Category Archives: Homeschooling

How to Adapt a Lesson (Spelling / Phonics Hopscotch)

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You know those days when your weekly lesson plans just aren’t going to happen? A child wakes you up by puking into your bed and you need to go to the doctor; your sweet husband might, for once in his life, have something he’s asked you to do and since he’s virtually ignored (ahem) you feel compelled to do it; or, like today at our house, it might be such a beautiful sunny day that you don’t see how you could possibly suffer doing school inside.

I know discipline is important, I do, but sometimes I just have a hard time doing our boring old book lesson when the birds and the plum trees are singing to us. Usually we can be a bit flexible and still cover the material. One of my friends said once, “Oh, sure, easy for you to say. I have no idea how to do that!” Really? I thought everyone did this. But, other things come more naturally to her, things like, say, keeping a clean house or cooking dinner. To each her own.

I thought I’d share sort of the thinking behind this particular day. And I’d like to know, how do you adapt the lessons at your house for sun or snow?

Step One: What is the material we need to cover? Today with my second-grader, it was a spelling test. Normally, we do one spelling word list per week (this is the A Beka Spelling and Poetry book), and a test on Thursday where he writes the words down.  This lesson was a bit tricky— the difference between “au” words and “aw” words–so the orange sheet was a little extra practice at which words go in which column.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step Two: Where are we going to be? 

Outside. I wanted to do something outside. It was sunny and beautiful today. So, how could I teach the material outside? I decided to make chalk squares with the letters inside.

 

 

The idea was: I would call out the spelling word and my son would jump on each letter in turn. We started out with he and his five-year-old sister holding hands, but then of course the two-year-old wanted to join, and things got a bit tricky. So we switched to them taking turns.

I called out a word, “Cause” and my second grader would jump on the letters to spell it out.  Then, of course the other two were left out, which brings us to . . .

Step 3: How can my other children be involved in something similar?

For my kindergartener’s turn, I called out a simpler word from the list, “Paws.” That was still a little too hard because of those tricky au/aw sounds. So we went to just letters. I’d say “Puh” and she would jump on “P,” then “ssss” and she would jump on “s.” Then, that was a bit too easy, so we made it a bit trickier by adding short/long vowel sounds. She’s been working on that lately.

Long I and Short I

So, I’d say “ih” and she’d have to figure out which letter to
jump on (short i). Then, she wanted me to throw a rock on one, and she’d jump on it and
make the sound, which was great too.
My two-year-old mostly ran around jumping on things. When I wanted to give him a turn, I said, “ssss for curvy curvy s!” and took him over to jump on it, and we all clapped and cheered while he beamed to the crowd. You’d think he just won an Oscar.

Can I just point out our shoe style? We managed to get to library story time and back before any of us noticed my little buddy had on mismatched footwear. But at least he had them on, and he did it himself!

This is the other great thing about doing school outside—basketball.
My little guy ran off to play basketball while the other two finished up their spelling/phonics lessons. Lovely. And, really, that’s school for him too, isn’t it? Large motor skills, eye/hand coordination. Perfect.

So, that’s how we adapted our lesson for outside today. The other times I’ve found it very helpful to adapt a lesson from a book are:

  • When a child isn’t getting a concept, ex. Fractions. We back off the books and go to Krispy Kreme and cut donuts into fourths, get a pizza and talk about
    eighths, etc. Approaching the same material in a new way really seems to help.
  • When my son (usually) is having trouble sitting still or writing. Especially
    writing. We have done math and spelling orally, jumped on the trampoline while
    spelling out words, and written letters with wet sponges instead of pencils.
  • When we have to double up on lessons. This week for example. I have two spelling lists to cover this week, so by turning one test into hopscotch, I might, might have avoided a mutiny when I announce another spelling test in two days. Last fall we doubled up on math lessons (because we switched to Saxon and needed some extra lessons to get caught up to their way of doing things), but I tried to make one lesson into a game, or hands-on activity at dinner time.

Anyway, this is one of the beautiful things about homeschooling, isn’t it? We can adapt  lessons to fit our children, and enjoy the lovely spring weather as well!

I’d love to know (once I tell people about this blog): How have you adapted lessons to fit your children or your day?

Chapter Book: On the Banks of Plum Creek

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  The Ingalls family has settled in Minnesota now, living in a dugout house, then in one with real wood boards! We listened to 2/3 of this driving to Oklahoma City and back for Capitol Day on Monday, and now the kids have finished it! They listen at night on CD, so I am always a bit behind, but I only have a few more chapters to go.

