Thanks, IKEA Guy!...a Homeschool Remodel Adventure

After 10 years of homeschooling and 14 years in this house, we are remodeling our "schoolroom." I spent some time on the IKEA website yesterday afternoon and found a few things I wanted. So dh and I headed out for an IKEA date night. Join me on the journey...

7:15 Arrival. At the top of my list is a metal door cover I'd seen on the website. In the description it said it could work as a magnetic board. We make a pass through the maze that is IKEA and finally ask a salesperson for help.

7:25 In kitchens..."We're looking for the metal door covers that we saw on the website. Can you point us in the right direction?"

Saleswoman looks at me like I'm from planet homeschooler. "We don't carry anything like that."

"But I saw it on the website this afternoon."

"No, nothing like that here. It'd have to be brand-new for me to not know about it."

We keep looking, continuing through the maze.  We find a salesman who scratches his head. "There are some smaller magnetic boards in organization, but nothing big like that." Since we're standing IN organization, we take another run through, give up, and head back upstairs.

Salesperson #3...or is it #4..."Nope."

Crazy homeschool lady..."But I saw it on the website this afternoon. It said it was IN STOCK for this location."

Salesperson #umpteenthousandandone..."Nope."

It's now 8:42ish. (Time flies when you're having fun.) We've trecked through IKEA 10 times, uphill both ways and in the snow. We find a computer "self search" machine. Enter "magnetic board." Zero results. Enter "magnetic." Get a list of hits that INCLUDE THE PHRASE "magnetic board." Mine isn't there.

8:50 Find a salesman near the stock/EXIT area. Tell him our long, sordid story. He looks on the "self search" machine. Unbelievably, HE GETS THE SAME RESULTS AS US. (Pound head into large metal--perhaps magnetic?--object!) Yet, there is hope. This man finds a computer with internet access. Attempts to get on. Learns that since he's only been an employee for two weeks that he NEEDS A PASSWORD. Waits for assistance to access internet. Waits. Waits some more. Another guy comes to help. He doesn't have a password either. We look at the first employee. He shrugs. "He was hired the same time I was."

8:58 With new help, salesman finally accesses IKEA website. I immediately direct him to the magnetic door panels. He enters the stock number into the "self search" machine. We all peer at the "location in store" box. What does it say?

"Consult sales personnel." 

(Attempt to drive large metal--perhaps magnetic?--object into temple.)

9:00 Across the loudspeaker: "IKEA is now closing."

9:01 Salesman says he has no idea where to find the item...although he does note that the computer indicates that 31 of them are available at this location. (Note to IKEA...the reason you have 31 of this item is that NO ONE ON YOUR STAFF KNOWS WHERE THEY ARE!)

9:02 Salesman says his best guess is that the item is warehoused at another location and that you make the purchase here before picking it up there.

9:03 I ask how you're supposed to make a purchase, sight unseen.

9:04 Salesman tells us to try kitchens. (Note: Go back and read 7:25.)

9:06 We fly through the lower floor and return back upstairs to kitchens. On the way we desperately call out to a couple salespeople chatting..."Kitchens? Metal door panels?"

"That way!!!" they yell.

9:08 We find a miniature display version of the door panel. Reject it. (If we'd actually wanted it, I'm not at all sure that they could have found it!)

9:10 Head to checkout with a few purchases.

9:13 Walk out the door as they're turning off the lights.

Moral of the story? Please let me know.

Hopefully, I'll have a remodeled room to show you in a month or so. Maybe. If IKEA isn't involved.

AUGH!!!!!

P.S. But dh notes, "Yeah, but we had fun together!!!" True story. ;)

P.P.S. The thanks goes to the IKEA guy who finally got us on the website!!!! Otherwise, we might still be there.

Need Advice on Schoolroom Furniture

Here's the room we use as a schoolroom. It's empty because we installed hardwood floors. I'm not thrilled with the brick wall (early 70s) and ultimately would like to permanently install custom cabinets (cabinets on the bottom, bookshelves on the top) on both sides of the pellet stove. But I need a LOT of bookshelf/cabinet space right now. (I have a huge assortment of books and classroom supplies that up til now have been stored in a mishmash of cabinets and bookshelves.) The room isn't big (about 13 x 17), but I'm thinking about sacrificing the entire 17' right wall (where all the school items are currently posted) and lining the whole length with storage--cabinets on the bottom, with bookshelves on the top.

