Large Family Organization...the homeschool cabinet

Large families take an extraordinary amount of organization.  I feel like I am still in the early years of the large family and still learning the most efficient way to organize.  I thought I would do a series on the ways that I organize our large family.  Everyone is different in preferences on this sort of thing and there is no one right or wrong way to do it.  But this series will share some of the things that I do to make life easier around here. I will attempt to do a "Large Family Organization" post every Wednesday...we shall see...haha.

Today, I thought I would share how I organize all of the little things that we use on a daily basis for our homeschool.  I have tried so many different things over the years to organize but, it never seemed smooth and efficient until I did this.

A neighbor gave me this cabinet as they were preparing to throw it away.  It had no knobs, paint was scratched off in several areas, and the inside shelves were broken.  I invested in a little hardware and paint and refurbished this little unit for about $15.  It now sits in our kitchen eating area right by the table where the kids do their book work.  Easy access and doors that close were both essential for me.  Above is a picture of the outside and below is the inside.

On the top shelf, I put the workbooks and Teacher's manuals for individual work that we use daily along with a plastic box in which the kids place their completed work. This is mainly the Math and Language books.

On the middle shelf I placed several baskets (that I happen to already have from another organization project in another house).  I always try to utilize things that I already have in these types of projects...sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't.  This time it worked...aahhh.  These baskets hold the crayons, pencils, colored pencils, glue, scissors, and paint.  There was even a place for the pencil sharpener (high enough to be out of the reach of the littles).  And, there was a media cut out in the back of the unit so I could plug in the pencil sharpener without having cords hanging out the front...icing on the cake!

 

On the bottom shelf are baskets holding white and colored paper and stencils, stamps, etc..  My kids do quite a bit of drawing/sketching...especially when I am reading aloud to them.
 

The three drawers on the bottom are where my three older kids can store their personal school items when they are not doing book work.

 

On top of the cabinet, I placed three more baskets with items that we use a little less frequently like Math manipulatives, extra art supplies, and larger bottles of paint.

Before, I had these things organized in our "homeschool closet" in a bedroom with all of the curriculum that we are not using this year but will need in future years.  The problem was that if someone broke a pencil, it took a trip to the other room to remedy the problem and chances of being distracted were high.  Now, everything that we need is right at our fingertips without having to leave the room. 

I am SO pleased with the result...especially for the price.

I keep all of our "unit study" books (Bible, Art, Music, History, Literature, Science, Geography, "read aloud", etc.) in a large crate next to the couch where we all lounge in the afternoons to learn while the babies are napping.  Here is a picture of this...not so lovely but what works at the time.

I then keep our school music cds in a little basket inside the entertainment center where they are handy and yet out of the reach of the littles.  Here is a picture of that.

Now, to organize the shoes and socks...haha!  Actually, that will be my next post in this series:)  Look for it next Wednesday!

In LOVE with reading

February is "In LOVE with Reading" month in our home...and school.

Quite a few years ago, a homeschool mom shared with me how she would combine reading with their Valentine's Day celebration. I love to celebrate and I love to read so...what could be better than celebrating reading?  I took her idea, re-arranged it, added a few things, and made it our own tradition.

Here is how we celebrate reading in February.

Prep:  I paint a tree trunk on a poster board and cut out lots of little hearts.

I am obviously no artist, but my kids don't know that...yet...haha!

The Plan: For every book that a child reads, they get to write the name of that book on a heart and tape it to the tree.  We set a goal of reading for the month and then choose a reward.  I like to make it a combined reading goal to cultivate unity:) This year I am making the hearts go along with our color coding (blue, green, pink, yellow, orange, and red).  This way, the kids can easily find the books that they have added to our "tree".  I also let the older kids read a book to the little ones and put up a heart for them.  The idea is to read as much as possible for the whole month.  I'm not so concerned with the reading level...just want them to fall in love with reading!

Here is a picture of our reading tree in progress.  We have a goal of 200 books for the month of February.  This has truly inspired them to read...even my one who struggles.
This is the tree after the first week of the month.

Here it is after the second week of the month.

On Valentine's Day:  I read to them a short history lesson on St. Valentine and we discuss his life.  Then we have a day off of "regular" school and they get to read all morning.  They choose what book and where they want to read.  It's fun to see all the places that they come up with.  

Here are a few of their favorite reading spots that I found as I looked back through some of my pictures.

On the trampoline out back...

Under Peter's desk...

On the couch...

In bed...just before falling asleep...

In the hallway...

On the couch with Daddy...

 

On the couch with the baby...

In the wagon...

 And so many other places.

Later that day, I take the kids to Bookmans or Half-Priced-Books and they each get to pick out a new book.  Some years we will cook a special dinner together and decorate...some years we will go to a favorite restaurant.  During our family time just before bed, we will read 1 Corinthians 13 and discuss what love truly means.

