Why Older Kids Should Still Play with Blocks

After four years of college, and two years of teaching middle school students, it took having my own children to realize that older children should still be playing with blocks! I don't know how many parents actually sit down with their children and build with blocks, but as an adult playing with blocks, I realize the many thinking processes that must occur in order to build anything. Many people recognize that if you stop drawing at a certain age, when you try to draw as an adult, you draw at the level you stopped drawing as a child. Building is the same way! I found it very difficult to build what I wanted to build and realized my brain was using muscles that it remembered using at one time, but hadn't exercised in a while. How enlightening this was!!

So then I began wondering why middle school students- or elementary school students for that matter- aren't given blocks with which to build. Some children are encouraged at home to graduate to more elaborate building materials like erector sets and Girder & Panel. But many children, once entering school, have so much homework and extra-curricular activities to do that they have little time left for simple play. And any time that's left over is often filled with video games and television- hardly the best brain enhancing activities! So if the schools are not incorporating building activities into the very busy day of schooled students, is there a reason? Unfortunately, it is NOT because there isn't enough time. It's because administrators and teachers do not sit down and play blocks with their children, realizing the many benefits of this activity.

The educational system makes changes to standards based on what they think they know. Right now, the trend is to get kids in earlier ("kindergarten"), make them spend more time in school, and cram as much into them as possible in order to pass standardized tests. And unfortunately, because these tests are on paper, most of the training ("learning") is done on paper. Educational researchers who feed their information ("crap") to administrators and teachers are too busy trying to change the wheel rather than stopping for a second and using common sense, or even getting down and playing with blocks now and again.

For similar reasons, art and music programs are disappearing from schools. They "can't afford" them, or so they say, but what they don't realize yet is that we can't NOT afford them. I have a friend who teaches early elementary who has a piano in her classroom. She notices a big difference in math abilities in the students who take piano lessons from her. This is not news, and people have been arguing for years just this point to keep the music and arts programs alive and well in public schools.

I wonder how many future architects did not meet their potential because they were stifled by those who are supposed to know better. How many children grew up without the ability to think in a certain way because their blocks were taken away in pre-school? Whether you use simple wooden blocks, Legos, Lincoln Logs, or Tinker Toys, at least one of these (and preferably a variety) should be available for both boys and girls. As parents, we should get down on the floor and play with these toys to demonstrate to our children that you are never too old to build! In addition, when children do play on the computer, incorporate some digital building programs that will help them envision three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional screen. This will be a necessity when they grow up and find technology in every field imaginable, including architecture, and perhaps your child with his incredibly astute thinking skills will be the next Frank Lloyd Wright!

Another Use for Cookie Cutters

Do you have cookie cutters in your kitchen drawers that get used once a year? We don't bake cookies here much, but we do have cookie cutters. One day it occurred to me that they would be useful for keeping food from rolling around on the plate. My daughter likes to help bring plates to the table, and if there are any round foods like peas or grapes, we always lose a few to the floor. Not to mention, if you have just washed grapes and they are wet, keeping them away from the crackers will help you avoid the, "My cracker is soggy!" dilemma. Using cookie cutters to separate foods for picky children is also a good idea. My kids don't care if their foods touch, but I know some do!

Reasons for Homeschooling

There are some well-accepted and popular reasons for homeschooling. Some are

• safety concerns,
• curriculum preferences (a religious curriculum over a secular one),
• inferior educators in the public schools,
• unnatural socialization in schools,
• concerns of indoctrination of our children in schools, and
• simply recognizing that a parent is the best teacher for his/her child.

When I went to our "Kindergarten Round-up" last year to learn more about the public school, some really good questions began flooding through my brain. What if Thomas got hungry in the middle of the day? What if he wanted a drink? Would he have to drink nasty water from the water fountain? Would he be given candy every day as a reward? Does the room have carpet? How can a carpeted room with 20 5-6 year olds be healthy? Will they use safe cleaners? Do they spray the school with pesticides?

