K is for Kite

ASL K and Kite

K template – sprinkle Koolaid powder over glue painted on the letters  OR let child apply lipstick and cover the K with kisses – this may result in peals of uncontrollable laughter….

Lit:

Spot’s Windy Day – extension activities here

Kipper’s Kite

Henry and the Kite Dragon – true story set in 1920s Chinatown. Gorgeous illustrations, even more important lessons in problem solving, creativity, and peacemaking.

The Story of Kites – these kites chase birds off the rice fields.  Gotta love a kid who thinks to use homework paper to make the kite….

The Tiny Kite of Eddie Wing – "…run along now boy, I feel a poem coming on." This one stirs the heart.

Ben Franklin and His First Kite

The Emperor and the Kite – lesson plan for this classic folktale here

Montessori trays: 

Keys! Provide various sizes of key locks and a key ring with the coordinating keys on a tray.  Very absorbing task! If you have a copier you can also copy various old keys onto an 8×11 paper and match the originals to the copies.

Taste/Smell Test – use your koolaid to make taste bottles. This is a one time use game but good fun. You could use the powder concentrate to make the smelling bottles as well.  That way, you don’t ingest so if you are a food purist there is no red dye to deal with.

Art:

Finger paint with the Koolaid powder

Make a kite.  Painted kites make REALLY nice additions to the school room ceiling when not in use.

Make a kite wall chart.  Construct a kite with construction paper and add a very long string for a tail. Hang on a wide wall and tack the tail horizontally. Add kite tail "ribbon" markers labeled with any academic thing you would like to track such as names of letters learned, books read, memory verses mastered, and so on. Watch that kite tail fill as the semester progresses!

Kaleidoscope – make your own here

Coloring pages: here, here

K worksheets for Kindergarten

Science:

Ben Franklin and His Kite: Check out this unit study.  This is ideal for spreading the study to include older children.  Another unit here.

Music:  Kazoo anyone?  Easy to play. Instant gratification. The Natural Structure folks actually recommend kazoos as a first music exploration option.

Snack – Kix, Koolaid, Kites (make kite sandwiches by cutting bread into diamonds and ‘paint’ cross bars with food coloring before toasting OR make them from graham crackers and frost – thank you Louise!) Kangaroo Pockets – stuff halved pitas with your choice of filling.

Games/PE:  Kickball. Our kids can play with two to a team if necessary. Where there is a will there is a way.<g>  If space is tight have a kicking contest with a balloon instead. Or a game of Keep it Up – see how long they can keep the balloon in the air without it touching the ground. (snatch up balloon bits immediately if it bursts)

Songs:

Lets Go Fly a Kite

Kookaburra – not a kite but a classic.  It will stuck in your brain for days – sorry. ; )

Thank you all for your prayers.  The little ones had a better day though Brendan’s pulse oxygen levels were still not ideal. They both slept REALLY well last night though – which means mama slept too.  Woo hoo!

We have made some hard decisions this week and I wanted to share them here because of a comment that was made by one young mom. She expressed disappointment, and perhaps a bit of resentment, over Funschool and all that we do. I try to present a fair survey of our lives here though obviously this blog isn’t the sum total of our existence. It is important though, especially as you begin the homemaking/homeschooling journey, that you have a realistic understanding of what your fellow moms are actually accomplishing. As a rule, it is going to be less than you have built up their production to be in your mind.

Funschool co-op ran pretty smoothly all fall. It was extremely gratifying personally to me to have those little faces shine back so enthusiastically. I found there are drawbacks to the co-op setting though. Most obvious is the fact that while home education can happen under wide, varied circumstances, group instruction with children from other families can only happen at set times requiring a significant amount of preplanning. Life in a large family, particularly with members who have health challenges, does not lend itself to inflexible schedules. Things happen. Even if each member has a need only once a month if you do the math that means a third of our month is eaten up. Fortunately homeschooling continues without missing a beat most often.  You are rarely sick enough to need to stop reading.  Avilian notebooks travel well. Guerilla homeschooling fills the gaps. We have a framework for WHAT we plan to cover daily/weekly/annually but we are flexible about where/when those goals are met each day and can adjust to the challenges the day brings.

