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By bethany canfield, 8,April,2010 12:22

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We have discovered a love for real reality TV. Yes, not staged, not programed for commercials, set up or scripted. Real time, real life, real animals are way more fun to watch anyway!! Someone just shared this link with me and the boys and I just can’t get over it, so I figured I just had to share. The kids are no begging for pet owls and hawks.

A website, Sportman’s Paradise has many live web cams for your viewing pleasure. Some are in a nest box, others are in the natural habitat of deer, wild boars and underwater viewings of fish in Florida as well as many other fun creatures to watch.

Barn Owl Nest Box Cam (this is one of our favourites!! the babies are bigger now and very strange looking, the boys just can’t get enough of them) We have read up on Barn Owls on Wikipedia now as well, and even went to an uncle’s barn where we could maybe get a real life glimpse of one- no luck, but we did end up with beautiful owl feathers! We are now slightly owl obsessed.

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The other live web cams we enjoy are:
Red Tailed Hawk Nest Cam in Philadelphia
Bald Eagle Nest In New Jersey
Deer Trail in Minnesota Live Webcam
Northern European Wild Boar Webcam (this one takes a little longer to upload, but when they are there it is sooo cool!)

Go ahead! Try to look at the live cams and not become addicted to watching the animals! It is so fun.

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What are some different kinds of non-traditional education methods do you like to implement into your homeschooling? When you were a kid is there a specific learning experience that you enjoyed and remember learning a lot from that you could share with me? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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By bethany canfield, 25,March,2010 21:18

Don’t you like it when you can do activities and games that are educational as well as something fun enough that your kids would ask to play?
We have some that we enjoy that I thought I’d share- also I am hoping that you’ll give me some more ideas on others we’ve been missing out on!

In these pictures the boys are both enjoying the Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards our friends got them for Jackson, we’ve loved them!

Some others that we love are, for electronics the LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game System works for both kids, however Oliver will grow into it, and Jackson can pretty much do most of the games we have really well. I would recommend it for 4 years old and up, but as early as 3 years old if you want to be right by their side. The games for these are great and very educational. We have:LeapFrog Educational Game: Kindergarten, Mr. Pencil’s Learn to Draw and Write, Finding Nemo, Wall-E , Cars Supercharged, Thomas & Friends Calling All Engines!, Scholastic Clifford, Leapster Arcade: Cosmic Math. We bought these when we were going to go on a long trip and they are LIFE-Savers in the car, especially for our oldest since he can completely use the device by himself!!! I was shocked at how educational these really are!

As far as multiple player games go we LOVE Brain Quest Game – Preschool & Kindergarten Edition,any of the Brain Quest cards are really fun, and the Charley Harper Memory Game.

We are really into floor puzzles as well here are several that we put together all the time:Charley Harper Flash Cards and Floor Puzzles, Melissa & Doug Solar System 48 pcs Floor Puzzle, Melissa & Doug Giant Fire Truck Floor Puzzle, Melissa and Doug Farm Friends 32 pc Floor Puzzle, Melissa & Doug Farm Friends Floor Puzzle – 24 Piece

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By bethany canfield, 25,March,2010 21:16

I sit in our homeschooling room (what we call our Schoolroom) and think of how it would have been like in the days of little house, that time period in America’s history where there were kids of all ages learning together, playing together and not separated out each year at a time. I think of the lessons that would have been learned by the older kids of taking care and watching out for the little ones, and the amazing things the little ones would have learned too-such as community, self-worth, inclusion…so much. I know I learn by helping others learn, many times even by writing it out here I learn things about myself I had never known. What are our children missing out on now that they are segregated not by what they can or cannot bring to the group as a whole, but by a very easy categorization, age. We all know kids develop at very different speeds so placing a bond on children on just that seems very much a cop-out.

