"I Think I'm Starting to Like School"

Music to a homeschooling Mom's ears!  We've started a little unit on The Great Pyramids and the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World.  And Chase loved it.  I made a quickie 'Breakfast Board', where I looked up some facts about the Pyramids from DK Publishing's Eyewitness: Wonders of the World that we borrowed from the library on Tuesday.  Must say that I recommend this book, great information, colorful pictures and great to use for learning to use a reference.  It's not a huge book, so it is something he can easily look up the Index or in the Table of Contents to find the subject he wants.

After we read through it together, I had him get out his Social Studies journal where I'd added a title for the page.  I told him we were going to do doodle notes this year.  (Check out books like The Sketchnote Handbook that encourage you to turn intentional doodles into note taking)  I directed what he should draw and had him add in facts about it, then told him to go back and color the borders and fill in areas with different colors.  While he filled them in, I repeated what was written on the note so he was thinking about it.  He loved it!  (pictures shall be forthcoming)  The concept is that as you concentrate on illustrating the topic, you are programming the information into your brain further than just writing down the lines your teacher says.  The notes I had him make beside it with arrows and circling important bit, I let him write in his own words.

So, back to the term 'Breakfast Board'.  I found it via a post by Secular Homeschool on Pinterest, though the blog it shared is faith-based, it's a very good idea.  Basically, they use a poster board to fold pamphlet style and have the kids read over breakfast to review their day's assignments and to read factoids or do activities.  Since kids already like to read the cereal box so much, they will read whatever you sit in front of them at the breakfast table, great time to get some school preparedness in.

I've decided I'll be making it a bit more practical than a huge poster board.  I have several cereal boxes that I store cut up by my art table.  The ones I've not cut are perfect for this project.  I carefully open the box at the seams and trim off all the flaps.  So, now I have 4 sides, by flattening it so the two sides fold over the others like an envelope flap, I've made a pamphlet fold.  There are a few ways I can prepare my board, paper it, gesso it, cover it in decorative tape, etc...  I used a black vinyl cut off my bf has had for years from some factory that had excess vinyl rolls or something.  It's like a giant sticker.  But the best part is it actually works kind of like a dry erase board.  I have some neon markers just for this purpose.

I didn't do a very neat job of vinyling my board, it has bubbles and wrinkles and I was too lazy to try to peel it and redo.  But, I have more boxes, so if it is totally rekt, I can just make a new one!  On the back side, I had a protective sleeve that came in an order as a product sample from some school supply company.  It is a hard protective sleeve and the dry erase markers wipe right off.  So, in that, I slipped a daily page, which I write the date, our schedule and our spelling words for the week.  I'm thinking of adding pockets to the inside so I can have removable inserts that he can fill out and later add to his interactive journals.

I could make permanent attachments on the board, but I'd like to have interchangeable parts, so I can swap out the info on the board.  Having it entirely dry erase makes it more likely to get all smeared up.  One option I am thinking would be to use double sided tape or re-positional glue to add adornments.  Maybe laminating the pieces and velcroing them.  Anyways, I can make several boards and any that I just glued together, I can add new layers over.

I've considered possibly buying some metal spray paint and using my Freezer Frames as mini dry erase pockets.  They work great on a cookie sheet, but a cookie sheet doesn't stand up very well.  But I can slip in a new activity sheet or school subject for him to learn and use dry erase markers over it.  However, that may be spending too much money on these breakfast boards.  For now, I think I'll tack on some card stock pockets and slap on some print outs.  And of course, I'll be sharing whatever units I create to go with it!

BookIT Enrollment

We've been participating in BookIT every year.  It is available for homeschoolers and enrollment is open now!  I get the newsletter, Bound Together to stay up to date on the goings ons there.  Chase's two favorite things, books and pizza!  We didn't enter the contest last year, they had a $30K scholarship for their 30th anniversary.  We made the goals, but I didn't get a sticker for his passport each time.  Oh well.  This year there is another contest, "Crazy Little Thing Called Reading" giveaway.  Hopefully, we'll get all our stickers and sent off in time.  They're offering a 100 book library plus a Kindle Voyager eReader to participants.  We have a Nook, but it would be awesome for Chase to have his own eReader just for his selections.

We plan to donate some books to our local library.  We won a lot of books he wasn't interested in from a comic book contest last year and this would be something useful to the community.  We thought of trying to sell them, but it is a bit of a hassle to try to do.

BookIT! has great teacher resources including a reading app.  Chase really enjoyed it last year, though we didn't log all of his hours.  He reads so much!  It is hard to remember to run the app.  But that's okay, you can add more to their totals from the teacher dashboard.

Chase's current top picks for reading:  Every Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Minecraft novels, Big Nate series, Full Metal Alchemist manga, and he still loves Stick Dog.

He's getting better at picking out selections from the library.  But I'll make sure to grab a chapter book if his selections aren't as heavy reading.  This week I chose The Misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe, Book One: The Tell-Tale Start, hopefully, this book will introduce him a little to one of my favorite classic authors as well as bring in some modern humor and enjoyment.  I have yet to read it, but this will be part of our plan for the week.  I saw a brilliant Chapter Book Review pin.  You make a matchbook fold for your folder or interactive journal for each chapter and summarize the story and draw a picture for each chapter.  I will have to give this a go and post up pictures when we're done.

