Our New Classroom

Our new house has a big room off the kitchen that was perfect for a classroom. It has huge built in bookcases that go from floor to ceiling. It is bright and sunny thanks to a sliding door that leads to our backyard.

I planned and planned this room so it would function as a inspiring learning environment. What we ended up with surpassed my expectations. We all love this room. In fact we could probably do away with the rest of the house. It is so amazing when your classroom is your favorite room!!!

This wall is made up of the largest and smallest "EXPEDIT" units from Ikea. They are perfect size for storing all of our learning tools and keeping then visible so we remember to use them! I did not have a red and black theme in mind when i started it just developed over time and I love the way it turned out. It is so inviting and vibrant.

All of our manipulative's are labeled and in hands reach so the kids are putting them to good use and remind me to use them as well.


I got these inexpensive file holders at Office Depot. They are the perfect size to hold all of our centers and lapbooks and our "Letter Of the Week" that we love, from Confessions Of A Homeschooler.

Our table is really two tables put together. They are small table tops from Ikea with red metal legs attached. The chairs I got from our school district. If you homeschool the property control staff at your school district should be on speed dial. I have gotten chairs, tables, desks, rolling carts, projectors and more from them over the years for pennies on the dollar. It has been a huge budget saver. These chairs were an ugly blue. I paid $2. each and spray painted them red to match my decor. For $15.00 I got 5 beautiful chairs!

You can just make out our easel and reading corner in the back there. We have big red throw pillows we use for reading time and the easel gets a ton of action every day!



This is our calendar area and white board for our "All About Reading" and "All About Spelling" We also have our map displayed here for our Geography. We use a combination of "Little Passports", "Expedition Earth" and my own creations. I use the Little Passports only to introduce the country. It is not a school quality curriculum in my opinion and I was disappointed when it arrived on my doorstep. It has very cute items in it but the information is fluff. I immediately ordered Erica's Expedition Earth program and as usual have not been disappointed. We have made it stretch two years and we love it!

Each side of our calendar area is bordered by those built in's so we use them as book cases and for our computer. Wyatt does research for his history and geography projects and his Teaching Textbooks math program on the computer. My little ones do learning games for reinforcement and typing practice. We all do the homeschool version of Rosetta Stone Spanish here as well.

I made this little clock for the wall out of a $3.00 clock from Walmart. I saw the idea somewhere on Pintrest and fell in love. It is a great tool for learning to tell time.

Our sight word wall was also a Pinterest score. We all high five our sight words a few times a day. It just feels good!

So there you have it. Our favorite room. I even study in here!

Fall

Fall, like spring, is a busy time on a farm. Lots of cleaning and shoring up for winter. Building new shelters for animals and feed. Weaning our summer babies and integrating them into the herd. Selecting the new breeding lines and implementing a program. Lots to do and shorter days to get it done.

Fall also brings our much awaited field trip to California's Apple Hill. Apple Hill is a farming community encompassing Camino and Placerville, Ca. There are approximately 50 growers in apple hill that specializes in agrotourism. From you pick orchards to vineyards to petting zoo's there really is something for everyone.



I think it is hysterical that although we live on a farm and have a built in petting zoo, my kids look so forward to this trip. We drive the roads between farms commenting on structures, layouts and what we could dos. Even the 3 year old gets into it.

This year I scheduled the kids a candy making class at one of our favorite farms and the kids were thrilled. The not so thrilling part was that Apple Hill had no apples, there was a late frost. My kids took to calling it appleless hill as the day went on. We refused to be let down and chose to pick our pumpkins out instead. We also pet some animals, talked shop wit a few farmers and toured our old favorite farms. It was a great day despite the appleless situation.



We did notice that a lot of the farms were for sale, even some of the oldest and best. It was a sad thing to see. A mix of age, economy, taxes, regulations and weather have been too much for these small farmers to bare. I am hopefull like minded families will come in and continue the tradition.