This does not make sense to me for so many more reasons. One of them that it seems so obvious that not every 5 year old will be at the same level, but why give the name of ’smart’ or worse yet ‘not smart’ when it is only an age, only a year and not who the child is. For this reason and others the boys both do the work that they can do, and if they struggle I help and then move back a little in that subject. They are not being taught the same stuff, or even held to the same standard (as they are 6 and 4) however they are both exposed to much of the same material. I am constantly amazed by the boys that they will rise to my expectations.

One day I dream of buying one of these old one room schoolhouses and living in it (with an added loft for bedrooms and an add on bathroom of course) it would have been amazing back in the day. I know there is so much to be thankful for in living now, but somethings would have been better if left alone.

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A girl can dream right?! Tell me about one of your dreams, or about what you think about this schooling topic. Any thoughts?

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By bethany canfield, 18,March,2010 22:22

Nurtureshock: New Thinking about Children

This is the best parenting/child development book I have read ever!! I just cannot recommend this book enough. Every time I think about it I want to grab whoever is next to me and tell them that this book is so important and each individual who has any contact with children at all should read it. I wish you could see the full extent of my smile and how I was nodding up and down with my head like a car dash toy pretty much the whole way through NurtureShock. It is sickingly good.

There were several chapters that gave me the chills as I read them, one is the first chapter which is titled The Inverse Power of Praise, and subtitled “Sure, he’s special. But new research suggests that if you tell him that, you’ll ruin him. It’s a neurobiological fact”. Okay, so you can probably see where that is going-but the amount of research and time proved what I have known since day one with my boys. My oldest is very smart and educational success comes easily, however I have noticed that he is much quicker to give up than his younger sibling if he doesn’t get it right the first time. That is a key of this chapter, that the way we praise our children makes a world of difference as to if they will quit or try until they get it. I can’t tell you just how important this chapter is to me, especially since I am staying at home with the boys and we are homeschooling. The second I got this info I tried it and it is completely true- he started to be proud of how hard he was working and not give up as quickly!!

Another chapter (Chapter 3) Why White Parents Don’t Talk About Race, subtitled “Does teaching children about race and skin color make them better off or worse?” was shocking! This one will BLOW YOUR MIND. Study after study shows that children DO notice racial differences even if their parents never mention it at all. What this does is it causes them to think that they aren’t supposed to notice these differences either-but since they do notice they begin to think all sorts of negatives about why their parents don’t want to discuss it.

This chapter as well proved to be completely true in our home. We have been around people of different races, they have friends with different skin tones so I figured-hey why cause distinctions where there shouldn’t be any and thus ignoring the issue. I mostly did this because I really had no idea how to talk about it or what to say. Immediately after reading this chapter in the book I began telling the boys about different races, and that we needed to be sure to treat all people equal no matter if they have dark skin, light skin…and so on. Jackson’s face lit up and he said, ” I was wondering why all those men who play football looked like they have dark skin but I think they are just dirty-they probably smell bad too”. I could not believe I was so naive as to think kids could figure out such a difficult issue without my guidance. I guide them in everything else! My negligence could have been really bad if I hadn’t figured it out while reading this book. Kids will make guesses as to why others are different and without a parent’s guidance they will generally make very wrong assumptions. Now I tell all my friends-”Don’t hide race from your kids, they see it!”. My kids are 5 and 3 and they noticed already. I now am an advocate for discussing race with children!!

Those are just two of the chapters in the book and you see how it gets me going!? The other chapter titles are:

1. The Inverse Power of Praise “Sure, he’s special. But new research suggests that if you tell him that, you’ll ruin him. It’s a neurobiological fact”

2. The Lost Hour “Around the world, children get an hour less sleep than they did thirty years ago. The cost: IQ Points, emotional well-being, ADHD, and obesity”

3. Why White Parents Don’t Talk About Race “Does teaching children about race and skin color make them better off or worse?”

