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THANKSGIVING Weekly Wrap-Up: November 19-21

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This was a light week! We had to smoosh all of our appointments into the first three days of the week… SO not a ton got done.

What did happen:

We read through our Thanksgiving books from this post.

We watched a Drive-Thru History Video about the Mayflower, which complemented the books we read nicely.

Lots of circuits were built using the Snap Circuit set the kids got LAST Christmas. (I think it was used more this past week than the whole last year!)

It was a pretty lazy week!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

6 Easy Mood Busters for Homeschool Families

This post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).

Let’s face it. If you’re a homeschool family, you’re together A LOT. You get to make tons of amazing memories together, but you also see the less than ideal sides of each other – A LOT. There are times when the mood in your home will go south (FAR south) and you just want to throw the day away and start fresh. But that’s not how it works…

In this post, I’ve included some of the ways we combat crabbiness in our own home. Mind you our kids are 4, 8, 10… SO, if it’s moody teenagers you’re dealing with, well, I can’t really speak to that.

Read Aloud

It’s amazing to me how reading aloud a good book(whether print or audiobook) can bring everyone together. Notice I said a GOOD book. You’ve got to pick one that will draw them in. For us that good book is currently Farmer Boy on audiobook, read by Cherry Jones. The whole family enjoys listening to it.

I’ve got a saying that was inspired by a certain movie with Kevin Costner from the 80’s, “If you read it, they will come.” And hopefully snap out of it!

Music

With winter here, (no not technically, but let’s face, temps in the teens and 20’s, um yeah… that’s winter!), I know my own mood is sinking just a bit. I don’t have that skip in my step that I have when the sun is shining or when I hear the birds singing.

For me, music is always a mood changer. Lately, our family has been playing Slugs & Bugs around mealtimes and it really can change a climate of fighting and crankiness to one of smiles and laughter. And with Christmas around the corner, I just have to add, Slugs & Bugs Christmas has been their favorite Christmas album for 8 years! It’s a winner!

Games

Games can be a mood changer, provided you don’t have anyone in your family that is super competitive. No one has kids (or spouses) like that, right!? But seriously, if the mood is tense, playing a game together may be able to cut through the tension. You can find a few of our favorites in this post.

Poetry Teatime

Bake a treat. Light a candle. Set out the tablecloth and just enjoy reading some poetry together. Never tried Poetry Teatime? You can learn about it here: Poetry Teatime 101.

Get Outside

This may not be a possibility due to your climate. And I will admit, I thoroughly despise feeling cold. BUT, it is amazing how therapeutic being outside can be. I have seen how just going outside can change the moods in my kids pretty drastically, not to mention quickly.

Pray

Sometimes, especially if it’s you with a bad mood, you may just need to remove yourself from a situation and pray. And if you can’t remove yourself, just pray right where you are. Even if you don’t feel like it. In fact, it’s always best to start with prayer!

I’d love to hear from some of you… What do you do to combat crabbiness in your home? Leave your comment below.

Weekly Wrap-Up: November 12-16

The highlights…

Family Drawing Workshop

Through our Read Aloud Revival Membership we get access to a few already recorded workshops. So on Monday morning, I thought it would be fun to do a Christmas Drawing Workshop. The instructor was Ralph Masiello, creator of various drawing books such as “Ocean Drawing Book” and “Bug Drawing Book”, that you can find here. The Kids spent over an hour drawing various Christmas-y type things. I must say it was a great way to start the week! And even though my oldest is a natural born artist, she learned some new techniques that she was excited to implement!

Farmer Boy

We’ve been listening to Farmer Boy on Audiobook. This week we heard about how Almanzo and his siblings made candy/taffy from molasses, sugar, and water. My kids desperately wanted to try this. So we found a recipe here and attempted to make our own taffy. It did not turn out so well, and we eventually gave up and formed little candy balls instead. My daughter nicknamed them “Lassies”. They taste better than they look!

