D&D School Has Begun!

The first day of D&D homeschool sessions has begun.  The hardest part, character creation.  Chase's character is a human fighter named Kai.  We started with character rolls, using 4 six-sided dice and taking away the lowest.  The other three numbers are added up for your Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence and Wisdom stats.  Looking at the Player's Handbook, we check the recommended builds for Fighter class, Strength and Constitution being the most important traits.  Chase chose to put his highest roll into Constitution to give his character more fortitude in combat.

Each roll is given a modifier, for example +3 on the roll of 17 for Constitution checks.

He did all the math himself.  Adding and modifying, customizing his character.  Moving on, we have Inventory after rolling for gold.  Our DM gave us some basic items to start with, but we bought the rest of our items, weapons and armor with our currency.  The Player's Handbook has a guide for the cost of each item.  Some items are only silver or copper, so the conversion works like this:  1 gp = 10 sp, and 1 sp = 10 cp.  Chase only bought his weapons and armor, but I spent nearly every coin my rogue had on adventuring trinkets to fill her pack.

Choosing skills and feats is the most time consuming part.  For this sets your character's abilities and will affect game play as we go on our adventures.  All told, the complete character creation process and a little bit of intro narration to place us in our setting, this took approximately 3 hours.  And he wasn't bored for a single second of it.  He sat in rapt attention as he did basic math, came up with creative stories for his character's personality and background and had quite a lot of writing to do.  He hates writing, but this was not something he hated at all.

Besides his character sheet, he also has a notebook, where he will be keeping track of his numbers, writing in notes about our adventures and adding background story for himself and other characters we encounter.  We're going to use his notes when we work on his school project, to build his own Role Playing Game (RPG) via RPG Maker VX Ace.  The story and characters from our D&D sessions will be featured in our game.

Not sure how long this will take us or how much we can finish, but perhaps we'll release the game for free at the end of it.  We'll be following tutorials to begin with.  RPG Maker Web has enough posted to give us about 11 weeks worth of lessons.  He can also earn badges for his progress via DIY.org, they have several categories for game design, character creation, and table top gaming.

I may make resources for this game engine, releasing content for others to use.  He may be doing a lot of the pixel art characters, but I may work on portraits and tile sets.  He should have no difficulty with the character sprites.  He really enjoys that style of art and can do it with most basic programs.  I think we have GIMP 2 on his computer, which he can use to work on this.  Any support for this project is appreciated.  I will be releasing content here and exclusives on Patreon.  Some resources may be released in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

We didn't unroll the map yet, that will be revealed next Friday.  Kevin made the map via Pyromancers, and simplified the textures for ease on our printer.  He had to use a program to do poster printing so the pieces would print actual size as our game mat.  Each square in the grid is 1"x1".  Then, he added texture with a crayon and I helped taping map pages together.

He made the cover for his notebook.  And he'll be adding pages in the Table of Contents as we go, just like all his other subject interactive journals.  Hopefully, his handwriting will improve.  It is pretty rough and we struggle getting him to write in proper case with legible spacing.  He loathes writing, though he loves to read.

This summer, he read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy after having read The Hobbit.  Currently, he is reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 'trilogy'.  I think he just started book 3.  I believe I own all 5 books, 4 are in a collection along with the short story Young Zaphod Plays it Safe.  His reading is on a high school level, but his maturity is on a juvenile level.  So, finding appropriate books is becoming a challenge.  Suggestions are always welcomed.  Our limits are on sexually mature content and darker themes.  A bit of violence is okay, but not too graphic or cruel.

For our upcoming art class, we will work on character portraits.  We plan to also select and paint miniatures.  Kevin plans to make tokens, which he may release on Roll20's marketplace.  So, there will be a lot of focus around gaming day this year.  Kevin isn't currently working, so we can maintain this for a while.  Plans will need to be adjusted once he does get a job and the baby is born.  For now, there will be plenty of motivation to keep school interesting.  Besides being cool, it is something we are all doing together.

I don't think we will be streaming game play.  One, our camera isn't very good and our lighting is awful.  The whole ceiling fixture doesn't work.  Secondly, Twitch has rules about underage persons appearing in a stream.  Even though I think there would be plenty of interest in D&D homeschooling, I agree that children should not be on that site.  We could use YouTube, but for the same reasons, moderation, etc...  Finally, there is Skype for the Classroom, however, we kinda hate Skype and it's a terrible program.

