Grade 4, Lesson 1, Day 3 ~ The Post That is Practically an Infomercial

I'm just going to start by saying that workboxes are awesome! I am definitely using a very simplified version, but it is working for us. I fill the boxes the night before and the boys can dig into them as soon as they are ready in the morning. They are easily accomplishing their journal writing, math practice, penmanship, spelling, and independent ready, all before we sit down and work our main lesson, art, and music together.

I think it works because of its ease, organization, and accountability. I am responsible for filling the boxes (or in many cases simply changing the page markers or slipping in new instructions) ~ the boys hold me accountable. If I don't do my part it falls apart; they count on me to be organized, and with this system it's easy. They are responsible for working through the boxes each morning. They move the card that shows which box they are working on and flip the cards on all completed boxes to show the word "Finished". (I know this is worthless without pictures ~ I will take some soon.) I hold them accountable for finishing their work and it is easy for me to visually see which boxes have been completed, which box they are working on, and how many boxes they have to go. As I update the boxes at night I can quickly check their work.

Wednesday is our science day; today we combined science with our art lesson as we drew pictures of fruit from two perspectives. Observation is key in OM4 science, so we worked with real pieces of fruit. After we drew our pictures we wrote two sentences; one that described the fruit in terms of the physical, and one that described our impressions of the fruit in a subjective way. For example, a lime was green and oval, and it smelled bright and tasted tart.

I struggled less with the non-Waldorf aspects of Oak Meadow today. I knew OM wasn't truly Waldorf and that we wouldn't be doing main lesson blocks. The boys are actually excited to approach a different subject each day ~ it stays fresh for them. Working on each subject once a week we still have some amount of sleep/digestion before we come back to it.

Tomorrow requires field work. It's supposed to be 106 degrees ~ yikes! I'll post about that tomorrow.