We did...

Tot School today!!! I know it's far too early for my official Tot School report, but I was so excited to share that we actually had a normal Tot School hour this morning! I am in TONS of pain now because of pushing myself, but mentally I feel so great. I SO enjoyed my time with K! I thought I would share a couple neat ideas that he LOVED today!!!!

We finally used all of our Parmesan cheese (the BIG one from Costco) and I put it on a tray with tiny little pom poms. He loved this more than I ever thought he would, and came up with even more ways to use it than I had imagined. He played with this for SO long today!!!Another fun spontaneous activity was driving under the sticks. The boys had the sticks out from a different tray and Pac began setting them up and knocing down his long row. K had another idea, to patiently drive his car under ALL of them!!!! I was blown away with his determination to make it all the way through, one little push at a time (they were lined the entire length of the couch).And for all of you Mommies out there, here's a good laugh for ya...yup, he found the pumpers...but shhh don't tell him, he thinks they are megaphones!

Tot School ~ What's That???

~Krash is currently 34 months old~

This week I win the all time worst Tot School week ever award. My mom arrived last weekend to stay for the week and help us out and get the new baby's room ready, and we did no such thing as Tot School. Some things probably qualified, but they certainly weren't planned and there certainly wasn't a camera around! Here are the only few shots I have of Krash from this week...

He found a unique way to haul his cars around...in our wagon-Easter basket...

He had fun playing Play Doh with Nanee a few times...And that's it!!!! Aren't you impressed with my WONDERFUL ideas? :)

• Read more about Tot Trays here!
• Visit our NEW SITE...Totally Tots!!!
• Want to see more Tot School posts? Click HERE!
• Visit our Tot School Webpage HERE
• Visit our Tot School Tools store HERE
• Tools for Tots HERE

If you have a tot (approximately ages 1-3) at home, join in the fun and share what you're doing with your tot! Here's how to get started if you're new...

If you've never read this: Go HERE 1st for more details- please do!!! Then if you have any ideas you'd like to share, link up your exact post to Mr Linky (if you have questions about how to do that, let me know in a comment or email-links to homepages will automatically be deleted).

New: when you add your name(blog name) to Mr. Linky will you put your tot's age (in months) after it, like this: 1+1+1=1 (34 mos)? I think this will help new readers a lot as they look for ideas for their specific aged tot!

If you are unsure of how to add your direct link to Mr Linky-I added a tutorial with photos here, scroll down to see it!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear ~ Tot Pack

I finally finished it and this one I am SO excited about because it is perfect for Krash!!! I had so much fun making this set, and forgot how much I love this book! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!


One mini book is for coloring...

The other is for reading and identifying shapes...I made a fold out alphabet (there's also one with lowercase in the download)... A pocket with counting cards...Size sequencing bears...

And, my favorite...the Heads and Tails pocket...Believe it or not when I went looking for the book, I realized that we didn't own it! I guess i had always gotten it form the library. Well, I decided we needed our own copy, and instead of just getting this book, I decided on this great set...

Brown Bear & Friends Board Book Gift Set

It also has Polar Bear, Polar Bear, and Panda Bear, Panda Bear, which I know Krash will love also!!!

You can find the Brown Bear files to download here! Remember to email your blog post if you ever make this or any other Tot Book, so I can share your link with others!!!

Behinds the Scenes ~ Blog /Web Surfing, Organizing Ideas

I am obviously online a lot, and I get asked often what I use to help simplify my online life! This post is dedicated to sharing that with you!

BLOGS...

First, if you are reading more than 5 blogs per day I HIGHLY recommend using a blog reader. If you are unfamiliar with this, I recommend learning it (not difficult at all), as it will make your blog surfing much easier and more time efficient! I have used Google Reader (with iGoogle also-I still use Google Calendar though)) and Bloglines, and I have now recently switched everything back to Bloglines, it is my personal favorite.

My favorite things about it is the little notifier I have on my desktop, it's like an email notifier, so I always know if any of my subscribed blogs have updated.

I often skim through blogs in Bloglines and then when one strikes me, or there's one I want to leave a comment on, I will open it up on the actual blog to remind myself I want to read that one further. I do that after I have sifted through Bloglines for the day- then the ones that I have opened are there for me to go back to before I am done!

I currently have 63 feeds coming in and obviously I do not have time to visit all of these blogs everyday. Bloglines only shows me NEW posts for that day! If I see an IDEA I like that's where my next recommendation comes in...

