Our School Work Boxes

We have started using a work box system in our homeschooling.

Its not extremely different to how I was doing things before,

but it is going to help greatly in the areas of 

 planning, organizing, and creativity!

I was so excited when my "work boxes" arrived in the mail.

Its really just a scrap booking organizer.

First Isabelle and I had to figure out how to put them together.

It didn't take us pro's very long to get that out of the way!

Here's the finished product including her daily progress "stickers".

Here's what our school was like the first day of "work boxing".

We start off with a devotional - which for us right now is just a

quick scripture story.  We follow that

  with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Box #1 - Science.  We read about Armadillos. 

Did you know they can hold their breath for up to 6 minutes and they

 walk on the bottom of stream and rivers?  I didn't. 

That is one great thing about homeschooling,

I get to learn and re-learn right alongside Isabelle.

Box #2 - Math.  We discussed calendars. How many days are in a month. 

 Days of the week and months of the year. 

Each day for math right now Isabelle also counts by 5's and 10's.

Box #3 - Spelling.  This is not one of her favorite subjects,

but she is pretty good at it.

Water Break - Yes this is scheduled. 

Water breaks don't happen at other times or they

would be happening ALL the time.

Box #4 - History.  We read from "The Story of the World." 

Today we read about hieroglyphics. 

Isabelle thinks they are very cool.

Box #5 - Isabelle's reading.  She reads a small story and then from our

Hooked on Phonics workbooks. 

 She is currently working on the HOP 2nd grade workbook.

Box #6 - Story time.  I read to her out of a book. 

We are currently reading the 2nd book in the

American Doll series "Meet Kirsten".

 This book is called "Kirsten Learns A Lesson." 

 She loves these books and so do I!

Potty Break - Also scheduled, but this one I will allow anytime!

Box #7 - Korean language practice. 
She is learning to write the alphabet and

then we went over some vocabulary cards. 

 She thought is was hilarious

when she learned "fish" in Korean. 

Fish is pronounced mul golgi. 

In Korean mul means

water and golgi means meat,

so it is literally meat in the water.

Box #8 - Logic Links and Pattern Blocks. 

She would play with these all day if I let her.

Box #9 - Journal.  Isabelle draws a picture of anything she

wants and then writes anything she wants about what she has drawn. 

It is always interesting to see what she will come up with. 

It usually involves unicorns, birthdays, Christmas, butterfly's, ect.

5 minutes of stretching or wiggling - WHATEVER!

Box #10 - Art project. Today she started a paper mache "mulgolgi". 

 3 days later it still isn't finished, hmmm.  That is unusual.

Here's what William was up to while we did school.

If we don't do school while he is sleeping then he gives us

lots and lots of assistance!

I have to add I only have about 3 pictures of him sleeping

ever.  He wakes up if you even think about opening the door!

Well that's a sample day for us. 

Each day changes a little as I put different things in each box. 

She has loved doing this. 

She asks me everyday "when can we do school?"

I hope that she feels the same way for a long time to come.

We chose to home school before we even had kids. 

We knew we at least wanted to try it.

It has been so fun. 

So far I have not had one day of regret in our decision.  

 Homeschooling may not be for everyone,

 but it is PERFECT for us, for now and hopefully forever!

Korean Language Class

Isabelle and I started Korean language classes last Saturday.

One of my new years resolutions is to learn better Korean.

I was super excited to go to class. 
I have missed being in a classroom setting as a mom.

I was excited to have a teacher and my own little school book.

Yes I know this sounds pathetic, but still it's the truth.

All of this excitement vanished around 9:30 the night before class.

Excitement was replaced with nervousness.

"Wait a minute" my brain said.

"You like Korean people, but have you forgotten that they are very scary.

Have you forgotten the stories of getting hit with rulers when you get an answer wrong?

Have you forgotten that according to every Korean on the planet Korean is the easiest language to learn,
 and only a truly idiotic person wouldn't be able to do it?

Have you forgotten that you dropped out of Japanese in high school because your tiny brain couldn't handle a language from the East?

Do you even know how to get to the building?

What if they refuse to speak any English at all?

Aren't you aware that you will have to get up very early
EVERY Saturday morning? Just give up now."

These are all of the things the mean little
voice in my head kept whispering.

I refused to listen...this may have been a good or bad choice,
I am still undecided on that.

I woke up bright (not really) and early Saturday morning.

I really wanted to go back to bed.

I showered and tried to make myself pretty, assuming this would
somehow help me learn a new language.

Well at least it might curb some of the
laughter that would surely be coming my way.

I loaded Isabelle into her car seat and waved to my proud husband bidding us farewell at the door,
at least someone was still happy about this decision.

I discovered that when I am very nervous
I might have just a touch of road rage.

I apologize to anyone I may have nearly ran over.

When we got to the building, a Christian center, I saw lots of Korean people walking in.

"What are they doing here?" my brain started up again. "Don't they already speak Korean?  Where are all of the other American wives of Korean men?
Shouldn't they be here too if I have to be?"

When we got inside my hopes got dashed even more.

There weren't even any mixed kids like Isabelle. 
I was actually a little more surprised about this, but what is a girl to do?

