Clay Day
/At a local craft store, my girls cashed in on a 40% off coupon, wrapped their arms around seven pounds of clay and hurried home to the kitchen table. Clay creations came alive. Our table was covered in gray dust. We used several resources to learn more. One, Fun with Modeling Clay, was penned by one of our favorite children's author illustrators, Barbara Reid. Barbara wrote Two by Two which she illustrated with clay figures. Creative and intriguing to my children.
Later, our oldest daughter made some cooked play dough, a huge hit with the little learners in our home. She used the crumbled water-stained recipe card* I used when I taught preschool. Gathering ingredients, she measured each and combined in a medium cooking pot, cooking on medium heat until the dough formed a ball.
.
Playdough
1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
1 c. water
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tsp. cream of tartar
*The old recipe was hand-written on a piece of scrap paper and given to me by a mentor teacher. No idea where the teacher found it.
Digging Deeper
On our clay day we spent several hours working with clay, experimenting with techniques, watching online tutorials, reading author websites, measuring ingredients for the homemade clay, following directions, calculating cost of clay per pound based on what we paid, and working alongside siblings collaborating while sharing and taking turns with tools. Much was accomplished with just seven pounds of clay!
As a family, we enjoy learning about the lives and hobbies of the authors we read. We always read the About the Author and connect with any links they provide. If we desire to dig deeper, we search for the author website online. These learning trails often offer opportunities to learn geography, history, and science.
Mentors Matter
/We champion finding mentors in fields of interest. All of our school-aged children have gained great insight into areas most intriguing to them, from Olympic competition (we conversed with an Olympic runner from the Wilma Rudolph era) to successful entrepreneurs (no better way to learn about business than from someone who owns one). Each unique experience was recorded in our learning logs, sometimes by written word, other times photographically.
Learning alongside a mentor proves one of the highest retention rates.
Hence, we use this means of learning whenever we have the opportunity.
Participating in the Young Eagles Introduction to Aviation class has been one of our favorite learning experiences. Recommended for children ages ten through eighteen, this eight-week class taught by pilots and aviation professionals offered my children opportunities to learn about aviation from people who know it best.
Each class focused on a topic: weather, air traffic control, flight planning, pre-flight check, and aviation careers. Each week professionals planned an applicable experiential activity. My children toured hangers took a field trip to a working air traffic control tower and learned how to navigate a flight map from a commercial airline pilot. The final class included a graduation flight. Participants in the class were divided into groups of three, each group having the opportunity to fly one leg (after safe take-off by the pilot) of a three-leg flight, flying in and out of three airports. After the flight, participants were given a flight log—which they continue to build for their aviation career—signed by the supervising pilot, a certificate of completion, and a code for ground school should the student want to continue their journey to becoming a pilot.
"There's Math in My Candy Bag!"
/All that candy!
This may be a proclamation in your home this week.
If so, perhaps one of these simple adventures could add a fun twist to your learning.
Measurement (linear)
Young children, generally preschoolers, often learn to measure in non-standard (inconsistent) measurements before they measure in standard (consistent) measurements. Non-standard units might be blocks or perhaps toy cars.
So, why not Snickers?
Snickers, or any candy bar for that matter, can be a non-standard unit of measure.
How many Snickers high is Dad? How many Kit Kats long is the bed?
Draw a visual representation.
Measurement (weight)
Weigh your candy on a kitchen scale. Did everyone collect the same weight amount? This activity offers opportunity for children to learn to weigh objects and read a scale. To extend this activity, have the children estimate the weight before placing on the scale. If the estimation and the actual weight are written on paper, demonstrate how to subtract to find the difference (how close the estimate was to the actual weight).
Sorting and Counting
Skittles and M&Ms create wonderful opportunities for sorting, counting, comparing, and graphing. In fact, if you have an abundance of fun size bags, consider inviting another family or a a group of friends to learn too!
Small candies work well for set creation, comparing and counting. We used Smarties and Sprees for counting by fives and tallying.
Graphing
Sort out two different types of candy bar from the collection. Ask each member which candy bar is his or her favorite. Offer each his or her favorite to eat. Save the wrappers to make a "favorites" graph.
