Friday, October 20, 2006

Enjoying and respecting my kids

Yesterday, the kids had a day that was so chock full of “educational” activities, that I had to record it. I hope I can remember it all!
I got up at 7:30am, and wrote up two professional sounding documents for the “franchise sale” of our cookie business to Lauren and Scott. When the kids got up I read them to them because I was excited about them. We talked a little about how the transaction is going to go.
The kids got up later than usual… around 8:30am or 9, because they’d gotten to bed late. Jesse had stayed up reading his Bionicle book because he couldn’t get the thought of a monster from the Moby Dick story out of his head. They’d listened to the first part of the story on CD before going to sleep. Well, before the younger kids fell asleep. Like I said, Jesse couldn’t get to sleep, so he read. He read the first 72 pages of the book that night.
So, in the morning, after breakfast, I bathed the youngest two kids, and we went to the library. This was on my suggestion to Savannah, because she really wants to become a masseuse who gets paid. She came down in the morning, when I was busy at the desk, telling me how she wanted to set up doing massages in her bedroom for money.
Now, my first reaction was to wave her off telling her that she’s too young, and no one is going to pay her until she is older and has more experience. Pretty standard parental reaction. But then I thought… No, that’s not respecting her feelings. That’s treating her as if she were “just a kid” which is a phrase that I want to rid from my vocabulary and my mindset. Kids are small people. This does not make their thoughts and feelings any less valuable, and they are certainly as real to them as us adults’ are to us!
So, I told her, “Well, Savannah, if you really want to get paid to do massages, then you are going to have to get more experience. You are going to have to learn where the muscles of the body are, and learn some massage techniques.” She agreed to this because this is something she really wants to do. I told her that probably right now, myself, and her two grandmas are the only ones that will pay her to massage them. She was OK with that. So, I told her we could go to the library to get some books on muscles of the body, and massage. “When?!” She asked, all excited.
Here was another parental opportunity. Should I say, “Whenever we have the time, and risk her losing interest? Or should I take advantage of her desire to learn while it is fresh? We had company coming over in about 2 and a half hours, and the house was somewhat messy. I also had nothing planned for lunch for me, my 5 kids, and the 2 visitors coming.
In my old mindframe of thinking that if I don’t have the house spic and span, “people will think that I’m not a good mom/housewife”… or that if I “waste time” going to the library I won’t get anything “real” done… I may have told her that we’d go “as soon as we could”, which may have never materialized, and her wishes to be a masseuse would be blown by as “just something a kid wants”, not all that important, because she’ll go on to something else really soon, because that’s what kids do. BUT! And it’s a big but! I would have lost a learning opportunity, and more importantly, an opportunity to show my daughter that she and her desires matter to me.
All these thoughts went through my mind in less than a minute. (Amazing how quickly our minds process so much information, huh?) So, I said, “Right now.”
“Really? She asked. We can go to the library, right now?!”
Yep. I answered. As soon as you get washed up, comb your hair and get dressed, and I bathe the younger two, we’ll go. She excitedly jumped up to go get ready. Of course she wanted to leave as soon as she was ready, but she understood that I needed to bathe the younger two kids, and the timing worked out better for us to wait a little while, since we would go to the library, check our P.O. Box, and then pick up pizza for lunch with our company on our way home.
Because our van was in the shop, limiting our car seating to 5 people, and Travis said he was too tired to go anyway, I let him stay home alone. I asked Jesse, my 10 year old, if he would go along to watch Jaidyn, my 2 year old, so that I could spend time with Savannah helping her find the right books. Aaron, my 4 year old is pretty self sufficient, and he went to look at books for himself. (This was at our little local library, so I wasn’t worried about him getting lost. It’s VERY small!)
I really enjoyed sitting with Savannah one on one, and looking through the books, picking out age appropriate books with lots of illustrations. We got 5 books including one, that just discusses the sense of touch, and it’s healing properties.
