These are there Binders- (I used this system from 2012-2013) I do it a little different now 2013-2014- 

There are many other forms of this kind of "idea" out there. I have seen it done with boxes or drawers but I did not want to spend that much, nor do I have that much space. So I came up with these, and they are working GREAT for us.

What they are- these are where I list many activities that they can do on their own (mostly) Many school things we do together, but I like to spend time with each boy 1-2 times a week so in here are a ray of activities that are educational, they can do on there own. (although Ryan does Lots of things in his binder with me)
In the binder there are tabs for different subjects. Under each tab there is a large wipe off card (a piece of paper I made with a title and image that matches then I laminated it) On this card is a list of things they can choose to do in that subject. For example, for Ethan, under math, he can do a math puzzle, or activity math worksheet, or play a dice math game. Under spelling he can practice his words with stamps, finger paints of letter tiles. For Aaron under Math he can play a shapes pattern game, do a addition puzzle, or do a dot to dot page. Under Letters he can do letters with bend-a-roos, or do his letter sticker book etc. Ryan under shapes, he can play a shapes game, do a shapes activity page or under colors, he can do a color matching game or do his color sticker book .... get the idea here?

I try to list 3-4 things (for Ryan and Aaron 2-3 to many choices can be overwhelling) in each subject. Depending on how much we use the binders thy activities in them will last 3-5 weeks. Then I wip off the cards and put on new ideas. (I get the idea from my master ideas list- which is still in the process of developing, and I think will constantly be growing)

In side the front of their binders is this 9 pocket page protector, the top row they put the day of the week, the weather, and there "job" for the week (Ryan needs help but loves this) The boys loved doing the weather, and having jobs in preschool so we kept that and it has worked out well. The rest of the pockets is where they "plan there activities"
In their binder there is a packet full of cards one representing all the different topics they have a tab for, Some are the same for each boy some are different. They also have the job, weather and days of the week cards. From this they pick what subject they want to do in what order. Then when they use their binder they go to that tab and from the list on the wipe off card they pick what they want to do. When they are done they turn the card over. Once all the cards are done, they can re-set their binders.

In the morning when I set the daily schedule, the boys get their "schedules set" remember this is just for binder activites only, so when the Main calender says "stations" with the binder picture they pull these out. I hope this makes sense.
I got MANY ideas from this book click HERE on activities for them to do, I also have lots of preschool/parent kid books and many I just came up with. If you want ideas let me know and I can email you my lists. These things do not have to be big, the idea is for them do learn to plan, do and return and report on there own goals. The focus is getting self motivated, and involved and entertained while I work with another child or pay bills, or something like that. We do not do these everyday, but most days we do. They do not work from them for long periods at a time, the activities in them are short 15-30 minutes tops. But they are a great for keeping them focused. If you have ANY questions about this system PLEASE ASK!

Curriculim for 2012-2013

Our Study for this year......

our Main focus this year is Animals and their Worlds. This is a Charlotte Mason based Curriculum By Winter Promise- for more info click HERE there programs are not the cheapest so I just got the main activity book, and the coordinating animals spiritual thought book. Although I sure wish I had the teacher guide book. In the student activity book (that big binder) it gives, animals, trees, habitates etc to study, activities and experiments to do. Questions to answer things to think about it really is great. We just get books from the Library (or at least try to, don't get me started on how lame our Library is here) we also use the internet for fun animal videos etc. The kids made there own animal journal books and use them for all the activities.

This Animals bible story book is GREAT! you can get it on Amazon Click HERE to check it out. For example today we read about "the busy beaver" it talks about beavers and what they do, and how hard working they are, it teaches how we can learn from the beaver and try to work hard even when we are tired or board. Then their is a scripture, but I usually look it up in the actual bible instead. The art work is really great too. (for ages 5-10+)

READING

I have never done any formal lessons or phonics lessons with any of my boys.

