Posts Tagged ‘ homeschool ’

Ice Cream in a Can, Teaching Science

By | September 14th, 2009 | Category: Amy Turn Sharp, Art, BN Channel Education, Featured 1, Friday 1 | 2 comments

Educationb{Originally published on SusieJ}

This summer, our hill at the lake will be used in yet another ingenious way: to make ice cream for our root beer floats. I was tempted to buy the traditional ice cream maker, but there are so many choices; I quickly became overwhelmed looking at all the bells and whistles. And besides, I have all that boy power just dying to get put to use. Plus, the process of making ice cream by hand… literally…. in the can… is is a great way to introduce some lessons in science. There is the ice cream in a bag method; my boys would surely break the bag in the mixing process. So, I’ve decided to go with the ice cream in a can method.

  1. The first challenge is finding the can. Many recipes suggest using
    a coffee can, but who buys coffee in a can anymore? A better idea is
    to ask for an empty paint can from the paint store. You’ll need two: A
    quart, and a gallon.
  2. Ask your kids to tell you the freezing point of water — or teach
    them — 32 degrees F, or 0 Celcius. Then, ask them what happens when we
    put salt on icy sidewalks. Ask them to start thinking about why we need
    salt to make ice cream.
  3. In the small, clean can, add one cup of milk or half and half, one cup of sugar, and one teaspoon of vanilla.
  4. Optional: add one tablespoon of chocolate syrup — or frozen strawberries.
  5. Use a hammer to seal the lid tightly.
  6. In the larger can, combine the ice and rock salt. Use a thermometer to record the temperature of the rock and salt mixture.
  7. Use hammer again to seal the lid tightly.
  8. Take turns rolling the can down the hill, for about five minutes. This will “solidify” the ice cream.
  9. Explain what’s happening: the ice melts and combines with the salt.
    This “brine” has a lower freezing point — lower than 32 degrees.
  10. After five minutes of rolling, open the large can, and take the
    temperature of the ice. It will be colder than it was the first time.
  11. Open the smaller can. The colder brine was able to get the milk
    mixture cold enough to freeze the milk mixture to make it solid, to
    create ice cream.
  12. You know you’re going to have to whip up another batch right now; the fun was really rolling the can down the hill.

What’s in a Name

By | July 22nd, 2009 | Category: Amy Turn Sharp, BN Channel Education, Featured 2, Wednesday 2 | No Comments »

Education Blog Nosh Magazine{Originally posted on Preschool Mama}

What’s in a name…?” asked the bard.

A mighty lot, especially when it comes to a preschooler’s name.

Your child’s name, to her, is besides mama or daddy, the only one which is of any consequence to her. We might get over the initial excitement of looking for a perfect baby name, and get used to calling out her’s as time goes by. For her, it’s her identity - a familiar voice calling out her name or seeing her name on a gift package label, or on the inside first page of a book, means more to your child then you know.

Use it often -

  • In conversations with her, or drop it within her earshot when you’re talking to others.
  • Display it liberally and prominently at home – use alphabet cutouts to display it on the walls of her room, or in shimmering letters on the bedroom door.
  • Have it monogrammed onto her towels, and napkins.
  • Paint it on her place mats at the dining table.
  • Write it on the first inner page of each of her books.
  • Look for all the letters of her name on store signs, bill boards etc. Older preschoolers won’t need any prompting from you.
  • Write it out on a piece of cardboard, in large block letters and paint in bright colors. Cut out the piece of cardboard into random shapes – use it as her very own name puzzle to put together!

Nature Study, FIMBY Style

By | July 3rd, 2009 | Category: BN Channel Education, Featured 2, Tuesday 2 | No Comments »

Education Blog Nosh Magazine {Originally published at FIMBY- Fun In My Backyard}

I love the idea of Charlotte Mason nature study. No doubt other educators and naturalists advocate this approach but I hadn’t heard of it before investigating CM philosophy.

Picture this: a child in the woods, with a drawing pad and pencil. Diligently sketching a leaf, stone, tree, flower or butterfly. We actually tried this once or twice last year.

Our reality: three kiddos running through the woods, building forts and fairy houses, pretending to be drunken pirates (my son’s latest fascination). We are city folk so when my kids are in the woods I am less than inclined to require then to sit and sketch. In fact I WANT them to run around like crazies, minus the drunken sailor bit.

Don’t get the wrong idea, we are all over nature study at our house. It’s an everyday occurrence but it looks more like this:

- The kids find a couple pieces of brown felt and some fleece from the fabric bin. A copy of the ancient vintage sewing book “The Big Book of Soft Toys” by Mabs Tyler inspires an afternoon of tracing, measuring, cutting, stitching & stuffing. Behold, “Silent Sam” and “Cocoa” are born.

