First Day Traditions

We had our first day of the new school year about 2 weeks ago. I hope to get the pictures of our annual Back-to-School Treasure Hunt up soon. In the meantime here are photos of our traditional Walk-to-School we do every year on the first day. Daddy always leads them and it's something they look forward to. This was Princess' first year walking with a backpack on. Isn't she precious? I can't believe how quickly all our children are growing up.

Off they go!

Crossing the Street

It was a short walk this year as the heat index was 106.

Here they come!

Up the driveway & on their way to greet their teacher!

Soon after we had our special First-Day-of-School meal. This year it was a picnic lunch. Oh, so yummy! Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, beans, corn on the cob & Kool-aid. A fun way to start off our 11th year! =0)

First Day ~ New System

Our first day of school was last Monday. The kids woke up excited to start. They were especially eager to begin our new workbox system. I heard of this from my friend Alison. Like Alison and many others I am not doing the workbox system exactly like it is described on Sue Patrick's web page but am adapting it to suit our family. To be honest even after a week of using it I am still tweaking it. Part of it is due to not having a chunk of preparation time & part is due to living it and finding out what does & doesn't work for us.

The first thing I've done differently than Sue but the same as Alison is to use plastic drawers. I like these much more for a variety of reasons. One reason is that the workbooks and papers don't get bent in the drawers. If you know me you know I'm a neat freak and hate anything getting messed up. I like things nice as long as possible. So stuffing it in a shoebox didn't appeal to me at all. I was able to find my sets of drawers on sale at Target for $4.99each. This was $2 less than the regular price. Nice! Another reason the drawers appealed to me was because of price. Buying the suggested shoe rack cost more than my complete set of drawers. And I would have still had to buy the shoeboxes! Finally, we simply don't have the room for the set-up Sue describes. The drawers take up much less space and are easily moved around if needed. Another difference are the learning centers. Again, having 5 children we do not have the space for separate learning centers. I love the idea but it is not feasible. I do, however plan to have file folder games, etc. for the kids to use. Fun & hands-on but no extra space needed. These are a few changes I have already made. There will be more differences as we continue to modify things. But I love the basic concept which is teaching the kids to be more independent & me to be more organized.
For those of you not familiar with workboxes the basic concept is for the kids to be more independent & to learn time management. At least these are the main goals for our family. The children work through their boxes one by one. They also have an accompanying schedule card. I didn't have our cards ready until this week so I don't have pics to show in this post. The children do their work independently and don't have to waste time waiting for siblings, waiting for Mommy or scouting around for supplies. Everything is in their boxes ready to go. If they do need help and Mommy or an older sibling is not available they simply put a "Please, Help" card in their box with their work and we go back to it later.
As I mentioned in the beginning I am still adjusting this to our family's needs. I will be posting more on our changes as we go along. (Sorry if I'm babbling. I've been interrupted more times than I can count while trying to write this.)



Here are Boo & Elvis' workboxes. Since this photo was taken I've added another set of drawers for each child. This gives them each 12 drawers/workboxes.



These are Bugsy's workboxes. I have now added more workboxes to his stack as well. They have also been moved to the hallway with the others.


I found it to be very helpful when others posted what they placed in their workboxes. I thought I'd do the same hoping I can help someone as well. This is Bugsy's first box. I placed our history book, colored pencils, and flag coloring sheet inside.

- Workbox #2 has a coloring sheet for Bible and crayons. The children will color while I read their Bible story.

Workbox #3 contains his math workbook & a pencil.

Box #4 contains his Get Set For the Code book, a pencil & a box of crayons.

A box of paints & blank paper are in Workbox #5.

He loved Workbox #6. Dinosaurs to play with!

These are only for school time so as to make them more special.

The pink workboxes belong to Boo. Here are her Bible time items.

Her workbox #1 held her list of chores.

Workbox #3 has her Progeny Press book, study guide & pencil.

Somehow in my uploading Worboxes #4 & #5 & #6 were misplaced.

They held other schoolwork such as Wordly Wise & sign lang. practice.

Here are her needed items for History.

We do history together so Bugs had the book in his box.

Her pencil, flashcards, big eraser & math book.

Last is her Gratitude Notebook & a pencil.

Elvis' workboxes.

#1 Chore List for the day

#2 Bible Time

#3 Math

#4 Reading Comprehension

#5 Sign Language Practice

#6 Beyond the Code

#7 History

#8 Books to read during Quiet Time

#9 His Gratitude Notebook

Coloring at Bible Time

Bugsy's Picture

He is starting to enjoy coloring. Last year he rarely colored at all.

Getting ready for math

Romeo tries to cuddle with Princess

Princess is all dressed up for our first day of school.

Counting Bunnies

I think I might finally have a Lefty! Yay!

Reading her book for her Progeny Press study.

She scooted all the way from the middle of the blanket to here! And she's still going!

Come back, Princess!

Playing with his dinosaurs from Workbox #6

Elvis working on his math.

He is adding two sets of 3-digit numbers and doing very well!

Wordly Wise is a new addition this year. So far Boo is loving it!

Boo made a quick trip to the garden. Nice harvest!

We had a rough start getting our chores done but that is improving with our new system we started yesterday. (More on that in a later post.) The kids are slowly learning to use the workbox system. Right now they are still comign to me quite a bit asking what to do next, etc. I'm sure it will take a bit for the independence to kick in but once it does it will be amazing.

(P.S. No, I didn't leave out Sweet Pea. She was still up in MA on our first day.)

First Day of School Traditions

We officially started school last week. We have many traditions & we wanted to celebrate them while Daddy was home. We chose to have our first day the day after Labor Day. That way we had a half day before we had to drive Daddy to the airport.

We started our day with a big, homemade breakfast made by Daddy & kids. Yum! Next was our Treasure Hunt where the kids read & follow clues to find their backpacks. The backpacks are filled with new school supplies, sweet treats & some fun items. Our walk to school follows and then it's down to work with our brand new books & schedule.

Scrambled eggs with cheese, peaches, bacon and orange juice!

My 7th grader, Preschooler, 5th grader and 1st grader

He insisted upon wearing his helmet. Crazy kid! LOL!

Literally climbing the walls with excitement.

Time for the Treasure Hunt to begin! Youngest goes first......

Finding the clues is fun!

Daddy gives him a boost to find this clue.

He's on the run to find another clue!

TREASURE!

Elvis' Turn

He's having a terrific time! And this year he can read his own clues.

Found it!

Elvis' Treasure!

Elvis couldn't wait to see what was inside his backpack.

Boo was excited to have her turn at finding her clues.

Her clues took her outside to hunt for treasure.

Another happy treasure hunter.

Sweet Pea's turn!

Another clue!

Her treasure was hiding up in the tree!

Digging in.

Bugs finally realizes there is treasure in his backpack!

Sweet Pea is very happy with her mechanical pencils.

Daddy helps Bugs with his new Transformer.

The Traditional Walk

Every year Daddy takes the kids on their "walk to school". They walk all the way down the block and back. I greet them at the door upon their return. I didn't know if they would want to do it this year but they asked us when we were walking so I guess that's the answer. =) They love it!

Here they come!

Good morning, students!

Another Tradition

Taking a picture on the front steps.

Hard at Work