Still no books ordered by our cyber school! I can not get a good answer as to why they can't order yet. I was told on Tuesday, that they will be ordered by the end of the week. Sure.
In the meantime, JT and I had a long talk about our schedule for this year. He was used to having me all to himself most of the time last year. Now that EM will be joining our happy little group, things will be changing a bit. I asked JT if he thought he could be responsible enough to get up on his own, get some breakfast (if I leave some helps along the way...i.e. milk in the creamer for his cereal) and be dressed and ready to join us by 9:30am. EM is an early riser, so I figure I will work on his reading and math for an hour before JT joins us. Then we can do some shared learning, move on to gym and then EM can go work on some independent learning while JT and I work on his instruction time. JT seemed to think it was a good idea and promised to work on following the schedule. All of this sounds lovely...until the first day when EM is running late or JT won't get up or.....
Oh yeah, flexibility!
I also felt ambitious this week and put together some index cards for our "fun" box. These activities are things we can do together. Some of the cards say things like 'take a walk', 'play an educational game' or 'watch an educational video'. I am thinking I will need some stress relief as I adjust to two kids in the classroom. These cards will be for days when we are starting to feel the pressure. Educational activities...but ones I don't need to direct. I am still working on activity cards the boys can use independently when I am working with one of them. I have found several teacher sites with 'center' activities. The problem I'm having is that most are geared for more than one child. I will need more than what I have put together at this point, but I have a few for the beginning of our year. I want to be able to say, "Go work on an independent activity" and have it be a packaged, ready to go kit.
Finally, I found a new site/catalog that I LOVE! Home Science Tools. I placed my first order this week after poring over the catalog for days. I have page after page marked for my wish list. We ordered a slide making kit for our microscope, a protozoa hatchery kit and a cool laminated photo elements chart. At the rate I'm going, I won't need the curriculum from the school! I could teach for the next 5 years with the things I already have in my classroom.....and maybe I just will.
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Holy Mackerel! I swear you are living in my house. We've been having similar talks here. I've been asking the boys to choose chores they like to do for a half hour each morning and creating a wall poster with a list of activities they need to do each day. The idea is that they know they have piano practice, Moving Beyond the Page, and math each day. They can take charge of their learning. I have serious doubts that it will work, but I'm willing to try.
Could you email me a complete list of those activity cards when you finish? They sound great! If I wait till the moment arrives, I can't think of anything. Those cards would be ready to go.
And we have that periodic table. I got it for Landry in kindergarten, and Jerry and the boys refer to it frequently. You are right. It is cool!
So, what's up with your school? Do you think they have a fighting chance of getting your materials in time?
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