Cool Handwashing Activity Books

I taught the girls a health lesson on proper handwashing and ways to help prevent the spread of germs. I found a website with some fun activity books to go along with the lesson. I printed the intermediate level booklet for my second grader, the primary level booklet for my preschooler, and a coloring page for my toddler. The girls have enjoyed working on the books to reinforce things we learned about! http://www.tpchd.org/page.php?id=88

I also found a website with a song to help teach proper handwashing. It is sung to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

http://diseases-viruses.suite101.com/article.cfm/prevent_flu_by_teaching_kids_proper_handwashing
Wash, wash, wash your hands,
Wash 'em nice and clean.
First the bottoms (pause and scrub each palm), then the tops (pause and scrub top of each hand)
And fingers in between (interlace fingers and scrub.)

Fisher Price Website

I thought I would add another website to my blog. Fisher Price has a fun website with games for infants (they can sit on mommy's lap and push any button to hear animal sounds), toddlers, and preschoolers. There are several cute games. The only thing that I don't like about this website is that if the kids click on links around the games they get a window with advertisements for Fisher Price toys. Sometimes Jazzy gets into the advertisements and I have to help her get back to her games. It is still a really fun website for little ones. Jasmine likes to color online and play the online dress up game. http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=10&e=gamesLanding&mcat=game_infant,game_toddler,game_preschool&site=us

Kids Discover

My grandma and grandpa bought my girls a subscription to Kids Discover magazine over a year ago. We have loved our subscription! Every issue of the magazine is like a mini nonfiction book on a particular subject. Some of the past issues have been "The Presidency," "Matter," "The Constitution," "The Great Wall of China," "Space," "Knights and Castles," and "Yellowstone National Park." The pictures are exciting, and there are games and puzzles at the end of the magazine to test what you have learned in the issue. This magazine is mostly for first grade and up. I still have to read a lot of it out loud to Emily, but she is starting to read more of it on her own. Even if some of the information is too advanced for a particular age, younger children can still glean a lot from looking at the pictures and listening to an adult read out loud. I think the magazines are great because they encourage seeking information, and they make a wide variety of topics exciting and accessible. Children love nonfiction, and these magazines are awesome! The subscription rate is $19.95 for 10 issues. You can check out the magazine and find games and other resources that coordinate with the magazine at http://www.kidsdiscover.com/ . Our local library has a subscription to this magazine, so if you want to check out some issues in person or save on the cost of the subscription, the library might be a great way to go!

The Adventures of Motherhood...

Being a mom is the greatest adventure I have ever embarked upon. You never know what will happen next! Last week all three of my girls woke up before I had time to take a shower. I put them all downstairs, turned on PBS Kids, and went upstairs to wash my hair. I got out of the shower, and I didn't hear any noise so I figured things were going well. I had just finished dressing when my middle daughter knocked on the door and said, "Mom, the baby's on the table!" My seventeen-month-old has recently become quite a climber, so I wasn't surprised to hear she had climbed onto the table yet again. I went out to the dining room to get her down off the table, only to discover she was munching a cracker in one hand, coloring on a piece of paper with the other hand, and sitting in the middle of the table with no diaper on! I couldn't help but laugh! Not only did I find it amusing that the baby was sitting like that on the table, but I also found it interesting that my middle daughter was only concerned that the baby was on the table, not that she had removed her diaper and had apparently been streaking through the house prior to climbing up on the table! Needless to say, I diapered the baby and washed the table before we ate breakfast.

Last night we had some elderly widows from our ward over for dinner. My middle daughter, Jasmine, was sitting next to one of the widows. She proceeded to ask her a mirad of odd questions throughout dinner. We tried to get Jasmine to finish her pizza and get down from the table, but wouldn't you know, she ate seconds and thirds last night before she was finished! We kept telling her to hurry and eat, in hopes she would chew more and talk less. By the time dinner was over she had asked the sweet sister why her eyes were black (she was talking about her pupils), why her hair was white, why she had an owie on her arm, and why her ears were so big. My husband and I were hoping the sister couldn't hear everything Jasmine was saying! My baby was busy entertaining everyone and acting like a clown while Jasmine was asking questions, and when we washed the baby and put her down she tried to run off with the sweet sisters' canes! No one who is easily offended can ever eat at our house because they would surely never come back! :o)

More Websites to Check Out!

I found a few websites that I think will be fun for my daughters to enjoy this summer. I thought I'd share in case someone else wanted to check them out!

This first website was included in the last weekly e-mail I received this year from Emily's school. It has instructions for making a super bubble-blower (using paper and masking tape!) and a super bubble-blowing solution. I am excited to try the instructions out! I have tried to make homemade bubbles and bubble wands in the past with very disappointing results--just ask my girls. http://www.zurqui.com/crinfocus/bubble/bubble.html

Emily had a lesson a couple of weeks ago about U.S. National Parks and how they got started. I looked for a website about the parks online and found this website http://www.nps.gov/learn/ . There are sections for teachers and for kids. There are some fun games and activities under the webrangers link http://www.nps.gov/webrangers/ . This website is bound to keep parents and children busy for quite a while!

