ABC Book: Letter T

Throughout this past school year, Blonde Warrior has been learning the names and sounds of all the letters in the alphabet.  As a fun review, I have prepared quick, time-friendly/budget friendly craft pages for him to complete...one for each letter.  At the end of the year, we will compile all of these pages into an ABC book that we will have bound at Office Max.

After mastering all of his vowels, letter "T" was the first consonant that Blonde Warrior learned.

Since playing with cars has always been his "go to" fun, I naturally chose to make "T" stand for "Tire Tracks."

I grabbed a toy car that actually had treads on the tires, squeezed a dollop of paint on a paper plate, and encouraged him to "drive" his car through the paint and then onto his "T".  

Don't forget about Letter "O".

Top 10 Must Have Items

As we wind down the year and head into summer, I'm pleased to join with a fabulous group of homeschool mom bloggers at iHomeschool Network to bring you a series of Ten weeks of TOP TEN LISTS. This week, I'm sharing my TOP TEN Must-Have Items for homeschooling.

Tuesday's Tot Trio #15

For the past 14 weeks, I have been sharing some fun...and hopefully budget/time friendly tot school ideas. I appreciate you coming along for the ride! But, as has been said, "All good things must come to an end." Today starts our last official week of school and so, I'm retiring the "Trio" until September.

But, since you're already here...take a look at Greased Lightning's last hurrah!

I had several bags of Easter grass leftover from Easter. I dumped a bag of it into an empty wash tub, tossed in some green toys and watched as he searched for the "camouflaged" items.

Over the years, I have picked up inexpensive stamps at the Dollar Tree and garage sales. This past week, I pulled them out and let Greased Lightning create a "stamp mural."

A giant coloring pad made for a very fast "pull out" when he climbed up at the school table with the big kids and wanted to do school.

So that's it...15 weeks of tot-friendly fun! Stay tuned for more adventures with Greased Lightning...

In the meantime, if you missed Trio #14, head on back and check it out.

Benefits of Budget-Friendly Music Lessons

If you were to swing by our place around 1:30 in the afternoon...give or take a few minutes...you would hear the plunkety-plunk of our family heirloom piano, a passed along gift from an aunt.

Sweetie Pea has been taking lessons for the past three years and has been giving an after-lunch serenade ever since.  (It certainly makes cleaning up the lunch time dishes a much easier chore with a little mood music drifting in from the dining room.)

Although a weekly piano lesson fee is a bit of a budget strain at times, the Hubs and I have determined that if at all possible, ALL of our children will take at least some form of introductory music education.  Sweetie Pea has chosen to focus her musical energies on the ebony and ivory, but I don't really have an opinion about what instrument is most appropriate...tuba, electric guitar, drums, or even the nose flute...it makes no difference to me...WHATEVER appeals to each of the Littles.

I recognize that they may not ALL have a natural gifting in music, but I truly believe that every homeschooled child can benefit from some basic music instruction for the following reasons...

1. Studies have shown that early music instruction helps develop some of the basic scholastic skills necessary for language and logical reasoning.
2. Music can be a great way to glorify God and minister to others.
3. Taking some kind of instruction...music or otherwise...from someone other than Mom can be quite beneficial for a child in order that they might be challenged by a different teaching style.  
4. Sometimes seeing mom as the cheerleader on the sidelines instead of the teacher holding the red pen can be a great way to keep the parent/child relationship in its rightful place.  
5. Because I, as the mom, do not know how to play the piano...or the tuba...or the nose flute...a child has to develop the self-discipline to study/practice independently.
6. Learning something that may not necessarily come naturally helps to generate perseverance and determination. 
7. Public recitals in church, at a local nursing home, or even for friends and extended family helps develop a comfort level for being in front of a larger crowd.

When we enrolled Sweetie Pea in piano with one of my former co-workers at the local Christian school, we assumed that it would be a large financial commitment.  And, although, it does take a dip into our monthly budget, it has actually turned out to be a lot more feasible than we had imagined. 

