Adding to School…

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

I’ve been trying to come up with some fresh ideas to get he kids reading and writing. I get bored with the same old, same old myself so I can imagine that they do too. I usually get these great brain storm ideas but they never materialize due to time, resources, etc. schoolWell I think I’ve got something this time!! I want to encourage the kids to write more. I also want them to work on everyday math skills and reading too.

First off to tackle the writing I am going to have to lift some stipulations a little bit and wanted something interacting. I don’t think pen pals are really the best route to go yet and book reports are too much to take on in short periods of time. So I decided that maybe a good idea would be to write letters to grandparents and great-grandparents. Sort of a way to bridge the gaps of generations and to work on writing skills. I would let some phonetic spelling slide just to encourage the kids to do it. I know that if I nit-pick the letters at LEAST one of the kids will not do it for fear of “doing it wrong.”

Now working on math in an everyday manner is somewhat more challenging in some respects because they won’t really understand balancing a checkbook just yet. There is something that they are always curious about and love to get in the way of though. Cooking! Baking! Reading would come in with reading cookbooks to find some new recipes to try out together. They can work on finding a recipe, gathering ingredients, following recipes and we usually have to double them so that’s math in the highest form of fractions! (I hate fractions… My Hubbie is the one who really taught me to understand fractions. Isn’t that sad?! I made it all the way to being a married adult before someone actually found a way to explain fractions to me? Ugh… To my parents credit, they tried. Boy did they try! They also didn’t realize how badly I didn’t understand them either. Hehe… I hid that little secret well.) <--- Tangent! Where was I? OH yes…

Math! We already have a little kids calendar that they use to setup their activities throughout the week, watches to keep track of time, receive money for chores for spending on what they want (I’m happy to say a lot of times it ends up being clothes!), etc. I think working in the kitchen will be a nice addition to all of these things.

Finally, I have made our first lapbook ever for the kiddos and it may well be our last! I have found out that I made it BACKWARDS, meaning I already glued all the fun stuff into the lapbook instead of doing everything and then gluing it in there. I thought the whole idea of flaps, pockets and folded papers was the excitement of opening those little flaps to do the puzzle, coloring, etc behind it?! I am confused... we are still going to do it though. It's all about Thanksgiving!

How do you have your kids help/learn in those areas around your house?



5 comments:

Calico Crazy said...

Hi, I came here through the Hip Homeschool Hop. We do our lapbooks both ways, some I put together and she does work after its assembled, and some she puts together herself as she does the work. I'd love it if you stopped by my blog Discovery For Life when you have a moment.

Unknown said...

I love the idea of writing to grandparents! That seems like a fantastic everyday way to pratice writing skills. Stopping by and visiting from the Hip Homeschool Hop. Following you now. :)

Anonymous said...

We also write to family members. We tried writing to pen pals, but the reply letters were too sporadic. The pen pal would take anywhere from 1 week to 4 weeks, or more, to respond.
Now we write to grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and so forth. The children do not expect replies, but they are always thrilled when they receive them. It allows them to work on their penmanship, grammar skills, story telling skills and more. Love it!
PS- I came here through Hip Homeschool Hop.

Joy said...

I also let the kids help in the kitchen. They are to get the necessary ingredient when I call them out. They will help measure. They love being in the kitchen with me. Writing letters to grandparents is awesome. My kids will draw pictures and write on the pictures. Not only does it help the kids, the grandparents love it also! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Gina Kleinworth said...

Ahhh- I too have 1 that will avoid doing something all together if they fear they may fail. Can you say type A personality?? :)Love this post as I can totally relate. Oh- & I love the picture of the cat on the last post. The sleek look with the puffy tail is always amusing. I'm sure she doesn't thing so though :)

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