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Dirty Hands, Mud-Covered Toes: Gardening with Kids

Apr23

Isn’t it funny how as a kid there are certain things you hate and as an adult you find joy in doing those very things? That’s how it is for me and gardening. My mom was a member of the National Herb Society and had her own shop that sold live plants. She also taught classes, made dried floral arrangements, and gave tours of her gardens. My sisters and I were relegated to various gardening duties, almost all which I detested.

Now that I am all grown up 🙂 I have my own floral and vegetable gardens and find pleasure in the process. I still hate weeding, but I love the colors, flowers, and produce that are a result of what I have helped cultivate.

As an educator I am always looking for opportunities to teach from real life experiences and this is a fun way to do it. Little ones can learn their colors, and counting, older children learn responsibility, patience, life cycles, parts of plants, cooperation, harvesting, food preparation, and so much more!

If you haven’t tried gardening, why not begin this year? I will post pictures of my gardens once there is something to show you. Whether you are a veteran or a novice, send a picture to me of your garden and I’ll have a gallery for all to enjoy.

I have listed some books about gardening that you can use with your children. While these books are geared toward younger students, I find those to be the best when just starting out as they provide simple instructions and pictures.

The Ultimate Step-by Step Kids’ First Gardening Book: Fantastic Gardening Ideas  This is a book for beginning gardeners ages 5-12 that will help you get started. It has 120 projects that you can do with your children so you will never be wondering what you can do with that patch of plants you have growing.

Kids Garden! The Anytime, Anyplace Guide to Sowing & Growing Fun This book for ages 9-12 provides you with basic  gardening tips as well as vegetable plant that grow well together. Yes, plants can benefit being near each other, as is the case with corn and beans. Some vegetables can be grown together  in a small area if placement is an issue (corn, pole beans, and squash). If you have never seen the Kids Can series before they are fun and easy to understand with practical suggestions.

Green Thumbs: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening, Laurie Carlson I used this book with my  children when we planted a small vegetable garden when they were young. It has great tips on how to plant your seeds, make homemade bug spray, and how to use items milk jugs to make plant markers, watering cans, and plant tents. It also has projects and a list of seed companies to help you get started.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening with Children, Sharon Lovejoy This is one of my favorites because I love the way Ms. Lovejoy writes and her illustrations are whimsical. This book reminds me of the peacefulness that I find when I am in my gardens. It is different from others in that each garden is thematic with one being a pizza patch, another a medicinal garden, and yet another being a garden for birds to enjoy. There are several more types of gardens that you can plant, but the theme for the book is that you and your child(ren) will garden together.

If you are interested in pursuing gardening with your children and want to start out small, I found an internet site that has several kits for you to purchase. No need to get the seeds, buy the soil, they have it all there for you! Gardening With Kids

If you are interested in purchasing heirloom seeds (non-GMO), here is a company that has been recommended. Baker Creek Seeds

For whatever reason you may decide not to have a garden of your own. If you live in the Cincinnati area and still want to be involved in gardening you can participate in this program.

 

Granny’s Garden School in Loveland is a wonderful resource for families, Boy/Cub Scout groups, AHG groups, volunteering, gardening (including shared harvesting), and they have a nice nature trail too.  She is planning another Homeschool series this summer (4 weekly sessions on weekday mornings) – let me know if you are interested in more details! Margaret.Burgdorf@grannysgardenschool.org  It was a great success last year for ages 3-15!Roberta (Granny) is very homeschool friendly and always welcomes parent/child groups to come together to learn in the gardens. Here is a schedule of events: http://grannysgardenschool.org/100-1-00-a-year-in-grannys-garden-school.htmlCurrent Fundraisers:$25 Family Garden Kit: http://www.grannysgardenschool.org/418-0-00-family-garden-project.htmlHUGE plant sale coming May 5-6, click here for details:http://grannysgardenschool.org/403-00-0-plant-sale-webpage.htmlCheck out the website at: www.grannysgardenschool.org – there is always something going on that you could be involved with.  The gardens are conveniently located on Loveland-Madiera Road just a couple minutes from I-275.

