Summer Learning, Family Language Study, List Mania!
By Heather Idoni
Added Monday, June 08, 2009
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The Homeschooler's Notebook
Encouragement and Advice for Homeschool Families
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Vol. 10 No 42 June 8, 2009
ISSN: 1536-2035
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Copyright (c) 2009 - Heather Idoni, FamilyClassroom.net
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Welcome to the Homeschooler's Notebook!
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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Guest Article
-- Summer Learning Time
Helpful Tip
-- Free Summer Bowling for Kids
Resource Review
-- A Mom Shares Resources
Reader Question
-- Family Language Learning
Additional Notes
-- Newsletter Archives
-- Sponsorship Information
-- Reprint Information
-- Subscriber Information
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Guest Article
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Does Learning End When the Summer Begins?
by Karen Lange
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Does learning end when the summer begins?
I think not! Even if your official schooling stops for the summer,
learning doesn't. While you may realize that, the kids may not.
But that doesn't mean you have to tell them that the summer is
packed with learning possibilities. That might just take all the
fun out of summer -- and why do that if you don't have to?
I was reflecting on our summers when we homeschooled our three
children. We took the summer off for a number of reasons, but I
always looked at the time off as a chance for extra outings and
projects, and an opportunity for some fun family down time. Before
you know it, the children are off in different directions at summer
jobs and whatnot, so why not grab some summer fun, learning, and
relaxation while you can? That was my mentality at least, and it
proved to be true the older my children got.
Summer learning doesn't have to mean lesson plans, non-stop
schedules, or pressure. There is plenty of time for sipping iced
tea on the veranda if that is your desire. But as you know, there
are opportunities for learning right under your nose.
For instance:
Cooking is a great way to share time together with a sprinkle of
educational flavoring. Measurements, trying new recipes, doubling
a recipe, nutrition and meal planning – these all happen with the
wonderful side effect of imparting knowledge to your chefs in
training. What better way to build important life skills and spend
time together than to plan summer snacks and meals? For an added
challenge, see if you and your gang can plan a menu all cooked on
the grill, or a picnic with only non-cooked items, such as fancy
sandwiches and veggies and dip.
Summer is a good time to utilize fresh produce (zucchini, anyone?),
try a new recipe, check out interesting cookbooks from the library,
or swap recipes with a friend. Or, how about giving your summer
culinary students a recipe scavenger hunt? Give them a list of
specific ingredients and tell them that they must find practical,
family friendly recipes to build a meal with. Taste of Home
magazine, www.tasteofhome.com -- and other sites and cookbooks --
have oodles of recipes from which to choose.
Arts and crafts make fabulous summer projects. How many of us just
can't seem to fit them into the schedule during the school year?
You don't have to have a specific art agenda, but it can be a good
time to explore different methods and mediums, such as watercolors
or oils, graphic design, scrapbooking, or good old construction
paper and glue. How about choosing a summer event, such as a family
birthday or anniversary, or the Fourth of July, and make a memory
book or picture collage either to keep or share with family?
Choose a theme for the next family get-together and enlist your
summer students in the planning and decoration making. Cooking and
arts and crafts can team up for a super-charged learning event.
Flowers and veggies from the garden, seashells from the trip to
the beach, candles, children's artwork, and homemade guest favors
are all possibilities to compliment your menu and theme. Perhaps
your gang would like to plan a little skit, or do a "This is Your
Life" type thing for Grandpa's birthday or other event.
Why not plan a "Summer Camp Day"? Give your camp a name and choose
some outside camp-type games and activities, such as water games,
relay races, and even a little Popsicle stick art. Finish things
off with a treasure hunt with clues and riddles that make them
think, with the 'treasure' in a decorated shoe box filled with
treats and dollar store items. If you have a place for a campfire,
plan it as a conclusion to the day, sing a few songs, and toast
marshmallows too. The library should have books with party or camp
games and activities, and there are online party sites, too, if
you need a few ideas to get you going.
One of our summer activity favorites was a read-a-thon. I wanted to
build a love for reading in my children, and wanted to encourage
them to read all year round. Read-a-thons were a fun and motivating
activity that the children and I did together. I set a finish date
and reading goal, using either the number of pages or books, depending
on their ages and reading levels. Each child kept a log – a sheet of
paper on which they had to list their info such as book title, start
and finish date, and so on. When we met the goal, there was a prize
at the end, which consisted of something like an outing to get ice
cream or a snack, playing miniature golf, or a group prize such as
an outdoor game they'd all been wanting. Occasionally I'd choose
individual prizes, like a book or inexpensive item chosen specially
for each child, or box of goodies with their favorite stickers, candy,
and other little budget friendly items. Sometimes we would agree ahead
of time what the prize would be; other times I would surprise them.
Either way, it was a fun motivator that kept them reading. All three
of my adult children still enjoy reading, and have fond memories of
our read-a-thon outings and prizes.
