Sep. 3, 2008 - Productive Time - Independent learning for the child with no independent study skills

Over the last few months as we define Productive Time and get into the habit of using our time wisely I have reinforced to my children that their time is to be spent on things that they are interested in.  Not just hobbies but if they have a keen interest in learning something this is the time of the day for them to pursue that topic.

Over the years my children have pursued

• a study of Colour
• dogs
• horses
• making concoctions (chemistry)
• war history
• photography
• html and blogging
• as well as a multitude of craft and art activities

By the time my children outgrew “just playing” where they would spend their afternoon playing with their lego, dolls, dressups, cubbies etc they were reading and it was easy for them to fill their days with other activities independently.  But Daniel isn’t reading.  So I have had to think through – how do you encourage a child to fill their time independently when they can’t read.  Reading is such a core for self-learning.  I know we can learn by experience, and by trial and error but in our home we tend to read a book, be inspired, follow directions, tweak and discover as we go along.

At the moment he is into Pirates.  Josh is a little bemused that his brother is so into anti-heroes but I don’t think Daniel cares if they are heroes or anti-heroes he just sees adventure!

Over the last few days Daniel has –

• Shopped for a pirate costume – this was exciting because very rarely does out town have these types of things, especially not when you want them!  We did a little money lesson here, as well as a big discussion on wants and needs!

• He has mended his pirate pants – cut a patch and stitched it on

• Made a parrot from a toilet roll tube

• Prepared a stencil for a pirate flag, made the flag pole (including rings for the rope to go through, he is currently ironing the flag material (cause he doesn’t like wrinkly flags)

• He has found pirate books at the library using the computer catalogue

• Made treasure for his treasure chest

• Made a treasure map, including tea dying and aging the paper.

• He asked his big brother and sister to create a treasure hunt for him by hiding the treasure, marking the map and then hiding the map.

Here are some tips for encouraging independent activity when our children don’t have independent learning skills

• Put in some prep time – find books, internet links, activities.  Don’t plan a lesson, just have resources and ideas at your finger tip.  Look for hands on activities, craft activities that can be done independently even though they may not think of it themselves
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• Be flexible – they may well come up with all sorts of ideas themselves.  Go with the flow
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• Take 5 minutes a day to read a book on their topic to them.  I have always been surprised how little time it really does take to read a picture book.  This week Daniel and I have sat down, right where I have been working and read a few pirate and it has been so worth it.
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• Be prepared to set up their activity, explain and give directions and then let them go.  Expect them to clean up themselves
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• Encourage stickability.  The rule for our productive time is that you choose to do an activity and spend at least 15-30 minutes on it before you pack it away (the time is dependent on the child and how their attention span is developing, 30 min is our goal for all the kids).  We want to avoid flipping from one activity to another – choose wisely at the beginning.
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• Don’t milk it!  Be guided by their interest.  If they have lost interest in the subject ignore the fact that you found another 15 fantastic activities!  I guess there should be a warning about not buying too much supplies in case this happens!

Sep. 3, 2008 - Mommy Homework

Cindy Rushton has a weekly Mommy Assignment encouraging mums to think and share.

This week’s assignment …

What ONE thing could you do that could change EVERYTHING

Simple – get off the computer in the morning.  So here I sit, on the computer, in the morning and yet I know that if I would just walk away from it my mornings will be so much more productive!  So I’m going to click “send” and then make this Mommy Assignment work for me today – and walk away!

Sep. 3, 2008 - Cindy Rushton’s had a Make Over

Cindy Rushton has been a big blessing to me in our homeschool journey.  Her messages of homeschooling the easy way, explaining Charlotte Mason, tips on being organised, and encouragement to look after myself have always been timely (and she speaks/writes on so much more!).   I generally have an audio of hers going on my mp3.  The children recognize her voice immediately (to an Australian her accent is quite unmistakable!).  

Today I received notice that she has revamped her websites.  Go and check ‘em out.  They look fantastic, well organized and I am sure you’ll find some encouragement there.

