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Now (Book) Reporting |Elementary Homeschooling

July 7, 2011 By Laura 7 Comments

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It’s always nice to have friends, who care about your kids in a sincere way, almost as much as you do.  Don’t you think? I have had a friend in particular like that, for 13 years now or so.   About half-way into our friendship, I began homeschooling our oldest, and at the time, only child. Eventually, we added 3 more students to our school, 😉 and are now transitioning into our 7th year of homeschooling . As of this post, the triplets are 9 years old and ~ 4th grade level.

My friend had 3 kids of her own, all close to my daughter’s age, adding a 4th along the way. She has also happened to be a teacher.  But somehow, all along, those two facts or common interests, have never really come together between us.  Until this year.  Oh, I may have, at times, happened to say something to her about our schooling, as a friend would in sharing what is happening in their life in girlfriend chit-chat. She in turn, has talked about her teaching, as a friend would in catching up as well.

Mind you, we are good friends, and see each other frequently enough. Our families get together here and there.  So it’s always apparent we care about each other & each others’ kids.  But I was especially impressed when on one day she came over this past winter, she brought something for my kids.

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A big bag full of books, for them to borrow!  She knew how much they loved to read, and perhaps I had mentioned to her how difficult it always is, to keep up with keeping new material around for them to read as well.  They devour them, tending to read every book 2-3 times, because they’ve read them all. And we can only hit the library so much, you know? With 4 kids who aren’t easy to remove from the library once we’re in, I think twice some days!  Oh the guilt. So, I was thrilled with this surprise delivery!  So were the kids, gathering around.

But wait….she had more….

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She then told them that she brought each of them their own journal, and she wanted them to write book reviews in it.  She kept the suggested format simple, and their excitement grew.  Because she’s not only a very qualified & passionate teacher who loves kids, but a mother too, she knew just the manner in which to communicate with them. Her presentation was exciting, and so they were inspired. I was smiling inside, a great big grin!

The very simple and casual format she suggested they use to write, following each book they read, was as follows:

  • Book Title
  • Author
  • Whether they liked the book or not, and why.
  • What their favorite part was, or what part they really did not like, and why.

She told them she really loved so many of these books herself, and she couldn’t wait to read all about what they thought of them.

And they were off! They couldn’t wait to get to work.

Now honestly, my kids need no encouragement to read, as you may have gathered by now. Writing, they actually don’t mind doing too much either. But I like them to write as much as possible.  Not for the sake of penmanship, but for the sake of formulating thoughts, organizing them, and putting them down on paper in a meaningful way. As a homeschooling educator, I strongly feel that developing strong writing skills is critical.  So needless to say….but I’ll say it anyway….This ‘surprise activity’ was one I thought was FABULOUS!

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On the other hand, some of the kids’ penmanship can always use more practice too! In the course of our school days, they have days where they print super-neat, and days when they don’t.  That depends on one thing: effort!  Sometimes, they are excited to express what they want to say, or are just in a hurry for whatever reason, so they just whip it out at lightening speed! So it comes out messy.  Some of them need to practice s l o w i n g  d o w n, and being a little more mindful of each letter (or number) they are forming. Other times, they are not focused enough on the use of space between the lines: being sure capitals go to the top, and lower case are around half the size of the upper case.  They need to practice adjusting their letter sizes, to the kind of paper they are writing on.

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But for their book reviewing, in these journals, the qualities of their penmanship, was not a factor that mattered to me to press at all. I mostly wanted them to focus on their thoughts about the story they read, and what they had to say about it. Keeping it a fun and leisure activity, was the approach our friend gave them, and I wanted to maintain that.  I had them for all of their schooling, to address the rest. And I sure do. 😉  Also, correct use of punctuation, spelling, indenting, paragraphs, proper grammar.  < I’m a freak about these things, Yo. >  😉 

I was amused to find a book in the pile,that brought back some fond memories for me …..

Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson.

My memories involving this book, make me smile.  When I was a kid, I started a new school, in 6th grade.  I had only gone to one other school, in my whole entire life. 😆  It was scary to start at a whole new school, with all new kids.  But I got a teacher that I not only loved, but my whole class loved.  Mrs. Curry made everything o.k.  She was petite, and pretty, with dark eyes and long black hair, and she had such a soft-spoken voice, with an accent….that was really fun(ny) to listen to.

