Leaf Day

A few weeks ago, as we wrapped up our summer/early fall term my oldest declared it leaf day.  What is leaf day you ask?  It was a day to celebrate fall and take a break from our regular studies to enjoy art, baking and a bit of science.

ART
Leaf Day was a day of art with different media.  We started by following this idea for painting a fall tree with q-tips.  As you can see, each child is different and put their own spin on their project.

Then we moved on to some fun with markers from Kathy Barbro. Kathy's site is great fun, with projects for all ages, abilities and intensities.

The last project was also from Kathy's site and a bit challenging for even me. It was a complete the leaf, copy its details and colors activity.

Baking

Between art projects we also pulled out our fall cookie cutters for some sugar cookie making.  Have you ever added autumn spices to your dough or glaze, try it, you will probably like it. Think ginger, nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon.  I love the way the sugar sparkles on the icing.

Science/Nature Study
Finally, we collected all of our Fall books for some reading and learning why leaves change colors.

Why Do Leaves Change Color?
Look What I Did with a Leaf
Fall Leaves Fall !
Fall Is Here I Love It!
Leaf Man

I f you still have leaves on your trees take some time to enjoy there beauty and make it a special day with the children.

Balloon Animals and YouTube

Hi everyone!  How is your summer going?  We have been very busy this past week with Vacation Bible School and gearing up for more fun this week.  On the 4th of July we celebrate E's 11th birthday, which means a trip to the water park and on the 5th it is my husband's birthday, so this is always a go, go, go time of the summer for us.  However, among the hustle and bustle the children still need some suggestions of what to do when we are home in the afternoon (especially when I have pulled the t.v. and all devices).  So out came the balloons.

We started with a package of animal balloons and the book Crazy Balloon Modeling.

It was so interesting to watch the children attack this project.  E got right to work making a dog for herself and then for B our youngest. K wanted a ladybug which proved to be too much for her and for me.  (If you follow me on Facebook, you saw my post "It's official, "I suck at balloon animals!"  AJ took a long, long time to decide on what to make.

Poor little K was so frustrated about her lack of abilities but then she got creative,  She scrapped the book and just followed her own ideas and made a few hats and balloons.  I was so proud of her.  She gets frustrated then can go into a very negative mode but she pulled herself out and moved forward.

E is a get to it kind of gal and she helped B participate by making him a dog and a humming bird.

Then we moved on to YouTube. Is there no end to the self and home education that can be done through that website?  If you want to make balloon animals just search "easy balloon animals" and you will be overwhelmed with choices.  AJ watched and watched then finally made a sword and a dog.

Watching a YouTube tutorial.

E is making a heart she saw on YouTube.

After the animal balloons, out came the party balloons for games of all kinds.

So, don't ever underestimate the fun that balloons can be on a hot summer afternoon.  I think I will also add this to our list of winter activity ideas.

I also wanted to tell you how fabulous rocket balloons are.  I don't have any pictures but if you haven't tried them yet, you should.  Once you pump them up they travel a long distance with a great noise.

And just in case you wanted to know what I did to help in this fun, since I was a complete failure at making animals, well I was the official balloon tie-er.

Today is Montessori Monday and I am linking up!

Summer Sewing

I just love when my children get a "bee in their bonnet" about a project, they get so industrious and creative.  We are coming to the end of our 6 week lesson break and I thought I would show you one of our highlights.  It all started with a trip to the library and some American Girl Magazines that we brought home.  If you have not seen this magazine (we were a little slow to the party) check your library to see if they have a subscription, we love it.  The magazine is full of fun party/get together ideas, craft ideas, jokes, personal drawings and stories of real people, not models.  Well the little ladies, after pouring over the magazines, got into a crafting frenzy.  First, both E and K made bags out of old t-shirts.

This project came from the pages of the American Girl Magazine and was a complete no sew job.  The bags are easy to make (no I don't have a tutorial because I was leaving them to their own devices but you are all so creative, just google it or look on youtube), provide a lot of fine motor practice due to the cutting, tying and beading and the bags are oh so cute and useful.  It was also so sweet because when a neighbor friend came over later in the week, they had raided the friends' old t-shirt pile and E ended up with the opportunity to give her friend a craft lesson.

So, from there, the sewing books came out.  K wanted to make B a bag to put candy in during our local Fourth of July parade and man did my little girl impress me.  K's fine motor skills have improved by leaps and bounds since last summer's sewing activities, she sewed all of B's little bag by herself.  I was so blessed by her improvement in skills and her stick to it attitude to complete the project.

