Training Happy Hearts

Jack on Track

2012-01-27T05:47:00.008-05:00

While Luke and Nina were doing this one recent evening after dinner:

Jack decided to do this:

As I observed him, I thought, “Oh, he’s clever!” He’d noticed the train motif on the ABC puzzle his sibling were playing with and had, thus, gone to fetch one of our toy trains from the other room. He, then, proceeded to drive that train down the puzzle as if the puzzle were tracks.

Our youngest boy has yet to speak words at nearly 19-months old, but his actions speak volumes. I just love the way he observes, reacts and communicates!

Stir Fry -- A Satisfying Taste of Victory

2012-01-25T05:26:00.001-05:00

The other day, I began sharing a celebration about Luke makinghis first dinner meal for our family. The fact that our six-year-old asked to make our dinner and stayed safely on-task throughout the process of doing so is noteworthy. That our boy then ate the very stir fry he had prepared without whining or complaining is even more remarkable.

I know that it might not seem like an extraordinary thing for a six-year-old to eat a stir-fry, but for our six-year-old to do so is a major breakthrough!

For years, the textures and aromas of many foods were just too much for Luke and getting him to eat healthy portions of proteins, starches and, especially, produce became increasingly challenging. Sensory issues took hold and, instead of Luke’s diet expanding with time, it became altogether too limited.

Enter Cheryl – the wonderful feeding and nutrition specialist that we have been working with for several months now. At our first meeting, she noticed a slight oral-motor coordination issue in Luke and offered us strategies to help him quickly overcome it. She also helped us tease out how much of Luke’s limited diet was based on “sensory issues” as opposed to “behavior” and “rigid thinking”.

Before long, we realized that our efforts prior to seeing Cheryl, coupled with follow-through on strategies she offered us, had taken food-related tactile defensiveness off the table for Luke. Sensory aversions were no longer at the root of Luke’s “problem”. Habit was! For while Luke’s mouth and brain no longer told him that certain textures and aromas made entire categories of foods a “no go”, his will did. Rigid, ritualized thinking had set in and it was frustrating to fight.

Despite our best efforts to only introduce (or re-introduce) "new" or "unfamiliar" foods outside of actual meal times in order to better facilitate keeping family meals a pleasant experience for all, dinner often became a debacle. Luke regularly balked and complained loudly at items on our menu, even if he had helped prepare them. Tantrums and meltdowns seemed to come out of nowhere, lasting the better part of an hour (or more!) at times over the most minute details of food presentation and choices. Something as simple as favorite familiar foods touching one another was enough to set our boy off.

Needless to say, the almost-daily food dance was disheartening and exhausting. Yet, it was not without hope. We all know that habits are challenging to change, and, I will be the first to attest that habits borne initially from sensory aversions seem doubly difficult to adjust. There’s just something about the body-brain-sensory-muscle memory connection that makes amending such patterns tricky. But, tricky is not impossible.

We continued to trust the process. Patience and persistence paid off. Our boy, who at one point was completely averse to most meat textures and extraordinarily volatile about vegetables not only ate both the other night, but ate them cooked together. A stir-fry meal that contained rice, meat and two vegetables all cooked together with eggs on the side (because he just wasn’t ready to tolerate the eggs in the mix as well) – it is an enormous and long-awaited victory in our household!

Let's hope the trend continues!.

Luke's First Dinner Chef Experience -- A Success!

2012-01-23T22:25:00.000-05:00

“Don’t blink,” folks say. These years pass quickly.

Indeed, they do!

In 5 ½ years, Luke has moved from this:

to this:

Now, going from slurping up first “solids” to popping a bite of stir fry with a side of eggs into one’s mouth may not seem that momentous, but, for us, it is noteworthy.

Why?

Well, for one, guess who made dinner last night?

You got it! After an afternoon of sledding, it seems that Luke had worked up not only an appetite, but also a cooperative, independent spirit.

All the turn-taking had had done throughout the afternoon with his siblings on our single unbroken sled seemed to have put Luke in an accommodating frame of mind. Much to my pleasure, upon getting home, he did not immediately shed his sledding gear and beg for food. Instead, he seemed regulated by the heavy work of whizzing down a big hill and pulling a sled back up it countless times throughout the afternoon and was willing to wait until dinner before eating. Better still, when he saw me take carrots and asparagus out of the fridge in order to prepare part of dinner, he did not balk.

In the past, carrots alone have been known to trigger long tantrums with Luke, and adding asparagus into our mealtime mix is something that Luke has only recently accepted with extreme reluctance. So, the fact that Luke did not complain about what was “on the menu” for dinner was surprising. More unexpected was Luke’s request to make our family’s dinner on his own.

Now, Luke has helped me to cook and bake many a times before and has even gotten a breakfast or snack together for us, but, until last night, he had never been the main dinner chef. Thus, when he asked me if he could make our meal "without your help, Mommy", I was pleasantly taken aback. I guessed that our afternoon of letting Luke loose to slide down a snowy hill as many times as he requested to do so without anyone else on his sled had built his confidence and that he wanted to prove his capabilities still further by preparing dinner.

I quickly reflected that it was not long ago that our boy was afraid of the sensation of sledding down hills and still needed the comfort of someone aboard the sled with him more often than not. Yet, he had spent the greater portion of the afternoon's sledding runs going solo-by-request with us simply looking on. Maybe it was time to let him do the same in the kitchen.

So it was that Luke sliced carrots

and scissored asparagus.

Then, stirred them with steak bits in a pan,

before mixing in leftover rice and cooking it all over low heat.

He, then, cracked eggs (with just a little requested help from sous chef Mom) and cooked them up (again asking Mom to help for a moment, but only "to watch the pan while I go potty.")

Finally, Luke set the table and proudly presented a simple stir-fry and eggs to our family.

Before we all dug in, while the children offered thanks for our day and meal aloud, I silently offered even greater thanks for the way the meal had been prepared, with concentration, determination and independence by our not-so-little-anymore boy.

I also gave thanks for the second reason the occasion seemed so momentous, which I will share more about in my next post.

"God Is I Love You Every Single Day of Your Lives"

2012-01-22T05:18:00.000-05:00

Nina: God is a nice man.

Luke: He’s better than nice…better than better. He’s I love you every single day of your lives and every single minute.

Nina: God is the awesome of the heavens.

Luke: God is bigger than the heavens. He’s bigger than all of us, His kids.

My children chatted at the table while I did our lunchtime dishes. Unbeknownst to them, I paused my chore in order to capture a snippet of their dialogue on a nearby scrap of paper. As I did so, I smiled both at my children’s desire to chat on and on about Our Father and also at the profundity of their thoughts as they did so.

It struck me that our day had provided one thing that I feel is vital to guiding young children in their faith formation: time.

Time to wonder.

Time to think.

Time to notice.

Time to converse.

Time together sharing just what God intended for us to do: love.

Indeed, sometimes the best thing we can do to guide our young children in their faith formation is simply to offer them time and space to let the Spirit speak within them and through them. When we do, amazing things unfold.

In what ways have the young children in your loves demonstrated their love and understanding of God lately? Have you noticed the Spirit working within them in the lulls of a day? Do share about it!

Our Family Mission Statement Makes Me S.M.I.L.E.

2012-01-18T08:34:00.001-05:00

With the New Year underway, my mind has been predictably reverting to that of the Organizing-Me. I’ve been thinking goals, goals, goals:

Has our family met ones we set before? What are our current goals? What is our game plan for reaching them? Do we have a MISSION? A PURPOSE? A TRUE NORTH? Might we finally come up with a concise statement to check in with when making choices? Something to guide us in big decisions and small. A statement that encapsulates what we value and how we aim to prioritize our principles.

Good news for me! After years of waffling, I don’t need to wait any longer for such a touchstone to materialize:

These words will soon appear in our living room, both textually and as a vision board of sorts, as a constant reminder of our family's purpose.

I could not be more excited.

Now, I know it may seem silly that I am bursting with pleasure over such a simple statement. Indulge me, though. I like words. I like direction. I like having a summit in sight and a plan for reaching it. Plus, I love living on purpose. Our family’s S.M.I.L.E statement not only provides all this, but it also symbolizes something our family has sought after: Unity!

For years now, my husband and I have hashed over a family mission statement. Sometimes, we talked about it. (Okay, even bickered.) At other times, we quizzed each other with questions, which we found online and in print about living purpose-driven lives. (Okay, I usually badgered Mike with these.) Periodically, we tried encapsulate our big ideas in a concise statement. (Am I ever concise?) Occasionally, we even included the kids in our efforts. And this year, we did it! We synthesized words to describe our mutual purpose as a family.

We penned a purpose statement that speaks to us and about us – one that defines our principles and pursuits. It is broad enough for flexibility, but specific enough to offer direction and accountability. Moreover, if makes me SMILE!

Big thanks to my husband for indulging me through completing this seemingly simple, but years-in-the-making task. Now that the to-do of writing it is done, the satisfaction of consciously living it has begun.

Do you have a family mission or purpose statement? What process did you use for creating it? How has it helped center your family? How do you display it and check-in with it? Do share!

If you don't have a purpose statement, but would like to get started on one, here are some resources that have inspired us in the process at one point or another:

Tsh at Simple Mom offers to guide families through a two to six hour process of drafting a purpose statement.
Franklin Covey offers a Mission Statement Builder for individuals, families and team.
Trinity Fellowship offers a faith-based pdf with guiding questions and tips.
Families with a Purpose offers a simple three-thought template for writing purpose statements.
LearnVest offers directions for vision boards that could easily tie-in to purpose statements.

Last-Minute Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Lesson Plans

2012-01-16T20:58:00.002-05:00

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I certainly hope it was a peaceful and enriching one for you. For us, it was a feast of last-minute lessons.

This morning, as I was making baked oatmeal and banana-nut muffins, I glanced at the calendar and realized that it’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Again? I thought. Another holiday I am unprepared for. I am not sure why it is, but back when I was classroom teacher, I almost never missed tying official state holidays into lesson plans and often found fodder for classroom projects and fillers in more obscure every-day’s-a-holiday sort of observances, but, now, as a homeschool mom, such holidays creep up on me. I find myself with nothing special planned for special days.

Enter, the Internet, a quick rummage through our home library and some quick-thinking and – ta da! – a satisfying smorgasbord of holiday-related learning activities was tossed together:

Language and Social Concepts

We began by trying to read the “puzzle word” peace. Then, we chatted about what the word means by having Luke and Nina offer suggestions about what peace looks and sounds like, places we feel peaceful and how we demonstrate a feeling of peacefulness.

Some of the ideas we listed were that:

The beach is a peaceful place.
Hiking can be peaceful.
Peace does not sound like yelling, whining or hurting others.
Playing with toys and drawing can be peaceful.
Loving one another is peaceful
God is peaceful.

With thoughts about how we can create more peace in our home, we read and discussed the rather didactic, but still enjoyable book A Children's Book About Whining (Help Me Be Good).

As I read the book, I could not help but to think of it as a social story written before Carol Gray fine-tuned the concept of them and, as Luke and Nina eagerly connected not only with the examples in the book about why children whine, but also expanded on ideas of what to do instead of whining, I thought, “I really need to get the rest of this series and to begin using more social stories.” For, yes, while the Charlotte-Mason inspired part of me balks that such stories are not “living” enough, the practical Mama-dealing-with-special-and-typical-youngster-needs side of me finds them a great fit for daily living in our home.

When we finished reading A Children’s Book About Whining, we decided to put one idea suggested in it into immediate practice: For the remainder of the day, whenever anyone whined, we simply stated, “You are whining.” Then, if the person did not stop, we coached them to by asking them to share their problem or concern instead of whining about it. Oh, how I love proactive strategies the kids buy into. This one did not stop peace-deterring whining completely, but it did help redirect it more quickly, focusing the kids on solving their own problems and recognizing one another’s needs.

We, then, transitioned from what not to do to keep our home peaceful to what we could do to promote peace at home and beyond with our second read-aloud of the morning Because Brian Hugged His Mother. This is a book I purchased after seeing it in a Michael Olaf catalog (which is a rich resource for Montessorians). I’ve had it tucked away, waiting for just the right moment to share its message about how one single act of kindness can reach further than you think.

Luke and Nina remained enraptured as they learned how Brian hugged his Mom one morning for no special reason and how that hug set in motion a series of unselfish acts that reached more people—and animals—than he could have imagined. Then, right afterwards, Luke gave me the most enormous hug and the kids called Daddy to share their love with him in a phone message, which they imagined would travel from Daddy to his colleagues to… Thus commenced a fun imaginative time, thinking about ways we could share simple acts of peace, love and kindness and how these might affect the world.

Later in the day, we snuggled on the couch to read Peace Begins With You, which opened up wonderful age-appropriate discussions on differing definitions of peace, personal needs vs. wants, how to avoid or settle conflict, etc. In that, the book was a rich read. However, I mixed feelings about the book.

You see, I initially received the book in a box of hand-me-downs, glanced at the beautiful and gentle illustration on its front cover, quickly read the summary and accolades on the back cover and set it aside as a future read. Then, this morning, when I spied it, I thought, “Perfect!” only to change my mind once the children and I began turning its pages. That is when I realized that although the text of the book tackles the concept of peace in a way children can understand, moving from personal needs and wants to national and international issues, the book includes a few images that I find too unsettling for my young ones. For example, Luke and Nina keyed right into the illustration in the latter part of the book of a boy throwing a Molotov cocktail and Nina was particularly disturbed by the image of a starving child and infant. (Luckily there was an illustration of a happy, healthy baby and mother on the following page, which she decided was the children’s Mommy, with the baby “all better”.)

Now, I am not saying that we need to shield our children from realities of the world. I just think that we need to be sensitive about when and how to introduce and discuss certain ones with them. There is so much rich beauty that is real in the world that I would rather fortify my children with it before subjecting them to equally real ugliness. Thus, had I previewed this book more carefully, I might have presented only selections of it or waited to share it at a later time. Oops!

History

An image I did not mind sharing with my children was a line-drawing portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. from DLTK, which we colored after talking about who MLK, Jr. was and how he impacted the world as a peacemaker. We also watched his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on YouTube.

Music/Faith

We also watched and listened to “Let There Be Peace on Earth” on YouTube and discussed further how we can be peaceful and share peace with others. Plus, we prayed for friends and family using our B.L.E.S.S. flip cards, of course, asking for peace for all.

Our Martin Luther King, Jr. Day buffet was not fancy, nor fully-balanced with complete theme-related servings of our Daily Seven and Core Four Plus, but it did include plenty of discussion and learning and we filled in movement, math and other activities elsewhere in the day.

How about you? Did you observe the holiday today? What are some of your favorite go-to sites or last-minute activities for when you realize you’ve neglected to plan for a significant day?

An Image of Perfection: A Simple Step Towards Faith Formation in Young Children

2012-01-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

The other night, my little girl and I were cuddled in bed for some Mommy-and-me time before she drifted off to sleep. After a moment of quiet, she tilted her head toward me, smiled and asked, “Mommy, when I get my own room, can I put up pictures of Mary, Jesus and Joseph in it?”

“Of course,” I replied. And, then she proceeded to describe the vision she was formulating of her one-day room. She talked about a picture of “Mary with Baby Jesus”, one of “grown up Jesus”, and one of…

As my daughter told me about each of the images she wanted to place in her room, I said a silent prayer of thanks. I had not brought up the idea of her room nor of how she might decorate it. She simply had been thinking about it and had opted to share what was on her mind with me. In doing so, she offered me an affirmation I sorely needed that day: I am parenting her the way I feel called to do so – with love, openness, communication and faith. As my daughter continued on, she filled our minds with the most perfect images of all – those of our Lord and Our Mother. With these pictures in mind, we both fell into a peaceful slumber.

As I look back on this heartwarming bedtime, I think about how powerful images can be and how the ones we choose to surround ourselves with not only speak about us but also to us. Every day, as we glance at a painting, a photograph, a sculpture or a poster, part of it seems to be written in both our minds and in our hearts.

Bearing this in mind, I would like to suggest an easy step any of us can take in guiding young children in their faith formation:

Be vigilant about the images we choose to allow into our homes.

