- Play spray math: Grab a hose and put the kids in their bathing suits. Ask math questions and give them a playful spray for wrong answers (although on really hot days they may prefer to get sprayed as a reward for right ones!).
- Read a read-aloud book on a blanket under a shady tree.
- Head to a nature center like Mankato's Elks Nature Center.
- Set up the tent in the back yard and stock it with educational card games, math manipulatives, books and other fun homeschool items.
- Start a rock collection with each child. Egg cartons make great containers (label each type on the top).
- Make pocket-and-handle nature journals and try to use them every day.
- Use a permanent marker to write math problems on different areas of a giant ball and play toss. Kids can read the questions facing them when they catch, call out the answers, and toss to the next person.
- Challenge the kids to jump rope while counting by twos, threes, fives, sevens, etc.
- Visit local petting zoos, sculpture walks, gardens and such. In Mankato, Sibley Park has lots of fun animals to visit and the poetry walk downtown is a fun way to expose the kids to some poetry.
- Set up a trivia obstacle course in the back yard. Rig up balance beams, hoops, wading pools, etc. to make the course and put buckets of index cards with questions at several stations. Use a timer and see how fast each child can run the course.
- If you have a Brock magiscope or similarly rugged microscope, take it the lake or stream and see what sort of nifty things you can look at up close.
- Have a backyard pool? Write numbers clearly in permanent marker on smooth rocks and put them at the bottom. Ask the kids math problems and have them dive for the right answer.
- Attend lots of outdoor events like plays, art exhibits and cultural events.
- Use a long measuring tape and chalk to map out the length of creatures like whales on the sidewalk and have the kids lie down next to them for real-life size comparisons.
- Visit as many parks as possible for hikes and nature walks.
- Make up several recipes of something like salsa or jam from fresh, local produce and then have taste tests to find your favorites. Kids will learn valuable home ec skills and you'll end up with tasty goodies!
- Start a butterfly list of all the varieties your family has spotted over the summer. Make sure to buy or borrow a good ID book to help with the identification.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
School ideas
One hit was giving him a muffin tin half filled with baking soda and half filled with colored vinegar. He got to experiment with reactions and also color mixing!
art gallery ideas
We love art galleries in our family. We regularly stop at them when we visit area cities, from the Sculpture Walk in Sioux Falls to the community art gallery below the library in Worthington to the Cottonwood County art and history museum in Windom.
We've found lots of fun ways to get something extra out of them. Here's a few ideas to try next time you get a chance to visit one with your kids.
Pose by your favorites. Have each family member stand and pose by his or her favorite piece (if photographs are allowed). Ask kids what elements of the works make them favorites.
Borrow innovative ideas. The works of art at most museums go far past your standard oil paint on canvas. We love to see what creative ideas artists have come up with and then try something similar at home. For example, at a Native American art exhibit at the Prehistoric Indian Village in Mitchell, SD, we got the following art ideas from the works:
Have treasure hunts. Scope out the pieces ahead of time and give each child a list of items to find in the works. Kids can then write down the name of the piece where each item was located. For instance, a list might contain items like: a bird, a baby doll, a leaf, fire and a book.
Play I-Spy with younger kids. As you're browsing, ask toddlers and preschoolers to spot colors, letters, numbers and objects.
Talk up the staff. We've had wonderful conversations with volunteers who have been more than happy to tell us background information about the artists and exhibits. My kids have always been even more interested in the works when they hear something about the artists, like this artist is visiting from Africa and this one didn't start painting until she was in her 60's.
Make it into a geography lesson. Many galleries tell the artist and his or her location by each piece. Pay attention to where the artists are from and talk about how far they are from you and what's typical for that region. At home, find the locations of some of the favorite artists on the map.
Make it into a creative writing assignment. When you go in, ask the kids to pick one piece to write a short story about later. Ask them to each write a fictional background for either what's going on in the piece or what was going on with the artist when he or she created it. Try to either take a picture of the piece or find a brochure that includes a picture of it to go along with the story at home. With more famous pieces, you may also be able to find them online.
Be sure to let the kids sign the guest book, too. Have fun!
We've found lots of fun ways to get something extra out of them. Here's a few ideas to try next time you get a chance to visit one with your kids.
Pose by your favorites. Have each family member stand and pose by his or her favorite piece (if photographs are allowed). Ask kids what elements of the works make them favorites.
Borrow innovative ideas. The works of art at most museums go far past your standard oil paint on canvas. We love to see what creative ideas artists have come up with and then try something similar at home. For example, at a Native American art exhibit at the Prehistoric Indian Village in Mitchell, SD, we got the following art ideas from the works:
- Trace round objects with a permanent black marker and then paint in the overlapping spaces with different colors of pastel watercolor paint.
- Paint a canvas with several colors of paint to simulate a certain time of day or mood (such as oranges for sunset or blues and whites for a snowstorm) and then use a stamp to stamp simple black images over the background.
- Do "ledger art" and create paintings on top of used pieces of paper.
Have treasure hunts. Scope out the pieces ahead of time and give each child a list of items to find in the works. Kids can then write down the name of the piece where each item was located. For instance, a list might contain items like: a bird, a baby doll, a leaf, fire and a book.
Play I-Spy with younger kids. As you're browsing, ask toddlers and preschoolers to spot colors, letters, numbers and objects.
Talk up the staff. We've had wonderful conversations with volunteers who have been more than happy to tell us background information about the artists and exhibits. My kids have always been even more interested in the works when they hear something about the artists, like this artist is visiting from Africa and this one didn't start painting until she was in her 60's.
