Our Bookbags...

I know, so many posts in one day. The three readers I have must be quivering with excitement!

So, to borrow an idea I've used before with good results (and also Dawn does something similar), we have our bookbags.

I did this back when I was pregnant and either on the go all day or resting up from being on the go all day. For a while I did a different bag for each subject, but as I'm revamping my whole process of education around here now, the subjects won't be so clearly defined.

So basically what we have here is this: Each child (and all four of them!) has his or her own bookbag. On the days we go to home ed group, they will just simply empty the contents of their bookbag into a dish tub so they can take it on the train to carry lunchboxes and bring creations back. The boys have a backpack each. On nursery school day, again the Tiny Goddess will empty (or mama will) her bag into her dish tub and carry what's needed for nursery school in the bag. The Tiny Goddess has a backpack on the way from Amazon.co.uk but for now she just has a bag.

Here are the contents of each person's bag:

The Artist:
clipboard
small art kit
colored pencils
a big A4 sized envelope for work to be done (mostly math worksheets)
another envelope for completed work
an envelope with drawing paper
his independent reading book
his spelling journal
his math journal
his copywork journal
his school journal
copywork book
his calendar (a project we've sorely neglected)
and his roll up chalkboard (these are lovely. I will post pics of them at some point.)
British bird sticker book
Maps of Britain sticker book

Wow, that's a lot. Lots to explain there. To begin with, each of us has our own clipboard that we painted together with one of the other ex-pat families from Sweet Benny's work. They also home school. There is another family, too, who are really nice and their kids go to school. I plan on taking these clipboards back to America with me and painting the back of them with chalkboard paint.

Now, you are probably wondering what all these journals are for. Let me go down the list for you. The spelling journal is where I put his spelling words and he writes them for me 3 times. He was writing sentences but after the meeting this morning, I'll be writing the sentences as he dictates them. The math journal is where he puts new math stuff he learns. Now that I'm doing a more artistic approach, I plan on having him draw pictures and paste them into the math journal, too. The copywork journal is where he writes his copywork. The copywork book is full of ideas for copywork, but he tends to prefer to get them out of books he's reading. His school journal is where he does creative writing assignments. (He also has a personal journal that I'm only allowed to read out of as he gives permission.)

Here are the contents of the Explorer's bookbag:
clipboard loaded with drawing paper
art kit
A4 envelope for work to do
writing book
copywork book
Biscuit book
Roll up Chalkboard
Calendar
math workbooks
math manipulative kit

His writing book is where he is writing a story about a sticky, gooey, little monster. The Biscuit book is a selection of books about a little puppy named Biscuit. He's learning to read with this book. (Using ideas from a book called Teach a Child to Read with Children's Literature) The math workbook is called Math Mastery. We are sporadic about using it. Often I just give problems on a chalkboard or whiteboard and talk about them.

The Tiny Goddess' bookbag:
Clipboard loaded with drawing paper
hot pink A4 envelope with coloring sheets, extra paper, ect. in it
her current "In the Night Garden" magazine (she enjoys ripping them)
stickers
art kit

and let's not forget Miss Mousie:
a board book
a toy or two
and scrap paper for wadding up and chewing on

Oh, and I have a bookbag as well:
Clipboard loaded with notebook paper (and whatever needs my attention)
current and next weeks file folders (in an A4 envelope)
my art kit
my ipod (really I do use it for home ed!)
this record keeping system I use for the Explorer (which I'm thinking of dumping)
our home ed journal/planner
The Complete Phonemic Awareness Handbook
Starting Sensory Integration Therapy
current read alouds
my personal journal
my camera
current poetry book
this animal book we are using (title later)
an extra pad of notebook paper

I'm not a huge fan of the notebook paper here. It only has two holes and you can't get looseleaf. I'm seriously thinking of getting some in America.

Sorry not to have titles for you, later I will fill them in.

Also I will post more on art kits later.



Now

Blogs I Love

In no particular order, I am going to discuss these. (NO particular order, y'all!)

First off, By Sun and Candlelight is one that I check in the morning and if there is a new post I am pleased all day. I first skim the post to see what it's about (not much time online in the morning) then I come back later when I have time to savor it. And savor it I do. I have gotten so many ideas from Dawn that I can't even list them. So much wisdom in her blog. I love her cheerful attitude and her deep love for her family and her overflowing faith. I am a convert to her file crate system (although I am not so good at keeping up with it). So far it is the only "system" for home ed organization that I keep coming back to.

This blog is the reason that I now put my nature observations here for you to see. In fact Dawn's style of blogging is sort of how I model my own blogging on. I love that she is so down to earth and honest. She often talks about how she blogs the good and happy things about her life and that's my intention here.

(Whoa! Huge rook at the neighbor's birdfeeder! Darn! Flew away before I could get a picture. I wonder if the fact that seeing a rook gives me a sound in my head is a sort of synesthesia type reaction? )

I love this blog so much that when I didn't have internet here in Wales and was very homesick for America I would download pages from her blog onto my desktop when I would go out for my weekly computer time (wifi at a local restaurant/hotel/pub) and chew on them when I got home. When I was at the end of my pregnancy with Miss Mousie, I went through and read the whole thing. It helped distract from the pain.

So, there we go. I hope you enjoy Dawn's blog as much as I do. I have begun commenting here and there and once she even responded to my comment in a post. I felt a little bit famous for a minute there.

Thank you very much, Dawn, for all the time you put into your lovely blog and for permission for me to jabber about it here.