We can ask ourselves if all of the images that adorn our abodes are pure, lovely, excellent and worthy of praise. If the answer is no, we can edit those images right out the front door. Likewise, we can make a conscious effort seek out child-friendly images of Jesus, Mary, the Saints and honorable Bible figures to put up in our children’s rooms. Since my children’s births, I have been doing this on a somewhat consistent basis. Now, after my daughter’s bedtime conversation with me, I am inspired to do so with even more dedication.

How about you? Have you and your children selected some inspiring images to beautify their bedroom with? Is there balance between these and whatever other images hang in your home? What do the images around your home say about your family? More importantly, how do they speak to your children’s hearts?

Clean Mush “Snow” -- A How-To for Sensory Diet Play

2012-01-13T23:18:00.000-05:00

What do you do when there is no snow left outside and your children still want to play in some white, wet stuff in celebration of the snow-theme you've been focusing on?

Try out:

Clean Mush

a sensory experience for all ages

from Maryann Kohl’s book First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos

Materials

a shower curtain, tablecloth or other floor protector (to minimize the mess that is sure to overflow)
an old cheese grater
1 bar of Ivory soap
a cutting board or plate (optional for grating soap upon, but a great idea for adding additional tactile opportunities into the activity since the grated soap will then need to be transferred from cutting board to bin)
a good-sized bin (We discovered our first bin was not large enough and had to transfer our materials to a large dish tub, which worked perfectly; a lidded storage bin would also work nicely since you could then just cover the mixture for later use.)
2-3 rolls of toilet paper
1/3 cup of Borax
warm water in a pitcher
optional figurines, spoons, scoops, etc. for playing with
lidded plastic containers (for packing the mixture into in order to save it for play another day)

Presentation

1. Depending on the age and ability of your children, grate the Ivory soap or have your children do it.

2. Enjoy smelling the grated soap together for extra olfactory input.

3. Offer plenty of time for children to discover the tactile properties of the grated soap: It can be squished together to form little snow balls.

4. Transfer the soap into plastic bin.

5. Enjoy the fun of unraveling tolls of toilet paper.

Encourage tearing off of sheets and balling some up...

...unrolling it from different heights or rolling it out along a hallway and chasing after it, etc.

The more levels your child gets at while unrolling the better. While your child is having fun, some balance and heavy work can naturally occur.

6. Pile the paper into the bin.

7. Measure out and add 1/3 cup of Borax.

8. Pour in enough warm water to saturate the soap-toilet paper-Borax mixture.

9. Dig in with your bare hands to mix, mash...

...and moosh to your heart’s content.

10. Then, play away with your bare hands...

...or with figurines, perhaps making snow forts by pushing the mush to the walls of the bin and hollowing out a space for figurines to shelter themselves.

Sensory and Skill Highlights

Teamwork transferring bins...

Motor Coordination/Planning
Olfactory Input
Tactile Input
Measuring
Practical Life: Grating
Creative/Imaginative Play
Cooperation

Quick Tips/Extensions

The name “Clean Mush” seems to come from the soapy ingredients used. We found it had little to do with how our floors ended up even though we had put an old shower curtain beneath our sensory experience space. Be prepared to find bits of white stuff around even after cleaning and sweeping up.

For sensory defensive children, tools such as wooden spoons, scoops, etc. – or even a plastic bag over the hand – can encourage more enjoyable play. Putting favorite figurines into the mix for children to dig out can also help. Just be prepared to use a toothbrush to clean them up afterward, as the mush does not come off nooks and crannies with water alone.

Alternately, if a child is reluctant to touch the mush after getting some stuck to finger, as happened with our Jack, simply let the child observe you having fun playing with it. Take up a small piece of mush, roll it in your hands, pat it into a pancake, roll it in a ball, clap it together. Offer a small piece to your child to brush, pat or clap off your hands.

For ease of sculpting fun with the mush, go easy on the amount of warm water you add. We did and were able to make snowballs, snow forts, etc.

Or, simply squeeze as much water as you can out of a handful of mush before sculpting with it.

When playing with children of different age levels, divide the mush so small hands can explore it while big hands make their own creations.

Don't be afraid to get feet into it, too!

Easily transform this activity into a color mixing one, by separating the dry mixture into three bins and adding red, yellow or blue water to each. Then, mix the different colored mush together to see what happens.

To add a sense of scientific discovery to the experience, before making the mush, ask children about the nature of each of the ingredients (hard, soft, powdery, wet, etc.). Then, ask them to predict how mixing them together will affect them. In each step of the process, note changes in the property of each ingredient, as well as when you can no longer separate the ingredients. Alternately, experiment with what happens to Clean Mush left out in a flattened patty, a small ball and a big clump as opposed to the same types of mush shapes left in covered containers. Try freezing some, too.

To add an element of following directions, or to provide a social story for your child, feel free to print this post out, cut it up and paste it into a picture-based direction menu/social story. (I really wanted to make one here today, but just do not have time to create a new document, get it into a pdf, etc. But, I did want to throw the idea out there.)

What other “snowy” sensory experiences do you enjoy inside? Any favorite variations or extensions for using Clean Mush? Do share in a comment. Thanks!

2012 Weather Tree: A How-To and Round-Up for a Simple Ongoing Science-Math and More Project

2012-01-11T23:15:00.004-05:00

How is the sky-y? Tell me, please.

The sky is (sunny).

S-U-N-N-Y.

S-U-N-N-Y

The weather is sunny….

As we walked along our street one day last week, we sang about the weather to the tune of There Was A Farmer…B-I-N-G-O. We first noted how the sky was, then the temperature and, finally, the movement of the air. Later, when we were back inside, my oldest colored a numbered leaf similar to the one he had colored on the first day of the year – orange, gray and green – before taping it to our new Weather Tree.

What is a Weather Tree?

A Weather Tree is a simple concept that some believe sprang from the experience of an American woman who stayed with a Chinese family in 1920 and was responsible for creating their “Chart of the Lessening of the Cold”. Basically, it is a way to visually track weather patterns throughout the year. With obvious Math and Science concepts involved, and easy tie-ins to Art, Music and Language, Weather Trees can make a fantastic addition to any early-learning program. Plus, they are fun for young children and you can make one – as we did – with materials that are on hand.

Making Our Weather Tree

To ease back into focused learning times after Christmas, we created parts of our Weather Tree over the course of a few days. (It could well have easily been completed in one day, but we chose to stretch it out.)

On Day One, I presented the idea of a Weather Tree to Luke and Nina and shared some pictures of examples. (See the links below.) Then, we discussed how large we wanted our Weather Tree to be, where we should put it and what we could make it with. We also went for a walk where we spent a good deal of time observing the weather and singing songs about it.

On Day Two, we opted to make a large weather tree on a doorway near where we often do our Morning Circle Time. To do so, first, I sketched a simple outline of a tree with twelve large branches on brown paper bags which I had opened and taped together. Meanwhile, Nina fetched as many shades of brown and tan crayons as she could find from our Crayon Pockets. (I suggested grays, blacks, greens and other colors, too, but she wanted just browns and tans.) Then, all three children set to work coloring in the outline and helping me to cut it out and tape it to a door. Finally, we labeled each large branch in marker with the name of a month, chanting the months as we went.

On Day Three, we thought back to the Usbourne Weather book the children had recently read to think about what weather patterns we might like to chart and which words to include as vocabulary/descriptors for our Weather Tree Key. Although the book explained that weather is caused by three main things (heat, water and air), the children decided they liked the ideas of sky, temperature and air movement.) So, we went with those. Luke then helped me pick out clipart to make Weather Tree Key Cards (which I will post soon as a printable). Finally, Nina and Luke decided what color they wanted to use for each key word, creating our Key. (We have since decided we should have created a “still” card and have assigned a key color for still air, too.)

On Day Four, we put together a Weather Tree supplies binder for using the tree and tucked it into our Morning Bag. For now, the binder is the epitome of simplicity: It contains print outs of leaves and colored pencils. To make it, Luke selected the type of leaf he wanted for our tree (a maple) and helped me find a simple clip art picture for it online. I then created 31 numbered leaves, which we printed out and slid into one pocket of a binder. We slid a box of colored pencils in the other pocket. Since then, we have transferred the pencils to a zippered 3-ring binder pencil case which I picked up at Family Dollar.

How We Use Our Weather Tree

Daily, in the morning, we observe the weather by looking out the window, stepping out the front door or taking a walk. In doing so, we usually sing our Weather Song to the tune of BINGO, with a verse about the sky, the temperature and the air. However, sometimes, we skip singing and simply talk about the weather.

After we sing, or when we have a chance if we are on the run, the children take turns taking out our supplies binder, finding the correctly numbered leaf for the date, checking the Weather Tree key for what colored pencils they need, coloring the leaf, cutting it out and taping it to the appropriate branch on the tree.

Sometimes, we revisit the tree later in the day noting how the weather has changed, but not making a new leaf.

Sensory and Curriculum Connections

Sensory: The media we used for our tree was simple – paper, colored pencils, etc. However, one could use different textured media if they wished. Plus, tape and glue can be a sensory experience in themselves.

Cutting, coloring and taping provide daily fine motor and pressure grading practice for the kids.

Stretching, bending and sometimes turning and twisting for vestibular/proprioceptive work comes with our Weather Tree Song and with putting the leaves on the tree. We also get heavy work in during weather observation walks.

Auditory input is inherent in the walks and songs as well.

Faith and Character: We talk about who made the world, and, likewise the weather. I also see wonderful things happening as far as kindness and sharing goes as the children take turns being responsible for attaching a leaf to the tree each day and as they help each other read the key.

Reading: Reading the key and the names of the months on the branches of the tree familiarize the children with sight words. Our Weather Tree Song introduces spelling. I may also begin selecting a weather or seasonal related song or verse each month, which will be posted and recited or sung during our Weather Tree time.

Writing: At this point, we are using pre-numbered leaves for our tree. Eventually, we will do more numeral writing practice by having the children write their own numbers. We will eventually have the children write their own numbers on the leaves. Also, we may add in occasional copywork pages centered on the date, the weather or short weather-related poems.

Math: Charting. Numbers. Counting. Adding. One-to-one correspondence. Odd and Even numbers for turn taking. All these and more are inherent in our current Weather Tree use. I plan to add bar graphs, line graphs and sorting in later, too.

Practical Life: Dressing appropriately for different weather patterns is a key practical life skill. As we move along with our weather tree use, we will likely add some tie-in Montessori-inspired lessons on this.

Science and Technology: Basic weather words and concepts, discussion about seasons and nature walks are currently a part of our Weather Tree use. Eventually, I might introduce weather measurement tools and more in-depth science concepts.

History/Social Science/Geography: The Weather Tree serves as a type of time line and helps us to discuss concepts such as today, yesterday, tomorrow, this week, next month, etc. It also provides ample opportunities for social skills such as turn-taking and sharing. Plus, it ties into geography. We have begun to discuss how different geographical locations have different weather and will key into this more when we travel to see in-laws.

Visual Arts: The children decided they wanted multi-colored leaves to track three different facets of daily weather patterns and also decide for themselves how they want to add these colors to their daily leaves. As time goes on, I will begin to comment on patterns and styles I see emerging. We may also change coloring media (from colored pencils to paints to ???) as the months go on.

Music: We sing a simple “zipper” song as we do the Weather Tree daily, with the children filling in appropriate terms.

Theater/Dance/Movement: We sometimes act like the air – still, breezy or windy – or enact how the temperature makes us feel – hot, warm, cold or cool. We also move and clap to our Weather Tree Song at times.

Health/P.E.: We take nature walks to observe the weather.

Inspirational Weather Tree Links

The song I opened this post with is adapted from one shared by Kara at Rockin’ Granola. We changed it to include the three areas of weather we decided to focus on: the look of sky, the feel of the temperature and the feeling of the air’s movement.
Christopherus Homeschool Resources offers a variety of images of homemade weather trees.
Kara at Simple Homeschool explains the one-page weather tree chart she uses and offers related ideas for exploring weather.
Christine at Moment to Moment shares the lovely, large weather tree with life-sized leaf rubbings.
Tonya at Plain and Joyful Living shares a photo of the Weather Tree she painted on a wall for her K/1 child.
HeatherLee at Oak Blossoms Academy’s child enjoys a simple hand drawn version on the fridge door.
Antares Design has a beautiful Weather Tree calendar for sale.
Dorothy Thelwall at The Weather Tree offers a concise history of the Weather Tree idea, as well as posters for sale that can be adapted from weather concepts to thing such as weight loss goals, smoking cessation goals or even a record of how many legs a hen lays daily.

What daily charts do you use with your children? Do you have favorite activities, verses, songs, books or posts about weather-related activities? Do you know other great links about Weather Trees? Please share in the comment!

This post is being shared at Living Life Intentionality T.G.I.F Linky Party...

..and Toys in the Dryers's Fun Stuff Friday

Celebrating Epiphany: A Photographic Journal of Celebrating the Feast Day with Young Children

2012-01-08T00:24:00.000-05:00

Happy Epiphany Sunday!

We celebrated Little Christmas on its traditional date this past Friday with such things as read-alouds, crown-making, dramatic play, prayers and coloring. However, since I misplaced our camera and, therefore, cannot share pictorial ideas with you from this year's festivities, I have decided to rewind to 2010 and 2011...

Below, please find photos and explanations of some of the ways we have honored this wonderful feast day with our little ones for the past few years Perhaps our simple ideas will inspire you to tap into the richness of this day in ways that speak to the young children in your lives.

2010

Some scissor skills...

small paper shapes and glue...

a few stickers...

and a scarf make for one proud I-can-do-it-myself king!

Add a little chalk...

and it's time to bless the chalk and home.

A teddy bear is chosen to represent Baby Jesus so the kings can bring gifts.

Each child-king selects something they think the Baby Jesus will enjoy.

Then, the fun continues with loving, praying and talking to and about the newborn king.

Later, we used the crowns to decorate our liturgical table, which also had a paper star we had made.


And, on the wall above it was one of Luke's artistic representations of the Epiphany.

Through craft, prayer, art, stories and dramatic play, our children were introduced to the feast of the Epiphany. They deepened their understanding of the Epiphany story and its significance the following year.

2011


We began the day by letting the children use their skills and imagination to make and decorate our now traditional paper crowns.


Not only did they delight in creating the crowns, but Luke and Nina also had fun crowning our "Baby Jesus" as King.	.

Dramatic play ensued as the children acted out being camels.

Later in the day, they also enjoyed playing the kings upon (Clifford) camel...

...and bringing gifts to a sleeping "Baby Jesus".


Between crown-making and dramatic play, we enjoyed a simple Saints Day Breakfast "tea", which included star-shaped pancakes over Baby Jesus figurines for each child and golden pineapples for all. During the tea we examined our three wise men figurines and discussed the significance of the gifts they brought to Baby Jesus. We also read two stories about the kings.


The stories and hands-on objects spoke to Nina, inspiring her to break into spontaneous prayer.

For fine motor fun, the children enjoyed some coloring pages and dot-to-dots.

For tactile input, we played with play dough...


...cutting out numeral 3's and stars, for early math skills...

...and letting creativity shine through, such as with Luke's self-sculpted camel.

We also acted out the Little Christmas story with play figurines.

On a non-Epiphany note, thank you to Cheryl at The Diary of a Sower for linking up last week with a wonderful young-child-friendly Advent meditation. It is certainly one to bookmark for next year. If you have a post -- old or new -- that touches on how to speak to the hearts of young children about our faith, please consider linking it up anytime this week! (You needn't do it on Sunday. truth be told, I take an Internet break most Sundays, pre-setting posts up to publish.)

Active Imagination Activity Book Review: A Useful Resource for the New Year

2012-01-03T05:37:00.000-05:00

1. Stay physically active despite winter cold.

2. Spend quality time with our children.

These two commitments are ones that we are renewing for 2012. If you have similar goals in mind, you may want to check out occupational therapist, Kelly Tilly’s Active Imagination Activity Book, Sensorimotor Cards for Children to Improve Focus, Attention, Strength and Coordination.

Several months ago, we gratefully received a copy of this handy resource from Future Horizons in exchange for an honest review. Since then, we have built strength and bonded with smiles through using some of the 50 activities included in the book.

A Rich Review of Active Imagination Activity Book

A * for READABILITY
How much do I love a resource that is easy for both children and adults to access, and one that has wipe clean pages to boot? A lot! And, that is exactly what the Active Imagination Activity Book is.