Jesse took Jaidyn to the video section first where she picked out an Elmo video. Then, he got her an Elmo book and read it to her. This warmed my heart to see my 10 year old lovingly taking care of his 2 year old sister, and to see her growing up to the point where she actually has a preference in characters, and can say the character’s name.
When Savannah and I were done choosing her books, I went to find Aaron and asked if he wanted to pick a book. Being 4, he just randomly grabbed one off the shelf, and was happy with that.
We got home, and pretty soon I noticed that Travis had picked up the book that Aaron had grabbed off the shelf. It turned out to be actually quite a long silly story about a doughnut who wants to live life instead of being eaten, and becomes someone’s “doughnut dog”. Travis and Jesse both sat quietly in the living room reading their books. Jesse kept reading his Bionicle book, and before our company had finished their 2 hour stay, he’d finished the whole 122 pages.
Our company was a woman in her early 50’s who is raising her rambunctious 3 year old granddaughter. She seemed quite impressed that the boys were just sitting there, reading books for quite a long time. “You have a couple of readers?” she asked. Implying that she thought that they really loved reading and did it all the time.
“Whenever they are interested in something”, I said. (Just the day before, I’d come down from a nap with my 2 year old to find Jesse reading a book about sharks. I was again amazed at the fact that my 10 year old was voluntarily reading an “educational” book with no story to entertain him. And he does remember those facts that he reads. He’ll quote them at times, and surprise me with his knowledge.) I told her that the boys usually like to play with their Hero Clix, and Pokemon card games. (If you’ve read my other posts, you know that these games involve a lot of Math.)
So, after the company left, Savannah really wanted me to read her massage book to her. I told her I would after my nap. (I am 26 and a half weeks pregnant with my 6th child and need naps.)
She watched a cartoon with Jaidyn to keep an eye on her while I napped in the room down the hall. When I got up, we sat in the living room, and started reading the books. She wanted to skip right to the massage, but I told her she needed to read some of the books. We skipped over the long paragraphs of small print that would have bored her, and just read the main points about how to prepare for giving a massage, what techniques to use on different parts of the body, why each technique is important and we looked at the muscle books showing where the muscles are. We probably read for about 30 to 40 minutes. Technically, she was learning a lot of biology. But to her, it was just fun.
She kept asking, OK, now can we do the massage? So, I made sure to keep her interest, and not make it too long of a discussion. Then we went up to my room, and per the book’s instructions, set up a comfortable space to massage in. It was complete with candles, scents in the air, background sounds of the night, rain, and waterfall, pillows for support, and massage oil. I instructed her, and she referred to the book as she massaged my face, hands, and feet. She probably massaged me for over a half hour! Talk about enjoyable education! We were interrupted a few times by Aaron and Jaidyn, but Savannah’s interest in continuing to massage did not wane. She would go help Jaidyn with something she needed, or wait while I helped Aaron, and was anxiously awaiting beginning again. We discussed how my masseuse does a lot of the things mentioned in the book, and the reasons why. She knows who the masseuse is because she went with me, and met Sharon at my last massage. She waited in the living room while I had the massage, but I think next time, I may take her back to the massage room, and show it to her, and ask Sharon if she minds if Savannah watches for about 5 minutes, and kind of give her a professional instruction session. Unschooling in action!
After Savannah massaged me, I asked her if she wanted a massage, and she did, so I gave her a one. Altogether yesterday, I’d say I spent about 3 hours spending quality time with my 6 year old daughter doing something “educational”. And the entire time, she never lost interest, nothing was forced, it was all something that she really wanted to do, and will remember me taking the time to do with her for the rest of her life. I was very happy with my decision to say, “Yes, we’ll go now to the library!”
Well, I know this is a long post, but I’m trying to remember what all other things went on yesterday… Aaron is starting to draw Pokemon characters, because he is seeing Travis do it. He is learning hand eye coordination, developing his drawing skills, and learning how not to compare himself to other people, especially older people who’ve been doing something longer than he has. He is learning that he can do things at his age level, and still be proud of what he’s doing.
