2013-2014 Homeschool Timetable

As messy as I allow my life to become... I love to organize.  I love to make lists, even if it's just to collect a pile of lists on the table.  I love to organize closets and toys, even though they very quickly resume their disorderly state.  I love to schedule, even though I am terrible at sticking to said schedule. Well that needs to stop.   I have tried lesson planning before and, though it needs some tweaking, it worked.  My problem is that I let the morning get away from me, and all my planning falls to pieces.  So I'm going to give this a try.
Our 2013-2014 Homeschool Timetable

• 7-7:30am Usual wake up time
• 7:30-8:30am Breakfast
• 8:30-9am Clean up, Get dressed
• 9-9:15am Morning Board Time
• Review month, day, date and year
• Observe the weather
• Letter of the Day
• Number of the Day
• Sing Along (I'm doing this instead of the sight words I had thought I'd do when I put the board together... no use in rushing things)
• 9:15-9:45am Letter and Number of the day activities
• Worksheets, crafts, games, etc.
• 9:45-10am (or longer) Story time
• 10-10:30am Snack Time
• 10:30-11am Subject Study
• Math
• Science
• Social Studies
• Pre-writing & Early Literacy
• Sensory Exploration
• 11am-12:30pm Outings, Playdates or Free Play
• Playground, yard, library, walk, etc.
• 12:30-1:30pm Lunch
• 1:30-2pm Montessori inspired trays / busy bags
• 2:00pm Nap/Quiet time (hopefully they both nap! Oliver is nearing the end of this beautiful stage of childhood even though, in my opinion he still needs them)
• Wakeup time-Dinner time Free play

So...wish me luck sticking to it.  I'm going to copy this onto a poster board and hang it up somewhere I can't help but see it... that should do the trick!

The goal is for me to follow this at least 3 days out of the week, the days that aren't taken up by speech therapy appointments and our Gymboree Day (School Skills for Oliver and a Level 4 or 5 class for me and Owen).  I haven't yet heard from the SLP at the grammar school to schedule Oliver's twice a week sessions there, but I'm hoping we can do an 11:00 session time so we still have time to work on our stuff.

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Finding Our Homeschool Groove, Part 2- The School

I wrote previously about what homeschooling means to our HOME- it's a lifestyle evident in every corner and on every surface.  But finding our groove means figuring out the "school" part of homeschool.

When we started this about a year ago I created weekly plans for unit studies and made lots of materials from scratch.  I had big plans for this little blog.  That was short lived.  We went on vacation and I lost some steam.  When we got back I dove into preparations for my baby's first birthday party.  More steam lost.  Then the holidays.  Then my big boy's birthday party.  Then it rained.  Then it was Tuesday..... excuses excuses excuses.

That's not to say we weren't learning.  The kids were making great strides.  When I realized how much they were soaking in on the fly I wanted to try some structure again.  This time there was no big lesson plans.  I threw together some sensory bins and came up with activities to begin introducing the alphabet and numbers.  I called it "Pajama Preschool" and it was well documented on Instagram.  

It worked for us.  It made me really start considering the possibility that unschooling was the way to go for us.  Not at all what I'd planned.  

Still, I am having a hard time giving up on the idea of lesson planning.  I see so many pinners and bloggers that have there $h!+ together and I want to be like that too.  I may be the best procrastinator in history, (or I will be anyway...get it?) because I am still trying to figure out how to get plans ready and prepared for the upcoming "school year."  

We are definitely still finding our groove, but the difference is that now I have a better idea of not only what to expect from the kids, but what to expect from myself.  I'm now okay with being a little more laid back with my plans instead of overwhelming us all, but I know that I need to have some sort of system to work off of or I have a bad habit of saying "well eff it, I suck anyway."

I can't give up on teaching my kids at home.  The idea of sending them to school breaks my heart.  Especially now- now that the running tally of concerns I have silently collected for my Oliver (...my first born... my pride and joy... my gift from God...) are staring me in the face and shouting "SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER!!!!!!"

