Workboxes: My (New) Favorite Organizational System!

This was a revolutionary week for us ... and that is a good thing! And it has to do with organization ... my favorite thing in the world! : )  I stumbled across the world's greatest classroom organizational system for moving the girls from a teacher-directed approach to a more student-driven (higher independence and responsibility) approach to their learning.  What was the key, you ask?


Workboxes!


I came across this idea several months ago through the amazing Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler (have you checked her website out!? She's truly saved me this year). At the time I saw her use of workboxes, I literally thought to myself, "Wow, now that's a lady who wears a cape! How DOES she do all this?!" So, not believing I was operating at cape-wearing status to pull something like this off, I put off setting up workboxes of our own. And now, of course, I wish I had done this months ago! In just one week's time, they have completely revolutionized how we do school, and I now understand why I was literally going nutty trying to accommodate an 8-year old's learning needs and levels along with a Kindergartener's needs and levels, and a toddler boy climbing up walls (or just on tabletops)! All in the same room! 


So. Workboxes are my new favorite thing ... IN.  THE.  WORLD. And what's better is the girls RAVED about them! : ) Here's a picture of what they look like:

I ! LOVE !  THEM ! 

So here’s the gist of how we use the workboxes:

• I bought a 6-drawer storage unit for each girl, and stuck two velcro dots on each drawer (far left and far right). 
• I printed out 2 sets of subject cards from Erica's website (click HERE to print them), and put a velcro dot on the back of these. 

• Each evening I organize each girl's set of workboxes with the learning tasks for the 5 subjects they can work on semi-independently, along with everything they need to complete each task to save the inevitable "where are the scissors?" or "I need to sharpen my pencil!" time-wasters. Here's a picture of what the contents of a drawer looks like:

• The girls must complete the workboxes from top to bottom - no exceptions! This helps me manage my time and availability to each of them, and also sets them up for more success as I try to organize the order of their subjects based on their strengths/needs. For example, starting Abbie off with composition will surely drive me straight to Dairy Queen before 10:15am out of pure misery and frustration!  (Wait ... maybe that's not a bad thing!?)  On the other hand, starting her out with history, silent reading, or math goes much, much smoother.
• I can also add a "Work With Mom" card on the righthand side of the drawer which tells the girls that for this workbox, they need me to either get them started or provide direct instruction (ie math, phonics). 
• At the end of their 5 workboxes, they have a FUN BOX which has something fun and often with educational value to end their workbox time with. They LOVE this, and so far this week the Fun Box has given them motivation to work hard on the previous 5 boxes. (YAH!)

The workboxes occur during the middle of our morning, so our new "schedule" looks more like this (and no, I'm not going to attach a beautifully designed Excel document down to the 15-minute marker, though I still have a weird infatuation with that thing!): 

9:00 - Group Time for Bible reading/prayer, Calendar Connections, history reading, Ellie's science focus, and a read aloud. 

10:00 (ish) - Workboxes!  So far, I've focused on math, composition, handwriting, phonics/spelling, reading, and history for their workboxes.

11:15-11:45 (ish) - Group Time again for a read aloud / literature study

Lunch and free time

1pm - Group Time for art, science, a music history lesson, or finish something from the morning. 

So there you have it. Workboxes are the highlight of the month so far, and I'm so thankful for those who have gone before me in this homeschooling journey and are so eager to share their ideas! We'll keep tweaking this system to make it work more smoothly than our first week, but systematically - I am on board!!! 

And just for good humor, here's the "Picture of the Week" of Ben: 

Picking up the kernels of corn he threw out of his lunch bowl. Yep - we're still in Toddler Bootcamp around here! I love that little man.

From our household to yours, with loads and loads of workbox-love!

The Utechts 

The Lewis & Clark Expedition

This week we took a break from our regular history curriculum because we had finally reached the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and just HAD to do a little unit on Lewis & Clark's expedition from 1804 - 1806 of this newly owned United States territory! After all, we live in the heart of a huge stretch of this journey, so why not take the week to explore and learn about this great adventure!?  


Of the several books we found at the library, our favorite was "Seaman's Journey" by Patricia Eubank, Patti Reeder Eubank and P. Eubank. In fact, we loved this book so much, I had to just buy it! : )  Seaman was Lewis's guard dog and traveled the entire expedition to the Pacific Ocean and back to St. Louis!  I also confess my new love for Newfoundland dogs, which I'll never likely own while living in town. They get up to 150 lbs! But wow - such loyal, friendly dogs. Check out this book the next time you're at your local library!