Fractions
Packages with multiple colors of candies--Skittles, M&Ms, and Starbursts--are great for teaching fractional parts. Count the total amount. Sort the colors. Make a visual representation of each color in relation to the whole. For example, if there are 16 Starbursts and 4 are orange, the written fraction would be 4/16. Taking a step further, 4/16 is equal to 1/4 of the package.
Percentage
Halloween behind us, stores in our area are posting opportunities to use practical math, for example 50% off $6.99, 75% off retail, and buy-one-get-two free. Take photos of these while out and work the math when you arrive home. OR, do it in the store to determine whether the sale is a "deal".
Operations and Equations
My older children love to use math to determine whether or not they are getting a "sweet" bargain. We figure out cost (If a bag of candy costs $3.99 and the sale is 50% off, what will be pay?) and cost per unit (If the bag of fruit chews costs $2.19 and there are 50 chews per bag, what is the cost of each individual chew?). I also make up additional hypothetical scenarios (If you have a $10.00 bill in your pocket and the candy is $3.29 per bag, how many bags could you buy and how much change would you receive from your purchase?) This often leads to conversation about sales tax, taxable and non-taxable items, and cost per pound.
These yummy math ideas (and more) are compiled in my Flip Three Pancakes With One Spatula book, a resource I put together after years of hands-on math activities. Yes, my children love to eat their math.
Ideas from the Flip Three Pancakes book.
Making Learning Relevant for Middle and High School
/Though summer annual evaluation season ended a few months ago, I continue to post frequently asked questions to help equip and empower parents.
Knowledge is power in the high school years
and adds confidence to the journey.
One mom asked:
Recently in our area there seems to be limited diversity in learning environments for middle and high schoolers. Many venues provide only traditional classroom settings or online meetings. This is not the best setting for my child. What other opportunities are available and acceptable?
This is a tremendous question with valid concerns.
First, check the home education laws in your state
Second, having some experience with online learning is beneficial. Online education is growing. And, it did prepare our graduates for post-secondary education.
Those points being said...
Home educated middle and high schoolers have the opportunity to partake in a variety of learning environments; a definite advantage over their public and private schooled peers.
Our middle and high school students learn widely from a variety of environments. One started a business and learned on the job, everywhere from church fellowship hall craft shows to convention trade show floors. Another learned from independent study, volunteering, and conversation from professionals in the field. Still another learn from contractors, field work, job shadowing, and collaboration with peers. Our home education statute allowed us the freedom to utilize these means. We are all grateful we could fit learning with learning style and student interest.
When designing courses or considering courses for middle or high schoolers the learning environment is essential and often dependent on the learning style and strengths of the individual. For example, if the student learns best by observation, perhaps best fit environments would include laboratory settings, field work, internships, job shadowing, or apprenticeship. In these settings, the student can observe to learn. If the student is an auditory learner the best settings may be research laboratories or classroom instruction.
When the course is complete, if our students were applying for a university requesting course descriptions in addition to a transcript, I made sure to be specific about which environments the student used. Often the environments, being different than a typical classroom or online setting, were intriguing.
Yes, the reward was worth the effort. The contents of the course descriptions, transcripts and cumulative folder were the documents which set a solid foundation for resume writing.
And in the end, as we--student and parent--looked over documents, the accomplishment was a part of our celebration of high school and the ability to finish with excellence.
As you consider the potential learning environments your learner may have access to, ponder how those opportunities may benefit your young adult. The results can be astounding.
Who's the Author? A Compilation of Children's Author and Illustrator Websites
/Pulling one last copy of my now out-of-print Check These Out, I reminisced about the contents, feeling sad the content is no longer available.
The unit study needs a face lift. Check These Out will get the revision in due time.
Until then, I will be compiling author and illustrator websites for the authors studied in Check These Out, here.
I know many of my readers access these sites as they introduce their children to the people behind the picture and chapter books so well-loved. Every story written carries the fingerprints of the author. Hence, our family enjoys learning about the people and experiences which influence our favorite literary treasures.
For example, did you know E. B. White, author of the beloved Charlotte's Web, lived on a farm? He did! And, Robert McCloskey, author of Lentil, played the harmonica. Interestingly, the main character, Lentil, played the harmonica.
