I'm going to start right off the bat and say that I don't care if you homeschool your kid or not. It's a personal choice between your family and God. Homeschooling has been a wonderful experience for my family. Maybe it can be a wonderful experience for yours. Or maybe public school, charter school, or private school is best.
My goal here is not to tell you that you should pull your kids out today and convert your playroom into a school room. My goal is to give some points to ponder to all those who are thinking, "I think my children could really benefit from homeschooling. Unfortunately, I could never do it because..."
1. They won't listen to me.
I'm going to start really blunt with this one. You're the parent. Your kids should listen to you. Period. Chores need to be done so you make them fun and/or non-negotiable to make sure your kids get them done. Same with school work. You've gotta do what you gotta do to make school work happen.
2. Homework time is the worst! I can't imagine doing that all day.
Homework =/= Homeschooling. Homework and homeschool are two completely different animals. Homework is done after the kids have had a long, tiring 6 hours at school. They would rather just chill in front of the TV or play. If you work in an office, do you come home and want to do 2 more hours of paperwork? No!
When I homeschool, I get my kids at the best part of the day when their attention spans are longer and their minds fresh, rested, and open. And we are usually done soon after lunch time. I firmly believe that 3 o'clock is a kind of witching hour. Everyone (including me) just wants a snack and a mental break.
3. When I'm pregnant, I just can't function and schoolwork wouldn't happen.
I totally sympathize with this one. When I'm pregnant, I usually get hyperemesis gravidarum which basically means that I puke all day. Thankfully I did not get it with my last pregnancy. Also, my first trimester (where I felt "normal" morning sickness and exhaustian) happened to fall during summer time. So I have not had to do school with those challenges.
But I have thought, "what if?" And my answer is that it would suck pretty bad to have to get up early every morning and get the kids fed, dressed, lunches packed, school papers packed and drive them to school. Sure, I could come home again and take a nap. But then I would have to be conscious and functioning again at 2:30 to do pick-up. Even not pregnant, I hated being a slave to daily drop-off and pick-up times! (Primus and Secundus each spent some time at a 5 day-per-week preschool and I also did a lot of driving for my friend's boy at one time.) Then, after school I would still have to monitor homework time. See #2 above.
Hypothetically, if I were pregnant during the school year and all I wanted to do was sleep and puke, I can imagine our school days would look something like the following. Not the ideal situation, but it would work and it would only be for a season.
Stumble out of bed at 9. Get the oldest kid to get cereal for the littles. I would then encourage the oldest kids to independently work on their assigned core subjects (teaching independence is a big key to making homeschooling successful in general) while I would attempt to read to the littles or pretend to listen to them practice reading to me. After an hour I would probably give up, tell everyone to pull out pattern blocks and geo boards, and remind myself that "children learn through play." At lunch time I would stumble into the kitchen and throw PB/J sandwiches and Go-Go-Squeezes at everyone. The rest of the afternoon would be filled with Bill Nye the Science Guy, Magic School Bus, School House Rock, and Liberty's Kids while I napped.
4. I have to work.
Honestly, I have not worked outside the home since my oldest was born, so I can't speak from personal experience. And I cannot wrap my head around the idea, either. It seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day! But I have met working moms (online and in real life) who somehow make it work. So it's possible. Somehow.
5. Isn't it expensive? I can't afford it.
Homeschool is only as expensive as you make it. There's this great myth that our society and educational system believe that says, "More money equals a better education." False.
I currently spend $4000 per year on curriculum, art supplies, and enrichment classes. I'm fortunate to live in a state where I can be associated with a charter school that gets public funds to pay for all those things for me. It's pretty awesome. And the money is one reason that we homeschool, because I would not be able to afford to send my girls to gymnastics, ballet, or music lessons on my own.
But! You don't have to spend $2000 per student per year to have a successful homeschool with happy, healthy children who learn a lot and grow to be functioning members of society. I follow a cool blog where this mom said back in 2012 that with 7 children (including a baby) her homeschool budget for the year was only $500.
To homeschool cheaply you just have to be creative. The web is full of free and cheap resources. The library will become your best friend. Alibris is an online bookstore where my friend with 5 kids gets tons of used books on the cheap. I've been lucky to find some awesome stuff at thrift stores.
Also, sending your kid to public school can get pretty expensive, too! Every year you have to buy new back-to-school outfits, new backpacks, school supplies, supplies for the kids that can't afford them, and things like Kleenex for the class. Then there's the field trip fees and fundraisers. Plus, you may feel obligated to spend a bunch of money and time making a Pinterest-worthy teacher gift for the first day of class, Christmas, and the last day of class.
6. I really need my alone time.
Introverts homeschool too. Here's one. Some families have a strict quiet time after lunch each day. The littles nap, the biggers read, and mom does whatever she wants.
