Extinguishing Fires

My sister gave my children a bunch of puzzles. Among them was a 3-d house puzzle, a glow in the dark puzzle, a 3 little pigs puzzle, and various animal puzzles, especially horse puzzles. I love puzzles - jigsaw, pencil and paper, visual, logic - and I am fairly good at them. Herein lies a problem.

I realized the problem this weekend as the children and I were assembling. As I was plipping pieces in place as quickly as I could my son got up and left the table. He said, "I'm not good at puzzles." At that moment, I realized that I had allowed my personal space to swell so large that I pushed my children out - completely out of the room. I was able to get him to come back, but not with the same enthusiasm. Needless to say, I felt terrible. They were, after all, his and Princess's puzzles. I tried to explain that I had had much practice so it seemed easier when I was assembling. I knew that while I was practicing, I never had anyone reaching over my shoulder plipping pieces making me feel insecure about my lack of expertise. So, I stepped away from the table.

Cool Free Resources for On the Go Homeschoolers

This entry was originally posted at my other site, Twice Bloomed Wisteria.

We spend a great deal of time in the car or waiting for a lesson to be finished. I always take books, books on tape, math fact practice, or Latin pronunciation practice. But, sometimes we want more - a little something different. I have found a solution or a few solutions - Podcasts!

Podcasts have become popular because so many people have high speed internet and mp3 players and because many people find it difficult to tune in to a particular series because of so many other time commitments. NPR, National Geographic, NASA and others have made it easy to find the stories in your interest area. Once you subscribe to the podcast or sometimes before, you can pick and choose the episodes you would like to hear or fit into your current study. You may then download and listen to the podcasts at your convenience, as many times as you like. I hate it when there is a great story on the radio and we get to ballet and I have to get out of the car and miss 10 minutes or the end. You don't have that problem with podcasts - just click pause.

Here is a sampler of some of the educational podcasts available:

• American Experience: a PBS production -- American Experience is a History Podcast with topics such as Riding the Rails, Behind the Scenes: The Man Behind Hitler, Annie Oakley, Jessie James, and Victory in the Pacific. The time on these range from 5 minutes to 26 minutes.
• Nova --Short science stories from Nova are as diverse as can possibly be. There are stories about Mummies, Hurricanes, or Wetland Restoration.
• NPR Expeditions from National Geographic -- Typical stories include A Journey to the Edge of the Amazon, Societies of Sound in the Forest (insect sounds), and Sacred protection for Medicinal Plants.
• Science @ NASA -- Great stories from NASA like The Pull of Jupiter, Jupiter's New Red Spot, Planets around Dead Stars, and Suit Sat.
• NPR - Story of the Day --These stories are not all suitable for child listeners but stories like Chocolate's countless varieties, Dada on Display at the National Gallery, and In Praise of Don Knotts are interesting family choices.
• Nature Stories - Farming the Desert, Listening to the Private lives of Wolves, and Listening to the Northern Lights are a sampling of the stories in this environmental education podcast.
• Nature - Audio highlights from the international journal nature. Podcast segments are longer and the content is a bit more advanced, but no less interesting. Articles like Undersea volcanoes, genetic causes of deafness, the balmy arctic, and poisonous frogs.
  

There are thousands of possibilities. Podcasts are being added daily and most are free! Something for everyone - even Latin readings - can be found in these emerging resources. Even though I linked to the individual sites, I use iTunes which is also free. You can search podcasts and subscribe in one place. Obviously, there are other options if you don't use iTunes. You may subscribe to NPR Podcasts at their website. You may google podcasts and your topic. I find all of that daunting because sometimes I don't know what I want. I like to browse.

What I do know is that our weekly travel time will be more interesting and more educational. Podcasts are not just for the car or iPod, I listen to the NPR Story of the Day and NPR Weekly Book Reviews while toiling away at my computer.

Are there fun, interesting, educational podcasts that I have missed?