Author autobiographies and biographies are two additional means of learning about an author. Watch this book trailer for In the Words of E. B. White.
Benjamin West Mini Study
/Celebrate the simple in learning from an intriguing read.
It's been a few years and a few children ago that we read Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry (yes, the author who wrote the beloved Misty of Chincoteague, another classic worthy of the read). The book introduced us to the Father of American Painting, an artist of whom we were unfamiliar.
Recently, the youngers were introduced to Benjamin and the olders were reacquainted while reading Benjamin West: Gifted Young Painter by Dorothea J. Snow, a biography from the Childhood of Famous Americans series. We were all intrigued, just as we were years ago at our first introduction.
Little known facts we learned:
- Benjamin wrestled with how his God-given talent could possibly be woven with his Quaker faith, giving his family and his church a new perspective to consider.
- Benjamin was creative and industrious, making the best of what he had, from colored clay (insert science study here) to using his cat's fur to make paintbrushes (there is a character lesson of truth telling here but I won't spoil the story).
- Benjamin was a court painter for King George III.
- Benjamin taught famous painters Gilbert Stuart (think famous portrait painter of George Washington) and John Trumbull (think Declaration of Independence)
Interesting new vocabulary we learned from our reading journey through Benjamin West: Gifted Young Painter .
- Satchel
- Provost
- Ramshackle
- Aghast
- Daub
- Folly
- Hautboy
- Chortled
- Nape
- Comely
We finished the COFA biography today. As I read the last word of the book, a little perked up, interested:
"We have to find out more!"
Yes, we can. And so can you!
Look up these painters in your favorite set of encyclopedia (yes, they still exist), explore Google images, and watch a few You Tube videos.
We:
- Analyzed several paintings from each of the artists, beginning with Benjamin West's mentioned in the COFA biography: William Penn's Treaty with the Indians and The Death of General Wolfe. A discussion ensued regarding how artists depict history in their work and whether or not the history is accurate.
- Learned of the friendship between Benjamin West and Benjamin Franklin and then studied the the significance of Benjamin Franklin Drawing Lighting from the Sky. A great lesson in history and art appreciation.
A good story sparks an interest.
"Mommy, Benjamin influenced many artists. May we find out more about those artists?"
- Charles Willson Peale
- Gilbert Stuart
- John Trumbull
- Thomas Sully
- Samuel F. B. Morse
A spark ignites an interest, lights a new fire.
More to do:
- Differentiate between portrait and self-portrait. Paint or draw your self-portrait.
- Create a time line of the American history occurring at the time Benjamin West and the other painters were painting. What events were taking place? Did the painters have anything in common?
- Talk about other events in American history happening about the same time.
- If you had the opportunity to meet Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart or John Turnbull, what questions would you ask them about their work or the time in which they lived?
- Learn about the Quaker faith and how it is similar or different from the faith of your family.
- Read Barbara Brenner's The Boy Who Loved to Draw, biography of Benjamin West. If reading more than one book about Benjamin West, discuss how the books are similar or different. Compare facts in each work.
A spark ignites an interest,lights a new fire.
That's the ever giving blessing of cultivating a love of learning.
"It's All Yours!" : A Money Counting Life Lesson
/
"Mom, Josh gave us all the money he found in his car. And, he said we could have it if we could count it!"
There's power in words.
Twenty-six years ago, a four-year-old, math-savvy preschooler cleaned great-grandpa's pockets.
"Josh, if you can count it, you can have it!" Great-grandpa quipped. Little did he know his pockets would be empty when he left the family Christmas Eve gathering.
Josh counted every coin and left $6.72 richer.
Even more important, a relationship spanned and deeped across three generations. Josh made a connection. The words—the challenge—fueled the learning.
Would he really give all he had?
A challenge and some change made an impact. And, it repeated itself.
"Mom, Josh gave us all the money he found in his car. And, he said we could have it if we could count it!"
I inquired.
"What?"
"Josh gave us all the money he found in his car and we are counting it. If we count it, we can keep it."
I heard correctly and immediately remembered the similar day, Christmas Eve long ago.
Dimes, in piles of ten, for 100. Pennies in piles of ten for ten. Methodically organized for a simple LAST count.
