Monthly dinner menu planner

My favorite Christmas memory isn’t one specific event or year. Rather it is a collection of years that came to become treasured memories. Growing up we did not live near extended family so when I was young my parents started an annual tradition with two other families that also did not have extended family close for the Holidays. In total there were 5 children and 3 sets of parents. Each year we all met for not only Thanksgiving but also Christmas. Through the years my favorite memories include the turkey leftover from Thanksgiving became homemade turkey noodle soup for Christmas. Each year the kids also got to all tear into a homemade and beautifully decorated gingerbread house. We feasted on snacks and stuffed ourselves on amazing food; all of us commiserating later that we were stuffed. There were gift exchanges and treasured presents. Most of all though the magic of the season wasn’t food or presents it was the joys that we all experienced by simply coming together every year. We have all grown and gone our separate ways and started Holiday traditions with our own family. One treasured member of our group has also gone home to be with God in Heaven. While the group will never be together as it was when we were kids, everyone of us hold those years close to our hearts. Laughs and love abound within our group and lifelong friendships were set in stone.

My kids and I love the library and love having ample books around the house that relate to what we are studying. So as a result I have compiled a list of additional reading books for the first 2 weeks of MFWK. I did this mainly for myself as I have a preschooler who is chomping at the bit to do school with her older brothers. Some of the resources listed below are non-fictional while others are fun reads about the Sun and Moon from a fictional perspective. If you are using or have used MFWK and can recommend additional resources please let me know, I’d love to add more to my lists.

Letter S – Sun

The Sun by Scholastic News

Exploring The Sun by Rebecca Olien

Who Likes the Sun by Etta Kaner

Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn Branley

Sun Up, Sun Down The Story of Day and Night by Jacqui Bailey

Letter M – Moon (and space)

Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin

Space Heroes Amazing Astronauts by James Buckley Jr.

Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy

Astronauts and other Space Heroes by Smithsonian

Moon by DK Eyewitness Books

If you Decide to go to the Moon by Faith McNulty

Look at the Stars by Buzz Aldrin

Mission to the Moon by Alan Dyer

Exploring the Moon by Rebecca Olien

The Magic School Bus takes a Moonwalk by Scholastic

Kingfisher Voyages Space with Sally Ride

The Moon by Seymour Simon

Clothespin counting activities have been around for a long time. As I was searching the internet for free printable clothespin cards I was disappointed in the lack of color and creativity. So I decided to just make my own. My version not only teaches numeral recognition and number word reading, but I have also added color recognition.  You will see that each smiley face on my cards are a different color of the rainbow. You can purchase inexpensive clothespins at your local discount store if you don’t have any laying around the house. Also, today I used colored bingo markers and they worked just as well. Both the clothespins and bingo markers help your preschoolers fine motor skills. As I mention in the file below I recommend printing on card stock and laminating for durability.

Clothespin Counting Acitivity

If you use these sheets with your preschooler please let me know. I’d love to hear if you enjoy them or have suggestions for improvement.

Kids absorb the anger from their parents and other adults that may be in their household. Children watch how adults interact and emulate what they see. Parents of bullies need to look inward before casting blame on others (such as the school system). Of course it goes without saying that kids who bully at school are going to bring that same behavior home and bully siblings. Kids who act one way at school more times than not act the same way at home.

Shepherding Kind Hearts would solve the problem of bullies not only in our schools but also in the work place. If children see tolerance, patience, love, respect, and honesty (among other positive virtues) then they will grow into that positive mold. Children need to be nurtured, loved, and cared for. Most of all children need to KNOW that they are loved and accepted by adults in their family. When a young child doesn’t feel the love and acceptance their little hearts yearn for they will act out in the only way that they know how; bullying at school (among other sinful acts).  Bullying and disrespect should not be tolerated anywhere. It starts in the home though.

Just another reason to teach and model towards kind hearts in our children.

Read more here about how to correct teasing behavior in your school age child. There are also articles on the same site for toddler and preschool aged teasing behavior.

When was the last time you really listened to your child? I don’t mean just hearing what they say. But, rather considering, contemplating, and thoroughly processing what they are really trying to tell you. As a mother of 3 and with prayers being sent up above for more, I totally understand how Moms can get swept away in the moment. Some days we fight just to keep our head (and sanity) above water let alone give each child the attention they need and deserve.

