Teaching Across the Curriculum

Use your time in the kitchen to teach across the curriculum. Relate what the child is doing to arithmetic, reading, science, and geography. Guided questioning is very helpful in expanding your child's field of knowledge.

Here is an example:

1) Have the child prepare Navajo Fry Bread (recipe below) and then answer the questions given.

2) Why do you think this is called Navajo Fry Bread? Look on a map and find where the Navajo Indians live.

3) Why did you use oil in the skillet when you fried your Navajo Fry Bread?

4) Describe how the dough felt when you kneaded it. Use as many different adjectives as you can think of to describe it.

5) What kind of shapes did you cut your Indian Fry Bread into? Which shape did you like best? Why?

RECIPE
Navajo Fry Bread

Mix together these ingredients (use a small bowl):

• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

In another small bowl mix together:

• 4 Tbsp. flour mixture
• 2 Tbsp. warm water

After the flour mixture and warm water is mixed together, take it out of the bowl and place it on a floured cutting board.

Knead the dough until it is soft and like elastic.

Roll it out so that it is flat.  Use a rolling pin.

Cut the dough into shapes using a biscuit cutter and table knife.

Pour a small amount of oil into a skillet. Heat over medium-high heat. Put your dough shape in the skillet and fry each side until golden brown.

Take your dough shape out of the skillet. Blot it with a clean paper towel.

Fry another dough shape until all the shapes are fried.

Serve your Navajo Fry bread with honey while it is still warm.

While Cooking with Young Children

While Cooking with Young Children

• Everyone should have a chance to see, smell, feel, and possibly taste the ingredients before they are combined, and after. This gives them an opportunity to compare and contrast.
• Help children observe and talk about contrast, color, texture, size, and shape.
• Help children observe and talk about what happens when ingredients are combined, such as the effects of temperature on food. Express in words that water is a liquid; when it boils, it changes into a water vapor called steam; when it freezes, it changes into a solid called ice.
• Use complete sentences and the correct words for all actions, objects and concepts, but always accept the child's unique way of expressing himself or describing something.
• Follow through on projects. Everyone should have a chance to taste what he or she has helped to make.
• Encourage all those who participated to share the responsibility of cleaning up. Show the children how to wash the utensils and sponge the surfaces. Make sure all utensils are clean before putting them away. Even if a spot has been missed, recognize the effort of little hands. Improvement in skills comes from guidance and practice, not criticism.

The Kids Recipe

There are many ways to prepare a recipe so that they are easy for young children to use. Here is one idea that you might use when incorporating kids cooking into your daily routine. Features of a children's recipe should include:

• Visual cues; drawings or illustrations of the ingredients to be used.
• Child sized, individual portions; each recipe makes one small serving that is just the right size for the child.
• Easy to count numbers and fractions; 1, 2, 3, 1/4, 1/2, 1/3.
• Consistency when using measures; Tbsp. for tablespoon, tsp. for teaspoon, c. for cup, and so on. 
• Type or write the recipe, add illustrations, and place in a plastic page sleeve.
• Keep recipes in a 3-ring binder that becomes the child's cookbook as they participate in cooking experiences.

We are discussing "Cooking with Kids in the Kitchen", a unit study that starts here.

Preparation for Cooking

1. Post a chart (or the recipe) where it can be easily seen. This chart should include pictures of the utensils along with pictures illustrating the measurement of ingredients (such as drawing of two teaspoons for 2 tsp.).

2. Before beginning, explain to the child (children) the importance of washing hands and putting on aprons.

3. Cooking projects are easily managed if the group is kept small (2 or 3).

4. Make sure work surface is clean and point this out to the children, explaining why.

5. Go over the recipe and all directions carefully with children before starting.

6. Have a tray of utensils ready with enough utensils available to keep the project moving. More than one child at a time might have a turn, if possible.

7. Have a tray of ingredients ready.

8. Have a sponge and a bowl of water available for quick clean-up (or a sink if there is a stool for children to stand on to reach it).

9. Show the children how to use the utensils properly and supervise their use.

10. Explain ahead of time that the children are not to put the food in their mouths and, if they must cough or sneeze, to turn away and cover their mouths, then wash their hands again. Explain why. (Tasting food during preparation time is "off limits" with any age student. Decide upon a procedure for tasting to alter the seasonings, etc. --- as as one spoon, then place it into the sink). Tasting of food should take place during planned educational events or activities rather than when preparing food.

Planning for the Cooking Experience

Planning for the Cooking Experience

At first, cooking projects should have few steps such as taking peas out of a pod (children ages 3 - 5), making a gelled pudding, popping corn or making cranberry sauce. This gives the children the experience of working with food. The careful washing and preparing of vegetables and fruits is another single activity.

Gradually, the experience could become more complex by incorporating more steps.