And we got to listen to her a lot!  Because every afternoon, for a little while, she took off her shoes, climbed up on an empty student desktop and sat on it, facing us, with her bare feet on the chair, and she read to us.  I loved watching her read, and listening to her voice. Soon, however, we learned Mrs. Curry was going to have a baby.  We watched her belly grow, her walk turn into a cute waddle over the weeks, and how she started sliding up on to the desk with her big belly and arched back, rather than the way she so used to so casually just hop up there before.  She read us many books throughout that year.  But the only one I really remembered, was Bridge to Terabithia. I think the story line drew me in enough at one point, to make me forget about focusing so much on how nice Mrs. Curry was, that I was actually, truly listening.  Studying the book cover that faces us, as we listened, was another part of story time, for me.  I was an illustrator in the making, so the cover was almost everything.  If the cover was lousy, I’d probably never find out if the rest was good, because I wouldn’t bother reading it.  I don’t remember now, exactly what this book cover (of Bridge to Terabithia, that year in school) looked like, but I recall quite enough to know that it was different than this illustrated cover above, from the kid’s bag. The one from 6th grade had a brilliant yellow/orange/red color fade, and I believe a silhouette of kids on a bridge.

Or something similar.

Turns out, my own daughter (the girl triplet) loved this book best too….

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So strange to to think of it, too long.  As I do.

A full circle of sorts,  from my own grade school life, to my own childrens’, and this book.

My daughter’s book review reminded me of more of the story, than I originally remembered.  I think it effected her in a deep and sad way, as it probably did for me.  Maybe that’s why it is the book I remembered most?  Possibly. Disturbing things do tend to stick with me.  But tragedies are a part of life, and it’s likely best to start grasping that reality through books first, in our young lives, before we are faced with such difficult circumstances in real life.

Come to think of it, I think that was the last book Mrs. Curry read to us.  And perhaps it did prepare me for an imminent tragedy in my own life.  Well…through the perspective of a 6th grader, anyway. But not enough for me.

Mrs. Curry announced she was leaving.  To be at home with her baby on the way that summer.

I was devastated.  Sr. Cathy, who replaced her, was just o.k., on a really good day.  She was a far cry, from Mrs. Curry.

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Our oldest (14) got her own bag of books, being of an age that was suitable for more mature content.  She is a true, true book lover.  A collector already, I would say. In fact, maybe I should be sure she returns these books she took on loan from our friend, come to think of it. ; )

Along with her books, came this from our friend too……

This is a scan of just the front page. In reality, it is 9 pages, stapled together, full of writing prompts.

Wow.  No excuse for ‘Writer’s Block’ this time, huh?

(Gosh….maybe I should grab it, for my blogging! ; )  )

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As I said, with schooling, all 4 kids write a lot, anyway. It’s required in my school here.  Their reports for me are actually much longer than these brief book reviews they do.

But the point of these was to encourage both reading & writing, and keep it in the light of a leisure and enjoyable activity, that is always available to us throughout our lives.

To update you as to how they did with all of this : 

When the kids quickly made their way through the first bag of books, my friend picked it up, and brought another to replace the first. : )  As a multi-grade-level teacher over the years, she has en enormous collection of books, off the shelves of her various classrooms.  The younger kids read probably 95%, if not every book, she has brought, and they have written reviews for….far fewer than that.   They started off gung-ho with the writing part!  But it lost some fizzle along the way, as they jumped straight from one book to the next, to the 8th, to the 14th, in a matter of a week or 2, before I thought to casually ask if they were continuing journaling for each.  “No, not for all of them.  But some!!” And that’s ok, because again, there is plenty of writing not only in school, but willingly on their own for other things as well, such as personal journaling, poems, notes, copying (they do this for fun? lol…), recipes, and more. They have all read 100’s of books, besides this bag, as well, since February. They just blow through them.

So the book-reviewing in their journals is stop & go, giving random reviews in their journals along the way. But the book reading is non-stop, in their day-to-day life.  They play hard outdoors, and everywhere we go.  But they have always used reading as their way of resting.  I love that!

Oh the places they have been, and the places they will go, through the pages of a book.

