California's Anti-Homeschool Law

If you haven't heard, California has "banned" homeschooling. The ruling is being appealed, but it is causing some serious panic among homeschoolers.

Check out the links to see what's going on.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57679

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58053

The consequences of this are serious. While I'm not going to panic, I do think we all need to be seriously fasting and praying for the future of our country. With legislation like this plus the possibility of a president who doesn't respect the rights of the parents, our families could be in trouble.

America is probably headed for great judgement. We need to prepare to live like fugitives. Because it could come to that.

2:54 PM - Mar. 5, 2008 - comments {4} - post comment

Reading Struggles Update

Yesterday we saw a reading specialist for my 9yo.. She was one of the sweetest ladies. I really enjoyed watching her interact with my son. I'll describe what she did and then tell you her advice at the end.

She put about ten booklets in front of my son, and asked him if he liked to read "informational" or "imaginative" books. He didn't quite understand what she was asking so she asked him to tell her what kinds of books he liked to read. He told he like books about war, baseball, and racecars. She pulled some of the booklets out and told him what they were about. She asked him to choose one to read.  He chose one on the making of peanut butter.

She had him flip through the book, and asked him questions based on the picture or the titles. Then he read to her. He did well, he ran his sentences together, as he seems blind to punctuation. He struggled with the word "machine", and kept pronouncing the hard /ch/ sound. Rather than tell him what the word was, she asked him questions to help him figure it out. He didn't figure it out, so they just skipped it and went on to the next page.

Later, on another page the word "machine" came up again. He remembered that it was the same word that he saw on the last page, and she asked him more questions to see if he could figure out the word based on the context. He finally did, and it was neat to watch him trying to figure it out. Normally, I jump right in and tell him the word...which makes for a lazy pupil.

She had him write several sentences, and watched as he reversed b and d, and then later fixed it when he realized it was wrong.

The diagnosis was that he is doing fine. She said that I've done a good job, and that he just needs more practice reading aloud and to himself.  She said he has all the skills that he need to be a good reader, its just  a matter of getting him interested. She also said that most of the little things I'm worrying about will correct themselves as he reads more and more.

Overall it was a great experience. I'm upset that HSLDA hasn't returned my email yet, but I'm not as concerned as I was before.

11:51 AM - Feb. 1, 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Reading Struggles

Today we are going to see a reading specialist for my 9yo son. He has some struggles with reading, and I've finally decided to seek out help. When homeschooling this can be a hard and a risky decision. In all matters, we want to protect our homeschool and our children, but there might be times when a homeschool mother needs extra help.

Make choices about your help wisely. I would NEVER advise using the public school system to help children who have "special needs". It can get too complicated, and it can cause the ps to require more of the parent than the law requires. Do your homework.

HSLDA has resources on these issues. Check it out. It has specialist that can help its members, so I highly suggested joining. I emailed them almost two weeks ago, and I still haven't heard back. So, we're seeing a private specialist that works with my mother

Pray for us around 4:30. I'll update soon.

12:45 PM - Jan. 31, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

The Valley of Modern Culture

My heart is so full tonight. I'm sitting in a quiet corner of the library reading Homeschooling Today. One of the feature articles has unlocked a song in my heart and I just had to sing it before the words jumble and the notes fall flat.

The article is called "Above this Valley" by Rachel Starr Thomson. The premise is the writer's (a homeschool grad) comparison of modern culture to a valley. She discusses beautifully the vision of most Christian homeschoolers.

"If our children are going to stand against the tide of the world-even, perhaps, to turn it back-they need the strong foundation that comes from growing up on a mountain. They will never see the valley clearly if they are not first removed from it."

How well this describes what I have been trying to explain to friends and mothers. When you live in the valley, you are blind to it. Yet, what do you see? On that hill...do you see it? It is a light. The Lord has told us to be light in the darkness, and to set ourselves on a hill. Our light cannot be seen if it remains in the valley.

 "I am not of the valley, and I don't breathe valley air. There are poisons in the world that have not ever reached me. Children who are raised in such a separate place will approach the valley with a new-and ideally more objective-perspective. They will have the ability to see through the smog. They will recognize the poison in the atmospere and sound the alarm where they can, and be better equipped to help those who are living in the valley."

