Discussion Clips for Non Fiction Close Reading

I found these cool clips at Lakeshore Learning. (This is not a paid advertisement. I just like to share about products I think are great.)

You can see in the pictures that there are several different types of clips, 6 of each one. They're just thin pieces of plastic, printed on both sides. You slide them onto the page, with the arrow pointing to the appropriate part.  I really like that they're all different colors.

We've used these a couple different ways. On the following occasion, each kid chose a different book about a Renaissance artist. They were also given one of each different clip. As they read their books, they inserted each of their clips so they would be able to remember the important things they learned. When everyone was done, they took turns teaching each other about the artist.

This time, I had 4 books that I wanted everyone to have a chance to look at. They had 10 minutes to skim the words and look at the pictures in one book, and then we rotated books and set the the timer again. They were required to find at least 1 interesting thing and put an arrow on it. When everyone was done with every book, we went through and they each were able to say why they picked that page to be highlighted.

I found that these arrow clips kept the kids focused on what they were reading or seeing on the pages. It also helps them retain the info they're learning if they have a purpose ("Where can I put these 'cause and effect' markers?") and an opportunity to teach each other.  They also would be helpful for when the kids do non fiction reports, instead of taking notes on paper as they read. They can use these and then go back and look at them later to write their reports.

Homeschooling Means...#32

...when a friend is doing a small fundraiser before school to buy new books for her kids' public school library, I take my kids in their pajamas to support her. I've said this so many times on here, but I love my public schooling friends and am happy to support any school when I can.

This cute prize wheel was a fun treat (50 cents per spin). How creative is that? I wish them lots of luck with the fundraising efforts! A well-stocked school library is an invaluable treasure!

(This series is meant to be mostly lighthearted and fun.  Some may be serious, but most will be silly, braggy, or of the keepin'-it-real variety.  Not every homeschool is the same.  And some of these things could be said by public school parents.  This is just to highlight MY experience with MY homeschool and MY children.  Enjoy these little insights into our life and feel free to share your own "Homeschooling means..." in the comments!)

New Field Trip Resource

I am so ridiculously excited right now! Before the good news, some background.

 We love our charter school. One of the things they boast as a perk of enrollment are school-organized field trips. These are very cool in theory, but we've only attended one in all our years of homeschooling with them. Here are some reasons that we haven't been doing field trips with the school:

1. Sometimes they're set for days that don't work for our schedule.
2. While we can use our educational funds to pay for the student's participation, I would have to pay for my ticket (and enrolled younger sibling's ticket) out of pocket. We're too poor for that.
3. Sometimes bringing a younger sibling isn't even allowed. Getting a babysitter just isn't worth the hassle.
4. Dropping off your kid is not an option. A parent has to attend.
5. Sign ups for trips fill up fast and sometimes I just don't know if we'll be able to attend far enough in advance for when enrollment opens.
6. The one time we did go, it was a pain in the butt to get my ticket paid for and sorted out in advance of the trip. 
7. I haven't been convinced that any trips would be worth the hassle and expense. I would rather spend the kids' instructional funds on other things.
8. I thought that school field trips would be a good way to build a community within our school. But our school is just too large (several counties) and diverse so you wouldn't necessarily see the same families each time. When we did go to that one trip, there was no effort to connect us as a community. We were all supposed to gather at the front entrance so we could check in and then we were free to go our separate ways, which every family did.

There you have it. So we've just been doing our own thing. We'll occasionally plan field trips that are free or cheap and local with friends or just by ourselves. But now our school has made a new resource available to us...

Explorer Field Trips, Field Trip Kits!

We can use instructional funds to purchase these kits (which include admission tickets and educational activity guides) and then use them whenever works for our family. There is even provision to allow my ticket as the parent to be paid for from student funds. And this is the perfect year for us because now all four of my kids are enrolled and so as a family we have more school money to play with, and less things we need to buy because a lot of my curriculum is non consumable and gets reused every year.

Some of the available field trips are closer to us, like the Sacramento Zoo. While there are a ton of other great trips all over California that would be nice if we could afford travel expenses. I have friends from other charter schools that have used this resource to take their family to Disneyland for a couple days!

It's going to be awesome figuring out how to make this new vendor bless our family next school year!