Does he have SPD? I don't know? If he does it's not high on the spectrum.  His SLP gave me a short profile to fill out.  I took it home so I could really look it over and score it myself.  From what I gather he has a "probable difference."  To me, that means if he was in public school he would be in a special classroom, and his peers would judge him.  I remember thinking there was something wrong with my classmates who had to leave for special education... now I realize it could have any of a slew of learning disorders... but then I thought they were somehow defunct.  It breaks my heart to think of Oliver being placed like that.  He is so very intelligent and creative and logical... but from what I observe of him now, I don't think traditional schooling is the way to go.

Once again, I'm glad we decided to start this so early, so I have the time to figure it out.   To fail and succeed from day to day.

Easy and Inexpensive DIY Dot Dabbers

I tried to hold out as long as I could.  Yes, they're neat... but I am stingy and the price for Do-A-Dot markers is, in my opinion, ridiculous.  But the kids love them, and honestly I do too.

So I turned to Pinterest for inspiration (of course) and came up with these dot dabbers. 

I bought two packs of 3 travel size bottles (for shampoo and soap and such) and round makeup sponges. And set to work.

I filled the bottles about 1/3 of the way with paint, and not quite to the top with water.  What you see in the picture above is probably a little too much water.  It works, but it takes some trial and error to get the consistency paint you prefer.

Hold a round sponge over the top and secure with rubber bands.  Depending on size I used 2 or 3 bands per bottle.

A few gentle squeezes to pump the paint through the sponge... and dab away.

Aren't they so pretty!?

I do believe the kids enjoyed them.  Of course choosing colored paper wasn't the best, but I wasn't about to fight with them.  They did accept lighter paper once they realized their colors weren't popping.  

If you see this face:

Be prepared for your dabber to be slammed on the paper so hard the sponge rips.

Thank goodness for extra sponges.

They aren't as durable as Do-A-Dot markers, but they are a fraction of the price... sounds good to me!

I'm keeping them in a ziploc to prevent spills and hopefully prevent the sponge from drying out.  One post I found removed the sponges and rinsed them after each use so she could cap them.  I guess I'm lazy, but call that plan B.

DIY Light Table

During the school year, I brought the boys to a playgroup at one of the local grammar schools and there was a light table with some fun magnetic shapes and translucent legos.  The thing was so neat!  Since then, I've seen some creative and frugal ways to make your own light table (the word table being used loosely) on Pinterest.  

After seeing THIS POST on dollar store finds for light tables, I was inspired to make one and go finish off the gift card to the Dollar Tree that my mom gave me for my birthday...ummm best gift ever? yeah I think so! Three easy steps to make a light table: 1. Get a storage container with a clear lid.  I used an under the bed type container.  I've seen pins using taller ones, and even ones with a white lid (in this case they attached lights to the inside of the lid and used the box upside down). 2. Tape white tissue paper to the inside of the lid to diffuse the light.  I guess this is optional, I've seen posts that skip this step, and I've seen posts that go all out and use spray paint to frost the lid. 3. Add lights to the bottom.  I used white Christmas lights and taped them to the bottom of the container.   Voila! Best part is.... I already had all of these things! Didn't spend a dime! My Dollar Tree Treasures I couldn't find everything listed in the post that inspired this shopping trip, plus I dragged my sister along with me and so doing 15 laps through the store was out of the question... a solo trip is much needed (and while you may think a dollar store intervention is much needed, I assure you... I don't have a problem, I can stop at any time).

• Decorative glass stones in different sizes (I liked the assorted color bags)
• Linking jewelry shapes
• Brightly colored storage boxes
• Glow in the dark ceiling shapes
• Translucent rulers
• Plastic shot glasses
• Multi-colored stacking pill case
• Subject dividers (for binders...to cut into shapes)
• Hair gel (to put into ziplock baggies and add color or glitter for sensory play)
• Shaving cream (another sensory play idea from my sister)

Not from the Dollar Tree, but worth mentioning: I ordered tangrams and orbeez off ebay and I can't wait for them to get here!