Laurent and Silent Sam
Laurent and Silent Sam


Homeschooling Parents and Teachers

By | March 17th, 2009 | Category: BN Channel Education, Featured 2, Tuesday 2 | 5 comments

Education Blog Nosh Magazine

{Originally published on Elsie and Joe Deluxe}

I’ve been thinking about the collision of two worlds lately, or the overlap in the worlds between classroom teachers and parents who opt to keep their kids out of school to teach them at home. I’m thinking about it in part because of the brou-ha-ha in California, where suddenly a bunch of people seemed to be saying that homeschooling parents were going to need a teaching credential. The issue has calmed down, as many were saying it would. I also have a friend who homeschools whose sister-in-law is a teacher who thinks my friend is not qualified to teach her kids at home. I have something to say about this.

On the one hand, there are the teachers who believe that their degree has prepared them for the work they’re doing. It’s hard for them to see that someone could do a good job of what they imagine to be the same work without a similar credential.

On the other hand, there are the parents who stay home with their school-age children, who have daily evidence that they are doing a good job, and that it can be done without a background in educational theory. It’s hard for them to see that teachers need their specialized degrees: after all, they have elementary educations themselves, don’t they? Do they really need to know how to teach long division, as long as they remember how to do long division?

The two sides feel understandably threatened by each other. I am here to tell you that both sides are confused. They think they’re doing the same thing: teaching kids the stuff they need to learn how to do. They are wrong. The two jobs are so dissimilar as to be just barely related.

Classroom teaching is an incredibly complex task. Let’s not even think about what it’s like to teach kids how to take standardized tests in a public school… mostly because I don’t know what that’s like. The teaching I was doing was child-centered, organically connected to the children’s needs and interests, with a flexible, individualized approach to curriculum that could speed up for intellectually gifted kids and slow down for the differently gifted. It was, in many ways, the classroom version of homeschooling, in which the child’s need for freedom and autonomy, both physical and intellectual, were respected.


Muffin Tin Monday

By | January 22nd, 2009 | Category: Amy Turn Sharp, BN Channel Education, Featured 2, Thursday 2 | 2 comments

Educationb

{Originally posted on Sycamore Stirrings}

I have been absolutely blown away by the bento box craze.

I can look for hours through the bento flickr groups – little food presented so artfully, all stored in an adorable little box. They are unbelievable. Muffin Tin Monday (I’ll explain) is my ode to the bento box. Only simple and not really as cute *but* easy enough for some of us (me!) to play along.

Muffin Tin Monday = Lunch served in a Muffin Tin


The concept is not new, I’m sure many of you have seen this out in the mommy world of play dates and preschool. It’s a great way to break the monotony of daily lunch preparation. I also hope it will encourage me
to keep offering new foods to my kids – maybe they’ll even like one of them!

So, I officially declare Monday as Muffin Tin Monday. Join me!


Sensory Party

By | October 1st, 2008 | Category: Amy Turn Sharp, BN Channel Education, Featured 2, Wednesday 2 | 9 comments

Education Blog Nosh Magazine{Originally posted on Salt and Chocolate}

One of my ideas of something to do this summer was have a “Sensory Party.”
Last year, Ken made the boys some sensory tables.
After a winter of neglect it was time to refurbish them. Why not make it a party? We decided to carry the theme to all 5 of the senses. It was fun and super easy to plan and what fun the boys had! It was a great evening.


Home + School= Homeschool?

By | September 9th, 2008 | Category: BN Channel Education, Monday 2 | 8 comments
Home + School= Homeschool?

Education

{Originally posted on Straight Shooter}

Ever say something you didn’t mean in the slightest? Didn’t believe it for even a second and then it really
happened? That was me and homeschooling.

I remember the day I casually
informed a fellow public school teacher that if I ever had kids, I’d
homeschool them before I let them go to public school. Two very
important facts about me back then, 1) I didn’t plan on ever havin’ crumb snatchers of my own – ever. And 2) I would never, ever in a kajillion years want to be around them all day, all night, 24/7 if I did accidentally have any.

… and then it happened. Both things. Had a couple crumb snatchers and I homeschool. (Home educate for all you homeschool purist terminology snobs.) Guess what?
First Ever Public Fess:
I ab-so-freakin’-lute-ly love it! Homeschooling – that is. Well, I
kinda like the kids too. I guess it’d be a little weird without them
bitin’ my ankles all the live long day.
Here’s a perfect example of WHY.

