Classroom Confessions

:: Mondays make me nervous that I may not have the motivation to begin school work.
:: The closet of my classroom looks like 321 bins of classroom things threw up.

:: I have a secret stash of smarties hidden away, when caught chewing I swallow quickly!

:: Classical music plays throughout the day and sometimes I doze off

::My heart still soars when I visually see the children 'get' something.

:: I love organizing and reorganizing my book shelves

:: I have feelings of insecurity over their education daily
:: I love the smell of Expo markers

:: I worry

:: I laugh
:: I love

The kids each have Science labs in their bedrooms and the bases are IKEA coffee tables, needless to say they need to be replaced often. They get exploded on, wet, drawn on, experimented on and so much more...this leads to a lot of wear but I am so glad they love to create. As we replaced one, I was ready to toss this, but realized we could use it in the classroom as a gaming center or for group work. Our first project is to give it a makeover this month. Nothing that costs money and using things that are only found around the house. This should be interesting! Hahaha!

Last week I bit the bullet and signed up the children AND I for an adoration hour at our church. This is 1 hour spent in silence with the Lord. I know the big kids will be fine with it but I was worried about the youngest. I figured I would make Adoration Bags filled with things that they can do on their own to reflect and pray to the Lord. I will share 1 each day and they will remain linked over on my LITTLE CATHOLIC HOMESCHOOL post. This week the youngest will have a book on the 12 Disciples along with our foam playset of the 12 Disciples that he can use while reading the story. (I will post more on this playset on the LCH post later). He also has a chunky rosary with a Fr. Lovasik book on praying the rosary. A bible verses book to reflect quietly over and once he has done those things, he has his  Larry Boy book to read. This is more than enough to keep him occupied but I would rather have too much than not enough. All of it is tucked away in his Veggie Tales soft sided bag.

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Saturday School Round-Up

Our new school year started on Monday! I know, I know, we school year round but we made it special none-the-less! Fresh supplies were put out, new books had their spines cracked and I added a desk to the classroom. I now have my very own teacher desk, with a new schedule. We spend the first 2 weeks tweaking our schedule and seeing what works for us and what does not. I also spend this time making notes on curriculum.

Organization is key in homeschooling and this year is no different! I purchased a storage unit from The Container Store, to keep everyone's school books, folders and notebooks in line. Everyone has a drawer and this is where they can find everything and put it all away. My master copies of books are also in a drawer!! I plan on finding cute tags to tag the unit properly.

New year, means new decor. There is only so much I can do in a one room classroom but I like to change it up often. New in our classroom is our book garland! These little books get a title written on them when we complete a book and they are displayed for all to see that visit us here. 

They are eager to learn and having a blast working on new books!

This is next week's topic in creative writing and it really has me thinking about what exactly would it be....more on my answer next week. Enjoy the weekend my friends.

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Our Bubble Station!

This Easter brought us over 20 bottles of bubbles!! Can you believe that?! There was just no more space to store these odd sized jars, bottles, jugs etc. This was even AFTER I sorted and separated and put things in the car!

I decided I needed one central location for bubbles and remember seeing something similar on another blog, I had an idea! I found an old water jug we had laying around and tossed all the solutions inside, then mixed them up and added a little water and glycerin too! I had the kids screw on the top and we shook it all up!

I then made a central bubble 'station' for all things bubbles! This holds a large cup holding all the wands (This cup is free with GIANT and Yummy Mai Tais at Bob Chinns!), 1 cup for pouring solution into a using the wands in(old measuring cup!) and 1 tupperware container for the wider wands! (One store brand one that was missing it's lid after too many uses!!).

Easy and Fun! We have found that having stations for everything outside, just as inside helps keep things organized everywhere! Everything here is also portable, as it all  fits in a small rubbermaid container with lid that can be easily put away or taken somewhere!

~Michelle!~