Oh how I love that first sentence. It describes the struggle that occurs in my heart all the time. I often feel like an outcast. I just breathe different air. I can't help it. I have breathed in the clear majestic air of the mountaintop, and I am no longer satisfied with valley air. I am not better than those that breathe valley air, but I do know what real, clean air tastes like.

Maybe this is too harsh. But, don't you look around at your life and wonder what is wrong? Don't you look around your church and wonder how to fix all the brokeness you see? The only way is to breathe new air. Modern culture is smog, and we must remove ourselves from it. I

12:35 PM - Jan. 17, 2008 - comments {2} - post comment

Charlotte Mason Update

Adding some CM (Charlotte Mason) stuff to our curriculum is going really well. Thirty Before Thirty is not going well. I'll be thirty on Sunday, and I only finished about six things that I put on my list (I didn't post the whole list, but I had it written down.) Oh well, I won't be going out with a bang!

CM has been great. Short lessons are awesome. We start our day with Bible at breakfast, and my three year old is finishing the verses on his own! Woo-hoo. I'll give resource details later, I don't have time at the moment. From that we go to the couch and turn on the laptop...thank you sis. We do artist study or music study. This week we have learned about Rembrandt and his painting The Night Watch, Handel and The Messiah, and the origins of A Mighty Fortress is Our God.

If you've been thinking of trying to add short lessons, then I say GO FOR IT. They are wonderful, and I'm so excited that we're doing it.

9:22 PM - Jan. 10, 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Charlotte Mason - A Bit at a Time

I have always wanted to pursue some of Charlotte Mason's ideas and methodologies. In fact, the first real homeschooling book that I bought was "A Charlotte Mason Companion" by Karen Andreola. I fell in love with the ideas, but was later drawn to by the well planned out method of "The Well Trained Mind' by Susan Wise Bauer.

Somehow, five years later, I haven't really stuck to either method. Our homeschool has become a hodge-podge that sometimes seems aimless. Over the break, I decided to try and implement some Charlotte Mason ideas with the new "semester".

We have a new schedule that includes short lessons. So far, it has worked well for us. Its amazing how much we got done yesterday. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, so I would always put off lessons that I thought would take too long or be too hard. With short lessons, however, I realize that I only need to cover a small amount each day, and over time those small increments will add up to superior learning. Especially if you consider that I would normally put off the longer (supposedly more intense) lessons for so long that they would NEVER get done.

We have also added artist/picture study, composer study, and hymn study. Here are the resources we are using for those topics:

artist - Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artist series & viewing online

composer - Arts Alive & Classical Archives

hymn - Cyber Hymnal

I'm excited about our new direction, and the relative ease of its implementation. I will try to catch up other posts, and I'll post our new schedule a bit later.

9:22 AM - Jan. 8, 2008 - comments {4} - post comment

The Emperor's New Home School

Apparently Disney has decided to take a shot at homeschoolers. Yeah, that is a smart thing to do when the number of homeschooling families grows every year. Lets see how many people the great kid entertainment company can alienate. It also stinks for Disney that America's future leaders are going to come from the homeschool community, not from the dumbed-down-Hannah-Montana-typical-American-public-school-culture that they are working so hard to perpetuate.

As I was looking for a show for my kids to watch, I came across "The Emperor's New Home School" (season 2, episode 10.)  I only saw the last few minutes, but I have read a plot synopsis. 

The three main things that disturb me are: 1) Kuzco refers to homeschooling as "the easy way out". 2) Kuzco said that he realized that he needed an education, implying that he couldn't get one by being homeschooled. 3)Chicha (the mother-figure) jumps for joy when Kuzco gets fed up with homeschooling and goes back to "regular" school.

First off, homeschooling is not the easy way out. It is incredibly difficult, which is why many parents choose not to do it.  As my husband always says "Nothing good comes easy." 

Second, the implication that an education cannot be obtained at home is ridiculous. Homeschoolers have proven to be well-educated.  Get a better argument, Disney.  Hmm..I have one for you.  Homeschoolers should go to regular schools so that they can be just like everyone else and drool over High School Musical, fostering a deep need for High School Musical "stuff" in their hearts...thus sending your profit margin through the roof. 