Like I mentioned above, one key to a successful homeschool is to teach
your kids to be independent. While they work independently, you could
declare a "teacher prep hour" and go to a room where you won't be
disturbed. Of course, especially in the elementary years many subjects and assignments will still need hands-on support. But a lot of things can be done on their own. And it will take time for your kid to get to the point where they will pull out an assignment, do it, and then pull out another one without being harped on. We're still working on it with Primus in third grade but she's almost there!
One last idea, if you can afford it, is to put your children in enrichment classes a couple times per week. Drop them off at dance, violin, art, writing class, science lab, karate, etc (or two back-to-back classes!) And then if you still have littles with you, take them to a park where they can run while you watch from a quiet, shady bench. Or if you're lucky enough to not have young ones tagging along, take the time to get your nails done, read a book while lounging at a Starbucks, or go grocery shopping without grubby hands trying to sneak candy into the cart. Just because it's called "homeschool" doesn't mean that every subject every day has to be taught by YOU at HOME.
All of the above excuses for not homeschooling are very valid ones. With any decision made, there will be pros and cons. The cons have to be weighed and perhaps overcome. Life, especially as a parent, is never smooth or easy so we have to prioritize and plan accordingly. If you feel that homeschooling is what your family is supposed to do, Heavenly Father will guide and help you to make it possible.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
13 Tips for Nursery
At church, my current calling (unpaid assignment) is Nursery Leader. Basically I'm the teacher (with a couple awesome assistants) for the 2 hour Sunday School class for 18 month to 3 year olds.
I don't claim to be the best Nursery leader. I also don't claim to have come up with all these things myself. However, I do love my calling and I think our nursery is pretty great. Maybe some of these ideas will be helpful to others.
1. Think about your schedule and mix it around until you find a routine that works for your kids.
Take into consideration the time of day, if the kids ate snack during Sacrament Meeting, and attention spans.
Last year we started the class with the lesson. As soon as the kids came in from Sacrament Meeting, we had chairs set up for them to immediately come in and sit down on. Surprisingly, they had great attention spans when we did it this way! I thought the last thing they would want to do right after sitting with their parents in one meeting would be to sit still for another meeting. But it totally worked.
This year we have been unable to continue that because I'm also the organist. So I'm always a little late getting to the room. Here's what we're trying currently:
Before church I set up the room with a few activities and toys. Not very much. Sometimes playdough on the table (that's a real winner!)
Once the kids get tired of those things, we put them away and sit them down for snack.
After snack we sometimes go for a walk outside.
Next is free play time.
The last 20 minutes is clean up and then music and lesson.
2. One popular item to have out as the kids gather is the book basket.
Recently we had two new additions to our nursery who have had a hard time transitioning. (If kids cry for their moms, I don't take them there unless they are out of control to the point of disturbing other children or if mom instructs me otherwise.) A real winner with each of these new children is reading! If they're crying and pointing to the door, sometimes nothing else will calm them down as fast as a good book. It's really surprising how well it has worked in these cases!
3. Another good strategy is to keep the sad child busy.
One boy got to the point where he wasn't screaming and crying the whole time, but if he sat down to play and got to thinking about mom, then the waterworks would start again. So for a week or two I just made him my special helper. I had him follow me around, giving him jobs the whole time. He got toys out of the closet with me, cleaned up a spill, put the music activity on the table, stacked the chairs, etc. He was so engaged in helping that he didn't have time to be sad!
4. Use sippy cups instead of little disposable cups.
It's sometimes a pain to remember to wash them each week, but it's cheaper than continually buying paper cups. And we never have to worry about spills on the table!
Also, the kids are learning responsibility by helping to dump out their cups in the sink and put them in the wash bucket. They love to help by doing this job!
5. We do keep little dixie cups in the closet, though.
They're good for if I forget the sippies or if kids have extra snack they want to take home instead of throw away.
6. The kids love to go on walks for a change of scenery.
It also gives one leader a chance to stay behind and clean up/set up the room without little ones underfoot and grabbing things from the closet.
We don't use the classic rope-with-handles that a lot of nurseries and preschools use to go on walks. It seems so boring to me and not worth the hassle of teaching them to stay holding onto the rope.
Instead, we're working on teaching them to walk reverently down the hall. Once we're outside, they're free to run to the nearest lamppost. Then they have to wait at the poll until everyone arrives and they're given the OK to go to the next pole. So we make our way around the building like this, going from pole to pole with lots of praise for listening and waiting.
7. Our nursery owns several doll strollers, almost one for each child.
The kids love to take these on our walks (with or without a doll inside.)
8. As an alternative to a walk outside, we used to take the kids into an extra section of the cultural hall.
This let them work on gross motor skills (throw balls, hula hoop, run) and get lots of energy out in a short time. It also takes less adult supervision if you're short handed for the day. And finally, it's a safer option if you have kids who are "runners." Don't want to risk one of them bolting ahead and going into the parking lot!
9. I play a little game to get everyone's attention and to get them calmed down and ready to reverently walk down the hall.