The same is true for our cleaning schedule.  We can’t budge on that. With a large family you MUST clean your fridge, mop your floors, empty your vehicle, and order the clothing drawers at least weekly. Vacuuming/sweeping, bathroom cleaning, bed making, laundry,dishes and exterior kitchen surface cleaning must happen daily.  Actually I hit our main bathroom twice a day. (And I am not Martha Stewart.  It just would be gross otherwise. I have a lot of boys) Now some weeks I can’t stick to the prearranged focus day list and we have to double up another day. That’s ok. It is not ok to skip though or you really compound your mess.

Somewhere in your year you have seasonal/annual jobs that are flexible but can’t be put off indefinitely – closet cleaning, seasonal clothing swapping, oven cleaning, light fixtures, yada yada. We have found that while it would be lovely to set aside a week to do those things it never pans out unless you have secured a nanny to entertain your children. No, it is better to sneak in those jobs here and there. Children left to themselves bring shame upon their mothers….  Therefore I try to tackle a couple yucky jobs every week like emptying the bathroom door organizer which is this weeks goal.

I am rambling.  My point is you have to be a good steward of your time. The more kids you have, the more health issues you have, the less wiggle room you have. I live by a few slogans. One is that there is always enough time to do God’s will.  There is rarely enough time to also do your own agenda. I have found God to be economical. He always provides for our needs. Not always so with our ‘druthers.  When pressed for time and or when energy is depleting I have had to step back and ask again, what of this is God’s will and what is my own?  Clearly SOMEthing is my agenda because while God does not promise to make me supermom He does promise me I can carry my yoke with His help.  That does not mean I can carry ANY yoke I choose, only the one He has designed for me.  This is where I run into trouble.

Rebecca made a comment in an unrelated conversation yesterday that has stuck in my mind since. She said we often confuse the DESIRE to do something with the CALL to do it. Truer words were never spoken.  Take them to heart as I am. Most often in life we must make the hard decisions and let go of the "good" to attain the "best" for our families.

I let go of support forums this past year which was a
wrenching decision. I was faced with the choice to be a faithful friend to a
few women or to slack on my responsibilities too often while attempting to keep
on top of message board discussions. The choice seemed obvious when standing in
front of a closet that needed sorting but on a practical level it meant
removing myself from daily comraderie. I realized afterwards just how much I
relied on that positive feedback. It is much easier to motivate oneself when
you get applause here and there.

There was a lot of positive feedback from Funschool co-op.
One little girl whispered into my ear a few weeks ago “Thank you for being our
teacher!” Another asked the other day
when they could come to my house and learn letters again. Sigh. You have no
idea how sweet they are, nor how much fun it is to work hard when you have such
an appreciative audience. But the reality is time stops for no (wo)man. This lifestyle
requires a decent amount from us. To be responsible you have to make hard
choices. You can’t do it all. I know. I have tried. So, bottom line – another difficult decision –
I will continue to post Funschool plans here and hope everyone enjoys them at
home as we do but we won’t be hosting the real life co-op.

I also cancelled my speaking contract for this summer. Another VERY difficult decision. I like to share. I like to see people given the tools to effect positive change in their homeschools. Reality is my family doesn’t have the hours required to do justice to a conference presentation this year however. Perhaps it is my overgrown sense of responsibility but I believe when people pay their hard earned money they deserve a well-constructed, thoughtful presentation in return. If I allocate my time to assure that then many other things would suffer here. My first call is to do well at living this message. I want to be sure I am giving my all to that. Right now I can’t live it well AND present. This isn’t my season.

I often bring to mind an experience as a conference attendee many years ago.  The speaker began her talk (about how to be a good mother) by asking us for prayer for her baby who was howling in another room.  She spoke louder to be heard over the crying. : / It made a huge impression on me. I realize it would have been a career killer to have walked out on us, her full house audience, to go attend to that baby.  Still…

Reading blogs should encourage you, not demoralize you. If it sounds too good to be
true, assume it isn’t true. If you are
working hard and can’t fit in another thing then those other things are not God’s
will for you. He gave you a specific set of circumstances. Those are handpicked
for you. They won’t look like mine or anyone else’s. That is ok. You will have to make hard
choices. Do you want to do hands on history? Fine. You won’t likely get to do hands-on everything else AND scouts AND
have a vegetable garden. Are you having babies every 18months or more
frequently? That IS your task for this season in life. You may not get to
participate in online groups or have a weekly date night. You get unlimited
hugs and kisses every day – and night often – instead. In the end it is a lot
more to hang onto than a science fair project.  Be sure you are asking your husband, sincerely, how HE feels about your commitments.

