A few articles

Since starting this blog, I've had people email me or tell me about different articles that I might be interested in.  Thank you, thank you!  I love seeing what other people think about the same or similar topics I'm writing about.  

Here's another article that you might be interested in.  I especially love the way the author gets across the point that you (the parent) are in charge of your child's education.  She also makes it clear that "schooling" and "education" do not mean the same thing.  I also like that she talks about goal setting with (and for) your children.  So go check it out!

Another article that is completely unrelated and I've found helpful is this one.  It shows ten ideas for helping your toddler learn basic math (and we're not talking multiplication and division).  If you're looking for an easy way to add math into your day, check it out.

What are some more great articles you've read?  Any new sites that you find particularly helpful?

Family Culture Night: Hungary

When my husband and I were newly married, we decided that we wanted our kids to really get to know different cultures and countries.  We both love traveling and wanted to help our children be aware of the world around them.  From this formed a monthly "family culture night." We take one evening a month and choose a country to focus on.  I make dinner using recipes from the country we're focusing on and we play some games, sing songs, learn some facts, etc... about that particular country.

This month we focused on the country, Hungary.  To tell you the truth, I picked it because I really wanted to make the recipe for Hungarian Chicken Paprika.  Despite how it looks, it really was quite tasty.  It reminded me so much of Eastern European cusine...yum.

During dinner we learned a little about the country of Hungary (did you know the man who invented the rubik's cube is from there?) After dinner we headed into our family room and learned a few songs that we sang in English and Hungarian (ok, our Hungarian pronunciation was probably not all that authentic, but we tried).  We also colored in a Hungarian flag.

I'm already getting excited for our next culture night.


Any suggestions on countries we should try?

Book Review: 5 Senses by Aliki

This is the perfect book about the senses...for all ages.  I love how the beginning pages are so simple with big pictures detailing the parts of your body that you use for senses.  As you read more, it goes more in depth with specific senses and things you can do with them.  It's a great one for mom's who have kids of varying ages.  Go check this one out at your local library for the senses unit.  It's a good one!

What are some of your favorite books that teach about senses?

5 Senses Week 1

I was commenting to a friend this week that I can't believe the difference I'm seeing in my daughter...just in 2 weeks of working on our units.  It's really amazing to see how she "sponges" up the information and just enjoys all of the fun things I plan.  Even if they only last 20 minutes (max) until we have to move on to something else, it's sticking with her and she's learning.

We enjoyed reading many books (which we'll read next week too), playing with the rice table (sense of touch), labeling our body parts (overall senses), eating tomatoes from our garden (sense of taste) and probably our favorite activity of the week, our nature walk (overall senses).

The park was a great way to start the walk...seeing lots of other kids and listening to what they were saying.  

Then we made our way to the ducks.  We loved hearing them quack, smelling the grass, trying to touch them, seeing the daddy's "fight" for the bread and tasting the bread (more than sharing with the ducks).

We are excited for next week where we get to go more in depth with some of our five senses.  Already my daughter can "point to her ears, nose, head, eyes and mouth" when asked.  I think that's pretty good progress for week one!


How has your week gone?  Any suggestions for activities with the 5 senses?

Senses so far

Our week so far has been great. We've read lots of books, taken our time and enjoyed learning about the 5 senses. Here's a little preview:

Overall Senses...she loves this thing (even though it really looks nothing like her). We had fun coloring and talking about where different parts of our body are. It's now hung up in a semi-prominent place and she'll go over to it, point and giggle.

Taste, taste, taste. Loving the taste of home-grown cherry tomatoes. Picking vegetables from our garden helps get daddy involved too.

The rice table. Instead of sand, this works well indoors. We spent a good 20 minutes or more just feeling the rice. It was lots of fun, but lots of clean up too. We might be bringing this out again in a few months.

I don't know about you, but I've LOVED having a place to go to just get an idea for something to do that day. It's been great. Thanks for all the comments too. Brainstorming is the best :)

What have you done this week? Any 5 Senses activities?

Home Schooling Helps

My mom called me to tell me about an article she'd just read on Mormon Times.  The article gives some great blogs to check out about homeschooling as well as supplementing your child's education at home.  I know that I've said before that I'm not a huge fan of homeschooling.  Traditional homeschooling is not what this blog is about.  But it is about parents being in charge of and taking responsibility for their/our children's education, whether we choose to outsource part of it to the public schools or not.

