What most educational systems don’t account for is the vast discrepancy between students and their individual learning styles or ‘intelligences’. Some students are great at math or reading, while others are great learning a new sport or a new song. The key to a good education is allowing for all of the intelligences to be built on.

As a homeschooling parent/teacher, I found Dr. Mercola’s simple article about ‘multiple intelligences’ did a great job of outlining each learning style in an easy-to-understand format. In fact, I could easily recognize most of my strengths as well as my daughter’s, too.

But, the fascinating thing (to me anyway) was the link to an online test to determine your percentages of each intelligence. After I took the test and had fun dissecting my own chart, I had my 7 year old take it, too. (I wouldn’t suggest it for anyone much younger unless you’re ready to re-phrase most of the questions and even answer the questions for them.) What was amazing to me, was seeing how she answered differently than I would have for her. It turns out that she’s stronger in some areas than I’ve given her credit for, and vice versa.

Of course, the next step is for me to start recognizing her most prominent intelligences and allowing her the space to do more of her school work aligned with those strengths while not neglecting the weaker areas. Should make for an interesting next few months…

What about you? Have you heard of these intelligences before? If you have, is it now easier for you (or your student) to complete necessary tasks with this information in mind? Share your stories!

“In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf…”

For Mother’s Day we have a tradition of planting in our garden in the back yard. The kids help pick out what we want to plant while we’re at the nursery, then enjoy digging holes in the garden to plant their favorites.

Since Kate and I are studying butterflies for her lapbook (and since we both like butterflies a lot), we decided to plant some milkweed to attract Monarchs. Monarch butterflies like to not only sip the nectar from the flowers of these plants, but they also like to lay their eggs on the leaves. The baby caterpillars then eat the leaves as they grow, turn into chrysalises, and then eventually finish the life cycle to become an adult Monarch butterfly.

Within only an hour of planting our milkweed in the back yard, we spotted a Monarch butterfly flitting around the plants over and over for a good 10-15 minutes. Little did we know that it was a she and she was actually laying her eggs! Just a few days after planting is when we noticed the eggs on the undersides of the leaves and then a couple of days later we were already noticing TINY green caterpillars starting to gnaw holes in the leaves.

Today, only one week after planting, we saw a much larger yellow/white striped caterpillar on the underside of one of the leaves.

Needless to say, we are all very excited to get the opportunity to watch the life cycle of a butterfly in our own backyard!! And I just had to share it with you all! I’ll keep you posted as our caterpillars grow larger and turn into chrysalises. We can hardly wait!

I’ve decided that I want to focus on butterflies for the month of May, and I’d love to have a lapbook as our final product for all that we’ve learned. So, now, I’m off to figure out exactly what is a lapbook? and how do we make one? and how long it will take? and what is a mini-book exactly?

So, for your learning pleasure, I’ve decided to document my researching trip into this new land of lapbooking. And, PLEASE, add your favorite sites to the comments below. I’m definitely the Dummy needing to learn LOTS more!!

Enjoy!

What is a lapbook?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lap_book
http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking
http://lapbooking.wordpress.com/lapbook/

How do you make a lapbook?

How long will it take?
http://www.squidoo.com/faq-lapbook#module9400578

What is a mini-book?
http://www.squidoo.com/minibooks

What are some easy mini-books that I can make?
http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking#module2314521
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.php

Starting Lapbooking and what to avoid…
http://simplest.lapbook.ever.com/

by Leda Schubert

My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars

Winner of the 2007-2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award, this book filled with watercolor pictures of the true story of the Ballet of Elephants was captivating. When Igor Stravinsky (composer of The Nutcracker) was asked by George Balanchine (Russian Choreographer) to compose a piece of music for John Ringling North’s circus elephants to perform to, Stravinsky gladly jumped at the opportunity. My 6 year old listened to the story fascinated by the idea of elephants performing ballet, and was even more enthralled at the end when she realized this had been a TRUE story. Great book for introducing Stravinsky as a composer.

View all my reviews on goodreads.com.

by Shelley Rotner

My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars

My 2.5 year old loved this book and actually did quite well recognizing the objects’ parts before seeing the entire image on the next page. Great book for teaching parts to whole.

View all my reviews on goodreads.com.

by Joanne Ryder

My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautiful pictures and poetic text lend to a great description of Earth. Particularly moving for Earth Day, this book helps a child to relate to and almost feel like Mother Earth in order to have compassion for this planet we call home.

View all my reviews on goodreads.com.

by Joy Masoff

My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars

This interactive book about every kind of ‘boo boo’ is a great way for kids to learn about injuries and how to handle them. Written in a very upbeat kind of way so as not be scary, the sing-songy text still manages to convey important concepts. “Stitches itches as they heal. Tickling, tightening, a wee bit frightening! Stitches itches, but not for long. In a few short days, they will be gone.” My favorite part is the ending where the author reminds kids that injuries are only temporary and their ‘super-power bodies’ will heal from the inside out. Great book to take the fear out of everyday injuries.