Sometimes The Best Things In Homeschool Are Free

Today was a tough one! I have a cold. It was a long weekend. My behaviorally challenged child, who I thought was finally "getting it," took his behavior issues to a whole new level. I was feeling less than supported about homeschool among other things. But we went out to class anyway! I refuse to let life get the best of my kids education. We did our circle time and sat down to work through our drawers. Both of my Kindergarten kids just couldn't get it. The writing portion of the worksheets are not working for them. I was already just at my whits end. I felt totally ill equipped to teach them. I felt like a total failure. It was definitely one of those " I am sending these kids to school" kind of days. I quit, came back, then quit again in my head. The kids moved on to the next box frustrated and looking sad. Erica's new printing worksheets were in there and I was thinking "NOOOOOO". But Something amazing happened. The way she had designed the sheets just spoke to my kids. They both understood in seconds what three weeks of our curriculum had failed to make clear.

At this point I need to tell you that Ava was so proud of herself, so happy, that she was wiggle dancing in her chair. I watched her and it was clear that these moments define homeschool. In a classroom a teacher would be responsible for 30 kids and probably not even notice the kids frustration. A teacher certainly would not be able to get a individualized curriculum for each struggling child. A teacher would miss that cute little dance that sent my heart flying. Teaching your own kids is not always easy and sometimes even the best scheduled plans and the most researched curriculum might need adjustment, but isn't that the best part? As homeschoolers we can do exactly what is best for our children. And sometimes the best things in homeschool are FREE!

Check out Erica's new printables here: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/09/1-20-writing-practice.html

Emma's Sensory Boxes

My sensory boxes are finally taking shape. I have decided to make my boxes with single color themes and a few season/holiday boxes as well.

I started the boxes by selecting a base product and color for each box. Pasta, rice, split peas and beans are a few awesome base products. The nice thing about using pasta and rice is that you can dye it any color. I used cous cous for the brown and it took the dye perfectly and ended up as our favorite base because it feels like sand or dirt and looks great in the box.



For my pink box I used a mix of white and brown rice because I thought the two varieties would pick up the dye differently and and visual interest.



I started by mixing food coloring to rubbing alcohol. I tried using vinegar, but it made the pasta sticky.



The process was to add the base product to a gallon ziplock then pour the food coloring and rubbing alcohol mixture and shake. I let it all sit in the baggie for about 30 minutes flipping it over every 10 minutes or so to make sure the pasta got an even coat.

Then you pour it out onto a cookie sheet to dry like you see with the orange pasta below. While the pasta is on the cookie sheet you can add essential oils or candle scent to make your base product smell good too!





I used Orange essential oil for the orange pasta, mint for the green split peas, pumpkin pie spice for the brown, Grape for the purple, lemon for the yellow, and apple spice for the red.

The next stage was the hardest! Finding interesting trinkets that encourage the use of all of your child's senses can be trying! I added a lot of textures by adding pom pom's, curled ribbon, buttons, a bowl and some type of scoop, painted letters and shapes, toys and trinkets to each box. As we go through them I will add something that Emma can taste to each box.


I prepped our fall box to go the extra mile by finding some apples, Thanksgiving and Halloween trinkets to add and remove as the holidays come and go. One of the activities will be to identify the new items and the missing items!

I am putting the finishing touches on the boxes and then they will go into the storage closet and come out one at a time. Emma, Ava and Owen got a hold of the "pink" box tonight as I was working on assembling all the boxes. They immediately instigated a 2 hour exploring session and a lot of begging for school to have a Sunday school day added to our week!

Our Curriculum Part 2 (Kinder and Tot)

This year I decided to do Kindergarten with both Ava and Owen. Ava is a little young but she wants to do what Owen is doing and as long as she is able to do the work I can't think of a good reason to say no. With the program I have put together I think she will do fine. I can always do a different Kindergarten with her next year if necessary. Emma is going to do a pre/tot school along with us and is proudly sporting her own desk and set of workboxes.

Our day starts with circle and board work with all the kids. We review the weather and are keeping a graph. We discuss the month, day, and year and the pattern our colored numbers are creating. We have a shape, color and a journal as well. The little kids and I do our journal as a discussion and Wyatt is required to write his out. We also do our scripture reading at this time.


