Adventures in Afterschooling

No surprise

2010-03-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

I guess it is no surprise that I have disappeared almost completely from the blogging world. I miss having the time to journal our school experiences and share the news with all of you. However, I am enjoying the time I have been spending with my boys. We are loving AZVA and K12 curriculum. It has become an answer to my prayers. I go to bed exhausted, excited for tomorrow to come. I had no idea how much fun learning could be.

I can honestly say that I am achieving goals, developing good habits, and feeling totally and completely accomplished at the end of each day. I was worried that I would have regrets, that I would flash back to days with just one more kiddo left at home. I am so happy to say, I don't. I never look back, some days I have doubts, wondering if this is what is best for them. Those doubts are always squashed quickly when I see their behavior changing, I hear them talking about what we learned, when I see them use their new skills, and always when I hear them play the piano. Since we started homeschooling the boys have been practicing twice a day and they are absolutely amazing.

How are they liking it? They tell me everyday how much they love it. Spencer's class sent him letters and I asked him if he missed them and he said, "Yes, I liked school. I just don't want to go back to school." I totally know exactly how he feels. Yes, I liked the quiet days at home, shopping with just one kiddo, going out to lunch with my husband, and crafting up a storm. I just don't want to go back to it.

Now a little about Maggie. She is still in school and I miss her more and more everyday. I know she loves her friends and she loves her teacher and that makes me happy. She is getting ready to be tested for the Gifted program at school so I know she is growing by leaps. I know one day she will be ready to come home and learn with us and when she is I will greet her with loving open arms. In the mean time I will continue to support her in every way possible.

My husband he is a great support. I know he thought I was crazy and that the entire experience had the potential of making me crazier but he supported me. He is my faithful substitute and honorable go to guy. I love him for that!

There is always a BUT.... I need to slow down. I started a new job (if you call singing, playing and doing crafts with toddlers a job) a month before taking on this awesome homeschooling responsibility. I work very few hours and only two days a week but sometimes the lack of communication with my employer causes problems. I am also a Committee Chairman for a Cub Scout Pack that keeps me pretty busy. AND I try my hardest to participate in Maggie's school activities. This keeps me EXTREMELY busy and at times the combination makes me feel overwhelmed and a bit CRAZY (funny farm crazy). Separately when everything flows smoothly and I am organized I always look back and think, "Man I am good!"

All in all I am very excited and happy with my new life. That is truly what it is a new life, completely selfless and totally wonderful.

Just in case you were wondering, YES, I am still planning on starting a homeschooling blog and I have even decided on the name; Outsmarted 4 to 1. I can't wait to begin designing it. Spring break is coming soon maybe I will find the time, if not summer is just around the corner. If you want to keep semi-updated on our homeschooling lives you can go here Outnumbered 4 to 2.

Goodbye for now!

Don't look now but it happened!

2010-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

I guess it happened! I didn't think it would, I read that it might........

Well friends, this Afterschooling mom has gone Homeschooling mom. On Monday I am pulling my Spencer out of school too. I am surprised myself and I am absolutely speechless every time someone asks me, "WHY?". That is a tricky question for so many reasons. I respect public education and understand the importance and the amazing role that it plays in the lives of so many children including my own. So in no way do I want to discount the public school system. I think basically I just want them to myself. I have loved having Matthew home and our relationship has grown by leaps and bounds. Matthew and I often find ourselves saying, "Spencer would love this". So why not?

Maggie will remain in Kindergarten (she loves it) and possibly come home for first grade. I will not continue to Afterschool her in the same was as I was before as she is very tired by the end of the day and has a hard time with the extra. Instead I will read the girl to death and enjoy listening to her read to me (which she is very good at).

I hope not to disappoint as I have loved the Afterschooling program and the enrichment that it has provided for my family. I have loved blogging about it and looking back and reading about our GREAT success and times I needed a life line.

Saying goodbye to Afterschooling is a bitter sweet thing for my husband and I. We have loved spending that extra time with the kids and enriching their learning. However, minus the homework and plus the free time equals MORE FAMILY FUN! We plan on continuing religious studies the same as before but adding more outdoor time, Science experiments, trips to the library, parks, bike rides, hikes and the list could go on forever.

I am going to keep my blog going it will just have a new name (still thinking). Thanks to all or should I say the few moms that read and shared in my Adventures in Afterschooling. Please do not leave me, I promise you will not be disappointed.

One Week Down

2010-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

At the end of the year I always ponder on the idea of a New Years Resolution. This year I wanted something all inclusive, something that said it all in one word. I decided that this year I would resolve to be more self-less. I would spend more time on others (especially family) and less time on me. Unfortunately I had become my own time hog. I want to do this so everything else can wait.

Last week I started homeschooling..... My New Years Resolution for 2010 is this.

I resolve not to loose myself

It was a great week! I was so glad I started it off by reading "The Well Trained Mind". I felt so prepared after reading that book and I had direction. Good thing because we ran into some trouble with enrollment at AZVA and school didn't officially start until Thursday. Matthew spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday working on things my friend Nicholle (AZVA teacher) gave us and learning about Classical Education. He also took time to prepare his space and fix up an old desk we bought at the Goodwill.

I am SO glad to be on track with AZVA, Matthew was given an Advanced Learning teacher and I had the opportunity to speak with her on the phone Friday evening. She filled my brain with LOTS of helpful information that will get us headed in the right direction.

I am really on brain overload, my brain muscles are sore but that just means they are getting BIGGER, COOL! The only downfall; between homeschooling and afterschooling I am teaching "ALL DAY". Making a schedule and plan is next on my agenda.

As Always... I will keep you posted!

Books for mom

2010-01-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

I just read the book "The Well Trained Mind" and I encourage all to read it. I was really excited that the first part of the book mentioned afterschooling even though it is primarily for homeschooling families.

The curriculum is based on Classical learning and is an amazing resource for anyone that has not been introduced to this learning method. After reading the book I was convinced of the importance of and absence of classical learning in the lives of my children. I really wanted to absorb every aspect of this book and make room in my brain for permanent storage space. I know that remembering every idea, resource, term, and other fascinating qualities of the book is nearly impossible(I will have to buy the book). However I know that I will retain that need and desire to make classical education a part of my children's lives.

Note: The book is long but it has curriculum ideas and resources from kinder to high school. I just read through the beginning of the book, kinder thru 4th grade information and the ending chapters.

This book is amazing and inspirational and I know that you will love it.

Finally, time to sit down

2009-12-30T09:55:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness Christmas time is SO super busy. I have been wanting to share some of our fun activities we have been doing with our "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" Theme. It has been the perfect theme for this time of year.