$34.15
"Mom, is he serious?"
"There's $34.15 here!"
"Did he know how much was here?"
I bet he did.
Josh wasn't worried.
He gave, but he also inspired. His heart for the relationship—his memory of what had been given him—extended to give another GIFT!
I was thankful for the counting practice, but honestly, what made my heart swell was what the girls experienced.
Someone freely gave to them, not worried about the amount. Just gave.
"It's all yours!" meant much more than a pile of change.
Will they pose the same challenge one day?
I bet they will!
Magnificent, Make-A-Difference Middle School
/
Celebrating high school begins in middle school. Given opportunities to develop strengths and interests, the middle school years and their subsequent experiences set the stage for future decisions. Decisions move middle schoolers forward, or set them back.
Middle schoolers need coaches, cheerleaders, people to cheer them on, answer their questions, affirm their successes, and come alongside when ideas fail. Like adults, middle (and high schoolers) gravitate toward sources or encouragement and affirmation.
Our experience is that middle and high schoolers will hang out most with those who encourage and affirm them best.
Mike and I were (and still are with our current middle and high schoolers) intentional to champion their interests. As a result we were (are) invited into their successes and their messes!
Middle schoolers need help understanding themselves. Mike and I have learned that before we can help our middle and high school young adults understand themselves, we must know them! To know them, we must spend time with them (even when it's hard to be with them). Spending time means observing, listening, and asking. We watch how they respond in both stressful and rewarding circumstances. We observe what activities they enjoy and what makes them smile. Body language and verbal responses are windows into their hearts. What they read expresses their interests. Who our children talk about gives us understanding into the character they emulate or respect. Knowing our children takes diligence and purpose, but is deserving of my time and energy.
When we come to know our children--what motivates, intrigues, and captivates them--we can begin to help them understand themselves.
Middle schoolers want to make a difference. Middle schoolers need time and experiences to help them understand who the are and what they can contribute to the family, community, nation, and the world.
They need something to ponder, practice, and pursue; a way to make a difference.
Making a difference they feel the satisfaction of collaborating and contributing, serving and giving.
Middle schoolers need help managing their time.Several facets of life motivate middle and high schoolers to manage their time: knowing they have skills to solve a problems, having a project to complete or understanding their skills can contribute to a cause. When these aspects are discovered and fostered, managing their time matters.
Time management is a necessity for accomplishment.
Middle schoolers encouragement for organization.Middle schoolers are not usually naturally organized. They usually need parents to help them brainstorm ideas. They need someone to take them shopping for organizers.
Organization is often key to time management.
Middle schoolers need help finding and using resources. Middle schoolers have ideas and interests they want to pursue. There are things they want to build, books they want to write, businesses they want to start, logos they want to design, and fish they want to catch. Resources, tools, and significant people put those ideas and interests in motion. One of the greatest resources is time--time to process, time to think, time to talk through ideas. In and through conversation and experience, middle schoolers learn to plan, design, analyze, and evaluate, all which work together for understanding.
Without time, these key life skills cannot develop.
Middle and high school young adults are really not any different than adults.
Adults thrive when they understand their strengths and have the freedom to grow in those strengths, when they have people to help them process ideas and adults, when they have access o necessary tools and resources to carry out the plan, and when they are surrounded by supportive family and friends.
Middle schoolers will surprise you! Middle school years have great potential to directly impact a student's entrepreneurial ventures, employment, or college and career path by offering options of promising study. Be ready for your middle schoolers to surprise you! Ours have surprised us many times with their ideas and plans. They had solutions we had not discovered, insight we could not see. Theirs were not only better, but because they "owned" the plans, they were more excited and successful in executing the steps to reach their goals.
This content is excerpted from the new expanded edition of Cheryl's book, Celebrate High School: Finish with Excellence, A Guide for Middle and High School Home Education.
Multiplication Turkeys
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Multiplication can be tough. In fact, I get frequent inquiries requesting fresh methods and fun ways to teach, learn and memorize the facts often associated with, "I had such trouble with these when I was in school."
This week one of my little learners was laboring over the "harder facts". As we worked together it became evident she needed work on most of her 7s.
