Back to School!

Today marks our official last day of summer fun, and tomorrow begins the 2013/2014 school year.  Andrew will return to St. Charles West High School for his 11th year of teaching choir and orchestra, and like last year he will assist during the school day with the band.  And he will also return to a class he had the privilege of teaching many of the previous 10 years:  adaptive music with severely handicapped students.  He has loved working with these kids and teachers and looks forward to it again! 

We have had many great adventures this summer, including a trip to Alexandria, MN (to Mount Carmel Ministries/Family Camp, a favorite for us!), and in our home state of Illinois, trips to Chicago and Decatur to see our wonderful families, short drives to see Andrew's grandparents near Greenville, and a day trip to Effingham to see friends who have moved away.  The boys went to VBS at our church and at the church where they've both gone to pre-school, and Ben just finished a week of Math Camp through Lindenwood University.  My friend Katie says we "go off radar" in the summer and it's quite true.  But come early August, we are READY to stay put and get back to the structure of the school year.   

 

Turning to homeschool year number three, what we do here evolves with the needs of our children.  I now have two sweet boys to teach and look forward to learning how to do both at once!  Ben is a second grader and Joey is a full-fledged kindergartener.  Hannah, now nearly 18 months, will keep us in a constant state of flexibility as we work around her antics and naps. 

Come visit our classroom!
I've rearranged our school room - also the dining room - a bit to accommodate  Hannah's passion for making huge messes.  The shelving units that used to sit side-by-side left EVERYTHING in her reach.  I think I have outsmarted her by stacking the units so she can only get to a few things.

 

1)  Up on top are jars with linking cubes and pattern blocks, a bucket o pencils, and other various office supply items that I might want quickly.

2)  This shelf has the basket of the rest of our math manipulatives.  We don't need all of them every time, but they have provided the best entertainment for Joey while Ben schooled.  Hopefully Hannah will play with some things if she doesn't try to eat them.

3) These upper middle shelves have all of the other school/craft/office supplies I like having handy but out of Hannah's reach. 

4) These shelves hold curriculum.

5) This is an empty red basket for garbage.  I found last year that it helped having a basket in which to throw scraps, used worksheets, etc.  Then I make one trip to the kitchen garbage can instead of 10.
6) This is the non-important stuff that I don't mind Hannah getting into - coloring books, AquaDoodle cards, and her toys/books.

 

 Right near the shelves is a desk we've had for awhile, and I guess it's serving as a teacher's desk.  The flower binder is my homeschool binder.  The chevron print is my Classical Conversation tutor binder.   And the clipboard holds the Excel spreadsheet I made to track Ben's school hours per state law.

 Main features of the school binder: A printed prayer that I read through each morning before we start.








Here's another printable with  encouragement from the wonderful women behind the book, Hope for the Weary Mom.  It, along with the prayer page above, is laminated for the repetitive use I know it will get!

 Lesson plan page for 2 kids.  There are two sections per subject, so Ben's on the top and Joey's on the bottom.

A section of math records for each boy.  These are provided by the publisher for easy record keeping.

 

 This is our first year of CC and I'm also tutoring!  Talk about baptism by fire.  I have a binder to keep the current quarter's papers together and to be able to easily plan ahead. 

Part of Classical Conversations each week is reviewing the previous 6 weeks' material.  I have this lovely can to use for various review games I've found on the CC at-home resource site.  :-)

More fun CC materials:  cardstock dice to help with review, a timer to make sure we're saying on schedule, and a baster.  Yes, a baster.  Hold it at the bulb end and you've got a great pointer!  Hold the tube and you've got a microphone.  Voila.  :-)

As I mentioned before, I made up an Excel spreadsheet to help track Ben's hours each day.  After the month is over I put it all into the computer and it adds everything up for me. 

 In the corner by the window, I've permanently mounted a dry erase/magnet board with our letter tiles for our spelling curriculum, All About Spelling. 

 And in the other corner, we keep our big world map with special locations marked, as well as the easel with a dry erase board and chalkboard on the other side. 








I'm glad you've come over to visit our classroom!  It is an open door and we're happy to have people over, especially moms who are new to homeschooling and want to see how we roll around here.  Or if you're thinking about homeschooling, or are just starting out, I'm happy to share what has worked for us.  I am no seasoned veteran by any means just three years in, but I think we have gotten off to a great start and love to point you in the right direction too.

If you'd like links to any of the materials I've shared here, or if you live in Missouri and would like the file for my hourly tracking page, please email me at jenn_scott [at] sbcglobal.net.  I'm happy to share what I've found, but don't have time right at this moment to link everything up!  :-)