I stand at the door and say, "If you're ready to go, put your finger on your..." and then I'll name a body part. After doing this 3 or 4 times I've usually got everyone playing along. The last one before I open the door is, "If you're ready to go, zip your lips." Some of the kids have learned what to expect so when they hear us say it's time to walk, they'll stand near the door, look up at me, and put their finger on their nose in anticipation.
10. The same type of technique is useful in getting everyone reverent for prayer, too.
I usually lead them in a verse of Roll Your Hands or My Hands before we pray at snack and at the start of the lesson. Both of these songs end with the children folding their arms.
11. I'm liking the prayer wheel I made a few weeks ago.
Some of the older kids have gotten eager to say prayer which is great! But the fights over whose turn it is were taking away from the Spirit. So now it is totally fair.
12. Have a fun way to select songs for music time.
We have a fish board. It's a big blue poster board that has laminated fish shapes attached to it with velcro. Each fish has a song title written on the back.
Usually I'll start music time with letting each kid choose a fish from the board. Then one at a time I choose a child who's sitting reverently to bring me their fish so we can sing it.
13. Make pick-up time smoother and less chaotic with a name chart.
Our nursery room consists of two sections, each with it's own door out to the hallway. At the end of church, while we're doing music time, we pull the room divider part way to encourage the children to stay in only one section.
Hanging on the outside of the door where we are, there is a big poster that has every child's name attached to it. When a parent is ready to pick up their child they take off the name and slide it under the door. Then we know to gather that kid, their shoes/hair bows/ties, left over snack, and coloring page. Then one leader escorts the child to the empty section of the room and out the door to their parent, out of sight of the other jealous children.
What's your best tip for a successful Nursery?
I don't claim to be the best Nursery leader. I also don't claim to have come up with all these things myself. However, I do love my calling and I think our nursery is pretty great. Maybe some of these ideas will be helpful to others.
1. Think about your schedule and mix it around until you find a routine that works for your kids.
Take into consideration the time of day, if the kids ate snack during Sacrament Meeting, and attention spans.
Last year we started the class with the lesson. As soon as the kids came in from Sacrament Meeting, we had chairs set up for them to immediately come in and sit down on. Surprisingly, they had great attention spans when we did it this way! I thought the last thing they would want to do right after sitting with their parents in one meeting would be to sit still for another meeting. But it totally worked.
This year we have been unable to continue that because I'm also the organist. So I'm always a little late getting to the room. Here's what we're trying currently:
Before church I set up the room with a few activities and toys. Not very much. Sometimes playdough on the table (that's a real winner!)
Once the kids get tired of those things, we put them away and sit them down for snack.
After snack we sometimes go for a walk outside.
Next is free play time.
The last 20 minutes is clean up and then music and lesson.
2. One popular item to have out as the kids gather is the book basket.
Recently we had two new additions to our nursery who have had a hard time transitioning. (If kids cry for their moms, I don't take them there unless they are out of control to the point of disturbing other children or if mom instructs me otherwise.) A real winner with each of these new children is reading! If they're crying and pointing to the door, sometimes nothing else will calm them down as fast as a good book. It's really surprising how well it has worked in these cases!
3. Another good strategy is to keep the sad child busy.
One boy got to the point where he wasn't screaming and crying the whole time, but if he sat down to play and got to thinking about mom, then the waterworks would start again. So for a week or two I just made him my special helper. I had him follow me around, giving him jobs the whole time. He got toys out of the closet with me, cleaned up a spill, put the music activity on the table, stacked the chairs, etc. He was so engaged in helping that he didn't have time to be sad!
4. Use sippy cups instead of little disposable cups.
It's sometimes a pain to remember to wash them each week, but it's cheaper than continually buying paper cups. And we never have to worry about spills on the table!
Also, the kids are learning responsibility by helping to dump out their cups in the sink and put them in the wash bucket. They love to help by doing this job!
5. We do keep little dixie cups in the closet, though.
They're good for if I forget the sippies or if kids have extra snack they want to take home instead of throw away.
6. The kids love to go on walks for a change of scenery.
It also gives one leader a chance to stay behind and clean up/set up the room without little ones underfoot and grabbing things from the closet.
We don't use the classic rope-with-handles that a lot of nurseries and preschools use to go on walks. It seems so boring to me and not worth the hassle of teaching them to stay holding onto the rope.
Instead, we're working on teaching them to walk reverently down the hall. Once we're outside, they're free to run to the nearest lamppost. Then they have to wait at the poll until everyone arrives and they're given the OK to go to the next pole. So we make our way around the building like this, going from pole to pole with lots of praise for listening and waiting.
7. Our nursery owns several doll strollers, almost one for each child.
The kids love to take these on our walks (with or without a doll inside.)
8. As an alternative to a walk outside, we used to take the kids into an extra section of the cultural hall.
This let them work on gross motor skills (throw balls, hula hoop, run) and get lots of energy out in a short time. It also takes less adult supervision if you're short handed for the day. And finally, it's a safer option if you have kids who are "runners." Don't want to risk one of them bolting ahead and going into the parking lot!