I recognize that most parents would not even think about these things. But to parents like me, they all matter. Why would I provide the healthiest home possible, and then send my child to school all day? A school where they are sure to use chlorox, toxic floor cleaners, and pesticides in the classroom. Think I'm crazy? I just received a newsletter from Dr. Mercola with a link to an article stating that 80 percent of schools are applying pesticides. I live in a small town, where they spray the ball park for mosquitoes, and when a lice outbreak occurs, they "treat the room" (whatever that means) without so much as a letter to parents. People in our town still smoke like chimneys, so you can see that we wouldn't get much sympathy if we said anything!

So to my list of "reasons for homeschooling" I now add, "providing a healthy learning environment." We will learn in our purified air, drink distilled water, clean with non-toxic cleaners, and eat healthy food when we're hungry!

Algebra for Four Year Olds

A few days ago, I was sitting in McDonald's with my children, waiting for them to finish eating. Out of boredom, I developed a great little game that they have enjoyed playing. I put my hand behind my back and said, "I have 3 fingers up behind my back, and two up here (holding two up). How many do I have up all together?" My four year old looked at both of her hands under the table and set them up and counted. "Five!"

The game continued and I actually saw right there in McDonald's, my four year old "get" counting on. She finally stopped counting ALL of the fingers and started with one number and then counted on the rest. After a while, I asked questions like, "If I have 5 fingers up behind my back, and I need to have 8 fingers up, how many do I need to put up on this hand?" And of course, they both got these every time.

Now, my daughter will be five in three months. Because she has a November birthday, she does not meet the cut off for starting kindergarten this year. She is learning to read, she is figuring out missing addend problems, and her skills test all showed that she is on a 5-6 year old level (that was at age 3). Imagine if I were depending on public schools to educate my child! Not only would I have to make her wait an entire year, I know that kids coming out of our local kindergarten are not even reading. After having taught my son to read last year, I just can't imagine why children are not reading out of kindergarten! Even an average child should be able to read to a degree.

Anyway, we still play the game everyday, and my daughter loves asking ME "finger problems!" She has figured out that she has to check to make sure I'm right! And yes, we will be doing kindergarten this year, because unlike the school system, I have common sense!

P.S. I almost forgot. One of the problems I gave was to see how my son would handle it. I said, "I have 100 fingers up behind my back, and 5 up here. How many do I have up?" He answered 105, but then I asked him, "HOW can I have 100 fingers up behind my back?!" We all got a laugh out of that!

Homeschooling Others' Kids

A few weeks ago, my husband and I separated. My initial thought was, "what can I do to keep my children at home?" While many moms may have decided to head back into the work force, this simply is not an option for me. It didn't take long for me to decide to open a private school in my home. Not only would it bring in some extra income, it would allow me a tax deduction on part of our home, which is now way too big for the three of us.

Luckily, the State of Kansas is pretty easy on homeschoolers, and there are no rules against teaching others' kids in your home. This makes it easy for homeschool co-ops where parents trade off teaching different subjects. We will be starting school the day after Labor Day, and so far I will have my two (4 1/2 and 6), boy/girl siblings which are 8 and 7, and two little day care kids (brothers) who are 3 and 8 months. It is an interesting mix, but I feel it will work out well. The 7 and 8 year olds are being removed from public school, and are a year behind. That puts the 7 year old even with my 6 year old. I'm hoping to also have a 5 year old join us part time that will pair up with my daughter quite well.

God has been good to me in providing the right people to come into our school. I acquired the two little ones from my friend (a teacher) who lost her babysitter a week before she went back to work. The older two came to me through God's divine providence, and I'll share about that one day. I don't know if I will make enough to be able to stay in our house, but I know that God will work it all out by either providing the income or providing a different home at the right time.

School starts in about three weeks, and I'm slowly getting things ready. Luckily, I already have a lot of resources for all ages, including books that I ordered last year that I thought were for kindergarten but were for first, second, or third (did God know?) I will also be adding some Bright Minds books as well. We have turned our living room into our class room, which also spills into our dining room. Our new living room is the old guest room, which is on the same level and right off the dining room. We have two bathrooms downstairs and a huge kitchen for "class." How could I NOT open up our home to other children?

I'll take the first week to get to know the kids and figure out what they know and don't know. I'll combine a lot of the learning by using Five in a Row and reading from Little House on the Prairie and other classics. Science and social studies are easy to combine, and math and reading will be fairly individualized. My main priority is to not stress out over any of this and to stay relaxed. I can go overboard very easily, and I just have to remember to take it one day at a time and do what I can in the time that I have.