I’m really so happy to have such a good friend, who deeply understands the joy of teaching and encouraging children in their learning process, and watching the rewards of their development in them, along the way.  It’s one more mutual appreciation, we can share now.

So I’ve shared all of this with you, for your consideration in getting your own little scholars a journal for some book reviewing, suggest the simple format above, or your own ideas, and see what they do with it.  You may just find you have new & entertaining reading for your own enjoyment!:  their reviews!

Happy Schooling!


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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Elementary Homeschooling READING, Homeschooling, Reading / Writing, The Big Picture Tagged With: Bridge to Terabithia, elementary-book-reporting, elementary-homeschooling, encouraging reading and writing with kids, homeschooling, kids-book-reports

Fun Word and Picture Puzzles: Building Important Skills | Elementary Homeschooling

January 10, 2011 By Laura 2 Comments

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I know I’ve blogged about puzzles before.  But, that was puzzles of a different kind.  I believe all of the studies, that all puzzles, are just good for our brain – young or old. (People, or puzzles, for that matter.)  They can help keep our brain active, quick, and sharp, and God knows I could use all of that. (Ask Him!)

So when a puzzle sort of exercise came up in my triplet 8 year olds’ Language book, we ran with it.  Puzzles come in many different forms.  Any exercise, of trying to figure something out, can be considered a puzzle, in my book. It’s the search in your head, for a solution – whether it be for a problem in life, a jigsaw, or 17 Across. Regardless, I love puzzles.  (OK, I actually do not love the jigsaw kind.  They are o.k. on occasion. )

As I was saying…..when a puzzle sort of exercise came up in…..uhhhh, my 3rd grade  Language Arts class ( <—solution! ; )… I was thrilled.  Because, puzzles are beneficial for the above stated reasons.  But these particular kind we came up to in our daily lessons, I saw how they had other benefits to offer, after accessing them.  Here’s in what other areas: Comprehension, and following directions, through reading words that direct one’s actions, is pretty important skills for our kids (yours and mine, collectively speaking), to develop.  Right?  Kids especially, need to have opportunities to develop these skills, to continue succeeding in their advancing education, eventually in the workforce of their choosing (if they want to keep their job), and naturally for everyday occurrences in the process of living.  That’s what these exercises, I called puzzles,  would help develop.   But…..it just-so-happens, they are FUN too!  And as I have always said, having fun is always the best way to learn!

So, without too much more chatter, I thought I would share with you first, the two puzzles my three 3rd graders did, show you their results following them, and then welcome you to print them off  for your kids to do, if they are in the appropriate age range, and would like to do them, too.  (But I have to tell you, I’d enjoy doing them myself. So if you are inclined to print them off for yourself, I won’t tell a soul. ; )

Puzzle ONE

1. Draw a circle.
2. Draw an upside down ice cream cone above and on top of the circle. ·
3. Draw a half circle on each side of the big circle.
4. Draw a U in the big circle.
5. Make two dots over the U.
6. Make one dot lower than the two dots, but above the U.
7. Make a circle on the point of the upside down ice cream cone.
8. Make a W under the big circle.
9. Color your picture!

WHAT AM I?

If directions were followed carefully, the drawing should look something like this:


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That is just one of my student’s puzzle solution /drawings, after following the directions.  Of course all 3 of them had similar results, with only slight variations.  But all were correct in terms of following the directions correctly.

* If you would like to print off the directions to this puzzle, just click on the link above named ‘Puzzle ONE’, or click here.  It is a downloadable  and printable Word document, if I did it right.

Here’s another:

Puzzle TWO

1. Draw a big circle.
2. On the left top of the circle, draw an upside down V.
3. On the right top of the circle, draw an upside down V.
4. Draw a big W inside the circle, near the bottom.
5. Above the center point of the W, draw an O.
6. Near the left side of the W, draw a V lying on its side with the point of the V toward the W.
7. Near the right side of the W, draw a V lying on it’s side with the point of the V toward the W.
8. Near the middle of the circle, draw two small circles beside each other.
9. Color your picture!

WHAT AM I?

Here’s the results of this puzzle, by one of my student kids:


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*Again, if you would like to print off the directions to this puzzle, just click on the link above named ‘Puzzle TWO’, or click here.  It is a down-loadable  and printable Word document, if I did it right.

