Homeschool Theater

If you are new to home schooling and haven’t a clue as to what to do about curriculum other than buying a set out of a catalog, there is a wealth of learning possibilities available to you. Many are free or low-cost. You just have to dig a little!

There are advantages to using boxed curriculum, if you have the money they require. If time is short or you really dislike planning, then a boxed set may be the way to go. On the other hand, if your budget is tight, there are many alternatives:

1. Your child is the one being home schooled so start here. What does he love to do? Read mysteries, skateboard, collect seashells, play with his dog, and draw? For each of his interests you will be able to find books to read, documentaries, clubs, lessons, web pages, or activities. Build a unit study or theme around one of those interests. You may be amazed at what your child will learn if it starts with something he is truly interested in.

2. Check with your home schooling support group to see if a lending library is available. Some groups keep books about the different styles of home schooling while others may have unit study kits or materials arranged by learning subject.

3. Use the public library. Every library system is different; you will have to investigate to see what your library offers. If your library is in a city or county system, you may be able to request items from other libraries to be delivered to your own branch for you to pick up. Some libraries offer science learning kits, toys or musical instruments, or have hired or volunteer guests do experiments or magic or present plays, etc. You will find DVDs of movies, lessons and documentaries, audio books, foreign language CD sets, etc. Most libraries sponsor book clubs.

4. Use the Internet. I love having our computer nearby as it is wonderful to be able to look something up as we are discussing a subject and a question arises. You will find tons of learning resources such as worksheets, coloring pages, online dictionary, thesaurus and calculators, lesson plans, educational games and skill practice. Moreover, so much of it is free! Your kids will be able to take classes online as well.

5. What resources will you find in your own community? Look for Girl or Boy Scouts, 4-H, YMCA sports, community classes, the Civil Air Patrol, government student council, Toastmasters, community gardens, Parks and Rec events and sports, extracurricular activities at your local school. There are clubs for aviation, writing, horses, the arts, radio-control racing, bird watching, dog sports, etc. Do you attend a church, synagogue or temple? Is anything available for your kids there?

6. Take a second look at the people in your life. Grandpa fishes and is a top-notch cook. Grandma plays lively music on her piano. Uncle Joe is an avid bird watcher, and Mrs. Garcia next door loves talking about Shakespeare. See what potential you may find!

7. Keep a daily journal about the activities your kids do, such as science experiments, buying their own meal at a fast-food restaurant, exchanging a roll of dimes at the bank or building a model of Stonehenge in the backyard. All of these involve learning!

Learning occurs anywhere in so many variations that you can create your own curriculum for your own home schooling kids.

To learn more about home schooling and the many options available to you, please visit our website at http://www.homeschooltheater.com. You can follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/homeschoolart.

Pour and Measure: Preschoolers Learning Math and Science Skills and Concepts Through Play
-by Michelle B.

When my second daughter was a preschooler between the ages of two and four, one of her favorite activities was measuring and pouring. She used my measuring cups and spoons so often I could never find them when I needed them! And she would pour everything possible, with of course the accompanying mess. I finally wised up and gave her a measuring set for her birthday. The first thing I bought was a new cat litter pan to hold the mess in. I had looked at a dishpan first, but it was too small. The litter pan was a good, working size. A trip to the discount store provided me with plastic measuring cups and spoons, one-cup and two-cup liquid measuring cups, a set of funnels,a turkey baster, a pitcher, a ladle, a set of plastic juice cups, plastic mixing bowls and a set of mixing spoons thrown in. Everything fit inside the litter pan.

All that was needed was the stuff to pour and stir! A zipper bag full of pinto beans and another of rice fit the bill nicely.

My daughter was delighted with her gift. We would take the set (minus the rice and beans) out to her wading pool which had a few inches of water in it, and we would measure and pour and stir and pretend and learn all afternoon. I would shake a few drops of food color in her pitcher and another color in a gallon water jug, and my daughter would have a great time measuring and mixing her secret potions. Sometimes she and her older sister would take the set out to the sandbox and pretend they were cooking, concentrating on the “correct” measuring to make the goodies turn out just right. The bathtub also made a great measuring playground.

When it was too hot to play outside (we live in the Arizona desert!) I would pull out the beans and rice and let my daughter experiment away on the kitchen floor. She would measure a cup of beans and then try to match that with the rice, concentrating on filling the cups and pouring carefully. Or she would see how many ¼ cups of rice it would take to make one cup. The pan kept the escaping beans to a minimum.

All this play introduced her to and helped her gain inquiry learning skills and concepts in measuring, estimating, eye-hand coordination, concentration, problem-solving, counting, one-to-one correspondence, fractions, creativity, fine-and gross-motor control and mathematical thinking. Her curiosity gave her many questions to investigate and answer. And she transferred her new pouring skills to helping me cook dinner!

Young children learn as readily as they eat and sleep, as it is a natural part of their lives. No one needs to tell them, “It’s time to learn now.” Watch your little ones and notice that nearly all of their play automatically involves learning. The measuring set served as a tool for my daughter to use to expand her understanding of her world and gain important learning skills.

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Michelle B. is a homeschooling mom in Arizona who has been teaching at home for more than 20 years. The child mentioned in this article is now 17 years old. That young person also does about 33% of the family cooking. Which involves a lot of pouring and measuring.