Keeping flow: Bento Mac Software? iphoto? iweb?

[greenacresmama]

Does anyone use these as a huge tool? I was thinking about how to get my thoughts and lesson plans and themes for my DH. It seems like we could be going seasonal/festive, field trips, crafts, covering all subjects in that pre-k/k way but history (well dressup) and keeping it fun. I need to have some real gut for this homeschooling for my DH to fall in love. I also need to share a type of planner with him. I am saying iphoto because it seems like making a pdf/photo book of the accomplishments would give more of a visual sense to our year when I order maybe a year or half year from CVS. 

iweb, blogging... that seems like a great way to do the research but I can't find any other reason other then a journaling and I am not sure this format is good for him or the state. If you do would you let me know? 

How about bento? that seems fancy... or filemaker? 

Or anything simple like key notes? 

These pay for from the web or buy in store seem so not my funky indie style.. why that is important I do not know :P 

And then I just need some planning bones! 

I recently got Macgourmet and it is a huge help! I am not interested in a meal planner. I need a great way to plug in a workout and a smoothie in the shower while my DH does some homeschooling and we keep getting into spats about everything! I hate to break up the groovy organic flow going on here, but I feel like he is so offended if I have other ideas for the day and if I don't plan 2-3 days in advance it gets booted and even if I do plan he delays them... sometimes I feel like I need some colorful pictures in blocks covering a page of events or things to do this month as the opening page, and then you open and we see a monthly calendar, and then you open again and get a weekly spread, which is also plugged with codes for habitat management and health and then he would finally see that a delay in a day goes a long way.. 

So what do you use? 

[greenacresmama]

http://teaching7.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post.html?m=1

I found some one that does! I wanted to do a lot more with it using iPhoto though. I downloaded a 30 day trail and going to do a lesson plan.

[greenacresmama]

Well, I found Evernote too.. totally cool. Bento is a little overboard but I am using it for all kinds of things too. Evernote is very, very helpful for web based research and more.. very cool for keeping it. Bento cool for organizing it. 

[ChitownTracy]

Hi! I'm not sure what you are looking for...similar to evernote (minus the cool web connect feature) I have also used Infinote (this page has additional info) http://www.jeybee.com/
Otherwise for family management we have thrived using Cozi
Not sure if this helps

[moominmamma]

I too am not quite sure what you are looking for. If I remember correctly your dh is a SAHD who is an active part of your home-based learning. It sounds from this post like you and he have a real difference of philosophy and that in order to work collaboratively rather than at odds with each other you need to find a middle path rather than simply finding some tool for imposing your schedule on him. I mean, I'm very much an unschooler and a holistic-learning go-with-the-flow parent, and if my dh was home and actively involved in homeschooling the kids but wanted an hour by hour schedule, impressive documentation of his schedule wouldn't change my mind on the fundamental philosophy. I'd think "yes, that's all very nice and neat and organized, and I can see that it would result in a lot of tangible 'things being covered,' but that's not how I'd like to do things."

Are you trying to convince your dh that homeschooling is the route to go? You're talking about pre-K so maybe your children are still under school age and your dh is not yet convinced? In that case I think journaling is an excellent idea. But you don't need to turn it into something that looks like schooling in order to create an impressive set of documentation. A big impressive subject-by-subject, day-by-day homeschooling plan is not likely the best approach for a child younger than 6 or 7. Young children learn best by "going with the flow" and amazing learning will result if they're supported in that. You can just use free blogging software with photos and anecdotes to create a record that reminds both of you about all the natural learning that has taken place. If you want to be able to do it in book form there are services out there that create lovely hardcover books from blogs: Blog2Print is one that I've used. They include the ability to index and to include more text than using iPhoto's publishing service. 

But it honestly sounds to me like the issue here is of two parenting / home-educating styles that are at odds with each other and that this issue is more likely to benefit from open conversation to find common ground than by convincing the other person to do it your way.

Good luck!

Miranda

[greenacresmama]

Thank you! You both helped me! Cozi is super neat but I don't make plans yet and DH and I don't have enough space or even sharing of tasks. 