Cindy’s Desktop – her blog

Mom-to-Mom Radio Show – free weekly podcasts

Talk-a-latte - online workshops, chats, webinars, and Bible Studies

Cindy Rushton Website – including articles, overview of all the other things she is involved in

Aug. 31, 2008 - My Internet Travels for the Week /3

A local homeschool mum had passed this link to me a long time ago and I visited this week.  Wow!!  It is full of links for every subject for primary school.  Check it out, Internet4Classrooms.  I browsed the Math section, and used it to confirm a lesson on geometry / moving words (flip, slide, rotate)

Aussie Homeschool Online Community.  If you are an Aussie homeschooler – check this out.  This version of this community has been operating for a little over a month or so, so it is still a baby but lots of promise for the Australian Homeschool Community.

My teens continue to read and we, as a family, continue to discuss articles on The Rebelution.  This week I’ve been thinking of the name – to rebel against low expectation on teens.  Challenging!  What do I expect of my young people - My thoughts led to Good, Better, Best.  I want to challenge my children to be the best they can, don’t settle for “it’ll do” a common attitude these days!

I've read a few articles at  Home Education Magazine  on highschool and beyond.  I also passed these articles onto my son, who wants to go to Uni.  One in particular was written by a homeschool student, reflecting on her first few weeks at College.

Aug. 31, 2008 - Being a responsible student

Jessica has set goals for the next 6 weeks or so.  She followed a format that I had used previously.  She considered the study time available, and considered the study material we have provided and set goals for each subject.  She monitors her progress weekly.

Joshua has begun to start his studies as soon as he is finished his morning responsibilities.  In the past he has taken the mornings slowly, enjoying the freedom to read.  The last few weeks though he has realized the benefits of getting your responsibilities done early, doing your study and then having your “free” time in one block, in the afternoon.  

Both of them keep a record of their completed work in their diary; just a to-do list, ticked off by the end of the day (and transferring anything not done to the next appropriate day).

This is very exciting to see this coming together.  When you have younger children and you plug away at these things you do wonder if it is ever going to change.  Be encouraged – it does!

I have had to ask myself, what am I doing to set my younger two on this track?  Josh and Jess didn’t just start doing these things – it is a result of training, practice, and expectation.

• Daily Diary – the younger two need to see that it is important to know how you’ve spent your time.  A diary sets goals for the day, which even though I write up, they can read and motivate themselves through.   They need to see the diary at the end of the day so they can be aware if they wasted time or used it productively. The daily to-do list becomes the younger children’s goals, eventually they will transfer to weekly goals, and then goals for a study block, such as 6 weeks.

• I need to teach my children, that the to-do list isn’t the most important thing – it is a guide for when everything is going smoothly.  Heart issues come first and I need to talk to the kids when I make a shift in focus from my to-do list to a relationship focus.  They need to know that there was a reason, a higher reason, for not getting those things done.

• A regular routine.  Our day is broken into blocks and my children have routines for each block.  I can switch a block around and they will fall into routine for that block.  A habit of routine, will give the children something to hang their choices on later in life.

Aug. 22, 2008 - Use Reading to your advantage

Aug. 18, 2008 - Bumping Up FIAR

I have tried to walk away from FIAR several times but I keep coming back.  The relational way lessons are taught and the good books are just too good to let go. 

My youngest two are 9 and 11 and I know they are supposedly beyond the FIAR ages but I am going to give “bumping up FIAR” a go.  My 9yo has some learning difficulties and his basic skills are at 6yo level (reading/writing) though his thinking skills are on target.  My 11yo though a competent reader isn’t comprehending non-fiction independently yet and therefore not ready for independent study.  So I want to do FIAR with them together.

Over the last 6 months we have dibbled and dabbled here and there and though they have been learning it hasn’t been a concentrated effort.  I want that to change.  This afternoon I made some decisions and planned our next unit.

1. I am going to start at FIAR Vol. 1 and do each book, unless there is a good reason for not doing it.  This will reduce my decision making.  Just do the next book on the list!
2. I want to make sure we do the activities that we didn’t do the last time (or two) around – ensuring that we do the “harder” lessons
3. Nomi needs opportunity to learn independent study skills – key words, summarizing, reading non-fiction, using various resources etc
4. Daniel needs a couple of independent activities that he can do at other times and yet enhance his FIAR studies
5. We will give lapbooking another try.  I am toying with the idea of making the lapbooks smaller – either ½ foolscap or A4 just so we aren’t faced with such a large area to fill.  Still thinking on this one.

