STEM Challenge: Build a Bedroom Model with LEGO Bricks

10 Replies

My son has struggled with area and perimeter so we decided to make it hands on. I gave Raisin a challenge this morning: find the area and perimeter of his bedroom. Further, I asked him to build a bedroom model to go along with his answer.
Then, I gave him a measuring tape and graphing paper and told him he could use LEGO bricks if he wanted. He was delighted to get to work in making a bedroom model, and was especially excited once I mentioned LEGO bricks!
I gave Raisin a challenge this morning: find the area and perimeter of his bedroom by making a model. He was delighted to get to work in making a bedroom model once I mentioned LEGO bricks. Continue reading →

Indoor Excavation Activity

2 Replies

What do you do for fun when it’s too yucky to play outside?
I’ve really been trying to keep the kids away from the tablet and television shows (especially my daughter, who is electronic-device obsessed). One of this week’s activities was “excavating” toys from a deep bowl of rice (aka “dirt”). This easy indoor excavation activity will have kids digging for familiar items in a bowl of rice. This easy indoor excavation activity will have kids digging for familiar items in a bowl of rice. --Line upon Line Learning blog
Continue reading →

Human Body and Nutrition Activities

3 Replies

This year, for science, my son and I are using Galore Park Junior Science 1. For chapter 1, my daughter had not yet begun preschool, so I decided to play up the chapter into a human body unit for both of my “students.” With pregnancy as a distraction, this became my daughter’s busy box activities for much of the last two months.
Human Body and Nutrition Activities
The first part of the chapter was about the human body in general, with a bit of emphasis on digestion. My daughter has been obsessed with the digestive system since she potty trained six months ago, so I focused on the rest of the body. The second part of the chapter was about nutrition, followed by teeth and bones.
Here are some of the human body and nutrition activities I did with my preschool daughter and my elementary-aged son.
Continue reading →

Leaf Rubbings

Leave a reply

It has been an amazing few weeks for me. Since I last posted, I had the honor of welcoming my third child into my family. My newest daughter, nicknamed “Kitty Cat” for the sake of this blog, was 7 lbs 2 oz, and arrived October 2 after a much-too-short labor. She’s a sweet little one, and 8-year-old Raisin and 3-year-old Strawberry love her. It’s good Kitty is a good sport, given the number of hugs and kisses her siblings smother her with!
I’m easing back in to blogging today with a simple fall project we did when Grandma was in town: we searched for favorite leaves and made rubbings! A nearby maple tree shed it’s super-sized leaves for us to enjoy, and it was fun to create leaf rubbings, a simple art project for all ages.
201511 leaf rubbing
Continue reading →

4 Homeschooling Lessons I Learn the Hard Way

Leave a reply

4 Homeschooling Lessons I Learn the Hard WayI’ve recently begun my fourth year of homeschool, and yet, I find myself learning the same lessons every year. Of course, every homeschooling family is different. You may find some of the things that never work for me do work for you.
Nevertheless, I think I may not be alone in having to relearn these lessons frequently. Some day maybe I’ll learn! Continue reading →

Uppercase-Lowercase ABC Recognition Practice with an ABC Sticker Tree

4 Replies

 

ABC Stickers + colored paper = sticker tree fun!

ABC Stickers + colored paper = sticker tree fun!


What could be more fun than sticker play for a preschooler?
I decided to play on her interest to play with ABC stickers by making her a lowercase to uppercase matching game.
This was super simple! I cut out brown paper to be a trunk and green paper with tree-like whorls. I taped these together in the shape of a tree. Then I wrote lowercase letters on the tree with a neon marker.
Strawberry found the lowercase letters on the tree and put the uppercase stickers on them.
We practiced ABC uppercase-lowercase matching with ABC stickers on a simply made tree.

We practiced ABC uppercase-lowercase matching with ABC stickers on a simply made tree.


She really liked that she was going out of order. Sometimes she’d pretend to do the wrong letter just to see if I was paying attention.
Playing with ABC stickers by making an ABC sticker tree like this was a nice reminder that learning activities do not have to be difficult or require a lot of preparation. It kept her engaged and learning, plus she found it to be a lot of fun!
 

Teaching as Christ Teaches

Leave a reply

Teaching as Christ TeachesIn Chapter Two of Stephanie Dibb Sorensen’s book Covenant Motherhood: Reflecting the Role of Christ in Our Lives, Sister Sorensen talks about how as mothers, we regularly emulate Jesus Christ as we teach our children.
Sister Sorenson knows

Teaching is not easy. Mother days are often busy and noisy and demanding. Sometimes we don’t even know we are teaching. One thing mothers can learn from the example of Jesus Christ is that He did not shy away from opportunities to teach. He recognized teaching moments and open His mouth. (page 14)

Sister Sorensen is not a home schooling mother, but I was really impressed by all the different opportunities she mentions that we can use as teaching opportunities: in the line at the super market, in crowds, at the dinner table, driving places, and on and on. As mothers we have the same opportunity to teach our kids. (Even when we’re not home schooling!)
One of the greatest things I got out of Sister Sorensen’s chapter is the reminder that all of these things work together. We will be teaching our kids, even if we don’t feel like we are. Continue reading →