Interactive Journal, Interactive Fun

Trying to take a fresh approach to school this year, one that Chase seems to enjoy.  We'll be trying to work more in his journals opposed to strictly worksheets.  Last year, it was such a struggle to get him to do his written assignments, I didn't have the energy to do the journaling.  Preparing them can be a lot of work.

Today, we worked on two journals, Math and Science.  For Math, I made a small project, Groups of Two and Groups of Three.  I drew everything to fit in the notebooks and he colored, grouped and then labeled them and glued each into the book.  Finally, I had him write an equation to represent how many groups of twos and threes there were to reinforce the multiplication concepts.

I plan to be making some TpT material out of this.  Maybe offer the pumpkins and baseballs as clipart.  I find the clipart on there to be lacking and want to flood the site with my own art.  Of course, many of my materials have sadly been lost to our external hard drive crash, which we have not yet been able to recover.  I may have to rescan some things if I managed to keep them.  Some I just used the 'hard copy' for Chase's journals last year.  Or it's been misplaced in my mess of art supplies.  I need shelves.  And drawers!  A roll cart!

For Science, we made a quick cover for the notebook, which he decorated.  I wrote in his vocabulary words: Entomologist, Arthropods, Invertebrate, Exoskeleton, and Antennae.  I'm planning a unit on insects!  He wrote in the meanings and drew a picture of an ant enlarged with a magnifying glass.  This is his field journal, so we might need to take it outside to do some investigating.  Chase is terrible at identifying bugs.  He hates them.  But any time he sees one, he shouts, "Bug!" without telling us if it's a spider or a fly or a moth, etc...

So, we've gotten internet on my art desk computer.  Yay!  So now I can upload directly from creation.  And once we upgrade a bit, then perhaps, live art sessions.  We need an adapter to switch out the current motherboard with another we have stashed in the closet.  Which will have a better power supply and perhaps even on board audio.  This computer cannot even run headphones.

Well, I need to get back to creating new TpT materials.

"Candids"

Chase loves to have me take 'candids' like in Big Nate.

Weekend Prep

Writing this using the new tablet.  It is a challenge to write like this.   Texting isn't really my thing.  I still plan to get a stylus.  But, man, this thing needs to learn its autofill a little better.  It doesn't guess the words until after I've already typed the whole thing.

I wanted to share some of the things I've worked on this weekend.  Must see how easy it is to post a blog here and share pictures....  Here goes.

Not everything I posted from the Blogger app uploaded here.  I think due to my ISP timing out.  I had gone into detail about the journals I made and there were two more pictures that didn't post.  I'll have to retry with that here, but from the computer now.  It is still hard for me to type all that on such a tiny keypad.  I am a clacky typer!  

Above is the Field Journal, which will be used for grocery and library trips and anywhere else we might go.  It is a mini journal with 3"x4" pages.  The perfect size for small print outs.  I may be making some custom ones.  I'll need to do a journal post soon.  I've made him such wonderful journals.  I got to introduce him to them all today and he is most excited about his "Wreck This Journal, Please" one.  Inspired by "Wreck This Journal", which he saw and wanted so badly, I had to make him one.

I halved a spiral notebook.  This was a long process of snipping the wire, then cutting through several pages at a time with an exacto knife.  My paper cutter would not handle such a task. and I would have had to look for the big cutter.  It might not do a nice job, since it was used on shingles.  I used a paper grocery bag for the cover and he wrote the letters which I inked in the colors of his choosing.  On the inside, I have been adding creative ways for him to begin wrecking!  I've told him he can write all over the paper bag surface.  Boy did his eyes light up!

 These pictures are all taken with our new NeuTab N7 7''.  It's great for the price.  An Android device.  A little on the slow side, but such an incentive for Chase.  He is super excited about using it.  He only needs two more hole punches on his reward tickets to earn his first scratcher ticket.  I've printed out about 30 of my scratch card designs.  I used the color ones with white bg.  The others would likely be too much for my poor printer to handle.  Those are more meant for digital layouts rather than printing pages.

Speaking of the scratch tickets, here's how I made them.  First batch I used just silver paint with the dish soap, which is really transparent and thin.  So, I added a dab of black and it covered beautifully.  Only took 2-3 coats.

