Science Review Binder

I started out the year with one big Classical Notebook. Turns out, that just wasn't working out too well for us. Mary needed to feel like she was getting through things, and flipping around in her huge binder wasn't doing the trick. So, I've broken it down into individual binders that we can put away when we're finished with that subject (and feel a little sense of accomplishment). Does that make sense? So, instead of one big binder, we have a Geography binder, Science binder, etc.

We've had the Geography binder for a while, and we do activities in it every Thursday - our Geo. day. The Science binder is relatively new, and I thought I'd give you a quick tour through it:

Organizing Your CC Year - for Newbies

If you've been doing Classical Conversations for a while and have your own system that is working for you, don't waste your time reading this post. Really. Go check out Yvana, Suzanne, or Beth, or take a look at the new Trivium Tuesday posts. It's okay; I don't mind. :)

However, if you're new to CC and don't really know how to begin organizing everything, I'd like to share with you a system that is working for me. Use it, change it, or point and laugh at it, but maybe it will be helpful to another family. :)

Let me preface all this by saying that a year ago, when I was brand new and struggling to wrap my head around what I had gotten myself into, I spent hours (literally!) on Brandy's awesome site, Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood. Most of my organizational ideas come straight from her (see her post here). So, thank you so much, Brandy!

Okay, first things first. Since you're still reading, I'm assuming you're new to CC. By now, you should probably have your Foundations Guide - 4th Edition. Since this will be loved and used for many years to come, you might want to protect this big boy. Get a binder and dividers. Use scissors and cut the comb binding to free the pages, then put them in page protectors. Once you've done that, you can breathe a little sigh of relief; spilled coffee or glitter glue close to your FG will no longer give you a heart attack.

I LOVE the Better Binders from Staples. They use rubber to reinforce the spine, so they're very long-lasting. A 1 1/2 inch Better Binder is the perfect size for the FG. I also love the Avery Big Tab Pocket Dividers. The divider tabs stick out past the page protectors! Thanks, Tammi, for introducing me to those this year - completely awesome! (And by the way, you probably don't know my friend Tammi, but she so could have her own blog! I get so many great ideas from her, and her Classical Notebook is insanely awesome!)

And here's my little command center in the kitchen of essential binders and resources.

Okay, so now that you've got your FG squared away, my next recommendation is to start a Cycle 2 box:

I bought this box from Staples, too (of course); I think it's around $16 (but I bought this one on sale for $6! Look for the sales!)

I have a hanging file folder for every week of CC. When I see something on C3 (CC Connected, on the CC website), Pinterest, or anywhere else that I think will work for that week, I print it off and file it. Done. I also file any small books that I'd like to read that week. Just to show you an example, here's what's in my Week 2 file:

I have my pin map pins ready to go from Sola Gratia Mom's Enrichment Teaching Plans, Science Snippets and History Highlights from C3, Diet Diner (file folder game about Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores), skip counting mazes from Confessions of a Homeschooler (for Mary's Classical Notebook), History sentence copy work from C3, Illustrate the History Sentence worksheet from C3, tri-fold board pages from C3, and a map coloring book I picked up at a scratch-and-dent store. Basically, anything having to do with Week 2 goes in the folder.

So, the night before Week 2 starts, I get the folder and sort the papers/books into this:

All the History stuff goes in the History slot, Science in the Science slot, etc. Then I switch out all my tri-fold board pages. The folder will be empty after this, and everything will be out and ready for the week. Then, whatever I don't get to that week goes back into the folder before Week 3 starts, including my tri-fold board pages. I keep everything for the next time Cycle 2 rolls around. And here's the tri-fold board:

 It holds a page of memory work for each subject, as well as the timeline cards for the week. I get all of these from C3. The idea for the board also came from Brandy at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood.

So, if you're new to CC, hopefully some of these things will give you ideas of how you can organize and plan for your upcoming school year, because it's going to be GREAT! With God's help, you CAN do this! You just need to get into a groove and find out what works for your family. My way is not the only way to do it; this is just what works for us. 

Do you have any questions about anything? Something maybe I can help you with, friend? I'm no expert, but I'd love to give it a shot! Or, if you do things a different way, please share what's working with your family. I'd love to hear your ideas!

And if you're a tutor, don't miss Tutor Talk!

Classical Notebook and Music Game Freebie

I'm a copycat. A big one.

