My Favorite Kind of Crazy: Recent Episodes
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Our Classical Conversation Cycle 1 year is well underway! We’ve had Fall Break and are now back at it. I keep telling folks that our past experience is that we can have a great routine going right up until Fall Break and then after that we’re all out of sorts until February. I’m working diligently to prove that past experience is NOT a prediction of future performance by getting back in the groove before November. Wish me luck. Math A couple of years ago, I created a little skip counting “booklet” that I used in class. You are welcome to download it by clicking on the image to the right. The idea is that the child works their way from the “1” block, which has the most information to the “7” block, which they must complete from memory. After completing 1-4 on the back side of the sheet, fold the sheet to make a booklet. This also means that the child has been able to see plenty of “hints” as they go, but by the time they flip the booklet over to complete the “7” block, they’re really just going entirely from memory. 7 is also the number of times that CC recommends you repeat information in order to store it in your child’s short-term memory, so this works out well in that regard, too! We’ll also be adding the 14s to our stairs at home. This has worked very well for us in years past. If you’re already a compulsive stair-counter (surely I’m not the only one!), this is a great way to use that particular OCD quality to your advantage. My son, in particular, loves it when we do this with the 14s. He even tries to skip count backwards on his way down! English Hands down, the most effective thing for memorizing the prepositions in my house this year has been printing out a list of them and taping them to the wall. We watch the talented CC family that put this CC Prepositions video together and attempt (key word: “attempt”) to do the motions with them. Be assured, we look exactly nothing like these three in the video, except for there being a mom, older daughter, and younger son in our house, too. Really, just for kicks, our family should do a video and put it right beside this one. It would be like our own personal pinterest-type “Fail” . . . and you’d all get your belly laugh in for the week. Once we’ve perfected botched the choreography sufficiently (two or three times), we move over to our list on the wall and do the song from memory while looking at the words. This has really helped my kiddos distinguish between a few that they naturally want to run together (“Of, Off” for example). Choreography at this point is, thankfully, optional. We can ALL successfully do the “without” move to wrap up the song, which makes us all feel cool enough. Anyway, this has been super simple and both my kiddos can now whiz through their prepositions like nobody’s business. You all have probably already seen both of these books, but we enjoyed them our last time through this cycle to expand our understanding of prepositions. Science Grammar Very interesting (and quick!) video about Monocots vs. Dicots below. It briefly discusses plant evolution at the end of the video (starting at 2:24). It’s actually the only really boring part of the video, so don’t worry if you want to just stop it there, you won’t miss much. History We’ve really been enjoying the Kid’s Animated History with Pipo on Ancient History with Pipo on Hulu this year. There are videos that match many weeks of our history grammar and so far, I’ve found them to contain a ton of appropriate, useful information and it’s presented in a way that my kids have found entertaining. Each video is about 11 minutes long. There are two on India that compliment CC Cycle 1 Week 8 very nicely. Tin Whistle (Music Theory) Here is an adorable video that is an ode to the treble clef: The group that did the video above has put out a whole series of videos that are wonderful tie-ins with our Tin Whistle study. If you want to see more of them, they’re pinned on my Pinterest Board for Tin Whistle. There are also a couple of apps that are handy to reinforce the names of the notes: One is called Note Brainer. It’s free. Free is good. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notebrainer/id310695461?mt=8 This is a cute game called “Note Squish.” Think “Whackamole” for music theory. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/note-squish/id381536270?mt=8 Another one is called Piano Monkey. We’ve had it for a year or so because our piano teacher recommended it. It’s a pretty basic app, but it is great for teaching note recognition on the staff and on the piano. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/piano-monkey/id357407584 I always love hearing what other CC families are up to! Feel free to leave a comment below. I read every one of them! A little background: This is our family’s sixth year to participate in a Classical Conversations (CC) community. We participate in the Foundations portion of the program, which is designed for children ages 4 to about 11 and the Essentials portion of the program, which is designed for children in grades 4-6. Both programs lasts for 24 weeks each year. In Foundations each week the children cover 7 different grammar subjects (Timeline, History, Math, Science, English, Latin, and Geography), do a short (2-3 minutes) presentation, participate in one or more Science experiments and cover some area of Fine Arts. It’s a VERY busy (and fun!) morning! In the afternoons, the Essentials program spends about 45 minutes on English grammar, 30 minutes on mental math, and 45 minutes on writing. It’s a VERY busy (and fun!) afternoon! This post is linked to:
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Took the kids to the Lego store last night for the monthly build. We haven’t gone to one in forever (who am I kidding? I’ve never been to one. My sweet husband, who took them last time, hasn’t been in months and probably only went last time because I suggested it). Surprise! The builds are not on Monday nights, they’re on Tuesday. Tried again this evening (the mall, twice in one week. That was probably my first mistake). My kids were concerned about missing it tonight after missing it yesterday, but they also 1) didn’t get their school work done very quickly and 2) didn’t want to forego playing with friends this evening if they didn’t have to. So, after telling the kids multiple times this afternoon that the build starts at 5:00 and goes until they run out of supplies or the mall closes, we arrive about 7:45. Wrong. The Lego build, which is on the first Tuesday of the month, has very specific hours: 5:00-7:00. Kids cope with having missed it. Not too big a deal. (Side note: Lego store rocks. Even though the kids were handling the disappointment both times REALLY well, the Lego employees seemed to realize what a loser mom my kids are stuck with. So, they gave us last month’s Lego build set when we arrived yesterday and discovered we were off by a day. Tonight, a totally different employee snuck back and secretly bagged up this month’s build set, tracked my kids down in the store separately and handed them each a bag on the down low. Bless them. They can’t make up for a life time of living with me, but they sure did try). The kids brought their own money to the mall to buy Sweet CeCe’s frozen yogurt, since I wasn’t willing to spring for it when we were at the mall yesterday. We head there. We debate cup sizes – the “Sweet” size for a flat price or the “Sweeter” size for a price per ounce. My daughter chooses the flat rate and heads off. My son (who thinks ice cream and frozen yogurt are a food group unto themselves) chooses the per ounce cup. This is not surprising. I’m expecting him to gorge himself. It’s his money, so I leave it up to him. I help my daughter get her yogurt and she goes off to add toppings. My son tells me “not too much” as I start filling his. I am shocked. Apparently, he’s really watching his spending. The problem is, he isn’t actually tall enough to SEE the yogurt being dispensed. So he’s jumping up and down trying to keep tabs on it. During one of his jumps, he reaches out and attempts to give himself a little boost using the tray of the yogurt machine. 10 seconds later, I am COVERED from hip to toe in some combination of Cheerful Chocolate and Vanilla Bean. The trays from the machine are on the ground. I am not cheerful. I have frozen yogurt in my sandals. I am standing in pond of frozen melted yogurt. My daughter has discovered that the toppings bar has exactly her favorite topping and is excitedly trying to tell me about it from across the way. I am dripping and trying to apologize to the sweet girl running the store. Bless her heart. I nearly beg her to let me help her clean it up. I mean, it is a disaster. And 1 hour before closing time. I’d have hated us. Instead, she is incredibly sweet. My son finishes putting the toppings on his yogurt. He is much more selective than usual. His frugal side is showing. He’s trying to keep the cost low since he knows he’s got to pay for it. Just a few things, and one single piece of cookie dough. We check out. His is actually cheaper than hers. We make a run for it before they kick us out of the mall. We needed to go by the grocery store on our way home.I’d have skipped it, but we really did need just a couple of things. So, we make our way through Publix, me with one pants leg soaked through-and-through from top-to-bottom with chocolate yogurt and yogurt squishing in the bottom of my sandals, the kids carrying their Sweet CeCe’s so they can finish it up (and head straight to bed when we get home, it’s getting late). We’re nearly done shopping, and rounding the corner to head to a register when my son somehow manages to flip his yogurt cup, with remaining yogurt and toppings, upside down and into the middle of the aisle. Seriously, two chocolate puddles in one evening? My son looks sheepish, but torn. He doesn’t really want to write-off the yogurt and toppings. Head in hands, I send the kids together to the restroom, which is within sight, to clean themselves up and bring me back some paper towels. While they’re gone, I remember there are some wipes in my purse and manage to get it cleaned up. I go to meet the kids at the restroom, holding a chocolate puddle and a mess in my hands, where my daughter is emerging with a handful of paper towels. I explain that I got it cleaned up. She is relieved. He begins to slowly, quietly melt. He glues himself to my side and buries his face. He is quietly crying. Then, not so quietly. Then, full on sobbing. “You’re tired,” I say, “we need to get you home.” “I’m not tired,” he says, “I’m sad.” “I really wanted that piece of cookie dough.” We check out, sandals still squishing, and head home. Photo Credit: Flickr
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I've posted my lab sheet for this lab on CC Connected (user name lb_oliver). My thoughts here will dovetail with that approach. You can also see my suggestions for ways to expand on this topic in my post here. This post is going to be short and sweet, but don’t panic, because the concepts in this lab are largely a review of the concepts from Week 19. So, if you need a quick refresher on those, go here for my first post about probability. This week, here’s my take on the point of the lab for our Classical Conversations Foundations students: Grammar: Reinforce the grammar terms that they’ve heard in weeks past (Probability, Outcome, Combination), and introduce a new term – Event. Then, they get to see the terms Probability, Outcome and Event applied (Combination we’re leaving behind in the dust with week 20). Dialectic: Much like Week 19, this is an opportunity to teach our children about the “probability” that something (anything) could occur. The only real difference is that in this lab, we’re teaching children that sometimes when looking at a series of outcomes, we might be more interested in one group of outcomes than another. A group of outcomes that is of interest is referred to as an Event. I wanted to do something fun to make this lab a little more interesting, so we used paper muffin cups, marked 1 through 6 to represent our pancakes. Children worked in teams to roll the dice and they distributed dried blueberries (I bought a big bag at Costco) according to the rolls of their dice. The most confusing thing about this lab for most folks is understanding that you need to roll the die, then place one blueberry for each roll. The blueberry goes to the pancake whose number you rolled. I’m going to be honest with ya’ here. I’m a little scared of super-healthy-minded-homeschooling-moms. Sometimes, I join their ranks, so I get where they’re coming from. I don’t like to reward my kids with junk food all the time. And, I’m often thrilled that because we homeschool my children are much less exposed to all the junk food that seems to show up in most traditional school classrooms. So . . . I used dried blueberries. On the other hand . . . this lab would be whole lot more fun with chocolate chips. I’m just saying. I’m chicken. It doesn’t mean you have to be. And really, 30 chocolate chips split between two kiddos . . . it’s not much chocolate. Next time we do Cycle 3 . . . . maybe I’ll be braver. I am updating my lab sheet out on CC Connected, so if you’re using those, go and look for the REVISED version. Even though this is my second time through this cycle and these labs, I’m still mastering the grammar myself! After more research and thinking through this blog post, I decided to make a couple of changes to make sure I was using the term Event properly. For ADULTS/PARENTS– here’s an example of an event that’s of interest from a science-of-origins perspective: There are 500 known naturally-occurring amino acids. These acids are considered left-handed or right-handed depending on how their atoms are joined together. Of those 500, 20 bond together into proteins that are used by ALL living things on Earth. ALL 20 of these amino acids used by living things are considered to be left-handed. No one knows why. To try and figure this out, scientist create amino acids in laboratories. When doing this, the “Event” that might interest us is the occurrence of left-handed aminos. If these were generated more often, or most often, it might be an indication of how ALL life on Earth “evolved” to rely on the same 20 left-handed amino acids. Instead, when scientists make amino acids in their laboratories, left-handed and right-handed outcomes are equally likely to occur. In Challenge A, Classical Conversations students read and discuss “It Couldn’t Just Happen.” According to this book (p.70) there is no chance at all that even one protein with all left-handed amino acids could ever have “just happened” to come into existence. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.198308161/abstract **http://www.scienceclarified.com/Al-As/Amino-Acid.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025545.200-righthanded-amino-acids-were-left-behind.html
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Harumph! While NO week ever goes exactly as planned, last week set some sort of record in our going “off plan.” So, you’re going to see some repeats here since we never ate them in the first place. We’re still in “eat what we’ve got” mode in our efforts to clear out the overabundance in our freezer and our pantry. My husband had the audacity to suggest that I post a picture here of one or both of those things, and while I’m all for “keeping it real” there is no way that I want to memorialize either one of those disasters for ME to have to be reminded of them. So . . . not gonna’ happen. At least not this week. You’ll just have to use your imagination. Here’s hoping we stay kinda’ sorta’ more on plan this week: Monday Breakfast: Cereal Lunch: Sandwiches – PB&J or Turkey Dinner: Potato Soup Tuesday Breakfast: Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Lunch: Salmon Patties Dinner: Potato Soup Wednesday (CC Community Day) Breakfast: Leftover Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Lunch: PB&J (for DS), Hummus and Carrot Chips (for DD), Quinoa and Brown rice with Garlic (for Me!) Dinner: Beans and Gluten Free Cornbread Thursday Breakfast: Gluten Free Pancakes Lunch: Leftover Potato Soup or Beans and Cornbread Dinner: Tenderloin (from the freezer), Butternut Squash, Green Beans Friday Breakfast: Leftover Gluten Free Pancakes Lunch: Boiled eggs, Salad Dinner: Gluten Free Pizza Saturday Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal Lunch: Whatever you can find. Dinner: Black Bean Soup Sunday Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal Lunch: Fruit and/or Veggies Tray for our Home Church group, Beef Stew Dinner: Breakfast for Dinner Snacks for the week Homemade: Super Swim Bars (Granola Bars), Popped Amaranth and Bananas, Almonds and Chocolate Chips, Smoothies, Popcorn, Apples/PB/Granola Sandwiches Storebought: Fruit Pouches, Freeze-dried Fruit, Gluten Free Pretzels If you’re looking for a menu plan template, you are welcome to download one by visiting the Printables page. This post linked to:
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I've posted my lab sheet for this lab on CC Connected (user name lb_oliver). My thoughts here will dovetail with that approach. You can also see my suggestions for ways to expand on this topic in my post here. Welcome back to week 2 of CC’s statistics-based labs! Here are my thoughts about presenting these topics in class (for what it’s worth!) . . . Remember to spend a minute or two reviewing last week’s lab and last week’s grammar (probability, outcome). Revisiting those terms and definitions will just help them stick in the kids’ minds. Plus, this week we’re setting aside those topics and picking up a new one, but we’ll be coming back to probability and outcome in future weeks, so it’s to everyone’s benefit to work on getting really comfortable with those terms. Like last week, let’s begin with the end in mind. What’s the point of this particular lab? In my opinion, for our Classical Conversations Foundations students, it’s twofold: Grammar: To teach some basic statistics grammar (Combination) and to see that term in action. Dialectic: To begin teaching children to think about how adding “just one more” option exponentially changes the number of combinations that are possible. In other words, adding ONE additional option does NOT result in just ONE more possible combination. How many more combinations are possible? Well, it would depend on how that new option could be used. In my mind, we’ve got to set a couple of ground rules in this particular lab – We’ll assume that every pizza has to have a crust, sauce (they’ll all have it, so we won’t make it an option), and at least one topping (no plain pizzas here!). So, if you’re teaching a group of YOUNGER STUDENTS, you’ll want to focus on the grammar and you may need to keep the options more limited. Work up slowly! One crust option and two possible pizza toppings results in how may combinations? Three. Show them how this works, either by drawing it on the board or by using some sort of manipulative – paper, paper plates, or felt. Personally, I like felt and it’s pretty cheap. It’s fun for kids to see and handle something different, and since a parent could easily create something similar at home, I believe this is in keeping with CC’s simple approach. Once you’ve shown them how it works with two toppings, let them try three. Ask them to think first about how many combinations that would result in. Will one more topping mean only one more possible combination? No. It will mean four additional possible combinations! Wow! Like last week, I’d suggest that children do this lab in pairs with a parent assigned to each pair to be the record-keeper (if necessary) and auditor (someone to keep up with “have we already recorded that combination?”). If you’re teaching a group of OLDER STUDENTS, you’ll move through the warm-up quickly, and then you can let them have a turn at one crust and three toppings on their own or in teams of two. Even students of this age will enjoy working in teams usually, and it gives them someone to bounce ideas off of. If they’re still at an age where having a visual will help (or you just want to liven up the lab), you can print out these pizza toppings to match the toppings on my Lab Sheets on CC Connected. You can cut out circles from two different colors of brown construction paper. I bought a pack like this and cut out circles the size of a mason jar lid, but you could just as easily use paper plates. Write “Thick” and “Thin” on them. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Once they’ve worked through that set of options, they’ll be ready to move to the next step – adding another pizza crust option! What happens then? At this point, they’ll probably be able to guess that it means a lot more than just one more possible combination. But will any of them guess that it actually DOUBLES the possible combinations? (That’s 14 in total) Wow! And if that is something they can work through, then try adding “just one more” option and going for 4 toppings. What do you end up with? 22 possible combinations, by my calculation! Amazing! What should you emphasize? For every additional option we add, the combinations grow much larger than “just one more” and that would continue to happen as long as we added more possible options. For ADULTS/PARENTS– I gave an overview in my post last week of why we do these labs in general. But, why did we do THIS lab? What was the point? This lab, like all of the others during this 6 weeks is related to the science of origins. One way the math of combinations relates to the science of origins is through DNA. I’m not a scientist nor am I a mathematician, but a scientist would tell you that your DNA contains 23 chromosomes. Scientists are still investigating how many genes make up those chromosomes, but the current ballpark number is 20,000. Based on what I’ve read, the possible combinations of children resulting from a single couple’s DNA is 70,368,744,177,664. This is fascinating and goes a long way toward explaining how all human beings (black-skinned, white-skinned, blue-eyed, brown-eyed, etc.) could have descended from a single original couple created by an amazing (and very creative!) God. Again, just as I said last week, gathering data, analyzing data and drawing conclusions are very much a part of many explanations of the origins of the universe. Eventually, our children will need to be able to draw their own conclusions from data that is presented to them. These labs are a great introduction to early critical thinking skills.
