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Girls Clubs

Jan30

Isn’t it great to have girls and be able to do girlie things? There are some clubs that I’d like to feature because I feel it is important to affirm the feminine nature that can so easily be swept aside by society. I love that there are clubs for a girl to learn how to be a young woman while  providing service opportunities and having fun activities to do.

The first club is called Keepers at Home and can be done as a club with other girls or as a curriculum with just your family. There are two separate handbooks, one called Little Keepers at Home for ages 4-6 and Keepers at Home for ages 7-14. You can organize it as you like and there is a handbook that will guide you and give you projects to complete in order to earn badges. The areas of emphasis are: life skills, home making, scripture memorization, and service. Here is the website if you are interested: Keepers of the Faith

I also found a website that helps you begin a Keepers of the Home Group. Erica has useful tips with organizing and planning your own group. click here

The other club is American Heritage Girls. This group is for a group of young ladies 5-18, and not just for individual wanting to do their own program at home. The areas of emphasis are: life skills, leadership,teamwork, character development, social development, and spiritual development. If you are interested in starting a troop or joining one, click here.

Next week: Boys Clubs and Clubs for both boys and girls

Teaching Health and Nutrition: online resources

Jan9
English: vegetables

Image via Wikipedia

Good eating habits and choosing healthy food can be taught when children are young, and hopefully, will stay with them through adulthood. When I was little I drank kool-aid, ate Wonder white bread that I would load up with potato chips and squish between my fingers to a thickness of a piece of paper. I had a small weekly allowance that I used to try every type of candy known in America and there were very few that I didn’t like. That was good eating in my book! My wonderful mom would lecture me on my poor eating habits and would try to steer me toward better food choices, but it really wasn’t until I had my own children that I changed my wicked eating ways and began to realize that the extra weight I was carrying was not “Baby Fat” that I had acquired while being pregnant.

I’ll never forget the day my mom and I went to a local food market and I had loaded the cart with fruits, vegetables, and fresh whole grain bread. My mom looked in my cart and was beaming as she said, “I am so proud of you! You have such healthy food in your cart!” Bless my mom’s heart, her lecturing had paid off! Now, I find myself lecturing  from time to time to my own sons. 🙂

The good news for you is you don’t have to give boring lectures about food groups. There are a great number of resources available to help you with this topic. This week I have chosen to give you some websites that have online games.

Websites:

Nutrition for Kids Here are some fun online games that teach and reinforce food groups. My favorite game is called Food Drop and I must admit that I spent waaay too much time on it!

The National Dairy Council has a variety of online games that are from young elementary through upper elementary.

Blast Off Game is an online that your future astronaut is sure to enjoy. Food and exercise is the key to fueling the rocket to arrive at your destination Planet Power.

Enjoy your day and don’t forget to make wise food choices. 🙂

Fun Reads: Middle School and Junior High

Dec26

Here are some books that are sure to hold your middle school/ junior high student’s attention. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have a book recommendation.

Meet Addy, Connie Porter MS The American Girl Dolls series has been a great series of books for middle school aged girls. They are historical fiction books that feature various girls and the period of time in which they were created. The characters are girls, not dolls, but you can purchase the dolls if you like.

The Class Trip from the Black Lagoon, Mike Thaler  MS  These books are funny and have great lessons about making good decisions in them as well. This is a series of chapter books that originated from the picture book The Teacher from the Black Lagoon.EL

In Grandma’s Attic, Arleta Richardson MS  This is a great series for middle school students of adventure and faith.

My Life as a Torpedo Test Target, Bill Myers MS, JH  Wally has all kinds of adventures in a great series from Myers. If your student likes this book, the good news is there are quite a few in this series to read.

Picture Studies in Art

Dec19

I believe art is a valuable course of study for our children as it brings beauty and appreciation of the world to our children. (It is also a required subject for students if you are homeschooling here in Ohio.) If you think you have to be an artist in order to teach it, or that your children have to create a finished product, let me assure you that needn’t be the case. Studying paintings and artists can be done without creating anything, but I think it would be fun and children make better connections to the subject if this is incorporated into your studies.

A great series to introduce students to the concept of focusing on paintings is a series called Come Look with Me.There are 12 books in the series at present and each book has a painting that your student observes carefully, information about each artist and painting, and questions to discuss concerning each picture. There are no right or wrong answers since the purpose of the questions is to get children to go beyond glancing at a painting. The great thing is that young and old will enjoy these books!

