Some Risky Business

My kids are always coming up with things to sell. No matter how many times I try to explain that no one is going to buy the same thing they have just thrown away, my boys cannot be swayed. They are convinced they can tear apart a perfectly good and working flashlight, rewire the bulbs, mount it to another object with some duct tape and sell it for twice its original value. While I laugh at their attempts at innovation, I can't help but wonder what would happen if they had more than cheap flashlights and duct tape to work with.

While I can't give them access to a welding machine or a plastic company, but I can help them with some business sense. So I began looking for ideas for a kid-operated business. I came up with quite a few by brainstorming and some help from Google. They could rake leaves, mow lawns, make child IDs, Christmas ornaments, paint fences to name a few. It wasn't until my husband came home from a school he is attending and was telling me how he had to make sure he took something to eat with him because there were no vending machines or Coke machines in the building, that I came of with a plan. So we went to the administration and asked if we could set out a basket of goodies to sell at reasonable prices. They agreed.

To prepare for the launching of their new vending business, we started by looking up definitions of some business vernacular. We have to be able to communicate after all. I had them define words like vendor, profit, account, investment, interest, inventory, etc. Then we did some research to find the products we would sell, made some charts, and chose our asking price based on our findings. We looked at who our vendors would be. Then we went and purchased the supplies and learned about overhead, and business loans. They will be required to repay that loan with interest with their earnings at their discretion.

We made a display board explaining who they are and that they will be learning about math and business through this enterprise along with the prices and instructions about leaving their change in the piggy bank.

So tonight, it is off to the school to set up, take our beginning inventory, and set up our booking system! Let's see how the little guys swim!

this is a test

will i see this in my rss?

Schedules: The story of how a slave was freed

This week I have been reading the seven habits of highly effective people. Maybe I am a sicko, but there is just something about checking things off a check list that is exciting. In chapter 3, the author suggests that you make a list of your roles, and then write 3 things that you could do for each that would make a significant impact on your life in this area. Then make a weekly schedule and include all these things in the plan. I am amazed at how much extra time I have when I am not flying by the seat of my pants. Budgeting your time does exactly what budgeting your money does. It makes you use what you have in a responsible way. Why, here I am, writing in this blog I can never find time for, all because I budgeted a slot for it.

So many home school parents are having a hard time keeping a consistent work week, but it is really all a matter of prioritizing and organizing. The first habit in the book is about acknowledging you have control of your world. It is easy to let things overwhelm us and distract us, but having a plan keeps us in check. The second habit is vision: seeing ourselves as the person we want to be (instead of the person we are). We all want to be faithful teachers who always have our lessons together, our supplies ready, and our attendance records consistent.

I am only in my first week, and not even following it in the strictest sense has felt liberating! You wouldn't think enslaving your self to a schedule would make you feel free, but it is almost like becoming a servant of Christ -- you have the freedom to chose right. Try it! It is something that could change your life!

Themed Units - Under the Sea

Themed lessons can be a fun way to tie school lessons together, make learning fun, and decorate your classroom at the same time. The following are some ideas for a marine theme.

Language Arts

Prepositions Under the Sea: materials needed: crayons, construction paper, scissors.

Cut out various marine creatures. Cut strips of blue construction paper (about 2 inches wide by 8 inches long) You can get about 6 strips off one sheet. Write prepositional phrases to go with each sea creature, for example: with my fin, or by a shark. You can get creative. We put a coin in one of the fish’s mouth and used in its mouth and learned about Peter paying the temple tribute with the coin he found in the fish’s mouth. We cut out fish bones and used the phrase by a shark. You can have the children create their own sea creatures, use fish from coloring books or clip art books, or art from the web. Use tape to hang the strips of paper so that each strip drapes down like a wave crest. Then hang the fish from the paper to help it drape. The idea is to make the class room look as though you are looking up at the water’s surface.

Variations: We cut out footprints to place on the ceiling when we told the story of Jesus walking on the water. You can use any subject for the waves. Multiplication facts, spelling words, memory verses, other parts of speech, names of oceans and waterways, whatever you happen to be studying.

