Homeschool Tips Tricks Ideas

Here’s a quick video about how dads can talk to thier kids.

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Dear StoryTelling friend,

Teachers, librarians, parents, caregivers all ask me, “How do I tell stories for children?” No matter your goal: stories for the classroom, bedtime stories, storytelling in libraries, a story for homeschool, stories for parents to tell their children, here are 6 tips for telling stories to children:

1. Be prepared for anything.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give you about storytelling for children is: expect the unexpected.

You have to be prepared with a variety of stories when working with children. Once, I was booked to tell stories to a group of children at a local library. I was told to expect kids of roughly ages 6-8. When the audience started to arrive at the library, they were not the older children I was expecting but rather just-beyond-toilet-trained toddlers, who had much of their focus spent on their “big boy pants” (the pull-up pants that are a version of very absorbent underpants) and the very exciting Velcro(tm) strips on their shoes. All of my prepared stories were geared for the listening and participative skills of a much older audience. So, I had to dig deep into my repertoire of stories and games to entertain this very young crowd. We had a good time but it was the long 25 minutes of improvising!

2. Pay close attention to your audience.

You will remember that in previous lessons I talked about storytelling being an audience-centered art form. The younger your audience, the more you as the storyteller must be carefully aware of how your audience is reacting. Children wear their emotions and feelings on their bodies. If a story is not keeping their attention, you will soon know it. Then quickly finish it up and move on to the next story on your list.

3. Focus on having a variety of stories and presentations for those stories.

For older audiences, you may often have a “set list” of stories you will tell. For your audience of children, it is better to have a “pile” of stories to tell with a variety of lengths and participation levels. Generally, for these young ears and eyes, a series of quick and fun stories is a good choice, with a few slow-down stories at the ready if they seem to have a need to listen more carefully.

4. Do not surprise your sponsors.

Every community has a different sense of what is and is not appropriate content in storytelling for children. Be sure that you and the sponsor are clear on what the sponsor expects for your presentation for children. For example, there is a huge difference from one group to another as to what does and does not make a good “scary” story for during the Halloween season.

5. Look children in the eye.

Don’t forget all the basics of storytelling that I have been teaching you. Especially, remember to look carefully at the children you are telling to at your performances. Those lingering looks into the eyes of children in the audience are powerful moments for them.

6. Be uninhibited in your telling.

I believe that children “see” stories differently than adults do. They can submerge themselves very deeply in the stories, often thinking that even the most fanciful story is real. Have fun! Act silly. Make faces. Sing. Wiggle. Be goofy and be larger than life. Your audience will stay with you and immerse themselves in your telling. By the way, expecting children to “sit quietly” as they politely listen to you tell profound stories is to invite your own disappointment.

Storytelling for children can be great fun and may be just a bit more challenging than you expect. No matter your ultimate goal in storytelling, try to include an audience of children on a regular basis.

********
Sean Buvala is the director of Storyteller.net and the author of the Ebook “DaddyTeller”™ Ebook that teaches Dads to tell bedtime stories (or anytime stories) to their children. You can find him on Twitter @daddyteller.http://www.daddyteller.com
This article first appeared on www.tellingstoriesforchildren.com.

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The Mailbox to Improve Reading in Homeschool
by Michelle B.

A fun and easy method for increasing the pleasurable use of reading in your homeschool is through the use of a mailbox. Your children will be excited to find mail addressed to them and will want to be able to read their notes. The use of the mailboxes will fit into any style of homeschool education, from unschooling to classical homeschooling.

First, everyone needs their own mailbox. Crafting a mailbox can be an art project easy or complicated. Find a cardboard box sized to fit the space allowed. Cut a slot for sliding the notes in at the top and cut a folding door near the bottom for mail removal. Shoeboxes make great mailboxes, too. Oatmeal boxes work well. The mail slot can be cut in the plastic lid, and the child pulls the lid off to retrieve the mail. Cereal boxes can be used as well. Tape the top closed and add the mail slot and door. And decorate! Cut a red flag out of thin cardboard and attach it to the side of the box with a paper brad. When your boxes are in use your kids will be checking the flag to see if they should look inside their mailbox. Supply a mailbox for each child or have your children make their own. And don’t forget to provide one for Mom and Dad, too! Everyone needs to print their name on their box. The boxes can be placed in a row on a bookshelf, or even at each person’s bedroom door.

If you wish to purchase a mailbox, there are many to choose from,such as a standard steel mailbox or a standard plastic mailbox. You can find a toy mailbox to hang on the dooror stand on the floor.

So, what goes in the mailboxes? The whole point of mailbox writing is to get your children more involved in reading and writing for pleasure, not for correcting grammar and spelling or suggesting they get more involved with their schoolwork. If the kids know that every note they write to mom comes back with those red marks, they will lose interest and see it as simply a school subject.

Write a note to each of your children, regardless of their age or reading ability, as often as you can. Put a reminder in your school planner or calendar so you can keep the messages coming at a regular pace. Your children will look forward to these notes and will check their mailboxes often! Have your children write to you, as well, and each other. Keep the writing supplies readily available. Perhaps mechanical pencils, a fancy pen, attractive note paper and a few envelopes, etc.can be placed in a basket on the school supply shelf, or at the writing station if you have one. Place the completed correspondence in a basket or a “to be delivered” mailbox, and your child can be the mailcarrier. If you have several children who would like the delivery job, perhaps they can be assigned different days of the week.