4. Why Kids Lie “We may treasure honesty, but the research is clear. Most classic strategies to promote truthfulness just encourage kids to be better liars”,

5. The Search for Intelligent Life in Kindergarten “Millions of kids are competing for seats in gifted programs and private schools. Admissions officers say it’s an art: new science days they’re wrong, 73% of the time”

6. The Sibling Effect “Freud was wrong. Shakespeare was right. Why siblings really fight”

7. The Science of Teen Rebellion ” Why for adolescents, arguing with adults is a sign of respect, not disrespect-and arguing is constructive to the relationship, not destructive”

8. Can Self-Control Be Taught? “Developers of a new kind of preschool keep losing their grant money-the students are so successful they’re no longer “a-risk enough” to warrant further study. What’s their secret?

9. Plays Well With Others “Why modern involved parenting has failed to produce a generation of angels”

10. Why Hannah Talks and Alyssa Doesn’t “Despite scientists’ admonitions, parents still spend billions every year on gimmicks and videos, hoping to jump-start infants’ language skills. What’s the right way to accomplish this goal?”

Again after I wrote all those out I thought, ” I need to read Nuture Shock again!!!” Uh-oh! I really just can’t tell you how much I think this book will blow you away. I didn’t %100 agree with every single thing, but really about %99 of it for sure. I can almost guarantee that you will probably want to underline and pass this book around to your friends. It is the best parenting book that I have read ever. EVER. And captivating to read too- you will understand for the first time so many things that you thought you already knew. A MUST READ.

ISBN: 9780446504126

Subtitle: New Thinking about Children

Author: Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Publisher: Twelve

Subject:Parenting, Child rearing, Child Development, Children’s Studies

Copyright:2009

Publication Date:September 2009

Pages:336

I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!

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By bethany canfield, 26,January,2010 21:53

We are going through the book of History for Little Pilgrims by Christian Liberty Press. It started with Adam and Eve and follows through history. Currently we are at the segment about the First Americans- or what we know as Native Americans. The people that were here before the European explorers came. I did like the information in the book, but I really wanted to expand on this section since I knew we could have some fun with it and when I plan out activities that really helps them understand it all.

First Americans or Native Americans used story telling as a form of passing on their history and their culture from generation to generation. Today in our history part of homeschooling we focused on the art of story telling. We read a story, called Falling Star about the Cheyenne People to get the idea of storytelling down, and then we wrote our own story about the boys letting them choose nature names. Jackson wanted his native name to be ‘Moose Tamer’ and Oliver chose ‘Buffalo Slayer’ (after I told him he couldn’t be called Astronaut). Then they worked together on this tale, a tale of two boys who are very different but work together for the greater good of their people.

The Story of Buffalo Slayer and Moose Tamer

Moose tamer found a moose and tried to get it. But he missed. He threw his spear at it and it missed and the moose got away. Then he ran back home saying that he didn’t find any meat. Then he grabbed his little brother Buffalo Slayer and went for a hunt, because their people were very hungry. They were gone for many days and were getting weaker from hunger. Then Buffalo Slayer slayed a buffalo to eat it with his people. And when they gained strength from the smoked buffalo meat and warm fire they set off again. This time Moose Tamer wanted to make a catch. But he was a lover and not a killer. He wanted to bring a moose to be his pet.

So they were gone for like 40 minutes and they found a moose, it was small and it was content. Buffalo slayer was about to shoot it with an arrow, but Moose Tamer stopped his brother and said. “No, we already have meat at the camp, we should capture and tame this Moose as a pet”. Buffalo Slayer agreed. Then they had to think of a way to catch it. They fashioned a cadge out of wood and sticks that they carved with their knives. In it they placed food that the moose liked. They snuck away into the trees and they slept. In the morning they ate their dried buffalo and drank milk for breakfast. When they looked up, still being as quiet as a star in the moonlight. They spotted the moose which was in the cage nibbling on an apple they had left for it. Quickly they raced over and closed the cage and Moose Tamer and Buffalo Slayer carried it home on their shoulders for many miles. For many moons they would work together to tame the moose-while Buffalo Slayer made sure everyone of their people was well fed with fresh buffalo meat that he killed.