I do have them watch The Baby can read movies - click HERE this is NOT Charlotte Mason biased, but we have them, and I think they help so we still use them. They are movies that "train" the brain to memorize words well. Now, let me just say I have NO desire for my kids to read at lightning speed or to be reading at HS level in elementary school. The soul reason I bought these (used on ebay) was because the guy who developed them talked about it virtually eliminating the reading disability of dyslexia. I have dyslexia and struggled all my life, and hated school. If I could change that now for my kids was going to. and I did. I DO NOT fallow the whole program, my boys (Ethan and Aaron) all watched the movie once a day or less- and we did the flash cards or books regularly- not every day. Now Ryan and Dallin do the same thing. Ryan is starting to recognize words, Dallin, can sign "more" ha ha. (has nothing to do with these movies though)

we also read books. all. the. time....

and I did get a book THIS file folder games book they are fun. I again, no formal lessons just learning from life, books and games. As we read, do letter puzzles, we talk about the "phonics rules" but no offical lessons. It has worked well for us.

Ethan, who started reading pre-school, and fully by the end of Kindergarten is now 2nd grade- (age 7) and is ripping through 3-4 grade reading level books in 30-60 minutes.

Aaron (kindergarten- age 5, and had been diagnosed with ADHD) started readind some words in preschool ans is now reading at a 1-2 grade reading level, and really taking off.

This is also a reading "program" set of books that I can across when reading with Aaron, and I really love them They are called Now I am reading - click HERE to check them out. Each set is a group of 10 little books. They start from pre-readers and progress through the levels to independent readers. Aaron really loves them, and Ryan (is not reading on his own much yet) but will point to the word and say it after me. He really loves them too. There is a place the kids can put a sticker when they read the book, they are funny to read, and the art work is great too. I got these on Amazon and also a set of three of them on ebay. All used.

MATH

For Math we use a program called Math - u see click HERE for more info

I love this math program, plain and simple. That is what it is. It teaches math in the most clear way. The lessons are short, the work for the kids is short. Math is the only officle lesson that we do every day, and the kids are really getting it. The teachers DVD's are great for the kids, they watch him teach the lesson (we stop and talk about it along the way) and they do it. If they have questions they ask. But the directions are so easy and simple and with the blocks they can visually work everything out. I love it, and I am glad it goes up all through HS math too.

Other Subjects- for fun -

those are our main subjects, we read, and do math every day. Animals lessons we to twice a week then other lessons we have do 1 time a week or every 2 weeks are they are; Science, Art, Sign Language, geography (have not started yet) music, and Language Arts.

Language Arts-

I do a this book a well Trained Mind - click HERE with Ethan, (note this book is level 1 only the book I have is grade 1 & 2 together) but I only do it 1 lesson a week or every couple weeks. Charlotte Mason style does not start formal Language Arts lessons until grade 3. She says to focus more on developing a love for learning, as well as good Habits. Her thoughts are that teaching these things at this young of a age is just pouring facts that they do not fully understand in their head. If you wait until they are older they get it, and they get it fast and there is no need to repeat year after year. Same with spelling. So, we do this lightly just as an introduction. I like the book nice short lessons. The poems in it are dumb though. I don't do them. But I like how it is laid out and quick to do. I do not fallow all the activites, but the basic instruction for the lessons I like, esspecially since I know I am BAD at Language arts :) ha ha

PE- the boys do a PE- for Homeschoolers program at the YMCA and they LOVE it!

they get to play all kinds of sports with other homeschooling kids, and they have a ton of fun.

There is also another group of kids that gets to gether once a week that homeschool in the area and do physical activites too. Plus our Church Homeschool group does feild trips/activites once a month too!