First we read the book and discussed the different domino affects and IF they would have given the mouse all of those things.
Second the kids set up dominoes, knocked down dominoes, set up dominoes, knocked down dominoes.....
Third they each picked a cookie recipe and got to work baking. YUMMY!!
Fourth we pulled out our "If You Give A Pig A Pancake" and "If You Give A Moose A Muffin" books and read them. Once again we discussed the domino affects and the kids each took turns telling which book was their favorite and why.
Lastly the kids are working on their own If You Give a ______________ a _____________ stories. I am hoping to find time to have them share their stories on our blog. They are so creative and their illustrations are fabulous (of course I am the mom).

A Christmas Story...
Each year Grandma and Grandpa ask for a service project for their Christmas gift. This year we decided to take the yummy cookies the kids baked along with a Book of Mormon with their testimonies and deliver them to friends. I love that nothing holds the kids back from sharing the gospel. It comes so easily for them and they are so excited to do it. My husband and I also shared our testimonies and we were a bit nervous, another testimony of the importance of being like little children.

Big News...

2009-12-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how nervous I am about this. Today I withdrew my oldest son from school, YIKES. I have enrolled him in AZVA public school. It is a very exciting thing for both of us. I have struggled for so long to get him the gifted learning he needs that I knew it is was time for a change. My husband and I both agree that because he learns differently then other children he should be taught differently. This has been a struggle for us as parents from very early on and is now affecting our relationship with our son. As well as affecting his confidence and self esteem.
It will be another new adventure to post about. I love adventures it 's just that first step into the unknown that is a bit frightening. I will keep you posted with our progress.

Math

2009-12-14T21:25:00.001-08:00

I want to start with math and explain what I have chosen to do for math and why. First off this was one of the hardest areas for me to find peace with. This is an area that both of my boys excel in and I knew they weren't being challenged at school. I went through many forum discussions on the topic and looked into two of the most frequently used math programs for Homeschoolers; Singapore and Saxon. Both definitely worth looking into.

I decided on Saxon math and printed the placement tests for my boys and prepared to purchase the materials at the grade level they tested into. However I started to wonder about adding to or teaching different concepts on top of the math load they already received at school. I decided to check out the Kumon learning center close to our home to see what they offered for math. I was so impressed that if I had the money I would have enrolled all of my children in math and reading that very day. Unfortunately I did not have the means to do so. Instead I took with me the knowledge and realization of the importance of mastering their math basics.

I gave this a lot of thought and realized that at school they cruise through things so quickly that they lose the basics. This helped guide me in the direction that I wanted to go with math for Afterschooling in our home.

Math
Each day when they finish their homework they work on mastering their basic math skills. For instance; Matthew my fourth grader has been working on mastering his multiplication and division in the form of Internet games, worksheets, flash cards and a multiplication music CD. It is also not uncommon for me to give him some addition and subtraction worksheets or flashcards, moan. Spencer my second grader is working on mastering double digit addition and subtraction. Of course at some point they master the skill and move on to the next. I was lucky enough to attend the Kumon parent meeting and receive an outline of math masteries so I use that as a guide as well as my must have grade level Core Knowledge books.

Some days they have a little amount of homework giving them a good amount of time for math and other days they end up with no time for math. Homework comes first.

Honestly trying to find a math program to challenge my boys was becoming a life journey for me. I was so focused on two things; finding the perfect math curriculum and getting them working at the level they should be and not the pace of the school. Because of this Afterschooling was becoming frustrating and didn't feel beneficial to the kids. Once I decided that mastering the basics was the direction I wanted to go everything fell into place. And guess what, it is free and less time consuming for me. Leaving me time to plan for more of the FUN stuff.

Oh yeah, did I tell you we played with dominoes today? It is all part of our "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" unit study we are working on. Chain reactions, the kids had a blast! Winter break is coming soon and this unit study combined with an upcoming service project is sure to make it a fun break for the kiddos.

Any who, whatever you decide to do with math just remember what I almost forgot, Afterschooling should be fun, enhancing and not stressful for anyone. Good luck and I would love to hear about what you have found for math.

Last of the Continents

2009-12-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

Matthew studied South America. He started getting story of choice for homework each week instead of the easy mundane spelling that he had been doing. I think you call it busy work. So we have been combining Afterschooling with his homework and it has been very successful. He wrote a story about his trip to South America and included, foods he enjoyed, politics he learned about and the animals he encountered. He has an amazing way with words and the story was very entertaining.

South America

Wow do they ever use a lot of fattening ingredients. Matthew found a recipe that we like to call "churros on steroids". Oh yummy, yummy, yum!

Always a grand finale!

Now we are going to begin a fun Cookies unit study that I found here: home school helper. A great way to bring in the Christmas Season.

It's actually happening

2009-12-06T17:40:00.001-08:00

Don't be to surprised now. I finally got the ball rolling on my blog and I hope you like it. There are many more things I want to add. And of course I want your input, if you know of forums, learning game sites, awesome curriculum sites or anything else helpful I could add please share. Just leave me a comment with details and your email address if you want a great big thank you.

I really want to turn my blog into a one stop Afterschooling info land. I learned about Afterschooling on accident and I have researched, web surfed, trialed and errored into what I hope is a successful program for our family. So my mission is to make this process easier and help bring the fun and learning of Afterschooling into as many homes as I can.

So spread the word and I promise to keep posting and to keep the ideas coming to make my blog as helpful as possible.

As always thanks for checking us out!

Still chucking away... PROMISE

2009-11-30T12:27:00.000-08:00

Oh I have been neglecting my blog. I even posted a few weeks ago about how I was going to try better. AND I have a bunch of plans to improve my blog and make it more fun and resourceful for all who browse. I just need more time or less ambition.

We are still working on our Continents and two out of three of my kiddos have completed their continent unit complete with; animal collage, report, craft and meal. Here are some pictures of the festive happenings.

Maggie studied Africa:

She is doing so well in school and loves school work. School work has actually replaced playing, all she wants to do is read, write and create pictures for her teacher and friends. No complaints here! Because this is her new love she was right on with her project and loved doing it.

AFRICA

Spencer studied Asia:

He is have a little struggle with writing. He is good at it and very creative he just doesn't enjoy doing it. So he had a little bit of a hard time putting in the extra work but he was glad when he was finished and got to present it at dinner. I really think making a production and having it be really worth their time helps with encouragement as well as success. He does love crafting so that part came very easy for him, he even learned some origami (check out his cup in the picture below).

ASIA

If you visit this website you will find cool kid friendly (stuff they will eat) recipes from all over the world; dltk kids.