Summer is a wonderful season to relax and spend quality time with your
gang. It's also a great time to see learning continue in various ways.
They don't need to have their noses in a text or workbook to experience
some of the best kind of hands-on and real life learning. So take
that glass of iced tea, head out to the veranda, and brainstorm (in
a relaxed manner, of course) about some learning fun for your own
summer students.
---
Karen and Jeff Lange homeschooled their three children for grades
K-12. Their summer vacation time was spent at their home in southern
New Jersey. Karen and her gang all now live near Louisville, KY,
where she is a freelance writer, homeschool consultant, and creator
of the Homeschool Online Creative Writing Co-op for Teens. Visit the
Co-op website at http://www.hswritingcoop.bravehost.com -- or write
to Karen at writingcoop@yahoo.com
---
Do you have comments to share? Please do!
Send your emails to: mailto:heather@familyclassroom.net
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Helpful Tip
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"Kids Free Bowling -- sign up at http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/ "
-- Janet in KS
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Do you have an idea, experience, or tip to share? Please write!
Send to: mailto:HN-ideas@familyclassroom.net
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Resource Review
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[Editor's Note: This review is actually just a good book list
put together by a homeschool mom who wanted to share her best
advice for a curriculum for early elementary years. I enjoy
browsing the lists at Amazon and came across this one I thought
had some good input for our readers! -- Heather]
Early Homeschool Curriculum Ideas
"I have so many younger moms ask me 'What curriculum did you use
when your kids were younger?' I decided that, rather than answering
that question rather badly over and over again, I'd come up with a
list of what we did! Here's the result!
I am a Christian, and one of the reasons we homeschool is to instill
our faith and values in our children. However, I have found that not
all curriculum that purports to be 'Christian' is quality educational
material, and conversely, lots of material that is not overtly
Christian is really very good. Some of these resources are from a
Christian perspective and others are not. You have to teach your
kids to evaluate worldviews at some point anyway, right? So talk
about differences as they arise.
Different kids naturally respond to different curriculums and ways
of teaching. Not everything here works for every kid. However, all
three of mine responded well to most of these items. And they've
all gone on to succeed academically. They're now in 12th, 8th and
6th grades." -- Lynda, ListMania Author at Amazon.com
See the 19 items Lynda suggested here:
http://familyclassroom.net/EarlyYears.htm
---
Do YOU have a list you'd like to share? Create it at Amazon.com
and then let me know! :-)
Send an email to me at mailto:heather@familyclassroom.net
(Put "Amazon Book List" in the subject line, please.)
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Last Issue's Reader Question
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"Would anyone happen to know of a good resource for our family to
use for learning Spanish? I know there are good resources for
individuals to use, but we would like to try something that could
be used for the whole family all at the same time so we could truly
learn Spanish together. I am thinking some video program is probably
the way to go -- but which one?? Any suggestions?" -- Barbara D.
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Our Readers' Responses
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"Hi, Barbara! Our family has used Power-Glide with great success.
We learned German together as a family, and we have done Latin,
Russian, Italian and French with the children. The thing that made
it so good for us is that it accommodates all learning styles, and
our family is very diverse in learning styles. I would recommend
it highly." -- Mary Beth
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Answer our NEW Question
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"From what I understand, most families have issues due to the fact
that they have several children and grade levels. I was wondering
if there was anyone else out there that homeschools 'only one'.
My daughter is 6. (When my 12 year old daughter, who lives with her
father, is home for visits, none of this is an issue.)
Our intention is to school at home, but we just haven't gotten
started yet, as I have health issues. Motivating her is not a problem.
I discovered the idea of 'table time' from a Yahoo group named Large
Family Logistics. Basically, it's a time each day that is focused at
the table on things like independent work and exploration. We have a
short list of things to do, but she wants M-O-R-E, and she wants it
now. She just can't get enough. I have one hour scheduled for this
daily. She does not read or write yet; the list will grow dramatically
when she can do these things on her own.
I run three businesses from home, take care of the house, homeschool,
etc. She's driving me crazy because she always wants to do more -- no
matter HOW MUCH we've done that day. (I am well aware that I should
be thankful, but overwhelm prevents that!) Does anyone have any
unique suggestions for ways to constructively occupy her time while
I work? We have two hours allocated when we formally start our lessons
-- 9 to 11 -- but that leaves much time that I'm not 'hands-on'
available and I don't want her watching TV or playing video games
all day. Thank you in advance." -- Michelle
---
Do you have unique, constructive ideas for Michelle's little girl?
Please send your answer to: mailto:HN-answers@familyclassroom.net
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Ask YOUR Question
=====================
Do you have a question you would like our readers to answer?
Send it to mailto:HN-questions@familyclassroom.net and we'll see
if we can help you out in a future issue!
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