More results…

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages

Category: Homeschool For Success

  • Just Add Snow-Day “Specials” Pt.1

    Just Add Snow-Day “Specials” Pt.1

    As your homeschool finds its New Year’s groove again, one way to smooth away some of the rough patches is to build in some Snow Day fun on those cozy afternoons. By sprinkling “specials” often reserved for breaks and holidays into your everyday school routine, you can keep the joy of homeschooling alive and dust away those winter blues. From one homeschooling mama to another, here is part one in a series of favorite “fun-tivities” for winter, with this week’s focus on outdoor/indoor snow ideas!

     

    • Snowtubs! This has been one of my children’s absolute favorite snow-day activities literally since they were born. Simply take a shallow, plastic, under-bed storage container and fill with snow and bring inside. Infants and toddlers explore, touching and tasting snow, while preschoolers enjoy building an indoor snowman, scooping and dumping snow with measuring cups, or creating an imaginative wonderland in the tub with toys. (This is also a wonderful sensory activity for parents to occupy younger children while helping olders with their schoolwork!)

     

    No snow in your area? No problem! Add science into the mix, filling a tub with Insta-Snow (found online https://www.amazon.com/Be-Amazing-Insta-Snow-Makes-Gallons/dp/B000FA6APE or make your own with Pinterest recipes!)

     

    • Spray paint snow—When it’s not too cold to venture out on a winter afternoon, add an empty spray bottle filled with water and some liquid watercolor paint or food coloring. Put different colors in each bottle and designate a snowy area of your yard to become your child’s outdoor canvas. Older children may enjoy leading younger siblings on an animal tracking adventure in the snow with the spray bottles. Explore around your yard, or a local park to spot different animal tracks, allowing younger children to squirt each discovery with the watercolor spray! For further fun, take pictures on your phone of the animal prints and enjoy looking them up together after the hike!

     

    • Sledding—Snowy days also often provide the best incentive for children to work quickly and well in order to be able to head over to the sledding hill when work is complete. There is nothing my children enjoy more than when mom and dad join in the fun, and if this is a possibility for you—do it! I highly encourage all parents to jump on a sled with your children at least once this season, or if your children are old enough, perhaps try something new together like snowshoeing or skiing.

     

    • Snow forts are another timeless favorite, and a great way to have your children work together planning, designing, and building together, (with some strength training P.E. in there with all that shoveling to boot!)

     

    • And if snow is not an option on your cozy afternoon, a table, some chairs and a pile of blankets are all it takes to make some really cool blanket forts. Just add books, some stuffed friends, and perhaps some homemade hot chocolate.

     

    • Snowcakes—Another indoor special for when the temperatures are too cold to play outside for long—snowcake-decorating sessions. Fill pie and cake pans with snow to bring indoors, set out watercolor paints and brushes over towels on the kitchen floor and let imaginations run wild! My own children would invite friends over and work diligently for hours designing their chilly creations.
    • If a blustery day isn’t forecasting snow, REAL cakes made by free-range chefs are always a cozy-day “special” as well! Grant your children permission to just experiment in the kitchen baking their own cake creations! Adults set limits of the ingredients allowed and man the oven, but other than that, let your children have the time of their lives cracking eggs, pouring milk, whisking flour everywhere, adding food coloring for fun. This is also a great opportunity to get rid of any unwanted Christmas candy! –Let them bake it ALL into their cakes! (Definitely about the process not the product!) …and for all you Type A’s out there—2 words: Plastic. Tarp.

    Try a few of these ideas several times a week, and hopefully as the temperatures drop, your homeschool’s attitude will begin to soar!

     

    Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series with a focus on favorite winter reads!

  • Just Add Snow-Day “Specials” Pt. 2

    Just Add Snow-Day “Specials” Pt. 2

    When the temperatures are too cold to be outside for long afternoon breaks, games are a perfect way to bring families together, while also reinforcing skills needed for learning. Here are this homeschooling mama’s top picks for beating winter blues through fun and games! 

