Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Horseshoe Crabs!

Zac is at the point in his Southern Maryland MLB where he is learning about Horseshoe Crabs. Such a fascinating animal!

The horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) is the oldest living fossil in Maryland. Horseshoe crabs evolved much earlier than humans or the Chesapeake Bay. Fossils of horseshoe crabs have been dated at 445 million years old.

- from https://dnr.maryland.gov/ccs/pages/horseshoecrab-evolution.aspx


Here are a few resources we've enjoyed:

Horseshoe Crabs and Shorebirds: The Story of a Food Web
by Victoria Crenson


TEDxSMU - Frans Lanting - LIFE: A Journey Through Time


When Horseshoe Crabs Went to Fertilizer
Modern Farmer - Mar 28, 2014


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Friday, July 11, 2025

A Plea for Flashcards

I think summer is a time for living life with the windows open so that you can hear the birds singing by day and frogs peeping by night; playing ping pong, pickle ball, and capture the flag; coming home from the beach and leaving sand in the bottom of the shower; splashing at the pool; cooking with juicy garden-fresh ingredients and eating meals together; playing board games; visiting with family; curling up in a big chair and reading for hours...

But it's also a time for flash cards. Math facts matter. And they should be automatic. And automaticity don't come cheap. You have to put in the time!

My favorite flashcards:


Did I pack them on my vacation? I did.

I love that each problem has its own card, so you can set aside any that you have memorized... and whittle it down to a short stack of cards you actually need to practice. This is why I think physical flash cards are better than an app on your phone. Having such a short stack is very motivating for kids. Then just do 10 minutes a day of targeted practice with the short stack. You can SEE your success as you move cards out of the rubber banded stack and into the box. Master one box and move on to the next!

There are 169 cards in each box, but my child only needs to practice about 30.


~ ~ ~


Yes, we learn the skip counting songs in second grade, and notice patterns in the numbers, and use the Montessori math manipulatives so that the concepts are concrete and not abstract too early. You can sing skip counting songs and get there eventually. But for speed, nothing works like flashcards.

(I spent 30 years of my teaching career trying to prove this untrue. Couldn't.)


~ ~ ~


"Habit stacking" is when you adopt a new habit by linking it with one you already have down pat. So Zac and I do his flashcards for 10 minutes a day in the evening right before his bedtime story. It's not his favorite thing in the world, but it's time with me and he gets his story afterwards, so it all works out. And he really does love to see that short stack get shorter!


My goal is to persuade you to do flashcards with your child. If that's completely out of the question, you could always flip it around and announce that you want to strengthen your memory and have decided to master your math facts, and you need your child to quiz you for 10 minutes a night.


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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Summer Reading Challenges?

I *strongly* disagree with summer reading challenges.

A few days ago we went to the library here so that Zac could load up on books. When we got to the desk, she asked -- of course -- if we were part of the summer reading challenge. I said, we are not interested in the summer reading challenge. She said, would you like a coupon for a free ice cream?

So, what am I supposed to do? I hate summer reading challenges, because research shows that external rewards decrease intrinsic motivation. If we want children to read for fun, counting up points or giving them treats is the exact WRONG way to do it. But I looked at Zac, who had such a pile of thick chapter books that he could hardly hold them all, and decided that he obviously already had the intrinsic motivation. So I reluctantly told her yes.


Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
by Alfie Kohn


When I was a kid, well before I ever read a word by Alfie Kohn, I had already decided that those challenges were stupid. In the 80s, they were around (although not as common as they are today, in this age of gameification and patronizing children by treating them like they won't learn unless they are paid to do it) and I remember some paper that I had to fill out to prove I read 100 books. Of course, I just read lots of short easy ones.

When I wasn't being subjected to a reading challenge, I read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. In middle school. Just because I wanted to.


As new children come to my school, I can immediately judge their relationship with books by asking one simple question: "What are you reading at home for fun right now?" Children who don't read for fun have no answer to this question. Children who do will immediately begin to list titles and authors of their favorite series.

my little school group in 2017 during SSR


I got probably the biggest compliment of my entire teaching career a few months ago, when my co-teacher said to me, "Children at your school love reading more than any other place I've ever taught." That got me to thinking about what kind of environment helps a child learn to love reading.