Kelly Tilley did a fantastic job making her book a grab-and-go resource for adults and children alike. The bulk of the spiral-bound book contains one-page, illustrated descriptions of sensorimotor activities that children can easily follow along with. These are color-coded with tabs that highlight whether activities are Energizing, Upper-Body Strengthening, Core Strengthening and/or Calming, which help both children and adults to quickly select activities appropriate to the needs of any given moment.

Other portions of the book are more geared to adults using the book:

an Introduction concisely points our the why’s and what’s behind the the book.
Highlights of Active Imagination Activities suggests ways the books can be used and what types of activities might be selected before, during or after academic periods, prior to bedtime, as a part of obstacle courses, etc.
Selecting Activities for Each Child describes what the combinations of tabs at the bottom of activity pages mean, providing clear explanation in layman’s terms about how and why to incorporate Energizing, Upper-Body Strengthening, Core-Strengthening and Calming activities into a child’s sensory diet.
a Quick- Reference Chart lists activities and the corresponding areas they help a child attend to.

Plus, the book is formatted so that it can stand as an easel, which allows children to easily view directions and drawings as they participate in activities

A * for RELEVANCE
As a parent of three young children who all benefit from purposeful activities interwoven with creative play, I find this book a fantastic resource. My children quickly gravitated toward it and enjoy using its ideas to spurn strength-building imaginative play, such as that they got into as a result of the “Thin Ice” activity.

As the person responsible for ensuring my eldest son maintains an adequate sensory diet, I herald this book for its grab-and-get-to-it formatting. On busy days, when I realize I have been neglecting my son’s need for energizing or calming activities, I can toss him Active Imagination and tell him to pick several activities with red or blue tabs at the bottom. On other days, when life allows me to be more proactive, I can spend a few moments tailoring brief activity routines for my son, his siblings and I to have fun strengthening core muscles while satiating sensory diet needs. Any day, I can turn to this Active Imagination for ideas that are clearly described, well-illustrated and purposefully-selected.

A 3/4 * for PRACTICALITY

A spiral-bound resource that can lay flat or stand up as an easel.
Laminated pages that make illustrations pop while also guaranteeing that pages messied by eager young hands can easily be wiped clean.
A size that can fits well into a back pack or tote bag.
Activities that require almost no equipment.
A streamlined selection of illustrated ideas to improve any child’s strength, coordination, focus and attention.

You cannot get much more practical than that.

Still, I am knocking the book down a 1/4 star for practicality. Why? Because I am a stickler for accuracy, and if one read the back cover of Active Imagination, the words “Exercises That Require No equipment!” stand out to me. While it is true that many of the activities in the book require no equipment and all of them require only equipment that one is likely to have at home, I feel that the statement implies that no equipment is necessary for any of the 50 activities in the book. This is not the case.

Equipment called for includes:

a large ball
a heavy blanket
pillows or cushions
bean bag
a laundry basket or box
a low bench
a wobble board
a chair
a bowl
a yard stick or wrapping paper roll

A * for LONGEVITY
Although structure is vital for all children, especially those who are uniquely wired, my eldest son also thrives on variety. He likes things that are new, or seem new. Thus, I have found that while Active Imagination provides a fantastic selection of activities that appeal to my children, I have had to put it away at times in order to keep it interesting.

In rotation with several other resources that we have, such as the MoveAbout Activity Cards that I reviewed over at Our Journey THRU Autism, Active Imagination has remained useful to our family thus far and I can definitely see it staying in rotation for years to come. With activities entitled such things as “Dolphin Dive”, “Meteorite Launch”, “The Windmill”, “Lava Leaps”, “The Seal from the Aquarium” and “Teensy Weensy Spider” (pictured in action by one of my kiddoes), this book not only lends itself towards strengthening and regulating bodies, but also towards seasonal topics, field trips and study units our family enjoys.

Additionally, although Active Imagination is published by a company geared towards Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder, I think it is a valuable resource for all children. Every child has sensory needs to one degree or another. Any child can benefit from core and upper-body strengthening activities. All children can enjoy the calming and alerting exercises depicted in this activity book.

A * for VALUE
Handy resource for children and the adults in their lives? $19.95 (or less with discount codes such as “HAPPY” at New Horizons).*

Fifty well-illustrated, clearly-described activity geared toward specific sensorimotor goals? $2.50 or so each.

My children finally beginning to figure out how to coordinate their bodies to do jumping jacks through the Soldier-Tepee Activity?

Priceless!

Personal victories aside, I feel that Active Imagination is a good value. The book is well thought-out and conveniently formatted with 50 relevant, easy and fun sensorimotor activities, plus helpful, yet concise, additional thoughts.

For parents, it provides a quick-and-easy way to invite children to attend to their sensorimotor needs while activating their imaginations.

For homeschoolers, teachers, youth group leaders and coaches of pre-k and elementary school children, the book provides easy activities for individual and group movement breaks, as well as Physical Education ideas.

For Occupational Therapists, it fits nicely into a therapy bag and makes an excellent tool for sharing with parents to encourage continuity between activities done at therapy and at home.

For children, it is just plain easy-to-follow fun!

*If you are lucky enough to have a library system that carries this book, definitely check it out. Otherwise, if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the Active Imagination Activity Book, you may want to consider doing so directly through Future Horizons. By entering the discount code “HAPPY” there, you can get 15% off your entire order and free U.S. shipping. Plus, authors of all the books/materials you order will receive twice the royalties they would if you purchased their items from, say, a rather large online book retailer. This helps their livelihood and keeps the great resources coming.

Of course, you can also choose to buy Active Imagination Activity Book: 50 Sensorimotor Activities for Children to Improve Focus, Attention, Strength, and Coordination at Amazon if that’s what suits you best.

B.L.E.S.S.ings for the New Year -- Printable Flip Cards for You and Your Children to Use

2012-01-01T05:51:00.004-05:00

Happy 2012!

Now that the New Year is here, what will you be doing with the Christmas cards you received? In our home, we will be using them to B.L.E.S.S others. It's simple:

Put all the cards in a basket, large envelope or pocket protector.
Print out a page of our B.L.E.S.S Flip Cards, cut them into cards, laminate them if you wish and put them on a key ring.
During prayer time, select one Christmas card, look who it is from and then use the B.L.E.S.S Flip cards to guide your children in praying for that person.
Finally, if you wish, write the person a traditional or electronic note to let them know you are praying for them. (We all can use the lift on some days, knowing we that someone took the time to lift us up in prayer.)

You can find our B.L.E.S.S. Flip Cards here. Based on your child's age and interests, select which page(s) you want to print:

cards with simple images that my son picked out to help him and his pre-reading siblings remember what each letter of the B.L.E.S.S. prayer acronym stands for
cards with blank spaces for children to draw their own images or to brainstorm key words for blessings
cards with brief textual prayer guidelines
cards with a sample prayer

From our family to yours this New Year, we wish you physical strength and protection; love and discernement in living your calling; peace, hope and love in your daily life; rich relationships with others; and continued growth in your spiritual life. May the year ahead be B.L.E.S.S.ed for you and yours!

2011-12-24T05:25:00.000-05:00

My children know that this:

is because of this:

The also know that tomorrow is a day to begin celebrating Jesus' birth.

Reaching our own children through their natural connection with the Baby Jesus is such a beautiful thing.

Remembering that more is often caught than taught is important, too.

Thus, I will be taking a blogging break for the next few days (or weeks) in order to focus more fully on faith and family. Before this break begins, however, I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a most blessed Christmas season.

May you see Jesus in every young child in your life. May you let the Lord help you be His hands, mouth and heart to fellow children of God that you encounter.

Honoring the Saints: Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe through the Senses as a Way of Training Happy Hearts

2011-12-18T16:17:00.000-05:00

As I reflect on the past week, I am grateful for the opportunity that Saints Days provide for engaging children in physical and spiritual exploration of faith.

Earlier in this A Call to Faith Formation for Young Children series, I suggested Creating a Sacred (but Touchable) Space and Making Story Baskets in conjunction with Saints Days. Today, I would like to share how we honor the saints through all of our senses sometimes.

Like many Catholic families, our family celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day this past Monday. In doing so, we keyed into many of our senses.

Luke "Juan Diego" gets in some heavy work on his way to see the bishop.

A Feast for the Senses with a Saints “Tea” Breakfast

We began the day with a simple GFCF breakfast “tea”, replete with sensory input.

Ready to Awaken Mouth and Nose

Mexican hot cocoa, made with cocoa, agave, water, salt, cinnamon and almond milk, added a sweet and spicy aroma to our morning. Our Lady’s “Roses” provided a chance for the children to use their pincer grasps while popping firm, juicy raspberries onto their tongues. Mexican Wedding Cookies looked a bit off since my adaptation of a gluten-full recipe did not result in delightfully round delicacies, but the children did not mind at all. They simply enjoyed the sugar-sprinkled crunch of the treats.

Note to self on the menu, though: Expand it for next year’s tea. The simple fare I prepared for our Lady of Guadalupe breakfast went quickly, and though it provided some wonderful olfactory, tactile and gustatory input, it did not fill the children’s bellies. They seemed to have woken up in ravenous moods. So, we supplemented our themed-tea with leftover turkey, some nuts and a few rice cakes.

As the children satiated their physical hunger, we tended to our thirst for spiritual growth (and some added visual input) with a reading of Tomie de Paola’s The Lady of Guadalupe, followed by some prayer and discussion.

Then, the children enjoyed more fine motor work while coloring pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego with thanks to Waltzing Matilda, Coloring Saints and Domestic Church.

Intent on Fine Motor Fun

Getting in Some Saintly Heavy Work with an Obstacle Course

After breakfast, the children helped me set up an Our Lady of Guadalupe-based obstacle course. It included:

Jaun Diego’s hut

(an infant gym toy with a blanket over it

to encourage getting in a low-level prone-extension position

with tactile input, too)

mountains and hills

(cushions and pillows to encourage balance and gross motor muscle work)

Our Lady atop the mountain

(Nina’s coloring taped to the wall,

which offered opportunities for both control of movement –

through providing a place for the children to stop traversing the hills –

and visual focus and imagination – when they stopped to talk with Our Lady)

and the bishop’s room

(a blanket rigged up between door knobs and a mini-desk,

which required the children to get down on a low level again to crawl under)

Just building this course offered opportunities for the children to engage in bending, lifting and carrying – all great vestibular and proprioceptive input. Then, making our way through the course multiple times as we acted out the story of The Lady of Guadalupe provided the mornings full dose of heavy work.


"Juan Diego" picks winter roses...


and presents them to the "bishop"...


who is amazed by the image discovered on Juan Diego's tilma.

Fine Motor Fun with a Self-Designed Saint Story Play Set

Once our gross motor dramatic play was done, my two older children came up with their own fine motor activity. The only help they asked me for was twist them some chenille strip people and to help them tape wings onto some. These, they used to design their own Saints Day Story Set.

They shaped a representation out of tinfoil of a church,

complete with a cross on it,

built to honor Our Lady's requests.

Near the church, they competed their playset.

The set included:

a hut made a tinfoil for Jaun Diego to live in next to the church.
a vision of Our Lady, cut out of one of the coloring pages they had completed at breakfast
figurines of Juan Diego, his family and his friends, represented by the chenille strip people they asked me to make, which they clothed tin foil bits
angels, made using the chenille people and tinfoil with wings fashioned from cut paper p
fish and food to feed all of the people flocking to the church, represented by rolled up bits of tin foil.

With fingers fast at work, my children developed their play set. With imaginations ignited, they dramatized their own version of what may have happened after the bishop witnessed the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Best of all, they cooperated while they did so.

Continuing On

Throughout the day, whenever it seemed “natural” to do so, we revisited the story of Juan Diego and Our Lady through further reading, conversation and play. We noted some of Juan’s character traits (faith-filled, caring, loving, dedicated, persistent, obedience…) and tried to model our own real-life and pretend-play behaviors after these. We also enjoyed Mexican-inspired snack and dinner menus. Plus, of course, we offered extra prayers to Our Lady from wake up time to bedtime.

How did you observe the feast day? Do you add sensory-based activities into your liturgical year celebrations? Do you have any other ideas to share about training young children up with happy hearts for God? I’d love to hear them in a comment, or to have you link your own posts up below.

Can You Help: Your Chance to Pay It Forward

2011-12-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

I know that I closed yesterday's post by saying that I would not be online much for the next couple weeks in order to attend to what I feel I am called to during this season. But, this morning, something I read called me to share.

While my children are happily playing together in our safe home after a decent night's sleep, a bloggie-friend of mine is facing another day of just getting by, minute-to-minute. Knowing this tugs at my heart, prompting me to offer what I can.

That's why I am borrowing some time from my kids to jump online. For not only can I extend some concrete aid, but I can also offer my time through this post. I ask you offer yours back by reading on and responding however you feel called to do so.

Your Chance to Pay It Forward to a Family in Need

Can you spare a prayer this Christmas season? How about an ornament? Or a few dollars? A gift card? A small gift? A postcard? A dog biscuit?

Here's your chance to pay it forward!

Regular readers may recognize the name Danette as the generous woman who offers her time and talent over at Help! S-O-S for Parents, the site that sponsored the Pajaggle review our family recently enjoyed putting together and the one with the B-O-B events each month in which we participate. And, even if you don't recognize the name, you can likely recognize a mom in need.

It has come to my attention that Danette is one of those moms right now. I had been wondering why she has not been posting at S-O-S lately and had even sent a brief email to inquire. Then, yesterday my friend Tiffani let me know the bare bones of what is going on with Danette. Today, she has published a piece at OJTA about it. The call for help begins:

"Sometimes life has a way of punching you in the gut and knocking the wind right out of you. You think you have lived through some challenging issues until, bam, out of the blue, one of your worst parental nightmares sends you breathlessly into a tail spin. All you can do is live one hour at a time, one minute at a time as you wipe the continuous stream of tears and attempt with little bit of emotional energy you have left to wade through the process to get back to a new sense of normal.

Danette Schott , publisher of S-O-S Research is living in that very tail spin and has been since two days after Thanksgiving when life gave her a serious punch in the gut. She has been in the midst of a family crisis leaving her living minute by minute, attempting to navigate unchartered waters, trying desperately to achieve a new sense of normal for her family...."

Read on for details about how you can help.

I would to see a HUGE response to Tiffani's call.

Act with Speed and Sensitivity

As a blogger, a parent, a mother of a child with special needs or all of these, I am sure you can relate as well as I can to Danette's desire to make it through difficult times with dignity, as well as a look of delight in her children's eyes this holiday season. We can help make that happen.

We can respond quickly to Tiffani's call to help Danette through commenting with encouraging words at Tiffani's post, sending prayers or sending concrete messages, gift cards or monetary donations to:

S-O-S Research

PO Box 5172

San Jose, CA 95150

We can also extend an invitation to friends and family to do so. In other words, we can let the call for help go viral, but do so quietly. We can share Tiffani's post through word-of-mouth and our own social media outlets with a caveat to consider Danette's need for support as well as sensitivity.

Whether with this situation or with another you are familiar with, I encourage you to be a bearer of J.O.Y this season, that is Just Offering Yourself, however you can as you can.

The Parables of Jesus (The Parable of the Good Shepherd): A Lesson for a Sensorimotor Preschool Experience Inspired by Godly Play

2011-12-15T10:27:00.001-05:00

I have been so busy with home, work, appointments and children lately that blogging has had to take a back seat. However, the other day after returning from a Spring Co-op planning meeting, I realized I have yet to share many of the plans I created for the fall Co-op class I led. One of the lessons is quite seasonal in the sense that with all the great picture books that have lambs in them at this time of year, there are many tie-ins that can be made to it. So, I have dug through my files and am following up our Parable of the Sower post by sharing my lesson plans for the Parable of the Good Shepherd: A Lesson for a Sensorimotor Preschool Experience Inspired by Godly Play today. It is a lesson that offers songs, games, sensory experiences, art and Montessori-friendly Godly Play-inspired work in it. (You will find the link for the lesson plans at the end of this post.)

Protecting the Sheep from Harm

Although I have no photos of it, I had particular fun planning this lesson, since my husband was home when I did so and we played many of the games included in it as a family outdoors.