Hello World

2009-11-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

A little about me. I am kind of over the top, over achiever, never do anything half way. You may be thinking that is a good thing but I assure you it has its down falls too. On Sunday I took one of the steps to refocusing on Afterschooling and I sat down and read through all three of the Core Knowledge books for my children's grades. I took notes, compared, contrasted and came up with an entirely new Afterschooling plan. It really only took a few hours but it was totally worth it. I am not proud of my wishy washy up a little down a little schedules and ideas for Afterschooling but it is what it is. We learn as we go.

We just started a new World History unit (we will come back to U.S. History) and the kids are really taking to it. Each of the Core Knowledge grade levels has a World History unit that I will be using for our studies. We have already learned a song to memorize our 7 continents that Matthew taught us and we are working on our oceans. The kids have each chosen a continent to study independently and they will present a report (based on age related capabilities), a craft, an animal collage, power point of their favorite animal and a culinary night. They are so excited and already on their way to completing their reports and animal collages.

Yesterday was Veteran's Day and the kids had school off so we took their animal research and went to the World Wildlife Zoo. They each took turns taking pictures and reading about animals from their continent. I thought that they would get bored after a few animals but they stayed focused all the way to the end. As we were leaving the park they were still saying, "Hey that duck is from your continent" and passing the camera. Now they will take their digital photos and turn them into a collage to present at their continent night. It was a fun day and a good reminder for me that they want to learn. Learning is fun!

My new blog layout will have a section specifically for our daily schedule. I will have it posted soon in a location that will be easy to change (you know me).

Until Next Time

Artifacts

2009-11-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

Wow, did we have a great Saturday! I love the end of a unit study that we are working on. I am totally into the "GRAND FINALE" of unit studies. We work so hard and learn so much that we all deserve a good fun ending to a job well done. We have been talking about Native Americans for some time now. We have been through all of the Native American studies in the Core Knowledge books, explored some good web sites and recently learned about the Native Americans in relation to the history of our country. It has been a fun study and perfect timing heading into Thanksgiving time. I hope that at school as they study about Thanksgiving and how it originated that the things they learn will be familiar and their knowledge will be added upon. So here it is our "Grand Finale" to our Native American studies.

Montezuma's Castle

Home to the Sinagua Indians

The kids had the opportunity to become Junior Rangers and learn additional information about the trees, plants, animals and structures that we were visiting.

They were very tentative and enjoyed looking at the artifacts and reading about Native American life. Most of the time they had looks of unbelief on their faces, "They wore that for a shoe?" "What did they play with?" "How did they make that?" It was a day of learning, fun and a lot of walking.

My favorite part was this diorama above of the inside of Montezuma's Castle. There was a recording that went along with the diorama and it really helped all of us to open our minds and really put ourselves there with the Sinagua people and better understand their lives. The kids picked a room, a job and thought about what the children may have done all day.

For those of you that know me you know that I WAS LOVING THIS! Not only did we get a great view of Native American life but we saw something else we don't get to see where we live FALL. The kids were in awe at the sight of these beautifully colored trees that are only talked about in school. It made me so happy!!

Montezuma's Well

This is the water source that kept the Sinagua Indians in this area. They built amazing irrigation canals to provide water for their crops.

It was a beautiful hike in and out to get to the well site.

Tuzigoot
More homes of the Sinagua Indians

This museum had many more interesting artifacts and the kids again were all eyes. Look at this, come here, you have to see this. Who knew they would be so excited.

This was another good uphill climb but absolutely worth it. We were able to go inside of the structures and climb to the top where we got a good look at the land all around. The Ranger explained to us where neighboring Sinagua communities were located,where they planted crops and where they traded goods.

The entire day was awesome! The best part, we were all together as a family participating in "good wholesome recreational activities". I love Afterschooling!!

Confessions of an Afterschooling mom

2009-11-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

I started out with the title: Diary of an Afterschooling mom and decided that wasn't quite right. Today it is confessions.

I am a slacker! Or at least I feel like one. This past week my husband and I sat down together and I asked him to review my Afterschooling schedule with me because we really aren't hitting everything. As we looked over the outline and gave a nod to the things we have been working on and a moan to the things we haven't been working on discouragement set in. We both agreed that the outline was doable we just needed to post it and review it each day.

It really is a good outline and it took me a little over a year to come up with one that I really like. I just get lost in the "world". Sad, I know, but there is so much to do, see, create, play with and buy. It starts to absorb my time and energy so at the end of the day when it is time for Afterschooling I am tired and I don't give the 100% that my kiddos deserve.

When I first learned about Afterschooling it was all I could think about. I joined forums, online groups and even started this blog. It was so motivational to hear from others, to get ideas and share our frustrations. I guess the Honey Moon is over and now it is going to take effort and work to keep the spirit alive. After reviewing the schedule with my husband I decide to visit some of the forums that I had joined during my Honey Moon phase. They got me so pumped up and I gathered at least a couple of ideas to fire me back up. I guess that is why the world is filled with tons of people carrying an endless supply of knowledge and talents so we can work together, learn from each other and make our voyages easier to travel. I do love Afterschooling it's my favorite journey that I have been on as a mother.

I am going to recommit myself to the journey. Pull in my anchor and set sail. Full speed ahead!

Here is the schedule for this year (you know the one I haven't been following). I know that I have posted the areas that we will be focusing on this year (find it here) but I don't think I have posted my weekly schedule.

Before School
Chores
Music Practice

After School: 1 hr of play and then
Monday
Scripture Study, Unit Study, Homework, Extra Math
Tuesday
Scripture Study, History Studies, Homework
Wednesday
Scripture Study, Unit Study, Homework, Extra Math
Thursday
Scripture Study, History Studies, Homework, Spelling Test Help
Friday
Unit Study Project, History Theatre
Saturday
Catch up day, Field Trips
Sunday
Writing, Readers Theatre, Games (not all, we just choose one sometimes two)

I know making a schedule is the hardest part. With Afterschooling there is a fine line between to much and not enough. This schedule has great potential. Looking at it I can see where we are lacking and how easily and perfectly it would fit into our lives.

As part of my "recommitting" myself, I am going to change my blog around. I want to put all of my links I use, blogs I check out and web stores I purchase from in one place. Keep a look out for the changes!!

Now that's cool

2009-11-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

I love the internet. I found a great website to go with our 50 states unit study. It is very challenging and fun. Really I couldn't stop playing, playing, playing.... I wasn't as bad at Geography as I thought I was. If you need a quick refresher you should check this site out. I mean, of course it's for the kids! The kids will love it.

Geography Game

I dare you to try Master Geographer.

GOOD LUCK!