(click title for more)


How to plan a structured year that flows freely with your day to day life

By | August 27th, 2008 | Category: BN Channel Education | 1 Comment »

Education

Originally published on Get In, Hang On

I initally wrote this post for a discussion list that I’m on. It was
a response to a new homeschooler that was concerned about how to set up
a routine and structure. I’m posting it here because it clearly
explains how to be structured in what you are doing without losing the
freedoms that come with homeschooling.
Hi,

How structured or not that you want to be will develop with time
as you, your kids, and other members of your family find where they are
comfortable.

The totally unstructured, seem IMO, to not worry about a routine
at all. Some people keep a journal to keep track of what is getting
accomplished, and that will give you a feeling of accomplishment when
you can look back over it and realize that your kids are learning.

But if you have a desire for some structure, you might want to
try my method. First, come up with some ‘long-term’ goals. Where do you
want to be at the end of this school year? Since it’s your first year,
KEEP IT LOW KEY. You are in a transition period and what you are mostly
going for is the emotional growth that you are already starting to see.
Taking on too much, WILL short-circuit your success.

(click title for more)


Just Us… At the Lake

By | August 5th, 2008 | Category: BN Channel Education | 4 comments

Education

Originally published at Like I Have Time For This?

One of the biggest traps in homeschooling, if you ask me, is the
constant pressure to Do Things With Other People. Just this morning, in
my email, I finalized plans for friends to come over on Friday
afternoon. As I was finishing that, the phone rang, and it was more
friends asking about getting together for a day trip to a museum soon.
Or, if not that, at least a play date. Or how about the zoo? What are
you doing this weekend? Do you want to check out my co-op? It goes on
and on.

And believe me, I’m not complaining at all. It’s good to have all
these friends. It’s good to get together. But it’s also good to just
not get together sometimes. And for me, being new and still sort of
defensive and insecure about this whole homeschooling thing, I have to
remind myself a lot to Not Always Be Getting Together With People. My
previous post, in which you all were so kind as to reassure me that my
friend was not exactly being friendly, is an excellent case in point. I
could have said no when that woman called and asked if they could stop
by. I should have said no, in fact. We were all tired. I’d spent the
day sorting toys and catching up on laundry. I wasn’t in the mood for
this woman at all to begin with. (Because honestly? That afternoon tea
was only the tip of a very large iceberg. The woman’s got some ISSUES,
is all I’m sayin’.)

But the thing is, I exist on the defensive most of the time. When
people find out we homeschool and start in with the endless questions
on socialization, I want to be armed and ready with a Packed Social
Schedule. It’s ridiculous and exhausting, but it’s hard to stop myself.
And I’m not the only one who does this. Most of the women I know here
are much more busy than I am. They’re stretched thin, and ragged, and
possibly on the edge of burnout. I can see it in their eyes. And
listening to them, I’m learning to simply say No to the endless stream
of activities available to us. But when someone who isn’t a
homeschooler starts asking THOSE QUESTIONS, I’m always quick to tell
them all the millions of things we do all the time, and then having
told people that, I begin to think that I’d better ramp up the social
schedule, just in case those people with absolutely no experience
homeschooling whatsoever are RIGHT and my kids NEED to be surrounded by
other people 24-7.

And the truth is, we need LESS people around. We need some space. We
need at least one day a week where we don’t go anywhere or have people
over. For us, that day is Wednesday. And I guard Wednesdays fiercely.
But maybe, I’m thinking, we need more than just that one day.

(click title for more)


10 Ways to Teach Basic Music Skills to Your Children (Even If You’re Not a Musician)

By | July 22nd, 2008 | Category: BN Channel Education | 7 comments

Education

Originally posted on Real Life

After college, I taught K-8 General Music, Chorus and Drama
for 4 years. When I had my first daughter, I organized homeschool music classes
for a while, and began teaching private piano and voice lessons from home.

Around the beginning of the year, parents
usually start asking me about getting music lessons for their kids. I usually
don’t take on more students in the middle of the year. Sometimes, they’ll get
someone else, and sometimes they say they’ll wait till August, and I put them
on the waiting list.

There are
several reasons your children might not be able to start lessons right away:

  • Lesson times are unavailable
  • You have monetary challenges
  • The child is not quite old enough
  • Your schedule is too packed

There are also several ways to start teaching basic music skills,
even as a non-musician parent. I’ll outline
a few things you can do at home to make sure your child is ready for lessons,
gains music skills as a homeschooler, or just wants to have some creative fun.
These suggestions are more for younger children (6 and under), but if your kids
enjoy them, then go ahead with them.

(click title for more)