This year it is only me and Missy attending, but we are pumped! She is just as obsessively excited as me! :) Hard to believe, but the very first post I made to this (school) blog was last years “Preparing for the Conference”. :)
Although I don’t have a large “to buy” list, I truly enjoy attending each year simply to spend hours and hours browsing curriculum, holding books in my hands that I have read or heard about, looking at things that I have my eye on for the years ahead, etc. Just think: 2 full days of looking through books.... at your leisure.... without being interrupted! Throw in the wonderful fellowship of a friend and a visit to Hu Hot and who WOULDN’T want to go? :)
Here are some of the things that I plan to browse through this year. Many (most?) are just for looking!
Real Science 4 Kids
Power Glide Spanish
Queen Homeschool Language Lessons (for side assignments?)
MUS - need to get next years material.
Power Glide Spanish
Queen Homeschool Language Lessons (for side assignments?)
MUS - need to get next years material.
my own Teacher's Journal - for notes, plans, etc.
2 plan books for recording student work
Marcia's TOG Garden Tryst journal (I wish Lampstand Press was going to be at NICHE!)
David Quine - Adventures in Art & Music and Moments with the Masters.
pottery sets
chemistry sets
Thomas Jefferson Education and the Home Companion
pastels (chalky kind)
nice drawing pads - spiral side bound
sculpey clay
skin tones pencils
drawing sheets
mechanical pencils
nice pens
2 plan books for recording student work
Marcia's TOG Garden Tryst journal (I wish Lampstand Press was going to be at NICHE!)
David Quine - Adventures in Art & Music and Moments with the Masters.
pottery sets
chemistry sets
Thomas Jefferson Education and the Home Companion
pastels (chalky kind)
nice drawing pads - spiral side bound
sculpey clay
skin tones pencils
drawing sheets
mechanical pencils
nice pens
In addition to the curriculum fair, I always enjoy the speaker workshops. Since I
often get sidetracked looking at books and miss the actual workshops, I appreciate
that we can purchase CD’s of the workshops to listen to at home. This year, I plan to
attend (or purchase) Todd Wilson and Zan Tyler among others.
I am also trying to get more organized this year.... I am basically an organized person, except that I live in a completely unorganized environment! :) That can cause great frustration! One of our problems is we simply have too much stuff. This summer I am hoping to really sort through and get rid of a bunch of that stuff. Less is definitely going to be more around here.
As for the school year, I am aware that I will need to step it up as far as a schedule for our days. We have always run on a loose schedule and that has worked well for us.... but with Jackson getting older and having a lot more work to do, we need to be more structured and organized. I am sort of curious about MOTH (Managers of theirHomes). I have been aware of this for several years but have studiously avoided it. Why? I guess I am not totally sure. But now I am interested at least taking a look at it at NICHE.
The things that caught my eye about it are the fact that each member of the family is assigned a color code and then you literally place colored pieces of paper onto a block schedule. You can move the pieces of paper around, adjusting as need be. I prefer that over penciling something in and then either feeling bound to it, having to erase and start over or just throwing in the towel because I am overwhelmed. The movable pieces of paper intrigue me. However, I know that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to have it scheduled by specific time (ie - 8:00 to 8:30) I would need to have it be simply blocks of time (ie - 30 minutes). No need to completely throw out ALL my anarchist tendencies! :)
I am also trying to get more organized this year.... I am basically an organized person, except that I live in a completely unorganized environment! :) That can cause great frustration! One of our problems is we simply have too much stuff. This summer I am hoping to really sort through and get rid of a bunch of that stuff. Less is definitely going to be more around here.
As for the school year, I am aware that I will need to step it up as far as a schedule for our days. We have always run on a loose schedule and that has worked well for us.... but with Jackson getting older and having a lot more work to do, we need to be more structured and organized. I am sort of curious about MOTH (Managers of theirHomes). I have been aware of this for several years but have studiously avoided it. Why? I guess I am not totally sure. But now I am interested at least taking a look at it at NICHE.
The things that caught my eye about it are the fact that each member of the family is assigned a color code and then you literally place colored pieces of paper onto a block schedule. You can move the pieces of paper around, adjusting as need be. I prefer that over penciling something in and then either feeling bound to it, having to erase and start over or just throwing in the towel because I am overwhelmed. The movable pieces of paper intrigue me. However, I know that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to have it scheduled by specific time (ie - 8:00 to 8:30) I would need to have it be simply blocks of time (ie - 30 minutes). No need to completely throw out ALL my anarchist tendencies! :)
However, I had to laugh at one statement I read concerning MOTH. “Do you always feel like you run out of time? Like you can’t get it all done? Maybe you are simply trying to do 30 hours of work in 24 hours?” Oops! I know my plans for the summer could easily take me until Christmas and beyond! Maybe the best (and first) “plan” is to sort through and pare down my plans. :)
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