Weekly Kinder Craft Idea #1

I am currently leading simple craft projects with a group of children ages four to seven each week at our homeschool co-op. I thought I would try to post one of our crafts on the blog every week (the operative word here is try). So far, these crafts have been both enjoyable and easy for the group, with minimal adult assistance needed. I just wanted the projects to be creative and fun for the kids, and inexpensive too.

Nighttime Snowman Picture

A snowman picture made by my daughter, Grace, is shown above. I already had almost everything I needed for these pictures on hand at home. I only had to buy the eyes.

Materials:

white chalk

colored chalk or pastels

black or dark blue construction paper

cotton balls

googly eyes

brown pipe cleaner (for arms and mouth)

small piece of orange pipe cleaner or yarn (for nose)

odds and ends (i.e., fabric scraps, sequins, jewels, small buttons, small pom poms, snowflake stickers, etc.)

glue

It is nice to begin this activity with a story time, using a fun picture book about snow. I used Snowmen At Christmas by Caralyn Buehner for inspiration because of the delightful illustrations depicting snowmen at night. I know what you're thinking: Christmas is over (and you're correct), but my kids truly enjoy reading this book any time. The kids in the co-op really liked it as well. Another great book would be Snow by P.D. Eastman, but any book about snow or snowmen would make a great intro for this little project.

Start with black or dark blue construction paper. Create a snowy scene on the paper with chalk. Then spread 3 cotton balls out to desired size and shape and arrange them in descending size order (largest to smallest) from bottom to top to create a snowman. Use googly eyes and yarn or pipe cleaner pieces for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Use pipe cleaners to make arms. Additional 'odds and ends' (i.e., fabric scraps, jewels, sequins, buttons, etc.) can be used as accessories to personalize your snowman. Snowflake stickers and glitter would be fun to include in the snow scene too! Use whatever you can find at home to make this picture. It's so simple and your kids will have a great time doing it! Optional: Aerosol hairspray can be sprayed lightly on these pictures to help prevent the chalk from smearing. 

Below is Justin's snow picture. He made a "snow cheetah" instead of a snowman just because he wanted to be different.

Have fun and enjoy spending time with your precious children!

Our Version of a Homespun Christmas

I am not a creative person. I am neither crafty nor cutesy. I have tried, but creativity continues to be a struggle because it is not something that comes naturally for me. So when my sister-in-law suggested that our kids make homemade gifts for one another rather than buying presents for each other's kids at Christmas, my initial feeling was one of panic. The sister-in-law who made this suggestion happens to be one of the most creative people I know. She sews, crafts, turns various items from trash into treasure; and she is one of those people who makes it all look easy. I didn't think it would be easy at all for me to help my children make gifts for their five cousins.

But after giving it some thought, I decided that I liked the idea. I didn't want to be the one doing all the work and I really didn't have any special talent to offer to my children. However, I did want my kids to have the experience of being more personally invested in the giving. After all, it's easy and convenient to pick out a toy or video game from a list, but it takes a lot of time and effort to make gifts and to try to make those gifts special. I knew it would require my children to put more of themselves into the process and that it would be something memorable and worthwhile.

When I told my children, they immediately hopped on board with enthusiasm! They were truly excited about it and they kept that excitement throughout the gift-making process. We made very simple gifts; gifts that my kids could mostly make by themselves. We made gifts that didn't require any special or hard-to-learn skills (I don't possess any such skills). Homemade gifts did require a greater measure of time and effort, and it was a bit difficult to get it all finished in time. But it isn't an experience that I would trade. My children and I spent quality time together planning and making these projects, and I truly believe that the cousins were as thrilled as ever to receive gifts that were obviously so full of love and planning. Again, our gifts were simple, but in the end we made quite a variety of items, including beaded bracelets, homemade finger paints, slime, paper bag coloring books, multicolored shapes made from recycled crayons, framed drawings, clothespin dolls, pencil holders, and edible gifts too! My children received wonderful gifts from their cousins in return that they will cherish for years to come.

I hope that this was the beginning of an annual tradition. Maybe the kids and I will even learn some new skills  before next Christmas that we can use. My daughters are currently learning to sew, so who knows what we might be able to accomplish by next year? I wish that I would have taken pictures of  every gift that we made, but I didn't. However, I did take a few pictures, which are shown below.