Drinking the Clean Water (with the Shepherd Literally at Hand)

Looking back, I can also say that of all the Sensorimotor Parable of Jesus lessons I led this past fall, this one ended up being my favorite. The children really seemed to "get it". They not only shared about their understanding of the parable, but they also loved the games! Keying into their need to move that day, I adapted the plan, pulling some of the games to the first half of the class and reprising them in the latter. It worked splendidly! The children appreciated having creative, on-your-feet games bracketing the more cerebral and stationary Godly play portion. This style may not be in keeping with the true Godly Play format, but it worked for us: Giggles, movement, prayer and learning. I loved it!

Unafraid to Lay Self Down for Sheep

At home, my own children particularly enjoyed the Parable Box I whipped together for this lesson from supplies we had on hand. It was a joy to watch them use it. They completely immersed themselves in retelling the parable, discussing it with each other and dramatizing how the Lord watches over us all. It was also this parable that inspired a story my son wrote, which I described in A Learning Story: A Boy, The Good Shepherd and A Story.

Cleaning Up, but Will Play Again

I hope you enjoy the photos of my children working with the Godly Play-inspired portion of this lesson in this post. You can find a PDF of the full Parable of the Good Shepherd lesson, including all the sensory-based games, art activities and songs here. Please feel free to borrow any and all ideas from it for your own home or classroom use. I know we will again!

Undoubtedly, I will be revisiting all or part of our Good Shepherd lesson here at home throughout the year, especially during this season and the Easter season. It is also likely I will take elements of it when planning future co-op lessons as well.

What is unlikely is that I will be posting much more here regularly from now through the beginning of the New Year. For while there are many things I would like to share, this season of holidays and an increased work-outside-the-home schedule for me requires that I back of blogging some in order to honor time spent attending to my main calling: my family. When I can can back online more often again, I hope post more lesson plans like this as well as my usual reflections, sensory activities, homeschool updates, etc.

May the Good Shepherd lead you where He wants you to be this season, too!

Should you have a favorite parable or Bible story you'd like sensory ideas for, please leave a comment saying so. I will try to put something together. Also, should you have other ideas or links for the Good Shepherd, do share. I appreciate the inspiration of others' work.

Be Present!

2011-12-11T09:40:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, as we seek to train our children up in their faith, the best thing we can do for them is to simply be present – to cuddle and comfort them when they don't feel well, to attend to their needs, both body and spirit.

This is exactly how I spent the final hours of my evening last night.

My son has caught the cold that many of the rest of our family and I have been suffering with. For him, it has caused a persistent cough. This made getting to sleep – which is always a challenge for him – particularly difficult. So, I laid holding my six-year-old son, alternately stroking his hair, patting his back and simply being present.

As I lay there, my son's mind wandered as it usually does at bedtime, unable to "shut off". As he chattered away between coughs about his thoughts, he asked, "If I love God and he loves me, why do I still get sick or hurt?" In response, I asked him if he recalled the beginning of the story we'd continued reading just before bed, One Wintry Night, or the beginning of one of the stories we've been reading in the mornings lately, The Jesse Tree. He did: the story of Adam and Eve.

Hence, began a brief, but fruitful conversation between my son and me, one that answered his question, reminded him of the true meaning of Christmas and also gave him comfort, both in body (as I lay holding his hand while we talked) and spirit (as he remembered that there is a day coming when all sickness and hurt will be gone.)

Eventually, my son fell asleep, but not before he piped up with a question I have yet to figure out how to answer completely in terms he will understand and accept: "Will we go to Heaven body and soul?" For now, I just responded, "as Mary did?" and gave him a squeeze.

Choosing to be present with my son last night, and to parent him to sleep, offered an opportunity for my son to ask me something he'd been thinking about, which, in turn, allowed us to dive into his understanding of faith further. Have you found that taking time with your young children opens up moments of faith formation, too?

Thanks to folks who linked up here at A Call to Faith Formation in Young Children last week. Tercets Plaque for Our Lady of Guadalupe post might be particularly inspirational for folks seeking to honor Our Lady tomorrow.

Business, Busyness and Blessings: A Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-12-09T14:15:00.002-05:00

In my life this week…

was busyness and business, very little sleep and a bounty of blessings, especially those that involved continuing to pause to enjoy quality time with our three kiddoes!

The school week started with a near all-nighter due to Jack’s croup. It has taken me the rest of the week to get myself back on track as far as adequate rest goes. In fact, I am not sure I am there yet.

Since Mike and I rarely are able to converse without little ears around, we took advantage of time do so last night after I got home from work and we discovered, to our surprise, that we had both outlasted Luke. (Many nights, one or both of us fall asleep while trying to ensure Luke gets his winks.) So, Mike and I stayed up for a while talking and, today, I find myself almost as tired as I was on Monday.

Looking back at the week, I cannot blame just croup and conversation for my grogginess though. Business and busyness have a lot to do with it: I have started my “spring” tutoring contracts with Club Z in addition to my regular Drama Kids teaching, so I am out three nights a week working. Then, this week, we spent one of our "free" nights at Edaville.

Days were filled with usual, including appointments for OT, Feeding Specialist and Early intervention. Plus, we celebrated Luke’s birthday, starting with an early birthday breakfast, since it was the only time yesterday when our whole family would be together . No wonder I am still tired!

But tired or not, I know one thing is certain: I am blessed! As my son peers out the window right now eagerly announcing to me that a woodpecker and another little bird are at our bird feeders, I reflect on the joy of feeding and being fed. I think about how well each of us are fed what we need daily, sometimes directly through the Spirit and sometimes through God's work as done by the hearts, hands and words of others.

In our homeschool …

we continue our relatively relaxed, Alphabet of Advent approach. Our book basket is overflowing with books, which we enjoy snuggling together to read. There have been active times using Advent Word Wall and focused times doing sensory activities and free choice ones. For Luke and Nina self-directed activities usually includes some combination of cutting, taping, stapling, drawing and “writing”.

I am just as happy many days to let my children use "school time" to dream up and pursue self-designed projects as I am to guide them in more traditional formal lessons. I feel there is merit in offering time for creativity and independent pursuits. Plus, the vigor with which my children pursue their projects at four and six entails plenty of fine motor work, practical life skills, math concepts and the like.

Just to be sure that my subjective assessment of how my children are progressing with what we are doing in homeschool is spot on, I used a local public grade school’s report card this week as an objective guide to do a check-in assessment of Luke for Kindergarten. I am happy to report that he is on track with his traditionally-schooled peers, with of course, a few areas that he needs improvement in and some others he excels at.

Helpful Homeschooling Tips to Share

Take time to reflect.

One thing I constantly crave as a homeschool mother is the dedicated planning time I had as a traditional school teacher. Now, from early morning through my children’s bedtime, a daily interlude for me to plan, reflect, do paperwork, etc. is sorely lacking. There is no “planning period”.

Likewise, “Mom time” that many other mothers manage also eludes me. I have only one napper. My other two are not only very “busy” children who don’t do well with an established quiet time, but are also children who need to be parented to sleep instead of put to sleep. And, as I already mentioned, this parent sometimes falls asleep when doing that. So, truly personal time is gift I rarely enjoy.

Instead of wishing for a gift that is not mine, however, I have decided to simply accept what is mine is enough. I may not have an established rhythm of me-time, but I do now relish almost daily moments to breathe and reflect. Instead of rushing to the next to-do when I find my children engaged enough in something that they do not need my full attention, I have been making a habit of mulling over things I am too tired to at night once they are asleep. The balance that is slowly being recalibrated because of it is a good thing!

I am inspired by…

Deb Chitwood and John Bowman’s desire to share Montessori-inspired suggestions and activities that anyone can use at home or school. I love Deb’s blog and John’s book and so, earlier this year when they sent out a request for folks respond to some questions for a new e-book they teaming up to write, I did so. Now, I am honored to have some of my thoughts and activity ideas included in their book and excited to dive into all those listed by other folks. Yes, the book is complete. Just click here to learn more about this free resource!

Places We’ve Been Going and People We’ve Been Seeing

We’ve had a busy week of outings.

Last Saturday found us making train cabooses at another Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinic, before heading down to a fun, free holiday event at the Pine Hills, where we met some friends and...

chatted with Santa...

decorated cookies...

made ornaments...

toured some gingerbread houses...

met seasonal characters...

enjoyed hot cider...

fed animals at the petting zoo and watched the rein-dog parade...

Then, on Monday night, we enjoyed Edaville with thanks to Grampy and Grammy. We might have put off our Edaville visit since Jack had been up the night prior with croup, but we had the non-refundable tickets already purchased and everyone seemed to be feeling okay at departure time. So, we went. No regrets! The sparkle in all the children’s eyes was priceless, and – bonus – all the cool, fresh, night air seemed to do the trick for Jack. We didn’t face a typical second night of croup attacks.

Some of our Edaville fun included:

Jack's joy at his first carnival-like ride...

the kids peering in at the same displays I did as a child...

Daddy taking the kids on lots of round-and-round rides...

Nina excited to be tall enough to ride the ferris wheel...

Jack taking his first ride on the same merry-go-round that his mummy, aunts, uncles and cousins have enjoyed for decades...

riding the "little train"...

and the big one...

with the kids pressed against the window to see the light displays...

and so excited to get a bell from Santa's sleigh on the Polar Express...

and decompressing from all the delight (or perhaps getting even more wound up?) in an enormous ball pit.

Our final outing of the week was closer to home – a walk in our neighborhood to collect pine cones to make bird feeders with. We were supposed to head down to the “big slide” at the WWI Memorial Park for Luke’s birthday, by his request, but since it had rained all day Wednesday, I thought the ground at the park might be just a bit too mucky for me to cope with. I did not relish the thought of muddy clothes, shoes and car seats to contend with just prior to going to Mass and work in the late afternoon, so I kept Luke immersed in all things bird feeding and housing for much of the day yesterday (based on his requested birthday gifts – bird seed, a bird house and a bird feeder) and promised to fulfill his requested birthday wish (going to the big slide) on another day when the ground is drier or Daddy is home to help. Proof that Luke is growing up? He agreed with my adjusted plan.

What’s working for me…

is staying focused on the big picture.

Midweek, I began to get down on myself about what I am NOT able to do (or choosing to do?) well. Then, I realized that everything I was thinking about was “little stuff”. Details of daily life. When I look at the big picture of my call and the adults I am raising my children to become, things look pretty good.

Thoughts I have…

with the big picture in mind, I have been trying to ask myself at different moments during the day:

What can I do right now to make this moment the best it can be?
Is what I am doing at this moment in line with what I value?
How about with the future I seek for my family and myself?

It really is an easy check and way to reframe my brain when I need to.

Things I’ve been Working On

With all the busyness, business and sleepiness this week, I have not made much progress on my own pursuits. But, wow, our front tree is a bevy of bird-friendliness.

The kids have long been designing simple bird houses out of recyclables to hang on the tree. Then, after our birthday breakfast for Luke yesterday morning, they spent much of the day on bird-stuff:

They refilled our bird feeder with Luke’s birthday birdseed

painted the birds a decoration

and painted and hung a birdhouse.

I hope our feathered-friends flock to their handiwork with as much enthusiasm as the kids put into it

I’ve been reading…

many books from our Alphabet of Advent Plans with the kids and warmed by each time I do. Whether I am pre-reading the books on my own or reading them aloud to my children, I am consistently moved by the power of picture books. Emotions elicited, thoughts inspired, learning loved. It’s all there in time spent with these books.

I’m cooking…

recipes from a pre-release copy Kim Wilson’s new Good and Easy Eats e-cookbook, which I reviewed and am offering a giveaway of. It goes on sale tomorrow. Check it out!

*****

I’m grateful for…

restoration born from choosing to cuddle with my kids.

The other day, I was feeling overtired, less than productive and therefore, stuck and wallowing. So, once I got Jack to sleep for nap, I caved to screen time for Luke and Nina. As they hopped up on my bed to watch the Max Lucado videos we have borrowed from the library, I realized that using the time that they were watching the videos to try to rest, write or do tasks was not a good choice. A gift I am given daily is time to love my children. So, I cuddled up with Luke and Nina – one child in each arm as the videos elicited their laughter and comments and my smiles and sappy, quiet tears. I am so grateful for time to cuddle with my kids and so glad God made each of us the way He has!

I am praying...

among other things,

for sound judgement in balancing business and busyness as I embrace life's blessings.
with thanksgiving for the past six years of motherhood and the opportunity to grow as my children to.
that each of us may better discern and take up our callings.
that the light of love may shine brightly for all this season and that much like the lamb inThe Crippled Lamb, we each will realize we are made as we should be made and in the places we should be if only we will let God use as as He has planned. (Oh, His will not ours, can be so challenging, huh? But it is so awesome when we acquiesce.)

A Photo to Share

This may not look like much of a photo, but it encapsulates some of what I love about our newly-six-year-old Luke: his different perspective, his attention to detail, his desire to figure out how things work, his will to share wonder...

As others peered out train windows at light displays when we were riding the train at Edaville this past week, Luke glanced down at the floor and noticed that he could see something beneath it. He dove down to inspect and discovered that the floor slats were put together in such a way that tracks could be spied through them. So, he called his sister down to the floor to share his discovery. There the two lay peeking between the slats. Noticing what others fail to see and seeking to understand things. Luke has so much to teach me.

Pop on over to The Homeschool Mother's Journal to find many (briefer) journal entries from hoemschoolers.

A Surprise Gift to a Lucky Reader in Honor of Luke’s Birthday – Chance to Win a Copy of Good and Easy Eats Expires Tomorrow Night

2011-12-08T15:20:00.002-05:00

Today is our eldest son’s birthday, and since our family will be going gluten-free in the new year largely for him, I wanted announce a surprise giveaway – a gift that we were offered that will help us along with out GFCF journey and one want to offer to others as well:

*****

This fantastic e-book is a cookbook for anyone – not just GFCF families. It offers 70 healthy, easy, allergen-free recipes, which could well become pleasing staples in your family’s daily diet. (The giveaway information is at the bottom.)

Good and Easy Eats' author, Kim Wilson was kind enough to offer me a pre-release copy of the book to review. Needless to say, since I loved Kim’s cookbook Every Day Gluten-Free cookbook, I jumped at the chance to try out her new e-book.

My rating:

A * READABILITY

Good and Easy Eats is well-organized and easy-to-read. It not only contains 70 family-pleasing recipes divided into Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Snack and Dessert categories, but it also has Kim’s thoughts and tips on:

Wholesome Eating
Ingredient Information
Gluten-Free Baking
Basic Kitchen Tools
Simplified Baking Tips
Stocking a Basic Pantry
The Cost Of Wholesome Eating
Organic Purchases
An Average Day of Eating and Menu Examples
Juicing

All of this is presented with the practical format you’d expect in a cookbook and the additional notes and tips you’d hope a friend offers when passing along a favorite recipe.

I love Kim shares such tidbits as how to tweak particular recipes, for example:

“This topping can be prepared without the nutritional yeast (particularly for those who have yeast concerns), but it adds a nice cheesy flavor if you don’t have a problem with it. The pumpkin seeds are optional, but bring a depth to the blend that makes it even 'cheesier'!”

And why you should try particular recipe, such as:

“You might be tempted to skip over this recipe, but I encourage you not to. It has such great texture and flavor. Company has always enjoyed it at our home. It’s also such a simple way to prepare steel-cut oats (otherwise you’re stuck stirring a pot for about an hour!).”

Kim’s style definitely makes you feel like Good and Easy Eats is as much an off-the-shelf cookbook as it is a collection of tried-and-true tips and recipes penned just for you from a friend. Her notes contain encouragement and expertise, which both newbies to healthy, whole, allergen-free eating and those further along on the journey can appreciate.

A * for RELEVANCE:

Who could not use a collection of everyday recipes that are not only healthy, but truly tasty, too? And, better yet, since so many of us have friends or family members that face food intolerances and allergies, who would not appreciate a collection of go-to recipes that are gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free and yeast-free?

That is exactly what Good and Easy Eats is: a go-to guide for feeding family and friends every day, regardless of common allergies and intolerances. In Kim’s own words:

“In creating this ebook, I have collected the best-of-the-best from (all my published books) plus added many more recipes that have become tried-and-true staples in our home and in the homes of thousands of other families who have found that healthy eating can be simple, affordable and tasty!”

Tried-and-true recipes that leave me confident that I am feeding my family well without keeping me chained to the kitchen counter are certainly something I find useful!

