Did you know that a Switzerland foundation is currently in the process of naming the "New 7 Wonders of the World"? The original list of 200 suggestions was voted on by the public and narrowed to the current 77.  Architects then narrowed that to the current list of 21 finalists. The public is again allowed to vote until July 6, 2007. On 7/7/07 the New 7 will be revealed.

This is a great opportunity for a study on both ancient and current wonders.  Find information on both, along with tours of the current nominees here  http://www.new7wonders.com/  What a great way to study geography and history!

Dena Wood is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems, producer of Times Tales and the Clean N' Flip and other non-traditional educational products. She also does freelance writing and manages the Schoolhouse Store for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She resides in eastern state and homeschools the three youngest of her five children. You can contact her at triggermemory@charter.net.Washington

A fun and easy way to involve your children in Christmas preparations is to seek their input in doing something creative in your annual Christmas letter. Last year I made a simple “quiz” that was very well-received. I had silly questions like “Who painted their bedroom red?” and “Who participated in three community plays?” The answers were upside down at the bottom of the card. You could easily involve your children in coming up with questions.

 

You could also write the words MERRY CHRISTMAS down the side of a paper and brainstorm to find things your family did that you could put behind each letter. For example: Many trips to the doctor for Joe’s surgery Everyone loved our beach vacation, etc.

 

You could write a poem with each family member writing a verse.

 

Just be creative and find a fun way to involve everyone in greeting your friends and family this holiday season. I’d love it if you’d share your ideas below. I still haven’t decided what we’re doing for this year.

 

Dena Wood is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems, producer of Times Tales and the Clean N' Flip and other non-traditional educational products. She also does freelance writing and manages the Schoolhouse Store for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She resides in eastern Washington state and homeschools the three youngest of her five children. You can contact her at triggermemory@charter.net.

 

Related Tags: Education, imagination, homeschooling, Christmas, preparations

Over the years I have managed to amass (through clearance sales, yard sales, etc) a large collection of Christmas books. I now have one for each day in December. In the past I have wrapped them individually. Each night one child will choose a book and we read it together. To avoid waste (and save time) I now place the books in a large cloth bag to choose from, or even a basket. This is a fun way to get in some reading, spend time as a family and count down the days to Christmas while you're at it. If you only have a few books, just start your reading countdown as many days out from Christmas as you have books.

 

Dena Wood is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems, producer of Times Tales and the Clean N' Flip and other non-traditional educational products. She also does freelance writing and manages the Schoolhouse Store for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She resides in eastern Washington state and homeschools the three youngest of her five children. You can contact her at triggermemory@charter.net.

 

Related Tags: homeschool, education, imagination, Christmas, reading

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Many of us spend time focusing the THANKS part of Thanksgiving by expressing our blessings with one another over the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

A small "twist" on this is to focus on the GIVING part as well. Spend some time with your children (perhaps when you start back to school on Monday) and make a list of ways you can be "givers" this coming year. That way you get to BE a blessing to someone else. I read where another HomeschoolBlogger has made this a part of her school week. Each Friday they have a "Blessing Time" where they do something that is a blessing to another person.

 

What a great way to become aware of the needs of those around us and find ways to meet them.

 

Blessings!

 

Dena Wood is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems, producer of Times Tales and the Clean N' Flip and other non-traditional educational products. She also does freelance writing and manages the Schoolhouse Store for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She resides in eastern Washington state and homeschools the three youngest of her five children. You can contact her at triggermemory@charter.net.

 

Related Tags: Thanksgiving, thanks, giving, blessing

After a long play practice last Saturday, my daughter and I decided to enjoy lunch at the next door bakery. As we waited for our food, a friend (and fellow castmate) dropped in, stopping by our table for a quick hello. She explained that she was picking up a piece of pumkin pie and would then drive to our town where she would buy a "special coffee" at our local coffee shop. She shared how last week she'd done the same thing, but when she arrived home she found her pie box empty. She explained that, for the first time ever, her dog had slipped into the front seat and gobbled up every bite of her pie while she was in getting her coffee.