View all my reviews on goodreads.com.

A bit about the book…

What we loved…
While the illustrations were quite unique, I also loved the way that the author used typesetting to help ‘illustrate’ certain passages. During a passage about “diving in tropical lagoons and rowing on blue-green seas”, Anholt typesets the words in curves that go around the fish in the picture behind the words to hint at the motion of swimming and waves. But, more than anything, it was the story itself that captured both my attention and the attention of my six year old. There’s just something fascinating to me personally about an artist creating a chapel in a new and different way.

Age appropriate…
While Kate enjoyed the story and illustrations, I’m not sure I’d recommend this book for children younger than 1st grade. The pictures are just different enough and the text just long enough to lose a small child’s attention. Definitely a great read for elementary schoolers, though.

From the book…

Matisse was delighted to see Monique again.
“You are all black and white,” he teased, “but I have found a way to be more colorful than ever! Look, I’ll show you… First I put on some music. Jazz is best. Now I shall paint some big sheets of paper… as BRIGHT as I can!”
Then with hands as quick as butterflies, Matisse cut a hundred dancing shapes, and soon they were pinned up on every wall of The Dream.

Check it out…
This book is only one of a series that Laurence Anholt has written about artists. He’s also written children’s books about Degas, DaVinci, Monet, Picasso, and Van Gogh. So, now, I’m off to our local library to see which other ones we can find to explore and enjoy!!

A bit about the book…

What we loved…
Barrie Carson Turner has done a fabulous job of commentating and setting the tone for this entire work of Saint-Saens. The first few pages describe why Saint-Saens wrote the piece (although I’m not positive it’s historically accurate, it’s a very cute story) and then describes an orchestra, the different instrument families, and how they are all arranged during a concert. A perfect introduction to the orchestra! The illustrations, by Sue Williams, that accompany this are a great visual for kids to ‘see’ it all, too. Turner’s descriptions of each musical movement and it’s corresponding animal are incredibly written so that you can easily hear the subtle nuances of each piece without getting bogged down in too much verbiage.

Age appropriate…
This book and accompanying CD* were a great addition to Kate’s Kindergarten year. We probably could have used it in earlier years also, but I think she was at the perfect age to really sit still and listen for the things that Turner described were going to happen in each piece. And the illustrations are great to look at while listening, too.

From the book…

This accessible commentary on Camille Saint-Saens’s classic piece allows children to follow each section of the music by listening to the accompanying CD. The whimsical illustrations, a simple text, and evocative melodies create an ideal introduction for young children to the world of classical music.

Check it out…
Carnival of the Animals was a perfect addition to our school experience and I highly recommend starting your composer study with something as easy and accessible as this book turned out to be. Now Kate is much more interested in Saint-Saens himself and is also more likely to pay attention to the nuances of any classical piece to which we listen.

*Our library’s copy of this book didn’t include the CD, but we were lucky enough to find another recording of Carnival of the Animals, narrated by Jonathan Winters, to listen to while we read.

Kate and I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving by thinking of things we are grateful for all month long. And to write these things down, we’re posting them on our “Thanksgiving Tree” on our pantry door.

We took a few pieces of newspaper and taped them together on the back, then drew a large tree trunk and some branches with crayons. Then we drew some different kinds of leaves on another piece of newspaper, cut them out as stencils, and traced and cut many more out of yellow, orange, and red construction paper.

We’ve chosen to write one thing we are thankful for per leaf and also to sign our names to each leaf so we know who wrote which thing. I tried to let Kate choose as much of the craft as possible so that she would have ownership in it all. She was so excited to tape her first leaf to the tree and couldn’t wait to have brother and sister home so they could ‘write’ one, too.

So far, we have about a dozen leaves on our tree ranging from being thankful for ‘our family’ all the way to being thankful for ‘my Groovy Doll’. She’s loving adding to it and I love that it’s perpetuating an attitude of gratefulness during this Thanksgiving season.

So, what Thanksgiving traditions do you and your family celebrate?

Ethan's 1st Day of Mother's Day Out

Ethan (my 3yo) did great at Mother’s Day Out at the church around the corner from us – it’s also where Kate went last year and loved it.  He has a huge class of about 12 kiddos his age and 2 teachers.  They said he did great and only got weepy at nap time when they wanted to help him take his shoes off.  He, of course, would have NO one touching his new shoes and got defensive and whiny for mommy at that point.  Too funny what kiddos will get hung up on, huh?  Other than that, he seemed to have had a great day and he said he liked it and had fun.  His favorite?  The kitchen play area.  Hmm.  Do we have a future chef on our hands?

We dropped off Karis (my almost 2yo) at Mimi’s house today so that she could have a playdate with her cousin, Ariah, who is one week older than she is.  They had a great time playing together, coloring, and making maracas, and Mommy was able to have wonderful one-on-one time with Kate.  Thank you, Mimi, for giving us that special time together.

