NO TV Week

Every year, we have a 'No TV week'. It started a long time ago when a cousin and her family did the same thing.

It's refreshing to not be tied down to the 'stupid box' as I sometimes call it. Yes, you can find educational shows and watch good DVDs, etc... BUT it's the TIME we spend on watching that's one of the big problems.

I challenge you and your family to a 'NO TV Week'.

Many years later, I now prefer to NOT watch much TV. I have it, we own many movies and being that we live in 'Tornado Alley' - we use it for weather updates of course, but it's no longer part of my daily life.

Things we have done in this week - read aloud, board games, quiet reading in bedrooms, listening to music with or without dancing and singing, singing A-Capella, crocheting, knitting,making gifts... The boys had pickle eating races. We made cookies, popcorn balls and many other things from scratch. My daughter started writing her first novel in NO TV WEEK. HAVE FUN!

How DO We Clean Our House?

When your children are younger, you need to be very active cleaning and putting things away as the kids are working on their papers. I remember walking a LOT. I would start them on their lessons then be cleaning near them. Dishes and cooking were for very early or during lunch - or after school. Homeschooling is HARD work BTW. Some 'people' have NO CLUE how hard it can be so when they say or ask something stupid... just smile and say something cute. :)

As my kids had a question, I would go to the table. I always made trips from one place to another PRODUCTIVE. If I have folded some laundry, I would grab the pile that belonged nearest to that child and go. I would hold the laundry as I was answering their questions. Then I would complete my laundry trip. think of it as a form of 'car-pooling' but with housework chores. You do more than one thing as you are going by to check their papers or answer questions, that is unless you can afford a maid. I couldn't, especially after I divorced (I had Biblical reasons).

I still do this sort of 'chore-life pooling'. It's now what I call 'being organized'. It's even helped me when I do work outside the home. I was an excellent crew member at McDonad's one pre-Christmas season! For example - I would need to go to the stock room after cups or what have you, so I would think about what else I needed to do ON THE WAY while I was empty-handed. I would do it too. I worked BOTH ways not just one way. If I had to wait on pies to cook , I would restock all the things around me - not just stand there like a bump as some (most) of the other workers did. Be productive and who needs an exercise gym!

As my children grew older, I would start teaching them how to do the chores. Not all of them, but the 'age appropriate' ones. This is something that ALL kids need to learn. They need to learn to WORK AT HOME. The ones that don't learn have a crappy house or must make enough money to hire a house cleaner. Job security for the cleaners!

'LIFE SKILLS' and 'survival skills' are so important. I don't mean how to 'hide and shoot enemies in the woods' survival skills though.

Imagine this scenario: It's winter and we had a terrible snow storm. The storm downed the power lines and the water pressure is off because of it also (it's pushed by electrical pumps). You have central heat and so now your family will freeze if something isn't done CORRECTLY. ALL PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THESE THINGS! Weather is DEADLY! The 'Old Timers' knew this so now why is everyone so ignorant? They / we are SPOILED and it's going to 'hurt us' one day.....

Teach your children how to cook, clean and care for animals - stock animals (preferably chickens,rabbits because they are small enough to butcher for one meal). Then teach them how to collect water from SAFE sources and how to CLEAN IT. Teach them about hypothermia and such things. It's a dangerous life we live, so teach your children to survive.

When my older children were all 'old enough' to wash dishes, cook simple meals, do laundry, feed the livestock etc.. I made a schedule for CHORES. It's like' pre-work' skills. They learn who does what chores on what days and ROTATE. I would also rotate through seasons too. When my oldest son wasn't mowing the lawns he would be helping bring in firewood. We all helped unload and stack though. 'AGE APPROPRIATE CHORE' is the key to this working. Don't let little kids do the laundry or you may have colors messed up but do teach them to sort by colors at younger ages. Then you SHOW them what to do after that. They learn by watching FIRST - even cooking but from a safe distance.

My kids always wanted to DO it first instead of WATCH. I told them that their JOB was to 'watch and learn' then ,when they could answer some key questions AND be old enough for that chore, they would start 'leaning by doing'. It's amazing how quickly chores are accomplished because they become part of the lessons. Many of these chores can be labeled as HOME EC., so count them as lessons... because they are!

