Our learning room, slightly reshuffled

I have lots of pictures today, having just done a quick tidy up of the learning room. You see, it's been a very wet couple of weeks, so my temporary clothes line has occupied the space in the middle of the room. Well, it's been moved away for a better look.

Facing the back window, we've moved the desk I had been using to another room to be used for sewing. The couch now occupies that back window space, which is just lovely to snuggle up on when it's a dreary day like today. We can make the most of the natural light and any warmth from the sun that manages to come in.

The children's learning table has shifted to be in front of their bookshelf. Each child has their books allocated to one shelf (where possible), with the bottom shelf holding various resources and jigsaw books. The cupboard space underneath is ideal for storing the laminator and other bulkier items.

The art/craft/stationery supplies cupboard now lives to the left of it. The other bookshelf with all the games has been moved to Maestro's room.

I like the fact that I now have some wall space to put a few things up on display. It may well be where a magnetic whiteboard will soon live as I intend to start using All About Spelling soon.

My 'teacher's corner' hasn't changed too much. Hubby found this writing desk for me as a replacement for the sewing desk.

Standing near the fireplace, you can see across the room to where our music corner is. The filing cabinet holds music books, a few percussion instruments, and one drawer is for all my music teaching notes/files/books. As you can see, the middle of the room is lots of space for the children to practice their dancing. (No, we don't have any birds in the birdcage.  That's been passed on to me from my Mum, and is still wishful thinking for the children.)

If you'd like to see lots of other school rooms on the "Not Back-to-school Blog Hop", head on over HERE.

Maestro's books for 2010

I think we're ready to post about Maestro's curriculum this year, now.  We've actually been quite busy 'figuring out' a few things these past weeks, but now we're into our third week and seem to have a good rhythm established again.

Actually the 'figuring out' had to do with our science.  I'd planned to do Sonlight's Science 3 program with both children.  It was working well at the start with new biology terminology coming into play, but it then moved into familiar ground for Maestro and he wanted something new.  So we've now started him on Science 4, which covers Electricity, Magnetism and Astronomy.  The work and comprehension required for these Science programs is really of a good high standard, although they do stress that mastery isn't on the agenda.  I'm really pleased at the amount of detail that is available and revisited with the worksheets, having the children really think through their answers.

I've been reading through Maestro's first book, too, Diary of an Early American Boy.  It's very interesting, and will hopefully lead him to being more inquisitive about learning bushcrafts (ie: tying knots, using an axe, building structures).  I thought it lovely how he explains how he got a glass window for his birthday present, something quite rare with window taxes in the country.  It also makes you think about what you take for granted in our current society.

Besides the Science 4 program, we're already into our Core 5 and working on 'week 6'.  This program is working really well for us, although there are times when we extend the schedule out a few extra days.

Again, I've organised all the books on his shelves, having the books labelled on the spines with coloured tabs sticky-taped on (orange for Core 5).

Our current read-aloud is "The Master Puppeteer" and I've found some interesting background information.  I'll post that up tomorrow.

We're also using Singapore Maths 6, with Life of Fred once a week also, for our maths program.  Language Arts is the Sonlight program again.  Maestro has always been keen to write up his own stories, so he's doing that still, often rewriting some of his completed work to match the requirements of the L.A. creative writing elements, especially with regard to character development.

Working on "Wordly Wise"

Our art program will continue the nature journals as we've already started.  We're enjoying this.  In previous years I've used Artistic Pursuits, and I may come back to use them, or ideas to incorporate with the journals.  Eg: choosing to draw portrait or landscape.

Now, quickly, here's a look at my workstation.  I store our math manipulatives, extra resource books, reference books (dictionary, atlas, etc.), stationery, etc. all here.  Most of my math manipulative have been purchased on ebay, or through Modern Teaching Aids.

Chair bags in the learning room

This was one of those quick jobs I kept delaying: making chair bags for each of the children.

I remember having these in primary school.  We could choose our own colour: blue, green, yellow or pink.  They stored all of our stationery and any loose papers ready to take home each night.  At the end of the day, we had to tidy our tables and collect our notices, then the chair bags were emptied of the day's work into our bags before heading home.

Now, I must say that these would have been much better made with a thicker cotton (such as drill), but all I had available was an old single sheet picked up from the op-shop for a couple of dollars.  Even calico would do the trick really well.  So, I'm probably going to have to remake these within a year as the corners could wear really quickly.  No matter, though. 

Oh .. and a plain colour is best for these.  If you used patterned fabric, remember that with these instructions, you'll have the wrong side facing for either the top part of the bag, which could work out okay if that's what you desire.

So, here's a quick summary of what I did to make these:

• I folded the single sheet into quarters and cut (so essentially, I could make 4 chairbags from this $3 sheet).
• Each piece had the shorter ends folded over and seamed.
• Drape the fabric over the chair.  Bring the fabric to where it comfortably sits about 20cm from where the seat starts and pin so it fits on the side seams.  You don't want this too be too snug, so allow 2-3cms each side.
• Sew these side seams.  Invert and slip over the chair to check it fits okay.
• I then did a turned hem on the part that was going to fold back up to form the bag.  Once that is done, fold and pin the bag part up.  Sew together with a double line of topstitching for strength.

