Prayerful Pretzels Proffer Number Practice

Pretzels arranged from 1 to 10.

In a house full of little boys, I have found that having five or six smaller meals throughout the day (or three meals and two or three snacks, as others might call it) is almost a necessity. Thus, inadvertently, food is a daily learning manipulative in our household. Whether extravagant or simple, consider ways to turn your snack time into a learning experience, too.

Joey and Ezra love activities. They get so excited to learn - it's quite heartening. And, when music, food, or science are involved, they're doubly ecstatic! Perhaps your children love learning experiences as much as mine - or perhaps they dread them. Whatever the case, see if you can adapt these lesson ideas for your own experience.

During the Lenten season, my snacks have been

Joey's pretzel concept of three & his 3 card.

much simpler: apple wedges, carrot sticks, ants on a log, etc (all of which Joey shuns) - and, of course, the prayerful pretzel (which Joey doesn't shun). It's fun to find ways to make us of snacks for learning. So, in order to practice number concepts in 1 to 10, I had Joey write and cut out numbers and then use the correct number of pretzels to illustrate the idea. They had so much fun and even my almost-three-year-old Ezra got in on the excitement. Joey matched his personal set of number cards to pretzel displays, created his own arrangements, and organized them from 1 to 10. In fact, this activity was so successful, that we all got creative and started making the pretzels into the numbers themselves. Any time we have a fun activity, Joey loves to find ways to create his name, so those pretzel numbers soon turned into pretzel letters.

Although this activity is geared to preschoolers, there are ways to adapt it to older children. Introduce addition and subtraction into the equation and you can have a hands-on manipulative for mathematics principles. Have your budding spellers practice spelling words with this or other snack foods. Consider the gloriously-cuttable consistency of cheese, for example, or squeeze peanut butter through a plastic bag onto bread "slates." Delve into artistic endeavors by using an array of colorful diced fruit to build a mosaic illustration of whatever historical facts you're currently learning. The ideas really are endless.

From patterns to number practice and other creative learning opportunities, food is the perfect manipulative. Just think outside the box, consider what's in your pantry and fridge, and dare to let learning become a fun-filled experience at the kitchen table, instead of a desk. Take a moment and reply in the comments to give your ideas of incorporating food into learning.

Ample Opportunities

Joey with a lime green caterpillar.  senk 2012.

In life, exposure can lead along different paths. Ultimately, though, it either leads to an unhealthy saturation centering on apathy or to a passionate pursuit of learning, exploring, and sharing such joy of life with others. In any educational environment, exposures to themes, events, and activities need to be cognitively, emotionally, physically, and socially appropriate, as well as interwoven with the interests, strengths, and weaknesses of a child. When compassion and passion collide, learning becomes positively formative for a child...

And when it does not? If we are honest with ourselves, we all know what happens to the desensitized child. Just conduct an Internet search on public school shootings or violence in video games and cartoons to assess the ways in which humanity inappropriately manipulates a child's innocence. When our children are raised with excessive exposure to violence in any form - via media, commandeering conversation, entertainment, etc - we are subliminally approving of that behavior and promoting it. Do we really want to promote violence in a broken world?

Life has myriad beauties, too. Learning about other cultures (especially new food recipes), exploring nature's intricate delicacies, maintaining a positive familial environment deeply rooted in a tradition of faith, acquiring life skills that are equalized with intellectual development (such as balancing academic, technical, trade, and other avenues of learning), etc. A life well-lived is beautiful. That is what we should be promoting for our children.

I am not promoting naivety. We define our world by opposites, whether right or wrong. But, cultivating an honest understanding of humanity's sinful self, as well as providing examples of people that have fought for a positive change in the injustices that inadvertently bubble up in life, are key accompaniments to such exposure. Even more important is waiting to expose the child when s/he is ready for such exposure. It varies from child to child, which is why homeschooling can promote the most positive environment for a child's education. The public school system in America does not allow for anyone else to follow the education of the child more than the parent. As parents, we have obligations to do our part for our children. So, if you participate in a violent video game with your child and do not implement means in which the child knows killing for killing's sake is not appropriate, your child will become another spectator at a gladiatorial event - or even a participant in the ring. Do we really want a generation demoralized to violence?

Joey in Central Park, NYC.  senk 2012.

