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School Days!

Thanksgiving Fridge Magnets for Narration

Many families use a holiday week for a break and to engage in some great traditions! Although in times past, the week of Thanksgiving was used for relaxing and preparing for the day of turkey. We have recently talked about different types of traditions that families participate in. I actually emailed a bunch of you to ask what specific types of traditions make the holiday FUN and meaningful for Mom. Some of your answers truly surprised me! One thing that resonated through was a lack of activities for kids that were meaningful. After a few emails of clarification, I got a better idea of what that meant.

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School Days!

Achieving an Awesome Art Curriculum

Art curriculum is one of the easiest things that you can create for absolutely nothing. For those who have not ever tried their hand at teaching art without a curriculum, this may seem impossible, but I assure you it couldn’t be more simple or frugal. Well, honestly, you can create a Free awesome art curriculum that includes a wide variety of art, crafts, tutorials, history, and lessons in very little time.

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Simple Journey Ministries Presents

School Days!

Autumn Lapbook

One of the things I enjoy most about homeschooling is the limitless possibilities of learning and lessons during every season. You can plan lessons or just improvise on a whim. But the most wonderful idea is when I can incorporate all of those lessons and whims throughout a season into a lapbook. Typically, we lapbook with some type of plan including a variety of printable templates, that reflect what we have learned. However, this is not always the case. When I do activities and lessons throughout a season, I may have no clue what we will cover or how they will be placed into a lapbook. I also may look for other activities and lessons that will enhance our learning. During some research I recently found an excellent resource.

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*new* School Days *new*

Creative Homeschool Math Ideas

I have often been asked what math curriculum we use for our children. For eldertons who are in 5^th grade and up, we generally use a traditional curriculum. But before those years, we have learned to teach math without a curriculum. Here’s how we do it…

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Simple Journey Ministries Presents

*New School Days! New*

Ideas to Help with Narration

With most families in full swing of schooling, it is time to change the focus of Friday’s column from boredom busters to creative ideas for homeschooling and unschooling. Oh you are going to find LOTS of CREATIVE ideas to incorporate into your homeschool and unschool days! If you have particular subject, unit study, or area you struggle with, email me at Leslie@leslievaleska.com and I will help get you inspired! Now, let’s look at a creative way to accomplish narration, even if you aren’t familiar with the idea.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

The Everlasting Jack-o-Lantern

If your family likes carving gourds and pumpkins in the fall (I know some families that do not celebrate Halloween that do this with a Christian poem), I got a nifty idea from a crafty friend that would be a great craft and homeschool project that can be preserved for years to come. This is an idea that will also work exceptionally well, for those tracking the projects over the years for families who traditionally do this project.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Let’s Go Fly A Kite!

Autumn can make the perfect weather for flying kites, due to the wonderful breezes it brings. We have tried a series of cheap plastic kites that have worked, to a certain degree. However, they do crash and break easily. I often feel guilty about throwing them away, and then am reluctant to purchase more, knowing we will be adding to the rubbish. This led me to look for simple kite making methods. Ones, which would re-use materials I may already have on hand, or require little cost to acquire, were where my attention was drawn. It seems that those that are more elaborate, are not only more difficult for children to assemble, but are costly as well, and almost always are constructed of materials we don’t have around the house.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Leaf Art PART IV

This is the last installment of Leaf Art, but I have saved one of the most activities for last! This activity is not just a FUN project, but it is also a wonderful time to have your children begin making gifts for Christmas. For this project you will need to have your children collect leaves. Try to collect leaves with a variety of shapes, sizes and textures. You will also need paint and some larger rocks, aluminum cans, or cardstock, depending on what type of gift you would like to create.

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Leaf Art PART III

Here’s a very silly and FUN way to use those leaves your children gather up from outside! We are looking forward to this one, for the autumn, because the littletons are ready for something VERY silly!

Use your leaves to make little people! You can use items such as pipe cleaners, glitter, yarn, googly eyes, straws, scrap paper, scrap fabric, card stock, and popsicle sticks (if you want to turn them into puppets). Whatever odds and ends you have on hand (a GREAT way to use them up).

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Leaf Art PART II

This week we I have another CREATIVE and FUN activity to use those God created beautifious leaves that will soon be decorating many of your yards! You can make the most beautiful homemade cards with little money and LOTS of creativity, using the following process. Friends and family will adore these mementos created with love!!!

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Leaf Crafts PART I

Autumn is fast approaching. Much of the country will be experiencing the beautiful painting of the leaves, which will eventually fall upon the ground. Over the next few weeks, I will post a few crafts that we have enjoyed, and are not your typical projects. Gather these up and watch the leaves. When the time is right you will be prepared with lots of FUN for the kids!

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Encourage Your Children to Express their Creative Side

Oh how I love art and crafting. Although all my kids have their own favorite activities, I am a watercolor fan. I truly wish I had a bit more time to develop my drawing and painting skills. When I lived up north I would take the littletons to art museums often. The true beginning of this activity began for me the first time I was taken to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This is my most fond museum memory, and will likely always be my favorite museum for that reason. However, living close to the city, I had the ability to visit museums often.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Help Kids Learn to Keep Track of Their Stuff AND have FUN!

