Organiing all those notebooks, paper, page protectors, etc..

How do I organize all those notebooks, paper, page protectors, etc..?

Ok, so your doing the whole notebooking, lapbooking thing and loving it But what do I do with all of the paper and page protectors and folders. etc..? When you are notebooking and lapbooking you have tons of paper and folders of all colors; great but once you open the package, you can't keep all the paper in right? And all of those notebooks, what am I supposed to do with them all?
So, what can we do that doesn't cost a fortune or involve putting up shelves? Well, what I did was to get a couple of sterelite crates! Yes, they are low price, perfect size for paper, folders, page protectors, picture paper, everything!
I took some pictures to show you what I mean. I love it because I don't have to have bookends or shelves to keep all of my notebooks up and my paper doesn't get scattered around or bent or torn!
I hope this idea helps you.
Good luck!!

Workboxes

Have you heard of workboxes?
You know, I had not really heard about them before, but have recently heard them mentioned, or ran across them on a blog, several times.
I was thinking, OK, so you get your kids a box to hold all of their daily school stuff.  Right?
So, that's what I did!
Then, I decided, to go back to some of those blogs and see exactly how others put together their workboxes.
What I found was that you use many workboxes, not just one. HMMM...
So, what to do???
I actually decided to stick with what I have, at least for now.
So, while what I am doing may not be considered a true workbox, I think it will work for me.
What I did was to get each kid their own different colored box, that was big enough to hold all of their daily work.
I was so tired of always having to find their work, or some of  it being missing, that we couldn't even do it!
And pencils, my nemesis, where do they all keep going? Seriously, I probably have thousands of pencils "somewhere". And when we do find a pencil, there is no eraser, even though I have bought many extra pencil erasers.
Anyhow, I decided that their own box with their own bag of pencils, glue, scissors, etc., contained in the box would work well.
I really do like the idea though of the many boxes, because you wouldn't have to search through the box for each subject, but since we are to be moving soon, I will stick with this, but I may switch after we move.
What do I keep in their boxes? It is different for each child, but it is their daily stuff. Stuff that they will repeatedly use.
In My 5 year old son's box, he has:
Handwriting Without Tears
A Math Workbook ( He LOVES math)
A Bible
A Phonics Workbook
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
A Phonics CD and the accompanying chart
A bag with his own scissors, glue, glue stick, star stickers, etc..
Crayons, Colored Pencils, Pencils.

In my 13 year old daughter's box she has:
Her math books
History Book (one that we are currently using. Will usually be a living book for history)
Daily Grams
A Bible
A Notebook
A Book that she is using or Copy Work
A Geography Book
A bag with pencils, glue, glue sticks, scissors, calculator, etc..
Crayons, Colored Pencils, A Ruler
Her Timeline Figures 
Her Drawing basics Book

This is all I can think of right now, but you get the idea!
I am also going to tape their schedules to the undersides of their lids! I think this is a good idea, so that they can know what to do!
Of Course, my 5 year old's schedule would be more for me. HA
I even made a box for myself for my Teachers Guides!
Here are some pics of what I have done.

I hope this helps those of you that either don't want to, or can't use the typical work
box system.
This is also great for on the go! You can just pick up your box and take it with you!
For those of you that are interested in the typical workbox system, this is a great blog to explain it.
This is where I first saw the workbox system.
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/workbox-system.html
have FUN organizing YOUR homeschool!

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DISCOVER OKLAHOMA! - Lake Thunderbird

OK, this is not the nicest of lakes here in Oklahoma, but we still had fun.
A little info:
Lake Thunderbird State Park Originally named Little River State Park, this 1834 acre park on the shores of Lake Thunderbird underwent an official name change in 1997 to make identification easier. Once Indian owned land, an old preserved Indian homestead complete with grave sites, chicken coop, and corn cellar remains in the Post Oak campground in the Clear Bay area and can be viewed by visitors. Another distinctive feature of the area is a great concentration of Sand Barite Rose or the Rose Rock, a unique reddish, rose-shaped formation and the official state rock of Oklahoma. These rocks can also be found in Kansas and Egypt, but nowhere is there as great a concentration as in Oklahoma. 

