Posted by Cindy on August 12, 2008
DIng Dong, the schoolroom’s done!
The schoolroom’s done!
The schoolroom’s done!
Ding Dong, the big ol’ schoolroom’s done!
This little tune from The Wizard of Oz has been going on in my mind ever since we finally tackled the schoolroom this morning! School was supposed to start this week. I don’t know about you, but I just can’t wrap my mind around a new school year until everything in the house is in place. Instead of a pregnant woman nesting before birth, I nest before school! LOL
Anyway, we decided to hold off for one more week on our studies while we tackle some much needed areas of the house. By the time the week is finished – Lord willing – we will have a fresh, clean and organized house through and through!
This morning’s big job was the schoolroom. Remember the picture I showed you at the beginning of summer break? Well, I’d picked and poked at it off and on over the summer, so it wasn’t quite that bad, but we still had A LOT to do.
Clean school desks.
Organized books.
Organized resources.
Organized craft supplies, manipulatives, colored paper and folders and science kits.
Remember the bookshelf? It’s now home to our chapter books and basic school and art supplies.
A semi-organized play area for little guy.
A new toy jail downstairs so little guy can’t break in and free the captives while we do school work.
And a new spot for linens since the new toy jail used to be my linen closet.
The last task for the schoolroom may or may not be done any time soon. Hubby has promised to put in florescent lights (or some other lighting solution) in place of the very dim “regular” lights. Our schoolroom is in an upstairs bonus space. It’s a wonderful room, but very dim because we only have four small windows, two at either end of the room. Come winter time, I *need* more light. I believe I suffer from SAD anyway, but I think anyone might with the lighting in our schoolroom. Hopefully, hubby will tackle the lighting project soon.
I’d love to go on a “tour” of your schoolroom. (I’m always looking for wonderful organizing and decorating ideas!) Let me know if you post about your schoolroom any time soon, or if you have already!
Posted by Cindy on May 19, 2008
I just wanted to share a few odds and ends this afternoon.
Yesterday was Mahayla’s piano recital. She did such a lovely job! I’m afraid her talent is stronger than her desire right now , though. We’re taking a break over the summer to see if she might “get her want to fixed” before the fall. (That’s a phrase Steve’s grandma uses when she thinks people need to stop complaining! 
Here’s what my two free birds have been doing EVERY SINGLE DAY since school’s been out.
Here’s what I’ve been doing today. Can’t tell what it is? It’s our poor schoolroom!! I had the urge to reorganize the whole space (again), and this is what it looked like after a couple hours’ work. Actually, this is what it will probably look like for days! LOL
If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, we’re going to the pond with our Creation Club! It should be a great day. I’ll post about it soon. I’m also working on posts about our summer activity box and summer nature station. Have a great week!
Posted by Cindy on May 14, 2008
I’ve been asked before if I keep all my children’s work from year to year. My answer – mercy, no! Here’s a peek into how I wrap up our school year.
Throughout the year, all of the children’s work goes into subject folders or notebooks. For example, when a math lesson is completed and checked, it gets filed in the math folder. All maps, worksheets and projects from our Around the World studies went into a folder for that study. All stories, newsletters, spelling tests, grammar sheets, etc were filed in the language arts notebook.
At the end of the year, we go through each folder and pull out 3-10 of the best samples for an end of the year portfolio. Each of the subjects is then put together in one folder that shows a sampling of our learning from the year. All other worksheets and such are pitched. Yep, thrown in the garbage! Gasp, you say? How can I get rid of all of it and not worry about having to prove our schooling? When I taught in the public school system, a similar system of “a few best pieces” was the practice for each child’s cumulative folder. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me! I couldn’t possibly keep each and every piece of work we do from year to year. I’d have crates stacked to the ceiling!
100+ of math from the year….
Turns into about 10 pages of math to keep…..
Along with the folder of sample work (math, writing, spelling, grammar, maps, etc.), I will keep ALL unit notebooks and lapbooks. These are things I do want to keep intact and on file from year to year. Why these? They represent the memories and fun of our homeschooling. Much effort and time was put into documenting our learning in these and, honestly, I want to look back (and have the kids look back) on these just like we might look back through a photo album.
