What's in the box?

A while ago I posted about our workboxes. I finally figured out how to easily download pictures and so can now post them. These pictures are the boxes we worked on one day in January. Sorry the pictures are side ways I thought I fixed it, bit apparently not!


Box 1- read a story about George Washington. We were given many of this series and it's a hit around here!


Box 2 Our current English Milestones academy- currently under revision ad not available right now. I found a great deal on the Mead 09956 Primary Journal here (I bought 10 for the discount)




Box 3 A puzzle do do after doing a Scripture worksheet Grandma sent. (My oldest needs to see the reward- knowing it's in the next box doesn't work, so putting them in the same box with the fun stuff underneath has been working better for her)




Box 4: Kumon Math followed by Peg board

Box 5: Draw write now, complete with pencils and notebook. This is actually her finished drawing of Native Americans



Box 6: Tanagrams, a favorite "fun" activity with a good dose of geometry hidden for good practice!




Box 7: Telling time clock found at Target's semi annual toy clearance and Kumon time work book. We're really working on some concepts that haven't been mastered in math(specifically time and money)


Box 8: Copywork made by me with Start Write This one line one of a favorite hymn.




Box 9: Reading George Washington Read-aloud while everyone colors. Favorite activity to end the day

We're only doing 9 boxes (instead of the traditional 12 workboxes) since we're sticking fun boxes in with other boxes) and for now that's allt he shelf space we have. Thanks for looking! Hope this gives you some ideas what to put in your boxes and what we do each day!

Bird study

I've been a little absent lately- a high radial elbow fracture will do that to a gal. And then SDD is having issues that are requiring MRIs and fun things like that. I'll post on that a little later when I actually have results and not result in a mess of blubbering tears because we still don't know what's going on with her. In the meantime we're slugging away with homeschooling and my dear sweet mom wanting to be involved with our homeschooling adventure. She's 200 miles away and knowing I'm a bit overwhelmed right now to do this she came up with a great idea for a bird study. She has been sending bird pictures she taken of birds in her birdfeeder.
Then the kids (mostly ODD) find the bird in the bird book she sent and answer a little worksheet I made. Once I get my scanner up and running I'll send her the scan and she can give the kids some feedback. Right now it's being read over the phone or just planned to be if the schedules don't mesh right now. It sounds like more work than it actually is for me. It's actually quite nice to have her be involved. I'm excited about it because we are also reading the Burgess Bird Book so it dove tails rather nicely (yes pun intended ;) )
And then I've been excited because I've been able to read the Burgess Bird book on my kindle! It's a free Kindle book and doesn't have pictures, but we have the paper book so we're not missing out. I found a bunch of great printables to go with our whole study. There are matching cars or you can use them for Montessori Nomenclature cards (see here if that word makes you go huh?)
I'm also thinking of doing a nature study more in depth. But for now with no driving allowed (silly elbow) I'm calling this our nature study! It's been am azing how many more birds we are noticing all around us and even in books we read when there are birds in the illustrations!
I think I'll even share some of this bird study in the near future! Have a great day and hope you and yours are hugging and enjoying. We never know what life may bring!

Workboxes

We use work boxes to organize our work and organize the mom. Yep I need help organizing for sure! I love them because they help keep me on track and the kids can work independently if needed.
We've used work boxes in a variety of ways. If you are new to work boxes you can read about Sue Patrick's workboxes here. Some people swear you need to read the book. I didn't, I'm a rebel like that and not willing to part with my pennies. Instead I read Sue Patrick's site and scoured the web for blogs on work boxes and workboxes in small spaces. These were my favorite workboxes blog posts(click on these AFTER you finish reading my post- these posts are very addictive and will lead you on a rabbit trail hunt for the best way to do your workboxes and you will not remember where you started! I've been there- promise- so keep reading :) ):

http://ourbusyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2009/10/sue-patricks-workbox-system.html
http://www.amothersjournal.com/2009/03/08/workbox-system/
http://courtneysix.blogspot.com/search/label/workboxes
http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-were-using-workboxes.html
http://wayzleyacademy.homeschooljournal.net/2009/07/31/my-workbox-system/
https://docs.google.com/View?docID=dwstdgn_447mphsmf8&revision=_latest&pli=1