She had an idea! Having seen a counting turkey online, she felt it could be modified "to be more colorful, more helpful."
Love their creative, problem solving minds.
"Let's take a paper plate and fold it in half. Then, you know all that colored paper out on the art shelf? I will cut colored feathers out of paper. Then, on each feather could you write the facts for 7s? I will put a craft stick on the bottom so I can hold it like a puppet. Then, I can hold it up and read the facts over and over. I will learn them that way!"
Going on her lead, I gave her the high five and she was off to create, and master!
And she did!
Every day she held up the Times Table Turkey (sometimes a catchy name is all little learners need to be encouraged!), set the timer for two minutes and said the 7s aloud. There was visual and auditory reinforcement to her learning.
Have younger learners excited and eager to have a learning turkey, too?
We did! Littlest learner colored her turkey plate and made a face on the head. She wanted numbers 1-10. Another learner decided to count by 500s! In the end, three learners, three turkeys! Learning together, and excited!
The Times Table Turkey had multiplied from just learning facts to solving problems, sharing ideas and sibling relationship building.
Mastered? Yes, and much more!
My Mama Heart
/Celebrating Simple.
What does a mama heart post have to do with celebrating simple to teach profound truths?
Mamas around the world walk with children and young adults through life-changing circumstances and decisions. Some mamas are more hands-on than off. Other mamas walk alongside, listening. In some situations mamas sit with head and hands pondering how to help. Often the only thing we mamas know to do is pray. Simple!
Pray. Seems like a simple, pat answer especially when a child, young or adult is looking for an answer, hanging on the cusp of a pivotal time, a decision which changes everything. As mamas we want more, something concrete, something we can offer to cling to. At least I have.
We, I and family members, have prayed for months, taken next steps toward something beyond our young adult's grasp, beyond our ability to "make it happen". The efforts, intentionally and action, were ours, but the answers were not.
I wanted, as a mama, to make it happen. I couldn't. All I could do was a simple act. Pray.
Today a phone call came.
The first indication that events are unfolding. We are seeing answers, our family, my young adult and I, the mama. And, my heart? It's full.
Not because of something I controlled. I hadn't the power to make "it" happen.
The only power I had was to pray. And, let God do the work.
So, I am celebrating the simple today.
Simple prayers lifted daily. Profound truth reminded.
Let God do His work.
And, us?
We do ours even if it seems way too simple.
Reading Made Simple
/Recently, I began the journey of revising my first book, You Have to Read This One: Raising a Contagious Reader. It is the backbone of my workshop Raising a Contagious Reader and I have missed offering that book as a resource! It is packed will all the things I felt I needed on the path to raising a reader and finding great literature for my children and could not find anywhere else.
It is also full of ideas and methods I wish would have been used to teach me, a reluctant, delayed reader, as a child.
The revisions are still a ways from being reprinted. In the interim, I will post a few ways to make language arts fun and easy.
Reread the Story
Sounds like a no-brainer, reread the story? Yes, in fact, if you are a parent you have already likely met this frequent request.
But did you know it will also nurture a future writer?
"Read it to me again!"
A favorite story often brings this joy-filled request. Together the story is reread, anticipating favorite repetitive phrases or mimicking a main character. Hearing a story multiple times, the child comes to understand rising action, climax, and falling action in a foundational manner. Not only does rereading a story help a child understand foreshadowing and predictions, but it nurtures future writing efforts by reinforcing (and eventually mimicking the use of) simple plots, from the multitude of books read over and over. It is the familiar stories children will draw from as they begin their writing adventures.
Some of our favorite "read this to me again" stories are:
Retell the Story
Want to build comprehension and recall?
Retelling a story or a sequence of events builds comprehension and expressive vocabulary. Retelling is the review of characters met and events lived. Open-ended questions encourage a child to recall, to remember, to think. In the process comprehension is built. A much more productive way to build comprehension than answering a plethora of questions on a work page.
Predictable plots and repetitive phrases or wording invite the child to "read" along or retell later. Books with predictable plots include The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle, The Napping House by Audrey Wood, or In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming.
