A Summer Homeschool Project: Crochet 2

In my first post on summer homeschool projects I posted a video on how to start crocheting. Have you started a crochet chain with your children yet? Do you want to know how to crochet more than just a chain? This video shows you the next step. You and your kids will be crocheting like a professional in no time at all!

I also have to mention the possibility of using your new skill to serve others. My church has a group that knits together and donates finished baby blankets to hospitals for premature babies or scarves, hats, and mittens to seafarers. It is great opportunity to minister to someone in a very tangible and practical way. Plus your children will learn a little something about service.

A Homeschool Summer Project: Crochet

I have been learning to knit recently, and my kids are fascinated by it. They want me to teach them how to do it, but I know that knitting is too difficult for very young children. Grammy suggested that she teach C5 how to crochet instead. I am trilled that she is going to teach her this great craft. Not only will she learn how to crochet, but she will also gain precious memories from the times she shares with her grandmother. If you and your children want to enbark on the adventure of learning to crochet this summer, I have included a video that demonstrates how to start a crochet chain.

Emergent Literacy and Beyond

I originally wrote this post for Because Babies Grow Up as part of a series on emergent literacy. Stop by Because Babies Grow Up to read  some great information about encouraging your child’s development.

Becoming a literate person is a big undertaking, and the early years are the time to lay a firm foundation. Throughout this series on emergent literacy you have read about some specific skills needed to read and write well and learned that it takes lots of practice to master those skills. In this post I’d like to sum it all up.

The most important thing that you can do to help your child learn to read and write is to simply reading good literature to your child from birth through the teen years. There is so much that you share with your child during those special times spent reading together. Your oral reading helps your child hear the rhythm of the language and the intonation used in reading. You also serve as a model for what expert readers do and how they solve problems when they read. Since your child naturally wants to mimic you in the early years, reading aloud is a great time to inadvertently (or even intentionally) teach your child about reading.

What behaviors are you modeling for your child as an expert reader? Just think of all that you do when you are reading aloud. If you misread a word in a sentence, you correct yourself when you realize that the word did not make sense, and you use the context to figure out the meaning of certain words. You make predictions as you read, too. You even reread excellent books because you get something new from those books each time you read them. The next time you read aloud, think about all that you actually do when you read.

As you model these skills, you can also explicitly share them with your child when you read aloud to him/her. When you and your little one snuggle together and read, talk about the book and ask questions.

“Those words rhyme.”

“I love this author (book).”

“I wonder what will happen next.”

“Have you ever felt like that?”

I cannot stress enough how important it is to read to your child . The time you invest in reading aloud to your child is time well spent. Enjoy it!

Photo courtesy of luiginter

Homeschool Sticky Note Science

Sticky notes can motivate your kinesthetic child to learn science concepts in your homeschool. Try out these ideas.

~Create a Periodic Table using a different color sticky note for each column on the table. Have your child write the symbols for each of the elements on individual sticky notes. You can even expect your child to write the atomic mass of the element on the sticky. Then each of the sticky notes needs to be placed on the wall in order to construct the table. Another time you can scramble up those sticky notes and have your child reconstruct the table based on the color coding and atomic mass of each element. Ask questions and discuss the similarities of the elements in the same columns. “Are they liquids or gases?” “Are they colorless?” Are they reactive or non reactive?”

~Have your child use sticky notes to show the life cycles of different animals. Have your child draw a picture of each stage in the cycle and label it on individual stickies. You can then post different life cycles on the same wall in order to compare them and make conclusions.

~Be a weather tracker! Laminate a map of the US and post it. Use different color flag stickies for the various kinds of weather and write that information on a key on the map. Each day have your child record the weather forecast by placing the correct color flag in the different regions of the country (Midwest, North East, etc.). Your child can even be the meteorologist and give the weather report to you each day. As you collect data, make observations about weather patterns that occur and discuss.

There are many other ways that you can use sticky notes to learn science, too. I hope this gets you started!

Photo courtesy of General Wesc

Homeschool Sticky Note Math

Sticky notes can be used for learning and practicing math skills. Here are a few ways you can motivate your children to master math concepts in your homeschool.

~Make a graph with your sticky notes. Collect data on your notes and then organize them into a graph. For example, you can take a nature walk and count the petals on a particular type of flower. For each flower that you observe, record the number of petals on a sticky note. Then create your graph at home with the sticky notes.

~Young children can learn how to put numbers in the correct order with sticky notes. Write the numerals 0-9 on individual sticky notes and post them around the house. Have your children go on a hunt for all of the sticky notes and put them on a wall in the correct order. You can do the same thing with other sets of numbers such as 100-120.

~Children can also learn how to translate numbers from words to numerals. Write the numbers 0-9 on individual sticky notes, and make a couple of sets of these. On another set of notes write different numbers in words such as one hundred twenty three. Post the words on the wall. Then have your children create the numbers with their numeral cards. You can post the words in different locations in the house, too, in order to help your kinesthetic learner stay engaged.

~Create an addition matrix with sticky notes. On individual sticky notes write the numbers from 0-9 and make two sets. Place those notes in order horizontally across the top of the matrix and vertically down the left side of the matrix. Have your child add and fill in the matrix with the sums on individual sticky notes. You can do the same thing with a multiplication matrix.

