How will I homeschool with a toddler?

This year, when we start school my darling daughter will be 14 months old. Last year at this time she only weighed about 6 pounds. I just strapped her to my chest in the Moby Wrap and went about my day. Teaching the kids, going on hikes etc.

The good old days with a sleeping baby in a wrap!

So how am I going to focus on teaching when I have this adorable little rug rat getting into all of our school supplies?

Well, I have a few ideas. First, we use Workboxes, and love it! Some of the boxes the kids work on independently, but others have a "work with Mom" tag. When they have one of those boxes they bring the box to me so that we can work on it together, and I can give them some direct instruction. The "Mom" boxes have a "Mom" tag on them. So I decided to make a "sister" tag and put together workboxes that they will do with their little sister.


I basically copied the other work box tags that we have. I use the Circle Tags by Cassie that can be found and downloaded here: Schedule Cards and Numbers Printables

These workboxes will be really simple. Just something that the boys can do with the baby for 5-10 minutes. Here are a few ideas:


A ball so that they can play catch (she loves to play catch!)

A few books to read to little sister.


A special toy to play with together.


I figure if each boy has one "sister" box each day, there is at least some time set aside where she will get one on one attention from her busy brothers. It will also let me grab a minute here and there to get things done.

My big concern is when they have Mom boxes. Will we have to wait until nap time? I have stashed a couple of boxes of toys on our "work together" desk in the office where the boys will bring their Mom boxes. I will save these toys to get out for baby during this time. Hopefully some strategic rotating of toys will keep them new and interesting.

Here are the toys we will start with on the desk. Lets see if I can actually manage to keep some hidden and rotate them. Time will tell!

Getting Ready for School to Start

We still have a couple of weeks left of summer (our official start date is August 30th), but I have been working to get things ready to go for when we start school again. I like to be organized but also find it hard to have the time to get and stay organized. With two active boys and a busy toddler, I know there is little chance of major organization once school begins.

We will be using all new curriculum this year. We are going to try an on-line charter school for the first time. The boys are enrolled in the California Virtual Academy (CAVA) which uses the K12 curriculum.

Here is some of what I have done in the last few weeks:


I set up the computer work stations for the boys. I found this great long desk top at Ikea for a good price. We had the one old Mac that the boys have been using, and K12 sent us a new desktop PC. This way both boys can do their on-line lessons at the same time. For now, they can both play games at the same time.



This is a kind of reference area. We have maps and globes, a microscope, science supplies and reference books such as dictionaries and atlases.



These are the shelves where I have all of the curriculum and my supplies. K12 sent us TONS of stuff. I'm pretty sure most of the worksheets will go unused, but there are great art supplies and hands on science equipment. The books for History, Science, Art, and Reading all look great. I like that they are not big text books, but collections of smaller books.

Each boy has a box of school supplies. There is a place to turn in completed work, and a place for me to keep assignments organized.


This is my work area. You can see that behind where I sit are the shelves that hold all of the books and supplies.

I have my computer to the right and will try to keep the desktop to the left of it clear so that the kids can come and sit there when they have work to do with me. We use the workbox system and they will each have "Mom" boxes that they will need to bring to me for us to do a lesson together. I am going to try out the rule that if I am sitting at my desk, I am available to do a "Mom" box.

This is about all I can do for now to get ready. Now we just need to take our trip to San Diego (Legoland, the Wild Animal Park, the beach) for our last bit of summer fun before school starts!

It's Working!

Imagine my surprise that we are actually harvesting vegetables from my garden! It's working! I don't just have a lovely fence around a bunch of dirt and dead plants. Somehow, we have managed to get from this:


to this:


Sugar Snap Peas and Green Beans are ready to be picked!



Baby loves to eat the Sugar Snap Peas right off the vine:


Our first harvest of the summer:


"A good harvest!" said Shannon.

Topographic Maps

How do you teach kids (or adults) how to read a topographic map? What do all of those contour lines mean anyway? This three-dimensional, hands on project is a great way to learn how topo maps work.

Papa and the boys are getting ready for a back packing trip next month. They have been learning a lot of things in preparation for the trip. For example, they have calculated how heavy their back packs can be at no more than 20% of their body weight. Another important skill to know is how to read a topo map.