Fiction: Junior, Senior High

Apr16

It is difficult at times to find books that are appropriate for junior high students since adult themes are introduced earlier and earlier. Here are some titles that I have read that are “good stories” and I think your student(s) will enjoy. There are also senior high titles listed below them.

** JH  junior high  SH senior high

My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George  JH A story of a young man living by himself in the wilderness and the adventures he has while there.

Artemis Fowl, Eion Colfer  JH Artemis is a boy genius who is spoiled and doesn’t always do the right thing. It is fantasy with fairies, but I thought it was a good adventure book for my early teen sons and led to many discussions concerning consequences and honesty. There are several in this series, all of which we enjoyed.

Redwall, Brain Jacques JH A great tale of good versus evil, with good triumphing. Junior high students will enjoy reading them on their own. If you can find this on CD, listen to it to get the full effect of the text. I love how the author narrates his own book and has other actors as well. They are well done and make the book come alive. If you like this book you will be pleased to know there are many more titles to choose from as Mr. Jacques was a prolific writer. There is also an animated series you can purchase based upon the books.

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis JH, SH  This is a seven book series of the adventures of children who were sent away to the country during World War II.  I am recommending these for junior and senior high because of the symbolism that is in each of these books.

The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien SH  This is the first book in the series, Lord of the Rings, and my favorite one of the epic struggle between good and evil. This is wonderful on CD and the whole family will enjoy it.

Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle SH I never tire of reading about Sherlock Holmes. His power of observations and deduction have made these stories a favorite since they were first written in the 19th century. If you own a kindle, any of the books can be downloaded for free.

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens SH  John 15: 13 states, “Greater man has no man, than he lay his life down for a friend” is true in this story set during the French Revolution. I have read this book a half-dozen times and it never fails to move me to tears, it is that powerful. This is another book that is free for your kindle.

The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas SH A fictionalized account of the Roman guard who won Jesus’ robe. This book was made into a movie so you can have your student write a comparison/contrast paper between the book and movie.

Happy Reading! 🙂

The Big Top: A Circus Unit

Apr9

Who doesn’t love the circus? There are so many wonderful acts and animals for children and adults to see. If you are feeling that you need a boost to finish out your school year, here is a list of books and some activities that are circus themed.

Books

The Circus Alphabet, Linda Bronson This simple rhyming text and alphabet book is terrific for younger children.

Circus Caps for Sale Esphyr Slobodkina  A lovable hat peddler unwittingly gets involved with a circus, animals and all!

If I Ran the Circus, Dr. Seuss A rhyming text of outrageous characters and antics involving a circus.

Olivia Saves the Circus, Ian Falconer Olivia is an adorable pig who relates her circus experiences that your children will enjoy reading.

The Circus Ship, Chris Van Dusen  This is based on a true story about ship wrecked animals off the coast of Maine.

Language Arts Ideas for the Above Mentioned Books

 The Circus Alphabet

Your circus performer can choose the letters from their name to make their own circus alphabet. Here is an example:

M is for money to buy a ticket for the show.

E is for electricity to pop the popcorn fluffy and light. (All I could think of since elephant  was the obvious choice!)

L is for lion tamer bold and brave.

You can reinforce the ideas from The Circus Alphabet by going to the page, Happy Together,   to make fabric alphabet letters. I think this would be fun to hang on a clothesline like they show since in the back of my mind I can see circus performers hanging their laundry between caravans. This is an especially nice idea for preschoolers and beginning readers.

 Circus Caps for Sale

Help the cap peddler by making an advertisement for his caps.

Act out the story.

You can also read one of my all time favorite books with the same peddler called Caps for Sale

 If I Ran the Circus

Write your own story about how you would run the circus. Illustrate and share your story with someone.

Olivia Saves the Circus

After reading the book discuss fact, fiction.

Read more stories of Olivia the Pig.

The Circus Ship

Draw pictures of the animals that were shipwrecked.

Make up a different tale or poem about what happened to the shipwrecked animals.

Join a Circus (Activities)

Have a parade The circus comes to town with a parade so why not decorate bikes and wagons with streamers and balloons and have a circus parade? The children can dress up as various circus performers such as acrobats, ringmaster, clowns, etc.

