My Teacher's Notebook

I have spent a lot of time in the past few weeks putting the final touches on my Teacher's Notebook. It will always be a work in progress but I am very pleased with where it is now. I wanted one place for me to keep all things homeschool related. Last year I had lesson plans in a notebook, inspiring quotes in a file on my desktop, ideas for next year in a spiral in our schoolroom, goals for the kids filed away in my brain...Not so efficient for sure.

Here are the different sections I divided my book into:

• Inspirations: These are quotes, scripture or other sources that encourage me and remind me why I do what I do!
• Year-at-a-Glance
• Family Rules
• Weekly Schedule
• Family Goals: I typed out objectives for myself as well as for each of my boys this year. They include academic, social, emotional, physical and spiritual goals.
  
• My Reading List: Books I want to read, homeschool related or not.
  
• Future Curriculum Ideas: One central place to keep track of all the great programs I read about mostly on the Well Trained Mind Message Board or on other mom's blogs - probably many of yours :) .
  
• Thatcher's Reading Log: A place to keep track of all the books we use as read alouds as well as all the books Thatch reads to me. These are only the non-history/science readers as I keep track of those in my lesson plans for each subject.
  
• Wishlist: Books, manipulatives, videos, software, learning games, school room supplies/furniture or anything else I would like to buy for our school.
  
• Weekly Lesson Plans
  
• Things to Make Me Smile: A place for those precious quotes my kids spout off, a sweet drawing offered when I am sick or down, a copy of this hilarious cartoon I first saw at Mater Magistra's blog or anything else that makes me happy!

Is there anything else important I left off that you would include?

2nd Grade Year at a Glance

Here is our 2nd Grade Year-at-a-Glance! I really enjoyed using this as a tool last year to keep us focused and on-track. Plus, I am a big picture person. It truly helps me to know where I am going before I even set out on the journey. Sure there may be some detours along the way (that's part of what makes travel so fun!) but this is our basic "road map".

Here are a few notes about this year:

• We will phase in slowly over six weeks. This week is actually Week 1 and you can see we just started math. Next week we add logic, the following week handwriting and SOTW... I decided to start with math because I want to finish by the end of May and since we only school four days a week we needed to get a head start here. We added logic next because Thatch has been begging for his Mind Benders all summer! ;) I am so excited about starting this way; I think it will be a really great thing for all of us.
  

• The last column on the first page has all the books we hope to read this year (not history or science related). On the second page is some basic Fine Arts info to keep me on track.
  

• I do not have our Bible Lessons included here. I will add those plans soon.

• I tried to do better this year about adding catch-up/review weeks in several subjects. Last year when life happened and we slipped behind, we were constantly having to double up on lessons in one area or another. This year I tried to remedy that where I had a little freedom and add in weeks just to catch up if we were behind, review or move ahead if we were right on track. :)
  

Our Weekly Menu

I am still working on my "ultimate" grocery shopping/meal planning system but in the meantime I thought I'd share this simple idea. Every Sunday I post the upcoming week's meal schedule on the fridge for all to see. It may sound silly but it truly helps me have it posted so there is no thinking or decision making (regarding meals at least) once my week starts. I have already made certain I have all ingredients to make every dish so there are no quickie trips needed to pick up that one missing item when you already have a dish half-made! An extra bonus is I can see on one sheet if everyone is getting a well balanced and varied diet.

Anything - no matter how seemingly small - that helps me save time/energy I can use towards school and/or playing with my boys is a welcome addition at my house! :)

Hope this helps someone!

Weekly Lesson Plan Form

Okay, now I am really rolling. In addition to my Master Schedule, I also created a Weekly Lesson Plan form. I should say I borrowed a Weekly Lesson Plan form from my favorite of all blogs, Trivium Academy. I looked at several other forms on other blogs and websites but this one fit our needs best - at least for now!

I am going to fill out this form each Sunday night, print it out and put it in my Teacher Notebook. It's simple black, white and gray because we don't have a color printer. When I made my "Year at a Glance" I had to have a friend print it out for me so all the colors would show.

I am very hopeful about this week and am realizing that much of my frustration in the past two weeks was due to my unpreparedness - unknowingly unprepared but unprepared nonetheless! Now I have a schedule and a detailed lesson plan. Monday, here we come! Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Master Schedule

I did it! Despite my fears, I made a master schedule. As mentioned in the last post, I really hesitated doing this because of my tendency to want to follow it to the letter. But I am determined to use this schedule as a tool and not allow it to become a noose. (Thanks for that wording and insight, Trivium!) Lots will change in this schedule I am sure, but at least it is somewhere to start.

5:00am - Crazy wake up time, I know. Honestly, it's the only way I can see fitting running back into my life again. This summer I have been so entrenched in research and planning for first grade I have put running on the back burner. I need to make it a priority again. I love to run; I need to run. All those happy hormones (aka. endorphins) are truly addictive. Plus I just signed up to run the Houston Marathon on January 18th.

6:00 am - I have decided to try waking Thatch at 6:00 each day to start school - a full hour before his brothers get up. Thatcher is like me, an early bird, and the second his eyes pop open he is ready to go. When I mentioned this to him, he loved the idea of having mommy to himself for an entire hour before the little ones were up!

7:00 am - Our "Morning Routine" includes the basics: make beds, get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast and clean up. I am also so excited about our "Family Huddle." In September we will start working through Leading Little Ones to God with dh each morning. We'll also include a morning circle time where we pray for each other and our day.

8:00 am - Math is Thatcher's favorite subject, and because we have to do some subjects while the little ones are awake, I chose math for this block. He has the best chance of staying focused - even with brothers all around! I will need to be creative getting the younger ones involved in something when we do flash cards and other math memory work.

