Sunday, December 31, 2023

More Books for the In-Between Time

I have a special shelf in my chapter book area for the "in-between" books. These are books that look and feel like chapter books but they have large print and are still meant for beginning readers. Besides Spike: The Story of a Whitetail Deer (and series) and Picta the Painted Turtle (and series), here are the other titles I have on the lefthand side of that shelf:


On the righthand side of the shelf, I have books where the words are more difficult but there still aren't too many on a page and the print is still largish. The McBroom books also fall into this category.


Now that Zac is reading books on this shelf, I will probably be getting new ones. I'll keep this list up to date!


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, December 30, 2023

"See and Read" Series

I'm always on the lookout for excellent early reader book sets to invest in for our school. I've written before about The Magic Belt series for those kids who crave fantasy (and the progressively harder sets that come after that, which continue the adventures of Zak and Finn). For kids who prefer nonfiction, I love vintage Science I CAN READ / Nature I CAN READ books.

Now I have a new oldie-but-a-goodie series to add to the list!

Today Zac was reading Picta the Painted Turtle by Virginia Frances Voight -- which is the perfect level for him -- and I realized that the front of the book said "A SEE and READ Beginning to Read Book."


Aha! Time to track down the other titles in this 1960's series. Here's what I've found so far:


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Roadside Geology Series

I absolutely love the Roadside Geology series! Waldorf does a main lesson block on Geology in grade 6, but I know that lots of families have children that are rockhounds early on... or sometimes you're just taking a long drive and wondering what you're looking at!

We have Geology Underfoot in Illinois by Raymond Wiggers and I refer to it often. In fact, it includes Tower Rock, and Zac and I took the opportunity while the Mississippi River was very low this week to walk out there. We went to the Missouri side, to Tower Rock Conservation Area in Frohna MO.

Amazing to see this ancient rock (Devonian Period, 400 MYA) so close. And Zac found a trilobite fossil in the layers of riverbed rock we were walking on!


#32 - A Fault-Seeking Expedition
Fountain Bluff to the Pine Hills Escarpment, Jackson County

Devil's Backbone Park and Tower Rock, Grand Tower IL

Inspiration Point Trail, Shawnee National Forest, Wolf Lake IL


Here are all of the books in the Roadside Geology series so far, in alphabetical order from Alabama to Wyoming. They are still adding titles:


AL Roadside Geology of Alabama - Steltenpohl & Steltenpohl
AK Roadside Geology of Alaska - Connor
AZ Roadside Geology of Arizona - Chronic
AR
CA Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California - Alt & Hyndman
CA Roadside Geology of Southern California - Sylvester & Gans
CO Roadside Geology of Colorado - Williams & Chronic
CT Roadside Geology of Connecticut and Rhode Island - Skehan
DE Roadside Geology of Maryland, Delaware, and Washington D.C. - Means
FL Roadside Geology of Florida - Bryan, Scott & Means
GA Roadside Geology of Georgia - Gore & Witherspoon
HI Roadside Geology of Hawaii - Hazlett & Hyndman
ID Roadside Geology of Idaho - Alt & Hyndman
IL Geology Underfoot in Illinois - Wiggers
IN Roadside Geology of Indiana - Camp & Richardson
IA
KS Roadside Geology of Kansas - Aber, Aber & Everhart
KY
LA Roadside Geology of Louisiana - Spearing
ME Roadside Geology of Maine - Caldwell
MD Roadside Geology of Maryland, Delaware, and Washington D.C. - Means
MA Roadside Geology of Massachusetts - Skehan
MI
MN Roadside Geology of Minnesota - Ojakangas
MS Roadside Geology of Mississippi - Galicki & Schmitz
MO Roadside Geology of Missouri - Spencer
MT Roadside Geology of Montana - Hyndman & Thomas
NE Roadside Geology of Nebraska - Maher, Engelmann & Shuster
NV Roadside Geology of Nevada - DeCourten & Biggar
NH Roadside Geology of Vermont and New Hampshire - Van Diver
NJ Roadside Geology of New Jersey - Harper
NM Roadside Geology of New Mexico - Chronic
NY Roadside Geology of New York - Van Diver
NC
ND
OH Roadside Geology of Ohio - Camp
OK Roadside Geology of Oklahoma - Suneson
OR Roadside Geology of Oregon - Miller
PA Roadside Geology of Pennsylvania - Van Diver
RI Roadside Geology of Connecticut and Rhode Island - Skehan
SC
SD Roadside Geology of South Dakota - Gries
TN Roadside Geology of Tennessee - Davis
TX Roadside Geology of Texas - Spearing
UT Roadside Geology of Utah - Williams, Chronic & Chronic
VT Roadside Geology of Vermont and New Hampshire - Van Diver
VA Roadside Geology of Virginia - Frye
WA Roadside Geology of Washington - Alt & Hyndman
WV Roadside Geology of West Virginia - Lebold & Wilkinson
WI Roadside Geology of Wisconsin - Dott & Attig
WY Roadside Geology of Wyoming - Lageson & Spearing