Always be receptive to the children's suggestions if they are within reason as to what they would like to make.

Be alert to the many ideas for food preparation which arise spontaneously out of other activities and experiences.

Safety with Kids in the Kitchen

Safety is very important when children are using real kitchen equipment. Impress upon them that safety comes first and teach them how to use kitchen gadgets properly.  Make adjustments when needed, substituting safer options for dangerous tools. Here are some tips that can help your child's kitchen experiences to be safe and educational:

• Help children become aware of sharp knives, grater, parers. Solid plastic knives (from picnic sets) have a good cutting edge and can be used by very young children.
• Keep all potentially dangerous utensils away from young children. Under very careful supervision, they might be able to use a grater or plastic knife.
• As the opportunity arises during cooking, point out the dangers of very hot water, the danger of burnable objects too near the stove (hotplate), the importance of turning off appliances after using them.
• Make sure all pot handles are turned toward the back of the stove and tell the children why; make sure handles are turned away from the edge of the table.
• Show the children how pot holders are used to avoid burns. Remind them that a wet potholder does not protect from heat.

Cooking Experiences with Kids

Suggestions for creating a positive cooking experience for young children (ages 3 - 7 and beyond).  Set up a cooking area in a corner of the family kitchen which is scaled to a child's size. A low table or counter top that can be established as the child's own work space for cooking is helpful. Miniature kitchen tools that are real makes learning fun!

Basic Equipment 

• One small refrigerator with freezer OR a specific portion of the refrigerator and freezer in the kitchen. This could be a low drawer or shelf.
• One toaster oven for baking (it is safer for beginners and scaled to a child's size).
• One hot plate (same as above, although a stove can be used safely with supervision).
• A low counter/work deck and cupboards to store utensils scaled toa child's size (for example: apple boxes make nice cupboards; set a wooden top over several apple boxes and cover with contact paper).
• A low counter top to place wash basin for washing dishes; place near a sink so water is available.
• Kitchen utensils scaled to a child's size: knives, scrapers, egg beater, wire whisk, spoons, mixing bowls, spatula, pancake turner, cake pans, cookie sheets, baking brush, measuring spoons, measuring cups, grater, muffin tins, etc. (keep alert for small items that work well for children; Corning stores have mini rolling pins, gratersthat are used for garlic and lemon zest and works well for kids tograte carrots and cheeses. Tupperware has child sized bowls and dishes; Echo has cake pans, bread pans, and baking sheets that are just the right size for use in a toaster oven).
• Clean-up supplies in small scale; dish towel, sponge, hand towels, hot pads, etc. Small bottle of dish soap.

Cooking with Kids

Play is a child's work. And work is child's play. This is illustrated so well in the kitchen! Children enjoy helping with putting cans away, chopping vegetables, setting the table, and stirring up a batch of cookies. Through imitation they learn from cause to effect, how to measure and count, sequencing, how to read a recipe, and much, much more. 

Instead of discouraging them by scooting them off to a toy kitchen or to make mud pies in the back yard, enjoying their help in the kitchen can create countless memories and provide them with a wealth of learning experiences. For the next few days the discussion here will be about cooking with kids. We'll start with ideas for sharing with toddlers through early elementary children and then progress to food experiences for middle school and even high school students.  

Children who practice food experiences with their parents, starting at a young age, learn the benefits of a healthy, nutritious diet. It is a well known fact that if kids get to help prepare a recipe in the kitchen they are generally willing to taste and enjoy the end result. The kitchen experience can help them explore new tastes, textures, and nutrients. Additionally, children will achieve a sense of belonging as they contribute to family mealtimes. A sense of accomplishment will result. 

Quality time between parent and child happens naturally when time is spent experimenting and preparing healthy foods in the home kitchen! Cooking is a skill that your children will use for the rest of their lives. If children learn to eat healthy as kids, they are more likely to eat healthfully as adults. Skill in the kitchen gives children self-confidence and a willingness to try new things. These kids will be less likely to be swayed by peer pressure, and as teens will enjoy spending time in the kitchen as an avenue to avoid boredom. 

So, stay tuned the next few days for posts that will share ideas for helping your youngsters enjoy time in the kitchen with you!

The ABC's of Life

The ABC's of Life, as posted on a sign in a store window, are a wonderful guideline for living a happy and successful life --- one at peace with the world and with those around you. If everyone lived by these values, harmony would be the blessed result!

Home-parents Excel

Most mothers and fathers can provide deeper security, sheerer closeness, sharper instincts, longer continuity, warmer responses, more logical control and more natural examples than the staff of the best care center or kindergarten. Without ever ringing a school bell, monitoring a recess or opening a course-of-study manual or even knowing the inside of a college, their teaching and care in their home are for their children under eight or ten easily superior to the most skilled professors outside it.

