June 24, 2009

Venn diagrams sound like a fancy and difficult math concept, but instead they make a great math activity for toddlers and up:

1. Grab a handful of candy, colorful cereal, a set of toys, or anything else you can think of that can be classified into groups.
2. Make two circles with shoelaces, cut-out from card stock, chalk on the sidewalk, etc.
3. Have your child start describing characteristics of your set:  colors, sizes, shapes, number of legs, clothing, etc.  Pick two.  Then start sorting them into the appropriate circles, with items that have BOTH characteristics in the middle where the two circles intersect.

Here are a few examples:

• Colors:  Blue candy in the left circle, red candy in the right circle, purple candy (it is BOTH red and blue) in the center where the circles intersect.
• Shapes:  Shapes with straight lines in the left circle, shapes with curved lines in the right, a shape like a heart that has both in the center.
• Toy animal:  Animals with hooves in the left circle, animals with tails in the right, and animals with both hooves and tails in the center.

More fun ideas:

• Eat the ones in the middle when you’re done.
• Close your eyes and the other person moves one item to the wrong section – see if you can figure it out.
• Sort without telling the other the criteria and see if they can guess your sorting rules.
• Add a third circle to make it more tricky.

Enjoy!

Posted under Homeschool Activities, Math Curriculum

March 16, 2009

It’s not homeschooling that is so hard, per se, it’s all the extra housework.  My house is being lived in, spilled in, colored in, eaten in, and on and on, all day long, when most other kids are in school.  This means more housework that the average family.

How is all this extra housework a plus?

• Responsibility:  The kids are tortured blessed with many more opportunities to learn to clean up after themselves and take care of their things than their school-going friends.  Seriously, though, you have to work out a way to share the household responsibilities if you don’t want to dissappear under mountains of laundry.  I think this is valuable life training for the kids that teaches them accountability, how to self-start, and prepares them for that first college dorm or apartment of their own.

Here are some ideas to make it fun:

Sorting: 

Don’t waste school time doing sorting worksheets in a math book when you have real life!  When you start looking you’ll be amazed how much of your housework is sorting!

• Sorting groceries – When you come home from shopping make putting away the groceries a sorting game.  Throw in a timer and if everything is on it’s right shelf before time is up, share a treat or game together.  (Knowing where all the ingredients are comes in handy next time you send someone for a can of something while cooking dinner.)
• Sorting laundry – Start when their young, and kids actually think playing the “Who’s shirt is this?” game is fun.  A bit of silliness pretending Daddy’s shirt belongs to the baby goes a long way with the 3-year-old crowd.
• Sorting toys into containers of ‘sets’ like Legos, cars, outdoor toys, etc.
• Sorting everything off the floor of their room into separate piles:  clothing, toys, trash, books, and bedding.

“I can do it myself.” 

Kid’s may stop saying this after age 2, but I don’t believe they stop thinking it.  I think kids of all ages long to feel appreciated for their work and have confidence that they can do a challenging task well.  Here are a few ideas to share the household work at the same time you help your children to learn:

• Picking out clothes to wear – Get over your fashion sense and let your kids wear what they can pick out and put on themselves.  If there are some particularly horrendous choices, you may want to do a clothing class about plaids, patterns, and colors and which ones go together the best – but at a different time than when they are dressing.
• Cooking, plus how to use the stove and a sharp knife – These are great skills and confidence builders for the ‘Tween’ crowd.  Plus, food preparation takes a huge chunk of a busy mom’s time.  Share the duties as soon as your kids are able.  Check out this article about the lessons kids learn in the kitchen.
• Encourage older kids to help out younger siblings:  Reading stories, with their ‘chores’ like cleaning up toys, getting dressed, playing games with them, etc.  They develop confidence and responsibility, plus it helps develop close relationships between siblings.
• Event planning:  Put the kids in charge of planning their own birthday party, a playdate, parts of a vacation.  It may be extra work teaching them how to do it the first few times, but it will pay off in less work later and again, more confidence building life skills for your kids.