You know your children best, so choose something you know will get their attention.Write a question for your child to answer in a note back to you. If the note is beyond the child’s reading ability, he will bring it to someone to read it to him. If your child likes to look things up, ask a question she will have to find the answer for using the internet or a book, such as, “Where do avocado trees grow?” or, “How deep is the Grand Canyon?” If that looks “too much like school” to another child, make the messages fit his interests. Ask questions such as, “How tall are you?” or, “Which park shall we go to today?”

Using the daily news, write a little about your child’s favorite sport or an interesting news piece. Write about what excites your child. Horses? Sports cars? A movie? Trading cards? You can send uplifting or congratulatory notes. Keep the notes short, unless you have a child that loves long letters (and you have the time to write a long one!).

An occasional surprise can be tremendously fun, such as, “Look under your bed (to find a new deck of trading cards)” or, “After our schoolwork is done today we can go get ice cream.” Do not have the surprises too often in your notes or the kids will begin to expect them, and be disappointed in the regular notes.

You will probably find a certain time in your day that works for your homeschool style, such as a good morning note, a note at breakfast or lunch, after quiet reading or afternoon rest time, or bedtime. Or perhaps you prefer to leave the notes at a different time each day. Your homeschool children will begin expecting those notes before long, and will no doubt remind you if you forget to leave one!

***
The Author, Michelle B., is a full-time homeschooling mother of four who, as of this writing, has been homeschooling for 18 years. She is a former elementary school teacher in the private-school system

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by Michelle B.

Reading is probably the most important academic skill to teach our homeschool children. Once they have the ability to read and understand what they are reading, they will be able to use that skill not just to complete assignments but to explore the world through print, satisfy their curiosity and expand upon their learning.

How do I begin to teach my preschool or kindergarten child the importance of reading?

Here are a few homeschool reading tips to help encourage our students to embrace the skill of reading, regardless of the style of homeschooling one chooses. Begin with these well before your kids can read, and make them a part of your regular routine.

*To understand the value of reading our children need to see the important people in their lives using the tool of reading on a regular basis. Do your kids see you read? We have many opportunities to read each day: recipes for dinner, shopping lists, weather and news reports in the paper or online, email, game instructions, newsletters, appliance manuals, posters, street signs, even the cereal box! Read for pleasure, such as the comics, a novel or book of short stories, blogs, websites, poetry. The more your child sees you in the act of reading, whether you are reading aloud or to yourself, the more the act of reading becomes an expected part of life.

*Print should be readily available for the kids to see and touch and explore. Children’s picture books, books with only print, magazines, newspapers, how-to books, ABC books, computer print-outs, coffee-table books, workbooks, textbooks, letters, notes, signs, lists of words, etc. Try hanging a small dry-erase board at child level, maybe on their bedroom door, and write a new note everyday. You can write the names of items in your family room or schoolroom on index cards and attach them to the respective piece, such as “chair,” “computer,” or “cabinet.” Print a short note or a joke on a piece of paper and leave it at their lunch or dinner plate. Find a real mailbox or make one and take turns leaving letters or notes to each other. Let your kids play a computer game that involves some reading.

*Writing materials should also be available. Set up a writing space for your family that your homeschool students can use whenever they would like to. It can be a corner of the room with a small table or a desk, a reading lamp, shelves of various papers and notepads, a box holding markers, pens and pencils, even a typewriter. Or simply fill a basket with notepads and pens that can be carried to the desired space. Keep refilling the supplies with whatever you find, such as envelopes, stamps, order forms, shopping list pads, index cards, etc. And of course there are the famous magnetic ABC’s for your fridge!

*The library needs to be a regular destination for the family, such as every week or two. Each family member needs their own library card and to be taught how to use it. Every library system has its own age requirements, so find out what yours is and obtain those cards as soon as you can. Have your children choose their own books to check out on each library trip. Establish a system for your family that includes a special place, such as a shelf or basket, to keep those books separate from your own, and a place to keep track of the books to be returned. My family parks books we are done with in a square basket on the work table to keep them together until the next library outing.

*Children should have a shelf of their own to hold their special books. Many homeschool groups use book clubs, such as Scholastic, to provide their members access to inexpensive books. Thrift shops, discount stores, bargain shelves in the big bookstores, and library book sales are also good sources of inexpensive books. For example, we make good use of the discard shelf at our library.

*Read together. Read aloud to your children everyday. Look up an informational website together. Pretend you are toy shopping: read the toy catalog and write wish lists. Read a recipe book with your child and choose a dish to make.

The more that reading happens in your house, the more it becomes an ordinary part of life, and your kids will begin to see reading as an essential skill that hopefully they will want to be able to do themselves.

***
The Author, Michelle B., is a full-time homeschooling mother of four who, as of this writing, has been homeschooling for 18 years. She is a former elementary school teacher in the private-school system.

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