Miranda, 

I am so unsure I have been scared to post because I will end up sounding crazy! And I am not. We are still off course and in our own lives too. DH seems like a dreamer one day, a worker bee the next/list maker out loud, and then a total zen Buddhist the third. I can sense what it is he is looking for and I am keeping from repeating myself continually about "Fred leading the way, no matter what way, but with options put forth by us and screen time being a tiny fraction for many years." He loves me as a hippie mama but he also faults this side of me when it comes to the real world. Everyday though he reads the news about the real world and I can tell that there is a grinding down some where in him about the "training for all the doors opened" (I am so sorry I write this way, ekk!) He has to come to though and it doesn't feel right that I complete the schooling mindset without him if he isn't ready. He does want something going on and I am trying to give it to him but also ***get it from him*** which is where a huge gap is. If I want to do other stuff (workout, shop, meal plan, do chores, play with just Athena)... I have a huge problem and it is getting him to HS! Ya know, check off his own wish list! He just keeps pointing at me and I keep shrugging and asking, "but you don't want to do this over here sooo?" And he is a great guy.... he totally wants to begin when I start... he loves our kids and wants to bond. When I spill the air with activities I can tell he is overwhelmed because the supplies are a long list (and we have a small house but is a really bad "man trait") "Honey, where is the x..." And I just get side tracked and eventually coaching the whole group. 

Plus we got all this subject grouping to work on to relate to his head. I have been seriously thinking about sending him to a Pre-k classroom. I really want it to be a private school one! But I actually have pictures of those on-line. I think he is going to get a real sense of what is there and much richer here and be calm about it. 

I finally did get Bento to look like "Pin-interest" and have a quick way I can reference what we did that day to the form.. I put in our books from library in another form.. I have 8 more days and I think I am going to keep it. I am waiting to join pin-interest to keep it all there because it has a whole lot of evernote tied into it. Get it on my phone too.. I am probably the only mom with a driver (DH pretty much does all of it) and the car often has a few moments for me, but others too. All these little ones help. I want to get something that is free or in nature and then some others that I will have to buy supplies for.. and set up 4 weeks for the month of Nov. I am hoping I can show Freddy 5 choices and have some lahala (like shoes boxes but not) boxes filled with the stuff for each of the 5 and try it that way for a while. Everyday of one week doing one idea that has a image to it and showing Andrew once a week the run down so I can leave a few times a week. 

I am feeling like some workbooks are not such a bad idea lately. Not all of it.. actually maybe just one per semester or something. He is way too young for that now, but I am getting a little cranky not having a flow. The parents that both stay at home having travel plans and playing with the seasons is tough on us to "be there every..." 

Thank you for your help! 

I 

[ChitownTracy]

 for the month of Nov. I am hoping I can show Freddy 5 choices and have some lahala (like shoes boxes but not) boxes filled with the stuff for each of the 5 and try it that way for a while. Everyday of one week doing one idea that has a image to it and showing Andrew once a week the run down so I can leave a few times a week. 

I am feeling like some workbooks are not such a bad idea lately. Not all of it.. actually maybe just one per semester or something. He is way too young for that now, but I am getting a little cranky not having a flow. The parents that both stay at home having travel plans and playing with the seasons is tough on us to "be there every..." 

Thank you for your help! 

I 

after reading this, i'm wondering what kinds of things are you planning or what supplies you are using (or curriculmn) 
I taught preschool (3,4 & 5 year olds) for 3 years (preK for a summer) & 2 year olds for a school year.... I feel that in early childhood- my job is primarily  to install a love of learning...now with my 4 year old (i want to hit specific goals -like knowing letters by sight etc)   Little ones don't need a lot of stuff (lapbooks, workbooks, heaps of supplies etc) i think that stuff makes us as parents happy- but most of the little kids could prob. care less- they just love spending time with their parents & learning!

