October 27, 2008

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Did you think the alphabet blocks were a good ‘school’ idea for your toddler?  How about the kitchen set with the plastic knife so she could practice cutting pretend food in true Montessori style? 

Well, it’s all great until you come back from helping the older kids with their school, step on an alphabet block, hop around holding your foot only to slip on the plastic knife and crash to the floor.  If you can bite off any *#$%@ words (kudos to you), I have an idea that might make life a little easier . . . and cleaner.  Blanket Boxes! 

Telling a toddler to keep their toys in one area or one room is a close to impossible task, but with the help of a lap blanket and their toys sorted into boxed sets, you can make it much more manageable and keep your toddler busy while you work with your older children.

 Blanket Boxes are a simple enough idea:

• Make Blanket Boxes – Sort your toddler toys/school sets into boxed sets with lids that fit.  We like the dollar store plastic shoe boxes.  They’re cheap, a standard size that stacks, and I can always go get more of the same kind when I need to.
• Make Labels – Label them with big letters.  Hey, it’s never too early to introduce letters and reading.  You’ll be surprised at how quickly a toddler can recognize the word “FOOD” when it’s printed in large enough block letters on their box of toy food.
• Get a lap blanket – one per child.  Even better, let them go to the store with you and pick out one they like.  It increases the sense of ownership.  We like using the fleece lap blankets that come out in the fall and winter.  Finally, teaching them to fold up the blanket when they’re done is a great life skill that will come in handy at laundry time.
• Introduce “Blanket Time” or name it any catchy phrase you’d like.  If you can, choose a standard time of the day, like right after breakfast, after a nap, or as the first school activity.  This age child thrives on routine. 
• Teach the routine – When Blanket Time starts, show your toddler how to get their blanket, spread it out (more life skills:-) choose a blanket box, and then play for the set time, making sure to keep all the pieces on the blanket.
• Clean up – Best of all, when it’s time to clean up, you and your toddler can grab the four corners of the blanket to gather up the pieces and then dump them into the box.
• With an older toddler, you might store the boxes on an accessible shelf and introduce the idea of cleaning up one box and putting it away before getting out another.  (Oh how we wish our children would master this skill!!!)

How do you keep your younger children occupied and learning during school time?  Please share your ideas in the comment section.  Thanks!

Posted under Toddler Tips

October 24, 2008

This series wouldn’t be complete without at least one post on an awesome internet resource to help with phonics, so I’ll write about one of my favorites:  Starfall.com

This site is amazing!  If you only check out one internet educational site, this is it.  I stumbled on Starfall a few years ago and have watched the site improve and grow with new features all the time.  Here is an explanation of the site for parents.

The first thing I really loved about Starfall was the founder’s story.  Although Stephen Schutz went on to earn his PhD, he struggled to read as a 9-year-old and was always at the bottom of his class in reading.  As an adult, he was inspired to give something back that would help other children who were struggling like he was as a child.  How cool is that?

What we like:

• How interactive it all is.  The kids can click everywhere – on the letters to hear the sounds, on the characters to watch them do something funny, on the words to hear them read or sounded out, etc.  And it’s all very intuitive with big buttons even my 2-year-old can navigate.
• It’s progressive, starting with beginning sound and letter skills and moving all the way through advanced reading skills.
• My kids really enjoy the games, videos, and stories that go along with the early reading section.  It’s a fun way to reinforce early reading skills.
• You can buy books and other educational supplies that parallel the online phonics stories for a very reasonable price.  But even better for the bargain hunters in the group, they offer some great printable PDF documents for FREE.    You can print cut-up take home books, printing practice sheets, reading/writing journals and more.
• And my usual favorite, once again, it’s free

Do you have a favorite reading site online?  Please share it with us in the comment section.  Thanks!

Other Posts in this Series: 

• Part 1: The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading
• Part 2: The “I See Sam” Readers

Also, since this blog is still new, feel free to post links to articles and the website, or to email links and recommendations to friends.  The more readers the better!  Thanks!