Raymond Moore in Home Grown Kids
*And loving grandparents too!

Creating Thinkers

Teaching children how to think can be difficult.  In contrast, teaching children to merely reflect the thoughts of others is simple in comparison.  Think about it for a minute.  Requiring children to memorize and repeat correct answers can be done by practice and repetition.  Sometimes it is necessary to learn this way, like in the case of memorizing times tables or equations.  But the way a child learns best and retains knowledge is when he or she can reason and comprehend why things happen.  

Knowing how and why helps him or her understand and apply it to their field of knowledge and usefulness.  When a child learns to think for themselves, they achieve a level of growth and autonomy that surpasses students who simply memorize facts and figures.  Even the subject of spelling requires more than mere memorization.  Critiquing words and how they are spelled based upon phonics and rules of the English language requires reasoning abilities.  

Teaching thinking necessitates several things.  Using an inquiry method of instruction, where problems are directed to the student and where the student is given time to think and solve is one of them.  Comparison and contrast, evaluation, and questioning are all necessary components in creating thinkers.  Giving the student the ability to evaluate and make judgments teaches them to think for themselves.  

If you are asking your child to list, label, match, name, or recall information, you are teaching them to be reflectors of the thinking of others.  But, if your instructional technique leads them to interpret, discriminate, defend, critique, appraise, or explain something, you can be sure you are on the pathway to teaching your child how to think.  This is the challenge of educating the student, but one that reaps great rewards!

Children, the Most Precious Gift

Children are the most precious gift. According to Psalm 127:3 they are a heritage. It says that “children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.”

The dictionary defines gift as something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; a present.

Such favor from God can only be appropriately met by placing much value upon it. We can show our children that they are valued by loving, cherishing, and appreciating them. Kind words, a gentle touch, and an ear that always listens can bless them and show them their merit. It is a favor that exists simply because they exist and it is one that is not earned.

Tangible affirmation reminds children that they are valued. Years ago, when my children were in early elementary school, I cross-stitched a verse that said “Children, the most precious gift”. It was framed as the focal point between two old-fashioned art prints of children and hung as a unit over the sofa in the living room. Placed there, it held place of significance in our home and served to remind the children that they were important to us. This framed art remained as the central focus during their teenage years. Although they are now young adults and living on their own, I’ve decided that the framed art and cross-stitched message remains. No matter what the age, children are a blessing and it is our responsibility as parents to affirm this to them always.

Blessings are words of affirmation and love spoken to another. When a parent speaks these words and then exhibits them by action or deed, the child is blessed beyond measure. Gary Smalley and John Trent speak of the five elements of the blessing in their book by the same title. These elements are a meaningful touch, a spoken message, the attachment of high value to the one being blessed, the creation of a word picture of the special future perceived to the one being blessed, and an active commitment to fulfill the blessing. Although all parents can share the blessing with their children, the homeschool parent has a greater opportunity to pass this blessing along to their off-spring simply because of the dedicated amount of time he or she spends with them. The creation of a warm and responsive environment facilitates a positive sense of self-worth in children, blesses them, and helps them develop intellectually and to his or her full potential.

Today, thank God for the special opportunity He has given you to homeschool your children. And don’t forget to give your children an extra hug and words of affirmation! They are His gift.

School Store Sticker Options for Week #2

Remember that the school store activity is for extracurricular or supplemental learning. It is in addition to "core" subjects that are taught each day by the teacher-parent. Each activity is designed to be self-guided. Each week the teacher-parent will post a list of tasks and activities that can be completed to earn stickers. The teacher-parent can assign specific things that need done or the student can choose an assigned amount from the list. The student should always be encouraged to do more than the minimum. 

Sometimes the student will have an idea that he or she would like to do to earn a sticker. That is great! But be sure the student knows that they must receive approval for all projects by teacher-mom or dad first in order to receive a sticker.  

This list is for students in K - 3 (or as appropriate for your child).

____ 1) Go to the park with mom or dad. Play on the playground equipment. Make up a routine on the slide, monkey bars, pole, swings, etc. See how long it takes you to complete your routine. Then race yourself by trying to do it faster and faster each time. You can earn one sticker for each time you complete the routine. Have mom or dad time you so you can see if you improve. Limit 10 stickers.

____ 2) Help with washing the car this week. You can earn three stickers by washing and rinsing the car. Put away the washing gear when you are done.

____ 3) Find a beautiful plant that is growing in the garden.  Write a free verse poem about plants. Illustrate your poem. Earn five stickers for your poem with illustration. If you mail your poem and picture to someone else and address the envelope yourself, you get one more sticker.

____ 4) Pretend you are a plant scientist. Your assignment is to design your own seed. Draw a picture of your seed and of the plant your seed turns into. Write a paragraph about the seed and the plant you invented. Imagine how much fun God must have had creating the world and inventing so many things. Thank Him with a special prayer for all the things He created. This assignment is worth three stickers.