You can then applique, or have the children draw a design to decorate/personalise their bags using fabric paints, or like Mariposa did with textas/marker pens.

The children have their pencil cases, diaries and any loose papers in here now, saving space on the shelves and keeping each child's things separate.

Mariposa's books for 2010

We're changing this about a bit more this year.

Maestro wants to follow the term breaks so he can catch up with his friends, but Mariposa is going to work on a schedule of 3 weeks working, one week off.   I've timed it so we'll still have parallel breaks for a week every now and then, but it's meant that we had to start our work earlier.  Actually, we started back into the books last week, but we were still quite busy, so I've not been blogging much lately.

We'd already been working on our new Sonlight curriculum at the end of 2009, so we picked up from 'week 5' on the syllabus (although we're well ahead on our read-aloud, so we're doing a family read I've chosen: Tom Appleby, Convict Boy by Jackie French).

Her books are all organised on the top shelf of one bookcase (I'll show you Maestro's another time).

Most of the books have been contacted, and labelled (just coloured paper and sticky tape) on the spine for easy reference as to where the book belongs.  Most of Mariposa's are labelled in yellow for the Core 1+2.

We've changed our Maths books from Easy-Learn Maths to Singapore Maths.  Mariposa needs lots of visuals, and the pictures and explanations in these books give a bit more detail.  I had been, and would have continued to be able to, apply visual examples with our math manipulatives, but with a busier schedule this year, I've opted for Singapore instead.

Also, we have been using Getty Dubay handwriting books in the past.  Mariposa really wants to learn the more fluent cursive, so we're trying out Abeka's handwriting books.  So far she's really enjoying it, and likes how she can now sign her name.

Sonlight's Science 3 program is for both of the children.  We're 'shooting for the middle', so it's quick and easy for Maestro, but Mariposa is being stretched a little .. as far as the worksheets are concerned.  The books are still really lovely and full of great information.  Eg: The Usborne Science Encyclopedia was covering the history of imperial measurements, whilst Maestro had to use imperial when reading Life of Fred.  It all fitted together so well!

The spare wall in the learning room has the latest posters all ready to go.   The map is being put to great use now we're using "Geography Songs".    Whilst we learnt the continents and oceans, I wrote out labels and had Mariposa 'blu-tac' them to the map.  Then, as we sang the song, she pointed to the correct labels.

Also, on the wall (above the map) is a fantastic op-shop find.  This clock which helps children learn to tell the time.  We've got our o'clocks and 1/2 pasts down, so we're working on the 1/4s and minutes.

Two other books I'm supplementing in are First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind.  We've done a week's worth of these lessons (all oral!) and although most of it's revision, she's enjoying how we chat through them and she's memorised her first poem.

We also have a new Geography book, which BOTH children are doing as of today.  I can't believe how much I learnt in our first little learning of some European countries (I'm tying this in with the countries we're learning through Sonlight).  It's called Visualise World Geography.  This is such a fun way to learn.  Each group of countries is set out with a visual and a story to help you remember the country names.  Eg: today we learnt that a hungry elephant's tummy is always HUNGARY, and his bottom sits in a boat: "row, row, ROMANIA".

We've also enjoyed math games, but currently these are her favourites.  Tens and Fractions Learning Game.

Well, this has become a long post, but I like pictures.

Next time I'll chat about how our learning room is shaping up and the chairbags I've made the children.

Homeschooling update

We're almost at the end of our 7th week, in our 10 week term. I've felt like it's been quite an easy week actually, as the children have happily worked by themselves. So long as I can oversee what's being done, they're pretty much just pulling out the books and getting on with it.

One thing that hasn't really worked, with regard to our new organisation method, has been the putting of all their books in the boxes. What was happening was books were being returned to the box without enough care, so I've resorted back to the stacked 'in' trays.

Hmm - need a few more trays I think!

The folders with the weekly summaries are working really well. It's just a matter of ticking of that the task is completed, adding page numbers to keep track. At the end of the term, we'll have some clear indications of how much work has actually been done and I think I'll write a summary report on each subject area so that the children can have it as a record of what's been achieved (NB - our state laws don't actually require reporting methods. This is something I'll be doing voluntarily). I'm also considering adding a page for a book list, particularly to encourage Mariposa; so she can see how much she's actually reading (a self-esteem boost).

We've also now acquired some lovely new Maths 'living books' called Life of Fred, by Stanley Schmidt. For Australians, they're stocked at Adnil Press for a very reasonable price.

