This Week in Homeschooling

Extra-Curricular Activities

Homeschooling isn’t always about being at home. Because we control our schedule, we can fit in all kinds of field trips, classes, and play dates. We’re able to give the kids quality family time, as well as eye-opening “real world” experiences and time with their peers.

We’ve got several activities planned for Isaac and Simon this fall, with the intention of developing their natural gifts and interests, giving them time with adult role models and instructors other than Mom, and providing an opportunity to get to know some of their peers in the community.

Isaac is taking junior karate lessons at the Round Kick Gym in Carroll on Thursday evenings. He’s also participating in the Outdoor Adventures Club on Mondays and the Carroll Champs 4H club. Starting in September, he’ll be part of a First LEGO League team with other homeschoolers.

Simon is taking art lessons on Tuesday evenings from Laura Comito at the Artworks Studio. I took lessons from Laura many years ago and still has fond memories of putting construction paper in the blender and weaving yarn and sticks.

Did You Know?

We learned some pretty cool stuff this week, which, in an ideal world, the kids would be able to affirm by answering these questions correctly:

What are the first 14 books of the Bible?
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles

What are the two rivers that supply the Fertile Crescent with water?

Tigris and Euphrates

What was the earliest form of writing called, and why was it called that?

Cuneiform, which means wedge-shaped, because the writing was done with a stylus on a clay tablet, forming wedge-shaped marks in the clay

What  We’re Learning

This week, we learned what happened after the Flood – how the world changed and the population grew, and how the earliest forms of writing developed. We reviewed the story of the Tower of Babel, and we talked about how people dispersed from Mesopotamia across the globe.

We also did some experiments with light, including cracking Wint-O-Greens in the coat closet to see the sparks and hiding a penny under a glass of water.

The boys practiced drawing ellipses for art class, and Esme learned the letters “i” and “d.”

Spotlight: Staying Organized

Keeping everyone organized and on track during the school day can be a challenge - or, it was a challenge, until we discovered Sue Patrick’s workbox system (http://www.workboxsystem.com/).

Sue Patrick developed this system for use with her own kids, and it’s designed especially for children with ADD, ADHD, Autism, and for large families. The goal of the system is to gear children toward “independence and greater focus.”

Basically, I stick each assignment in a clear plastic shoebox, then number them in the order in which they are to be completed using Velcro numbers. Once someone finishes an assignment, they stick the Velcro number on their clipboard (which has Velcro spots for each number), so they can keep track of their progress throughout the day.

We don’t have a lot of work that’s completely independent, but the workbox system has been very effective during our group time, and the kids love having a visual representation of what they’ve accomplished and what they have left to do.

I also fill out a personalized agenda for each child for each day, which they haven’t been paying much attention to. It’s great for me, though, and a good way of recording our progress for posterity.

Where is the “classroom”?

Last year, our classroom was almost exclusively downstairs. That’s still our headquarters, but we usually move upstairs mid-morning, because the change of scenery helps the kids re-focus, and it’s nice to be up in the sunlight. We do our Bible study together in a circle, using some comfy chairs and a loveseat downstairs, then we work for a while at the dining room table. In the afternoon, we usually do our read-alouds and independent reading in the living room so we can spread out and lounge.