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We’re in “eat what we’ve got” mode around here in an effort to use up the things we have stored in the freezer and the pantry! Consequently, this Menu Plan Monday may consist of some odd combinations! I expect us to stay in this mode for another week or so, so it’s likely to get even more bizarre. Oh well, I’ll be glad to be able to open the freezer without having things tumble out at me. Opening the freezer shouldn’t be hazardous. Plus, I hate when I discover things in the pantry that have expired before we’ve gotten to them. This is our effort to keep that from happening! With no further adieu, here’s the menu plan for feeding people this week: Monday Breakfast: Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Lunch: Kids: Banana Dog & PB&J, Adults: Leftovers from Sunday Dinner: Mahi Mahi, Sweet Potatoes, Spinach Salad (We’re also responsible for the snack at Girl Scouts this day, and my daughter has requested her favorite treat – Blueberry Muffins!) Tuesday Breakfast: Leftover Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Lunch: Salmon Patties Dinner: Potato Soup Wednesday (CC Community Day) Breakfast: Cereal and Smoothies Lunch: PB&J (for DS), Hummus and Carrot Chips (for DD), Quinoa and Brown rice with Garlic (for Me! These have been my favorite grab and go lunch discovery this year! Heat them in the pouch. Then, I like to dump them in a container to which I’ve already added some feta and black olives. Delicious! If there are leftovers, I just pop the lid on and bring it home for lunch here the next day.I get mine at Costco for a better price than at Amazon, but thought you might want to see a picture. I also found them once at Aldi!) Dinner: Beans and Gluten Free Cornbread Thursdsay Breakfast: Gluten Free Pancakes Lunch: Leftover Potato Soup or Beans and Cornbread Dinner: Tenderloin (from the freezer), Butternut Squash, Green Beans Friday Breakfast: Leftover Gluten Free Pancakes Lunch: Boiled eggs, Salad Dinner: Gluten Free Pizza Saturday Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal Lunch: Whatever you can find. Dinner: Black Bean Soup Sunday Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal Lunch: Fruit and/or Veggies Tray for our Home Church group, Beef Stew Dinner: Breakfast for Dinner Snacks for the week Homemade: Super Swim Bars (Granola Bars), Popped Amaranth and Bananas, Almonds and Chocolate Chips, Smoothies, Popcorn, Apples/PB/Granola Sandwiches Storebought: Fruit Pouches, Freeze-dried Fruit, Gluten Free Pretzels If you’re looking for a menu plan template, you are welcome to download one by visiting the Printables page. This post linked to:
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I've posted my lab sheet for this lab on CC Connected (user name lb_oliver). My thoughts here will dovetail with that approach. You can also see my suggestions for ways to expand on this topic in my post here. First, if you’ve got a better handle on these labs than me, stop reading now and move on. I’m not claiming to be an expert on the subject. But, if you don’t, or you’re just looking for someone else’s perspective, here are my 2¢. Let’s begin with the end in mind. What’s the point of this particular lab? In my opinion, for our Classical Conversations Foundations students, it’s twofold: Grammar: To teach some basic statistics grammar (Probability, Outcome) and to see those terms applied. Dialectic: To begin teaching children to think about the “probability” that something (anything) could occur. So, if you’re teaching a group of YOUNGER STUDENTS, you’ll want to focus on the grammar and getting children to use it and understand it. Set your objectives (and your bar for feeling successful) accordingly. Focus on the terms. Use them clearly during your lesson. Move through the “warm-up” slowly. Help them to really think about what you’re asking. You can use the term “probability” and “chances” (or other synonyms – likelihood, expectation, etc.) interchangeably, while you’re talking. Just be keep coming back to the term “probability” so they begin to understand what that term means. In addition, for some young students, this will be the first time that they hear the term “tally marks” and see them used. For them, that’s good stuff! Take the time to explain them and show them quickly how they work. I also suggest for younger children that they do this lab in pairs of two with a parent assigned to each pair to help with counting and making tally marks. If you’re teaching a group of OLDER STUDENTS, you can probably move through the warm up more quickly as they catch on to what you’re asking and how it relates to the chips in your hand. You might need to quickly review tally marks before allowing them to start performing and recording their results. These students can work individually or in teams. Once they’ve completed the lab, you can add up the results of the class to see how they might have differed from individual results. Explain to them that while their individual results might have varied, that 20 is really not very many draws. Over time, with even more draws, the results of the experiment would be 1/2. Then, use the lab to begin to expand their ability to use logic. What would they need to start with in order to GUARANTEE they could get the results they wanted to? They’d have to start with chips that were all the same color. Even if there was only one chip of a different color in the mix, at some point, with enough draws, you’d pull that color out. So, the only way to be sure you can get the results you want, if you only want to draw a white chip, for example, is to start with all white chips. This seems totally logical to many of us as adults, but we take for granted that children have the same ability to be logical that we do. Their minds are all at different points in beginning to make those leaps, so this is a great exercise for them, and you will likely discover that you have some children who understand it immediately and others who are slower to grasp it (or are silent as they work through it in their heads). For ADULTS/PARENTS– Why do we care? Why are we doing these labs? What is the point of this with children this age? The science of origins is the effort of scientists to explain how the universe began. The science grammar that we’ll learn in these 6 weeks is the basic definition of different ways used to explain how life began and developed. As always, YOU are the teacher. You decide how (or if) you want to elaborate on this at home. Tutors will drill the sentences/definitions. You decide what you want to teach your child. The science labs involve an introduction to basic statistics (probability, odds, combinations, etc.). Probability relates to the science of Origins because data is collected and analyzed and different and opposing conclusions are often drawn from the same data! Learning how to collect, record and analyze data is a skill that all scientists use. Gathering data, analyzing data and drawing conclusions are very much a part of many explanations of the origins of the universe. Eventually, our children will need to be able to draw their own conclusions from data that is presented to them. These labs are a great introduction to early critical thinking skills. Photo credit: Flickr
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What’s the weather like in your neck of the woods these days? We have been iced and snowed in for nearly a week here are our house. This kind of weather is very unusual around here, so we’ve enjoyed the chance to slow down a little. The kids have spent so much time out sledding and playing that they are falling into bed at night and sleeping in late in the mornings. As homeschoolers, we could press on with a normal school schedule if we chose, but all of the children that live near us have schedules dictated by one school system or another and they’ve all been off and itching to play. I’ve also been “snowed under” with the tax returns I do at this time of year, so it’s been a good time to let the kids have a break and enjoy the type of play that just isn’t possible around here on a regular basis! As a result, I’ve had piles of boots and coats and hats and gloves at my back door on and off all week (when my children haven’t been off piling up their boots and coats at a neighbor’s door) and I have served up lots of homemade hot chocolate. My sweet husband finally had to explain to some of the children yesterday that we were going to have to cut everyone off before we ran out of milk. The children who don’t live here were fascinated to learn that we buy our milk directly from a farm and won’t be picking any more up until Saturday. So, when we’re out, we’re out! This was very disappointing, because apparently, I make the “World’s Best Hot Chocolate!” Who knew? So, just in case you need an excellent (and easy!) recipe for Hot Chocolate, here you go! Homemade Hot Chocolate (makes about 36 cups) 1 1/2 Cup Cocoa (or raw Cacao Powder) 3 Cups Sugar (or Organic Cane Sugar) 3/4 tsp Salt (or Himalayan Salt) Mix these together. I like to run them through the blender or the food processor so they are more finely ground and dissolve more easily, but it’s not a must. Store in an airtight container. When you’re ready to make some hot chocolate, measure out 2 Tablespoons of the mix into a cup. Add 1 Tablespoon of boiling water to the cup and mix. Then add: 1 Cup Milk 1/4 tsp vanilla And, of course, if you really want to treat yourself, be sure and add marshmallows!! Yummmmm! By the way, I’ve run the nutritional information on this, and it’s about 220 calories if made with fresh, raw milk. If you want to make it with less sugar, you can. I’ve made it with 1 teaspoon of powdered stevia in place of one of the cups of sugar. It’s still delicious! Since the sugar is bulky, you’d only need about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the mix to make a cup.
