Encouraging creative play!

So Buttercup has been talking about her stuffed animals' birthdays! Actually, only to of them. One is a tiny dog she named Glancy. The other is a tiny unicorn named Magic. If you've been reading this blog you know that Magic was the recipient of that very cute cardboard house that Buttercup and Daddy made just for her.

Back to the story. Buttercup picked some of her toys and gift wrapped them for Glancy and Magic. I initially didn't pay too much attention , but Buttercup wouldn't let up.

Finally, this week, I told her we should throw them a party. Buttercup was thrilled. We picked a day when everyone would be home for the evening. Then we set out to plan a party.

Here's what we did:

• We made handmade invitations for each member of the family
• We "delivered" the invitations
• We planned party games(pin the tail on the unicorn and bingo, with prizes)
• We baked a cake
• We printed out pictures of Glancy and Magic and used them to decorate the dinner table
• We decorated the dining room with streamers

After dinner we played games and then sang happy birthday and had some cake.

At first, everyone thought we were silly. The resident teenager even mocked us and didn't want to participate. But once we got started everyone had fun, even the teenager. Go figure.

I wanted to tell you a little thing about me. I didn't play like this growing up. I don't really remember having a great imagination and creating fantasies like Buttercup does. We grew up running around barefoot outside with our friends. Parents didnt play with thir children and that was fine with us. We just wanted to be with our friends, it made sense that way. It was a different world then. Nowadays with scheduled play dates and danger lurking everywhere, parents need to do things differently. So I actively participate and even encourage Buttercup's games. Why not. She loves it. We're together. I am giving her memories to last a lifetime.

She won't remember me buying her lots of things, but she'll never forget Glancy and Magic's birthday party!

Dream. Imagine. Create

2nd grade art lesson - Piet Mondrian

We are fully engaged in art lessons in our homeschool. Buttercup and I love learning about different artists and new techniques.

We recently read about Piet Mondrian and tried some art work of our own using some of his techniques.

Our lesson included:

• Reading a simple biography. (When I say simple, I mean a book written for children)

• Looking at the artist's work in a book or online.

• Discussing the artist's technique and what we like/dislike about it.

• Doing a word search puzzle which we found at www.makingartfun.com (This has become one of our favorite websites! More about them later)

• Making our own Mondrian inspired art work.

• Visiting a museum to see his work in person. Read how we make museum visits fun!

 

 

Mondrian Inspired art work

 

Materials:

• 1 sheet of white computer paper
• a few sheets of construction paper in black, red, yellow and blue
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue

 

Instructions:

• Measure and cut a few strips of black construction paper in different widths. We used 1/2 inch, and 3/4 inch strips
• Place your strips on the white paper. Arrange them any way you want.
• Cut squares and rectangles in different sizes to place between the strips over the white paper.



 

 

About Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian was born in Amersfoort, Netherlands, in 1872. At a very young age, his father Pieter introduced Piet to art. In 1892, Mondrian entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam as a teacher. While there, he continued to work on his own paintings, most of which were landscapes and pastoral images of Holland. He was initially influenced by the pointillist and fauvist movements. However, in 1911, Mondrian discovered Cubism which led him toward abstraction. As early as 1912 when he painted The Sea, it can be seen that his art work began to be dominated by geometric shapes.  Mondrian continued to explore abstract forms eventually developing a style he called neo-plasticism.

It was during his time in Paris after the war, where he painted one of his most famous paintings, Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue.  Piet Mondrian died of pneumonia in New York City on February 1, 1944.

Happy Homeschool Adventures!!

Visiting Museums with Kids. It can be done!

If you love museums and want to teach your kids to appreciate art at an early age, please read on.

I hear all the time (from friends, families, and readers)that taking young children to museums can be a daunting task. I've even heard a family member say that she will not step into a museum until her kids are teenagers. Well, by that point, it's too late, you might as well forget about it. Kids need to be exposed to various situations in order to learn appropriate behavior as well as an appreciation for things other than the Internet, Facebook, and Twitter.

Download my Museum Scavenger Hunt FREE!

Kids CAN go to museums and actually enjoy them. Kids SHOULD learn to appreciate art and to behave according to their surroundings when they are still young. I think parents' big mistake is to shield kids from these places and experiences out of fear. Instead, both parents and kids would benefit from this exposure. Parents will take pride in the fact that their kids are well behaved and well rounded individuals with multiple interests.

Explore

All of that said, I strongly believe that kids need guidance and structure when visiting places like museums.

Both of my daughters love art and visiting museums; I've been taking them since they were two years old.