9. I play a little game to get everyone's attention and to get them calmed down and ready to reverently walk down the hall.
I stand at the door and say, "If you're ready to go, put your finger on your..." and then I'll name a body part. After doing this 3 or 4 times I've usually got everyone playing along. The last one before I open the door is, "If you're ready to go, zip your lips." Some of the kids have learned what to expect so when they hear us say it's time to walk, they'll stand near the door, look up at me, and put their finger on their nose in anticipation.
10. The same type of technique is useful in getting everyone reverent for prayer, too.
I usually lead them in a verse of Roll Your Hands or My Hands before we pray at snack and at the start of the lesson. Both of these songs end with the children folding their arms.
11. I'm liking the prayer wheel I made a few weeks ago.
Some of the older kids have gotten eager to say prayer which is great! But the fights over whose turn it is were taking away from the Spirit. So now it is totally fair.
12. Have a fun way to select songs for music time.
We have a fish board. It's a big blue poster board that has laminated fish shapes attached to it with velcro. Each fish has a song title written on the back.
Usually I'll start music time with letting each kid choose a fish from the board. Then one at a time I choose a child who's sitting reverently to bring me their fish so we can sing it.
13. Make pick-up time smoother and less chaotic with a name chart.
Our nursery room consists of two sections, each with it's own door out to the hallway. At the end of church, while we're doing music time, we pull the room divider part way to encourage the children to stay in only one section.
Hanging on the outside of the door where we are, there is a big poster that has every child's name attached to it. When a parent is ready to pick up their child they take off the name and slide it under the door. Then we know to gather that kid, their shoes/hair bows/ties, left over snack, and coloring page. Then one leader escorts the child to the empty section of the room and out the door to their parent, out of sight of the other jealous children.
What's your best tip for a successful Nursery?
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Our First Week
We've completed our first week of the 2014-15 school year!
This week I wanted to ease the kids back into the routine so we didn't just jump in with a full load. During our Table Time the girls didn't do any of their core subjects. Instead, I told them to pick a topic and research it during the week and prepare to present their findings to the family on Friday. I didn't give them any parameters. I wanted to see what they would come up with. Also, one of my goals with this was to get them to dig through our nonfiction book shelves. They hardly ever touch that shelf and I wanted them to see what wonderful things are found there.
Primus chose to study about bears. Secundus chose to study about tigers. It was interesting to me to see the different ways they went about it. Primus, who doesn't like to write, drew several pictures with pencil as she went and labeled them with facts she learned. Secundus, on the other hand, drew only one tiger picture and colored it with crayons. For the rest of her report she copied down word-for-word a few sentences about her animal that she read.
Other than the research project, we did literature, watched some history videos (Liberty's Kids and Horrible Histories), watched some Bill Nye the Science Guy, and did some investigations with eggs.
Our science exploring with eggs was prompted by this video. Did you know you can stand on a carton of eggs and not crack them? I also realized that the kids have never seen what happens when you let an egg sit in vinegar for a while. That was really fun to see the shell was dissolved the next day. After playing with it and bouncing it for a while, I let Secundus try to cut it with a knife so they could see if the inside changed too. It was really funny when the membrane popped like a water balloon on her!
One week down, 36 to go! Tomorrow the real work begins as we pile on the full load.
This week I wanted to ease the kids back into the routine so we didn't just jump in with a full load. During our Table Time the girls didn't do any of their core subjects. Instead, I told them to pick a topic and research it during the week and prepare to present their findings to the family on Friday. I didn't give them any parameters. I wanted to see what they would come up with. Also, one of my goals with this was to get them to dig through our nonfiction book shelves. They hardly ever touch that shelf and I wanted them to see what wonderful things are found there.
Primus chose to study about bears. Secundus chose to study about tigers. It was interesting to me to see the different ways they went about it. Primus, who doesn't like to write, drew several pictures with pencil as she went and labeled them with facts she learned. Secundus, on the other hand, drew only one tiger picture and colored it with crayons. For the rest of her report she copied down word-for-word a few sentences about her animal that she read.
Other than the research project, we did literature, watched some history videos (Liberty's Kids and Horrible Histories), watched some Bill Nye the Science Guy, and did some investigations with eggs.
Our science exploring with eggs was prompted by this video. Did you know you can stand on a carton of eggs and not crack them? I also realized that the kids have never seen what happens when you let an egg sit in vinegar for a while. That was really fun to see the shell was dissolved the next day. After playing with it and bouncing it for a while, I let Secundus try to cut it with a knife so they could see if the inside changed too. It was really funny when the membrane popped like a water balloon on her!
One week down, 36 to go! Tomorrow the real work begins as we pile on the full load.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Schultuten and First Day Pictures
We started our first day of school with our new tradition: School Cones (or Schultuten in German)! It's a pretty cool old tradition in Germany. Basically, kids receive a cardboard cone full of goodies like candy and school supplies on the first day of the new school year. Google it. It's neat.
