Surfing into the New School Year

We are prepping for our new, Sabbath schedule, school year beginning in July. I have opted to use Homeschool Planet for the detailed part of my lesson planning where I can incorporate any of my personal "to-dos" as well. However, since I am a "paper & pencil" person, I still utilize a physical teacher binder/planner to have a "year -at-a-glance" approach. It is my teacher planner that has set up my digital lesson planner through Homeschool Planet. 

The Teacher Binder

Materials:

  • 3-ring binder (use something colorful)
  • Stickers -scrapbook/planner (make it fun!)
  • Scrapbook paper
  • Old planner (deconstructed) (weekly log)
  • Laminator (optional - to make dashboard)
  • Calendars (I use a year & monthly) -general activities, unit studies, projects
  • Washi tape (various styles)
  • Reading list (for the year)
  • Supply list
  • Chore/Task list (small stickers)
  • paper clips/ribbons (planner markers)

Ok. So you are wondering what this Sabbath Schedule is...hmm. In a nutshell, we school for six weeks and on the seventh week, we rest. This can be in the form of vacation (maybe visiting somewhere that we have learned about), DIYing around the house with some home projects, or just "defragging" and relaxing.  I have opted to begin on July 3 for a few reasons:

1. This first cycle of 6-weeks will serve as the buffer to observe how the school year starts, in case things may need to be adjusted. (For those that have been homeschooling for while, all know that this happens often.)
2. Considering that July 4 is Independence Day and we are studying about American History this year, we jump right into History and the why. 
3.  This provides our school with completing approximately 3/4 of our school year by Spring Break time (early March) depending if we school 4 or 5 days per week. 

"For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned."
-Benjamin Franklin

   

The Classroom

     I have done a slight classroom overhaul as well.....
  •  I so wanted to incorporate a reading nook into the Homeschool space (this is probably for myself and less for the young ones, as my oldest daughter gently told me). Spray-painted the wooden crate that I got from Walmart (sizes vary from store to site) ($10).
  • I moved the "teaching" wall to a shorter wall that better accommodates the vintage chalkboard we have. Also on this wall, American flag drawn by Ms. Butterfly, patriotic banner from the local dollar store (link is from other though), vinatge-style clock, truly vintage alphabet cards...
    Below the chalkboard is the map of the United States so that it is accessible.


 

  • The long wall now houses two maps that I plan to use freqently this year (not to mention the fact that I am a Geography major and love maps) - The World and Canada. We are covering Geography as well as American History for Social Studies this year.  We hope to implement Mapping the World by Heart in addition to the map coloring curriculum we have chosen.

 
Whether on the web or the waves, Happy Surfing Everyone!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The S.S. Organized Beachbum: Creating Storage Solutions

Image
Florida Farmhouse - 2018 Overhaul  The Confession There is nothing like coming home to a cozy, comfortable space. The pieces that you add to your home should be inspiring, calming, relaxing. Like seashells strung across the shore, we have a most fortunate advantage with so many design ideas to choose from among the internet. There is almost too many choices.   Ok. I admit it; I am cheap! Now, I do love quality pieces to implement into my designs but they have to be completely functional.  This year I have eliminated some clutter and "cheap pieces" to focus on a clean and quality classroom. I started with the curriculum stand - a simple utility shelving system from a local home store. I have a lot of spiral-bound books that tend not to stand. I found some great magazine holders from Target's Magnolia Collection and, at $13 per holder, I believe it was a good investment. They are are canvas wrapped in a simple grey color.  Curriculum Stand for 2018-20...
Read more

Classroom Inspiration: Setting Up a Theme

Image
Florida Farmhouse Tropical, Americana, Jungle - What do these say to you?  THEME When setting up your classroom, a room in your house or your work-space, there should be one common theme that that ties everything (even eclectic items) together. The room or space should have inspiring color that induces learning, relaxation or productivity. So find that one thing that warms your heart and inspires your soul. I have decorated and based my theme, Americana ,  on my love of vintage and old schoolhouse inspirations with a touch of Farmhouse . It all started with a Primitives piece that I bought in a craft shop in Pennsylvania while visiting family. If I had my choice, I would have my own little red schoolhouse in the backyard - maybe one day. But for now this little muse has served as the basis for my homeschool classroom. Color Scheme I decided to use black, barn red and white/cream as the main color scheme with accents of navy blue. Now, the overall background ne...
Read more

Homeschool Organization

Image
Picture It...You come home from a beautiful vacation filled with white sand and palm trees. Ah, it feels good to be home - relaxed and recharged but... As you settle in, it is there staring at you - your disorganized homeschool classroom or space.  What to do? Let's get organized, Beachbum style! Help is on the way! Paper - The "white noise", elephant in the room          Categorize all paper, curriculum, resources, craft material, etc.              The way I have organized my paper issues are by making categories of 3 or 4 per area in your space. The following is the schematic used in the Beachbum Classroom:    Teacher desk area - inboxes for each child, resources and spare curriculum in file box on the metal book shelf. Magazine holders are placed on top of my desktop to house the teacher's edition/keys that I might need along with my teacher binder. ...
Read more