ONLINE IDEAS...
Before I go any further I want to thank Alicia for sharing this with me last week, as I am new to it and already in LOVE! Evernote is the solution (for me at least) to organizing ideas I find online.
I am a very visual person and because of this my favorites bookmarks have gotten out of control, as I can't remember why I put something in there, even if it is well labeled. The visual cue that Evernote provides is the answer for me!!!

The basic idea is that you "clip" a portion of a blog, or site (even straight from Bloglines) and send it to your Evernote account! It is so easy, fast, simple and AMAZING!

I am not going into a tutorial of how it works, but I promise with a bit of time YOU can figure it out! If you have ?s you can certainly see their FAQ page or contact their support. Here's a bit of what I have learned and how I am using it so far...

Here's a screen shot of a couple of my sections so far, the first is entitled "Homeschooling Ideas to MAKE" for all of those ideas I see online (mainly in blogs) that I am not ready to make yet but want to refer back to. In this image, you can see the little photos, and underneath is the blog/post name, and LINK back to it!!! They are also each individually tagged for even further organization. Here's an example...I like the idea I found on Story Time and More. It is in my Homeschool Ideas folder, but also tagged with: colors, book ideas, Eric Carle. So if I wanted to find all things tagged about colors it would show up there too!

Here's a screen shot of my "Tot Tray Ideas" folder...
Any time I come across a blog/site with a good idea for a Tot Tray I put it in this folder and then label it with tags too.

THE PRINTED STUFF...

Here's my current homeschool binders...

• Tot School: I keep his assessment sheets, master list of Tot School toys/tools we own, Tot Tray stuff, idea sheets, and more. Basically anything that is hand written about tot school is in here.
• Pac Man's Lesson Plans (in it I file the old ones, and keep the new ones, as well as blank sheets for planning). His current weekly plan is stored in a tray thing on our school table, the notebook is mainly for storage of plans we're not currently using.
• File Folders games/Matching Boards (both K and P's are in a big 3 inch one now, probably will have to divide them soon)
• SOTW (Story of the World) papers: Pac has one notebook to put his completed SOTW pages into.
• Old Testament Overview: Pac also has one special notebook just for his Bible work.
• Pac Man's Stories

Right now that's all I have. I do NOT print anything in advance, I only print things when I plan to use it. That's why I love Evernote. I do not print lapbooking materials until right before we begin that particular lapbook. I only print worksheets I like or printed cards/activities I like, if I plan to use them that week. If they are not for immediate use-they get filed in Evernote. I hate wasting paper and having tons of it everywhere.

I am NO expert in this field (you should see my desk right now!!!!), and have learned about everything mentioned in this post from other wonderful moms online!!! If you have ideas, please share them in the comments below!

Breaking my heart...

Please pray with me and many others....click to learn more if you aren't already following sweet Stellan's progress. I know many of us have prayed for a long time for this sweet boy.

Tot School ~ Barely

~Krash is currently 34 months old~

Tot School was pretty non-existent this week, except for the fun times K had with others! Thankfully Pac stepped in for me and the camera happened to be close by...Here Pac is reading to K in their reading fort... Krash learned how to open his own straw and put it in all by himself, he is VERY proud and wants a juice box all of the time now!!!

I happened to catch K reading and playing with these great books, Baby Einstein Alphabooks. He has never really even noticed them (they were Pac Man's) but he had a great time naming the letters and stacking them up...
My great friend Shannon was over on two nights to help take care of me and the boys while my husband had to work, praise the Lord for friends!!!!
Finally, K did a craft!!!!!! This might be the first one ever for him, I am so not a crafty momma. Thankfully MY momma arrived Saturday and I put her right to work, making Wooly Sheep with the boys! K was very into it, I may have to get crafty!

I got the idea for this craft from Totally Tots.

He was SO proud of his sheep...

• Read more about Tot Trays here!
• Visit our NEW SITE...Totally Tots!!!
• Want to see more Tot School posts? Click HERE!
• Visit our Tot School Webpage HERE
• Visit our Tot School Tools store HERE
• Tools for Tots HERE

If you have a tot (approximately ages 1-3) at home, join in the fun and share what you're doing with your tot! Here's how to get started if you're new...

If you've never read this: Go HERE 1st for more details- please do!!! Then if you have any ideas you'd like to share, link up your exact post to Mr Linky (if you have questions about how to do that, let me know in a comment or email-links to homepages will automatically be deleted).

New: when you add your name(blog name) to Mr. Linky will you put your tot's age (in months) after it, like this: 1+1+1=1 (34 mos)? I think this will help new readers a lot as they look for ideas for their specific aged tot!