 

She said she had been SOOO looking forward to that special treat of just sitting and eating her pie and drinking her coffee that she nearly drove the ten miles back to get another pie! I commisserated completely. Haven't we all had that experience of eagerly anticipating something and then feeling the sharp letdown when we realize it won't happen?

 

This got me to thinking. Shouldn't we view our devotional time in that same way? Something to be eagerly anticipated and sorely regretted if missed? An event we approach with sweet anticipation?

 

I then began considering ways to make that portion of our school day a bit more "special" -  a time to be relished and savored. Yes, we do begin our day with memory verses, a devotional, and prayer. But I'm thinking of making it more of an obviously intimate time. Not just a part of the school day, or an activity to be checked off the list.

 

Maybe snuggling up with some cozy blankets and taking time to share our thoughts over a warm cup of tea or cider. We are able to influence our children, by experience and example, how to treasure and relish their time with the Lord.

 

I'd love to hear your ideas, as well.

 

Related Tags: devotion, prayer, quiet time, education, creative learning, spiritual

My nine year old daughter has recently had the privilege of spending a couple hours a week working at our local library. She shelves books, sorts magazines and enjoys spending time with our favorite librarian - an education in itself. And I don't have to teach the Dewey Decimal system!

 

I would encourage you to take some time as you walk downtown or read your local paper to consider what opportunities might be available for your children. Volunteer opportunities are often available at the library, food bank or senior center, for even the young children. Sitting in on a Town Hall meeting, Historical Society meeting or even a church board meeting is sure to be an educational experience and will provide much to talk about at home with Mom and Dad.

 

Gena's recent blog post talks about her children helping some friends build a cabin. There is much to be learned, both practically and spiritually, from investing in the lives of our friends and neighbors.

 

Take the time to see how you and your children can become a more active part of your community. I guarantee you'll learn something in the process!

 

Related Tags: homeschooling, community service, volunteering, creative learning, community involvement

Participating in holiday preparations can be a naturally learning experience in a multitude of ways. Sure, you can include academics, but you also have a wonderful opportunity to teach to the heart.   Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Take a bit of time to consider how you might involve your children in the preparations. Some ideas:   -Give them a budget and have them plan a dinner. -Provide them with various store flyers and have them determine where to shop to create the most low-cost Thanksgiving meal. -Do some research on what the Pilgrim REALLY ate and choose a dish to add to your feast this year. -If you're traveling, spend some time with a map. Have your kids plan out the route, estimate how many miles you'll travel, what the gas expense will be, etc. Compare your estimates with actual amounts. -Do some research on volunteer opportunities and community needs for the holidays. Spend some time discussing your findings. Are these needs present only during the holidays? Is there a way your family would like to be involved? -Practice math by doubling or tripling recipes to feed your crowd.   The ideas are practically limitless. With a bit of thought you should easily be able to get some help with holiday preparations and teach your children something at the same time!     Dena Wood is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems, producer of Times Tales and the Clean N' Flip and other non-traditional educational products. She also does freelance writing and manages the Schoolhouse Store for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She resides in eastern Washington state and homeschools the three youngest of her five children. You can contact her at triggermemory@charter.net.

Related Tags: education, homeschool, imagination, holiday, Thanksgiving, planning, traveling

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, a great time to honor your pastor and include your children.

 

A good way to begin is by having a chat about what a pastor does. Make a list of all your pastor's duties. It's unlikely that your children are aware of all he is responsible for.

 

You might also do a bit of word study. Have your children write down their definition of "pastor". Now look up words like pastor, minister, priest, clergy, etc. in the dictionary. Are they all the same? Do you agree with the definitions. Which best fits the leader at your church?

 

Brainstorm some ideas that your children can do to surprise and uplift your pastor this month (and don't forget his wife!). Here are a few to get you started.

