Do you find your family to be in the car more often than you care to admit? Whether you’re on the way to co-op, ballet, music lessons, ball practice, chess club or doctor’s appointments, all this car time can make a mom feel quite guilty about the seemingly wasted minutes or hours.
Did you know this car time doesn’t have to be “down” time? It most certainly can be down time if you like, but there are lots of wonderful school or enrichment activities that can keep your children educationally engaged, too. Below is a nice list of ideas for you.
Bible Memory Work
Recite Bible verses
Recite the books of the Bible
Skills
Math drills – any number of mental math drills
Spelling drills
Sign reading
Vocabulary words
Drills of important dates to remember
Drills of important people or events and their significance
Narration
Poetry recitation
Buy skill workbooks from the dollar store
Buy fun books of mazes, crosswords, word finds, etc.
Run off a blank US map and ask kids to color in each state when they see a license plate from that state
Games
Play ABC I Spy – either with objects or words on signs
Name things you see outside that were mentioned in the Bible
Buy little travel games and keep in a plastic tote
“Bugs and Cruisers” – Assign point values to certain types of cars and have the kids keep a point tally as you drive. Example: VW Bugs and PT Cruisers are each worth 1 point. Hummers might be worth 10 points. Jeeps might be worth 5 points. You get to make up the rules and values according to your child’s abilities.
Play color or shape I Spy
Storytelling
Storytelling where one person stops a story at the climax and another person continues the story
Grammar guess – Mom says a sentence and asks child to repeat a part of speech.Example:Mom says, “Name the prepositional phrase, ‘Look for the ball under the bush.’ ” The child then repeats the prepositional phrase.
Hum or whistle tunes and see who is the first to guess correctly
Play 20 questions
Play an oral ABC Scattergories – Think of a topic and the first person names something that fits in the topic starting with “a”, the next person thinks of a “b” word, and so on
Play word memory - The first person says a word that fits in a certain topic.The next person says that word and adds another word.The third person says the first two words and adds another word.You keep going until someone messes up. Example: Topic=animals, first persons says ‘dog’, second person says ‘dog, cat’, third person says ‘dog, cat, frog’
Educational CD Ideas
Adventures in Odyssey
Jonathan Park Adventures
Foreign languages
Bible verse CD’s
Bible song CD’s
Any “living” book on CD
CD of music or stories that go along with a unit you’re studying
Story of the World CD’s
Any historical fiction book on CD
Lyrical Life Science CD’s
Other Ideas
Keep a lap desk or clip board in your car, along with a supply of pencils, crayons, etc. and bring the school books along on a trip
On a familiar drive, ask your child to create a travel brochure of the sights you see
Stop at a rest stop or hotel in an unfamiliar area and pick up a few brochures. Let your child be the “tour guide” of attractions in the area as you drive.You never know when an unexpected field trip might turn up.
Listen to a preacher on the radio and discuss the sermon
Are you thinking about adding some fun Valentine activities to your homeschool during the next few weeks? Here are some great sites that offer exciting and original ideas. Have fun!
Well, it happened. We’ve been working towards this for a while now. We had a really bad homeschooling day. You know, one of those days Todd “The Familyman” Wilson describes in his cartoon book. The husband comes home from work to find mom missing in action. After several minutes of searching, he finds her locked in a dark closet in the fetal position! I guess our day wasn’t that bad, but it was close.
I’m convinced that people (including children) who are immeasurably blessed, take their blessings for granted. To not know what it’s like “on the other side of the fence” seems to blind you to how wonderful your side of the fence really is. My children have never known sitting for hours on end in a public school. They’ve never known sitting for hours on end in front of a dvd teacher. They’ve never even known sitting in front of textbook after textbook on a daily basis.
They have no idea what a cool mom I really am. I don’t say that in a boastful way! What I mean is that they have no idea how exciting and wonderful their days really are. They don’t know that not every child gets to do experiments, lapbooks, field trips, nature walks, cooking and art. They don’t realize that not every child gets to sit wherever they want to do their work. They don’t realize that not every child gets to take the day off on an unusually beautiful day in the middle of winter. They don’t realize that not every child is free to spend the afternoon grooming and riding horses. Believe you me, I tell them how blessed they are. Sadly, they just don’t get it.
I’m not down for the count – just frustrated. I’m not giving up on them either. I know they’ll begin to understand their blessings as the get older. I’m just so tired of the whining and complaining. I wish there were a way to help them to see – really see – how wonderful their life is.
We seem to go through a season such as this every year about this time. The holidays are coming. It’s time for a school break. Yesterday was the feast at co-op. It’s always hard to lasso my kids back into schoolwork after a special day like yesterday. Top that off with all the junk food they ate and I know why today has been “one of those days.”