Anyway, this is our second year. It was such a hit last year and the kids were so excited to receive them again. The fillings and how I would decorate them were a surprise so everyday that Primus saw the blank empty paper cones sitting next to my chair she would remind me, "Don't forget to finish them before Monday!" These simple cones made the kids look forward to the first day of school!
You would have thought it was Christmas morning and they were opening their stockings! This year they got breakfast plus a small toy. Homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, a juice box, an applesauce squeeze pouch, a fruit roll-up, and a Minion toy (I think they're from a happy meal. Hubby found a whole bag of them at a Stuff Swap.)
Our other First Day tradition is pictures before school. We don't do fancy or cute or Pinterest worthy. Homeschooling for us means no adorable pictures next to the front door wearing new clothes and an over-sized backpack and holding a hand-crafted sign. Homeschooling for us means taking pictures in the messy living room wearing pajamas and holding a schultute after searching the house high and low for the camera for a half hour. :)
What special first-day-of-school traditions do you have?
Anyway, this is our second year. It was such a hit last year and the kids were so excited to receive them again. The fillings and how I would decorate them were a surprise so everyday that Primus saw the blank empty paper cones sitting next to my chair she would remind me, "Don't forget to finish them before Monday!" These simple cones made the kids look forward to the first day of school!
You would have thought it was Christmas morning and they were opening their stockings! This year they got breakfast plus a small toy. Homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, a juice box, an applesauce squeeze pouch, a fruit roll-up, and a Minion toy (I think they're from a happy meal. Hubby found a whole bag of them at a Stuff Swap.)
Our other First Day tradition is pictures before school. We don't do fancy or cute or Pinterest worthy. Homeschooling for us means no adorable pictures next to the front door wearing new clothes and an over-sized backpack and holding a hand-crafted sign. Homeschooling for us means taking pictures in the messy living room wearing pajamas and holding a schultute after searching the house high and low for the camera for a half hour. :)
Primus. Third Grade. My super responsible special helper and Amazon woman.
Secundus. First Grade. My "smarty-pants" (by her own description.)
Tertius. Preschool. My rough-and-tumble, Energizer Bunny, stereotypical boy.
What special first-day-of-school traditions do you have?
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
How I Teach My Kids to Read
I didn't gain my conviction about Distar by reading the research or reviews, but because I had seen it in action first hand all the years that I volunteered in Mrs. Bhatti's Kindergarten class. I knew that this was a program that had been around for decades and worked. I also appreciated the fact that it is totally scripted for me, is a step-by-step phonics approach, and each lesson takes only about 15 minutes.
The method claims that it is great for young children (your child doesn't even need to know all the letter names before starting!) as young as 3 and a half. This fits perfectly with my philosophy about learning to read: teach your kid to read as soon as you can and then the whole world is open to them; they'll be able to learn anything!
Primus was almost five and a half and very bright and she zoomed through the first half of the book, doing a couple lessons each day. I started Secundus when she was about three, I think, but stopped not long after because her speech issues were making it hard. We started again slowly when she was four and she did really well. Tertius is now four and starting his last year of "preschool" before Kindergarten and I am excited to start him out with it. I've been working all summer preparing.
One downside to this book is that the parent's script and the things the student is supposed to read are on the same page. That makes it really hard to work with a wiggly child who would rather lie down and hold the page over her head or jump up and down. I knew Tertius especially would need to be able to hold his own word cards so he can focus on one at a time while I can still have my script in front of me.
This project has taken me hours and hours to complete, but I am confident that it will pay off! (I later found these are available for purchase here but I still would have made my own cards because I could not find it available through any of my school's approved vendors and I like the color coding.)
As you can see, I've color-coded everything to keep them organized. I've also written on the back of each card which lesson number they're used in.
For the letter sounds I cut 9X12 pieces of construction paper into 16 pieces. For the words I cut the construction paper into 12 pieces each.
I also laminated them with clear contact paper for extra durability. But only the front sides because, dang!, that was a lot of cards!
I also made copies of each of the stories and put them in a separate binder. The shorter stories are laminated and the ones that take up a full page are in sheet protectors.
Starting with lesson #74 the program transitions from the weird look of Distar into a normal font. At this point, instead of making individual word cards, I kept each block of practice words together like they appear in the book. These are stored in the sheet protector with the associated story.
It is so fun to watch the kids start to master reading and be excited to show off their new ability to daddy! School starts on Monday and I can't wait to start this new journey with my boy!
Monday, August 11, 2014
Chore Wheel
I really like charts and lists. And our chore time routine is always evolving so I want to share with you our latest incarnation.
But first, as a reminder, here's where I talked about our previous routine.
This is the check-list that I made and posted in the kitchen to help everyone remember what needed to be done. I covered it in contact paper so we could use a dry-erase marker on it.
