Classroom update!

I wanted to briefly update on our home classroom space. We quickly outgrew our little hallway classroom when we started Classical Conversations. This new space was already set up like this with the mantle, table, and chairs. It was not used for schoolwork  - just crafts and snacks mostly. It is basically in our "great" room though, so I am trying to make it match the surrounding decor. "Great" room sounds silly - we have a small house, but through some renovations, we have opened the floor plan significantly so our living room, dining room, and kitchen are mostly one undivided space, other than  structural necessities.

I bought a few Deka hanging systems from Ikea and use them to display the subject matter for the week. On it, I hang worksheets, visual aids, mini timeline cards, maps, and our science and history acts and facts cards. I love that I can clearly see what all we have going on and can just pull things off the clips when ready to use.

I finally came up with a system for cumulative reviewing. I have this little photo box that has 4 sections that you can pull out. I pulled up images of fabrics used in my living room and printed for the outside of the box. The 4 sections each have 6 weeks of material for me to reference when quizzing Blaine. They have all material we have learned and mini maps for the geography for each week. Then I hand cut envelope pockets from some coordinating scrapbook paper I had in my hoarder closet that I have mentioned before in a previous post. I printed squares for all 24 weeks of curriculum with subjects for each (I will add as the weeks go by). All they have are week numbers and subject so I can reuse them for all 3 cycles. We divided the squares up between the 5 envelopes and will pull them out throughout the day to go over material. I am trying to think of a way to make it fun - probably reward stickers to go with it. I'll figure it out, but I feel like our homeschool is lacking rewards and discipline.  I am also considering something along the lines of a red/yellow/green light to go along with a reward system.

On the mantle, I keep our globe, review box (for my reference), supplies, and random things pertaining to our schoolwork. I've been trying to get the kids to say the Pledge of Allegiance lately, so I framed the flag to go above it. Last 6 weeks, our science studies focused on ecology, but we are about to start some astronomy, so we have the telescope out and ready! 

Opposite this area is a roll top desk with my desktop computer on it. It is very convenient to sit Blaine at the table and direct his attention to the computer for expansion YouTube videos.

I am still trying to get a loose routine going for us. I just can't seem to figure that part out. I'm still not sure that I want to.  I feel like a major bonus of homeschooling is that you don't have to set alarms, but I am trying to figure out what to designate for certain days/times. I also have to work around the things on our weekly/bi-weekly schedule of CC, MOPS, PE, Little Friends Club, and basic errands.  All of this while retaining flexibility. These first 6 weeks of CC, I feel like I've at least partially figured out what works for Blaine and what doesn't, so I'm hoping by the end of these next 6 weeks, I will get more of a feel for our rhythm.

Homeschooling: CC - Cycle 2 - Weeks 4, 5, and 6

I am late posting what we did for weeks 4 and 5. We have a busy week and weekend ahead of us, so here is what we've been doing and what we have planned for the week.

History

Week 4:

The Magna Carta and the Hundred Years War. Blaine colored while I read.

Week 5:
The Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc, and the Plague (age appropriate discussions with some sword fighting play involved).

Week 6:
The Renaissance!  Specifically, we are learning about Shakespeare, daVinci,  Copernicus, and Michelangelo.  I plan on elaborating a little on each of them throughout the week and coloring these as we go.

I'm going to show Blaine this virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel. Something fun that I am planning on doing is taping some paper to the bottom of our junior size table and laying on our backs to draw and color.

Geography: More puzzles!

Week 4:

European Rivers (printable)

Week 5:
European Cities (printable)

Week 6:
European Mountains (printable)

English: Cut and paste activities each week.

Week 4:
Nominative Pronouns

Week 5:
Objective Pronouns
<temporarily down>

Week 6:
Possessive Pronouns

Art

Week 4:

Abstract art. We classified things into 2 categories. Real or abstract. Obviously there are more categories than these 2, but for a 4 year old, these 2 will do for now. We took a field trip for a lunch date to see my oldest friend, Martine, and check out some artwork in both her condo and her gallery.

Blaine said this one was his favorite.

Week 5: Perspective
I made this cut and paste and we talked about horizons, vanishing points, and shadows.  We put the people on the sidewalk appropriately and shaded where their shadows would be according to the sun's position.

Week 6: Final Project Week
We combined the last 5 weeks of our fine arts skills and with his tutor's leadership, Blaine drew this owl mom and baby! I'm so proud of him!

Math: Skip Counting 

Week 4: 7 and 8

 Week 5: 9 and 10

 Week 6: 11 and 12

Science:
Every week we did some worksheets that I downloaded from C3.

Week 4: Natural Cycles - Carbon and Oxygen, Water, and Nitrogen 

Week 5: Reactions to environmental change - Adapt, Migrate, and Hibernate
Something funny I have to share... This week we talked about some funny things like how Daddy shaves his hair short in the summer because it is hot and how Paw Paw Chuck grows his beard out in the winter to keep his face warm. 
Week 6: 6 forms of pollution

Latin

Week 4:

We repeated last weeks 1st Conjugation Imperfect Tense exercises (here)

Week 5 and 6:
1st Conjugation Future Tense cut and paste (with handwriting practice)

Homeschooling: CC - Cycle 2 - Week 3

This week is not over and we have not completed everything listed here, but I thought I would post anyway. 