    Littles

    • Cranium Hulabaloo teaches shape and color recognition while letting children get their wiggles out at the same time! Mats of different shapes and colors are scattered across the floor, and an electronic device shouts out different ways for children to get to the nearest designated mat. Lots of fun for all, and helps young children learn to follow directions as well.
    • Chutes and Ladders, while a childhood staple and classic, still is brand new fun for your preschoolers and provides counting practice and number recognition. Fun ways to put a new twist on this game—let your children use their favorite small toy figurines in place of game pieces. In our house we have also played an Opposite Day version, where a player gets to walk up the slides and climbs down the ladders, or we start at the finish and subtract our way to the start!
    • Memory builds visual memory skills critical for recognizing letters and numbers, as well as sight words in reading. A fun way to help little ones feel connected to out-of-state extended family is to make up your own Memory game with family photos! Simply print off doubles of favorite pictures of grandmas, grandpas, cousins and more; glue to colored cardstock squares, and then play! (You may want to laminate.)

    Elementary-Aged

    • Qwirkle is a great strategy game to bust out that the youngest in your family will be able to enjoy alongside older siblings and parents. Children build on math skills by looking for ways to build patterns, matching colors or shapes, and adding up points as they do so. Planning, patterns and problem-solving skills make this the perfect game to pull out when a math lesson ends in tears.
    • Scrabble Alphabet Soup incorporates all the senses into spelling fun. Children love taking turns shaking up all the letter tiles in the pot, scooping them out in a hurry to see who can match all the letters to their word first. This game is great for letter recognition, phonemic awareness and strengthens early literacy skills through hands-on fun!

    Want more spelling challenge for older elementary? Try the Campbell’s Alphabet Dice Game, where players simply throw the dice and spell words.

    • Guesstures (a modern take on Charades) is another family favorite that bridges all age-gaps. Perfect for snowy days or family game nights, this game builds on children’s creative thinking skills, gets them up and moving, and emphasizes drama/theater skills!

    Middle School and Beyond

    • Dixit provides a fun-tastic break from everyday language arts, building storytelling skills and creativity with friends and family. While one player is chosen as the storyteller creating a sentence from an image on one of his six cards, the rest of the players have fun choosing a card from theirs which best matches the sentence.
    • Picwits is a similar game, building on creative connections and associations. All players have to choose one of their picture cards to best represent the judge’s caption card. *Warning some of the photos on a few of the cards could be a little frightening for younger players. Still, loads of laughs to brighten a dreary day!
    • Ticket to Ride is a grand adventure for a gloomy day, where players expand their geography knowledge and strategy skills as they plot to claim railway routes, build the longest continuous railroad, and try to complete the mission of their Destination Tickets.

     

    Just for Fun

    I just had to mention my family’s two favorite games for middles and beyond when we just want to laugh and have fun. Quelf, is simply a hilarious game of ridiculous rules being played out to avoid penalties. Perfect for an afternoon with friends, or a multi-family game night.

    And the top favorite new game in this family of artists is Telestrations. In this cross between Pictionary and Telephone, the less artistic the players are, the more fun and funnier the game becomes!

    Enjoy!

     

    Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series where we look at favorite winter reads!

  • Just Add Snow Day “Specials” Pt. 3

    Just Add Snow Day “Specials” Pt. 3

    Just Add Snow Day

    Just Add Snow-Day Specials– Books to Read and Read-aloud

    When the winter months seem to put a damper on your homeschool, breaking up your days with a sprinkling of “Snow-Day Specials” can be just the cure! Transform your family’s cabin fever by creating cozy-day fun with favorite books to read and read-aloud. Here are just a handful of my family’s favorite books to curl up with, along with some ways to add some “Wow!” 

    Littles

    In part 1 of this series I suggested building a blanket fort as a way to add some “Wow” to your day. A blanket fort, or “bear cave” for those days that were made for hibernating, is a perfect place for littles and not-so-littles to curl up with their favorite books. Fill with comfy pillows, stuffed friends, a flashlight, and join your child in some serious snuggling time with some of these winter’s day favorites for little ones:

    • The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
    • The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler
    • The Mitten by Jan Brett.
    • Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
    • Blizzard by John Rocco

    Not-so-Littles

    For children who are school-aged, dreary afternoons can be broken up by expanding on the stories they are reading or listening to, after and even during the story.