Even after February 14th, we continue to read, read, read...until the end of the month.  The kids always reach their goal.  Maybe that says more about the prize at the end than it does their love of reading...haha.  But the goals are to cultivate a love for reading, give them a feeling of success, and foster family unity not to crack the whip and make them read. 

This year the kids choose a day trip to visit some friends that we rarely get to see.  (I sure hope they make it this year!) 

What things do you do to cultivate a love for reading in your home? 

Where are your kid's favorite reading spots?

Literature Unit "Snow Treasure"

One of my favorite ways to teach is through themed Literature units.  It just makes everything seem so alive and real to study and learn about what your literary characters are experiencing.  Most books can bing in History, Geography, Science, and some Math without the kids even realizing how much they are learning.  When I taught in the classroom, I would do a unit every year on "Where the Red Fern Grows"...such a great book for 10-12 year old boys (but if you intend to do this book, be aware of the language).  :)

So, this year I decided to have my two older boys participate in a Literature Club.  It is just one of those things on my educational "bucket list" that I want all of my kids to experience at some point.  So this year Nathan and Brennan are in a Literature club with ten other boys and so far it has been fantastic!  Each mom takes a turn hosting a monthly club and December was my turn to host.  We chose the book Snow Treasure.  I thought I would post here about all of the things that we did as a resource for anyone who might want to teach a unit on Snow Treasure.

The most helpful thing was that my wonderful husband took the day of the club off work to help me prepare during the morning, be available to run any last minute errands (or let me run the errands without kids!), and manage the little ones during the club.  Hooray for involved husbands and dads!!

Here is what we did:

First of all, we read the book:)  I knew that we would use The Socratic Method and that I wanted to teach the kids about setting, genre, personification, and cliffhanger.  So, I taught my own kids about personification and then had them listen for personification in the story as we read it aloud.  (We do "read aloud" with all six kids most school days.)  Amazing how much having something to listen for in the story helps my tactile learners sit still and listen:)  As we found good examples in the story, I jotted them down to use in the Lit club.  Then at one point, I had so many good examples that I would never use them all in the club but my kids kept insisting that I write them down...haha.

Before the actual day of the club, I gathered together shoe boxes and spray painted them gold to look like bricks of gold bullion.  Then, I had on hand lots of art supplies (construction paper, cotton balls, glue, scissors, clay, foam cut-outs, and little plastic soldiers, etc.) so that they could open their "bricks" and create a diorama inside.  Here is the link that I printed and gave to each boy to explain the steps in making a diorama and keep in their Literature notebooks.
How to make a shoebox diorama.

I found a page about the author that I also printed and we discussed in the club.  Each boy put a copy of this in his notebook as well.  It was really hard to find a good biography and picture of  Marie McSwigan but I found something that would work.
Author page.

Each boy received a world map with Norway colored and a map of Norway to also place in their notebooks.  Here are those links. 
World map with Norway colored. Map of Norway.

My boys and I decided to have a meal for the club much like the one that the children would have eaten at the farm after delivering the gold bricks.  So, we had our triple crockpots going  with meatballs in one, potatoes in another, and cabbage in the last.  We intended to have a variation of "iced cookies" for the boys as well but I actually had my daughter and an older sister of one of the Lit club boys preparing them during the club...haha.  But, with their help, the cookies were ready by the meal at the end of the club.

Being the planner and schedule person that I am, I had the three hour club scheduled out by time for each event.  This was really helpful as I was teaching to make sure that I was leaving enough time for all of the fun things that were planned.

Snow Treasure Book Club Schedule

Ice breaker game (15 min) 1:00

Intro Activity - (20 min) 1:15 "Make “wanted” posters"

Author – hand out sheets (10 min) 1:25 "Hand out author sheets and Norway fact sheet"

Story Chart/history (20 min) 1:45 "History of Norway, WWII, invasion timing, map"

Literary Terms (30 min) 2:15 "Setting, Personification, Genre, Cliffhanger"

Activity (45 min) 3:00  "Make a diarama"

Meal (30 min) 3:30

Game (20 min) 3:50  "Jeopardy remix"

Host gifts (10 min) 4:00

 

Things ended up a little different than I had planned...but there was a plan to fall back on!
After the teaching time, we went into the backyard to make dioramas and then had a Norwegian dinner.
We ended the club with a rousing game of "Snow Treasure Jeopardy".  I used a posterboard and post-it notes to create the game with two post-it notes for each question (one for the question and one to cover them up until needed).

My little ones were around and loved all of the action, but Peter was there to put them down for naps, etc. when the time came:)

I'd love to hear any ideas that you have for teaching Literature...Snow Treasure...or any book!