The kids had such a good time doing these, that I thought I would  keep working with these puzzles a little more, but put their own writing skills to use.  In fact, I was reversing their role, from puzzle solver, to puzzle creator.   I gave them the assignment, of each writing their own puzzle directions.  Then later, they would have the opportunity, to solve each other’s puzzles the other 2 had written.  They loved the idea, and had a great time doing it!!

SO……I have their puzzles, that they wrote themselves, to offer you too! I am displaying them in this post, (as their handwritten papers, which I scanned) but their titles are down-loadable links for you too! Now this time the downloadable links are PDF documents, and they are just what you see below – handwritten by the kids.  Why?  Because I totally did not feel like typing them all over.  I think they are readable enough for you to figure out, and they have some endearing homemade character.  Especially, my spilled coffee stain, on {S}’s paper. ; )    Just keepin’ it real!


J’s puzzle

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O’s puzzle

 

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S’s puzzle

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You and/or your kids,  may have more fun than you think you will, doing these puzzles.  If you do, I will take total credit for that. You may also have less fun, than you think.  That will not be my fault.  I am easily amused, and often presume everyone is as easily amused as I am.  : )

If you do download the kid’s puzzles, or follow them from the computer, YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE FUN?  (Or, you know, I think it would be…).  Letting us know the solution you came up with, for each kid’s puzzle!!  What does your drawing look like?  Let us know in the comments section below, afterward. Don’t worry.  We’ll tell you if you are wrong! ; )

Hope you enjoyed this post!  And hope you enjoy the puzzles too!!

Don’t sprain your brain, now! ; )



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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Games, Homeschooling, Reading / Writing Tagged With: building-comprehension-skills, building-following-directions-skills, educational-puzzles-for-kids, elementary-homeschooling, fun-activities-for-homeschooling, homeschooling, word-drawing-games, word-drawing-puzzles

Homeschooling in the Kitchen | Food for Thought; Literally!

November 14, 2010 By Laura 7 Comments

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I’m sure I’ve been forthright about this before, as much as it makes me feel a little bad to say out loud.  (Figuratively speaking.)  But there always moments in time when these things come up, and there is some purpose in being truthful in the matter. Right?

Well, this is one of those times.

So the truth is, <whisper> my mother was just not very domestic in the kitchen. Nor was her mother. <end of whisper> Which says something not good.  Doesn’t it?

I’ll answer that.  Yes it does.

It says that the chances of me being one, was slim to none.

Unless of course, I broke the cycle, and took responsibility for myself.  Made different choices. And God-willing, began a new cycle for my children, and grandchildren, to carry on.

(I’m not really that smart.  I read something like that in a book once.)

I have to say, I did know plenty about cleaning, weeding gardens, and working hard coming into this holy-Sacrament-of-marriage-thing.  I worked for a little old lady from the time I was 11 years old until I was14, every Saturday.  Her name was Mrs. Flahive, (pronounced with long vowels.)  I cleaned her house top to bottom, kept up her gardens, weeded her stone patio, changed the sheets on the beds, did laundry, etc.  I even polished her silver with some grayish-brown, horrid-smelling stuff. I learned a lot from her.  Although I didn’t really appreciate the value in the tasks, at the time.  I never even thought about how they would serve me well someday, in my own home-keeping years.

Some things, she was very particular about how it was done….such as the fine techniques of folding sheets, or making a bed.  It’s funny that I insist on these same techniques in my own home now. lol   She was a nice old lady, made me a fine lunch which we enjoyed together, and later had an afternoon tea as well.  And then she paid me too! She paid me well, I might add. For a kid. Of course, I was also risking my life twice a day, every Saturday, as this 80 year old woman who peered through the hole of her steering wheel, picked me and and brought me home.   I’ll never forget that time we were heading for the side of the bridge…..

But admittedly, I was slow coming around as a new bride-to-be, in the cooking and baking area.  I think becoming a mother sort of kicked me into domestic-gear. Somewhat. Until then, my husband and I did o.k., together. He did have more of a domestic mother, all the way around.  From what I could tell, anyway.  So he had watched, learned, and praise God, was not helpless himself when we married.