    Some favorites for early elementary aged children include:

    • The My First Little House Books series, including, Winter Days in the Big Woods, Sugar Snow, and Winter on the Farm. Older elementary students will love reading or listening to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s original Little House on the Prairie As a fun extension, take a winter field trip to a local farm! Everyone visits farms in the summer or fall, but find out if your children can visit a farm in winter to note the differences.
    • The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Classic Stories by Barbara M. Walker is another great extension for all ages to enjoy together. Have your children look through the book to cook up some afternoon treats based on the stories they are reading!
    • A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond is best read after cooking up some homemade biscuits or scones with your children and enjoying with some of Paddington’s favorite marmalade, along with tea in special cups.
    • Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater can be read aloud while children listening design their own special penguin homes, castles or towers using sugar cubes or mini marshmallows and glue.
    • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. A favorite activity for younger siblings as well is to make homemade play dough and then add in cocoa powder. The chocolate-scented play dough provides the perfect catalyst for children to act out their own chocolate factory and come up with some crazy fun inventions! (*I save all the boxes from Valentine’s Day chocolates to pull out for days like this, and the children love filling them with their own chocolate-dough creations!)

    Middles and More

    While the entire family may enjoy hearing these enchanting tales read aloud, olders can share in with the reading or help set up the perfect bookish afternoon. Make up hot chocolate (add whip cream for extra yum-factor!) Light a candle or two and read by candlelight. Set out art supplies: drawing paper, markers, colored pencils, or paints—many children enjoy creating scenes or even maps from read-alouds with different mediums as they listen. Some may create interpretations with Legos! In our home, we call it “active listening.” Here are a few picks to get you started:

    • The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
    • The Green Ember series by S.D. Smith’s
    • The Giver by Lois Lowry
    • The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book 1 The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
    • The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (a timeless classic perfect for ALL ages!)
    • The Wingfeather Saga series by Andrew Peterson

    Venture to your local library and grab some of these favorites, perfect for any day—but ESPECIALLY a Snow Day! Happy homeschooling!

  • Is It Me? My Child? Or the Curriculum? What to do when homeschooling frustrations abound

    girl-blog

    Happy November! Time for mid-school year self-evaluations! I sat down with Debra Bell for practical advice on trouble-shooting your homeschool.

    This week we look at how to pinpoint the root of homeschooling frustrations, and 4 steps to help when the source of the issue is . . . you.

    1.Trouble-shoot.

    Heather Eades: Many of us are now several months into our school year, and re-examining the investment we made in the year’s curriculum. What are some questions to be asking through this process?

    Deb Bell: We need to be asking, “What’s working, what’s not ? What do I need to adjust or flex to make the rest of the year a success and help my child feel successful? Give yourself permission to stop and take a break to pinpoint issues. 

    2. Shift your focus from a curriculum-centered plan to a child-centered plan.

    HE: Can you share some personal experience you have in doing this as a home educator?

    DB: When asked what homeschool method I ascribed to, I always said my homeschool approach was intentional and strategic. And in order to be that, you have to be child-centered. So, at this point in the year I would look at each of my kids, and I would take a day—strategic and purposeful—to sit down and think about, “How is each kid doing? Where do I see focus? Where do I see interest? And if I saw those things, then I knew, “It’s working; I don’t need to adjust.”

    HE: And when did you know to make changes?

    DB: When I’d identify where any of my kids were losing self-confidence, were discouraged because they couldn’t be successful, or where I saw a lack of motivation and interest. I always want each child to feel successful—I can’t overemphasize how important a child’s own sense of success and accomplishment is. That doesn’t mean a child should expect things to feel easy. Hard is good. But sometimes parents may persist with a curriculum or resource even when their children are failing, or their confidence is being undermined. Many parents don’t know what to do, so they just keep going. When kids are losing confidence, parents really need to stop and assess.