The reason...It just so happens that the Christian school where she meets for lessons receives weekly day-old-bread donations from a local vendor.  These items are up for grabs to anyone who steps in the door.  A cart full of free bakery-style pastries, gourmet artisan breads, and plain buns and loaves await us each week.  Now granted, some weeks are better than others, but on the whole, the money we save NOT having to buy bread FAR out-ways the cost of the lesson. 

Chances are, you don't have a bread cart awaiting you.  But if you have a desire to provide some kind of music instruction, consider these other budget-friendly ideas.

Shop around.   

Before enrolling Sweetie Pea, I called all the music centers in our area and talked with numerous moms to determine which instructors would be in our price range.  It turns out there is quite a price difference among piano teachers.

Pass on the cost of individual instruction and opt for group lessons.  

They are often considerably cheaper.

Ask to barter.  

Is there a skill or a talent that you or your child could offer in exchange for lessons?...babysitting, house cleaning, baking, lawn service?  

Take advantage of the talents of older homeschoolers.  

A talented teenager in you local homeschool co-op or church group might make for the perfect music teacher.  In exchange for providing inexpensive instruction for your child, they will be developing wonderful leadership skills.   In addition, they can even add this opportunity on their transcript or college entrance application.

Consider an on-line or video course.  

Although it is not the ideal option, a web class can still provide substantial, long-term benefits. 

Next year, Super Boy will join the ranks of the musically inclined.  He has aspirations of learning guitar...at least for the moment.  Now if only I could find a guitar teacher that provides a milk, butter, and cheese cart...

ABC Book: Letter O

If you haven't noticed with the last few ABC Book posts, Blonde Warrior has been working his way through the vowels, but not necessarily in order...remember, there is method to my madness.  

Take a look at Letter "O".  I let Blonde Warrior choose a tissue paper color and then I helped hold the blue that he had chosen so that he could cut eight long strips of it.  He, then, glued those strips on the bottom of the "O"

He used some markers to color the letter and add a face in the middle.  Can you guess what he made?

O is for Octopus

In case you missed it, be sure to check out Letter E. 

How to Create a Homeschool Portfolio

In my humble opinion, creating an annual portfolio is a must whether you're legally required to do so by your state or not. But should you sift through all of my reasons and still disagree, feel free to give me the side-eye and keep on scrolling. No hard feelings.

If on the other hand, you've bought into the idea of saving-the-best-and-tossing-the-rest and want to compile an organized sampling of worksheets and projects to squirrel away for graduation day, here's a quick cheat sheet to get you started.

Tuesday's Tot Trio #14

Welcome to the Tot Trio...where I share three simple "tot school" ideas. You've come just in time...only one more trio left until the end of the school year.

Because I was doling out medicine last week, Greased Lightning became a bit intrigued by the medicine droppers. After I thoroughly disinfected them, I rounded them all up for this tot-friendly color mixing activity. I filled up four water glasses, put a few drops of food coloring into each one, and showed him how to squeeze the droppers properly. He was so excited when he could "magically" make the yellow water turn green by adding blue or make the red turn orange by adding yellow.

The older two boys were assigned the task of helping Greased Lightning with a floor puzzle.

I was reminded of making sensory toys from Familylicious. Back when I taught preschool...YEARS ago...I remember my class loving home made sensory-type toys. I usually had sensory bottles, but this is a new spin on it...sensory bags.

I put inexpensive hair gel in a zipper bag, (You can get large bottles at the dollar store.) added a few drops of food coloring and some fun trinkets. I put wiggle eyes in one and foam flower cutouts that I had left over from a craft in the other. After sealing the bags, I put packaging tape around all the edges. You can also put each bag into another bag to prevent seepage. Greased Lightening spent a good part of an afternoon squishing all the goop. Then the older kids wanted turns.

Remember, although I will be sharing more of Greased Lightnings adventures throughout the summer, there's only one more Tot Trio...coming up next week.


Be sure to head back to Tot Trio #13 if you missed last week!

5 Reasons You Should Create a Homeschool Portfolio

The school year is quickly coming to a close. We're winding down and looking towards the finish line. It's been a good year, but we're more than ready for summer and the gentler pace of sneaky learning.