After my, ahem, “mommy tantrum”, I went to my room to fold about seven loads of laundry that have been piling up. I heard a lot of ruckus in the kitchen, then complete quiet for about 20 minutes. Soft footsteps came to the door, then a little knock. The door opened a crack and through the crack came a folded peice of paper. That 20 minutes of quiet had been spent writing an apology note. They gave me great big hugs and led me downstairs to a wonderfully cleaned kitchen. Yes, there’s hope for them yet! I suppose there’s hope for me, too.
Co-op gals – Here’s the basic outline from the unit study presentation. I posted this same blog last year, but have added some new websites, a section about grades, and a couple of other things. Have fun learning!
What is a unit study? A unit study is really any subject that you spend time learning about. Many times a unit study will integrate many academic subjects. For instance, if the unit focuses on the Civil War, you might plan reading, writing, science, art, music, spelling, Bible, home ec, and other academic assignments, as well as the obvious history lessons. A unit study doesn’t have to integrate other academic subjects, though. For example, if you plan a math unit around m&m’s, you may choose to only do math activities and not add any writing, history, etc. to the unit.
Why do unit studies? They can be done with all ages at once, they’re fun, they provide a nice change of pace, they provide more learning in less time, they can be geared towards your children’s interests/talents/gifts, they cover a multitude of subject areas, work can be kept in notebooks or lapbooks which make a nice finished product, they’re inexpensive (or free), they can be fairly hands-on, they involve mom and/or dad in the learning process which excites the kiddos and they promote self-inspired learning and research skills.
What could be a difficulty? It takes a bit more planning and preparing on the part of mom. If you use them as “commercial breaks” from the regular schedule, it could be hard to get the regular schedule going again. There is a ton of information for mom to choose from when planning, so information overload can occur.
How do you plan your own study?
1. Decide on a topic. Science, History/Social Studies/Geography, Literature and Bible topics lend themselves well to a comprehensive unit.
2. Write down your major goals for the unit. You can figure out what you might need to teach by finding a “spine” book (one that you will use as the main teaching book) and using its contents as your goals. Or you can do an internet search. For example: “ocean scope and sequence” will bring up topics about the ocean that your children need to know.
3. Gather your resources
-things you already have on your shelves (teaching guides and reading books)
-check the internet for already made units to give you ideas
-visit the library for teaching and reading books
-buy a pre-made unit if you feel like you still don’t have enough to make a complete unit
4. Chart out your plan. I make a little chart with each subject area (science, history/social studies, geography, Bible, writing, vocabulary, other language arts, math, art, music, P.E./health, field trips, cooking) and just start jotting down my ideas. Most of the time I have way too much, so I start pairing down to the best, most meaningful ideas. Then I decide about how long the unit will be and write out a rough plan of what I’m going to do each day. This always changes when we actually get into the unit.
5. Go for it! Jump into the lessons and be prepared to have lots of fun!! Beware – if you try to plan too much – your kids WILL get bored and learning WILL stop. Think about their learning styles and plan accordingly. If your kids love to talk and move, have them finish off the unit by putting together a video of what they learned. If they love to scrapbook, they would love putting their work into lapbooks. You get the idea. ALWAYS end the unit with a bang – a field trip, a family party that goes along with the theme, or a showcase of their work to grandparents. It makes the unit really stick out in their minds.
6. Keep the work well-organized. Put it all into a notebook, lapbook or colorful folder. They will appreciate looking back through their work. When you present the work in a meaningful way, they respect the work much more! (It would also make a lovely thing to hand over to those well-meaning DPPs if they ever show up on your doorstep!!)
Helpful Websites and Such
The Checklist by Cynthia Downes – www.oklahomahomeschool.com (If you’re worried about whether or not you’re covering what you need to, this could be a helpful resource.)
I usually don’t include math and grammar into my units. If I find a really good activity, I will add it to the unit, but I continue with my regular math and language curricula while the unit is going on.
I also keep up with our regular Bible time. I do add extra Bible when it fits with the unit.
I try to keep the books we check out from the library to a minimum. I used to leave the library with stacks of books to go with a unit. That was information overload for my kids. I’m more selective now, choosing only the best informational and literature books. That being said, I still go home with tons of books. Often, I’ll allow the kids to choose from the abundance of books the one or two that they are most interested in for “digging deeper” into a subject.
A unit doesn’t have to cover every subject every time. Some units will be heavier in science, others will be heavier in history. Some units will include lots of art projects, some may include none. It all seems to work itself out in the end, especially if you are keeping your eyes open to what you need to include more of in the next unit.
What About Grades?
