a pieced and quilted life

just getting prepared...

it seems like its been years since we first made our decision to homeschool, and then found k12 and decided that it would be our route for educating our children.

here we are...days away from beginning what i'm now hoping will be a a very long and rewarding journey.

we've already established our schoolroom and bought most if not all of our supplies. now we are playing the waiting game...waiting for our large shipment of materials for the new year.

this seems to be the hardest part!

k12 is experiencing an unprecidented volume of new students, in addition to incorporating new state schools...which means the materials are backed up. sigh.

the best thing i could do with my time?

prepare & organize

organize

nice and neat bookshelf.

first thing i did was go out and buy some organization stuff. i bought a file "box" hanging folders, file folders (colored for color-coordination), a notebook...and replinished our stash of crayons, colored pencils, pencils, glue and glue sticks, erasers, and every type of paper a kindergartner and 1st grader needs.

part of our "collection of paper" from the left is kindergartner ruled paper, 1st grader ruled paper, manilla drawing paper, construction paper, then scrapbooking paper in various sizes and all colors. on top, not pictured, is the lined 1st grader paper with the area above for drawing. its way to large to put in the paper organizer.

today we focused on organizing our bookshelf. i put all the "art materials" together, and organized it all. crayons with crayons, pencils with pencils...etc.

our "supplies" at a level where the kids can grab the pencils, crayons, as they need them. notice the markers and painting supplies are in the big one. i can't trust them alone with those things.

i also set out to make them art portfolios, but found some that i bought last year...and just had the kids to decorate them.

these little file folders are perfect for storing the kids drawings, they are 11 x 14 so they accommodate the larger drawing papers. i find it incredibly hard to depart with the children's drawings, being an artist i find so much value in all their sketches and being able to see their progress through the years. this allows me to be able to neatly store more. each year i think i'll get them a new "portfolio" and also have a special folder inside for self portraits. this is something that is reccomened by their school, as art and self portraits are a consistent part of their education...and its great to be able to go back and see their progress. it is also very rewarding for the kids.

this also comes in handy, because, as i informed the kids they will have a "work in progress" folder, where they can keep those little sketches that they do...but don't get around to finishing. after sometime they can find new interest in their sketches and can go back and further develop them. this helps to cut down on paper wasting.

master notebook

in addition to this, i've been going through their subject ojectives, etc. and have started a sort of master notebook for me. i have each subject sectioned off, and i've included all the information that i need to help me with lesson planning.

i also plan to include a tentative schedule, and a family schedule. so far i can't think of anything that needs to go into the family schedule besides weekly meal plans (if i can manage to do this), a running grocery list, and a calendar of field trips, and scheduled weekly outings.

about outings

i was saying in another post that i was planning on becoming a real hermit and really focusing on home educating the kids (and myself) and art. however, as i was "lesson planning" i realized that we have a real gem here in riverside with the monthly art walks, and all the local museums and galleries. i've decided to incorporate it into our lessons and make it a point to go to the monthly art walks, and also to try and get out to the pomona art walks on saturdays. their art lessons maturely approaches art, and introduces the kids to more than "crafts" and actually introduces them to fine art principles, and ideas. i think it will be wise to incorporate further "art" enrichment in their lives through the community.

i am also looking for a way to incorporate some sort of science outings that we can do on a monthly basis. there are some things that are available to us, but i'm a bit concerned that the material isn't changing regularly enough where the kids and i won't get bored. but hey...i'm open.

lastly, i'm also going to start focusing on outings "around the neighborhood" that can enrich their studies. i'm convinced that even going to costco or the grocery store and post office can in some way be tied back to their studies and give them an enriching learning experience.