Basically, homeschooling is life and life is homeschooling.  If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by everything you have to get done, stop doing it by yourself.  Look at your kids, involve them in your life, your work, your chores.  You are a family making a home and learning about life together, not by yourself.  And, amazingly, you’ll find that common household tasks have a lot to teach your children.  Here are some from our house:

Making herbal ointment 

Picking garden veggies.

Pounding bread is a favorite at our house!  Check out the following video:

Posted under Homeschool Activities, Parenting

March 11, 2009

Blueberry pie cups, carrot cake, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (batch #1 VERY salty), and biscuits a bit like hocky pucks?

Guess what my 9-year-old has been doing for school this week?  Well in a bit of a fit, we threw our school work out the window (figuratively) and decided to try doing a ‘Project Week’.  My idea.  So, the older two kids could pick anything they wanted to learn, work on, create, build, etc., and would put in some effort every day with the goal being to show and/or demonstrate what they’d done to the rest of the family at the end of the week.

We had a mis-start with a Volcano lapbook (He wouldn’t spend time on it on his own, which defeats the purpose.  So I said, “Throw it away, and pick something you really want to do this time.”).  Then I suggested he take a cookbook and pick anything he wanted to make and do one recipe a day.  Success!  He loves poring through the book and making anything he wants, preferably desserts!

How is this school?  What could he possibly be learning?

• How to read fractions.  (math)
• How to read measurements.  1t of salt is NOT the same as 1T of salt.  A partially filled cup of flour is not the same as 1 C of flour. (math, again)
• How to be careful around sharp knives, hot stoves, food processor blades.  (safety, operating small equipment, electricity, heat transfer, science, responsibility)
• “Why is cooking even worth it if no likes what you make and throws it in the garbage?”  He says, with tears in his eyes after the very salty ‘gaggy’ cookies. (So, empathy for Mom cooking all these years)
• Following a recipe.  (reading comprehension, sequenced directions)
• All stages of a project:  planning, preparation, execution, and clean-up. 
• (Here’s the clean-up rule that works for us:  I come into the kitchen like a detective trying to find some evidence that he was cooking.  When I can’t, he’s done.  Except for the finished food, of course, which my son informed me is also evidence he was cooking.  Hmmph!  Kids are such lawyers!) 
• Seeing your work appreciated, when we all devoured the pies, cakes, and 2nd batch of cookies.  (achievement, accomplishment, pride in new ‘adult’ skills, growing up)
• And best of all, spending time doing something you enjoy, serves others, and is school, all at the same time.

(I’m hoping we can transition him to a love of good EXERCISE programs after this cooking stint!)

How to you get your kids involved in the kitchen and cooking?  Any good tips?

Posted under Homeschool Activities, Homeschool Life

March 5, 2009

If you’re looking for a fun idea for school these next couple weeks, try following the Iditarod Race which starts in two days – Saturday, Mar. 7th.

Learn about and follow the race at:

• The official Iditarod Website
• Why learn about the Iditarod?
• All about the Iditarod Trail
• The Iditarod Webquest - a fun project outline with lots of ideas.
• What about the dogs?
• Dog Sled Anatomy

And don’t forget the great E-Iditarod Project that starts every year in January and involves the kids making a map of Alaska, selecting a musher and team to follow, and following the progress of their team on the race by posting to a blog as ‘their’ team reaches each checkpoint.  Here we are making our map of Alaska for the project:

Enjoy!

Posted under Homeschool Activities, Social Studies Websites

February 19, 2009

We’ve been gone a bit, enjoying a fun vacation at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio.  Not only did we love running around in shorts, T-shirts, and swimsuits in the middle of February, but we were there with a huge group of Homeschoolers as part of the Unschoolers Winter Waterpark Gathering.  ’Unschooling‘ basically means that you don’t stick to any specific homeschool curriculum.  Instead, you use life to learn and encourage your children’s interests. 

The week was packed with lots of swimming and so many activities that we were running all over the place:  Webkinz parties, Pokemon trading, a Kid’s Marketplace, Dungeon’s and Dragons games, video games, two Talent Shows, dance workshops, a Medieval Ball and tons more!