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I say this every year, but . . . . I really ENJOY the Orchestra 6-weeks of CC! If you need some ideas for things to do in class or to expand on things outside of class, I’ve got some suggestions! I’m always on the look out for new ideas myself, so please feel free to share yours in the comments below! Activities for Class If you’re a tutor out there who is stressing about this particular portion of the year, I’ll give you my layman’s two cents (and empathize with you . . . Tin Whistle is the hardest for me!): Don’t get bogged down in whether or not you love the music, or whether or not the children do. You’re task is largely the same with the Orchestra as it is with any other subject – teach (and drill) the grammar. Introduce the time period, explain what a symphony is, what an orchestra is, what the instrument families are (more on all of this below). Then spend some time listening for those things you’ve discussed in the musical pieces (what kind of emotion do you hear? what instrument families? etc.). Melody from andherewegomama.com has a great song (with video) and file folder game for reinforcing the different musical periods. I also like to put something up on the wall in the classroom and make sure we tie the musical periods back to their place in our timeline (it’s a good time to pull those particular timeline cards out again), and a picture of each composer as we discuss him (my picture above is from Cycle 2). We’ll review those things each week and then build on that knowledge. If it’s at all helpful to you, you’re welcome to download and print off my “Period Headers” and pictures of composers here. When I first started tutoring, I purchased a bulletin board set with nice pictures of the instruments. While I recognize that this might not be entirely in keeping with the “stick-in-the-sand” method of CC (which I do truly respect and generally try to adhere to), having these visuals has worked well for me. The particular set that I have is large, and the sheets can be left as 4 large posters, or they’re made to do some accordion folding. I choose just to slap them up on the wall in our classroom (or at home) each week. They get the kids’ attention and make the Orchestra study different from the other studies. I think I paid $12 or $13 for this set in a Parent/Teacher store somewhere and this is the fourth year I’ll use it. It’s definitely been worth it to me to have it around! In teaching Orchestra I will spend time each week talking about the instrument families (If you’re looking for more information on instrument families, this website has a great overview to give you information to share with you kids!). We will cover one family each week. Our community learns the Orchestra song in our assembly time in the morning and we add an instrument each week, so I sync our class time up with our assembly time – Week 19: Violin (Introduce all 4 families and focus on the Strings), Week 20: Clarinet (Woodwinds), Week 21: Trumpet (Brass), Week 22: The Horn (Review Brass), Week 23: Drum (Percussion). We’ll use the posters above to assist us as we discuss the instrument families, and we’ll also use these worksheets I’ve created to reinforce some of the facts about the instrument families: I like to play Bingo with the Instrument Families for at least the first week (Week 19) of Orchestra. It’s popular, so we usually play it again during the review weeks (Weeks 23 and 24) if there is time available. It’s a great way for kids to get familiar with the instruments and their families. I downloaded a black and white version off CC Connected a couple of years ago, but I prefer the version that I’m using this year. It’s color, and the images are labeled with the names of the instruments, so it reinforces the names and cuts down on confusion. I downloaded it here. Once we’ve reviewed the orchestra, our vocabulary, and the instrument families, we’ll talk about that week’s composer and add his picture to the wall. Classical Music for Dummies has some great information about the composer and the timer period in which he composed. I often tell people that I underutilized this book the first year or two that I tutored. It’s not just informative about the composer and the piece of music . . . it also has lots of GREAT information in the back section on the instrument families and it’s presented in a really approachable and interesting way. I also like to use the books I’ve included in the “Books” section below to add more information and visuals to our few minutes discussing the composer. When it comes to time to listen to the music, I REALLY appreciate the CC moms who put the listening flow charts together and post them on CC Connected each year. This is when I’m thankful to have my “Classical Music for Dummies” CD ripped and loaded on my iPhone, so I can play the songs and watch the time to see where we are in the piece. It helps me to engage the children in class if I can say, “Okay, listen for the . . . (ex:”Oboe to start playing”, “the strings to all come in”, “the horn to start crying”, etc.)” And, it’s helpful to have moms in class with the younger ones to point to where we are on the flowchart (I usually print enough copies for there to be one for every two children to share). Some pieces of music lend themselves really well to this. Others lend themselves better to just listening quietly and drawing/coloring a picture of what the music makes you think of or feel like. There’s usually a sheet for this out on CC Connected, as well, usually with a little bio of the composer, but of course a blank piece of paper works fine, too. In years past, I’ve also taken paint sticks or large popsicle sticks and cut crepe paper streamers to tape/glue to them and we’ve whirled and twirled to music that had that feel to it. If time permits, and things are going well, we might listen to a piece (or a portion of a piece) more than once. When a piece has very distinct sections played by certain instrument families, it can be fun to hand out popsicle stick “puppets” of the instruments and ask the children to raise the family that they hear (this can range from easy to very tough . . . and can be quite funny when the pieces get complex!). Books Well, if you’ve been spending ANY time on this blog at ALL, you already know that I love the books from the “Getting to Know” series by Mike Venezia. Seriously, I should be paid for my endorsement at this point. But alas, I am not. I just really, really like these books and think they work BEAUTIFULLY for Foundations age kids. Particularly the preschool/elementary ones, but these books are meaty enough to work on up into middle and high school; they’re just easy to read. I actually like to take them to class with me when I tutor. The facts are interesting and some of the pictures are helpful to the more visual kids. They’re a great supplement to the information in Classical Music for Dummies. Sadly, there is no book on Debussy in the “Getting to Know” series (Get on that, Mike!), and I haven’t had any luck finding another book that would appeal to children. This is a great book (with CD included) for learning about the Orchestra. It also touches on the different musical periods, so it dovetails nicely with how we cover the Orchestra in CC. CD’s/MP3 downloads and Videos I really like this entire series of CDs (you can also download the MP3 files). They’re inexpensive, and they mix the biography in with the music of the composer in a way that makes it really easy to listen to. You can treat it like an audio book and pay rapt attention to the narrator with the biography, or it’s fairly easy to just focus on the music and tune out the spoken word, if you prefer. These can be nice to have playing in the background while your children are playing or working on school work at home. You can pick up an awful lot of information (and hear a lot of classical music!) that way.For this cycle, Tchaikovsky is the only composer this series covers. This series is also wonderful. Again, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is the only piece represented (the series does cover a different piece of Stravinky’s) Of course, the classic way to teach children about the different instruments in the orchestra is via some version of Peter and the Wolf, composed by Prokofiev. My favorite version of this is the one narrated by Sting. Three years ago, I discovered The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket, which I actually like more than Peter and the Wolf for actually explaining the instruments in the orchestra to children. It’s got a lot of dry humor (much of which goes over children’s heads, but adults will find amusing), and does a great job of introducing the orchestra. I’m a VERY visual person, and I’ve got to tell you that the book that accompanies the CD did nothing for me. I think the CD or MP3 files stand on their own just fine, but I’ve had pretty much no luck locating them for purchase by themselves. I’ll include a link to the book here at Amazon so you can see the reviews or look at it for yourself, but I was also able to find a series of youtube videos that someone created using the book and the audio. You can access my playlist of them here. Games and Apps The New York Philharmonic website has an entire area for kids that is AWESOME! Definitely check it out and explore. Here are two games from this site that you definitely won’t want to miss: Sort the musical instruments by family: http://www.nyphilkids.org/games/frenzy/instrumentfrenzy.swf A classic “memory” game with musical instrument images. Nice thing about this one is that the images are labeled and when you flip the cards they play, so you experience the sound of each instrument. Brilliant! http://www.nyphilkids.org/games/main.phtml? Carnegie Hall has also created an online Safari adventure for learning about the orchestra. At this website you must correctly answer the questions about the instrument families or your ship will be sunk! At this website you can listen to a sample of music and guess which instrument performed it. This is just another good all around website. It has games and uses Benjamin Britten’s Young People’s Guide to the Orchestra to illustrate the sounds of the different instrument families. This is a free iPad app for learning about the Orchestra: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mso-learn/id441422027?mt=8
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We are entering Weeks 19-24 of Classical Conversations Cycle 3. This is the second time I’ve been through this cycle, and I have a better appreciation for the Statistics Labs. For the youngest, the abecedarians, this will probably be their first exposure to tally marks and making charts. I realized, having experienced with my own daughter, how much easier this made some of our math lessons a year after we were actually done with this cycle. Many of the concepts taught in these labs are challenging to our Foundations-age students (and their mothers!), but if we’ll slow down, try not to get intimidated, and take the time to try and understand them, these labs are great exposure to the grammar of basic statistics. This time around, I’m more determined than I was last time to make them meaningful for my students at CC and for my kiddos at home. I thought I’d share with you some of the resources that I’ve found for expanding on the labs that we’ll be doing during our CC Community days. For those of you on CC Connected who might find them helpful, I’ll be uploading the lab sheets that I’ve created for these weeks in the next few days. Younger Students I’ve found some awesome books for making statistics concepts approachable for even the youngest of our students! My favorite is “probably” It’s Probably Penny. The first few pages do an EXCELLENT job of teaching the concepts of the Week 23 lab in a way that works well for elementary age students. These three books are also fun books for elaborating on the concepts of probability (although I will warn you that the last of these, A Very Improbable Story uses the terms probability and odds interchangeably, as do many of us, while mathematically that is incorrect. I had to work pretty hard to get these two term and their use straight in my head in preparation for these labs, so I did stumble on that in this otherwise entertaining and educational book): This video covers Mean, Median, and Mode. Honestly, I found it a little annoying, but the aspects that annoyed me may very well be what help it stick in a child’s head. If you prefer something musical (and who doesn’t?), there are multiple versions of this little diddy out there, but this is one of the more creative recordings. It teaches the concept of “Range,” which isn’t covered in our CC labs, but it’s still a very handy way of remembering the basic definitions of these terms. Here’s the poem: Hey Diddle Diddle, the Median’s the middle. You add, then divide for the Mean. The Mode is the one that you see the most, and the Range is the difference between. Older Students If your kids would like a fun rap song to help them with understanding Mean, Median and Mode, this one absolutely fits that bill! If your child is ready to expand on their knowledge of statistics (or you are), but still wants it to be fun, both of these books contain some great information about statistics, but present it in fun ways. I’ll bet a few of you out there have a child who will read anything as long as it involves a comic-book/graphic-novel approach (I do!). Start with the first one – The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics, and if that isn’t meaty enough, or your child is ready for even more, try The Cartoon Guide to Statistics (which is like a college course, but with cartoons). The following video (see link below) is a little too complex for all but the oldest (or most mathematically-oriented) of our Foundations-level students, but it is basically a class on probability done in a very conversational and approachable way. The kids in the video are pretty adept at mental math, which might even inspire a few students to embrace math with more gusto. https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-probability-odds There are also some good courses available at Khan Academy for learning about probability and statistics. I know this isn’t the end of the good resources for these subjects out there, so please share in the comments if you have other suggestions! I’d love to hear them!
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Very, very rare (like, in this house, it’s maybe happened ONCE) is the year when the holidays roll around and everything falls neatly in to place: Christmas decorations put up right after Thanksgiving (and all the boxes they spend the other 11 months of the year in are packed quickly and neatly out of sight until they’re needed to return everything to in the days after Christmas) so that we can maximize our enjoyment of them. Christmas shopping completed early and gifts actually wrapped in advance of Christmas Eve and placed under the tree (with coordinating and thoughtful wrapping) so that we can enjoy the look of them. Just the right amount of Christmas events . . . not so many that we feel stressed out, but enough that we feel we’ve spent quality time with family and friends and soaked in the Joy of the holidays together. Instead, what’s more likely (in this house, at least) is a frantic rush to put the Christmas decorations up, usually much later than we intended. The boxes for said decorations stay in the Living Room for days (or weeks) until I’m at my breaking point and I find somewhere to shove them. Christmas shopping is frantic and stressful (and I spend December being thankful for Amazon Prime). Gifts get wrapped Christmas Eve . . . if I’m lucky. And, we run madly from one December event to another – school parties, play practices and performances, recitals, etc., etc., all while trying to fit in some opportunities to see lights, visit living Nativity events, bake Christmas treats, do a Christmas craft or two, and so on and so forth. Sigh . . . I really WANT this time of year to be slower and more peaceful. Usually, I do better than I’ve done this year. It’s been a rough year all the way around. Lot’s of different reasons – business craziness, school craziness, and just lots and lots of general craziness. I’ve spent the last two weeks working H.A.R.D. at wrapping some things up so I can move them off of my plate. I’d like to focus on doing a few things well instead of desperately trying to keep a million different balls in the air. I’ve still got a ways to go, but I’m working on it. As a result of all the craziness, this is the latest in December we’ve EVER started going through our Jesse Tree devotional series. We just started today. We decided to keep it simple. We just pulled out our Bibles and pulled up the first two podcasts the kiddos recorded last year (when they were 7 and 5). And we followed along. And I’m SO glad we did. It was just what I needed this morning. Easy. And a great reminder of what I REALLY want to be focused on at the moment . . . and it’s NOT the boxes of Christmas decorations sitting in my Living Room that still need to be unpacked or the Christmas gifts I still need to buy and wrap. And I thought it might you might be like me, and be ready to change your focus for the season, too. If you are, and you don’t have time to make it through the full Jesse Tree devotional series, I thought I’d make it easy for you, and give you a shortened version. One a day for the ten days left before Christmas. Each one is around 5 minutes long. You can print off the guide and the ornament, if you like, or you can just listen in. Either way, I hope it’s just exactly what some of you have needed, too. December 15: Creation Blog post with podcast December 16: Fall Blog post with podcast December 17: Faithfulness Blog post with podcast December 18: Timing Blog post with podcast December 19: Rules Blog post with podcast December 20: Care Blog post with podcast December 21: Shepherd Blog post with podcast December 22: Humble Blog post with podcast December 23: Righteous Blog post with podcast December 24: Here Blog post with podcast And, in case you don’t know WHY it’s called a “Jesse Tree” devotional series . . . here’s the Podcast about that: Plan Blog post with podcast
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I don’t know if you’re familiar with the educator version of Groupon – Educents. I’ve ordered a few things through them (like Life of Fred math curriculum, which I rarely see on sale and yet, is currently on sale there again . . . we LOVE Life of Fred!!!). For just a couple more days they are running a special on Pley – the “Netflix” of the Lego world. For $25 you get a $50 credit toward any of their 3 plans. It can mean that you get 3 months of the smallest plan or 2 months of the mid-priced plan. It seems like a great deal if you want to give the service a try. I don’t see any strings, except that you’ll have to cancel the service if you don’t want to automatically renew it at full cost when your credit is used up. I think that’s to be expected. The Lego fan in my house is getting a subscription for Christmas . . . Shhhhhh, don’t tell him! This post contains affiliate links.
