Guest Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 If you are a crafty mom and do lots of hands on activities, can you share how you schedule your days? I'm contemplating our schedule for next year. We are going to do American history and I have lots of craft books I'm ordering, history pockets, etc. Now, I also wanted to do literature type crafts with my dd (either FIAR or literature pockets, something like that). I know each child is going to want to take part in whatever the other is doing. So, many days that will mean two crafts. I'm trying to get a glimpse into some other homes and see how you schedule it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 :bigear::bigear::lurk5::bigear::bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisandpaula Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 We love art and crafty projects here at our house. I usually save them for the end of the day, because my kids can get swallowed up in them for hours. We always do math, our language arts components for the day and reading right after breakfast. I will have them do one 'elective' subject after that, such as typing, Spanish, music or computer enrichment. Then we have a break and lunch. After lunch we do either History or Science and THEN whatever crafty stuff we have for the day. Once the table is covered in crafty stuff, it is all over for anything else at our house. :001_smile: If I have a language arts craft project, I will sometimes do that right before our break for lunch. Other times, I just save it for the end of the day. Good luck with your planning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) Hi! Our school is massively hands-on. For example, yesterday, we watched Peter and the Wolf (set to the original score), looked at paintings by Matisse, did our own "Matisse paintings", put together some projects with Snap Circuits, made elephant masks and we listened to some music (Elvis-my kids didn't know who Elvis was). We also read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt and we're doing a unit study on Farmer Boy. I am trying to schedule a unit study book at all times. In fact, I might buy Beyond FIAR and have my two oldest kids work through that together - slowly, in addition to our regularly-scheduled program. We also might try The Hands of a Child (unit study packets). Our science is very hands-on. We're doing a unit on Simple Machines and well, we're making all the Simple Machines. From stuff around the house...:tongue_smilie: We're also reading through Apologia's Land Animals and there are just so many things you could do with that. We went to the beach last Friday and the kids followed animal footprints (and their poop!). :D Not sure if this helps...but here's some stuff we've done: For SL Core 1 Houses and Homes, we made wooden houses and painted them We made volcanoes when we read Pompeii We've done many lapbooks...more than I'd like to mention We did beautiful lapbooks with Chinese writing on them when we read Great Wall of China - we also looked online at the Wall We did a virtual animal show - where each kid researched 7 reptiles, sketched them and presented their info at an "animal show" Oh, once I had them design their own house - and it had to be unique - and come up with blueprints We made canned strawberry preserves (Farmer Boy, of course), which led to my new canning obsession treasure hunt to learn map-reading/cardinal directions Sheesh, there's just so much stuff. I'm not sure if those are the kinds of ideas you are looking for. I was actually worried that we were doing too many hands-on things, but my kids are doing great. They really like school. :D Doh! I forgot to add...the other day, for Prima Latina's units on Constellations, my kids have been taking black construction paper, decorating it with stars and creating their own constellations. My son thought that was the coolest thing. He made a space ship constellation. lol! Edited February 2, 2011 by starrbuck12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) I'm actually posting our handcrafts on my blog and tutorials on how I broke it down for them. Last week the girls made hand sewn hearts to hang from the doorknobs as a Valentines decoration. Just click on my link-it was the last tutorial I put up though I'll be posting again today. And my blogroll is an amazing resource for ideas. We're going to be making aprons, decoupaging wooden eggs and then glass beading them--I can't remember what else I have planned-I planned out the whole year in a notebook (of ideas). For the boys-I bought the old BOYS HANDIBOOK by the founder of Boy Scouts (and I'm teaching them to sew, too cause a guy needs to know how to sew on a button) http://www.amazon.com/American-Boys-Handy-Book-Centennial/dp/0879234490/ref=pd_sim_b_6 Edited February 2, 2011 by justamouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 We love art and crafty projects here at our house. I usually save them for the end of the day, because my kids can get swallowed up in them for hours. We always do math, our language arts components for the day and reading right after breakfast. I will have them do one 'elective' subject after that, such as typing, Spanish, music or computer enrichment. Then we have a break and lunch. After lunch we do either History or Science and THEN whatever crafty stuff we have for the day. Once the table is covered in crafty stuff, it is all over for anything else at our house. :001_smile: If I have a language arts craft project, I will sometimes do that right before our break for lunch. Other times, I just save it for the end of the day. Good luck with your planning! Thank you, Paula! Hi! Our school is massively hands-on. For example, yesterday, we watched Peter and the Wolf (set to the original score), looked at paintings by Matisse, did our own "Matisse paintings", put together some projects with Snap Circuits, made elephant masks and we listened to some music (Elvis-my kids didn't know who Elvis was). We also read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt and we're doing a unit study on Farmer Boy. Yes! These are the kinds of days I'm talking about. How do you schedule all of those activities into your day, plus get your core subject done? Do you just do one project after another in the afternoon? Do you split the afternoon up? (I also want to have a unit study type book ongoing, as well.) When we have days like this, we are "schooling" until 4pm! Then I feel guilty that we've been doing "school" that long, even though it's crafts, painting, etc. (Structured stuff.