In that post and also in this one, I mentioned about the kids earning "media allowance." I searched the blog and was surprised to discover that I had never given that concept a post of it's own. So here's the short version: the kids earn time to watch movies or play video games (in half hour increments) by doing school work and chores. We used to have envelopes tacked up to the bulletin board where they would keep their little paper movie bucks. But now we just do tally marks. This has been a great way to motivate them to do all kinds of things!
This sign is covered in contact paper like the checklist above. But the dry-erase doesn't come off perfectly so it's looking pretty messy. I'm going to have to come up with something else. Maybe at least putting it in a sheet protector might be better. (And who's idea was it to use green marker on green paper?)
So finally here's the new method we're going to try this school year. Hubby had the idea of assigning each kid to their own room. We're hoping this means the bathrooms will get cleaned more often! We're also thinking that it will be easier to award media points to each child in a fair way according to how much work they do.
The four rooms that we want cleaned up each night are the living room, school room, kitchen, and bathrooms. Obviously the boys are too young to clean up by themselves so they've been assigned to be Mommy's and Daddy's assistants.
In each room I've hung lists of what needs to be done there. I won't expect them to do every single thing on the lists every night, but the more things they do in a half-hour period, the more media points they earn.
And a Family Home Evening wheel.
This way, we don't have to worry about arguments of who's turn it is to pray ("I always get picked! I don't want to do it again!" "I never get a turn!") The Family Home Evening Wheel is also helping us remember to actually do FHE each week. The six assignments we rotate through are: conducting, opening song, opening prayer, lesson, closing song, and treat. (Our Evening Prayer from the prayer wheel doubles as our closing prayer for FHE.)
Finally, here's how to make an easy wheel:
1. Cut out the center circle from one cheap paper plate.
2. Use that circle as your template to cut a circle from construction paper.
3. Find the center point on the construction paper and draw your lines to divide it into the correct number of sections.
4. Glue the construction paper to your paper plate circle.
5. Use a brass fastener to attach your circle to a second paper plate. (The concave part that you would eat off would face the wall.)
6. Tape pipe cleaner to the back of your wheel for a way to hang it up.
But first, as a reminder, here's where I talked about our previous routine.
In that post and also in this one, I mentioned about the kids earning "media allowance." I searched the blog and was surprised to discover that I had never given that concept a post of it's own. So here's the short version: the kids earn time to watch movies or play video games (in half hour increments) by doing school work and chores. We used to have envelopes tacked up to the bulletin board where they would keep their little paper movie bucks. But now we just do tally marks. This has been a great way to motivate them to do all kinds of things!
This sign is covered in contact paper like the checklist above. But the dry-erase doesn't come off perfectly so it's looking pretty messy. I'm going to have to come up with something else. Maybe at least putting it in a sheet protector might be better. (And who's idea was it to use green marker on green paper?)
So finally here's the new method we're going to try this school year. Hubby had the idea of assigning each kid to their own room. We're hoping this means the bathrooms will get cleaned more often! We're also thinking that it will be easier to award media points to each child in a fair way according to how much work they do.
Chore wheel! It will get rotated one place every evening.
(Please excuse the giant black blobs in the place of my kids' names. Privacy.)
(Please excuse the giant black blobs in the place of my kids' names. Privacy.)
In each room I've hung lists of what needs to be done there. I won't expect them to do every single thing on the lists every night, but the more things they do in a half-hour period, the more media points they earn.
We have two other wheels hanging up on our kitchen wall right now, too (I even made a prayer wheel for Nursery at church.) A prayer wheel...
And a Family Home Evening wheel.
This way, we don't have to worry about arguments of who's turn it is to pray ("I always get picked! I don't want to do it again!" "I never get a turn!") The Family Home Evening Wheel is also helping us remember to actually do FHE each week. The six assignments we rotate through are: conducting, opening song, opening prayer, lesson, closing song, and treat. (Our Evening Prayer from the prayer wheel doubles as our closing prayer for FHE.)
Finally, here's how to make an easy wheel:
1. Cut out the center circle from one cheap paper plate.
2. Use that circle as your template to cut a circle from construction paper.
3. Find the center point on the construction paper and draw your lines to divide it into the correct number of sections.
4. Glue the construction paper to your paper plate circle.
5. Use a brass fastener to attach your circle to a second paper plate. (The concave part that you would eat off would face the wall.)
6. Tape pipe cleaner to the back of your wheel for a way to hang it up.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
What I Look Like Today
You've got to go check out my friend's blog Brave Bride. She's hosting a photo challenge asking us to share a selfie. She's inspirational and I love her!
So this is me. Unretouched. One shot. I weigh more than I ever have but I am happier with my appearance now more than ever.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Fairytale Town Literature Study
Not far from us is a cool theme park called Fairytale Town. Every play area is based on a folktale, fairytale, or nursery rhyme. This year for our literature curriculum, Secundus and Tertius are going to study every story that is represented in the park.
