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.

God-View Glasses

I loved this idea a friend of mine did with her children on their first day of school: they made "God-view Glasses!" She explained that she and their daddy's desire was to train them to see life from a biblical world view - to examine all things through the lenses of Scripture.

How fun! One of the things I always talk with Thatcher about is that I desire for him to see people as God sees them, creatures designed in His image to reflect His glory, and to treat them accordingly. I think we'll be making our own "God-view Glasses" soon!

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!

The Trial Period Has Expired

These first two weeks were meant to be a "trial period" to see how this was all going to work - one ADHD six-year-old, nine subjects (math, language, reading, phonics/spelling, Bible, history, science, art/music appreciation, Spanish), one very busy two year old, an increasingly demanding one year old, one mommy who so badly wants to be able to schedule her day down to the letter...anyone else see trouble written on the wall? At the end of this two weeks and I am not sure where to go from here. I don't even know what this post will end up like. I am hoping that typing it out will give me some clarity!

Here's what I feel good about after the first two weeks:

• Thatcher has enjoyed being back in a routine. He never argues or fusses when I announce it's time to start school, and honestly he never has! I know the day may come but am thankful it's not here yet. That's not to say that I don't at times get a little attitude during some of our lessons but it's not a feeling that pervades the day.
  
• Horizons is a hit again this year. Thatcher loves math and still says it's his favorite subject. Even without reviewing flash cards all summer it just took a few days of review to be back where we left off at the end of the year.
  
• Teaching our Family Rules to Thatcher has been a great thing. He memorized all ten rules last week and we used them as our first copywork this week. It's not as if we did not have rules in our home before but having them "officially" written out has been so helpful...not only for a little boy who sees the world in black and white but especially for his mommy who can tend to make a big deal out of every little thing. Now I try to focus on these ten things and let other things slide a little more.
  
• We are enjoying Wisdom and the Millers tremendously. I have recommended these books to so many people - homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike. It's so wonderful to have literary role models for our children. Thatcher has really connected with the Miller children and talks about Peter (the oldest of the Miller children) as if he were a friend. It has dove-tailed beautifully with our discussion of family rules as well.
  
• Writing our daily assignments on the white board has been great too. Thatch is very visual and seeing him progress his way down the list is very gratifying for him. On the other hand, it's a little stressful for me when I don't feel like it's all getting done!

Things to think about:

• Beckett is extremely intolerant of my leaving him - period - for me to use the restroom, answer the phone, or especially to help Thatcher. Granted he has been sick most of these first two weeks but it is something that was happening with increasing frequency prior to his illnesses. We are trying to do as much school as possible during his two naps but Thatcher is pretty wiped out by the afternoon one. I need to be certain we are getting everything except history or science done before this time.
  
• Haddon adores being a part of Thatcher's school. He wants to be in the room as much as possible and just beams the entire time. It's a hard thing though because Thatch is so easily distracted and little brother just adds one more thing he has to tune out. Is is fair to Thatcher to have one more distraction? Is it fair to Haddon to be excluded because brother can't concentrate? Don't know what the right answer is here - just thinking "out loud."
  
• We are struggling to get everything done and we haven't even added history, science, Spanish, language and art/music appreciation. Yikes! Thatcher truly needs me beside him all day long to stay on task. No matter how motivated he is, how easy, interesting, or hard the subject matter is - once I walk away he is off-task almost instantly. Timers sometimes work but more often he fixates on them and watches the time tick away. I am considering waking him up at 6:00 am each morning which would give us an hour to work before his brothers wake up. This would make Thatcher's require an earlier bedtime but it may be worth the trade-off??? It is so frustrating to have a little guy whose brain is so incredibly capable - beyond his years in many subjects - yet who is too often unable to reach his potential because of that very same brain!
  
• To help with the "distraction factor" I am starting a ticket-reward system next week. Thatcher will earn tickets for completing assignments in a given amount of time and will have tickets taken away for getting off-task. The tickets can be spent at our school store once a week - or he can save up for bigger prizes. Some of the things I already have purchased for our school store - glo-sticks, Schleich dinosaurs, a yo-yo, Star Wars Legos I found on clearance, matchbox cars, small gum and candies, coupons for: a McDonald's ice cream with mommy or daddy/ game-time with mommy or daddy/stay up and watch a video after brothers go to sleep/extra computer or Leapster time/mommy to read an extra chapter during read-a-loud time and so on. I will buy some larger prizes to provide an incentive for him to work toward something bigger, too.
• I have hesitated making a daily schedule because of my fear I would get obsessive about it. I am now thinking that making this type of a schedule is a must; we simply have too much to accomplish in a day for me to keep it all in my head! I just have to remember that I am the "master" and it is "slave" (sorry for the non-pc descriptions) to our needs/wants/desires - not the other way around.
  