 

* Rake his leaves or mow his lawn.

* Make bookmarks for his Bible.

* Make him a card or write a note sharing, specifially, what you appreciate about him.

* Make a small sign that says "We Love Our Pastor" and stick it in the back of his car window.

* Make a pie, cake or cookies.

* Make and deliver a special dinner, complete with candles.

 

And if that doesn't get your juices flowing, HERE's a list of 101 ideas. Enjoy!

 

Dena Wood is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems, producer of Times Tales and the Clean N' Flip and other non-traditional educational products. She also does freelance writing and manages the Schoolhouse Store for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She resides in eastern Washington state and homeschools the three youngest of her five children. You can contact her at triggermemory@charter.net.

 

Related Tags: education, homeschool, home school, home education, imagination, mind, pastor, appreciation, month, October

Most of us homeschool for character reasons as much, if not more so, than for the academic benefits. Summer “break” is a wonderful time to focus on these behavioral, attitude and character issues.

 

One such area is that of work and service. We are living in a society where fun and recreation are the ultimate goal. Millions of dollars a year are spent on entertainment; big kid “toys”, movies and television, sports, the list goes on. The wages paid to sports and tv/movie stars are astronomical. It seems that our society is willing to work so that it can play.

 

Now, we know that is not God’s plan for us. While “play” is not bad in and of itself, it cannot be our goal in life. We want to teach our children the value of service. They need to know that their contributions are necessary to the well-being of the family (and society in general). We also want them to learn to enjoy and value work in itself, not simply as a method to gain “playtime”.

 

Chores are one good way to begin sowing servant hearts among your children. Even the youngest child can participate and know they are an integral part of the family machine. Following are a few ideas for making chore time easier.

 

1. Work together. I can’t stress how important this is. While my children will balk at begin handed a list of duties, they seem eager and cheerful when we all work together. They know they are “part” of something bigger than just themselves.

 

2. Make it fun. No, this doesn’t contradict my “anti-entertainment” view.  We want our children to learn to enjoy work. In fact, this is an area I’ve learned that I need to grow significantly in, myself. How can I expect my daughter to want to grow up and become a wife and mother if I’m constantly grumbling and unhappy in my work? Making it fun, can be quite simple, throw on some music – praise songs or even silly kid tunes – smile, and have fun! (Children are much better at it than we are!) Timers can be a great tool for adding a bit of fun to choretime as well.

 

3. A place for everything. Make things as easy as possible for your children. You want them to feel successful not incompetent. Use boxes, bins and well-labeled shelves whenever possible.

 

4. Train! Be sure and have a “training time” with each child when you introduce a new responsibility. Don’t assume they will know how it is to be done. In fact, chore cards with checklists on the back are a great help here. The list for cleaning the bathroom can be kept in the bathroom, etc.

 

5. Let them “own” it. Your can do several things to insure your child feels a sense of ownership over a certain responsibility. One simple way to do this is by providing special tools; a hand broom for sweeping the stairs, a special apron or pair of gloves, even a special step-stool for putting dishes away. Another way is to let your child overhear you “bragging” on him. Simply telling Aunt Suzy how nice it is to have Johnny taking out the trash now or how Sally made the bread you are serving is a great motivator.

 

6. Follow up. It’s imperative that Mom or Dad follow up to make sure that work has been completed properly. This must be done with a positive but firm attitude.

 

7. Gift others with service. Let your children help you in using their new skills to help others. Sweep the walk or mow the lawn for an elderly neighbor, take a loaf of bread to the new family on the street or work together to plan and prepare a dinner for friends who just had a new baby.

 

As your children participate with you in chores and work, they become a natural part of their lives and thinking. They will come to find a rich reward and satisfaction in service.

 

Dena Wood is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems, producer of Times Tales and the Clean N' Flip and other non-traditional educational products. She also does freelance writing and manages the Schoolhouse Store for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She resides in eastern Washington state and homeschools the three youngest of her five children. You can contact her at triggermemory@charter.net.