Posted under Language Art Websites, Reading Curriculum

October 22, 2008

Do you have kids interested in space ships, rockets, airplanes, or the solar system?  Would you like some detailed, well-organized teaching guides for free?  Well, you might as well go to the experts:  check out NASA’s For Educators Website.

Here are some of my favorite resources they offer:

• Great teaching resources you can filter by grade or topic.  We really like the ‘Educator Guides’ when doing a unit study on a topic.  They are very complete, grade level appropriate, and outline fun learning activities like building a working model of a hot air balloon using plastic bags in this guide about flight for grades 2 – 4.
• Interactive Resources:  Lots of information, pictures, and fun for kids to explore including a ‘Buzz Lightyear Travels to Space’ feature.
• You can watch NASA’s TV online which includes educational programs with titles like Mars: What Would You Wear (3-12) and Frogs in Space (5-12).  Check out the TV Schedule here.
• NASA’s Kids’ Club has educational games, links, and pictures, along with the ability to choose games by skill level.
• If you need more than the electronic resources, you can order charts, CDs, and other supplies at a reasonable cost from their educational store.
• Tons we haven’t explored yet.  What a great site!

Thank you NASA for giving back to teachers and homeschoolers! 

Please share your favorite space and science resources with us in the comment section.

Posted under Science Websites

October 21, 2008

Practicing spelling lists can often be boring for kids, and we’re always looking for creative ways to make learning fun.

We found a great website that offers lots of great help for reviewing spelling lists:  Spelling City!

What we like:

• You can enter your own spelling lists, name and sort them.  Totally customizable!
• The ‘Teach Me’ section will read the spelling word to you, read the letters out loud, and then even recites a sentence using the word.  Their database has over 37,000 spelling words along with contextual sentences for each!
• The ‘Test Me’ section will read the words to you along with the contextual sentences and then you type the word into the testing box.  After the test you get a score and can even print a report showing your score along with all the words including correctly and incorrectly spelled answers.
• The ‘Play a Game’ section has nine games for a lot of fun reviewing.  Games include classics like HangMouse (Hangman), crossword puzzles, and word searches.
• Lots of Spelling Lists are already entered.  You can search among many spelling lists to find ones that suit your children.
• Parents can create a Login and then save and manage lists for kids to practice, so you don’t have to reenter the words each time.
• Did I mention it’s free?  You’re also welcome to make donations to support the site.

When I find sites like this, I take a moment to be grateful for dedicated people who do so much to share their skills and give back to society.  Thank you!

Do you have a suggestion for making spelling work more effective or more fun?  Please share it with us in the comment section.  I really appreciate the suggestions and feedback!

Posted under Language Art Websites

October 17, 2008

Looking for a fun and easy science experiment to spice up your homeschool day?

We love Steve Spangler’s science website!  We especially like the science experimentssection, where the experiments are grouped by category and have great instructions, pictures, and videos. 

The site is commercial and sells all kinds of science equipment, but they offer excellent free resources.  Plus, I think the products are great gift ideas as alternatives to more toys. 

This morning we did the very easy and fun “Screaming Balloons” experiment.  All you need are a few balloons, various hex nuts, and a penny for contrast:

(The kids were dancing because the deck was cold and they are in bare feet – Autumn, please don’t go yet!)

‘Make it a lesson’ ideas:

• Discuss what force is and how it is generated using mass and acceleration.  Demonstrate by hitting one of the balloons. 
• Discuss how changing the mass, changes the force:  Vary the mass you hit it with but keep the acceleration the same – for example, hit the ballon with a small paper clip versus a book. 
• Discuss how changing the acceleration changes the force:  Vary the acceleration – hit it slowly with your hand and then quickly.
• To introduce how vibration is generated in this experiment, roll a plate on it’s edge across the table and listen to the lack of noise it makes versus trying to roll a clunky object like a book, end-over-end across the table.  Put a penny in one of the balloons to demonstrate the lack of vibration.