He is not only drawing, but he is labeling his characters. This means that he has to learn to spell them. At 4 and a half, he is learning to write all of his letters correctly, and to spell quite a few words, just because it is something he likes to do.
SIDE NOTE: I AM NOT saying here that unschooling your child will make them an early reader just because they are not forced into learning to read. I AM SAYING, however, that your child does not need to have a set aside period of time to be “taught” their letters! They do not need you to say, “Look! This is the letter A! The letter A makes 3 sounds!” and go on to make the sounds. That kind of teaching is boring for some kids. Granted some kids like it, but my point is that the lecture format is not the ONLY type of learning! Your child WILL at his own rate of readiness, be interested in reading and writing. Through the natural process of life, reading and writing will become a necessity for certain activities that your child is interested in doing. They will naturally come to you, asking, “What does this say? How do you spell this word?” And you will tell them, and it will stick in their heads, because they wanted to know it. And over a period of time, longer for some, shorter for others, they will begin to learn to read and write. I know that this seems so impossible. We are so brainwashed into thinking that if we do not follow a school format, whether in school, or at home, that our children will not learn. I have only been unschooling for a year, but I have seen so much evidence in all 5 of my children, ages 2 to 10, that learning takes place in all types of settings, that I am convinced that allowing my children to learn their own way, at their own pace, is what is best for them. END SIDE NOTE :)
You know, I cannot recall what other “educational activities” my kids performed yesterday. I know you could label their swinging on ropes and playing with their friends in our basement,“gym”, and you could say that all the drawing, writing, and creating was “art”, and the reading was “Language”…. But to my kids, they went about their day just “doing and living”, and I never once heard the words, “I’m bored, Mom.” They are self sufficient to find ways to occupy their time. I think they may have watched a couple of videos with their 2 year old sister… they were her favorites, Franklin the Turtle, and Elmo. But they did not spend all day vegged out with programs that were bad for them, “ruining” their minds, like some people would have you believe that unschoolers do.
It’s just a fact that when you encourage your kids to find things to do on their own, they become capable of such a task. More capable I dare say, than their school-going counterparts who are handed things to do all day long, and are so fried from school that they look for ways to veg out for the rest of the evening.
Well, this may be my longest post yet. Thanks for reading! I like the fact that I can read this in the future, and enjoy remembering the time I had with my kids before they “left the nest”.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

"A Typical Unschooling Day"

Here is an email exchange between myself and another unschooling family whose house I absolutely love! View the pics of it and them here: Well, I'll have to ask her for the web address for the pics again.... but here's the email anyway.


>From: "John and Pam Hensley"
>Reply-To: HomefiresJournal@yahoogroups.com
>To:
>Subject: Re: [HomefiresJournal] Re: Deedee's house/ ot asking michelle to
>share about her unschooling
>Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 23:53:11 -0500
>
>Michelle,
>Would you mind sharing a 'typical day' in your unschooling household?
>Wondering, what are the ages of your children.
>My son was talking about his hs'd friend telling him that he 'had not yet
>begun biology this year' and another ps'd aquaintance not getting 'weekend
>priveleges' due to falling down a grade in biology. Then he asked more
>questions and I tried to tell him learning is life and living it, not
>regurgitating memorized facts out of a biology text book. He asked one more
>question about biology and I said, 'well, it is what we are doing with that
>catepillar who is currenly living in my hat box due to the fact that your
>little brother sat on and broke his bug catcher/holder and we did not have
>one to put the bug in to watch it turn into a lovely butterfly; That is
>biology in our home school :) ' I think he understood...
>Thanks for sharing. I just wonder what other unschooling mommies are doing
>these days.
>I'd love it if you would also share about your new business.