Summer Learning

Official school ended a few weeks ago. Yet, Summer is perfect for learning. The slower pace, fewer organized activities, and the longer days stimulate learning. Children are drawn outdoors and left to their own devices and amazing truths of nature are observed, the laws of physics are tested, muscles are developed, art is created, stories recounted, and mysteries solved. By letting children play and get bored you open the door to creative problem solving and learning.

I've heard, "Mama, I'm bored," at least a hundred times this summer, already. I respond in a similar way each time, "Go outside and play." I know that time spent wandering around on the farm is never wasted. Day-dreaming, scheming, exploring and testing are great activities that are best done when bored. While bored, my children dug a canal and built a dam. They made boats of paper and wood and floated them on the waterway. Experimenting with the water, dirt and miscellaneous pipe, wood, and other collected junk is certainly educational, but it is also fun. Yes, I could go stand out there with a book and direct the activities and bark out why those sticks won't work that way, but all that teaching would ruin it. Instead, my children have spent days experimenting and finally came up with a sturdy dam while I kept my mouth shut. I, as always, keep a watchful eye and ear pealed to the laboratory of the day, but try hard to stay out of it. I did overhear my son say, "How do the beavers do this so well with just dirt and sticks?" I think I overheard them discussing building a lock, next.

On another boring day, my children took a long walk to the spring. They found a fairy village in the moss and spent time "helping" the fairies by building some structure for their town. My sister and I used to pretend fairies in moss, with acorn cups, and rock tables. I told my children the story long ago. My children have now made their own stories and memories. I was told on my last walk to the spring, that I had stepped on a fairy garden. Oops! I have to be more careful.

Last week, my daughter folded a "nest" of paper, filled it with sunflower seeds, and climbed a tree. She placed the "nest" in an enticing place and waited. And waited. And waited.

Other days, I hear hammers banging. Construction has commenced. Or, they just ride their bikes, shoot targets with BB guns or bow, pick flowers, look for frogs or birds. I know that the unstructured learning is just as important as the more structured learning of the school year. I have to be patient with the messes created both inside and out. I have to remember that it is better for them to find out for themselves, rather than for me to tell them. I have to be available to help and rescue when needed but otherwise stay out of the way. I am rewarded with children who entertain themselves.

The children do go to the pool, participate in some organized activities, watch a few movies, and help build fences and other home and farm work, but Summer is all about roaming freely outside. I know roaming freely is not practical for city dweller children, but backyards, city and state parks, and inside the house can lead to similar exploration. Just remember to provide unscheduled time without an agenda. Let the child invent, while you watch.

Taming the Paper Animal

Construction paper in at least two sizes, plain white printer paper, notebook paper, handwriting paper, graph paper in a few sizes, worksheets, narrations, art projects, math work, flash cards for math, sight words, and Latin, art cards, and more have found a way into our house and have taken up residence. I am amazed at the quantity of paper we produce, use and store in our homeschooling journey.

The first year we homeschooled, I didn't do a great job keeping up with all the paper produced. In fact, I don't have a good record of what my son accomplished, when he did it or how he did it. In Mississippi being unorganized is no big deal. In fact there are no recordkeeping requirements. Even so, I do worry that I will need records or want records, so have found a way (even though I am organizationally challenged) to tame the paper animal. This is what has worked for my family.

• Plastic Ticklers divided into 12 sections (one for each month) have been a wonderful addition to our home school. Spend extra to get the plastic because the reinforced paper ones don't hold up for the full year. I get a different color for each child and have been consistent with the color from year to year. This makes filing automatic even the first day of the new school year. Since I only have monthly labels, even if I only get around to filing once a month I am still organized, but I find that I file daily or at least weekly because it is painless. I know this system is not up to the standards of many, but this is a real life plan. As an added bonus, since there is no interior organization any works or art, stories, papers from museums, scout stuff and other non-official school items can be stored without messing up "the plan." All of the work is stored by month and is there if needed or wanted.
  