We'll all keep plugging away until the final day, but until then, I have begun organizing our piles of school work and projects in order to stuff them into our annual Portfolio Assessment binder, a primitive scrapbook of our school year.

Phonics Magnets

The extra FANTASTIC weather we've been having around these parts has forced me to whip out my best "jazz hands" throughout the school day in order to keep the attention of my Littles.  

For Super Boy, that means as many manipulatives as I can possibly cram into one lesson.  

When reviewing phonics blends/word building, magnetic letters (with or without a metal background to stick them on) offer a much-needed diversion.  

Over the years, I've picked up numerous sets at the dollar store and garage sales.  We use magnetic letters for all sorts of phonics, language, and spelling activities.  And as our collection is multi-colored, even Greased Lightening can use them in tot school to practice color sorting.

ABC Book: Letter E

E...E...E...What begins with "E"?

EGGS

I brought out old spring issues of home keeping magazines like Country Living and Better Homes and Gardens and let Blonde Warrior search for pictures of Easter eggs.  He cut as many eggs as he could find and then glued them to his "E" page.  

Side Note:  Most public libraries have a magazine "share" rack where people can discard unwanted magazines and others can claim these back issues.  This is a great spot to find periodicals for school projects.  The unused portions of each magazine can be tossed into the recycling bin.

Check out Letter "A".

Tuesday's Tot Trio #13

Over the last couple of months, I've enjoyed sharing with you some of the tot happenings around our home. I hope my weekly trios have inspired a few ideas of your own. With only a couple more weeks on our school time calendar, my tot trio will soon be coming to an end.


But until then, here are this week's tot "to dos"...

Armed with a couple of squirt bottles of water, some wash tubs, towels, and a handful of plastic zoo animals, Greased Lightning and his big brother, Blonde Warrior got to give pet baths. I was quite impressed with how little mess there was to clean up afterwards.

I cut a Dollar Store pool noodle in half and made a poor man's marble track. These pliable noodles are perfect for imaginative preschool play. After Greased Lightning grew weary of racing marbles down the "shoot," the noodle became a soft sword and then an octopus arm. (Please Note: marbles can be a choking hazard. This marble track would, obviously, need supervision.)

A set of dominoes made for an afternoon of fun. At first, I encouraged him to match up the colors/number of dots to form a long train, but then I set him free to create his own fun. He made a race track, a tower, a plate of food, a miniature cell phone, and with the help of big sister, Sweetie Pea, a line of "falling dominoes."

If you missed last week's tot time, head on over to Tot Trio #12.

Personal Devotions for Kids

Ever since Sweetie Pea was a little baby, we have sought to make time in God's Word as a family a daily priority.  At times we have been more faithful and consistent than others. For the most part, our nightly family devotions have consisted of readings from simple Bible Story books or children's Bibles.  The Hubs typically gathers all of us just before the kid's bedtime to read and share a few thoughts.

(This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for full details.)

In addition to that time together, for the last four years, I have also included a short Bible time in the morning at the start of the school day. This time is just between the kids and me and includes some fun Sunday-school type songs, the introduction of a classic hymn every now and then to pass on the songs of our faith heritage, a weekly Bible verse that we try to set to memory, and a Bible themed story...NOT a Bible story.  I have determined NOT to read an actual story straight out of the Bible because I don't want to steal the thunder from our family devotions with dad.  I want to keep THAT nighly time as unique as possible to create a level of anticipation and appreciation for it.

Over the years during our morning Bible time readings we have shared missionary stories, life application type stories, and church history stories.  We are currently working our way through The Children's Encyclopedia of Bible Books by Mark Water, a book of simple historical facts of each Bible book including info on authors, key passages, Israelite tradition, and main characters.

Although I really enjoy our time together every morning.  I realize that a "group" devotion does very little to promote the "personal" part in a relationship with Christ and a love for His Word.  I was challenged to read Scripture at a relatively early age, and because the habit was formed early, I find it easier as an adult to be dedicated to spending time each day in solitude with the Lord. The Psalmist David, certainly, found great worth in seeking time with God EARLY in the morning when he penned Psalm 63:1.