Today I was blessed with the opportunity to take a nice hour long walk with my oldest; he is 8. He is a quiet, self-sufficient, and mature boy. He doesn’t demand attention, has never thrown a tantrum in his life, and is an all around very easy going child. However, just because he doesn’t demand attention like his younger siblings it doesn’t mean he needs our love and attention any less. During our walk today it was just he and I (and our little dog), no other distractions, and no one else trying to talk to us. As we walked we chatted a little about things he was imagining. Soon though he wanted to run and ran off ahead of me. Alone in my thoughts I began to think about “adult” things; you know the stresses and life situations that seem to plague us everyday. After while we began walking together again and that is when he said something that struck me, it brought me out of my own thoughts and into the moment; into his world of thoughts. What he said is not important, what is important is that our childrens reality is a far cry from our everyday thoughts. As it should be. We need to keep in mind however,  that what they are saying to us is important. If it wasn’t important to them they wouldn’t put voice to their thoughts. Today on our walk my son put voice to the random thoughts in his head and on that walk the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and said “listen my child, he is speaking”. After that I stopped giving the typical “uh huh” responses common when I am with my own thoughts. I engaged my son in real conversation and it was amazing. As our children grow it becomes more and more important to listen to what they are really saying. Trust me they really are trying to tell you something important.

Blessings!!

You don’t have to homeschool to have these moments. So long as you teach your child something new, you too can experience the joy of educating your child beyond everyday lessons.

Blessings!

Product Description

About the Author

Siegfried Engelmann is a professor of education at the University of Oregon, and has written many books on teaching, including Give Your Child a Superior Mind. He is the originator of Direct Instruction, the most successful approach to teaching, and he has developed more than thirty direct instruction programs. He has provided teaching demonstrations with a wide range of children — consistently showing that they could learn much more than had been achieved with traditional teaching.

My Review

My biggest worry when deciding to homeschool my kindergarten son was teaching him to read. I knew other subjects like Math, History, and Science would be easy for me to teach but I really stressed over teaching him to read. I have always loved reading so I worried that I would scar my son somehow while teaching him to read, in turn making him dislike the subject for the rest of his life. (normal homeschool Mom worries, right?) I put my faith in God though that he would get me and my Kinder through this hurdle. About a month into homeschooling and struggling with finding a reading lesson rhythm I received my blessing. A Mom in my homeschool co-op casually mentioned Teach Your Kids to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Immediately my ears perked up and I gobbled up everything she had to say about this book. As soon as we got home from the park that day I researched the book and purchased a used copy through Amazon. Anxiously I waited for the book to arrive.

In all honesty, my initial impressions of the book were “Are you kidding, how is this going to teach my son to read?” and “Why are all the letters funny looking? How is he going to transition to real books when he learns with odd looking letters?”.  However, putting my faith in God and willing to give anything a try at least once I started with lesson one. Since that fateful day my son and I have not looked back. He eagerly gobbles up each and every lesson. Often times he asks for more to the point where a few times we have done 3 lessons in one sitting. I do not push him and when I see he is getting antsy or silly with his reading we stop for the day. We finished lesson 40 today so we are nearly half way finished.

Previous to this book we tried Sonlight’s early reader method and it just did not click for my son. Entering kinder my son was already reading three letter words and I am choosy about early readers because they are often written with incomplete sentences.

When initially reviewing or considering Teach Yor Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons you will notice letters of different sizes written within the same word as well as letters connected. Engelmann et. al do a wonderful job of transitioning the young readers from these odd looking letters and words to a normal looking sentence complete with capital letters and correct punctuation by the end of the book. The lessons are written in such a way that there is ample review for difficult and new sounds. For a few difficult sounds I gave my son a word to remember that is associated with that sound. For example, he was confusing short a with long a so I told him that when he sees the short a he should think of the word apple. Now when he gets stuck I see the wheels turning and he whispers the word apple to himself and immediately says the correct a sound. Sentences with associated pictures begin at lesson 13. Also, the font is large in early lessons and progressively gets smaller as the lessons increase. For my son these aspects of the book give him a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Occasionally, we flip through pages we have already completed and he notices how far he has come in such a short amount of time. Not only are the words smaller in lesson 40 but the sentences are longer and there is more than just one sentence with his pictures. Lastly, I enjoy this lesson book because it is teaching my son not only how to read but also the early components of reading comprehension. In later lessons there is a picture comprehension component to each lesson. In this section the teacher is instructed to ask certain questions about the picture to see if the student remembers what they just read. Often times I add upon this section and ask my own questions depending on my son’s responses. I prompt him with questions that aren’t asked in the lesson book but yet are still related to the story and picture. My son and I enjoy our reading lesson story conversations. The final section of each lesson is devoted to sound writing. In this section the student is asked to write 2 letters three times. The letters chosen are either difficult letters to write or new letters introduced in the lesson. My son enjoys this section because we get to write together and I like it because it reinforces his handwriting skills.

I knew this book was a blessing and a huge success when my son proclaimed that he loves reading, he wanted to do lessons on the weekend, and even asked to do lessons for his bedtime reading. Hands down this book is a must have, especially for young or struggling readers!

The book description mentions that each lesson takes 20 minutes. In my experience however, I am finding that lessons are much shorter than that. Early on we probably spent 20 minutes per lesson because we were both getting used to the methodologies. Presently though our lessons are much shorter yet still just as effective. My son is a better reader so I find it natural that our lessons are shorter.

You can find a like to this book in my curriculum sidebar.