    3. Set aside your timetable; adjust to the pace your child needs.

    HE: If a parent has been pushing through a curriculum for quite awhile, without seeing gains, would you suggest backtracking–not being bound by a grade level?

    DB: (laughs) I avoided buying resources that had specific grade levels for that reason. Dropping back might be an option, but just slowing down the pace often worked well for us. We can get very anxious about slowing down and moving at a pace that allows our children to be successful, but we really need to do that. Continually setting a pace that is beyond the child’s readiness is self-defeating. It only makes the problem worse. Whenever you’re undermining your child’s confidence, you’re actually making it much more difficult for that child to ever catch up or to ever like that subject. As a parent my goal is to make them confident in the subject. An inflexible schedule? That’s an issue with me. The schedule is not child-centered, and I need to change that.

    4.Give yourself permission to use curriculum as a guide.

    HE: I think many times, we parents feel like we have to keep pressing through a curriculum by the end of the year—we have to check all the boxes or we didn’t do enough. How would you respond to that as an educator?

    DB: I think parents often feel like that!  They feel like, “OK, we bought this curriculum, we’ve got to get through it by the end of the year!” But what many parents don’t realize is that as a classroom teacher, I never got through an entire curriculum in a year. Classroom teachers are very comfortable not doing everything. We’re picking and choosing, modifying (curriculum), not completing it. Give yourself permission to adapt, skip, or take a break.

     

    Next post: Is It Me, the Curriculum, or My Child Pt. 2: What to do when it is your child.

  • How to Homeschool Your Preschooler

    schoolboy-is-sitting-on-books

    All of us are homeschoolers for at least the first few years of our children’s lives (and I certainly concur with those who maintain parents are always their children’s primary teachers no matter how they are formally educated). So what is really important during these years, especially as it pertains to getting our kids ready for formal learning?  There are a few essentials we can summarize from the research:

    The soil matters – take two identical plants and plant one in depleted, dry soil and the other in rich, moist soil.  Would you expect any differences? You bet.  The same goes for kids. If you want to grow tomatoes, you need soil enriched with the nutrients tomatoes crave.  If you want to grow a brain, then kids need to be planted in an environment filled with the food a growing brain feasts on.   What are those nutrients?  Well here’s my food pyramid for cognitive growth:

    preschool-pyramid

    That’s the big 3.  Language means “live” speech, especially interactive speech — not the television buzzing in the background.  The latter’s a passive form of language acquisition and may provide some benefit if interactive conversations with caring adults are not provided, but it’s a poor substitute at best. Why language?  Because preschoolers need language in order to “think” about the experiences they are having.  Try capturing and storing an event in your memory where you do not have words to describe what you are seeing.  Near impossible, right? That’s why human brains work so much better than animals’ – we have the words to capture those memories and pass them on to the next generation. Language is how we encode our experiences so we can learn from them.

    30 million word gap.   Do you think a difference that big might matter?  That’s the difference in the amount of spoken language heard by preschoolers from middle class homes by age 3 and those born into poverty, a number of studies have repeatedly found.  (Read the initial one here.)  Is it the money making the difference? Not really.  It’s the amount of interaction between these preschoolers and their parents and the quality of language the more privileged kids are hearing.  The vocabulary is more extensive, the interactions are longer, and the range of topics broader.  I know a lot of my readers may not consider themselves middle class.  Actually plenty of us chose homeschooling because the cost of a quality education seemed out-of-reach.  Well, it doesn’t take money, fortunately, to ensure our young children get plenty of nutrients to help their brains develop fully.  Rather, we just need to mimic the actions of these middle class parents.  Talk to your kids about everything, even things you don’t know a lot about.  Let them hear you thinking aloud and pondering the mysteries of the world around you.  Ask them questions to help them use the words they do have and acquire new ones.  Beyond that, read aloud. This is the richest vein of nutrients you can mine to open up new worlds and give them words to think and learn.

    Coming up: warmth, experience

  • Making Memories Out of Milestones

    family_road_tripOne of the attractions of homeschooling is the opportunity to seamlessly fuse our children’s education with the rhythms of family life. One of the downsides, I learned, is children are never quite sure where they stand in terms of their educational progress.