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This may be the shortest post in the history of blogging, but since I know we’re all in the middle of wrapping up our last few weeks of CC . . . and I couldn’t find anything out on CC Connected that addressed this . . . I put together a little summary sheet of the science principles (Physics) behind an Egg Protector and the Egg Drop experiment. I’ll put together a nicer and more polished post later when I have more time, but for now, I just wanted to make this available quickly to anyone who might find it helpful. You can download the document that I put together by clicking here or on the image to the right. I’ve tried to tie in as much of our science grammar as possible. This post is linked to:
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Time is flying! It’s week 20 and we’ll be wrapping up this year of CC Foundations before we know it! Science Here’s a fun little video with information about the second law of thermodynamics: Science Project I found a number of videos this week that complement our bridge-building project nicely. These two from MIT are my favorites: Part 1- Part 2 – Here are two others that are also good: http://science.howstuffworks.com/29829-understanding-bridge-designs-video.htm http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.mfe.zstrawbridge/triangles-designing-a-straw-bridge/ (You may need to create a free account at PBS in order to view this one.) There are also several books that work well with this subject: Cross a Bridge has simple, colorful illustrations of different types of bridges and contains a little history and fun facts about famous existing bridges, too. It is excellent for preschool and very early elementary (in CC speak, Abecedarians). The Bridge Book is great for all elementary-aged children. It contains information about the history of bridges as well as about their basic structure. My five year old really enjoyed it! It’s only available used at Amazon (I’ve had GREAT luck picking up used books at Amazon for a few cents plus $3.99 shipping. We don’t mind used books around here in the least.), and our library had a copy of it. It was a great combination of informative and entertaining. Bridges! is more elaborate and intended for ages 7-14. It contains history, facts about different types of bridges, and projects designed to help you test out different bridge types yourself. it’s a cute book and most of the projects don’t involve terribly complicated resources (poster board, paper clips, glue, etc.). I know it can be hard to fit in more during the week, but I’ve got my eye on a few extra projects for us to try now or during week 21. Bridges and Tunnels is packed with even more history, informative facts, and activities. It’s intended for ages 9-12. There are some really neat projects in this one, but it’s definitely a little more information than my 5 and 7 year old will want to sit down and digest for pleasure. The illustrations and page layouts are very approachable for the age it’s aimed at, though, so if you have an older elementary child or a middle-schooler, this book would be awesome! And, finally, here’s a little bridge building app that’s free and available on for Android and iPhone/iPad. We downloaded this some time ago and my son enjoyed it, but moved on and I deleted it. I downloaded it again and he’s been begging to play it all day. He was thrilled when I gave him a few minutes to play on it earlier and he built a bridge (a suspension bridge) that was strong enough to allow trucks to use it. This app gets kids familiar with some of the decision making that goes into building a bridge, even if it can’t be directly applied to the straw or popsicle bridge they’ll be building at CC. Fine Arts – Orchestra Okay, okay, I know that I already recommended this book in my post specifically about the Orchestra, but it’s just TOO GOOD to not mention it one more time. It ties Beethoven into ALL SORTS of timeline and history sentence items. It has great facts about Beethovens 5th Symphony (the one we’re listening to in Week 20). I really just can’t recommend it enough. A mom asked me at lunch last week (when I was RAVING about this book and the whole series) if her 6th grader would enjoy it as much as my 1st and 2nd graders do and I emphatically said “YES!” For a middle school student it would just be a much easier and faster read, but they’d still enjoy the humor and absorb all the great meat that the book contains. I mean, I LOVE these books myself and I’m . . . well, let’s not discuss my age. Let’s just leave it at – THESE BOOKS ARE AWESOME! There is a video (slightly under an hour) called “Beethoven Lives Upstairs” that is supposed to be an accurate and entertaining account of Beethoven’s life. I haven’t yet watched it, but Common Sense Media recommends it for ages 6 and up. Our library has a copy of it in circulation, or you can purchase and stream it at Amazon (and Amazon has the DVD version, as well). There’s also a short animated biography about Beethoven (by Muffin Stories), aimed at younger children, available here- A friend and fellow CC tutor pointed me in the direction of these two videos. The first is a satire of Beethoven’s 5th symphony. As an adult, it’s hysterical! Some of it will go over younger children’s heads, but it’s still QUITE funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzXoVo16pTg If you’re tutoring and need some more ideas about how to handle teaching the Orchestra to your class, you can check out this post at Solagratiamom.com. It’s from last year, but the same basic principles apply. On an ALMOST totally unrelated note, I pass along the following to all those of you whose children are obsessed with the soundtrack from the Frozen movie. These guys have mixed the “Let it Go” music with Vivaldi’s “Winter” Violin Concerto (part of “The Four Seasons” work that he is most renowned for). If you want to expose your children to classical music mixed with something they already love, this may be the perfect mix. There are no vocals, but my guess is that your children can provide those, should they care to, on their own. History Yeeesh. Trying to to find books or videos about the Vietnam war that are appropriate for early elementary age students was just impossible. For me, at least. Did anyone out there find any good resources? There is some information in the Crash Course History video on the Cold War that I posted last week. It transitions directly from the Korean War to the Vietnam War . . . but it’s not really geared toward our Foundations-aged kiddos. I saw this blog post about drawing pictures to review and thought, “Why have I never thought of that?????” Simple, straightforward, and great for visual learners (I definitely have one of those!). Love these brilliant CC moms out there! Review Games This week, we reviewed CC at lunch one day using our Cranium Zooreka game. Like most of our efforts at review, it was pretty simple – take a turn, answer a CC question. My kiddos have realized they can usually talk me into a game in the middle of the school day as long as they propose we do CC review in some form along with it. This game took us while to play this time (we actually walked away and came back to it later in the day). We got in a LOT of review! A few weeks ago, I ordered an Eggspert game to use at home and for review in the classroom. We’ve only used it once in class and a couple of times at home, but my kiddos have really enjoyed it! The only downside for the classroom is that there are only 6 controllers, so you do have to play in teams, or nominate a child or two to be the “Quiz Show Hosts” if you have a class of more than 6 children. But, it’s fun, and since there’s a timer, you can move through questions pretty quickly. Again, we got a LOT of review in while using it and the kids had a great time! This post is linked to:
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Confession time. I can’t sing. I mean, seriously. In fact, I sometimes wonder how the children in my CC class manage to learn any of the material from someone who teaches most of it with songs that she usually butchers mercilessly. Now, on the upside (sort of), I can actually TELL that I can’t sing. I’m not tone deaf. In fact, I have a HUGE appreciation for music and musical people. Before our children came along, my husband (who has an AWESOME voice! The proof is on his album.) and I were season ticket holders to the symphony. We loved it! Then the kiddos arrived and going out became more of a rarity. And we choose to do other things (like go places we can talk in peace!) when we do go out, usually. But, I say all of that to say . . . I really ENJOY the Orchestra 6-weeks of CC! And I have LOTS of ideas for things to do in class and even more for outside of class to help reinforce the concepts we’re learning during this period! Activities for Class If you’re a tutor out there who is stressing about this particular portion of the year, I’ll give you my layman’s two cents (and empathize with you . . . Tin Whistle is the hardest for me!): Don’t get bogged down in whether or not you love the music, or whether or not the children do. You’re task is largely the same with the Orchestra as it is with any other subject – teach (and drill) the grammar. Introduce the time period, explain what a symphony is, what an orchestra is, what the instrument families are (more on all of this below). Then spend some time listening for those things you’ve discussed in the musical pieces (what kind of emotion do you hear? what instrument families? etc.). Melody from andherewegomama.com has a great song (with video) and file folder game for reinforcing the different musical periods. I also like to put something up on the wall in the classroom and make sure we tie the musical periods back to their place in our timeline (it’s a good time to pull those particular timeline cards out again), and a picture of each composer as we discuss him. We’ll review those things each week and then build on that knowledge. If it’s at all helpful to you, you’re welcome to download and print off my “Period Headers” and pictures of composers here. Mary, from homegrownlearners.com, has uploaded a great file called “SquiltCycle2.pdf” to CC Connected. It’s an example of the Squilt (Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listening Time) curriculum she has created (see her blog and website for even more info), and it is chock full of good information for teaching this cycle of orchestra! When I first started tutoring, I purchased a bulletin board set with nice pictures of the instruments. While I recognize that this might not be entirely in keeping with the “stick-in-the-sand” method of CC (which I do truly respect and generally try to adhere to), having these visuals has worked well for me. The particular set that I have is large, and the sheets can be left as 4 large posters, or they’re made to do some accordion folding. I choose just to slap them up on the wall in our classroom each week. They get the kids’ attention and make the Orchestra study different from the other studies. I think I paid $12 or $13 for this set in a Parent/Teacher store somewhere and this is the third year I’ll use it. It’s definitely been worth it to me to have it around! In teaching Orchestra I will spend time each week talking about the instrument families (If you’re looking for more information on instrument families, this website has a great overview to give you information to share with you kids!). We will cover one family each week. Our community learns the Orchestra song in our assembly time in the morning and we add an instrument each week, so I sync our class time up with our assembly time – Week 19: Violin (Introduce all 4 families and focus on the Strings), Week 20: Clarinet (Woodwinds), Week 21: Trumpet (Brass), Week 22: The Horn (Review Brass and Woodwinds), Week 23: Drum (Percussion). We’ll use the posters above to assist us as we discuss the instrument families, and we’ll also use these worksheets I’ve created to reinforce some of the facts about the instrument families: I like to play Bingo with the Instrument Families for at least the first week (Week 19) of Orchestra. It’s popular, so we usually play it again during the review weeks (Weeks 23 and 24) if there is time available. It’s a great way for kids to get familiar with the instruments and their families. I downloaded a black and white version off CC Connected a couple of years ago, but I prefer the version that I’m using this year. It’s color, and the images are labeled with the names of the instruments, so it reinforces the names and cuts down on confusion. I downloaded it here. Once we’ve reviewed the orchestra, our vocabulary, and the instrument families, we’ll talk about that week’s composer and add his picture to the wall. Classical Music for Dummies has some great information about the composer and the timer period in which he composed. I also like to use the books I’ve included in the “Books” section below to add more information and visuals to our few minutes discussing the composer. When it comes to time to listen to the music, I REALLY appreciate the CC moms who put the listening flow charts together and post them on CC Connected each year. This Cycle, a flow chart for each of the three classical pieces has been posted by “thegossards” if you have access to CC Connected and you’d like to download them. This is when I’m thankful to have my “Classical Music for Dummies” CD ripped and loaded on my iPhone, so I can play the songs and watch the time to see where we are in the piece. It helps me to engage the children in class if I can say, “Okay, listen for the . . . (ex:”Oboe to start playing”, “the strings to all come in”, “the horn to start crying”, etc.)” And, it’s helpful to have moms in class with the younger ones to point to where we are on the flowchart (I usually print enough copies for there to be one for every two children to share). Some pieces of music lend themselves really well to this. Others lend themselves better to just listening quietly and drawing/coloring a picture of what the music makes you think of or feel like. There’s usually a sheet for this out on CC Connected, as well, usually with a little bio of the composer, but of course a blank piece of paper works fine, too. We’re in a very small classroom this year, so we won’t be doing any dancing, but in years past, I’ve also taken paint sticks or large popsicle sticks and cut crepe paper streamers to tape/glue to them and we’ve whirled and twirled to music that had that feel to it. If time permits, and things are going well, we might listen to a piece (or a portion of a piece) more than once. When a piece has very distinct sections played by certain instrument families, it can be fun to hand out popsicle stick “puppets” of the instruments and ask the children to raise the family that they hear (this can range from easy to very tough . . . and can be quite funny when the pieces get complex!). Books Well, if you’ve been spending ANY time on this blog at ALL, you will be SHOCKED (voice dripping with sarcasm) to see the following books from the “Getting to Know” series by Mike Venezia. Seriously, I should be paid for my endorsement at this point. But alas, I am not. I just really, really like these books and think they work BEAUTIFULLY for Foundations age kids. Particularly the preschool/elementary ones, but these books are meaty enough to work on up into middle and high school; they’re just easy to read. I actually like to take them to class with me when I tutor. The facts are interesting and some of the pictures are helpful to the more visual kids. They’re a great supplement to the information in Classical Music for Dummies. Sadly, there is no book on Dvorak in the “Getting to Know” series (Get on that, Mike!), but this one has gotten excellent reviews. It’s en route to me, and I’ll come back and adjust my recommendation accordingly. This is a great book (with CD included) for learning about the Orchestra. It also touches on the different musical periods, so it dovetails nicely with how we cover the Orchestra in CC. CD’s/MP3 downloads and Videos I really like this entire series of CDs (you can also download the MP3 files). They’re inexpensive, and they mix the biography in with the music of the composer in a way that makes it really easy to listen to. You can treat it like an audio book and pay rapt attention to the narrator with the biography, or it’s fairly easy to just focus on the music and tune out the spoken word, if you prefer. These can be nice to have playing in the background while your children are playing or working on school work at home. You can pick up an awful lot of information (and hear a lot of classical music!) that way. Of course, the classic way to teach children about the different instruments in the orchestra is via some version of Peter and the Wolf, composed by Prokofiev. My favorite version of this is the one narrated by Sting. Two years ago, I discovered The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket, which I actually like more than Peter and the Wolf for actually explaining the instruments in the orchestra to children. It’s got a lot of dry humor (much of which goes over children’s heads, but adults will find amusing), and does a great job of introducing the orchestra. I’m a VERY visual person, and I’ve got to tell you that the book that accompanies the CD did nothing for me. I think the CD or MP3 files stand on their own just fine, but I’ve had pretty much no luck locating them for purchase by themselves. I’ll include a link to the book here at Amazon so you can see the reviews or look at it for yourself, but I was also able to find a series of youtube videos that someone created using the book and the audio. You can access my playlist of them here, or push play below. Games and Apps The New York Philharmonic website has an entire area for kids that is AWESOME! Definitely check it out and explore. Here are two games from this site that you definitely won’t want to miss: Sort the musical instruments by family: http://www.nyphilkids.org/games/frenzy/instrumentfrenzy.swf A classic “memory” game with musical instrument images. Nice thing about this one is that the images are labeled and when you flip the cards they play, so you experience the sound of each instrument. Brilliant! http://www.nyphilkids.org/games/main.phtml? Carnegie Hall has also created an online Safari adventure for learning about the orchestra. At this website you must correctly answer the questions about the instrument families or your ship will be sunk! At this website you can listen to a sample of music and guess which instrument performed it. This is just another good all around website. It has games and uses Benjamin Britten’s Young People’s Guide to the Orchestra to illustrate the sounds of the different instrument families. This is a free iPad app for learning about the Orchestra: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mso-learn/id441422027?mt=8
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We’ve entered the final 6 weeks! It’s the downhill slope, but it sometimes feels more like it’s the hardest part of the year. I read a great blog post entitled “Everyone wants to quit in November and February” a week or so ago. It can be encouraging just to realize that you aren’t the only one who feels worn out! Hang in there, folks! History Well, here’s the thing. The Korean War is often called the “Forgotten War” and that makes finding great kid-friendly sources about it a little, ummmm . . . challenging. Crash Course History has a video on the Cold War, which begins with Korea (first 5 minutes of the video, then it moves on the Vietnam) and includes a lot of good information. My guess is that it’s probably too much for a most of our elementary-level students and even many of the middle-schoolers, although if you’re like me, you sometimes just dig in and watch/read as much as your kiddos will tolerate and think that it will be beneficial to them, if only to reinforce the actual words that are part of this week’s history sentence (North, South, Korea, MacArthur, etc.). Here are three websites with overviews of the Korean War. I might or might not actually go through them with my children, but I feel much better informed after perusing them. They gave me some context for the war that I didn’t previously understand (apparently watching reruns of M.A.S.H. can’t really be considered historically informative). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX58.html (this was originally linked to an American Experience episode called “Race for the Superbomb” that can be found on YouTube. It’s not really kid-friendly, but I’ll include the link here for the history junkies among us – http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFAB7A155AF3204CA. The part specifically about North Korea runs from Part 3 at about 13:30 and on into Part 4 for the first few minutes.) http://www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/korean_war.php (includes a quiz at the end to see if you were paying attention to what you read.) http://www.coldwar.me/koreanwarforkids.html (includes some links to videos of war news reels.) Science Need a song to reinforce this week’s memory work? Here’s a catchy one, with a nice overview of the first law of thermodynamics, along with a review of the two types of energy (covered in Week 15). If you’re still willing to watch a Bill Nye video, he’s got an old episode out there on Energy. I thought I’d posted it back on Week 15, but apparently not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btLU2lb3-xs Science Project NASA’s website is full of great information for students about the dynamics of flight. It even includes Newton’s three laws of motions in layman’s terms. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/dynamicsofflight.html#forces Speaking of NASA, this is a really neat video about the dynamics of flight. It does a great job of explaining lift, drag, weight, and thrust! This 6th grade teacher made up a song to help his students remember the four forces that impact flight: Again, Bill Nye’s got an old episode on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgsWYYubQyM Geography I’ve mentioned in a past week that I really think this CC mom does a great job of tying in the geography with a song and hand motions that help it all stick. Even though our community uses different music, I often find her hand motions VERY helfpul! Once again, someone out there in CC-land was kind enough to create a geography review game. This one just includes Week 19’s geography (which is GREAT for nailing down the new information!), but don’t forget that there are several out there for other weeks, too, so if you’re trying to get a good overall review, here you go: Weeks 2-6 Weeks 7-12 Weeks 13-18 Someone raised a question on CC Connected about geography review and the suggestions that came out of that were great! (Consider this a plug for CC Connected and all the good info shared there!) One of the websites that was suggested and that looks very interesting was seterra.net. Just thought I’d pass it along in case you wanted to check it out, too. Math This is a flashback to previous weeks, but have you seen these awesome skip counting boards? Love this idea!!! Fine Art Come back tomorrow! I’ve got too much to post here, so I’m going to do a separate post on the Orchestra. Review Games It’s pretending to be spring here for a few days. It’s been WONDERFUL and we’ll take what we can get, but we know it’s a bluff and the cold weather is moving back in next week. So, it is CRITICAL that we spend some time outside enjoying the weather while we can! Hence the reason we took our CC review outside one afternoon this week. The kids swung on the swings while I asked them CC questions. We played a little game that they could swing as high and for as long as they wanted . . . until they missed a question. Then, they had to stop and start over again and it became the other one’s turn. I took our CC Memory Master Sticker sheets out with us and awarded stickers as we worked. It was a nice way to accomplish something we needed to work on and enjoy the weather at the same time! One of my goals is to come up with some more active review games to use around here as the weather gets nicer. And, I keep thinking that it would be fun to get a few CC kids together one afternoon to play some review games that involved running, relays, hula hooping, or something like that. My brain is churning on it. If you have any great ideas or have seen anything out there that fits the bill, let me know!! This post is linked to:
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We’re still in the taxes-filled zone around here (see Week 15 and 16 for more dull details, if you want them), so once again, I’m combining my Week 17 and 18 into a single post. History I don’t know about you guys, but I think some of the hardest memory sentences are the ones which are really just a list of names. We acted out the ones from the Renaissance (Week 6) based on their occupation. We used the dress-up game for WWI leaders (Week 14). And now for WW II leaders, we did some goofy acting out. I did print out Melody Stroud’s history cards (we’re using ALL her cards at home for review, see below) from CC Connected (listed under melodystroud) to use as additional visuals in class (I think it’s nice to try to introduce the grammar in a way that works for at least two learning styles if you can). We held our arms in a big “X” for Axis and shook our hands in front of us (like the “England” sign for “Alfred the Great of England” in the Timeline motions). Here are the GOOFY motions we used for the leaders: Hitler: hit our palm with our other fist (we also used this in Week 16, so at least we’re consistent in our goofiness) Tojo: lifted our foot and pointed to our toe Mussolini: hands on our heads with fingers spread apart like the antlers of a moose (we also use that this week for our _bimus Latin ending. Again, we are nothing if not consistent in our insanity.) Churchill: form fingers into church and steeple . . . you know the little children’s rhyme “Here is the church, here is the steeple . . . “ Roosevelt: pretend to smell a rose Eisenhower: point to our eye MacArthur: salute Stalin: finger over our upper lip like a mustache I know that you are now SO impressed that you will insist that CC adopt these as their standard hand motions and next time we do this cycle, I’ll be featured in my own video on the website, right there with the woman doing ACTUAL sign-language in the Timeline video. Right? Sure. We used those same basic hand motions for Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin during Week 18. There’s a nice little overview of the United Nations in the following video. It probably goes without saying that the United Nations is a hot topic, which raises wildly differing views. This is a simple, positive video overview or the formation, intent, and structure of the UN that I would say is very appropriate (if a bit dry) for Foundations-level students. Skip reading the comments on the video (visible if you access it directly at YouTube), many of which are NOT kid-friendly. And, if you’re a fan of Kid President, here’s a video of his visit to the UN for World Humanitarian Day (not so much educational, but he’s a cute kid): The following video about the UN gave me flashbacks of high school, but it is a pretty straight forward overview of the history, purpose, and structure of the UN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4b0bEW-f9I Science This book looks great! I have it on hold at the library and will update you in a week or so after we’ve had a chance to read and use it! Got a child who loves graphic novels and comic books? I have two! If you do, check this one out, it gets excellent reviews and sounds perfect for early elementary! And while we’re on a graphic novel roll, this looks interesting, too (and there’s one on States of Matter in the same series . . . why am I just discovering this now???): And of course, this is usually a reliably good series, too: If you enjoy Peabody and Sherman videos, don’t overlook the one on Isaac Newton. There’s a series of short videos available at Biography.com on Isaac Newton. I’ve watched the “Mini Biography” and it’s great. I have not yet watched the others, so I would recommend that you preview them before you show your children. There’s also a section on Isaac Newton on Jim Weiss’ CD “Galileo and the Stargazers” Audio CD, which I also recommended for learning about Copernicus back on Week 6 of this cycle. If you didn’t see it in my last post, here’s a way to illustrate all three of Newton’s laws of motion using matchbox cars: http://www.ehow.com/how_6872995_do-cars-teach-laws-motion_.html Science Project I felt like this week’s science experiment needed some explanation beyond the projects/experiments. I’m going to outline what I chose to do here, just in case it’s helpful to another tutor or two as a jumping off point for doing something (probably something much more impressive!) for your own class. With a little help from my husband (who managed to round up things that were basically trash from around the house to help me out!), I did a little bit of an illustration before we dug into the outlined projects from the Foundations guide. I took an old lampshade to class (Yep, that’s right, a lampshade. We homeschoolers are resourceful folk.) and we pretended that it was a mountain. I showed the kiddos a matchbox car and explained that there were basically 3 ways to get the car to the top of the mountain: Lift it straight up, which would take a LOT of force/strength/energy, Build a long ramp that leads from the top of the mountain down to a point in the distance away from the mountain (I illustrated this with a piece of yarn stretched from the top of the mountain to a point down on the table. We pretended to drive the car up it and introduced the term “inclined plane.”). This would take longer, but would require less effort, Or (and largely because we can’t just build HUGE ramps everywhere) we can twist the inclined plane around the mountain, so the car can drive up it without having to start VERY far away from the base of the mountain. Then we did the pencil/paper science project illustrating the same thing, so that they could all do it themselves. Using the yarn made it easy to illustrate why it would also take LONGER to get up the mountain on the inclined plane wrapped around it (the angle becomes more shallow and the road gets longer than the ramp would be) than it would to drive up a ramp built up its side. Then, I took a rubber doorstop and explained that sometimes an inclined plane is used as a wedge to lift something heavy. After demonstrating that, it was easy to tie in the road illustration and the wedge illustration to explain that a screw is a type of “winding wedge” and we did the second experiment. There are also some great videos available on the subject! A fellow tutor showed the following two to her class to help explain the experiments and they were captivated. There’s also this one: And, finally, here’s nice, simple experiment (performed by a kid) to illustrate the benefit of an inclined plane and how it works as a tool. She doesn’t actually do all the measuring, but I think you’ll all understand what she’s saying – if you lift the heavy object straight up, the rubber band will stretch more than it will when you pull it up the inclined plane because it takes less effort when you use the inclined plane, which is a simple, but very helpful, tool. The effort will be even less (and the rubber band will stretch less) when you make the angle of the inclined plane less steep. So, just like in our pencil and paper experiment for CC this week, it might take longer to get up the incline, but it also takes less work. Geography Man, I’ve been waiting for us to get caught up with this Geography review game for weeks 13-18! My son will be thrilled that there’s a new geography game to play! Fine Art I purchased the following video series, called Understanding Art: Impressionism. We have not yet watched it, so I’ll have to report back later! The Full Season instant video can be purchased from Amazon for $9.99 (the DVD retails for $52), or individual episodes are available for $2.99. I think Monet is discussed in nearly every episode (no surprise), Degas and Morisot are discussed in at least one (Episode 3 – Painting to the People). Edit: I’ve started watching the series, and while I think it is very interesting and informative, some of the information is more sensational than I think appropriate for my children. My husband and I will probably finish watching it together (it IS interesting!) and gauge what age it might be appropriate for our children, but 7 and 5 are not the right age, in my opinion. Week 17, Degas: Once again, I’m recommending a book (and video if you can find it!) from Mike Venezia’s “Getting to Know” series. I’ll spare you the accolades about the series. Just check all the other posts where I’ve recommended them. These Anholt Artists books are also very sweet storybook-style books about artists. Not as many facts, but excellent as an introduction. Week 18 Morisot: I needed help with pronunciation of her name! Do you? If so, this is very helpful! There is a short video about a Morisot painting available here at Christies (related to the sale of the painting being described) that discusses her technique and how it relates to other Impressionist artists. http://www.christies.com/features/gallery-talk-berthe-morisot-apres-le-dejeuner-3190- 3.aspx If you’re looking for a good resource for images of Morisot’s work, these two sites seems to have a good selection: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/morisot/ http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/berthe-morisot Review Games I printed off all of Melody Stroud’s History sentence cards from CC Connected, cut them up, shuffled all the weeks that we’ve been through so far and handed them to my kiddos to sort into complete sentences. This was even more challenging for them than I thought it might be, so I go involved in “helping” them figure it out (in the sense that “helping” means handing my daughter a card every once in a while when she knew what was next but couldn’t actually seem to see the card, or the sense that “helping” means handing stacks of cards my daughter had put in order to my son with instructions to “double check and make sure we got it right”). It probably took nearly an hour, but they got a GREAT review of the history sentences in the process! We’ll be doing this exercise again soon! This post is linked to:
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This is the time of year in our family when a couple of things typically happen: 1) We’re just really getting back into the school “groove” and I start to feel good about what we’re accomplishing and 2) tax season hits. In some past life that I occasionally have flashbacks of, I was a CPA who had VERY, VERY little to do with taxes. I spent most of my time (and by that, I mean 50-80 hours/week) auditing fairly large, often publicly-traded companies. I won’t bore you with the details. I’ll just skip to the end of the story . . . I don’t do that any more. Okay, if you want more details (skip on down if you don’t), I resigned because by husband operates his own business (now businesses) and needed more accounting and office management than I could provide him after exerting all my energy on someone else’s business. I resigned, got pregnant, felt yucky, had a baby, and now I exert all my energy on children and homeschool and my husband still needs more accounting and office management than I’m able to provide. See how well that worked out for him? One less income, more mouths to feed, same pitiful amount of attention. Have I mentioned that my husband is wonderful? Consequently, I really am always trying to balance it out, and at this time of year, the balance tips in his favor. I also help out another CPA doing business taxes at this time of year. So, more time on taxes and business = less time on cool CC stuff and blogging. It only lasts for a few weeks, and then the scales will tip back the other direction. Review Games I don’t think we’re actually going to Memory Master this year, but I like to act like we’re still shooting for it so we still push ourselves in review. I made the kids some sheets to keep up with what they’ve mastered and what they haven’t, based on what this CC mom had done. When they can answer the review question with absolutely no assistance, they get a sticker. And, because I am not above bribery (although I’m not usually prone to it, either), I offered them a chocolate chip for every 5 in a row they can get. Again, we got in a LOT of review in exchange for some stickers and a couple (really, just a couple . . . we need to do a lot more review!) of chocolate chips. You can download a copy for yourself by clicking on the image to the right, or by visiting the printables page. This week, I decided that we needed a new review game at home to spice things up! I’ve seen Jenga versions of CC review games in abundance, so I decided to go with one of those. Like the CC mom at this blog, I did this the “quick and dirty” way . . . I just used a sharpie and wrote on my Jenga pieces. It’s fast, it doesn’t throw the balance of the blocks off, and you can just ignore it if you want to play Jenga and NOT review CC. The only difference I made, was that I did not write the weeks on my blocks, just the subjects. I didn’t want to be locked in to which weeks we were reviewing. I’d rather create piles of my CC memory review card by subject and then just draw from them based on what’s written on the block that you pull. There are 54 pieces in a complete Jenga set, so I just dealt them evenly into 7 stacks, and then any extras went into the stacks that I think we struggle more with (History sentences, Geography, etc. I avoided extra blocks for Timeline and Math, since we repeat those each cycle already.) After that, it was easy and fun and I ended up taking it to class with us and using it there, as well. Jenga aside, do you know what my kids’ favorite way of reviewing this past week was? Using a card game that came in a Chic-Fil-A kids meal. My son got it as a prize for bringing his Bible and looking up his memory verse in his Wednesday night class at church (I love his teachers – encouraging Bible literacy in your Kindergarten class rocks!). It’s called “Cattle Drive,” but basically it’s just “War” with a smaller cow-themed deck of cards. My kids don’t play war all that fast (it’s just never occurred to them) and they’re totally used to using a game to review CC, so when I was asking them how they wanted to review last week, my son suggested this game and said they’d just answer a CC question on each turn. The loser (lowest number card) of the turn got to read the question for the winner (highest number of card). They reviewed a good chunk of CC that morning over breakfast this way . . . and the only effort it required on my part was pulling out our CC memory cards. Winner! History I recommended this WWI book in my last post before we’d really had a chance to use it. Now that we’ve had it and used it on our Kindle, I’m going to give this book a second shout out. I’m also going to recommend the WWII book. I think this book would work well in hard copy, as well, but we REALLY enjoyed it on our Kindle. It’s nice that we can walk through just a “path” or two and then put the book down and come back to it later. I’ve found it particularly amusing to hear my children advocate for choosing paths of totally different risk-levels (My son: “Skip the additional training, go straight to the front!!” vs My daughter: “Let’s stay in the U.S. and see if/when they decide to join the war.”). I will warn you that, as would often happen in war, a great deal of the paths don’t end well – you die, your lungs are damaged for the rest of your life, etc., but they aren’t gruesome. The first time we chose a path that resulted in our character dying, my children stopped and looked at me. They don’t often (ever!) read books that don’t have happy endings, so this was a new experience. Not a bad one, though. Wars are NOT warm and fuzzy experiences, and while my natural tendency is to focus on heart-warming or heroic stories like these: the Christmas Truce of WWI, Nicholas Winton (who was responsible for the Czech Kindertransport of WWII that saved 669 children from concentration camps), or the Little Ships of Dunkirk where 700 privately owned boats (we’re talking fishing boats, ferries, and yachts) sailed across the English channel and assisted in rescuing 338,000 French and English troops who had been cut off from the rest of the forces and trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk . . . those stories aren’t representative of the whole experience. These interactive books have done a good job of helping me to really explain to my children how horrible war can be without it being a traumatizing experience. If you enjoy the Horrible Histories videos, here’s a link to a playlist of WWII related videos. While we did find these interesting, I didn’t find them to be as educational as they have been on other subjects. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBlPEcSuEfQ&list=PLFCp1PLqgPzAvbwjUFAznUUacIKf5x-Qm I find these Crash Course History videos very interesting and educational. I almost always learn something I didn’t know or hear a perspective that I haven’t thought of. For the WWII video, I’m going to say that it’s generally not appropriate for elementary-aged kiddos. Preview it and make your own call. There’s just too much about WWII that is gruesome (and captured in photo and film) for young kids, plus there’s some language and imagery here that I would prefer my kiddos not to see (and there’s so much information covered so quickly, I think they’d struggle with digesting it, anyway). For adults, and high-school students, this is just what it says – a crash course in WWII . . . There is, of course, also a crash course in WWI. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you think it’s appropriate for younger kiddos. It’s less gruesome, but still may not be something your younger children will be able to follow (or that you want them to watch). Science Here’s a way to illustrate all three of Newton’s laws of motion using matchbox cars: http://www.ehow.com/how_6872995_do-cars-teach-laws-motion_.html This video is a nice little overview of Newton’s First Law of motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHw80HXSuAQ#t=21 The following video elaborates on Newton’s first law of motion and defines and illustrates different kinds of forces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyKkyFqKbX4#t=165 Geography This awesome CC mom uses a different tune than we use in our community, but I love how she integrates hand motions into her geography songs. The hand motions often help me remember which countries are where! Week 16 Balkans: Week 15 Middle East: Fine Art I wasn’t able to find many resources for Gainsborough (week 15), but of course the resources for Monet are nearly unending! Here are my absolute favorites! I keep recommending the books and videos in this “Getting to Know . . . ” series by Mike Venezia because I think they are so good! Again, the video is just cost prohibitive to purchase (check your library!), but the book is reasonable, and Monet is an artist that you and your children will enjoy revisiting year-after-year. This is both an excellent book and video. It’s sweet with lots of great information about Monet, as told by a little girl who visits his art and his historic home. These two books were new to us, this year. They’re great for pre-school and early elementary students. They contain easily understood information about Monet on well-illustrated pages. There are more in-depth biographies at the end of both books (but if you’re family is like ours, you children start to lose interest at that point). The first book, “Monet Paints a Day” has boxes on each page that are separate from the story-line but contain great information about the artist. I liked having the option to add in more elaborate information as I read. This book was also a new discovery this year. It is EXCELLENT! Lots of good information about Monet and the Impressionist movement are woven through the story, and I loved that this book focused on paintings that we aren’t as familiar with. Biography has a nice biography and a nice brief biographical video about Monet. http://www.biography.com/people/claude-monet-9411771 This is an interesting video about Monet, that focuses on his garden at Giverny. One last note for those of you that live in the Middle Tennessee area. The Frist Center for the Arts in Nashville (free for children under 18, $10 for adults + parking) will be hosting an exhibit entitled “Looking East” through May 11, 2014. The pieces are on loan from the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. The purpose of the exhibit is to illustrate how Japanese art influenced other artists across the globe . . . after the U.S. restored trade with Japan (see Timeline Week #18). During Japan’s Isolation (see Timeline Week #15), Western artists weren’t able to see what was going on there, so after Japan re-opened its borders to the world (thanks to the work of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry, see CC History Sentence from Cycle 1, Week 10), there was a shift in modern art around 1872. How cool to see our Timeline and Fine Art illustrated for us in one place! Japanese art will be on display beside paintings and prints of Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch and the furniture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Two of those artists – Claude Monet and Edgar Degas are covered in our current (Cycle 2) fine arts! It’s rare to get to see our history grammar and art illustrated this way, so take advantage...
