Organizing the School Room

I found an idea I liked to organize our files and papers during the school day - a major source of disruption.  Identifying sources of disruption and solutions is one of my goals for this summer.  Organizing the school room so that we have easy access to items we use daily will help get us there.  I also liked this idea of using a see-through shoe organizer to put art and office supplies that the kids use.  This way they won't go rumaging through cabinets.  To keep books organized, I'd love this one - if only I had that much free space!  It could be a point of departure and used on a smaller scale.

Motivational Tools

Some of the new ideas I've found and will be using this coming year with the girls (3rd and 5th grades):
Reading Notebooks: From Scholastic's teacher board - free downloadable filler sheet.  Scholastic has a bunch of resources for teachers that are useful for homeschoolers as well.  I liked their Writing Center idea as well. Some of these things may not teach much in themselves, but I'm sure they will help keep the girls motivated, and motivation is an essential ingredient for learning.
State Research Report: A free worksheet to fill in about each state.  I like this site - Teachers Pay Teachers.  There are thousands of files for free on every subject.

2012-2013 10th Grade Curriculum - Michael

Algebra II  - Foerster

Chemistry - Apologia...  After examining this curriculum more closely, I decided it wasn't a good fit.  I think I'll be going with Bob Jones, as it is more in depth, which Michael will probably need for college.  I am also supplementing with a college textbook: Chemistry, by Steven S. Zumdahl.  The only reason why I've used Apologia science books for high school is that the experiments are homeschool friendly.  I've known for some time that the content is watered down.  I will still need to use Apologia for experiments and other hands-on activities, as they apply to the chapters in Bob Jones.  It's additional work for me, as I have to make the two three sink together in my plans.  I've been doing this with history, bible, art, philosophy, literature, and government...  as my mother would say, "What's another stripe on a tiger?"  I guess I should be thankful that for Math, I'm using ONE curriculum... till the end of the year, when we'll be prepping for the SAT!

American History, Government , Bible, Literature - Ommnibus & Gileskirk, with some Tapestry of Grace for Art, Philosophy and Geography

Writing - IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing - The Elegant Essay)
Photography

I am almost done with his lesson plans for the year, then on to Emily and Michelle's.  Our first day of school will be August 6th.

Chemistry - The Periodic Table

I am working on Michael's chemistry lesson plans for next year, adding activities and projects to the regular Apologia Chemistry for an honors credit. I am using Donna Young's free coop lesson plans again this year.  We will use her free memory bookmarks for chemistry, like we did for biology last year.

I found a series of videos through our library about the history of the periodic table, a nice printable table, a blank one, and an interactive one from NOVA.

I may do an 'adopt an element' project like this one. He would do an element a week.  These links would be useful for this:

Interactive periodic table giving information about each element.

- How to calculate the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in an atom of an element

- How to make a model of an atom

- How to read an electron configuration chart

- A list of who discovered each element

And just for fun!

The element's song
Element hangman
Element word scramble
Element crossword puzzles
3D Labs Online
Element Quest
Mystery Powder Lab