Another lesson from this year of homeschooling is that it is not necessary to follow your curriculum to the letter. Please understand that I really do love our curriculum, My Father’s World. It is well organized, thorough, and easy to use. However, that does not mean that my kids need to do all of the work or that they have to move just because the curriculum says so. I have learned to do the work that my girls need to do and to change the method of delivery to address the kids’ needs’ and interests. Let me explain.

MFW includes a very thorough phonetically-based reading instruction component. I think the methods used are great and do teach your child to read. You teach 6 types of lessons during the week and then cycle through those types of lessons each week. The specifics in each lesson change as you work through the weeks, but the structure remains the same. At some point in the school year we tired of the repetitiveness of the lessons. At that point I decided to change things around a bit. Sometimes we played games that addressed the same concept to be taught. Other times I added an element of surprise to the original plan. For example, when we sort picture cards by initial sounds, sometimes I have a kid run down the hall with the picture card and match it to the correct letter at the other end of the hall. Once all of the picture cards are gone, we flip the pictures and check the letters on the back and correct any mistakes. My take on the lessons kept things fresh and kept the kids engaged while teaching the necessary concepts.

There were studies that we have been very interested, so I decided to extend the learning. MFW includes lessons on cows, horses, and goats. I added to that by creating a unit on the farm. We visited a couple of farms. We watched videos of the three animals included in our curriculum. We read many books about the farm. We compared cows and goats as well. We even created a very large farm diorama. We completed work for a lapbook on the farm (which I still need to construct). We learned about the farm far longer than we were “supposed” to according to MFW, but that worked for us.

An important part of the curriculum is the math calendar. This includes, among other components, learning the days of the week, the months of the year, and counting the days in school using straws on a hundreds chart. I decided to add Zero the Hero to our school experience. The idea is that every tenth day Zero visits your classroom and leaves something for the children to count and sort. On that day the children count to 100 by ones, twos, fives, and tens and sing special songs and read books about Zero or even a letter written by Zero. It can be a lot of work, but it is so much fun! Zero helps the kids learn place value and counting by running with the kids’ imaginations and by being repetitive (every tenth day you are visited by Zero).

My lesson: Use your curriculum as a guide and add or subtract according to your kids’ needs and interests.

I have some lessons that I learned while homeschooling my kids this year. These insights might help you, too.

This school year we started off with a pretty strict schedule, and I worked hard to ensure that we had school time every day. I was sticking to the curriculum, My Father’s World. I wanted to be sure that we covered everything. We got to work at 8 am and worked until 11 am with a snack in the middle of our schedule. We also had dance lessons, soccer practice, doctor appointments, Mom to Mom, and small group on top of maintaining our home and going to the gym. It was very intense, and we were all exhausted!

I learned my lesson a few months in. Nobody could maintain the rigid schedule I had set up, and homeschooling is supposed to be flexible. Besides, one of our goals this school year was for our children to work and play independently so that I would not have to constantly monitor them. I loosened up on our start time, so that the kids would have more time in the morning (their best time of day) to play together without my interference. I played around with when and where we did school work and streamlined a few things from our curriculum, especially on days when we had things going on outside of our home. I took a long look at the things that we were doing outside of school time and realized that those things really are considered school work, too. For example, we cook and experiment with recipes often, and I read to my kids all of the time. Even when we were not “officially” doing school work, my kids were engaged in educational experiences.

Our relaxed routine has helped me focus on other aspects of my children’s lives. I have been better able to help C6 with her sensory issues and anger management. I can help my kids process problems that come up between them. I can also model social behaviors that I want to see in my children’s interactions with others such as treating others the way you want to be treated, introducing yourself, introducing your friends to each other, and using good manners. These are issues that are as important if not more important than academics.

My lessons: 1) Be more flexible with your schedule and your curriculum. 2) Focus on what is important for your kids.

Photo courtesy of woodleywonderworks

Spring is a great time to homeschool at the beach. It isn’t too hot and there aren’t many folks around. The sound of the ocean and the texture of the sand are soothing. Recently I took C5, A2, and P4 (my nephew) to the beach, and we had a great experience. Here are a few things that we did that you might want to try out.

~Go for a walk along the beach. It is really great exercise. Read more about the benefits of walking on the beach at Discover Walking.