You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.

So a little over a year ago, the kids and I took our first tiny baby steps into developing a morning "quiet time" habit.  Now, some might say that REQUIRING my children to sit down and begin meditating on Scripture is legalistic and going against the principles of the "personal desire" that I am seeking to create within them. But, I would argue that a "love" or "desire" can not begin to grow until they each begin to get to know who God is by personally seeking Him in Scripture. Also, I find great value in the firm establishment of a few spiritual disciplines...like daily quiet time with God.

I think it is better to show a child HOW to think, not WHAT to think. I find great comfort in knowing that as my children's faiths are nurtured during their nightly time with dad and as that faith begins to grow as they earnestly begin to seek God on their own every morning, THE WORD WILL NOT RETURN VOID. He who seeks...shall find. I do not have to be their morning-time Holy Spirit and ensure that they are gleaning perfect application. I truly believe, that just as the Holy Spirit can use Scripture to convict and encourage me, He can do the same for my two older ones who have both professed a saving knowledge of God.

So, our morning time together has evolved to include some personal devotion time for ALL the children.  We still have our "together" time to sing, learn a verse, and read a short passage from our Encyclopedia.  But then, we each split up to have some quiet time by ourselves.

Blonde Warrior and Greased Lightning join me to read a Bible story together from a preschool Bible. (Typically our nightly devotions are a little over their heads, so I thought this might be a nice time to read some of the stories that Sweetie Pea and Super Boy read when they were preschoolers.)  Super Boy reads a story from his Hear Me Read Bible, an emergent reader style Bible.  Sweetie Pea either reads a chapter or two from her Bible or a selection from God and Me: Devotions for Girls or What the Bible is All About: Bible Handbook for Kids.  I let her choose.

The little boys and I usually finish much earlier than the two big kids.  So once we are finished reading together, I often set them at the table with a Bible Story coloring book, so that a certain level of "quiet" can be maintained for Sweetie Pea and Super Boy...emphasis on "certain level."

When I went looking for resources for the kids, I had a difficult time finding studies that were not geared to public school children.  For the most part, most of the life application stories included in kid's devotionals did not apply to my kids because they were not in a classroom situation with a group of their peers.  So far, I've been pleased with the books that the Hubs and I ended up choosing. In addition to those I have already mentioned, here are some more great resources for child-friendly devotions:

Jesus in the Spotlight (This is just one in a GREAT inductive study for 8-12 year olds by Kay Arthur.)
Gotta Have God: Cool Devotions for Boys (This is the boys version of the series that Sweetie Pea is currently working through.  Each book is geared for a specific age group starting with 2-5 year olds.)
The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers (This would need to be read aloud by an adult.)

(Just a thought:  If you have non-readers but do not have the time to read an EXTRA Bible story each day, you can always have he/she just look through the pictures of a preschool Bible while you or your older kids are busy with your own devotions.  This way, you are at least establishing the habit of a PERSONAL time with God.)

Obviously, this relatively new Bible-time endeavor takes up a larger chunk of our day than our old Bible time routine. But I am certain, that what we sow each morning, we will reap for eternity.

Preparing a Family Notebook

I am known around these parts as being a bit obsessed with paper organizing. Do you remember the girl that sat behind you in the third grade that had an alphabetized/cross-referenced Trapper Keeper...THAT WAS ME!

I have several different binders. In fact, at times it might seem like my binders HAVE binders!...but I digress. In the coming months in preparation for the upcoming school year, I will be sharing each one of my binders. But for now, I thought I'd start with my HOME COMPANION, as it details the daily operations of my home.

I maintain this notebook for two very important reasons...

1. I have loose but important papers in different spots around the house and I wanted one spot to gather all of them.
2. If anything were to ever happen to me, I would hate to think that the Hubs, or anyone else, for that matter, would have a difficult time maintaining status quo around here. I want to know that, as much as humanly possible, my children will be able to find comfort in the routines, meals, and stability that they have known thus far. Not that any of those things really matter in the long term, but a bit of "normalcy" goes a long way in a difficult situation.

