Teaching kids to give back-

The Fairyland Cupcake Kids

As I was planning a big garage sale this summer at my house, I had a friend offer to come over and keep the kids busy running a lemonade and cupcake stand.  Great idea!  She also had the fabulous idea of giving the proceeds to a local charity.  We chose Neighbor Impact, because they have a facility in the town where we live, and because they do tangible things like give food to people and help families find housing. 

I advertised the event on Facebook, Craigslist and by pink signs, and included the information about the lemonade stand. 

The garage sale and the lemonade stand were a hit! The local paper even came and took a picture. Can you tell we live in a small town? The girls made big bucks in their princess dresses, even though most of the time they were playing in the back yard.  I guess the moms did some work, too.  The following week we took the girls to get a tour of the facility.  It was great to see what the charity is doing in our community and how they are appreciative of even the smallest offering.
 

I'm pretty sure we ate most of the cupcakes ourselves.  On the other hand, I think the average donation at the lemonade stand was at least $1 over the price of the item.  So our girls learned that people like to give.   Other things they learned:

• Money- counting it, identifying it, making change
• The value of a cupcake (i.e.- don't eat all the merchandise)
• How to greet a customer 
• Sharing with friends
• How sweet it is to "give back."

Cereal Science: What's in your breakfast cereal?

I LOVE teaching my kids things.  I love the "aha" moment that inevitably follows and I love the challenges they lay before me.  The other day we were sitting at the breakfast table with Kashi multigrain puffed cereal (which is tasty and healthy, so I don't mind mentioning it on my blog).  I was picking out the puffed rice for my 8 month old when I realized there is a list and a picture of all the grains on the back of the box.  I immediately took out a handful of puffed goodness, piled it up on the table in front of my 4 year old and turned the box to her.  She got it right away. 

"Mommy- which ones are which?"

I read the names and descriptions of  each of the grains and seeds and we spent the next 15 minutes sorting and discussing them.  We sorted by size, shape, color, taste, texture and general puffiness.  It was a beautiful moment.  It was a learning moment. 

Every day is full of moments like this one.  Totally out of the scope of any curriculum (there might be one out there I don't know of that includes Kashi grain recognition as a skill set), this moment still stands out to me as a reason (albeit a rather "fluffy" one, pun intended) why I love to homeschool.  If we were running late for the bus, this moment would not have happened.  A clarification:  kids who take the bus in the morning can find time in their day to make such observations, of course.  I'm just happy we can be more flexible. 

Down the road I look forward to more nutrition talks around the breakfast table, in the grocery store, and in the garden.  I'll keep you posted.

Story + Story = Math lesson

It's no secret that I prefer storybooks to textbooks.  The classical style of education tends to appeal to me because of it's inherent ability to steer clear of textbooks. Of course, there is a time and place for textbooks, but I don't see the point when you're home educating a four year old.   So, recently I found myself seriously lacking passion for teaching math concepts.  I mean- it's pretty easy stuff, but it takes time to soak in.  Addition, subtraction, counting by 2s, 10s and 20s... ordination, patterns, etc.  SO.  I did what I always do- fled to the library for help.  Gotta love the juvenile non-fiction stacks.

The Mission Of Addition by Brian P. Cleary (in his "categorical" series) is a wonderful example of introducing addition to young kids and older kids who need a reminder of the basics.  Cleary has written dozens of great books that teach solid concepts through story.  

Subtraction Action, by Loreen Leedy, is a great story about ways we use subtraction in the everyday world.  Leedy also wrote a book about addition, among others,  but I haven't had a chance to use it, yet.

Oh- and I'll let you in on my last secret.  I love to do an entire day of homeschooling with a stack of books from the library and a magnadoodle.  For math we sometimes play "copy-cat."  I write an equation and she copies it and figures out the answer.  She can use her fingers, legos, toys, blocks, anything to add and subtract.  The more we go over these basic equations, the more she remembers the answers without having to figure them out every time. 

So, math is fun, again.  Next week we're revisiting telling time.  And another study on money is coming up, soon.  I'll let you know how the magnadoodle thing works out when we get to algebra.