Maggie's World

Having daddy be in charge of Social Studies and History was the best plan ever. Not only does he do a great with the kids but he gets a little taste of what it is like to have something you want to accomplish with your kids but somehow time and remembering seem to fail you. It is so hard to be the GREAT parent that you so badly want to be. To give your kids the education, time and love that they deserve. Jeremiah is a great dad and they are so lucky to have him and his willingness to spend time learning with them.
They are studying out of the Core Knowledge book for their grade level. Maggie is learning about continents and bodies of water, Spencer is learning about jobs and how communities work together and Matthew is learning about coordinates.

THIS IS MAGGIE'S WORLD

Maggie and daddy made the planet complete with continents and bodies of water. She named it Maggie's world.
Spencer came up with jobs that people would need and could have on the planet.
Matthew drew lines of Longitude and Latitude and made coordinates.

GREAT JOB GUYS!! The best part is all that I did was sit back and listen to all that went into this wonderful creation of MAGGIE'S WORLD.

Diary of an Afterschooling mom

Summer is going great! I can't believe how wonderfully the bins are working out. The thing I worry about most is always my own motivation or loss of. I usually start something great and then after awhile it fades. It has been four plus weeks and the learning bins are still going strong.
Most mornings I wake up and they are already working on their Math and Writing. After they finish their bin work they move right on to their chores and by 9:00 with very little coaxing they are done for the day. YEAH IT IS WORKING!!
I love independent activities.. As I am writing this I just heard Maggie ask Spencer to play the Wii and he actually said, "No we still have to do our Math and Writing". We went hiking this morning and we are running behind schedule. VERY COOL!!
I am excited to continue on with the bins and the boys have completed two reading expeditions this summer and are on to their third. They are getting SO good at their math facts, Matthew's cursive is coming along very nicely, Spencer printing is looking nicer and he is getting really good with the dictionary.
I am thinking that the bins are great for the summer but I miss the theme units. So I think that an idea is forming and I will finally be able to define what Afterschooling is for our family. Maybe we will even come up with a Mission Statement.

Kudos To The Public Library

We have been library hopping and it has been GREAT! We have so many libraries close to us that are filled with fun activities and learning experiences. We have been to a Teddy Bear picnic, watched a magic show and learned some Spanish. I am so appreciative of the Public Library and the work that they put forth for free activities in the summer. Be sure you are taking advantage of these activities and don't limit yourself to one library. Check out all of the activities at all of the libraries in your area.
Of course besides the activities we have been taking advantage of a wide variety of books (especially helpful for our reading expedition)and movies. We have also signed up for the library reading program and the kids are earning prizes as they read.

WE LOVE THE LIBRARY

Journey through books

I feel a little silly for not putting thought into what type of books my children are reading. I was to busy celebrating the fact that they were reading and enjoying it.

While exploring the Core Knowledge website I came across this very cool "EXPEDITION". It helps children to expand their minds and their reading materials. I searched the website and I was not able to find the location of the expedition so I will explain what it is all about.

The expedition looks like a treasure map with each stop having a picture (ex. our map has a Harry Potter picture, a picture of Peter Pan and a detective.) Next to the picture you write the type of book the child needs to read (ex. Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Mystery) along with a line for the child to write the title of the book they chose. Our expedition has five stops and a treasure at the end.

The treasure is whatever you decide (ex. extra game time for the week, a toy they have been wanting, a field trip to a place of interest, ice cream).
I like this method mostly because the only work I put into it is creating the expedition the rest is up to the child.

What have you BIN doing?

Well here are the specifics of my little Bin project I have been working on.
Math Bin- The math bin has 5 activity choices one to be done each day Mon-Fri. They choose which activity they want to do on what day. They have to work on Math for a minimum of 10 minutes each day.
1. Worksheets: Matthew is working on multiplication; Spencer is working on Addition and Maggie is working on counting and number writing
2. A list of Math websites they can choose to work on. The websites are specific to each child's need. Example: One of Matthew's websites is multiplication.com.
3. Flash Cards: Matthew multiplication, Spencer addition and Maggie counting and number recognition.
4. Math activities that are specific to grade level. I found these activities in the Core Knowledge books.
5. Work books. I love to purchase grade level workbooks for the kids and they love working in them. I just purchase Math leveled books and throw them in the bins. They just work on them for 10 minutes or longer if they choose.

Writing Bins- The writing bins also has five activities for them to choose throughout the week. Again I ask for a minimum of ten minutes.
1. Writing practice: Matthew is working on cursive. Spencer is working on printing neatly. Maggie is just beginning so she works on her name and letters. I print all of my worksheets off of various online sights.
2 and 3. I found these great unit studies for vocabulary on this website http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/vocab/four/. It goes by grade level. I put two of the activities/worksheets in their bin each week.
4. They are writing stories as part of our writers workshop found on the Core Knowledge website. The first week I put a story web in their bin and for the rest of the weeks they always have lined paper and plain paper in their bin.
5. Sentence writing practice. I choose two sentences out of the book they are currently reading and they rewrite the sentences exactly the way it is found in the book.

Reading for the summer has LOTS of incentive. First we have our Library reading incentive program. Second they have their reading expedition that encourages them to explore different types of books. Example: this months expedition they have to read a fiction, nonfiction, biography, science fiction and book of poetry. After they read all of them there is a treasure. Third and last summer incentive is our family tradition of "PENNY A PAGE".

Social Studies is dad's job for the summer. He is reading stories and teaching lessons out of the Core Knowledge grade level books.

Science is one Friday a month and it is just a big fun day of Science projects and ideas found in the Core Knowledge grade level books.

P.S.
Note to all! There are days when we do NOTHING and get NOTHING done. Because in the words of my kiddos, "That's how we do what we do"

Here is the link to the Core Knowledge website: http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/index.htm