Posted under Science Websites

October 14, 2008

If you’re looking for a great series to help your beginning reader gain confidence and skill one word at a time, this is a great one:

The “I See Sam” Readers

 Little Books Set 1 & 2

I learned to read from these little readers back in the 70′s before I went to Kindergarten.  I remember how excited I was to finish the last book in the stack of over fifty readers, and how disdainful I was when I went to kindergarten and the teacher began introducing a letter a week to us  

In my opinion, this is one of the best first reader series. 

What I like:

• Progressive addition of words – The first book has only three words: “I”, “See”, and “Sam”.  Each book builds on this reading vocabulary by slowly introducing new words.  What’s great about this compared to other early readers, is that there is never a word in the books that the child hasn’t seen before or learned to read.  For example, another phonics book may use lots of words ending in “-at”, but they’ll throw in random larger words the child can’t read, like ”The fat cat ran after the rat.”  The young reader may stumble over “after” and not be able to read the book ‘all by himself/herself’.
• With the “I See Sam” series, your child can read every word in each book.  It is a great confidence builder and sequential learning process.
• Funny and engaging stories - It’s amazing to me, but somehow these books can tell a funny story only using four or five words and line drawings.  Each of my kids have favorites.  “Remember how the bull knocked over Sam the lion because he dressed up like a king and had a cape on?”  or ”When Sis the Snake wanted Mit’s apple, so he tricked her into a hollow log and tied her in a knot so she couldn’t get it, but he shared with her in the end.” 
• Each book has reading aids and confidence builders in addition to the story including: a pronunciation guide, sound practice, word practice, new word list, and coming attractions to introduce upcoming words.
• Comprehension questions in small print at the bottom of many pages for added skill practice.
• See a sample ‘Little Book’ here.

What I don’t like:

• The cost:  Each set of 27 ‘Little Books’ is $30.  This seems a bit pricey to me, but our set has been through three kids now, so that spreads the cost out quite a bit.  In my opinion the first two sets are the crucial ones.  After completing the second set, my kids have developed the reading skills to move on to the more typical early readers available in most libraries at no cost.
• The books are paperback with cardstock covers, not glossy, and need more care to last through multiple uses by little hands.
• The line drawings look much like coloring books and are quickly used as such by crayons in those same little hands

Other posts in this series:

• Part 1: The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading
• Part 3: Starfall.com

Do you have a favorite first reader book or series?  Please share with us in the comment section.  Thanks!

Posted under Reading Curriculum

October 13, 2008

Learning to read is a huge milestone in a child’s life and can be a source of much concern for parents, thus all the fancy (and expensive) reading and phonics programs on the market.  My third child in now an ‘early reader’ and my fourth is just learning his letter sounds.  We’ve used a variety of programs to teach reading, so I am starting a short series to highlight our favorite and most effective methods.

First is simply a book, The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise.  It is my favorite of all the phonics instruction books I’ve used, available for less than $20 on Amazon.  It is also in many libraries or can usually be requested.  We purchased our own copy after renewing the library’s copy four or five times. 

What I like:

• The lessons are broken up into a page or two a day and are easy and short enough for the limited attention span of a young child.
• The lessons start with vowels and then move on to the consonants.  Both are taught with fun rhymes that were easy for my kids to learn. 
• The book doesn’t stop after the usual simple blends of “th” and “ch”, but goes all the way through ‘eigh’, ‘tion’, all the vowel combinations, and so on.  I was excited to finally find a phonics program that was complete.
• The reading parts in the lesson for the child are in larger print which is easier for their young eyes to see.
• There are lots of suggested game and activity ideas to supplement the lessons.
• There is an second section in the back with lots of ideas for preparing, teaching, and presenting reading instruction to children.
• The cost = about $20

What I don’t like

• Some of the reading parts in the lessons can get a bit repetitive or arduous for the beginning reader.  But, in the true tradition of homeschool, we have skipped parts, or taken a few days to master a particularly difficult lesson.

Other posts in this series:

• Part 2: The “I See Sam” Readers
• Part 3: Starfall.com

Do you have a favorite book that has helped you teach reading?  Please share with us in the comment section.  Thanks!