Whatever circumstances you have been gifted with strive to
make the most of them. If you have a home, take really good care of it. Many
people are not so lucky. It may not be a mansion but for this time, now, it is
yours.  If you have a husband, take even
better of him. Similarly, many are not so fortunate and we don’t know how many days we will get to be a blessing to him. Don’t take that for granted. If you have children, turn off the computer and go join them. Don’t
worry about what the rest of us are doing, and be assured NO one is doing it
all. Everyone is making choices and many are making choices you would not be
happy with in the end. 

J template – cut into jigsaw pieces  or cover with "jewels" (sequins)

ASL J Jesus and Jelly

Lit:

Jack and Jill

The Miracles of Jesus

Jack and the Beanstalk – it is fascinating to get several retellings and compare them.  DVD/video versions are available in many libraries as well.

Jamberry

Science:

Grow Jack’s  Beanstalk – this is one of those cheap, never fail projects. Place a bean into a clear plastic cup of soil.  If you press it to the outside edge of the cup you can watch the roots form.  A ziplock baggie works in a pinch.

PE:
Jumping Jacks – ok this really isn’t fair unless I tell you that in all honesty I have never met a preschooler who could actually DO a jumping jack. To a number their arms go overhead when their feet are together.  Don’t ask me why. Still there is a fair amount of entertainment value for both student and instructor. ; )
Alternatively any kind of jumping game works. A jumprope – again, not usually something a preschooler can master – swung very low and slowly is fun.  A trampoline is always a hit. Unless you live on the prairie… but I digress.

Montessori Work:
Jars and Lids – this is really geared more towards the youngest Funschoolers. Gather together kitchen and bath item containers as they empty and have them match them to their lids.

A juicing station is messy but provides lots of fine motor work.  On a tray place an orange juicer and orange halves and a cup to pour into. It is always a surprise to realize how many oranges it takes to make a full cup of juice.

Sensory table – fill tub with jello and let them squish to their hearts content. 

I Spy J  ooooh this was fun!  As was the J match

Jelly Bean Math – SO many things to do with a bag of jelly beans. You can sort by color, make repeating patterns, add/subtract, divide them into groups. When you are done they become a J snack. The Jelly Bean Fun Book   will give you lots of starter ideas. 

Jigsaw Puzzles – a word here – we tend to underestimate young children’s ability to do complicated puzzles. If given the opportunity they can! This is a great way to develop attention span and visual perception skills.

Snack:
Jelly sandwiches are a fine snack with juice this week. A fun cooking project is to make jam pockets. Roll out frozen (or homemade) bread dough into circles. Place a spoonful of jam in the center. Fold the circle in half and pinch the edges tightly. Bake at 350 til golden brown. Peanut butter and jelly works too.
Juice pops are another ideal kitchen project. Freeze juice in dixie cups with craft sticks or use purchased popsicle molds. Jello.

Finger paint with Jello

Bible/Saints:

St Jerome and The Lion coloring book

Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors  – you can use up those bits of tissue paper from the C (collage) project by gluing them to the coloring page to form his coat.

JOY – Jesus First, Others Second, Yourself afterwards, Joyful always.  I love this motto.  I think we will pick up some of those wooden letters from the craft store to paint and display.

We took a long Christmas break but I hope to upload "J" this week. I am undecided as to whether we will continue to host preschool co-op at the house on a weekly basis or if we will rotate or share the teaching or what. My energy level fluctuates and some weeks were awfully tiring. So we are playing that by ear.

Still, we have enjoyed our lessons tremendously.  I didn’t realize just how much until recent weeks. Kieran burst into tears at the suggestion we discontinue hosting. Brendan also surprised us with his ability to recite the better part of the alphabet. I had said from the start that he would just be along for the ride since he didn’t appear to be paying much attention.  That absorbent mind is an incredible thing however! He has been soaking up all that he hears.

The older children have been studying the middle ages this year for history. I plan to upload a rough outline of our topics, links, and notebook pages as I can.  We are doing life science using Concepts and Challenges in Life Science as a spine.  It lends itself to outlining and notebooks. For lit we are reading historical titles that correspond with our history era and also exploring the fairy tale genre in great depth. I am reminded of CS Lewis’ dedication to the Narnia books where he tells his reader that she may now be too old for fairy stories but that eventually she would become old enough to read them again. They are ageless and timeless and ideal for teaching characterization and plot etc.  The middles still break into a chorus from the Fisherman and His Wife (Funschool F) when I ask them to come to me from the other side of the house:

Flounder, Flounder in the sea
come to me oh come to me…

Yes, they are homeschool kids lol!  All in all we are refreshed from our vacation and have thrown ourselves back into study with renewed vigor. I hope your new year is off to a similarly encouraging start! : )

This blast just came back to me.  22 yrs of parent/teaching has left me with a monumental amount wee bit of curriculum and teaching aids.  Unfortunately what happens is that one gets caught up with the promise of new and better and real gems get buried in the process. These blasts have been about unearthing those gems and weeding out the less than stellar picks. 