Yeah for scripture study

2009-10-28T21:15:00.001-07:00

I only have time for a quick, WOWSER!

Our scripture studies today turned into an amazing story about how a handsome man and a lucky woman fell in love, got married and had four amazing children.

I love how tentative the children are when we are telling stories about the past. They smile, laugh and ask the best questions. We know a question is coming when one of their faces gets serious and we just know their brain is ticking.

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Stories that teach us not only about Christ but about life and lessons to help us live a good one.

My goal

2009-10-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

I have been such a slacker on the blogging side of Afterschooling. I really love going back and reading my journal entries and reading about our great adventures. So why am I not posting more?
Next week we begin learning about the 50 states and there are tons of fun activities to go with it. Many of the first lessons also go right along with our Native American studies we are doing right now. Which is perfect since we are taking a field trip to Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot this month. Very Excited!

MY GOAL:

2 blog postings a week

Good luck to me! Especially since I start working this week too.

I guess, if you can call singing songs, dancing and playing instruments with toddlers work.

An ending the totally "ROCKS"

2009-10-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!

We have been waiting for a Grand Finale to our Geology studies so we dragged it out a couple weeks longer than planned. We explored many great topics and also skipped some that did not grab the kids interest. We studied rocks, minerals, volcanoes, caves and gems. There was so much information that it was a great unit to introduce the kids to the vocabulary of rock studies.

Ever since the first day we discussed Geology the boys have been begging to go outside with a hammer and open up some rocks. Scary, I know but their drive to explore was awesome. While hunting up in the mountains my dad found a great place to look for rocks. So we planned a weekend we could all go rock hunting and to the delight of the boys packed hammers, chisels and goggles. Oh the joy are on their faces.

It was an amazing place and definitely served it's purpose. I didn't realize looking for rocks could be such a treat. We found lots of Geodes and the boys were able to open them up and find the treasure inside. We also saw something that mom was aching for. The first signs of Fall!

Diary of an Afterschooling Mom

2009-09-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I didn't start Afterschooling on the first day of school. This was the time I thought I was using for transition. Easing into things a bit before we went full force into extra learning time. I was so wrong. Reality, I spent that past 4 weeks in a whirl wind of chaos when I could have had structure and balance.
I guess that leads perfectly into this statement, I love afterschooling! Everything is going so well and the kids are once again asking "when is afterschooling going to start?" and "what are we going to do today?". They are excited to learn!
My favorite part thus far has been our new format for religious study. We have: Held a court with witnesses (understanding the three and eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon), Rated ourselves from 1 to 10 on a scale of affliction and how favored we are of the Lord (learned how afflictions make us stronger (or weaker) and how much the Lord loves us (Just like the Prophet Nephi)) and today we pack our bags for the wilderness. The lessons are interactive and fun as well as educational.

I am so thankful that I learned about this fabulous program.

A great start!

2009-09-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

OK now I remember how we got everything done during Afterschooling. We are all (6 of us) on the same page and not each trying to do our own individual thing. Once again it is all of us in one room for one hour spending quality time together. Not a free for all and selfish fight over doing what we want to do and not being bothered.

This week we started our Geology unit and we have been hammering, melting and eating our way into how rocks are formed. We did this with the help of some cute little bears (they were not harmed, they were, but they didn't feel a thing).

Sedimentary:

The different sediments:

Compression:

Results:

Igneous:
The meltdown:

Result:

Metamorphic:
Our Sedimentary Rock:

A little heat and more compression:

Results:

What a fun project! We followed it up today with a final look at Metamorphic, Sedimentary and Igneous rocks on this website: Rocks
Next week: VOLCANO'S

Ready Set "GO"

2009-09-12T13:22:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I am so excited to start adding the Unit Study portion of Afterschooling this week. We are going to start off with a BANG. I have rented a few fun Geology DVD's from the library and purchased a crystal growing set. The kiddos are very excited to begin.

We have been slowly easing back into the after school routine. It is hard for me to grasp all that we used to do everyday after school with the chaos of homework, chores, music lessons and every day needs of the kids. I think this has pushed our official start day back as I have been trying to remember how I got it all done. Never underestimate the power of structure. I know that being organized and disciplined is the key to success. Neither of which exist in my world right now. However one bad after school day and I realize that Afterschooling is more then a program to begin in our home it is the key to our "success".

As promised I want to share the many ideas that have been flooding my mind. In my last post I shared what I wanted out of Afterschooling and the main focus for us will be "FAMILY". This doesn't mean that learning is going to be on any back burner. It just means that instead of always focusing on; what more can I do for the kids. I will be focusing on; how much we are doing for them. I hope that made sense. I will continue to strive to challenge their minds and improve their education but I will not be put out doing it.

So on with it.
1. Loving to read and reading lots is not enough. Comprehension plays a key role. I have put together a bin of worksheets that help further the understanding of what has been read. There are story element, book review, character development, story map and other worksheets for the kids to choose from after completing a book. They choose one for each book they have read and present it to the family at family night. Dad and mom are also participating in this.(finding these worksheets was easier then ever with search engines, just search Book Reports, Story Maps, Story Sequencing , you get the idea)

2. Scripture study every day. Last year we studied Who's Who in the Book of Mormon. That was fun and "easy" but this year I think I want to do a little more. I have some extra time each day now that I am home with one little and I figure that I need to occupy that time with good things. I have decided to study from the Scripture Study For LDS Families, The Book of Mormon. It is an awesome guide to studying the Book of Mormon. It provides family discussions, stories and games. I will study during the quiet of the day and share what I learned as well as stories and games. This part of Afterschooling only lasts about 5 to 10 minutes.

3. This past week has also shed some light on time (lack of) and I have decided that we will be sharing some of Afterschooling with Beforeschooling. So every morning the kids get dressed, do their chores, eat breakfast and the boys spend 15 to 20 minutes on music practice (Spencer the piano and Matthew the Trumpet. Matthew Piano with dad after dinner). How do I get them to do this voluntarily, two words "Video Games". If they get everything done they can play for awhile before school. It is better then an alarm clock.

I hit on Reading, Religious Study, Chores and Music

4. Math will consist of three things; homework, flash cards and computer activities. Flash cards are extremely important and so we try to get them in three times a week if not more. We also have fun multiplication and addition songs on the boys MP3 players and in the car (Multiplication Unplugged can be found on Amazon). Computer activities can be tricky. First you have to rely on updates from teachers so you know what they are learning. This way you can search games that enhance what they are learning in school (example: Last week I searched Telling Time Games). The other hard part is finding games that don't bore them to death. We will be doing computer activities two times a week for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. History will be continued through Core Knowledge books. The books consist of Historical information and stories separated by age group. We are working out of the Kindergarten, Second Grade and Fourth Grade book this year. I also want to start something new called HISTORY THEATRE. This will be a fun impromptu reacting of stories and events. I think we will do this complete with popcorn and cookies during snack time. History stories will be read 2 to 3 times a week and sometimes for a bedtime story.

