Creation with Zoology 2 Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day.  We enjoy doing this all together- baby to Mommy.  Today we did an experiment to demonstrate what happens to a person’s lungs when they dive deep into the ocean.  Here the boys are blowing up a balloon inside a bottle (or attempting to blow up a balloon inside a bottle.)  Then they stepped on the bottle to increase the air pressure inside the bottle & observe changes in the balloon.  B1 was having his own private experiment with how fun balloons are in the background. 

One of the things I have been working on is making our school work more interactive & visual.  Normally I would have read this experiment out of the book & then we would all follow along as I led the boys in doing what the text paragraph stated.  Instead I typed the experiment out on a checklist for each of the boys & created a Science Center.  I provided the materials & they were responsible for making sure the materials were there & then following the step by step directions to complete the experiment.  They had a place to check off each step as they completed it & record observations.  I also included a few simple questions to get them thinking about what was happening.  They completed the experiment with a little supervision from me.  In general I thought there was more work & thinking taking place on their part & work + thinking = learning in my book so I was pleased.  Here is the sheet I made:

This is an idea Sue Patrick talks about in her materials.  Of coarse her experiment sheets are done with great graphics instead of my hand drawn pictures but who am I kidding- I have 4 children!  This was a lot quicker & the boys followed my drawings fine & gained all the benefits of really doing the experiment themselves.  I will continue to try working with the Science Centers & let you know how it goes.

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New Diet by MY HH (Hot Hubby)

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It just so happens that I am married to the MOST wonderful man in the world.  This week in addition to his normal great thoughts he explained to me finally how to loose unwanted pounds.

To fully appreciate the wisdom of his advice let me provide a little background.  I have known & loved my husband for 13 years now.  In that time he has worn 1 size of pants- period.  His weight has fluctuated (maybe 20 lbs. or so) but he has worn the same size pants for at least the last 13 years!  I on the other hand in the same 13 years have worn from a size 8 to a size 18 & everything in between!

The other night he was standing in our kitchen & I remarked to him, "Dear, you are loosing weight; I’ve got to start feeding you better!"  And that is when he explained it all to me.  "Honey," he said, "you have got to eat more ice cream.  The more ice cream I eat, the more weight I loose."

After my explosive laughter he explained how he had ice cream for dessert everyday at dinner (5 days a week) & we had made 2 freezers of ice cream that week after supper & yet he had lost 5 pounds.  "It’s all that dairy; it’s just great for you!" he beamed.

MEN!

School is in

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Brookgreen Academy 2009-2010 has been underway for 3 weeks now.  This year we are pleased to have a 4th, 1st, Preschool, & Toddler class.  All our students are of the highest caliber & particularly good breeding!  There has been, however, a serge in grafetti on our campus as is shown above.  We are so thankful to have a school that inspires it’s students in such a way!


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Workboxes at Work

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This school year we have begun using workboxes.  I actually don’t remember how I got introduced to Sue Patrick & her system but I have been learning about it for the last year or so.  I would strongly recommend that anyone interested go directly to Sue’s website so that you can learn more as I may not present everything exactly as she recommends.

I purchased & read & Sue’s book & have listened to her speak at a workshop recently.  Her system is not a curriculum but a method of organizing your existing curriculum to make it work better for you & your family & to learn more.  In addition to helping you organize it also teaches you to be more visual in your  presentation of school work & to incorporate review materials into the school day.  Although I will say that I do not agreee with all her methods or ideaology I appreciate her emphasis very much.  She unashamedly calls homeschool Moms to be professionals with a high calling that requires much.  Anyway, visit Sue to learn more about what she does; I wanted to show my homeschool friends how things have been going at Brookgreen Academy.

Below you will see the workboxes for L4 (Preschool.)  I did not purchase a show organizer as suggested but instead revamped an existing bookshelf that was already in our home.  We have a very small house & a large family so space is of the utmost importance to me.  The workboxes are shown here packed & ready for the next morning.  Let me say that I am not a workbook teacher!  The boxes may appear to be filled with worksheets but they are actually brimming with LEARNING!  We have been doing workboxes for 3 weeks now & all I can say is… I’m still doing it!  I don’t know if it is something I will maintain forever, that will be interesting to see, but it has definately benefitted our learning in ways that will stay with us forever.

The best things about this system (for our family) have been-

1. This system forces me to be prepared!  Not that I have ever been a lazy teacher by any means but I am very good at pulling things together at the last minute which might work but it does not allow for the maximum use of time & resources.  You can not pull workboxes together at the last minute.  I’ll let you know if I get to that point in the future!

2. We are utilizing tons of fun hands on interactive things that I have always collected & wanted to use but "never found the time to do."  Part of this organizational system is a conscious effort to vary types of tasks & motivate students with different types of learning tools & manageable chunks of material.  It is great to finally get out all that stuff I always intended to use & really see my boys learning & loving them!

3. This system integrates review which I recently realized was a real deficiency in our school day.  We have so much fun learning new things & for the most part have an extremely high retention rate but there are some things that just require review & I had not previously scheduled that into our day.  This sytem helps me do that.

Above are the workboxes for E6 (1st grade.)  Here again, I used what would fit into the space we had available & yet still allow E6 to see his work which is an important part of making progress & keeping expectations clear & visible.  Instead of the plastic shoeboxes he has a set of drawers & if a day requires more workboxes that this drawer allows I simply stack shoeboxes on top to make additional workboxes.

Another great advantage of this system is that I am becoming so aware of how & when to make things more visual.  I am looking at all kinds of materials now & seeing ways to use it in more hands on, fun & interactive ways than I ever did before!

My oldest, F9 (4th grade) is not using workboxes in this sense (by his choice.)  We have been using a successful written daily schedule for several years but I have adapted that schedule to make it like workboxes on paper.  I will try to get a picture of it & post that soon.  He is thinking about switching to the physical workboxes so we’ll keep you posted.  Although this may appear to be geared more to young children Sue uses the system with her children- 14 & 12.

Well, all this is well & good but what results are we seeing?- the proof is in the pudding.  I am spending more time planning (bad?) so that we can spend more time learning (excellent!)  Instead of spending my "school hours" rushing to gather materials, find a book, & trying to stay one step ahead of the gang- I am spending my time answering questions & doing "Work with Mommy" activities with my children (which are wonderfully scheduled to allow individual attention to each child.)  I am not an early learning advocate (other than the natural education called life) but my L4 wants to do "real school."  Now instead of his days being filled with twaddle & endless preschool workbooks he is actively engaged in quality learning & doing 2-4 hours of "school" every day, most of which he manages himself.  My E6 is able to know how much X (x being that which he prefers not to do) he has to do to get to Y (Y can’t I do that instead.)  He also knows exactly when the school day ends & he can devote himself to higher callings such as wooden weapon making & theatrical noises with body parts.  As for F9 he is getting many of his favorite activities (reading) sprinkled through out the school day instead of piled on at the end (which could be translated as not as important !)

I hope to share more about the workboxes because I know many of you are interested in this.  Of coarse there are so many folks blogging about this right now & many have much grander ideas than me.  Hope this is helpful to someone.

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