We move to our separate work stations after circle time. We are using Bob Jones, "K5 Beginnings" for our base curriculum. I love everything I have used from them in the past with my older son. The Kindergarten math book even has a farm theme! It is perfect for our one room schoolhouse! The social studies program is worked in and so we are learning about towns and careers. Here is our board and our "houses" and the kids in their fire hats:






The "Beginnings" program introduces two letters a week. Owen and Ava already have a pretty solid foundation with letters and sounds from using Erica's, at Confessions Of A Homeschooler's, wonderful letter of the week program. You can find it here:
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/ . The kids and I enjoyed her printables so much that I am using them again as reinforcement for Owen and Ava. Emma can do some of her printables so I fill her boxes as she is able. I have laminated some of her sheets for each letter so they are more durable and can be used over and over and the others I use as worksheets and add to their binders. The kids love these and look forward to finding them in the workboxes.


For our bible portion besides the scripture reading we do during our morning circle and board work time, they have a scripture memory verse from Jolanthe at:
http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/, they are awana's printables. The printables are easy and cute and a blessing because all my kids are loving the little photo albums she suggested using.

This week was amazing. It went really well and was much smoother than I had anticipated. The kids and I enjoyed it and they begged for more each day when we wrapped up. We laughed a lot and had no tears! Among so many other things we learned about our families. Owen and Ava made family photo albums:








They were both very proud of their work. Owen had everyone in a cowboy hat, everyone but Ava because "she is a princess". Ava was hysterical! She had a long dramatic story for each picture. One of Sarah playing volleyball, sick with "green chicken spots", one of Anna crying because "you forgot her in the car and went shopping (has never happened by the way)".

The only foreseeable problem is that I am a curriculum junkie. I am always looking and needing more. I spent last weekend and I anticipate spending this one searching, finding, printing and laminating. I never have enough! I am finishing up some sensory boxes and holiday theme kits and some activities for Emma's tot school and then I need an intervention!

Our Curriculum

I was so nervous about this year. Starting homeschool with a repeat second grader seemed almost easy. He already knew his numbers, he knew how to read. It was just adding to the skills, reteaching some basics and behavior control with him. This kindergarten thing was a whole new ball game. I was going to be responsible for everything. I needed to be ready to teach letters, numbers and all the basics of how to put it all together. If they did not get it or there were mistakes it was all on me. No teacher to blame. For some reason it was overwhelming to me in a way remediating second grade never was. I have spent countless ours researching, reading and shopping. It is a lot of information so I am going to break it into two posts. Here is how it all came together for third grade.
For Wyatt's third grade year we are doing Sonlight http://www.sonlight.com/3.html . We absolutely loved Sonlight for second grade. The program consists of history textbooks followed by novels that reinforce what you have learned. Wyatt's retention went through the roof last year with the stories from the novels acting as a trigger for all the real information. I learned and remembered as much as he did and way more than I learned as a child. Jacob is 4 grades ahead of Wyatt and in a private school for junior high. Every year the two boys are studying the same time frame in history. Sonlights books are more thorough, more interesting and Wyatt's retention is better than Jake's. Jacob actually borrows our books in his spare time and complains his are boring by comparison. That is by far the best indication of a great curriculum if you ask me.

We are also using the Homeschool In The Woods Time Travelers Series, http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/ , If you have never seen her stuff you have to check it out. We did her Old Testament package last year and LOVED it! The artwork is amazing. Jacob and Sarah would come home and beg for me to print them out copies and I will confess I even printed some for myself because the lapbook was so beautiful when it was all put together. I felt like a real artist. This year we are doing the Time Travelers starting with the Explorers and working our way along with our Sonlight history. Her materials are really a stand alone product and they are serving the purpose of filling in gaps and giving us a deeper knowledge of some time periods. Wyatt is feeling like the smartest 3rd grader ever which is a real change after so many years struggling in school. I knew it would be a hit with Wyatt because it is so hands on, but I can't describe the joy in this kids heart when he is working on this material. He does the reading, completes some projects for his notebook and gets to do things like tying sailors knots and building a ship out of boxes. Here are a few shots of him in action.

Here Wyatt is tying knots and coloring maps.