This next website went along with a lesson Emily had about the coastline http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/rocky.asp . I didn't know what tide pools were before the lesson (I've never even seen the ocean in person), and I thought this website was a great extension of the lesson. Emily liked the song about animals in tide pools http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/lc/activities/lyrics_rocksong.asp?bhcp=1 . It has a catchy beat! Children can see a webcam video of a real tide pool, learn about different animals along the coast, and make their own tide pool. There are other activities to explore beyond the rocky shore activities. This is a really interesting website. There are awesome pictures in the animal section, and there are seperate sections for different habitats. This is the link to the activities section http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/lc/activities/default.asp .

An Educational Website to Check Out!

I was looking up some websites for kids and found a really great one. The information and activities are probably appropriate for ages 6+. The website is the homepage of the American Museum of Natural History. The main web page is http://www.amnh.org/. There is a web page for kids as well http://www.amnh.org/ology/#channel. The information available on the site changes depending on which exhibits are going on at the museum. I would recommend looking at the site with your children, as there is a lot of information on conservation, global warming, etc. It has some great info, but you might want to be part of the conversation with your children. :o) My daughter and I checked out the section on butterflies, and we both learned a lot. There was a new section about mammals on the website today. There are games and activities to encourage learning. There are sections on biology, archeology, astronomy, etc. on the kids' page. This is a website you've got to check out!

Online Charter Schools

When I decided to homeschool my daughters I didn't know where to start. Everything seemed so overwhelming! I used a kindergarten level workbook from Target with my daughter for preschool, but then I had no idea what to do when she was ready to officially start kindergarten. One of the things that most people will tell you is that you need to find a good curriculum. That way, even if you aren't great in all subjects (I have a hard time with geography and history) you will still have a guide to help you teach. A curriculum also helps you make sure you are teaching the things kids need to learn in each subject at each grade level. There are lots of great curriculums out there. If anyone has a curriculum they really like then be sure and post it in the comments! I know my sister-in-law really likes what she uses with her kids.

I use the K-12 curriculum with my first grader. She goes to an online public charter school, so we don't pay anything for the curriculum. We have a teacher who supervises my teaching of Emily, and I have to log a certain number of hours and show progress through the lessons. I would prefer to not have to answer to anyone about how I teach my daughters, but this is helpful because it holds me accountable and helps me be more consistent with my teaching. I tried one semester on my own without the online school. I bought Singapore math, which I really liked, but I didn't buy any other curriculum. I felt overwhelmed trying to plan lessons and figure out what my daughter should even be learning at her level. Things have gone much better since we went back to the K-12 curriculum.

You can purchase K-12 yourself, but it is VERY spendy! There are several states that offer online charter schools that use K-12.
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
CAPCS Online (DC)
Chicago (IL)
Colorado
Florida
Hawaii
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Minnesota
New Jersey
Nevada
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming

I really like the curriculum, and teaching from home allows me to teach the lessons with a gospel perspective. www.k12.com has sample lessons and information on the curriculum. I don't think that this is the only good curriculum. I like the convenience of having the lessons planned for me, as well as not having to pay for the curriculum. Many parents who homeschool wouldn't like the idea of being part of an online public charter school, and I understand why. You are allowing the government to place requirements on you, like how many hours you spend schooling, or requiring your student to take state mandated tests. On the other hand, I think these things have been helpful because they allow me to make sure I am making teaching a priority, and it helps me make sure my girls are testing at least at grade level.

There are lots of great websites that people who homeschool have put together to help make the task of getting started seem less daunting. It is also nice to know there are lots of people who homeschool who aren't the stereotypical "weirdo" homeschoolers that often come to mind whenever someone mentions homeschool! http://www.ldfr.com/ is a great place to buy curriculum and other homeschool resources. http://lds-nha.org/ is another great website with lots of information and support!

I love homeschooling my daughters! There are days when I feel completely unmotivated and it is hard, but the benefits are so worth it! I have so much more time with my daughters. I can teach them the gospel while I teach them school. In public school the secular has to be taught completely independent from the spiritual. When you homeschool you can teach your child that all truth works together, the secular and spiritual. They are not separate and independent of one another. We study scriptures and memorize the Articles of Faith in the morning, and then we work on the rest of school throughout the day. We begin school with prayer, we bless the food and eat lunch together as a family (my husband is able to come home from work for lunch), we show love and respect for one another throughout the day (we try!). School is part of our family. I wouldn't trade the opportunity and experience of homeschooling for anything!

Save the planet--HAVE CHILDREN!!!

Today I started a unit in science with my daughters about plants. We learned about germination, and we are going to make germination bags to watch how seeds actually germinate. We then went outside and started preparing our garden spot for planting (which will hopefully take place within the next two weeks).