Now I am sharing these thoughts with you, wondering if you could scale to a no supply lesson plan or a low supply/prep plan...but I'm also talking to myself! (recently i realized i was falling into the trap of the pretty internet projects and somehow forgetting that I don't like prep work myself...& often times if the prep isn't done on the weekends, the project gets skipped during the week, then i deal with mommy guilt of feeling like a failure...(it's just so silly that I set myself up like this)

I do understand that this might be easier for me to say- b/c of my 4 years in early childhood

[ChitownTracy]

ugh sorry i was adding more then something happened...

if you were open to a suggestion...maybe take a simple concept have a color, number, letter & shape of the week 

1+1+1=1 has an awesome goal sheet for little ones http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/Tot_School_Goals.pdf

This might be very helpful with having 2 littles...

going back to the weekly concept:

Monday- Green Day (hahaha)
paint with green (remember you only need the primary colors to make the rainbow), eat a green food, green color hunt outside, spell green (while jumping up & down- active learning is key for littles), build with the green legos etc.

Tuesday- Number 4 day

write 4 in salt on cookie tray, hide 4 items in house, sort 4 different things (for 4 year old), build a 4 from playdough, do something for 4 mins.  work on one to one correspondence,  etc

Using games from your home- puzzles (work on hand eye coordination, strategy, math skills & cooperation) legos, blocks, make believe play, dress up, playing kitchen, etc...all these things are so full of learning! :)

i would also incorporate sensory (salt/sand/sugar in a cookie sheet -trace name, numbers -anything! sand paper, water exploration, pouring (water) etc.  All low cost things...Tons of websites have sensory ideas... easy to access

I hope you didn't mind me throwing in some ideas.  Hope they help!!  
We are all in this journey together :)

Tracy

[greenacresmama]

Thank you Tracy! I love the sensory idea! The other primary skill things I am not so jazzed about.. for some off the wall reason! That is where I dig Montessori and Waldorf worlds. I feel like doing something is the vibe here.. well, I guess I tried and for some weird reason my son flares up and those feelings that he doesn't care what I say/not cool to learn this way/ this is going the wrong way feelings come. I can't get into everything messes and prep either! Way before I felt the guilt I would feel the crap in my house! I just meant some prep mixed with some great ideas. I am wure everyone has levels of stuff and stuff to do and so hard to tell you without giving you a tour of my house :). We are one room away from RV living kind of stuff. I have found some areas, actually lots of them where I can keep things under control. I think I have way more mommy guilt about not giving my kids enough things actually :D. The weird geek that loves nature and had no judgment about the mom with floor to ceiling stuff, but has been in the room where kids were tossing it all, not listening, and not picking up ever.. and now I am all "lets live in a hut in Africa!" about everything. Whee! Freak out.. :D 

Yeah, the post really started because I wanted some suggestions like your first post! I want the adults to be planning and having a whole outlook for a while, just a outlook of possibilities, time, seasons, and how it could all tie together and cover subjects that would be the same as a classroom setting, but richer and more alive. Some unschoolers have directions in their minds and take notice, journal or use pictures to get a sense of good ideas for events or projects the family wants to do. It is almost like that but I want to give DH some "paperwork" and instead of an idea filebox to look in a "pininterest" that is seasonal, things the kids are much more likely to like and can do, even if hiking or horses is one of the pics, or fruit picking, etc. Much like unit studies :) but more optional like pin-intersst, that is, I am sure we all don't do the pins, but keep them around for maybes. The Bento would help me because after I have put it together, labeled it with teacher notes, poems, etc.. After they did it and I know how it goes or if there's a pic, I can journal it. Plus, just like my recipes, I can always use them later with other builds for older ages, especially if it was a really fun time. I also really want to put Waldorf play into our lives way more. It is *totally* available and out there, even around us, but when you choose that as a pin over so many others and have a ***focus*** to put it into place, I thing it really changes and colors the family world in a much better way (for my type). Plus Montessori!!! (Projects to me = Montessori, but toys are one of the keys, I am considering **some**, but not a lot.) Plus classical field trips and focuses until they can really appreciate and choose to follow those kinds of interests.

Yeah, hahaha... so.. I know it is homeschooling but I just had this picture that I was actually going to put up pictures of all the fun ways we live, ideas to draw from...but I am also putting those things into words and putting a box on that form where you can choose a formal school subject for that activity and then giving a mini report to DH about the subjects we covered, "living and learning"... This is basically what I was flipping trying to say! "Keeping flow" what a title! It had to do a lot with your response though!!! And Miranda's for the blog printing and using a blog to research her ideas.