6. A couple of other things I would like to incorporate are: Readers theatre; finding plays, assigning parts and reading together. Writing practice; this is a big need in our home so I am looking into ways to make it fun and not time consuming (any ideas).

7. Lastly Unit Studies. I was finally able to purchase my Unit Study at the Homeschool Learning Network by using my Paypal account. We will spend about 5 to 15 minutes on our unit study each day with Fridays and Saturdays set aside for the extras (field trips, experiments, crafts and what ever else).

My goals for the year:
Focus on Family Time
Focus on how much you are and not on how much you aren't
Bring music into our home and a love for it
Importance of understanding responsibility and work
Spiritual Growth
Know math facts
Reading comprehension improved
A love for writing
A BIG ONE FOR OUR FAMILY: Better penmanship (I will achieve this with some sentences to be rewritten and probably some skittles)

So now it's just ready set here we go. I can't wait to share our trials and success throughout the year.

A Rocky Start

2009-08-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

I am trying so hard to get things all buttoned up and ready to roll but I keep hitting road blocks.

The first and biggest was getting our Afterschooling room back into working order.
As soon as I got that checked off of my list I started setting goals with the kids which was not an easy task. Mostly they just want to have fun and of course that goes for me too, but what else?
They chose Geology for our first unit study and they are eager to make crystals, visit the rock museum and do science projects. All fun things! However I can't get my account to work at the site I purchase my unit studies from. AHHH!

So you see we are off to a ROCKY start and not the kind we thought we would be off to.

Regardless we have one last Labor Day Beach Vacation before we kick off into full swing. So for now I will vacation with no worries and let my ideas continue to float around until I can collect them and put them into working order.

For Now I Can Say This; I have decided after a year of trial and error and a summer of complete success that my main focus for Afterschooling has changed. It is no longer about stuffing my kiddos full of knowledge and filling in the blanks where school is lacking. That my friends is too stressful!

I finally know what I want out of Afterschooling. More constructive time as a family. Learning together, progressing together, playing together and supporting each other in our endeavors.

I spent most of last school year researching math curriculum's, writing workshops and other academic programs that I lost sight of the "SUCCESS" we were having by just being with our kids after school everyday. Helping them with homework, reading with them, learning about snow, bugs, the human body, and just being together.

What I truly want out of Afterschooling is to spend priceless time together as a family and make lasting memories. All of the learning, music lessons and chores are just icing on the cake. A forever family cake!!

The Family

A Proclamation To The World

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.

To learn more about The Family: A Proclamation To The World follow this link: Family

Note to self........

2009-08-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

SUMMER IS OVER!

Trying to get back into the swing of things. I have a thousand ideas swimming around in my head and I can't wait to share.

I finally know what I want out of Afterschooling.

Maggie's World

2009-06-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T12:37:00.001-07:00

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?

2009-06-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

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

Hello Summer

2009-05-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah summer time is here and I have my kiddos all to myself. No sharing with Mrs. So and So, no more I am so glad to see you now go do your homework and absolutely no calling me Mrs. So and So. Do your kids ever do that? I always tell them if you should be calling anyone anything it should be your teacher mom. Of course I know that I am there #1 no matter what they call me!
I finished the plans for the summer just in time. Each of their bins are complete and equipped for a summer of enrichment. They each have a Math bin and a Writing bin with leveled work. They each have chores for each day and they each have reading expeditions. Of course when the work is done there are rewards.
The first week went wonderfully and I am impressed with the boys skills at the flash cards, kudos to the teachers. We were busy but not to busy and we had lots of time to be together and isn't that what it is truly all about.

HAPPY SUMMER BREAK!

BUGGED

2009-04-23T10:08:00.001-07:00

I am trying really hard to stay focused and ambitious. I love afterschooling and so do the kiddos so quiting is not an option. We have slowed our pace and much of it has to do with mom trying to get the enrichment bins done (more details later).
We started a bug unit last week and we have learned LOTS of great things about bugs. The kids each created their own bug complete with Head, Thorax and Abdomen. They are so creative! Yesterday we learned, King Phillip, Come Out For Goodness Sake! Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. Better known as the scientific classification for all living things. We picked some bugs and found a fun website that uses physical characteristics of bugs to search for their class. We got them all WRONG! However it was fun to find out what class they were really in.

So you see we are still ticking just a little slower then before. I just need to wind our clock!

They came!!

2009-03-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

My Core Knowledge books have arrived! I am in love with flipping the pages and thinking, "I can do this". I am so EXCITED!
I have some thoughts processing through my mind on how I want it all to play out. However I always over plan and begin to feel defeated. So I have opted to put some serious thought and trial and error into play.
This is what I have been waiting for. Some direction to follow to get us leaping forward and reaching our potential. I know right off that I want to concentrate on Math and Writing. However the Core Knowledge books are filled with all subjects and have such great stories, ideas and projects.
With Math I would like to just work on Math facts and repetition. There are great ideas for memorization and games for repetition found in the Core Knowledge books as well as on the website. Writing, I would like to start a writers workshop to go with each of our unit studies. You can find the writing workshop online the Core Knowledge website by clicking here, Writing Workshop. We will also fit reading into our unit study with a monthly reading expedition and a treasure at the end. I would also like to do a Social Studies unit but I know that will be pushing it. Maybe this summer! For now I will just read some of the stories out of the Core Knowledge book at bedtime.
Getting the books in the mail gave me the push I needed to move forward and continue on with our afterschooling studies.

A week of Harry Potter

2009-03-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Spring break was a great afterschooling week. I love having all of that time to fill I can't wait until summer break.
We spent our Spring break having fun with a Harry Potter unit study. This unit study I did not purchase. I collected ideas from the Internet to go with each day of Spring break. Most of them were birthday party ideas as I wanted the week to be fun. I also picked some ideas up off of Harry Potter lesson plan ideas. Of course as always I over planned and had to omit some of the activities. I have found that this is something with afterschooling that you have to accept. You just don't always have the time to teach and play as much as you would like to.

Here is our Harry Potter week.......
Illustrated and made up our own broomstick game.
Matthew taught us how to play Chess and then we practiced our new skills.
Of course we watched as many Harry Potters that we could fit in.
We studied characters and their different character traits.
Made potions. Some for eating and some NOT for eating.
We went on a family hike to pick our wand or should I say for a wand to pick us.
Once we found our wand we practiced some spells.
We also had journals that we wrote in with writing starters... example: A new professor is coming to Hogwarts what is his name and what will he be teaching?
We also studied settings, themes, plots, conclusions, and climaxes in the Harry Potter books.

