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All Rights Reserved ______________________________ IN THIS ISSUE: -- "Welcome" -- Homeschoolblogger.com -- Remember When.... --How To Make A Homemade Puppet...The Creative Way! --Memory Tip of The Month -- You're in Good Company! Famous Homeschoolers --Editor's Note: NEW CreativeHomeschooling Site Launched ____________________________________________ Welcome Readers! Wow! Can you believe summer is nearly over? I certainly can't. While I haven't given up hopes of wrapping up at least a few more summer projects, I'm starting to get that "itch" to get back to school and back on schedule. We hope this issue offers some encouragment in your planning and preparing for the approaching school year. Dena @ www.TimesTales.com Great Blog Site For Homeschoolers http://www.homeschoolblogger.com This relatively new site, sponsored by The Old Schoolhouse magazine, is a great source of inspiration, encouragment, and friendship. Take some time to hit the "random blog" button and find some great blogs or check out the "friend's list" of a blog you like. I have no doubt you'll quickly find a blog or two you want to frequent regularly. Perhaps you'll even be motivated to hone your writing skills (or have your children start their own blog as a writing assignment!) and jump on board. The site is truly a wealth of information. You can check out Jennie and I at the following addresses: Jennie von Eggers http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CreativeHomeschooling/ Dena Wood http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/redmom ______________________________________________ Remember When..... By Dena Wood Children LOVE to hear stories about your life when you were their age. Even the simplest event is meaningful to your children and increases their knowledge and understanding of who you are. I struggle, however, in figuring out what to share. I once came upon a little book that was simply a list of questions. We would let our children choose a question a night and my husband and I would share about it. It was a great family and discussion time and our children looked forward to it. This idea could easily be applied to a variety of situations, but with September fast-approaching, sharing about our educational experiences would be ideal. One way to do this is to write questions on slips of paper and allow a child to draw one from a jar each evening. Even the simplest question such as, "How did you decorate your room when you were in grade school?" is fascinating to your children. If you get in the habit of a nightly sharing time, you can easily write up new questions to fit the appropriate time of year. Some possible starters for the upcoming school year might be: * Where did you go to First Grade? Do you remember how big your school was or what it looked like? * What was your favorite and least favorite school lunch? Did you buy lunch at school or pack a lunch? * Who was your favorite teacher and why? * Which teacher decorated their room the best? What did they do and what did you like about it? * Share one of your greatest achievements in school. * Share an embarassing school moment. * What was your favorite thing to do during recess? * Had you ever heard of homeschooling when you were a child? * Were you involved in any sports or clubs? What was your favorite activity? ____________________________________________ How To Make A Homemade Puppet...The Creative Way! By Jennie vonEggers Stuffed animals and I do not get along, in fact I down right despise them! You might be wondering where all this hostility towards these "furry friends" is coming from .Well, I will tell you , in my opinion, they are useless, impractical toys that should be outlawed. It's not like you can really "do" anything with them, like you can with a doll. I mean really, how many times have you ever seen your little girl feeding her stuffed elephant a bottle and pretending she is their "elephant mommy"? They just sit there collecting dust mites and act as a tripping hazard to me everytime I go into my kids room. Funny, I never actually "see" the kids playing with them (hmmmmm, I wonder how they get on the stairs, under the table or in the bathroom anyway!) Well, today I have a new found appreciation for these formerly "worthless" fur bags and it fits with my Creative Learning mission....it is to turn these dormit animals into alive, talking (with the help of their puppet master) furry friends. This activity for kids is hands, visual, creative and most important, it makes these "toys" actually "do" something,! How to make stuffed animal puppets: 1. Cut a slit in the back of the stuffed animal aprox. 4-5 inches long 2. Take out all the stuffing except for a little in top of head and ears to keep its shape. 3. Insert hand, and voila! you have a homemade puppet! Tip! You may need to attach an old sock inside to some depending the mechanics of how it can or can't be manipulated. ______________________________________________ Memory Tip of The Month By Jennie vonEggers When my kids were in the early elementary grades they would often get stuck on those pesky site words. You know the ones that are not "phonetically correct"? Words like; friends, people, the and Wednesday must be memorized. What's worse is you can't tell your kids to "look it up in the dictionary" since in most cases the 3rd letter (which is an important one to know in order to find it in the dictionary), is silent. So, what to do?? Teach them to say the word out loud, the way it looks like it "should" be said!! For example; if they keep getting stuck on how to spell "friends", tell them to remember friends are "fry-ends" or "the" is "T-he" (like a giggle). If they "hear' the word "spoken" in this way a few times this should trigger their memory on how to spell it out correctly. _______________________________________________ You're In Good Company! Following are excerpts from a list of well-known homeschoolers that has been circulating via email. I am unsure who to credit it to. It is most certainly an encouragment to homeschooling parents and children and a good list to have on hand for any critics you might have to deal with. Enjoy! You can see the entire (MUCH longer) list here http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/famoushomeschoolers.html FAMOUS HOMESCHOOLERS Constitutional Convention Delegates: Richard Basseti - Governor of Delaware William Few - U.S. Senator Benjamin Franklin - Inventor and Statesman Presidents: John Adams Thomas Jefferson Abraham Lincoln Military Leaders: Stonewall Jackson - Civil War General Robert E. Lee - Civil War General Douglas MacArthur - U.S. General George Patton - U.S. General Scientists: George Washington Carver Albert Einstein Michael Faraday - electrochemist Blaise Pascal Booker T. Washington Artists: Claude Monet Grandma Moses Leonardo da Vinci Religious Leaders: Joan of Arc Dwight L. Moody John Newton Hudson Taylor Inventors: Alexander Graham Bell - invented the telephone Thomas Edison - invented the stock ticker, mimeograph, phonograph, and perfected the electric light bulb Eli Whitney - invented the cotton gin Sir Frank Whittle - invented turbo jet engine Orville and Wilbur Wright - built the first successful airplane Writers: Hans Christian Anderson Agatha Christie Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) Charles Dickens Others: Abigail Adams - Wife of John Adams; mother of John Quincy Adams Ansel Adams - Photographer Susan B. Anthony - reformer and women's rights leader John James Audubon - ornithologist and artist _______________________________________________ Trigger Memory Systems is pleased to announce that we are now carrying creative, non-traditional educational materials from a variety of authors as well as our own products. Check them out at http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/products Also, be sure and check out our NEW CREATIVE HOMESCHOOLING site at http://www.creativehomeschooling.com This site is set up so that you can find all of your creative, non-traditional, out-of-the-box type curriculum all in one place. It's also a wonderful place for creative homeschooling hints, tips and encouragment. If you have a friend who would like to subscribe to our Education through Imagination Newsletter they can find subscription boxes at either of the sites listed above as well as www.TimesTales.com or email us at admin@TimesTales.com and put "subscribe" in the subject line. Have a wonderful school year! Blessings, The Times Tales Crew |
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