A * for PRACTICALITY

Okay, I have to be honest here, I almost knocked Good and Easy Eats down a partial star for practicality based only on the fact that it is an e-book. For I admit it: I am a bit of a luddite. Even if I enjoy reading and writing blogs, I don’t own much technology and still prefer my books in the good old-fashioned printed form, especially cook books. However, I have had second thoughts.

One of my goals for the new year is to finish a family cookbook – a three-ring binder to house all of our family’s new favorite GFCF recipes for every day as well as special days. The fact that Good and Easy Eats is an e-book will make doing so easy for me. Since there are so many recipes in it that we like, I can simply print favorites out and place them in the binder. Also, if a recipe gets egg, batter or oil on it – as sometimes happens to recipes in our home since my children often act as junior chefs – I don’t need to be chagrined. I can just print another page! That’s pretty practical in my opinion.

Plus, because Good and Easy Eats is electronic, it is by default “green” and easy-to-find. Paper is not wasted on things you do not need to access and it is always ready on your computer. The kids cannot misplace it on you.

A * for LONGEVITY

Even if our GFCF experiment in the new year goes bust, I know we’ll continue using Good and Easy Eats. The recipes in it are ones we enjoy simply because they are healthy, whole and tasty. The fact that they are intolerance-friendly is simply a bonus! Plus, I think our son is going to ask for the Pumpkin Pie every year from now on for his birthday breakfast…

A * for VALUE

At $4.95, Good and Easy Eats is priced not only to sell, but also to help! In my opinion, budgets won’t be broken by this low-cost, high-use cookbook and bellies will be happily filled.

I recommend Good and Easy Eats not only for anyone who wants a great resource for everyday home cooking, but also for anyone who wants to share a collection of allergen-free recipes for family or friends to use. At $4.95, the book makes an easy gift to give your family or someone else’s!

Also, as a bonus, anyone who purchases Good and Easy Eats gains access to links of:

a video of a Fruit Smoothie Demo
a Fruit Smoothie eReport entitled A Great Nutritional Start to Each Day
a podcast of Kim’s Introduction to Wholesome Eating Class
Kim’s Exclusive Menu Planning System

The Giveaway

To win Good and Easy Eats:

Visit Kim Wilson’s Good and Easy Eats and then come back and leave a comment on this post saying why you’d love her e- book or any of her other books.
Share about this giveaway on any and all of you social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, your blog, etc. – then come back to tell me you did so. (I will trust your honesty!)
Leave a comment with a tip, recipe or resource you and your family use for every day healthy eating. Ones that involve whole-food GFCF cooking are especially welcome.

I’ll announce a winner by Saturday morning, the day the book will be available for purchase. That way, if you don’t win, but still want the book, you can be one of the first to order it here: Good and Easy Eats

Our Advent Word Wall: A Simple and Beautiful Way to Integrate Learning Every Day

2011-12-07T17:40:00.002-05:00

When I designed our Advent plan for simply living, learning and loving during this season, I envisioned a beautiful Advent alphabet border stretching down our hallway.

As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I witness my children merrily practicing the stokes of a letter, smiling as they sketch a picture of a key word or bouncing with excitement as they come up with another word to add to our list each day, I can think of nothing more beautiful than the simple border we are making.

My eyes don't see the print through the recycled paper we are using, nor the ways the border could be more visually appealing if approached in another way. Instead, I observe the wonder of my children learning and the pride they take each time we add another day's letter to the wall. That, in my opinion, makes our Advent word wall a masterpiece.

Integrating Our Advent World Wall into Our Day

Every day, I ask the children if they can guess what the letter of the day is. Now that we have a few letters up on our wall, Nina sometimes goes over to it to sing along until she can guess. Luke, on the other hand, usually just shouts out a letter.

Once we have announced the letter, we explore its sound through repeating the sounds the letter makes in songs or chants, often with impromptu actions. Then, I share some key Advent-themed words that begin with the letter, or have the children guess them by giving clues about how the word plays into Advent or the story of Jesus' birth. We write these words in purple (for Advent) on a half sheet of paper and, then, try to fill the rest of the sheet with other words that begin with the letter.

As we read the books of the day, we listen for other words that start with our letter of the day and add those to the list as well.

We also practice writing the letter, either using copies of our Handwriting without Tears workbook, personal dry-erase boards or an easel chalkboard.

After the children feel comfortable writing the letter, they take turns writing the capital and lower-case version on a half sheet of paper and illustrating around it with key word sketches. This sheet is hung in the hallway along with our word list.

Throughout the day, we key into other skills as we walk by the word list. For example, since both children are still working on the concepts of "columns" and "rows" for Math, I sometimes ask them to find a specific letter or word in the __ column of the __ list. For literacy, I ask Nina to slap the letter called __ or the one that makes the sound __, and I ask Luke to point to the word __ or to read x number of words from the __ list for me. I also have them refer to the Wall when they ask me how to write specific words or letters, or they do so voluntarily on their own.

Indeed, we have been finding our Advent Word Wall a simple, yet effective anchor for our Advent explorations this year. Not only do we have fun adding the next letter of the alphabet each day, but we also discover new ways to many quick, but valuable visits to it in order to both expand and consolidate learning.

We'd welcome your ideas on how we might continue to enjoy our Advent Word Wall.

Earn Your Way: A Game for Motivating Early Reading while Attending to Sensory Diet

2011-12-06T05:26:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, traditional decoding and reading activities aren't what my son needs. Instead, he needs a burst of activity for his sensory diet.

Thus, one day a few weeks back when my son was balking about doing "school work" and was more interested in baking and eating some GFCF cookies than he was in practicing his reading skills, I went with it. I immersed him in practical life skills to make the cookie batter with the promise that we would go outside for a bit while the cookies baked. Then, I capitalized on his desire to test the cookies by preparing a challenge for him on our front walkway.

Yes, in order to get in a burst of much needed "heavy work" while also encouraging reading practice, I adapted our CVC Chalk Word Jump Game into a challenge where my son had to earn his way back to the kitchen for the tasters he so wanted.

Now, I am not advocating food as a reward on a regular basis, so let me add the caveat that any motivator could be used in the place of tempting home-baked cookies. The important thing is not what the motivator is, but that your child is enticed to play the game. Ass things turned out with my son, after the cookie motivator once and the motivation of having me unlock the car door so we could go somewhere he wanted to go the second time we played the game, I found my son playing on his own – completely self-motivated – until the rain washed away our "game board."

Want to try out our effective game for helping kinesthetic learners and children who need extra sensory input get some reading practice? Go for it. Here is how to play

Earn Your Way

Materials

chalk (or paper, a writing utensil and tape if playing inside)
front walkway (sidewalk or hallway)
a motivator (such as fresh-baked GFCF cookies, to go inside, to go outside to play, to go for a ride or to play with a specific toy)

Presentation

Write a fairly long lst of words on your walkway (or on sheets of paper taped to the floor if playing inside.) Be sure to include words your child has mastered as well as some new ones.
Let your child know you have a challenge game prepared and that if he or she completes it, access to the motivator awaits.
Ask your child to stand at one end of the list, to read (or sound out) the first word and, then, to shout it out as he or she stomps on it.
Offer encouragement as your child progresses through the list, stating things your child has accomplished, such as, "You sounded out a four letter word." Or, "You stomped with such power." Or, "You've read five words already." In other words, be specific with your praise. Of course, offer help as needed as well.
When your child gets to the end of the list, congratulate him or her with some big high fives and a comment, such as, "Wow! You read 1, 2, 3, 4....TWENTY-SIX words just now!" Then, offer access to the motivator.

Skills

Decoding Words
Gross Motor
Proprioception
Motor Coordination/Motor Planning
Listening/Following Directions

Quick Tips/Extensions

If your child has mastered all basic phonemes, be sure to include an example of each in the list of words you choose to write.
Mix basic sight words with phonics-based ones. If your child needs it, cue that the sight words are "puzzle words" or "challenge words" that may not be able to be sounded out traditionally.
As an extension, play Hide-n-Seek Words: Call out a word from the list that has a smaller word hiding within it, for example "cat", "tin" or "trip". Have your child run to jump on it. Then, challenge your child to find the shorter word hiding in the larger one.
As another extension, play Silly Stories: Have your child jump on a word and begin a story that starts with it. Then, you jump on a different word and find a way to weave the word you are on into your child's story. Take turns jumping on different words and incorporating them into the story.
For repetition, use the list whenever you enter or exit the house. Sometimes, challenge your child to read all the words. Other times, challenge your child to read five of them. At still other times, challenge your child to read all words that contain a specific letter.
Vary vestibular and proprioceptive input by having your child hop on, run around, skip to, slither by, gallop to or spin around words.

How do you use motivators to get "heavy work" into your child's day?

What movement-based ways do you encourage early reading skills?

Do you have a frugal, fun and effective early learning activity to share?

Please leave a comment to share.

This post is being shared at We Are THAT Family's Works for Me Wednesday because outdoor reading lessons that include heavy work really work for us.

3 Ways to Bring Little Ones Closer to Mother Mary

2011-12-04T05:41:00.001-05:00

My four-year-old followed me into the bedroom the other day when I was about to put her brother down for nap. She draped a blanket over her head saying, "I am like Mary." A few minutes later, she smiled sweetly and added, "Mommy, if you died, I would look after Jack."

I was taken aback for a moment. How did my little girl go from dramatizing Our Lady to thinking about a day when she might foster her baby brother?

Then, I remembered that some of the books we have been reading with our ABC Advent plans had included parents that had passed on. She was simply processing those stories and reaching out with compassion to share her love for me and her brother.

I took my daughter's hand and explained that I didn't plan on going to heaven anytime soon, but that if I did, I would still be with her and her siblings just as Our Mother is here for us. I would be in her heart. I then thanked her for warming my heart by volunteering that she would be God's hands of love for her baby brother here on earth should I ever not be able to be so.

With that, she happily went back to playing Mary as I snuggled "her baby Jesus" to sleep for his nap.

Me? I reflected on why she might have such a strong affection for Our Mother Mary.

Introducing Young Children to Our Mother

1. Sing: One of the first things I did when my children were born was pray with them. With my own tune, I sang the Our Father and the Hail Mary as I held them close to me not long after delivery. Since then, I have continued to sing them these payers on occasion. I have also noted my daughter singing the Hail Mary to her baby on her own when she is trying to soothe him. There is something about song that speaks to children.

2. Look: At a very young age, I began pointing out images and statues of Mary to my children and asking them if they would like to say a prayer to our Mother in Heaven. I also have included many picture books with Mary in our reading basket. Being able to envision Mary helps the children develop a relationship to her.

3. Play: My children enjoy playing with me, their earthly mother, and so it follows that although they cannot directly play with their Heavenly Mother, they might enjoy playing with the idea of her. Thus, I incorporate Mary-themed play into our lives through such things as the 3-Part Life of Mary Cards I made, Mary Spoon Puppets we made as a part of a Mother's Day gift and art projects like the one we did for the Assumption. Play is the work, and often the language, of young children. It is a wonderful way to help them get to know Our Mother.

This week, as we near the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I wonder how others bring their young children close to Our Mother. I invite you to share your thoughts and resource tips on this topic, as well as one other ways you train your children up with happy hearts through a comment or linking up.

Thank you to the folks who linked up last week.

Holly's church new year hats, with printable template included, were far cuter than our paper ones were and her Advent book baskets for children and adults sure had some wonderful titles. The way Heidi is preparing her home for Christmas is lovely. Colleen reviewed a helpful Advent resource book and Mama Hooper incorporated some of the ideas she found here into her own family's celebration of the season.

Relishing Quiet amidst the Chaos: Homeschool Mother’s Journal, Mid-November thru Early December

2011-12-02T21:33:00.004-05:00

Fridays keep coming and going before I get myself together to finish a Homeschool Mother’s Journal post. This Friday, I was determined to post one before midnight. So, I took advantage of many of the pauses between the chaos of life in order to complete it. The result? A marathon post to share the richness of the past three weeks.

Now, I know if your life is anything like mine, time for reading long posts may be limited. Thus, I take no offense if you simply click on from here. At the same time, though, I invite you to stay a while if you can. Read about what we’ve been doing and thinking. Then, share your own thoughts, questions and tips in return. For, as it says in the sidebar: whether you join us for a moment, a mile or more, we appreciate your company along the way as we journey to train happy hearts in our children and ourselves.

In my life over the past couple weeks…

was a balance of all my roles, including that of Citizen. Yep, I was called for jury service in mid-November, which afforded me time to sit in blessed quiet for a number of hours while waiting to see if I would be empanelled. For this mommy of three little ones, that was a GIFT!

Ah, quiet. I recall the days when it was something I hated. During my single life, I almost always had music going or chattered away aloud. Now, I relish the peace.

Having a few consecutive hours of quiet as I awaited jury empanelment highlighted for me how vital such time can be. The experience of breathing out time is a perfect antidote to the go-go-go of modern life. A pause in life to let one’s mind wander seems to be just the tweak needed to ensure maximum performance when the brain must remain revved up for a while. A moment of relative stillness can be so healing.

With this in mind, I have been consciously seeking to savor moments of quiet for myself and my family at home since. A few minutes of quiet before jumping out of bed to get on with the day’s tasks, afternoon lulls when I recall the lesson I learned when our camera took a bath, times spent snuggled on the couch or on a blanket outside while doing some of our Advent reading…Yes, I have been aiming to add more and more such times to life at home during this season.

In our homeschool since …

my last Homeschool Mother’s Journal post on November 11, we have been doing everything and nothing. I put it that way because we have not been spending long hours in our learning room doing lesson after lesson. Thus, by some folk’s standards, what we are doing might not be considered “schooling”. I disagree. Learning has been woven into almost everything we have been doing. I constantly note evidence of our children meeting both state-sanctioned learning standards and my personal beliefs about what I think toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners should be exposed to, exploring and discovering.

Some highlights have been:

Faith

Observing Advent with our ABC plans has been rewarding thus far. Although we have not stuck to the letter of the plans (and I never expected we would), we have been focusing on stories, sensory activities, service and love – all the while growing in our understanding of Salvation History and the true meaning of Christmas.

There have been some very warm moments during story times. In fact, some of Luke’s comments one day as we read together while our in-home Behavior Specialist visited not only elicited a heartfelt “awww” and pat on Luke’s back from her, but made my heart smile with a “he gets it”. He is spending more and more of his free play time enacting interpretations of stories we read, as well as the Christmas story itself (as is happening in the picture below with Luke “Joseph” leading Nina “Mary” on a “donkey). This, in turn tempers some of his more impulsive, destructive and aggressive behaviors. It just goes to show how powerful picture books can be!

And, Nina? My baby girl who could have cared less about sitting intently to be read to from books some years ago is definitely gone. I adore having the preschooler that took her place cuddled against me, completely enraptured in stories. I also smile when she applies the examples of virtues and love that we read about to daily life and play. She is such a compassionate child – often going to Jack before I do if he cries and always getting quiet to pray when she hears or sees and emergency vehicle. Seeing her innate concern for others develop balances the moments when her age-appropriate (but no less grating) tattle-taling, whining and overtired tantruming rear up. So does her love for Mary! She almost always chooses the “hail Mary” when it is her turn to lead prayer and she likes to put blankets on her head to enact Our Mother, too. I wonder if both her GG’s prayers from heaven might have something to do with this. They both turned to Mary often as well.

And Jack? He is still quite young to demonstrate his growing faith, but is always an example to us of God’s plan. Not a day goes by when I don’t recognize our “surprise” child as a testimony to the importance of being open to life. As I watch his little hands at work when he gets into activities meant for his older siblings, such as the soap carving pictured above, I marvel at his purpose. Often, I pause, unable to imagine our family without the gift of Jack. There is such beauty to in his being.

I adore the simple, treasured moments of witnessing Jack’s development. Just this past week, he has taken to sitting in my lap as his sibling sit on other side of me during our read aloud time. There, he smiles, points distinctly to different objects in the pictures of each book and makes sounds. Donkeys, in particular, captured his attention the other day as he captured mine and his siblings. With his cheerful personality, I do not doubt that he will one day carry any burdens he faces in life with little complaint just like this animal can.

Reading

Nina constantly requests to play Phoneme I Spy when we are driving in the car and is enjoying learning her letters though games like “Slap” as we build our hallway Advent alphabet.