I've worked my way through a few chapters of the first book, Fractions, and already am very happy. Not only is the story continuous, humourous and engaging, but other coincidental lessons are taught with regard to language and grammar. Maestro will begin working through these soon as he's almost finished his current math books.
Here are a few other reviews: BellaOnLine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
Lastly, I'm preparing to change our current spelling program. As she's working further into her work, a few issues have been emerging for Mariposa. It's not that she's not trying .. she works very hard, but we're finding a few difficulties with regard to spelling. Quite often numerals and letters are written backward, sometimes in complete mirror, vowels often omitted ... so I'm going to try Sequential Spelling soon. A friend uses it with her children (with similar spelling issues) and has found it successful. It's ordered, so hopefully next week we'll try that out.

Trialling yet another organisation method

I've been trying various methods of organising our daily schedule ever since we started homeschooling about 6 years ago. These have been in the form of scrawled notes on our fridge magnetic whiteboard, then written out lists on A4 pages posted up on the wall with blu-tac, to printed out Excel documents (showing too much detail). I usually just deferred back to writing up my diary/planner, pencilling in my intentions but writing in ink once it was done.

During the recent homeschooling camp, a friend shared her planning and recording methods, so I've taken on what I've learnt and attempting yet another variation.

We've trialled it for a week and both of the children are quite happy with how it's working. Mariposa is enjoying seeing me tick off that the work has been done for the day, whilst Maestro has always been methodical and quite likes how this works too.

Using Word, I've made up a timetable. Each A4 page has a timetable for each child, which has then been cut in half so we have A5 pages like so:

I haven't specified times, except for the 'out of home' activities such as violin and dance lessons. Except for those topics which are shared (such as Bible Study and SOTW), I'm letting the children choose the order in which they work.

A term's worth of timetable pages are collated and stapled into the front cover of a manila folder. In preparation for the week, I'll pencil in the work (ie: pages/topics) to be done, adding any reproducibles, their daily spelling worksheet, etc. into the folder. It also means I can plan ahead for trips to the library for research, and check for relevant excursions, even if it's just to the pet shop to look at kittens and puppies paws, down to the creek or park for nature study specimens, or an 'out all day' at the museum.

Hopefully this will create more independence for the children to just pick up their work and get on with it without waiting for me (and that certainly happened with Mariposa this week!) As the work is actually completed, I'll pen it in and tick it off.

This manilla folder is now going to live at the front of a box, per child. The boxes hold all of the books in current use.

It's just another way of doing the same thing, but hopefully creating a bit more order.

Our learning area

Our area for doing the children's lessons has gone through many, many changes. Firstly, we always used to work on the kitchen table, with a bookshelf to hold all the paper and craft gear, an alphabet frieze along the top of the wall (actually, that's still there!), and a wall to post up displays of work.

Then we began our renovating and a huge rumpus room became 2 rooms: a bedroom and a 'learning room'. Our learning room has the schooling tables and materials all in one corner, a piano and lounge suite, plus more bookshelves for books and games.

The table the children used to work at used to be smaller, with smaller chairs, until Maestro sprouted and we just had to upgrade. So my parents very kindly gave us a trestle table which works perfectly.

Are you like me, though, and have to try numerous combinations and arrangements until something works 'just right'? I just couldn't get my area to 'work' until the end of last year. I'm really happy with this set-up now, though:

Since it's a trestle table for the children, putting it in the middle of the room seemed a good idea, but it wasn't getting dismantled. So, it was put toward the back window, parallel to the bookcase. We had been given ... (in fact, all the furniture in this photo has been given to us, so I am most grateful for family and friend's generosity) ... given a buffet cupboard, which holds the art/craft supplies, various other stationery and new 'school' books.

Then I thought I'd like to have a table just for me. So, the desk I was using for my sewing area was brought in and slots in just nicely. It's working well, as now I also have a neat sewing table to make my drapes. ...... Oh yes, the drapes! (That's what I'm frantically trying to complete. Only about 3hrs away from finishing this one window.) You can see them on the LHS, not yet hung properly as I need to get a new rod on which to put them. Those verticals just have to go. They're old, faded and just don't work anymore. Here's the pretty fabric I picked up last week:

The buffet top is going to work nicely to display our books in use, any special 'show and tell' items the children will collect/make (much like a nature study display), plus a calendar I made to help Mariposa with learning dates. It is just a printout with the list of days, months, year and numerals, all laminated. They are then stuck with blu-tac onto a laminated page with "Today's date is:" on the top.

In the book holder is my book on Australian Birds (a 1967 edition). I'll display a new bird each week for the children to learn about (this week it's Galahs). We'll also be reading through the Great Composers book, focusing on a composer a month (or as I figure it out .. nothing in concrete yet!) and listening to their music. Our current read-aloud is Enid Blyton's More Adventure on Willow Tree Farm (this was one of the treasures we found in an antique store on our vacation).

My bookshelf is just crammed with lots of books, math manipulatives and readers. I like how it's all there, on hand.

On the opposite side of the room, the games shelf; pretty well stocked, too.

In front of this shelf is our 2 seater lounge (currently covered in drape material - thus not photographed, lol!). It's great for getting us together for read-alouds, and the children enjoy being comfortable whilst reading to me.

Well, I'll leave it there for now, as there's a day's work to be done. I'll post about my drape making adventures soon.