In all, each of us assumes too much. Parents assume children learn right from wrong in the school system; while, educators assume children learn right from wrong at home; and even media assumes it's someone else's responsibility. So, take a moment and assess the exposures your child has in life. Consider how many opportunities there are in your household for encouraging healthy dialogue, promoting compassion, and developing a love of life-long learning.

Promote exposures to life adventures that integrate compassion and passion for learning. Let your child explore the beauties of life, develop positive habits, and participate in acts of caring that will help them contribute to compassionate solutions, rather than enhance the problem. This will be different based on the opportunities where you live. But, look for them and get your child involved in ample life opportunities. Often, your child will lead the way in participating in compassionate activities - don't be afraid to embrace life (even the unfamiliar) and let your light shine, too.

Eggs-tra! Eggs-tra! Read all about it!

Last Lenten season, our family was caring for 42 fertile chicken eggs, which hatched into fuzzy chicks over Easter weekend. We had borrowed an incubator that gently rocked the eggs and bathed them in warmth. The last days of their incubation, the chicks' ovular homes rested calmly on the wiry base. As sharp bills cracked the white casings, Joey and Ezra shrieked with delight. Once hatched, dried, and energetic, the chicks provided endless fun for the boys to view, but more importantly, the entire experience gave them firsthand understanding of a chicken's life cycle. Today, some of those chickens are in the freezer (ready to provide our family with nourishment), a few found a home with others interested in raising chickens, yet others have free range over the yard and their own chicken condo in exchange for eggs, and one (Chanticleer, of course) protects the rest.

Although incubating your own fertile eggs may not be what you had in mind for a fun family activity this Spring, there are lots of alternatives. The key is to find something that inspires your family to learn as much as to have fun learning. Two such ideas are: the bounceable egg and all-natural dyes for boiled eggs.

Using a clear glass, an egg, and white vinegar, you can create a bounceable egg. Carefully, place the egg into the glass and cover the egg with vinegar. After allowing the resultant chemical reaction to work for a full day, you can remove the egg and gingerly bounce it. I carefully wiped the film from the outer membrane before letting my boys play with it. You'll notice I also made them bounce the egg in a container, so that when it did break (hey, I have energetic boys after all!), it was a contained mess. This science experiment led to tons of questions and the boys were eager do it again. Maybe your family could experiment with different types of eggs to see if various bird species have differing thicknesses to the outer membranes? Or, maybe your family could work out the chemical formula and consider what other liquids would work for this experiment? There are lots of other ideas - brainstorm how you can use this experiment in your homeschooling adventures and list them in the comments section.

Another grand idea is to make your own dyes for Easter eggs. Research the types of herbs and vegetables that create those glamorous colors you love to splash onto hard-boiled eggs and try them out. For example, beets are great for pinks, and boiled ground turmeric for yellow. For a unique idea, arrange wild violet heads and sprigs of dill, sprinkles of turmeric, and other favorite color-producing bits around a clean raw egg. Wrap the decorated egg with either yellow- or red-onion skins (the former produces a yellowish tint; the latter, a lovely bluish), and then swaddle with a square of simple white cloth, which you hold in place with rubber bands. Once you've mummified several eggs, place them in boiling water and cook for about 12 minutes. Cool them with cold water and carefully unwrap for a dazzling display. Experiment with the recipes and post your favorite results in the comments.

Marvelous egg experiments are sure to delight your children. I know I was just as excited by the results as my boys were. Ah - life-long learning is egg-cellent! I do hope you agree.

The importance of resources

One of the best aspects of homeschooling is that instead of teacher-focused classroom instruction, lessons can wrap around the individual student. In fact, the limiting classroom's walls burst open in homeschooled instruction when the parent embraces the plethora of resources available in real-life situations - some, close to home; others, allowing for a mingling of site-seeing and learning.

No matter where you live, you can find engaging opportunities for your child to learn. Do Internet searches, visit your local library, check advertisements in papers and magazines you find - use what means you have to locate fun and educational resources in your community. Similarly, make a list of the places that are farther away that you would like to visit. By calling those locales, you can find out what sort of children's activities they have; whether or not they have a homeschool day with discounted prices; and, if they know of other venues in the area that cater to families with children or homeschooling families. Be sure to send a thank you (and a picture of your smiling child enjoying their often free activities) to the director of the program, so that they know how valuable it is to the community. Doing so will ensure that programs you enjoyed will remain available for other families.

Occasionally, I'm going to provide some highlights of the resources and places our family frequents, so that it is beneficial to you, as well. If you have experience with a certain place or resource I list, please feel free to share your thoughts on the topic and maybe provide a picture of your family enjoying the children's activities at the place, too.

