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Dangerous Wonder
Jul. 18, 2009
Jumpstarting Their Minds
My previous post spoke of my children needing to be rebooted, if you will, from the summer brain drain of no structure. This week I decided to do just one thing each day to help their minds reactivate. Although Monday and Tuesday I was battling the syndrome I spoke of in previous post and decided to start this effort on Wed.
Here's what we did:
Monday ~ We came home from vacation and unpacked our stuff, mowed the lawn and what not.
Tuesday ~ We harvested lettuce and beets, played outside and canned beets. The kids were very scarce during that, I don't think they liked the smell very much!
Wednesday ~ I read two short chapters in our God's Design for Life series Botany book. It was on roots and we then went in the garden and I showed them carrot roots and some bulbs that I hadn't planted soon enough, but thought why not plant them anyway! Ha! They also remembered seeing the beets we pulled the previous day.
Thursday ~ We played Math Bingo. Thank you Target Dollar Spot! We refreshed our brains with some flashcards, then played a couple of rounds. The older two did a one game face-off of War with the flashcards. It was great to see them get back into thinking like that!
Friday ~ We went to the Library to redeem their points from the reading program there. They got some nice prizes and more motivation to keep reading for the next 2 weeks to see if they can get the top prize. We also checked out lots more books and discovered new series for them to get excited about. They were the epitome of book worms that day!
Saturday ~ We have been watching tv, reading, rollerblading/biking (the girls) and just relaxing..my son was sick all night with the stomach flu. So I've been doing laundry, catching up on my neglected blogs and cooking some Black Bean soup for tonight's dinner. Can't say today was much of jumpstarting their brains, but we've enjoyed some togetherness time.
I think doing a little bit of learning each day will help us when we start school up again full time.
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Feb. 12, 2009
Creative Homeschooling Moments
In my previous post I shared how we spent seven days with my precious niece around the house. What I didn't share was all the creative homeschooling going on that wasn't about the baby!
The girls were experimenting with making an ice rink for their American Girl dolls to "skate" on.
They used a metal jelly roll pan and filled it with water and some snow, then set it outside (which was -10!) to freeze.
Adding Snow!
Using the rolling pin as a "zamboni."
Adding more snow!
They were definitely using scientific reasoning and experimentation for this project! It was fun to listen to them talk through all their thought processes!
While the girls were busy with ice rink making, my son and I played Star Wars Monopoly to help him with his addition/subtraction and money counting skills.
Schoolin' is hard some days, but someone's gotta teach them these skills!
He was thrilled to play a game with Mommy and we had loads of fun taking over the galaxy!
My oldest practiced her fiber industry skills and resourcefulness by crocheting a sweater and shorts for her Barbie doll without a pattern! It was a fabulous way to use all her leftover remnants of yarn!
She is so talented! I am so amazed at her skills!
My youngest made us a very creative snack!
We were all out of graham crackers for the classic snack the kids love ( peanut butter and chocolate chips on top). So she improvised and used mint flavored gingersnap cookies from Sweden.
It was so yummy! Culinary artist for sure!
Hope you enjoyed our creative homeschooling moments! We had a ball! What are some of your creative homeschooling moments?
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Oct. 4, 2008
My First Lapbooks
With the buzz all about lapbooking floating around cyberspace, I thought I'd share with you my first lapbooks that I created a couple of years ago when I first heard about these new things!
I took some of the extra pages from our Pre-K/K workbooks that we were through with and put it all to use in a lapbook! You can do this too with all those extra pages that are too cute and too useful to throw away!
Alphabet Lapbook
This is the outside of my single file folder. I used scrapbooking paper and letter stickers.
This is the inside. Very simple, but cute for little people to use to learn.
I made a pocket with a brad for the tie fastener (ribbon) to keep it closed.
It holds the laminated Alphabet cards from the workbook.
This is an alphabet strip to pull out.
Fun accordian action for your little one!
Basic Zaner-Bloser Alphabet handwriting reference sheet I found online somewhere for free.
Numbers Lapbook
Picture from one of the workbooks glued on the front. This folder is not folded fancy, just left as is.
Here is the first inside section. The page with the kids on it is a workbook page with a cute song on it and it is glued to a piece of cardstock.
Simple pocket to hold the game pieces. You also see a simple number line above the pocket.