Luke spells words all on his own with letter blocks (and evidences his obsession with 39 Clues, a book-on-CD that his co-op friends turned him into that stars Dan and Amy Kahill.)

Luke is getting stronger at reading phonetically spelled words. And he and Nina are becoming quite adept at coming up with words for specific onsets.

Writing

Nina likes to spend free time working writing muscles by cutting paper up into bits and writing messages on it. She also enjoys just making crosses and o’s on paper.

Luke constantly sketches things and has taken to labeling them with inventive and phonetically spelled words, such as “pupe dog Luke” above.

Mathematics

The children have been learning concrete math concepts through cooking with me. I hope to reinforce some literacy along with this by making more cards like the Crock Pot Recipe Cards I shared a while back.

Luke and Nina explore concrete addition and subtraction of numbers up to ten with a block stacking game we made up.

Games like Pajaggle, which we reviewed, have also been providing hands-on math and fine motor practice.

Plus

The children used group-time and art skills, as well as practiced gratitude, while making our annual cornucopia of thanks.

Despite having stacking blocks and stacking cups, Jack prefers the real thing. See what he gets up to, working his sensorial and coordination skills while Mommy does dishes!

Science Lab experiments led by Daddy keep inquiry-based learning and discovery going.

Luke, Nina and Jack practiced their manners and turn taking while being wonderfully behaved and quite inquisitive at a recent Creative Kids Co-op field trip to a vet’s office.

Luke was excited to try out Science equipment.

Nina was not afraid to ask questions and get answers.

Even Jack got in on the hands-on learning!

With out other Co-op some good heavy work in, helping to push the big boys on the tables while cleaning up from a delightful homeschool support group Thanksgiving luncheon we attended, which came complete with crafts, games and good food. It was followed by a long stretch of friend-time at a local playground, which ended in me cracking up as Luke told me he liked playing with one particular little girl because, “she is cute” and Nina asked me if we could “have a date” with the girl’s family soon.

Who says homeschoolers miss out on socialization? Our children consistently spend “school time” sharing experiences with folks of all ages – age-similar peers and children and adults at home, at co-ops and within our community. I think this perfect socialization for real life when they grow up.

The kids also experienced their first “substitute teacher” while I fulfilled my jury duty service. During this time, the kids enjoyed Grammy-as-Teacher of the regular substitute-teacher silliness syndrome, but with all the love, learning and smiles that I hope they can always approach both change and learning with. Together, they enjoyed being read chapters of Devotional Stories for Little Folks; Luke proudly read some Bob Books to Grammy; both children completed some Handwriting Without Tears practice sheets and pages from the Calvert Kindergarten Math Supplement Book; and everyone had fun. (Big thanks to Tiffani, from Our Journey thru Autism, for passing along HWT and Calvert to me. Although we are not always box-and-workbook curriculum types, these resources are wonderful and come in quite handy for when Grammy plays substitute homeschool teacher.)

Helpful Homeschooling Tips to Share

Purposely leave lulls in the day. It is during such times that children often consolidate and expand upon their skills.

I was amused one day this past month when Nina made a cut-and-tape person which now sits on my bed. It not only evidenced her increasing skill at handling scissors, but also her knowledge of body parts, her creativity and her imagination.

Likewise, when Luke began making letters from homemade playdough and forming those letters into words while acting out extensions Leapfrog video scenes, I smiled at his initiative and increasing literacy skills.

Always, when I catch a glimpse of Nina, Luke and Jack engaged in cooperative, peaceful, yet exuberant play, it makes me smile to think about the habits or the heart that are forming.

No one can force love of learning or one another. Each of us can, however, provide tools and allow time for it. I am glad the Spirit has moved me to prioritize offering my children “alone” time and space. (I put “alone” in quotes because, in reality, they are often not alone, but with each other, and, always, with me just a few steps, a room or a floor away when such time and space is offered.)

I am inspired by…

God’s design. In children, in the rhythm of seasons, in the unique properties of everything I see, taste and touch.

Sometimes, I pause to really savor something through my senses and mind and, when I do, the everyday becomes awe-inspiring. How anyone can think that there is no God is beyond me. The design of our universe and the things in it are simply too amazing to be coincidence, as far as I am concerned. I am so glad a Masterful Creator shaped it all for us.

Places We’ve Been Going and People We’ve Been Seeing

One Saturday, we got back into the habit of going to the Lowe’s Build and Grow clinics. These free clinics are a great way to spend some time as a family while working fine motor skills and doing handicrafts. Plus – bonus – we sometimes come away with practical tools for homeschooling, as was the case with the simple Science Labs we made, which the children have been enjoying.

We checked out WWI Memorial Park in North Attleboro for our Family Day one Sunday. What a great place! Animals in a petting zoo, several playground areas, a “beach” sandbox and – the favorite of the day – a mega slide in Julia’s Garden. Such fun it was to zoom down that slide! (And, how special that Julia’s family chose to honor her memory by creating the delightful Julia’s Garden. May Julia smile down from heaven as she witnesses so many families enjoying the garden and may her own family be at pace, knowing Julia is with God and that their memorial to her is helping others appreciate the gift of having their own children nearby still.)

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we enjoyed family time at the Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade and related events. The highlights for our children were crafting at the kids tent and exploring the Revolutionary War through World Wars encampment, where they got to participate in a Scavenger Hunt and games.

We enjoyed a family Thanksgiving at Grammy and Grampy’s. While everyone was gathered there, we also celebrated an early extended-family birthday for Daddy, Luke and one cousin. Ever since, Luke has been stomping and running to light up the glow-sneakers he so badly wanted and received. And, I have been lit up over the fact that our extended family prioritizes time to get together with one another, even if only for “special days”. Continuing the tradition of family that I grew up with is something I value.

This past weekend, we had fun hiking the Blue Hills, where Luke designed an experiment in his head which he tried out later in the week. After that, we checked out Marbles: The Brain Store, live and in person. It was hard to tear Luke away from this place and, when we finally got him out of the store, he literally skipped away saying, “Can we go here every day?” That boy loves his brain games! We will certainly be putting some of the games from the easy-to-navigate Marbles website on our holiday wish list. (See the side bar for a discount button to click through if you’d like to do the same.)

We continue to enjoy our local library for story hours as well as just time to browse, play and socialize. This past week, while Luke and Nina shared some time on the kids computer at the library and I caught up with a friend we bumped into, Jack took it upon himself to crawl up into a chair to “read”. It was so cute! I was glad I had a camera in my bag to try to capture the moment. Key word being “try” since by the time I got the camera out, the chance for the cutest shot had passed, but I got an okay one just to remember the moment with anyway.

Plus, there’s the usual errands, appointments, classes, etc.

My favorite thing over the few week was…

Jack waving “bye bye”.

At 17 months old, Jack is still without understandable spoken words, but he is certainly not without communication. He clearly shakes his head “no” at times, points to things he wants, takes another’s hands and leads them to wear he wants to go, engages others in laughter and play, etc. It has only been in the past few weeks, however, that he has begun to use gestures such as waving “bye bye”.

Every time he has done it since late November, my heart has swelled with joy at seeing him mastering this step towards further communication with others.

And – wow – when he patted a seat on the couch next to me to indicate that he wanted his brother, who had one of our Advent reading books in hand, to come and sit with us, I melted!

A close second to it was celebrating the new church year as a family – simple party hats, noise makers and chocolate fondue with dippers made this a tradition I want to continue.

What’s working for me…

is prioritizing quiet times for my husband and me to think, write and create and for our children to play, snuggle and create as well. Yes, this sometimes means progress on our house remains at a standstill or that rigorous homeschooling is delayed, but it also means we all feel happier and healthier – more relaxed, balanced and blessed. At the end of the day, that is far more important than any “urgent” tasks as far as I am concerned.

Trust me, though, it takes a fair amount of “work” for me to allow for such quiet times. I am an ultra-task oriented person. Sitting and “doing nothing” are not in my nature. So, I have to keep in mind that the apparent “nothing” is actually “something”. I find myself constantly self-coaching about letting creativity, quiet and peace unfold when they can instead of moving us along to the next thing I had on my list.

Of course, once I get this down pat, the next step will be re-layering productivity atop the pauses. Balance can be an elusive concept for this momma, but I am getting closer to it, I think.

Thoughts I Have

Books, blogs and business ideas have been dancing in my head recently. Some are ones that I thought about when I was still a Singleton. Others are ones that Mike and I mulled over shortly after becoming Marrieds. Still others only began to take shape in my mind once Motherhood arrived. Many of them will never come to fruition, but all of them have been pirouetting through my consciousness again over the past few weeks. I am not sure why.

I am sure that NOW is not the time to pursue such things. So, I am trying to just acknowledge the ideas, jot a few thoughts about them down and move on with what NOW is the time for – mostly mothering and educating my children.

I have been praying that the Holy Spirit guides me in all choices and that, if any of the ideas in my head are ones I should act on, the Spirit informs me WHEN and HOW to do so. Of course, I’d appreciate hearing from others who are going through (or have been through) similar periods of prioritizing parenting and projects and would love tips and resource ideas you might have to share.

Things I’ve been Working On

Homeschooling, decluttering, cleaning, organizing, writing and making a habit of personal prayer time with Mommy’s Retreat basket at hand are all things I continue to work at.

I also spent a fair amount of time making An Alphabet of Plans for a Literature-Based Family Advent Rich in Sensory Input and Special Activities, which the kids and I have been enjoying all week.

Mostly, though, I have just been working on being real with myself and others and taking advantages of the pauses of life. While getting real offers me perspective, the pauses offer peace. However, as I mentioned before, letting life unfold is something I really have to work at.

By nature, I am a task-oriented person. The part of my elementary school report card that I took the greatest pride in getting good marks in was “uses time wisely”. For years, I have equated “wise” with “accomplished”. Keeping busy with things to do and things done is how I roll. So, learning to roll with the both impromptu and intentional pauses has been difficult for me. It’s a choice I am obviously glad I am making, though.

So are my children, as you can see by Nina’s joy-filled face during a restful picnic at a park.

I’ve been reading…

among other things:

Handwriting Without Tears Teaching Guide, which was generously passed along to me by my friend Tiffani from Our Journey thru Autism. As I read the guide, I am impressed with both the theory of the program and also the suggestions and tools for putting it into practice.

From Chaos to Calm: Effective Parenting for Challenging Children with ADHD and other Behavior Problems, a book that both confirms existing knowledge and ideas I had about dealing with children who are wired differently and suggests some new strategies. I had to return the book before finishing it and letting all its ideas sink in, but plan to get it again sometime and would definitely suggest that others challenged by “less easy” kids pick this book up from the library to browse.

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, which is a rather large book with small print and lots of information, so it’s a slow read for me, but one I have been finding interesting as I seek to understand how best to nourish our family. For me, a vegetarian of many years who is just beginning to add meat back into my diet, it is a particularly interesting read.

lots of books from Future Horizons, which I am again beginning to dedicate time to review and share about here. In the meantime, please remember that you can get a 15% discount at Future Horizons by using the code HAPPY when you check out. By doing so, you will not only receive 15% off the total cost of whatever you purchase, but also FREE SHIPPING (in the continental US only.) Details about this offer can be found at my post about discounts for you for Future Horizons Materials and Conferences.

I’m cooking…

more and more according to weekly menu plans that I create. Yes, I have been getting better at making and sticking to these one again . I find that the investment of time to do so really pays off, especially when I feel brain-dead. Using menu plans, we are eating healthier, with a bit more variety. Plus, I am getting ahold of our food budget again.

Helps in planning our meals each week include Everyday Gluten-Free and Special Diets for Special Kids, Volumes 1 and 2 Combined: Research and Recipes. The recipes I select from these are all a part of getting us ready to go gluten-free in the new year.

I’m grateful for…

my parent’s help. Without them, jury duty service and having cars at the shop recently would have been far more difficult to manage. I appreciate that they willingly look after our children and lend us vehicles when we ask them to do so. I hope to be an equally there-to-serve parent when my grown-up children need me to be one day.

I am also grateful for each moment of quiet that I have savored since remembering how powerful these can be.

And, I am still smiling over an incident at a gas pump the other day, where a woman unexpectedly gifted my children and me. I want to dedicate a whole post to that when I can. Keep an eye out for it.

I’m praying for…

many intentions, as usual, but especially today for:

fellow homeschooling mothers, that we may hear God’s word and act on His will through both the mundane and the marvelous moments of our callings.
all who need a little extra love and help this season.
anyone who needs to take a pause. May the Spirit move them to find stillness and quiet, if only for a moment. May grace and restoration be theirs.

A Photo to Share

This is Jack popping his head out of the window of a playground train he and his sibling were playing on during one of our Sabbath family days. Every time I look at this picture I remember that even when life seems to be barreling down its tracks, it is important to stop to breathe in its goodness.

Pop on over to The Homeschool Mother's Journal to find many (briefer) journal entries from hoemschoolers.

Montessori-at-Home Realities: Answers to a Reader's Questions

2011-11-28T14:25:00.004-05:00

Don't Let This Photo Fool You

The other day, a fellow Montessori-inspired reader sent me a personal email with some comments and questions. I thought I would answer it here in case anyone has similar things on their minds:

“I envy you when I see photos of your kids working in the school room. Do you have another space for their toys? Do you keep them in their bedrooms?”

Oh dear! Don’t let select photos fool you. The toys may not be in the pictures, but they are there. Truly, traditional toys constantly creep into our learning room. Likewise, learning materials get carried to other rooms, sometimes one purpose – such as when we plan to work at the kitchen tables – and sometimes just because I am not paying attention when one of the children has an impulse to use “Montessori materials” as toys. It’s not how I planned it and it isn’t ideal, but it is real life and the way our days flow…

As far as where we keep “regular” toys: We rotate them from our basement storage area to our living room. From there, they often end up all throughout the house.

Also, please be aware that my children do not just work in our classroom. In fact, they often play and create there. Sometimes this is purposeful and okay by me. At other times, they Our Work Room Agreement, which we drew up and signed on the first day of school this year, end up making extraordinary messes. These, of course, don’t end up on the blog because I am often too exasperated or too busy helping to clean them to photograph and upload them. So, as is the case with most blogs, what you see on this one is but a small portion of what happens on a daily basis.

“I don't have space for individual rooms for each child, so since they sleep together. They are a bit cramped in one room and I choose to only put books for them help them settle easy to bed.”

I do similarly.
All three of my children sleep in one literal bed-room. It is not yet decorated the way I envision it, but it sticks pretty closely to Montessori principles. Besides their mattresses, which are on platforms or not, depending on their age, to allow for them to get in and out of bed on their own, there is:

one small bureau that houses their jammies, socks and tees in a way each of them can access them, and which is topped with a CD player, bedtime CD’s and light
a small book case to house board books with covers facing out so our youngest to explore
a closet with clothes on rods at child-height and extra linens stored at Mama-height
a hanging shelf with some framed prayers and our paper-paged bedtime chapter books (out of the baby’s hand-and-mouth reach)
a bucket of stuffed toys for quiet play

Oh, those stuffed toys and how they like to be let loose multiple times a day! I really need to simplify the selection.

“Legos , Duplos , puzzles, doll house , games, cars, playdough…cannot they all be in the school area on separate shelves? Would this create distraction?”

I had our learning shelves set up in our living room before, and I often had “toys” and “work” side-by-side in separate cubbies. My thought was that so long as all the toys were developmentally-appropriate ones, why not have them out there? (I am not a Montessori purist.) Now, I simply choose to keep mostly learning materials on the shelves in a room where the door can be closed because it not only helps my older children differentiate between which things can be used in personally creative ways and which may have guidelines, but it also allows me to keep my youngest away from materials he is not ready for when need be.

“Yesterday I visited a small private preschool with my three years old , I observed him moving around from digging dinosaur in the sand, to play on the mat with cars to play kitchen , to making puzzle, to ten minutes playdough play, to reading corner nicely and on his own. How can this be accomplished when you are homeschooling an older sibling when she is needing one-on-one ...Where will your tiny tot be when you are working with your boys one-on-one?”

Well, every time I think I have this quandary figured out, my children go and change things up on me. Different things work on different days and, on some days, nothing works at all.