Here are my notes for our lessons on The Story of Ping.  Some of these lessons come from the manual, some from online links and some from my head.

Introduction:  Story Disks, maps, vocab, narrations,

Atlas work, non-fiction books

Make “About China” mini book

Maintain a Resource List (DM) / Bibliograph (NM)

Create a Lapbook cover (photocopy book cover)

Social Studies

Review:  Map, vocab, sequence of story

Read Ms.Frizzle’s Adventure to Imperial China

Discuss Culture

Compare Chinese culture with Australian

Chinese meal (possibly cooking)

Literature

Review:  Map, vocab, sequence of story

Choices Authors make – Fiction – stories using imaginations

List the things in this story that are true about China

Choices Authors make – Repetition

NM – Write a short story – possibly about an animal living on the Great Wall of China – and use repetition.

Art

Review Map, Vocab

Unity of Theme (as per manual)

NM – use this technique to illustrate her short story

Composition

Create a picture about China, ducks, boats (??) using a line of composition

DM – use magazine pictures/collage

NM – drawing

Science

Review Vocab

Read a book on Ducks – non-fiction

Review Animal Classification

DM – dictate – make a “What I know about Ducks” mini book

NM – keyword outline from non-fiction text on Ducks, rewrite (IEW lesson)

Independent activities for Daniel

• build a mud brick – using a popsicle stick mould – take photos
• Buoyancy experiment, observation and recording

This will cover 5-7 days lessons.  On the last day we will ensure our lapbooks are finished and head into the library to look for books for the next unit: Who Owns the Sun.

Aug. 16, 2008 - My internet travels for the week /2

Here are some of the links (websites and blogs) that I have read, enjoyed and/or drawn from over the last week.  May you find something helpful in amongst the list.

Aussie Homeschooling

I have started to get involved with this Online Community – Aussie Homeschooling

 If you are an Aussie – I invite you to join in. 

Lapbooking – I’ve decided to give lapbooking a go again with my younger two children.  I’ve revived my page at  Lapbook Lessons online community to help me be motivated and connect with those mums who are experienced.  Lots of ideas, motivations, templates etc.  If you are interested in lapbooking – it is simple to join.

China / Olympics

I got some thoughts for our Geography/China scrapbook from Clickschooling

http://www.homefires.com/clickschool/archive.asp?d=2008/08/15

http://www.homefires.com/clickschool/archive.asp?d=2008/08/11

My Subscription to Laines Letters bounced (as per last week’s link)

So I have just book marked Laines Letters to remind myself to come back every so often for an encouragement.

Math drill sheets

Josh used these website to print out practice/drill sheets for a math concept he was struggling with.

I have given myself a new challenge – to learn digital scrapbooking.  I’d like to encourage my girls to learn and I do wonder if it won’t be something Daniel enjoys but I think I have to have a model in front of them first.  My goal is to scrap a few homeschool quotes from books that I am reading – not sure what photos I’ll use but I just want to play around for a bit.

Scrapbook to Learn got me going  (this group also covers lapbooks and notebooks so there is lots of creativity flying around)

I’m checking out ScrapbookMax 30day free trial  

Aug. 8, 2008 - Another discussion on Productive Time

I initially started calling the afternoons Productive Free Time to counteract the children’s expectation that they could waste away their time, because it was their free time.   By introducing the word “productive” my hopes were to teach them that they always had the responsibility of using their time wisely.

We have come to the place to drop the word “free” altogether.  Some people may think this is just playing word games but I have found a direct link to the language we use and the attitudes displayed.  After talking it through with my children they felt that it wasn’t “free” time, it had a purpose.  The purpose was to be productive.  I couldn’t agree more!

Though they wanted to know “What are we producing?”  Knowledge, skills, habits and relationships.   Once they had this short list in front of them, and maybe I had never clarified it so simply before, they were able to see the purpose and scope for such a block of time.