There are many different ways to use the boxes depending on the space, materials and ages of children you have. Here are some blog lists showing the variety of ways people have adapted workboxes to fit their homes and situations:

http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/need-to-get-organized-check-out-homeschool-workboxes/

http://sunflowerschoolhouse.com/workbox-blogroll/


We've done it two ways. We have used them in a rubber maid boxes with zip-locks and a piece of cardstock to keep them stiff. Sort of like this, except we used zip locks be cause that's what we had around the house:
http://www.crookedcreekfarmgirl.com/2009/03/this-is-best-system-ever.html
(Scroll down to see the pictures)

Since we aren't doing it this way any more and I've re purposed the boxes I don't have a picture. I may have one in my other computer, but I'll have to look (and since I have a love hate relationship with that computer it may take me a while).
Now that we moved and have more space we have also transitioned to using them with an ikea shelf and some boxes I found at target.

I bought Target out of these boxes them all out and haven't seen them since. Ans I found them while on vacation. Our local target didn't carry them! I found 12 red and 4 blue. Perfect for the 6 yr old (red) and 4 year old (blue) for now. I'm hoping target carries them again in their Dollar spot section. They were $2.50 each but found in the dollar spot. They are not see through which has some disadvantages, but they fit our space and work well. I still have some things to tweak, but they work well for my 6 year old and not as well for my 4 yr old. We have been transitioning to Montessori for the younger two and my 4 and 2 yr old are doing better with that. I have bookshelves for them next to the workbox bookshelf with Montessori works set out.

I try to change them daily depending on interest and what they are working with, but I usually end up changing them every other day. I'm hoping to go through what are on other shelves and put out some more Montessori works there. My 6 year old wants to the Montessori works she sees her sisters doing and so she gets to pick these as her free choice. When she gets to a box that has a fun thing (puzzle, game, drawing etc) and she would rather do a center, she can pick that. It's fine with me. I just wish I had had more space and more of these done when she was younger. We do what we can with what we have and I think she's grown up just fine without it, but she sure does enjoy it now.
I'll be posting pictures of what is in the boxes soon and details about our Montessori shelves as well.

Don't let the Pigeon drive the bus

We love books. As such I have a "recommended but have not read yet" book list. As we need more reading material I see if it's at the library and ut it on reserve. There have been a n a lot bunch we have enjoyed and many that we have fallen in love with. We recently have found a new love or obsession could be the better word for it:


Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is by Mo Willems.

It is absolutely hilarious! I discovered these books when a dear friend of mine had a book bridal shower for her second daughter. I got a great list of books from that shower! And an idea for my own baby shower for my third :) Anyway I digress (as usual you'll find :) ) A gal at the shower gave the mother to be a set of these books and then read them out loud. There were times when we literally had to cover our ears (at her suggestion). She had a great set of character voices and made it so funny to listen to her read these after the gift giving part of the shower was over.
I recently found these books again and shared them with my girls.They are quite a hit!!! Oh my! Our sides are splitting and we're just laughing as we read these. They have become a favorite in a short time. When we did a "split and conquer library run" 5 minutes before they closed I grabbed these off the shelf:
I was able to grab:
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!

I have the rest of what they had at the library on hold for fast pick up for our next trip. We'll be getting:
The pigeon wants a puppy!
Knuffle Bunny free : an unexpected diversion
The pigeon has feelings, too! : a smidgeon of pigeon

And then this morning as I was preparing breakfast I heard the story being read from under the table. My oldest was reading it to her sisters. There's a whole series of books and Mo Willem has quite a few. And since we homeschool I had to find a way to make this whole experience educational :) We'll be finishing the stories and making up what could happen next. The pigeon sees a truck at the end of the book which leads quite well into more possibilities outside of the book. Here are the resources I found that I plan on incorporating bits of into our lessons this week:
Short and sweet ideas

Full unit of ideas

These unit will be incorporated into our work boxes too! Hope you had a great day with your nearest and dearest!