I also have other projects as possibilities, and if they come to fruition I will share those, too. But right now, I'm homeschooling other people's kids and trying to make sure I know what I'm doing! Wish me luck!

The Things Kids Say...

My son has provided me with some of the best laughs a mom could imagine. When he was about 3 years old, I remember working at my desk and trying to finish what I was doing before I attended to whatever he desperately needed me for. After too many, "Mommy's!" I finally explained to him that he was old enough to start learning what it means to be patient, and that I would be done in just a minute. I realized he only heard half of what I said when he replied to me: "Mommy, YOU be the patient! I want to be the doctor!"

For more funny kid stories, check out this Blog Carnival!

Homeschooling and Lice

Homeschooling is particularly wonderful for getting to spare one’s children many of the things we ourselves may have disliked in our own school experiences, such as lots of homework, bullies, and lunchroom food. However, one old standby that we can’t avoid even as homeschoolers is the threat of head lice.

Head lice are small insects that live off of human blood. Head lice do not fly or hop, but they are accomplished travelers, crawling all over the universe looking for hospitable heads on which to live. Head lice can easily be gotten from church, mission trips, outreach opportunities, spending time with friends, and at any activity that children attend. Even if you home church and home school, your children can get lice! If you don’t know what to do when it happens, it can be a long and costly battle until you finally see the end of it.

Like most parents, I always hoped my children would not get head lice. I had no plan except that I knew I would never use chemical lice shampoos on my children. These products are pesticides that are unsafe for use, particularly for pregnant women and children under two. Being a mother of six, I have spent quite a few years either pregnant or with babies and toddlers…or both! Due to the fact that head lice bite the scalp to live, when we use pesticide products on our children we are introducing these chemicals directly into their bloodstream via the open sores on their head. That combined with the fact that our skin absorbs everything we put on it was enough to let me know I had to find a safe alternative.

A few years ago I discovered head lice on my children. I was horrified! My youngest little boys got their heads shaved immediately since they had quite an infestation and I knew that they would have a hard time sitting still for multiple rounds of combing out nits.

For the older children I first tried home remedies such as olive oil and vinegar. We found both options messy, illogical, and ineffective. I realized that the bottom line was that all the live lice and eggs have to come out of the hair. A fairly simple goal! An online contact told me about a battery-powered lice comb called the Robi Comb, so I bought one and went to work.

The Robi Comb actually electrocutes lice as you comb through the hair and they get stuck in it’s teeth. We were amazed at the amount of lice we found, and how tiny and nearly transparent some of them were. Newly hatched lice are almost impossible to see, so we were very glad our Robi Comb could catch them. We followed up with a metal egg comb to get out all the eggs, and just repeated this process again and again until we were confident that all the lice were gone.

Once we were through with the Great head Lice Battle of 2004 I did some thinking and some research. I knew that I never wanted my children to get lice again, and I wondered if there was anything safe that I could use to help prevent it. Sure enough, I found that the wonderful world of herbs offers many choices for this purpose. I started tinkering around with a formulation until I finally had a product that smelled great, didn’t irritate the skin, wasn’t oily, and worked well. My husband and I eventually got started selling our Supermom’s No-Lice Hair and Body Spray in 2005 and we have been so glad to help other families find a way to prevent and eliminate head lice safely and effectively.

Author Bio:
Erica Johns is owner of Supermom’s No-Lice Advice, a business that is dedicated to helping families prevent and eliminate head lice safely and effectively. Erica is working toward becoming a Certified Natural Health Professional and also offers many more products to help families live healthier through Supermom’s Health and Wellness. Erica and her husband Dave have been married since 1991 and are the happy parents of 6 children.

Socialization of Homeschoolers

The past couple of weeks have been "VBS" time for us, first at our own church, and then at our friends' church. I worked in the craft area, so I got to see every child of every age come through at some point. I also got to see my two children, which of course was a joy.