History

Week 3: We learned about Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and the Crusades. Blaine did some coloring pages while I read and we made a sword and shield with cardboard, paper, and foil. 

Geography

Week 3: Western European countries - I made another puzzle (printable here). Blaine really seems to like these. I will probably do one every week. 

English

Week 3: Cut and paste activity

Art

Week 3: Upside down drawing activities. If you read this post, you will know that Blaine LOVED THIS drawing activity. He was so excited when he flipped the paper over and saw what he had drawn.

Math

Week 3: I have to be honest.  Blaine has a very difficult time with numbers.  We do our memory melodies and these cut and paste skip counting activities very quickly because I am still working very diligently with him trying to get him to do basic counting. He is showing some improvements, but math has always been a frustrating challenge. I'm open to suggestions.

Science

Week 3: Parts of the food chain. I googled some more random clip art and came up with this cut and paste activity. We took an unexpected trip to the aquarium and insectarium this week and seized the opportunity to learn hands-on about some consumers and decomposers.  Also, we talked again about week 2's topic of consumer types: herbivore, carnivores and omnivores.  We had fun guessing what each animal was by what we observed in their habitats. Our timing was perfect for a few exhibits, seeing the animals being fed.  Blaine will also play a food chain game that I found, available here. 

Seeming underground, in a dark room of the insectarium, I took the one and only picture of our downtown adventures. Here's Blaine on a huge worm... a decomposer!

Latin

Week 3: We are still learning verb conjugation endings - imperfect tense. Nothing fun to show. I did do a cut and paste activity and later we combined our Latin with handwriting exercises. Here are printables for both.  Our tutor came up with a cute pictorial available on C3 that Blaine enjoys and has been very helpful.

That's it! 

The Decision to Homeschool

After a lot of thinking, talking, reading, researching, and praying... We have decided to homeschool. We are drawn to it for so many reasons, but one huge reason is that it allows us to maintain a family life.  Enrolling our kids in school would mean Jason would only see the kids one day a week. Running a tattoo shop requires crazy hours, flexibility, and teamwork when balancing a business, home, and two kids. We have learned to make the most with what we have.  Some of our most fun family moments are when Jason has a sudden cancellation and we make a quick trip to the playground, to get ice cream, or just hang out at home together. So in an effort to keep our family unit strong, we decided to make the leap. 

I am so excited that the world will be our classroom.  I'm looking forward to taking the kids to experience what we are learning. I feel so blessed that I will get to see them first hand as they grow and learn. 

This decision was definitely made easier having friends from my MOPS group who homeschool. They seem to enjoy it so much and are always doing fun and creative things with their kids. I saw them participating in so many group activities and communities. Like most of them, we are joining a group called CHEF (Christian Home Educators Fellowship) that has organized activities like P.E., field trips, camping trips, and more. Blaine is enrolled in Classical Conversations (CC) for this year, which will be the largest part of our curriculum. Quite a few people have been asking me what is involved with CC, so here's an outside blog post I came across a while back briefly explaining it. In addition to CC, we will be doing additional handwriting, phonics, and math.

 Also, Vivienne will be sitting in with what Blaine is working on at home.  And Blaine will be sitting in on some of Vivienne's work (mostly Bible study) from Hands On Homeschool, a 2 year old program, which he has already done.  

At home:

A while back, I turned our short hallway into a mini school area for Hands On Homeschooling for Blaine. As a confined space, I find it an easy place to hold the attention of our two wild toddlers. And I literally mean a confined space... I lock the doors and block them from escaping by sitting on the edge of our learning space or sometimes putting a gate up. There's no temptations of TV, snacks on the counter, or the dog as a distraction. We do our writing activities at the table, but anything that just requires some conversation, visual aids, iPad, or reading a book is usually handled here on pillow piles and a bean bag chair. I have framed posters of the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, separate frames with all of our immediate family members, and a cork board for me to stay organized. This also give us a place to display everything the kids create without disrupting the rest of our home. I've recently cleared off a lot of their artwork from all over the doors and walls. Although, I'm sure it will soon be covered again.  I don't think this little hallway will always be able to hold everything we are working on or always be necessary, but up until now, it has been perfect for what we are doing. We will figure this out more when CC begins NEXT WEEK!

The posters are large and really nothing fancy. Shapes and colors one is 20x30. Alphabet and numbers one is 16x12. Here are the images if you are interested in printing something similar. You don't have to print that big, just shrink to fit 8.5x11.

We are looking forward to this exciting  journey and I hope to update often on what Blaine and Vivienne are learning!

Have you ever thought about homeschooling? If you do homeschool, what do you love most about it? And is there a space in your house that you designate for lessons?