Month: January 2011

Support For Home Schoolers

I received an e-mail from a Mommy Teacher User who was asking for ideas to ease the home school process.  When I tried to respond there was an error with her e-mail address; so, I decided to share my thoughts with all of the Mommy (and Daddy) Teachers out there.

On the “Getting Started” page of my website, each subject matter follows a sequence of children’s development.  Each activity has ideas on how to make learning FUN for kids.  But one thing that I noticed makes learning easier is when you include another child (or more) because children become more engaged with social influence.  Activities become more like games with their peers, and adding the social development factor is KEY for home schooled children anyhow.  Pair up with another homeschooling mom (two, or three!) and take turns teaching activities… if that is an option. 

I have A LOT of ideas…I’d love to share more if you can send me some additional info, for example: What types of activities and content have you been working on with your child so far (ABC’s, Numbers, etc.)?  How much time do you spend on each activity?  Do you follow a curriculum?  Is she the only child you home school?

Let me know any other ways that I can help!

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Make A Name Chart

A lot of children want to know how to write someone’s name. They go around with a pen and paper and ask you how to spell whatever they want to write at the moment. Instead of telling them the letter, give them clues instead: the first letter makes the sound /b/, it is the second letter in the alphabet, it comes after the letter “A”, it starts with the same sound as ball, etc. 

Another way you can help them is to have them reference a Name Chart.  In my classroom, I used to make a Name Chart so that the children could compare the length of their names, the letters in their names, etc.  I would let them write each letter of their name, cut it our, and past it in letter order on the chart.  The children loved to use this to help them write their friend’s names when they drew a picture of their friend. 

But this can also be done in your house as a writing prompt.  Make it as a family and post it in the playroom or your child’s bedroom. 

1. Instead of buying and using a posterboard to display the names and faces just make a word document!

2. Insert a table if you would like to have the “numbers” row; don’t if you dont care for the way it looks.

3.  Insert a picture from a file and crop it until it shows only one face of a family member, friend, or pet.

4.  Ask your child help you find the letters on the keyboard as you type the names beside each picture.

5.  Print it, post it and voila (“there you have it”) a complete work of chART 🙂

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Count The Words

First, let me just say that the full title of this post would be “Count The Words In A Sentence” BUT I don’t want you to assume that your little one understands what a “word” is or a “sentence” is for that matter.

If you were to open a book to any random page and ask your child to “point to a letter” he/she probably could do it if you have practiced letters a lot.  But if you asked your little one to point to a word, sentence, or certain punctuation mark, your child might be very confused.  That is because understanding those concepts of print takes a lot of familiarity in every day reading practice.

In fact, your child is NOT going to learn what a word is or a sentence is in this activity, as far as pointing to them in a book goes.  Today is a LISTENING activity for reading.

You are going to tell your little one that today we are going to play a listening game where he/she listens to you tell stories and your little one is going to count how long or short your stories are.

“First I am going to talk about you.

YOU…….are…….awesome!

That time, I used THREE words to talk about you….listen again and count on your fingers with me:

You (hold up one finger)……..are (hold up another)………awesome (hold up a third).

Now listen to the way I describe you this time and try to count on your fingers how many words I use to talk about you:

You…..have….blue….eyes.

Did you hear how many words I used? Let’s count….”

Repeat this listening activity until your little one is making up his/her own sentences and telling you how long or short they are. 

Make this an everyday activity…how many words can we use to talk about our puppy? Or baby? Etc.

***An extension to this activity is to use cubes to represent each word in the sentence.  This will give your little one hands-on and visual practice to really see how long or short the sentences are!

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Patterns Round 3

Maybe you took my advice and purchased some cubes, maybe you didn’t haha, but that’s okay, we’ll try to work with what you have.  All that to say, today, I want you using different color cubes (blocks, LEGO’s or something that can attach together) to represent the movement patterns we have been developing over the last couple pattern lessons. 

If you read the post “Math On My Fingers” you might remember the “I do, we do, you do” teacher strategy.  First you will model an example of how to do the activity, then you will do one with your little one, and then you will see if he/she can do one on his own.

Pour out the blocks on the floor/table in the room you are working.  Start out with a movement pattern.  “I am going to make a pattern with my hands, can you join me when you think you know what it is: (snap, clap, snap, clap, snap, clap….). Good job! How many different motions did I do with my hands? (wait for a response) Well, let’s see, I snapped and I clapped…..so, I did two different things with my hands.  So I am going to pick two different colors and I’m going to try to make that pattern by snapping them together and repeating it over and over just like my sounds (build a tower like this: red, blue, red, blue, etc.).  See, if I were to read the colors it would sound just like my movement pattern: snap, clap, snap, clap.  Do you think you can make my pattern with two different colors?  I’ll help you 🙂

Let’s try one together with new motions and new colors.

Finally, can you make one up all by yourself?

This should be the sequence of the activity.  If you have ANY problems, questions, or roadblocks, please

I’d love to help in any way I can.

But remember to make it fun, keep the duration as long (or short) as their attention span can handle, and practice this same skill over and over again before you move on to the next pattern skill 🙂

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Stamp Book

Today we are going to combine a writing and a reading activity to make one meaningful experience.

If you read the post “Tracing Stamps” this is an extension activity of that article.   If you haven’t read it, don’t miss out~see what it’s all about  🙂

If you don’t have stamps, or the money to buy these stamps, you can just as easily download the “trace font for kids” for free (click on my link or type it into google), then you will just type the words that your little one will trace into a word document.  Or, you can even make your own dot-to-dot letters for your little one to trace if you are feeling super frugal! 

This activity is a book that I made with my friend’s children.  It is a “My Family” book about the people most important to your little one.

I simply:

1.  Took 3 pieces of paper (you may need more if you have several family members), stacked them on top of each other, and folded them in half; stapling them on the folded edge. 

2.  Asked the little ones to help me find the letters to stamp and trace the book’s title, “My Family” as well as each member of the family on the corresponding pages.  As a side note, allow them to include pets if they consider them family. 🙂

3.  Helped the little ones draw a picture of each person or pet.  Read the “Drawing a Person” post for tips and pointers.

4.  Read the finished product to the “author” of this book, and then asked them to read it back to me.

 

This activity is a great way to practice fine motor skills, writing meaninful words, practice drawing, practice sounding out words (if you accomodate the activity for that purpose), practice finding letters from the stamp collection (letter identification), practice directionalilty (placing the letters in order from left to right on the page), and practice letter formation.

As always, have fun!

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