If you are unsure of how to add your direct link to Mr Linky-I added a tutorial with photos here, scroll down to see it!

Workbox Cards

I got the items I made adjusted for public use and have them ready for download, here. I didn't size mine off of hers, although I am sure they are close. If you plan to combine some of mine and some of hers, you might want to check sizing first. I just made all of our from scratch. If I ever make anything else for this system, I will just add it to this current download link.

My Little Author

Pac Man has been a *book writer* for awhile now, it has been something he really enjoys. He takes long breaks but eventually goes back to his love. Thankfully this is something that he just loves, I never have to "make" him do this, he does it in his free time!

Recently he decided to write a chapter book. Honestly I didn't think he would see it to completion, but I must eat my words-he finished it!!!! I never reminded him, never helped him (during the rough draft), it was ALL him :). He worked on this rough draft for a long time...Then when he finally finished he asked me if I would help him edit it. He is learning what an editor does, and what publishing means, it has been a great learning time together. I sat him with me as I re-wrote his story for him in Microsoft Publisher. He read it out loud as I typed. I showed him what I was doing, he helped me choose and place the graphics. Here is how it turned out...
After printing, he had to color a few of the graphics, he loved doing that...Here is the final book, can you tell how proud he is??? I am pretty proud of him too!
I hope he keeps it up, I created a 3 ring binder for him to keep his rough draft and final copies in, what a great keepsake it will be for him when he is older!!!

Workboxes...some great links

I thought I would piggy-back off of yesterday's post with a few more links to help those of you considering this method.

On Heather's blog, she has written many posts (with great detail and photos) showing how the boxes have worked for her children. Scroll to the bottom when you get there and read up to see her posts progress.

Here is Ami's specific post with her growing list of ideas for the boxes (outside of regular curriculum). I plan to make my own spreadsheet in the future, but my baby will have to come first and things will need to settle down! I am looking forward to the MANY ideas Pac can do each day. Here's Ami's schedule cards that she made, and included a link for you to download them too! Here are her timer cards, which we will be adding to our boxes too! Thanks Ami!!!

Here is Leslie's photo and description of the shelf and boxes she bought at Target. here's her post featuring the photos of the shelves all ready for her kiddos.

Here are some great posts from Jess, who has a larger family. Post 1 shows her initial set-up and how she made it work for a house with many kiddos. Next, she writes about what is in each child's specific boxes for a day, with their ages listed and photos. Finally here's some neat action shots of her kiddos at work.

Here is Ginger's post about Workboxes, where she shows an entirely different way to organize, using drawers instead of boxes. Here's another post she wrote about a few things that she really likes to sue within the Workbox system.

Here's another great idea from Jolanthe at Our Homeschool Creations, showing how she is using the system for her 4 kiddos.

As for me--YES I will post PDFs of the graphics I am using for our system. I have to edit them a bit to make them public friendly,since I know you all don't want a photo of me on your boxes! I will write a post with the link when I get that done.

Behind the Scenes ~ Workboxes in Our House

It has been a week since we began using the Workboxes and I must be honest, this is probably the best thing we have added to our homeschooling life! I am still a bit skeptical to see if our joy will last, but so far, so GREAT!!! Here's what I like about it...

Pac Man's Homeschooling *Issues*

• Whining over how much is left..."Mom, when will we be done, how much more?"
• Whining over what the type of work is...."Mom, is there anything FUN on the schedule today?"
• Working independently
• Working at a reasonable pace-(he can get VERY distracted and slow )
• Asking for help when he doesn't really need it--I am just right there so he asks as a first resort, instead of really thinking.

How the Workboxes have helped...

• He can clearly see how much work he has for the day-and WHAT it is.

• He has a very clear schedule to follow each day, and he can see when things are coming up (like snack breaks). He has to follow the schedule in order each day, removing each card as the task is completed. I made a little basket for him to put them in. This is a bit different than the book recommends, but we make it work for our schoolroom. Here is his new work station, the basket on the left is for completed work, the blue basket is for completed schedule cards.
• He can see if something FUN is coming up in a certain box that day, which motivates him to get through the boxes that come before it.
• The boxes are clearly labeled if they are "Work with Mom" boxes, or independent boxes.

• If it is an independent work box, he has 3 HELP cards per day he can turn in to get some help. This causes him to have to not use Mom-Help as a first resort, but more as a tool if it's really needed.
• He is working MUCH faster, and doing MUCH more-this is the most amazing part to me, he is so much more self-motivated.

A few comments he has made that let me know it's working...