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About two weeks ago, our family went to the local art museum. We were there primarily to see an exhibit of Norman Rockwell’s work, but also on display was an exhibit that highlighted art by some of our country’s African American artists. We wandered through this exhibit first, and as we went along, we came to this piece. Neither of my children (5 and 7) understood the piece at all. And so, I found myself in the middle of a museum trying to explain to my children how people can choose to judge each other entirely by the outside appearance rather than by looking at the heart. Truth be told, I started explaining, but started tearing up about it (somehow having children has turned me into a really easy crier). I was EXTREMELY thankful that my husband was with us on this particular day because he took one look at me trying to breathe deeply (lest I become a true weepy mess, which NONE of us wanted. Trust me.) and just picked up where I had trailed of. So, between the two of us, we talked about racism and the Klu Klux Klan and how horribly wrong it is to make assumptions about people based on what they look like. My 5 year old looked up at us and asked “What color are WE?” It was one of those rare FANTASTIC parenting moments where I thought we’d done something right. That’s EXACTLY what I would have chosen for him to have asked. He looked down at his arm and thought for a second and said “Are we white . . . you know, white-ish?” So, I explained to him that if we had to check a box on a form, we’d probably check the “white” box. I was in the middle of following that up with something deep and meaningful when he said: “Yay! We’re white!” (and for about a second I wanted to die) And then he said: “They [meaning the KKK] couldn’t do anything like that to us, right?” And then, I just REALLY wanted to cry. Obviously, more discussion was required. It’s a hard thing to explain to a 5 year old that “couldn’t” and “probably wouldn’t” are not the same thing and that just choosing to disagree with people who use violence as their means of settling arguments might make you a target regardless of your skin color. And of course, just because someone might not treat us as badly as someone else, it’s still just wrong in the first place, and not something we want to celebrate having been spared. That kind of violence just shouldn’t happen in the first place. It was one of those days when you know that your children’s view of the world has expanded and changed . . . a lot. And it makes you sad on some levels, because you know that the world the way they knew it before that experience was much more innocent and straight-forward (and color-blind). And yet, it’s important to develop empathy and to begin to understand that life continues to be about choices and about how we choose to treat one another. That’s not something reserved just for childhood. So, even though we watched Martin Luther King Jr’s speech during the 1963 March on Washington last year on this day, this year it meant even more to me and more to my children, and my husband joined us on the couch as we watched. And we talked about how ordinary people can choose to make a difference. And about how no human being (save one, and He died on a cross 2000 years ago) is perfect, but there ARE such things as heroes, and the people who deserve that title are the ones who do the hard stuff and make the world a better place. And now, since I’m all about a good book, here’s the one we read today. Do read the reviews. There’s a shadowy drawing of a man who has been lynched. If you have very young children or aren’t ready to get into that kind of detail, this may not be the right book for you. It is a very informative book about the Civil Rights movement in general and written in a very straight-forward style.
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While there were some tough grammar areas, in my opinion, this week (English, History and Math were all just really long meaty!), I still really enjoyed it and we came up with some fun stuff to do with all of them! History Who else noticed this week that crazy, over-the-top mustaches must have been ALL the rage in Europe during WWI? I mean, SERIOUSLY the facial hair on these world leaders was crazy! There’s actually quite a bit of discussion on the internet about it, and I even read that David Lloyd George kept his specifically trimmed to a length that would not interfere with the seal on his gas mask. Crazy! So, to have a little fun with what was otherwise just a long list of names and countries, we played a little dress-up! If you’d like to download some “glasses and ‘staches” of your own, you can do so here () or by clicking the image to the right. Have some fun and learn a little history! (I added a card for Austria-Hungary in case anyone would like to use these cards next week when we discuss Axis vs. Allies). By the way, I asked my children to smile when I was taking their pictures wearing their “glasses and ‘staches” and my daughter (without changing the expression on her face or the tilt of her head) pointed to the photo of Wilson on the card in front of her and said “I can’t.” Apparently, if you’re going to wear the glasses (or ‘staches) you gotta’ wear the expression, too. Horrible Histories has done several fun videos about World War I. I haven’t watched them all. This one is an overview of what caused WWI and how Britain came to get involved: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22nITSqkQM4 This is just an interesting one about the British forces in WWI and where they were from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAA9ZVgZauA This book looks great! It does a nice little summary of the causes of WWI, and then focuses on the Christmas Day truce, a topic that always fascinates me ! We checked this book out at Christmas and I loved it (totally made me cry . . . not that that is too hard to do). It’s definitely more about the Christmas Day truce than it is about all of the details of WWI, but it’s still a wonderful little book! This is SUCH a neat concept for a book! Here’s a history of WWI where “you choose” your role as you explore the events that transpired. The excerpt from Amazon: “World War I has just exploded in Europe. The peace of the entire world is in danger. How will you help? Will you: Join the Belgian resistance movement? Fight as a British Army soldier? Serve as a volunteer with the American Field Service?” There are hardcopy versions of the book, as well as a Kindle version. Very cool! My daughter JUST finished earning the money she needed to buy her own Kindle. She’s going to love trying this book out on it! Science I didn’t find any great resources for reinforcing at, an elementary level, the difference between an acid and a base, this week. If you did, please leave me a note in the comments! I’d love to have something. One thing that might be fun this week is just to explain to the kids what happens when you combine an acid and a base. They work to neutralize each other, and as a result, sometimes the reactions are really interesting! The classic example of this in your home is Baking Soda and Vinegar. There’s a fun example of a way to show this here. Here’s some trivia that I didn’t know: Cabbage juice can be used as an indicator of whether something is an acid or a base. Apparently, this is interesting enough trivia that even Martha Stewart was willing to include it on her show (instructions at the link . . . or you can just watch the video from her show). Fine Art There’s also not a lot to say about this week’s “Artist” since he’s known better as a scientist than an artist! However, I want to take a moment and recommend this book. I was only able to find it used, but it’s a neat perspective on art appreciation and contains all of the artists we’re covering this semester except for Linnaeus. I was able to pick up a “Very Good” used copy from Amazon for about $5. The only real downside – my children have been fighting over it since it arrived. Review Games I made up a Jeopardy game board this week like the one found at this blog. Brilliant! The kids enjoyed it in class and my children loved playing today at home. Sometimes you just need to freshen things up and throw in something new and this worked perfectly! I’m so appreciative to all the other CC parents who share their ideas and creativity! This post is linked to:
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It’s January. Where did December go? It just seemed to disappear in a whirling, twirling craze of wrapping paper, lights, Christmas preparations and celebrations, late nights, little sleep, LOTS of eating out, and then . . . finally . . . we all got sick. That began on Christmas day when my little guy woke up at about 3 in the morning (around 45 minutes after my husband and I had finally collapsed into bed) with croup and a scary round of stridor. For about an hour we thought an ambulance wasn’t necessary but an emergency room visit might be inevitable. Finally, the steamy bathroom alternating with the COLD outside air eased up his airway enough that we felt okay about putting him back to bed as long as he slept with us so we could listen for him. The next morning, his breathing was still audible, so I called our pediatrician (BLESS sweet doctors who have to take calls on Christmas morning!). She called him in a prescription, which my husband went and picked up later, spending over two hours at the only pharmacy open on our side of town on Christmas day. The pharmacy is where we think my husband probably picked up the flu . . . which he started coming down with the day after Christmas. He felt yuckier and yuckier for 5 days before he began to rebound. In the meantime, my daughter and I started fighting it too, although thankfully, we never got as sick as he did. If you want a classic example of how lack of sleep and poor eating results in poor health – we were definitely it during the month of December. We got less sleep than EVER and ate out more than we probably have in a year. We are VERY, VERY rarely truly sick. Prior to this, I can’t even remember the last time we were all sick at the same time, or even had some illness that we passed amongst us. And so, it is DEFINITELY time to make a menu plan! Time to eat better, get some exercise, and regularly get some decent sleep! So, here’s the menu plan for feeding people this week: Monday Eggs, Gluten Free Pancakes, Oranges Salads and Smoothies Shepherd’s Pie from yesterday’s roast beef Tuesday Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Hummus, Chips, Apples Baked Salmon, Broccoli Wednesday Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Almond Butter & Honey Sandwiches on Gluten Free Bread Pumpkin Soup Thursday Gluten Free Banana Bread Leftover Pumpkin Soup or Hummus Pork Roast, Roast Carrots Friday Gluten Free Banana Bread Potato Soup Crockpot Pizza Pasta, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Saturday Gluten Free Applesauce Bread Leftovers Egg Drop Soup and Tuna Fried Rice Sunday Gluten Free Applesauce Bread Slow Roasted Chicken, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes Breakfast for Dinner Snacks for the week Homemade: Super Swim Bars (Granola Bars), Popped Amaranth and Bananas, Almonds and Chocolate Chips, Smoothies, Popcorn, Apples/PB/Granola Sandwiches Storebought: Fruit Pouches, Freeze-dried Fruit, Gluten Free Pretzels If you’re looking for a menu plan template, you are welcome to download one by visiting the Printables page. This post linked to:
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Welcome Back! I hope that you all had a wonderful break. We’re back in action in our Classical Conversations community this week, and although I feel a little like I’m swimming through jello trying to get myself and my family back into the routine of things, we ARE slowly getting our cylinders all fired up and in sync! Math Usually, for this week’s Math, I use a Gallon Man or Gallon Bot to reinforce the idea of liquid equivalents. There is a nice Gallon Man that someone has posted on CC Connected (C3) and there is a Gallon Bot available at Super Teacher Worksheets. What I’ve noticed about myself, however, is that it actually helps me more to SEE the liquid equivalents in action. I understand it much better when I think about it as I’m working around the kitchen. So, this time I decided to actually do a demonstration. In class, we took a gallon of water and broke it down backwards. Because of the time constraints, we were only able to do it once (I took an extra gallon pitcher to house excess water), but then were still able to use the empty containers to go over the grammar multiple times in class. At home, we’re continuing to use the same containers as we review the memory work. My children just pretend to pour the liquid the appropriate number of times. They’ve been able to remember the grammar, as well as think about the math a little more (if there are 2 cups in a pint and 2 pints in a quart, how many cups are in a quart? etc.). I think it’s been very helpful! Seeing the relative size of the containers has made the abstract concept much more concrete in their minds. Presentations I may have mentioned this before, but I like to do impromptu presentations a couple of times each year. This year, I did more planning than usual and arranged things so that we did impromptu presentations the week after coming back from each of our breaks in the Fall and Winter. I realize that sometimes the kids have GREAT things to report on from their breaks, and I would never mind a bit if someone preferred to do a prepared presentation those days, but as a parent, trying to get presentations ready those weeks always causes me a ridiculous amount of stress! It’s just like I’m not ready to start getting snacks packed, lunches packed, backpacks packed, and all the other things that go with preparing for CC Community day, and trying to get the presentations rounded up and ready on top of that is just too much for me that first week back! It always spoils my break a little. All the rest of you are probably much more pulled together than me and don’t mind it a bit, BUT I think it’s the PERFECT time to just do impromptu presentations! In the Fall, I brought in a box of random objects. This children each drew an object out of the box and did a presentation on it. Some of them were VERY creative! Kids are so awesome! Some examples of things I put in the box were: Plain paper Paper plates Egg carton Plastic cups Cotton balls Yarn/String Popsicle Sticks Dried pasta Small pieces of PVC pipe (they were actually part of a marshmallow shooter) Paper clips Buttons Paint stirrers I tried to come up with things for which I could think of at least two uses quickly and things that I thought the kids would generally be familiar with. I did this last year during second semester with abecedarians and was absolutely AMAZED at how well they did! My whole crew of 4 and 5 year olds walked up to the box, picked something out without debate or distress, walked straight to the front of the class and just talked. It just reminded me again about what a wonderful blessing CC and this presentation time each week is! This week, we used some speech prompts. The kids drew a slip of paper from a bag (I allowed them to draw 2 and choose between them) and then made their presentation. Again, I was so impressed with how well they all did! If you’d like to download the Speech Prompts we used, you’ll find them here () or on the Printables page. Timeline Here’s a pretty decent video with information about Prince Henry the Navigator. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s difficult to read some of the text aloud quickly enough. On the upside, my effort to do so totally cracked my kiddos up and they cheered for me on the shorter slides where I was able to actually read the content to them completely before they changed. You know . . . it’s good to stay humble. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/481744491361678486/ There are also some good videos and linked on the Age of Exploration and Prince Henry at this website: http://mrshuntsclassroom.weebly.com/prince-henry-the-navigator.html One of the copies of the Gutenberg Bible is on display in the Library of Congress. We were able to see it when we went to DC last spring. It really is an amazing thing to behold! Especially since it’s displayed across from the Giant Bible of Mainz, which looks very similar and was handwritten in the same town of Mainz, Germany around the same time that Gutenberg was printing his Bibles. It took over a year for the handwritten Mainz Bible to be completed. Our tour guide told us 150 copies of Gutenberg’s Bible were probably completed in about the same time period. Fascinating! It’s definitely a must see (in my book) on your next trip to Washington DC. The Library of Congress, as a whole, was my favorite part of our last trip there! This book on Gutenberg is great, but it looks like only used copies are available via Amazon (check your local library!). History I have 2 books to recommend this week relating to our history grammar. The first, in particular, is great! It contains a section on Gutenberg (this week’s timeline) as well as one on James Watt. It’s written comic book style, and the histories are brief, but well done and interesting. I thought this video was an interesting overview of the Industrial Revolution. My 5 and 7 year old were not as enamored. To quote my very tactful 7 year-old: “He blabbed on too much.” It is a little longer, and moves a bit quickly for younger children. Probably best for middle school and up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL5DCizj5c&list=PLyJ7dOFH6lMl6IFcAakji3OaMe63SHgmx&index=3 Science I found several videos this week. This first one is the very best one that I found for discussing all 4 states of matter. At 2:50, there is a vague reference to the Big Bang (a large amount of energy converts to matter). Near the end, there is a tie in to the definition of inertia, which will be coming up in our Science grammar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88tK5c0wgH4 Cute video excerpt from the Zula Patrol cartoon. Does a nice (quick) overview of 3 of the states of matter. Great for preschoolers and early elementary age children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xDNJSMikBo&list=PLyJ7dOFH6lMl6IFcAakji3OaMe63SHgmx&index=11 This is an excellent video on 3 of the states of matter, filmed in a glass studio. Excellent for early elementary and up. There is some non-narrated text that will need to be read aloud for non-readers (or slower readers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAPc6JH85pM&list=PLyJ7dOFH6lMl6IFcAakji3OaMe63SHgmx&index=1 Since the two videos above only discuss solids, liquids, and gases, we need to give plasma some attention! This video offers a good overview of what plasma is and where it can be found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2osF6l6-zWg Fine Art I’ve created some artist bios with examples of their artwork and have uploaded them to C3. Link is here for those of you with access to C3. I adore the”Getting to Know” series written by Mike Venezia. There are books on SO many artists and other famous historical figures and they are written in an extremely approachable way. There are also videos on many, but not all, of the individuals. Rembrandt is one for whom there is a book and a video and I would HIGHLY recommend them both. The book is very reasonably priced on Amazon. The videos are cost prohibitive (I can only assume that they expect well-funded school and library systems to shell out big bucks), so if you’re able to find it at your local library snag it! They are SO good! Here are two websites with good links to Rembrand bios and artwork: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/rembrandt http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/ A very brief video studying one of Rembrandt’s self portraits. This is a particularly good video choice if your community chose to sketch self-portraits for art for this week. Good for all ages: http://www.nga.gov/education/timetravel/faces.shtm My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE thing to recommend this week is this video. I love a good flash mob video! This is a flash mob sponsored by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to publicize a Rembrandt exhibition that included his most famous work – The Night Watch. It really is very cool! Be sure and pause it after the frame falls down and see if your children can see the characters from the original painting. It’s a fun way to really take some time to examine the artwork. This post is linked to:
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Welcome to Day 23 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Our LAST in the Jesse Tree series. We hope that you have enjoyed them as much as we have enjoyed doing them! The podcast will be up on this post later today, but I wanted to go ahead and get the devotional guide and ornament out there for anyone that wanted it. I’m sure the next 24+ hours will be very busy for everyone! You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 23 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 23 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 22 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! We seem to have hit the perfect storm of craziness around here over the last day or two. Sunday was our church Christmas program, in which (somehow) our entire family had a role to play (or two). As we were leaving for the program Sunday afternoon, we discovered that one of our computers (the one we use to edit the Jesse Tree podcasts) wouldn’t come up. It was hand delivered on Monday morning to the IT guy, who will hopefully be able to work his magic with it, but it wasn’t a quick fix. Shortly after my husband left to drop off the computer, our internet went down and stayed down for most of the day. A service tech had to come out and it took him over two hours (and two new modems) to get it back up and running again. And of course, there’s actual business-related work and the normal pre-holiday cleaning, shopping, baking, etc. to be done! Whew! Please forgive us for being tardy in posting our Jesse Tree updates! If you’ve been joining us, we’re so glad you have! This devotional series has been a blessing to my children and we hope it’s been a blessing to you and yours, as well! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 22 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 22 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 21 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 21 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 21 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 20 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 20 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 20 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 19 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. Today is our last day in the Old Testament and we’re reading from the book of Habakkuk. Well . . . reading and and little bit of singing. My daughter thought the verses that she was reading sounded more like a song, and when she got to the end of the chapter she discovered that Habakkuk actually added a note that seems to indicate it was indeed a song! So . . . you’ll get a little free form singing if you listen to this podcast! Of course, you’re welcome to just read (and sing) it for yourself! You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 19 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 19 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 18 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 18 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 18 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 17 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 17 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 17 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 16 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 16 by clicking the image below (or here:) Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 16 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 15 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 15 by clicking the image below (or here:). Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 15 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 14 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 14 by clicking the image below (or here:). Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 14 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 13 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! For those of you who have been listening to the podcast, I just want to thank you so much for letting my family come into your home everyday! Presenting this Bible study for kids every day has been a tremendous blessing to my children and they are thrilled at the thought that there are other children out there participating with them! If you haven’t been listening (or doing a Jesse Tree study of your own), this halfway point is an EXCELLENT place to jump in. Today we’re talking about the basis of “The Jesse Tree” and just how BIG God’s plan is! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 13 by clicking the image below (or here:). Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 13 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 12 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 12 by clicking the image below (or here:). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 12 Podcast:
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I don’t know if any of you have picked up on this yet . . . but we like games around here. We like them so much that I think I’ve mentioned games about a million times on the blog already. I’ve mentioned them here and here and here, and that doesn’t even count the homeschool-related posts I’ve mentioned them in. So . . . yep. There’s no doubt about it. We definitely like games. I’m always looking for great games to add to our collection, and it’s not unusual for a game or two to show up around here on any of the occasions that call for gift-giving. My kids really don’t mind at all if a game is educational, as long as it’s fun. Consequently, we own a LOT of educational games. Especially math games. I separated the games earlier this year so that the ones that are more for pure fun are down with the toys and the ones that are more educational are with our school stuff. It hasn’t made a bit of difference. The kids just pull out what they’re in the mood for. The educational ones come out every bit as often as the others. Since we’re talking about math games here, I’ll remind you just for reference that my children are currently 7 and 5. Here are some of our absolute favorite math-related games: Math Game #1: Dino Math Tracks. We’ve owned this game for at least two years. It teaches place value up to the 1000s. My children LOVE this game. The game can be played multiple ways depending on the age and ability of the child. Math Game #2: Sum Swamp. This game gets played around here ALL.THE.TIME. At least once a week I come in and discover that my children are playing this one. Usually at the dining room table. And, usually someone is SITTING on the dining room table. We’re raising great game players around here, but respect for furniture and a general knowledge of manners is really lacking. I try not to fuss too much, since they are voluntarily electing to do math. This game is a great introduction (or reinforcement) of the basics of addition and subtraction. It has simple rules and play is generally pretty quick. A single round usually lasts under 20 minutes. My children often play more than one before moving on. Math Game #3 Money Bags. This is a great game for learning about the value of coins and how to combine them. You earn money by landing on the labeled spaces and spin to see what kind of coins you’re allowed to receive from the bank. Then, you have to figure out how to combine the permitted coins in order to collect your wages. We’ve owned this game for a while, but this year we finally hit the right age for playing it, and it’s become very popular around here. They’ve gotten much better at calculating with coins! Math Game #4 4-Way Count Down. This is a great game! It’s easily transported and easily stored. It can be used for kids of a HUGE variety of ages and skill-sets. We typically play a simple addition version with my son, but you can play with addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division (or any combination). This is a handy game to carry with you when you want to keep a child entertained. It’s about the size of a large book. The only loose pieces are the dice, and they get rolled within the game box, so there’s very little that can get lost. Our only suggestion for improving the game would be to put a piece of felt down in the center of the box to make rolling the dice quieter. Other than that, this is nearly the PERFECT game! Math Game #5 Math Dice. Another simple and well designed game for reinforcing mental math. To play, you roll the odd sided white die to reveal a number. Then, roll the five regular (colored) dice to give you a set of numbers. You must use one or more of the numbers shown on the colored dice to make the first number. You move one space for every colored dice you use to arrive at the correct answer, so you gain points for making your solution more complicated. This is another game that can be played with a younger child using just addition (this is how we typically play with my son) or with an older child using all four operations and reinforcing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in the process. The game comes with a storage bag and is small enough to stick in your purse and carry with you for playing on the run. However, rolling the dice is part of the game and you do have to keep an eye on the trajectory of the dice (I have some crazy dice rollers, so I speak from experience!) in order to keep from losing any when you’re out and about! I know you’re thinking that I can’t possibly come up with any more games to recommend, but I can! We seriously LOVE games! And while we’ve had our fair share of duds around here, I won’t share those with you. For now, this post is PLENTY long, so I’ll save some of my non-math related games for another time! In the meantime, if you’ve got great math game recommendations, I am anxious to hear them! Please add them in the comments so I can go and check them out! And, if you’re interested in some of the things that have been successes around here that AREN’T games . . . you can always check out this page! .
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Welcome to Day 11 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 11 by clicking the image below (or here:). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 11 Podcast:
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I’ve done a TERRIBLE job of menu planning the past couple of weeks and as a result we’ve eaten out too much and just eaten REALLY, REALLY badly. Time to get back on track! So, here’s the menu plan for feeding people this week: Monday Cold Cereal Apple, PB, Granola Sandwiches (or Banana PB Dogs) Classical Conversations Tutor Party, so Daddy’s handling dinner for the kiddos Tuesday Oatmeal Hummus, Chips, Apples Out Wednesday Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Roasted Chicken with Roasted Butternut Squash and Green Beans Community Dinner at Church Thursdsay Leftover Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Crockpot Beans and GF Cornbread Shrimp and Alfredo Pasta Friday Gluten Free Pancakes BBQ Chicken Pizza on Gluten Free Pizza Crust Tostadas with Beef and Refried Beans Saturday Leftover Gluten Free Pancakes Potato Soup Roast Sunday Baked Oatmeal Black Bean Soup Breakfast for Dinner Snacks for the week Homemade: Super Swim Bars (Granola Bars), Popped Amaranth and Bananas, Almonds and Chocolate Chips, Smoothies, Popcorn, Apples/PB/Granola Sandwiches Storebought: Fruit Pouches, Freeze-dried Fruit, Gluten Free Pretzels If you’re looking for a menu plan template, you are welcome to download one by visiting the Printables page. This post linked to:
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Welcome to Day 10 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 10 by clicking the image below (or here:). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 10 Podcast:
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Welcome to Day 9 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 9 by clicking the image below (or here:). Note: In today’s podcast, the kiddos are quoting the 10 Commandments as they learned them for our homeschool group this past year (I’ll put in a plug here for our wonderful Classical Conversations community!). Normally, our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 9 Podcast:
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So here’s the thing: my kids don’t believe in Santa. At least, not as far as I know. My daughter (7), the cynic of the family, absolutely definitely does not believe in anything make believe whatsoever. She also never talked back to Dora the Explorer or bought into the idea that anyone on the other side of the TV screen was actually speaking directly to her or could hear or see her. Even as a teeny tiny toddler, she never once did what any of her beloved characters on TV asked her to unless I prompted her. And, while she would happily sit in front of the TV all day if I let her, proving she’s perfectly happy to hang out in fantasy-land, she just seems to separate reality from fiction very clearly in her little brain. When she has asked me about the existence of the man with the beard in the red suit, my response was “What do you think?” She didn’t think he did. And, she and I are both okay with that. My response to my son (5) has been the same, but he’s the dreamer. When he asks me if pirates and witches are real, he really wants to know . . . because he’s just not sure. And when I say, “Well, not in the way that you’re imagining them,” because I feel like that is the most truthful response, I’m not sure that I’ve provided him any clarity on the subject whatsoever. There have been times in the past when we’ve discussed Santa and other holiday characters. On those occasions, he seems to have arrived at the conclusion that they are just fun make-believe in which much of the world enjoys participating. This is the philosophy I preach to his serious and cynical sister out of my extreme fear that she will spoil someone else’s fun. But, there are other times with my son when we have had conversations about dinosaurs being extinct and I see the logic side of his brain accept that and yet moments later when the animatronic dinosaur we’ve been standing in front of moves, some other portion of his heart or head has kicked in and he has doubted what we’ve just discussed. So, as for him, and what he really thinks is real and not real in that precious head of his . . . I just don’t know. What I do know is what’s important to me. What’s important to me is just that I’m truthful with them. That doesn’t mean that I sit my tiny kiddos down and lecture them about truth vs. fiction. It doesn’t mean that we forego pictures with Santa, Easter Baskets, or token monetary gifts in exchange for baby teeth. It just means that when they ask, I give them honest answers. And when they don’t ask, I don’t make things up to fill the space. Although, I will say that my daughter and I do now have a wink-wink nod-nod thing going about the tooth fairy. But, it’s because she knows exactly who is delinquent in retrieving her tooth and depositing monetary gifts under her pillow that she’s able to giggle at me when I discuss the tooth fairy’s forgetful nature and say “Oh, M-omm, cut it out.” I choose to approach Santa, elves, bunnies, and fairies like I approach shots, yucky medicine, anatomy, sex, death and pretty much anything else when it comes to my kiddos: I just tell them the truth. It’s just SO much easier on my simple brain. I don’t dump lots of information on them that they don’t need at this age and I do struggle sometimes with how to tell them things gently and in ways that (hopefully) will require as few future therapy sessions as possible, but when I tell my daughter, “I will always be honest with you” I mean it. To my core. I will joke and tease and say things sarcastically, but my children will know when I am truthful and when I am choosing not to be for fun. At this point, I can’t tell that this makes a bit of difference to my son. But, I can absolutely tell with my daughter. Being able to believe in that truth means something to her. My sense is that it will mean more, not less, as she gets older and things get more complicated than fairies and bunnies. Because (and this is the bottom line for me), when I tell my kids that something bigger than their imagination and more impossible to picture than Santa Claus exists, I want them to believe me. Because God is real. And to a kid, God looks a lot like Santa.