9:00 am - This is when I will choose reading material for Thatcher to work through on his own. He will read for 20-30 minutes and we will record all finished books in a simple reading log (date, title of book, author, favorite thing about this book).

10:00 am - Once Beckett goes down for his am nap, we'll have a little more freedom - even if it only lasts 90 minutes! We'll work on our presentation book for the week as well as read a section of whichever chapter book we are working on at the time. We will use the remainder of this block to catch up on any work not completed earlier that morning, for outside playtime (once the weather cools down) and for me to make lunch.

12:00 - Lunch

1:00 - I am still waiting for Homeschool Buyers Co-op to announce the deal they have been working on with United Streaming so we can start foreign language. On non-United Streaming days we will review and learn more through songs, games and videos.

2:00 - I need to blog about roomtime; it's a great thing! My boys play independently in their rooms for 30-40 minutes each day. They look forward to it and even ask for it some days! During this time I will still have the baby but I will try to get as much picking up and cleaning accomplished as I am able - and still have a little fun time for just the two of us!

2:30 - Once the little ones are asleep, we will conclude our school day with history or science.

4:00 & 5:00 Dinner preparation and eating

6:00 - "Family Time" is nothing official or even planned out - just time to hang out, rest and be silly together.

7:00 - During this block, one thing I want to try is to complete Thacher's read-a-loud. Previously, I read to him from 8:00-8:30. The new goal is that all evening chores are done - run dishwasher, fill coffeepot, floor swept and mopped, cabinets wiped down and read-a-loud completed - before we put the boys down at 8:00. That will give me one hour to spend time with dh, plan, or just read a great book before I go to sleep.

8:00 - Bedtime, glorious bedtime!

9:00 - I wish I was one of those people who didn't require much sleep. Unfortunately, I am a person who requires a lot of sleep - eight hours will do but nine is optimal. It is imperative I am in bed at 9:00 if I am to get up at 5:00 to run.

*** Other notes -

• I deliberately blocked more time than Thatcher will need for many subjects. I have learned that, for now, he works better in 30 minute spurts with lots of physical activity and play in between. As soon as work is completed and gone over with Mommy, he will be able to play for the remainder of that time slot.
  
• I "prepare" dinner all day long. Anytime I have five to ten minutes I head to the kitchen to chop veggies, prepare sides that can be reheated, set out all ingredients I will need for the main dish, make a sauce and so on. That way when it comes time to actually cook dinner I can usually have everything on the table in less than 30 minutes.
• I may switch the 8:00 and 9:00 blocks so he doesn't have so much reading all crammed together. We'll see how it works.
  
• For now, I do all my house cleaning and laundry on Fridays. Once the little ones get a little older and more independent, my plan is to change this. I would love to do one load of laundry a day but right now it just isn't happening. I don't know if I will ever change cleaning my entire house at once though - I just love having everything clean, even if it only lasts ten minutes!
• I just caught a mistake on the schedule: for the 2:30 block it should say M, T - history and W, Th - science.
  

Okay, Monday we'll put all this into play and see how it works. Yipee!

Year at a Glance

T-Minus seven days and counting (In honor of our two friends, Doug and George, who will be flying on the next shuttle mission in October: STS-120) ! Our plan is to start school next Monday, July 30th. We will begin with a very light schedule that first week just to ease us back into things. Then starting the week of August 6th we will begin full days. I have made a "Year at a Glance" master schedule for the 40 weeks we will be schooling this year. It helps me to see it in its entirety on just two pages; it feels a little more doable! Now I just have 400 other things to finish before I am ready.


A few notes:

• Thatcher is in first grade yet he is doing second grade work in most areas. He flew through the entire year of preschool I had planned in only four months and was ready to read. We started Kindergarten in January of that year and he completed that in only five months. We have chosen not to tell him he is working a year ahead for two reasons: he is socially immature and his motor skills are very delayed. We do not want him grouped with older children at church and sporting events. Also, we don't want him to ever be prideful of his intellect. We may change our mind at some point, but this is where we currently stand. My husband always says, "I reserve the right to get smarter!"
  

• Horizons Math has 160 lessons plus 16 tests for a total of 176 lessons. I planned four lessons week. On the schedule where it says "10T" it means that day we will do Test 10. We will do Lesson 10 (10L) the next day. Last year we tried to do math in only 160 days and it made test days too hectic. After a test I want to spend more time going over mistakes and reteaching anything still giving him trouble.

• First Language Lessons (FLL)- We started this last year but only got to Lesson 40. My intention was to catch up this summer so we would be able to start closer to Lesson 100 but it never happened. Regardless, we are still going to finish the book this year because he will be ready for more in second grade. This is the reason we are doing grammar four days a week.

• Explode the Code (ETC) and Spelling- I have decide to delay the start of a formal spelling program until we complete the ETC series. He is a really strong speller already so I would rather spend our time other places.
  

• My Story of the World plans aligned with History Scribe (Ancient Greece & Rome, Ancient China and Ancient Egypt) notebooking pages are almost done and I will post them here for anyone who wants them.
  

• I will also post my Life Science plans. I am using Trivium Academy's, but added copywork for every lesson and found videos from United Streaming to go along with most , as well.
  

• For Spanish we are using the elementary Spanish lessons on United Streaming.
  

• For Art and Music see my post below: Christmas in July and scroll down to Art and Music Appreciation. The title below the composers' names is the name of the Classical Kids CD we listen to all that month.
  

• After reading Storytime with the Millers we will begin Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland (LLOG).
  

• What didn't make it to the chart: Handwriting and Art Instruction. For handwriting we will review one letter a day for the first 26 days of school and then handwriting will be absorbed into our copywork. Art Instruction will be "as we have time".
  

Ok, I feel so much better just getting that all out! Now off to finish scheduling History Scribe with SOTW, Vol. 1.