Years back, I had kept the word “free” in there because I wanted this time slot of our day to be driven by the children, their interests, passions, and inclinations.  This was a time where I inspired them to run with wherever their imaginations took them as opposed to requiring them to do what I felt was important.  This still is my intention.

As a result of this small change to our vocab we also introduced the word “recreation”.  Once again I think this word has a clearer intention than the word “free”.  The purpose for recreation time is to recreate, to refresh and renew, but there is the hint of creation in the word too – which means to make, no idleness happening here.  Idleness will lead to trouble and should be avoided, even if you have the free time to wallow in! 

The other issue we addressed is the balance between Productive time and Recreational time.   Our children have very little recreational time throughout the week but most of Saturday and  Sunday afternoon is theirs to spend as they like.  The funny thing is, the more they spend in productive time, the more that directs their choices for their recreational time!

Aug. 8, 2008 - My internet travels for the week

Here is a list of blogs, articles and websites that have either encouraged me this week, or helped me with the task at hand.

Robyn at Heart of Wisdom wrote Discover the Biggest mistake made by Homeschoolers.  Too many homeschoolers make the mistake I made in my first years homeschooling–setting aside Bible time for academics–putting trust in the wrong foundation!

Though I know putting Bible first is important, and we make this a practice, it is always good to be reminded of the importance, and to check how things are really going on in your home.

Though I have done with this blending activity with Daniel I sure wished I had seen this idea several months ago.  So if you are starting to blend, starting learning to read lessons check out this idea..  

Through one of the homeschool mums at The Homeschool Lounge I rediscovered Laine's Letters.  Many years I was regularly encouraged by these emails.  I have subscribed again and look forward to the regular encouragement.   You can view back issues online. 

Talking of The Homeschool Lounge – this is the place for Homeschool Mums!  To date there are 4000 mums, all involved in forums and discussion groups.  There is also the opportunity to create your own little Nook, a place to jot notes about your thoughts, your day, your learning ... whatever!  The Homeschool Lounge is especially designed for Homeschool Mums to find support and encouragement – so why don’t you head on over and check us out.  You’ll find me here..  

This week I’ve started thinking about Christmas.  I’ve bought a few gifts and when I came across this ideaI earmarked it immediately!  My children have started their gift giving list so they can start making gifts for their family and friends.

I have been reminded of The Rebelution through a few different friends this week, online and IRL, so I re-visited their blog and was reminded how powerful this blog is.  These boys have a mission!  I have printed out the latest article with plan to read it to my kids over dinner – to challenge them “What will you do to change the world today?”   I plan to do this regularly with different articles that come through the blog.  I have also bought their book so when that arrives we will all go through that together.

Live life with your Kids!

Lifestyle Homeschool

Jul. 30, 2008 - Teaching to Cook

Each week as I do my menu plan I check to see who is my "Cooks Helper".  Cooks Helper generally helps with the evening meal but I will start calling on that person any time throughout  the day if I need some food preparation done.

I have used the parts to whole method with teaching my kids to cook.  I have taught them various methods / technique without getting them to cook a whole meal.  This has meant that I show them something, talk about what I'm doing and yet aren't slowed down by teaching them to cook.  eg, they learn to peel vegetables but may not actually learn how to cook a vegetable soup.    Later on when they have good knife control they may chop the veggies.  Each time they are with me I talk about what I am doing and why so they are learning about saute-ing the onions, about bringing things to the boil, and eventually they can put it all together and cook a soup!   I have done this with both baking and cooking.

The benefits of teaching this way has been, for me, that they can learn cooking on the run.  I don't have to set aside time to teach them cooking, they learn by observing me - I guess it is discipleship in the kichen!

Eventually they have to give it a go themselves.   I am best not to be in the kitchen at this time.  I have never shared my kitchen very well (My poor mother I am sure received some lip over this in my early teen years.)  But I have had various situations since I left home where I have had to get over this - having children has been one of them!

The other teaching method I use to teach them cooking - especially baking - has been bulk cooking.  I cook one, you cook one.  The benefits of this is that my hands are busy and I don't take over and I am busy looking after my own mess so I don't worry/nag about theirs!