I also found a few fun activities that I found on Scholastic.com to do with the girls. One of them was to pretend we were one of the explorers and record a few of the new animals, plants, or information about weather or the Native Americans in a journal. So we decided to write about 6 things the Corps of Discoverers would have found:  prairie dogs, corn, buffalo, shirts made from hides, bears, and creating maps. 

Abbie played an interactive game on nationalgeography.com where she could join the Corps of Discoverers and had to make decisions on what she should pack, how she'd prepare for the trip, and what adventures might come on the way. This was a fun game!


And by the end of the week, we all five made plans to visit the Knife River Indian Villages, Fort Mandan, and the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center! It was amazing and I'm quite sure we'll be returning to all three of these locations for more learning, kids camps, visits, and fun! We especially wished that Grandma and Grandpa Holm could have joined us for this field trip, as they are both incredible historians and Lewis & Clark enthusiasts! 

We had read a little about these bull boats which were made from wood and buffalo skins. They were used to carry buffalo meat back to the villages from hunting trips, finishing, and other transporting of goods along the Missouri River. 

This is an earth lodge we visited at the Knife River Indian Villages. These lodges are HUGE ... they'd have to be when a whole extended family lived together (grandparents, children, and grandchildren).  

 This was taken outside the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center next to a statue of Seaman : )  

 Abbie reading about a bear attack on a few of the men of the Corps - their first encounter with a grizzly and one that certainly put a proper fear and respect for these creatures in the explorers! 

 This was a model of the military uniform the captains wore on their expedition to identify themselves to the Natives as Americans. 

The Corps of Discoverers wintered in North Dakota from the start of winter of 1804 - April of 1805 near the Mandan and Hidatsa Natives (two friendly tribes). The fort Lewis & Clark built, Fort Mandan, was built near the Mandan and Hidatsa villages.

We were able to tour a replica of Fort Mandan (which was built in the 1970's). It was built in the shape of a triangle and housed over 50 men, as well as Sacacawea and her newly born baby, Jean Baptiste. 

The "courtyard" where there stood an American flag. 

This was Lewis & Clark's writing desk in their quarters. During these winter months, they got caught up on their journal writing, map drawings, and made further plans for traveling west.

Though Clark wasn't an "equal" from the President's standpoint, Lewis made him an equal and called him "Captain". Therefore, both men shared these quarters and slept on beds at the same level. Interesting that Lewis considered him an equal - this was truly a team-effort!

 This is inside the visitor center at Fort Mandan where they have a little corner of fun kid stuff! This was a real life-sized replica of Seaman, Lewis's guard dog on the journey! HUGE is an understatement!  

A fun boat ... who doesn't like to row in a boat!?  

Not surprisingly, Abbie takes charge!

Fun play "Corps of Discoverer" clothes for kids ...

 Daddy managed to take a rest in the tent! 

 

 I think I'm in love with a dog named Seaman ... 

And I also think after a quick "pit stop" in our history curriculum to just barely glance at the Lewis & Clark expedition, that there is now so much more we all want to know! Ahhh ... the joys of life-long learning! Now on my already too-long list of books to read is Stephen Ambrose's account of this amazing adventure  in "Undaunted Courage".  Who's read it!?  (DAD?!)

Moreover, what do YOU know about Lewis & Clark's expedition that you'd like to add or share? 

A Day in the Life of a Toddler

In almost every conversation I have with others about what it's like to homeschool, I am asked, "What does Ben do while you're doing your schoolwork?" I can attest to this fact: this is certainly a challenge!


I want Ben to be part of our learning as much as possible - both for his benefit and also for mine (the alternative is that he's off by himself using finger paints on the walls). So I spent a significant amount of time during the first semester of our schooling gathering and organizing ideas, toys, and toddler/preschool activities. I've even created a "Toddler Time" chart where I can simple look at it and pick an activity to fill his life at any given moment :)  This chart is a huge stress-reducer - I have at least 3 activities planned for each day, which means I don't have to think about what he can do - I just look, pick, and get it out for him. Voila! Mixing it up also helps keep things "new" for him.


I've also learned the following principles are imperative to a more successful day for all of us:

1. Prayer!  Praying for our day, for my attitude to be spirit-filled, and for him to have a happy heart seem to help so much!
2. Be flexible!  I've gotta just roll with it sometimes ... it is what it is!
3. Be prepared!   Note aforementioned paragraph ... if I'm trying to "wing it"- stress increases. 