Okay, first, I printed out my sheets on cardstock.  Then I cut up some white labels and wrote the prizes on each.  I Put one in each box and used packing tape to laminate.  If you laminate properly, then you should get long life out of your cards, to reuse after they've been scratched off to redo the scratch paint.

I mixed my paint, acrylic silver, a small amount of black, and a drop or two of dish soap.  Mix until fully incorporated.  You can use any color you like, I recommend metallic ones as they will be the coolest!  But for holidays, it might be fun to mix up some colorful ones.  Dry between each coat.  I used a blow drier to speed up the process.  I masked out my second batch, it made them neater, however, I had to peel the tape at an angle to not peel off the paint entirely.  The first batch, I used my JoAnn Teacher Appreciation card to straighten the sides by pressing against the edges.  Or, you can leave it just as sloppy as you painted it!  ;D

Then I cut them out and laid them out to dry overnight to ensure they don't all stick together.  The cards look great.  (why didn't I take a picture?)  They fit into an old crayon box perfectly.  I've explained the rewards system so he is eager to behave well and earn those tickets!  I can't wait for him to scratch one off as well.

Oh my, it is late!  Recap, first day of school was great.  He was super excited about the tablet and brownie party and rewards.  He loved his new journals (I'll post those up soon, they look wonderful).  He got a little bored doing worksheets and writing work (the most dreaded thing ever) but he still had a good attitude and I tried to keep him motivated.  I used ClassDojo to track his behavior on the tablet.  They have a handy app.  I'll let him edit his avatar so he can enjoy it more.

p.s. There might be something awesome happening on the 20th, but I cannot say yet.  It is a secret still.  

Place Value on Sale "BTS14"

I've just added a new item to my TeachersPayTeachers store in time for the Blast Off Back to School sale.  Use the promo code "BTS14" for 20% off savings!  The new listing is Party Favors Place Value Flapbooks, a foldable for math interactive notebooks.  This is aligned with the common core standards 2.NBT.1, 2.NBT.1a, and 2.NBT.1b.

This set features my Party Favors Clip Art, which is available free to use on my TpT site.

Blast Off Back to School Ends Soon!

Only 7 hours left to save on TeachersPayTeachers' back to school sale. 

Save on EVERYTHING from Aug 4-5!

Sale runs Aug 4, 12:01 am ET - Aug 5, 11:59 pm ET

Here's How It Works:

1. Use promo code BTS14 for 10% off everything except gift certificates and purchases made with PO
2. Save even more with Sellers who join the sale for up to 28% off of resources!
3. Fill your cart! Sale is ON Monday Aug 4, 12:01 a.m. ET through Aug 5, 11:59 p.m. ET

You must enter promo code: BTS14

when you check out to save!

Interactive Notebooking - Math

Woohoo, I've gotten 5 assignments readied in Chase's Math notebook. Seventeen days til' school starts... Goal - two weeks worth of work prepared... Hopefully, we can get the printer fully operational so I can print out the collection of freebies I've been gathering. I use all those worksheets for notebooking. So, want to see what I've got so far? Don't let the ordinary cover fool you! First day of school, I plan to have him decorate this. Maybe with some aluminum tape and go to town with my metal embossing tools... Or let him art it up in some other way. I don't have fancy papers though. But maybe if we can get the printer to be awesome, we can print our own.

The first thing I did was watch several tutorials on making pocket folder inserts for notebooks. So, I added one to the front of the book and one to the middle as a divider. This is a one subject book, but it will be handy later on in the year when he needs to flip to the back right away. The front pocket contains a piece of cardstock to use as a page saver, to go behind pages he's writing on so as to not poke through. Since pages will have fold out things and flip books, etc, there will be lots of problems with writing without making holes. On the back of this divider is the first Table of Contents. As more are needed, then I'll add in another divider. Opposite the Contents is a chalkboard! I found a blog post on Come Together Kids about making your own paper chalkboards and it's super easy and really works. I just glued it in place and it is ready to go. He can use it for notes or scratch paper, or doodling! There's another secret one on the back.  It has a cover flap to prevent getting chalk all over everything and keeps the writing from smudging.

