Earth Activities

3 part cards for layers of the earth here
Ideas for teaching about the layers of the earth . This would make a fantastic centre activity

Keeping it all organized

I found this fantastic blog post today full of ideas of how to keep it all organized. I love the forms she has made for record keeping.

Mini Alphabet Magnetic Letters

I made a set of mini alphabet cards, laminated them and stuck a magnet on the back, and we have been using them for doing the worksheets I made to go with Sonlight Language Arts 1. We also use them for spelling and other activities.

In her book Sue mentiones "Paying close attention to the number of skills that will be necessary to complete the work" (pg 82). I have a child who hates to write so for her using the magnetics is focusing on the words and not on the extra skill of writing. It makes this activity achievable for her.

So far I only have the lowercase alphabet done. I need to get another box to put the uppercase letters in.

You can download the mini alphabet here if you want some too.

Science Centres

These two links were shared by another Mum on a yahoo group.

Science Centres here and here. These ideas would be perfect for a science centre or workbox activity.

The Homeschool Den has lots of science experiments here I wish I was at their house :) science is not my thing!

Never Ending Learning with Sonlight

I love the Sonlight books - of all the curriculum we have looked at or tried there are only 2 that I want to collect the whole set of - Sonlight and FIAR and don't ask me if you can buy them when I have finished because they are NEVER for sale. I intend to read these books to my Grandchildren one day Godwilling :)

I read the K Core with Zebra 2 years ago but we were new to homeschooling and we never did anything extra with the books we just read and discussed. Then we discovered FIAR and Homeschoolshare and realized that you could do more than just read a book and discuss it. You can lapbook it, you can go on rabbit trails, you can go where ever the book and child leads you, so we started to do the same with some of the Sonlight books. That is where this blog came from a place to compile the ideas we have used or seen that go with FIAR and Sonlight and now we are adapting them to the workbox.

Today in Australia is Australia Day. We went to the local park and spent a few hours participating in the local celebrations and then came home - forget school for the day, its a public holiday. But looking around Duckie has decided to redo her appalling copywork from yesterday (yes I said she had to redo it but today?), Zebra has pulled off the shelf 'Living Long Ago' and is busy hunting through the recycling box so she can make something from the book, Duckie read the book after her and then went off to make herself a tent for her dolls ... the list goes on.

The Usborne book of Living Long Ago would have to be one of the girls favourite books along with the Bernstein Bears Science Book (that one is falling apart). I do wonder how many of these books will actually survive until I am blessed with Grandchildren some are pulled off the shelf so often to re-read! Is there a law against hiding books from your children just so the books survive!

Sewing Finger Puppets

I have all these things in our sewing workbox but I just love the way Montessori teachers present things see here I wonder if I presented it like this on our sewing day if it would appeal.

In case you haven't guessed it yet I am not a fan of worksheets but ...
these 2 sites are worth a look at.

Worksheet Works.com is a make your own worksheet so you are able to make the sheet exactly for your child.

Amazing Handwriting Worksheets - a free handwriting worksheet maker - It prints up well (the ones I have tried)

Fun and Workboxes

I have been thinking about this for a while and come to the conclusion that activities for the workbox should not be fun for the sake of fun.

Let me try to explain. I have just re-read Sue's book and found no mention of fun boxes just for the sake of having fun. She does mention fun teaching, fun work, fun and interesting materials.

Here is my conclusion we need to be thinking very carefully what we are putting in the workboxes and why. Are we just filling the work with worksheets or activities to fill in time? If so why?

"The philosophy of the Workbox System is to provide:
1 Structure
2 A firm foundation in discipline
3 A clear and visual presentation of their curriculum
4 A way to present expectations for their curriculum in a clear and logical way
5 Fun and interesting materials
6 Important educational repetition
7 An expectation of greater independence"

(From pg 23 Sue Patrick's Workbox System User's Guide)

Through out the book the emphasis is on SCHOOL and learning in the best possible way for our children. Does this involve fun? YES but fun with a purpose. I have been reading some discussions on a few different yahoo groups and this subject of fun in workboxes is causing burnout to both parents and children.

If you are having trouble filling your boxes and resorting to fun or worksheets to just fill them. Or are you struggling to get through all the work in the boxes? We were for us 12 boxes was just too much. That is why we planned the boxes based on time and what we needed to accomplish each day.

(I have a post here that explains in more detail how we planned the boxes)

Sue allows 4 hours for school work 8:30-12:30. (my oldest is only 9 and so far this time has been ample) So break up your subjects to fit this time and then in the afternoon (other than chores) it is fun time or extra activity time - we go swimming most afternoons in summer, sport with other families, extra art activities, sewing, cooking, the list is endless. For those who are more inclined to natural learning I suggest you find another name for this "school time". Learning never ends but for us this 4 hours is the time we focus on the book work side of school, the formal lessons of maths, writing and reading.

I would like to share another quote from Sue

"Homeschooling is not what we do when we don't have anything else to do. It's not what we do when we're not doing laundry and cooking and cleaning. Homeschooling is what we do first. In order to raise a generation of homeschooled children that are good representatives of what it means to homeschool, we must be committed. It is mission work and it is a full time job. Having it take any less position in your life will be to short change your children and yourself. You have been called to homeschool for a reason, and to do it well and to the best of your ability."

(from pg 51 Sue Patrick's Workbox System User's Guide)

Because of this I have removed all posts on my blog labeled as fun and relabeled them with the real work category they should be :)

Cutting with Scissors

There are printable pages here at DLTK kids to practice cutting with scissors.
More printables here at kinderprintables
Create your own cutting worksheets here
Otherwise just draw lines with a ruler and cut along them.

WorksheetWorks.com allows you to make your own worksheets for practising cutting with scissors - you can make them as complicated or as easy as you like.

More ideas:

• cut playdough
• cut up straws to then thread and make necklaces
• use the cut paper to make paper chains
• cut up a magazine picture and then use it as a puzzle
• cut up magazines

For those who want a more challenging project - fold the paper and make cuts to make a paper snowflake.

This is a Developmental Activity Idea from Sonlight K

Button Sorting

I have a small jar full of buttons, most came from my Grandma who had the most amazing button collection.

I gave them to Bunny and asked her to sort them - however she wanted. She sorted them by colour. We then talked about all the different ways she could have sorted them.

Of course Monkey wanted to play with them as soon as she saw them.

(This is a Developmental Activity listed in Sonlight K week 2)