Well, I still am not sure where I am going from here but once again, it helps just to get it all out. Anyone out there have any suggestions or ideas?

Fun Idea for a Hot (Rainy, Snowy...) Day!

Today was the sixth day of Daddy being out of town. We couldn't go outside because Thatcher's asthma has flared up - not to mention the horrible heat, humidity and man-eating mosquitoes that could carry Beckett away if they had a mind to!

Then Thatcher remembered something I did for him two years ago when dh was out of town. (Thatcher is blessed with his Daddy's intelligence and memory! I can hardly remember what happened yesterday, much less two years ago!) "Mommy will you make me a tape road?"

So we happily set about making a tape road in the middle of our kitchen floor.

It's nothing fancy (as if you couldn't tell by looking at it. Lol!)...just some painters tape, fifteen minutes and a tiny bit of imagination; my boys played here for hours this afternoon! I don't remember what sparked this idea, only that I was researching fun ideas for our preschool year. This worked for the letter "R" for "Road." If you can't tell, there's a gas station and a parking lot, too! How fun would it be to make a railway line or an airport? I'll have to keep that in mind for another rainy day.

Thoughts on Reading After Week 1

On Tuesday of this week - and only the second day of school - I had an "Ah-ha!" moment: "I need to rethink my reading plan." This epiphany occurred while Thatcher was reading aloud to me and I was encouraging (aka. fussing at) him to stop mumbling. It's a conversation we had most days last year. I was hoping it had gone the way of Kindergarten but here we were, first week of school and already having "the talk". The one where he nudges me away and says, " I know mamma!" but he still doesn't do it.

Here is our current reading program:

• Thatcher's read aloud time - usually 30 minutes but often not in one sitting
  
• Purpose - for me to observe his reading, see how he is decoding words so I can support him ("Ok, let's look at that word. Are there any small words you see in that big word. Do you see any "chunks" you recognize?), answer any questions that arise, help him connect the dots to be certain he is comprehending and also to focus on oral reading skills - reading clearly and with expression and pace. I see this aspect as somewhat of a precursor to an oral speaking class! :)
  
• History and science read-a-louds
  
• Purpose - further knowledge in these content areas and bring them to life!
• Bedtime read-a-louds -
• Purpose - expose him to great literature with more complex themes, plots, characters and vocabulary than he is yet able to read on his own/many of these books he will read independently in a few years, too
• Bedtime independent reading - usually 30 to 45 min after we read to him
  
• Purpose - the pure joy of books: no restrictions or guidelines - just time to unwind at the end of the day and relax
  

Here's what I realized - during that initial read-a-loud time I am expecting too much. It is hard to work on elocution when you are still decoding! That time needs to simply be for him to read aloud and me support him.

I still want to work on oral reading skills though; I think it's important, even at his age. We're going to approach it differently though. Starting next week his read-a-loud time will just be us reading, discussing and enjoying books together. We will add a new part to our reading program that will look like this:

• Presentation Book - each week we'll have one book he will re-read every day
  
• Purpose - work on elocution: expression, pace, volume, and all the other things that make our reading interesting to an audience/then on Thursday he will "present" (i.e. read) the book to Daddy at the same time he shows him his weekly folder.
  

I am very excited about this. Thatcher loves an audience, especially when it's Dad; I think this will motivate him to work hard. I have learned that the McGuffey Readers are designed to be used this way, too. We will start with our own books for now, although I am intrigued and want to learn more about these readers.

One other part I want to add to our reading program:

• Independent Reading - 30 minutes
• Right now the only independent reading Thatcher does is at bedtime. He is in his room alone and we allow him to choose any reading material he would like - most often it's the Bible, a comic book or some sort of an activity book. I want Thatcher to have a reading time where I have a little more control over what he is reading and, although I may not be right next to him, I will be close enough to observe and help if he needs it. I also want him to fill in simple Reading Log where he will fill in the title of the book, author, and one fact about the book (I may write this for him.) We had a Reading Log last year but I filled it out each day. At the end of the year he was so thrilled and very proud to look at the list of books he had read.
  

I'll let you know how it works; we'll start next week!