My Family Home Companion has five main divisions and one additional section for Master Forms for use next year or years to come. I was fortunate to find several free printables for necessary forms and created the rest on my own. The sections and sub-sections are as follows:

Schedules

1.  The daily "docket":   A simple "to do" list that I've placed in a plastic sleeve so that I can use a dry-erase marker on it each day
2. Suggested Daily Cleaning Schedule 
3.  "Things on loan" page to keep track of books/school items I've loaned out to friends

Family

1. A clear plastic business card sleeve for holding the business cards of all of our health care/dental providers (It wasn't until I started putting this notebook together that I realized that the Hubs did not know the name of our pediatrician. He still doesn't know, but at least he knows of the place where he can find that info if he needs it.)
2. Our family Mission Statement and theme verse
3. Our 12 house rules/parenting mantras (I will be posting about our mission statement, verse, and house rules in the coming weeks.)
4.  Babysitter Notes Page
5.  Emergency Info Page
6. Basic medical health and insurance info on family members
7. Children's cold/flu meds and dosage Instructions
8. Current Clothing Size Chart (This has turned out to be very handy during yard sale season.  I can't always remember off-hand what size shoes everyone wears.)
9. Gift Wish List (I can always think of gift ideas for the Hubs and the kids all year long, but as soon as Christmas or their birthdays comes around, I can not come up with a thing.)

Chores

1. Home Keeping Checklist
2. Kid's Weekly Chore Chart 
3. A great handout with a detailed list of age appropriate chores for kids. 
4. The Fly Lady's Zone Cleaning Lists (I want to eventually type up my own as a few of hers do not apply to our house and we have a few that she does not list. But, this is a good reference for now.)

Meal Planning

1. Detailed Weekly Meal Planner (I've put this into a plastic sleeve for dry-erase purposes.)
2. Monthly Menu Schedule 
3. My Main Dish List:  a list I put together several years ago of every main dish I make and the recipe book/resource where it can be found.
4. A workable grocery list:  a list of everything that I normally buy written out in the exact order that I walk through the aisles of the store.  (During the week as I run out of things, I can just mark the item with a highlighter indicating that I need to buy it.)

Home/Auto

1. Another business card sleeve to hold the business cards of different businesses we frequent for home/auto needs
2. Car Maintenance Log 
3. Home Maintenance Log

The binder is larger than necessary so that I can clip my Brave Homeschool Planner into it.

You'll notice that I did not include any financial/budgeting information.  Although those facts and figures would be more than appropriate to include in a Home Companion, I prefer to do all of that with Excel spreadsheets.

Although I devoted much of an entire Saturday afternoon to writing and compiling the different elements in this binder, it is a work-in-progress. Since life always has a way to "ebb and flow" I probably will never be completely done with the book. It will need to "ebb and flow" as well. But at least the skeletal plan is in order and I have comfort in knowing that my husband won't have to "doggie paddle" his way through the simple tasks of the day if I'm not around to help.

Be sure to stay tuned in the coming weeks when I share some thoughts on Portfolio Assessment Binders and Annual School Planners.  For now, here are a few more great resources for putting together a Home Companion.

Life Your Way
Simple Mom
Mom Agenda
Organized Home

ABC Book: Letter A

Here are a few flashback photos from earlier in the year when Blonde Warrior was learning letter "A."  Although it is the first letter of the alphabet, it was the THIRD letter that I introduced.

He made apple prints on his "A" page with an apple half and finger paint.  The key to getting a good print with an apple is to cut the apple in half vertically to expose the seeds and stem and then let it sit to dry out for a few hours.  If you try and apply paint to a freshly cut apple, the natural juices will repel the paint.

If you are just joining us and have missed the previous ABC book posts, head on over and check out Letter "I."

Flashcard Trail

Simple flashcard drills have always been a bit of a bore for my kinesthetic learner, Super Boy.  But as REVIEW is the "key to learning," I've had to come up with a few tricks to go over some basic core facts.  

