Workboxes

I recently discovered a Yahoo group about workboxes. Its an amazing system that teaches independant learners. They have made a wonderful addition to our homeschooling. Since I like to make things to suit us, I made our workboxes out of priority mail boxes.

I cut out about 12 boxes for each of my boys. Then I hot glued the boxes on the edges to make sure they stayed together and was secure. Because we are a creative family
and like color I glued color coded construction paper on the boxes and added colorful card holders on the front.

I made our own workbox cards as well using pictures from the workbox group that other people uploaded. Dogs for my youngest and Dragons for my oldest. I've noticed most people just number their workboxes boxes but because we have to be different (lol) our workbox cards are numbered and named.

Then I made tags that say "great job"in green, "please re do" in red and " I need help please" in yellow. Every night I can assign the workbox cards that they need to do for the next day. As they complete them they can turn them in. If they need help they put a "I need help please" tag on their workbox, if I've checked them and they are good I put the "great job" tag on their workbox, if they need to be redone I put the "please redo" tag on the workbox.

This system has been working well for about 3 weeks now.

Science

We have offically gone with Ellen McHenry's Chemistry for our Science this year. We are throwing in a few Hobby Lobby chemistry kits too.
We just ordered the Chemistry from her a few days ago, so we haven't started yet. But the kids are enjoying some of her free stuff already.
The Periodic Table game has been a wonderful learning experience for them. They are really getting into the periodic table.
This week they will also play the Quick Six card game that is about the Periodic table.
Some time this year we plan on playing the "Element Connections" bingo game, making the Periodic table pillow cases and playing the Organic Molesules card game.

Learning Language Arts through Literature

Through a suggestion from someone on my local homeschooling group we tried Learning Language Arts through Literature for my youngest. He is a bit behind on Spelling, Reading and Language Arts in general. He struggled with Reading for a long time. He has known his letters and their sounds since Kindergarten but he always refused to sound out any words. He is now 9 years old and is reading a lot better but still only sight reads. Because of the time it took him read this well he is a bit behind on his Spelling and writing skills. He is doing a great job reading right now and will even finish books, finally. The program Learning Language Arts through Literature has really helped him. He absolutely loves the program! He reads the books that go with it and loves the hands-on activities as well. It is a wonderful program.

History

We started out using Story of the World for our History. But that has since changed. My boys have hated Story of the World from the begining. I have tried. We used the stories and activity book, but they dreaded History everytime. I even tried the stories on CD. Still didn't work. So, we are now using Homeschool in the Woods history program. It is a very affordable, hands-on and fun History program. Its full of info as well as tons of activities. And it all ends with a lap book. How awesome is that?
We will also start using History pockets for some more fun History projects. And thanks to a wonderful homeschooling mom, Confessions of a Homeschooler, I am hoping to start using her Expedition Earth Goegraphy curriculum real soon.

Been a while

Its been several months since I've been able to post. I was suffering from some depression. This time has been the longest its ever lasted. I didn't do much during this time. My house got a bit disorganized, kids didn't do much in the way of lessons, and no one did very many chores. I was able to take care of the minimal amount of things luckily. Dishes were done daily, kids were fed, etc. Finally I started taking a mulitvitamin just before Christmas. It really helped. I have been slowly climbing out of my hole. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Woo Hoo.

Beautification of home

We are in a rental property. But, the owner is hubbys boss from work. So, its a private owner. He allows us to do any repairs or painting, etc that we wish. As long as it looks good. If its anything big he usually pays for the supplies. We did the kitchen floor a while back. It took my hubby all night to complete it, but it looks great. Last night we painted the walls in the eat in part of the kitchen. There is still paneling on the lower half that the landlord wants left there and unpainted for now. So, we do the best we can and work around his wishes. Anyways, we painted the walls a light green called "lettuce alone". It is absolutely gorgeous. It is a very calming color and looks amazing! We love doing little house projects like this. It is a great time for the hubby and I be together. We find it very destressing. Well, heres pics of the outcome.

A new approach

We are trying something new. I am giving the kids more free choice when it comes to their schooling. We are all under a lot of stress right now so, we thought it would be good to try something new. I don't know if it falls under unschooling or a bit of Montessori schooling. I just want to the stress level to go down and the boys to enjoy learning and be happy. So, well see what will happen.