We were there, and there they  were. 
Many Korean people speaking Korean,
and writing in Korean, and staring at me like I just walked off Mars.

"This is going to be a fun two hours" sneers my brain.  "Shut up" says one of the other voices in  my head.  They quickly make me pay for may class and brain says "You are actually paying to be humiliated? HA HA!"  After paying they whisk Isabelle off to her torture.
She looked at me like I had just sold her for $5.00.

I had to hang out in the foyer for a few more minutes to let people stare at me.  By this point I had decided that showering and getting pretty was the only sane idea I had that morning.  Then a lady says "come with me". I follow her up a staircase into a small classroom with a blue wall, a red wall, and one of the ugliest crosses I have ever seen. 

"Hey an American!" my brain yells!  It was true there was an American man in my class.  He is older than me and his name is Steve - this couldn't be bad if he has the same name as my Dad. This is what I thought up until the minute he informed me that he lived in Korea for 6 and a half years.  The only other student in my class was a college student girl named Stephanie who is half Korean and she speaks Korean with her mom all of the time. 
So one of my worst fears has been confirmed, I am the only beginner.

Our teacher seems nice enough and
I don't see any rulers for her to hit me with, so that's a big relief.

I can read, a little, in Korean.  My teacher thinks this means I should also be able to write full sentences in Korean after she reads them to me. You have got to be kidding me.  We wrote a lot in the first hour of class.  I misspelled about 70% of my words and another 10% of the words were completely omitted from my work.  My teacher starts to think I need some help.  She brings in a boy who I guess is a college student to help me.  She tells him to help me with my writing.  They both must have thought that laughing at me while I was trying to write was very helpful.  He just sat there and was like "Nooo, you silly lady.  How OLD are you anyways?  Maybe you should just give up."  He didn't actually say that, but I can read in between the laughs. 
Of course it could have just been my brain speaking up again. 

I was happy to find out that I do know more vocabulary than I thought.  Sentence structure - not so much.  Then the teacher had us play a memory game where we go around the circle and name a fruit and then the person next to you says one and then adds on and so on and so forth.  I am doubtful I would be good at this game in my own language.  I got up to about 15 which was not bad I thought. 
 When it would have been my turn again
I would have had to say about 20 fruits.
My teacher mercifully stopped before my turn.

I was literally sweating when we got our break time.  I never realized learning a language was a new sport.  Another shower would be in order if I made it out of this church alive. During break time I went to check on Isabelle. If it was this bad for me,
it must be just horrible for her.

Then I saw it.
My daughter sitting at a table with about 10 other children. 
Drinking juice and eating cake and getting ready to watch a cartoon. 

"Hold the phone!" my brains excitedly yells.  "How much more money would you have to pay to be in this class?  THIS is totally the level you are at. Quick find out before they make you go back to the red/blue room."  They didn't let me stay, I think they thought I was crazy.  Maybe by this point I was, I have blocked it from my memory.

Back at my class we moved from writing - Hallelujah -
 to speaking - bummer.

Also 2 more Korean people came and sat behind me, to observe.  I am thinking to observe me, that's just great!  That won't make it harder for me at all to concentrate.

I survive one more hour and after my teacher tells me my writing is "really....really"..."bad" I say.  Uncomfortable silence. "No, no," she says " you just need a little me practice.  Try to catch up on the last 13 chapters by next week.  Have a nice day!"  I got to leave then.

I went and picked up Isabelle from her class.  She asks if we can come back every day.  I shoot laser beams from my eyes.  We head downstairs to see if I can get the workbook I need to "catch up" on. Of course they are sold out, but she politely says she'll have one for me next week.  Super, I guess then I'll have 14 chapters to "catch up" on.  I need some air.

I pretty much ran out of the door to the car. 

As I am loading Isabelle in she starts doing the potty dance.

"No" my brain says. "You just escaped from that building, once a prisoner breaks out, you should never go back."

You should try explaining this to a five year old.  They don't get it.

So back in we went.  Nothing bad happened.

I drove home listening to Isabelle tell me how cool her class was and how she had no idea what the other kids were saying to her and "Isn't that funny, they kept talking to me, but I had no idea what they were saying."  I am still trying to find out where the humor is in that.

Tomorrow I am due back there. 
The people were so nice and my teacher was nice.

I just hope they understand I didn't have my workbook to get "caught up" as if that's even possible in a week anyways. I won't give up.  I hope that I will actually learn the language after going through this!

Internet Fix

I hate to admit it, but I think I may be becoming an addict.

My internet hasn't worked for about a week and it made me crazy.

I never realized how much I actually do on the internet.

I couldn't update my blog, sad.

I couldn't check my emails, annoying.

I couldn't spy on my friends lives on Facebook, missed laughs.

We had to watch our Korean drama on a super slow computer, frustrating.

And many other inconvenient things each day.

It's pretty pathetic how dependant I have let myself become.

It may sound like I spend all day on the computer, this is not the case.

I do however enjoy my time each day catching up with the "outside"word.

This is another reason why I would have hated living at any other time in the world.

For now I am happy to be back up and running again.

I have got my much needed email fix, and I am off on my blogging again!

I have a lot to catch up on and may not get much else accomplished around the house in the next couple of days!

C'est La Vie!