    More than one of my four kids looked confused when a stranger asked, “What grade are you in, Honey?” When they were old enough to realize they could get rewards from local restaurants if they produced a report card, they held a summit and presented their demands:

    We want a definitive answer on our grade placement.  We further insist on report cards, recess, snow days, and back-to-school shopping trips. These are basic human rights.

    In the early years, I was eager to throw off any trappings of a traditional education. My educational philosophy was learning all the time and the blurring of the lines between family life and the school day was an important part of living this out. It was a shock to end up with children who demanded that conventions be observed. In their view, they were being denied something of value. With experience, I came to see that many of these traditions create touchstone moments for kids—evidence of progress, achievement and maturity. While I loved homeschooling for its flexibility and informalities; my kids wanted a homeschool where rites of passage were duly noted and cultural conventions observed.

    Fair enough, I conceded, I agree to your terms, but I’m drawing the line at report cards for French fries. We will mark those milestones that are noteworthy and establish some traditions of our own.

    Now that my homeschool days are over, I have the benefit of hearing my adult children reminisce about their childhood and it is those traditions they remember. In hindsight, here are the takeaways I see from making those concessions:

    • Establishing traditions in our homeschools create meaningful memories for our children. These, in turn, contribute to what they value about their family.
    • Marking milestones gives kids a sense of accomplishment, and that produces motivation to keep exerting effort. Without recognition, enthusiasm can flag.
    • Observing cultural traditions; such as snow days or participation in organized sports, gives our kids a point of connection with their more conventionally-educated peers. Few kids want to enter the broader culture without some shared experiences in common.

    So what can we do to mark these memorable moments and make them meaningful? First, sit down and decide what kinds of memories you want to create with your children. Settle upon a few traditions you can achieve, especially those where the kids can help. Homeschool parents do not need more busywork or commitments they can’t keep.

    Here are some ideas:

    Back-to-School Shopping:  During the elementary years, my kids were happy to get new backpacks, a supply of pencils and, for my daughters, the latest flair pens and markers. Even though we weren’t really going anywhere, those backpacks became a great place to keep their supplies organized and out of sight. A lot of deals are available this time of year, but some are reserved just for teachers. Most companies who offer these incentives will extend them to qualified homeschool parents. Just ask.

    Once kids are pre-teens, then back-to-school traditions will surely include some serious clothes shopping. Here’s where you can kill two birds with one stone if you are shrewd: Most grandparents are looking for ways to be a part of their grandkids’ education – and at our house we made back-to-school shopping another opportunity for gift-giving (just for grandma!)

    Take a Photo:  One homeschool mom in our support group had the foresight to take a photo of her daughter posed on their front porch on the first day of school each year. Those charming pictures captured the history of her daughter’s fashion statements and youthful manias enshrined on each year’s backpack; from Aladdin to Lord of the Rings.

    Kick-off Field Trip: This was our family tradition, started when my sons complained about missing out on riding a school bus. I said I’d go one better, and we instituted a surprise field trip, often an overnight, as the official start of each school year.

    Family Recognition Night: Our local homeschool co-op ends the year with an awards ceremony that also doubles as a huge church social. Each family is given a table to display that year’s memorable accomplishments:  4-H awards, science projects, arts and crafts, photographs, creative writing or athletic competitions. Students man their tables and share their experiences with visitors and friends.  We found creating a broader audience for student work increases the amount of effort kids put into the work they display. It is just one more way to maximize a learning opportunity.

    The evening begins with a short program that features the musical or dramatic talents of some of the students; and the co-op teachers recognize outstanding achievements. The emcee also announces any distinguished accomplishments; such as, National Merit or Eagle Scout awards. The evening concludes with refreshments in the gymnasium. Family recognition nights are terrific PR opportunities to reassure your relatives; and it is a great way to end the school year on a high note by highlighting the progress each child has made.

    Part 2 coming soon. In the meantime, how do you mark milestones at your house?