Kathryn’s Stout’s Design a Study materials were such gems. They are the perfect help for Guerilla Homeschooling. These guides outlined the basic goals for each area of study, what ought to be covered at each age/stage, and how best to do that.  They are concise, making it more than possible to assimilate and implement without being tied to an open manual. There are several years’ worth of columns online at the DAS site that are well worth perusing. Like the guides they are direct, honest, and extremely helpful.  She encourages homeschoolers to let go of the quest for the perfect all in one curriculum and observe the child. Tailor the program, make education relevant, and trust the child to learn.

Ok here is another favorite of mine. It is always a surprise to me when Joyce Swann comes up in conversation and people draw a blank.  The Swann’s created a bit of a sensation in the early 90s as one after another of their children graduated with advanced college degrees in their teens years.  The Swann’s are responsible for the Calvert School envy that remained with me for a LOT of years.

Joyce’s Homeschool Tips made a big impression on me. I am just now approaching that level of organization. As in seeing the destination somewhere in the distance….She is still my hero.  <g>

Alexandra, her oldest, wrote a book about their family’s experiences. While it drew no small amount of controversy and naysayers it has always impressed me that she maintains that she loved school from the first day til the day of graduation.  Further, if given the opportunity, she said she would repeat her mother’s  efforts as closely as possible with her own children.  That is the highest testimony a mother can get imo. 

Acceleration is not the draw for me. It is the enthusiasm, the organization, and the openness to life they demonstrated.  While they worked darned hard and made remarkable progress they also only worked 3 hrs a day. Though they used a structured rigorous curriculum, they had their afternoons and evenings to create family plays, run outside, and let their imaginations run wild. They had almost no outside commitments. When their family’s story hit the presses Joyce did not become a ‘professional homeschooler’.  There was no Swann empire.  She continued to do what she had committed herself to doing – raising well-educated children in a loving well-run home.  Lots of food for thought there.

* Just a side note – I am just sharing some of the early influences upon my mothering journey. Please do not misinterpret this as an invitation to debate the merits or shortcomings of other families as at least one stranger hoped to do with the Duggar family post.

We are knee deep in Christmas prep here and trying to stay close to our schedule.  Makes for little blog time.  I often think what a blessing it is that we came to homeschooling in the late 80s/early 90s. At that time the selection of materials was pretty straightforward due to the limited quantity available.  The messages circulated were about simplicity, practicality, and sensible homeschooling.

Elizabeth and I had this discussion a couple of years ago.  We asked, who/what inspires us now? There have been new names added to our lists but by and large we found ourselves very grateful for those authors who influenced at the beginning.  I thought it would be fun to revisit some of those resources – hence the first installment of Blast from the Past. This one comes with gratitude to Jen who found the Davis’ again. For many years they ran Elijah Company which was hands-down one of my favorite catalogs. They had a down to earth, living books approach coupled with the experience of raising lots of boys. Elijah Co is no more but there are back issues of their articles here and several books that were compiled and written as a result of those catalog essays.  Not to be missed. 

Funny how some ideas keep coming back to you isn’t it? Cindy’s post about Little Grains of Sand is one of them.  It is easy to get sidetracked by the incredible projects and studies that abound in cyberspace. It is easy to underestimate your own efforts and find them lacking in comparison. In your frustration you may forget that:

"Little drops of water
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean
And the beauteous land"

I reminded myself of this very thing lately.  Reality is there are many claims made on my time on a given day. There is little left over for Barnum and Bailey homeschooling. I cling to the promise that time spent reading aloud, snatches of poetry recited together, and short but heartfelt discussions are planting seeds which in time – perhaps a good deal of time – will mature into a glorious garden.

Once again we have resurrected Morning Time.  Not day-long, teacher-led lessons and no elaborate commentary. Just art, music, lit, scripture and us. : ) A welcome oasis to invigorate and encourage. Something to chew on as we do the dishes and fill the water buckets later in the day. Hopefully, something to inspire and light our paths as we journey towards heaven together.

