A couple of people have emailed me asking questions about Ben’s Assignment Blog, since I mentioned it in a recent post. So I thought I would give further explanation about that. This is a new concept for us, but so far Ben is loving it. We used to use Workboxes, and then we went to just writing each day’s work on the white board, but I think this will work much better.
Ben already has a regular blog where he will be doing some journaling assignments, field trip logs, book reports, etc. We use HomeschoolBlogger.com for that. I have the settings so that it is not searchable and only those given the link can see it.
I’ve piggy-backed his assignment blog to that blog, but have the privacy settings such that only he and I can see it.
My plan is to enter all of his assignments for the week on the weekend before as I am lesson planning for him. I just schedule each blog assignment post to publish by 7am each morning. Inside the posts are the assignments for each subject, so it may look something like this:
Teaching Textbooks–lesson 47
Total Language Plus–lesson 2, C assignments
Vocabulary/Spelling–use Spelling City to take your spelling test
Time4Writing–week 5 quiz
Oceans Unit Study–week 3, day 1 (don’t forget your journal pages!)
Sheppard Software–play the “oceans” animal game
Journaling–blog about your favorite ocean animal
Since this is a blog, there is a “Links” widget. I have plugged in the links to all of the websites Ben might use for his day–Spelling City, Time4Writing, Sheppard Software, etc. With just a click of the mouse, he’s there.
This idea works well for us, for a number of reasons:
- we use the computer for school a lot
- it keeps Ben on task
- it keeps me on task
- it’s a great way to keep a long-term record of what your kids have done for school throughout the year
That’s all there is to it! Let me know what you think or whether this is an idea you might use!