• To a friend of mine who leads a program he is in at church, "Trish, we started these new boxes for school and I am not even doing Calvert anymore, they are SO fun!" Obviously this one was hilarious to me because he KNOWS he is still using Calvert-he's just doing more fun stuff too so he completely forgets!
• To me last night as I told him that his boxes were all ready for the morning and he could begin before I got up if he wanted, his reply..."YES" imagine a total dramatic, excited answer!

FUN things Pac has done during the first week that I wouldn't have made time for without the boxes...

• Draw Write Now
• SEQUENCE States & Capitals
• Money Quizmo
• Watercolor painting
• Webkinz-he made a chart listing their names, gender, and type of animal
• Stickers-I bought this neat Baby Animals Sticker Book at Costco-took it apart and made him individual sheets to work on (I will share more later on that if my idea really works).
• Your Big Backyard

Final thoughts (for now)...

Yes you could implement this method without buying the book, BUT I do recommend buying the book if you plan on using this. I read through it quickly and her story and philosophy behind the method are very inspiring. Being a former teacher, I could really relate to tons of what she was writing. I could instantly see how this method could solve many of Pac Man's issues. Another reason I recommend buying the book, is because it supports another homeschooling mom! Sure I will tell you a lot about it here and I will point you in the direction of other blogs that also share info, but you won't have a full understanding unless you get it yourself. There are definitely some features to the method that need to be explained by the book.

If you order the E Book or the book, you will gain access to her downloads, which include the schedule cards and such. You will need clear boxes (I got mine at Target for $1 each), velcro, a shelf to put them on, and a laminator to make it all really work. Yes, I did make our own schedule cards and numbers, etc. You all know by now that I am a creating-mess :), so of course I had to control HOW everything looked for us! Plus Pac Man's favorite color is green so I knew he would be excited if all of his numbers were green!

If you order the book yourself, read it, and then have ?s for me, I will be happy to share. I don't really feel comfortable answering very specific ?s if you don't purchase the book, only because this is NOT my original idea-I hope you can understand. I just want to respect the wonderful author! Although if you have general ?s that would help you decide if this method might work for you, I will be happy to share my thoughts! I will also be happy to share anything I have made myself for our boxes, if anyone gets going and wants to use my labels and such (I bet you don't want the Work with Mom label with my photo though ;) ).

Finally-another wonderful thing that has come out of this first week-I can't remember the last time our Wii or XBox was on! Pac is not a video game addict, but he does play a lot and loves it. I think he just turns to it sometimes because it is easy. This past week, he has naturally turned to more playing and creative activities. He has played tons with his K'Nex, done lots of free-art projects, and just kept himself busy playing instead of in front of a screen. I don't know if this result is because of the workboxes, but I think it might be. I am hoping it lasts!

Here is another wonderful mom-blogger who shares her thoughts about Workboxes, my online buddy-Ami! Look on her right sidebar and you will see her "Wonderful Workboxes" links!

edited to add (11/2009): Visit our webapge all about Workboxes here!

Behinds the Scenes ~ Supporting Our Sites

Recently I have been asked a lot by kind readers how they can financially support our family by using links from my sites. I created a page explaining how it all works and how you can do this if you are interested. As it says on the page itself, I do not blog or create sites to make money, I write and design out of a pure love for sharing what God has gifted me with. Honestly when I began, I didn't even know you could make money at all!

Here is the page where you can learn how to use links to support our family in this way.

The little bit of monthly income that comes from my blogs and sites is just an added bonus, never the driving reason why I write or post about anything. I am only affiliated with companies I either use or have heard great things about.

In order to give back I would like to share with you, if you are a new blogger, or one who has yet to join the world of online affiliates, here are some of the links I was given when I began. Someone was kind enough to share her knowledge with me and I want to pass it on. Here are the places I went to:

• Amazon... this is by far the easiest to use and the easiest to get started with.
• Christian Book Distributors
• LinkShare
• Commission Junction
• Google Affiliates
• Share-A-Sale

There are many more, you can leave others in the comments below if you use others and want to share. These are just the main ones I use.

Learning the trick to adding links, banners and adding companies to your list, is a bit tricky in the beginning (if you are new to it all). I recommend beginning with Amazon to learn the ropes and then expand from there. The different Affiliate companies (Linkshare, Commission Junction, etc.) each host different online retailers you have heard of (Office Depot, Old Schoolhouse, etc.). You can often find out which Affiliate company a store uses by going to the bottom of their website and looking for the word affiliate to click on. Here's an example from the Office Depot site...

Please don't think that this is a big way to supplement your family income :) It is highly unlikely that you will make much at all, but every little bit helps, right?