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Welcome to Day 8 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. Today’s Bible story is about Joseph. There are so many parallels between the story of Joseph and the story of Jesus. The Jesus Storybook Bible says it so well: Like Joseph, he would leave his home and his Father. His brothers would hate him and want him dead. He would be sold for pieces of silver. He would be punished even though he had done nothing wrong. Thinking about those similarities also reminded me of a book that I’ve been meaning to read for some time – Raising a Modern Day Joseph. I’ve probably owned it for 3 years, ever since I heard the author speak, but it’s never made it up to the top of the stack on my nightstand. The question the book tries to answer is – How do we raise a child who can head out into the the current culture as a teenager and choose to continue to serve God? Can we raise children who can do what Joseph was able to do? I’m moving the book to the top of the stack. Actually, I’ve cleaned off my nightstand and there is no stack, just one lone book. So this book‘s chances of getting read have improved dramatically. Plus, my children are three years older than they were when I purchased it, and I’m more interested than ever in knowing what kind of wisdom it can impart. Back to the Jesse Tree! You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 8 by clicking the image below (or here:). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Daily Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 8 Podcast:
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We have had a LOT of building toys around our house over the years! Here are some of our very favorites, which would make great gift ideas! Building Toy Gift Idea #1: We gave this set of Tomy Contructables to our little boy when he was 2 1/2. At that age, we did most of the constructing, but he loved to “help” and he was fully enamored with the idea of constructing something that actually moved. This set is durable, comes with easy instructions for building multiple types of vehicles, and the parts are large enough to be handled by a toddler/young preschooler. This has continued to be a toy that he pulls out, although I think that at 5 1/2 he has really aged beyond it. Still, it’s a toy that has help up beautifully for all this time and consistently been entertaining. The box is large enough to stuff all the pieces back into and stores nicely on our shelves. My only complaint about the toy was that the motor was designed to make a clicking sound (why on earth?), but we weren’t the first to be annoyed by it and one of the other reviewers on Amazon had figured out a very simple fix. My husband followed their lead and we’ve enjoyed the toy very much ever since! There’s apparently even a dinosaur set out there now and the pieces are interchangeable! Building Toy Gift Idea #2: Here’s another fun building set that has stood the test of time: Wedgits. We’ve had this set since the time our children were 4 and 2 and they still enjoy pulling it out and playing with it. The pieces are large and easily handled by a young child. They can be put together very simply or constructed into more complicated patterns. Like most building block sets, the more pieces you have, the more you can build with it. You can follow the book or get creative. This toy has held up beautifully! My only complaint about it is that it you’ll need to come up with some storage for it. The box it comes in is not designed to house it for the long-haul. Building Toy Gift Idea #3: My sister and her family gave this Castle Building Block set to my son about a year ago. We’ve had LOTS of building block sets around here (also Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, etc) and this has definitely been the most popular and played with set! Both of my children love to get this set out and either build a castle together or work on their own individual creations. It also worked out really nicely with that our Classical Conversations homeschool group studied the Medieval Period this year! These block are really simple and basic, but they just look so nice that they make a the most simple structure look cool! This is a set that you’ll need to plan on some storage for (Can you tell that makes a difference to me when it comes to toys? I must have some sort of issue that probably requires therapy to deal with. My house is not perfectly neat and organized, by the way. Far from it.).
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Welcome to Day 7 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 7 by clicking the image below (or here: ). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 7 Podcast:
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Here are reviews of 3 great games for children gift ideas! All of these are small and transported pretty easily. Games for Children#1: Uno to Go This is a brilliantly designed set of Uno cards! This is exactly the same as your standard Uno game, except that the cards are laminated. The lamination is such that the cards hold up EXTREMELY well under a LOT of circumstances: Playing beside the pool, at the beach, or on a boat. Playing with a child who tends to bend cards (these cards are NOT easily bent!) Playing and eating, especially with children. These cards wipe clean in a flash! Playing anywhere on the run. I kept this deck of cards in the bottom of my purse (a TERRIFYING place, if I do say so) for 2 or 3 weeks and they looked just as good at the when I pulled them out to play with at my parents’ home for Thanksgiving as they did when I threw them in my purse to take to entertain my son somewhere all those weeks earlier. When I purchased these, I was concerned about how well they would shuffle because of the lamination. I needn’t have worried. I actually think they shuffle more smoothly than most regular decks of cards. My ONLY real complaint about these cards is the plastic ring they come with to keep them together. It’s very difficult to get them on and off. There are lots of alternatives to that, though, so the problem is easily solved. Games for Children #2: Rush Hour Thinkfun has a lot of excellent games on the market, but this is one of our favorites. The game is called Rush Hour Jr., and while the manufacturer recommended age is 6 and up, our son has been interested in playing since he was 4 and increasingly adept at playing since he turned 5. To play, you set up the board as shown on one of the various challenge cards (which are colored and numbered based on their level of difficulty). You then slide the cars around in order to free the ice cream truck from traffic. It’s a lot of fun, comes with a storage bag, and travels pretty nicely. I do wish that the cards stored in a drawer underneath the game board instead of in a paper card box (they do with the adult version of the game, which is also lots of fun . . . we owned it for years before we had children. It’s great on car rides. For children, of course, the hazard of playing this in a car is that they pieces fall to the floor or beneath/between seats, but for adults it’s great road trip entertainment!) Game for Children #3: Othello One game my children (ages 5 and 7) have REALLY enjoyed playing lately is Othello. It’s a game that is fairly easy to explain and, much like checkers, can be played with a very simple play-by-play strategy, or with a more complicated forward-thinking strategy. My children have enjoyed playing against a parent, as well as playing against each other unassisted. It looks like this version of the game is really no longer available. There’s nothing particularly special about this version. The newer version made by Mattel comes with covers for the chips so that the board and chips can be self-contained, which would be nice! For other gift and game reviews that have been posted on the blog, check out this page! .
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Welcome to Day 6 of the Crazy Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! Today’s podcast is available at the bottom of this post and on iTunes. If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 6 by clicking the image below (or here: ). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 6 Podcast:
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For this gift ideas and review post, I thought I’d give you a little feed back on a type of toy we’ve had at least three different versions of around our house over the past few years: Marble Runs. A Good Gift Idea We began our experience with marble ones with one like this one (although it was NOT this brand). My son really enjoyed it, and I think it’s actually still here at the house somewhere. The problem with this particular set was that it was too complicated and wobbly for a child under 5 to put together on his own. The age recommendations on these are usually 3 and up, and while that’s a great age to enjoy playing with the ASSEMBLED marble run, children of that age are going to need quite a bit of hands on assistance getting the run assembled in the first place, and reassembled after it gets bumped into and knocked over or knocked apart by the child playing with it. It’s also just complicated to figure out how to put these together, especially for a younger child. It’s not a bad toy at all, but it just wasn’t the marble run experience we were really looking for. A Better Gift Idea Marble runs in general still appealed to us as a toy. I love the idea of assembling and thinking through the physics of a marble run, plus they’re just plain fun! So, we decided to try a more classic approach and go with a wooden set. This is a VERY nice marble run and it’s a set we plan to keep for a long time, but again, it was a set we really purchased too soon. We’ve had it for 3 years and my children (now 5 and 7) are just now becoming able to really play with it by themselves. So, if you’re thinking about a wooden set like this one, definitely wait until a child is at least 5 or 6 to invest in one. There’s no need to be in a hurry. They are really beautiful sets and can be enjoyed for years to come. The Best Gift Idea And finally, I happened to find these marble runs by Mindware earlier this year. These are GREAT, and perfect for kids of lots of ages. They are sturdy and not easily knocked over. The pieces are of a uniform size, so they fit together fairly easily and can be handled by small hands. Like most marble runs, they come with a few suggested runs to build, but they also leave plenty to the imagination. We have thoroughly enjoyed ours! My only complaint about the product is the packaging, which was obviously designed to appeal to adults and not to children. The packaging makes the toy look a whole lot less fun than it really is! On the other hand, I do like the shape of the box and I appreciate that it’s sturdy and the toy packs back into it with very little effort, and it can be stored on a shelf more easily than the two runs that I mentioned above. Those are all nice features in my book. There are also multiple sets of runs (at varying price points) made my Mindware, and the pieces are interchangeable, so if you enjoy one set, it’s something that can be added to and expanded upon to give you more options. So, while really any of these three marble runs would make a nice gift for someone, my favorite, especially for children in the 4-8 year old range, would be the Q-BA-Maze by Mindware.
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Yay! We’ve made to Day 5 of our Kids Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series! If you (or you and your kids) are following along with us, we hope you’re enjoying it as much as we are. I really feel like the chance to hit the highlights of God’s story over this period of advent really helps cement into my children’s hearts and minds the idea that God always, always, always wants us to be with Him; to be a part of His story. I don’t understand why God made human beings in the first place (it’s the number one question on my list!), but I believe wholeheartedly that He did and that He has loved us from the beginning and will love us to the end. He loves us with a never changing, unending love that we can’t possibly fully understand. He wants us to have a chance to be redeemed and restored to Him. From the very first time that people chose to disobey Him, He has had a plan to win us back. While that plan doesn’t end with Jesus’ birth, taking the time this month to walk through the Old Testament and into the New and see how God fulfills promise after promise, how He uses the smallest and most insignificant characters in important ways to accomplish His purposes, and how He loves us . . . really LOVES us, is so precious. Our children could cover all those same lessons in a Sunday Bible class, and probably have, but reading and listening to them one day after another helps them to see the pattern of love and care that God has woven so delicately into His story. By the way, if you’re looking for a Bible Storybook to use with younger children, I cannot recommend the Jesus Storybook Bible enough. While I am THRILLED that my children are now both reading well enough to read an actual Bible on their own (see comment below about the CEB version that our family enjoys using), we used the Jesus Storybook Bible for our devotional time (sporadic though it was) last year and it is wonderful on SO many levels. I had thought my children were getting a little old for a storybook Bible when I happened to see a copy of the Jesus Storybook Bible with audio CDs on sale at one of the booths at our local homeschool convention. We love to listen to audio books around here, so I decided to go ahead and purchase it just to have those to add to our listening collection. I’m so very glad that I did! The narrator on the CDs is WONDERFUL and the illustrations in the Storybook Bible are just really beautiful. It’s called the Jesus Storybook Bible because it shows the story of Jesus all through the Bible and it does a lovely and touching job of doing so. One of my favorite stories in it is “The Girl No One Wanted,” which is the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah. I don’t think I’ve ever read the story of Leah in another Bible Storybook and it is handled in such a wonderful way in this one, that I came to better understand and appreciate her story myself. I want to give every new mom I know a copy of this beautiful book (along with the CDs!). There are also videos and and a DVD now. Some of the videos from the DVD are available for viewing on the publisher’s youtube channel. So, I’ll say again what I’ve said before: don’t worry if you’re joining the Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series in progress . . . just jump on in and start wherever you’d like! If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. The latest podcast is at the bottom of this post. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 5 by clicking the image to the right (or here: ). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 5 Podcast:
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Welcome back! Or, if you’re joining us for the first time . . . Welcome! Don’t worry if you’re joining the Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree series in progress . . . just jump on in and start wherever you’d like! If you’d like access to all the podcasts, devotional guides, and ornaments from the beginning, you can click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’s also where you’ll find the link to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, if you’d like to do that. The latest podcast is at the bottom of this post. You can download the devotional guide and printable ornament for Day 4 by clicking the image to the right (or here). Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 4 Podcast:
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Thank you so much for checking out the Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree Podcast! If you happen to want to subscribe directly to the podcast via iTunes, or you want to catch up from the beginning, OR you want to see the downloadable files all in one place . . . just click on the “Podcasts” heading up on the menu. That’ll be your one-stop shopping (free shopping; the best kind!) for the Jesse Tree series. The latest podcast is at the bottom of this post. We rolled back into town from our Thanksgiving trip on Saturday night and quickly recorded the first podcast before putting the kids to bed for the night, so we’re running a little bit behind schedule on our Jesse Tree plans (we’re also running behind on laundry, our house is still decorated for fall, not Christmas, and we’re slacking on all sorts of other things . . . but I digress). Last night, before bed, the kiddos got to work painting a tree on our back door for us to hang our Jesse Tree ornaments on. This won’t be the first time over the past couple of years that we’ve needed to hang up more than one Jesse Tree ornament at a time. It used to drive me crazy if I couldn’t start something and have it be perfect from the beginning. And when things didn’t go along as planned and on schedule, it would cause me to be stressed or discouraged. This need for perfection was a real problem, especially when it came to homeschooling. Thankfully, I’ve discovered that it matters a lot more to me than it does to the kids. And, if I’ll just jump in and get going, we can usually make adjustments along the way that make things even better than I intended. When we put up a backlog of Jesse Tree ornaments, we review God’s story from the beginning. The kids tell me which part of the story each one represents and we have a chance to make sure that things we’ve talked about have really registered. It’s great! No perfection required. So, if you’re behind, or just jumping in on Day 3, no worries. Just get going. There’s no reason you have to go back and start at the beginning unless you just want to. While I’m on the subject of “Lessons Learned” let me tell you one we learned while my husband edited today’s podcast: We need to have a little discussion with our sweet, precious daughter about not editing God’s word, at least not without letting people know. After reading and recording one section of her verses for today, she mentioned being concerned that some of the kids listening wouldn’t understand what she was reading. We told her it was fine and that they’d be talking about it after reading and that would help clear up anything that was confusing. My husband realized, LONG after her bedtime, when he was editing the podcast, that she’d already tried to “help” the kids out there out by changing some of the wording in ways she thought was helpful. We felt like her changes weren’t particularly critical and decided not to wake her up to re-record. If you and your children are following along in your own Bibles, it might be a good exercise in checking what you hear against what the Bible really says! You can download the devotional guide and ornament for Day 3 by clicking on the image to the left or here: And you can page on down to find today’s podcast at the end of the end of this post. Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 3 Podcast:
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Wow! I was blown away by the reaction yesterday to the kids’ first podcast of their Daily Devotional Jesse Tree series! I’m so thankful that so many of you checked it out! Today’s podcast is at the bottom of this post. Our hope is really just that you find something in the podcast or the printable devotional that will work for your family and make this a special season. For that reason, please use the podcast and the printable in anyway that works for you, like: Just let your kids listen to the podcast by itself over breakfast or lunch or in the car in route somewhere. Do nothing else. It’s okay. Don’t listen to the podcast at all, because you don’t find the sound of my children’s voices and early-reader efforts as charming as I do (what??? no way!! what’s wrong with you people?). In that case, just use the printable devotional guide and do you own thing. Use them both, make an amazing wall-art Jesse Tree and send me pictures so that I can be both impressed and jealous. Or, you know, whatever. My prayer is just that it’s helpful to you in some way! If you’d like to subscribe directly to the podcast, you can do so in iTunes, by clicking on the cover art to the right. Of course, you’re welcome to keep coming here to the blog. We’ll post the podcast here daily, along with the printable devotional guide and ornament. My kids gave each other the cutest high-fives this morning when they heard the finished podcast on the blog. They are really getting a kick out of this whole thing, so thanks for letting us share it with you! One of the questions I was asked yesterday was whether or not you can download the entire printable devotional series at once. Ummmm . . . thanks for thinking that I’ve got things together enough to actually have it all ready to go. I’ve obviously got you fooled. We fly by the seats of our pants around here, and I often tell people that I can only operate 12 hours in advance. 12 hours. That’s not really “in advance,” actually. That’s more like operating in real time. So, bear with me while I crank these out a day at a time this month. Next year, they’ll be all ready to go at the beginning of December. Maybe. Knowing me, I’ll decide to change something. Speaking of the devotional guide, you can download it and ornament for Day 2 by clicking on the image below. And you can page on down to find today’s podcast at the end of the end of this post. Note: Our kiddos are going to be reading from the Common English Bible (CEB). We love this version because, while it’s a translation and not a paraphrase, it uses language that is approachable and more easily understood by our children. My husband and I like the translation for ourselves as well, and we enjoy all being able to open our Bibles (hard copies and iPad versions) and read from the same translation. Today’s Kids’ Bible Devotional Jesse Tree, Day 2 Podcast:
The post Crazy Kids Bible Devotional: Jesse Tree Day 2 appeared first on My Favorite Kind of Crazy.