Does anyone know where to find such a thing? We've looked at Ikea and I don't see anything that matches the picture in my head. (Which may be totally messed up!)

What would you do with this room if you needed a LOT of storage? I really need BOTH open bookshelves and storage doors that close (for art supplies, kits, games, etc.)

Any advice welcome!

P.S. I am taking the photo from the kitchen, so there is no more room at the bottom of the photo...likewise, the left side of the photo is a wall with one window (hence the window glare on the floor)...so what you see is the space I have to work with...

Kid-Scheduled Workboxes

As I mentioned, I never thought I'd try workboxes. And *try* is still a key word here. I'm going to try them.

Why workboxes?

*I am organizationally challenged. I hope this will encourage me (and my children) to keep things in their place and have things ready for each new school day. No excuses.

*With several workbox tweaks (described below), I want to foster my children's independence.

*My preschooler. At four, he desperately wants to "do school." He has a couple boxes in which I'll stash some hands-on activities and books.

*I have a LOT of school materials around here; I'm hoping this encourages me to use some that I've forgotten about.

Here's my plan...

I want my son to continue to schedule his day. I love the way this gives him a sense of responsibility. It's also beneficial for our parent-teacher-child-student relationship. *I* am not telling him what to do. The schedule--which he created--is telling him what to do. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem telling my children what to do (or I wouldn't have had FIVE); however, I do think that one of the challenges in homeschooling is the ever increasing amount of directives coming from adult to child. For homeschoolers it's not just parent-child directives, but also teacher-student.

I prepared* the schedule cards for this year as follows. (*I prefer to have the child create the cards, but in this instance I needed to figure things out as I worked. Tweaking, always tweaking.)

When my son wakes up in the morning, the chart will look like the one to the left. The orange/yellow cards indicate landmarks that I schedule: breakfast, lunch, rest time, outside play time, my exercise time, etc.

His first job in the morning will be to schedule his day using blue subject cards. Each card has a number in the lower right corner indicating approximately how many minutes of school time need to be reserved. I will set out the cards needed that day; each card will have a corresponding workbox, already filled and ready to go.

Blue cards include subjects:

• science 
• math calendar
• reader/history (Sonlight Core 3)
• journal
• art
• math 
• writing workshop
• violin
• foreign language
• Bible (Sonlight Core 3)
• read aloud/history (Sonlight Core 3)
• history (Sonlight Core 3)
• cursive writing
• "extra" (catch-all box)

And a few daily jobs:

• pick up house
• pick up room

(Remember, the subjects aren't all done every day. I will give him the cards he needs each day.)

Each subject card has a labeled box. (Or at least the ones that use school materials do. Things like "violin" are just part of the schedule and not boxed. I don't have violin-sized boxes! ;)

A few boxes are double labeled like the one at left; we will do art and science on an alternate schedule. A few boxes have an additional sticker. The MOMMY sticker.  This sticker indicates how many minutes Mommy needs to help. For a few subjects, it's the entire time. For most, it's a smaller length of time, designed to introduce a subject (teacher/student), followed by some time to do some independent practice work (student).

Each box includes all materials needed to complete the task. In the "read aloud" (Core 3) box at right, for example, the box contains the book as well as the iTouch containing the CD with the poems read aloud.

When he finishes a subject, he empties the box into a large "I'm done" box and turns over the related blue card.

No moving discs or worrying about velcro. And he still will set his own schedule. The biggest benefit to me is that I am accountable for having his entire school day ready to go the night before. As I told a friend, it's your basic "lay out your clothes the night before" routine. Just for school.

I never was good about laying my clothes out the night before. Hope I can do this. Although we're on Sonlight Core 3, week 9, and have been doing it all summer, we "officially" start school on September 7th. I'll report on my workbox progress then.

Two of my focus boxes on this blog will be preschool math and living math books/related activities. Check back!

Not Back to School Blog Hop: A Day-in-the-Life

The "Not Back to School Blog Hop" topic for this week: A Day-in-the-Life. I'm not sure if we have typical days around here. ;) How 'bout "Days of Our Lives?"