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Yarn Shops in Southern Illinois

A friend and I are working on making a list of yarn shops in Southern Illinois. As I wrote before, I'd love to start buying only white yarn and having the children and I dye all of our colors ourselves.

Why I Only Want To Buy White Yarn


BUT I'd also like to support local businesses, so it would be lovely to get the white yarn from them. And that would allow me to learn about classes and other opportunities to be part of the fiber community. So far, here is my list. Let me know if you know of others!

    The Here and Now Shop
    319 S Main Street in Anna

    Knotted Gypsy Designs
    as found at Sassy Nana Gifts
    520 Makanda Road, Suite 1 in Makanda

    Rolling Oak Alpaca Ranch
    1335 Hall Church Road in Makanda

    Southpass Beads and Fibers
    203 E Ash Street in Cobden

    The Yarn Shoppe
    105 N 16th Street in Herrin

Zac and Becca at Rolling Oak, Sep 2018


I'm also looking forward to joining Rebecca Desnos's Natural Dye Club in 2024. She has a wealth of practical hands-on experience (even dyes her own clothes and her children's) and her books are wonderful. Rebecca just sent out a coupon code for 50% off the first month of Natural Dye Club. Perfect timing!

Just enter the coupon code FRIENDS at checkout to join for £7.50. You can cancel anytime. This coupon code expires on Saturday Dec 30 at 8pm GMT.

Botanical Colour at Your Fingertips
Botanical Dyes on Wood
Grow Your Own Colour


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Homemade 2024 Calendars - Local Foods

We had a wonderful time making the 2024 calendars and I hope all the families really enjoy looking through them! Here are some notes for this year's calendar theme, "Local Foods, Farmed and Foraged." The children did all the seasonal artwork themselves, and wrote all the calendar numbers.

Zac, age 3, picking lavender at Shawnee Hills Lavender


front cover - 2024

    background - cardstock or scrapbook paper in color of child's choice

    artwork -
    use stencils to stencil 2024, color in numbers with colored pencils OR write 2024 in bubble letters and cut out, glue onto background paper


Jan - acorns

    background - white construction paper

    story - read Miss Suzy by Miriam Young

    artwork -
    go outside to collect acorns and oak leaves, colored pencil drawing of oak tree and acorns

    ‌


Feb - maple syrup


Mar - morel mushrooms


Apr - fiddlehead ferns

    background - green decorative scrapbook paper

    story - read Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

    artwork -
    look at picture of fiddlehead ferns, green marker spirals

‌


May - strawberries


Jun - lavender


Jul - watermelon


Aug - okra


Sep - black walnuts


Oct - pumpkin


Nov - shagbark hickory syrup


Dec - cattails


back cover - child's hand

    trace hand, write child's name and age inside outline of their hand


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Favorite Jokes for Christmas Crackers

This year Zac and I are embarking on a brand-new holiday tradition: making homemade Christmas crackers!

Some videos that helped me when I was learning how:


If you -- like I -- were taught to save EVERYTHING as a child, you'll be happy to know that this is a lovely use of long bits of extra wrapping paper!

First we bought the snaps and tissue paper hats.


Next we went to HomeGoods to buy fancy individually wrapped candies. Then it was time to write up some jokes! This post goes well with Jokes for Reluctant Readers and Jokes for Reluctant Readers: Valentine Edition.

Here are some jokes that are especially suitable for putting in a Christmas cracker:

    Who hides in the bakery at Christmas?
    A mince spy.

    How much did Santa pay for his sleigh?
    Nothing. It was on the house.

    What goes, "Oh, oh, oh"?
    Santa walking backwards.

    Why can't Christmas trees knit?
    Because they lose their needles.

    What do you get if you cross an apple with a Christmas tree?
    A pineapple.

    What was the snowman doing in the vegetable patch?
    Picking his nose.

    What falls at the North Pole but never gets hurt?
    Snow.

    What do you call an old snowman?
    Water.

    What do you call a penguin in the Sahara desert?
    Lost.

