Archive by Author | Lisa McAfee

See Cincinnati: Findlay Market

Jun20

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Findlay Market is an area of many shops and is located on Race Street. You will be in for a great treat and is a spot that everyone in your family will enjoy.

Address: 1801 Race Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 665-4839

Website: http://www.findlaymarket.org

Hours: Findlay Market is open year round.

Monday OFF

Tuesday-Friday: 9am-6 pm

Saturday 8am-6pm

Sunday 10am-4pm

The Farmers Market is open seasonally-

Thursday 3pm-6 pm

Saturday 8am-2pm

Sunday 10am-4pm

Parking is available, but there is a fee and spaces are limited. Most vendors accept only cash, so make sure you bring some with you. Also, bring a small cooler to take home any meat or produce you purchase for your ride home.

This historic market has all kinds of remarkable goods that you must go there at some point. Fresh meat can be purchased at reasonable prices. While on  a recent trip there I brought home a chicken that had been slaughtered just that morning; you can’t get any fresher than that! You will be tempted to purchase  plants, local produce, newly baked breads and baked goods, natural products, freshly made waffles, fabulous homemade soaps, yummy teas and coffees, and fresh spices to add to your favorite dishes. If you have little ones whose interest may wane before you are ready to leave have them look for the most unusual item they can find or the funniest name of something that is for sale. Believe me, there are some names of items that I had never heard of and had to ask how to pronounce!

There are also restaurants if you get a hankering to try something while you are there. These have menu items that range from ice cream to fresh grilled burgers to delicious gyros.

If you haven’t been to Findlay Market, pack up the family and head down there for a great time!

Source: Adventures Around Cincinnati

 

 

 

Adventures Around Cincinnati

Jun13

I met Laura Hoevener, co-author of the book Adventures Around Cincinnati, a few months ago at a homeschool event and was tickled when we started talking about her book because  I thought this would be a great resource to pass along to you! I will post some sites throughout the year for you and your family to investigate throughout the Greater Cincinnati Area. Some are less known than others and I will start with one that I have not been to before.

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The American Sign Museum 513-541-6366

Address: 1330 Monmouth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45225

Website: http://www.signmuseum.org

Hours: Monday, Tuesday  OFF

Wednesday- Saturday 10am-4:00 pm

Sunday Noon- 4pm

Guided tours are at $2.00- schedule to ensure availability by going to website or calling.

Cost: $15.00 Adults,  FREE children 12 and under, $10.00 Seniors

This museum tells the story of signs, beginning with wooden ones all the up to the present. The collection has signs dating from 1890-1972 with a Main Street exhibit that sounds amazing. There is a section on neon signs and the bonus is that there is a company located in the building called Neonworks and you can watch the craftsmen work as they crate signs.

 

MathStart Books

Jun6

Have you ever heard the term living books? Charlotte Mason, a British educator who lived at the turn of the twentieth century, coined the phrase. One of the things that she believed was that children learn best by reading good literature. Thus, the term, “living books”.

I have a math series of living books written by Stuart J. Murphy called MathStart that is for preschool through middle school, which  you can use to introduce or reinforce mathematical concepts through a story.  I recommend that you read these books together to discuss the topic if it is a new concept and then provide the opportunity for your child to read them independently to review and reinforce what you discussed.

There are 63 titles in the series, and while I am not going to list every title, I will give you an idea of what topics are covered and provide you with a link of all the titles in this great series at the bottom of the post.

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Level 1 Ages 3+

Matching

Pattern Recognition

Directions

Opposites

Comparing Amounts

 

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Level 2 Ages 6+

Counting by 2s, 3s, and 4s

Adding

Subtracting

Understanding Halves

Probability

 

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Level 3 Ages 7+

Dollars and Cents

Subtracting

Fractions

Angles

Multiplying

You can click on the picture of the books above to see the description and free activities asssociated with it or go to the MathStart website for details on each title. MATHSTART

You can click on the book list to review all of the titles in this great series. 

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4 End of the School Year Details

May30

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Many of you will be finishing homeschooling in the next few weeks. Let me give you three cheers and a high five! Congratulations on accomplishing completing a year of teaching. As you wrap up your year, here are four details to remember:

  • Celebrate the accomplishments of your school year. You did it! You taught your child something new this year that they did not know previously. It could have been addition or subtraction facts, how to read, or the discipline of finishing within a deadline.  Head to the nearest ice cream parlor to treat yourself and your student on a job well done.
  • Check to see what the requirements are for you to continue homeschooling. In Ohio you either need to have your child take a nationally normed test or have a licensed teacher, such as myself, review your student’s school work.
  • Evaluate what worked this year, what needs to be changed. Did you have a successful school year with the spelling program that you used? Then, do not change it! If there were struggles, was it because of the curriculum or is there a possibility of something else occurring, such as a learning difficulty?
  • Take a break! You and your child deserve a break after a long school year. Take some time off to replenish and renew yourselves. If you are concerned about losing ground on reading or math skills, then just do a little bit of reading and reviewing math facts  each week.

Have a great week!

~Lisa

 

Online Math Games

May23

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Reviewing math facts can be tedious to both student AND parent! Can I get an amen? 🙂

Is it necessary? Yes!

Why? Automaticity only occurs when you know something so well that you don’t even have to think about it; you just do it! In order for that to occur, a new skill first starts out as short term memory. It hasn’t been mastered and therefore cannot be done without reviewing what has been taught.

Next comes reviewing. Okay, you might be thinking, we will review for a week and the concept will be remembered. Some things are like that, but unfortunately, most things are not.

For instance, how many times did you sing the ABC song with your little one and have your child recite the alphabet until  it became automatic? How about counting to twenty? I would say more times than you care to remember. The same applies with math facts (all basic operations: +,-, x, /). In order for something to go to long term memory and be automatic, the brain must have a “rut” along which that information travels down.  This comes from repeating the same information again and again and again and… Students falter in multi- digit multiplication and division if they do not have the math facts memorized.

How do you keep your patience and sanity while they are still in the process of repeating these facts? How about some online games? I have made a list of websites with free online games that have games for all operations.

ixl has games and activities from preschool all the way through pre-calculus. Of course, high school doesn’t have games, but they do have sample problems. Rats!

Math Playground This has more than just addition and subtraction. There are fractions, decimals, ratios and percents from grades 1-6.

Sheppardsoftware Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division as well as fractions, money, algebra, and place value are topics that can be reviewed here.

Interactive Sites for Education  There are more games on this website than you would want your child to spend on the computer!

Have a great week!

~Lisa