I have officially joined the masses. Natalie is going to a “real” school tomorrow from 9am all the way to 3:30pm! What will I do without her? 🙁

Remember when I mentioned being on a waiting list for a Montessori school? That’s the charter school that happened to have an opening….Swan River Montessori (it’s named after the numerous Swans that migrate to the nearby Mississippi).

She is very excited…and nervous. So I guess anxious really. Her biggest worry: meeting friends. I thought school was about learning…I forget it’s so much more about friends at this age! I told her all she has to do is be a friend to make friends…which will be no trouble for my sweet girl.
Within a couple hours of receiving the call this morning Natalie had already picked out her “first day of school outfit” complete with matching necklace, dusted off her backpack, and gathered pencils and markers to be all prepared.

She keeps saying “I just can’t wrap my mind around the fact that I’m actually going to school there.”

Bobby was a bit sad….they’re the best of friends and he’s bummed he’ll be “stuck” with us all day. But I’m excited for the one-on-one time I’ll get with him. (And who knows…we may get a call tomorrow that he’s in–sibling preference you know….)

I can’t believe it’s almost time to start school again!  And let me tell you, when you’re a homeschool mom the summer goes by just as fast for you as the kids!  This fall is still up in the air as to what and where our kids will be schooled for sure.  We are going ahead with K12 again, but have the kids on a waiting list for our nearby Montessori school.  I’m getting excited to start the K12 curriculum–this year they added SPANISH for my kids’ grades!!  Perfect!  So watch, I’ll get all set and excited with this year’s curriculum and I’ll get a call from Montessori….But hey, that’s how it goes.  We feel good about having two great choices for our kids this year!  Can’t go wrong with that.

So right now I’m getting ready and getting set with:

– Buying Crayola markers and crayons at insanely great prices!

– Signing the kids up for Fall Recreation–soccer!

– Scheduling Music Lessons.  Mom wants piano–kids want violin, drums, trumpet…help!

– Planning Field Trips (yep, already–if we dont’ we don’t do it) Just bought tickets to Little House on the Prairie-the musical that debuts in Minneapolis!

No, I have not done all the below, nor do I plan to. But when I read ideas like these the wheels in my head start turning and they help remind me that it’s okay to get a little creative, crazy, even messy at times.

Hope some of these help anyone out there interested…….

• “Art” Activities:

1. painting w/ water on cardboard, or if outside, on the sidewalk or house

2. washable markers, crayons, and BIG sheets of paper

3. “Collage in a bag” interesting pages w/ pictures torn out of a magazine and a glue stick (these could have a theme, such as healthy foods, animals, flowers, families, etc.)

4. Shaving cream—smells great, and cleans your table, but only for kids who are old enough to NOT rub their hands in eyes or eat it

5. Chocolate pudding—I’ve never tried this one—perhaps this would be an activity for inside the plastic kiddie pool

6. Draw a shape and have child fill it in w/ stickers (the smaller the stickers, the longer it will take!)

7. Fingerpaint—skip the paper and do it directly on the kitchen table

• Things to String: use yarn with tape wrapped around the end to make a hard point, or for younger children, use chenille stems (pipecleaners)

1. colored straws cut into pieces (a preschooler can even do the cutting!)

2. pasta (dyed or plain) different shapes

3. Fruit Loops or Cheerios

4. large beads

5. spools (you can still get the old-fashioned wooden ones in craft stores)

• “Transfer Activities” (Montessori)

1. Show your child how to use the eyedropper to fill up each and every little suction cup on one side with one (and only one) drop of water

2. two unbreakable bowls, a spoon or ladle, and items to “transfer”:

3. transfer cotton balls, rice or beans using plastic tongs or tweezers

4. Turkey baster and two buckets, one full of water, set inside the kiddie pool or low plastic bin

• Play dough – Homemade is cheaper, lasts longer, non-toxic!

1. Thick dowel makes a good rolling pin

2. Plastic cookie cutters in many shapes—alphabet letters, shapes, etc.

3. Golf tees are fun to poke into the playdough

4. Keep a plastic place mat with the playdough supplies to keep your table top clean and define the workspace.
• “Daily Living” –Children love to imitate grown-up tasks

1. Hanging clothes out to dry–stretch a line of cord between two chairs or make a foldable play clothesline by running cord across a laundry drying rack. Have doll clothes, mini-clothespins and a little laundry basket.