Every once in a while, a cog falls out of my head, rolls across the floor, is batted by the cat (who thinks it is a toy), which is then picked up by littleton to be used as a dinner plate in her dollhouse, and then hidden from me. It is during those times that I come up with some of the wackiest, yet most FUN activities!

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Rice Trays

Sand tables are a wonderful activity for littletons, but they can be a hassle. Cleaning up those sand granules seems a never ending job. No matter how many times you use your vacuum and broom, traces of sand are always left behind. Not to mention the fact that those little granules can get under finger nails and cause havoc when littletons rub their eyes, nose, or stick their fingers in their mouths. But your children can have this same type of fun with an inexpensive little thing called rice.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Toothpick Fun

One day I was busy with my own brain spinnings, when I discovered something amazing to occupy the littletons…toothpicks. It happened quite by accident. I had left a box of toothpicks out on the counter. One of the littletons had picked up the box and transported it to another remote location in our home. The siren of silence (when the children are too quiet) rung loud in my ears and I began moving around my home to discover what was amiss. I was completely surprised to find that my littletons were playing with toothpicks! They each had a little pile of toothpicks and were taking turns making a picture out of their stash. Once the picture was made the other littleton tried to copy it. Imagine when my shock and almost disappointment that there was no mess to clean up.

This lead me to think if this would work with other simple projects. Amazingly the answer is YES! We have used toothpicks as embossing, scratch art, paint brushes, construction materials, pin prick art, and word building. Try one or more of these activities with your littletons and you too will find a great way to keep them occupied, while you take on little tasks!

These are my thoughts.

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Mom, I’m Bored

Sidewalk Paint

A few weeks ago I posted about a great outdoor activity, chalk drawing. Recently, I discovered actually the littletons discovered) a FABULOUS new way to use chalk.

This happened quite by accident. You see it’s the rainy season here in SW FL. This means it rains almost every afternoon. One day, the kids had forgotten to bring their bucket of chalk inside. When it rained that afternoon, the bucket filled with water. The next day we went out for some drawing, only to discover the marinated chalk. I was about to dump the water out and lay the chalk on the driveway to dry in the sun, when Tessa asked if she could draw with the wet chalk. Although I thought this was going to be messy, I allowed her to try. What she produced was AMAZING!

The wet chalk sticks were not mushy or messy. But the chalk was able to be used like paint on the cement. She created drawings that were FULL of color and more elaborate than those drawn with dry chalk.

So, if you don’t have rain, consider putting some water in your chalk bucket and let it sit overnight. The next day have the kids experiment with the wet chalk on the dry cement. Your budding artists will have FUN and you will cherish the drawings!

These are my thoughts.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Break Boredom AND Get Your Kids Ready for School

School time is coming for all. Whether your children attend traditional school or you are a homeschooling family you are likely getting ready to get back into education. It can be a struggle for any mom to get their children’s minds back into the academic game. Here’s an idea to break those end of summer doldrums AND get their minds back in shape for school.

Consider Legos. They are so much fun, but did you know they can be used for educational purposes?

• Legos can be used for reviewing multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division.
• Use them to make patterns.
• Anything you would normally use Cuisenaire rods for can be done with Legos because they come in blocks that have a variety of pegs on them.
• Practice sorting skills. You can sort by shape, color, or number.
• Build shapes.
• Try constructing different types of buildings such as pyramids, skyscrapers, stilt homes, etc. Ask questions that will allow your child’s attention to be drawn to the different concepts that need to be taken into account for the construction of each structure.

Want a little inspiration? Check out http://www.weirdrichard.com/unitlist.html for activities and lessons using Legos!

These are my thoughts.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Do I Have a Story for You!

We are mid-summer now. The kids are getting bored if they are taking a break from school. Mom is trying to get tasks accomplished, but the kids want her attention. A great way to bridge the gap is to have a story telling time. I am not talking about reading a story. This involved the usage of the brain and your own storytelling voice.

Have the kids take turns telling (or retelling) a story that they know, created, or is from a life experience while you are working on a task that doesn’t require a lot of thinking. You will be amazed at how much fun and how quickly you get those kitchen cupboards cleaned out and re-organized while your 5 year old is telling stories. Don’t listen rotely! Interact with your kids. Ask questions. Comment on the creative parts. Have appropriate reactions, i.e. laughter, sucking in your breath during a spooky part, sighing during a frustrating scene, the ever popular, “Awww!” for those oh so adorable parts of a story, etc. You can get so much done, and your children get to practice an invaluable skill all while having TONS OF FUN! Reconnect with your kids using storytelling, and you will be creating the sweetest memories!

These are my thoughts.

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Mom, I’m Bored!

Hopscotch & Chalk

Have I mentioned lately how hot it is in SW Florida right now? Well, we do a lot of schooling in the summer months so we can enjoy the outside in the cooler months, because mostly we don’t like to go outside when it is so hot and humid.

One activity that we do like to go outside and partake in is drawing an playing games on the sidewalk and driveway with chalk. We play hopscotch, four squares, and draw all types of pictures, as well as obstacle courses. Why is this a great activity for us in the summer? Well it gets us outside breathing the fresh air, but it is a short time activity. We can spend a half hour outside with chalk and cement and come in feeling very refreshed at having gotten out of the house.

Take time to use short time consuming outdoor activities to break boredom for mom and kids and you will all find the inside a little less boring.

These are my thoughts.

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