Introducing the Light Table

Once breakfast was said and done, I told the boys I had a surprise for them.  They got excited as I closed the curtains and got the room dark and ready.  To introduce the idea of light play to the boys, and to see how well my purchases worked out, we spent a little bit of time with everything instead of focusing on one thing.  In the future I hope to have more structured play as well as free play... but today we just worked our way through all the different "toys." 

 We used the plastic shot glasses to create a pattern.  Blue, green, blue green.  It was very serious work.

 The boys stacked and unstacked the little cups over and over and over and over....

... I introduced a new way to stack the cups which was very well received by Oliver.

Owen had a grand ol' time counting things. 

They both liked filling and pouring the little cups.

We used the storage containers to experiment with color mixing.  Red and blue made a good purple, and the blue and yellow did a good job demonstrating green, but the red and yellow did not make a distinct enough orange.  Oliver then had fun seeing what happened to the colors when stacking 3 or even all 4 of them.

These were also fun to fill with other things.

We made a dinosaur scene featuring a T-Rex standing in front of a volcano, an Elasmosaurus swimming in water, and a Stegosaurus and Triceratops chowing down on some green plants. 

And here is Brachiosaurus eating leaves from the top of a tree.

 Oliver then had a terrific idea to create museum cases to put the dinosaurs in for everyone to see.

We used a ruler to measure and compare the dinosaurs, and later some zoo animals.

I just love this light table... it was so easy and so fun!  I'm trying to think of a cheap and easy way to build an actual TABLE for us, maybe put some pallets to use?  I mean you can make just about anything out of pallets, right!?  But this is certainly good enough, and it doesn't take up too much space.  Fits right under the bed!

Let fun happen... learning will follow

Sometimes, one thing leads to another, leads to another, leads to a disaster of a mess in the kitchen.

We started by making our own bubble solution.

Some water, dish soap, and corn syrup.  I forget exactly what proportions I used...in fact, I think I just looked up some bubble recipes on pinterest and did something from memory that lands somewhere in the middle of all the ones I found.  A cup of water, a quarter cup of soap, and a tablespoon of syrup...maybe? 

This was the science portion of the day.  We talked about bubbles coming from the soap, adding water so we can blow them because the soap alone is too heavy, and corn syrup to make the bubbles stronger so they don't pop right away.  Is this the true chemistry behind bubble solution? I don't know... but it seemed right enough and understandable for a preschooler.

We used a water bottle with the bottom cut out, a block from our shape sorter, and several different kinds of bubble wands/blowers to test out our bubble soap.

After blowing some bubbles I remembered the cool bubble art I'd seen on pinterest.  I added some tempera paint just like the pinner said to.  Garbage.  Maybe I didn't mix it well enough.  I was hoping to drop in different colors and see them swirl together as the bubbles were blown.  Didn't happen.

Food coloring saves the day.  Using a straw to blow bubbles into a dish of soap was really entertaining... I even had my own fun when I'm-too-cool-for-this 3 year old gave up (1.5 year old had a blast).  We then gently laid paper on top of the bubbles in the dish and gave a few light taps on top to make a bubble print.

Since we still had some uncolored bubble soap in a bowl, I grabbed the Thomas and Friends bath toys we have (that haven't actually seen a bath because they are too much fun to incorporate into other activities), some scrubby brushes, and washcloths to make an engine wash.  At this point 3 year old re-joined us.

Once the engines were all clean he wanted to make them dirty again.  I asked his preferred method to dirty engines and he shouted, "MUD!"

Not just any mud, rainbow mud.  A few squirts of paint on a long sheet of paper... and I now have some beautiful art waiting to find a frame.  It came out great!

And then of course we had to re-wash our "Really Useful Engines."

Sometimes one thing leads to another and before you know it, you've passed the morning without the TV or iPad, and you're even proud of the mess in the kitchen.