So today Cooks Helper was Jessica.  She learnt to roast a chook and vegetables.  She did all the chopping.  She then learnt to make a custard.  I made the tabouli salad (she can already do that).  We discussed the thing about cooking a whole meal where you have to do the recipes that need the longest preparation/cooking first and then work your way up to the simplest recipe.    Next time Jess is Cooks Helper she will do a roast chicken meal without my help.

Jul. 12, 2008 - Do it better next time

Jul. 7, 2008 - Do we study Geography?

Sunday morning we had a discussion over geography.  I asked Peter (who loves Geography) if he thought our eldest son 15yo would have a bank of knowledge that would be equal to a highschool course in geography.  ds has never studied geography but he seems (to me) very knowledgeable.   As we discussed what geography involves we became aware of a few little gaps but came to the conclusion that he has learnt geography while he has read broadly and studied history.  He absorbs information from all sorts of sources and makes connections to other bits of knowledge. 

This conversation led into ds and dh have a great conversation about South America (a gap for ds) but as they "prattled" (they were enjoying themselves) the rest of us totally tuned out!    It became obvious that dh and ds have very similar learning styles but the rest of us differ!

As I sat there - bored! - I came up with a scheme that my kids rejoiced over and my dh shook his sadly over (grin!!)  We are going to watch a travel show on TV (when we can but not an extreme priority) and then notebook different aspects, possibly even dig deeper each week.  As I tabled this idea the kids started talking, eagerly, about Greenwich and the Incas which they had seen on this show a week prior.  I must admit it is "twaddle" but it will be a fun relaxed way to cover some geography and maybe create an interest that isn't really there in my other kids just yet.   My hope would be that they would then start  to see these aspects in the books that they read and notebook/journal/learn from more “whole” book perspective.  

We will make a family notebook - probably divided by continents, though I can never keep a filing system so totally simple!  So they will be allowed to make dividers as their studies dictate.  I'm going to use this website  as my reference to help me get my head around what variety there is in the subject though the discussions we have together will really dictate what they notebook about.

Last night as I started to plan our next study block I realised the Olympics will be a great opportunity to look at different nations, their country, their culture etc.  Not just China but any of the countries that are competing.  One thought would be that if a child was following one particular event they could study the country that either won (or lost!), or played off against our own country.   A country’s values are often expressed in their anthem, their history in their flag. 

This will actually open doors to recording other geography aspects of our lives too.  I am particularly thinking of a camping trip we have coming up to some of the most amazing rock formations in Australia.  And then we have a trip around ½ of Australia later in the year.  That all comes under geography if we keep our eyes open!

I’m actually excited about this myself!

Jul. 6, 2008 - The next season of life....

Seasons come and go, they bring with them unique opportunities and if we dont grab the opportunity now, we cannot replicate it during the next season. We cannot go to the beach in the winter! The beach is for summer, warm fires is for winter.

Jul. 2, 2008 - Realising what housework really does happen

Jun. 26, 2008 - New Chore System – Being Responsible

Over the last few months I have changed our chore system.  Over the years we have had many different systems to encourage the children with their household chores.  As the children grow in responsibility our systems have changed to suit.

We have three set times for household chores – after breakfast, after lunch and at 5.00pm.  The evening dishes are done together.  Cleaning the bathroom (handbasin) and kitchen dishes were some of the first jobs my children learnt.  As more children become able other daily chores have been added to the roster.  We now have 4 children and 4 main areas of responsibility.

Kitchen

Bathroom, Rubbish

Laundry

Outside / Helper

The biggest change I have made recently has been to make one child responsible for their area for the whole day, for the entire week.  Today I have added one extra chore per day, still within that area.  This will give them the opportunity to see those deeper cleaning jobs that have to get done somewhere.

Kitchen – dishes, wipe benches etc, and then over the course of the week they will wipe the stove, polish the sink (x2), wipe cupboard doors, clean the dishwasher and tidy a cupboard or drawer.  The person on Kitchen duty will also help out with cooking the evening meal when that is appropriate.