But the second day into it, I got a call from my friend, a fellow homeschooler. "Is everything okay?" she wondered. Not knowing what she meant, my mind began racing. But she quickly filled me in. The day before, Thomas, my six year old, had gotten upset during story time. He did not want to participate in the group activity. He is GREAT at sitting quietly and listening, but when it comes to him participating in an activity that is not on "his schedule" or for which he does not know the outcome, he panics. He wants to know what, when, where, why, and how, before he agrees to take part in the "unknown" and of course, most people either won't understand this, or won't take the time to explain.

This is when I really started thinking about the way people view homeschooled children. Other parents would look at my child and immediately think, "oh, see what homeschooling does to children? He can't handle x, y, OR z!" I know that this happens. I've seen forums and blogs discussing just this thing and people talk about how "dysfunctional" many homeschoolers are, especially when they go off to college and can't "relate." Do they ever think that children were this way BEFORE homeschooling?

No, they usually want to find a reason to be comfortable with the school system. It's the easier way, the less time consuming way, and the way of the mainstream. It's easy to make a case out of one experience a person has had: "Well, when I was in college there was a homeschooled girl that quit after one quarter simply because she couldn't fit in..." First of all, I wouldn't want to "fit in" with most college activities, and secondly, it's ONE person! Basing your opinion on one person is ludicrous, and - the easy way out.

My daughter was in pre-school for a short time, and I remember asking her if she'd like to, "stay home with Mommy and Thomas?" She jumped at the chance! I already knew that a little girl had pushed her down on the playground (which the teacher didn't see, and therefore she felt there was no justice, making it even harder to get over) but she seemed willing and eager to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Months later, she told me, "I didn't want to go to school with those babies!" Sure enough, her pre-school friends seemed "behind" socially and intellectually but I never imagined she would pick up on this. She was ready to play with others, and they were still stuck in themselves. Imagine the torture this was for her! She is now four, and while I have held back on teaching her, is on a 5-6 year level socially, conceptually, and even in motor skills. Because her birthday is in November, she would have to wait another year for kindergarten if she went to public school. Can you imagine?!

My children have participated in dance, scouts, soccer, choir, church, homeschool groups, and other activities. They are not thrust into a classroom with same-age kids all day long with only one moderator to make sure everything is okay. While my son is very analytical about EVERYTHING, everyday his comfort level improves to where he is actually almost social! My daughter will talk to everyone who looks her way. If you want to make a case against socialization of homeschoolers, you don't want to look at my family! Because you simply will not be able to draw any conclusions, just like you can't draw conclusions on that "one girl in college..."

How Weather Affects Crops

Before we moved to Kansas, I knew very little about farm life. I knew even less about planting and harvesting. It's amazing how much you learn about different parts of the country simply by relocating and then paying attention to what is around you. We don't life on a farm, but we live in a farming community so how successful the farms are greatly influences the economics of our town.

When we first arrived in Kansas in January 2006, we were in the middle of a drought. That winter was very moderate and I think we may have gotten one round of snow. We also had very little rain, and I kept wondering how the wheat crops would be affected by the dryness. The talk around town was all about how much yield each farmer would get, and would it EVER rain? Then the "moderate" fall and winter turned into a scorcher of a summer, and I think there were over ten days of temperatures close to 110. If memory serves me correctly, this was during or after harvest, so the crop was not affected by this (although, I'm sure the farmers were!)

Then came the rain. And the snow. I can't tell you how many times it snowed in late 2006 and early 2007 because I lost count. And some of the snow came on top of other snow or ice that never melted. Praises to God for all the precipitation could be heard in all the churches! Imagine how well the wheat would do this harvest!

In the spring, storm after storm flooded basements, flooded towns, and even flattened completely Greensburg, KS. Being naive, I imagined what a great harvest we would have in June! But the rain didn't stop. And harvest time came, and the wheat could not be harvested. Most farmers began harvest as soon as the wheat was dry enough. Then more rain would come, putting harvest off again. What I never knew is that there is a small window of time when the wheat is ready, and if it can't be harvested because it is too wet, the window might be missed.

A few days ago, I had to drive an hour away into Wichita. The effects of the rain were very clear, as across the landscape I could see acres and acres of burning fields. Crops that could not be harvested had to be burned as much of it had grown mold from the wetness. The rains, which were such a blessing to the growth of the crops, had become a curse to the harvest. The economic impact is even worse than the year of the drought.