>We have been self employed the 16 years we have been together; it is a
>love/hate thing lol.
>we are basically retired now but have tried many small homebased
>businesses; it has been rather frustrating but God is always faithful to
>provide.
>I wish you all his blessings in your venture!
>Pam



Hi Pam!
Thanks for asking! I am curious about your typical "school" day as
well. I love being on the homefires list, but it's nice to talk to or email
other moms directly and see what they do.
My kids are 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, and the baby is 25 weeks in utero. My 8, 6,
and 4 year old's birthdays are coming up real soon, though.
We started homeschooling with the A Beka Book Christian curriculum when
my son was in first grade because that's what all the homeschooler's I knew
were doing, and I had only read one book on unschooling, (Mary Griffin's,
which I love) but being a first timer, had no confidence in the "no
curriculum" idea.
My mother in law was actually a kindergarten teacher until she retired to
be a full time grandma, so she has taught my first 3 children how to read,
amoung other things during their "kindergarten year". They would go to her
house for 3 hours or so, and learn from her. After that, I began the
"school at home" with them, with the classroom and all. I taught 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd grade all the way through to my first son, and 1st all the way
through to my 2nd son. Then when they were in 4th and 2nd grades, and my
daughter was in kindergarten with her grandma, I started really researching
unschooling.
All I knew was that my boys hated "textbook time", and therefore assumed
that they hated school. I was sick of forcing it on them, and wanted
learning to be fun. We would attempt fun projects here and there, but still
try to "get our other work done", and it was all really stressful.
We went to the Unschooling Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, in October of
2005. My mother in law went with us to help take care of Jaidyn my
youngest, who was a little over a year at the time. This allowed James (my
husband) and I to go to the talks and listen uninterrupted. We were
partially convinced that this was something we wanted to try before we went
(actually James more than myself, although I knew what we were doing wasn't
working), and by the time we left the whole family was excited about putting
the textbooks on the shelf and learning through living. It took some time
for my inlaws to "see" it working... in fact my Father in law was highly
doubtful! But within the last year, we have all seen so much learning
taking place in my children's lives, that we aren't looking back, and my
father in law is now advocating this "method" of learning to his other sons
for their children. :) One of his favorite ways to contribute is to tape
and watch classic movies or educational shows, or just plain interesting
stuff for them to watch. A lot of times they watch it with him. (We don't
have cable right now, so this works great for us, plus I don't have to spend
the time surfing the cable channels!)
Sorry if you didn't want that much detail.... I love to write.
Especially about my kids.
So... a typical day.
We have no set "learning" time anymore. My kids get up when they want,
and usually get their own breakfast. If I've had a late night, I'll sleep
in, and the older kids help the younger ones with their breakfast. They
know to come get me if they need help with a diaper or something, though. :)
I do the finances for our business (Yay! We are self employed too!),
and that means I'm at the computer usually for at least part of most days.
Some days I do nothing for the business except check the P.O. Box, and we'll
go to the park and play. We'll get pizza at the local place and walk to the
park on a nice day. We live in a small rural farm town.
How do you describe an unschooling day? My kids build things with
household objects, like tents from blankets, pillows, and chairs. They
build golf courses, and miniature houses with the many books we have piled
on the fireplace hearth. They also pick up these books and read them.
Sometimes to themselves, sometimes to their younger siblings. We try to go
to the library every couple of weeks to purge and replenish this supply. We
take our bag from the unschooling conference every time! :) It says, Birds
Fly, Fish Swim, Humans Learn.
What else... my boys love to play the Pokemon Card game and also another
strategy game with comic book character figurines on a map called HeroClix.
Have you or your kids ever heard of it? If you have trouble with any of
them liking math, and they like make believe... get one of these games! My
8 year old sat for half an hour by himself yesterday "doing Math". :) I
smiled to myself. If you asked what he was doing, he'd tell you that he was
figuring out which one of his Hero Clix characters was the strongest. Each
character has different points assigned to it for it's strength, it's
attacks, and weaknesses, etc... it's very complicated. So, he sat their
adding, subtracting, etc., for about a half hour. Turns out his Superman
Blue is the strongest.