2. Doing the Dishes! Let them stand on a stool up at the sink and “wash” plastic play dishes or do this in a low bin on the floor. Add a little dishsoap for bubbles

3. Wash the windows! Provide a small spritzer type bottle w/ water in it and a small rag

• Books w/ tapes
1. Purchase (Scholastic?), borrow from library, or make your own
2. Have grandparents or siblings read and record. Don’t forget to ring a bell when the page is turned.
3. Have child use headphones so not to disturb students
4. Add small dolls, action figures, props to act out story

• Lacing/sewing cards
1. Purchase or make your own using plastic container lids or cardboard
2. Plastic canvas

• Puzzles
1. Purchase or make your own—2-4 pieces

• Fishing game
1. Cut fish out of cardboard or heavy paper, and put paper clips on the mouth ends
2. Make a pole with a dowel, a string, and a magnet “hook”

• Indoor “sandbox” for rice, cornmeal
1. Set it on the floor inside the plastic pool or on a plastic sheet or shower curtain
2. Provide many stacking cups and funnels, spoons, ladles,
3. Hide small toys (animals, Barbie accessories) under the rice that he must dig through and find.
4. Include a small brush and pan set for sweeping up spills

Boxes, blankets, balls, and other stuff you already have:

1.Save a big box or two for your child to sit in, put stuffed animals in, etc.

2. Make a box and tube “ball chute”. Take a medium-sized corrugated box and cut holes through from one side to the other, big enough to fit a mailing tube through. Make a couple of these. Your toddler will love putting the ball in the top of the tube and watching it magically appear out of one of the tube bottoms!!!

3. Tie a cord through a hole on the end of an empty shoe box. Your toddler will enjoy setting objects inside and pulling it around.

4. Throw a blanket over the top of a couple of chairs or a card table!

5. Give your child a small flashlight to see when he sits inside a big box or under the blanket “fort”

• Games siblings can play with babies or toddlers

• Birth to Six Months

• Funny Faces – babies as young as one month will imitate facial expressions. Have your older child sit facing the baby, make silly faces and wait for baby to copy. The baby’s funny expressions will delight a toddler or preschooler.
• Rattling Around – Show your older child how to gently shake a colorful rattle about 8 inches away from baby’s face. This is the distance at which newborns can best focus. As the baby follows the rattle with her eyes, she is learning to associate the object with the sound it makes.
• And, big brother or sister will feel important because he can make the baby do something interesting

• Six to Twelve Months

• Peek-a-Boo – At this wonderful age, babies begin to learn that objects and people exist even when they can’t see them. The game of peekaboo offers reassurance, surprise and plenty of giggles. You can take this old game further than just hiding your face in your hands though. The big kid can hide a small toy under baby’s blankie and then pop it out, for instance. Again, the older child will feel a real sense of accomplishment because he can entertain the baby.
• Fill and Spill – Have your older child fill a pot, empty box or lightweight container with soft or plastic blocks. Then, have your older kid show the baby how to dump it out. Repeat 😉 Your preschooler will delight in making a mess and your little one will be honing her hand coordination.

• Twelve Months to Two Years

• Even older toddlers still enjoy a game of Peek-a-Boo – Teach older sibling to put hands on face and say “Child’s name, where are you?” and let the toddler pull his hands away from his face. Toddlers like to have control over the game, putting the older child’s hands on his face and then pulling them away.
• Read to Me – Preschoolers love to “read” their favorite picture books, and babies enjoy sitting and looking at pictures. Invite your older sib to tell the story of her favorite book and point to the pages while baby watches.
• Earthquake – Save up single serving cereal boxes for this simple stacking game. Tape the tops shut and let the kids take turns stacking the boxes one on top of the other and see how many can be piled up before they all fall down. Your older child can practice counting the boxes as they are stacked up.

For a few months now we’ve been seriously thinking about enrolling Natalie & Bobby in a nearby Montessori school. They attended one for a short time during their preschool/Kindergarten ages and enjoyed it. I liked their organization and encouragement of children to be creative, curious, and learn at their own pace. Bob (somewhat) warned me that in doing this Homeschool blog I should let our readers know that we may be sending our kids to…..school OUTSIDE the home. I am not ashamed. My motto is: DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR FAMILY. Each year (or more often) we reevaluate and this seems right for our older two children at this time. With that said….we still have some waiting to do. This school is quite small and in high demand. Natalie & Bobby are both on waiting lists for the fall. Keeping our fingers crossed:-)

For those of you interested in Montessori:

The Montessori Way refers to: the knowledge of how children naturally learn; a curriculum based on that knowledge designed for the developmental needs of infants, toddlers, three-to six- year-olds, elementary, middle, and secondary students; a method of instruction involving learning how to observe and how to develop learning environments in which teachers challenge each child to extend fully his or her unique style of learning; a profession; a school characterized by calm, orderly, focused, and respectful learning behaviors; and, a person named Maria Montessori.

In 1907, Dr. Maria Montessori discerned a fundamental premise about children and humanity in general: All children are uniquely intelligent.

I really have nothing grand to add….but I know it’s been awhile.  So for all (two of) my homeschool fans out there….this is for you!  It’s just a fun reminder of the learning our kids can do…..without being in a classroom for 8 hours a day. 🙂

Physics Teacher: “Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his head and he discovered gravity. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Student: “Yes sir, if he had been sitting in class looking at books like us, he wouldn’t have discovered anything.”

Okay, these are pretty cool even if they do sound nasty.

Today we discovered what exactly is in an owl pellet (regurgitated undigested owl “food”).

Here’s what we found:

Bird skull

Mole Claw

Mole Skull

We also found tons of little bones (femurs, jaws, claws) and rat skulls.