They will be ready for the work force. SO MANY PEOPLE 'worry' about home schooled kids not being social but many public school kids don't know HOW TO WORK - let's show them how it's done!

My preacher once said - "In this world if you show up on time and do your work, you will excel because so many other workers don't want to work or don't know how to work well". I agree.

We are raising the Cream of the Crop!

Play A Game With Me!

Kids LOVE to play games and why not?

They can learn from games and not even realize they are 'doing school'.

Invest in File Folder Games. I bought the ones that you must color, cut and assemble... wow, that takes a lot longer than I ever thought it would. Now that my older kids are, well... older, they like to help 'make' the games also.

I buy the 100 box of manila file folders (regular size not legal). I also buy CLEAR contact paper to adhere to both sides of the game board (aka file folder - AFTER I have attached the colored cut-outs). I also cover all playing pieces with contact paper (both sides). This makes them last longer and semi water proof.

Then I put the small pieces in a cheapy sandwich zip close bag and put it in the file folder. I store the 'games' in a regular office file storage box with lid.

After some experience, I've found out that crayons are not he best things to color with if you will be covering with contact paper. It tends to look messy and the colors turn weird after a year or so, use colored pencils instead.

I also did NOT like the laminate paper. Wrinkled easier and not as sturdy. Contact paper can be a bit tricky since it's like a giant piece of tape - DON'T let he kids do this part until MUCH older. PROTECT TABLE TOP! If the contact paper sticks to anything - it may damage the finish..... Once you have a game piece on the sticky stuff, don't more it! It will remove colors or worse.

Really... the fun and learning is worth this trouble. IMHO.

The contact paper can be found in the house wares area of your local Wal-Mart near the storage boxes and it's called Shelf Liner. - CLEAR!!!

All different grades and subjects are available for file folder games - last I looked....Have fun!

Travel Around the World - for FREE !

Today, I took my child around the world in 80 minutes.... Well, close enough. We visited the Great Pyramids, The Eiffel Tower, Machu Picchu, The Statue of Liberty, The Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower of Piza and other various places that are family places. FREE !

No security checks at the airport, no jet lag, no terrorists, no crowded tourist queue lines. We traveled by GOOGLE MAPS. Wow that's cool and FREE... did I mention FREE and SAFE.

My 7 year old informed me that it's not free because we have to pay for the Internet - gee she's sharp! :) It's really , really cool, but it's also really , really scary that we no longer have a thing called privacy. Find your own house.... BTW, you can't get very close to Disney - that you must pay to see. :P

Life Trips are Field Trips

Home schooling is a way of life for us, it's not just about the required amount of instruction.

What I mean by that statement is this...

Every day there are learning opportunities. If you get in the habit of looking for them, they happen all the time. For example, My youngest and I were walking to a local cafe' for a quick lunch on one of the days I wasn't feeling very well. As we stood in the crosswalk and NOT ONE car stopped for us, I talked to her about Driver's Education.

These 'opportunity lesson' discussions usually start off by me saying "Did you know..."

I will paraphrase what I said to her.

"Did you know that when you are learning how to drive, there are certain rules you must follow? One of the things you must learn is that pedestrians (yes , I used that word with a seven year old - then I followed it with a synonym),people that are walking, have the right-of-way. The driver's are required to stop and let the pedestrians pass if they are in the walk way. When people cross outside of the walkway, it's called 'jaywalking' and is not only illegal, but dangerous."

I was quiet for a moment, waiting.... for driver's to remember this tidbit and to see what my child would say. You never know.... she is like me after all. :) She said "We are in the crosswalk, so why aren't these cars stopping?" Out of the mouth of babes!

Another one of my 'catch phrases' is "That's a really good question!"

So the conversation continued even after we FINALLY were able to cross the street (in the crosswalk). Small town charm isn't all it's cracked up to be~

The point I'm trying to make is that almost every situation can be a learning opportunity. Sometimes I think we forget that these young people haven't learned everything we know, so we just go on about living. I have four kids and have been a homeschooling parent for 16 years and counting. I've repeated myself, no doubt, but maybe my kids have learned more things. Hopefully, I've instilled in them common sense, which doesn't seem all so common anymore, and to really examine the situations that happen to them.

