since first posting how i'm using folders to implement sue patrick's workbox system, i've been asked what kinds of things we're using in such small containers, so i thought i'd periodically post our day's work folders contents. in today's folders are:
american history: schoolhouse rock DVD (we got it on netflix)--today she is watching "i'm just a bill"; "elbow room" (U.S. territorial expansion); and "no more kings" (american independence). she gets to watch them over and over, as many times as she likes, for 30 minutes, and at the end of that time she tells me what she learned and i notate that for our portfolio.
math: egg carton game--since an egg carton won't fit into a folder, i found a picture of an egg carton and used a photo editing program to put numbers in the cups and a snappy title on the lid. ella loves snappy titles especially if there is an "extramation point".
handwriting and bible verse: tracer page of joshua 1:9 (the part starting with "do not be terrified"--this is our verse for the month of october)--i made the tracer page in a photo editing program, using the handwriting paper that has a dashed line for lower case spacing, and the jardotty font, which is more like cursive and looks to ella like princess writing. i made the font very light, and pink, so she could see it but it would be her handwriting that stands out on the page when she is done.
art: shower curtain graffiti--can't remember where i saw this idea, so if you know please leave the link in the comments. just put a plain white plastic shower curtain on the floor (the dollar tree or similar store is your friend here) and use washable markers or crayons to draw on it (dollar tree is not your friend here--spring for the good ones so the kids can have really saturated colors). when the shower curtain is covered with drawings, just toss it in the washing machine and when it comes out it will be clean and ready to use again!
science: magazine cut and paste--ella cuts out pictures of anything she finds interesting or unusual, and then sorts them according to whether they are solid, liquid, or gas--this leads to some great questions, such as whether you should consider glade air freshener a solid or a gas.
quiet time: jewel lullaby CD
craft: doll quilt that she is making for dalui
unit focus activities: coloring page of pocahontas; dictation on why pocahontas helped the settlers
if you're using workboxes or a similar set up, what are you putting in them?
Please post more! All fantastic ideas. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Courtney | October 13, 2009 at 08:02 PM
Hi! You don't know me, but I've been a long time reader of your Ella blog. I just wanted to let you know that your Ella is a beautiful little girl and so lucky to have such a wonderful Mummy and Daddy. My cousin and his wife just welcomed their own little Ella into the world today and I hope that she is as loved and well cared for as your Ella obviously is. All the best for you and your family.
Posted by: Victoria | October 13, 2009 at 10:06 PM
thank you, victoria, i pray your cousin's child will be blessed in her life.
courtney, your praise is a great honor to me, thank you!
Posted by: rowena___. | October 15, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Rowena, how long does it take you to put together each day's plan? How far in advance do you plan out each day? How long does it take Ella to get through the day's plan? I'm so curious about homeschooling, but I can not get over the specifics of organizing it.
Posted by: Blair | October 22, 2009 at 05:02 PM
blair, it doesn't take me long to fill the folders--no more than 10 minutes. i figure if 1st grade requires more planning than that, something is wrong in the system.
i don't do the same way every day--sometimes i don't fill the folders until just before we start in the morning--sometimes i fill them at the end of the day for the next day.
i don't require her to finish any folder on the same day. she is allowed to pick up and put down work as desired. many days she finishes all the folders before lunch--some days she doesn't finish any of them before dinner. each folder only gets refilled if she completes it--anything she doesn't complete just goes back in the folder to work on later.
the way i see it, the whole reason we are homeschooling is so we can go at HER pace, not mine. this kind of schedule does not fit everybody's educational philosophy or lifestyle, but it suits ours very well. we can all see her progress, and progress is my main expectation for now. products of progress are for recording keeping purposes only, they don't create or cause learning so i'm not worried about not having products at the end of a day.
Posted by: rowena___. | October 22, 2009 at 07:29 PM
I hadn't thought of the Schoolhouse Rock videos. That's a great idea. I have been thinking about using Netflix. Do they have a lot of educational DVD's for homeschooling?
Posted by: Rachel | October 28, 2009 at 02:09 AM