Cute game pieces from one of our past Math curriculums.
The second section of the lapbook. A one hundred chart, another number line and one more cute page from a workbook with a cute number song on it.
Underneath the 100 Chart are envelopes holding laminated number cards for a matching game.
Another number line underneath the first one and skip counting to 20. I used scrapbook number stickers.
So there you have it, 2 incredibly simple, yet functional and cute lapbooks that help the little ones learn their basics. I used everything I already had on hand floating around and needing a home in my homeschool land! It was a great recycling effort! I'm sure you all may have some of the same things lying around just waiting to be used! Oh, I feel so green! LOL!
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Mar. 17, 2008
Homeschool Hockey
We finished our first ever season of Homeschool Hockey! This was a first not only for us, but for our new Homeschool Hockey group! They met one day a week for 1.5 hours of ice time. My ds couldn't skate very well the first few practices, but by the end, he said he felt like he was flying and forgot about his feet!
DD 8 (almost 9)
DS6 (almost 7)
My husband was thrilled that his kids could play just like he did at their age! He was also quite excited to see them in his old hockey jerseys from back in the day.
DD taking a break
DS and DH on the ice after practice. There were tons of dads that would take off work early to help coach these guys. So cool!
Being that this was a first for me with everything, the beginning of the season I was a wreck on hockey days worried that I wouldn't know how to help them put on their gear and how to orchestrate everything. By the end, I was a bonafide Hockey mom! Ha Ha! Now I just need to learn all the rules!
Our humongous hockey bag and gear!!!!
My brave son who now LOVES to play hockey!
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Jan. 4, 2008
A Moment of Spontaneous Learning!
On January 2nd of this wonderful New Year called 2008, I was getting ready for the day in my room when I heard this, "Shhhh.....be quiet. We don't want Mom to see this." Of course this received my immediate attention and I poked my head into the hallway and said, "You don't want me to see what?" All three kids had rather large pieces of ice in their hands. I couldn't figure out how they had these bocce ball sized ice things in their hands.
My oldest said that they had made water balloons the night before and put them in our garage overnight (clue as to how cold it's been around here lately!).
I had to stop and congratulate them for being curious and inventive and was quite pleased that they were doing "experiments" because they wanted to. You see, I had just been reading a chapter in the book Help for the Harried Homeschooler , by Christine M. Field, that was addressing this very spontaneous learning because of curiosity. I wasn't more than a few pages past this point when I heard my children's voices! Too funny!
Of course, the homeschool mom that I am thought instantly, "how can we capitalize on this?" It got as far as our bathtub with cold and hot water and then a spontaneous bath by the younger two.
Not bad for our first day of school since Christmas break! Albeit, we hadn't even begun school yet that early morning!
Balloons, water and sub-zero temperatures!
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Dec. 17, 2007
A Video To Make You Laugh!
Oct. 18, 2007
Pencil Blog Challenge
May. 29, 2007
Sewing 101
My daughter has been begging me all year to teach her how to sew on the sewing machine. Yesterday we went to the fabric store and got prepared for her first sewing lesson.
Yesterday I showed her step by step how to make the shorts she had picked out. (We had bought several different kinds of fabric to make her some new shorts.) So after she observed me from measuring, cutting, sewing and finishing the shorts, she was ready to tackle a pair today. This morning we cut out the shorts together and away we went. She did an awesome job! I am so proud of her!
The face of concentration....
look at that form!!!
ironing the casing for the waist band...don't burn your fingers!
"I can't believe I am doing this!!!" says dd8
look at her!!! she's so proud!!!
So there you have it! Sewing 101 project complete! I'm so glad we did this today! She is very proud and energized by her new skills she's developing!
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May. 18, 2007
Violin Lessons...Suzuki, traditional....other?
My big question at the moment is about violin lessons and what would be the best case scenario for everyone involved in our family!
My kids are 4,6 and 8 and could start violin with the suzuki method at a suzuki school. However, we would be out of the house 2 days a week just for that! 30 minute private lesson (per kid) and then group lesson 30 minutes away (each direction...sometimes 45-hour depending on traffic).