____ 5) There are two main types of seeds.  They are naked and enclosed. Seeds have three parts: the seed coat, the embryo, and the food storage tissue. Make a list of five kinds of each of the two varieties of seeds. Worth four stickers. Use a plant/tree identification book to help you.

____ 6) Learn Psalm 100 (It is good to give thanks unto the Lord. . .). Once you have it memorized, repeat it from memory to mom or dad at family worship time. This is worth 10 stickers.

____ 7) Cook something in the kitchen that is very high in B vitamins. Serve it to the family at mealtime.  Be sure to clean the kitchen.  Worth 3 stickers.

____ 8 ) Play multiplication bingo.  Worth 1 sticker for 15 minutes of play.

____ 9) Play vowel bingo.  Worth 1 sticker for 15 minutes of play.

___ 10) Make a collage on a topic of your choice. Do a careful job. Put a title on your collage. Hang it on a bulletin board. Worth 2 stickers.

___ 11) Make a salad for dinner. Use vegetables that are dark green and add something with orange or red color. Use at least five different raw vegetables. Put them in a pretty bowl and set on the table. Worth 2 stickers.

____ 12) Set the table for dinner with a tablecloth, napkins, and proper settings of plates, cups, flatware, and a centerpiece. Have a parent check it to make sure you put things in their proper places. Worth 1 sticker.

____ 13) Repeat the days of the week to a parent.  Be sure they are in the correct order. Then tell today's date and what day of the week it is. Repeat the months of the year. Worth 2 stickers.

____ 14) Listen to a CD from "Adventures in History" (story). You will receive one sticker for listening to the story.  You can earn a second sticker by telling the story to someone else.

____ 15) Take a trip to the grocery store with mom or dad. While you are there, make a list of ten foods that you think are healthy and nutritious. Make sure they don't have harmful ingredients or empty calories in them. Worth 2 stickers.

____ 16) When dad comes home from work, ask him if there is anything he would like you to do for him. He will be surprised. Complete the task he gives you to do. You will receive two stickers.

____ 17) Ride your bike today. Be sure to ride it continuously for 20 minutes so you can get your heart rate up. Give yourself one sticker for every 20 minutes that you ride.

____ 18 ) Write a story about a wild animal that you like. Use descriptive words to tell about the habitat, characteristics, and appearance of the animal. Research your subject in books or on the Internet. You may use the computer to type your story. You will receive one sticker for every page you write. You will receive another sticker per page if you make corrections to the spelling, punctuation, and capitalization after it has been marked by teacher-mom or dad.

____ 19) Repeat the pledge to the flag from memory. Worth one sticker.

____ 20) List each set of words below in alphabetical order:  a) house, hill, hat, help; b) up, in out, apple, yet, enjoy; c) popcorn, pickle, pears, peaches, and lettuce; d) grape, orange, cherry, apricot, plum; e) limp, ride, walk, skate, ski, run; toe, tickle, tall, tame, talent; f) smile, say, see, said, savory, sachet. Worth 3 stickers.

These are suggested activities.  You can design your own to meet the specific needs of your own children.

School Store Sticker Options for Week 1

In review, the school store activity is for extracurricular or supplemental learning. It is in addition to "core" subjects that are taught each day by the teacher-parent. Each activity is designed to be self-guided. Each week the teacher-parent will post a list of tasks and activities that can be completed to earn stickers. The teacher-parent can assign specific things that need done or the student can choose an assigned amount from the list. 

The student should always be encouraged to do more than the minimum. Sometimes the student will have an idea that he or she would like to do to earn a sticker. That is great! 

But be sure the student knows that they must receive approval for all projects by teacher-mom or dad first in order to receive a sticker.

Below is a list for the first week of activities that our children did in the school store project. You should adjust your list to the abilities, needs, and ages of your own children. The list below was designed for kindergarten and lower elementary grade students. This list should be printed and laminated for easy use. An of course your list should be designed to meet the needs of your specific children. Place in a notebook or on a clip-board where the child can find it with ease. 

List Week #1

_____ 1) Walk laps around the front yard, outside the tree line where you will receive maximum exercise. One sticker per lap; maximum 20.

_____ 2) Weed the flower bed beside the well-house. Prepare it for planting using your hand rake and trowel. Worth 2 stickers.

_____ 3) Pull the weeds in the bark beds on each side of the back porch. Two stickers per side.

_____ 4) Watch an approved animal program on PBS. After the program is over, tell teacher-mom five (5) things you learned or that you thought were especially interesting about the program.  Worth one sticker.

_____ 5) Watch a Moody Science DVD on a nature subject. After watching a complete program, write the following information on a piece of paper (or type on the computer):  a) subject of the DVD, b) three complete sentences, each telling of something from the DVD. Worth 2 stickers.