These first two pictures are the clothespin dolls that my daughter, Grace, made, along with the American Girl box that she decorated to store them in. The first two clothespin dolls are supposed to be Grace and her cousin, Kaitlyn. The next pair is supposed to be the American Girl characters, Molly and Emily, followed by two more American Girls, Kit and Ruthie.

Next is a picture of my two nephews and one of my nieces with a cartoon picture of Fred Bird, the St. Louis Cardinals mascot, drawn by my daughter, Anna.

My seven-year-old son, Justin, decorated a colorful martial arts box for one of his cousins.

Two of my children worked together to make pencil holders out of recycled glass jars, twine, and small seashells.

We used broken crayons to make multicolored star and wreath shapes.

My Son Is Reading

I wanted to write a quick post to share that my second grade son is finally catching on to phonics and reading. I mean, he's really, truly catching on! He has been a bit of a late bloomer with his reading abilities and I was beginning to feel uncertain about his lack of progress. I have many types of phonics and reading curricula to choose from in our home, mostly because one of my other children struggled to read early on as well. I have utilized all of these with Justin over the past few years: AlphaPhonics, Hooked on Phonics, portions of Happy Phonics, Explode the Code workbooks, various readers, and homemade flash cards. None of them seemed to work and he made limited gains in his reading abilities.

This year, I bought a new book entitled At Last! A Reading Method For Every Child! by Mary  Pecci. Guess what? It is working! I am so happy to see my son's progress and to report that he no longer dreads learning to read. In fact, he is enjoying it! At some point, I would like to write a review of At Last! A Reading Method For Every Child! For now, it will suffice to say that although it is not nearly as user-friendly as it could be, I really do like it because it works! For me, it has been worth the extra effort because we have been successful using it.

That said, I'm not sure if it is only the change in curriculum that has made a difference for my son. In fact, I really don't think that is the case. Instead, I believe that our success also stems from my son's growth in development and maturity over the past several months. I have found that the old saying about 'leading a horse to water' really is true in many facets of life, homeschooling included. In other words, my son needed to develop the readiness learn to read in his own time. Prior to this year, he really wasn't ready; thus, we saw limited progress. Now that he is developmentally able to meet the challenge, he is absolutely taking off! And isn't that part of the great satisfaction of homeschooling? I love the fact that we can work according to the timetable that works best for our individual families and not the timetable imposed on students in public schools. What a blessing that is!

I hope you are having a great and fruitful school year. God bless you!

Gearing Up For School

It's that time again. Time to plan, time to organize, and time to prepare for the beginning of school. In years past I have found myself more prepared than I am this year. I do not have any lesson plans ready, for example, and I am still waffling on the issue of scheduling. But I have made my curriculum choices and I feel really good about those choices. I am using more traditional curricula than I usually do, but I don't plan to always use that curricula in a typical way. In other words, I plan to make it work for me and to make changes when necessary rather than become a slave to it. I will always consider myself to be a Charlotte Mason homeschooler because that is where my heart is, but I felt that it was best for our family to do some things differently this year. Aren't you thankful that we have the freedom to do that? Below is a list of subjects and curriculum choices for each of my children. As you will see, it is a very eclectic mix.

For My Seventh Grader
The Holy Bible
Life of Fred Math
Bob Jones Grammar and Composition
Christian Light Education Reading (I will use living books for additional literature studies)
Mystery of History Volume I
Getting Started With Latin
*Apologia What We Believe Series (worldview studies)
*Apologia General Science
*Art
*P.E.

For My Third Grader
The Holy Bible
Math-U-See
A Beka Language Arts
Handwriting Without Tears Cursive
A Beka Spelling
Christian Light Education Reading
Mystery of History Volume I
*Apologia What We Believe Series (worldview studies)
*Apologia Astronomy
*Art
*P.E.

For My Second Grader
The Holy Bible
Math-U-See
At Last! A Reading Method For Every Child! By Mary Pecci
Super Spelling by Mary Pecci
A Reason For Handwriting
Mystery of History Volume I
*Gospel House Publishing  Junior Bible Quiz Fact Pack
*Apologia Astronomy
*Art
*P.E.