So, when I was checking out last week's Trivium Tuesday over at Living and Learning at Home (which really is awesome, by the way. I get so much inspiration from this link-up! Thanks, Amy!), I ran across Brandy's post at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood about the notebook.

I loved Brandy's idea of turning her breakfast notebook into a 'classical' notebook, which now has memory work review things added to the obligatory calendar stuff. I liked it so much that I made one for each of my girls:

(What you can't see in this picture is the bright pink sparkly binder cover. Sheesh!)

I have a divider for 

• Calendar - this has days of the week, days in school, a traceable calendar
• Handwriting - beginning handwriting sheets (from Staples), and plain lined paper
• Geography - maps of the world and Europe, labeled and non-labeled, and a continent blob tracing map from Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood
• History - Cycle 2, Week 1's history sentence to trace (from C3)
• Fine Arts - my classical music game (see below), and plain staff paper to practice drawing notes (both girls take piano)
• Presidents - one page with all the presidents' pictures (from C3)
• Latin - review stuff from Cycles 1 and 2
• Math - skip counting mazes

If you want to know exactly where I got everything, check out Brandy's post at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood, because I totally just copied her, which is pretty standard for me. ;)

I love how so much great stuff is in one binder. I anticipate Mary and I doing school on-the-go sometimes this coming year as we take Anna different places. Now I can just say, "Mary, bring your binder," and we can practice handwriting, review math, and lots of other fun stuff wherever we happen to be. Pretty neat!

Now, onto the freebie!

We're big music fans here. I really want my girls to know the five time periods of Classical music. It may sound nerdy, but hey, I'm cool with that. So, I created a little matching game to keep in Mary's binder:

We learned this last year in Week 19 of Classical Conversations to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I've included the lyrics we use in the game download. This could easily be made into a file folder game, if you're so inclined. For the composers, I included all the ones we study in each cycle of CC.

Click here to download the 5 Time Periods of Classical Music match-up game!

What about you? Have you made a Calendar Notebook or a Classical Notebook (or anything similar)? How did it work out? Any tips for a first-timer?

Summer Schedule

Well, it's officially Summer in the Stroud home - almost. ;) Mission Friends and dance are wrapping up, but we're registering for summer camps and activities, so I'm pretty much calling it Summer now.

I have lots of things I'd like to accomplish during our Summer break, and I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed. So, Mary and I created our Summer Schedule this morning:

We decided together in which order to place our 'events,' and then when as we move down the schedule throughout the day, we'll push the event to the Done! side.

Everything on our daily schedule is pretty self-explanatory, but I did want to expound on a couple of things, just in case you're curious.

Proverbs Time has become a very special part of our morning. After the hubs takes Anna to school, Mary and I sit on the living room floor, open our Bibles to the Proverb of the day, and I read while she follows along. We'll stop and talk about certain verses that might mean something to her. A few days ago she really latched on to the verse in chapter 22 about not being friends with angry people. She's talked about that for a few days now! After we read, we pray together, and then we watch what we just read. Hello, visual learners! Remember that marriage retreat the hubs and I went to last month? While we were there, we picked up Dr. S.M. Davis's DVD set of Picture Proverbs.

The entire book of Proverbs is narrated with a picture for each verse (and sometimes sound effects and beautiful classical music). Mary and I love it, and she's even asked that we do it everyday except on special occasions like birthdays. Ha! So, that's why I put it in our daily Summer schedule.

For our CC review, we're using the memory work system from Jaime Gravitt at Homeschool Story:

I downloaded the cards, printed, and laminated, and I'm loving it! If you're looking for a way to systematically review all the memory work and prevent brain drain this Summer, go check it out!

Writing With Ms. Marnie is our handwriting lesson each day from TV Teacher. Ms. Marnie has wonderful five-minute lessons for each letter, and she teaches a cute little chant to help us remember how to write the letters. Up and around, back up, and down is the chant for lowercase 'a.' 

That's about it for our schedule. Summer is looking to be a busy time for us, and it all started earlier this week. Can I share what's going on?

I might ramble. 

I probably will.

Well, we had Anna's first formal evaluation meeting on Monday at her absolutely fantastic preschool. This was the big meeting with all of her therapists, teachers, and all the reports and test scores. I was a little surprised with their results. I know these are just test scores, and scores don't mean anything. I know that. But, all the formal evaluations by trained professionals confirmed that Anna is in fact a 'special needs' child. Gorlin Syndrome has affected her physical and mental development in ways that I wasn't really prepared for, I guess. I don't know... if just feels... I'm not sure. I don't know how I feel about it all. 