_____ 6) Draw a memory verse from the memory verse jar and memorize it.  Then repeat it (without help) to teacher-mom or dad and receive 3 stickers.

_____ 7) Surprise dad! Clean the area around his workbench in the shop.  For this service project receive 2 stickers.

_____ 8 ) Bake cookies and put them in a package that you decorate. Ask Dad to drop them off at Mrs. Smith's house on his way to work tomorrow. For cheering up a shut-in you receive 5 stickers.

_____ 9) If you make a nice card and add a note that says "thinking of you" to go with Mrs. Smith's cookies, receive 2 more stickers.

____10) Make a memory verse book using nature pictures from the picture box. Find and write a memory verse to go with each nature picture. Take your book to children's story hour at the migrant camp on Saturday afternoon. Receive 5 stickers.

____ 11) Go on a nature walk at the wildlife refuge next door. Take a notebook with you and record the things you see that God has made. Use words and pictures to record your findings. A careful observation list merits 3 stickers.

____ 12) Learn your multiplication tables through the five's. Repeat them from memory to teacher-mom or dad. Worth 3 stickers.  (Younger sibling can do addition or subtraction instead).

____ 13) Play the game "Sentence Game for Juniors" with your sibling. At the completion of the game you will be rewarded with one sticker.

____ 14) Practice making baskets on the basketball court. Earn one sticker for every 10 baskets you make (limited to three stickers per day).

____ 15) Take turns leading your sibling in exercises like jumping jacks, push-ups, running in place, and more. Earn one sticker for every 15 minutes of exercise.

____ 16) Pretend you are a teacher. Teach your younger sibling a math lesson.  Concentrate on the 100's family chart. Worth one sticker for every 15 minutes you spend teaching. (If you are the younger sibling, receive on sticker for every 15 minutes spent learning).

____ 17) Play the game "You Can Read" using the phonics card game set. Teach your younger sibling the words and what they mean. Worth 1 sticker for every 15 minutes spent playing. (If you are the younger sibling, receive one sticker for every 15 minutes spent playing).

____ 18) Write a letter or draw a picture and send it to Grandmother. After you have it in an envelope and it is properly addressed and stamped, you will be given one sticker.

____ 19) Learn how to do origami paper folding. Find a site online that teaches you how to fold something or use the origami paper kit that we bought at the craft store. Every correctly and neatly folded project earns one sticker.

____ 20) Use your kids cookbook and bake a loaf of mini-bread. Clean up the kitchen afterwards. Worth 4 stickers for a completed project and clean kitchen.

Enjoy a very great week! Keep up the enthusiasm and good work.  You are doing a great job! If you would like to earn stickers by doing something that isn't on this list, tell teacher-mom your idea and receive her approval to do it.  

Tomorrow suggested activities for week 2 will be posted.  We'll see you then!

The School Store

Learn about our "school store". It was a great motivational force for our elementary age children.  Here's more about it:

• The school store was a large bulletin board with a banner that said "School Store". Attached to the bulletin board were objects or coupons of things that could be purchased. Small zip-lock bags were stapled onto the board which held things like pencil erasers, miniature cars and trucks, trading cards, pocket knives, flash lights, compasses, combs, Legos, hand-held games, flashcards, and other small games or objects.  Obviously our school store was geared to boys, but girls items would be easy to add.  Also attached were coupons for fun things to do, like going to get an ice cream cone with dad, or tickets to go roller skating or to the water-slide park. Each item or coupon had a value attached to it. But the value assigned was not for money. The items in the school store could only be purchased with stickers. Stickers were given for work completed that was above and beyond the "core" curriculum that was taught each day. Stickers given were attached onto sticker sheets that had spaces for 25 stickers.
• Our core curriculum was what was considered the essential for each school day. It consisted of opening exercises (devotions, prayer, story time/character development, Bible class, daily language arts/reading instruction, and math instruction). Things could be added to the core each day, depending on teacher-mom.  Stickers were not given for school "core".
• Each sticker earned was worth one unit towards purchase of an item in the school store. Stickers were earned by doing extra-curricular activities like completing drills creating things, doing extra work in a subject, chores, or other activities that teacher-mom had printed up each week and put into a notebook.  Each activity completed was worth one sticker. Remember, stickers were not given for "core" schoolwork.
• Items were not easy to earn. They were worth as much in effort as they would if you were to earn actual money and go to town to buy them.
• Items in the store were marked or labeled with a sticker price. There were many one-of-a-kind items. An item could not be reserved for any specific person. Whoever had the stickers necessary to purchase an item was allowed to purchase it. An item would not be saved for a specific individual simply because they really liked it and wanted it.  This helped give incentive to the children.  If they really wanted something badly, they had to work hard to get it.
• The school store was only open on school days. It would not open until all chores and all school work were completed by all the students for that specific day.
• The school store would stay open for 15 minutes per day. Then it was closed until the next school day. No exceptions.
• All purchases were final. Students could not exchange items purchased for something else simply because the purchaser changed their mind or got tired of their purchase.
• The teacher-parent reserved the right to take store privileges away due to lack of work or poor attitudes or behavior.
• Students were reminded that they may not be able to purchase something from the store every day. There might be inexpensive items available that the student could spend their stickers on daily, but they were encouraged to save their stickers for higher sticker priced items, like a small Lego set or coupon for doing something fun.  