Oh my goodness, the understated courage of those people! Laura Ingalls Wilder is a magnificent writer, maybe my favorite. She calmly lays out the facts in her heroic prose, showing us Ma’s quiet courage and strength in the face of grasshoppers, blizzards, missing husbands, and droughts. She doesn’t hit you over the head with something, sometimes she doesn’t even say it, she just tells what the characters do and you get it. Some of my favorite understatements of the year from this book:

1. “A couple of hundred miles don’t amount to anything!” he said. – This is after the grasshoppers eat the entire wheat crop, Pa has no money to pay back what he borrowed for the house, and he has to walk 300 miles to find work to get enough money to get the family through the winter, all in his falling-apart boots because he gave his last $3 for the church bell. I mean, really. And we complain when someone cuts us off in traffic?

2. Then Ma said, cheerfully, “We have to take care of everything now, girls. Mary and Laura, you hurry with the cow to meet the herd.” – This is after her husband just left, walking, to find work, and she is left alone with her three children on the grasshopper-ravaged prairie. By herself. With no Wal-Mart down the road, and no way to even get into town.

3. She [Ma] warmed her hands, and then she lighted the lamp and set it on the window sill. “Why are you doing that, Ma?” Mary asked her, and Ma said, “Don’t you think the lamplight’s pretty, shining against the snow outside?”  – Um, yes, and also, that way it makes a light for her husband to see if he can find the house in the raging blizzard that is going on outside. Pa ends up burrowing into a snowbank and surviving until the blizzard is over and makes it home. (But Wilder doesn’t tell you this, she shows you. You get the feeling of being the mom, trying to be cheerful to not worry her children.)

My goodness! What fortitude those people had! So good for my children to hear, to realize how easy they have it. I love this pouring of truth and beauty into their hearts. That’s what any great book should do. We talked about this very thing at my last book club, and I think this is one requirement for a great book, for me anyway, that it makes you want to be a better, stronger person. And if it can show you someone as an example, all the better.

I love my children hearing how Laura struggled not to cry (with her only doll torn apart and her father gone) because it was “shameful for an eight year old to cry” and hope a bit of that sinks in. Not that they can’t cry, but my children tend to cry if someone looks at them the wrong way. We can do with a bit more stoicism around here. Laura and Mary bravely bring in the woodpile before an approaching blizzard while their parents are gone, and they have to, otherwise they will “have to burn up the furniture, and maybe even then will freeze stark stiff.” Sheesh. And my kids complain when I make them eat beans.

If you’ve never read On the Banks of Plum Creek, get it! Get it today! Get thee to thy library website, request it on CD, and listen to it the next time you get in your car! It’s one of the best.

 

 

If You Give a Mom a Recipe for Potato Soup . . .

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This is my recent guest post over at www.laughwithusblog.com (recent winner of the 2011 Funniest Homeschool Blog award by The Homeschool Post).


If you give a mom a recipe for potato soup and go on about how cozy it is with homemade bread on a blustery day, and that day happens to be the only snowy day the city has seen all winter, well the mom is going to go make herself some potato soup.

And if she makes the potato soup, she’s going to want some homemade gluten-free bread to go with it.

And if she makes the gluten-free bread, she’s going to have to use some extra dough to make donuts (because unless Krispy Kreme starts a gluten-free line, this is her only chance in life to have donuts).

This will be a problem because the kitchen will already be covered in puddles of melting snow and food coloring, due to earlier snow ice-cream lunacy. (An hour before, her seven-year-old, five-year-old, and two-year-old stood on chairs pushed up to the kitchen island, haphazardly tossing snow and vanilla and sugar into bowls, and, in equal amounts, onto the counter and floor, helpfully making cheerful comments like, “Whoops, someone will have to clean up this floor later!”)  More …

How Chores Build Children’s Character and Brains

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You probably know that giving your children chores teaches them responsibility and is good for your own sanity, but did you know it actually helps develop their brains?

Crafts and educational projects are fine, but your children can probably learn just as much by helping you clean the house.

Read the rest of my guest post at ICanTeachMyChild >

How to Help Kids Sit Still: Let them Move

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This is a fantastic site I just found from  a link on thepioneerwoman.com. Loren
Shlaes is a Manhattan-based “pediatric occupational therapist specializing in sensory
integration and school based issues, particularly handwriting.” In this post she’s discussing how vital it is for kids to move. I’ve read a lot on this topic, and have found movement to be so critical for my son. I LOVE her commonsense, practical advice.

“The only way for children to be able to mature and develop their nervous
systems, improve their motor planning, strengthen their core muscles, and
maximize their balance and coordination, all of which are vital to learning and
attention, is through movement. Do you want your young child to excel? Forget
the enrichment classes, which I consider a waste of time and money, and take
him outside. I’m not talking about Saturday morning soccer practice. I’m
talking about going to the park, playing on the swings, slide, merry go round,
teeter totters, playing tag and statues, having a catch, playing Frisbee,
messing around in the sandbox, climbing on the jungle gym, making snowmen,
sledding, skating, roller blading, swimming, riding a bike or scooter,
hopscotch, jumprope, etc.