Inspire

Here are some tips to make a museum visit an enjoyable experience for parents and kids alike:

• Plan ahead
• Get the kids involved (it makes them feels important)
• Talk about the place you'll be visiting and what they'll be seeing
• Do some research and choose a few of the art works on display to show the kids while still at home (this will get them excited for the visit)
• Talk about artists (this can turn into a mini lesson!)
• Take along a scavenger hunt (this gives kids purpose and they'll be excited when they find the items on their list) Print mine free here! or make up your own
• Stop by the museum store BEFORE the visit and let your kids pick out a post card or two of art work. Then tell them they have to find those in the museum.
• Know your kid's limit; if you see they are losing interest or getting antsy, it's time to leave
• Bring a drawing pad and pencil and encourage your child to observe a favorite picture and draw it
• Ask pointed questions about some paintings(this gets kids thinking)
• Check with the museum if they offer their own scavenger hunt or other kid activities(many museums do). We recently visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and they had a short guided tour just for kids with a hands on activity at the end. My daughter loved it.

Encourage



Envision

I have created a museum scavenger hunt that can be used in almost any museum! Print it here FREE.

Do you visit museums with your kids or are you afraid they'll be bored or misbehave? Share your opinions here!

I'm a Writer! Authors as Mentors Encouraging kids to Write

We recently spent a month doing a lesson on Authors as Mentors. This is where we really delve into one author's work and read several of his/her books, analyze and discuss the writing and finally, try to model our own writing after our author mentor. We did this in our Reading Club and Writer's Workshop.

I did some research on what authors to include and I settled on Tomie DePaola and Patricia Polacco. My older daughter had done this same lesson when she was in school and she loved the Tomie DiPaola books and I still had them so it seemed natural to start this lesson with his work.

·        We reviewed different writing techniques such as simile, alliteration, metaphor, hyperbole, and onomatopoeia.

·        We practiced using those techniques.

·        We talked about Tomie DePaola and we read a brief biography to understand how Tomie became an author and illustrator. We also learned how he comes up with ideas for his stories.

·        I read aloud one of his books and we tried to find some of the writing techniques we had previously learned.

·        In Writer's Workshop, we brainstormed ideas for our own story. We talked about things that were happening in Buttercup's life at the time (ice skating lessons, a visit to her cousins' house, getting our Christmas picture taken)

·        I encouraged Buttercup to write down all of those ideas. For now, we would only pick one, but we agreed that it would be good to keep a list for future stories.

·        She picked a topic and told the story on 5 fingers.

·        Then, she wrote those 5 sentences down.

·        We alternated days in Reading Club and Writer's Workshop; that means, we would read aloud on one day, and do some writing the next day.

      ·        In Reading Club, we read other Tomie DePaola books and talked about writing      techniques that he used in all of the books we read.

·        Some of the things we noticed were:

o   He names the setting within the first sentence.

o   He uses words in Italian.

o   He uses words in bold letters for emphasis.

o   He uses what we call the list of 3 (naming 3 things within a sentence).

o   His stories are about him or things he heard or experienced growing up.

·        Since Buttercup had already written her story in 5 sentences, we went back to edit the story and try to include some of our mentor author's techniques.

·        When Buttercup was happy with her story, we cut out strips of paper (5, one for each sentence of her story). She re wrote her sentences on each strip of paper.

·        She then glued the sentences to the bottom of a bigger piece of construction paper.

·        Next, Buttercup made a drawing to go along with each sentence of her story. As our mentor author is also an artist and illustrated his own books, we thought it would be perfect for Buttercup to illustrate her book too.

Buttercup is so proud of her book. She loves to go back and read it every once in a while. Writing was such a challenge for her because she thought it was boring and never had ideas. Giving her some structure, encouraging her to jot down moments she may want to remember later, and guiding her through the process has made the writing process much easier.

We followed the same process as we read through some of Patricia Polacco's books. And Buttercup wrote another book.

Success!!

Hands on electronics projects

I recently had the opportunity to do a fun hands on science project with Buttercup. It was an electronics project from www.eeme.co. EEME's hands-on projects teach kids about electronics. Each project is paired with online curricula to not only guide the kids in assembling the project but also to teach the concepts applied.


This is what is included in the kits:

• A fun indoor activity to do with your 7-12 year old that will teach them something at the same time!
• A project kit in the mail with all the material needed to build your project (including a breadboard, resistors, circuits, LEDs, battery)
• A set of online videos that will (1) teach you and your kid how to put together the kit, and (2) explain the electrical engineering concepts behind it
• Interactive quizzes to test your kid's learning

The whole process was seamless and easy to complete.

We received the kit in the mail; we got Project Genius Light. I then we registered my email on their website. I liked that all they asked for was my email. I wasn't required to complete a long form with all of my information. That was a big plus for me.