There were several reasons for developing our school store. First, the children enjoyed the motivation. It helped them to develop self-discipline and take some of the responsibility of learning upon themselves. Some days (most days, perhaps), the teacher-parent can be very busy taking care of the household, the children, and the their education. On really busy days, the children might be short-changed because their teacher-parent may not have enough time to sit down with them and do as much as they would like. The school store was a supplemental plan which allowed for enriched learning experiences for the children. The school store provided the opportunity for children to spend their own time exploring learning experiences. They could select their own projects according to their interests and abilities. Occasionally the teacher-parent might select activities for the child, but generally the idea was to be open-ended and to allow the child freedom to be self-motivated and self-directed in their learning.

The next post will give ideas for the learning activities children can complete to earn stickers.  Please come back again to see what ideas will be shared.                                                    

Self-Directed Learning Activities for Little Ones

Sometimes parents find it challenging to keep younger children on task while older children are receiving instruction or help with their assignments. Young children often need tools to help them focus and work on their learning activities independently. Today I found a laminated chart that I made for our youngest child. It was the school chart that he used when he was six or seven years old. Each day I would assign a specific number of tasks for him to complete. Some days he would be required to complete them all. On other days (like piano lessons days) I would shorten the list and mark the ones he was to complete. 

Sometimes he was allowed to pick and choose a specified number from the list. He liked having the freedom to choose and it fostered independence and incentive. He received a sticker from teacher-mom for each task completed.  The stickers would go onto a sticker sheet that had spaces for 25. He would save all his sticker sheets because they were valuable to him. They could be used as homeschool currency in the school store.

Here is an example of the learning activities he chose from each day:

• Count aloud to someone from 1 to 100 by one's, ten's, and two's.
• Write your alphabet, upper and lower case, in your handwriting booklet.
• Say all the single letter phonograms out loud to someone.
• Write your single letter phonograms in lower case as someone says them to you.
• Complete an addition or subtraction math page. Use a number chart and Matchbox cars to help.
• Read a book out loud to mom or dad.
• Do your addition or subtraction flashcards.
• Carefully color a picture from a nature coloring book.
• Draw a careful sketch of something you see.
• Play a file-folder game or table game (learning bingo, matching game, etc.).
• Spend 15 minutes working in your garden.
• Work on one page or activity in your garden or nature journal.
• Learn your memory verse and repeat it to dad when he comes home from work.
• Write a sentence or two on lined paper and draw a picture about it.
• Walk or run laps around the front and back yard (1 sticker per lap).
• Put a puzzle together.
• Listen to a Bible story CD and draw a picture about the story.
• Cut pictures out of a magazine and make a collage or poster.  Choose a subject or theme.Chose a recipe from the kids recipe notebook and cook something.
• Other ________________________________________________________.

*Note that some of these activities require parental involvement, but it is the child's responsibility to take the incentive to come to the teacher-parent for help rather than the other way around.

*The activities listed above were to be completed after the morning "group learning activities" such as devotional time, calendar, prayer, thankfulness chart, story time, and Bible class.

A Nature Guessing Game

September is a wonderful month for nature projects and activities.  The weather is conducive to exploration and plants and trees are mature and starting to seed.  A nature guessing game can include the outdoors and is fun for all ages.

Give each person in a group a grocery bag.  Label each one with a different number on the outside.  Be sure the grocery bag is not opaque, because you don't want people to be able to see shapes or shadows of what's inside.  Have everyone go outside for a walk in the woods, a park, or the back yard.  Each person is to find and gather five different items that they find.  Make sure they don't collect live things, but other nature objects instead. Things to look for could be pinecones, leaves, rocks, seeds, seed pods, an acorn, a feather, a stick, fallen pine needles, and more. Set a timer for 15 minutes and then have everyone return to a central location.

When everyone has returned, have them sit in a large circle.  Give each person a pencil and paper. Have each person pass their bag to the person on their right.  Allow them one minute to feel what's inside the bag, guess what it is, and write the names of the items in the bag on their paper. Make sure they write the bag number on the paper along with the names of the objects.

Then, continue with the next person's bag and so on, with individuals writing the names of objects guessed on their paper.