Sign Language- I love it! I have taught all the kids sign when they were babies, they all dropped it when they started talking, but we are getting back into it, and it is fun to do with the boys. We have these DVD's and I love them- the creator is also LDS :) we do this 2 times a month - but practice more then that just for fun casually.
Science-

this is a Winter Promise (same company as my main curriculum) program. Is is Nature and science program. There is a teacher book that tell me just what to do, and what books what pages and what activities to do. I love it, there is no work for me there programs are really great. I got this set used on ebay. The kids made Science Notebooks with lined and plain paper. (I LOVE MY LAMINATE AND BOOK BINDING MACHINES) 
Art and Music-

nothing formal here, we go with the flow, play-dough, paint, marker, whatever they want. Sometimes we play music, sometimes we dance and listen to it. When they get older we will start doing picture study with art (I think next year) and also music study- and learn different artists. Right now it is all about loving the atmophere of learning, and developing good habits (more on that in posts to come).
this is not easy... homeschooling.... but I love it, it is extreamly rewarding because I know it is what right for may family, and I love learning right along with them.

I love my boys...

Penguins & Arctic Study

For the past couple months we have been doing Artic Animal study we learned about a lot of different animals, that live in the Artic, but penguins and polar bears were the favorites. My kids really love penguins so we did more activities for this animal then other Arctic animals. At the end of learning about them we watched the movie March of the Penguins. 

This was a craft where you make the outside shape of half a penguin and then fold it in half. To make a whole penguin. Then they used cotton balls to make snow, Ryan's has en egg in his pouch, and Aaron's is in a wind and snow storm, and Ethan's is on an ice burg.

To also help learn some basic "creative" skills we made these stuffed penguins. The boys designed them. I drew it out on packing paper then we used that as a pattern to cut out and sew together our penguins. The boys were really involved with this, I was thinking of doing a basic square or rectangle with the colors of a penguin and we could add a face but noooo, they wanted it shaped like a penguin. Then Ryan said he wanted a pouch to put the egg in, and Aaron wanted a fish to feed his penguin. This project took way way way longer then I had intended, but it was great to see them involved, they also sat with me and help sew them, they stuffed them, and played with them tons, and now sleep with them too. 

one side of the baby is an egg the other side a baby penguin- that was my addition to the ideas flowing... love love love fostering creativity and showing them how they can make things happen. Ethan designed the feet idea too.

not really at all about animals, but just for fun since we were learning about snowy places. Bananas, apple, grape, carrots and raisins. Saw this in family fun magazine, and I did it with out candy :)

We also learned about polar bears this were some cute masks I saw on pinterest, made with a paper plates, Popsicle stick, cotton balls, felt for the nose, and you mix shaving cream and Elmer's glue I think they said equal parts but I just guessed, it did take a long time to dry but was really fun.

we also watched Arctic Tale at the end of our Arctic Study.

Preschool Learning- through organized play...

I do not have a fancy degree in child learning, I did take a child Development class in college but I honestly remember very little. I am reading a book called "Tools of the Mind" which is interesting but also seems to find a lot of "deep science" type studies from what seems like common sense to me. But there are also some great things I have learned that I did not know. It is not an easy read though- very thick with science terms and facts, and fancy words! 

One of the things I read in there was the power of organized play, and to be honest I think they had a more fancy term for it. But that is what I like to call it. What you do is give the child 2-3 options of things to play with. Things that flexible in play, and can be used in many ways. Blocks, containers etc. They get to use great development skills by looking at each option, and then making a choice. 

 Then they are Free to play as they want,  but they are to clean up, before moving on, and there may also be a time limit as well (keeping the idea organized) but still giving them freedom to be creative. There are to be no other things/toys around them, this helps them to stay focused on this creative play. Also to clean up when done teaches them to take care of there things. The time limit helps them to learn  and understand that time is in periods or segments.

 We do this organized play at times when I am working with another boy, these ideas that Ryan can choose from are listed in his binder, I do help him see his options and he picks then plays. Cleans up (not always happy about that). He goes get much Total free play as well.

 Some things he likes are the containers and mini animals, I got those at ikea, really cute. He loves them. Here he is playing in our rice box. Cost $6 bucks, $1 for the container, $1 for the plastic bugs, $1 for plastic lizards $1 for the shovel and rake and $2 for the rice.

 Another activity he likes to do is draw with chalk, he is free to do what he wants but I give him letter cards too if he wants to use them. He drew the letters ridding a roller coaster!

Binder Activities ....