• Book Rings - the bigger the better - add control to all flash cards. Since I was planning to re-use most of our resources, I wanted to have all the cards. Flash cards seem to hit the floor and disappear. I solved this problem by hole punching the cards and placing each set of cards on a separate book ring and then hanging them on a hook where they are easy to use and store. We use this for math facts cards, sight word cards, Latin roots, Child -sized Masterpiece cards, and sentence combining cards and I have not had to duplicate work or re-purchase because of lost cards.
• In/Out Boxes Stacked under the counter have controlled, not alleviated, our paper clutter. I use these to separate the different types of paper. The stack takes only 12" of under counter space. The children and I can find which paper we want without pulling 500 sheets. As an added benefit you can see when you are running low before you need a specific paper and don't have it.
• Beside the stack of In/Out Boxes I have a few pieces of 11 x 17 cardboard standing to keep our out-sized paper and portfolios fresh.

We have a few things that don't fit the plan, yet they have a plan of their own. We have done the Meet the Masters Art Program for a few years and these masterpieces are stored in the portfolio made in the first lesson. These are stored next to our In/Out Boxes. Our Nature Journals are treated like books and are stored on the bookshelf.

Planning can create a pile of paper too! I have notebooks in which I write lists and ideas and just write, but as far as official planning I have a secret paperless weapon, HS Planner. This planner lets you be as meticulous as you need to be. You can even give grades and make report cards. I don't use those items, but I do use most everything else. There is a place to keep up with everything you do and you can even create your own forms. I have been using this program for a few years and it is intuitive, works on both Mac and Windows, and is written by and for homeschoolers. The best thing is that it keeps the records for all years, not just the one you are using. Click a child's record and then move from K - 12 easily. I love this in the books read section. I can look back and see what my son read and enjoyed in first grade and make sure my daughter has a chance to read the book. You don't lose anything, which is great if you have multiple children.

As I write this I am laughing at the thought that I, of all people, am sharing my organization methods. I am not a domestic goddess, nor do I pretend to be. I am sharing this from a disorganized place. I have tried many notebook methods and other wonderful sounding ways of managing homeschool record keeping and planning. These failed for me, because they entailed too many sections in too many notebooks without needed flexibility, and I found that after a month the structure was barely hanging on and that there were so many items that really didn't have a place so they were tossed or got put in the wrong place. In the face of failure I tossed all of these schemes and simplified. I have been using the color coded ticklers, In/Out Boxes, HS Planner, and book rings for 3 years and feel success!

Reading Good Books

This entry was originally posted at my other site, Twice Bloomed Wisteria.

One of the most wonderful benefits homeschooling offers is the time and flexibility to explore timeless books. Some books just cannot be scheduled. They must be read when they are discovered, in their entirety, and with passion. I have been reading to my children since birth and will continue to do so (even though they are becoming readers) until they shove me out of the bed or off the couch. I love sharing books at bedtime or on the porch swing or on the couch or . . . I have abdicated some reading responsibility as they have grown, but will continue to find time to read as long as they want me.

We have read thousands of books and it seems that each good book leads to another. We read The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth Speare and Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes last year for history. Both mentioned Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. My son had to read that book last summer. We don't always follow literary allusion or recommendations of characters to books. Sometimes we follow authors. My son loved The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, so we have also read Tom Sawyer. My daughter enjoyed The Little Princess by Frances Burnett last year, so this year we read The Secret Garden. Other times we follow stories through to their conclusions by reading a series like the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling, The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis or The Little House series by Laura Ingals Wilder.

We also find books through our study of history by reading historically significant literature. We studied the Civil War this year and read The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane and Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. We are reading Gay Neck:The Story of a Pigeon for WWI study and plan to read The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boon and Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl for WWII. My little ballerina also led us to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night Dream. After watching the ballet, I suggested we read the play (I would have found an excuse to read Shakespeare even if she had hated the ballet).