Farmers have insurance to cover these losses, but it certainly doesn't cover the full amount that they would have received with a good harvest. This means that the next year will be tight, and there won't be much excess for many families in Kansas. When I lived in the Georgia suburbs, I did not know any of this. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! It has been a great educational experience for all of us, not only learning about the farming end of things, but also how the weather can affect the economics of a region. It makes me wonder what else we are missing, and do we need to move to another part of the country to learn about it? I hope not!

"Sensible Addition" Just Released

When I first started this blog, I mentioned that I developed a method of teaching addition facts that worked very well with my son. I have since put together a kit which all parents can buy for their children who are either struggling with memorizing the facts, or who simply want to learn them faster. When I started using this method with my son, he literally learned the facts twice as fast as he had before, even though the facts were getting higher in number.

Sensible Addition assumes that the child already has an understanding of addition and what it means to add two numbers together. It does provide suggestions for teaching the addition concept, only to let parents know what their child should have learned in school. While most homeschooling parents understand learning the concept vs. memorizing facts, many parents who depend on teachers to teach the concepts may not realize that their child is having trouble memorizing facts for concepts that don't make sense to them. This is where math starts to go "down hill" for many children, who continue to struggle as more math concepts are built on shaky ground.

With Sensible Addition, any parent can sit down with a few manipulatives, find out how much their child understands about adding numbers, and move forward with practice, and finally with memorizing addition facts. You can learn more about teaching addition facts and what Sensible Addition is (and isn't), and buy a kit for your child today!

What Being a WAHM Means to Me

Recently, being a WAHM (work at home mom) has become even more important to me. Because I also homeschool, my children are with me for most of their days. This can be a pain, but when I see other adults that might have some influence on them, I am glad that I can raise them the way that I think they should be raised and not people who don't share our beliefs!

When I had my children, it was not in the plans for me to have a job. It just sort of happened. I used to go to Bible studies for moms, craft nights, and other fun outings, and now I balance my time between working, house work, kid stuff, school, and oh yeah- bathing regularly!

Basically, being a WAHM means that I can be there for my children no matter what. I can work around their schedule. I can use my business to teach them about computer graphics and web design, marketing skills, accounting, organizing, and other things that interest them. My four year old has already learned that when we buy something online, it does NOT print out on the computer! She loves to help me stuff envelopes and put postage on them. And she loves how we can take pictures of things and then they show up on the computer. One day when it occurs to her that we can make it show up on everyone else's computer when they visit our site, it will totally blow her away!

Most importantly, what being a WAHM means is that I can teach my children that they don't have to depend on someone else to hire them to work a JOB. When you develop the right skills, you can build your own business and work for yourself. It isn't easier than working for someone else. Heck, I remember being able to push papers all day and get paid for it, no matter what got accomplished. I also remember being totally unfulfilled. Having your own business is a LOT of work. But it is worth it to me because of all the benefits that come from it.

Going to a JOB is easy. Sending kids to school all day is easy. But doing it all yourself is one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself and your children. And it's TOTALLY worth it!

Teaching Habitats

When we learned about mountains and valleys, of course a shoe box came to mind! We built this model this past winter, I believe, and the kids had so much fun with it. It's amazing how "trash" can become so useful if you think about it! We used a brown paper bag and a shoebox to build the mountains. We used cotton for the "snowcaps." We got pictures of different animals online and colored and cut them out. The water is just blue paint and some clear wrap on top of that. The trees and shrubs are simply green construction paper cutouts. We never did put fish in the water, but we still have this project to add to when we want. Please feel free to share other ways in which you used shoe boxes and/or taught about different habitats. We'd love to hear them!

Click on the pictures if you'd like to see a larger image!

A Death in the "Family"

Last week we had a tragic event occur in our "family" that was a great learning experience: two of our frogs died. They were the last of the eight to turn into frogs, so when we had to name them for the funeral services, we lovingly called them "Seven" and "Eight."

I'm not really sure what happened to them, but my best guess is that they didn't get enough oxygen in their Planet Frog habitat. We put the top on, and I'm guessing the little air holes didn't allow enough air in. It was a sinking feeling when I looked in one morning and saw that Seven was discolored, and Eight was on his back. Believe it or not, I even choked up a little when I said a few words before we buried them in our planter on the front porch. I felt so guilty. But then, having 6 out of 8 tadpoles turn into frogs AND survive is an incredible feat!