Third, Chicha's little dance of joy represents the absolute real phenomena that parents rejoice when their children go back to school in the fall and cringe when they get the summers off.  This attitude is wrong.  It is a worldly notion (not a Biblical one) that children are a burden and not a blessing. What does a child feel when they know that their parents don't want them around?

I understand that most Christians are trying to do the best for their children, even if they choose something different than I do.  However, I have to stand up and defend homeschooling against people who are ignorant.

2:31 PM - Dec. 6, 2007 - comments {4} - post comment

Unofficial Homeschool Poll

Please take a second and vote in the polls that I have set up on my left sidebar.  I'm very interested in how other homeschoolers are doing this year, and what they need to be better homeschoolers. 

It would be awesome if you'd link to the poll on your blogs.  The more the merrier.  If you think of more poll questions, let me know.  I'd love to get feedback.

12:02 PM - Nov. 29, 2007 - comments {2} - post comment

Professional Educators

       I just wanted to clarify something that I wrote in the previous post.  I have nothing against teachers, aka "professional educators".  Both my mom and my sister are teachers, and work diligently at their jobs.  I used the phrase, "professional educators" because I recently saw the following statement on a school board website. 

"professional educators feel that home-schooling a child is an overwhelming undertaking and urge caution in deciding about  their children's education"

       Do I disagree with this statement?  No.  Homeschooling a child IS an overwhelming undertaking.  However, the use of the term "professional educator" implies that one must be trained, certified, and licensed by the state to be qualified to teach.  This is where I have a problem.  Soceity has turned to experts for everything.  A normal, average, typical parent can't possible be smart enough to teach their own child.  Please, listen to us, we're "professional educators", and you are just a dumb parent who has idealistic ideas about your child's education. 

           You see, the term "professional educator" simply means that they get monetary compensation for their role in educating someone.  It DOES NOT mean that they are good at it.  Some are, and they don't get compensated enough!  Many are not good at their jobs, and they make the rest of the hard working teachers look really bad.

            I just want parents to THINK before they listen to experts.  Many times the experts' advice does not line up with God's instructions.  Then, who will you listen to?

12:33 PM - Oct. 24, 2007 - comments {3} - post comment

Homeschool Misc.

The National Educational Association in their 2007-2008 Resolutions has taken a stand against homeschooling.  Please take a moment to fill out this petition.  I really believe that we are headed for some hard years in the homeschooling arena.  The NEA has seen how successful homeschooling is and "professional educators" everywhere are afraid of the competition. 

 http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/homeschoolers-against-nea

A list of 101 Reasons to homeschool your kids.

http://www.101reasons.org/

10:41 PM - Oct. 23, 2007 - comments {2} - post comment

Organization

Organization is the area that I struggle with the most.  The root cause is laziness or fear, I'm not sure.  I know that the tasks that I need to complete in order to be organized will be difficult and time-consuming, so out of laziness and fear (to fail, that it will be too hard, that I won't get it right, etc.) I just quit or procrastinate.

I'm trying to figure out how to become and stay organized.  Its hard when I don't have any real life homeschool friends to draw from.  Though, I admit, that even when I was having consistent fellowship with another homeschool mom, I still didn't put her advice into practice.  So, what does that say about me? 

One of the tools that I'm considering using is Yahoo Groups.  I can set up a private group that woud be used for our homeschool, but would not be viewable to others.  This would allow me to upload files and pictures, create calendars and to-do list, and even send myself reminders.  I think it might be a good idea, except that it has me tied to the computer.  I'm trying to cut down computer time, so being tied to the computer isn't good.  However, it does offer me a place to store photos and files as a backup.  This is so useful because we have lost our entire hard drive before, and that can be devastating.

Just keep me in your prayers.  I am a very undisciplined person, and it seems that it affects every area of my life.

1:13 PM - Sep. 24, 2007 - comments {2} - post comment

Tuesday...with no Tackle

I wish I was up for a Tackle It Tuesday, but I'm not.  I actually have several things that I could post, but I'm trying to cut down internet time.  It takes a long time to take a picture, upload it to my computer, then upload it to the internet, and then write the post.  So, I won't be wasting my time by doing that today. 

We planted two trees, although i'm starting to seriously doubt where we planted them.  I wanted instant impact, and I clearly wasn't thinking long-term.  They are probably going to be too close to the house.  Oh well!

