Homeschool VS Public School

 Still not sure if homeschool is the way to go? Well, check out this article for further validation based on statistics! Go homeschoolers!!


http://homeschoolroundup.com/how-homeschooling-compares-with-public-schooling/

Books we enjoyed this Year!

 "Basket Moon" by Mary Lyn Ray

"The Mixed Up Chameleon" by Eric Carle 

"Winter in Songming" by Page McBrier 

 "Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog's Tale" by Laurie Myers

 "The young Birder's Guide" by Bill Thompson III

  "50 Nature Projects for kids" by Cecilia Fitzsimons 

"The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein

 "The Magic Tree house Series" by Mary Pope Osborne

 "Who Conducted the Underground Railroad and Other Questions About the Path to Freedom" by Peter and Connie Roop 

 "The Random House Book of Poetry for Children" by Jack Prelutsky and Arnold Lobel

 "The boxcar children books" by Gertrude Chandler Warner

 "Handbook of Nature Study" by Anna Botsford Comstock

 "Birdhouse for Rent" by Harriet Ziefert 

"Charlotte's Web" by E.B.White 

We loved each of these books! We read many more but these we're our favorites! Check them out, and share your favorites with us!

Family Crab Walk Adventure

Our local aquarium hosted a family crab walk recently, in which we had a fantastic time. It was of course, both educational and fun! We found out that this opportunity comes about only twice this spring season. Due to the full moon and high tides that will happen once in May and in June. The horseshoe crabs come in to lay their eggs, which gives us the perfect opportunity to observe! The instructors told us how to identify the different sexes, how to look for and read the tagging band if they were indeed tagged before. Also, along with us for this family hike was a wildlife tagger who showed us how a horseshoe crab is tagged then recorded. As many hikers waded in the water (mostly the older children) over a dozen horseshoe crabs were found, picked up for hands-on observation, tagged or received a tag and was recorded! Hard to see in this photo, but we were able to observe the tools used for tagging the crabs as well! It was overall a wonderful experience as we met other nature enthusiasts and saw many other ocean creatures as we walked along the shoreline. During the next week at home we continued to read several books from the library about animals with shells and drew several of them in our nature notebook as well as photos from our adventure!

What is Narration?

  Charlotte Mason's methods for one's language art skills were/are learned through narration, which consists of the child telling back a story, first orally, through picture drawings and later in written form; copywork, or the transcribing of a piece of literature. This method is done by keeping the child engaged through the use of thought provoking open-ended questions as the story progresses during a read aloud language lesson. 
Take time to pause and ask the child to re-tell what has happened so far or what they believe will happen next. Who is you favorite character so far? Would you have done the same as "so and so"? Tell me what has happened so far.  In doing so the child begins to from his or her own relationship with the characters and deeper connection to the story that is being told.  
This is also the perfect opportunity for vocabulary expansion. If you come across a new word in the text, take the time to either look up it's meaning or tell your child what it means and again have them re-tell it's meaning to you in their own words.

 Direct questions on the subject-matter of what a child has read are always a mistake. Let him narrate what he has read, or some part of it. He enjoys this sort of consecutive reproduction, but abominates every question in the nature of a riddle.
(Vol. 1 Part VIII--Reading for Older Children, p.228)

 As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should "tell back" after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read.
(Vol. 6, Chapter 10 The Curriculum, p. 155)

http://charlottemasoneducation.com/narration.html

Toddler and Preschool Self -Regulation

 A site for Early Childhood Intervention, filled with practical tips and resources. This one in particular is a great article on self-regulation.


http://www.earlyinterventionsupport.com/parentingtips/behavior/self-regulation.aspx

Homeschool World: Practical Homeschooling Articles: Taking Homeschooling Out of Your Home

Homeschool World: Practical Homeschooling Articles: Taking Homeschooling Out of Your Home

Hands-On Water Exploration

Science and Math Concepts made fun!

Water is used in our lives everyday, in one way or another. This exploration in particular helped with the development of basic math and science skills, such as questioning, sizing,volume, investigating, questioning, discussing, and formulating ideas. 

When the pieces were first laid out it looked easy to put together, but upon further implementation it was discovered- it's not that simple!

Once a few of the pipes were connected, the conversation with my older son turned to a discussion on concepts related to the water's flow, appearance, and effects within the pipes. What makes it flow one way or the other? How can we make it go this way instead of that? What is water pressure and how does it change?

This water exploration also gave my toddler a chance to work on important motor skills. Whether it was working on his Fine Motor skills by piecing the parts together or his Gross Motor skills by jumping over the pieces on the ground.  He could persist until he got it right, feeling that sense of accomplishment.  He not only built upon his already existing skills, but worked and built upon his relationships with the world and how it works and engaged in cooperative play along the way!
 It's all about the journey and fostering new discoveries along the way! So, get creative, ask open-ended questions and watch as new investigations and explorations lead to new found information.

"Hands-on learning involves the child in a total learning experience which enhances the child's ability to think critically. The child must plan a process to test a hypothesis, put the process into motion using various hands-on materials, see the process to completion, and then be able to explain the attained results." -http://www.ncrel.org