You know, I do have to say that while we were there, there were people listening to loud music full of nasty words, people dinking while they were swimming, and cussing coming out of their mouths. 
It was very upsetting to me. I mean, so people not care that there are little children around?
We tried to move as far away from them as possible. 
We still had fun, but we will have to be more careful if we go back to make sure that it is not too crowded with people. 
As i said earlier, this is not the nicest of lakes, but it is free, and if you can go at a time when it is not too crowded, you can have a lot of fun!
Oh, here's another little tidbit of info: This lakes nickname is  Lake Dirty Bird. it is pretty dirty looking because of all of the red dirt!!!

Discover Oklahoma

My husband loves to spontaneously take us on little mini-trips. 
Last weekend we went down to Sulpher Springs, and the weekend before last we went to Turner Falls.
They were both a blast. We will be going back to both very soon. They are tons of fun!
So, we decided that this summer we would try to "Discover Oklahoma"
We are going to try to visit the state parks, and some of the more fun things to do here.
I am going to try to bring my camera and get pics of what I can. My camera is too big to take with me everywhere, so unfortunately, I won't be able to get as many as I want to until I get a smaller, more portable
one.
And, of course, as a homeschooling mother, I am thinking of ways to incorporate this into our homeschool.
I thought it would be so much fun to do research on the history of all of the places we visit, and maybe even scrapbook/journal the pics and info.
Here is a picture of Little Niagra in Sulpher

Here is one from Turner Falls:

I took these from their sites, but when we go back I will take more of my own and share them with you all!

Our First Time Doing read Alouds With Snacks

We tried today to have a read aloud with my two kids! I have tried before to do read alounds with both of them and it hasn't worked. I usually have to do them separate. I really want to be able to read to them at the same time. So, I took the advice of Cindy Rushton and decided to uses snacks and drinks during the time I read to them so that my little on would be quite and still during read aloud time! It worked for a short while, so that is better than nothing but I couldn't read for too long. I am hoping to be able to build up the time I can read to them. Does anyone else have any ideas of how to get little ones to cooperate during read aloud time? My littlest one is 3. Thanks!

Curriculum Verses Living Books

I am really starting to understand that some of my problems are because I am using some curriculum's instead of good Books. I am realizing that the reason why I feel like we never get anything done or it takes sooo long to get through things is because I am using a curriculum that is supposed to take a year to complete, where as I could read a book or two on the same topic and learn pretty much the same thing.
The biggest problem comes in because my daughter LOVES some of her curriculum and won't give it up. She absolutely loves Apologia, which I do to but it takes so long to read the lessons ad notebook them. Although, I guess we would be notebook anything we read.
The History takes a long time also. BUT we do like them so it is a big toss up. BUT on things like Oklahoma History, I had bought an Oklahoma History curriculum and later bought an Oklahoma History Book, and the book had everything in it that the curriculum did! And states! I bought a curriculum for states that takes a year to do! Man, it is ridiculous to have so many things that take soo long to finish. If we learned from books it would be much faster and we could get through more in a shorter period of time. If you get the right books, they learn the same amount! I think besides math you do not need any curriculum unless the ones you use, you really enjoy and they are fun!
If you are looking for a BIG way to simplify, try substituting Living Books for curriculum and see what happens! I don't know if I can pry my daughters precious apologia from her though! But I will be eliminating most of the other stuff!!!
Good luck! Let me know how this works for you!

Poem Written By My 12 Year Old Daughter

The Lonely Lighthouse

I am a lighthouse, so big , so tall.
Ships of all sizes, I've helped them all.
But now I am crumbling, about to fall.
Does anyone notice me, with my red striped wall?
"Wait, what's going on?" I say.
Tourists have come to visit today!
Now I am famous, they all adore me.
Just as much as they used to ignore me.
I am a lighthouse, so big, so tall.
Ships of all sizes, I still help them all.