Noahsmom asked "In your state do you have to home educate a certain number of days or hours? In our state it is hours/lessons...so days absent or sick don't really matter ... as long as we get the lessons in."

Yes, we are required to do a certain number of days, and so many hours per day.  I don't pay much attention to how many hours per day that we school.  Frankly, they are always learning, so it doesn't matter.  I write "sick" in my planbook only for my information.  That way, when I look back I'll know what happened that week.  Otherwise, I'll assume that I was just lazy and didn't do school.  Make sense?

10:24 AM - Sep. 18, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

My Mom is So Cool

My mom came over tonight to give me a break and help with the house.  I'm not the best housekeeper...okay, I am a slob.  Not quite a reformed slob, YET.  Mom really encouraged me tonight.  I tend to put too much pressure on myself to be perfect and to do it all.  Mom helped me to understand that I'm doing a good job with the kids, homeschool, and the house, even if I don't always feel like I'm making progress.

She also helped me on the education front.  We were talking about my history woes (see previous post) and she told me a secret.  Last year her school added a bunch of extra things for her to teach in regards to reading and math.  She told me that there were many times that social studies or science didn't get done.  She even said that she often kept writing the same lesson plan over and over until it got done.

I was so surprised and excited.  That's exactly what I do sometimes, and I thought it was because I was a bad teacher.  But, I know my mom is not a bad teacher.  In fact, she's a great teacher.  Her kids always excel in her class and she often has kids that come to her "below grade leve".  Yet, they leave her class with marked improvement.   She isn't afraid to talk to her kids about God, which is so awesome!

So if my mom can copy lesson plans a few times and still graduate a class of kids who succeed and learn a bunch, then I guess I should stop being so hard on myself.  Thanks mom!

8:49 PM - Aug. 15, 2007 - comments {4} - post comment

American History

Oh, I had forgotten how tough Sonlight is to implement.  I know, I know, there are those of you who love SL, but for us, it has always been a struggle to use.   I'm trying to take my 4-day SL program and fit into my 3 day History schedule.  Plus I have to add hands-on activities.  ACKKKK!!!!!  SL Core 3 jumps around a lot, especially the 4 day schedule.  I'm really stressing about it.  I got the set used for very little money, and I love the books, just not the way that they are used.

My ideal history situation would be very close to Story of the World.  I like how Story of the World makes the week very predictable. On Mondays you read a passage, then do mapwork.  On Wednesdays you read a passage and then do a coloring sheet.  On Friday, you read extra topical books and do a project.  However, I dislike how the author presents other religions and gods in the same manner as she present the One True God.  I would expect that from a secular writer, but Susan Wise Bauer claims to be a Christian.  I just can't use her material.

I found The Light and Glory for children last night at the library.  I should have bought that instead, added the activity book, and had my history program set.  But I just feel like its too late now.  I don't know how to add all of these books together to make something that will work for us. 

I won't even go into my struggle with HOW to teach American History.  I believe that the textbooks companies and public schools have rewritten much of our history, making it politically correct and removing God's soveriegnty.  However, I do want to be honest about the mistakes and cruelty of some or our forefathers.  This has been a serious battle with me.  Sonlight does a good job of offering a balanced approach at this, though they don't really discuss God's plan in the creation of our country (at least, not that I can see YET.)

Please comment with your ideas.  We are on week 2 of school, and I don't want to waste anymore time on this.  I can't spend too much money replacing what I have, so I have to make it work for us. 

8:36 AM - Aug. 14, 2007 - comments {4} - post comment

Reading Assessment

I had my oldest son take an online reading assessment today.  We use Let's Go Learn.  He took his last reading assessment in April 2006, so 16 months ago.  Here are the results...

High Frequency Words - increased 1 grade level

Word Recognition - decreased 1 grade level (I'm baffled by this, I don't understand what he did wrong)

Phonics - increased 1 grade level

Phonemic awareness - increased from 67% to 100%

Spelling - decreased 1/4 of a grade level

Vocabulary - increased 3 1/2 grade levels

Reading Comprehension - increased 2 1/4 grade levels

I averaged his subscores, and over all, he increased 1 grade level.  On average he registered as high 2nd grade.  This year we are starting 3rd grade work.  As far as public school cutoffs, he'd be starting 4th grade this year, but I would have held him back one year.  So, he's where I expected him to be.  I'm surprised by the two scores that dropped, and I'm not sure those were accurate.  Those scores threw his average a bit, but I guess it doesn't matter.