My 6 year old girl and four year old boy also have their own Pokemon
cards, and Savannah (the 6 year old) actually plays at the free play
tournaments when we go, and she battles her brothers at home too. The older
kids have made up a simplified version of the game for their 4 year old
brother to play with his cards. He doesn't really understand the points
system yet, though, so when he trades cards, he trades based on how much he
likes the Pokemon, and they have to watch out for him so he doesn't get
traded down, especially at the free plays with other people.
Oh yeah, the boys learned about HeroClix from their uncle who loves
video games and comic books, and now they are getting their other uncle into
it. Last night they all got together at Uncle Tim's to have a HeroClix
tournament! The neighbor boys, who are my boys ages, came over to watch and
learn.
My oldest, Jesse, loves all things scientific. He gets this from his
dad. We go camping as often as we can, and usually the fireside talks end
up being about something scientific because the kids ask all kinds of "why?"
questions, and James loves to answer them, or look them up if he doesn't
know. At a camping trip this year they made a flame thrower with a can of
OFF! :) He did caution them multiple times of the dangers, even telling
them about how he singed his arm hairs once by not doing it correctly, and
explaining the scientific reasons behind why there is a correct way of
making a flamethrower. I don't know them, I'm more of the writing reading
type.
That's another thing we do is I like to read books to them before bed at
night. Recently we've fallen out of the habit since I am usually too tired
being this far along in my pregnancy. But I did read to my daughter in the
evening the other day. She absolutely LOVES horses! So, we were reading a
horse story.
I am on an email list for a homeschool field trip group. It's a fun way
to meet new people, and this woman does a fabulous job coming up with a
variety of field trips. This month we will be going to a play of "The
Jungle Book", we went to a pizza place for a behind the scenes tour, we'll
be going to a historical 1800's farm to learn about the agricultural
lifestyle, and a pumpkin patch to learn Ohio's history.... Next month, I am
taking my daughter to a Horse Hospital with this group. She is sooo looking
forward to it.
Well, I'm describing a lot of things my kids do, but not really what a
typical day is like.
In a typical day, my kids find things for themselves to do. They ride bikes
and scooters, they take walks (lucky for us their grandma and grandpa, and
now their cousins, all live in the same neighborhood), they visit friends,
and occasionally watch TV. They play their HeroClix and Pokemon games, and
they make up games with each other. They discuss things with me, or we bake
and cook together. One of their favorite things to do, with or without
their neighbor friends is to play "Town" in the basement. The basement is
what we call "Kid Kingdom"... to the eye of an ordinary adult it looks like
a trash dump with piles of boxes scattered here and there. The boxes are my
storage containing clothing mostly, and some picture frames, holiday decor,
etc... But when the kids take you on a tour of the basement, you see it
come alive into different stores, daycares, a cafe (where you can watch tv
while you eat), a bank, even a mobile advertising bike (based loosely on my
husband's mobile advertising business). They have a mini economy going.
Their currency is a combination of Monopoly money, and some play money.
They have auctions, and stores, they combine and dismantle businesses
regularly. Their neighbor friends who play store the most with them are an
11 year old girl, and a 15 year old boy.
Although, since the beginning of this school year, the 15 year old has,
I think, begun to be busy with his teenage school life, and hasn't been
around. My boys are disappointed, but we've been warning them for about 2
years that it'd happen soon.
So, I don't know if this LONGGGG email has answered your question
or not... :)
Write me back and let me know, and please feel free to write me your own
long email describing your children's activities! Oh yeah, and please tell
me about your self employment too! My husband and I have been self employed
most of our working lives. I would love to share about it with you in
another email, but fear that it would make this one way too long.