So, go check it out.  It has some fun blogs to look through and can help us as parents find things to do with our children at home to supplement their education :)

What are some of your favorite education-type blogs?

5 Senses Unit

Plan for 2 weeks to complete this unit.  I plan to give one day to each sense and one day for "overall senses."

Books:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?, Bill Martin
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?, Bll Martin
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear, Don Wood
Me and My Senses, Joan Sweeney
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, Al Perkins
Your Senses, Helen Frost
Seeing, Rebecca Olien
The Story of Ferdinand, Munro Leaf (this one is especially good for older toddlers...)
Any "Touch and Feel" books that you have--my daughter especially loves the animal ones

Music/Rhymes:
1. Five Senses Song: http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/5senses.htm
(Tune: Where is Thumbkin)

Five senses, five senses (hold up 5 fingers)
We have them. We have them. (point to self)
Seeing, hearing, touching, (point to corresponding body parts)
Tasting and smelling.
There are five. There are five. (5 fingers)

2. Sound Song: http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/5senses.htm
(Tune: Did You Ever See a Lassie)

Did you ever hear a bell ring,
A bell ring, a bell ring?
Did you ever hear a bell ring?
Ding, dong, ding, dong , ding.

Did you ever hear the wind blow,
The wind blow, the wind blow?
Did you ever hear the wind blow,
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish.

3. Brite Music: When I sing La, La, La

4. Brite Music: Eyes were made for seeing (song)

5. Touch Rhyme: Open, Shut Them
http://www.amug.org/~jbpratt/education/theme/fivesenses.html

Open,shut them.
Open, shut them.
Give a little clap.

Open, shut them
Open, shut them.
Put them in your lap.

6. Taste Song: If All the Little Raindrops


Any ideas for a song about smells?

Activities:
1. Overall Senses: Science/Drawing/Writing Get a large sheet of butcher paper. Have your child lie down on the paper and trace them on the paper. Label the parts of your body where the five senses are: eyes, hands, mouth, ears, nose. Then color in the paper, cut it out and hang it in a favorite place.

2. Overall Senses: Physical Activity Take a 5 senses walk together. Bring along a bag and put things in them that you can touch (different textures). Listen for sounds. Point out different things to see (you could even take a picture). Smell different smells. You can even bring a snack to taste different things. This would probably work for all ages, but I think the older toddlers would like it the best.

3. Sense of Touch: Arts/Crafts Provide your toddler with a variety of textured materials. Sandpaper, cotton balls, fake fur, whatever you can find around your house. Glue them together on a piece of paper and make a collage with all of the things you touch.

4. Sense of Sound: Music: Make a musical instrument with your child. Take a cup or paper plate. Fill it with beans/rice/whatever you have on hand and seal it (with a stapler, tape, etc...). Let your child dance to some music with their "maraca." You can also play different kinds of music and have them shake it to the beat of the music.

5. Sense of Taste: Science/Math Prepare a few foods that are salty, sour, bitter and sweet. Some examples: salt, lemon juice, unsweetened baking cocoa, honey (if you child is 1 or older). You can also do this with general foods around the house. Make a chart to see if they like or don't like the foods they taste. You can have them tally or draw a picture of what they like/don't like.

6. Sense of Smell: Arts/Crafts Get a few different packets of Koolaid. Mix some water with a little bit of Koolaid (no sugar) in a cup. Get out some brushes and watercolor with the "smelly" paints. Once they dry you can "scratch and sniff" the paints. Use a few different kinds of Koolaid so they can smell the different smells.

7. Sense of Sight: Game Collect a group of objects and show them to your child. Have your child (or you) hide one of the objects and then go find it. You can also play the game "Huckle buckle beanstalk." Hide an object in the room and the child has to silently walk around and find it. If they see it they run to the "rug" and yell, "Huckle Buckle Beanstalk" and then they get to hide the item (this works better for older children--my 1st graders LOVED it).

Spiritual: Choose some of the songs/finger puppets/activities from the Nursery Manual lesson, "I Have a Body like Heavenly Father's."

Extras: Be "extra aware" this week to point out the five senses to your child.

What are some activities you've done with your children to teach them about their senses? Any good book/song/rhyme recommendations?