The kids loved it. I thought they’d be nervous, but they kept saying things like “Man you hit the jackpot!” & “Finding a pelvis would be so cool!”

TO ORDER: www.obdk.com (or google “owl pellets”)
There’s many companies, I just happened to order from Owl Brand Supply Company from Oregon.

Natalie & Bobby learned about the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas last month.  These are Inca ponchos.  And the reason the heading says Newspaper End Roll is these ponchos are made from this roll of paper.  I highly recommend calling your local newspaper and asking if you can buy an end roll.  Ours was only $3 and it’s more paper than we know what to do with.  We lay it out over our kitchen table for the kids to color all over.  (It’s also great to use for kids’ birthday parties as  a table cloth where kids can doodle while they wait….)

This is my favorite! I don’t know if I’d put this in the Discipline category…..but this is a great way to get the kids excited about their chores, goals, and other responsibilities. I could go on and on….but let’s just say they earn points (which are doled out weekly) and with these points they can earn whatever you set up for them to earn (extra t.v. time, candy, play a game with a parent, or go bowling). You set up the point value and they work towards their rewards. Natalie & Bobby are both “saving up” for mp3 players which cost 5,000 points (this can take anywhere from 12 weeks to a year….depending on how hard they work–just like the real world, right?)

www.MyRewardBoard.com

Check it out–they give you a 2 week trial for free, then it’s $20 for a whole family…forever. I’ve been very happy with it.

Discipline is no easy task…..as a mom and as “the teacher”. It’s difficult to play both roles….but in time, something works out (even if it’s for a week…) and can be very rewarding.

Keep it simple and consistent. Over the past 5 years of homeschooling we feel we’ve definitely found that simple works best. We’re not the best with consistency because we continually re-evaluate what works and what doesn’t and this slightly changes our routine. But atleast we’re consistent on being inconsistent…I read where that’s not all bad :-).

There are numerous books out there that give ideas on discipline. Two points I agree with and I’ll stick to: make the consequence fit the crime, and find what they’ll be most upset to “lose”–and take that away if they’re not behaving correctly. I have a friend who grew up with no t.v.–whatsoever, so their form of entertainment were books. When she was in trouble, her books were confiscated. Sounds crazy to most of us who now take away t.v. privileges and hope they’ll read a book! But you get the point…..

So here is our most recent form of School Discipline:

STARS — are earned for exceptional behavior. In our case it’s when our (older) kids get up on their own and start their morning routine (make bed, get dressed, and chores) without constant reminders. During school they’ll get additional stars if they compliment each other on their work, make an effort to write neatly, and listen well to the teacher (me:-) They also have the chance to earn stars all day long if I feel they’ve done a great job–asking to help set the table, putting something away that they got out without being told, or playing well with siblings. It’s all about rewarding them for the behavior that you want to see more of–they’re capable of it!

CHECKS — are given when the kids need a lot of prodding and reminding in the morning or just plain don’t get their things done in time for school. During school they’ll receive a check if they bug each other or are disrespectful to the teacher. The rest of the day they will get a check for undesirable behavior that can carry over to the next morning risking possible homework for the following day.

Scoring: Three checks and they are given 20 minutes of homework after school hours. (Now keep in mind they normally don’t have ANY homework because we complete it all during school.) Every check after three adds 5 minutes of homework time.

However, if they earn stars those help wipe out the checks AND if they have more stars then checks they earn a treat–usually food, but it can sometimes be extra time on the computer or whatever we feel fits the good behavior.

This is quite simple and has worked wonders for us. (We do not even deal with stickers–just a quick handwritten star on a post-it on our cupboard does the trick.) We’ve done it for five weeks now and this past week was the best! Natalie & Bobby woke up every morning before me…got all their stuff done without a reminder and was ready for school on time! This doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it’s SWEET! (Even Marin now asks for a star if she’s been good….she gets one if she stays in her own bed all night long!)

Again I must say, do what works for your family!  (This is my motto)  I want to know what works for you?  Drop me a comment!

• Chalkboard / grease board
• Automatic pencil sharpener
• Globe or World Map
• Calendar (fun one for kids with important dates clearly listed)
• Teacher notebook (if not following guided curriculum these work great)
• Flash cards
• Educational games (our favorite: Brain Quest)
• Educational song cds to listen to in the car
• Living Scriptures Hero Classics set (love them!)
• Library card
• Magnets
• Magnifying glass
• Rulers with cm & mm markings
• Big bouncey ball (to sit on–helps wiggly kids)
• Dictionary
• Extra erasers (Let’s face it–pencils have an inadequate amount of eraser)
• Lots of tape
• Calculator
• A pair of scissors for each child
• Crayola color crayons (bought at beginning of school year for 25 cents a box!)
• Glue sticks (instead of Elmers–takes too long to dry)
• Funnel, strainer, measuring cups
• Apron for each child
• M&Ms–incentive 🙂 (one m&m for every right answer on a test….)

(ok, so most of these are no-brainers, but it was fun to list what I couldn’t live without…)