Mary and I went to our CC's Park Day on Tuesday, the day after the meeting, and I just couldn't stay. I started feeling very sad, just all of a sudden really. Sad that Anna couldn't be with us enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. Sad that she has so many obstacles to face in life. Sad that I don't know what the future holds for her (pity party, I know, right). Everyone expects their kids to grow up, find a job, move out, get married, etc. Will Anna be physically and mentally able to do those things? We don't know. But, I do know one thing - God is teaching me to fully rely on Him every step of the way. It really becomes a day-by-day, step-by-step reliance. I know that He is sovereign  and He created Anna exactly the way He wants her to be. And He creates everything beautiful (Eccl. 3:11).

Anna's therapists recommended some extra activities to help her, so we've been busy getting her into gymnastics and other things. So, this is what sort of prompted the new schedule. Moving things around and organizing things is how I deal with things sometimes. I think it's about finding something that I can actually control when I feel out of control. Know what I mean? I can control (to an extent, of course) our daily schedule in our home.

Tomorrow morning we go in for Anna's first PDT (photodynamic therapy) to kill the cancer spots on her face. Please pray that she will sit still for the 17 minutes it takes for the light to do it's job. She'll be very sensitive to light for the following two days, so we'll be staying inside and watching her favorite movies. I'll post an update when I can. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

Here's a cute, albeit very blurry picture of my beautiful blessings:

God bless you, friends.

UPDATE: Anna's doctor didn't need to do the procedure today! Her spots on her tummy were very small, as were two spots on her face. Instead, we're waiting to check them again in the Fall! One spot on her nose even went away! God is so good! Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers. :)

Wrapping Up Cycle 1

You spend all this time finding great ideas, printing and laminating, and now it's all over! Sheesh! I know one thing, I do not want to go digging for all of these wonderful resources again in three years. No, siree! So, I've been very intentional about storing my stuff for each week, and I thought I'd give y'all a little peek at what I'm doing:

First, I have my big ol' blue Cycle 1 binder. I have a divider for each week, of course. And in each week, I have Crecia's awesome lesson plans (weeks 13 and up), handwritten notes for that week, and my Pinterest pins. I also have general Cycle 1 resources, like the Story of the World and history sentence match-up (found on C3, but it's not there anymore). I considered printing out my weekly plans from the blog, but that would've taken some serious ink, so I restrained myself. ;)

Sorry for the sideways picture. Yes, you can print your Pinterest pins! Click here to learn how. 

Most everything else is kept in my big file box.

I love this box.

In the box, I have my tri-fold memory board papers for each week, the History Highlight and Science Snippet (found on C3), and then the extra resources from other bloggers and Pinterest (projects, printables, etc.). A while back, I started printing out two of everything. Mary did the first set, and the extra set I stuck in the box for next time. Just about everything Grismar has wonderfully put together at The Wise Nest is already in my box ready to pull out when Cycle 1 comes around again.

 I want to put together two separate (and smaller) file boxes - one for Math (since that's the same every cycle) and one for Fine Arts. Over the summer I'll work on that, because if I don't, I'll have to go through my Cycle 1 box each week and fish out any Math resources that I already have stuck in there. I'd like it all in one box, nice and tidy. ;)

And then the stuff that gets used year after year goes into these smaller bins. A lot of this is other curriculum stuff. And you can see my timeline card folders there on the right, too.

Well, that's how I've been trying to make Cycle 1 easier in the coming years. Let's hope it works!

How do you store your material from previous cycles? Please share any tips and tricks; I love to hear what other mamas are doing!

CC Pictures and International Fun Binder

Okay, by now you may know that I l-o-v-e binders! But before I show the newest addition to my binder family, here are some cute pictures from this week's CC day:

We're studying Fra Angelico this week in Art. The kids drew something then cut out pieces of aluminum foil to glue onto their creations. Painting followed. Mary worked really hard on hers and then said it was just a doodle. Ha! 

Our rockin' tutor always has the best review games! See the balloon taped to the wall behind Mary? One at a time, each child ran to get a balloon off the wall (they were all over our room), then she ran back to the square and had to pop it. Mary couldn't pop it on her own; so with the tutor's help, I very stealthily hurried her along with some scissors. ;) Inside the balloon were two review questions. Awesome! The kids, of course, thought this was the bomb!