This past week, he was able to take a trip on the flashcard trail.  Greased Lightening and I set out a "trail" of phonics blend cards.  Super Boy grabbed a toy with wheels...a boy on a skateboard, in this case...and began his "journey."

He started at the first card, read the blend, and then "drove" to the next card.  

Tuesday's Tot Trio #12

If you are looking for a couple of simple, budget-friendly activities to keep your tot engaged during the school day, you've come to the right place!

The Hubs brought home a bag filled with paper shreds from the office. I threw all these in a plastic tub along with a handful of small toys and let Greased Lightning go on a treasure hunt to claim all the trinkets.

He was joined by some favorite family "friends" later in the week...Disney Pixar Cars.

I set out pieces of colored construction paper and encouraged him and Blonde Warrior to sort the Cars by colors.

Contrary to the rather bored looking faces in this picture, the boys had a great time and ended up sorting and resorting the Cars several more times.

As simple as it sounds, tearing paper is always a tot favorite. Greased Lightening sat at the school table one afternoon with a piece of scrap paper and ripped it into a million little snippets. He collected them neatly into an empty bowl.

I hope this has inspired a little tot-friendly creativity in you.

Need more inspiration? Here's a few more ideas.

The ABC's of Teaching the ABC's

After teaching numerous kindergarten scholars in a traditional school setting and now three of my own five children as we are gathered 'round the kitchen table each day, I have learned a few ABCs about teaching the ABCs.

Always teach the vowels first.  By starting with the vowels, statistics are in your favor.  There are only five vowels vs. twenty-one consonants.  At least one vowel appears in every word in the English language. Quite simply, once a little learner masters his/her vowels, he can already begin to recognize sounds within every word.

Borrow from the "winners."  For over thirty years, Vanna White has been called upon to turn the letters for hopeful contestants on the long-running game show, Wheel of Fortune.  Without fail, during the "bonus round", the same five letters are announced...R, S, T, L, and N as eager players look on with anticipation while White turns over any/all lit tiles.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the obvious logic behind the selection of THOSE particular letters.  They are COMMON and commonly used in a lot of COMMON words.  For this reason, after teaching the five vowels, I teach a handful of commonly used consonants next (R, S, T, L, N, and a few others).  When combined with the previously-mastered vowels, these consonants can create many simple one-vowel words.  So, even before a child has conquered all the letters in the alphabet, he can already read a large handful of words (like "sat", "man", "bat").  Nothing propels a feeling of success or a love of reading quite like actual READING.

Cast off tradition.  Although most pre-readers have learned the words and tune to the popular ABC song long before they actually know what an A, B, or C really is,  they should not be encouraged to learn the formation or sound of the letter in that same order.  Experience has shown that a child who learns the sounds of his letters in alphabetical ORDER has a harder time recognizing them out of order...as in the case of a REAL WORD.  You will often times see these children singing the ABC song out loud or in their head in order to remember the sound or name of a particular letter.  The "habit" that was created as a toddler of seeing and singing the letters in a particular order is hard to break.  But if the formation and sound of the letters are taught APART from the song and the song order, the child's reasoning skills will categorize the song as one concept and the sound/formation as a completely different concept.  Therefore, it is much easier for him to learn to truly READ the letter.

As a final thought...Although I introduce both the capital and small version of each letter together, I emphasize the small formation the most.  Let's face it, the ratio of small letters to large letters in a book is quite substantial.  Typically only the first letter of each sentence or an occasional name is ever capitalized.  When choosing educational toys and games, you can always spot a QUALITY item if it was created with small letters vs. capitals.  Not only for the purpose of reading, but also for manufacturing costs...it is cheaper for a manufacturer to produce a toy with straight lines (as in the case of most capitals) than it is to produce a toy with both straight and curved lines (like small letters).  This is why most QUALITY, small letter toys (puzzles, push-button games, blocks, etc.) are more expensive than their capital letter counterparts.

Although every child is uniquely wired with his/her own unique way of learning, teaching most little learners to read the ABCs is as simple as A-B-C.