After all the bags have been explored, have each person show the items in their bag and tell about it.  As they do this, everyone should check their papers to see how correct they were.

Although this game is very simple, it is fun, entertaining, and educational for all ages!

Homeschooling Naturally

"Homeschooling naturally is natural. Don't work too hard on making it artificially schoolish."

Dr. Ruth Beechick

A Beautiful Gold Love Cup

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Psalm 23:5

Just as our Heavenly Father fills our cup to overflowing, so should we as parents pour love into our children. Their love cups are fragile and should constantly be replenished.  Sometimes children can be so fussy and naughty. At times like this, instead of speaking out in frustration and punishment, maybe it is time to stop and concentrate on how much attention you have been giving them. I'm not speaking of indulgence, but rather purposeful attentiveness to their needs. It's the need to be hugged or rocked, to be listened to, and the need to fulfill not simply their physical needs but their emotional ones as well. 

Old-fashioned wisdom sometimes says that children should be seen and not heard; that they should be kept in their place. This false wisdom pushes children into the background and expectations are that they have to grow up too soon. In Victorian days children were thought of as miniature adults and were expected to act that way at a young age. Instead, I prefer the theory that you cannot spoil a child with too much love.  Pure love seeks to meet the needs of the child so that their love cup is full. What do children see as love? Essentially, to a child love equals attention. And lots of it! 

Children who do not receive enough attention tend to seek it in ways that are less than attractive to others around them. They may act up, show off, or get in the way. It's all a way to say "I need someone to notice me because right now I am feeling insignificant". If a child cannot get enough attention by being good or doing the right thing, he will automatically swing to the other side of the pendulum and will act out or do naughty things. As far as he is concerned, subconsciously attention is attention. It doesn't matter if is happy attention or negative attention. At least he is receiving it. But, how much more pleasant it is for the family if happy attention is what is sought and received. 

If a child's love cup is filled, a happy child is the result. I remember when our children were toddlers and would start to get fussy. About 99% of the time they needed some type of parental love or affirmation. Instead of scolding them for being fussy, we as parents quickly learned that scooping them up in our arms for some cuddle time or just listening to them as they explained something that was important to them usually took care of the problem. Love cups are made to be filled! If actions indicate that love levels are declining quickly, it is time to refill the cup!

There are three ways to fill a child's love cup. Each is important in helping children establish that they have self-worth (a gift which comes from God and is taught and expressed through the vehicle of parental love and acceptance). They are:

• Accept. We may not always accept a child's behavior, but we must always make it 100% clear that we accept them! Make sure your child knows that he has always been wanted and loved. And affirm that he will continue to be accepted for as long as you live.  Respect your child, affirm him, and let him know by word and action that you accept them just as he is. Naughty or nice, your children are your precious gems. Make them feel like their love cup is made from gold!
• Listen. It's easy to push children aside when it comes to opinions and thoughts.  Because their thoughts are immature, it might be easy to minimize them by hurrying them on and not really listening to what they have say. But their feelings are valid, and their thoughts are who they are. Take time to listen with sensitivity and warmth. It's a wonderful way to fill their love cup to overflowing.
• Time.  Children equate time with value.  The more time you give to them, the more his or her needs will be met.  Quality time is important, but quantity time is important too!  Don't accept that fallacy that short periods of quality time a day are enough.  Be sure you find lots of quality time in great quantity!  Have fun with your children.  Laugh, share, play, and create with them.  Even if you have to sacrifice expensive things, remember that your time is more important than any material thing you can give your child. 

Picture your child as a beautiful gold cup and strive to keep it filled to the brim!  Gems of acceptance, listening, and time adorn the cup. 

An Education, Above and Beyond

In our family, we have a philosophy for homeschool. It should be above and beyond anything available to students who attend traditional schools. It should provide a better education, involve more life experiences, offer more opportunities, teach values and goals that your family believes in, and be more fun than regular school. Otherwise, what's the point? 

Every effort should be made as a family team to take on an attitude of learning in everything that happens within the family structure. When this happens, learning becomes a way of life and occurs naturally throughout all the waking hours. The stress on teacher-mom or teacher-dad is reduced because instead of adding school to the day, parents are simply adapting the day to take advantage of teachable moments. True, many of these teachable moments are planned exclusively for learning, but they have a flow to them that happens without stressing everyone out. 

During the early years (from birth until a child becomes independent enough to work on their own) it is especially important for the parent to prioritize. Identifying tasks that are a burden should be examined and evaluated for their worth.  Maybe it isn't as important to vacuum the house every day if it takes away from spending time reading to a child.  Does grocery shopping really need to happen weekly? Possibly going once every other week would give the teacher-parent more time for what's really important (and could even save on the food budget!). 