People always ask me IF I teach all my kids together or not, and my answer is yes... and no....

I do some things at the same time- Like Math- but they are all in different work books. Our unit Animal studies, science and art we do together, but Language arts, and reading I do with each boy. So then comes the question "what do you do with the others while you are working with one kid?" I say.... they do a Binder Activity (see page My Home School Style) I will do another post later about the Binder in more details) In short it is a binder with all different activities for them that they can do under different subjects while I work with others. They can be done by themselves or with another child that I am not working with.

Here is Ethan working on a puzzle and reading THIS book- we love this book- it comes with a puzzle and also a place for them to collect quarters for each state
Here is Aaron and Ryan working with the Draw right Now books - I got this set on ebay used for about $5 a book. I worked with Ryan while the other boys did there own. These are a fun way for kids to practice writing skills. They have step by step for drawing then they write the fun facts about the animal or things in the picture. I do not have all the kids write everything. Ryan does some letters, Aaron one line Ethan does 2-3 lines.

Boys playing with THESE wooden shapes They boys got these as gift a couple years ago
I have shared this idea before... these are Bendaroos - I got these on ebay- but you can also get them on amazon. I got a ebook that I printed off as well with letters, numbers, shapes, dot to dots and more templates. They also like to build all kinds of things with them.
Math Building- This is where Ethan builds things with coins and then adds up the sum of what he built. He has made a pizza, a robot, among others.
just a few of the ideas that I put into the binders. I put new ideas every month or so, to keep things fun, and yes I do use the same ideas over and over again-

My Alphabet TREE!

I do Letter study with Ryan each week, sometimes we focus on a new letter, sometimes we review. It just depends on what goes along with what we are learning about in our unit study and what letters he seems to have down.

Each week we read Chick-a-Chick-a BOOM BOOM and we put a letter on the TREE (see above) this tree is in his room so he can see it through out the day. I made this with packing paper and green paper and tape. The letters I got from Confessions of a Homeschooler blog

most people have their kids learn capitals first then lowercase. I do not understand this because we really do not use Capitals much, then you have to go back and remember what capitals match what lowercase. So I teach my kids both at the same time. We have Big "A" and little "a" it may take longer- I am not really sure, but it works better in my mind. I felt with my first I was having to "detox" him from writing all CAPS all the time. My second did well with this, so I am keeping with it. It just makes sense to me.

Anyway- we read the book then put the letters on the tree, and study that letter that week.

We love this!

W is for .....

We have been learning about Arctic Animals- and for Ryan we have done this week with a focus on the letter W

I did not take many pictures but here is a handful if ideas that I did over these past couple weeks

W is for Water

W is for Waffles

W is for Wolf (Arctic wolf)

W is for Walrus

W is for Watermelon- we did a couple activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler and of course eat watermelon!

we talked about W for a couple weeks because we also reviewed past letters some days too Ryan also got this mixed up with M a lot and also Mixes F and T (lower case) so we took W slow and reviewed along the way- it worked well.

We always read books every day. I try to pic ones that have the letter we are learning about, as we read I ask him to find that letter for example W, and I will ask him past letter too. I make this a game, and say "now it is my turn to spy letters", etc. He really likes it
I really love THIS book I picked it up on sale a few years back from scholastic when my kids did go to public school it has become one of our favorites. It has LOTS of W but not so many you feel like you are saying them all the time. There are repeated phrases and it is a really fun story too.

that is our week of W in a nut shell.

