Thursday, February 9, 2012

Homeschooling = constant change

Happenings In Our Life

Falcon was super excited to see his face in the paper for the marketing add the library used him in. He is also on a big poster in all the libraries. All the librarians at the branch we frequent made a HUGE fuss over him when we came in today for one of the homeschool events I host. They asked him to sign the poster under his picture and quote. I also won a $25 dollar gift card in a drawing so I picked that up as well. So funny that all these cool things happened to us. It does make me a little uneasy though (I am a glass is half empty kinda girl) so I can't help shake the feeling that if its to good to be true then it is, and I am preparing for the bad news that may come my way.

When I picking up my husband from our office building I noticed a beat up SUV pulled up with a chair strapped to the roof. I found it very strange and because our AC unit and generator are in the back I decided to drive around and check it out. The man was facing the generator with his hands down near his crotch, then I notice he was peeing! Really? in broad daylight during business hours right near a gas station he could have used. Then he glares at ME, like I was being rude watching him! So gross!

Our New Homeschool ideas
Last week was a rough on so I decided to switch things up a bi. One of the joys of homeschooling is constantly changing and making things new to keep interests peeked.

Changes in Falcons week...
I decided to write out all the assignments I wanted him to complete this week and when ever he finished them he could be done with school work for the rest of the week then start his vacation early. (We school on a 6 weeks on 1 week off rotation and this week was week 6)Papabird decided to sweeten the deal up some more and tell Falcon that if he gets all his work done by Thursday he will buy him the Star Wars game he has been wanting all week.I am happy to say he succeeded and wants to try this new routine every week.

Left side of the dry erase board has his lessons the number next to it lets him know how many lessons he needs to do for each to be complete. He asked to watch

So I took off an English lesson, I didn't want him to feel he couldn't do something educational if he wanted too and have his other work pile up.
The projects on the right are things I needed to do with him. His journalism project was so fun, we watched the American girl Kit movie last week so his assignment was to capture some news and write an article on it. He dids a great job He took pictures of Robin playing diner with Duck and wrote and article on a new restaurant that just opened.


Changes in Robin's week...
I used a lesson planner that I bought a long time ago and things went very well. I usually don't do lesson plans but I really felt like it kept me on task and that I didn't get to busy with the other 3 kids and let her schooling slide. We got a lot done so I plan to continue with this next week.

Robin doing yoga in the playroom

Changes in Duck and Owl's week...
We started letter of the week making sure we focus on a letter (b), shape (triangle), color (orange) and theme, his weeks theme was Sharks. Duck for the first time actually showed interest in learning when were were at the library last weekend and wanted books on sharks. He helped me pick them out, check them out and carry them to the car. I was just elated that he wanted to learn.

I stayed up late on Sunday night making these

I searched for the right clip art, printed, colored, and then laminated them!

We also started learning Spanish as a family due to our company landing some big South American Clients which he will be soon taking a trip to.

8 comments:

MommyKuehner said...

How cool!! I love the ideas. Those sharks are cute. We are going to change some things up...again. I figure we actually have met our state requirements for the school year, so the next couple months we are going to experiment with some things. And see if we can't find a better "groove".

dmauton said...

I love the ideas you shared. And I love the flexibility to change things up also. Good luck with the rest of your school year.

Chaos Cottage said...

So sweet that you have a "Robyn" too. Mine spells her name with the "Y", and we sometimes call her songbird. Have a great weekend.

Julie said...

My son likes to decide what order to do his assignments in. Still he tries to avoid subjects he doesn't like.
I like change when things don't flow.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Lisa Boyle said...

I love the sharks! Very creative! It is definitely a blessing of homeschool to be able to adjust and change things as we see fit and what suits our children best. :-) Hope you have a great weekend! Many blessings, Lisa

Unknown said...

Don't you love a whiteboard? I have a big one and individual ones for each of the kids! It saves on paper...and there's something about wiping off those things that you complete at the end of the day (since we use the big one for daily assignments). Thanks for stopping by! Lets hope spring comes early for more time outside!

B. Martin said...

I love that in homeschooling things can change to best serve the kiddos. I would be interested in learning more about your schedule. I think that,that is what we are aiming for with our homeschooling.

Becca said...

Thanks for sharing the Discovery DVD. Going to track it down for our own use. So awesome your changes led to a good week!