Workboxes Day 2!!!

Just to wrap up Day 1 of workboxing it went fantastic. Better than I could have hoped for! I was able to focus on working with my 5 year old and my 3 year old was actually occupied and content doing his own "schoolwork." Below is a list of what I included in day 1 workboxes for my 5 year old. We are using My Fathers World curriculum which is so easy to teach using the workbox system! Our letter of the week is S so our activities are centered around that. We only got through 6 boxes today, but we spent a lot of time on science!! We are building up to the 12 boxes slowly but surely.

Day 1- Workboxes for 5 year old
Box 1: Lesson on Sun -tracing tactile S
Box 2: Calender -I use the calender by having him circle the date and as a weather chart. He draws a picture of the current weather. I then have him do copywork in a notebook. He writes the day, month, and year.
Box 3: Science- Oil & water don't mix. We used eye droppers and I gave him a small cup of water as well as a small cup of oil. We added food coloring as well for fun
Box 4: Gym- Went to a local field and played baseball and catch
Box 5: Color/Cut out words that begin with S to make an S Book
Box 6: Cuisenaire Rods and Workbook
Box 7: Practice tying shoe laces
Box 8: Computer time @ Starfall.com


Day 2 Workboxes for 5 year old
Box 1: Lesson from MFW workbook
Box 2: Worksheet-practice letter S and Sound discrimination worksheet also #1
Box 3: Calender (explained up above)
Box 4: Jello-Jigglers- We went through our box of Cookie Cutters the kids had to find cutters that began with S. Then we made Jello-Jigglers!
Box 5: Science- I had frozen small rocks in cups of ice. I put their blocks of ice onto a cookie sheet and gave him a hammer. He had predicted if the rocks would break and how
Box 6: Art-I had traced a large S on a piece of paper. He ripped up yellow squares of paper and glues them to the S.
Box 7: Computer time; starfall.com
Box 8: Practice tying shoelaces
Box 9: I cut out shapes in different colors and put numbers 1-5 on the back. I called out a shape/color/or number and he had to race to the appropriate space before I caught him. (it was raining today so this got out some energy!!)

Workboxes have arrived!!!

So I've been following the busy blog about the workboxing system and I wondered if the system would be a fit for me. I LOVE the idea but struggle so much with organization and planning. I have found since starting to homeschool in November that I am not successful as a fly by my seat kind of gal. We tend to drift through the day and not get much done. (I think my husband would politily agree on this, sorry dear!!) So last night we made a late night trip to Target and bought two shelving/bin units. I spent about 20 minutes "stuffing" boxes. I ended up getting 9 done for my 5 1/2 year old and 6 done for my 3 1/2 year old. I was so excited to start today I literally could not sleep!! So today we begin what I hope to be a very successful journey of planning, organizing, and learning! I will post pictures a little later as well as what I put in the boxes for our first day. Oh one more thing, when my oldest dear boy woke up and saw the new system set up he said, "mommy I see science, thank you so much, I love science." I think we are off to a good start!!

Time Flies!

I can't believe I haven't posted since November!!! Time flies. I have since had my third boy!! Colton Nathaniel was born March 16th, weighing in at 8lbs 6oz and 21 inches long. He is amazing and I was quickly reminded at how precious life is. His delivery was not without complication, nor was my recovery. My water broke to soon and the baby had not yet "dropped" causing a tear in the placenta. I ended up bleeding a lot and the babies heart rate continued to drop. Everything was pointing towards a C-Section and yet by God's Grace our son was born healthy and a regular delivery! My recovery presented many challenges beyond a normal post-partum recovery should be. Two weeks after delivery I was still in a significant amount of pain and found myself needing a DNC procedure. The doctor said part of the placenta had not been dispelled at delivery had had caused in infection as well as made me toxic!! A week after the DNC I was in so much pain I could not walk. After a visit with the doctors I went in for an emergency DNC with a scope this time. The doctor found that the placenta had caused a problem on part of the uterus that required him to scrape that area. So that has been my life for the last few months recovering from delivery and surgeries and trying my best to sleep and care for my family at the same time. Oh did I mention I finally committed once and for all to homeschooling my three kids?? God has really placed this on my heart and as scared as I am of the journey ahead I know he will see me through this.