Field Trip: Musical Zoo

On Tuesday we went with some of our old co-op friends to attend the symphony. It was only a 45-minute performance (perfect for a 4-year-old!). It was a very engaging performance that began with a narrator reading a few Aesop’s fables while the orchestra “accompanied”. Then the orchestra played Carnival of the Animals, a 14 movement suite, written by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns in 1886. It was a very entertaining performance.

‘Life of Fred’ Marathon

Every few weeks my kids get the itch to complete a giant amount of their Life of Fred books. This week was such a week. Joe completed about 15 chapters which was almost a whole book! I love Life of Fred for so many reasons, one being how it is quirky and fun. Many times I have found Life of Fred books laying in Lydia’s bed. They are a great choice for outside the box learners! To learn more about Life of Fred, go here.

3 Books to Help Your Family Reflect on the Meaning of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching! Um… 8 days away! As I pulled out the books we use to prepare for, and reflect on the meaning and history of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be nice to share them here.

Note: All of the links here are affiliate links and purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).

The Story of the Pilgrims by Katharine Ross is a picture book perfect for the littlest learners. There is not as much text, but the text that is there is true to the history of Thanksgiving. The pictures are simple, yet vibrant. It’s a very easy and short read.

Another picture book, Three Young Pilgrims, by Cheryl Harness, has a bit more text and the pictures have a great level of detail. A perfect book for kids who love lots of information tidbits, this book has quite a few illustrations with intricate detail and labeling. I’ve included a picture of one page so you can see what I mean. This book is always a favorite with my kids.

Page from Three Young Pilgrims displaying detail:

And finally, a beautiful hardcover book (coffee table worthy) that is meant to be read aloud, Thanksgiving A Time to Remember, by Barbara Rainey, is a book that goes into more detail of the Thanksgiving story. It is meant to be read aloud as a family over the course of a week. It could also be read in one long sitting. There are pictures included, but it is not a picture book. This book was put out by Family Life Publishing and also includes a CD of worshipful instrumental music. This one is pretty pricey on Amazon, and unfortunately not much cheaper on Ebay. But it is a good one!

Happy reading!

Weekly Wrap-Up: November 5-9

It was a less eventful week than normal. Here are the highlights.

Great Wolf Lodge

We spent Sunday night to Monday afternoon at Great Wolf Lodge in the Dells. The kids LOVED it and it was nice to have some fun family time.

Great Wolf Lodge

Bravewriter

We went further with some of the elements of Bravewriter that we’ve already introduced. For this week’s Poetry Teatime, Lydia made Sushi for our snack. We read more Limericks and wrote another limerick together using this printable.

Bravewriter has a Friday Freewrite suggestion each week, and this week’s freewrite was to write ‘your favorite word’ in as many sentences as possible. That went over well, and since the suggestion gets emailed to right my inbox each week, so we’ll be trying it again!

We also played the Communication Game again, which is proving to be a favorite. I drew a picture. And then Joe described the picture to Lydia. The game really forces the kids to think about what words they use and also to pay close attention to the words other people are using. Not only that, but it’s lighthearted and fun. We all laughed together over the results!

Bravewriter Communication Game — Here is Joe looking at the original picture I drew and describing it to his sister.

Little brother keeping busy making his own drawings 🙂

Arrival of Winter

This was the first week after Daylight Savings and it hit me harder this year. With Daylight Savings we also had the weather to bring on winter… SNOW! I admit I find it very pretty but knowing it will be cold for the next 5 months is a little daunting.

I found this article on SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) to give lots of helpful tips to get through the winter slump. I’m going to try to get into the mindset of getting cozy this winter. Candles, twinkle lights, soups, hot beverages, lots of family games, reading by the fire… We can do this!

One major silver lining is my kids love playing outside in the winter. Way more than any other season. Go figure! They love turning the marsh in our backyard into their very own Narnia, with maps and everything to go with it. Love their imaginations!

Sign language

Our friend is doing a sign language class for us and a few other families. We’ve had two sessions so far, and we’ve learned a fair amount. This week we learned all about counting and numbers. We learned how to count up to the billions and beyond. So interesting!