Without further ado, here's a look at Explore More Discovery Museum in Harrisonburg, VA. Our family purchased the Explorer Membership, which has allowed us to also get in free to many other children's museums in states, such as California, New York, Maryland, Ohio, etc, all across the country. Of course, you can also search for a children's museum near you via the Association of Children's Museums. In April 2013, the reciprocal membership will change to 1/2 off admission prices to other children' museums that participate in the program (sigh).

Not only does Explore More Discovery Museum have hands-on displays for kids, but they also have programs that are often free or discounted for members. For example, the children's museum in Harrisonburg has a list of Weekly Programs that span the week. These are a great way to enhance your children's learning experience. For those who are susceptible to the over-used argument that homeschooled children do not get enough socialization, here is an example of how your child can gain more exposure to peer interactions. [Side note: a large majority of the homeschooled children I know are better communicators and socializers than their public-schooled counterparts. So, I feel this is an extremely weak argument.]

So, what are the displays like? Here is a basic sampling of the resources at Explore More Discovery Museum as of the publication of this blog post. The exhibits are thematic.

• intact train sets (not interchangeable) with moveable trains
• books related to subject matter in each exhibit
• indoor tube slide
• Keva blocks and planks
• Fridgits magnetic and moveable marble maze pieces
• wooden marble maze blocks
• puppet theater with an assortment of puppets
• stage theater with an assortment of costumes, sound effects, and face paints
• ambulance with lights and safe medical equipment
• large Operation-like game with removable bones, etc
• art room with a plethora of supplies
• under 3 area with soft play mats and age-related toys - all closed off to older children
• full-scale, child-sized, and stocked kitchen with washing/drying machines, refrigerator, stove, etc
• market area with produce, shopping baskets, cash register, and a lemonade stand
• garage with a car that allows you to change tires, "add" fluids, and honk a horn
• television studio, where your child can be an anchor(wo)man or weather forecaster
• smart board with educational apps
• picnic area (for you to bring a packed lunch)
• animal displays: a tarantula and a tree frog
• chicken display that shows the development of a chick in an egg
• science lab with an assortment of related tools
• wheelbarrow and garden area, where kids can pretend to harvest food

This list is by no means complete and it is only for the Harrisonburg children's museum. Hopefully, though, it gives you an idea of what to expect here and in other places, too: an environment with kid-sized and kid-friendly activities to promote positive learning experiences.

By visiting the local children's museums, we've enjoyed a huge amount of resources that we could not possibly house or afford. And that's a big idea, because many families think they have to purchase every possible resource their child needs to learn. This just isn't the case. By making a list of the resources community locales have, you can know at a glance where to go to make good use of those resources when you need them. 

Gather. Stir. Knead. Play!

Joey makes a tadpole to show part of a frog's life cycle.

Children loves to manipulate dough. They squish it through tubes or cut it into shapes. Perhaps they're chefs creating an exquisite feast or ceramicists crafting perfect coils for a new hand built pot or a naturalist recreating a leaf of animal to study. Whatever they pretend, it is always fun to have some sort of dough with which to play.

Any Internet search will reveal a plethora of play dough options. Here's one that I use; it's so good that I only need to make it once a year, if that often.

Save containers to store the dough.
Family gave Ezra Play-doh, whose
containers I saved for my own dough.

Ingredients:
1 envelop of flavored drink mix
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of salt
1 cup of boiling water
1 tablespoon of oil

Directions:
1. Gather the ingredients
2. Stir together the ingredients. Let cool until you can handle the dough.
2. Knead the dough until it's smooth.
3. Play! Make sure to store in a tightly sealed container so that you can enjoy it for a while!

Take a moment to share some of your child's favorite shapes to make with this dough. Or, perhaps your little one made a geological landform, a model of an ancient Roman house, or some other accompaniment to your lessons - if so, share the idea!

Brotherly love

One of the things about homeschooling that appeals most to me is the knowledge that my boys will not only be brothers, but classmates. While I pray that Ezra and Joey will be life-long friends, I also know that homeschooling provides a better hope for that than standard grade divisions. In a world where the people you interact with are not always your age, do standard grade divisions really make sense? But, I digress; back to brotherly love...

