Quiet Time Box and Behaviour Punch Card

I've been on Pinterest a lot lately and there are so many cute ideas for bored jars or chore jars.  So I thought I'd use that idea to make something with ideas for things my kids can do when I'm teaching one or the other.  Because we don't have a lot of horizontal space, I'll be putting this up on the exposed side of one of our bookshelves that they can reach so they're independent about it.  I'm calling it a Quiet Time Box because it's a box where there are ideas of things they can do when I need them to be quiet :)

I've also started using a Behaviour Punch Card System I found on Pinterest; here's the link.  It's pretty simple, they do all the things they're supposed to do and they get one punch.  I'm pretty tough about discipline so they have to get through the day with very few mistakes in order to get a punch, but you can modify that to fit your situation.

Now here's the box I made.  I made it from a cereal box cut basically in half and I did it while I was helping my picky eater finish his supper, so it's not something that'll take a huge amount of time.  I made a divider for the inside of the box because I want both kids to use this sytem so I'll decorate one side pink and one side green or blue, whichever colour my son decides on.

You start with a cereal box and just open it up neatly, don't squish it too much or tear it.  Then, cut away all the little edges but keep the two halves together (see the picture).

Opened cereal box.

Cereal box cut up.

 Your two halves should look like the picture at left.  My box was 685g but I've used other 575g boxes (different brands) and they're exactly the same dimensions.  The less wide side of this piece of cardboard on my box was about 3.25" wide, so I cut it down to be 3" wide.  I then measured around the other edges of the box so that I ended up with something like the drawing below.  I forgot to take the picture, sorry! :(

The arrows indicate where to cut; cut only to the first perpendicular fold.  And the dots indicate where to add adhesive.  Then you just basically fold in the four corners that you've cut away one side of, and glue them into the inside of the box.  At that point you should have a neat little box that you made out of another bigger box :)

 This is what your box will look like once it's been put together.

 I also made a divider so the kids can each have a side.  I mostly did this because my daughter is not reading yet but my son is and I would like them both to participate in this activity.

And here's the box put together with the divider inside it.  I had originally decided to not glue down the divider in case I wanted to use the box for something else later on but it wasn't staying put very well, so I ended up gluing it down.

What happened to study skills?

 Interesting article about study skills and the lack thereof nowadays. I think, though, that asking universities to "do something about it" is not the right way to look at it. I mean, it's ok for profs to help students, etc, but by the time you get to postsecondary education, you're supposed to be at a level where you can work on your own. And should know to work on your own. So whose fault is it? Who do we pass this buck to?

What happened to study skills?

Introducing Google Play

I wish I got some sort of remuneration for advertising this, but I really don't.  Still, I think this is really neat and it makes me want to run out and buy an Android phone.  Any smart phone would be cool too, seeing as I only have a cheap $40 phone from Wal-Mart with a prepaid card on it!  :)  Still, Google Play seems really neat!  Lots of aps, some free, some for purchase, including a lot of children's books, games, etc.

Greek Mythology - Android Apps on Google
Google Play main site

Everything and Nothing

Please watch these videos on TVO.  They're each an hour long, but worth it.

watch this one first: Everything
then this one: Nothing
now chaos: Chaos

New post!

Please have a look in the A Bug and a Ladybug: Homeschooling Links page.  I've begun posting links to the resources I'm using/considering using.  Thanks for looking.

Arachne's Web

This is the project we did today.  It was based on the myth of Arachne and Athena.  It was supposed to have the shape of a web, but this is what we got instead :D

The one on the left is my 6.5 yo, who had never done anything like this, so not a bad result for a first try.  I did have to put the yarn on a needle, but after that he was ok.  I think we'll try the same sort of thing again so he can get the idea of making a proper web.  And the one on the right is my 3.5 yo, who had a lot of help from me!  :D

But of course, the funnest part of the whole exercise was scanning and uploading to the blog!

We also did some sequencing after - I wrote everything down - but we had some difficulty with that.  Again, something to work on.

Enjoy!

My 6.5 yo's writing work

word a day writing sample

This is my son's writing work for today.  We just finished learning cursive a few weeks ago and are now going full tilt on writing assignments, including dictation.  All the other subjects that required writing we were doing verbally while he learnt cursive, but since he's advancing so quickly now, due to mama's high expectations :D, I'm letting him write more and more.  And, of course, more practice always increases self-esteem, which makes us want to practice more, and so on.  He also got to scan and upload the scan to the blog ;)  He's very happy about that.

January Anecdotes

Jan 26, 2012 - Gilbert, my little financial advisor, so named by his karate teacher :), asked me this morning what he could sell so he could become rich.  I simply had to LAUGH OUT LOUD!  It was so innocent!  He said he needed some money to buy toys, computer things, and "other stuff".  I told him that if I knew the answer to that question, he wouldn't be asking me that question.  Ah, if only...

Karate - KIAI!

My children have both been in karate since I found the most amazing karate teacher.  My son started there last year in July on his birthday and my daughter started just before Christmas.  I just love how well they're both doing!  Being a former martial arts student :) I knew it would be worth it to put them in karate, but I really didn't think it was going to make such a big different in how well they focus!  My son just moved from the Kinder class to the White belt class and he's just loving the extra challenge!  It's amazing!  I look at my little babies and I'm so proud of them, how far they've come and how far I know they'll go!

The Direction of A Bug and Beyond

It has been suggested to me by my very good friend over at http://claireshegoes.wordpress.com/ that the homeschooling of my children is really very interesting.  I have been trying to figure out for a long time how to start blogging about it without getting too much into curricula, etc, because there is already so much information out there about that.  So Claire recommended simply blogging about daily experiences, and what I would like to see in another blog.

I don't really know what I'm looking for exactly.  So I'm going to stumble about in the dark until I find it.  I'm not sure what this blog will be about, although it will center around our daily experiences in homeschooling.  I seem to have an idea of a blog resembling a scrapbook, but I'm not quite sure yet.

I'm going to try to post fairly regularly but I can't really promise that either, I'm shooting for once a month for now; maybe if things get more interesting I'll post more often.

I encourage you to come on over at the beginning of each month and see what I've got up here.  There will always be something at least once a month for now, and for sure more to come.  Thanks for stopping by!