Continuing the Science Shelf Tradition

Last year I started the tradition of a

 Science Shelf.

Go ahead, click on the link, I know you wanna'.

Well, that shelf got hijacked for a Christmas project.

I've been buying little plastic vintage things for a few years,

and I finally had enough to fill the spaces.

The stuff is down on my craft counter,

waiting for the magical slot of time to appear

so I can complete the project.

Any hoo -

This Science project was started partly because through the years

I've developed a personal aversion

to reading a few pages and answering a few questions.

boring

If the teacher is bored, the kids are bored.

The Abeka Science book is good,

but I needed to

touch,

smell,

see,

hear,

and  taste,

 Science.

But it really started when I was diagnosed with cancer

 and Rebekahn was barely two years old.

For physical and mental health issues,

we began taking walks around the neighborhood,

watching ants,

smelling flowers,

picking up pine cones,

enjoying the wonderful world the Lord created,

and bringing home treasures.

I finally figured out an attractive way to display our precious finds.

(click on pic to enlarge, if you wanna')

This year I found a new shelf at a garage sale.

The bottle on the left filled with green is a simple experiment,

the oil and water one, with a few random cute things floating

in the water for good measure.

Didja' know self proclaimed Science Geeks,

like to do Science projects during a play date?

Amazing.

Beautiful.

Children.

I got ambitious and spray painted the Scrabble tile holders black.

Yea, I'm matchy-matchy like that.

The dishes may be piled high, your feet may stick to my floor,

but I'm doing something irrelevant because I want it to match.

The cool wood chips are from a beaver.

During a nature walk on a trail along the river,

we found a tree a beaver was in the process of chopping down.

We brought home a few chewed slivers for a souvenir.

 See this beauty?

Some snake left its outer layer on a rock  in Montana

and I had to bring them both home.

Rebekah wasn't too happy about being "this" Science geeky,

she told me politely she prefers plant science.

But, the shelf awaits our adventure.

When the PNW brings us a sunbreak,

we'll grab a wicker basket,

maybe load up our monkies in the stroller,

and take off to

explore and experience

Science.

The shelf will temporarily display our treasures,

our minds will contain the knowledge,

but our hearts will always cherish the memories.

Don't Skip Skip Counting, Let Skipper Skip

Skip Counting

 is a long, lost skill.

When modern educators thought rote drills were too monotonous, 

boring and unproductive,

they stopped having the kids chant in class,

2-4-6-8-10-12...

3-6-9-12-15-18...

The multiplication tables weren't chanted, either.

1x7=7

2x7=14

3x7=21

4x7=28

They even came up for a name for it...

"Drill and Kill."

You can research all the arguments. 

They use a lotta' big words and catch phrases I didn't understand,

but I know this,

some things have to be repeated over and over to be learned.

How many times have you told your kids to flush the toilet?

How many times do you go in a find a toilet full of...

well...um....ah... you find the toilet is unflushed?

My point exactly.

Repetition is good.

Anything valuable has to  repeated over and over  to get through their

knuckleheads, peabrains, noggins,

their precious little minds.

Skip counting is valuable in addition and multiplication.

Jolanthe from Homeschool Creations

is an amazing teaching mommy.

Generous, too.

She offers many, many free printables and ideas to make your

teaching rock.

She inspires me so much I think I wanna' be her when I grow up.

Start by printing out her

Skip Counting Charts.

If you do this, drop a comment and thank her.

Did I tell you how amazing she is?

2,700 followers think so.

I put mine in clear page protectors in a binder,

but they could also be laminated.

Thanks to Jolanthe blogging about a great deal on a laminator,

I got one for Christmas.

Back to Skip Counting.

Here's where my little touch comes in.

Remember how I love toys?

I really, really, really love toys.

Just like a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down,

toys make any lesson better.

I thought we needed Skipper to help us Skip Count.

Since we're trying to learn the 3's in multiplication,

we hopped through the list a few times,

counting out loud.

Then, we began working on the facts,  beginning with Skipper on zero.

If I said,

2 x 3

Skipper hopped twice up to the six.

I made Rebekah repeat the problem and the product,

yea, that would be the answer in multiplication.

Skipper landed on 27. 

Quick...

what math fact did I call out?

Yea, yer' so smart, 3 x 9.

3 x 4 = 12

Yea!  Got another one right.

Then you introduce the commutative property.

If 3x4 = 12

then

4x3=12.