 

Related Tags: education, imagination, character, homeschool, home school, home education, academic, work, service, society, public, goal, aim, family, value, attitude, chores

This is a fun game for the car or when you have a few moments of spare time. While your child may think it's all fun & games they will  pick up some new vocabulary and practice visual discrimination and attention to detail in the process.

 

All you do, in this simple game, is to name what you see. For instance, if you're in the car you would take turns as follows:

 

"Steering Wheel"

"Seats"

"Radio"

"Glove Box"

"Odometer"

 

"Odometer? What's an Odometer?"

 

Now you have the opportunity to painlessly and pleasantly add new words to your child's vocabulary! As always, ever-so-much more fun that worksheets!

 

Dena Wood is a homeschooling mom to five children, ages 19-5, and resides in eastern WA State. She is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems (home of Times Tales!) and works as Customer Service and Schoolhouse Store manager for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She also does a bit of frreelance writing when she gets the chance.

 

Related Tags: education, imaginaion, homeschool, game, car, travel, vocabulary, words, children, teach

 

A little humor makes learning most anything fun – even grammar. I came upon this site which offered a list of amusing grammar rules. Have your student go through the list and see if they can pinpoint the “problem”. Enjoy!

HUMOROUS GRAMMAR RULES

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.

2. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with. Winston Churchill, corrected on this error once, responded to the young man who corrected him by saying "Young man, that is the kind of impudence up with which I will not put!

3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.

4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)

6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.

7. Be more or less specific.

8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.

9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies endlessly over and over again

10. No sentence fragments.

11. Contractions aren't always necessary and shouldn't be used to excess so don’t.

12. Foreign words and phrases are not always apropos.

13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous and can be excessive

14. All generalizations are bad.

15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

Find a more extensive list of Humorous Grammar rules HERE

Dena Wood is a homeschooling mom to five children, ages 19-5, and resides

in eastern WA State. She is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems (home

of Times Tales!) and works as Customer Service and Schoolhouse Store

manager for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She also does a bit of

freelance writing when she gets the chance.

 

 Related Tags: education, imagination, homeschool, laughter, smile, humor, learning, fun, grammar, verb, preposition, conjunction, split infinitive, cliches, specific, parenthetical, sentence, fragments, contractions, redundant

Unfortunately, our area is currently recovering from one of the largest wildfires in the nation. Our town of pop. 2000, has been base camp for over 1800 firefighters from as far away as New Zealand and Australia.

 

One of the positives in this situation was that I actually thought to turn it into a learning activity. I put my scheduled plans on hold and we spent the first week of school learning about fighting wildfires and fire safety. The smoke in the air, the vehicles, helicopters and planes and the dirty, tired firefighters we saw at every turn made our study all the more fascinating.

 

We were able to go online and follow daily updates and read excellent, informative articles in our local papers. Library books filled us in on just HOW the fires were contained and we were able to more fully understand what we were reading.

 

On the first day of school we even made and decorated �Thank You, Firefighters!� signs that we took downtown and posted along Main street. (We were pleased to note several copycat signs showing up in the following days)

 

Surprisingly, I even found an art project involving the use of charcoal to draw a forest fire. (You smudged the charcoal trees to make smoke.)

 

While I don�t expect (or hope) that many of you will experience a wildfire in the near future, this experience did remind me to be more aware of what is available right in our own backyard. I referenced the Maryhill Museum earlier in this newsletter. I�ve driven by that museum fairly regularly for the last 25 years, but had never stopped.

 

I was pleasantly surprised (not to mention amused) to learn that it was the home of Sam Hill, who built the first roads in the Pacific Northwest right there on his property! He was a road-builder and explorer. Hence the saying, �Where in the Sam Hill are you?� Too funny! See, you never know what you�ll learn!