Any parents with children can work toward fostering nurturing and caring relationships between their children. Modeling good relationships with your friends is a good place to start. Joey has started writing notes to his friends and making sure they know he loves them, because his parents do, too. Hand-writing notes is not the issue. Just taking time to send an e-mail, make a phone call, or share a loving word and hug with your spouse or friends is enough to encourage acts of kindness.

Creating a peaceful environment that promotes positive emotional and cognitive support and an absence of negative or overtly violent insignia is a another important aspect of enabling your children to be life-long friends. This may mean re-examining the movies or shows you watch when your toddlers are around, avoiding AO-rated video games when young children are around, and trumping cooperative play over competition. Of course, you could be extremely counter-cultural and end television subscriptions, period, or make family pacts (like no rated-R movies seen in the house until the kids are a certain age) that help nurture a positive environment in the house. Think outside the box and have fun with it - the point is not so much end exposure, but rather limit until children can cognitively differentiate between good and bad, as well as participate in healthy discussions about violent versus non-violent behavior.

The act of living together, no matter who you are, will lead to challenges and frustrations. By role playing and developing good communication skills in your youngsters, you can help foster positive relationships in them when they are older. During play, if your toddlers squabble, you've just been handed a positive teaching moment. Instead of getting frustrated about the situation, be thankful that you have a chance to stop, talk about the situation, and then work together to find a solution for turning a negative situation into a positive one. What a blessing!

Being a homeschooling parent is exhausting! It's a 24-7 job that is completely under-appreciated in our society. But, it presents a unique opportunity to enrich family life and the lives of your children in so many ways. Take a moment to share some of your challenges and solutions in the comments section - or perhaps you have an inspiration, testimony, or encouraging quote to share. Ultimately, keep things in perspective. Your children are individuals. They need a nurturing and supportive environment through the good and the bad, the ugly and beautiful. Smile, hug your children, and make sure you tell them you love them every day! Then, you'll see them pass it on.

Variety among sea stars

Sea stars come in more varieties than I realized. They are radially symmetrical, but not limited in terms of number of legs, coloration, or even patterning. Some have the anticipated 5-legs; others, myriad; and should a leg or two or more be in the process of rejuvenation, those legs could be various lengths or thicknesses. Such variety! And, such beauty. 

Joey and Ezra were enamored with sea creatures during a recent visit to Long Beach, California. On Leo Carrillo State Beach, the boys discovered a sea anemone and starfish in little tidal pools near where the waves splashed against large rocks. Aquarium of the Pacific proffered first-hand views of starfish suction-cupped to aquarium glass, as well as opportunities to touch the rough skin of these prismatic sea gems in touching stations.

So, when we returned home, the boys and I decided to further expand our knowledge of Pacific Ocean creatures, such as starfish, jellyfish, sea otters, etc. I pulled activities from children's magazines, puzzle books, and my own imagination to craft fun activities to enhance my sons' understanding of the amazing animals we find on Earth. Big Backyard, now known as Ranger Rick, Jr, a magazine with animal-related activities and information for children aged 4-7, contained "Mystery Animal?" starring the sea star in their June/July 2012 issue. Following the story, the magazine provided two activities: "Name Game," in which children could try to match a picture with a name, and "Sea Star Pretzels," which provided a recipe to create your sea star treats. Joey and Ezra experimented with pretzel designs and came up with some fabulous sea star shapes. The Dover Little Activity Books series gave inspiration for other activities in "Learning About Sea Animals" and "Sea Life Follow-the-Dots." The boys also traced star-shaped cookie cutters to create drawings of starfish, which they mailed as a thank-you to the Aquarium and as a notecard to a well-loved family member.

The ideas are endless, though, and can easily be tweaked and recreated for your own at-home lessons! Perhaps your children could design postcards, donning sea stars, to use throughout the year for family birthdays, anniversaries, or encouraging notes? Create an Under the Sea play, write a haiku, invent a new game incorporating sea creatures, incorporate habitat and research what it would be like for humans to live as starfish do (what would be the similarities and differences; how would mankind have to adapt?), etc. Take a moment and share what you might do with starfish as a learning unit.

What I like most about our sea creature lessons is that they remind me of what it is to be a teacher. Each child has a unique perspective to life. Just as the variety of starfish, so too is there great variety from child to child. But, it's more than skin deep. Looking at the dreams and interests harbored within each dear heart, a teacher cannot help but feel the weight of caringly orchestrating the education of the child. So, amid the chaos and energy, remember the delicate pearl that lies within each little one you teach.