What I do is this:

I protect their time to read -- 20 minutes at the start of every school day

the room is completely quiet and everyone around them is also reading

I do one-on-one Reading Meetings with children and make personal recommendations of books I think they will like

if they don't like a book, they can stop reading it at any time and request a new Reading Meeting

I do not quiz them on their understanding of the text

they never ever have to do a book report on the book

when we are putting the old book away, I only ask them, "Did you like it?" or "Would you recommend this book to someone else?"

I myself love books

I read aloud to the children constantly


Reading challenges encourage indiscriminate consumption. Do you like it?? Is it well written?? Are you drawn into the story?? Who cares, you just turn pages and get to the end. This is how you end up reading Sweet Valley Twins instead of War and Peace.


For more on this, check out my post from last summer Spoof Assignment - Reading Comprehension


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Monday, July 7, 2025

LGHI Booklist - Southern Maryland

In 4th grade (age 10), Waldorf children do a block on Local Geography: specificially, the relationship between an area's geography and its history and traditional industries. Because I grew up in Maryland, and love it still, I want Zac to do an MLB on Local Geography, History & Industry for Southern Maryland as well as one for Southern Illinois. So he will have one more MLB than his classmates this year!

For History, we will look at the Revolutionary War (Chestertown Tea Party, Burning of the Peggy Stewart) and War of 1812 (Burning of Washington D.C. by the British, Francis Scott Key writing "Defence of Fort M'Henry").

Waldorf children go much deeper into U.S. History in grade 8, so this is just a quick look at a few events which tie directly into the local geography.

The traditional Industries of Southern MD are farming (tobacco) and working on the water (fishing, oyster tonging, crabbing).

state flag & county flag


I'm just finishing up writing a Ruzuku course for this main lesson block. It's an interesting process to write a course for a block that will -- quite literally -- be different for every single person who teaches it! But I think I've found a framework that will work well for anyone, no matter where you live, and I'm going to put in my MD block as an example as well.

I packed a bunch of books for this block, and may end up with a few more when all's said and done. But here is what I have so far:



Misty of Chincoteague
by Marguerite Henry
100 year anniversay of Pony Penning Day is this year!


Fossils of Calvert Cliffs
by Wallace Ashby



Horseshoe Crabs and Shorebirds: The Story of a Food Web
by Victoria Crenson - Delaware Bay


Oscar and Olive Osprey: A Family Takes Flight
by Janie Suss


Life in the Chesapeake Bay
by Alice Jane Lippson & Robert L. Lippson



Waterman's Child
by Barbara Mitchell


Molly Bannaky
by Alice McGill - tobacco, Benjamin Banneker


Leonard Calvert and the Maryland Adventure
by Ann Jensen - Historic St. Mary's City



The Chester Town Tea Party
by Brenda Seabrooke - Revolutionary War (May 23, 1774)


The World Turned Upside Down: Children of 1776
by Ann Jensen - Revolutionary War (Oct 19, 1774)


By the Dawn's Early Light: The Story of the Star-spangled Banner
by Steven Kroll - War of 1812 (Sep 14, 1814)

The American Twins of 1812
by Lucy Fitch Perkins - War of 1812 (takes place in 1812)
available online for FREE

Maryland Geography & Maryland History
by Mary Michael


Field Trip Ideas:

oysters

Calvert Marine Museum
Solomons MD

J.C. Lore Oyster House
Solomons MD

Annmarie Sculpture Garden
Solomons MD

St. Clement's Island Museum
Coltons Point MD


tobacco

Sotterley Plantation
Hollywood MD

Godiah Spray Tobacco Plantation
Lexington Park MD

Historic St. Mary's City
St. Mary's City MD


Revolutionary War

Historic Chestertown
Chestertown MD

Hammond-Harwood House
Annapolis MD

National Colonial Farm
Accokeek MD

Thomas Stone National Historic Site
Port Tobacco MD

George Washington's Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon VA


War of 1812

Calvert Marine Museum
Solomons MD

Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum
St. Leonard MD

Fort McHenry
Baltimore MD

Smithsonian's American History Museum
Washington DC


misc. & etc.
Unfortunately, we could not be in town for any of the local reenactments!

