Free catalog with articles about classical education

Do you love free stuff? Do you enjoy reading about learning and education?

Memoria Press publishes a catalog/magazine which always includes several informative articles about teaching and learning. Some recent articles have tackled the "how" and "why" of such subjects as Latin, Logic, and Literature. The web address to sign up for the free catalog/magazine is: https://www.memoriapress.com/classical-catalog/

Incidentally, we have successfully used several Memoria Press publications over the years: Prima Latina, Latina Christiana I and II, and several of the literature study guides. I also highly recommend the title "Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child". This book, by Cheryl Swope, offers encouragement to anyone involved in educating children. In addition, it gives practical advice for teachers of special needs children. It is written from a Christian perspective.

If you're interested in learning more about the classical method of education, or would just like to learn new ideas to use in your teaching, definitely get your hands on Memoria Press's free Classical Teacher catalog!



 

Promoting Good Will in the Family--An Experiment

Is bickering an inevitable occurrence when people are living and working closely together?

I didn't want to believe it was inevitable, but it seemed to be happening quite a bit between my kids in the first weeks of January.


Enter two items that really got me thinking:


1. I was part of a discussion in which several parents put forth the idea that bickering is largely just a manifestation of feelings of selfishness. 


It seemed quite logical. When I'm focused on myself and my needs and wants it's easy to become discontented. In that case, I'm much less interested in what others need and want.


2. I read in the February issue of Family Fun Magazine about one family that celebrates Valentine's Day by giving gifts within the family. They secretly draw names and purchase small gifts for each other. At a special Valentine's day meal they reveal which name they drew.


Couldn't these ideas be combined?


After talking it over with dh, I announced to the kids that we would be celebrating the first 14 days in February in the loving spirit of Valentine's Day.


1. We would exchange names secretly.
2. We would think of non-monetary ways to show our love toward that person.
3. We would have a special Valentine's Day meal and reveal which person we had been secretly doing good for.
4. In order to "throw others off our trail" we could also do kind things for the others in our family, but we could not neglect the person we'd chosen.


The kids' immediate reaction:


1. Excitement
2. "Why do we have to wait until February?"


Yes, why would we wait? Why not build on the excitement of the day (this was about halfway through January) and try the experiment early.


The results:


We exchanged names and spent the next two weeks thinking of nice things to do for the other people in our family. The kids began by giving out extra hugs all around. Eventually they added more concrete things to do for others. I had several offers to load the dishwasher and take out the trash when they weren't assigned. The kids were more likely to invite each other to a 2-player video game instead of playing 1-player more often. I found myself saying "yes" to more of the kids' requests for my time and attention. These are just a few examples.


When the two weeks were over, we tried to guess which person had been our secret    do-gooder. We gave examples to support our theory, telling good things we had seen people doing.


One thing dh liked most about the experiment was that it made a person think not just about the person they had chosen. They also thought about what they could do for the others as well.


Ds8 was excited to tell people outside the household about the project. He hoped they would share it with their families and that "the tradition would go on".


Dd6 summed up her experience by saying that she was happy she drew Mom's name because she loves me and thought of ways to be nice to me.


Wouldn't that warm any heart?


Everyone agreed that they'd love to do the experiment again for the February days leading up to Valentine's Day. They're already thinking of new ways to do good. They're also dreaming of the mousse pie we'll have for our "big reveal" meal.

Magazine scavenger hunt

This is one workbox/center activity I've used for both my kids at various ages. It's intended to be on-task independent work for one child while I'm busy with the other.

I give the child an old magazine and an assignment sheet.

This is one of my less professional-looking assignments, but it gives you an idea of the types of things the kids are asked to look for.

I've used the activity to practice many subjects and skills. A few examples:

*math: adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing
*math: measuring, rounding to the nearest__
*language arts: finding words of a certain part of speech
*language arts: finding synonyms and antonyms, finding rhyming words
*geography: finding places mentioned on a map, answering NSEW questions about them
*science: finding creatures which are mammals, reptiles, etc.
*life skills: reading a recipe
*foreign language: cut out and label (in Spanish) at least___pictures

Sometimes answers are written on my assignment page. Other times things will be cut out of the magazine and/or glued.

I haven't used the idea while sitting in a doctor/dental office yet, but I suppose it would work there as well.

Memorizing the 50 States

(I recently had a conversation with some other homeschooling moms about songs to help kids learn. I thought I would re-post this entry for those of you trying to teach the 50 states.)

Did you know that "Grand Old Flag" is the perfect tune for memorizing the 50 states?

I didn't either. But on a (very) long family car trip a few years ago I decided to "entertain" myself by looking at a map of the 50 states. (I was the passenger, of course.) This map also listed the order in which the states were admitted.

"Wouldn't it be great to know all 50 states in order?" I asked myself.

With nothing but miles ahead of me I started experimenting with songs that might fit the natural rhythm of the states. Eventually I stumbled upon "Grand Old Flag" and it fit so well that I had to use it. By the time we had reached our destination, I had almost all 50 memorized.

You may not believe me, but my 2 year-old, blessed to be stuck with me in the back, had the first section memorized, too! It didn't matter that he didn't completely understand the words; he just loved music and he loved to repeat things. (He also loved "showing off" to his amazed relatives on that visit, and took pride in teaching the states to his Grammy!) Even today, 5 years later, it doesn't take much effort to recall those states. 

Music is powerful. I often remember places, people, events from the past just by hearing one line of a song. It's an awesome tool for bringing together bits of information and making them much easier to memorize.

I've broken up the states by verse below:
(As a bonus, the first 13 states are also the 13 colonies)

Tune: Grand Old Flag

Delaware, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Georgia,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland,
South Carolina, New Hampshire,
Virginia, New York,
North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Kentucky, Tennessee,
Ohio, Louisiana,
Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois,
Alabama, Maine, Missouri,
Arkansas and Michigan

Florida, Texas
Iowa, Wisconsin,
California, Minnesota, Oregon,
Kansas, West Virginia,
Nevada, Nebraska,
Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota
Montana, Washington,
Idaho, Wyoming,
Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii
And the Capital is Washington, D.C.

I hope to figure out how to insert a listening clip of these. Enjoy!

Christmas Countdown--Bonus

I'd heard about people who have a winter snow picnic and I'd been wishing for some perfect packing snow during our countdown days. Today we got several inches of it! We made a little snow table with little snow chairs and had hot chocolate and cookies. It was one of the highlights of my week so far. (But next time I think I'll take something waterproof to sit on!)

My Favorite Free "Academic" Websites-Reading

BOOK ADVENTURE

What: Read a book. Go to the website (which is created and maintained by Sylvan learning) and take a short comprehension quiz. Earn points based on your score. There are ready-made prizes. Parents/Teachers can also make their own "prize library" based on your favorite rewards and the number of points you would like your kids to earn. There is also a "team" option where your entire group can work together to reach a specific goal.


Who: This site is for kids in grades K-8.


Why I like it: It gives me a chance to do a quick "check" to see if the kids are comprehending the books they read.


Why the kids like it: Did I mention prizes? The kids love to work toward earning extra privileges and prizes that they have helped plan. We use our "prize library" more than the ready-made library from Sylvan, but a couple years ago my son did earn a pretty cool card game.

How long I have used it: I've used this site for more than three years. I started an account for each child as soon as they could read easy books on the list (Clifford, Mercer Mayer).

Drawbacks: I'd love to see a bigger list of books available.