It was a great week and the conclusion to our Creative Writing unit study.
I can't leave without adding this little Harry Potter conclusion. The week after Spring break the kids school had a book fair and story book character contest. Matthew dressed up like Harry Potter and played the part. He won first place and $75.00 worth of books to add to our family library. Yeah Harry, I mean Matthew!

Being Creative

2009-02-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

We are still trucking along on our Creative Writing unit and I am surprised at the things the boys are acting like they have never learned before. I can see how this unit was definitely needed in our home and how practice and getting the creative juices flowing will help them improve in this area.
We did a section on poems and we all wrote poems about ourselves in different forms. Since dad was away we wrote this poem for him.

Desire to provide

Always willing to love

Divine he thinks mom is

Dedicated to the Lord

Yours truly

We have missed him while he was at school but he is home now and we couldn't be more excited.

We have also done some studies on the different elements of a story. We looked up definitions, did crosswords and word searches to get familiar with the different terms. We each took turns reading a short story and discussing how the story would be different if any of the elements were changed. That was fun and we got a bit silly about it.

Yesterday we went on to this website http://goodnightstories.com/finish.htm and finished a story that we will be publishing online today.

During this unit study the children's different needs most of which are age related have really been evident.

Matthew has great ideas but needs to work on format, transition and flow. He has a big school project that will take most of the weekend but I am very excited about it. His teacher is wonderful and provides the children with many opportunities to achieve greatness. If you would like to know more about the project here is the link http://www.legacyproject.org/contests/index.html.

I am hoping to help Spencer with his confidence in writing and his ability to put his fantastic sense of humor and intelligence down on paper.
Maggie is just old enough to really be grasping the ideas and elements of the story. Who are the characters and where does the story take place.
And Kendal well I will just read to that pretty princess as much as her sweet heart desires.

WE LOVE TO READ AND WRITE

Diary of an Afterschooling mom

2009-02-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

Wow I can't believe how the littlest and biggest things can completely throw you off. My balance has been over turned for the past few weeks but things are looking up and I am hoping that I can land upright without teetering back on my feet again. Let me explain....
My husband started school again and that created challenges. And then last week we had sickness in our home, everyone was sick. It was a lot of t.v. watching, indoors staying, napping and book reading kind of days. I am now trying to claw my way out of it and get things moving again. We have finally caught up on missed school and the kids are feeling 100% now. Time to move forward which is easier said then done.
It is extremely weird how all of the sudden I am like, how can we get homework, chores, piano practice and theme activities into one day. Even though of course I have been doing it for the past three months. Well we will ease into it and find our groove again and chalk this up as a great learning experience on how we are all truly creatures of habit.

Diary of an Afterschooling mom

2009-02-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I have been able to post. We get so busy that I wonder where the days have gone. I am still very much loving Afterschooling, however these past few weeks have brought with it some trials and lack of confidence. My husband started back to school and is absent from Afterschooling two days a week. I did not realize how difficult it was going to be without him. There were a couple of days that I can honestly say I pushed through and I am so glad that I did. We have yet to skip a day and I know how easily good habits can be broken. I am also struggling to find the extra income to purchase my Core Knowledge books. It seems that every time we budget the money something comes up. I am hoping next week will be the week and I will have the books by the end of the month. The books are FANTASTIC, they have everything in them so I have no need to purchase separate books for history, math or science.
I have had a few people leave comments and ask questions, I THANK YOU!! One of the questions most recently asked was if I follow the schools topics. Well, the unit studies that we do are just for fun, however I will slide one in every once in awhile that I know the kids need to enhance their school experience. For example this month we are doing Creative Writing. As far as the other things go I have really tried to enhance what they learning in Math at school but I can't believe how quickly they move from one thing to the next. This is why when my sister in law told me about Core Knowledge I fell in love. It has everything your child will need to know or be learning in their given grade in one text book. I am hoping this will help to better keep them on track with enhancing and pushing a little bit harder with what they are learning in school.
THANK YOU FOR READING MY BLOG AND COMING ALONG ON OUR GREAT BIG ADVENTURE IN AFTERSCHOOLING!!

Early Writing

2009-02-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

We are learning about where the alphabet came from. In doing so we have studied cave drawings, petroglyphs,cuneiforms and hieroglyphics. We even made up our own alphabet with symbols. After we had our alphabet created we played what's that word, hangman and we each wrote our names.

FIELD TRIP

We are lucky enough to have a nice hike in our area that has petroglyphs on the side of the mountain. Did you know that petroglyphs were early drawings used by Native American Clans? They were used to warn from danger and provide information regarding where water and game was available. We climbed the hill to get a closer look at the images and guess what they may have been trying to say. After we hiked back down we drew replicas of some of the symbols as well as making up our own symbols to warn that rattlesnakes and scorpions were in the area.

CREATIVE WRITING

2009-02-10T09:37:00.001-08:00

I really wanted to start a unit that would challenge as well as help the kids in areas that they need improvement. I chose Creative Writing. Both of my school aged boys give a big "SIGH" when it is time to write. I want them to love writing and understand why it is important and how they can express themselves and build understanding through putting words and thoughts down on paper. I purchase my Units through Home School Learning Network. In an effort to have the time to make Afterschooling a success I have decided to bypass the time it would take to build my own unit study or to search the Internet for free unit studies. However if you do have that time there are a number of sights with free unit studies and unlimited resources to build your own.

Science Center

2009-02-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

We are all about finishing out our unit with a BIG BANG!!

FIELD TRIP

Science Center

What better way to study the Human Body then hands on.

Cow Eyeball Dissection

Wheel Chair Race

Booger Balls

Mind Games

Testing of reflexes

The Science Center proved to be a WONDERFUL place to test our knowledge and ability to let our hair down and have a LITTLE BIT 'O' FUN.

It's a Digestive World

2009-01-21T10:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I read the kids a FUNNY story a friend of mine wrote about the digestive system and a poor Turkey Sandwiches Wild Ride (click for link). They loved the story and it is packed full of great information. After we read the story together we made up our own story titled "Hamburger Helper Help Me". This is our second family story we have written and I just wanted to EXPLAIN how it works. First we make our story plan....

