Grab and Go!

You need ‘grab and go’ resources.  Why?  You need sub plans!  What happens when the toddler has an ear infection and just won’t stop screaming? What if you’re sick?  I guarantee the rest of your family will all be disgustingly healthy while you’re suffering.  If you don’t have the band-width for your regular schedule, have activities in a bin, ready for emergencies.  Hey!  Your kiddos will enjoy the change and you won’t have guilt to top off your morning spent in the half-bath.

1. Grab and Go Primary Food Project has an introductory unit with all the links.

2. Grab and Go Vocabulary Memory is a great generic standby.  Have your kiddo use their reading book and write terms from their book.  Pick three from each chapter.  Look up definitions!  Have the kiddo write them on the index card.  Quiz kiddo orally.  For example, if the child is reading Heidi, define hobnailed, frock, laborious, etc.  Yes, one word definitions are fine.

3. Look over this 4H Art and Math Project kit.  Kiddos should be able to scrounge up the supplies on their own.  There is a bit of origami, symmetry, and Tesselations. Here is the cube pattern and here  is the cat template. (BTW I am allergic to both origami and Tesselations.  However, your family might love them!)

4. These two Grab and Go lessons are slide decks with instructions to make a movie or make music with a garage band.  Use these Story Prompts to come up with a short film idea if your kiddos are stumped.  Do you have a pet?  Could the dog go on an adventure?  Think Lassie!  They may need to watch an episode on YouTube.  Try VeggieTales for ideas, too!  Yes, YouTube has episodes.  Recreate Bible stories.  Have your list of suggestions ready.

5.  Take a look at Mercy for Martha’s Free Literature Guides. Check out Heidi , too!  We used Kolbe’s Primary Literature with Paul.  These types of literature guides have questions and vocabulary terms.  Keep the guide with the novel in the bin.  Practice hand-writing by answering questions in complete sentences.  Bonus points for using cursive!

WSJ Editorial: Why Send a Child to Public School?

 You should read this editorial, ‘Why Send a Child to Public School?’  The article is only available for a few days.  Be sure to download and save it!

Want another tip?

Want another tip?  Yes, it’s also a bit heretical.  If I don’t know much on a subject, I start with the children’s version.  Sometimes I use the same resource to teach.  For example, I’m teaching Brit Lit.  The textbook begins with the Anglo-Saxons.  What I know about the Anglo-Saxons can fit in a tea cup.  So I refreshed my understanding with  BBC BiteSize.  Yes, it does lead me down several rabbit holes, which is part of the process; Sutton Hoo comes to mind.  My Brit Lit class will be able to put the Anglo-Saxons into context before we read Beowulf.

I do this all the time.  Let’s say you are struggling with the fundamentals of electricity.  Start with a children’s book.  I don’t mean the middle school textbook.  I mean the ones for early grades.  Try the graphic or comic versions.  (NSTA’s Stop Faking It! series has merit, too.)  The next time you are stumped, look at a resource on the topic for kiddos.  It really helps when I’m struggling!

UK Resources

 Rob and I just returned from a visit to see our son stationed at a RAF base in England and my brother, who lives in Wales.  Yes, I met home-schoolers!  Our son, Fr. Josh, is a priest chaplain for the Air Force.  There are one or two Catholic home-schoolers!  It got me thinking.  Are the educational resources different in the UK?  Read about the British Education System.  I’m still suffering PTSD from my extended quarantine during COVID. Rob and I were home-schooling Paul; his daddy has a host of medical issues, which made him high risk.  Paul’s daddy is also risk-adverse.  We were locked-down for over a year.   Anything different is good.  UK education is quite different!

1. Browse these Bloomsbury Teaching Resources.  They are eclectic: Big Bad Wolf, Fallout, The Enigma Game, The Austen Girls,  and The Story of Tutankhamen.  Bloomsbury is a noted publisher.  

2. The Science Museum Group has Learning; browse the Resources, such as Baby Weighing Scales,or the Image Bank.

3.  Yes, there are freebies: London Primary Teacher, UK Parliament Learning (Time Travel Bill Adventures), and BBC.

Want more?  Look at the National History Curriculum.  Start with the English Heritage Teaching Resources.  The Home Learning Help page is interesting.  Some tips are fine; others are odd.  How are you going to show understanding of any academic topic through expressive dance?  Review the Maths Curriculum.  Look over Numicon.  Put UK, England, Wales, Ireland, or Scotland in your search and see what comes up.

Hands-on Creation

 Have you heard of Hands-on Creation?  I saw their ad on Facebook and just had to share!  Their prices to loan materials are fair.  Take a look.  Contact them through their Facebook group.

British Literature and even more heresy!

Long, long ago…in a private school, I was assigned an English class—mainly British Literature.  Things went fairly well.  I decided I could teach Lit. From time to time I offer Brit Lit to our local Co-op.  The class is based on British Literature by Stobaugh.  Okay, it’s loosely based on Stobaugh’s textbook.  I taught this with Kolbe Academy’s syllabus, too, when I home-schooled Lacie.  I use any resource available: modern translations, outside lesson plans, and curricula: School House, Easy Peasy, and Lard Bucket.  Yes, even more heresy!  I use any number of websites for ideas.  I lard the lessons with background and history.  How can you understand Beowulf if you aren’t familiar with Anglo-Saxon history?  No, the class isn’t going to be writing essays.  This year, the class will have short assignments for each piece of literature.  

Why?  Every class, every student is different.  This fall, the two boys are not avid readers.  They struggled when we tried to read Huckleberry Finn in the vernacular.  Do you think we’re reading  Shakespeare in its original text?  Come on!  They had four books as summer reading: Hamlet, Tale of Two Cities, Robinson Crusoe, and Pride and Prejudice, all easy to read versions.  While we will write, most assignments will be short projects: timelines, concept maps, art, etc.  We’ll read more than do any literary criticism.  Sure, we’ll pick out themes, etc.  Although after three years with the boy, most of the time I give them the themes, have them write them down, and look for examples.  We aren’t tackling AP Literature.  I’m exposing the teens to Brit Lit.  Make the class fit your kiddo instead of making the kiddo fit the class.

Hungry for History!

Some  regions just have more history than others.  Winchester, VA is one of those spots.  Hungry for History begins this Friday.  We just returned from the UK, where every shire seems to be laden with history.  Be sure to explore yours!  Start with the Visitor’s Center.  Are there any battlefields?  Civil War Battlefields?       Do you have any Revolutionary War sites?  Do you have a museum?  (Winchester’s MSV and gardens are first rate!)  Does the area have an arboretum or botanical garden?  Is your area near the Appalachian Trail?  You may as well add some science and nature to your history trios and tours.  Do a deep dive and see just what your town has to offer!  Get started!