Our 1st Day of Kindergarten

Kate (my 5yo) and I had a blast doing school today.  It was our first official day of homeschooling for her Kindergarten year.  She only complained a couple of times, but even that is good, because it showed me where her attention span was maxed out and I needed to back off a little bit.  The lessons we’re doing are only supposed to be 5-15 minutes each, so it was interesting to see how on some of our lessons, she was ready for WAY more, but on others she was definitely done within that time period.  She said her favorite thing was actually an impromptu craft that Mimi gave her when we dropped off Karis.  It was a butterfly mobile that we punched out, tied together with string, and hung in her room.  (Thanks, again, Mimi!)  

If you want to know more about the specifics of what Kate and I did on our first day together, you can read our weekly plan on my new site (thank you, honey!) Homeschool.Me. Just click on the ‘Our Curriculum’ link at the top and you’ll see our plan.

Overall, by the end of our time with ‘official school work’ she was sad that school was over already!  That makes me feel good.  ”Always leave ‘em wanting more” as my wise husband always says.  Plus, this morning she drew me a picture with a note that said, “Mom your the best teacher”.  I couldn’t have asked for a better review of our first day together.

Shawn asked me later how I did with it all.  I have to say that I was really excited most of the day, but also really relaxed – it just felt comfortable.  What was interesting to me was how easily I slipped into ‘teacher’ mode with Kate.  It was a different feeling – not so much the Mom role that I’m used to.  I told Shawn the thing that struck me the most was the increased level of patience that I experienced during ‘school time’.  I figure that won’t necessarily always be the case, but in general, that’s a REALLY good thing!

Daddy & His Girls

I’m really looking forward to another school day tomorrow. No, seriously. It’s already been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see how we do again tomorrow. Not something I said very often when I was a public school teacher, unfortunately…

So, what about you? How was YOUR first day back to school. I’m looking forward to hearing about all of your experiences, too. Just leave a comment below…

Where in the World? Around the Globe in 13 Works of Art, by Bob Raczka, has turned out to be my newest favorite book for Kate. It’s a collection of 13 works of art from around the world (duh, you probably got all that from the title) with a page describing the geographical location of the piece as well as the artist and the time he/she lived in. It’s written for kids, so the language isn’t a stumbling block but, thankfully, it’s not sing-songy either.

Since I’m planning on using the Charlotte Mason approach for homeschooling, this fits in PERFECTLY with her idea of picture study (which is just studying pieces of artwork). In fact, I can even see us making a color copy of the page with the artwork and hanging it on the fridge for a week or two as we discuss it and enjoy it and describe it to one another before moving on to the next piece of artwork in the book. Oh, and here’s another idea – after studying that piece of artwork hanging on the fridge, move it into the schoolroom and tack it on the giant map on the wall onto the country it represents. One could even put it on a timeline as many of the pieces span centuries of art.

But, the best part has been Kate’s reaction to it. As soon as we sat down and started reading about the first piece of artwork by Katsushika Hokusai from late 1700s Japan, Kate was spellbound. Of course, it helps that one of the things about Hokusai was that he loved art from the age of, you guessed it, FIVE. As soon as I read that, Kate interrupted me and said with a twinkle of excitement in her eye, “Mommy! I’m five. And I like art, too!”

At the end of the reading, the author includes the last words of Hokusai:

“If heaven gives me ten more years, or an extension of even five years, I shall surely become a true artist.”

Kate looked at me and said quite seriously, “But, he IS a true artist.” To which she added, “Mommy, I’m sad that he died. Because I would like to meet him and learn more about art from him.” This. From a five year old. Wow.

Kate is excited to read tomorrow night about Little Bay, Australia and the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. And the next night about Tahiti and Paul Gauguin. And before we finish our ‘world tour’, I may have just learned a few things about art, too!

Oh, and BTW, Bob Razcka has written SEVERAL books around art.  I think I want them all!!

When I started studying Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy a few months ago on my search for a homeschooling model that worked for me, I was surprised at her strong thoughts on nature.  She adamantly encourages children under the age of six to have no formal schooling, but to spend as much time as possible every day OUTSIDE.  And, as they get older, that portion of their ‘schooling’ is still important enough to get its own subject – Nature Study.  She promoted Nature Study not only as a way to use up some of that extra energy that all kids seem to have, but also as a way to learn about our world, science, and our creator.  And we all know how a walk in the woods or a beautiful garden can help us regain perspective in life and reconnect us to God.

It seems as though current studies have finally confirmed some of what Charlotte has been saying since the 1800s.  I was just introduced to this site, Children & Nature Network, and have been thoroughly impressed with the information found there.  Check out this video clip from The Today Show about kids and the outdoors.  Makes me wanna go on a hike.  Anybody want to go with me?

So, how do YOU get your kids out-of-doors for free play on a regular basis?  I’m looking for some more creative ideas, especially for our hot, humid city.  Share them in the comments section below.