Bathroom, Rubbish – Daily will empty and burn rubbish bins, clean the bathroom and lock up chickens.  Over the course of the week they will change towels, clean the shower, mirror and bathroom walls as well as tidy a cupboard or drawer.

Laundry – Daily will sort, wash, hang, and put away any laundry that needs doing.  Over the course of the week they will do a little ironing, clean the laundry sink, wipe down the cupboard doors and look for cobwebs on the ceiling. 

Outside & Helper – Daily will water pot plants, tidy the veranda, blitz the house after lunch, sweep the family room floor, clean up afternoon tea dishes and set the dinner table. During the course of the week they will sweep the verandas, a little bit each day.

It has been great to see how much actually does get done with short, regular effort throughout the day.

One of the key benefits of having one child responsible for an area for the whole week is that they learn what is necessary and start to take initiative.  Many of the chores aren’t necessarily time sensitive and can be done whenever they have the time – therefore giving themselves more free time later in the day.  It is my responsibility not to keep giving chores to those children who seem to have free time on their hands.  I need to recongise that the only reason they have free time is that they have worked hard for it!

Jun. 25, 2008 - Physical Health

Yesterday I was sharing with a friend who is back in town for a few weeks that last week I had some back pain which I put down to the fact that I wasn’t drinking enough water.  Her comment was “haven’t we been here before!”  We all need friends to help us with different areas of our life – I need help to remember to drink water!

This morning I was reading Crystal’s blog, Biblical Womanhood  and was encouraged to stay on track with my efforts to try and get healthier.  Similar to Crystal my goals in this area are:

• Eat healthily
• Take vitamins (though I like the idea of getting all my goodness from real food reality is it doesn’t happen these days and if a vitamin helps me stay on top of my game that is what has to happen.)
• Exercise
• Drink water (see, it should be on the top of my list and yet I don’t automatically remember!)
• Get to bed at a decent hour (and take power naps regularly, especially if I have an evening commitment)
• 
  

Finding time to exercise has been one of my challenges of being a stay at home mum.  The best time for me to exercise (due to heat) is first thing in the morning and yet I’d like to be around when my children wake up.  As my children have got older this conflict isn’t so much of a big deal.  My challenge these days is to get out the door – just to put down the to-do list and go and do it!

I have recently bought a mini-trampoline as a cheap and yet good exercise tool.  The benefits of a mini-tramp is that it hurts!  I can feel my muscles working after a 10min session (yes, I am not very fit!) so I guess it is working, whereas walking takes longer.  I prefer to walk as I think the 30-45min of walking is good overall and I enjoy the mental thinking space walking gives me too.  The mini-tramp is a quick alternative for those days that I am just not going to take 30minutes.  10min on the min-tramp is also a quick pick-me-up during the day.  The other benefit is that I can bring the mini-tramp inside to the airconditioner if I miss the cool of the day.

Today we have one of Nomi’s friends staying the night and she needs to catch the school bus.  She needs to be at the end of our road at 7.20am!!  So it will be the mini-tramp for me today!

Jun. 23, 2008 - Bootcamp for the Sluggard - what is this?

Here are my notes so far on my current bootcamp - intensive, intentional training - on diligence / responsibilitity issues.

Here are the three direct links

post 1 - overview

post 2 - know your goal

post 3 - finish your work

This is an ongoing training period - no doubt I will post more teaching moments as we work on this.

Jun. 23, 2008 - Bootcamp for the Sluggard – Finishing the job

I previously wrote about being thorough and knowing the goal for the moment – knowing what needs to be done and keeping our focus on that.  The next thing bootcamp is going to cover is finishing the job.  What constitutes a finished job?

• Everything I was asked to do is done
• I have done my best
• I have put away all my tools
• I report back to mum

It is the reporting back that we will be focusing on now.  I will expect the following words, “Mum, I am finished …….. (insert whatever job was just completed) What would you like me to do now”. (or something similar)  The idea is that the children tell me what they have finished and are available for further instruction. 

Jun. 23, 2008 - Patience

When I feel annoyed

I need to stop and think Patience

Recognise the difficult situation

Consider my priority

Decide to change myself