Once you start reading good books there is no where to stop. The question is where to start. I love book lists. I check several, periodically, to make sure we haven't forgotten some wonderful, age appropriate, historically appropriate or just perfect piece of literature. Here is a smattering of the lists I use to help guide my children's reading and enjoyment of literature.

• Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt -- My sister in law gave this book to me years ago and I still enjoy it. Though her lists are not exhaustive or organized as I sometimes need them I have come back to this book many times because Gladys Hunt chooses quality. Over 1/2 the book is commentary on the importance of reading quality books. If you are just starting and have young children, the commentary can confirm your ideals and cement your plans in reality.
• Let the Authors Speak by Carolyn Hatcher -- This book organizes titles historically by reading levels, type of book, and location. Having all this information at your fingertips is indispensable if you like to structure some historical fiction and non fiction with your history study. There is little commentary. Three fourths of the book is comprised of lists sorted by period, title and author.
• The Literature Teacher's Book of Lists by Judie Strouf is an older book. I got it in my past life as a literature teacher. This book does not stop at lists of books but has an assortment of other "useful" or maybe "useless" information. Book lists are sorted by age, classics, popular, fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, comics, and on and on and on.
• The Story of the World Activity Guides by Susan Bauer and others -- I bought the first two of these and used them quite a bit. I don't like blind ordering from the library and enjoyed the historically significant literature choices. After the second activity book the activities and book choices seem sloppy and somewhat haphazard. The Guides do have lists of books by chapter significance, but the information is somewhat vague and the books are often redundant. You shouldn't have to read the same book each time you go to China in history.
• For free online lists try these:


• Award winning book lists -- Though these are the source of exhaustive official ALA lists, the format is not great. They are difficult to read and print. This list does not have the all important short summaries for each listing.
• Newbery Books -- Each entry has a short summary and winners are divided by century. The Caldecott Medal Books are accessible from this page, but are not organized for printing as you have an extra click so that you only get one book per page.
• The Great Books Academy -- This online school provides lists for great books and good books arranged by grade level.
  
• Great Books Online -- This list is for the older student and for people who don't mind reading online or printing books. The list is free and so are the books!
• Ambleside Online -- AO has reading lists for each grade level. Click on the grade level of your children and scroll down to the bottom for literature and free reading selections. They also have an alphabetical by authors list.
• Finally, though many of the books on these lists are drivel, here is the resource for the much touted Accelerated Reader program. I sometimes use these to find a grade level.

Armed with lists, I feel I can choose books that will make a lasting impression on my children, fill their minds with questions, and lead them to more books.

Deep School

This was originally posted at my other site, Twice Bloomed Wisteria.

In my former life I was a public high school literature teacher in Chicago. My mentor teacher called this time of the school year Deep School -- the time at which you can not see the beginning or end. He said it was the period that separates the average and awful teachers from the awesome teachers. The challenge is to maintain energy and high standards and to keep the material and technique interesting even though the students have heard your jokes, know your typical activities, and can predict your questions during Socratic discussion. You lose the Deep School Syndrome at the college level because of the semester course changes and I would not have dreamed that Deep School would be an issue in the home school. But, I find that I am fighting the doldrums in my own home school.

We are half way through the incredibly predictable Saxon math text, 1/2 way through modern history, and 1/2 way through Latin Primer I, etc. As I plan our week, I feel bored, as if I am just going through the motions. Unfortunately, I know that the children will follow my lead and learning will suffer. How can I reclaim the excitement of the beginning of the year? I will use some of the tricks I learned as a public school teacher and some new ideas I have learned being a homeschooling teacher/mom.