My nearly 18-month-old does not move from one activity to another happily and independently for long periods of time, but he does sometimes. At other times, I ask my preschooler or kindergartner to play with him while I work with a sibling, but I don’t force them to do so. Thus, I find I sometimes have to just “give up” one-on-one time until the little one is napping or thoroughly immersed in something. At such times, I remind myself that in a traditional Montessori school, the infants and toddlers are in one room and the 3-6’s in another. I do not have this luxury, and, thus, manage as I can.

More and more, I see that Montessori-inspired homeschooling can look a lot like traditional Montessori learning. However, it can also look very different as the realities home weave together with Montessori-essence.

“I cannot believe a tot can go through her workbox or shelf on her own moving from one activity to the other. Mine will do the transfer once or twice than he needs something else and all this is more fun and nice when played with mama… we can be done with our trays in half an hour, then what?”

My youngest does not really have shelves and workboxes that he uses exclusively nor independently for long spurts of time. Rather, he has several items on shelves that he explores as he wishes and, when his big siblings and I need some time without his little hands and curious mind about, we relegate him to the hallway with a few toys and, often, one of us to accompany him.

My preschooler moves through her shelves and boxes when we have learning room time okay, as does my kindergartener, but both seek my attention often just like their little brother does. Every day is a new day and the “normalization” one would see in a traditional Montessori school, as well as the picture-perfect ideal we often imagine unfolding in one another’s homes as we browse blogs, is not a reality here. What is there is the reality that life, learning and love are happening and that is enough for me!

“You don't want your tot to wonder on his own…so…we…just follow him and play with him and use his naps and time when his dad is around to do school with his five years old sister… not much can be achieved then because she wants to play with papa, too, and, after playing with little bro all morning, I am finding she needs a nap, too.”

I don’t mind when my little one wanders about by himself for a bit in the house, so long as I know he is safe. Frankly I think it is good for his sense of independence. However, we, too, often play with him (and each other!) instead of concentrating on learning. Then, we use his naptime for some learning or cleaning. When Daddy is home, we rarely “school” because all the kids want to play with Daddy or we are attending to home, outside activities or regular daily routines, such as bedtime.

I am okay with all this because:

my children are still young and I do not believe a pre-k or kindergarten program needs to be that rigorous.
I do my best to follow my children’s interests and needs.
I am confident that in a loving home with thoughtful parents, learning happens regardless of the amount of time spent on formal lessons.

Again, I am not a Montessori-purist, but a Mama who is drawn to Maria’s philosophy’s in combination with some others, as well as a huge dose of what my heart and head tell me and the Spirit inspires me to pursue.

“Mama is exhausted too and her break used to be when kiddos are napping. Now, no rest for mama.”

Oh, I feel for this one! My eldest gave up naps at 18 months, so I have rarely had time for rest/nap myself. Instituting a quiet time has been an ongoing struggle for years here. Sometimes we manage. Other times, I just pray for grace and enough energy to make it until my kids finally crash at night.

When I am frustrated, tired or feeling defeated, I try to remind myself that this is a stage in our lives and will pass. I also try to think about what I want to remember and what I want my children to remember when we look back at this stage: JOY.

I am the first to admit that joy is not something I share enough of with my children as I try to figure out how to balance home, work, homeschooling and life. Like many moms, I get frustrated, tired, hyperfocused… A host of less-important human mom-stuff sometimes seems to take precedence over the responsibility and gift of training my children up. Moreover, I recognize that being a teacher or guide at a school comes with an entirely different set of parameters than being a mom at home who also takes on the role as teacher/guide. Discovering how best to fulfill my roles and to do it with grace and joy is something I am working on. I pray the Spirit will illuminate the way.

Messes Are Part of Learning

I pray, as well, that through being honest about all this here I offer the reader who took the time to email some perspective, solidarity and a few helpful ideas. I also hope that I might encourage others that have heard similar calls similar to mine and that if what I have written here sparks a thought from a Montessori parent who is more experienced or balanced than I am that person would be willing to share in a comment.

Guiding our children in our own homes is a rewarding experience. It can also feel solitary and wearisome at times. Through the blogging community, perhaps we can inspire a sense of harmony and togetherness. I hope so at least.

This post is being shared at Montessori Monday hosted by One Hook Wonder and Living Montessori Now, where you'll find both practical ideas and perspective on bringing Montessori-inspired learning to children.

Planning a Simple, Yet Complete Advent 2011: An Alphabet of Plans for a Literature-Based Family Advent Rich in Sensory Input and Special Activities

2011-11-27T05:03:00.049-05:00

Last year at this time I fantasized that by this time this year I would be sitting in a decluttered, clean home with an organized Kindergarten homeschool program several months underway and a complete focus on sharing the Advent season with my children through learning, play and growing traditions. Ah, it’s nice to dream, isn’t it?

It is also good to hold onto a good dream until it becomes a reality. So, hold on is what I continue to do, because the ideal I fantasized about last year is still far from becoming this year’s reality.

Meanwhile, Advent is upon us and I know that dreaming is not going to help my family observe this beautiful season. However, a little forethought and action can. So, this past week, I took my focus off many other things (including completing my BloTaAcMo goal) in order to lay out a do-able plan for creating a peaceful, faith-filled period of observance and learning for the next four weeks.

My goal for the plan was to keep it simple, while cobbling together something that would:

guide all our learning activities between now and Christmas (keying in strongly to our Core Four Plus),
be replete with sensory activities
be rich in tradition
offer opportunities for giving and service

and, of course, help my family to get away from the commercial, secular, me-me-me obsessions that seem to proliferate during this season, while moving toward a greater understanding of our faith history and principles.

Keeping this multi-faceted goal – especially the SIMPLE part – was not easy for me. The more I thought and browsed, the more I found myself wanting to include in our Advent plan: armfuls of books, oodles of crafts, dozens of songs, pages of art study, a myriad of new traditions… You name it. I wanted it in my plan.

Luckily, the kids kept interrupting my planning sessions and, thus, before I dove headlong into making our Advent plan as cluttered as, um, my basement is, I reeled myself in. I recognized the irony that in planning a season of simplicity, I was becoming overwhelmed (and, okay, maybe a little obsessed) with ways my family might honor (overdo?) Advent. Yes, I came square up against the fact that even as I sought to avoid being someone who encourages her family to jump full-force into the hoopla of a “too soon” Christmas, I was sliding down a slippery slope of overcomplicating our Advent.

Several pauses for child-management, self-reflection, and, of course, prayer, later, the layout for our Advent plan crystallized in my mind:

Following a daily rhythm, we will include Our Core Four in the coming weeks through:

Reading, including up to five Read Alouds a day based on an Advent-themed letter-of-the day or a Special Observance. We will also do spontaneous or easy-to-prepare activities that key into each child’s unique learning needs, interests and goals. For Jack this will mean lots of repetition of the phonemes the begin each day’s key words. For Nina this will mean activities to help her solidify naming letters and recognizing and producing the sound each makes. For Luke, this will mean pulling out phonetic words and site words that are at his level for playing active games, creating sentences, etc.

Writing, mainly though completing activities from Handwriting Without Tears Letters and Numbers for Me and Kindergarten Teacher's Guide, along with other fun explorations for creating each letter of the day, such as using Do-A-Dots, Wikki Stix Alphabet Fun Cards for Learning etc. We will also be writing letters, drawing pictures and making cards and crafts for others as part of our commitment to giving and service.

Mathematics naturally tied into reading, cooking and craft with lots of counting, measuring, simple computations, comparing, etc.

Faith Formation – a synergy from reading, discussing our Key Words, participating in Mass, enjoying traditions, praying together and living Advent more fully than we have in the past.

Sensory Input Activities as life allows, related to Key Words, Letters of the Day and Readings.

Traditions. Some of these may be more secular than faith-filled, as we do choose to enjoy the myth of Santa Claus with our children, layering our faith atop it.

Hopefully, all this will come together to make our Advent season long on faith and fun but short on stress and an overload of secular celebration. (And, yes, I know, the sheer number of books may not seem simple, but, for our family, Read-Aloud time is a favorite several times a day, and, since many of the books will be library ones, they will not permanently add to our clutter.)

If you would like to adapt our plan for your own home, please feel free to do so.

Just click on Advent 2011: An Alphabet of Plans for a Simple Literature-Based Family Advent Rich in Sensory Input and Special Activities to download a copy of my plan for your convenience.

As you review our plan, please be aware that it was inspired by many sources, including:

Jennifer at Feast in Family and Feria’s Alphabet Advent and Prepare Now posts and Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles Toward Living Advent and Christmas 2011 post, which are as easy to get lost in as they are to be inspired by – and I don’t mean that one can get lost in them because the ladies who shared these posts are not wonderfully organized and superbly talented Catholic homeschooling bloggers. Rather, I mean that he learning and traditions they share with their own families and with any who visit their blogs are so incredible, a relative newbie like me could spend hours and hours reading them. These ladies are Catholic parenting models I aspire to emulate in many ways.

My friend Karen’s Advent 2011-Part 2 post at A Servant’s Memories, which proved to me that simple can equal complete. I know Karen personally and can attest that she is a far busier woman than I am. Reading her post and witnessing her journey in living her calling makes me realize that we don’t have to do it all, but should aspire to do what we do well.

Brief online sources such as Families Can Enjoy an Advent Alphabet, Advent Alphabet and An Advent Alphabet, which I borrowed some ideas from and want to include even more from in future years.

The Christmas Alphabet Advent Calendar at Yeah, Write, which is a lovely, tangible Advent calendar craft that I would love to model one after in some future year, only with a more faith-based theme for the objects included.

I encourage you to visit some of these sites. Be inspired by them. See what the Spirit might be whispering for you to include in your family’s Advent this year – doing, but not beyond your time, talent or treasure. I also would love it if you’d comment or link up with ways you observe Advent in your home.

It is my hope that, with God’s constant grace and guidance, we may each enjoy a simple, yet complete Advent season of learning and loving our faith and one another. The joy-filled waiting begins…

Thank you to Heidi from Work and Play, Day by Day for linking up last week with Christ the King ideas here at our Sunday Series A Call to Faith Formation for Young Children. We'd be delighted for you to link up below to share your ideas this week!

PS Oo! I love when someone links here and their post leads me to many other wonderful ones. That is just what happened here. Heidi linked above and, when I read her post, I discovered Mama Erika's link-up at Raising Little Saints. If you click over to it you'll find many wonderful links for celebrating Advent!

The Camera Takes a Bath: A Lesson in Parenting

2011-11-23T14:18:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

You should have seen the rest of them!

With Thanksgiving but a day away, like many, I am counting many blessings.

With the fact that I love capturing family memories through snapshots, one silly, but big-to-me thing that I am grateful for is having a camera to capture memories of some of those blessings tomorrow. That almost was not the case.

As I mentioned in my last Homeschool Mother's Journal post, our camera suffered a mishap in the latter part of October...

The Kids Were a Bit Too Quiet; Mommy Got a Bit Too Loud

Gel Paints in the Making

Luke and Nina were another room being unusually quiet. Silly me did not clue in to the fact something was likely amiss. Instead, I hurriedly took advantage of their busyness in order attend some chores with just Jack underfoot.

Not the best forethought, Mom. A moment of seeming quiet can lead to a series of silly “disasters”.

When Luke and Nina reappeared, they were covered – absolutely covered – in marker. I began to react in a typical frustrated mom way. My too-loud and uncharitable voice barked, “You know you only use markers on paper! What have you done…” Blah... blah… blah! Then, I caught myself.

A Pause for Better Parenting

A Gel Paint Palette

Pause. I coached myself. Give yourself and them some space. “Your markers will now be gone for a week.” I marched to the other room to confiscate any marker in sight. As I zipped these into a plastic bag and threw them with an angry flourish into a closet where the children would not be able to reach them easily, I realized what I was doing.

Act. Don’t react. I reminded myself. I took a deep breath and walked back into the hallway to see Jack studying the canvas of his half-giggling, half-quivering, all-colored siblings.

Reframe. Reframe. Follow the children. Try to listen to what they were trying to do not what they actually did.

I knelt to the children’s eye level. “Luke, Nina, it seems you wanted to color on yourselves. You know you are only supposed to use markers on paper. If you want to color on yourselves, simply ask Mommy. I will let you – in an appropriate way and place.” I, then, ushered Luke and Nina into the bathroom (but not before taking a picture of their legs for posterity) and asked them to take off their marked-on clothes so they could stand in their tub where I would bring them a surprise to help them explore their creativity.

While Luke and Nina disrobed, I brought shower gel to the kitchen, mixed it with some food coloring and put it on a plastic lid, thus creating a body finger paint palette.

Luke and Nina welcomed the gift of these gel paints when I handed the palette over to them, and, as I expected they would do, began to paint themselves. Win-win-win. I thought. They get to color themselves. The marker gets washed off them without a fight. And, I drew back from a useless mommy explosion.

When Will Mama Learn?

This is the way we paint our bellies!

Satisfied, I took photos of them painting – and, that, my friends is where I may have really gone wrong.

You see, I did not witness Jack watching me memorialize the moment, but he sure witnessed me doing so.

Thus, when I took advantage of what I thought was another children-are-engaged moment, things went awry.

I wanted to get Luke and Nina’s colored on clothing into the wash to soak. So, once Luke and Nina were fully immersed in painting themselves and Jack was busy playing with something in the living room, I told Luke and Nina that I was just going to run downstairs to the laundry machine for a moment, to have fun painting and to call me when they were ready to wash their paints off.

I was barely into transferring what was in the wash to the dryer in order to put their marked on outfits into the wash when I heard water from upstairs running through the pipes.

Ugh! I thought. I asked them to call me when they wanted to actually take a tub.

Then, I heard a rising cacophony of voices, punctuated by the word “Jack” being said in various tones of amusement, correction and complaint. What are they doing? Is Jack trying to get into the tub? Are they putting him in the tub with them?

I ran back upstairs, reminding myself to try to pause and act instead of reacting.

What I found was a sudsy-handed Jack holding my camera.

Not good.

Luke and Nina said that Jack had tried to take their picture and that they’d tried to take the camera away. I asked them if the camera had been immersed in the water in the tub. They assured me it hadn’t. So, I expected to just wipe a few suds off the camera and move on.

Nope. The camera was wetter than expected. So, I took the battery and memory card out of it and set the opened-up camera in a high place to dry out while I tried to tease out of the kids what had really happened.

A Plausible Explanation and More Conscious Parenting

Now, this is how to color yourself!

It seems that while Luke decided to turn on the bathtub faucet and to have a game of splash with Nina, Jack drew a chair up to the kitchen counter, where I had placed the camera, took hold of the camera and brought it into the bathroom to try to take some photos of his siblings. Luke and Nina knew Jack should not have the camera, so, with their own wet hands, they took it from him and set it just outside the tub (where, um, there was a big puddle). As I bounded up the stairs, Jack picked the camera up again. And, that my friends, is where I caught the kids, wet-handed.

A fast-paced mishap. A comedy of errors that resulted in one dead camera for our family. A reminder to Mommy that taking advantage of a seemingly quiet moments to complete chores or move laundry along is not always worth it.

Another day – or part of the day – in the life of a Mommy, who is, if nothing else, coaching herself to act, not to react.

Yep, I am so proud of myself. As much as I LOVE photos and take them nearly every day, I did not completely explode at the kids when the camera took its bath.

The power of pausing and taking perspective (people over things) squashed my (recent, awful) habit of shouting.

Thanks

Now, thanks to an old friend, we have a will-do-for-now camera replacement for me to use until a fancier one is within budget again -- one that has already been serving us perfectly well and will definitely capture moments of blessings at our family Thanksgiving tomorrow. So, thanks, Melinda, for the camera. Thanks kids for the opportunity to practice more peaceful, proactive parenting and thanks God for the continued joy and lessons of living my call.

What lessons have you learned lately? Have any mishaps turned into moments of self-improvement? Do share!

This post is being shared at Women Taking a Stand's Thankful Thursday and at Living Life Intentionally's Linky Party.

A Precious Pause -- Observing My Children in a Not-So-Montessori Moment

2011-11-21T07:37:00.000-05:00

"See my letters and my toes," says the photographer.

Sometimes, I berate myself for not providing a more picture-perfect Montessori-inspired homeschool for my children. You know, an environment that is totally decluttered and beautifully prepared with thoughtfully designed works set out for the children to direct their learning through once I have presented these works to them.

At other times, I realize that environment and materials aside, if I am observing my children and providing opportunities for them learn through following their interests, I am doing okay. For, while our homeschool might be a far cry from those more concretely inspired by Maria Montessori, it is still one that allows my children to happily develop with an “I can” attitude.