Once I registered I was able to access the video instructions for our project. Buttercup is 7 years old, so she is on the younger range of the recommended ages (7-12), and she had no problems whatsoever following the instructions in the video. The two of us worked on it together which is the way it's intended to be.

The instructor is clear, easy to understand and the video is easy to follow. And the best part is that they quiz you throughout the project. So Buttercup definitely learned some good stuff.

The electronics projects available are perfect for homeschoolers since they can be done anytime, with parental assistance, and with video instruction.

Now here is the best part, the folks at http://www.eeme.co have generously offered Adventures of a Homeschool Mom readers an incredible 50% discount on Project Genius Light. All you have to do is send an email to dad@eeme.co with "50% promo - Adventures of a Homeschool Mom" in the subject.

I know you and your child will enjoy this project as much as we did.

Happy Homeschooling Adventures!

Disclosure: I received a kit in order to do the review. All of the opinions in this review are my own. I did not receive any compensation for this review.

Russia Unit Study!

 

Here's my newest unit study - Russia!

I'm so excited about this one because it was a country that was completely new for me. Until I did this unit study I knew very little about Russia; just bits and pieces from Russian students I had in the past combined with some very basic information.

The Russia unit study was Buttercup's idea. I don't know why, but she is fascinated with Russia, so when I asked which country she wanted to study, she did not hesitate to ask for Russia.

In order to prepare for this unit study, I had to do lots and lots of research. I read books and other resource material to come up with an 8 week program that would cover enough information.

We started with some basic information about Russia; location, size, language, currency.

 

Next we read this great book "Introduction to Asia" which had lots of stuff about Russia's climate and different climate zones.

We learned about Russia's favorite pastimes and some of the foods they typically eat.

We really got into the part about music and art and I found a YouTube video of Swan Lake for Buttercup and me to watch. The video was 2 hours long and we watched in 1/2 hour increments, but Buttercup loved it. We would pause to talk about what we thought was happening based on the tone of the music, the dances, the scenery and the dancers' facial expressions. It was a lot of fun and made watching a ballet an interesting experience, that was not at all boring.

Nesting doll template included in unit study

Buttercup's nesting doll activity

 

As the end of the year approached, I was able to find a local production of The Nutcracker ballet, so I took Buttercup. My recommendation for anyone taking their children to the ballet would be to read up on the story before you go; do some activities pre-show. We didn't do that and honestly we were kind of confused about the story. I'm sure we would have had a much better experience had we done a little research prior to seeing the ballet. We still enjoyed it and will do things differently next time!

The Russia unit study is perfect for the classroom as well as homeschool. It covers most subject areas:

·        Math

·        Social Studies

·        Geography

·        Science

·        Foreign Language

·        Reading

·        Writing

You can get this comprehensive unit study right here for a small fee. I hope that by charging a small fee for some of the lessons I offer will allow me to continue to offer other things for free, like my printables.

 I want to buy the Russia Unit Study

I welcome feedback on the study units, if you would like me to add something of interest to you, please let me know and I will do my best to include it in an upgraded version.

 Thanks for your support!

Brazil Unit Study!

If you've been following this blog for some time, you know that I create almost of my lessons from scratch. The main reason is that I can never find exactly what I'm looking for on the internet, so I use it mostly for research.

With that in mind, I have a great unit study to share with you - Brazil!

I created an 8 week unit study that includes some basic facts about Brazil, maps, pages to color and more activities.

I did this unit study with Buttercup and she loved it.             BUY IT NOW!

We started by reading some basic facts about Brazil such as size, location, population, and language. We used a map to locate Brazil. I used this opportunity to include a little geography lesson.

 

Every day, I would review what we did the previous day and introduce the next topic.

 

We learned some words in Portuguese, we learned recipes that are easy to make and so yummy, and we even learned about some of their folklore.

 

This unit study was easy for me to create because I am Brazilian, so most of what I included in the lessons are things that I either learned as a kid or grew up doing.

The Brazil unit study is full of photographs with an easy to follow guide that allows for flexibility and encourages the child to go beyond what is in the packet. This unit study really will get students excited about learning about another culture and they will want to know more.

It is perfect for a classroom or for homeschool. The Brazil unit study covers most subject areas:

·        Geography

·        Social Studies

·        Reading

·        Writing

·        Math

·        Foreign Language

 

 

You can get this comprehensive unit study right here for a small fee. I hope that by charging a small fee for some of the lessons I offer will allow me to continue to offer other things for free, like my printables.

 

 

I welcome feedback on the study units, if you would like me to add something of interest to you, please let me know and I will do my best to include it in an upgraded version.

Brazil Unit Study

 

Thanks for your support!