The Binder

I got this idea from Thomas Jefferson Education and started it right away - it's great and so simple! I got a three ring binder for each boy and put some fun pictures of them on the front. Inside I filled it with empty clear plastic sheet protectors for them to keep their finished work in. Each boy has a calendar in the front. This is a place where we can practice planning as well as recording. To Kai's binder I added his reading list and a place where we write a paragraph each day about what he learned that day. They all love it and are busy filling it up with all their work and special papers. It's unleashed a new wave of creativity in the house and I have more ideas too.

These are the covers I made for their binders:

Kai's Poem

I woke up this morning and found a poem sitting on the table, evidence that Kai was busy before I was even awake.

Mik

My Mik can bring and

he has a ring

and he can sting

and he is a king.

It's written in purple marker with an accompanying illustration.  Wow, it really brought a smile to my face! 

Gratitude

I'm lifting my heart in thankfulness and finding the gifts - sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden - in each day. Counting my way to 1,000....

23. the sound of distant thunder rumbling.
24. a cool breeze.
25. A great time processing with a friend who came from very far away to help us. So thankful for the input in our lives.
26. Thankful that I had a very helpful friend stay with me this weekend while Scott was away.
27. My husband who helps me get perspective when I have a stinky attitude.
28. Kai is doing so great with his writing we're able to move forward with copywork and math.

Gratitude community is here

help for writing

Since starting homeschool I realized pretty quickly that Kai is struggling with writing. He's not very confident and handwriting is a source of frustration for him. He avoids writing anything at all costs. This hinders a lot of areas of school, so I know it's something we need focus on. So we've been practicing writing in different mediums - rice, cornmeal, even oatmeal. Well, I got this idea from my friend, Sarah Dawn's blog in the comments section and had to give it a try. The comment suggested writing in different mediums that are fun to eat - like chocolate syrup. I knew my kids would go nuts over this!

We started with a blob of chocolate syrup on a big plate.

Dip fingers in, make some swirls...

and lick!

More swirls...

...more licks! Can you tell Jude's having fun?

Kai works on his spelling words...

with a smile!

Ezra draws and licks too!

The best part is licking the plate when they finish!

yum!

This is another fun one we tried. We whipped up a batch of whipped cream.


Put a glob on a plate...

...and let the fun begin! Ezzy practices making circles and sticks, which is great preparation for writing.

Kai does his spelling and writing practice

All these activities may look like just too much fun, but I am seeing some huge results. All this practice in different mediums is boosting his confidence and skill, which leads to...

this! Real writing on real paper with a real pencil!

No tears and no fuss.

Very careful, neat work.

It feels so good to do a nice job!

Today (in photos)

We started school outside in the morning.

Our reading materials. I have to comment on this Bible. I am not a huge fan of children's Bibles. I really like this one, though. It doesn't dumb-down the stories, it's very accurate and it doesn't add in a moral or a lesson, it just sticks to the text. I'm excited that we will read through the whole Bible this year as part of our curriculum.

His eyes looked so green this morning

Ezzy played with this little worm for quite awhile.

Koa was captivated by the light through the trees.

The sky started clouding over so we moved inside for languge arts. These letter blocks are great because all the kids can participate in their own way. Ezzy finds letters and tells me the letter sounds. Jude plays.

Kai makes words

For writing we used cornmeal (another idea from Tracie at: teaandchopsticks.wordpress.com).

Jude just played and made a mess

Ezzy too

Then I got a little crazy and poured some water into their cornmeal and it made a sticky, doughy substance that was even more fun to play with.

Ok, this may be kind of gross because of the amount of playing they did with the cornmeal, but I actually took their little cornmeal patties and fried them up for lunch! I figured it's their own germs they're eating, so it can't hurt them too much!

topped with cheese - they loved it.

For science we've been studying weather and today we made a weather vane.

a snuggle moment

What a day

Well, today was my first day back to homeschooling since having Koa and our first official day with Sonlight - our new curriculum. I think overall the day was positive but it was not without some tense moments.
This moment was a triumph. Kai was really giving me a hard time about doing any chores because he "just didn't want to." He finally made a good "choice" (I told him he could either do his chore quickly and we can move on to the next activity, or if not we could keep working on chores for the rest of the day). That kind of kicked him into gear and he actually went above and beyond what I asked him to do and was very proud of himself.

I have to include this picture because this is what I'm seeing a lot of these days with Ezzy. Actually taking this picture kind of snapped him out of this fit he was throwing, he was so surprised and then wanted to see his photo. Right now we're working on "Angry Choices." This is something that really worked with Kai at his age. Just knowing that it's ok to be angry - and there are things you can do when you're angry instead of hurting other people. I feel like I am saying the same thing over and over and over to him. I know he's going to get this - I have faith! Poor guy - it's tough to have such strong emotions and not know what to do with them.

Another struggle I have with Kai is writing - he does not like writing at all, especially any type of work with handwriting. I'm not sure what to do because he needs to be writing and he puts up a fight when it comes down to it. So we did this activity today - writing in shaving cream - bubbles and sticks. I think it really helped because a little later Kai sat down and did a whole page of handwriting. So hopefully this will get easier. I hope, I hope.

I love what I'm doing right now, but in those tense moments (for instance when every child is screaming or crying at the same time - last night at bath time this did actually happen) I sometimes seriously think I'm just going to lose it. I get frustrated, I get angry, I get irritated, I yell - and I know that is completely not productive or helpful in any way. Sigh. Luckily my kids have grace with me and we seem to pull through together and keep moving forward. In the end there's always lots of hugs and lots of love. No matter what has happened in the day, I can always count on laying down with Jude at bedtime and without fail he gives me a hug and kiss and says, "I love you so much mommy" over and over again. You can't beat that.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new adventure!