The rare occasion a list works for our ‘right-brained’ creative kid…

I am a list person.

Checking off boxes makes me happy. There is even this super handy app called “Doit.im” that helps me keep my life in order. I get to check off boxes every day or very easily move them to another day. I seriously think checking off boxes releases dopamine in my brain. Kinda twisted, I know… Unless maybe you’re a list checker yourself, then you get it!

I also happen to be the mom to an amazing young lady, who is NOT a list person.

A girl who is creative, non-linear, super right-brained, and definitely outside the box! She is a huge part of the reason I don’t do a ton of homeschool planning, and why I plan backwards. She doesn’t like to do things in any particular order and is ~~often~~ almost always thinking of something new to create. I do print out weekly lists of the individual core things(math, writing, chores, piano practice) that need to be done each day, but usually I am cattle prodding a bit to make sure those things get done (besides piano, I usually don’t have to cattle prod her to get that completed).

But there’s a phenomenon that happens occasionally in our home.

And I can’t remember the first time it happened. And I can’t quite figure out why it works so well. It goes like this… I leave the house for a few hours and she is left in the care of my husband or my parents. I leave her with a list to complete. She doesn’t complain. I come home 2 hours later. The list is complete. WHAT?!

I’m still trying to figure out WHY this works.

In fact, I almost look forward to days I have to leave for a bit because there is little to no battling. I’m trying to figure out how to replicate this on our typical days. But I think that’s part of it… me leaving for a few hours is not a typical day and she craves novelty and non-typical.

I have my other hypotheses… Like maybe she loves being independent and this is foreshadowing of how she will do “in the real world”. Or maybe it feels like it’s a ‘beat the clock’ type thing and there is a little fire under her tush once I leave the house. Whatever it is, I welcome it! Especially in our current season, where my 8-year-old is doing 9 months of Vision Therapy, and I occasionally leave my daughter with my mom or dad. I can leave her with a list, and know it will get done!

Are you a list person or do you loathe them? How about your kids? If you’re not a list person, what motivates you to get stuff done?

Why I Named My Blog ‘Outside the Box Learners’

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of starting a blog, at least for me, is all the ideas of possible posts that come to you and then having to decide what to write about next. Well… that and the logistics of creating a website! But to think I originally thought I might not have enough to write about! Ha! This has been a fun adventure for me. Re-discovering the joy I experience while writing has been amazing, and the fact that I get to fuse it with my everyday job of homeschooling my kids makes it even better!

My blog is still very young at this point. Before I write any more posts, I wanted to address why I named my blog ‘Outside the Box Learners’. It actually was my first choice for a website name and was thrilled it was available!

Defining ‘Outside the Box’

Let’s start with a definition of ‘outside the box‘. When I hear those words I think of anything that is not conventional, or anything different from the norm. Not mainstream.

According to Dictionary.com, ‘outside the box’ is an idiom that means:

“in an innovative or unconventional manner; with a fresh perspective”

What is an ‘Outside the Box Learner’

This might more appropriately be stated who is an outside the box learner? People are who’s, not what’s, after all! Unless maybe you are a character in a Dr. Seuss book. 😉

Since we’ve already covered what ‘outside the box’ means, it should be clear what an ‘outside the box learner’ is, because we’re just tagging learner to our definition. And thus we get: A learner who learns in an innovative or unconventional manner or a learner with a fresh perspective.

When I first got the bug to start a blog, I knew I wanted to write about my homeschooling experiences both of my son with dyspraxia and also my daughter who is gifted, especially in the creativity arena. From the little research I did about ‘outside the box’ students, it was my guess that my daughter more readily fit the stereotype usually thought of when one hears the words ‘outside the box‘.

Outside the Box Learners Learn in Unconventional Ways

Being the analytical person I am, I really thought about those words ‘outside the box’, specifically how they mean unconventional and outside the norm. I use unconventional methods to homeschool both my 8 and 10-year-old.