When you go to the grocery store, teach the kids the names of all the produce items. You might learn something new too! Then later, (after you have learned them - or learn WITH them) teach the kids how to say the food names in a foreign language!

Teach the kids how to compare prices with unit pricing and budgeting.

I also think it's very important to help children learn about LIFE (not the game but we own that and it's not a bad idea to play it a few times on bad days to liven up the mood).

LIFE is NOT ' 9 to 5 '... Homeschooled children will realize this very quickly when they start mixing with peers and soon be thankful that they have a superior way of looking at life. One of my GOALS is to teach my children HOW TO LIVE without me and the world. ALONE.

They need to be able to make it without another human telling then what to do 24/7 be it me, their dad, a boss, the President, whomever.... Life doesn't come all wrapped up in a beautiful fancy bowl for every person.

Teach them to "go with the flow" of life. If life hands them a jumbled mess one day, teach them how to swim through and harvest the necessities and climb out safely. Don't forget to share the knowledge you have not just help them learn what's required.

Homeschooling can be beautiful!

Need some worksheets?

http://www.abcteach.com/ Some items are free, others are for paying members...

Lions, Tigers, and Books ! Oh My!

The local library had it's annual book sale yesterday! Fill a brown paper bag for $2.00... 'kid in a candy store' to say the least.

I'm so proud of my kids! My daughters have inherited my love of reading a bit more than my sons. Both my girls found a sack full of books yesterday. My youngest even wanted to pay with her own money and carry the sack!(We walked...)

I'm glad they cherish books. In a world full of technology, I still think it's very important to hold on to the love of books - not just reading.

I inherited my love of reading from my mother also. My mom read all the time until she started having vision problems. She's since had surgery so I'm wondering if she will pick up her books again. Time will tell.

I admit I own too many books....

Why then go to a library book sale? It's a huge temptation to buy more books, isn't it? YES. And I want my youngest child to inherit my love of books. I personally found these books: Timeline, Through Gates Of Splendor, How To Get into the Bible, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, a book on how to play tennis (we've been faking it),and several vintage classics. For the kids , I found books on the Alamo, A. Lincoln, Miss Jan Austen and various readers/novels. I SAVED A TON OF MONEY!

My married daughter found several books for building her own family's library including a Dear America (I bet she reads that one first!) I believe she and my son-in-law will instill the love of reading to their kids. They both read for pleasure.

My youngest found many readers and just some fun books. She also found a small collection of Cabbage Patch Kid books. She has a doll that's used. She must like it more than I thought and especially now that she has found the doll in a book!

Encourage your kids to read! They just may become lifetime learners! As I write this, my youngest is looking at one of her "new" books!

Over a new Milestone....

Well, my oldest is now a married woman!

WE have ALWAYS started home school on the 1st Monday in August. It's hot and so outside play is limited so why not? This year, however, a wedding was approaching - my daughter's wedding and dad (my X) didn't offer to help until 4 days prior......

So, do I start AFTER the wedding or before ? I decided to play it by ear - We began lessons as usual and took days OFF as wedding shopping trips and "work" happened. My mother stayed over several nights (her days off) so us girls could work on wedding flowers, etc. Since some of her days off are during the school week - we had a few days OFF again.

I'm so glad I decided to start school before the wedding though I thought we would miss some days here and there. Wouldn't you know it, the day after the wedding I had a terrible headache. That night, I was awakened by the local virus.... I was absent from school the entire week! What a messed up schedule... but all is well and in full swing now.. and my eldest had a lovely wedding.

My state of Oklahoma is very home school friendly... I must instruct for 3 hours each day for 180 days per calendar year. I keep records though not required.I'm divorced and thought my X may make trouble some day regarding home school. I was right..... BTW Home School Legal Defense didn't help in custody issues when I needed it... I have no idea if they do it now.

TYPING for kids? Dance Mat Typing ! FREE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/