At the end of our day at CC, we reviewed our Geography memory work. This week we're learning the highest mountain on each continent. The kids each put a chocolate chip (mountain) on the correct continent when the tutor called out the name. Oh, yes, they really enjoyed this as well. ;)

Okay, now on to my new binder! (Eeeeek!!)

A while back I posted about these really neat passport-like cards for kids that featured lots of different countries. Here's what they looked like:

So, I fell in love with these little fact cards, but I didn't know what in the world I was going to do with them. I printed them all out, laminated them, and then felt like a loser because I spent all this time and energy (and ink!) and had not a clue what to do next. 

Until . . . inspiration struck!

I've always wanted to put together continent boxes, but I know I would never really use them. But, if I can put things in a binder, well, they'll get used a whole lot more! So, I now have a small binder from Staples that will serve as my stash of international fun ideas!

Inside the binder, each country has its own page protector sleeve. Right now, I have the passport cards and Landmarks of the World cards (Target $1 aisle around back-to-school time). And yes, that is the Suez Canal on the bottom! Last year I saw a Flags of the World flashcard set at Target, too, so I'll keep my eyes out for those in July and add them to the binder. And, I'll just keep on adding to it until it's full of neat information and pictures of the countries. How easy, right?!

Do you have any ideas for keeping up with stuff like this? If so, I'd love to hear about it. Please leave a comment and fill us in! I always love, love, love reading comments, and I read every one. Do you ever read other blogs' comments? Sometimes, that's where you find the best stuff!

Good night, friends!

My New Binders

Okay, I know that title is about as exciting as watching paint dry, and this post just may be on that level, too. Ha! Anyway, a friend shared a great idea with me, and I wanted to pass it along. . .

I've usually always saved the little programs from plays or other things we've seen or the girls have participated in over the years. Each girl has a 'memory box,' which is just a big plastic tub with a lid that I keep in their closets, and after the event I would just toss the program in the box. Those boxes were pretty messy and unorganized, as you can image. Well, a dear friend suggested that I make a binder for each girl and put the programs in page protectors. I could even put a couple snap shots of them at the event in there, too. 

Genius!

I made each girl a binder entitled 'Places we've gone and things we've seen!' I tried really hard to incorporate some part of Dr. Seuss's 'Oh, The Places You'll Go,' into it, but I couldn't find the right image, and it was taking a really long time, and I just gave up on that.

Yes, I know, the cover is even lamer than the title of this post, but, what can ya do? ;)
(and sorry about the sideways picture, my camera goes goofy sometimes when I shoot straight down)

And here's the inside! I've got the program from Mary's church choir program on the left, and the program and tickets from our last play on the right.

I also created a binder just for the girls' artwork. I love having it up on the walls, but when it's time for a change, I now move my favorites into her artwork binder! This cover is special because it's the first craft we did this year in our first year of homeschooling. Awwww... ;)   (ummm... yes, it's a fish.)

And again, a view of the inside of her artwork binder. I read somewhere one time to ask your child open-ended questions about her artwork and then write her responses down so you remember what was going on in her precious mind when she created the piece. So, I've been doing that and writing things she says about her pictures on the back with the date and her age. Easy cheesy, huh?!

I know I'll really enjoy looking back at these binders one day and reliving some sweet memories with my girls. This may be all old news to you; sometimes I'm the last to find out about cool stuff like this. But, if you're looking for an easy, quick way to organize programs and drawings, these boring old binders might be able to help!

Ooh! One more thing!

Another sweet friend told me about her great idea, too! She has all her pictures from the school year so far on her computer. She's documenting with her camera what they're doing and all the fun stuff with school. At the end of the year, she's going to make a photo book out of it! I think she's planning on doing this every year, so she'll have a nice-looking keepsake of each year of school. Isn't that great?! Yes, I'm so stealing that one, too!

Do you have any neat ways to keep up with things like this? If so, please leave a comment and fill us in!

Plans: Cycle 1 - Week 12

Ottoman/Muslim Empire

Once again, how do I teach this to a four-year-old girl? Ha! Well, we're going to try to keep it fun and light. My main goal this year is to get Mary excited about learning, whether it's the alphabet or photosynthesis. ;)

History

* Read SOTW2: Chapters 6, 27-29, 34-42 (Muslim Empire)

* Read SOTW2: Ch. 24 (Ottoman Empire)

* Read SOTW3: Ch. 8, 18, 19 (Ottoman Empire)

* Listen to Jim Weiss read The Arabian Nights:

* And watch this movie:

* A Pilgrim's Heart blog has some great hands-on activities for this week. They're a little too old for my preschooler, but maybe they'll inspire someone else out there.