I'm truly only interested in how he has progressed compared to his previous test, not how he stacks up to other kids in his "grade" level.  Here's to keeping on keeping on.

10:35 AM - Aug. 10, 2007 - comments {3} - post comment

Homeschool Check-In

Visit our Homeschool Open House to see how we homeschool.

This is our first week of school, and I thought I'd check-in to let everyone know how its going.

Morning Circle is the absolute hardest part of our day.  I'm actually very suprised and upset by this.  Probably because I had such hopes for this time together.  After we eat breakfast I wrangle the kids into the schoolroom.  I try to have them sit on the rug and listen while I go through the various books & studies, but they get antsy and bored.  The little ones don't want to sit still, and the older one seems bored.  We went through Abeka Bible for the first time today, and it was just too young for the 9yo.  I'm considering doing Morning Circl at the breakfast table, right after we finish cleanup.  This might help them focus a bit.

With only one child doing "real" school, it is hard to entertain and teach the others while being available for the oldest.  He doesn't work well independantly, and as I type this he is sitting and NOT doing his work because he wants me to do it for him.  I will make him sit all day, but he will finish that English lesson before he does anything else, including eat or pee. 

That's all for now.  This week has been hard, but good.  I still have some tweaking to do with the littles, but I pray that I'll figure it out.

10:26 AM - Aug. 9, 2007 - comments {2} - post comment

Our New Schoolroom

We started our new year of school today.  We had a blast and enjoyed our new schoolroom.  Hubby and I were up late last night finishing the room, but it was well worth it.  Somehow having the room decorated and organized really inspires us to take school seriously.  School has had to take a backseat to babies for the past few years, so we have a lot that we want to get accomplished this year.

Here are some photos of the oldest three.  The 3yo sat at the table and colored and played for almost 30 minutes, so I was ecstatic.

Here's a BIG thanks to both sets of grandparents.  They helped us by buying the bookshelves and table and chairs.  What a gift!  We love you guys, and we appreciate all that you do.

7:30 PM - Aug. 6, 2007 - comments {3} - post comment

Planning for School Part 4 - Preschool

Welcome to Homeschool Open House 2007.  I'm MJ, the frenzied mother of four barbaric boys, J (9), S (3), N (18mos) & Z (7 mos).  In fact, the name of our school is Barbaros Christian School.  This will be the first year of homeschooling that we haven't added a baby to our family, so I'm anxious to see how well we can accomplish our studies without pregnancy hormones and sleepless newborn nights fogging my brain. 

 This is Part 4 in a series called "Planning for School".  You can view the other posts below:

Curriculum 

Morning Circle 

Schedule 

Our Schoolroom

In this post, I'm detailing some of my plans for preschool with my 3yo.  I haven't had to do much planning for him.  We pulled out our old preschool stuff and made a few copies.  I listed our main resources in the Curriculum link above,  but I thought I'd add some more detail.  I got some of these idea from a forum that I was on, so I can't claim that they are original. 

School Basket

Each child gets a special school basket that will only be brought out during school time. The purpose of this basket is to occupy the littles while I'm focusing on the older child.  Each basket will have a pencil box with pencils, colored pencils, crayons, kid scissors,  and a glue stick.  There will also be paper to cut, color, or glue with.  Along with the pencil box and paper, there will be a few books that will be changed out each week.  Two "activity bags" willalso be included.  These activity bags will be changed out every day.  I'll have 60 bags, so enough for two different activities everyday for a month.  Here are ideas for what to put in the activity bags. I didn't come up with these, but I don't know who did...?

Letter of the Week

We'll be using the Scholastic books, Learn the Alphabet Arts & Crafts. & AlphaTales which is a set of 26 stories, each correlating to one letter.  If your child is old enough to write, you can supplement with handwriting practice from any resource.  I like Scholastic A to Z Letter Formation because it offers enough pages to occupy the entire week with one letter.  I won't be expecting my child to write, but we will be using My First Book of Tracing  from Kumon to work on fine-motor skills.