I searched through the stuff I already own, all over the web for free resources, added some of my own ideas, and have pulled together what I hope will be a really fun curriculum. When we're all done (I'm not sure if that will be at the end of this year or sometime next school year) we'll gather some friends and schedule a field trip. I can't wait! I haven't told the kids yet and I'm sure they will be super excited!
Humpty Dumpty’s Bridge
the following activities from nursery rhyme pack bought from here
color rhyme page
cut/paste sequencing page
label it page
writing prompt
retell using puppets (made using
graphics from nursery rhyme pack)
King Arthur’s Castle
the following worksheets found here
history vs fantasy
Tales of King Arthur
Mary’s Little Lambs
the following activities from nursery rhyme pack:
color rhyme page
cut/paste sequencing page
label it page
writing prompt
retell using puppets (made using
graphics from nursery rhyme pack)
The Old Woman in the Shoe
craft:make paper shoe (2 identical
sides, stapled together to make pocket) and fill with paper chain children
The Tipi (Hiawatha)
make
Venn diagram: our culture vs.
Native American culture in story
discussion
questions found here under "Lesson Plan"
The Crooked Mile
craft: attach extra long string
between two opposite ends of long paper. Then make it crooked,
tacking it down with glue
write another verse: what else could
be crooked?
Owl’s Tree House and Pooh Corner
(Winnie the Pooh)
Wise Old Owl rhyme found
here (we recently read the old Winnie the Pooh books so I wanted to do something different)
Discuss: Why is listening wiser than
speaking?
Owl handprint craft found here
Farmer Brown’s Barn
read various “farmer brown”
stories
writing prompt for Click Clack Moo
found here.
“Use a story starter (one of these examples or your own)
and have the students illustrate. Farmer Brown walked by the pond. He
looked into the water and saw… Farmer Brown ran to the pond. All
the ducks were furious! Farmer Brown couldn’t believe his eyes! …”
sequencing pictures of wool from sheep
to sweater found here
“in the barn there was a ….”
book found under Day 3 here
Three Blind Mice
crossword puzzle and mouse bag puppet
found here
Sherwood Forest (Robin Hood)
activity sheets
found here
(I going to just get a book from the library and not use the one these activity sheets were designed for. So we'll only use pg 1, 3, 5, and 9)
(I going to just get a book from the library and not use the one these activity sheets were designed for. So we'll only use pg 1, 3, 5, and 9)
The Three Little Pigs
retell using felt board characters
bought from Lakeshore Learning
activities from Literature Pockets,
Folktales and Fairytales for grade K-1
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
retell using felt board characters
bought from Lakeshore Learning
activities from Literature Pockets,
Folktales and Fairytales for grade K-1
The Cheese Stands Alone (Farmer in
the Dell)
sequencing
activity found here
dance/game
directions found here under Day 1
Jack & Jill Hill
crossword
puzzle found here
puppet slider
craft found here
Mother Goose
information
about the origins of mother goose found here
watch
the old Disney video “The Truth about Mother Goose" link found
here
make book of
favorite nursery rhymes (staple pages together with words typed
up and kids draw one picture for each)
mother goose
coloring page found here
Jack and the Beanstalk
activities from Literature Pockets,
Folktales and Fairytales for grade K-1
Cinderella’s Coach
My
Wonderful Wish writing prompt found here
watch Disney
version and do venn diagram story vs. movie
“How Cinderella
Changed" watch craft found here
The Little Engine that Could
discussion
questions and Word Family Train booklet found here under Day 1 and 4
make an
illustrated book of things that were hard but you were able to do
conductors cap
craft found here
Rabbit Hole Slide (Alice in
Wonderland)
mome raths craft found here
cheshire cat smile puppet found here
The Dish & Spoon Cafe (Hey
Diddle Diddle)
the following activities from nursery rhyme pack:
color rhyme page
cut/paste sequencing page
label it page
writing prompt
retell using puppets (made using
graphics from nursery rhyme pack)
Hickory Dickory Clock
crossword puzzle found here
mouse and clock craft found here
Peter Rabbit and His Sisters and
Mr. McGregor's Garden (Tale of Peter Rabbit)
paper
vegetable garden collage
letter to Mr
McGregor found here
coloring
page found here
discussion
questions found here
The Tortoise & the Hare
activities
from Literature Pockets, Aesop's Fables for grade 2-3
The Alphabet Garden
abc
garden collage craft: long strip of green paper, glue long blue sky
on top, glue on small brown paper stems. Draw green letter shrubs on
top of stems.
Urashima Taro (The Fisherman and
the Turtle)
read online here
paper plate sea turtle craft found
here
Toadstools
paper
plate toadstool craft found here
leaf
rubbing fairy to sit on it found here
paint rocks to
look like toadstools tops (red with white spots) for garden
Pirate Ship and Pirates' Cove
(Peter Pan)
draw
map of Neverland using imagination
make Hook's hook
with tin foil
discussion
questions and pirate hat craft found here
Yellow Brick Road (Wizard of Oz)
the following activities found here
Kansas and Oz maps
character mini books
writing assignment/craft: which
character are you most like?
