Science: Learning About Cells-Mitosis We stumbled into a unit on cells this week. Don’t you love the freedom of homeschooling? We happened to be able to gain access to a microscope, some plant cell slides, and a science teacher all at the same time… excitement was born! While all I could say was, “That slide looks neat,” the teacher was able to share his love for cell division with the boys. In five minutes, the boys transformed from boys trying to use a microscope, to biologists trying to identify the different stages of cell division. God’s creation is truly amazing! Here’s how I helped fuel the flames of excitement: First: We watched a few videos on cell division: We loved Crash Course: Mitosis (He a fast talker, but does great overviews!) We also loved Bozeman’s “Phases of Mitosis” Although these video’s are targeting high schoolers, my boys caught the main ideas without a hitch! Then I stayed up waaay too late creating a Cell Cycle Flip Book kit for each son (for both plant and animal cells). The boys have been busy today coloring, cutting, arranging and flipping about cells. It’s been a fun and productive morning! I posted my cell flip book kit for anyone to grab a copy just a while ago. ***Be the first to comment on this post AND send me an email saying “I would love a Cell Flip Book for my Kids” and I will email you a free copy!
Email Whitelisting GMAIL: In your inbox, locate an email from bekki@Abetterwaytohomeschool.com (ex. your welcome mail for the file you just downloaded). Open the email and locate the “down arrow” next to the reply button at the top right of the message. Click the down arrow and select “Add to Contacts List” from the dropdown menu. That’s it! Now you can look forward to your next A better Way to Homeschool message, headed to your inbox soon. YAHOO! MAIL: When opening an email message, a “+” symbol should display next to From: and the sender’s name. Select this and an “Add to contacts” pop-up should appear. Select “Save”: MAC MAIL: Select “Mail” and “Preferences” from the top menu. In the “Preferences” window, click the “Rules” icon. Click the “Add Rule” button. In the “Rules” window, type a name for your rule in the “Description” field. Use the following settings: “If any of the following conditions are met: From Contains.” Type the sender’s email address in the text field beside “Contains.” Select “Move Message” and “Inbox” from the drop-down menus.Click “Ok” to save the rule. OUTLOOK 2003 &; LATER: Right-click on the message in your inbox. Select “Junk E-mail” from the menu. Click “Add Sender to Safe Senders List.” DON’T SEE YOUR EMAIL PROVIDER HERE? Check out the instructions on this page. See you in your inbox!
Life Skills: Teach Your Kids Their Phone Numbers I Know My Phone Number!! But do my kids? We have been struggling to memorize our new phone numbers together. It is amazing how confusing it can become when you begin to throw out the old numbers and learn the new ones. Our family has four phone numbers that need to be memorized. Phew! That is a lot! I created this fun little foldable to help out our youngest. In the event of an emergency, can you kids simply pick up a phone and call you or your emergency contact? If not, I would recommend that you begin memorizing phone numbers together. (I confess, I JUST memorized my oldest son’s cell number. Since I simply dial by contact on my smart phone I never committed his number to memory. Bad mom.) How do you teach your children important phone numbers? ***Just a final nudge*** My home phone does not work during a power outage. Does yours? We have a back-up phone. you know, one of those plug into the wall types. I would recommend you not only have a back up, but teach your kids how to use it! Preview of the Heart of Homeschooling God’s Way Master Class. We need to STOP measuring success by grades, achievements, awards, and worksheets.
How to Set Homeschool Goals that are Worth Achieving Ready to Set Homeschool Goals that are manageable and achievable? How about goals that will benefit your children more than helping them pass a test? Yesterday, my 13-year old made me promise that I would NOT do the dishes for him while he was outside playing. It was almost dark and I was “forcing my kids to go play” before the light was gone for another day, and my son wouldn’t budge. He knew that I was in putter mode and that I was heading toward his lunch dishes. Would you like to raise kids that get in between you and a dirty kitchen? Do you dream about kids that race you to the dryer so they can be the ones who grab that warm load of laundry that needs to be folded and put away? Can you imagine eating a delicious meal that was planned and prepared by your teenagers while you were not in the kitchen? Grab a copy of Homeschool Guide for Real Families. Here is what you will find: Included: What makes a successful homeschooler? Survival Plan How to Homeschool: Setting goals Establish Goals Worksheets Identifying Children’s Strengths and Weaknesses Over 16 years of teaching/homeschooling wisdom Identifying educational benchmarks Choosing curriculum Planning school year worksheets A Year at a Glance Worksheets Unit Study Worksheets My Favorite Resources Staying Organized Sound good? As a homeschooler, I never had a large homeschooling budget. I have always taught on a shoestring budget, creating what I need along the way. I wanted to be able to share so much value with you that you would feel like you found buried treasure. I am so blessed to be able to work from home as I school our boys. None of this would be possible without the love and support of my husband and five of our children!