Monday - Introduce letter with the pattern provided in Learn the Alphabet Arts & Crafts.  Have student trace the letter with his finger and say the name and sound of the letter.  Decorate the letter pattern according to the book directions.  Give student the AlphaTales storybook to look at on his own.  Later, read it to him, emphasizing the sound of the letter. End each letter-of-the-day time with the AlphaTales book.

Tuesday - Show the student the letter pattern that he decorated yesterday.  Reinforce the name, and sound.  Have him trace the letter again with his fingers.  Prepare the lettter bag according to directions in the book, and have student pull out the objects and identify them.  Over emphasize the beginning sound of each object.  End each letter-of-the-day time with the AlphaTales book.

Wednesday - Show the studen the letter again, and ask if he remembers what it is called.  After he traces it with his finger, get started on the letter activity page.  This page has a few letters for the student ot copy, and then a large area to cut & color letter-themed pictures. Give student the AlphaTales storybook to look at on his own.  Later, read it to him, emphasizing the sound of the letter. End each letter-of-the-day time with the AlphaTales book.

Thursday - Bring out the letter pattern again and go over the name, sound, and shape of the letter.  Get ready for the movement game, which reinforces the child's recognition of the letter.  Make set of 4x6 cards with uppercase letters on them. Having about 6 copies of each letter is useful for this activity.  Arrange a few cards to feature the letter that you are learning about, you will not need all of the cards each day.  Have the children stand up and tell them "When you see the A, clap your hands.  When you see the G, run in place.  When you see the X, sit down."  Hold up the cards one at a time, and always end with X so the children are sitting in place, ready for the next activity. End each letter-of-the-day time with the AlphaTales book.

Friday - Review previous letters and repeat either Tuesday or Thursday's activity. 

9:10 AM - Aug. 3, 2007 - comments {8} - post comment

Activity Bags

Here are some ideas of various things that can be put into activity bags to occupy littles during schooltime.  To find out more about how I use this, read Planning for School Part 4 - Preschool.

1. sock match...several pairs of colorful infant socks that she's outgrown in the bag to match up or just play with. If I know her she'll have them on her hands and feet for half an hour.
2. dominoes...to build with and do who knows what with...

3. Discovery Toys Tinyville Magnets (these are magnets in shapes like people, vehicles, animals, buildings, cloud, stars, moon, etc...) and the magnetic white board

4. Play Doh, with geometric shaped cookie cutters

5. Play Doh with farm animal cookie cutters

6. Paint in a bag...put two colors of paint in a doubled Ziploc bag, seal it with clear tape, and let her squish them to mix the colors. There will be a couple of different color combinations

7. More magnets --from a magnet kit...lots of different plane figures and a magnetic base
to build upon

8. Blues Clues Cards there are nine sets of four cards, three "clues" that go with one card. Got these at a dollar store that was going out of business...got them for 50 cents! :-)

9. Mixies cards (11 sets of three different cards that form a picture...these came from somebody's birthday party favor bag)

10. Puzzle Pairs (Discovery Toys two piece puzzles of things that go together, like a sock and foot, sink and soap, etc)

11. Memory...for Rachel I'll probably only give her 24 cards at a time as opposed to the full set of 72; this way I can get 3 activities from one memory game and she won't be overwhelmed!

12. Animal Lotto..she can match up all the animals on the boards...

13. Spirit "jigsaw" puzzle...I printed out a horse picture colored to look like Spirit and am gluing it to felt, then cutting it out in simple shapes for her to put together. I will probably put a couple more like this in there too.

14. Pattern blocks (mine are from K12; easily obtained from curriculum suppliers for a few bucks)

15. Wooden Geometric Solids...these will keep her occupied for at least a half hour; as with above, easily obtained from suppliers, often for under $10 for a nice set of 12 hardwood blocks

16. Math linking cubes- these are the multi link cubes, not unifix cubes. The multi link cubes are connectable all the way around, unlike unifix cubes that only connect one way.

17. Lincoln Logs

18. dry rice with a funnel, measuring cup, measuring spoon, and containers

19. Lacing beads with shoe laces (the long heavy duty ones from Glenn's old workboots work really well)

20. Giant pegboard and rubber bands

21.Rubber stamps with farm animals

22. Rubber stamps with numbers

23. Discovery Toys Playful Patterns

24. Discover Toys AB Seas alphabet fishing game

25. Discovery Toys Itsy Bitsy Spider Game

26 Discovery Toys Bright Builders (being a former consultant has its advantages!)

27. Stickers! Lots of STICKERS. Draw shapes on a piece of paper and give lots of tiny stickers to fill in the shapes with. You could also write the child's name on there to put stickers on each letter...so the name shows up in stickers. the smaller the sticker the better as it takes more time to fill them in.