Tightrope walking Use the clothesline from the fabric alphabet letters (Happy Together website) to use as a tightrope on the ground. This is a great way to  practice balancing.

Strongest Person in the World Have a contest to see who is the strongest by weight lifting. If you have 1 or 2 pound weights you can see how many times each person can lift them. Extend the contest by making  it a math lesson by graphing the results.

Lion Tamer  The children can take turns being the tamer and the lions. This can be done by setting up an obstacle course that the lions must complete upon command. Your obstacle course could include the following:  green and red construction paper circles, a jump rope, and a hula hoop. These are just a few ideas, if you are creative, don’t stop there!

The lion tamer would give directions and say something like this,

” Lions, jump from the green circle to the red circle.”

“Lions, crawl on the ground until you reach the tightrope.”

” Walk across the tightrope and do a somersault at the end.”

“Jump into the hula hoop. Put your paws in the air and roar as loud as you can!”

Switch and let someone else be the new lion tamer.

You can make the lion act as long as you wish. Several sets of directions can be typed out ahead of time for reading skills or you can let them improvise, depending upon how much you want to put into this. By doing this activity  listening and following directions are employed in a fun way.

Acrobats Do you have a child who enjoys gymnastics? They could create an act by doing cartwheels, backbends, and somersaults.

Clowns  A circus is not complete without clowns! You could make balloon animals and come up with a funny act. Have your clowns wear face paint and pantomime. Let the audience guess what they are pantomiming. Here are some ideas for pantomime:

Eating popcorn, playing instruments (trumpet, trombone, bass drum, flute, etc.), selling concessions through the crowd, giving away flowers, feeding the animals, etc.

Have fun!

Good Reads: Middle School, Junior High

Apr2

I haven’t had a lot of time recently to read many books, but I wanted to pass along a few great titles of books that I have had an opportunity to read. These titles are sure to not only interest middle school and junior high students, but they can be read aloud in the evenings to the entire family.

If you haven’t heard of this series I think you are going to love reading them. It is called the Wilderking Trilogy, which is set in the Middle Ages period. It is a terrific retelling of the story of David, the biblical character. The story of David and Goliath is one that children are told repeatedly in Sunday School, but do they know what happened before or after he fights the giant?  This series is a wonderful compliment to the bible and will lend itself to discussion about being faithful and loyal against all odds. I have just found out that there is a prequel that will be released soon and I am looking forward to reading more about Aidan and the kingdom of Corenwald.

The Bark of the Bog Owl, Jonathan Rogers

The Secret of the Swamp King, Jonathan Rogers

The Way of the Wilderking, Jonathan Rogers

As a follow-up to the books, you will want to check out Jonathan Rogers’ Feechie Film Festival. Funny tales are found here of whether people believe in these wild creatures [or not].

Strange Journey Back, Paul McCusker [Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey].  If you are familiar with the  audio series of the Adventures in Odyssey, this is the printed format. My sons loved the audio series that Focus on the Family produced and listened to them daily on the radio.

Happy reading! 🙂

Homeschool Product Catalogs

Mar26

As home school conventions approach and school is starting to wrap you, one’s mind tends to go toward the products you’d like to read about in order to make decisions for next year. I like to look at catalogs and read the reviews of products from a few trusted sources. Where do you start? Here are the companies that I rely on to help me with my decisions.

Rainbow Resource Catalog The granddaddy of them all, this catalog gives a description about each curriculum product they sell. I appreciate that and refer many home school families to them for that very reason. If you would get a paper catalog it 3 inches thick and has over 1,300 pages! I just looked! Click here for their website.

Christian Book Distributors sells individual products as well as packaged curriculum.

I realize that some of you are not interested in or comfortable with putting all of your own curriculum together and want a package instead.  Here is a list  of companies who offer just that!

Sonlight offers a literature-based, Christ-centered curriculum from preschool through high school. I used their American History program with some modifications and read many of their read-aloud books to my sons.

Timberdoodle has been in business for 25 years and has first-hand experience with nearly all of the products they recommend.

Do you have a favorite company that offers homeschool products and curriculum that I haven’t mentioned? Feel free to add to the list.