The E made a little pouch, button and all, from one of the sewing books.  She uses it to keep her "cell phone" in.

The two sewing books we use are My First Sewing Book and Sewing School.  Both books are filled with fun, cute and easy projects.  We also keep a large sewing basket for the children's needles, pins, thread, buttons and fabric.  I'm not showing it to you because it is so not picture worthy. It is a huge MESS!  Try as I might, that basket never stays neat, no matter how many containers or ziploc bags I use.

There are many summer days left that I am sure much more sewing, and crafts will occur.  If you need a few ideas to fill the long days I have 2 pinterest boards  For the Children and Kid Crafts and Concoctions.

Thanks for visiting and I would so love it if you left me a comment so we know you were here.

I am linking up with Montessori Monday.

Homeschool Favorites--An Easy Beginning

I was asked by a friend, who is just getting started homeschooling, what books do I recommend that she read.  I responded with, "well what are you looking for?" and her response was, "I don't even know where to start."  So I thought I would share some of my favorite books, blogs and resources.  This list is by no means exhaustive but the tools I have come across that have either inspired me or I have returned to time and time again.  This is a  great review for me as I have a little one I will be starting Kindergarten with in the fall.  However, if you have older children you will find this information useful as well because it spans many ability levels.

I have read many homeschooling books and these are my top three encouraging and inspirational selections:

Real Learning: Education in the Heart of my Home by Elizabeth Foss

I read this book 2 years ago, I think when hubs and I were in Napa and it was like my heart had been written on the page by someone else.  I love, love, love this book.  It is full of life experience, methodology and book lists for you children on various topics.The bummer thing is this book is out of print but if you find one get it, read it and mark it up.  Here is Elizabeth's blog

I Saw the Angel in the Marble and I Carved and Angel in the Marble.

These books are a compilation of essays published by the Elijah Company catalog many years ago and were so inspiring to me. I want to add these books to my summer reading list, again, but there is so little time.

There are so many other books I have found helpful in our homeschooling but these are my favorites.

If you are starting with preschool, kindergarten or first grade here are my favorite blogs filled with ideas and free printables.  Between these 2 blogs and a public library you could be all set.

1+1+1=1

Confessions of a Homeschooler

These 2 blogs will supply you with all you need to learn the ABC's and 123's in a fun and hands on method.

Here at the Middle of Somewhere we plan lessons with 2 things in mind, hands on(Montessori) and the use of a lot of literature (Charlotte Mason).  Here are my top 2 sources for planning literature based studies:

Serendipity 
Home of the Alphabet Path and wonderful studies in history and geography.

Homeschool Share
A wonderful site to explore whether you know what topic you want to cover or if you just want to do lessons based on great stories.

Keeping in line with our hands on learning here are 2 resources I return to over and over again to teach basic skills for all of our children:

Take it to Your Seat Phonics
Take it to Your Seat Math

The above resources are produced by Evan Moore and are available in all grade levels beginning with preK to 6th grade, so be sure to search for the level that you need.  Phonics and math are just the beginning of what this company has to offer they also have Take it to Your Seat for science, geography and writing, to name a few. If you are going to invest in these books, think about getting a laminator to make your folders more durable, especially if you hope to use the material with more than one child.

File Folder Fun
This is a free website with many hands on games to download and print for a variety of ages and topics.

If all of this looking around wears you out and you want an "out of the box" curriculum to guide you look at;

My Father's World
or
Heart of Dakota

There could be so much more to include and research and purchase (like all the Montessori things I didn't mention) but this is just a look at an easy beginning.  Each family is different and finding what works for you and your children often involves a lot of trial and error, that's okay, that's normal.  The material we like and where we find inspiration also changes with our family's season of life, interests and ages so be free.  Don't make the same mistake I did and think you should be able to pick material once, and set up a routine once, because if you do you will find yourself frustrated and scratching your head, thinking "I must be doing something wrong."  Flexibility is very important when planning each course of study. Above all seek the Lord for what and how he wants you to teach your children.  He will lead you, just follow.

Spring Math Work

Hello, thanks for stopping to visit our little neck of the woods.  We have been busy enjoying spring and our unseasonably warm weather.  Here is a look at a bit of what all the children have been working on during math lessons

This is the Montessori Peg Board.  E and A were working on factoring numbers up to 30.  This picture is of A but I had really pulled this work out for E but when he saw the board A wanted in on the action.

K is working with the small bead frame making numbers, adding and subtracting.