-by Jackson and Oliver Canfield (2010)

Tonight we are going to act it out, they will dress up and play their parts as I read the words. The boys love learning about different cultures and history- I love doing all these fun things together!

Summary of our lesson of History and Art about the First Americans:

*Read History for Little Pilgrims pages 66 and 67 for a basic idea.

*Point out the locations mentioned on a globe (North and South America especially important)

*Explain that these peoples passed on their culture, memories and history with Storytelling

*Read an age appropriate Native American Folk Story or legend.

*Help children write their own, help them come up with their own Native names and work with them on making the story somewhat logical- but don’t hinder their creativity too much!

*If you children like to draw, have them make a picture of their favourite part of their story that you wrote together. Encourage them to spend time on it. If they would rather make a sign for their play (below) that would be great too.

*Have them dress up and act it out for their friends or family while you (or an older sibling) play the roll of Storyteller.

Outtakes

(these are the faces I got the first time I tried to take their picture, I was not a popular person!)

Can you think of other fun things to do in this lesson?? Let me know below what you think!

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By bethany canfield, 8,January,2010 21:27

This is such a fun idea that kids can do easily. We made them for grandparents as gifts, but now I want them to make me one too so I can have it in my window. All you need for this homemade kids craft is a frame (try thrift stores, they have tons!), some Wacky Glue (or other glue that is strong enough and dries clear) and some of these glass pebbles or whatever they are called.

I picked the colours at the craft store and then just dumped them out on the table after putting glue all over the glass and let the boys work away. This was a great craft for them! Both boys loved it so it works for kids age 3 to 5 for sure Enjoy the process and then gift or keep, but be sure to set it in a sunny window to get the full effect.

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By bethany canfield, 4,January,2010 22:12

How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph: A Practical Guide for Growing Great Kids

If you are a parent, you know that a parent does what a parents gotta do-that is just the way it is. We drive the kids around, we make sure they brush their teeth, we take them to school (or even Homeschool them) we aim to do everything short of coddling them in order to have them turn out into able bodied adults and well rounded individuals. However from so much scheduling and activity the most important aspect of a whole person, which is the spirit and soul is many times neglected, or passed off as “the Sunday school teacher’s job”. We aren’t doing our job as parents who love Jesus if we aren’t intentional in instilling faith into our children.

How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph is a book, or even more a type of help manual which goes through each age and stage of the child from preschool through high school and equips parents with the tools necessary to pour a passion for what is right into their children. It is called How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph because no matter what the situation, Joseph (yes as in the Joseph with the coat of many colours) was able to make the right decision even when life really was not seeming to move in his favor. God gave him a dream as a boy and he must have thought many times that it was just a hoax and that God was no where close- however the faith that he kept when it came time to make the right choices is to be admired. He was surrounded by a people who didn’t know God, who worshiped all different sorts of gods and he didn’t even have a local home Bible study to go to, or a youth group and still he stood strong.

That is what every christian parent should aim to nurture in their child, not that everything is up to the parent, but it is nice to know when your kids grow up that you did what you could with the gift that God blessed you with. It isn’t up to a youth leader to train your children spiritually, just as much as it isn’t up to the pastor make you grow. The biggest problem with kids and adults alike is that they think they go to church to be challenged and to grow- and the result is that church has never been so full of saggy and faithless Sunday-only Christians. It is up to the individual to trust God, to place their feet on steadfast ground, no program for adults or kids will ever fashion that on its own. With or without programs and church events, we as parents are called to guide our children into a real relationship with Christ.

How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph is not a step by step guide on how to raise all children, it is a guide for creating a personalized and practical plan to best help your children bloom into teenagers who know, love and serve their Lord. I will use this book with my kids. We have started working with it and I love the scripture verses that it has for each different age group. Modern-Day Joseph is an excellent book for parents to keep on hand.

Title: How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph
ISBN: 9781434765314
Subtitle: A Practical Guide for Growing Great Kids (An Awana Resource)
Author: Linda Weddle
Publisher: David C. Cook
Subject: Christian Life – Family
Publication Date: June 2009
Pages: 220

I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!