Even very good volunteer responsibilities can become burdensome if they take priority over teaching time with your own children. Is it time to evaluate and see if possibly your children should become the object of your efforts to a greater degree instead? The point is, life changes in the family with children who depend upon their parents for their education, and so all aspects of home life should be scrutinized and evaluated as something to keep or something to discard. Sometimes parents think they are only doing a good job teaching their children only if they replicate traditional school. This becomes school-at-home where textbooks are worked on page by page or a curriculum established by an educational company who writes textbooks for classrooms of 25 students controls the day. 

When this happens, it spells STRESS and BURN-OUT for the family. As an alternative, a homeschool program that flows with daily life is refreshing, natural, and has the long-term result of children who excel in learning as they create, apply, analyze, and evaluate everything about them! Books should be your servants, and never should children become their slaves. Concepts taught in a workbook most likely are better taught and applied by other means. Games, songs, stories, manipulatives,  daily events like cooking in the kitchen, counting birds at a feeder, and going on a nature treasure hunt are only a few of the ways that a workbook can be replaced. 

Resources abound that don't come in textbook form! Use them and teach your children how to research on the multitude of things they are curious about each day. By digging deep, you'll find that instead of meeting the requirements for a subject, your children will excel and become experts in the field. Something as simple as the teaching techniques implemented in your homeschool could make all the difference! Make your homeschool above and beyond what the community school has to offer your kids!

What is Teaching?

"Teaching as a part of child training is not simply a matter of giving instructions to be either accepted or rejected.  Teaching provides the explanation for rules for which the child then becomes accountable.  As with any teaching that is designed to reach the objective of inculcation, the child must be required to demonstrate that he has learned the desired lesson; in other words, he must pass the test."

~ Fugate ~

Learning During the Early Years

It's natural for parents to have role models; someone who is an expert in a field or who has experienced something before us and shares their experience with others. These mentors are important in helping us as we experience things in life that are new to us. During my children's early years, Dr. Kay Kuzma was one of my role models.  I loved her enthusiastic and positive outlook. Always positive, her energy and knowledge was contagious! I read all her books and listened to as many of her audio presentations as I could find. Recently I found my copy of her book, Living with God's Kids. 

As I scanned its pages again, I was immediately transported back in time; a time when my children were young and when we were starting our homeschool journey. Dr. Kuzma's words reminded me of the role model she was to me. When it comes to teaching preschool children, she believes that they learn best through play. Having freedom to choose the activities that they enjoy the most and being able to spend lots of time outdoors are two of her core values. She also believes that children can be guided and given activities that will help them with their development. Giving them daily home duties, lessons from nature, and reading Bible stories rounds out their early childhood days. Play, chores, nature study, and Bible stories established the core of her preschool curriculum.  

Knowing that Dr. Kuzma has a PhD in early childhood education, yet chose to teach her own children by such a natural method encouraged me to focus my homeschool curriculum on the core values that she felt were most important.

Here is an example of the preschool schedule that Dr. Kuzma prepared for her children.

• she wrote down the things she wanted her children to learn during the year.
• then she printed each activity that would help her children learn these things on a 3 x 5 card.
• she thought up about ten things she wanted the children to learn about on the first day.
• each day after that she thought of several more things to add to the list.
• an example of a day's list looked like this:  1) go to the library and get 25 books; 2) clean room; 3) learn telephone number; 4) make bird feeder; 5) fold clothes; 6) make a picture book and tell stories about each picture; 7) learn A, B, and C on the piano; 8) listen to a story about honesty; 9) make granola; 10) practice roller skating.
• each day the children would sort through the cards and choose which activity they wanted to do that day.
• cards for some activities that happened daily (like cleaning their room) were left in the pile each day.
• the activities that were a one-time deal were put in a special box after the children signed the back of the card.
• if the children were not interested in anything on any of the cards, she would ask them what they would like to have added and then she would write up their ideas on new cards for them to choose from.
• the cards are only a jumping off point and should not limit learning.  Every effort should be made throughout the day to use teachable moments as they happen. Common sense and taking advantage of things that happen in life should be utilized.

Dr. Kuzma says that she got most of her ideas for activities by listening to the children express what they wanted to do or what they wanted to learn about. Other ideas came from children's activity books that she had in her personal library. This method of preschool learning motivates children because it is truly one that follows the interest of the children being taught.

I found it encouraging that this method of instruction allows children to learn purposefully, but without forcing them into early, structured education.  Instead of workbooks and copy work, her children were allowed to grow and develop naturally, learning about daily life at their mother's knee.  Dr. Kuzma's approach allowed her to listen to the needs of her children and to establish routines and activities that expanded her children's world and allowed them to learn much more than if they had been confined to a workbook each day.

She ends her comments on preschool education with this sentence:  "If I can do it, you can!"  Now, go take on the day!

[Information from Living with God's Kids by Dr. Kay Kuzma, chapter 4]