    Where do snowmen keep their money?
    In the snowbank.

    Where do snowmen go to dance?
    Snowballs.

    How did Mary and Joseph know Jesus's weight when he was born?
    They had a weigh in a manger.

    How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas?
    Deep pan, crisp and even.

    The Christmas sweater I got last year kept picking up static electricity. So I took it back and exchanged it for another one -- free of charge.

    A gingerbread man went to the doctor's office complaining of a sore knee. "A sore knee?" the doctor said. "Have you tried icing it?"

    I got a universal remote for Christmas. This changes everything.

    I bought my mom a fridge for Christmas. I can't wait to see her face light up whens she opens it.

    I have this incredible ability to predict what's inside a wrapped present. It's a gift.


You can also buy lovely printable Christmas cracker jokes on Etsy. I like the red set and green set (three pages of jokes in each set). $7.94 well spent!


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, December 15, 2023

Playworks

One of the things I want to do over the holiday is to go back and watch the links to recorded workshops I signed up for but wasn't able to attend in person. I love the offerings from Playworks.org. They have several online professional development opportunities each year (register here).

I so appreciate their work, educating and supporting public school teachers and sharing the value of PLAY at school.

Playworks Game Library - hundreds of game ideas for free
searchable by group size / ages / equipment needed / time

I just found out that the recordings are all available online for free as well!


2022-2023 webinar series

October 6, 2022: 5 Ways to Have a Great Recess
December 7, 2022: 3 Questions to Ask About Your Indoor Recess
February 1, 2023: Getting Groups Engaged Through Play
April 5, 2023: The ABCs of Empowering Youth


2023-2024 webinar series

October 25, 2023: Playground Mapping 101
December 13, 2023: Playing Across Age Groups
February 14, 2024: Resolving Conflicts Through Play (6:30 p.m. ET)
April 17, 2024: Ability Inclusion on the Playground (6:30 p.m. ET)


Love these Waldorf play resources from Kim John Payne!

Waldorf Games Handbook for the Early Years:
Games to Play and Sing with Children Aged 3–7

Games Children Play II:
Games to Develop Social Skills, Teamwork, Balance, and Coordination

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less
to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids


If I had the time to complete another Waldorf teacher certification, it would definitely be training in Spacial Dynamics®. It would be so fun to be a Waldorf Games teacher. And I love that Waldorf calls it that instead of "P.E."!

Let the Games Begin!
Waldorf Today


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

How to Put on a Play in 11 Days

The time between Autumn Break and Winter Break is always a busy one, filled with planning and preparations for our annual Class Play! This year's theme was "Stories from Mongolia." Here is how we organized our time:


WEEK ONE - build background knowledge


WEEK TWO - hold play planning meetings, make decisions

    Day Four - Dec 4


    Day Five - Dec 5


    Day Six - Dec 6

      make final decisions about casting

      read My Little Round House by Bolormaa Baasansuren

      read chapter 7 of The Eagle Huntress


    Day Seven - Dec 7

      read Metropolis: Ten Cities, Ten Centuries by Albert Lorenz

        "A Mongol Tent City, 13th Century"

        pp.14-15, The Enormous Empire
        pp.16-17, A Movable City
        pp.18-19, Life in a Mongol City


      read chapter 8 of The Eagle Huntress

      PM - make clothing decisions

      LL - Camel / Colored Snake - brown

      KEL - Deer / Colored Snake - brown & white

      CLH - Khan's Soldier / Colored Snake - red & black

      GZ - Khan's Soldier / Colored Snake - red & black

      AR - White Horse / Colored Snake - white

      LR - Suho the Fiddle-Player / Colored Snake - grey & brown

      ZCS - Yak / Hunter-Boy - brown & black

      WT - Yak / Suho grandmother - brown & black

      JT - Yak / Peasant - brown & black

      KA - Khan / Sir Tiger - gold & orange

      AZ - Princess Ling, Khan daughter / Sir Tiger - gold

      JF - Khan's Soldier / Dragon Master - red & green

      EF - White Snake, Dragon Master daughter / Peasant - white


      look through sets from previous plays to see which ones we can reuse in this story, make list of sheets to be painted

        Sets from previous years which we can reuse for this:

        Mount Olympus from Ancient Greece - Hunter-Boy

        Volcano from Hawai'i - Hunter-Boy

        Cave from Hawai'i - Hunter-Boy

        Rushing River from Hawai'i - The Camel & the Deer


        New sets to paint this year for the Horse-head Fiddle:

        king size yellow flannel sheet for Grasslands with Ger

        full size white percale sheet for Palace


        Order of sets (house left to house right):

