Sunday, March 2, 2014

Homeschool Matchbox Swap!

You know me and picture taking...it's a rocky relationship that takes a lot of work. I'm trying. 

I really should have posted this LAST month (whoa...when the heck did March get here?!), but I kept forgetting to take pictures, and didn't want to do the post without the visual aids. 

The boys participated in their very first homeschool matchbox swap. It's like pen pals, but with more stuff, lol. My fabulous co-worker and fellow blogger, Joy (Who's Learning? Who's Teaching?), added us to the Facebook group after her kids enjoyed it (check out her hubby's post about their matchbox swap: TechDadz - Homeschool Matchbox Swap). Each month has a different theme, and you can choose which months you want to swap. Your kids fill a matchbox sized box (think the kitchen, strike anywhere matches) with things relating to the monthly theme. Hence the name, matchbox swap. :D

Last month's theme was Favorite Book. Sounds super exciting, and it ultimately was. But we are a family of readers. Picking one book turned into a traumatic experience. Fortunately, no one completely fell apart, and each kiddo picked a book. 

Now, here is where another one of my parental failures gets a chance to shine. While I knew I was going to take photos of the boxes the boys received, it never crossed my mind to take photos of the boxes the boys were sending. Sigh. 

Bailey chose Heir of Novron, by Michael J. Sullivan. Braeden chose Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. They both worked on drawing scenes from their books, they made little clay figures of something important (Bailey made a sword/dagger, Braeden made the Sorting Hat, lol) and they made a puzzle from a photo they printed. It was really cool. 

Here are the boxes they received...

Braeden:

Braeden's box was A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray, by Ann M. Martin.







Bailey:

Bailey's box was The Lord of the Rings. And his came from Canada! He thought that was really cool. :)







We probably won't be able to do the swap every month, but we are looking forward to participating again!

Starting this week, my tax hours are cut to just three days a week. Woot! Looking forward to getting caught up on stuff around the house and getting back to our normal-ish schedule of activities. 

This week is our monthly trip to Elachee for the boys' nature science program. I have been so pleased with how much they both are enjoying this, and at this point I'm pretty sure we will sign up again for next school year. I registered them for Master's next year too, so that's good, to know that we have that done. 

The schoolin' is going well. They've pretty much got a routine down. It's funny...as long as we've been homeschooling, we've been pretty eclectic and relaxed. We still are, for the most part. But with Bailey's high school courses, we can't be as relaxed. In setting his schedule, Braeden ended up with a schedule too. I like it! ;) Things are going smoothly, and it's fairly stress free. I have the occasional moment of "ARGH" when I discover that Braeden spent an entire afternoon working on 2nd grade science worksheets, instead of 4th grade math/spelling/social studies activities, lol, but those are few and far between. He likes his science. And he likes it easy. WhatcanIsay? 

Alrighty. Off to enjoy the rest of my beautiful Sunday with my guys. I heart my guys. 

Leaving you with these, because the hubs quickly snapped them and they are so damn cute. ;)



4 comments:

techdadz.com said...

I enjoyed your post! Very creative boxes. I love FOTR. Chris

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Chris! :)

Anonymous said...

What a cool ida. We have a group for homeschool art swaps too. Currently our swap is for a 52 card inspiration art card deck (ATC sized). Hope you will consider playing. https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeschoolartswaps/

Unknown said...

Thank you for stopping by and commenting, Lauri! Looks like a neat idea for a swap! Thanks for posting the link, we will check that out. :)