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By bethany canfield, 3,January,2010 22:49

During the holidays we got to visit the Corvallis Society of Model Engineers. These stinkin’ sweet grandpops take their model trains super seriously and we got to reap the benefits! This place has been around since 1959 and it is very neat to watch the men up in the booths with their headsets on communicating to each other and using “railroad slang”. It was almost as neat to watch them play with the trains via commands as watching the actual trains come and go all around us- nearly, but not quite. The boys were fascinated by everything, the smallness of it all and loved looking at all the miniature buildings, cranes, bridges and farm houses. It was the perfect thing to do with the boys. Thank you Grandma Canfield for taking us!

And we did finally spot the highly anticipated Spiderman Train. We looked everywhere and then just broke down and asked.

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By bethany canfield, 30,December,2009 20:33

Kids in the Holiday Kitchen: Making, Baking, Giving

The holidays are a time when everyone just wants to create. Weather it be crafts, gifts or yummy treats to eat- the time that we get to spend together is so much better spent when we get our hands sticky, right!? Kids (and even adults) of all ages will find some eye-catching pictures in Kids in the Holiday Kitchen, pictures that will reel them right in to want to make the recipes/crafts. From the Stuffed French Toast (on page 14), the Sugarplum Lollies (p. 36) to the crafts of Stellar (felted) Stockings (p. 81) and the Let There Be Light (colourful beeswax candle) (p. 88) there is more than enough so that everyone in the family will find a “must make”.

These projects are made to be kid friendly and most kids preschool age and older could do a portion of the work with a parent helper. Older kids could do them completely by themselves. It is a way that children can take ownership of making their gifts for their teachers, aunts or that special friend that needs a little encouragement. It is never to early to encourage giving and Kids in the Holiday Kitchen encourages a season of giving all year round, even from the littlest hands. This books gets two thumbs way up from me. I am leaving you with a recipe from the book that would be perfect for your New Year’s celebrations!! Yum.

New Year’s Nuggets

Chocolate-Caramel Popcorn, from Kids in the Holiday Kitchen (p. 45)

You’ll Need:

1/2 Cup Dried Yellow Popcorn
Scant 1/4 Cup Water
3 Tablespoons Canola Oil (optional)
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (optional)
1 Cup Sugar
8 Ounces Milk Chocolate
1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup

What to do:

1. Pop the popcorn.

2. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.

3. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water. Heat over medium-high heat until golden brown, and 5 minutes. Stir gently, add the orange extract, if using, stir again. Add some of the popcorn and coat it with the caramel. use a wooden utensil to help coat the corn. Place the coated kernels on the parchment paper to cool. Repeat.

4. When cool, break up the clumps of caramel corn, keeping the corn clumps on the parchment.

5. Heat the chocolate over low heat in the top of a double boiler, or in a metal bowl over a saucepan filled with 1 inch of hot water (creating your own double boiler). Heat the chocolate until it’s smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn.

6. Fill a ladle with the melted chocolate and lightly drizzle over the caramel corn. Let the chocolate caramel corn cool for 30 to 45 minutes. To make gifts, put small batches in cellophane bags; otherwise, wrap in parchment paper and keep in a Tupperware container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.

Makes 4 Cups

Watch Chronicle Book’s Kids in the Holiday Kitchen book trailer:

Title: Kids in the Holiday Kitchen
ISBN: 9780811861397
Subtitle: Making, Baking, Giving
Author: Jessica Strand & Tammy Massman-Johnson
Photographer: James Baigrie
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Subject:Holiday – Christmas, Crafts for Children, Handicraft, Recipes
Publication Date: November 2008
Pages: 95

I am an affiliate of TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!

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By bethany canfield, 23,November,2009 21:41

The boys (and I ) are studying the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans and how they both lived. First we did a study of how the settlers came, from England to the Americas.