I hope these ideas inspire you to try using sticky notes in new and different ways.

Photo courtesy of James Cridland

Other Ways of Using Puppets in Your Homeschool

In the past I have written about the benefits of using puppets in your homeschool to encourage literacy. Here are a few other ideas for how you can use puppets to motivate your children and encourage learning in your homeschool.

~A puppet can help your younger child to develop language skills. Young children love puppets and are often willing to open up to them. Take advantage of this and have your child and tell the puppet stories. Ask your child probing questions to encourage more developed ideas.

~Your child can teach a puppet something you’ve recently learned about. For example, have your child explain a process in math or science to the puppet. The puppet can ask questions in order to encourage your child to add details to the explanation. This is a great way to assess your child’s understanding.

~If you are studying a particular historical time period, have your child make puppets that reflect the dress of the time. Then have your child create and perform a puppet show that includes historically accurate details. Music and art can be woven into the the performance as appropriate. Or your child could make puppets of a certain historical figure and have that puppet engage with the audience in character.

Try using puppets in your homeschool.

Photos courtesy of Wendy Piersall (@eMom)

Fun Homeschool Math Fact Mastery

Learning math facts is necessary to help your child solve more complicated math problems efficiently. In the past I have posted some ideas to make learning math facts fun. Here are more ways of mastering them in your homeschool without the drudgery.

~While reciting the facts, do a hand clapping game. Girls especially love these kinds of games.

~Play card games:

• Cribbage is a great one to play with children who are slightly older. You have to make sums of 21 & 15. You also have to multiply when you get the same score multiple times. You can find the rules of the game here.
• Black Jack is another game helpful in teaching addition facts. (I had a teacher who called it “21″ instead.). While playing the game, you have to find sums up to 21 quickly.

~Make flashcards, one set with the product/sum and one with the equation.

• Play “Go Fish” by matching the equation to the product/sum.
• Play “Concentration” by matching the equation to the product/sum.

~Play Soduku. You can play online here.

~Learn the doubles - 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, etc. Also focus on the the trickier facts – 5+6, 5+7, 5+8, 5+9, 6+7, 7+8, 7+9, & 8+9. You can make up songs to help remember them.

Photo courtesy of peiqianlong

US Geography Ideas for Your Homeschool

I recently posted about a funny song to teach US geography. Here are a few other US geography ideas for your homeschool.

~ Mom is Teaching has a link to an interactive US map that you might be interested in using with your children. I tried it out myself and had a lot of fun with it!

~ We have a US map puzzle that names the state and capital when you place the piece in. This is great for those kids who love doing puzzles. The multisensory nature of this puzzle makes it easier for children to remember the states and capitals.

~ We have flashcards for the United States with information about each state listed on the back of the card. You could make your own flashcards, but make them more like baseball cards. Research each of the states and record important information on the backs of the cards.

~ Make tourist brochures for the states that it would be most appropriate to vacation in. Include a map of the state and information about things important to tourists in it. You can even include photos of great places to visit.

~ Create a topographical map for a state. Use a large piece of cardboard as the base to draw the state on and make the topographical features with air drying clay. Paint the features, too. Create a key for your map.

Have fun learning US geography together!

Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook: Duck Related Literature

As we are working our way through Make Way for Ducklings, we are also reading lots of other books to compliment the different themes. Here are a few titles that I have found interesting, enjoyable, and helpful.

1. Hunwick’s Egg by Mem Fox – This is a sweet book about how Hunwick finds an “egg” and everyone waits for it to hatch.
2. Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duckby Lisa Westberg Peters – This simple book is about the change of seasons and Mallard Duck migration in rhyme.
3. Dilly Duckling by Claire Freedman – Dilly loses a feather, chases it, and learns about molting.
4. Cock-A-Doodle Quack Quackby Ivor Baddiel and Sophie Jubb – This is a fun book about a young rooster who doesn’t know how to wake everyone up in the morning. It reviews the farm animal sounds.
5. Dawdle Duckling by Toni Buzzeo – This is a cute story about a duckling who doesn’t stay close to Mother duck until… Explore the number 4 with this book. Also try Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling by the same author.
6. “Behold the Duck” by Ogden Nash – This is a simple, rhyming poem about duck behavior.
7. Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic – This book is about a mallard duck who chooses not to migrate with his flock during his first winter. He knocks on Irene’s door in the middle of the night and stays for the winter. (My kids love this book! We have read it many times.)

Happy reading!

A Traditional Literature Theme: Tall Tales

Continue your Traditional Literature study in your homeschool with Tall Tales. These stories are short, fun, and engaging. If your children are resistant to reading, Tall Tales can be a great way to capture their interest.

~You can find copies of American Tall Tales here. There are also comprehension quizzes on this site.

~You can find a unit study on Tall Tales at German Town Academy.

~Tall Tales fit into a unit of study on the westward expansion. You can find general information about America in the 1800’s at this website. You will also find a host of educational resources at this website.

~Some Tall Tales are based on actual people. You can have your children research the lives of the Johnny Appleseed and Davey Crockett and compare the facts they find to the exaggerations in Tall Tales.

~You can make a lapbook on Johnny Appleseed. Homeschool Share has a free one.

~Have your children write their own Tall Tales. Remember to include exaggeration in the tales. Illustrations would complete the stories.

Photo courtesy of cliff1066