Thanks for reading!
Michelle Schooling

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Unschooling Ourselves (a lot about James)

Today I had to meet James (my husband) at the office. He filed a 6 month extension for our 2005 taxes, and the time is almost up. He absolutely HATES numbers, and wanted my help. I like number crunching, and do most of the business finances myself. I have never had any kind of training, I just enjoy working with numbers, and am learning while doing.... Practise what you preach, right? :)
I had no idea what to expect. Doing taxes sounded daunting to me, but I barged into it with bravado. Turns out there wasn't much to it at all, the accountant handles a lot of the dirty work. James just couldn't even get his brain functioning in the numbers mode enough to fully figure out what the accountant needed. His brain is so full already of all the other aspects and pressures of the business that I am happy to help him in this area.
On the way to the office I heard this country song that I liked the words to. (I'm not a big country person, but man, have you listened to the radio lately? It sucks! You have to flip through the channels forever to find anything interesting!)
So, I'm this analytical person, right, and I can't just listen to music for the melody like James can... so I'm listening to the words of this country song, and agreeing with it. It said something like:

You can't learn to drive until you get behind the wheel,
You can't learn to pray till you're afraid of what you feel...

Basically the message was that until you actually live life doing real things, you haven't really lived. It reminded me of unschooling, and also of us starting a business that we weren't familiar with. Flying by the seat of your pants, learning as you do... That's a real education. Not the college "education" where you don't actually get out into the adult world until you're like 25 years old... Then - you start your real education.
So, when James started telling me how he feels bad about not seeing all these things he should have done before, I told him about the song... I said, how can you blame yourself for not seeing these things when it's your first time in this kind of a business? And he jumped in with both feet, not looking back, to head it up! He's getting an education in advertising the real way! No degree required. And funny enough, people with degrees in marketing and graphic design look up to him and respect his opinion because he's confident, and does his best. And it usually turns out great. These people have no idea that he just starting messing around with graphic design/advertising about a year ago, and has had no college "education" in it.
What can I say? I'm proud of my man for his accomplishments. His accomplishments of having the gusto to just get out there and do it. To take charge in a new environment, and have a can do attitude. I'm proud that my kids have such a great man for a dad. A good example of how to learn while living.... unschooling himself through life!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Just some day to day stuff....

I actually started this blog to keep track of some of the "educational" things we do, participate in, or talk about. Then it kind of evolved into my personal pulpit for a while...
Right now, I'm just kind of taking a backseat to life, and watching the goings on around me. I'm comfortable with where I am at, and not so worried anymore that I am "doing the right thing". I'm starting to see that there are many right ways to educate your children, and mine might not necessarily work for everyone out there for one reason or another.
I am loving how we do things and a lot more relaxed about where we are going. I read this great article the other day. It said that from the "research" that the authors have done, it has been "scientifically proven" that on the whole, kids cannot learn things like abstract Math (not connected to anything real) and Grammar (participles, diagramming sentences,etc.)from a textbook, before the age of ten. Now granted, they can memorize it, and seem to be doing the worksheets properly, but they "file" it in the wrong compartment of their minds, so that when they get into junior high, and their brain tries to access it to build on it, they cannot remember it, and have to relearn it anyway.
I put the words "research", and "scientifically proven" in parantheses, because so many people claim those words.... who knows what is fact or fiction. Anyway, I liked what the article said, and believe it to be true.
I am enjoying using my kids under 10 years to teach them real Math (concrete - as in actual objects or subjects that are in everyday life), and teaching them Language through everyday speech... Here are some examples:
The other evening, Travis comes into the living room and asks me, "Mom, what is heavier than an elephant, but can fly?" I thought for a minute, and said, "An airplane." Right!, He smiled. He had made up the riddle himself. So, then he asks James, "Dad, you make up your own riddle, and ask me.." (I'm paraphrasing here.)