Friday, August 1, 2014
Our Favorite Lunches
We sometimes struggle with variety in our meal plans. This is mostly a problem with dinners as the kids don't seem to mind too much if we eat the same lunches all the time. But I do know they appreciate it when I make something other than sandwiches. So I wanted to share our standard lunches.
First, to make sure we eat enough of the right healthy stuff each day, we have a routine and aim for 5 servings of fruits and veggies (usually 2 or 3 fruit and 3 veggie). We have a snack of fresh fruit between breakfast and lunch. Apples and bananas are staples around here; or we might have another in-season fruit or pomegranate seeds from our freezer.
We have fruit juice and a serving of veggie (usually whatever we have raw in the fridge- carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers) with lunch.
Our snack before dinner consists of a serving of something like crackers and fruit (usually something easy to grab like dried fruit, apple sauce pouches, or fruit cups.)
Our final two veggie servings for the day are served with dinner.
Finally, on to our favorite lunch entrees:
1. Peanut Butter and Jelly. Obviously. Definitely the common fall-back.
2. Ham and Cheese Sandwiches. I load mine with a bunch of lettuce and either put tomatoes or pickle inside or on the side. My kids hate mustard, but they love having sandwiches with mayo and barbeque sauce.
3. Pizza Crackers. The kids love to make and eat these. Stick a plate full of them in the microwave for 15 seconds at a time until they're done. I can almost make them as fast as they get eaten!
Just layer a Ritz cracker, pizza sauce (our favorite is Contadina Pizza Squeeze because it's easier for the kids to help), pepperoni or cooked/crumbled Italian sausage, and cheese. Cutting string cheese with kitchen shears is super easy and fast. But I prefer to use chunks of Mini Babybels because they melt better.
4. Leftovers. One big perk of homeschooling is being able to just open the fridge and warm up whatever was left from dinner the night before.
5. Corndogs. One of these days I'm going to try and make my own mini corn dog muffins. That would be really fun for the kids to help with.
6. Little Smokie Quesadillas. These were a free sample at Sam's Club once. I was surprised at how much Secundus and Tertius loved them. So they begged me to grab a recipe card and ask me to buy Little Smokies whenever they see them at the store.
7. Taco Bowls. This is something my kids loved but for whatever reason, I haven't made in a really long time. They're not huge fans of taco salad inside, but I'll fill them with things like raw veggies, string cheese, and cut up hot dogs. It's just such a fun novelty to be able to eat your bowl when you're done.
What's your kids' favorite lunch during the school year?
First, to make sure we eat enough of the right healthy stuff each day, we have a routine and aim for 5 servings of fruits and veggies (usually 2 or 3 fruit and 3 veggie). We have a snack of fresh fruit between breakfast and lunch. Apples and bananas are staples around here; or we might have another in-season fruit or pomegranate seeds from our freezer.
We have fruit juice and a serving of veggie (usually whatever we have raw in the fridge- carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers) with lunch.
Our snack before dinner consists of a serving of something like crackers and fruit (usually something easy to grab like dried fruit, apple sauce pouches, or fruit cups.)
Our final two veggie servings for the day are served with dinner.
Finally, on to our favorite lunch entrees:
1. Peanut Butter and Jelly. Obviously. Definitely the common fall-back.
2. Ham and Cheese Sandwiches. I load mine with a bunch of lettuce and either put tomatoes or pickle inside or on the side. My kids hate mustard, but they love having sandwiches with mayo and barbeque sauce.
3. Pizza Crackers. The kids love to make and eat these. Stick a plate full of them in the microwave for 15 seconds at a time until they're done. I can almost make them as fast as they get eaten!
Just layer a Ritz cracker, pizza sauce (our favorite is Contadina Pizza Squeeze because it's easier for the kids to help), pepperoni or cooked/crumbled Italian sausage, and cheese. Cutting string cheese with kitchen shears is super easy and fast. But I prefer to use chunks of Mini Babybels because they melt better.
4. Leftovers. One big perk of homeschooling is being able to just open the fridge and warm up whatever was left from dinner the night before.
5. Corndogs. One of these days I'm going to try and make my own mini corn dog muffins. That would be really fun for the kids to help with.
(Picture and recipe found here.)
6. Little Smokie Quesadillas. These were a free sample at Sam's Club once. I was surprised at how much Secundus and Tertius loved them. So they begged me to grab a recipe card and ask me to buy Little Smokies whenever they see them at the store.
(Picture taken from here. No recipe available, but it's pretty self explanatory.)
7. Taco Bowls. This is something my kids loved but for whatever reason, I haven't made in a really long time. They're not huge fans of taco salad inside, but I'll fill them with things like raw veggies, string cheese, and cut up hot dogs. It's just such a fun novelty to be able to eat your bowl when you're done.
(Picture taken from this Amazon listing. I'm not sure if this is the same brand I own.)
What's your kids' favorite lunch during the school year?
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