It's a two 'fer one kinda' deal.

You memorize a lot less facts when you understand this concept.

Then, just when I was really patting myself on the back about

our amazing math lesson I had presented and the blog I was gunna' write

Skip Counting With Skipper

Rebekah said,

"But, Mom, this doll's name is Stacie."

Rhyme Time is a Fine Time

Sometimes, the reasons I love to homeschool are simple.

It's not  great philosophical or academic reasons

I could spew off a soap box.

I love being with my kids.

 I also love being there for those amazing moments

of growth and enthusiasm when they conquer a new skill.

Imagine if I never saw the worksheet below,

and never had that

AAH - HA!

moment because this worksheet was completed then shoved

to the bottom of a desk or lost on the bus.

Click to enlarge.

I know ya' really want to read this.

Yes, my daughter discovered the word

heart

rhymes with the word

fart.

It's truly moments like these make me

cherish

my decision to homeschool.

Teaching is my delight.

I teach with all my might.

My children are outta' sight,

Even when they bite.

I really like to write

But my poetry is  a fright.

Speaking of rhyming,

Write Express offers a free online rhyming dictionary.

There's another one from Ken Nesbitt's

Poetry4Kids.com.

If you're one of those cool, younger moms who

use their thumbs to rule the world,

there's even a free app to download.

Kids love rhyming when it's fun,

and shoving a worksheet in front of them first,

isn't fun.

I like to entice them with a reading from

Jack Prelutsky first.

I blogged that I like to turn their

knee-jerk negative reaction into a knee-slap.

When they learn that poetry and rhyming

can be ridiculously fun,

then you bring on those boring worksheets.

Oh, did I call them boring?

Imagine my excitement when a local writer,

Marty Nystrom, wrote two poetry books,

one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament.

A versatile writer, you know him best as author of

"As the Deer" and many other contemporary worship songs.

Once while reading this aloud to Rebekah,

she giggled and said, "Mom, he has boys, right?"

Yea, he writes as a Christian, a poet, and a Dad.

Reading silly poetry

and giggling with my little girl,

is just one more reason why

I love homeschooling.

On Your Mark....

...Get Set....

GO!

Kids love to line up elbow to elbow,

their rubber-soled shoes pointing to an inevitable victory,

and dash forward with the final command~

GO!

Young kids think they're going to win every race they enter.

They challenge their older sibling,

and think they're going to win.

They challenge their dad,

and think they're going to win.

They aren't mature enough to  understand when they do win,

it's because Daddy lets them win.

As they age,

they understand the competition,

they understand their limitations,

and they realistically know they might not win every race.

But, the diligent racers still put their foot forward,

crouch down,

and listen for that command

GO!

When I first lined up for the race of homeschooling,

I was confident I was going to win.

My enthusiasm and my excitement knew no boundaries.

Who doesn't love school supplies?

Coloring?

Cutting?

Reading?

I was thrilled to be doing

what I loved

with

whom I loved.

When I first heard the starting gun,
I took off sprinting.

The supplies and books had already been purchased,

special snacks and meals prepared,

everything was waiting for that exiting occasion~

the first day of school.

I was surprised to discover what I thought was going to be a sprint,

turned out to be the hurdles.

Through the years, my race has been interrupted by

by

floods,

books on backorder,

fires,

company,

power outages,

blizzards,

deaths,

moves,

and my personal battle with cancer.

When I first put my foot on that starting line,

I had no idea how hard it sometimes would be 

to see the finish line ahead of me.

But, I always kept my rubber-soled shoes pointing forward.

It wasn't always pretty, but I always finished,
and I've learned to count
finishing
as
winning.

This year, I don't think I was even at the starting line when the gun went off.

Like my kids, I just didn't want summer to end.

But, like most veterans,
I now understand the competition and
I now understand my limitations.

I've learned what has to be done ahead of time,
and what can be done as you go.
I've learned that anxiety and frustration breed faster in a home
than all the dust bunnies in my corners.
I've learned that the most important thing about this race,
is to be thrilled to be doing


what I love
with
whom I love.


 

Ya' know what? 


Once the race started again this year,
I was a little kid all over again.

My rubber-soled shoes are pointing to an inevitable victory,

I'm convinced I'm gunna' win.

Bear Necessities of Rounding

Counting Bears have been a bear necessity for our home school.

I remember eyeing them in Wal-mart,

waiting for the day I could afford them.

When I found another set at a garage sale,

I was ecstatic. 