Come Look with Me: World of Play, Gladys Blizzard

Come Look With Me: Enjoying Art with Children, Gladys Blizzard

 

 

 

 

 

I have found some amazing resources to help you if you are interested in pursuing picture and artist studies further. I have included some do-it-yourself studies as well as commercial packages that have everything ready to go for you.

The first one is a blog called Artist Study– Charlotte Mason Style with a tremendous amount of resources that will help you to learn more in detail about artist studies. There are many downloadable forms, book recommendations, and activities. Grades K-12.

Picture Study Portfolios is a portfolio of laminated cards of various artists with information and questions that accompany each work of art. It is designed for students K-12. This includes more than just paintings, which I like.

After you have studied some of these great paintings and learned about the artists, why not go to local art museums? Found below are a few that are within driving distance of the Cincinnati area. Don’t live in the area? Please leave a comment if you have a museum recommendation since some of us may get the opportunity to visit or another reader lives near you who would benefit from your recommendation.

Cincinnati Art Museum  Admission: FREE 🙂 Hours: Monday CLOSED Tues- Sun. 11:00 AM – 5:00PM Map and Directions

Taft Museum of Art FREE  SUNDAY Admission Hours: Monday CLOSED Tues- Sun. 11:00 AM – 5:00PM Map and Directions

Dayton Art Institute  Admission: FREE for students, $8.00 adults, $5.00 for groups and senior citizens Map and Directions

REGULAR MUSEUM HOURS
Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Thursday 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Friday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m
Sunday Noon – 5:00 p.m.

Columbus Museum of Art Admission: FREE  on SUNDAY, $10.00 adults, $5.00 for students 6-17  $8.00 for senior citizens 60+ and students 18+ with ID Map and Directions Click on Visiting

Indianapolis Museum of Art  Admission: FREE Map and Directions

Tuesday – 11 am to 5 pm
Wednesday – 11 am to 5 pm
Thursday – 11 am to 9 pm
Friday – 11 am to 9 pm
Saturday – 11 am to 5 pm
Sunday – noon to 5 pm
Closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, Kentucky  Admission: $10.00 Adult, $8.00Senior (65+),  $5.00 Child 3-17,Free for Child under 3

Wednesday 10a to 5p
Thursday 10a to 5p
Friday 10a to 9p
Saturday 10a to 5p
Sunday 12p to 5p
Monday closed
Tuesday closed

Be sure to take a journal, a pencil and some colored pencils with you to draw a favorite painting. Have a great time!

Holiday Hustle and Bustle: Less-stress school ideas

Dec7

I was just thinking of how the busyness of the holiday season and all of that hustling about can be stressful, especially when it comes to school. Why not put some fun into your school schedule and use the holiday season as a springboard for your academic studies?  Here are some of the things we have done over the years in place of our regular schedule leading up to Christmas. After the idea I have italicized the area of educational study that would pertain to it.

Write a Christmas newsletter and send it electronically This saves on postage, you can add cool graphics and be easily edited. language arts, technology

Play educational games to review facts (online math games, make- your- own math games, phonics rules, science, social studies,etc.) various subjects

Read the story of Christmas (Luke 1,2 and Matthew 1, 2) language arts- reading, listening, narration

Write and  illustrate a narrative of the Christmas story. It can be close to the original story or taken from a totally different perspective or time period.  For example: an innkeeper’s point-of-view, set in modern-day, etc. language arts-narration, summarization, grammar,punctuation

Look at the map of Jerusalem to see where Mary and Joseph traveled, calculate the distance social studies, math

Study the  vocabulary of  Christmas– manger, host of angels, Immanuel, swaddling clothes, crèche, lowly, etc. language arts

Delve into the history of  Christmas carols and share what you have learned, either through narration or a written summary. language arts, social studies

Read about other countries that celebrate Christmas social studies, language arts

Read about Hanukkah and make some Hanukkah crafts. social studies, language arts, art

Read about Saint Nicholas Look on a map to see where he lived. Discuss his life and kindness to others. social studies, language arts

Read  the history of the  Twelve days of Christmas. Who would give someone 12 lords anyway? Calculate how many items would be in our house if your true love gave you each of the items listed in the song. social studies, language arts, math

Make cookies and take to neighbors, shut-ins, and the nursing home. home arts, math, social skills 

Shop for those less fortunate. Make Christmas cards to go with the present. home arts, financial literacy, art, language arts

Write and decorate a Christmas card and send to a serviceman or woman art, language arts

Invite someone over to help bake, make crafts, or gingerbread houses.  home arts, art

Have a great month!