Sunday, September 2, 2012

Out With the Old and In With the New

Now that we have had our "first day of school" fun.  It's time to get down to business:)

One of the first things that we do every year is get out our notebooks or portfolios of last year's learning and clean them out.  As the kids pull out all of last year's work, they reminisce about all of the things they did and learned.  They also usually make comments on how much better their handwriting, spelling, and drawing skills are now compared to last year.  It's a great time for them to see the progress that they are making.  Here are some pictures of the "out with the old and in with the new" project.




With our new schedule, I will be teaching writing to the older three kids (together) using Writing Strands.  While we are all sitting at the table, it's a perfect time to have the littles do some basic art.  So, I purchased some "school supplies" for them as well:)

Here is a picture of Ransom doing art at the beginning of his day.

 
 
Here is Seth with his preschool crayons and cute little storage box.


Wesley also loves to draw and is content to sit and draw for the 30 minutes that the older kids are learning to write.  And, just maybe he is picking up a few things as well:)

 
I have worked the schedule so that all six kids have a place to be and a project to be working on throughout the morning.  So, while the older kids might be doing Math or Spanish, the little guys may be playing with one of the older siblings, having "mat time", compute time, or a nap for the baby.  As soon as it cools off outside, they prefer to play in the backyard.

Here are some pictures of the littles doing their scheduled activities.


Yes, our laptop is on a cooling rack as it tends to overheat...haha.  It is a dinosaur in terms of technology and so it's perfect for the littles:)



I am really excited to be done with the summer chaos and back into a neat schedule.  It ensures that I can get everything done and have one on one time with each child while they read to me or we clean up after a meal together.  Great conversations trump reading from time to time:)
 
So, out with the old and in with the new.  Looking forward to all we (yes, me too!) will learn this year about "Rome to the Reformation".

What things do you do to keep your littles occupied during school?

2 comments:

  1. I am having a hard time with this. My seven year old needs complete quiet while he dose school he is so easily distracted. I have tried having the little ones do activities but is to noise for him. I am still struggling with what to do. My eleven year old has a thirty min play time with them and that helps. Love your ideas :)

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  2. Tesha, you may have tried this already but, have you tried letting your seven year old do school with ear plugs or with a headset playing classical music?

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