It felt better than that dream

of picking up money in the streets,

cuz this was real.

Doesn't take much to make the

Momma of home-teached kids happy,

does it?

 

I said that on purpose - remember the name of my blog?

Any-hoo, we were trying to learn the

concept of rounding to the nearest ten.

As always, the first time a concept can be introduced,

it can be confusing.

First time mastery brings confidence and enjoyment to any subject.

I pulled out my pile of tricks from overstuffed and underorganized shelves and got to work.

We started with the laminated number line that goes from 1-100.

A small bear was placed on the number 18,

the number we needed to round.

Rebekah had to tell me the two tens her number was between,

in this case 10 and 20.

Large bears were placed on the tens.

If your items aren't different sizes, you could differentiate with colors.

At a glance, she could tell the 18 was closer to the 20.

(double-click to enlarge and print)

We repeated with different numbers,

emphasizing the rule~

numbers ending in 1-4

are rounded down,

numbers ending in 5-9

are rounded up.

Yep, counting bears

are the bear necessities

of a hOme tEaChEd life.

 

Playing In Math Class

Beka and I love to play together.

We play dolls, store, raft, school, restaurant, store and servant.

She always lets me be the boss and she's the servant, isn't she sweet?

It's hard to do school when you wanna' play,

so we like to play during school.

It greatly improves math skills.

So does scratching your head, we learned.

In 2nd grade, Beka is learning money skills.

The worksheet introduced the concept of counting back change.

Having a cash register with a calculator and a change drawer that

"dings" when you open it, is a must for math class.

The worksheet was  kinda' confusing.

It was kinda' boring, too.

If Teacher Momma Mindy is bored,

I know my student is bored.

When the head scratchin' didn't help enough,

 

We opened a store.

While Beka priced her toys, I scribbled quick cards for each item.

The box on the left is the price, the bill used to pay is in the middle.

She had to use $5, $10 and $20 bills.

First, she had to figure out change, using the lease amount of each coins.

 Then, I came into her store many times, in character,

buying gifts for nieces, spoiled children, brats, and kids having birthdays.

She recommended an item, took my money, and counted back my change.

After I bought out the store, she had nailed the concept.

We went back to the boring worksheet, and finished it in a few minutes.

I'm thinkin' boring doesn't always mean just boring.

Confusion can bring on boredom.

When you are confident and understand,

math isn't boring, it's exciting.

Then, we played, because that's what we like to do.

We play.

Ramen Noodles and Roman Numerals

I know Ramen Noodles are for eating
 and Roman Numerals are for counting,

but sometimes my kids get mixed up.

My older kids, who were allowed to eat Ramen Noodles on occasion,

used to get frustrated when learning their Ramen Numerals,
but wanted Roman Noodles  for lunch.

 Due to dietary decisions, we have nixed the Ramen Noodles

and kept the Roman Numerals,
although we still get them mixed up on occasion.

A visual person, I've learned I teach better according to my style. 

When the kids were having a hard time grasping  Roman Numerals,
a concept  we don't often use except in math class,

I needed to land the learning so they would have success for a lifetime.

I invented Roman Numeral Tiles.

 One inch squares of Fun Foam were labeled with a permanent marker. 

This lesson we were just learning to count from 1-30.

The patterning makes it very easy to understand the rules of

adding consecutive numbers together,

subtracting a lower number when placed before a larger number,

and not using a number more than three times in a row.

When set out in numerical order the beautiful number patterns

also remind us of a God who created in pattern and order.

To test her skill, I quickly made number cards,

and had her use the tiles to show the Roman Numeral equivalent.

When she stumbled with 19, I reminded her it's 10 + 9,

then she quickly found the correct tiles.

It takes a little extra time to pull out the manipulatives to enforce a lesson,

but it's time that usually won't need to be repeated.

A longer introduction to a concept,

followed by a few short reminders,

is more successful than a short introduction,

and a lot of lengthy reminders.

I found a  few free Roman Numeral worksheets from abcteach.

Your kids can enjoy a cute computer interactive game by Tullie House,

playing Snakes and Ladders with Roman Numerals.

I gave up trying to find a free bingo game,

they all wanted me to buy or subscribe to something,

so I made my own.

Yea, right in the middle of trying to blog, finish up school,

prepare for a meeting, and eat dinner,

I had to make a bingo game.

Stay tuned. I have another fun way to learn Ramen Numerals.