Our First Grade Schoolroom

I have waited to show our schoolroom because it is still a work in progress. Today I decided that it most likely will always be a work in progress so why not show where we are right now? It will be fun to look back each year and see what changes.

Our schoolroom is actually our formal dining room. That means we don't have a closet, but we do have an enormous window that lets in a ton of natural light. We lose almost an entire wall, but it's a good trade in my opinion. Here's the view of our schoolroom right as you walk in our house.

The paint color is new this year. It is the first time I have put a color on a wall and thought, "Oh, that's not what I was thinking!" It has slowly grown on me though, mainly because it feels very calm and peaceful.

I have three sets of shelves, although they were designed for toys - which explains why half of my books must be laid on their side to fit. They were hijacked out of our playroom when we decided to homeschool. A huge goal for next year is to get two tall bookcases that will hold much more.

The top of this case holds all Thatcher's notebooks for each subject, as well as my teacher notebooks. They are too tall to fit on a shelf. The first shelf has all of our history and science materials. The bottom holds our language and phonics as well as our music and art appreciation materials. Peek underneath the case and you'll see where I have stashed all the catalogs I ordered from just about every company who produces anything in the realm of Classical Education and lots of Charlotte Mason materials, as well. These make for great bedtime reading! How homeschool-mommyish does that sound? Lol!

All the baskets, bins and drawers on this bookcase hold our office/school/art supply materials. The middle shelf is Haddon's special shelf of toys, books and goodies he can only play with during school time. This has been a big hit so far. I am switching out the toys weekly and occasionally plan to hide a lollipop or piece of gum on there, too; he'll be ecstatic. The bottom shelf holds our tiny (but hopefully growing) collection of Spanish materials. Everything currently on the shelf I found on clearance at Target a few weeks ago! Gotta love that.

I love these maps. I saw them on another blog and ordered them the next day. My knowledge of the world is truly pathetic so I find myself "studying" these maps a little each day. Now I just need to get a globe so Thatcher won't think the world is flat!

After only a week of school, I am already so glad dh and I splurged to buy the dry erase board for this year. Here is a picture before our lessons on Thursday (note to self: take photos of things that will reflect the flash from an angle and not straight on!). I put our daily to-do list in the right corner, and Thatcher crosses each item off as we complete it. This has been another huge hit. I knew he wasn't ready for a formal "assignment sheet" but felt we somehow needed to begin helping him organize his day. He loves visually seeing how much we need to do and the satisfaction of crossing those items off is a huge motivator as well. On the left are the Bible verses covered in the first few chapters of Wisdom and the Millers, which we are loving by the way! We have used this board for most of our lessons every day this week and when we are not using it, Haddon is happily scribbling away.

Last year I wanted a huge cork board to use to display Thatcher's work and anything else that struck my fancy. I couldn't find one large enough that fit in my budget so here was my solution...

Put two boards together that I got for $5 each at Wal-Mart. Not exactly the same effect but close enough for the money I saved! This year the left board will have our calendar, Awana's memory verse for the week and other tidbits, and the board on the right will display our "Artist and Composer of the Month".

Here is one last thing I am so proud of (and when you see it you're going to laugh at my goofiness, but I'm okay with that!). I loved the idea of keeping all our memory work on one huge flip chart; that way we could have it all together in one place without me having to rewrite it on the dry-erase board every time we wanted to review something. This is what I really wanted to buy: a chart stand that is expandable both in width and height! We could use it to display maps as our collection grows, as well as easel pads.

Not going to happen this year, so I needed to decide what to do in the meantime. I could write all our memory work on poster boards, hole punch them, connect them with rings and simply flip back and forth. I liked this idea because you could easily switch the order around and otherwise manipulate them. I ultimately decided against it because I would have to draw lines on every single board. I couldn't stand it if every word weren't perfectly straight. (Have I mentioned before I'm a little freaky that way?) After doing the math I realized that I could buy pre-lined easel pads for the same money as using the poster boards (assuming I would buy them at a dollar store at a price of three for a dollar) and they were delivered to my front door the next day - no shipping charges either since I added on a few other things I needed before school started. But where and how to hang them without my handy little chart stand? Here's what I came up with...

Pretty inventive isn't it? An easel we already owned, a little scotch tape to reinforce the hole, some string from a craft project last year and...tah-dah...I just saved $33. Although I still want the cool expandable chart stand for next year!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of Smooth Stones Academy's first grade classroom! If you have yours posted somewhere in cyber-land please leave a link. I'd love to see it.