• Save one of your best or most exciting units for this time of the year. This can be a problem for home schools because you don't teach the same classes and material year after year. You can find a book or project that fits into your yearly plan that is particularly interesting or exciting for you. We are just starting Around the World in Eighty Days for geography. I am so excited about this plan.
• Buy some new school supplies. The smell of new notebooks is certainly motivating and a new box of crayons or colored pencils simply irresistible.
• Take a field trip -- something out of the ordinary, yet on topic. Perhaps a play or poetry reading, a camping or canoe trip, an art exhibition, or a trip to the capitol (state or national) could boost morale.
• Take a mini break from the routine. We did not touch the Saxon math text last week and we won't this week. Instead we concentrated on one problem area in math and used other activities to master the concept (in our case multiplication facts).
• Start something new! If art or picture studies fell by the wayside earlier in the year, use this time to add some zip into school. We have used 2 levels and 2 tracks of Meet the Masters art study and these are perfect curriculum boosters. Each artist lesson takes a few hours to complete (picture study, technique lesson, and master work creation), but the children learn much and have fun.
• Play games! I often forget the learning opportunities of games. Dominoes is great for addition facts. Monopoly builds money handling skills and teaches making change (Let the child be the banker). Scrabble is a wonderful spelling teacher. The possibilities are endless, because the children love spending time with their parents and the learning goes unnoticed in the pursuit of victory.
• Let your children enter a contest. Science fairs, writing contests, history fairs, 4-H competitions, spelling bees, and invention fairs provide opportunities for your children to show the things they have learned and to learn new things.
  

Remember, at least 1/2 of the attitude problem comes from your own boredom. Find activities that inspire you and your students will feed off your enthusiasm. Find and maintain your own joy of learning!!

Making the Most of Your Library Day

This entry was originally posted at my other site, Twice Bloomed Wisteria.

I don't know about you, but sometimes the weekly trip to the library can be a truly frustrating, disorganized disaster in which you come home to find you have nothing you need, many things completely inappropriate, and some things that must belong to someone else. I feel the children should be able to wander around and look at books and choose things they want to read, yet I want to monitor which things they actually take home (You caught me. I am a control freak). During this same trip I need to find books, books on tape, or videos that are used in more structured learning (i.e. history, geography, reading, literature). Obviously, this is nearly impossible to accomplish in the allotted library time.

Stressed, no fun for anyone, trips to the library used to be the norm for me and my family until I stepped back and solved some of the logistic problems so I could return the library to a treasured resource status. Make use of these ideas before you head out for the library and maybe your library days can become less stressful, too.

1. What you see is not always what you get. Find out if your library is part of an association. I own more books than our tiny local library, but the library belongs to an association so they and I have access to the books in 20 + libraries.
2. If your library has limited resources check to see if any reasonably close libraries have more. We use 2 libraries, our local library and a larger library in Jackson. I pay $50 a year for the guest library card, but the resources are worth far more.
3. Use the library's online catalog. Order all books you want or know you need in advance. Find out how long it takes for delivery to your local library, ordering deadlines, and delivery days before you begin to depend on the service. The books will be waiting at the check out for you. You can then spend all your library time with your children, helping them make smart choices.
4. Plan library visits on the day the delivery van runs. This is important for movies and books on tape since they have limited hold times. It also lets you adjust quickly if you can't get ordered books.
   
5. Get to know the librarian or in larger libraries the librarian in the section you use (in our case, the juvenile books section). If your children know the librarians they will feel more comfortable asking questions and getting the help they need. They will also get invitations to special events.
6. Keep a list on your Palm Pilot, in a notebook, or on anything you keep with you. On this list keep the names of authors your children enjoy, books you've already read, books that you plan to read, plans for upcoming lessons. If you have this information ready you can help your children bring home books that will be read, enjoyed and fit into your big plan. You, also, will find it useful if some of the books you reserved did not come in. The lists will help you redirect without stress.
7. Make sure you and your children agree on "the rules" ahead of time. Clarify safety zones in each library you visit. There is nothing more stressful than losing a child. If you have rules about allowed books, make sure the children know.
   

Now, with everything in place you may interact with your children, helping them choose books on their level, that are appropriate and are deserving of their time. Remember to make the library experience fun and your children will continue to love to visit and take advantage of all the resources offered by the library.