All of the talk about seeds, plants, and growing started me thinking about children. There is a lot of talk about saving the planet these days. Some people seem to think that it is more important to plant a tree than to have a family. This is what I think-- I am going to grow children who can plant hundreds of trees in their lifetimes. What a wonderful thing it is to have children to teach and share my values with. I hope the things that are important to me will someday be important to them. If being environmentally aware is important to someone, then why not have children and teach them how to take care of the earth? Instead of worrying about having too many people, why don't we focus our efforts on teaching the next generation how to do things better than we have done?

Planting a tree is a worthy endeavor. Trees provide shade, shelter, food, and homes. You have to take care of a tree, water it, prune it, and protect it from bugs that would destroy. Children are a lot like seeds. You watch them grow, you nurture them, care for them, and try to keep them from the harms of the world. When they are grown they can build homes and families, provide shelter, food, and shade for their family members and others. But they can do more than a tree, for they can wrap their arms around you and love you back. They start giving that love back from the moment they are born.

I plan on planting trees throughout my life. I will do far more for the future, however, through my efforts as a mother.

Fun books for China Unit

I'm taking a class on Children's Literature this semester, and I just finished a group project where we created a lesson about Chinese culture. It was lots of fun, and I found some great books to go along with a lesson on China. I thought I'd share because I enjoyed the books so much!

Seven Chinese Sisters by Kathy Tucker-- This is one of my new favorite books. There are seven sisters who each have a special ability. Six of the sisters have to save their baby sister from a dragon. The illustrations are bright and exciting. This is a fun book. I think preschool through ages seven or eight would enjoy this picture book.

Long-Long's New Year by Catherine Gower-- In this book a boy goes with his grandfather to sell cabbages in the market. They have to sell the cabbages to earn money to buy food and treats for the family's Spring Festival celebration. The illustrations are very unique. They are created on a brown textured paper, so there is brown instead of white where there is no paint. The details in the illustrations are wonderful. My girls enjoyed looking closely at all of the people and activities in the illustrations. The illustrations were my favorite part of this book.

Yeh-Shen: A Chinese Cinderella Story by Ai-Ling Louie- This book is fun for children who are familiar with the fairy tale version of Cinderella. There are many similarities as well as differences, so this is a fun book to read and allow children to compare and contrast with the fairy tale.

The Moon Lady by Amy Tan-- This is another book with beautiful illustrations. In this story a grandmother tells her granddaughters a story that happened to her as a little girl on the night of the Moon Festival. This has lovely illustrations of traditional clothing, especially for special celebrations.

These books can be used with nonfiction books about China to learn more about the culture, or they can just be enjoyed as great picture books! At the beginning of this school year, along with our unit study on China, my daughters and I made homemade paper in our blender (I Google searched a recipe online), and then we looked up the Chinese characters for family and love to paint on the paper. It was a fun activity. (FYI--something I learned this year--Papyrus was the first paper invented by Egyptians, but paper that is more like we know it was invented in China)

My Favorite Websites for Children

One of the things that I plan on posting to this blog are websites that I have checked out and found to be kid friendly. There are a lot of mediocre websites out there, but I want to find some really great educational ones to list on my blog. One of the problems that I find with many websites is that although there are fun and even educational games for free on them, there are also many links to outside advertisers. It makes it easy for children to accidentally leave the website you intended for them, and they can end up in all kinds of other websits.

One of my family's favorite websites is www.starfall.com . This is a wonderful site that teaches letter sounds and phonics. It has fun interactive activities for holidays, and it also has interactive stories ranging from beginning readers to more advanced reading. It does not have outside advertisements and is a quality website.

The Friend magazine section of www.lds.org is another one of our favorite websites. Here is a link directly to The Friend http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ae20e975d2a2b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0 . I made this into a shortcut on my desktop so that my children can double-click on it anytime they want, and they are taken directly to the website. You can also get to The Friend by going to www.lds.org, clicking on Gospel Resources, then magazines, then select The Friend. This website has wonderful uplifting activities for children. They can color online while listening to songs from the Children's Songbook, they can work on puzzles of pictures from the scriptures, or they can read articles from The Friend online or hear scripture stories read to them. Another wonderful feature on LDS.org is the music section. You can download MP3s of hymns and children's songs as well as find the sheet music for the songs. If it has been a while since you have checked out LDS.org I highly recommend you check it out again!

The Journey of a Thousand Miles...

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step... I have been thinking about starting a blog for some time now. My friend Mandy showed me how she set hers up, so I thought I'd give it a try. I am a stay-at-home mom and I homeschool my daughters. My goal for this blog is to provide fun ideas and resources for other busy moms and have some fun at the same time. I'm sure my blog will improve over time as I start to figure out what I want to do with it. So, here is the humble start of my blogging journey...