Layout Design Help Needed !

So I have some work cut off for me. I know the tables are too big!! They fold down easily  They can be stored away. I am use to walls being in this space. I am confident that once the layout is figured out I could make everything else awesome.  I am starting out with Practical Life and art shelves. Also there will be a larger table that can accomodate older kids when they visit the space too.


                                                                         

The shelves can be lowered and also decorated. All the sewing machines are not needed. Shelf space I don't think with be a issue.

This is the other room where the snack table with be, also a volunteer table , microwave, and a mini refrigerator. The electrician will not be able to fix it for another two weeks.

Any suggestions are welcomed! Thank you!!

Our Weekly Rhythm

In an effort to not switch from subject to subject like we are racing against a checklist we created a Weekly Rhythm for our homeschool. I heard the kids loud and clear every time we were past warm up and their wheels started turning asking can I just finish this up, after I would announce it was time to move on to something else. My homeschool mom guilt started to get really bad, because I knew we weren't getting to those other subjects like we "should" be. We had a family meeting and resolved every one's issues (fingers crossed).

Mindful Math Monday

So Ken has been having a major self confidence boost in Math, thanks to her current math program Hands-On Equations. They say we need to play more math games too. DJ is begging for more stimulation as far as maths goes and it is a wonderful thing to hear him request Montessori Maths. Mondays are the only days we don't leave home, which allows us to take advantage of using  the Montessori math materials. When DJ gets into his math lessons he finds a way to do them, I can easily see him doing math everyday once he is presented with Montessori math lessons. I have been pulling my teeth trying hard how to get him back on track. During the storm we lost some of our most valuable math materials. So we push forward and revisit our math materials, go deeper with what we still have until our Montessori blessings arrives.  

Tuesday's Travel
                                                                                 

 In the photo above DJ is eating our geography lesson for breakfast :) Has this ever happened in your homeshool? Our spine for Geography is Mapping the World by Heart, and lots of puzzles too. Montessori Pin Maps are going to be in full effect. I am adding in some Waseca Biome Work for good measure. Next week they will be learning about Contour Maps. Please know that research is interest led here in our homeschool and may be always done regardless of which day of the week it is. City Bus Travels can be scheduled in now. Anyhoo, they are ready for some challenging geography lessons. so let the games begin!

Wednesday Word Play
                                                  

As I mentioned in a previous post we are using the Brave Writer Program for Language Arts lessons. With this new rhythm it is going to take us two weeks to do one weekly lesson, Doing the lessons this way isn't really all that bad, especially since we feel like we are going too fast through our lessons each day in other areas or just dropping the ball on other subjects all together. Also they will be doing  poetry, word games, spelling, cursive, and writing projects. The kids are also finally going to be contributing on the blog at least once a month.

Throwback (History) Thursday 

                                                                         

Reading Like a Historian has definitely stolen our hearts.  I am so excited that we now have three hours that will be uninterrupted to delve more into our history studies. I know both of them have a need to work with the Fundamental Needs of Man research work, and I feel ecstatic that I can now add that into our history days. I am 1 to 3 in our home and balancing all of our homeschool and work has been a challenge, but I digress! Time is on our side. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can schedule "school" based on the family's need.  Love that we have found this new rhythm!

Foreign Language Friday
                                                     

Unfortunately Latin was one of the subjects that we have been skipping right over so much that we had stopped doing it. Not anymore! What is great about this is that I can see now how they are more ready for it. DJ also ask to study Japanese as well, so he is definitely ready to become Multilingual. Games, Songs, and Prayers I love this Latin Curriculum! In order to get the best of both worlds I have also immersed our other Latin program Song School Latin.

Saturday's Artist
                                                                         

I absolutely love the way these kiddos do art. They are learning to find their own medium to express themselves. This is an area that they usually just tell me what they need to finish their independent project. With crazy days, and the holidays approaching I felt there should be time set aside so it doesn't become neglected. Art also allows my family to meditate together. Sometimes it involves paint, music making, and clay. Other times sticks, sewing machine, and a saw keeps the hands and mind relaxed. I start off with our Observational Drawing Art lessons and then we will branch off to doing what we like best.

STEAM Sunday
                                                           

                  

We continue to incorporate our Thinker of the Month on this day. Also we are adding in Simple Machine and Electronics/Electricity threads using Building Foundations of Scientific Understandings Vol II and Vol III. DJ is already working independently in his zoology studies. Ken and Nia are building websites with HTML/CSS and all three of them are interested in learning how to CODE with the Arduino Uno. Also they are working on a documentary on the affects of Alcohol. STEAM Sunday will most likely be all day :)

Family Meetings are held on Sunday and this is when we talk about whatever it is that is on our minds, and also discuss those Work Plans. I share the required work and they may ask to meet that requirement a different way then I had outlined. They can also propose a different time frame that I have given. We will continue to read everyday like always, the books go along with the Brave Writer program. My work schedule is still evolving if I work in the mornings we do school in the afternoons and vice versa. No matter what we are either done by 12:00pm or 4:00pm. We as a family do chores that are assigned, help with dinner, etc. Usually by 6:00pm dinner is served and they may watch t.v play video games and what not. Lights are out at 9:00pm. The weekend is entirely different we don't get up until around 11:00am. So I figure we will most likely not begin our lessons until 1pm and end them at four o'clock.  I purposely did science and art on the weekends, because that is what they have been routinely doing anyways. They have plenty of time in their days to get some "me" time and still do projects of their liking. Most of the time when I am doing tutoring they are working on bringing their own ideas to life, see we motivate each other :)

                                                      

We like the Home in Homeschool

Last school year was so different then the rest. We were not home most of the time, which we found out we didn't like. We were living with my parents for months due to a creep that stole from us that I hired to do remodeling on our home. Still we learned a lot. A lot of life skills, a lot of applied math and their joy of reading continues to amaze me. 

DJ asked if him and I could go to the Nature Center, we had a blast just the two of us. We had so much fun that the girls asked to join us. We have been going everyday since, it is now how we start our day. I'll save all of the pictures for their individual blog postings, because that is their plan. We do like to go out, but we mostly like being home. I'll take that for what it's worth, because soon which will seem like a blink of the eye they will be calling another place home. 

                                                             

My one on one outing with DJ was celebrated in a local newspaper. It is so encouraging when the little things inspire other people. We are just ordinary people, trust me! 

Our Schooling Resource List

I added a page "Our Schooling Resource List" to the top. Please know that this list is what I will be using to meet public school requirements. There is so much more that I hope to be including into our mix to get the best out of life and these resources that fits the kid's learning styles. We love Projects! It would take me all year to write everything down how we vision our homeschooling year. I also didn't include any links, but I am confident that if you copy and paste the titles into your search bar you will find it. I will definitely link to the resource in the blog post when they first appear as reference. Since this blog is so much more than just about curriculum I didn't want to waste time with just the 5 percent of it.

                                                                               

 We already started our first Arrow and Boomerang subscriptions. Ken is reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and DJ is reading Frindle by Andrew Clements. Nia is reading Popular: A Vintage Guide for the Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen. We are officially starting back to "schooling" after Labor Day. I have some obligations that will be keeping me busy in the day, like work :)  a new schedule and it makes no sense to start back while I am figuring out how our schedule will actually be this Fall. Will we school in the morning? Or will we school at night?  We are flexible for sure! DJ and I actually read a chapter of Frindle at 10:00 tonight. It was just natural as it was when I use to read him bedtime stories. Which reminds me that I should be still doing this more often, because that is exactly why he likes to read. Another thing is we all have been falling asleep to classical music, who would of thought? Us? Naw :)  So we shall see where our music lessons will come from.

No lesson planning just material making that I will share if I think it is meaningful or fun. I think I will share my planner though, I am real excited about that. Lesson planning is hard to do when you follow the child, you can't just pencil it in . You have to be ready in observation mode and say "I gotcha this time, I knew where your going with this! ".

Welcome!

                                                                     

                                                               

Thank you for visiting us! This is a family friendly blog where we hope you will find a whole lot of Montessori inspiration as well as encouragement and ideas for Makers. I homeschool two of my children ages 13 and 10. My oldest is 16 years old and attends high school.  My children will also write post on this blog so this should be a lot of fun. Enjoy and thank you again for stopping by!