There is so much to learn about these people from our past, this is a great adventure journey for the boys! But I wanted to find accurate portrayals of these people groups. The pendulum has strayed both back and forth on this topic but I wanted to give the boys an image that is as in the center of the truth as possible.

Did you know that really historians have no idea if turkey was even served at the First Thanksgiving, and they are certain that popcorn and cranberries and mashed potatoes were not even invented yet!? Yeah, how does that change things for you? The meat most likely served was duck and venison (or deer). Bust out your deer jerky (oh, that stuff is so good)! I wish I had some venison in my fridge that I could cook up to celebrate this Thanksgiving in real style. Oh well.

I have found some really neat sites that I want to share:

You Be The Historian- this is my favourite site filled with good info, activities and many read-out-loud clickable buttons so even the littlest ones can enjoy hearing the story read to them.

The First Thanksgiving- This one is great for checking out the different topics so you can focus on one aspect a day. It has three main topics with tons of subtopics in each) of The Voyage of the Mayflower, Daily Life, The Thanksgiving Feast. Enjoy!

Plymouth Plantation, study topics: The ‘Pilgrims’ as People, Understanding the Colony this provides the information about he Colonists, their reasons for leaving, religious beliefs, cultural beliefs, all in all click there and you’ll get to know the pilgrims! Much of this stuff is way too much for kindergartners, but it is great for you as a parent teacher to read through and then give your kids a kindergarten level lesson of what you have learned. Here are some other great topics on the Plymouth Plantation website: Plymouth Colony Timeline, The Mayflower Compact, Building a Wampanoag Home in the 17th Century,

Seriously now, there was No Popcorn at Thanksgiving!? Yeah.

Example of how to teach little ones about the Wampanoag and the Settlers:

Our Weeks Worth of Lessons on How the First Thanksgiving Took Place:

For Each of the following lessons, go to the above recommended sites and learn all you can on the topics before teaching your children. There is so much to learn, but you probably want to start out slow and just let them soak it will all be really new to them. ENJOY!

Reasons the Pilgrims Left England and The Mayflower’s Journey : Show the kids pictures of the ship, do some interacting on sites with the Mayflower. Have kids write or name a list of things they would bring if they had to leave their home behind. How many people were on the ship? How many made it? Have kids draw or colour a picture of the Mayflower.

The First Year and Learning to be Prepared: What did they learn? Talk about the seasons. What if they would have arrived in the early spring? Have kids list things they would plant for survival. Show kids what their houses looked like. Have children draw their garden and the house they would build. Remind them to stick with the time period, and that everything was done by hand. Build a house with blocks or Lincoln logs.

Wampanoag Culture: Who are they? Tell the children the story of the Wampanoag helping the Settlers. Look online at crafts made by the Wampanoag. Have them draw their favourite, or colour a picture of it. The Wampanoag made many clay pots, alow each child to make his own clay pot from some craft store clay or homemade play dough. Use a sharpened pencil to carve small designes in the outside of it. Include Hunting and Fishing, Weapons/Hunting Utensils if you want a longer lesson.

Wetu Homes of the Wampanoag Inside and Out. Show the children pictures of how these were built. Look at many different pictures of Wetus and then have your children draw their own. Spend the rest of the time building a fort out of things that are in your house or if you are hardcore in your backyard, explain to the children that out of the items the Wampanoag had their homes were completely practical for what they needed.

Reasons to Celebrate: Why the First Thanksgiving Took Place. What food was there for sure? Ask the kids to list what they would have at a feast if they could pick their favorite foods? Explain how when you are trying to survive you can only eat what you have. Go to the library and check out some Thanksgiving books to read. Talk about how the sharing of what each culture had made this feast what it was. With your kids make a banner, a string with pieces of paper folded over that hang on it (see below) either write out the word ‘thankful’ with a letter on each paper or you could as your kids to write what they are thankful for on each sheet, or draw a picture.

Do you have suggestions? Questions? Advice? Please share.