For my son, I frequently make modifications to help him succeed, specifically with handwriting, which is very hard for him. He is very asynchronous in that his reading capabilities and handwriting capabilities are lightyears apart. If he was in a regular classroom, he would not be your typical student. I LOVE that I am able to meet him where he’s at and he doesn’t have to feel like he’s “less than” or just “can’t keep up” due to his difficulties with handwriting. And he is able to maintain a love for learning!

My daughter is my creative child who definitely approaches things with a fresh perspective. She is inventive and always thinking of something new to try (as I write this she’s making sushi, which she’s done before, but this time experimenting with new ingredients!). She is in her happiest and most peace-filled state when she is creating something new. Her mind is in a constant state of motion. She hates worksheets and anything conventional really and learns by doing and teaching. In my opinion, she is a poster child for an “outside the box learner”.

Emphasis On Learners

Since I knew I would be writing a lot about my kids and our homeschool, I wanted to emphasize learners in my website name. And really the whole reason I’ve come around to homeschooling the way I do is to meet their needs, which I talk about in this post: How We Became Outside the Box Learners.

They learn in unconventional ways, so I’ve come around to teaching in unconventional ways.

Weekly Wrap-Up: October 29 – November 2 (free poetry printable)

Weekly Wrap-Up: October 29 – November 2

We spent the better part of two days this past week on outings. Both outings were unplanned but also welcomed and wonderful. And I love how these outings didn’t stress me out and attribute that to planning backward s.

The Outings

One of our outings was to a local park to check out a short but picturesque trail. We also discovered that the trail is part of the National Scenic Ice Age trail and explored new parts of it we had never seen. I always find it amazing how being in God’s creation is so therapeutic. The fresh air was good for us all.

Our other outing was an impromptu trip to see my grandpa, who lives about an hour away. We did not get much done in the way of our studies that day. However, the time spent together was lovely.

Limericks

We had an entertaining Poetry Teatime this week with an emphasis on limericks. We read quite a few limericks from this book, and then created some of our own. Check out this printable if you want to try making your own!

Duolingo

I mentioned a few weeks ago we were trying out Pronunciator, an online foreign language curriculum offered through our local library. Unfortunately, it was not the most user-friendly in that we had difficulty with signing in. Probably a user error…😬 In any case, I looked around and found a free app called Duolingo that is much easier for the kids to use. Both of the older kids have been enjoying learning some Espanol.

Vision Therapy Update

Joe has now been in Vision Therapy for a month. We are 11% done (no – we’re not keeping track!) It’s going well and we’re in the rhythm of getting his exercises done at home each day. We have already seen some mild improvement in his handwriting and gross motor skills.

At the recommendation of the Vision Therapy Center (where he goes for therapy), he has been using a slant board, which has been very helpful to him when he needs to complete seat-work.

If you have a kiddo who has difficulty with handwriting I can not recommend using a slant board or slanted surface enough. A large binder can also provide a slanted surface. Working on a slanted surface cuts the fatigue down for kids who struggle with handwriting, and for anyone really. There’s a reason that desks in the “olden days” were on a slant!

Goal-setting

In my head, I know the value of goals. It’s powerful to have something to work towards. Despite knowing the importance of having goals, this is the first year I have worked with the kids to create quarterly goals. They have goals in a few different categories including life skills, academic, spiritual, etc.

We went over the 1st quarter goals this past week and made new goals for 2nd quarter. It was pretty awesome to see how certain goals were met due to diligent prodding along. It was also interesting to see my kid’s personalities really shine through in how they approach goals. One kiddo was hesitant in making goals due to the risk of not being able to achieve them, while the other kiddo made some BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS goals!

While we have a ways to go in learning to make goals the SMART way (Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely), I’m just glad we decided to give goals a go this year!

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will result in a small commission for me (at no cost to you!). Please know that I only recommend products we own and love, or products that I have researched and would LIKE to own!

