Mentor Monday: Poetry Learning with Joyful Noise

This week’s Mentor Monday is about poetry picture books for kids, the same as last week’s subject. I realize I’m two days late here; it has been a crazy week in terms of getting any free time.

Nevertheless, it’s almost good we waited, because I get to write about what we did this morning: learning with Joyful Noise.

201404joyful noise-BRL Continue reading →

How to Read a Poem: Billy Collins for Kids

How to Read a PoemIt is not as hard as you may think, reading a poem. Maybe you came to this page because you are searching for the elusive answer. Maybe you have found your way to poetry and are curious to see how I intend to show reading a poem via this blog post.
Or maybe you are here to join in the 2014 Poetry Celebration and Contest!
No matter how you got here, this is what I want you to remember: I cannot “teach” you to read poetry in a single blog post, because there is no right way to read a poem.
I believe one of the most important things a teacher or parent can do is instill a love of learning into poems. How do you read a poem? You start with enjoying it.
One of the most popular American poets is former poet Laureate, Billy Collins. Collins writes image-rich poetry that speaks of the human condition. Many of his poems are incredibly accessible to the most unfamiliar readers of poetry. I believe his poems would be perfect for upper elementary school children as well. Continue reading →

Week in Review: Close Reading

An Experiment in Close Reading | Line upon Line Learning blogRaisin is a very strong reader, and he loves to read anything and everything! This week he has been reading about scabs. And all the other gross things on our bodies. The library books he checked out have real photographs of scabs on the covers. I call them the “icky books” and Strawberry has begun to parrot me when she sees them. “Mom! Icky book!”
At any rate, Raisin likes to read fiction too, and enjoys reading in his free time and before bed. Because he is a strong reader, he breezes through a book and then cannot tell me what it was about, beyond basic plot points or even specific things that happened that stood out to him. I’d love to talk over fine literature with him, but I have not been sure to best methods to use.
So, that said, close reading is my goal with Raisin for the coming months. I have determined that we need to read together more frequently and notice what we read more. We need to talk about it together and predict together.
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Never Say Never: 8 Things I Said I Would Never Do

8thingsneverdoBefore I had kids, I was one of those people who had a list of things I would never do. Some of these were more important than others, but all of them really turn out to not matter that much.
Of course, now that I have two kids, I find these things I said I would never do quite amusing.

  1. I would never …. blog. “[My sister] has taken to writing a blog online every couple days…. I think it’s the kind of thing that will fizzle out and die eventually,” I wrote in early 2007. I started my own blog about six months later and have been blogging since then on five or six different blogs.
  2. I would never … complain when I was pregnant. I was so excited to have babies that I was determined I’d never complain about the discomfort once I was finally blessed with a pregnancy. Well, I guess this goes to show that you should never say never because I was a whiner with my second pregnancy! I was not any less excited but, let’s face it, it is not comfortable to grow a baby.
  3. I would never … not wear makeup when I went out. I remember in the early days of my marriage, I was having lunch with a friend who was a mother to three kids and who was not wearing any makeup. I distinctly remember the thought that I would never leave the house without at least putting on some mascara. Ha! How priorities change through the years. What’s makeup?
  4. I would never … wear pajamas all day long. Same situation as with the marriage. Surely, I would never “stoop” to wearing jammies all day! LOL.
  5. I would never … get tired of reading picture books aloud to the kids. How could one tire of spending time reading with adorable children?! Alas, I’ve been knowing to fall asleep mid-book before. “Mom? Are you still awake? Mom?”
  6. I would never … not make time to read my own books. I was a compulsive reader before my second child was born. I knew I’d always make reading my books a priority in my life. Now that my second is here, I embrace the moments I have with them far more than I ever did when I read compulsively. I still read, but I’m much more balanced with enjoying my little oens.
  7. I would never … say “potty.” I hate that word. I still do. But before my children were toilet training age, I was determined to avoid the “potty” word. Because it just sounds so crass. It has become a solid part of my vocabulary at this point.
  8. I would never … homeschool. When my husband mentioned it in our early days of marriage, I discounted the idea. I would never do that, I was sure. Well, here I am, two years after we jumped in with both feet!

The moral of the story is that I have changed and adapted. I did not know how I would be in the future. Looking back on the more younger, more naive me, I realize that my judgement of others and situations were completely unfair. We don’t know what other people are doing and how things are going for them. We don’t know what we will do in a similar situation.
Never say “Never.” You don’t know what you will be asked to do next.
What silly things did you say you would never do? How have your plans been changed?
Find List it Tuesday at Many Little Blessings and Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
Credit: Tatlin

Can I Homeschool Even Though I’m Not An Expert?

notanexpertI have been feeling discouraged this week as I read about theories in education on subjects such as learning to read, how to incorporate play into education, better strategies for teaching kinesthetically, and so forth. I am not an expert in teaching children in anyway.
It is strange that I became discouraged. I began researching these theories in order to improve myself: I want to be the best teacher I can be for my kids. I want to improve. But as a result of reading, I began to wonder if maybe all those people who ask “do you have a teaching degree?” are right: maybe I need to be a teacher to do this right.
I have come to the conclusion that that is wrong for many reasons. Despite the fact that “the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know,” I can teach my children without a teaching degree. The true Teacher is the Spirit of truth.
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15 Fun Poetry Ideas for Kids: Spring Poetry Blog Hop

poetry blog hop buttonWelcome to the Spring Has Sprung: Poetry in Elementary Blog Hop! It may not look or feel like Spring here in Chicagoland, but it’s time to get prepared for poetry month, which begins on Tuesday in the U.S.A.
After you read my post, make sure you check out the 14 other teacher bloggers who have shared their thoughts on poetry as well. Click “Hop over to the next stop” at the bottom of my post to get to the next blog.
I have chosen to blog today about 15 fun poetry ideas for kids because playing with poetry is fun!
Continue reading →

Skip Counting Fun: Resource Swap and Review

As a creator for TeachersPayTeachers, I was able to join with a group of other educators who sell on TPT and we swapped products! Today it is my pleasure to share with you some of the work of experienced tutor and fellow homeschooler Stefany Smith who sells in the store Tutoring Supplies by Design.

I had the chance to choose something from Stefany’s store. Since we’ve been dabbling in multiplication practice for the past few weeks, I was immediately drawn to those products. Stefany is a math tutor, so this was perfect! Continue reading →

Week in Review: Seasons of Life

seasonWe had a tragedy this weekend. One of the Bishop’s counselors for our congregation died unexpectedly. It has affected all of us.
What it has done for me is reminded me of the important things. I hold my kids a little closer, and I try to refrain from yelling a bit more. We do not know how long we have on this earth, and each day is a blessing.
I feel like I should let blogging go a little bit more than I have. Why blog when I could be with my dear husband? Why blog when my kids are off having fun and I want to join in with them?
So if I seem a distracted or distant from the blog for the next few days or weeks, just take that as a reminder to go love your own family a little bit more.
This is the season of life for that before anything else.