Annapolis Tea Party 250th Commemmoration
Oct 19, 2024

Rebels & Redcoats: A Southern Maryland Revolutionary War Family Event
Apr 5, 2025

Chestertown Tea Party Festival
May 23-25, 2025

100th Annual Chincoteague Pony Roundup, Swim & Auction
July 30-31, 2025


We are not doing the Civil War now but, if we were, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum and Zekiah Swamp would definitely be on the field trip list! We drive right by Wilderness Battlefield and Chancellorsville Battlefield when we come so I have promised Zac that when we do learn about the Civil War, we will focus on battlefields that we can visit and tour in person.


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Friday, July 4, 2025

Favorite Easy Recipes

I used to put recipe links in this blog all the time, when I was homeschooling the girls and Zac was still a baby. Back before I started the school. I used to type up my weekly teaching ideas plus the weekly recipes!

Planning what I needed for school and planning what I needed for the menu just went hand-in-hand as I organized my mom week.

I'm on vacation now, and I packed an enormous stack of recipes I printed out from the New York Times during the school year (when I was too tired to cook). However, I found when I woke up that I just wanted to make familiar things for the first few days of the vacation. Still tired from the drive!

Here are some of the steady favorites in our house, the recipes I keep Googling again and again and hoping I find the exact same link because it was so delicious. It will be nice to have all the links in one place!


Breakfast


Lunch & Dinner


Dessert


I will add to this list as I find myself Googling things over the summer.

I also pack odd & ends, like spices from my pantry that I want to use up! Here are some of our favorite recipes for those:

everything sprinkle


star anise


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Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Immune System - The Human Body

This is how much I think about books! I checked out Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall from the library, and even though today I'm supposed to finish writing end of year reports and do all the dishes and get the oil changed in the truck and pack for our trip... I can't stop thinking about this book.

The reference to illness in the book is brief: "the youngest one, who lay with a fever and a spotted tongue"

But it got me thinking about our Science Club topic for the coming year, Human Anatomy & Physiology. When we get to the Immune System, it would be nice to have handy a collection of references to illness in stories. Waldorf always connects everything to a story!

(This is a companion post to The Barometer, which I will find extremely useful the next time I have to teach about weather and/or air pressure.)

So I would appreciate a group brainstorm. Of course, some books are wholly about illness (like Rebellion 1776 and Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson) but I'm particularly looking for short references that would be easy for me to bookmark with a stickie note and have a child read aloud during a group discussion of the Immune System.


unknown disease


malaria


mumps


smallpox


yellow fever


I'm hopeful that by writing these notes down, I can finally quiet my brain and get back to my packing! Of course, the Immune System is not the only potential curriculum tie-in for Sophie Blackall's lovely book.

I could use it for run-on sentences (and breaking rules for artistic license).

I could use it in SWI for The < house > Family.

It is also an example of a book illustrated with collages using found items!

Sophie Blackall writes in the Author's Note, "Imagine my excitement, then, to buy an old farm that came with a falling-down house where twelve children were born and raised -- a house willed with scraps and fragments that helped me imagine the lives lived within its walls.... In the autumn, I carried out a pile of mud-caked rags, which turned out to be twenty-one handmade dresses. Fused clumps of wallpaper soaked in warm water revealed layers of vibrant patterns. I teased apart moldy pictures of schoolbooks and learned something of the personalities of the Swantak children born in this house.... The pictures in this book are made of layers. I began with the reverse side of a roll of wallpaper and added floors and walls and furniture, made from scraps and fragments I found in the house."


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Saturday, June 21, 2025

Error Analysis Math Worksheets

For children who understand the steps to solve a problem, and are bored by constant and repetitive drills, error analysis is something different and fun!

For children who tend to panic when they look at a math problem and feel pressured to fill up all the empty space and find the answer quickly, this approach takes all the pressure off. The problem is already solved. You just have to figure out where the mythical student you are helping went wrong!

These are sorted by skill. If you find more you recommend, let me know!


Place Value & Column Algorithms - Waldorf starts in grade 2


Measurement - Waldorf starts in grade 3


Fractions - Waldorf starts in grade 4


Decimals - Waldorf starts in grade 5


Geometry - Waldorf starts in grade 5


Percents - Waldorf starts in grade 6


Data & Statistics - Waldorf starts in grade 6


Algebra - Waldorf starts in grade 7


All-Purpose Blank Error Analysis Template
FREE!


Fun fact: Teaching with a Mountain View (my favorite seller on TpT) has created an entire Error Analysis Bundle with 22 sets of Error Analysis!

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