The first aspect of this is a question I’m always asked – How do you keep grades? Um, I don’t. I keep narrative report cards that tell what my children are doing, what they have done well with and in what things they need extra practice. That’s not to say you can’t keep grades during a unit study. Giving quizzes or tests based on the info covered would be acceptable. Creating scoring guides for projects they put together would be acceptable. For me – at this stage in the game – I just don’t see any purpose for grades. I expect my children to do well. If they don’t, they often have to redo or rework things. Not always, but if the poor work is for a lack of effort, I usually don’t let it slide. In other words, all their work is expected to be “A” effort and “A” finished product. I find it much more meaningful to ”tell” about their progress than to write a bunch of “A’s”.
The next question is – How do you know what grade your children are in if you don’t follow a graded curriculum? It’s pretty simple really. My son is seven, the typical age of a 2nd grader – so I call him a 2nd grader. In some subjects he might be considered on a 3rd or 4th grade level, in some he might be doing typical 1st grade work. The grade doesn’t really matter to me as long as I’m giving him things that challenge him to grow at whatever pace he needs.
PLEASE let me know how your units go!! If you already use and love units, PLEASE leave a comment to encourage others!!
Once upon a time the animals had a school. They had four subjects ~ running, climbing, flying, and swimming ~ and all animals took all subjects.
The duck was good at swimming, better than the teacher, in fact. He made passing grades in running and flying, but he was almost hopeless in climbing. So they made him drop swimming to practice more climbing. Soon he was only average in swimming. But average is okay, and nobody worried much about it ~ except the duck.
The eagle was considered a troublemaker. In his climbing class he beat everybody to the top of the tree, but he had his own way of getting there, which was against the rules. He always had to stay after school and write, “Cheating is wrong” five hundred times. This kept him from soaring, which he loved. But schoolwork comes first.
The bear flunked because they said he was lazy, especially in winter. His best time was summer, but school wasn’t open then.
The penguin never went to school because he couldn’t leave home, and they wouldn’t start a school out where he lived.
The zebra played hooky ~ a lot. The ponies made fun of his stripes, and this made him very sad.
The kangaroo started out at the top of the running class, but got discouraged trying to run on all fours like the other kids.
The fish quit school because he was bored. To him all four subjects were the same, but nobody understood that. They had never been a fish.
The squirrel got A’s in climbing, but his flying teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. His legs got so sore practicing take-offs that he began getting C’s and D’s in running.
But the bee was the biggest problem of all, so the teacher sent him to Dr. Owl for testing. Dr. Owl said that the bee’s wings were just too small for flying and besides they were in the wrong place. But the bee never saw Dr. Owl’s report, so he just went ahead and flew anyway.
A question I hear quite often is, “Am I really qualified? Am I going to ruin my children by schooling them at home?”
This is the topic of a devotion I gave in the Mom’s Room at co-op this week. I’ve tried to write my notes from the devotion here. I hope you are encouraged.
Am I Qualified?
So many times in His Word, God gives us not only all the answers we need in order to homeschool, but the mandate that we are to teach our children. Two of the most familiar passages are Proverbs 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” – and Deuteronomy 6:5-9 – “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
When God calls us to something, He will qualify us! At that answer, I could end the devotion. God called us to it, He equips us, therefore, we’re qualified! But, I want to answer more thoroughly why and how we’re qualified.
Go back to the Animal School story above. Who knows your children best? Who can instinctively know what’s best for them? Who loves them as much as you do? Who did God give them to? Knowing that “Mom and Dad” are the answers to each of those questions is further proof that YOU are qualified to teach them. No one else knows them well enough to know what’s best for them. For them particularly. No one on this earth loves them like you do. No one. God gave them to you. You. You are the one who can make their education a perfect fit. Not because you have a college degree in education or have loads of money to buy the best curriculum, but because God has already given you everything you need to teach the children He gave you.
If you’ve never watched the YouTube.com video called Home Where They Belong, I would encourage you to take a few minutes right now. It’s a strong visual to get this point across.
You know the news headlines. Christianity is being forced out of the public school system, only to be replaced with a religion of tolerance, evolution, relativism and worse. Even Christian teachers in the public school system are forced to teach things that go against the Lord’s teaching. At best, they can subtly mention God as long as other religious views are being expressed at the same time. These facts alone qualify you to teach your children. Jeremiah 10:2 says, “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.”
You have been given unique gifts in your children. God has commanded that you teach them. And, He has supplied you with all you need to do this successfully. Homeschooling isn’t always easy. It isn’t always fun. But the rewards are great and the impact is eternal.
Go to the Word when you’re frustrated. Go to your husband. Go to an experienced and well-rooted friend. Please don’t meet the yellow school bus at the end of the driveway.
Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13
You never know what I might be writing about - homeschool plans, field trips, projects, family life, and so much more. I hope you'll consider using the subscribe button at the top of my blog to keep up with all the happenings at Westward Academy. And, by the way, I love comments!
by Valerie Bendt