Make it into a geography lesson. Many galleries tell the artist and his or her location by each piece. Pay attention to where the artists are from and talk about how far they are from you and what's typical for that region. At home, find the locations of some of the favorite artists on the map.
Make it into a creative writing assignment. When you go in, ask the kids to pick one piece to write a short story about later. Ask them to each write a fictional background for either what's going on in the piece or what was going on with the artist when he or she created it. Try to either take a picture of the piece or find a brochure that includes a picture of it to go along with the story at home. With more famous pieces, you may also be able to find them online.
Be sure to let the kids sign the guest book, too. Have fun!
home buying and selling-math and life lessons
Lessons in home buying and selling
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/algebra/algebra2/algebra2_05/webquest/unit1/webquest.php4/nc#introduction
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/algebra/algebra2/algebra2_05/webquest/unit1/webquest.php4/nc#introduction
Friday, July 29, 2011
homeschool/parenting idea re: kitchen help
It's funny. We want help but only on our terms. Rather than feel helpless and wounded all alone in the kitchen, how about developing a plan to get the help you want and need? And in the process, developing your children into self-sufficiency?
When my children were young, both children had kitchen helper days. These were days when they helped me in the kitchen. Caroline had Mondays and Wednesday and Peter had Tuesdays and Thursdays. I gave myself the three-day weekend to recover, LOL.
Now it wasn't the easiest thing I have ever done, but I gave them tasks to do and just accepted that it would be a little messier and a little slower. But I knew it was important for them to see that this is what happens in this room with the large appliances!
This is how they were taught the importance of nutrition, kitchen safety and how to cook. While they were chopping the food (they used those safety knives you can buy at Halloween time?if they can cut a pumpkin without removing a finger, they can cut a carrot without any injury as well), we talked about the nutrition of what they were preparing (we called fruits and veggies "growing foods"). This is what I like to call hands-on nutrition. The more the child has his "hands on" something, the more ownership and the better chances of him or her eating what is prepared.
Each child had his and her own aprons (I bought them at Walmart for less than $5 each and they made their own designs with paint pens) that hung on hooks in the pantry. When it was time to start dinner, they put on their aprons, brought their stools to the sink, washed their hands and waited for their jobs. They loved it and so did I (although it did try my patience more than a few times!). Now my children are 19 and 21 and both know their way around the kitchen. My daughter even made Thanksgiving dinner for her entire dorm at college a few years back! That's how it should be!
So next time you're tempted to say, "Get out of my kitchen!" think about what it is you want from the big picture point of view. Do you want children that are self-sufficient in the kitchen (cooking IS a life skill!) and are knowledgeable about what constitutes a good, nutritious meal?
If you do, make a plan and bring those children into the family kitchen! (it's not YOURS, it's the FAMILY'S) This will work if you set parameters and have a good sense of humor! Enjoy your children?boy do they grow up FAST!
When my children were young, both children had kitchen helper days. These were days when they helped me in the kitchen. Caroline had Mondays and Wednesday and Peter had Tuesdays and Thursdays. I gave myself the three-day weekend to recover, LOL.
Now it wasn't the easiest thing I have ever done, but I gave them tasks to do and just accepted that it would be a little messier and a little slower. But I knew it was important for them to see that this is what happens in this room with the large appliances!
This is how they were taught the importance of nutrition, kitchen safety and how to cook. While they were chopping the food (they used those safety knives you can buy at Halloween time?if they can cut a pumpkin without removing a finger, they can cut a carrot without any injury as well), we talked about the nutrition of what they were preparing (we called fruits and veggies "growing foods"). This is what I like to call hands-on nutrition. The more the child has his "hands on" something, the more ownership and the better chances of him or her eating what is prepared.
Each child had his and her own aprons (I bought them at Walmart for less than $5 each and they made their own designs with paint pens) that hung on hooks in the pantry. When it was time to start dinner, they put on their aprons, brought their stools to the sink, washed their hands and waited for their jobs. They loved it and so did I (although it did try my patience more than a few times!). Now my children are 19 and 21 and both know their way around the kitchen. My daughter even made Thanksgiving dinner for her entire dorm at college a few years back! That's how it should be!
So next time you're tempted to say, "Get out of my kitchen!" think about what it is you want from the big picture point of view. Do you want children that are self-sufficient in the kitchen (cooking IS a life skill!) and are knowledgeable about what constitutes a good, nutritious meal?
If you do, make a plan and bring those children into the family kitchen! (it's not YOURS, it's the FAMILY'S) This will work if you set parameters and have a good sense of humor! Enjoy your children?boy do they grow up FAST!
Summer Reading-Friday, July 29, 2011
Summer Update:
Books Read:
*Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
*Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
*Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
*Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
*American Girl Magazine
*We watched the second Stuart Little movie, she's started a boy scouts club with her brothers and tried to teach them various lessons, she's done more cooking, some painting and art projects. Rock painting. She's been attending the American Girls Club meetings on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month and really enjoying them. She's been meeting Noelle or Lizzie online at Webkinz world to play there together.
Books Read:
*Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
*Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
*Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
*Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
*American Girl Magazine
*We watched the second Stuart Little movie, she's started a boy scouts club with her brothers and tried to teach them various lessons, she's done more cooking, some painting and art projects. Rock painting. She's been attending the American Girls Club meetings on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month and really enjoying them. She's been meeting Noelle or Lizzie online at Webkinz world to play there together.
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