~Skip rocks on the water. You can find out how to skip rocks at wikiHow. If you want to know why stones skip on the water, you’ll find information about the physics behind it at The Library of Congress.

~Collect rocks and shells. In addition to what I have included here, you can find more information about geology and art with rocks at Suite 101.

-Categorize the rocks and shells by size, by color, by shape, etc.

-Examine the rocks to find different geometric shapes. We found rectangles and trapezoids.

-Use the rocks that you collected to build with. The kids built a really great tower together.

-We used those shells and rocks to “write” the kids’ initials.

~Build sand castles. You can research the physics behind why sand castles sand at BNET. This post also includes an experiment for you to try.

Have fun and make memories at the beach with your kids!

Photo courtesy of MyAngelG

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!

My Favorite Author is using this theme this month, too. Stop by that blog for interviews with authors and reviews of books related to this theme. “What can you do with a traditional literature theme?” you ask. It is one of my favorite literature studies because it is truly a rich topic. Today I am sharing a few ways to engage your children in this study with Nursery Rhymes and Fables:

Photo by aturkus

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes are very short, funny, poetic stories. They are often historically and politically significant.

• Your little ones can participate in this study by reading Nursery Rhymes. These funny rhymes build phonemic awareness and are easily
  memorized. Have your little ones choose a few to commit to memory.
• Make and Break words from the rhymes. Use words such as Jill/hill, down/crown. Use the onsets and rimes to build new words (spill, fill, mill, bill).
• You can have your children illustrate several Nursery Rhymes and bind them into a book. Those illustrations are a great way to teach visualization, and they help you see if your child comprehends the text.
• Teens can research the political and historical significance to each of the rhymes. Then they can write their own Nursery Rhymes that have political and historical messages cleverly hidden in them.

Fables

Fables are short stories that have a moral or a lesson at the end.

• Since fables are so short, you can use them to practice oral reading. Have your children read them aloud with the goal of making the reading “sound like talking”.
• You can focus on memorization skills with Fables. Choose shorter ones that your older children can memorize and have the younger children memorize the moral.
• The lesson can spark an interesting discussion about morals. Ask your children what they think is the right choice in each situation.
• Fables can help you gauge your children’s comprehension because they are short and have a moral. Did your child predict the outcome based on the clues in the text? Did your child make connections to other stories or situations?

Look for more posts about using folklore in your homeschool.

Stovepipe Hat

Supplies (makes 1 sample and 2 hats)
3 pieces red construction paper     3 pieces white construction paper     2 pieces large drawing paper
glue sticks     scissors     permanent marker

How To
Cut about one inch off of the long edge of three pieces of red construction paper and three pieces of white construction paper. Trace one of the remaining rectangles onto a large piece of drawing paper. Then trace the cut off piece of paper onto the base of the large rectangle to form the brim of the hat. Make one tracing for each child.

Give each child the tracing of the hat. Have each child glue the one inch white strip to the brim of the hat. Have the children fold the red paper in half hamburger style twice and cut the paper along the folds. Do the same for the white paper. Now create a pattern with the colors on the tracing by gluing red, white, red, white. (Each child will have 2 extra pieces of red and 2 extra pieces of white paper. Reserve these for another project.)

Have your children help spell the words “Cat in the Hat” and write them as a title at the top of the page.

Word Work

Supplies
remaining strips of red and white construction paper     permanent marker    pencils

How To
Use the remaining strips of paper to write the words “cat”, “in”, “the”, & “hat”. As you write the words (except “the”, which you write out and explain that it is a sight word), have your child say the sounds in the words and tell you the corresponding letters. Then have the kids trace over the letters. Your children can play “Concentration” and “Go Fish” and also practice spelling the words with these flash cards.

Indoor Seuss Inspired Frisbee

Supplies
2 dessert size paper plates (per child)     red marker     read crayons

How To
Draw a stovepipe hat on the back of each of the plates. Draw lines for your child to color in with red crayon. Once the Frisbees are decorated, toss them around. We played Frisbee down our hallway and even played relay races. Be creative!

