The Littles Are Running Amok

Cael

Busted! He snuck outside with a cupcake!

No siblings to bother him or talk him out of a few bites!

It's hard for me to think of Brennen as a "big" brother, but he is...

And Cael looks to him with adoring eyes...

Bad year for these little mountain bluebirds here... A cold snap caused our first hatchlings' demise. Our second batch (5 eggs) aren't even going to hatch. Wonder if we can get one more mama to lay eggs yet this summer?!

Geocaching

The idea was to take a quick stroll through the park and do a little geocaching along the way...

We started a naptime...

Didn't take long for Cael to wake and start collecting rocks. We don't have enough rocks at home, you know!

Uh oh... someone let him out of the wagon!

More rocks for his pockets...

Off the path, looking for a cache...

"Look mama!! Another rock!!!"

And, another cache to search for...

Taking a rest...

Cael, however, doesn't need rest. He's making laps up and down the path!

Practicing a little beam work...

George and his big brother...

Follow the leader...

"You sure about those coordinates?!"

Dad's turn...

Guess we're not going this way... the path is underwater! And, it's a long walk back!!!

Well... long ride back for Cael!

"I'll race you! On your mark, get set... GO!!!!"

Cael running after his hero!

Long walk back to the car...

Great day, huh Rhys?!

Frogs!

Grandma and Caleb brought the frogs for a visit! Kjersten & Caleb had caught them up at grandma's the night before. They learned that bringing the frogs into the bedroom at night is a bad idea if you plan on sleeping... Lights off? Seems that's a frogs cue to start a-singing!

She's very proud of her "pet".

Daniel & Christian

Daniel has turned into a teenager. It still startles me to hear him talk with his deep, deep voice! Cael loves having one more big brother (at least on Wednesdays)!

Craft time for the girls... and George.

Cael conked out and missing out on some of the fun!

Brennen at bat!

This little boy just LOVES baseball... And, he loves the snack after the game! Can you believe that 2 or 3 times this season, a parent forgot to bring snack?! Worse, that parent didn't do anything about it (concession stand? run to the IGA?). I don't think some parents grasp what motivates these little five year olds...

Bret and Cael watching the big boys...

Inspecting various rocks...

George warming up. Check out the 7 year old behind him. There were some big kids on his team this year. Made him look even smaller!

He can't wait to play again next year! He wants to play coach pitch, but the mama will be lobbying for another round of t-ball!

Treasure boxes

"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."
Proverbs 24: 3 & 4

Welcome to my new obsession... An old idea explained in detail in Sue Patrick's Workbox System. Delightfully suited to homeschoolers of children in any age range! It's not a curriculum. It's is merely a way to organize our school day, keeping children on task & mom accountable.

Perhaps it's me (although after reading Sue's book and through more blogs on this new craze, I'm beginning to suspect it's not *just* me!). I have great curriculum. Each subject chosen on it's own merit and with each child in mind. I own more activities, books, craft supplies, and games than a non-homeschooler can imagine! Within these four walls, I have everything to make our school days fun, challenging, creative, complete. What I lack is the apparent ability to organize these things to easily incorporate them into our day.

What's a mama to do? Treasure boxes (or workboxes if you plan on Googling them)! The idea is delightfully simple. Each child has a rack of boxes. The mama fills them with as much as she wants each child to reasonably complete the next school day. After breakfast & morning chores are done, my children now "clock" in to school and set out to empty their rack.

A view of our boxes. We're schooling through the summer as no one is complaining yet and we're making good progress. Our days are lighter and we're taking more breaks so everyone is happy!

Schedule strips for each child. As with all things around here, each kiddo has a color (when possible). Rhys= blue. Kjersten= pink. Brennen= green. Cael= orange. This applies to towels, toothbrushes, cups, pencil boxes, etc... Anything I can coordinate this way, I do. I never wonder whose towel is on the bathroom floor, but I digress...

The schedule strips are set by the mama when she fills the treasure boxes. For instance, if you see Kjersten's strip above (pink, if you weren't paying attention in the previous paragraph!), you'll notice she has 1-3 and then a cute little computer picture. She is to do boxes 1, 2, & 3 and then she gets 15 minutes on the computer (http://tutpup.com/ is the current favorite). When her timer dings, she's on to box 4. Following that, she has 15 minutes of guitar before she continues with box #5.

She can look at her schedule strip and see what's next. She can look at her shelves and see how many boxes are left (as she completes the boxes, the box and the completed work go in a large bin). It's motivating for her to see fewer and fewer boxes as she works her way through...

Rhys' boxes- If it requires help from mom, there's a tab on the front (see box #7). For this day he has (in order) math, spelling review, Flashmaster, handwriting, library reading, homophone worksheet, new spelling, and a cribbage game with the mama!

Here's a peek at Brennen's. In order, he has stamping letters, library reading, math worksheet, small craft, maze worksheet, new spelling, and handwriting. Rest assured, his schedule strip included jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes, etc...

Even baby Cael has boxes holding puzzles, toys, coloring, etc...

With the boxes all laid out, my kids can see what their school day will include. The fun stuff (games, crafts, cooking projects, and so on) motivate them to get to the boxes that hold them. The dwindling number of boxes as they work through encourage them to keep going.

For me, the advantages are incredible. No more "Mom... I'm done with math. Now what?!" No more three kids needing help with spelling at the same time (there's power in determining the order of those boxes for each kid)!

We're still fine tuning our system and I'm constantly on the look out now for great treasure box activities. So... stay tuned for updates as we cruise into our "regular" school year this fall!

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