[Deep voice.] And these are the Days of Our Lives... [Yes, I was once a Days of Our Lives addict. When I was young. And childless. Now that my life IS a soap opera, I don't need to watch one.]

A typical summer day begins...

*The big kids try to sleep in. The little kids and the dog wake them as they run up and down the hall, screaming with glee.

*Or, on a "food preservation" day, I wake everyone early to go pick produce before it gets hot. (Not that it's been hot here this summer!) Our family picked around 180 pounds of blueberries in July and put 150 pounds in the freezer. We're now moving on to beans. Twenty, 2 quart bags, in the freezer so far. Corn starts in a week or so. The kids LOVE to help! (And I have a bridge to sell you...)

Once the big kids go back to school...

Lizzi leaves with Dad by 7am for high school. Anakin departs by 8:30am. Usually the little boys and I head to the couch for some read aloud time. Then LilDude (8) plans his day using his homeschool schedule pocket chart. He enjoys planning his own schedule. (Don't we all?) His plan indicates when he'll be working independently or with me so I can do other tasks when he's scheduled to work alone.

This year he'll be learning with:

• Bridges math** (from The Math Learning Center) along with LOTS of Living Math books.
• Sonlight Core 3 history (with many hands-on activities...) 
• Writing Workshop--I'm originally a high school/middle school English/language arts teacher. Serious. How the whole "elementary school math specialist" thing came about is one big mystery. So I'm reverting to my roots and doing some writing workshop style lessons with him.
• Art--We'll return to Roger Kukes' Drawing in the Classroom.
• Science--Determined to use the bazillion materials I have on the shelf, I think we'll start with some AIMS books.
• Music--Violin lessons continue. 
• P.E.--I try to incorporate mandatory time outside. :) Outside play time is so crucial to child development. 
• Foreign Language--I'm conflicted. I taught the older kids Spanish. But GG came to us fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. Despite our efforts to retain it, he's lost it already. I don't know whether to try to focus on that, teach Spanish, or work on the language from LilDude's birth country, Korea. 

**Math Classes--LilDude will join me in a homeschool math class one morning/week. On these days, GG (age 4) will do preschool play with his friend and another mom while I teach. This year we'll begin with a class on Place Value Structures, using base 5 to explore what we know about place value. Each class will begin with a living book and continue with lessons using hands-on manipulatives, games, and some interactive calendar activities. [Class blog entries begin in Sept!]

On the rare days that I work outside the home, my students go to Nana where she gifts them with a lifetime of elementary school teaching experience. Her creative ideas are endless!

When LilDude's school schedule ends, it's time for lots and lots of play. Well, actually, his schedule is filled with play time. But that's what our homeschool life is all about!

[Deep voice.] And so concludes the Days of Our Lives...

So what does a day in your life look like? Join the blog hop! ;)

Kids, Homeschool, & Schedules

Since I began homeschooling NINE (gasp!) years ago, I've tried any number of different schedules. For many years we didn't need a schedule. But I've found that sometimes we need one for various reasons... Young siblings on the sidelines. A particular personality who craves order. (Sometimes that's ME!)

The last time I used a schedule, I wrote it and everyone else followed. This time I'm doing it a little different...and loving the results!  Here's what I did...

Gather supplies:

• pocket chart
• old business cards or small pieces of cardstock in 3 colors
• markers

As part of school I had my student make labels indicating every half-hour. On orange cards I listed the parts of the school day that are landmarks: breakfast, lunch, and (sometimes) nap. On blue cards he wrote down each of the things he does independently during the day. On green cards he posted things that he needs my help with during the day. Then, in the bottom right of each card we listed how much time (in 15 minute increments) each job takes.

He then placed all the time cards in the pocket chart, followed by the orange cards. It was then his job to make the schedule for our day, using the blue and green cards. I really didn't care what order he put them in (which gave him a lot of control!) as long as all the jobs made it on the chart. I did suggest that he put the "school" type cards before lunch as much as possible. I also explained that during the blue card (independent work) time that I would be doing household jobs.

As he finished each job, he turned the card over so I knew it was complete. This worked great! He does well on a schedule, but especially if it's a schedule that he has some control over. The fact that he has to think through what he must do each day and analyze just how much time it will take to get it done is an incredible life skill. He'll do this each morning so that the day's schedule is fresh in his mind.