Follow Gillian's board Homeschool ChasingGrades on Pinterest.

Hunting for a Good Book?

Sir Fartsalot

Yesterday I read to Chase from "Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger" for his reading 20.  We left off on Chapter 5.  Today, after homeschool was all wrapped up he dove back into the book.  By dinner time, he read to Chapter 10.  He quickly devoured up his mega meal of turkey pepperoni sandwich and yogurt w/banana and sprinkles (I let him choose leftovers or a sandwich) and right back to the book.  And once I'd finished cleaning up and dishes, I'd come to check on him.  Chapter 26!  Wow!  I gleefully told his Dad and Grandpa and Great Grandma and posted how proud I was on Facebook...  And he had finished the book before bedtime with time enough to spare.  So I let him watch the amusing video in this post.  Highly recommend this book.  It is full of laughs and it's a gas.  (totally intentional pun)

He hasn't been getting enough sleep lately and has been giving us a terrible time for school.  It is pulling teeth to get him to brush them.  And getting dressed is a contest of wills.  I'm trying to keep his school work interesting and fun.  A mix of worksheets and hands on learning.  And games.  I'm on a mad search for games.

Mini review of one game.  The Lesson Plan Diva had a nice little "Where the Wild Things Are" book report trivia game modeled after Jeopardy as a freebie.  So I downloaded it.  Chase really enjoyed it, however, there's some flaws.  The answer and question sheets are incorrect.  One of the answers was wrong and the questions don't match the board.  Her stuff looks great, but I'll probably create my own material next time.  I want to make sure the problems and solutions are correct and not have to proofread every question.  There were many great reviews, however none mentioned the errors.  I'll have to give her a precise review, she'd probably want to know there are mistakes.  It is still a great resource and you just have to check the answers real quick before going over with the kids.  Where the Wild Things Are Trivia Game  I cut out the board for Chase's interactive notebook.  And worked out a prize system for his totals.  20 pts = 1 prize, 40 pts = 2 prizes and 100 pts = CANDY!  He liked that.

I mentioned before that I won Mrs. O Knows' giveaway for Trainer's Warehouse's wonderful Quick Response Whiteboards.  They arrived the other day and they are a big hit!  We received the 12 pk which has 4 of each color handle, red, blue and green.  We're keeping half of them.  Chase LOVES them.  We did a spelling/Pictionary inspired game where I would make a drawing and he'd write what it was and we'd flip our boards to see if we had a match and then switch roles.  Today we did some math stories where I presented him with word, number and picture problems and he would solve them on his board.  Then I did a spelling activity where he would pick the correct word to match the picture where I have several variations of a word written down.  (i.e. picture of a fan and choices were fun, fon, fan, fin and fen)  He would write it on his board and we'd flip.

He's been running around drawing on this and carrying them all over the house as a little sign.  I would highly recommend them!  I'll have to post up a picture of them in use some time.  The packaging for them was great, it arrived in a bigger box and padded with paper.  There was a catalog for their other products and website as well as a few free items.  They gifted me a small doodle pad for Chase to fidget and doodle in between working on assignments.  Hopefully, it will save his work from being covered in his wonderful art.  And a certificate/sign display holder that can adhere to the wall.  I'll figure out a use for it.  The whiteboards are available singles or there's snap on handles and other options.  So if a pack of 12 won't suit your needs, there are plenty of options.  The little dry erasers that come with each board are okay, but they leave a fuzz bit behind.  I end up wiping it down with a baby wipe afterwards to clean up remaining marks and fuzz.  I have heard using WD-40 will make your dry erase boards perform better and clean up easier.  I'll have to give it a try.  It is something I found on Pinterest...  ;P

Another very exciting thing, at least to me, since teaching is very exciting to me!...  Humanist Homeschoolers, will be lending us a Social Studies textbook for First Graders.  They're a secular free resources for homeschool provider.  They receive support via donations.  I'd like to thank everyone who donated books to them so my son can have a better education.  There isn't a 1st grade common core standard, but I want to keep him on par with his peers.  I'd been alternating between Geography, Biographies of Historical figures, Current Events and local/US histories, etc.  Now, I need science, which HH recommended Classic Science: Elementary Life Science as a free curriculum.  I'm excited to have a great start to his school year.

I absolutely gushed and fawned over his reading skills tonight, I hope he feels proud of himself.  He says he didn't have trouble with a single word, and it is the first chapter book he ever read by himself.  Maybe he won't feel so daunted by books like Harry Potter, since they have so few pictures.  This one had pictures every few pages or small pictures in the text.  But way more text than illustration.  He also admired the fonts and design of the cover art, saying how the black and grey border go nice together and he likes the color of the dragon, and color scheme.  I would have to agree.  Looks like he has an eye for design.  ;)

215 page Chapter book