Here K is working on her money counting skills using a file folder game.  She can do this folder completely by herself, I so underestimated her abilities.

Here A is practicing measuring skills using a ruler as he follows directions to build a house. This activity is from the book Shoebox Math.  This simple activity based book I have returned to over and over again for each of the children.

Quadrilateral sort for geometry.

B is working on counting from 1-10.  On this day we were using number tiles from the game Rummikub and old marker caps.



 We have faithfully stuck with our math rotation this school year and I am so happy with our progress.  We had 3 focus areas for math: geometry, fractions and operations.  I picked a focus area each month rotating between the 3 subjects and it has worked wonderfully.  We are currently working on geometry focusing on lines, triangles and circles.  Study Jams has been so great to add some video learning to our lessons when  
introducing or reviewing a concept.

I came across these funsheet books on Teachers Pay Teachers that may be helpful for fall or summer review.
Mastering Math Facts: Multiplication and Division
Polygon Explorations
Geometry: Exploring Basics

It is Montessori Monday and I am Linking up.

How We Study History--Spotlight on Greece

Hello Everyone!  Today is Monday and I'll be linking up with Montessori Monday.  If you want to see what others are doing in their homes to bring a Montessori, hands on education to life, take some time and check out the links.
Today I am talking about history. I am not an expert but just desire to share what works for us as we have gone through so much trial and error in this area.  Isn't that what so much of raising children and home educating is about? Trial and error and finding what fits for your unique family.  So at this point here is what is working for us in the history department.

We are currently taking a look at ancient Greece but I think this type of plan can be followed for any era in our study of history.  We started out by borrowing Drive Through History Greece from a friend.  This series is very informative, written with an integration of christian and secular history and entertaining.  I hope to add these to our library this summer.  Then the children completed our Europe Geopuzzle for a refresher on where Greece sits in the world.

After our video and puzzle introduction we began reading through A Child's History of the World and completing many of the supplementary funsheets and activities.  Donna Young has a great suggested schedule for reading through a Child's History of the World. We also search you tube videos related to our course of study. We found a video on  The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the children drew notebook pages and copied or wrote their own narrations. They have also completed other notebook pages and writing assignments as they have arisen for example, the Trojan Horse.

We have also been working our way through the book Draw and Write Through History Greece and Rome.  Both  A and E(9 and 10) have been enjoying these books.  A draws the pictures and then narrates to me everything he knows on the given topic and E either writes her own narrations or practices her cursive with the copywork provided in the book.  For our family this series is wonderful and if we miss something this either fills in the gaps or summarizes our readings.

Another addition to our studies is the reading of Cobblestone/Cricket Magazines.  On there website you can order back issues of their magazines, check it out, the topics are endless.  This had been hubs favorite way to hear us studying history when he is around.  The magazines have great pictures and stories.  Many times I have ordered the issues that focus on what it was like to be a child in the time era we are studying.
One last note, we always include an afternoon read-aloud on the era we are studying.  For Greece we are reading Theras and His Town and for Rome we will be reading Detectives in Togas.  Also E daily reads a biography on a famous America and journals about her readings.

So there ya have it, our history method in a nutshell.  I like to keep it simple and interesting bringing in different modes of media when possible.  Let me know if your family does anything similar or if this has been helpful to you.  Blessings!

More Fractions

Sticking with my plan to rotate between, fractions, geometry and operations studies in math means an update is in order.  Deciding where to go in our fraction studies has been frustrating and it is one time that after pulling all of me resources I wished I had a more concise program to follow, every program seems to teach fraction in a different sequence. So, excuse the mish mash but here is what we studied in our last rotation, I hope it helps.

We used our Fractions of a Pizza game to review our previous fraction identification work.  A bit to easy for the bigger children but still fun for the younger.

I cannot say enough about the usefulness of our fraction circles.  We used them to review addition and subtraction of fractions and then moved on to finding equivalents and reducing fractions.

I love this picture, my boy is so handsome plus this is what homeschooling a boy is like, he has to have a monkey  on his back, a shirt over his head, sounds coming out of his mouth and feet rocking something.

finding equivalents

reducing fractions with a homemade booklet

making fractions

We also used our Fraction Contraption game to find equivalents.

I quickly realized when we moved on to multiplying and dividing fractions that K was not going to keep up so I provided her with a few activities of her own like this fraction match up activity:

We also used videos from Kahn Academy and Study Jams to introduce or review concepts as needed.

We are currently in our operations rotation using the peg board, stamp game and small bead frame, I'll share about that soon.

