Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Home Education Week, cont.


It is also National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day! So share a recipe…figuratively, as in two parts love, one part creativity, or literally, as in a super quick, nutritious meal your kids scarf up. Think about what you do in the day, what helps keep it organized and you sane (or how you got past that need for organization and saneness!), and curriculum materials you find effective.

Fried rice is one of my kids' favorite lunches. Healthy, quick & cheap, can't get better than that LOL.

The best thing I've found for keeping us organized is to have "circle time" early in the day. It grounds us, with some Bible reading & prayer. And also gives us a good forum to talk about our day. Since my kids can't read yet, I used clipart to make small magnets (just printed them out glued magnets to the back & covered them with packaging tape) for the things we routinely do. Then we arrange those in order on a small magnetic white board. If we're doing something I don't have a magnet for I write that on the white board (and they can generally remember what it is). I like this method because our days aren't always the same. sometimes we get together w/ a friend in the morning, sometimes we meet friends (or my parents) for lunch, sometimes we get together w/ friends in the afternoon. I can work in chores and any school things we want to do wherever they fit best. But the schedule lets the kids know what to expect in their day.

Check out other people's recipes for success here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like circle time. I used to do it when I taught, but I guess I just leave the kids at the mercy of the hour, now. (just kidding...they know their schedule pretty well!)

I may have to try it with them, though, to see how they like it.

karly said...

I like your idea for circle time. We have a circle/calendar time right now, but your magnet/clip art/schedule idea is a good one!

P.S. I like fried rice, too! :)

Anonymous said...

Since I only have one that is homeschooling right now, it's a little hard to make a circle...LOL! 8)

LOVE the fried rice recipe!! We would probably use green onion (instead of regular) and I regularly use a liquid seasoning called "Maggi" instead of soy sauce. Gonna have to give it a try!

Thanks for sharing!! : )

Sweetpeas said...

You can still do the concept of "circle time" (the way we do it anyway) w/ one kid. It's basically just a time to sit down together & read some stories, have devotions if you're so inclined, and let the kid(s) know what to expect that day. We started calling it circle time because we're very loosely using a waldorf curriculum for preschool, so that's what they call it AND when the girls were toddlers we did a couple years of "My Gym" (kind of like Gymboree) and THEY did circle time so it was a concept they understood.

And yes, the fried rice recipe can be endlessly tweaked :)

Unknown said...

I may just have to try that circle time...seems like a lot of homeschoolers have used it with success. It sounds as if it would help the littles grasp what to expect for the day. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a cute idea! ;)
Blessings,
Laurie

Anonymous said...

Your circle time sounds like a great way to start out the day, and I absolutely love your magnet idea! I wish I had thought of something similar when my children were younger. :-)

~Andrea
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/andijeane/509287/

Unknown said...

I really like the whiteboard idea, I think I'll try that out!