Incorporating puppets offers another means by which to retell a story, fostering and encouraging the child to add to the story from his or her imagination and creativity. Imagination invites innovation, soft skills--life skills--needed for future learning and employment.
Some of our favorite "retells" are:
Listen
The ability to listen, the process and store information is a key language arts component. Often, in today's visual society, auditory training is neglected. Though I do purpose to read aloud to our children, audio books, story recordings (our favorites are Jim Weiss), and online resources like the audio below are some of our favorites, especially in the afternoons when children and I are ready for another learning option. Our goal is 45 minutes of read aloud and an additional 45 minutes of additional listening from either story recordings or audio text.
Audio input is one of those elements of reading which could have been helpful to me as a struggling reader.
For more thoughts on how reading aloud fosters reading comprehension, I offer this blog post.
Encourage Independent Reading
Reading independently is another important skill. As a mom, I remind myself that one way I encourage independent reading by providing engaging books in the home--home library or borrowed from the public library. I also remind myself to listen when a reader comes to my side with the "You know what I read?" or "I can't believe this happened!" response. Those phrases are really saying, "Engage with me about my book!" The benefits of conversation and dialogue are topics for another blog post.
Independent reads must be age appropriate and of interest. Some of the favorites have been:
Early Elementary
Middle to Late Elementary
Read with Purpose
Where there is purpose there will be effort. Intrinsic motivation, internal motivations and desires, are some of the greatest catalysts to purpose, hence the energy behind effort.
I was a reluctant, delayed reader. However, I LOVED gymnastics. Though reading was laborious, tedious and down right frustrating, I wanted to know about the lives of famous gymnasts. My desire to know about gymnastics fueled my desire to read. The more I read, the more fluent I became. A strength bolstered a weakness.
Some of the books my children have read with and for a purpose--something they wanted to learn:
Reading really doesn't have to be complicated, though it will take time. However, the time put forth matters. For me personally, it was a game changer. I became a reader when many said I wouldn't ever become fluent.
The time and effort you put forward matters.
3 Things They CAN Do On Their Own
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Doing on their own is a glorious moment for parents and children.
Parents welcome the growing independence (well, for the most part)
and children gain confidence and a sense of contribution.
With eight very different children, adult to infant, we have experienced these milestones at varying times. There have been no two identical developmental time tables. Yes, there are milestone guidelines, but what takes one four-year-old child six months to practice and master may take another three weeks. Both four year olds achieved the milestone, but with different processes and progress. That is the beauty of life, unique and individual.
With all their distinctive characteristics, there are wonderful ways these littles could be independent, work on their own, with some guidance and forethought from us.
One- They can process and participate in decisions.
In doing so they can independence and confidence, two important aspects of future growth and development. Participation in decisions also gives them age appropriate control, again important to growth. Participation in decisions also gives them opportunity to gain important life skills: cause and effect, collaboration, cooperation, and conversation.
Two- They can be a part of the family helping team.
Just as processing and participating in decisions, children gain independence and confidence when they realize they can contribute to a cause bigger than one person can manage. They realize their contribution makes a difference in others lives. Setting the table, gathering and emptying smaller trash cans into one large one, folding laundry, watering flowerbeds, washing a car, and many other life skills. Our family members have come to realize, when we work together, completion and care are quicker and there is more time for play and entertainment. Children thrive when they feel like a part of a bigger team effort; they feel a sense of camaraderie and community life skills which will later be used outside the family unit.
Three - They can care for many of their physical needs
Tooth brushing, putting dirty dinner plate in the dishwasher, placing shoes by the front door, replacing borrowed library items to a library bin, putting laundry away; these are all practical ways littles can care for themselves. If parents repeatedly do for the child what he can do for himself, self-governance and responsibility will be delayed. Delayed too long has huge life impacting consequences.
An older, wiser mom once told me, "You are supposed be working yourself out of job!"
Yep, I have, and I am. It is hard work, but a work worth the effort, many times over.
Littles (and not so littles) are very capable of doing for themselves. When I allow them, they can say, "I CAN!" with confidence which perpetuates ingenuity and fosters responsibility; three vital life skills children need in their life tool box. What begins with putting away laundry and brushing teeth progresses to driving a car, building a marriage, and eventually parenting another generation.