This is Mahayla’s final “portfolio” for the year. It’s about 2 1/2 – 3″ high.
I also keep a folder full of art and any writing journals, field trip journals or nature journals that have been completed. (If these haven’t been filled in entirely, I’ll just let the kids continue using them next year.)
I also keep a small folder of awards, school pictures, program bulletins, ticket stubs and such – as well as the report card. This folder is almost like a scrapbook of achievements and events from the year.
Finally, I stack and bundle each child’s keepsakes and place them in a tub. My lesson plan book – which also includes the beginning of the year goal sheets, a list of curriculum used and any correspondence papers from the board of education – slides into the tub right alongside the bundles.
Here are both children’s stacks from this school year, with my lesson plan book and other important documents on top.
Now I have a nice set of memories from the year, as well as a solid bit of “proof” for homeschooling should I ever need it.
I’d love to see how you wrap up your year. Let me know if you post about it on your blog.
Posted by Cindy on January 25, 2008
Our toys are in jail. They have visitation rights, but very limited. You see, since I couldn’t lock the messy children up, the toys had to be the ones to suffer.
They’ve been in jail for almost a month now and the time apart from the children seems to be doing everyone well.
We took every toy in the house and put them all in their appropriate boxes, bags or containers (like they should’ve been to begin with.) Then, I carted an old bookshelf up to our bonus room space and started stacking toys. It didn’t matter whether they were attractively placed or easily accessible because the kids weren’t going to have “unsupervised visitiation rights”.
If they want a particular toy, they have to go through the guard (me) to get it. I go to the bonus room area and pull out the whole container. In other words, if Caleb wants one particular spy toy, he has to take the entire spy gear box. As long as the spy gear (or other type of toy container) stays neat, he may keep the container as long as he likes. No other container of toys may be played with until the first container has been returned in its entirety.
I really thought this idea might not work, but it has! It has!! The house AND bedrooms are staying tidy. The kids are enjoying their toys more. And I’m smiling more! 
Sorry that I have no pictures to share. Our camera finally died. Just took it’s last breath one afternoon without warning. Maybe we’ll have a new camera soon. That was to be my Christmas gift, but the dryer took it’s last breath before the camera. We’ve buried two important things this month.
Posted by Cindy on April 22, 2007
The end of our school year is quickly approaching. It’s been a long, drawn out year for us – starting July 1st, taking a huge baby break and then starting up again. I think we’re down to 12 “official” days. We’ll continue some light, fun learning through the summer, but more on that in another post.
So many people ask me, “What do I need to keep for records of our school year?” So, I’m going to tell you what I keep. In KY, we are required to keep an attendance record and proof that we have taught the required subjects.
Each year, I keep my record of attendance, lesson plans, curriculum list, letter of intent, certified letter to the DPP receipt, any other legal correspondences, and narrative report cards in a 1″ three-ring binder. I keep the entire binder as part of my yearly records.
As you can see below, we keep everything we’ve done all year in various folders and notebooks – one for each subject. At the end of the school year, I go through most notebooks (or subjects) and pull out a sampling from the beginning of the year, middle of the year and end of the year. I only choose well-done work and try to choose things that show a good progression of skills from the beginning of the year to the end. The subjects I narrow down like this include Bible, math, handwriting/copywork, grammar, phonics, spelling, writing, reading lists, and art.
For science and history/geography, I keep all the work. We spend a lot of time putting together nice notebooks, lapbooks and timelines. They make great resources for us to go back through as we move on to other science topics and history eras. Not to mention, if the DPP ever shows up at my door, I would just love for him to see the fun we have learning as he looks through these!
After I’ve gathered the lesson plan book, the science and history things and the folder with a sampling of all other work, I add any co-op awards, school pictures, certificates or other important things to each child’s pile. In such a lovely and highly technical fashion, I rubber band each child’s pile and then file them away in a Rubbermaid tote! This tote is holding five years worth of records.
So there you have it. It’s a very simple system. I have proof if needed and a great reminder of each school year!