Papa is a long time hiker, back packer, rock climber, mountaineer etc. So he knows all about top maps. You can find lots of general information on-line such as What is a Topographic Map? and Topographic map so you can read all about it, and even look at pictures, but nothing is as good as a hands-on-get-dirty-3D-learning-project!

A topo map of where we live:



Here is what you need:

• plastic tub
• dirt/clay/mud
• piece of plexi-glass, clear plastic, as large as the tub
• water and something to color it (a little powdered milk works well)
• markers (if you use wet or dry erase you can easily clean off the plastic when you are through)
• ruler
  

Day 1:

Build a land form model in your tub using dirt, mud, clay, etc. Make sure you have hills, valleys, mountain peaks, canyons, ridges and any other land forms you can think of or want to include. Let it dry and get firm for about 24 hours or so.



This is what our completed 3D model looked like:



Day 2:

Mix some powdered milk into the water. You just need enough so that it is not clear. You want to be able to see the edge of the liquid against the dirt.

Place the ruler in the tub with zero at the lowest point (sea level). Choose what interval you will mark at. We chose to fill the tub at 1cm intervals.



Next, pour the liquid until it reaches your first mark (i.e. one inch, 1cm)



Now lay the plastic over the tub and look straight down at it from the top. Trace the outline of the water at the first interval. You will gradually add contour lines for all of the different elevations.



Continue for the remaining intervals. Every 5th interval can be in a different color and show the "elevation" for an index line. When all of the land forms have been submerged you have a completed topographic map of your land form.



Now everyone has a much better idea of what all of those contour lines are on the topo maps!

The latest dilemma: When to plant the garden?

On Monday afternoon it started to snow. We woke up Tues day morning to clearing skies and a couple of inches if fresh snow blanketing the new garden. "No planting until after Frog Jump" is the old adage here in Arnold. Frog Jump starts tomorrow. Will it be safe to plant in Friday DURING Frog Jump? Will it be like a rain dance, calling for more snow, if I break the rule?

I've gotten the following warnings from locals:

"Don't plant til after fair! One year, I planted during fair and it snowed! "
and
"I always wait until June 1.It always (mostly snows) at the end of May and used to kill of my seedlings...so I just wait and buy 6 packs or 4" plants and hope for LOTS of sun."

These are smart, trusted, long time Arnold residents. Such a dilemma!!

Well, the reality is that we have pumpkin plants that will not survive much longer in their little starter pots. Those things are growing like crazy! The tomatoes are not even ready to plant. I think we will likely split the difference and plant some things and hope for the best!

I'm hopeful this will be the last snow of the year, and I'm glad we got the garden built the one week it didn't snow. It sure does make for a pretty picture though!

We've got dirt!

Yesterday the garden was ready for some dirt! Pete and Cleary took the truck up to Dorrington for a load of soil. They compost local yard waste (mostly pine needles) and sell the soil. you can see lots of bits of decomposing pine needles in the soil. Shannon examined it and said "There is not enough dirt in this soil."

We figured it would be easiest to dump the soil in before putting up the fence. Pete backed up the truck full of soil and started unloading.


Ainsley and I helped a little bit. She was in a "don't put me down" and "I'm refusing to nap" kind of week, so I have not been able to help much.


Cleary and Shannon were forced to do some work as well.


By the end of the day the dirt was in and the fences were up!

Building the Garden: Day 1

My plan for a garden was pretty simple. Get some boards and build some raised beds and fence it in. My Mom loves projects like this and is really good at throwing things like this together for little or no cost. My husband has a complete inability to do things "half assed", which, by the way is an awesome quality to have.
What to use for fence posts?
My idea: "4X4's".
My Mom:"Douglas fir 4X4's" because they are the cheapest.
Pete: Search on the internet for at least 2 hours and do a thorough review of the pros and cons of pressure treated, cedar, redwood etc. Needless to say, we did NOT get douglas fir posts!

With a new and improved garden plan, and a shopping list in hand Pete and Cleary head out to the lumber yard. Meanwhile, Shannon and Cody (hired muscle) get to work on leveling the area where we will build.



What 8 year old boy does not like a chance to use a pick ax?



Shannon levels some dirt:


Cleary and Pete get back from the lumber yard. Much $$$ was spent. Nothing but the best!:



Ainsley helps out:

Pete gets things laid out:

Digging some post holes:


Cleary is proud of his work on the path:


By the end of the day Pete had all 4 corner posts set in concrete. So far so good!!