Go check out Living Montessori Now to see what other Montessori Inspired homeschoolers are teaching their children.

Have a happy week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Saturdays & Free Time

I always feel so bad that our younger children do not receive as much creative arts time as our older children did in their primary years.  Well I figured out how to add it in---Saturdays.  Saturday is the perfect day for  us to enjoy some creative time that is not available during the week.  Now, I know Saturdays are a day off so to speak, not another day of education, and I whole heartedley agree.  I just keep a mental (and sometimes on paper) list of quick creative activities that might engage the children.  So I thought I would share a few of their recent endeavors:

K painting a flower.  I picked up several small wooden shapes for the children to paint at Michael's, I think they were $.25 each.  These shapes were stocking stuffers but would also be great for Easter hunts or baskets.

Sensory play with shaving cream.  I think next time I will add a bit of food coloring for some color mixing fun.  I can hear B's excitement now.

This was an idea I saw last summer on Pinterest.  It is baking soda on a sheet pan then a dropper is used to drop vinegar mixed with food coloring.  Fun.

Painting with watercolors.

More watercolors.



Picture book reading is also another wonderful Saturday activity to pull out.  The younger set also have been read to far less than our older children.  Saturday reading makes me stop my tasks and focus on time with my children to enjoy quiet moments of togetherness.  You can see below that I like to mix our reading up with some classics, some seasonal stories and some stories in areas of interests, trains for example.

 All of the above activities were things I suggested when the children came to me needing something to do.  Now here is a look at the creative things they come up with on there own during free time.

I know it is winter around here when our stairs become cluttered with race track and cars.  This track is a darda track that we have loved to death.  The cars are long since broken but it is still a great create your own set with lots of options and fun. And yes that is a giant pile of cars at the bottom of the stairs, many we have bought and many more have been passed down to us from friends and family.

Playdough! Here you see the playdough cake set and candy shop.

Perler beads.

And somedays even if it is cold we go and enjoy our neighborhood school and play for awhile.

If you need some activity ideas check out our Kid Crafts and Concoctions board on pinterest. Also the blog Let's Explore has a monthly play list that I keep in my planner to stimulate ideas.

What do your children do with their at home free time and weekends?

It's Montessori Monday, go have a look!

Grammar

Montessori offers so many wonderful hands on tools for teaching grammar to children.  The subject of grammar can often be dry when presented through traditional worksheet means.  I have collected a number of free online resources and purchased materials to make grammar fun and engaging here at the Middle of Somewhere.

When we started our grammar education I started a wee bit backward from the Montessori method.  In a typical Montessori environment the farm is used first to introduce each part of speech.  Our farm was all set and ready to go but I was drawn to the wooden grammar symbols and sentence strips, so that is where we started.  I bought this set of symbols from Alison's Montessori and printed off sentence strips for free from Montessori Materials (look under the purple words grammar box materials.)  Montessori Materials also has some other great and free grammar and language materials, so take some time to look around  Montessori Primary Guide also has some great free lessons for introducing the parts of speech (look at the left side bar under total reading). We spent quite a bit of time working our way through the sentence strips and labeling them with our symbols.

Then, I introduced the grammar farm.  The farm we use is a Fisher Price set purchased as a gift for our oldest daughter 10 years ago.  Don't get sucked into believing that you must have a "Montessori" farm set for this, you don't, use what you have or what you can find.  We keep a basket of collected farm animals next to our farm and a sets of word cards for every part of speech.  The word cards would be easy to make yourself either on the computer or by hand but I purchased a set from Montessori Print Shop.  This has been a fun material to work with.  For our first grader the farm work has been an introduction to the parts of speech and reading practice.  For my older 2 children, ages 10 and 9, the farm has been hands on review and often times a creative outlet for silliness.  Also close to our farm set I keep a bucket with blank word cards and a pen for when the children need to write their own words rather than use the pre-printed materials.

So where will we go next with our parts of speech?  Well I think some worksheets will be in order and of course some books.  I am always drawn to picture books that can teach a concept and be engaging with its pictures and language at the same time.  We own several of the Ruth Heller grammar books, look for other titles by her as well.   I would also like to add some Words are Categorical grammar books to our collection. For the worksheets, I think a membership to Super Teacher Worksheets is necessary.  It would be nice to combine the books and worksheets to do a mini unit on each part of speech for review and deeper digging.

Happy Learning and today is Montessori Monday, go visit and see what other Montessori homeschoolers are enjoying.