And as much as I have prepared for his learning activities, playful adventures, and how to incorporate him into our days ... the bottom line is this:  he's still TWO years old, very active, a wee-bit strong-willed, and a BOY.


So to give you a sense of what a homeschool is really like with the boy-child, here's a fun photo-gallery illustrating his activities from Monday morning.


Ben was up at 7:30 and had breakfast. Then he ran around upstairs yelling and laughing with the girls while Mommy was finishing cleaning the kitchen and getting ready for the day. He jumped up on the lower bunk bed, played with the girls' Barbies, and also his cars. By 9am, we were starting our schoolwork and Ben is  now fussy. He threw an absolute fit while I was reading "A Picture Book of Lewis & Clark"!

9:20 - After we read our book with much distraction, Ben decided he was ready to play with his Leap Frog alphabet toy. He loves to sing the ABC song along with this toy, which is pretty cute!

9:24 - Ben pointed into the closet at this train set and asked Mommy to "help you" put it together. So while the girls were working on their calendar math, I helped him set up his train.

9:30 - Next, Ben asked if he could paint. So, while still talking to the girls about Lewis & Clark's expedition, I'm also getting what he needs to paint!

9:32 - And the next thing I know he's crawling up ON the same table where the paints are and the bowl of water to reach a puzzle. So I'm now wiping off the table so he can play with the alphabet puzzle. What are the girls doing?  I don't know.

9:35 - Ben saw me getting the dry-erase marker and board out to help Ellie write her birthday thank-you notes, and decided HE wanted to write on one "toooooooo"!  See what he scribbled?  That's as much as he did before moving on ...


And now I need more coffee.

10:00 - Ben wandered up the stairs to the main landing where all the winter gear is stored, found one mitten and decided he needed help finding the match. So I sent Abbie to help him so I could have 2 minutes of quiet with Ellie during her math lesson! (Apparently they haven't found the match yet.)

It is now after 10, which means Ben's digestive system has now completely processed any and all traces of breakfast and is ready for meal #2 in his day. Today's request?  Ice cream.  And Mommy suggests raisins? No, ice cream.  No, banana?  ICE CREAM!  Noooo ... string cheese?  And so this goes on for about 20 minutes and finally I just quick run upstairs to grab snacks and drinks for all. Food appeases him for a while. 

Until he has the idea that he should watch "Thomas the Train". And so I hear him asking this question about 57 times in the next 30 minutes.

10:45 - And here he is occupying himself by sitting in the dolly stroller. Note the matching mitten has been found!

11:00 - We started singing "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock" to go along with Ellie's R is for Rock unit, and Ben looooooves to sing! We sang the song a good 4-5 times just for his enjoyment. Pretty sweet little singing voice he has!

11:25 - Because I need Ellie's attention for her lessons, I asked Abbie to play a game with Ben.


But first, I need more coffee.

 11:37 - I need Abbie's attention for her math lesson, so I suggested that Ben play with his trains. He actually took to this ...


For at least one minute. At 11:38, he is now marching around singing his name "Benja-MIN Sam-uEL UUuuuuutecht!"

11:40 - Since he saw that Mommy  was using these fun little manipulatives to teach Abbie division, he wants to play with them "tooooooooo"!


11:43 - He's now asking to watch cartoooooons. And since I've nearly completely lost my own marbles, I finally agree that YES, you may watch cartoons, and Ellie - PLEASE go turn them on already!


Then - just as I start getting a thought on how I might best explain division to my firstborn - Ellie interrupts me and tells me that Daddy didn't set the TV back up after they all played Wii last night.


And now I'm doing that face-wipe thing with my outstretched hands while thinking about the yellow bus that drives by each morning at 8am ...

11:51 - And miraculously, we made it through the morning with no injuries, meltdowns, or loss of sanity. Sanctity? Well that's another issue altogether, now isn't it?  The kids got to watch the end of this cartoon while I went upstairs and made lunch.

 "Ben - where's your happiness?"  

"Right dere!"  (said with a very merry heart)

And after lunch, I sent him outside because he looooooves to play in the snow! 

So there you have it. There was a typical morning with a toddler while also trying to teach my older two their school lessons! I worked with the girls later in the afternoon, but we did actually accomplish some things during the morning mayhem. It's quite a ride, and I'm glad you came along for a few hours ...


Now do you see why I covet your prayer!?  Or why I absolutely INSIST on having him in nursery during worship service on Sundays? Or why I rarely answer my phone or respond to texts before 2pm? Or why I refuse to grocery shop with my kids? It all makes perfect sense to me, of course.