Homeschooling: When the Day Doesn’t Go as Planned Homeschooling from the Doctor’s Office Today: Day Five of this school year. I had an 8:00am doctor’s appointment and I’m still waiting at 10:00. Challenge: I’m the homeschool mom. No one learns without me… And I’m stuck in the office. Solution: Choice #1- Pre-plan activities and lessons and prep the kids on what they are to do. Choice -#2- leave the kids sleeping and hope that when I show up at lunch time that they are up, dressed, and have self started and got something done without me. Reality- I forgot to properly prep the kids yesterday, neglected to set out some “to do’s” before I left, and got hung up by having to go to two different offices. Expectation- when I get home all four kids will likely have completed math and will be huddled over a mass of Legos creatively building. Note to me: “Bekki, let go of your expectations and benchmarks for today. Nothing in your planner today was written on pen. The Lord had an entirely different plan for your day today. Roll with it! Do not try to cram a full day of school into a time space 1/4 the size of what you had scheduled. Take the kids for a walk.” Preview of the Heart of Homeschooling God’s Way Master Class. We need to STOP measuring success by grades, achievements, awards, and worksheets.
Today’s Kindergarten: I Am Concerned It’s 1976. I am super excited to go to my Kindergarten class today! Mrs. House is the best teacher ever. My friend Shelley and I sit next to each other in circle time as the class sings songs and talk about what is a good nutritious breakfast. (Mrs. House isn’t too happy that I had a cup of coffee again today! I’m sure she will talk to mom again later!) When mom picks me up from the bus stop, I share all about my day… We learned about phonics and I quickly memorized the phonics circle. We listened to Ferdinand the Bull. I laughed and laughed when he “sat on a bumblebee”. I played house during play station time and practiced “ironing”. At snack time, my friend Shelley and I turned our milk cartons into little boxes so we could collect things during recess. Shelley and I played tag during recess until we couldn’t run anymore, then we plopped down in the clover patch to search for four leaf clovers. After recess, Mrs. House quizzed us on “F, F, for Freddy Fox” and sang “This Land is my Land” with the first grade class next door. We covered a paper with all different colors of crayons and then scribbled all over that paper with black crayon as hard as we could. Once is was black, we used a paper clip to scratch designs into our picture. I was so excited, I made two! We worked on counting and did some fun worksheets. I couldn’t believe it was time to go home again! I loved kindergarten! (Here is an excellent article) The play, the music, the glitter, the stories, the friends, the dancing, the pretending. I turned out great. I loved school, so much in fact that I grew up to ‘play school’ at home full time (by homeschooling our five boys). I fell in love with learning and exploring and music and art and people in kindergarten. I am so concerned for today’s kindergartners. My friend has a kindergartner who has a reading quota and is already placed in a remedial group because he does not read fast enough. Her class has to skip recess often in order to get more work done. She also has homework. At five years old. Can I just say something here? Childhood is fleeting. Learning is cultivated. Creativity its is crushable. Excitement for learning is perishable. If we turn our culture’s creative, daydreaming, dancing five year olds into frustrated, militant, quiet little soldiers who can sit at a desk for 5-6 hours a day, should we be surprised that obesity, depression, and anxiety will dominate their lives as teens and adults? We need to allow children to return to childhood and delight in life again. I mean delight. Let them pick clover, turn milk boxes inside out, spill glitter while making a picture for dad, play hopscotch, swing and swing, play hide and seek, share, sing, dance, and play. Kids learn through play and role playing. This is how children grow up to be creative, self-expressive, caring adults. They need to have the “time” to just be… No electronics, no homework (Please. Who gives homework to a child under the age of 10? What purpose does this work serve?) Kids need to be outside, sometimes guided, sometimes just supervised so they don’t kill themselves. But they need to be outside. Rain or shine. Snow or wind. Kids need to color, cut, sing, dance, role play, rest, be read and read to, count by bouncing balls and keeping score, and laugh. Learning is much easier when the child’s basic needs are met. Parents, we need to do something for the sake of our children and our future society. This is personal. For my family, it is personal enough to pull my kids from the mainstream to school them at home. Where they run. Where they laugh. Where they read when they are developmentally ready. Where they play outside. Where they explore and experiment. Today, in an hour and a half I am kicking my four youngest sons outside with play swords. They will play outside for an hour during the time of day that most American Kids will be scribbling on their desks and suffer from numb tushes. Yes, even the 16 year old. They are all smart, excellent students. Some are learning at a slower pace than their peers, but all are delighted to learn, read, discover and play. Ask yourself if your young children are delighting in life. I’m not asking if they are busy, can win spelling bees, read at the age of three and solve algebraic algorithms by 6…but do they delight in life? Do they love stories and reading? (or being read to) Do they enjoy their classrooms/learning environments? Are they nurtured by their educators? Do they laugh and run and sing and dance? Do they build, explore, and experiment? Do they play contentedly? I am concerned about today’s kindergartners. We need to stand up and stop accepting new “cultural norms” as normal and ok. They are not. Our kids, as a nation, are suffering. Start looking around you. Find a handful of children who are delighting in life, are full of excitement, and are excited to learn. This might be a challenge, but you will see a few. Then start talking to their parents and glean wisdom. The governing establishments do not have the answers. The parents of content, excited, kind, curious, enthusiastic learners have the answers… ask them! Download your FREE “Kindergarten Fun” {Printable} Preview of the Heart of Homeschooling God’s Way Master Class. We need to STOP measuring success by grades, achievements, awards, and worksheets.