Yes, all of this story-telling has everything to do with homeschooling.
In particular today: Homeschooling in the Kitchen

I don’t know if they even have Home Economics in school anymore.  Do they?  But I heard they did, back when I was in school.  Problem is, I went to a private Catholic high school, where the guidance counselor, was also the Geometry teacher sometimes, and the principal was sometimes the Religion teacher. (That was a bad run.). The gym teacher helped in areas he should have never been helping, with the senior girls, if you know what I mean. (But I won’t go there today.)  In other words, we were just a small school, without any extras.  We didn’t even have a football team. Or a field of any sporty-kind.

 

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen My mom was a wonderful mother in many ways, so don’t get me wrong.  But seeing as though I was not learning much in the kitchen at home, it would have been nice to learn about some of the cooking and baking stuff, especially, somewhere.  In retrospect, I mean. (Because I am quite sure I could have cared less at the time.)   And so seeing as though my kids are not in school, and won’t be going to high school either, where they may or may not have gotten Home Ec classes, I feel it is up to me to be sure they get some!!  Otherwise, they could end up as a floundering bride or groom some day.  And if they marry the same, there is going to be a big problem.  Like. . . . a travesty. Know what I’m saying?

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-1 So I need to be sure, my kids get a domestic bone from me, some way, some how, some day.   Hopefully before they are married, or are out on their own.  Even if they are single, I don’t want them resorting to fast foods and whatnot!

And so it was that mindset that I was in, when I got my kids (happily) helping out in the kitchen, since they were about ohhhh….so tall. (Use your imagination.  It’s pretty short.)

But it was in having them help, that I realized just how much schooling can happen in the kitchen!  And the more we do it, the more I see the lessons happening.

It’s a whole lot more than Home Economics!

Let’s see…….

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First, there is READING…..the directions.  I have them do it out loud. It’s such an opportunity for new kitchen-related VOCABULARY words, SPELLING words, and PROPER PRONUNCIATION.

On this particular day in the kitchen, we were making an ordinary box of  cinnamon streusel cake, and making the apple version.

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-3 Then, comes FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, of what was just read, very carefully.


homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-4 MATH is a biggie!  (age depending.)  There is counting, adding and subtracting, and measuring. (Especially when halving or doubling a recipe.)  Reading numbers, and temperatures!

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SCIENCE is everywhere, in the operating kitchen.  How does one ingredient react, when another is added to it?  Why must we temper some ingredients first, before adding to the big batch.  (There’s another new word!  So what does it mean, and how do we do it?)

What happens with various temperatures set in the oven, and what is the difference between baking, and broiling?

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Enjoying our time spent together counts for something too! For some, it truly is a learned behavior!

(Not for my kids, of course.  I’m just sayin’ ; )

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How about the ins and outs of KITCHEN SAFETY?   We are using sharp knives, reaching into hot ovens….

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…..and operating heavy machinery!

(After you read this post, you may want to find out how this sweet piece of machinery hummed it’s way into our lives, and MiXeD everything up, HERE. ; )

Uhh, by the way…….Where’s the fire extinguisher, just in case?  And how do you use that?

We don’t want to learn that Science, in an emergency. You want to know how to use that thing if you need to!  And if all else fails,< insert the family fire drill skills here>, and we’ll meet at the telephone pole across the street!

Back to the lessons at hand…

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Learning how to WORK AS A TEAM, and also ……..

homeschooling-kids-in-the-kitchen-10 …….admitting when you need help, and allowing others to help you.


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All of these lessons I mentioned, are just the topping of the cake.

I am sure you could think of plenty more, in addition to mine.

Think on it.

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OH OH OH!! I just thought of another one!!  The one I think we all like to forget!:

The RESPONSIBILITY of cleaning up the mess!

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But most times, we can do so, while we enjoy the mouth-watering smell we’ve created in the air.

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Ahhhhhh……smells…..SO…….good!!!   We can hardly wait to cut into it, indeed!

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Of course the best lesson of all:, our mouths and our bellies, REAP THE REWARDS OF our HARD WORK.

***

All kids, home schooled or not, can benefit from the lessons to be learned in the kitchen.

What lessons have I missed mentioning?  Help me out here.

I’ll be hoping you can you add to my list, because I know there is a lot more.  And you’re smart cookies.

While I wait, if you’ll excuse me, I need to head down to the laundry room, transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer, sort some piles, and start a new wash load.