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I'm actually posting our handcrafts on my blog and tutorials on how I broke it down for them. I'm going to read your blog! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 When we have days like this, we are "schooling" until 4pm! Then I feel guilty that we've been doing "school" that long, even though it's crafts, painting, etc. (Structured stuff.) Yes. We do school all day. It isn't uncommon for us to be still doing school at 4pm. My kids went to public school, so they don't know anything else. They would've been in school from 8-3:30 anyway, so they don't complain. We have so much fun doing stuff like that and they remember a lot of what they learn. You're right, tho, when you add in core subjects, school will take a lot longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Yes. We do school all day. It isn't uncommon for us to be still doing school at 4pm. My kids went to public school, so they don't know anything else. They would've been in school from 8-3:30 anyway, so they don't complain. We have so much fun doing stuff like that and they remember a lot of what they learn. You're right, tho, when you add in core subjects, school will take a lot longer. Thank you! You don't happen to have a blog, do you? I'd love to be a fly on the wall in your schoolroom! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Thank you! You don't happen to have a blog, do you? I'd love to be a fly on the wall in your schoolroom! :) I wish I could come up with a blog! :D I spent the first few months of homeschooling with a very strict "school at home" philosophy and my son was just melting down. He would cry when the workbooks would come out. I read Boys Adrift and it became really clear that kids were engineered to move, climb, make things, etc. I made a lot of changes - and my kids are a lot happier - lol. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 If you are a crafty mom and do lots of hands on activities, can you share how you schedule your days? I'm contemplating our schedule for next year. We are going to do American history and I have lots of craft books I'm ordering, history pockets, etc. Now, I also wanted to do literature type crafts with my dd (either FIAR or literature pockets, something like that). I know each child is going to want to take part in whatever the other is doing. So, many days that will mean two crafts. I'm trying to get a glimpse into some other homes and see how you schedule it. Well, I wouldn't call myself crafty by any means but we do a lot of hands-on activities, games, read fun books, and add in lots of DVDs. We tend to school all day because going hands-on tends to take more time. I use a schedule that keeps things flexible. We can spend hours on a project one day if we need to and then not have a time for history until the next week. You can see how we schedule things here. While no day is typical you can see examples of days here and here and here is a 4 minute video of one day last school year. Some recent projects: Paper Mache Sarcophagus Pyramid cookies Ancient Egyptian meal Cookie cake of China Pin the Bone on the Skeleton game Skeleton Scramble Model of Skin made out of Rice Krispie Treats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I wish I could come up with a blog! Yes, please do! I would love to read it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 We use Oak Meadow which is heavy on crafts/projects/artwork--creativitiy. Basically, most of the time we only do one or two project a week related to their lessons. Although we make colorful notebooking pages and such to illustrate topics in math, grammar, spelling, science and sometimes history/social studies. But my children also have a lapbook going all the time but we only do 1 to 3 pieces a day which may or may not be full put together before lapbook assembling day in which we spend quite some time cutting, pasting and putting it all together. They also usually have one or more handwork projects going on. Some things that they have worked on: latch-hook knitting square to be formed into small animals friendship bracelets cross-stitch small quilts With history projects, if the project was a larger handwork project I would give them a few weeks to complete it but have them work on it a little each day. I've got weekly reports dating back to the beginning of weekly reports if you want to check out my blog on how we do it.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I wish I could come up with a blog! Just doo eeeit. On my blog, if you click right at the top of my profile (on the right top) that link will send you to the designer and she has the most *gorgeous* blog skins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Paper Mache Sarcophagus Pyramid cookies Ancient Egyptian meal Cookie cake of China Pin the Bone on the Skeleton game Skeleton Scramble Model of Skin made out of Rice Krispie Treats VERy fun! We're heading into King Arthur-things should be getting fun now. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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