I hope that you are planning on “Seussing Up” your homeschool for Read Across America Day on March 2. The Sneetches can help you to do just that by opening a conversation about “Seuss-itivity” – tolerance. The Sneetches is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books! I have included activities here that appeal to a wide variety of ages.

~Read the book together. Take this opportunity to teach your children about racism and tolerance. Try this Star Belly activity at Teaching Tolerance. The activity can be modified for your homeschool by planning to do it with another family.

~The setting of The Sneetches is a beach. Put that sand to good use and make sand paintings. Kaboose has a plan for this activity.You can learn about Navajos as well since sand painting is important to their culture.

~Be an inventor! Sylvester McMonkey McBean was an inventor. Unlike McBean’s inventions, you can invent something that is helpful instead of harmful. Teacher Vision has lots of great ideas.

~This is a great opportunity to study geometry specifically looking at stars. Crayola has a great geometry lesson plan involving making 3D stars.

~Teach phonograms to your younger children with this fun game that I found at Hot Chalk’s. The game is similar to BINGO.

I hope you can share this very special book and its important message with your children.

Photo courtesy of evaxebra

~Read The Lorax. Have your children create a diorama of what the land looked like before the Once-ler chopped down the Truffula trees and what it looked like afterward. Be sure to include Brown Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans, and Humming-Fish in their habitats before and after the Once-ler came.

~Write a sequel to The Lorax. Tell what happens after the last Truffula seed is planted. Do all of the animals come back? Is the air and water clear now? Do new animals come? Make sure you reread The Lorax several times to help you when you plan your sequel.

~Study seeds by observing them sprout. The Watching Seeds Grow experiment will allow you to closely observe the seeds. Older kids might like to try an experiment about the affects of water quality on seed germination found at Salt Lake County Storm Water Quality Education Lesson and Activity Plans.

~Learn about how plants help our environment. Start a garden from seeds. Since it is still too cold to plant them outside in most areas, you can start growing your seeds inside your home. Make observations in a journal as they grow. Talk about how plants breathe. You can find a good summary of plant respiration at The Open Door Web Site. This science fair project idea is great for ‘tweens and teens.

~Learn to knit since the Once-ler and his family knitted the Thneeds in the book. There is a great tutorial at Crafttown including illustrations and definitions of vocabulary. This video from Expert Village shows you how to cast on.

You can also learn the knot stitch with this video.

I hope these ideas make learning fun!

Photo courtesy of Maine Coast Semester

1. What do you know about angels?
2. Fly around like angels for the next couple of minutes.
3. Did you know that an angel visited Mary to tell her about Jesus? This is the story.
   
4. Read the story of the annunciation. As you read, discuss these ideas to discuss and ask these questions: ~Do you remember Mary? When this story happens she is very young like when Mommy and Daddy were waiting to get married. She was waiting to marry Joseph.~Can you imagine seeing an angel? How would you feel if you did see one? Make a frightened face. When an angel talks to a person in the Bible, the angel always tells the person to not be afraid. We read that the people are afraid at first when they see angels. It must be pretty amazing to see an angel!~ Who is Jesus’ mother? Who is His Father?~Mary tells the angel that she will do what God tells her to do. How do you think she felt?
5. Have the children color the story page. Hang the pictures in a prominent place.
6. Memorize this verse this week: For nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37" target="_new">Luke 1:37

This video is a nice compliment to this lesson. The art in the video is beautiful, too.

Supplies

Lyrics to “Deck the Halls”
“Tree Ornament – Spicy Apple Sauce” recipe from Craft Bits (Note: I added 1/4 cup more applesauce than this recipe calls for. The dough was too dry otherwise.)
Bible
Your Favorite Christmas Storybook (I used The Story of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry.)

Objectives

~To understand that our Lord is beautiful.
~To make the connection that since God is creative and beautiful, we are and people enjoy being surrounded by beauty.

I wrote the following on the index card inside the Advent calendar.

Bible Verse

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4" target="_new">Psalm 27:4

Kids’ Activity

~Sing “Deck the Halls”
~Read your Christmas storybook.
~Read the Bible verse. Explain that this verse tells us that the Lord is beautiful. Since He is beautiful and Christmas is all about Jesus’ birth, we are making our Christmas tree beautiful.
~Make the cinnamon ornaments.

Family Activity

~Decorate your Christmas tree.