Characters: Beef and Noodles
Setting: In the box and In the body
Events: Cooked, Chewed, Swallowed, Esophagus, Stomach, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Toilet
Conclusion: a trip down a whirlpool and here they go again

After we have our story plan we take turns one sentence at a time. This story began with Matthew, went on to Spencer and then Maggie. The sequence continued until the story was finished. Last time dad and I took turns with the sentences but the kids were so excited and had so many great and funny ideas that I let them go on their own. They worked so well together and even helped each other with their sentences. So here it is our digestive story.....

Hamburger Helper Help Me

One day I was just lying around peacefully on my bed in box land. When all of the sudden I got poured into a hot pan and there I met Beef. Together Noodle and Beef became one hot dish. We were just hanging out when we were thrown into a bowl. This made us pretty mad but after about ten minutes we finally cooled off. We were then eaten. Full of terror we entered the cave of no return. Beef and I were struck by teeth and broken into smaller pieces. It looked like it was going to be a straight plummet into certain death as we were pushed into the esophagus. We traveled down the esophagus into the stomach where I grabbed hold of what looked like may have been an apple once. I heard Beef yell, "Help, I'm loosing more pieces." We waited in the stomach for the door to open into the small intestine. We continued to break up into smaller pieces and some of our pieces were being left behind. We journeyed on to the large intestine. This is where we began to clump together and started to look like a monster. We headed down the pipe of certain death and plopped into water. We were going to be cooked again? No, we couldn't be we were full of bacteria. "AHHH", we're falling and we are taking a trip down a whirl pool through a pipe. Here we go again!

It was so fun and they came up with such funny ideas, I know my friends story helped get their gears turning. Working together and putting our heads together to come up with a GREAT product is so much fun.

Diary of an Afterschooling mom

2009-01-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

So this is our 6th week and second Unit Study and things are going great. My kiddos haven't complained once about Afterschooling and actually ask when it's going to start. Of course I say "right now if you want it to", the other day we went for 2 hours and they were having so much fun they didn't even notice the time. This is our typical afternoon: Play outside for 1hr or they can do 30 minutes outside and 30 minutes inside (usually T.V. or Video games). After that we do our down stairs chores grab our homework and head upstairs. We start off with religious studies, right now we are studying from the book Who's Who In The Book of Mormon. After that we do some Unit Study activities and then it's on to homework. They also do their upstairs chores, read for 15 minutes and sometimes have time for Board Games.
I can not believe the transformation of our family. We are so much closer, Spencer said yesterday when he was doing his body drawing that he loves doing things as a family and started making up some song about families are fun together. I can say one thing for me and that is......... I sleep SO much better at night knowing that I am helping my children learn and grow.
However I am STILL looking for other resources for Math, Writing and Grammar, and History to bring into the picture. My GREAT sister in law that Homeschools just told me about Core Knowledge it is a curriculum website with MANY extras. They also have books out called What Your Third Grader Should Know (or whatever grade your child is in). I checked one out at the library today. I am anxious to look through it and look over the website more closely. At a glance I could see the book includes; Science, History, Grammar, Math, Music and other subjects within the book. Hopefully by the end of the month I will be on my way to knowing what I want to do so I can make a plan.

I LOVE AFTERSCHOOLING

Check Me Out

2009-01-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Our Unit Study Project
Life Size Body Drawings

We are learning about Organs and Systems Level Organization

My husband and I love listening to the kids excitement while we learn ALL about their bodies. They are also expanding their vocabulary's tremendously during this Unit Study. Just in case you were wondering I purchase my Unit Studies off of this website Homeschool Learning Network they are very inexpensive and we are loving them. I don't have a lot of time to put into searching out my own Unit Studies so this works for me.

What about the other stuff?

2009-01-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

Well I am still trying to figure out how to work math, writing practice and world history into our Afterschooling program. I am planning on ordering The Story of The World books next week. I noticed they are pretty cheap on Ebay and they even sell the activity books too. I am excited to get that started. I am currently looking into Saxon math and I think I will use their placement tests just to see where my kids are at. My youngest son's teacher said he was struggling a bit in writing so she gave me the 6 traits paper and I think we will make Sundays a day to write. I have a creative writing game I picked up at a yard sale and some story starters I found online so I think I will go from there. Of course everything is easier said then done. One thing at a time and I will continue to post my progress in getting Afterschooling ROCKING!!
BYE FOR NOW!!!

THE HUMAN BODY

2009-01-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

We have been working on a new unit study, The Human Body. The outline breaks it up into three categories Cellular organization, Tissue organization and Organ and System organization. We just finished Cellular organization and made our own little Cell City. It was great, we learned what analogies are and compared the different Organelle's and their cellular functions to functions needed to keep a city going. The kids drew a FANTASTIC picture of our Cell City and labeled it. It was so much fun and once again we all worked together to create something GREAT!

The end of our first unit study

2009-01-06T21:34:00.001-08:00

Well it has been an AWESOME month. I am loving Afterschooling and the changes that it has brought with it. I actually look forward to after school instead of dreading the homework nagging, chore nagging and snack preparing. Now they come home we have snack and play outside for an hour and then they grab their school bags and head upstairs for Afterschooling. We are able to get in scripture study, homework, chores, reading and unit study material almost everyday. Here is our grand finally to our SNOW UNIT..............

OUR CHRISTMAS ON THE BEACH WITH SANDY THE SNOW MAN

Did I say Friday was great?.

2008-12-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

FIELD TRIP

!YEAH!

Today we went to the FAKE snow. Did I mention it doesn't snow where we live?

So here are the reasons that

WE KNOW

that this HAD to be fake snow

1. It was not cold enough for snow. 30 degrees Fahrenheit 0 degrees Celsius

2. There weren't the right kind of clouds in the sky

3. There were NO snow crystals (they are actually BUBBLES)

4. So our conclusion is that before the snow hit us

IF IT WAS REAL SNOW

it would have turned into RAIN

The Avalanche

2008-12-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

Friday we had a FANTASTIC Afterschooling day. We talked about Avalanche's and did a fun science experiment. And just to prove that we learned something we decided to write a story about an Avalanche. We all worked together and tried to add some good Avalanche lingo...

THE AVALANCHE

written by:

Our Family

There was a peaceful town in Colorado. Matthew lived in a house close to the mountains. There was a storm blowing and the wind was pushing the snow. It started snowing new fresh snow like crazy. Matthew was worried that there would be an avalanche. He could see a heavy layer of snow forming from the East. Just then the snow began to fall and Matthew heard a loud noise. He could see a mountain with snow rolling down. He could see the starting zone of a heavy avalanche. He evacuated his home as fast as he could for his home was located in the run out zone. The only place of safety was down by the road where his vehicle waited for him to drive away fast and get away from the avalanche. He watched sadly as his home was destroyed. Weeks past and the only evidence of the avalanche were the tracks that it left behind. Because his home was destroyed by an avalanche Matthew decided to move to a warmer climate where hopefully he will stay clear of rock slides.