Here are a few pictures of our fun (and socialization, which we take very seriously as homeschoolers – ROFL)

Our beautiful Princess in her ball gown and hat for the grand finale, the Medieval Ball!

Showing off his own dance moves – the definition of EXUBERANT!  Why can’t I suck off some of their energy and use it myself??

He won the 1000 ticket jackpot in the arcade – and it took him FOREVER to decide how to spend them.

His favorite moment of the Conference:  buying his own bag of cotton candy at the Kid’s Marketplace.

And dressing up in the kid’s lounge is always fun!

Sometimes homeschooling is just way too much fun!  We love this life!

Posted under Field Trips, Homeschool Activities

January 26, 2009

Last month, we found the Iditarod Project (thanks, Beth!), and the kids have been having a blast working on it - always a great time in homeschool life.

The first activity is to make a map of Alaska and the Iditarod Trail.  After considering the daily danger to all fragile items in our boy and toddler-heavy household, I wasn’t so excited about making a large paper map.  It didn’t take much imagination to see ripped map pieces, corners disolved by drool, and chunks of paint being pulled off the wall by tape gone crazy.

Good thing someone more creative than I suggested using a bedsheet to make the map. 

Whalah!  We did a quick math lesson on scale, made 8 x 8 inch squares out of cardstock, and the kids got busy marking a grid on the map in pencil.  (Hey, that laundry in the background is clean, at least)

The next day, we transfered the outline of Alaska, the rivers, the Iditarod Trail, and the cities.  After a discussion of map legends, my oldest designed a cool symbol for the cities, including one with a star in the middle for the capital.  (Since everyone has to be involved at our house, the 3-year-old made his own unsupervised permanent marker line across the scale line – at least he didn’t get the carpet!)

We outlined everything in permanent marker.  To remove the pencil marks, we washed the sheet with the regular mountains of laundry.  And finally, we hung the map proudly on the banister in our entryway.  (Who needs interior decorators when you homeschool?)

We’re also reading Dogsong by Gary Paulsen together to get more of a feel for Alaska and some of her culture.

We’ll keep you posted on our progress. 

Meanwhile, check out these other homeschoolers who have also done/are doing the Iditarod project:

• Go Alongs Homeschool Blog
• Delighting in His Richness Homeschool Blog
• Chai School Homeschool Blog
• Green Timber School Blog

If you’re also joining in, post a comment and link about your progress and experiences!

Posted under Geography Websites, Homeschool Activities, Social Studies Websites

November 26, 2008

Looking for some fun Thanksgiving Day activities?  Check out Enchanted Learning.  The site has over 20,000 pages full of printable worksheets, crafts, books, and activities on almost every topic imaginable.  I’ve enjoyed using it for years whenever I need a hand-on activity to go with what we’re currently learning. 

The only downside:  it has changed some of it’s content to membership only.  Many of the printables are free, but some are not.  If you end up using the site extensively, it may be worth it to you to pay the small $20/yr membership cost, which gives you access to printable versions of every page along with an ‘ad-free’ site.

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite site for printables of worksheets, crafts, and activities?  Share it with us in the comment section.  Thanks!

Posted under Homeschool Activities, Homeschool Websites

November 18, 2008

(This is the second in a series demonstrating how easy it is to homeschool by using everyday moments like these during our recent vacation as teaching opportunities)

Here is a sample of all the art classes we had on vacation:

Halloween Theatre - starring Grandma as “Witch Zaugg” in her annual presentation covering such topics as “Where Do Pumpkins Come From?” and “You may wonder how I ever got a husband”.

Talk about art!  We joined our Utah family for their annual crazy marathon pumpkin carving event.  Here’s Alex’s Darth Maul. 

Check out the amazing line-up of all the pumpkins everyone carved!

And to top of the art lessons, we learned all about fondant and cake decorating from Aunt Lynette who spent a whole day making this awesome R2D2 cake for Alex’s 9th birthday party.  Amazing, isn’t it?