28. Animal cards...you know those "clubs" where you get wildlife cards? Well I picked up half a set at a yardsale and the kids love looking at the pictures...that should keep her busy for 20 minutes

29. Mr and Mrs Potato Head Not sure if it's educational, but it should keep her busy for a half hour, hopefully. LOL

30. Bucket of Goop (three parts cornstarch to one part water) in a small empty oxyclean bucket with a scoop, funnel, graduated cylinder from K12, and another container to pour the goop into. Messy and fun but easy to clean up.

31. Watercolor paints I miss those old "Paint with water" books where all you had to do was have a paintbrush and water. The new ones come with a set of watercolors attached, but in this case, I'd really like the books with the pictures already "colored" and you just swipe it with a wet brush to "paint." Maybe lacking in creativity, but hey. After painting one picture Rachel will probably have the paint set ruined by not rinsing out the brush...my idea here is for her do to something WITHOUT guidance from me...oh well...

32. Lacing cards. Using the shoe laces from the lacing beads. I'll cut out shapes from light weight cardboard and cover with contact paper before punching holes in it. Someone else suggested using old bleach bottles but I'm afraid that cutting them up will ruin my
scissors. LOL
33. Felt shapes and felt board...using cookie cutters and other things as patterns, I'll make some little people and geometric shapes for her to play with. I'll cover a piece of sturdy cardboard with felt.

Bananas for the Monkeys Original Author Unknown: Cut five monkey
shapes out of brown felt and fifteen banana shapes out of yellow
felt. Number the monkeys from 1 to 5 and place them on flannel board.
Have the children identify the number on each monkey and place that
many bananas in front of it.

34. Puppets in a Bag --yarn, facial features already cut out, a brown lunch sack, and some glue...a puppet kit!

35. Glue, Yarn, and shapes...sorry, no creative name for this. I'll draw some shapes on construction paper and give her a small (the tiny size) bottle of Elmer's glue to squeeze onto the lines I drew (helps build small motor coordination) and then she can put the yarn on the shapes. Other times, do this with her name, or a house, or something similar. I buy the tiny bottles once, then get the more economical bigger bottles to refill with later as needed. I don't even buy Elmer's half the time.

36. Collage in a bag...rip out some magazine pages with interesting pictures for her to cut out and paste on a piece of paper...maybe following a certain theme...like one time have it all healthy foods...another time, families and kids, animals, flowers, etc.

37. Bean Sort - Since she's pretty much beyond sticking a bean up her nose and requiring Glenn to remove it with needle nose pliers, I figure this is now a safe activity for her to do with only moderate supervision. Lots of different beans in a bucket for her to measure,
pour, sort, and throw on the floor for me to vacuum up.

38. Eyedropper, small container of water, and a mini ice cube tray or Styrofoam egg carton. If you're feeling adventurous, use colored water to make it interesting. Demonstrate how to use the eyedropper both to fill and empty the cups... Would also work well with mini muffin tins, I suppose...

39. Colored Pasta - color your own pasta, using wheels or any other pasta that has large openings (easy to lace.) Use small amount of rubbing alcohol and several drops of food coloring in an airtight container or Ziploc. Leave the pasta in for a few minutes ; shaking
it up or stirring a few times. Take it out to dry in a single layer. . then provide laces to string them up. You could provide some color or shape patterns on cards to duplicate.

40. Penny Count (source:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/3446/keeplittleones.html) I will make a more compact version on a single sheet of paper, and use circles the same size as the counting tokens (bingo chips) that came from PAVCS...match the colors and number amounts! But I thought the whole idea was pretty neat:

1) Make a poster board showing "cells" of numbers. Example: Draw a square, write "1" in it. Draw or tape down "1" penny in the square. Do the same with each square...up to ten or twenty...your choice. I'd start with 10 first and then draw two more squares at a time up to twenty as child gets better at this skill.

