A "Typical" Day!

Another link up today!  We are sharing our "typical" school day schedule on the "Not Back to School" blog hop.  Pop on over here to see lots more ideas for scheduling your day!

We are a scheduled family, I know it's not for everyone but for us, it works.  My kids have been on a schedule (flexible but scheduled) since they were infants and I've found that for me, and for them, it's easier to know what's coming next.  So we carried that "flexible schedule" over into our school life too!  None of our days are exactly alike, that's what you get when you have 3 kiddos but here's a look at what a "typical" school day looks like for us!

We've tried a couple of different things, when we started the school year 3 weeks ago we schooled in two sessions, a "morning session" (during Abram's nap) and an "afternoon session" (when both Abram and Sophia were napping).  However, Abram then decided that he didn't need his morning nap anymore so we have rearranged a bit and now we just do it all in one sitting while the two little ones are napping in the afternoon!  I try to keep it to about an hour.

 We start our school day with calendar time.  This includes going over the weather, days of the week, months of the year, memory verse, and color of the day (which usually corresponds to whatever color shirt Amelia is wearing)! We are also putting together a 100 piece puzzle - one piece gets glued on for each day we do school!

 We are doing the workbox system this year and so far it's going really well!  Amelia loves that she knows what to do next and for the most part doesn't need a whole lot of guidance.  I change the activities daily but box #1 is always either a letter or number tracing page.  This week we are learning letter C and number 3!

 Box #2 today was putting together nuts and bolts.  Great for finger dexterity, and hand eye coordination.  Plus way inexpensive! :)

 Box #3 is our "heaviest" work and I always keep this in box #3 so if we don't get much else done at least we've gotten to this.  Amelia usually needs help with these workbooks more than the other boxes.  There are our Rod and Staff workbooks and so far I am LOVING them.  Amelia is learning left from right, sight words, coloring in the lines etc.  A great investment for sure!

 Box #4 is cutting practice

 Box #5 is ALWAYS story and a snack!  

 Box #6 is usually another "heavy" box.  This is another Rod and Staff workbook that Amelia needs help with.  We do this book twice a week, the other days we're working on an "All About Me" lap book so I always include the "Work With Mom" card (on the other side is a picture of her and me) in this box!

 Box #7 today was sorting Pom-poms by color, which is way too easy for her but she loves doing it!

 Box #8 is her pre-writing mazes!  Her very favorite thing and I must say, a great investment.  I'll be ordering the next level up for her in the coming months as she has wizzed through these faster than I thought she would (they are dry erase so she can do them over and over).

 Box #9 this time was lacing cards

Box #10 is pattern work with over-sized beads.  Sometimes she puts them on a string, sometimes she just lays them on the table.  

We school 4 days a week (M, W, Th, F), about an hour each day (sometimes less, sometimes more depending on Amelia's mood).  I am really liking our system thus far, it's not the same two days in a row so Amelia isn't getting bored.  And the work boxes vary from fun activities to activities that are actually challenging for her. 

Stay tuned later in the week for a guest post from Tim!

"Where" we homeschool!

We're linking up again with the "Not Back to School" blog hop.  This week is all about homeschool spaces!

 

 Our school "nook"!  This room doubles as our toy room so I can keep the "non-schooling" littles in sight while we do our work!

  

 This door is to the left of our school table and is referred to as the "school closet"

(it's secretly my favorite part of our house - because I get to keep it so organized!)

Inside the School Closet:

 We are currently using the workbox system, my oldest likes to be independent so this is one way that she can do that but still do the things that she needs to get done.  It's working for us thus far, as long as I remember to refill the boxes before she starts school the next morning! :)

 

Directly above Amelia's workboxes are more shelves.  The bottom shelf is current curriculum, plus file folders of current worksheets/lap-book materials etc.  The second shelf is mostly literature that we'll get to over the next several years, along with reference books, dictionaries etc.

 

To the left of those shelves are all our supplies!  I'm kind of an organizational freak (my label maker has been working overtime lately), so we have boxes for pretty much everything, stickers, felt, paint, manipulatives, beads, random craft supplies etc!  

 Directly across from Amelia's work boxes are more workboxes! :)  The girls know they are NOT to get into these drawers without permission.  The top left drawer is MY box!  It has things that the girls can't use, stapler, hole punch, grown-up scissors, etc.  The other large drawers are filled with Amelia's workbooks for school, construction paper, computer paper, scrap paper etc.  The drawers on the right side house things for the kids.  The top drawer has crayons/markers, then glue and scissors, dry erase supplies, etc.  The purple box in the middle is Sophia's drawer - she's not old enough to be doing school but wants to be involved so every day I put a special game or coloring book of some sort in there for her to do while we are working.  The bottom half of the drawers are full of file folders, notebook paper, etc.

On top of the large workboxes is our giant roll of paper, and above it (pictured in the picture above) are three hanging baskets, those hold our writing utensils, dry erase markers, pens, and pencils.

In need of more ideas for how to organize your school spaces?  Click on the button below!