*Denotes subjects that will be completed under the direction of a weekly homeschool co-op.

I am excited about the year ahead and I am trying not to feel the least bit overwhelmed as I gear up for it. Even though homeschooling is a monumental undertaking, it is also a privilege that should be readily embraced. I am looking forward with anticipation to the start of school. May God bless us with his wisdom and peace as we plan, prepare, and get organized. 2012-2013 is going to be a terrific school year!

A Charlotte Mason Music Class

Last year I started a small, Charlotte Mason-inspired homeschool co-op. I played the role of music teacher within the group and we sought to included the aspects of music appreciation that were endorsed by Charlotte Mason in her writings. These included composer study, hymn study, and folk music. Following is a synopsis of the music classes that were held in our Charlotte Mason co-op.

Composer study was allotted for the first portion of each class. One composer was studied per semester, and our composers last year were Bach and Mozart. We began each class session with a narration time, where the children were asked to tell me something that they remembered from previous weeks about the composer. After that, new information was presented, which involved reading aloud from one of Opal Wheeler’s composer biographies. These books are very engaging and informative -- perfect to use for composer study. I also conducted some additional research about the composers so that I could present interesting facts about their lives that may not have been included in the Opal Wheeler books. In addition, I used the corresponding Opal Wheeler CDs and played the short selections that corresponded with each chapter in the book.

I then played one or more musical selections by our featured composer that lasted a maximum of ten minutes. During this time of listening, the children were given something to do with their hands. For the younger class, (K- 3rd) this usually involved a coloring page. The Opal Wheeler CD-ROMs contain coloring pages that correspond with the chapters in her books. Also, I found some free coloring pages of musical instruments and musical symbols online. The older group (4th - 8th) were given notebooking pages to draw and write on. Sometimes the children simply used plain paper to draw or write on while listening to the music. After the listening time was over, we talked about the music a bit. I asked the children to tell me the instruments that they heard in each piece, whether the tempo was fast or slow, what the music made them think of, and how it made them feel. This created an opportunity to use group discussion to strengthen the connection with the music.

We studied hymns in our Charlotte Mason music class, mostly focusing on hymns with lyrics that were written by Fanny Crosby. Prior to the beginning of the school year, I read a biography about Fanny Crosby in preparation for the class. I presented a fact or two about Fanny’s life and held up her picture each week. We learned a different hymn by Fanny Crosby every month. For the younger class, I came up with hand motions for the some of the hymns to help keep their attention. Also, I used a jazzed-up version of “To God Be the Glory” a couple of times that the younger group really enjoyed.

For the folk song portion of the class, we learned American patriotic songs and American folk music because many homeschooled children may not have had as much exposure to these as their public school counterparts. It seemed like a good opportunity to present them. During the first semester, we sang traditional songs, such as “America the Beautiful” and “America”. During the second semester, we sang the more ‘fun’ variety of American songs, including “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”, “Turkey In the Straw”, and “The Erie Canal”.

For the final portion of class, I took a few minutes to introduce or review a musical concept. These topics were diverse and included the families of instruments in the orchestra; music notes, signs, and symbols; note values and rhythm; melody, harmony, and learning to sing in a round; posture and breathing while singing; and some basic musical terms.

I love the richness that a Charlotte Mason education brings to the homeschool experience. I appreciate her view of art and music as integral parts of education. I must admit, though, that I have found it difficult at times to include them in my home school regularly. They tend to get buried underneath the subjects that we traditionally view as core. That is why the Charlotte Mason co-op was so valuable for my children and for me. Although this may sound terrible, the co-op literally forced me to include composer study and picture study consistently in my children’s education. Every time I hear one of my children make a reference to Mozart or to Bach, I know that the classes were worthwhile. When we are singing a hymn in church and one of my kids excitedly says, “That’s a Fanny Crosby song,”  I can’t help but smile. Something that was very gratifying for me about teaching the music class was the way that many of the families continued the learning at home. Almost every week, a child would come to class almost bursting to tell me something they had learned about Bach or Mozart from a book they read at home or a documentary their family watched together. This made the class especially meaningful for me. 