I am not a huge fan of Sonlight for language arts. Wyatt needs a more solid program. I decided on Bob Jones for English with Spelling, Vocabulary and a Daily Language Review by Evan Moore. I think it is a solid routine and he has a much better grasp since we switched.

Math is Bob Jones as well and I love their books. The materials are thorough, colorful and well laid out. http://www.bjupress.com/category/Grade+3+Materials+for+Homeschool?path=1048. He was very behind in math when we started homeschool and we caught him up and he is loving math, where it was a struggle before.

Science for Wyatt is really extensive this year. I purchased Jeannie Fulbright's "Exploring Creation With Astronomy" http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/astronomy , we have used her books before and really enjoyed the immersion approach. Then I ordered my Sonlight and it came with a biology and life science curriculum. Wyatt could not decide so he decided to do it all. Sonlight uses a lot of Usborn book which are just plain fun and this science also has a Lyrical Life book with a CD of songs, a big hit here on the farm. So we are doing biology, life and astronomy with notebooking to boot!!!

Our Bible is a group subject so we read and discuss, but then I was blog surfing my favorites and I hit the gold mine. Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has created a whole system for scripture memorization that follows Awana. We do not do Awana at church but the kids will be doing her program at home. Check it out along with her other amazing ideas and printables at, http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/search?q=awana .

Our last subject will be foreign language. We were planning on doing Prima Latina for Latin but Robert was debating between Latin and Spanish. I have a week or two to decide so I will be praying on it!

So add that to some lapbooks, crafts, nature journals, field trips and centers and we will have a awesome school year! So far it is all fun and exciting. Wyatt is doing great and we are both having a blast. I tell you by the time I am done teaching him I am going to be a genius!

Fargo Farms Elementary: Our Classroom

I have been working day and night to revamp our classroom and get ready for the new school year. Last year we had difficulty keeping things moving. I have one little chicken that is a challenge and he could stretch one days work out for a week. This year we are trying the workbox system and loving it. It is keeping us on track and motivated.



This side of the room is the little guys. They all have their own desk and set of workboxes.



If you are not familiar with the system, each drawer gets a single assignment and all the tools needed to complete the work. I redesigned the system a bit and instead of stacking the completed boxes as they work through them, my guys remove the numbered tag on each drawer and add it to the chart above their desk as they complete the work. I searched the Internet for personalized the tags for fun. Little princess here got princess tags and Big O and Wyatt got transformers. I finally figured out how to make them on my own and so I also made holiday tags for all the kids.


Each one of them gets two help tags for work they need help with and two potty tags for extra potty breaks if needed. The little guys don't need the help tags yet because I am working with them the whole time but it does cut down on interruptions when they are working independently. If they start to interrupt Wyatt's lesson I ask if they need to use a help tag and they get very quiet (they initiated a contest to see who can keep their help tags)

Wyatt's desk is on the opposite wall so he won't be distracted by all the ruckus over in kindergarten.


His number tags are on the left and "work with mom" tags are on the right for the boxes I need to instruct him on. He uses his helps no problem, but it is keeping him going because he slaps a work with mom tag on the box and moves on instead of waiting for me.


Our bookcase holds all the books and some games for the year. We also have a cabinet there for our manipulative's and a rolling cart with our file folder centers, listening centers and nap mats.
I decided getting them up and moving would break up the monotony so I set up a center desk where they work on any projects or center work.

As we work through Kindergarten we get two letters to focus on a week. I will be reinforcing those with our favorite letter of the week curriculum. I did this curriculum last year and over the summer with Owen but it is fun and he loves it so it will be going in our boxes again this year. Emma will be doing it along with us for Pre-K. As they master each letter they will add that letter to the tree in their color, blue for Owen, Pink for Ava and yellow for Emma. If you have not seen it check it out at http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/ Erica is amazing and all her printables are free, although you can buy them for $10.00, which I did after borrowing from her for a year!

Last but not least is my desk. It is a big mess as I try to get all the worksheets organized for so many kidlets. I need a few shelves up above there I think.

So there it is our classroom 2010. I am really excited for the year and will be posting our curriculum choices this week along with some action shots of our first days. Hope everyone has a marvelous school year!