My second Christmas confession – I have yet to finish a Jesse Tree devotion with the kids. We have made it to day 4 or 5 many years but can’t seem to get the thing done.   It was never lack of motivation but rather life intervening. I have more or less abandoned the idea of ‘getting it done’, not in this season of life anyway. That’s ok. This isn’t a race and our preparations are for our own hearts only. We will continue to add to the tree as our decorations are finished. (the gingerbread clay will take another day or so to completely dry) 

We will also talk about what all the Christmas trappings symbolize.  This unit study has tons of explanation and links. Maybe it will be a banner year and we will get to all 24. More likely we will hit them as we can and be happy to cover several. That’s ok, too. No one is keeping track. Hopefully the conversations we have will remind us to think a bit harder about what this season means for our family. Then it will have been a success.

Wishing you a peaceful,  prayer-filled first Sunday of Advent.

I is for American Indians  (I apologize for missing links.  Will upload later today.)

I template covered in indian corn or ink stamps

ASL I  and Indian and ice cream (this week’s snack)

Number: 9  I love the number ladders Elizabeth and Katherine share at Serendipity!  Lots of ways to make 9. There are 9 planets, 9 choirs of angels, and 9 days in a novena.

Lit:

If you have a round table you can make a poster board cone, set it atop the table and drape a sheet over to make a special story spot this week.  If you are a really enthusiastic mom you will use an old sheet and let them make pictures on it.  ; ) 

The Legend of the Bluebonnets

At least one Iktomi story

Corn is Maize – Aliki

Hiawatha – I love this version by Susan Jeffers.  Then again I like most everything by Susan Jeffers!

Ten Little Rabbits

Tapenum’s Day

NC Wyeth’s Pilgrims (ties us to the holiday)

I is for Inside.  Berenstain Bears explain Inside, Outside, Upside, Down.

And for Important. Margaret Wise Brown of Goodnight Moon fame wrote Another Important Book which highlights the great things about being different ages.

In is also for Inches.  Leo Lionni’s Inch by Inch is the intro. Then print an inch ruler on green cardstock and fold accordian style along the inch marks. This becomes your ‘inchworm’ measure. 

We also made an inch measurement manipulative game using craft sticks. On one make a 5in ruler with a sharpie marker. On five sticks make lines varying from one to five inches long. On five more sticks write the answers in words and numbers (one on each side).  Player measures and matches sticks.

Coloring pages here.

Lots of fun preschool Indians ideas here. In particular we like:

Game: What Feather Is Missing:
Cut Indian feathers from assorted construction paper, or if you can get different colored "real" feathers, use these. Have the kids sit in a circle. Place four or more feathers in the middle of the circle. One of the children will hide his eyes, while another takes a feather away. The other child will try to guess which color is missing, and which child has the feather. Play this game until each child has a chance to guess the missing color.

We will have  Indian corn on the sensory table/station.  They can pick it off, grind it, whatnot.
We will make brown paper bag vests and cereal necklaces (lace "O" cereal onto string or ribbon) and feather headbands with cardstock.  Of course you must face paint.

Lotto: Match cards with Indian pictograph pairs.  I like this type of lotto using unfamiliar images. It requires much more attention to detail.

Saint:  St Isaac Jogues   and/or Isaac from the Bible.  (Asher is finishing a coloring page for St Isaac and a Huron Indian for us – will upload later today)

Songs/fingerplays:

One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys.
Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian boy.

Five Little Indians
5 Little Indians running through a door
(raise 5 fingers)
One fell down and then there were 4
(lower 1 finger)
4 Little Indians climbing in a tree
(raise 4 fingers)
One fell down and then there were 3
(lower 1 finger) 3 little Indians stewing a pot of stew
(raise 3 fingers)
One went to play and then there were 2
(lower 1 finger)
2 little Indians playing in the sun
(raise 2 fingers)
One went inside and then there was 1
(lower 1 finger)
One little Indian left all alone.

Poem:

Indian Children

Where we walk to school each day
Indian children used to play
All about our native land,
Where the shops and houses stand.

And the trees were very tall,
And there were no streets at all,
Not a church and not a steeple
Only woods and Indian people.

Only wigwams on the ground,
And at night bears prowling round
What a different place to-day
Where we live and work and play!

Annette Wynne