Art

We found an under water mural at www.learningpage.com. We used it to study pointillism by coloring it with pieces of tissue paper. You could choose any art medium to decorate it. An appropriate medium would be WATER colors! Or using a sea sponge!

Experiment with textures by decorating fish with rubbings.

Make sea creatures out of clay or paper mache.

Geography and Social Studies

Learn all about the oceans of the world, the fishing industry, countries in which waterways play an important role in the economy, military use of waterways, Water transportation, Keeping the environment clean, comparing exploring the new world to space exploration, etc.

Science

Water as an energy source, water as it displays the properties of matter (solid, liquid, gas), The effect of gravity on the tide, water as it displays pressure, Ocean animals or ocean plant-life, marine environments, the water cycle, marine animal food chains, etc.

Math
Create word problems using the theme.

Ex: Joe caught 3 fish, Jimmy caught 5. How many did they catch all together?

Ex: Premier Mike Rann said the "drastic but necessary" action was taken after government monitoring revealed 19 dolphins had been trapped and killed in nets over the past five months. What is the average amount of dolphins killed per month? How many dolphins would be killed in a year?

You can make stuff up, as in the first example, or you can use actual articles, as in the second example.

Use facts about marine animals or plants to create a chart or graph. Ex: fish length or weight comparison or the cost per lb. of different fish.

You could make it easy by buying some fish stickers and affixing it to their math page.

You can make or have the kids make fish fact cards (flash cards in the shape of fish, or arrange fish on the wall with numbers like a multiplication or addition table.

Spelling

Write sentences about the sea or fish using your spelling words.

Writing

Pretend you’re a fish. . . .
Describe your first day at school.
Describe where you live or what you look like.
Describe what it would be like to get caught on a hook.
Make an All About Me (as a fish)

Use writing spurs with the ocean as a subject.

A fish bumped into an octopus and said . . .
A seagull was sitting on the water getting some sun when suddenly he saw the eye of a huge whale. . .
You have heard of Moby Dick, but have you heard of . . .
Below the sea was calm and quiet, but above the surface raged a terrible storm . . .
There is something strange about the beach today . . .

Write a poem about the sea (or whatever)

Write a letter to the editor about keeping our oceans pollution free.

Reading

Some well-known books with ocean themes:

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader- CS Lewis
20,000 Leagues under the Sea – Jules Verne
Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell
Moby Dick – Herman Melville

Key in at your local library: sea, ocean, fish, marine, pirate, ships . . .

Bible Stories

God Made the Sea—Gen. 1
Noah’s Ark—Gen. 6-8
Deliverance From the Red Sea—Exodus 13-14
Jesus Stills the Storm (asleep in the boat)—Matt. 8
The Swine Run into the Sea—Matt 8
Jesus Walks on the Sea—Matt 14
Peter gets money from a fish—Matt. 17
Paul’s Ship Wreck—Acts 27
No More Sea – Rev 21

Memory Verses
Psa 89:9-Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
Psa 107:29-He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 93:4-The LORD on high [is] mightier than the noise of many waters, [yea, than] the mighty waves of the sea.

School News Blogs

When I was in school, we had a school newspaper. It was a great opportunity to sharpen writing and editing skills. But, how do you have a school newspaper when you home school? Sure, you could get with other families, who have kids the same age, at a place where everyone has their own computer, and distribute it to all your home schooling fans. I could probably come up with that crazy scenario if I really tried, but then it occured to me that a blog is really the same thing, and it is perfect for home schoolers who might have the time to do the work, but not the time to run all over town to meet with other students. Students can cooperate to form and manage the various aspects of the blog much like a school newspaper. It would exercise their computer skills as well as their writing, and help them to engage a larger audience. It would also display that there is learning taking place in the home and leave something of a record.

I began by learning for myself what a blog is and how it is managed. I am a kinetic learner, so here I am, trying to do my own blog. I have to admit I am a little behind the power curve, as I had to begin by searching "what is a blog". But, I hope before long we will be recruiting little bloggers writing entries about science, history, news, creative writing, and art.