I know that most traditional teachers won't take kids until they are older, but I would like to start mine now. So I am gathering information trying to figure out how we can do this without the huge time commitment outside the house. I also play violin, but I wasn't trained with the suzuki method when I was young. I started when I was 10 or 11. I am contemplating teaching my kids myself....but I don't know if I am competent enough  ! I am sensing from the Lord that this is the direction I need to go in with them, but am really nervous about doing things correctly! I have done a lot of reasearch online about the concept behind the suzuki method and really like how it works. I also took my whole family (including my hubby) to the school some of my other friends take their kids to yesterday. It was a good feel for what suzuki training looks like. I also have put a hold on some books written by Suzuki at the library that I will be reading the next few weeks.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or comments about what has worked for you and your kids. I can't imagine that every homeschool family with violin playing kids started out in a suzuki school!?! Your input would be greatly appreciated!
Hope you all have a funny day!!!
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Mar. 20, 2007
New Sonlight Language Arts and other thoughts....
Well, all the buzz in the Sonlight world is about the new Language Arts program. Apparently Dr. Ruth Beechick was instrumental in getting this language program overhauled. I am most excited and most relieved to learn of this new improvement in the Sonlight world. I had a hard time this year wrapping my mind around the LA program with my kiddos. It seemed to be the thing that halted me the most...next to the instructors guide (IG). Okay...true confessions...read on...
With all my life lessons I have had this year, I have realized that my biggest challenge with homeschooling my precious children wasn't the program I was using, but the busyness of life I was attempting. I have blogged already about all the things I have cut out of my world to help curb my insane lifestyle of busyness. Now that I have come up for air and am assessing the damage done during my "life-lessons", I am realizing how much my world affects my children. From the state of cleanliness or lack of in the house to the running at break-neck speed from here to there. It all affects my kids ability to deal with stress, to focus on the task at hand, to answer respectfully, to be kind to their siblings, to have a servants heart, to use self-control....the list goes on.
My world is now refocusing to the way things should be. To slow things down and to get a grip on the things that were "flapping in the wind." The first thing that I have been striving for is control over the house. This, so far is ummmm.....needing lots of work. I realize how much I am scattered because of the state of things in this place. The next thing is regaining discipline in our lives and especially with the children. Yikes! So much territory to regain!!!! The next thing is control over school time...which is what I started this blog about....sorry about the tangent!
Sonlight was a brand new curriculum for our family to use this year. I wasn't real confident in the way things were supposed to be done when we started. So when my "insane busy" schedule started with all our outside commitments....this is when things started to explode for us. I basically shut down and couldn't wrap my mind around using this new "thing." I blamed the curriculum for a while, but then realized that it had a lot to do with me and my crowded brain. I couldn't think about lunch menus much less tackle a new way of doing school!
The Lord in His infinite wisdom has brought me to a place where I truly understand what it means to be dedicated to my family and to keep my priorities in place! There was a sermon a few sundays ago about marriage. One of the points was how our priorities need to be the following:
1. God
2. Spouse
3. Children
4. Vocation
5. Ministry
Basically, without this order, our world blows up and ceases to function properly. I don't know about you, but a lot of times #5 would take priority and then it would eventually mess everything up. Without God as my number 1 everything else falls apart. So my dear friends...I now am etching this priority on my brain so that I can keep first things first.
Another sermon that I heard this week by Dr. David Jeremiah was about how God put us on earth to accomplish certain things. Even though we are capable of doing lots of things, that doesn't mean we need to do everything. Just because we are able to do good things, doesn't mean that good thing is the best for our life right now. God has certain things for us to do and the rest is for someone else. So we must prayerfully consider what it is that we should be doing with our time. What does God want me to be doing with my time? I know without a shadow of a doubt that my job right now is to be the best wife and mother to my family that I can be. No one else can do that for me.My children need me. My husband needs me. This is the most important job in the world.
This week I am finally back to using my Sonlight core the way it is supposed to be used and the kids are loving school again. I am feeling good about what we are accomplishing each day and not trying to stuff too much in there because I'm feeling guilty about not touching all the bases! I know I am doing just enough for each day. I was questioning whether I would even do Sonlight next year. I was hesitant to recommend their curriculum....but now that I have my head where it's supposed to be, I can focus on the important tasks of life. I am very excited about the new LA program and pray that it will be a good fit for our family. The best part is that God is ultimately in control of our homeschool experience. He is our best resource, our best curriculum, our best teacher. May we all keep our eyes on Him no matter what curriculum we buy!
Thanks for stopping by! God bless you today!
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