And you can bet I’ll be taking a kiddo down with me.  And believe it or not, they’ll be excited to come and help! (And secretly learn.)

Hopefully, I’m cutting my chances here of them coming home on weekends from college, accompanied by several loads of laundry.  If they do, we’ll be repeating those lessons, that weekend.  ; )

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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Elementary Homeschooling HOME ECONOMICS, Elementary Homeschooling SCIENCE, Homeschooling, Math, Middle School Homeschooling, Middle School Homeschooling HOME ECONOMICS, Middle School Homeschooling SCIENCE, Science Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, elementary-homeschooling, homeschooling, homeschooling-in-the-kitchen, kids-in-the-kitchen, kitchen-lessons-for-kids, middle-school-homeschooling, teaching-following-directions, teaching-kids-home-economics, teaching-kids-measuring, teaching-kids-responsibility, teaching-kids-science-in-the-kitchen, teaching-math-in-the-kitchen, triplets

A Wild Animal Education for Trio – Elementary Homeschooling

July 28, 2009 By Laura 2 Comments

When I was out shopping for {A}’s birthday, and found those great cookbooks on the bargain shelves at Border’s Book Store, I also scored this HUGE wild animal education book.  {O} was with me shopping that day, and she spotted it first.  She said “Mama, LOOK at this BIG giraffe book!  You love giraffes!”  I do….I really do.  And all of my kids know it.  The book was on the bottom extended shelf, so I turned it to take a look inside, and couldn’t believe how heavy the thing was!  It was a big book to manage, 17″ x 24″,  but OHHH the gorgeous photos inside!  Wild animals of ALL kinds.  Beautiful photography, and lots and lots of information about these amazing creatures.

I’m indecisive in stores.  I don’t like spending money, really. I wasn’t there for THAT, and it wasn’t the trio’s birthday yet.  But man, would they ever love that book!  I was pretty sure they would LOVE it.  {O} loved it. But I hemmed and hawed for a really long time, anyway. I was  getting it, then I wasn’t, then I was, and wasn’t again.  It was  cheap. Really, really discounted.  But would the kids be able to manage a book so big?  Would they be able to turn the pages without ruining them?  Where would we keep it?

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  In the end, I got it.  And I am SO glad I did!

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It has been such a big hit!!  I didn’t give it to them right away.  I put it away for a couple of weeks, actually.  And {O} kept the secret the whole time.  But when I did decide to give it to them, I asked them all to sit on the rug, because I was kind of afraid if I let one of them take it, they might drop it on their toe!  It would definitely break a toe, or 2. Plus, the only way to look at it was on the floor or table.

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Their faces, looking at these photos of these animals, SO big on the pages in front of them, was proof that it was a good purchase.

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They were all over it, looking at all of the pages and photos at first, and chatting up a storm.

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They talked a lot about the inside of the crocodile’s mouth being yellow. And such a weird yellow too.  Why was it yellow, they wondered?

They kept looking through it again and again, taking turns turning the pages.  They just couldn’t get enough of seeing all of these animals, and wanted to look through again and again.

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But then they started reading some – which I had hoped and figured they would.  I mean….the book is a wealth of information on so many very interesting animals!  They love reading, and they usually ate this stuff up, so that was my real push in buying it.

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Did you know that until recently, it was believed that there were only 2 species of elephants?  African elephants, and Asian elephants.  But genetic testing has proven there is actually a 3rd species, the African Forest elephant.

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Did you know, that if you shave a tiger down to it’s skin, their stripes would still be there?

They spent a really long time, sharing the book that first day.

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There’s my giraffes.  I haven’t got on the floor myself, YET, to read all about them, but I will! You can bet on it.

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The kids have already taken in so many facts.   Is a vast knowledge about wild animals really going to be super useful in their lives?  Probably not, unless they go into some wild animal field of work.  But this book is so valuable and educational in so many other ways.  First of all, it continues fostering the fun in their learning.  They are definitely exercising their reading skills, which is already very fluent.  They read like little adults.  But what’s more, when they come to a new word, they will always ask me what it means. They do that reading any book.  Because they want to know, in the context of that sentence, before they read on.  So their vocabulary is really growing too.

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Once they looked at it 4 or 5 times together, and took turns reading parts of different pages together too, they decided they should each have a turn having it all to themselves.