James says, I'm not too good at making them up... How about, "What's black and white and red all over?" Travis doesn't get it. I help him out. Not red R-E-D, Travis... read R-E-A-D... what's black and white and "read" all over... I said, making a motion of reading a newspaper.. He got it. He learned the difference in how to spell red and read, how to use them in a sentence, and how to interchange them to make a play on words, in an instant. No textbook necessary.
This is such a minute example... there are sooo many times I hear the question, "Mom, how do you spell this?" I happen to be a good speller. But if I wasn't, you'd better believe I'd always have access to a dictionary! :) Maybe carry a paperback around with me! :) That question comes up constantly... Another example was when Travis wanted to sell his Hero Clix figurines. (He and Jesse had been arguing over the rules of the game a lot while playing, and he decided he was done. No more Hero Clix. "Jesse cheats EVERY game!"... Travis has a tendency to overdramatize... :)
Anyway, he got on Ebay, and had to look up some words, he'd never paid attention to spelling before... "Mom, how do you spell rookie? Experience? No, Experienced...." And at the same time he was learning these words, he was practicing his typing, and computer navigation.... Don'tcha just love learning while living? :)
A good example of learning real Math would be the cookie fundraiser we are planning to repeat this year. The kids are actually going to experience having their very own credit card! We are going to go to Sam's Club, and get one of their store cards, so that the kids can use it to buy the ingredients for the cookies. They (probably Jesse, mostly, maybe Travis... if he catches on) will be figuring up the cost of the ingredients which will involve A LOT of fractions, teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, multiplying, dividing, adding, subtracting,etc, etc... Not to mention the real world experience of calculating interest and having to pay it. I have a feeling my kids are going to argue about what they should buy in addition to cookie ingredients. Savannah and Travis will argue that they WILL pay the money back for that new toy, and Jesse will say, "No! We have to make the money first..." Or maybe the lure of credit will get him too... I'm excited to see! I'll update my blog as soon as I find out! :)
Cooking and/or baking are such excellent ways of teaching fractions and measurements. I know it's talked about a lot, but it's sooo true! The kids GET IT because it's right in front of them! It's not this circle on a page with lines through it marking halves, thirds, and fourths, which are words not connected with anything real, but the outline on the paper.... They associate fractions with REAL things. This cup is 1 whole cup. It'll take 2 of these half cups to fill it up with flour. It's soooo simple. I don't know why it's so hard for us to get that it could be that simple....
Learning days of the week, and months of the year, is such an easy to come by thing as well. My kids know exactly how many days it will be until Friday, because that is video game night! Savannah, Travis, and Jesse have it down pat. Aaron is learning by constantly asking, "What day is it?", and "How many days until Friday?" Or it's their friends, or cousins spending the night they are counting down to, or any other event... a field trip, Trick or Treat, the new baby's due date, etc.,etc...
Life provides so many opportunities for learning.
Another good example of learning language, is just the everyday conversation.. How often does this occur with your kids?... The kids says, "Mom, how come cats eat mouses?" You answer, "Because if cats didn't eat MICE, there would be too many of them around." Here, the child has learned about the food chain, the effects of its interruption, and they've learned that the plural of mouse is not mouses, but mice. Maybe you've never even paid attention to yourself doing this. But, believe it or not, you are teaching language much more effectively than any textbook (or teacher) ever could. Maybe your child won't remember that exact word the very first time (it just depends on their age). But over time, you will notice that the child naturally starts calling mice "mice"... not "mouses". If you want to, you can tell your child, (Like I did with this particular conversation with Savannah about mouses :), "Honey, the plural of mouse is mice... not mouses." And then continue to explain that plural means more than one. But even if you don't, they will come across that information sometime in their lives, and recognize it as the "educational" reason they say mice instead of mouses.
Well, that fulfills my blogging desire for the night. I wish I could write down every "educational" thing we discuss/do in everyday life... but alas.. I am tired. Good night!