In side our schoolroom

These are not really very good pictures- but they are better then nothing. I put a lot of thought into our schoolroom and I really like it. I wanted something, clean, and cozy yet fun and inspiring too. On the walls we have our calendar, and schedule (see my page My home school style for details on that) our white board, and a clip board that I painted and added ribbons too. It holds a picture that has a saying that goes along with the Good Habit we are trying to develop it stays until we move on to the next one. This ones says I can be polite, because we were learning to develop good manners, the one we have now says " I can Obey" as we are learning about Obedience. These pictures are from an ebook that I got on line. The bookshelves I got at Aldi years ago, and painted them, and made new covers to hold the books I LOVE these book shelves they are easy for the kids to take care of. The wood chest holds many of our games and puzzles we use for school and I also painted that too. Our reading tent is made of a hoola-hoop old sheets and curtains that I cut into strips (raw edges showing) and then I topped it with some fun shapes and a monkey. I also make some throw pillows and a reading mat.
Here we have our picture study frame, and our US map and my favorite thing in my whole school room is my quote "Education is an Atmosphere a Discipline a life" by Charlotte Mason. I did this with a stencil, dark brown fabric and I glued it with LIGHTLY using Elmer's glue.
Here is our ART wall, I used light rope from JoAnn's, fabric shapes with ribbon and buttons, they are held up with sticky hooks, and then ART is above it with fabric like I did the quote. The desks are Ikea table top we make and painted the legs and chairs are Ikea too.

We keep most of our school supplies in the closet of my office in the room right next to us. But we really do use our school room every day and I love it.

Snowflakes

We have been learning about animal life in the cold areas of the world like the Artic Tundra and Antartica. Our curriculum has us do a few snow activites and since we live where this is.no.snow.... we make our own!!!! thank goodness for snow cone maching! ha haThe boys measuring snow, then they measured it again when it had melted. They also like to play in it for fun.
We made snow flakes our of pasta, and decorated the house with them, we also read THIS wonderful book on snowflake Bentley.
We also have and read THIS book about what snowmen do at night - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book! There is another one about what snowmen do at christmas time which is also really cute

we have still lots more artic winter study lessons to come!

M is for....

MOOSE!!!!

we learned about moose, and read if you give a moose a muffin and make orange muffins.

we did other things to but I really can't remember them.... this is what happens when I wait sooo long to post about school.

the boys LOVE LOVE LOVED this activity, we took shirts we had, I did have to buy a couple at Walmart, then we used their foot for the head, there hands for the antlers and then finger for eyes, the end of a paint brush for the inside of the eye and mouth.

the kids LOVE these- I love art that they wear and use, instead of just going on the wall and then into a book or the trash.

Preschool activites + spelling Activity

So I am always looking for fun ideas to put in the kids Binders for things for them to do "independently" while I work with other kids. I have seen a lot of these "dot a dot" books and thought the kids wold love them but did not want to pay the $13+ for a set of dot markers + books. I was supper stoked when I found BINGO makers at the 1.00 store. I kid you not they are the same thing! So I picked myself up four bright colors and an ABC dot book for $5 bucks from amazon and I am happy about that!

although the kids just like writing with them and making letters using dots with out the book.

they call it adding "Christmas lights" ha ha!

Ethan enjoys practicing his spelling using these "marker paints"

totally worth it.

p.s I have no idea if this ink get out of clothes... just something to keep in mind

Here Ryan is sorting the math blocks into blows- then when he is done he uses them to build and create- he got board with sorting after just about 5 minutes- but that is 5 minutes of working on the skill, so I will take it! and building and creating is developing great skills too, even if all be builds are guns... thank you Star Wars....

Science Activies...

My kids LOVE science, we only do official science lessons 1-2 times a week because our main unit study, is All about animals and nature so that itself includes a lot of science.

we use Winter Promises Science program. (click for a link) the one we are using this year is a little different as I bought a used set of books+ teachers manuel on ebay. I love their programs and teachers manuals, so easy to use they have hands on easy things for kids to do, the lessons are not long, make prep easy for me!
Above: the boys learning about the length of days in the seasons, and the way the sun rotators, and the way the earth rotates.
Here we are learning about water/ice and salt, and how it effects causing ice to melt faster. The kids did an ice fishing activity- and really enjoyed it.
Here we talked about water and oil and how they don't mix and for fun we added alka seltzer to create bubbles, and talked about gas, since we could "see it" in the bubbles, this was part of our solids, liquid and gas section of our study- the kids LOVED this...
just a little pink into some of the things we did for science over the past few months