(i'm still planning on being a hermit...just adding a little enrichment into our lives...and not taking on everybody's functions, etc.)

other preparations

i'm setting out to prepare as much if not all of the index study cards we'll need in the future now. i have a long list of sight words, they'll need to learn, in addition to number words, and punctuation. i figure while i have the time it makes since to do it now, so that when we need them, this is one less thing that i need to do. i'm so happy that i bought an index card file box, and index cards of many different colors, this will help me to organize their study cards.

lastly...and this is a big dream of mine, i'm thinking of creating a master meal list. we can sit down as a family and make a long list of all our favorite meals, snacks, etc. from their i can create a master grocery list, and a master meal list. we can then, ideally, be able to create a weekly meal list and grocery list based off of this master list. this is something i've always wanted to do, and in some way or another we've sort of done...but i want to actually make it work and fully incorporate it into our lives.

'bout time i put my spreadsheet creating wizard of a husband to work on making spreadsheets that don't include our "budget" and "bottom-line." those are accounting terms that really shouldn't be thrown around the house on a regular basis if you ask me. but hey, that's what you get when you marry an accountant, right? i'm sure he knows way more about art than he ever cared to.

all this prep and organizing...and it doesn't even include my impending studies, and i'm taking 11.5 units. i'm sure that having the household running smoothly will be all the prep that i need, then i can focus on me.

back to the waiting game....

paz,

ki

our schoolroom

so i've promised a few times to share our school room. it is very much still a minor work in progress, as is most of my house but it is for the most part done.

our schoolroom, is "housed" in what used to be our family room, which is apart of the kitchen and a little dining area that sits off the kitchen, between the family area...and the kitchen.

this room has always been the most used area of our house (along with my studio) as i'm always in the kitchen cooking or baking, and we have all our meals together at the table. the other good thing about this room is that it gets wonderful light in the day...and it is our house access to the back yard.

i decided that this would be the best room for schooling, once the t.v. was removed, because we have an area to eat breakfast, snacks and do cooking exercises, etc. not to mention the light is wonderful..and its probably the best area we have that has ample wall space. every other room has windows on almost every wall.

so here is a tour of our schoolroom.

the eating area.

when you first enter the room this is the first view...the eating area.

the "schoolroom"

to the left of the eating area is the actual "school" area. the formal area. the kids have a child's table that seats four, that have shelves underneath the table. the table is the perfect size for them, with a little room for them to still grow into. we found it at costco for about $200 and luckily we had the extra money to buy it. i think its best to give kids a table where they can comfortably sit, and have space to do school work.

the right of the kids desk.

to the right of the kids' work area is a little seatee, and access to the backyard. the seatee is a nice place for us to sit and read books...sometimes the kids will nap here also.

the left of the kids' work area. this is where our bookshelf is with all of the kids' supplies, books, etc. and the home of our belated mr.fish (who passed last week).

the bookshelf is not to organized, i'm waiting for the big shipment of school work/curriculum to come and then i'll go through and organize it better.

behind the kids desk is our fireplace, which we don't use, but hopefully we'll start putting it to use.

above the fireplace i have this bulletin board, i plan on putting up the kids work during the school year and other seasonal things. which means i need to get another board the same size as this one...

the view of the kitchen from the schoolroom.

bulletin board #2,

here's the second of the bulletin boards, this one is our calendar board which is doing good with helping the kids learn the months, the concept of dates, weather and seasons. they have a loose idea of these concepts but the calendar is helping to make it more concrete. it also helps with the "when is..." questions that we field constantly.

the kids, i and e love the schoolroom. its amazing how once we changed the room into a schooling area how are lives just seemed to morph in the right direction. its not uncommon to find the kids working at there desk on school stuff, crafts or letters to the family while me or me and e are making meals. there's been quite a few times that we cuddle on the seatee and read books, or the kids read there on their own.

they also love the wide open space. lately they've been putting it to use building "cities" with their blocks. they build all the places they like to go...space them out and set up their little figures to visit around the city. with all the space they don't have to take them down...so they can stay up till e gets home from work, but best of all me and e aren't stepping on random blocks and hoping around in pain...or knocking them over.

there is definitely something about the kitchen that makes it a great place for the family to congregate. i suggest incorporating a family learning area in or around your kitchen if you have the space.

paz,

ki