These following notes I tapped the other day speak to this:

I don’t want to get up to get my camera right now, since my movement might disturb my children’s play. Thus, I am making a mental recording of this moment of joy.

Luke and Nina found homemade mocha-scented mud-dough in the fridge earlier when they were looking for their “special butter” for breakfast. They wanted to play with this dough and quickly transitioned into making letters with it. They are now rolling, cutting and shaping the homemade playdough in order to “prepare for a presentation”. As they do so, their happy song fills the air almost as much as the mocha scent does: “The ‘x’ says…”

Meanwhile, Jack’s giggles on a ride-on toy as he navigates his way around Tinkertoys and blocks on the floor. Luke and Nina take no notice of him, because they are too immersed in preparing for their presentation.

Preparations completed, Luke “Leap” and Nina “Lily” come over to Jack “Tad”. “Lily” proclaims, “You know all the letters, Tad,” and then “Leap” whispers in her ear to prompt further lines. “Tad”, clueless, does not answer them. Instead, he simply climbs up beside me on the arm of my cushy chair, digs his fingers into his mouth and bounces while gurgling with content.

I smile at my youngest and his siblings. Then, I look around and realize that the morning has become anything but traditional Montessori: The floor is a mess. The dishes are not yet done. The laundry is piled high. Formal lessons are waiting. Routines have been broken – or at least paused. But, that’s okay. We are experiencing a blessed moment.

Relaxed play and learning unfolds before me.

Letters and Word Whammer Moved by Luke-Photographer
So Inspiration Could be Captured as Well

Luke and Nina work cooperatively together dramatizing a letter factory. Jack gets down to growl with dinosaur figurines. Luke fetches a camera to take pictures of his playdough letters so he can remember them, because “I just don’t want to forget them.”

Nina takes a potty break.

Jack offers me some play food. Then, he wanders into the kitchen, grabs a spatula and begins stirring bits of playdough in a pan and transferring it to a small plate.

Luke puts the camera back.

Nina sings out from the other room in choruses of, “Alleluia! Praise the Lord!”

I smile and enjoy the very precious present moment. One that is so ordinary, yet so extraordinary. The children and I are learning and on so many levels – embracing life with all our senses.

Literacy. Gross motor practice. Fine motor work. Faith. Cooperative play. So many target areas of early learning have been woven into the morning’s play-filled pause. The skills the children have acquired from prior Montessori-inspired work trays and baskets, along with inspiration invoked by their imaginations (and, yes, I admit, a recent viewing of a Leapfrog video) are all working in concert.

Life is good.

Not every moment and experience needs to be prepared. Sometimes, the pauses are the most precious times of all.

What pause have you and yours enjoyed recently?

This post is being shared at Montessori Monday hosted by One Hook Wonder and Living Montessori Now, where you'll find more traditional ways to use Montessori in your home than I just shared about.

First Penance – A Call for Help for A Young, Anxious Child

2011-11-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

The other day, a friend of mine mentioned to me that her son will have First Penance soon and has been anxious about it to the point of actually having bad dreams.

This made me sad beyond measure. Worry? Stress? Upset? Fear? Over Reconciliation? It just doesn’t seem right to me.

Reconciliation should be a welcomed thing – an experience of release, grace and joy. Where else can you simply take all the “uck” in life, hand it over and let it go, walking away blessed and made new?

Reconciliation is a gift to treasure – one I am praying that my friend’s son accepts with peace and, maybe even a smile, by the time it rolls around for him a couple weeks. And, also one, which I hope that my husband and I, in concert with our local faith community, will be able to fully prepare our children for within the next couple years.

To this end, I ask for your help:

What tools have you found useful in preparing your own children for Reconciliation?
What child-friendly ways have you found to explain sin?
Do you have traditions about how you celebrate First Penance that you might share?
How about relevant stories?

Please share whatever comes to mind so that I can pass your ideas, resources and wisdom along to my friend and her son.

Also, please join me in a brief prayer:

Lord, you give us a gift through Reconciliation. Yet, as is often the case with the new and unknown, some children are anxious about their First Penance. Please help these children to understand the beauty of Reconciliation. Guide parents and educators to speak just the right words and to share just the right tools in order to help each individual child enter into First Penance with eager anticipation instead of apprehension. Holy Spirit, move each of us to offer our broken selves up to be made new.

P.S. Thanks goes out to Esther from Laugh with Us Blog for sharing her sweet, encouraging snippet The Things Kids Say last week as the first to join in our new weekly linky!

Pajaggle: A Review of A Game of Fun and Learning for All Ages

2011-11-17T21:00:00.004-05:00

Recently, I was delighted to be asked by Help! S-O-S for Parents to be part of a team to review Pajaggle, a new game for ages 3 up. To access all reviews, please visit Pajaggle: A Blogger Review. To hear about how much our family enjoyed the game, simply read on:

Praise for Pajaggle from a Unique Child, His Mama of Many Hats and His Specialists

Look Who Snuck in to Play Pajaggle

How do you know when my son with special needs likes a game? One way is to observe him choosing it over something else he loves. Such was the case with Pajaggle this week.

A Story of Pajaggle Appeal

My children love to be outdoors and active. So, the other day, when my eldest son Luke stopped raking leaves and jumping into them with his siblings and me in order to go inside, I thought he was just taking a potty break. After five or ten minutes when he had yet to rejoin our leaf pile fun, I got concerned and went inside to check on him. What I found made me smile.

My son was sitting at the table engrossed in a solo game of Pajaggle.

First Pajaggle Experience

Pajaggle had come into our home the day prior. While my youngest son was napping, I introduced it to Luke and his sister, who both proclaimed it "quite a challenge" and "lots of fun". They played the game cooperatively together for quite some time, fitting the gears of the game into the correct holes and punching them back out with the "pajiggler" stick.

Later the same day, while I entertained the baby, Luke eagerly introduced the game to his father, who noted Luke's concentration and enthusiasm while playing it.

The following morning, Luke wanted to play Pajaggle again, but I told him that since the game had many relatively small pieces, he'd have to wait to play until his baby brother was napping. He couldn’t wait. When Luke noted his brother occupied outside, he snuck inside play the game. That says something: Not much draws Luke away from time outdoors, but Pajaggle did. It's a keeper!

A Mama of Many Hats Tips Them to Pajaggle

It’s pretty obvious that my son likes Pajaggle. But how about me?

Quite Concentrated

I like it, too! Even though the game has been in my house only about a week, I am already brimming with thoughts about its obvious appeal. Here are the first ten that come to mind:

As a busy homeschooling mom who sometimes needs a quiet moment, it is great to have a challenging game on hand that will engage my older children long enough for me to prep a meal, take a phone call or throw in a load of laundry.
As a big believer in family time, I love that Pajaggle is a game that can be played in so many ways by everyone in our home (well, everyone except the baby), as well as with friends. Solo, in pairs, in groups, with teams, cooperatively, competitively… I love the game’s flexibility.
As a detail-oriented person, I appreciate the finer points that went into the game's design. For example, raised edges and textured sides of playing pieces make putting them into their sockets more intuitive and offer great tactile input.
As a homemaker who is constantly picking up after my family, I appreciate that the game is designed so that the game board slides off a base that acts as a storage case for the playing pieces, timer and “pajiggler” poker, which comes with the game. It makes tidying up easy.
As a tutor who deals with children that have visual processing issues, I applaud this game’s design. It provides a fun way to practice visual discrimination (with tactile help). Since my son also has some visual processing issues, I am doubly glad for the game’s obvious visual input potential.
As a former public school English teacher, I have known far too many children who could have used additional fine motor practice in their younger years. This game provides plenty of pincer grasp opportunities. It also offers many educational tie-ins as explained on the Pajaggle site itself.
As the keeper of a relatively screen-free home for kids, I love that Pajaggle is what it is – a hands-on board game with nothing more electronic than the timer included with it. Open-ended, creative play can be encouraged, as well as a variety of specific competitive and cooperative games.
As a parent frustrated by the way her son can lack follow-through and attention at times, I am so glad to see him starting and completing round after round of Pajaggle.
As a witness to my son’s need to find self-soothing techniques and tools when he is angry, upset or facing sensory overload, I appreciate that Pajaggle, so far, seems to act as a calming tool. The concentration and challenge the game requires of my son seems to be at just the right level to capture his focus and improve his demeanor.
As someone who loves games myself, I find Pajaggle a clever twist inspired by one of my own childhood favorites, Perfection. I love that I don’t have to grit my teeth and bear multiple plays of the game as I do with some of the more ubiquitous early childhood board games. Pajaggle is truly a game that is enjoyable and challenging for adults a well as kids.

Specialists Echo Praise

Since Pajaggle has been in-play multiple times in our house over the past week since we received a game set for review, both my son's Behavior Monitor and his Behavior Modification Specialist have had a chance to become familiar with it.

Pajiggling a Piece Out

The Behavior Monitor was immediately impressed with the game, saying that she is always looking for quality games that can help children with a variety of developmental and behavioral profiles with multiple skills.

The Behavior Modification specialist, in turn, laughed, amazed at how the game was as challenging for her as it was for my son as she played it with him – and just as fun, too.

Both specialists agreed that Pajaggle is "great", affording opportunities for problem-solving, sensory input, fine motor skills, self-soothing, etc.

Value over Cost

So far, I have nothing but praises to sing about Pajaggle. Well, except for one detail that is of utmost concern to parents of special needs children: its price.

Teaching Daddy to Pajaggle

While my family is lucky enough to have acquired Pajaggle at no cost in return for our honest review, other families will have to pay about $30 for it. This price seems just steep enough that some families who are already burdened by the extra-costs involved with raising a child with special needs, might not be able to purchase a game set right away. Budgeting may be in order.

I do feel that budgeting for Pajaggle is a fair thing to consider, however, if it seems like a game your child might like. When you consider all the ways that Pajaggle can be played, the age and stage-range that it can appeal to and the fact that it includes opportunities for fun, learning and therapeutic input, the game’s “museum-price” does not outrageous. Pajaggle is worth looking into.

Interested in Getting Your Own Pajaggle Set?

You can purchase one directly through the Pajaggle site.

Or you can find it at Marbles: The Brain Store, a fabulous in-person or online store that I just found and am absolutely loving, where you get free Shipping with any purchase over $100 at Marbles. Or receive an exclusive online discount by using the code: 4XHO93B2.

Plus, of course, you can buy a vintage or new set at Amazon.

Thank you, again, to Help! S-O-S for Parents and Pajaggle for inviting us to participate on the review team. We loved it!

Phoneme I Spy: Fun and Learning in the Car

2011-11-16T05:14:00.002-05:00

My 16-month old has not begun talking yet. One of the activities we use to ready him to do so is to play with phonemes (or the sounds of our language.) My four year old is still solidifying her knowledge of sounds, letters and onsets (the sounds at the beginnings of words). My almost-six year old is learning to read. All three are constantly developing their vocabulary. Thus, in our car, I Spy has become a staple game for having fun together while sliding in learning.

Now, I know this game is hardly new, but it is one that parents often forget to pull out of their bag of tricks, so I wanted to spotlight it today. I know we'll be playing ti by request on our way to and from appointments.

Phoneme I Spy

Materials

Observant players
Time together in the car (or anywhere, really)

Presentation

Have the first player look out the car window and say, “I spy with my little eye something that beings with the sound ~.” (For example, “I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the sound mmmm.”)
Have other players guess what the first player spied. (For example, “A mouse?”)
If no one can guess, have the first player give additional hints, such as where the thing is/was located, what color it is, etc. (For example, “It’s by the side of the road. We just went past a black one.”)
Once the spied object has been revealed, have another player take a turn. (For example, “Mailboxes!”)

Skills

Phoneme Awareness and Recognition
Auditory Discrimination
Visual Awareness
Descriptive Vocabulary
Clarity of Speech

Quick Tips/Extensions

Practice past tense by allowing children to use the clue (and exaggerate the “d” sound in), “I spied ~” for things that are now out of sight.
Practice other rimes (the vowels and letters following it that form the end of a syllable or word, such as at in cat and hat.), “I spy something that rhymes with ~.”
Extend vocabulary by purposely choosing words which you are not sure your children know and letting them know that the word is a challenge they may or may not know and that they should simply try to look for something that matches your description. Then, offer both the starting phoneme and lots of clues. Once the children give up or point out what you were thinking of, name it and have them repeat the name. (Then,sit back and be pleasantly satisfied the next time you play and they use the word as one of their secret spied objects. We've done this with guardrails, windmills, directional lights, etc.)
Practice other early learning skills and vocabulary by varying clues to such things as, “It is (size),” It is (color),” “It is ~er than a ~,” “It is (on/under/next to/over/etc.) the ~,” or “It is (descriptive texture word, such as smooth or bumpy).”
Key into other senses, such as “I hear with my little ear…” “If I were outside, I could feel with my hand/skin/feet…”
Extend awareness and recognition of phonemes (and just plain old silliness), by modeling other words that begin with the phoneme a child uses in his or her clue. For example, if a child said, “I spy with my little eye something that beings with the sound ‘t’,” You might respond, “Hmmm, I don’t see any t-t-t-tigers outside. Oh my! Thank goodness there are no t-t-t-tarantulas in our area. Could it be a t-t-t-teapot? Nope. That’s at home, not outside the car…” and so on.
If you have a child, like our youngest, who is not using words yet, on that child’s turn wait a few moments, listening to see if the child makes any utterance of sound. Then, speak for the child, as in, “Oh, you spy something that starts with the sound ‘g’? Who else sees something that starts with that sound?” Play with the sounds!

What quick and easy games to you enjoy playing in the car? Do they key into learning skills or are they just for fun? Do you play any other adaptations of “I Spy” in the car or elsewhere?

Please share your ideas or links.

This post is being shared at We Are THAT Family's Works for Me Wednesday because Phoneme I Spy works for helping all three of my children sharpen their skills while staying happy and engaged in the car! It is also being shared at:

Crock Pot Applesauce Printable Children's Recipe Cards

2011-11-14T05:31:00.005-05:00

Quite a while back, I saw Cookin Cards: Individualized Cooking Recipes for Classroom Snacks in a Montessori Services catalog and wished I had a set to help guide my children's Practical Life food preparation skills. However, at nearly $30, I just could not justify the cost-benefit ratio of the cards. For while the cards look wonderfully designed, with both notes for educators about suggested pre-cooking activities and step-by-step drawings of how to make each recipe, they also looked like something I could almost make myself.

"Could" and "will" are often two very different things though. Somehow, making cooking cards for my kids got back-burnered.

Then, recently, I saw Heidi's awesome homemade Banana Blender Cookie cards at Work and Play. These brought the idea of step-by-step pictorial cooking cards for the kids back to the fore of my mind. Thus, I began creating some with a simple GFCF, sugar-free recipe that my children and I enjoy making every autumn (and sometimes at other times in the year):

Crock Pot Applesauce

I think I have turned my Publisher file for these recipe cards into a PDF correctly and uploaded it to a site for your ease of download. So, please feel free to give it a try by clicking here. (Off course, if it doesn't work, let me know. I am new to this way of sharing files.)

To use the cards with your children, simply print them, cut them and laminate them if you wish. Then, put them in a flip photo album, on a ring or in a recipe file box, and follow the steps, one card at a time.

I hope you and your children enjoy this simple recipe as much as we do.

Next on my Montessori Recipe Cards printable list will be one our favorite protein-packed GFCF pancake breakfast recipes. I aim to have it up within a couple weeks. So, stop by to check for it, and, if you have any tips or requests for improving the format of the cards before I post the next ones, please share your thoughts in a comment.

Happy "I Can Do It" kiddo cooking!

I am linking this post to my BloTaAcMo initiative, as I knocked three more things off my task list in preparing this post: figuring out how to convert a Publisher document to a PDF, opening an account for sharing files online and linking blog posts to items to share. Hopefully, I did all this correctly.... If you've managed to publish a post that you've been meaning to for quite some time, or if you have blog tasks and tips to share this month, please feel free to link them up to the linky at my initial BloTaAcMo.

This post is being shared at Montessori Monday hosted by One Hook Wonder and Living Montessori Now, where you'll find many wonderful ideas for exploring Montessori with your own children. It is also being shared at: