Walking by the Way

Our Routine

One of my readers asked me to post our sample schedule. I will tell you my secret: schedules have never worked for us. Ever. I don’t like feeling like a clock has control over me or my next move.

However, I’ve realized that it’s hard to function as wife, mom, and homeschooling mom without some sort of rhythm. So, we do have a routine. I have some mile-markers along the way (the times you see listed), but they aren’t do-or-die moments. 

This is what I have posted on our fridge:

Breakfast
Breakfast isn’t just breakfast. We also take the opportunity to review our memory work– Bible and poetry. This is a good start to our day, and it ensures that memory work is being worked on.

Morning Chores
I am a pretty random kind of gal. Morning chores consist of whatever needs done to keep our house decent and free from social service visits (just kidding . . . almost). Elijah might vacuum or fold a load of towels (or both). Simon might straighten the entry way, mop the dining room, or clean off the breakfast table. You never know. We all work hard, and we all work together.

Study Time
I am striving for TIME instead of content this year (after listening to Oliver DeMille). However, there are a few things I do insist on daily for Elijah: Primary Language Lessons, RS Math (game or lesson), and Explorer’s Bible Study. Elijah is responsible to fill the rest of his study time. Each week (sometimes each day!) looks a little different for him. 

Simon also does some school each day, but he spends the bulk of his "study" time creating masterpieces and building Lego towers and ships.

Lunch & Read Aloud
I serve lunch and start reading as soon as I’m done eating. I’m trying to get in 90 minutes of read aloud (or audio book) each day.  The boys can build, color, do puzzles, or knit (Elijah’s new thing!) while I read.

Free Play
The boys can do what they want at this point: go outside, play upstairs in their room, make a tent, free reading, etc., but they are responsible for filling their time with something profitable.

Clean Sweep
This is another time of teamwork cleaning. Everyone works on 1-2 chores that need to be done to bring the house back into some kind of order.  After clean sweep, I work on dinner and the boys can have some media time if they want (or they can go back outside or they can play upstairs). 

That’s how it goes for us so far. We like it. Instead of lesson plans, I journal what we accomplish each day. I love the freedom we all are experiencing so far this year, and I am amazed at actually how full the journal is by the end of the week! 

LEGO Unit & Lapbook!

 Finally! 

After two years of asking, Elijah finally has a LEGO lapbook.

I designed this unit study like Astronaut Adventures.  It’s written to the student and each day includes four components: Copywork, Word of the Day, Explore & Learn, and Building Challenge.

Download Learning with LEGOs

I hope your student enjoys this as much as mine will!

S is for Snow

Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here

Read to Me

Simon winging a snow angel.

Our book of the week was Snowy Day by Jack Ezra Keats.  

Alphabet Art- Shiny Silver S

Supplies
S Pattern
Aluminum Foil

Cut squares of foil out and let your preschooler glue them to the S to make it super, shiny, and silver! 

Lessons & Lapbook

I used the lessons for The Snowy Day from Before Five in a Row and some of the lapbook printables from Homeschool Share.  

Let’s Make a Memory ~ Shaving Cream Snow

shaving cream + one table + no shirt = one happy kid!

Let’s Make a Memory ~ Painting Snow

Let’s Make a Memory ~ Spraying Snow

I filled Simon’s spray bottle with some water and food coloring.  He loved this and brought me his spray bottle every time he went out to play in the snow.

Book Basket
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Hat by Jan Brett
Snowballs by Lois Ehlert
Dream Snow by Eric Carle
Snow by Uri Shulevitz
Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle
The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt
Snowbears by Martin Waddell
Snow is Falling by Franklyn M. Branley
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

Shopping List
~shaving cream
~ tempera paint
~ food colors
~ spray bottle
~ aluminum foil

Delight-Directed Update

pattern block creation Elijah constructed in his free time

Getting the hang of this delight-directed thing is still hard for me.  I don’t know if I make it harder than it is, or if I just like to agonize over my child’s education.   Probably both! But, I’m learning.  Here are some of the things I’ve gleaned from the past few months.

1. My son has great ideas.  
It’s okay to let go and let him lead the way.  He is choosing great things to learn about.  He is also learning how to fill his days with profitable activities.  

2. Delight directed learning goes slow.  
We don’t "cover" as much as we did before, but he’s exploring and learning things I would’ve never introduced.   These things are really sinking in.  Slowly, but surely! It’s better to go at his pace than mine.  :)

3. I have to keep a journal in order to feel accomplished.  
In the midst of the day, I feel like Elijah does a lot.   But at the end of the month, I feel that we’ve done nothing unless I keep track of what he’s doing.  My friend, Helen, suggested I keep a journal, and it has made a huge difference.  When I look back through a written record, I don’t feel anxious about his education. 

4.  Delight-directed doesn’t mean my hands are completely off of my son’s learning.   He will come to me and tell me what he wants to learn about.  He determines the subjects and topics, but I put different options on the table.  He chooses what he likes and we go from there.   It’s kind of like this– 

Elijah:  Mom, I’m hungry.
Me:  What are you hungry for?
Elijah:  Potatoes.
Me:  Would you like them mashed, baked, boiled, or fried, OR do you just want to eat them plain?

And he decides.
And we go from there.  


5.  The Delight-directed approach is not the same as unschooling.    Elijah doesn’t determine what his entire day looks like.  We still do math and language lessons daily.  Elijah is still memorizing scripture and has critical thinking exercises to do.   Someone asked if we still use workboxes.  We do.  I don’t fill very many, but the must-dos are in his boxes (usually 3-6, depending on the day). 

I am certainly not an authority on this type of learning, but I do want to share my experience in case in might help someone else along in their journey.   We’re just going to keep cruising through our adventure.  

Brick by Brick

This is what the floor of Elijah & Simon’s room looked like about a week ago.  It was hard for him to find parts; it was hard for anyone to walk across the floor.  It drove me MAD.  

When I started looking around for Lego storage methods, I found something I liked, but when I asked the expert (Jason) he said he would take care of it.    So, he purchased Elijah four 39-drawer organizer things at Home Depot (the things you would use to organize nails, screws, nuts, and bolts).   

It took awhile to the sort the bricks.  There were thousands (maybe millions ).

Monday- we started the sorting
Tuesday night- Jason & Elijah did more sorting
Wednesday- Elijah, Simon, & I worked for three hours 
Wednesday night- more family sorting
Thursday- we finished the job

I know this storage method isn’t for every child, but Elijah really likes it; I can’t believe how quickly he can find the piece he wants.   It’s a good thing we did the sorting AFTER I we bought his birthday gift.  Can you guess what we got him? 

A is for Apple

Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here

Read to Me

Our main book of the week was The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. 

Alphabet Art- Apple A

Supplies
A Pattern (I used the large capital A)
glue
red pompoms (I wanted smaller ones, but I had to go with what I had on hand)
green crayon

Glue on red pompoms and add some leaves and a stem with the crayon. A simple tactile apple-d A for your preschooler to enjoy! 

Lessons & Lapbook

I used some of the lessons and lapbook from Homeschool Share and printables from the Alphabet Notebook.  I also made an Apple Tree Math Mat for the back of the file folder.  You can find it here. 

Simon stamped As on the apple

The pocket holds the pieces for the math mat on back.

Instead of putting the sequence strips in a pocket, I glued each one down to the file folder.  I added velcro to make it a game that can be played over and over again. 

Simon loved the math mat!  :)

Let’s Make a Memory ~ Silly Face Caramel Apples

Here is a simple recipe for Caramel Apples if you haven’t made them before. You can make really yummy apples (think white chocolate drizzle and chopped nuts) or you can make really fun apples.  We opted for funny faces using an assortment of candy.  

Book Basket
Ten Apples up on Top by Theo LeSieg
The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

Shopping List
~apples
~1 bag of caramels (14 oz)
~popsicle sticks
~candies (lifesavers, m&ms, pull & peel twizzlers) if you want to make faces on your apples
~red paint
~red pompoms

The Best Nest (more fun from Albert)

The lessons for this book (Albert) also suggest some clay-making.   So, we did!  

Due to a recent find in our yard, Elijah decided to mold and make robin eggs instead of cardinal eggs.   I think the end result turned out grand!     

Elijah’s nest

The real nest!

K is for Kitten

Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here

Read to Me
Our main book of the week was Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone.

Alphabet Art – Kissing K



Supplies
K Pattern  (I used the large capital K)
Lips Stamp & Red Inkpad  OR lipstick

Let your child stamp red lips on the K pattern (or put lipstick on your child and let her kiss the pattern).   Each time Simon stamped the K with the lips we said, "/k/…/k/…kiss!" 

Lessons & Lapbook

I used the lessons & lapbook  for Three Little Kittens from Homeschool Share.  I also used some of the K printables from the Alphabet Notebook page at Homeschool Share.   We only used a portion of what was available from Homeschool Share.  I really want to stick to one file folder per letter this year.  We also had a Koala cut/paste activity from a Kumon book that we put on the back of the folder.

Simon’s favorite part of the unit was washing and hanging his mittens out to dry (they are now safely stored in a plastic bag in his lapbook.    (We soiled them with coffee grounds and jam.)

Simon is singing the song (complete with meows!) as he washes his mittens.

Let’s Make a Memory! ~ Three Little Kittens Lunch
I made Simon a kitten sandwich and purchased (yes, PURCHASED)  a little pie for him, so he could have some pie (insert nursery rhyme music).

I cut a circle from a piece of bread with a large cup then I cut out two triangles for ears.  I "frosted" the bread with some cream cheese.  I added two olive slices for eyes, a cheese triangle nose, and some carrot stick whiskers.   Easy (and yes, cheesy). 

Here is the pie I didn’t get around to making.  It was probably best not to have a full sized pie in the house anyway. 

Let’s Make Another Memory! ~  "Kite" Flying
Just buy a helium balloon and add lots and lots of string so your student can fly it!   A guaranteed hit!

Book Basket
Kitten’s First Full Moon by Keven Henkes
The Little Kitten by Judy Dunn
Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne
Koala Lou by Mem Fox
Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle
Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming

Shopping List
~fun foam (mittens to wash)
~lip stamp & red stamp pad or lipstick (K letter art)
~cream cheese (kitten sandwich)
~black olives
~carrot sticks
~cheese block
~small pie (so your student shall have some pie!)
~helium balloon (best to have daddy bring this home on the day you fly your kite)
~string or yarn (for kite flying)

Tot School ~ June 8th

More workboxes.  More fun.  More memories with my tot! 

Simon’s "Sprinkles" Project

I put some contact paper and leftover hole punchings in a workbox.  I had to open the contact paper for Simon, but he took over from there and made this "sprinkle" rectangle.  He wanted it in Jason’s Father’s Day card (act surpised, honey!), so in it went!

I did the books in a box thing again.  This is a series he has loved from the time he was just months old.  

We also love Sandra Boynton.  I found most of these at a second hand shop before Elijah was even born!  They’ve been loved to death by both boys.

We read Who Said Red? together and then we went on a red hunt all over the house.  Simon filled this workbox will all his red finds.

Another easy idea is to fill a box with fun foam scraps (cut into shapes) and let your tot take a glue stick and stick, stick, stick until everything is sticky he has a beautiful picture.

Elijah had a great clay experience this week and Simon wanted to tag along.  Here are the eight snakes he made.  I think he did great! 
The tadpoles he has been caring for~

Simon never tires of painting


Here he is with his collection of "ships" (spaceships) that he made one day while I was working with big brother.

Get Your (free) Tickets!

Congrats to the WINNERS!

Jen Unsell
Rachel Poe
Tammi K.
Holly (from http://www.walkwithgodlikeenoch.blogspot.com/)
Joelle

The rest of you can get your tickets for a great deal (around $12 I think) from Heart of the Matter.

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I won’t bore you with the details of why this blog may seem abandoned, but I am moving to a new place with a NEW feature or two, and I think you will like it!

Anyway, this can’t wait. I have FIVE GOLDEN TICKETS. Okay, they aren’t golden. (You aren’t taking a trip to Wonka’s factory, but you don’t really need a lifetime supply of chocolate, do you? Don’t answer that.)

but…

I do have FIVE TICKETS

to Heart of the Matter’s 2nd Annual Online Conference!   You know the drill…all the great speakers and inspiration of a homeschooling convention in the comfort of your own home (think pajamas and coffee and yes, even chocolate!). 

If you’d like to enter this ticket giveaway, please leave a comment.  Post about the conference or giveaway on your blog, (and post ANOTHER comment to let me know) and you will get TWO entries!   Check back on July 20th when winners will be announced.