        1 - Grasslands with Ger
        2 - River
        3 - Hunter Boy's Mountain
        4 - Cave
        5 - Dragon Master's Palace / Khan's Palace


      brainstorm list of possible props to make


WEEK THREE - make costumes/props/sets, rehearse & perform

    Day Eight - Dec 11

      AM - collect costume components (Camel/Deer antlers, Khan outfit, Sir Tiger mask & orange sheet, Dragon Master cape)

      make additional pieces for costumes as needed (colorful snake masks, white snake headpiece, white horse headpiece, yak headpieces & chinpieces, Khan crown, Dragon Master staff)

      read chapters 9, 10 & 11 of The Eagle Huntress

      PM - Rehearsal @ Church

      tour of church, set up sets, do initial walk-through, make decisions about blocking and special effects


    Day Nine - Dec 12

      AM - Rehearsal @ Church

      walk through the play once again without dialogue, let children decide if they want to have speaking or non-speaking parts, walk through the play again with child-chosen dialogue

      read chapter 12 of The Eagle Huntress

      PM - finish all costume pieces, paint Palace sheet, make decisions on props, make additional props as needed


    Day Ten - Dec 13

      AM - make Pony Reins and Horse-head Fiddle, finish Grasslands with Ger sheet

      finish The Eagle Huntress

      PM - Rehearsal @ Church

      rehearsal with costumes, props, sets, special effects & dialogue


    Day Eleven - Dec 14

      walk to church

      set up

      dress rehearsal

      lunch

      recess

      final touches

      parents arrive

      play performance

      tear down


THANK YOU to Cody, Destinee, and Bridget for leading the play rehearsals and helping backstage, and to Jayme for making the authentic Suutei Tsai for the reception. The children did an incredible job making all of their costumes, sets, and props, and they worked diligently to learn their roles so that we could bring these legends to life. I hope you enjoyed the show!


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, December 2, 2023

The No-Fault Game

We have LOVED using The No-Fault Classroom so far and will be focusing on it a lot in December, as the children work together to collaboratively plan and put on our annual Class Play. That's a lot of social-emotional learning!

I wrote up all the details here: The No-Fault Classroom / The Alien Lessons.



The No-Fault Classroom:
Tools to Resolve Conflict & Foster Relationship Intelligence
by Sura Hart and Victoria Kindle Hodson


Thank you to Ms. Destinee for letting me know that The No-Fault Classroom book now has an accompanying No-Fault Game which you can get for at home. The website is https://thenofaultzone.com/the_no-fault_zone.html.

There are lots of free resources on the site as well, which you could print off if your child simply wants to draw another IOS Power Panel for at home use.

FREE downloads:


Check your office supplies stash. You can also easily make up your own Feelings, Needs, and Choices Cards if you have some old print-your-own perforated business cards lying around. These cards are a great size!

Choice Cards are white. Need Cards have a yellow border, and Feeling Cards have a border of red / pink. Simply punch out the cards, write the words you want on each card, and have your child draw pictures and color the borders.

Marshall Rosenberg's work on Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is truly life changing. I hope you enjoy having this resource for your family!


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:

Art History - Yves Klein

In my Art History 2023-2024 blog post, I decided December would be Yves Klein. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Yves Klein
1928 - 1962


also

https://www.yvesklein.com

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/yves-klein-1418

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/yves-klein

A Sound, Then Silence (Try Not to Breathe)
The New York Times - Sep 17, 2013

Who Is Yves Klein?
Tate Kids

Unit 8: 1962–1974
Lesson Five: Performance into Art
Oxford Art Online

I Was a Nude Model for a Half Hour. Revelatory? Actually, Yes.
The New York Times - May 24, 2024
“Sculpture Tactile”

Yves Klein’s Leap Into the Blue (With Living Paintbrushes)
The New York Times - May 16, 2024

Yves Klein – Anthropometries | TateShots
Youtube

Yves Klein - On Fire
Tornabuoni Art

ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s (PDF)
Guggenheim

    New Definitions of Painting
    Everyday Materials
    Process
    Environment
    Network

Yves Klein and His Use of Blue: How These 5 Facts Made Him Famous

week of Dec 3:


week of Dec 10:

    Sat

      Wreck This Art
      draw on watercolor paper with water-soluble markers and then put your drawing out in the rain to see what happens!

      (I suggest setting a timer and going to check on the artwork at 10 minute intervals so it doesn't completely disappear)


week of Jan 1:


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)