And I wouldn't trade it for the world. He's my little toddler-boy ... my sweet-singing, Elmo-loving, monkey-climbing, car-racing, bathwater-spashing, candy-craving, busybusybusy, beautiful toddler boy.


Much love!
Jenn

100th Day of School & so much more!

WE DID IT! We made it to 100 days at GPE ...  

• without making a therapy appointment for any of us (horray!)
• with no injuries (well, there was the appendectomy)
• with some tears, but lots and lots of laughter, learning, and progress! 

We celebrated 100 days today (Friday, Febr. 24) and had a great time. As Ellie says, "Today was awesome! I liked counting 100 animals and loved making a snack with 100 pieces of food!" 

We started the day with (at least!) 100 calories worth of chocolate donuts ... a true treat around here! 

Then we began by reading Luke 15:1-7, the story of the 100 sheep. What a great reminder that God's desire is to rescue the one lost sheep, for "there will be great joy (in heaven) when one sinner turns away from sin." I love that our God wants to rescue the one ... and still loves the 99. This made for a great conversation with the girls! 

Want to know what life was like 100 years ago?  So did we!  We got some books out and looked up some information on the web on life in 1912. Here's what we learned:

• Photographs were all in black and white (Ellie noticed this right away)
• The model T car had just been invented (1908) and becoming very popular as they were starting to be produced on the assembly line!
• The great Titanic ship sank in April 1912, killing more than 1500 people
• Harriet Quimby was the first woman licensed pilot and first to fly over the English Channel
• WW1 was beginning to brew...
• 5 million Americans visited cinemas daily!
• Billy Sunday was a popular traveling evangelist (and if you want more information on him, ask Aron! He did his master's thesis on this guy while at UNK)
• The Girl Scouts of America were formed
• New Mexico and Arizona joined the US as official states, making 48 total in the United States
• William Howard Taft ("Big Bill") was president from 1908-1912 (and thanks to him, we all now pay income taxes); Woodrow Wilson was elected in November 1912. 
• And finally ... the girls' very own great-grandmother Josie Mussman Rigby was born on January 6, 1912! Happy 100th birthday to you, Grandma! 

After all that learning fun, the girls did some math counting to 100 with snack foods, pompoms, toothpicks, and filling in a missing-numbers chart to 100.

 

Then we tried to think of 100 animals! I wrote 10 different natural habitats for animals (ocean, desert, rainforest, safari, farm, etc) and had the girls think or search for 10 animals in that habitat. This took us awhile, but it was fun and a huge sense of accomplishment once we completed the chart! 

And of course some outside fun: throw & catch 100 times, then 100 jumps with the rope (which caused for much giggling)!

We had a great time! I think after 100 days maybe there's a feeling that we can actually do this homeschooling thing for the rest of the year. : )  

In other news, we "celebrated" Mardi Gras by talking about its traditions, music, cajun food, wild costumes, and parades. Trying to find images on the internet that are decent for little eyes was a bit of a challenge, but they are out there! We found some wonderful videos of parades and costumes! We listened to some Mardi Gras jazz, decorated the room some, wore beaded necklaces, and made these fun masks. And then the next day, we talked about Lent!

Ben's PlaySchool (I love these pics!)

He's starting to be more able or willing to entertain himself and play without being so demanding about it. This is a huge improvement from earlier this year, so I'm VERY thankful! 

Our New Friends

The girls have spent some time out at the Karges farm where they have milked the cow, collected eggs from the chicken house, and now have met the new TWIN calves! They went out last Sunday to meet them when they were only several hours old! (I wonder if anyone else thinks of "Norman" like I do when I see a newborn calf?!)

 

Other learning and fun stuff ... 

Ellie's focus this week was Z is for Zebra. We had fun painting the black stripes on these zebras, although technically we should have been painting white stripes since the skin of a zebra, we learned, is actually black with white fur stripes!

Abbie's starting to learn multiplication with this dice game. She was to represent the 2 numbers appearing on the face of the dice using the blue manipulatives so she could see the two sets of numbers to calculate. 

And this is just for good measure (and to keep us humble!).  Classic example of one kid working diligently but the other two totally goofing off!  But oh, how fun is that?! 

For "Talent Night" at this week's AWANA, the girls sang a duet of "This is My Father's World". Those sweet voices singing a praise to God made me cry! I have no idea where they get their voices OR their courage. Certainly not from their mama! Proves that all good gifts come from above from our heavenly Father.

So that's a lot for 2 weeks and now, I'm tired. I shall allow Calgon to take me away now! 

Much love,

The Utechts