THIS is what happens when you limit the technology......

the imagination gets flowing



the math bears get spread ALL OVER the house and are set up to guard lots of different spaces...


do I scream or laugh?



do I go absolutely CRAZY because there are small pieces of legos, connectagons, bears and whatever else they need for their...whatever....

do I run screaming when I walk into their bedroom???? every single toy they own is on the floor!

OR do I just LOVE the fact that they are not in front of a screen all the time? It was MUCH louder in my house this week and nearly drove me out of my mind but it was worth it!

They really took to this ticket system and were very diligent about using timers and giving me their ticket. It certainly helped that the main computer got attacked by some porn grossness and so the boys are no longer allowed to play internet games! I tried to find more timers at dollar tree but they were all out so they will have to continue to share the 2 that we have until they get them back in stock!

Technology Tickets

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the blog world!! It is a tad bit time consuming but I have gotten some really great ideas that work so good for our family that I NEVER EVER would have come up with on my own!!!

I found this true gem a few days ago and it is already in play at our house! I had to do it quick and I didn't get to make it pretty but it is functional and will probably get prettified one of these days!!! I mentioned it to the boys and they were so gung ho to do it that I had to be quick!

I pulled out the hundreds of left over paint chips I have from my adventures this summer!


Each boy has a color(his favorite) that I have been using for him for everything I do! Stephen is green, Ben is orange and Thomas is blue. So I cut apart 12 'tickets' for each boy. And 6 for me(red) to give as rewards or I called them 'Way to Go' tickets when i saw the boys doing something good! I just wrote 1/2 hour on them and hung them up!

I had these little 3M hooks I got after christmas on clearance and they hung perfectly on them so I stuck them to the wall and hung up our Technology Tickets!

I decided to put them up next to our school schedule since we are looking at that so much and are in and out of this room quite often - so I won't forget about using the tickets!

So far - so Good! The only issue I have run into is if they don't use the whole half hour. I only have 2 timers so I couldn't pause the time for one of the boys and I am sure he got more time than he was supposed to but - oh well! I will be going to the dollar tree and getting a timer for each boy so that I can pause their time if they don't use the whole half hour!

I have high hopes for these tickets but as usual it will require me to stay on top of it and be strict about using them so......that is where lots of prayer comes in!!

Schedule

It took me a couple tries to make a schedule for our week that I liked but it requires me to fill it in each week! I don't mind that part - I just found that I was writing so many of the same things over and over again and we were just going to the next page or chapter that I didn't need to write it down. So - because I got lazy and it wasn't written down I would forget to do it and we ended up where we were last year and that was just doing the basics - which is not what I wanted for our school year. I was so excited when I saw a schedule that was done here and I LOVED IT!!! When I read her post it was like I had written it and I just had to copy her idea!
So - here is what I did.....

I had an old whiteboard sitting in the garage that was not magnetic so I spraypainted it black all over. I was very pleased with how well the spray paint went on over top of the whiteboard - flawless!

after it dried, i used this fabulous glue I have and glued 3 different ribbons to make my 4 days slots. then i hung up the board where the kids and i could reach it!

after i cut, laminated and cut again my subject labels I put a velcro dot on the back of them and hung them up where i wanted them to go each day! I just wrote the days of the week on index cards and velcroed them up too!

The daily subjects are - Bible, Circle Time(verse, calendar and family prayer), Literature(poetry, paddle to the sea, just so stories that we alternate each day or couple of days) phonics, copywork, math & individual reading
Mon & Weds - history, language arts, artist study, composer & timeline
Tues & Thurs - science, spanish, language arts


I put the board in this corner of our school room. It is right next to my desk where all our books and supplies are also kept. The files on my desk are labeled by subject and each file has the books we will need or items we will use for that subject.


I am excited about the boys being able to see what is done and what is left to finish our day!
Now they won't have to keep asking what next? when will we be done?? how much longer??
I am also hoping this will start to initiate soem independence form them. If they can do their copywork they can take down their label and maybe they will do it on their own???

The labels I made are here if you want them!

High School

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!! I am so troubled right now and all I can do is scream - quietly and on paper(or screen) !!! My oldest - who is a freshman in high school has now mentioned that he wants to consider being homeschooled next year and possibly the rest of high school! I am thrilled - I am joyful - I am beside myself that this is coming out of his mouth BUT I am terrified! He is my stepson(he has always been with his dad and since he was 5 he has always also been with me ) and we attempted hs in 7th grade and it was a dismal failure!!! Academically it was a failure. It was my first year of homeschooling and I didnt know what I was doing and didnt have a feel for what we were doing and he wanted me to teach the way he was taught in school and that just wasn't gonna happen! So - it didnt set the bar real high! Now - i will say - it was a huge success in the changes it made in our family life!
Anyways - now I am scared that we will fail again because the pressure is ten times what it was then due to all the college prep, high school transcripts and whatever else goes along with high school and its requirements! I have put off looking into that for fear of getting all excited and caught up in it and then he will change his mind!!! This has to be his decision. I am relaying info to him as i read or find out stuff to keep it in the forefront of his mind but I am also trying to be real subtle and low key about it! For those of you that know me - I don't do low key very well!!!
I do see the huge plus side to this and I am trying to focus on that instead of being scared!
Prayer works!!!! Believe! Faith! These are the three things that keep coming to mind so that is what I am going to focus on!!!

Thanks for listening! Any suggestions or high school info you want to throw my way - bring it on!!!