Who says you have to go to school to learn?  Why not find ways to learn while experiencing life?  It’s so much fun.  Don’t you think?

Do you have fun ideas for adding art to your homeschool adventure?  Please share with us in the comment section.  Thanks!!

Also in this series:

• Part 1:  Science Classes
• Part 3:  Gym Classes
• Part 4:  Language Arts
• Part 5:  Socialization

Posted under Field Trips, Homeschool Activities, Homeschool Crafts

November 5, 2008

Do you need an idea to help cram more learning time into all the busy work or errands you run during the day?  Here’s a great and easy idea:  Teach about maps.

1.  Use Google Earth to teach the concept of maps with this amazing software program you can download and install for free.  My kids love ‘flying’ anywhere in the world and then zooming down to street level to explore.  Give them a location to find, like their own house, and watch how quickly they learn to identify continents, states, cities, and on down until they find their own street.

2.  Buy a compass:  Get an inexpensive compass for each child and introduce the concepts of north, south, east, and west as you are driving in the car.  Who knows, you may improve your own sense of direction.

3.  Make a neighborhood map and have fun learning about some of the following concepts:  

• Taking measurements:  Discuss ways to measure your neighborhood like using the odometer, counting their own steps, or a measuring wheel.  A fun idea is to make your own measuring wheel using a stroller, bike, or something with a wheel.   Make a visible line on the wheel, measure the circumference and do a bit of math to measure distances.  
• Scale:  Once you have measurements, teach how to reduce them to a scale that will fit on graph paper.
• Beginning geometry:  Introduce graph paper, angles and curves to get an accurate map.
• Legend:  Introduce symbols to represent items on your map.  Have kids practice observation skills and keep a list of things they notice in the neighborhood.  This provides ideas for their map legend.  Ideas include symbols for houses, trees, fire hydrants, businesses, etc.
• Art and creativity in color coding and illustrating their maps will make the project fun a well-rounded learning experience.

4.  Map your destinations.

• Next time you need to run errands, think ahead and give your child the assignment to map the location, print a map, and then direct you as you drive.  Start simple and close by, which is perfect for many of your everyday errands.  Use free mapping sites like Yahoo, Google, or Mapquest.  What a fun way to learn what makes up an address, their home address, the names of streets, etc. 

So, next time you hop in the car and wonder how you’ll get all your schooling done, pull out a map and let your kids enjoy learning where they are in the world.

Posted under Homeschool Activities

October 3, 2008

Are you feeling a little panicked about the idea of snow, and kids being confined indoors all day?  Well, not all day.  You can spend 20 minutes outfitting the crew in hats, gloves, boots, and snowsuits before sending them out in the cold.  The problem is, they’ll just be back in 4 minutes 30 seconds to either go to the bathroom or because it’s just too cold.  Then you’ll spend another 20 minutes undoing the whole process and have a puddles of melting snow and a pile of wet clothes to show for it.  And, if you’re lucky a few smiles and happy red noses.  (And for those of you without a freezing cold winter, try not to gloat)

So, in this beautiful fall weather, all I can think is, “Go out and play, play, play.  Hurry, winter is coming!”  But it wouldn’t be homeschool life if we weren’t learning something along the way.  Here is a fun resource for fall walks and explorations:

International Paper used to send out free kits about forests, trees, and how trees are used, but due to overwhelming response (probably from homeschoolers), they have been out of stock for a while.  But they have made the resources available in free PDF format here.  A fun idea is to print up the ‘leaf and needle’ or ‘seeds’ poster on some cardstock, put some clear laminate over it to protect from happy grubby fingers, and have a treasure hunt.  Give each kid a bag and see how many of the different leaves and needles they can find on a walk.

And, finally, this is another of our favorite leaf charts to take on a walk – I know I’ve never really looked at a leaf closely until I tried to identify the shape, margin, and venation.  Thank you Wikipedia!

Do you have any fall activities you enjoy as homeschoolers and as a family?  Please post them in the comment section.  Thanks!

Posted under Homeschool Activities