We jumped back into school full swing this Monday! Our routine got tossed helter skelter towards the end of 2016 so mommy/teacher reworked lesson plans and a few other routines to make things flow more smoothly.
One of the most exciting things is the addition of our school cart. This enables the children to complete school work and my table to be free! I didn't mind doing school at the table but it was a constant juggle of "clean up school for breakfast/lunch/supper" and then get it all back out again.
The cart folds out in the back for more counter space and we already have the cabinets and drawers full! We used the cabinet for games as we'd outgrown our previous game storage cabinet. The drawers house card/handheld games, math blocks, and the kids' boogie boards. We love this! I call it the school island...Xavier got mixed up and called it the school ocean several times yesterday. Ha.
They have herd mentality - they all need to be at the cart together. Ha. We got 2 bar stools from friends and Mike cut them down to size. Right now we have one of mom's, too, so there are 3. Eventually I might look for some with backs, I'm not sure yet.
We were struggling to get everything done on days that we take Xavier to karate so I had to simplify out our lesson plans a little. I switched us up to do either Spanish or Science, not both every week, and doing those 2 subjects on just M-W-F (karate is on Tu/Th). This has helped immensely and I can already feel the difference in my attitude towards our workload on karate days. This means that we just have math and reading for each child daily, plus our history and Natalee's spelling. Natalee takes at least one subject with her to karate to keep up with her studies which helps.
We'd put Spanish completely to the side in Nov-Dec because I couldn't fit things all in so the kids have been very joyful to get back to it this week.
I've also vowed to be more intentional with the children's writing instruction this term. I was a little lax last term so we're buckling down. I presented them with new journals and today we wrote about their favorite thing that we did in 2016.
When writing in this journal we're working on everything. Punctuation, proper letter formation, and recording ideas. I gave the kids a writing prompt but made them use their phonics to fill in what they wanted to write. Today they enjoyed these journals - I hope that continues!
We like it when this guy sleeps during school. LOL. He's a very busy boy.
The last big idea we've added to our school routine is Morning Time. I needed something to ground us for the day, to center us and remind us why we're doing what we do. I spent a little time looking at what Morning Time is for other people, and developed what it needed to be for us. Day 3 was today and the kids were pestering me about if it was time for morning time yet! We do it after breakfast - if someone has a school subject out they stop and come to morning time. Period. Monday daddy was home and helped wrangle Zayden, yesterday Zayden danced and played during our morning time, and today he napped. Here is our morning time today...it's okay if you don't want to watch but if you do, don't judge! {Warning: I sing in this video.}
I made each child a folder with little tabs. They have this cover sheet (below) in the front and then a tab for the Doxology, a tab for their Hymns for the term, a tab with a page to write who they prayed for (we just jot whoever they prayed for on the same page everyday), and a tab for their Recitation verses (I typed them out in large font, 2 verses per page). My folder has an additional tab to jot down what I read aloud each day. Yes, I really did take a picture of the computer screen showing you our cover sheet. I'm that lazy...too lazy to get up and get out the folder and take real pictures for you!
I took the idea of beginning with the Doxology from a couple other moms. One said she could have opened in prayer but sometimes mornings are grumpy. You can pray through gritted, grouchy mom teeth, but it's harder to stay annoyed and grumpy when you sing the Doxology. She's right.
We do morning time before we leave for karate - that's the rule. Mom has to be up getting breakfast around, children have to be cooperative getting dressed and helping. Xavier is a late sleeper so this is incentive for him to be up and around on karate mornings. Here's how I explained it to him: we do morning time before we leave - even if that makes us late. Xavier doesn't like to be late, therefore I hope this will help him jump up and get his day started.
There ya have it. We're back at it, vowing to do our best everyday and letting God fill in the gaps!
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