Weekly Wrap-Up October 22 – 26

WEEKLY WRAP-UP: OCTOBER 22 – 26

Free-Writing

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, we are using Bravewriter for writing this year. I am experimenting having Lydia do some free writing each day using Bravewriter methods. Basically, I will set a timer and she will have to write about the prompt for a certain amount of time. She is very content in writing her own stories but I’d like to see her write when given a prompt. For now, I am having this take the place of copywork, which is not her favorite anyway. The few times we did this last week, she balked, but then once she got going, got into it. I’m hoping this challenges to her write about new topics!

Public museum field trip

We took one day this week to redeem some free passes the kids received for the summer reading program at the Milwaukee Public Museum. It was an educational field trip where we got to peruse many different parts of history. I have a feeling we’ll want to head back there after we study Ancient Egypt, as the Ancient Egypt exhibit there is pretty neat and extensive.

Dubblit

Joe is continuing to move along in Math-It. This past week, he broke 1 minute on the 2nd portion of Dubblit, where he has to halve numbers. So we will officially be moving on to multiplication facts or ‘Timzit’. I took a few pictures of the Dubblit portion of Math-It in case anyone reading this wanted to see what it is like. I really love this program and so naturally I want to share about it! Basically, he has to place all the yellow cards on their answers in under a minute.

Mel Chemistry

My daughter was given a Mel Chemistry subscription from her aunt. We had a lot of fun doing some of the experiments this past week. Our favorite was one called ‘Milk and Cola’.

First, we had to pour the milk and cola into separate cups. We had to stir the cola to get rid of all the bubbles.

Then we combined the two liquids and stirred it some more, continuing to get rid of the bubbles.

Next, we poured the mixture into a filter-lined funnel that was set on a flask. The liquid slowly dripped into the flask. What was left in the funnel was the coagulated milk and caramel coloring from the cola. Apparently, the caramel coloring adheres to the proteins in the milk!

And here are the final results. Clear cola that tastes and smells just like cola. Minus the fizz!

Smorgasbord organizing unschool-y day

I spent Friday organizing while the kids did a bunch of other things. You can read about that here!

First Day of School All About Me Printable

All About Me Printable

Tomorrow is our first day of school! To commemorate the occasion (and just for the fun of it!), I created an All About Me printable (free!).

I love doing these “All About Me” printable sheets at the beginning of the year because it’s a great memento to have, and fun to look back on, and see how your kids have changed from year to year.

Instead of searching the web for an “All About Me” sheet (that is what I’d typically do), I thought I’d make my own! I will have my kiddos fill them out and then stick them in their portfolio binders for the year.

As for our first day, we’re not doing a whole lot tomorrow. Our 4 year old will go to his first day of 4K preschool. Then, the older two kids will accompany me to the park for a get together with some other moms and kids from our church in the morning.

In the afternoon, my plan is to do some reading with the big kids on Yellowstone National Park and have them fill out their “All About Me” sheets. Maybe we’ll throw a math game in there too! 😉 We’re easing back into it…

I wish you a joy and peace-filled start to your year! Enjoy!

All About Me

*I created a “printable” category on my menu, so you can also access the printable there!

What did happen:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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Read Aloud

Music

Games

Poetry Teatime

Get Outside

Pray

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Family Drawing Workshop

Farmer Boy

Field Trip: Musical Zoo

‘Life of Fred’ Marathon

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Great Wolf Lodge

Bravewriter

Arrival of Winter

Sign language

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I am a list person.

I also happen to be the mom to an amazing young lady, who is NOT a list person.

But there’s a phenomenon that happens occasionally in our home.

I’m still trying to figure out WHY this works.

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Defining ‘Outside the Box’

What is an ‘Outside the Box Learner’

Outside the Box Learners Learn in Unconventional Ways

Emphasis On Learners

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Weekly Wrap-Up: October 29 – November 2

The Outings

Limericks

Duolingo

Vision Therapy Update

Goal-setting

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WEEKLY WRAP-UP: OCTOBER 22 – 26

Free-Writing

Public museum field trip

Dubblit

Mel Chemistry

Smorgasbord organizing unschool-y day

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All About Me Printable

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