THE END

Snow Sculptures

2008-12-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

Our lesson today called for SNOW!! Well not where we come from, if we have snow it is MAN MADE. So that's what we did we made snow with our handy dandy Pampered Chef Ice shaver.

Lesson: 3-D Snow Story Scene

Each one of our Kiddos chose a Story to read. After they read the story they chose something out of the story to create out of SNOW. When their creation was complete they painted it with water colors. SO FUN!!!

After all of the creations were complete each kiddo took their turn presenting their 3-D sculpture and giving a synopsis of the story they read.

Diary of an Afterschooling mom

2008-12-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

I have decided that I needed a way to express my success, frustration, excitement, failure and all other emotions that come with our new adventure. So this will be my first of I am sure many entries into my DIARY OF AN AFTERSCHOOLING MOM.

Dear Diary,
This is my first week of Afterschooling with my children. I can't believe how much we have learned already. Not only academically but we have learned so much about each other our emotions, talents, desires, ambitions for learning and for a lack of a better word our STAMINA. I really think for my own benefit I will begin with my (our) success. Afterschooling has brought our family together in a way we have never experienced. We are shut in a room for an hour focusing on one thing only and that is each other. Since daddy is home in time for Afterschooling it is ALL of us!! Homework is less chaotic, chores get done, the kids get more positive attention and I have slept so much better this week (no guilt). Time to get a little more specific.... Spencer loves art and crafts and he is loving Afterschooling, Matthew is sharing the things he learns with his teacher and his class, Kendal has been play cooking more (daddy loves her cooking), and this is REALLY hard to believe but after just 4 days Maggie is reading. YEAH FOR US!!!
I wish that was it, it is PERFECT! Of course that would not be speaking the truth. There have definitely been frustration and points of feeling like this isn't working it is going to fail. Part of our program is playing right after school, taking a good break. Well, all of the other kids in the neighborhood do homework first which puts us on an opposite schedule. That is a big bummer for mostly Matthew and he does not hide emotions. Speaking of emotions, Kendal is a bit fussy during Afterschooling and that has posed a few problems. And yesterday Matthew had quite a bit of homework and Piano lessons which did not leave much time for our activities we had planned. I am also having trouble getting the math enhancement in, I need to make it more fun. Because I am good at voicing my frustration and very bad at hiding it my GREAT husband asked me for more specific things he can do. So he is going to start helping with the more in depth lesson plans that include Science experiments, Internet research and multiple day data entry. I am so thankful that he gets to be and wants to be a part of this.
Overall I have to say the success definitely out ways the frustrations and I am so excited to continue this ADVENTURE with my FAMILY.

It is snowing in our new Afterschooling room

2008-12-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

We did it! We started our first theme, Let It Snow. We spent most of the day Saturday rearranging our house to make room for our new ADVENTURE and then we set sail. We learned about how Snow Crystals are formed and why sometimes snow crystals turn into sleet, freezing rain or just plain rain. Next we got crafty...................

It is snowing in our Afterschooling room

Catching Snow Flakes

While the boys were laying in bed last night Spencer said "Hey Matthew, since snow flakes have to start with a piece of dust, dirt or bacteria we probably shouldn't eat it." HE WAS LISTENING!!!

Sunday Baking

GINGERBREAD MEN, ALIENS and PATRICK (from Sponge Bob)

We talked about what would need to happen for it to snow on our Ginger-creatures and let the kids loose with the Powdered sugar. Which is our hot weather version of WINTER SNOW!!

As much as the kids learned and as much fun as they had I think the most lasting effect is the time we spent TOGETHER. Oh yeah and we learned that Daddy is a professional Snow Flake constructor.

Let it SNOW

2008-12-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

So I am very SERIOUS about this! I just selected our first THEME, LET IT SNOW. I actually purchased a downloadable theme off of The Homeschooling Learning Network. I figure it will give me an idea of what is available and a head start on getting going ASAP. Plus how fun will visiting the snow be for our fieldtrip.

The Plan

2008-12-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

After reading articles, blogs, visiting websites and well reading up on what Afterschooling is really all about, I have come up with a plan. The article that really gave me direction had no personalized information. This helped me to visualize our own plan and the needs of the children in my family verse going off something someone else has already created. The article did this by giving topics and questions which I was able to answer with ease.

First: Decide what you want to emphasize.
I want to supplement what they are learning in school as well as provide more challenge in the areas of Math, Grammar and Writing
Introduce History
Have a monthly Theme that will provide for our additional learning and experiences that are not available at school
Encourage more reading and older sibling assisting in reading to and teaching younger siblings
Life skills, chores, shopping, cooking, couponing
Spiritual growth

I know this seems like A LOT but not all of these areas I would like to emphasize will seem like school and learning. I also had my eyes opened to the endless opportunities and times to sneak learning into your childs day. I really want to try to make this FUN, I want them to know that learning can be FUN and mostly I want to be right there to tell them how well they are doing and how great they truly are.

Second: Gauge your time.
I would like to spend an hour a day on Afterschooling and 2 hours on Saturdays. Now keep in mind that Afterschooling includes much more than SCHOOL WORK. Our program and the one hour will consist of homework, chores, theme activities, field trips, shopping together, cutting coupons together, cooking together, reading books, doing crafts, and other things.

Third: Find your sources.
This is something I am still working on and that I am sure is never ending thanks to the INTERNET. Here are some of the sources I have already found:
Story Of The World History Curriculum
Home Schooling 101 It has prepared themes with math, science, art etc.
AIMS Education Foundation
Googol learning Good list of resource sites
I am still on the look out and would love suggestions.

So in a nut shell this is the plan. AHHHH I HAVE A PLAN! Now all that's left is getting started, ready or not here WE GO!

New Adventures

2008-12-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

About four years ago my first son was tested and found to be GIFTED. Exciting right? Well after three full years of being my sons advocate for receiving this higher education I have yet to make a break through. I have become frustrated and am now taking a new route. I learned about Afterschooling on the Internet when I was collecting information on the character traits of the gifted child to present at yet ANOTHER parent conference. The more I read about the Afterschooling program the more I thought this may be exactly what I am looking for. I have read all of the fun warnings that beware: Most Afterschooling parents decide to become full time Homeschoolers. Well whatever happens this is a start and a step in a positive direction. Yes I will continue to be an advocate of education for my gifted son and my other children as well but in the mean time we have new direction and are moving on instead of pacing and waiting. So wish us Good Luck as we begin our ADVENTURES IN AFTERSCHOOLING!!