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At some point in every day since, every one of the kids has taken this book out and got back down on the rug with it for awhile.  They love to read it, and share whatever it is they are fascinated with, with whoever is around that will listen.

For now, the book is leaning against the wall by my desk here.  I have had the joy of seeing the little excited expression on their faces, a few of the times they have come to get it, and I happen to be sitting here at the time.  It just re-enforces to me what a wise little investment it was.

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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Elementary Homeschooling SCIENCE, Homeschooling, Nature Study, Science Tagged With: elementary-homeschooling, elementary-science, elementary-wild-life-study, homeschooling, kids-huge-wild-animal-book, triplets

Word Spin – An Educational Word Game – Homeschooling

June 29, 2009 By Laura Leave a Comment

We wanted to share with you a simple, little, hand held educational games that our kids get a lot of enjoyment out of!  It’s a great game that helps develop spelling skills, vocabulary, problem solving, motor skills, and more.  And we should let you know that this post contains an affiliate link, for this word game that has provided so much fun-filled educational time for our kids, that we wanted to point you it, and see what you think.

Word Spin
The game is called Word Spin, and it has won several awards–including the Oppenheim 1996 Gold Seal Award, the Best Mind Game of 1995 from MENSA (the high-IQ society), and the 1995 Game of the Year from the Australian Toy Association.   There are larger size versions, but ours happens to be the little key chain version.  Which matters none to our kids.  It’s actually more manageable for small little hands, but our oldest, who has much larger hands,  still plays with it.  And so do I.  :  )   It’s too much fun not to!   What I love most about hand-held games like this, is that they are quiet, and do not require batteries!

The game naturally comes with instructions, and directions of how to play up to 10 different games!  This game is one we have had in our home, and used, since our oldest was little, and so unfortunately our directions have been lost-since there is no way to keep them together.  But really, any parent, or school aged kid, could think up several word games to play on their own, or with one more more others. (Although we really do not recommend losing the directions. lol)

Here’s a little more information about this game:

Word Spin

Word Spin consists of eight interlocking, magnetic spin wheels with 10 facets that each display one letter.  One possible game is where each player takes turns combining the wheels to form words, for a set number of turns each.  With each word a player forms, they add up the points on each letter, and the player with the highest score in the end wins. (Oh, math!)

Our kids have come up with several games of their own, using Word Spin.  Yesterday when the 3 little ones played, these were the challenges they gave each other:

 

{O} and {S} challenged {J} to spell the word POTTERY our, correctly, with the wheels, and {J} wasted no time getting to work, while the other 2 looked on…..

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{J} was rapidly getting the word together, and looking pleased with his progress….

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Mission accomplished.

Next up was {S}’s turn…

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{J and O} gave him the word LADDER….

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They all got a giggle as {S} frantically took a part and put back together the wheels, looking for the letters he needed….

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Meanwhile, {O} started playing with the 2 remaining wheels on the floor-which is another fun aspect of this game.  Since all of the wheels are magnetic, they have positive and negative side, with which they can connect all together, or push some around with another. (Oh, science!)

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There it is!!

When it was {O}’s turn, they decided to switch up the game,….

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She closed her eyes, and scrambled up the wheels really good.

When she opened her eyes, on the count of 3, she had until their count of 10 to make a 3 letter word.  For this one, taking the wheels apart was not allowed.

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They counted to 1, when she said, “I already have one! RUG!” (And I spy PUT right under it.)

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There is no doubt that this little gadget has provided lots of educational FUN for all of the kids here….big and small!

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{J} hadn’t even started his turn upon opening his eyes, when he spotted the word (?) BOO!  Could it count a a real word?
Well it was in our online dictionary!

This game has also been handy on long car rides, and also come out of someone’s pocket while we we waited for our meals in a restaurant.

If you are interested in this word game, here is a link the link once again to be purchased online :   WORD SPIN

Although it is also likely still sold in some stores in the games section.

Do you have any simple and educational little hand games your kids love?  We’d love it if you’d share them with us!

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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Elementary Homeschooling LANGUAGE ARTS, Games, Homeschooling, Language Arts Tagged With: elementary-homeschooling, homeschooling, kids-educational-games, word games, wordspin

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