 

Some ideas to consider for study in your area might be natural resources, farming or manufacturing, historical sites, weather, the arts�.The list is endless. Choose something your area is known for and take the time to delve into it a bit more deeply. You may find it addicting!

 

Dena Wood is a homeschooling mom to five children, ages 19-5, and resides

in eastern WA State. She is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems (home

of Times Tales!) and works as Customer Service and Schoolhouse Store

manager for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She also does a bit of

freelance writing when she gets the chance.

 

 Related Tags: education, imagination, homeschool, backyard, wildfire, firefighter, fire, safety, online, internet, charcoal, Maryhill Museum, newsletter, Sam Hill, Pacific, northwest

I have used Sonlight curriculum with my daughter since she has been in Kindergarten and love it. This year, however, I needed to add my younger boys into the mix and wasn’t up to teaching two separate Cores. I considered adapting the Core my daughter would be doing to their level, but she would be doing the second half of US History, involving many subjects I felt too heavy for the little guys.

 

So…I ended up taking a break from my well-loved (very comfortable) curriculum to find a study we could all do together – a study of US geography. My kids enjoy the subject and are already more geographically literate than I am (I only wish I were kidding!). I’m using Trail Guide to US Geography as a base and have pulled bits and pieces from several other resources and added them to the mix. By year end we should have an impressive State Notebook.

 

I thought I’d share a couple of the ideas/resources I’d found as they could be incorporated into many different studies.

 

First off, Hands On Geography is a wonderful resource full of extremely creative, hands-on ideas.

 

Next, is that we will be making recipes from the state we study each week. Occasionally, we will make an entire “state dinner” and invite guests. I purchased the book Eat Your Way Through the USA which has several very simple recipes for each state and lists some fun facts as well. (Did you know chewing gum was invented in Maine?).

 

This approach could be applied to most any study. Simply plan a meal or dish around the country, state, time period or nationality you are studying. A Google search will generally offer up a plentitude of recipes. HERE is one online site for state recipes.

 

As devoted Sonlight users we LOVE our read-alouds. Unfortunately, the curriculum I’m using didn’t list many and I spent a good chunk of time searching for book lists by state. I finally found a few and thought I  would share.

State By State Book List

Read Across America

50 States – 50 Books

 

This year, I’ve also reserved Fridays for games, art ,etc. (This is the day we’ll do our cooking, as well) In the past, I’ve had lots of big plans that just never quite came to fruition. I’m hoping my “Friday plan” helps solve this. So-far-so-good, but it’s only been one week. J 

 

Anyway, I found a very fun, inexpensive US Geography game called 10 Days in the USA.

 

I hope someone can use some of these resources. I know they will make our study much more memorable, not to mention FUN!

 

Dena Wood is a homeschooling mom to five children, ages 19-5, and resides in eastern WA State. She is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems (home of Times Tales!) and works as Customer Service and Schoolhouse Store manager for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She also does a bit of freelance writing when she gets the chance.

Related Tags: education, imagination, geography, Sonlight, Hands On Geography, recipes, states, homeschool

 

This is a fun trick for making spelling review a bit more fun.  It takes a bit of preparation from Mom, but not too much. Simply take a list of ten spelling words and type them out in a column or row. The trick is to spell one word incorrectly in each column/row. Spell a different word incorrectly in each list.

 

Give your student the paper and have them "spy" and circle the misspelled word in each column/row. Very simple, but a nice change from simply writing or verbally quizzing spelling words.

 

Dena Wood is a homeschooling mom to five children, ages 19-5, and resides in eastern WA State. She is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems (home of Times Tales!) and works as Customer Service and Schoolhouse Store manager for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She also does a bit of freelance writing when she gets the chance.

 

Related Tags: spelling, imagination

 

Curious about The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine but not quite ready to commit to a subscription without seeing it first? Check it out for FREE! We're so certain you'll love our publication that we'll gladly send a FREE sample to anyone new to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine - we even cover the shipping!

... Click here for more information ...