Posted under Reading Curriculum

October 10, 2008

There’s nothing like a activity with good instruction, quality materials, and zero cost to attract a homeschool family’s attention.  We just discovered the Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinics at our local hardware store.  They are scheduled every other week during the school year (once a month or so in the summer) and include some great hands-on crafts.  Best of all, it’s free!

Here’s what we liked:

• Easy online sign-up and clear information with project pictures for the next two clinics with a waiver you print and bring in with you.
• The project was from 10 – 11 am and we could arrive any time in that hour to do our project.
• The whole family, infant to age 8, was welcomed with the baby stroller parked at the edge of the room.
• Friendly Lowe’s employees readily helped us and were very patient.
• Awesome FREE Lowe’s apron for each kid with a slot for their name card.
• The building kit came in a bag with large, clearly illustrated directions.  The wooden pieces were all pre-cut and the nail holes were even pre-drilled for beginning ‘hammerers’.
• At the end, each child received a nice certificate and a cool patch (much like Boy Scout merit badges) to sew to their apron.  Some of the kids there had aprons almost completely full of patches.  What a great family tradition!
• We got to take the pirate ships home where they became a craft project for another day.  We painted the ships and when they dried, sprayed them with a lacquer (purchased at Lowes to seal and waterproof them.  The kids were very anxious to get them in the tub to test them out and make a few action figures ‘walk the plank’.  Bath time battles galore!
• Did I mention it’s totally free?

I hope you enjoy the clinics as much as we do.  Do you know of other good hands-on building and craft resources?  Please share them in the comment section.  Thanks!

Posted under Homeschool Crafts

October 9, 2008

With politics everywhere you look today, what a great opportunity to discuss and teach about the election, voting, democracy, women’s suffrage, The American Revolution, taxation without representation . . . ok, this is like the joke about how many homeschoolers it takes to screw in a light bulb:

One to hold the ladder while discussing stabilizing forces, one to check out a biography of Benjamin Franklin, one to analyze costs of turning on the light and the resulting monthly electricity bill, one to role play how to motivate the group effort . . .

Life is learning.  It’s really lots of fun, and not that hard

Back to the vote.  Here are some fun resources:

1. Inspired by memories of being taken to the voting booths by their own parents, Take Your Kids 2 Vote is an awesome website dedicated to helping instill the desire to participate and vote in our children.
2. PBS Kids has a site about the process of voting and how important each vote is.  Also, if you’ve seen PBS’s show Zoom, check out this “Zoom out the Vote” page for more election learning and fun.
3. For lots of great info and lesson plans find your local affiliate of Kids Voting USA.  If there isn’t one nearby, browse through some of the other websites on the page, most of the sites have a link to activites or lesson plans like these on Ohio’s Kids Voting USA site. 
4. CurrClick is having a mock election for kids.  They are a company that sells lots of high quality curriculum for decent prices and is also having specials on all their election time material.  (Plus, if you sign up for their email newsletter you’ll get a free downloadable product each week.) 
5. Texas Public Schools have a “Project Vote” and have posted some of the curriculum here.  (It is around the 8th grade level)
6. Washington State has a mock election and great election curriculum posted here that is sorted into three grade ranges.
7. Finally, check out the National Student/Parent Mock Election for more great information on how to get involved.

(And for the parents who are looking to untangle all the rhetoric, I just discovered FactCheck.org, which seems to offer unbiased and referenced clarifications of the issues, voting records, and accusations on all sides.)

I hope you enjoy these resources.  Do you have any ideas on teaching children about the election process?  Please share with us in the comment section.

Posted under Social Studies Websites

October 6, 2008

Teaching kids about the bigger world outside their community is lots of fun, and even easier with this great site of printable outline maps. 

There are outline maps of the continents, lots of countries, The United States of America, and much more.  Do you have a child learning the states and capitals?  Try this pdf with labels to learn from, and this one without labels to practice with.  There is plenty to beef up any geography lesson!

This is a great resource offered by the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.  Check out the other classroom resources they offer.

(Do you have a favorite geography website?  Please add one to the comment section.  Thanks!)

Posted under Geography Websites