I truly hope that you will  find a way to gently incorporate the arts into your children‘s education, whether that occurs in a group situation or among your family at home. I can tell you that it is so worth it. Our children need not only to be instructed; they also need to feel inspired.

My Family

Frugality

Tonight I colored my hair, which got me to thinking about the frugal steps that homeschooling families often take in order to survive on a single household income. Maybe it seems unusual for hair color to bring frugality to mind, but up until a few years ago, I made regular trips to a salon for professional highlights. Then I changed my strategy and decided to color my hair at home in order to save money. That was only one of many small steps that I have taken over the years in an attempt to live more frugally. Below is a list of some of the money saving choices that our family has made at various times. It is by no means an exhaustive list; these are simply some of the items that came to mind.

• I color my own hair at home as opposed to professional highlights. (see above)

• My husband and I do not have smart phones, iphones, or any other type of fancy cell phone. We each have a ten dollar tracfone and we buy prepaid cards to obtain minutes for them. We only use our cell phones when we are away from home or in an emergency situation. These bare, basic phones don't have any extras, such as the ability to take pictures or a keypad for easy texting, but they still perform the basic function of allowing us to make a call when we need to. Leaving off all the bells and whistles saves us an awful lot of money, which is a worthwhile trade-off in my opinion.

• We do not have any television stations whatsoever. Yes, I'm completely serious -- please don't faint! We don't have cable or satellite T.V. We don't even have a 'rabbit ear' antenna on top of our T.V. We only keep our television -- the old, boxy kind that isn't digital and doesn't have a flat screen -- to watch occasional movies together or to play the Wii. Our T.V. technically 'bit the dust' several years ago and we realized that we didn't miss it. I'm so glad we didn't get a new one. I don't have to worry about the content that my children watch and we don't have to pay for cable or satellite T.V. 

• We rarely eat out and I always utilize a meal plan. I must admit that I have struggled a bit with the meal plan over the years. I have read and followed books about meal planning. At times I have prepared freezer meals. For awhile I used an online meal planning service called e-mealz. Right now I am making my own weekly meal plans from a list that I compiled of about twenty-five of our family's favorite recipes. I have never found a system that is absolutely perfect, but I know that I spend far less money at the grocery store when I use some type of  meal plan. And we only eat out when we have planned ahead to eat out, which also saves a lot of money.

• I shop at a discount grocery store (Aldi). I find that I spend far less when I shop at Aldi than I do using coupons at a regular grocery store. I will admit, though, that I don't buy everything at Aldi. I am quite a stickler about only purchasing food products that are made with natural ingredients for my children to eat. Also, I am on a strict gluten-free diet. Thus, some of our food is purchased at a health food store. But I still save a lot by purchasing all that I can at Aldi.

• I prepare my meals with natural ingredients and avoid convenience foods. Not only is this healthier, but avoiding prepared foods saves money too.

• My children don't have birthday parties every year. This may seem like a small thing, but I thought it might be worth mentioning. We celebrate each of our children's birthdays every year within our own family with a special dinner, cake, and gifts. However, our children take turns having a birthday party that includes their friends as invited guests. Parties cost money and my children's birthdays happen close together. It would be a financial strain to pay for each of them to have a birthday party every single year. 

• I avoid Wal-Mart like the plague. There was a time when I found myself making too many trips to Wal-Mart. I was frequently going in to buy a few items, but it seemed that I couldn't get back out the door without spending at least fifty dollars. Wal-Mart is the type of store that intentionally makes it difficult to run in and get only one or two things. For me, better planning of my necessary Wal-Mart trips helped to ensure that I frequented the discount giant no more than once a month. This plan turned out to be much healthier for my pocketbook.

• I practice contentment. This is the most effective and important frugal tip that I could ever learn. It is easy to compare ourselves with others, but those comparisons always rob us of true happiness. In our family, we don't drive new cars or have all the latest items. We don't live in a big or fancy house. And guess what? We are happy.  Praying for and practicing contentment is essential for saving money and also for experiencing real joy. 

These are some of the ways that we have attempted to live more frugally. As my husband prepares for a job change and our family faces a possible move, I am looking for new ways to cut corners. How have you been successful at saving money for your family? I would love to know your tips!