In order to do and be their best, children need a lot of unstructured time to
play outdoors. They need to be able to coordinate themselves with their heads
and bodies in all kinds of different positions and situations.

If your child has a hard time sitting still, try this: give him lots and lots
of intense exercise and time outside every single day, drastically reduce
screen time, make sure he gets plenty of sleep, and minimize sweets and
nutritionally empty foods, substituting whole, fresh, organic, unprocessed
foods. Turn off your electronic devices when you’re with him and give him your
full, undivided attention. If you’re nervous about not giving him all the
enrichment classes, here are some ideas: play lots of classical music at home,
read to him regularly, provide craft activities, and do things together as a
family.”

Read the whole article here.

Cheap or Free Toys for Kids

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Here’s a post I wrote this summer on moneysavingmom.com about Cheap or Free Toys for Kids. All the toys, except perhaps the duct tape, work about as well inside as out!

I read this similar article after I wrote mine. I totally agree on all his toy ideas. In fact, we gave our kids three huge empty appliance boxes for Christmas (as well as other toys, of course). They have so far used their boxes, or pieces of those boxes, in the backyard for: a fort, a stage for a concert, drums for that concert, to jump in as part of an obstacle course, as a table for a pretend cafe, and a slide. Nice.

 

Chapter Book Review: Little House on the Prairie / Family Song

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This time around I’m not actually reading the book. We listen to the audio book on CD while snuggling in Mom & Dad’s big bed before the kids to go their own beds.

Last night we started The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My son sort of remembers this from a few years ago, but it’s all new to my five-year-old.

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books are possibly my favorite chapter books for children. The first is Little House in the Big Woods, and the second is Little House on the Prairie. Either one of those books would be good choices for an introduction to Wilder.

These books have lots of adventure–panthers, bears, wolves, trips in a covered wagon, Indian visitors–told through the eyes of a little girl and steeped in America’s history. Don’t be afraid to skip over some of the “boring” parts — the long descriptive passages – and get back to the story. (Those parts are interesting for historical purposes, but probably not to a five-year-old.) Also, you may need to edit some parts of Ma’s reaction to the Indians. You could just cut some out or, if your children are old enough, talk about her attitude and why she was afraid and how the Indians might have been just as afraid of the white people.

The other reason I think these are great books for children is they teach courage, gratefulness, and respect in a way that many modern books do not.

Family Song

Each night we sing a hymn or song together as a family, usually just the first one or two verses. The kids do their best and we all learn it together. After a few months we switch. Our Family Song right now is “Trust and Obey.”

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey
No there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
Than to trust and obey

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Welcome

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I am very excited to be partnering with Todd and Debbie Wilson of  Familyman Ministries in the publishing and sale of The Homeschool Experiment. The book is due to be released in March 2012.  Meanwhile, please check out the Familyman website for all their great resources.

***
This book is a cross between Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Girlfriend’s Guide to Homeschooling, if there were such a book. There needs to be.

Because none of my homeschooling books ever covered how to finish  your read-aloud when your baby just had a blowout all over the high chair, and you finish giving him a bath only to find that your oven fries were burned to a crisp, and you barely got those thrown out when you had to run to the living room because of the screaming and blood to find that your daughter just accidentally knocked your son’s loose tooth out by kicking him in the face. Accidentally. While they were supposed to be waiting for you to finish reading.

None of my books covered that.

So, this is a book for homeschooling moms, those who love them, and those fascinated by the freakiness of the whole homeschooling thing.

It’s also a book for all moms. Every mother can relate to the daily struggles and joys of life with small children, the worry about how to school them, and terror that we’ll manage to mess them up for good.

If you’ve ever wanted to dip a toe into the waters of homeschooling, or peek through the curtains of a homeschooler’s life to catch a glimpse of a real day, here’s your chance. And, there’s no bashing of public or private schoolers, either, just an honest account of one family’s struggles, decisions, and hilarious moments. Step on in and join us here.

This is a book a mom could read by the pool. Wait, moms don’t read by the pool; they have to make sure their children don’t drown. This is a book a mom can read on that rare occasion she gets to go to a nice restaurant and read something for herself. Something fun. Something that doesn’t tell her seven more things she should be doing.

It’s light, it’s funny, but there are deep truths inside. My prayer is that you will read it, laugh, cry, and be encouraged to keep running your race. The one God calls you to run.

Run on, Moms.

***

Here’s the synopsis from the back cover of the book:

Julianne Miller feels God nudging her to homeschool her three children. The only problem is, she has no idea what she’s doing. But, how hard could first grade possibly
be?

If you are a mother, homeschooling or not, you’ll be encouraged when you
join Julianne and her co-op friends as they navigate through a hard
but humorous year of diapers, dinners, husbands, meltdowns, and math
lessons.

And that’s just September.

 

We are planning to sell the book at Amazon.com, CBD.com, and the FamilyMan booth at homeschool conventions across the country.