Geography

* Read/listen to SOTW2: Ch. 7 (Muslim Empire)
* Look at our Geography flash cards for Week 12

Science

* Learn the photosynthesis song:

* Maybe watch this video. I love the way this material is presented, very much my style, but it may be over my kiddo's head this year. 

* And we'll probably check out this MSB book on photosynthesis:

Or watch the video below (but I always like the books better):

Timeline
* There are some good books on Marco Polo available. We may read these:

Extra
* We don't have one particular missionary to study this week. Instead, we're going to read selections from this book:

For the full schedule of Christian missionaries and heroes we're going to study this cycle, click here.

Finally, I know I've already shared this in one of my very first posts about organization, but I cannot tell you enough how HELPFUL and EASY it has been to organize and plan for future weeks by using Google Docs. Below, you can see a screenshot of the resources I found for this week and how I organized them (click on the picture to enlarge it). I have a separate page for each week (across the bottom you can see the tabs). Whenever I run across something online that I don't want to forget about, I click on my document (I always have this tab open, even if I don't add anything to it for weeks, it's always open and ready just in case), find the week, and copy/paste in the link. It's just soooo easy! Most of my resources for the first semester I found before CC started. Like everyone, I had way more free time during the summer, so after I purchased the Foundations Guide, I started looking things up and pasting them into my document. Anyway, if you'd like to make one yourself and need some help, please feel free to contact me. My email is andherewegomama at live dot com.

(click on the picture to enlarge it)


By this week, our CC year will be half-over. Unreal! What a ride this year has been so far! For more Week 12 ideas, be sure to check out the weekly link-up at Half-a-Hundred-Acre Wood.

Organization, Organization, Organization

Organization is the buzz word of the month as many mamas, including me, try to figure out what in the world we're going to do this school year! I've mentioned before that I'm a planner, so I've been gathering Cycle 1 ideas and what-nots for over a month now. This is how I'm organizing all the CC Cycle 1 information so far. (If you're not sure what CC is or would like to know more about it, click here and here.)

First, I find most of my ideas online from other blogs or Pinterest boards. The absolute best CC blog is Brandy's at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood. I'm on her site so much that I just call her by her first name now and pretend we're good friends (y'all do that too, right?). ;) Be sure to check out her site if you're a CC mama!

When I find things that I'd like to do, I write a description and paste the link into my CC Cycle 1 spreadsheet.

My wonderful, smart, handsome hubs set this up for me online with Google Docs, and it's my favorite planning tool. At the bottom I have tabs for each week, so I've been able to keep up with things I like for all 24 weeks of CC. Then I print out the week's list of resources and put that list in a page protector in my Cycle 1 binder (no picture, sorry, it's just a plain ol' binder). Then I go through each lesson plan, idea, resource, etc., and put a mark next to the ones that I definitely want to do this year. I've found lots of stuff that would appeal to older kids (my oldest will be in the K4 class), so I've made a column for that, too. Afterall, we'll be going through this cycle again in a couple years, so I'll already have most of my resources in one place with this spreadsheet. I keep thinking how much easier planning will be when we start repeating cycles!

For my binder, I'm using Brandy's (my pretend-friend, remember) one page planner, and it's awesome! I've got tabs for each week with a lesson planning page and my spreadsheet printout. Next, I keep already-printed items in a file box, which seems to be getting the job done, although I think I need a bigger box.

Then each week, I plan to move that week's stuff from the box to the wall.

Sounds good, right? Well, keep in mind that I've never done this before. I'm new to homeschooling and new to CC. I'm expecting lots of hits and misses, but I learn best from my own mistakes, so there's my silver lining. And I'm so thankful for the whole CC community, in real life and online. It's so encouraging to know that there are other mamas out there to help when the going gets tough and to also share in the joys. That's one of the main reasons I felt a calling to start this blog - community. I want it. I need it. And even blogging this little bit has helped me feel connected to other CC mamas.

On my organization to-do list is to make a tri-fold board like Brandy's. I'm waiting to complete that project until closer to the first day of school, but I can't wait!

That's about all I've got for planning and organization right now. I'll keep you updated, and thanks again for checking out the blog!