Friday, August 12, 2011

A week in the life of homeschoolers - Week 2

What a week! It was filled with some stress and tears but we pulled through and the last couple of days have gone very well. 

So here is our week in the life of homeschoolers update week 2!

Monday: The kids worked on their workboxes. The week before they were getting through their stuff so quickly so I added several more boxes this week, well that was not a good idea (you will find out why on Tuesday)! They completed their work but there were many tears during the day (and not just from them).

Here is what was in their files (aka workboxes):

Gwyn: Handwriting, Spelling, Puzzle, Reading, Math, Computer time, Horse Unit Study, Playdough, Science/Geography (skipped), Spanish and Music. Gwyn is learning several short A words like mat, sat, bat, etc which are covered in her handwriting, spelling and reading.
Rowyn: Puzzle, Handwriting (Letter A), Reading, Coloring, Computer, Letter A Activity, Horse Unit Study, Playdough, Science/Geography (skipped), Spanish and Music.
Gwyn was not enjoying her mat, sat, pat, bat, handwriting worksheet!
Rowyn completing his ABC matchup puzzles.
Our workbox system which is really a filing system due to limited space.
Rowyns files.
Gwyns files.
How I store my labels for the files.
Rowyn doing music the computer.
Tuesday: Well we started out the day by baking a cake for daddy who turned 35. After the baking fun was over it was onto workboxes. The boxes were set up very similar to the day before but with some different worksheets, books, puzzles, coloring pages, etc. Again tears, frustration, whining. Well this new homeschooling mom did not realize that the added workboxes were the cause until I consulted some of my virtual veteran homeschooling friends (boy do I love facebook and twitter moms). So after we did 6 boxes we called it a day and skipped the rest. 
Measuring and Mixing!
Working on handwriting.
Making cards for daddy!
The finished cake complete with 35 candles!
And daddy loved the cake.
Wednesday: Well after two days of burnout for both the kids and I we decided to take advantage of the nice breeze and go on a nature walk field trip. We went to a local place that I found on the internet the night before. It is called Holy Family Campus and I found it on the Mountain Stewards website (click on mountain trails on the left, then Holy Family Church to view tail details). It is a a church property that is open to the public as a place for spiritual reflections, quiet solitude and enjoyment of nature. It is over 40 acres and includes: Nature and Historical Trails, two historical sites dated to the early 1800's and 1900's; the Labyrinth, the Fountain Garden, the Pavilion, the Memorial Garden lakes and more.  Well it was just what we needed. We covered science, geography, science and art. Update: you can learn more about the church property here.
I love the timer setting on my camera!
 
We probably walked about 1.5-2 miles.
Pretty sure this was a deer hoof print.
Garden spider.
Can you see the camouflage bug? If you know what this leave me a comment.
Gwyn drawing the bug in her nature journal.
The kids exploring a mushroom.
Adding cool things to their nature bracelet (aka duck tape wrapped around their wrist).
Blue dragonfly, these guys are so quick I had a hard time getting a photo.
This was one of the historic sites. This is a Cherokee Indian Ball Ground. The Cherokees played a game similar to lacrosse here called Anetsa or Little Brother of War. An anthropologist from the late 1800's said the last game was held in 1834.
The Labryinth adopted by Christians as a means to walk a spiritual journey in a small amount of space.
Outdoor worship area and Memorial Garden which includes the Holy Family Columbarium.
The Fountain Garden the main entrance of the church in 2004. It now serves as a memorial to several members and as a place for quiet reflection.
One of the many butterflys we saw.
Some very pretty flowers.
The Griffeth Home Site. This is where the orginal land owners home was destroyed in a fire. The property was sold to the church in 1996. If you look closely you will see a well behind the trees.
Making fun projects with our nature finds.

Thursday: Well we sort of took the day off. Wednesday evening we realized that our cat somehow got fleas and well she gave them to the ferret so I needed to try to focus on flea remediation. So my plans for Thursday were to bath the animals and treat some areas of the apartment. Well we went out to the car to go to Walmart and the car wouldn't start. I had an emotional breakdown because we just bought this new (well used car) to replace my other car which had broken down. So after calming down I drove my husbands car (thank goodness I FINALLY learned to drive manual) to Walmart. And then I spent the rest of the day bathing and combing to very irritated pets. Later in the day the kids did do some art and get on the computer to do their Jump Start programs.

Friday: We started off the day by going to a consignment sale where we scored a couple of homeschool items and some clothing for Rowyn. Afterwards we went on another field trip. We helped a local homeschool organization called Homeschool Excursions create a bottle wall/bench in the garden vista at Sharptop Arts Association. The kids had a blast especially Rowyn because he loves building things and this was an opportunity to build with something besides mega blocks and wooden blocks. Gwyn found three snails which we are now living in a little terrarium so we can observe them for a few days.
Consignment finds.
The kids jumping in to help.
Big kids and little kids working together.
Gwyn tending to her snails.
 Filling in the back of the bench.
Rowyn patting down cement.
The almost finished project. There is still some work to be done.
Our snails.
Gwyn fixing up the terrarium.
Wow what a second week!!! I hope that next week goes a bit better with a lot less tears.


9 comments:

Theresa said...

Looks like a great second week. It's all trial and error ...don't be upset about those workboxes...it happens. There were MANY things I tried last year that didn't work. Eventually you find a good balance,

I LOVE the field trip on Wednesday. I LOVE Labrynths! Too cool! And the idea that they open that as a place for spiritual reflection...awesome!

I also like that bottle bench and that you guys are just digging in and getting to know your homeschool community!! Yay!!!

Chestnut Grove Academy said...

what a neat week! WE love the timer on Dh's camera too....it's the only way we have family pics...lol
Thanks for linking up!!

Sharla said...

It really sounds like you did a great job this week! You are super organized as far as your file folders/workboxes go and you adapted well to the needs of your kids when they let you know through their behaviour that they couldn't handle the amount of work that you had planned. Your field trips and extras were great too!

DSLA said...

Looks like you had a great week! I love the Nature pictures! Thanks for linking up!

The Adventurer said...

Love the field trip. There are lots of Labryinth's in England and until I lived here I had never heard of them before. Didn't knwo there were any in the states:) Love your bottle bench:) Thanks for sharing on the FIeld trip hop

Mary Prather said...

Kathy, it seems that when you ditched "the plan" and went outdoors for the day all was well! I sometimes get so stuck in a rut with getting it all done, that I forget the joy we are supposed to be feeling as Homeschool moms!

My workbox file system is just like yours!! I love how you store the cards. I am stealing that idea. :-)

I am looking forward to meeting you soon!!

k balman said...

Thanks everyone for visiting. It is going to be a learning experience for all of us this year. This week is going well so far of course its only Monday and we went on a field trip!

Sydney said...

Wow...you are an awesome homeschool mom! I wanna come to your house! Thanks for sharing your blog with us on the Homeschool Movie Club page! Glad to get to know you!
~Syd

Kathy Balman said...

@Sydney Thanks! I cannot wait until A Dolphin Tale Comes out! We will be doing the curriculum off of your website and I will probably be writing a post about it to. The kids and I are very excited.

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by! Please check the follow up box so you can receive my replies.

 
Designed By: Wacky Jacqui's Designs