I tried to get Anna to sing her new favorite song, "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow," but she would not. She probably doesn't remember singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle," at our dog Sandy's funeral when she was 2 1/2 and perhaps she was just too devastated to sing. But after the services for Seven and Eight, life went on, and hopefully their little bodies in the planter will grow some beautiful plants for us!

Five in a Row

Becoming a homeschooling family requires many decisions, most importantly how your child will learn. Will you unschool and use natural teaching moments to learn fractions (baking), measurements (building), and science (raising tadpoles); or will you create your own classroom at home with desks, chalkboards, and textbooks? Secondly, you will need to choose a curriculum- or not. The decision can vary from one extreme to the next, and the best part is- the decision is YOURS.

Our first year of homeschooling was kindergarten, and we used books from here, books from there, and learned. We used Hooked on Phonics for reading and my son is reading amazingly well. Having been taught to teach, I find myself waivering between "schooling" and "unschooling." And I think this works perfectly for us. We use natural moments, and textbooks as well.

For first grade, I have chosen the Five in a Row (FIAR) curriculum. I selected this curriculum for one main reason: I had no idea where to start when it came to selecting books for my children to read. FIAR does this for you. The curriculum is described as, "a unit-study approach to early education based on outstanding children's literature. Together, the three volumes of Five in a Row provide 55 lesson plans covering Social Studies, Language, Art, Applied Math, and Science in a way that causes children to fall in love with learning."

Since we "learn" during summer as well, we have already done our first book, which was Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. Because it was available, we also purchased the lapbook to go along with with this book. We had a lot of fun cutting, pasting, and putting together a memorable "book" that can be flipped through at future times when we want to remember the story and everything we learned about steam shovels, flexibility, and good stewardship. My son is not a big artist, so he left almost everything uncolored. And one day if he changes his mind, he can color the pictures in his lapbook if he wants to.

Of course, we won't do a lapbook EVERY time we do a new book, but I think it's fun every once and a while and a great learning experience for children. I will never forget how my son's cub scout group created a scrapbook page because it's in their scout book. I thought it was a little strange for boys to do it, but whatever! The next day, my son wanted to do more pages for school. So I got out my papers, stamps, stickers, etc. and I think he created 2-3 pages. It is AMAZING what scrapbooking teaches little ones! I saw so many little light bulbs going off while we worked together. He got to use the paper cutter to trim the pictures, and the corner punch to make round corners. He had to select coordinating papers and then design the page before gluing the items down. I coached, and let him do the work. It was so much fun!

Anyway, back to Five in a Row! If you are unsure of what to use for your own child's learning, you might want to check it out. FIAR is appropriate for ages 4-8, and after that, there's "Beyond Five in a Row" for older students. We do use a separate math curriculum which you definitely have to have, especially if you have an advanced student who excels in the subject. We selected BJ Press math for Grade 1 and we mix that with another book called The Complete Book of Time and Money, which is one of the books we used for kindergarten. I like this book so much that I will be ordering it for my 4 1/2 year old daughter to start using soon. For other subjects, we have tons of books, maps, and computer games to learn. We vary it and change it up, and mix in natural learning moments as much as possible.

We know many parents would freak out if they tried our method. But it works for us, and it seems to be working for our children as they continue to flourish and excel in many areas!

It's JUST a Geoboard!

Last week we were at the school supply store and I remembered reading about a geoboard in the next week's lessons when I saw one in the midst of the math supplies. I thought, "It's jut a board with some nails in it!" and put it down. Then I noticed it was ONLY $3.95 or so and figured we might use it at some point, so I added it to my pile. I didn't get the colored rubber bands because we had perfectly good rubber bands at home!

I put it with the school stuff and the next time we did school, brought it out with the lesson materials. Before I even had to say anything, my 6 year old was adding rubberbands and creating a design. Before we finished school he was fighting over it with my 4 year old. They LOVED this thing! He played with it all day, and then, get THIS: he put it under his pillow at bed time! Here is one of the designs that he created. He also took the picture! He made countless designs that day, and I bet if I look, it is still under his pillow. Here is a great resource for geoboard lessons.