Internet Safety For Kids

I am always looking internet safety for kids. My kids are getting more and more use out of the internet. The older they get the more they want to use the computer and the internet. Some of our top safety ideas are just common sense. 

We have our children in our site while they are on the computer at all times. They are not allowed to take their computer to another room. We have parental blocks on anything that goes on the internet. This also keeps the adults from being tempted from anything that they themselves do not need to see on the internet. 

What kind of internet safety for kids do you use?

Food Chains

With Thanksgiving around the corner we are talking about food. What kind of foods are good for us, what kind of foods are not so good for us. We have used the food pyramid to help explain the amount of what kind of foods we need to eat. The most interesting conversations have come from talking about food chains.  

We have used chicken as a great example. First you start with grain that is grown on the ground, the chicken eats the grain, produces eggs and lastly we find the chicken and the eggs on our table for food. What a great example of what it takes to get from the grain to our table.

Spelling In Our House

Spelling is not a subject in our house that anyone really likes. Everyone in our house struggles with spelling, including Mom and Dad. 

We have been using spellingcity.com to help the kids with their spelling. 

I love the use of fun games that they offer for the words I want my kids to learn. If I need help with a list they have word list for all ages, grades and subjects. For my kids when they are younger we use the spelling flashcards for sight words. If my kids are struggling with sight words, I can print off a list and they can practice writing them. Love how they can get handwriting practice in at the same time as they are working on learning to spell. 

What Type of Homeschooling Style Do You Have?

What type of homeschooling learning style do you have? 

Classical, Montessori, Unit Study, Eclectic, the list goes on. There are as many different homeschool styles as there are people in the world. No homeschool is the same. To figure out what your homeschool style is you should look at your children first then your own personality. 

Look closely at how your children play and you will see hints to how they learn. Remember that your child’s learning style may be different from your own. It also may be different then your teaching style. 

Take time to learn what your child’s learning style is to help your child be successful.

Learning to Read

What if your child woke up on their 5th birthday and was able to read! 

No teaching, no reviewing, nothing, they just knew how to read. Would you miss the learning to read process? Would you be happy you did not have to go through the teaching process? I am torn about that answer. I struggle with teaching my children to read. Feel I am not doing it right. But then when that light comes on in their mind and they start to get the concept of reading, that is a beautiful time. 
Accomplishment sets in and all your worry starts to disappear. I guess because my children have taken the longer way to learn to read that this makes me nervous. 

What about you? 

How would you feel if your child woke up at 5 years old and was able to read?

Do you teach your children cursive handwriting?

Do you teach your children cursive handwriting? 

The majority of public schools do not teach cursive handwriting. When asked if they cover this, the standard answer is only if the teacher has time and wants to teach it. That is very sad. I have used handwriting worksheets to help my children learn cursive. I do not insist my children have perfect cursive handwriting but I do want them to be able to write in cursive. More importantly I want my children to be able to READ cursive writing. 

Even though we live in a day of computers and key boards. There are all kinds of fonts out there and cursive type fonts are out there too. Another good reason for my children to learn cursive is so that they may be able to grow and create their own signature. A signature is a powerful thing and each one should be different. Our children need cursive to have the basis for their unique signature. 

Art for Kids

Art is always a top activity, I mean subject in our home. We have followed art curriculum along with doing free art. All of my kids love to do anything that includes art. 

We have learned of a youtube channel that is called Art for Kids that my kids love! This is a dad who does video tutorials with his kids sitting next to him. He goes step by step and draws his child, usually his son, is drawing too. It is neat to show how he does it but how his son also follows and it looks totally different. My kids have really enjoyed drawing things like dragons, raccoons, robot and more. 

Memorial Day

 This year Memorial Day falls on May 26, 2014. 

We have never done this before but we are going to join our scout group and go down to the local Veterans cemetery. Each year they place flags on the graves to show respect and thanksgiving for their sacrifice for our freedom. 

We have talked to many military homeschoolers who are grateful for the recognition of their loved ones. This is a great lesson to my children about our freedom and who is fighting for us. This will also be a wonderful visual for my younger children. We have had to deal with death in our family this past year and this will help them to get a visual of how many other grandfathers, aunts, uncles etc.. that have sacrificed for our freedom. 

A great start for my younger children to understanding Memorial Day.

Spring Is Here

Spring is here! 

This has been a long winter for many people. Lots and lots of snow and freezing temperatures. With all the different changes going on it has been great in helping my children understand our weather curriculum. We have covered cold fronts, snow, sleet, rain, warming trends and more. The sad part is that we will also be covering flooding. With that much snow, it has to go somewhere when it melts. We will discuss evacuating, supplies needed, and how we can help from where we are in Florida. 

We will also be putting together our own disaster kit to prepare for hurricane season that starts in June.