2) Give your child a basket or plastic container of pennies and have him match up pennies that you have put down with the picture in each square. (Ex. In the "2" cell, he would put below your example 1, 2 pennies in a one-to-one correspondence. Check him when he is done by having him count each cell with you. Repetition is what teaches
counting!

3) Eventually "test" your child by showing him only a number "3" printed on a index card and have him lay down 3 pennies and say "3". You might even write the word "three" along with the number "3" back in step one so that the child is learning a sight vocabulary word along with the printed "3". You would only do this if your child already knows the alphabet though. Then you could hold up a card that says "three" and see if he can lay the correct pennies down when seeing the word too.

41. Super ball or small car and a paper towel or Christmas paper tube. If you feel creative you could make a marble run of sorts with a couple tubes (see www.familyfun.com) I probably won't...she'll be happy enough with this. Why get more complicated than you need to? I could also let her color it with markers if she wanted.

42. Magnet and paperclips, washers, a nail, etc.

43. A large (big enough to climb in) box. 'Nuff said.

44. A giant piece of paper (or PAVCS posterboard) to color on...whatever desired...just give the paper and markers and you're set.

45. Lots of colored pom poms and tweezers to sort them out...look for tweezers that will be easy for little hands to manipulate, like the ones that come with the game Bed Bugs...heck, look for the Bed Bugs game. LOL

46. Treasure Hunt: large pot or box filled with corn meal, oat meal, rice, etc, with small "treasures" hidden inside...individually wrapped candy, coins, Barbie shoes, game pieces, etc. Make a picture checklist with all the items to find!

47. Colored Straws and scissors: nothing more to say. LOL straws are good for scissor practice because one snip and you have instant results. Provide Elmer's glue and paper and it's time to make a mosaic!

48. Discovery Toys Busy Bugs This can be duplicated with any manipulative, but I just got the game off eBay for $10. Might be able to find something similar in a homeschool catalog... kind of like the penny poster above, just using something different to play with and put the "problems" on index cards instead of the poster. You could use stuff around the house like coins, counters, buttons, pasta...make up index cards with patterns to duplicate/put simple problems on there: show items with number and number word under it, or do a simple problem like 2+2= etc...... This activity will be accompanied by a couple bug books and hopefully a neat bug video from the library!

49. Sticks, chunks of moss, rocks, leaves...with small rubber animals or dinosaurs...add some sand in a 9x13 baking pan...don't worry about sand on the floor...that's what vacuum cleaners are for!!!!! On a nice day do all your school work outside...heck, let the older kid SKIP schoolwork to do this outside... :-)

50. Magnetic Treasure Hunt: like the treasure hunt (#46) above, only this time use metal items and a magnet to attract them! Be sure your magnet isn't too strong or your kid will get several treasures at once!

51. Memory 2 see activity 11

53 Memory 3 see activity 11

54. Checkers and a small purse/canvas bag.... Checkers are cool cause they stack. If you can get more than two dozen, that's even better. Dollar stores often have checker games.

55. Chess pieces. Get a cheap chess/checkers game or two at the dollar store. Rachel likes to play with the pieces like they're alive. :-)

56. Magnetic Marbles I picked these up at a dollar store. Amazing the things you find at these places! I know that they'll be interesting for at least fifteen to twenty minutes...maybe more.

57. Popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue. Bob the builder at your service! Real cool if you have colored sticks...or just color them with markers when done. This is great for eye hand coordination and small motor building. You could put the glue in a small plastic cup
or on a paper plate and have child apply it with a cotton swab to avoid "excessive" glue....

58. Rubber Stamps with letters

59. Viewmaster and reels --I'm trying to collect educational rather than twaddle reels (cartoon characters = twaddle). I want to find reels of animals and places that are real.

60. Farm Animals and Barn. Our barn was being abused (read: animals left all over the house) plus we really don't have shelf space for the barn to be out all the time. So I'll bring it out from time to time.

6:02 AM - Aug. 3, 2007 - comments {4} - post comment

A Little Child's Belief

This is for Noahsmom, who asked about this song, which is part of our "Morning Circle" plan for the first nine weeks of the new school year.   The sheet music for "A Little Child's Belief" can be viewed here.  

7:09 PM - Jul. 28, 2007 - comments {1} - post comment