The assignments are on place values and 3 part word problems.  I made the subject be Star Wars to go with the workbooks we bought.  They're really great, though a bit thin on workload.  For place values, I have a chart with flip up sections.  Across from it is a flipbook of place values.  He would mark each page as being 100-200-300 so on, either by coloring it or using a sticker.  Not 100 stickers in each, I'd be out of stickers and the page would be a mess.  He would write the qty on the front of the booklet.  I'm making a printable version of this with my party theme art on TeachersPayTeachers.


More place value work, just some labels for the squares, color coded them to keep him on track with HTO.  And finally, a place value slider.  I used some cardstock to make these.  The cardstock I used is from Core-dinations, I had won this sampler pack from JoAnn Fabrics several years ago now.  They are perfect for making bookmarks, and perfect for little projects like this.  I cut it to just short of my paper and used the cut off for the mount.  I measured how big the opening should be and it perfectly came out to how many I needed.  On the next page are some task cards, just index cards with mini place value assignments.

I'm sure I spent more time making these than he'll spend doing them.  Well, he better not spend that long!

Labor Day Weekend

Planning my next exercises for Chase to study throughout the week.  Wanted to do a current event, and there is a lot going on in the news this weekend.  I made a Glog for the Current Events in Syria.  The images in the Glog do not depict the more gruesome details, though the links do go to articles which may have those images posted.  So if you wish to share this with your class, please look through the links first.  They may be more suited to middle school + students than elementary.  I've included a few timeline facts.  No personal opinions are added to this, just facts.  It was hard to find articles with little or no bias.

There's also information about the history of Syria, featuring a Glog about the "Cradle of Civilization".  For my first grader, I'm just having the Glog as a print out for him to learn a few facts from.  The print bg is a bit dark, but otherwise looks alright.  Much better as an interactive learning tool.  I hope others can have more use out of it.  I marked it for all grades, since it is history in the making.

I have Chase's notebooks almost filled for the week's worth of work.  I think I need a reward for that!  I have a gift certificate for Red Robin my Dad bought me for Mother's Day that is burning a hole in my wallet.  I think it is time I demand to go out to eat :D

Week 1 Impact

My impact report for our first week is up (ignore the school year stats, that isn't right).  He seems to enjoy ScootPad so far.  He is enthusiastic about the practices and likes earning rewards.  And he likes knowing the answers, so far, he has gotten some good marks.

Almost prepared for next week.  Have to put a few more assignments into his notebooking pages.  I've got some great Common Core aligned activities lines up.  I've been using resources mostly from TeachersPayTeachers.  I've been collecting the freebies from the newsletter and clipping what I need for his notebook.

Riddle Me This! Apple Pickin' Edition Freebie from Teacher Bits and Bobs is superb.  I've printed them all smaller so I can fit them in the notebook, then pasted the answers onto the backs of the clues.  This leaves enough room to make a fold flap, which I glue down to his notebook.  Then, under each flap I added an apple fact.

Other recommended resources, Sticky Notes & Glitter, The Lesson Plan Diva, Notebooking Pages, Spoonful, It's the Little Things...  I'll add more links as I come across them.  

First week - Midway through

Chase has a strong interest in game development.  So we found this Google Chrome app called Gamestar Mechanic.  It is a fun site that he can make his own maps and level difficulties.  He'll be working on this during computer lab today along with his ScootPad assignments.  This is his reward for following directions and staying on task in class today.

We've been having issues with cooperation, which resulted in him getting computer restrictions.  He has had to earn his free time back.  The last two days without computer has been torturous (for us as well as him), so he is excited about computer lab today.  He has earned his free time after school today, so it should be a good day for me to relax and get more work prepared for the rest of the week.  

I am out of assignments readied for Math and Language Arts.  We're notebooking for these.  Fo L.A. I've made his reading and comprehension questions more interesting by modeling the stories on his favorite characters and toys.  So far, I have a Lego City story which I used the Lego Comic Builder to make a colorful little comic book to print out and paste into his notebook.  I made a Calvin & Hobbes story for his next day's assignment.  I drew a few frames to paste in and wrote up a summary of the strips.  And Day 3, I made a Ninjago story, paraphrasing some of the world origins from their site.

Fortunately, he has lots of interests, so the list is endless what I can write about.  But I only made 3 days ahead and now I need more assignments!