The Game of Opposites

We always want to help children improve and increase their vocabularies. Here is another fun word game that will help familiarize your children with antonyms.

To play the game, you will say a word, and they have to think of another word that is very different from the given word, or the opposite of the word. Start by using the word in a sentence, such as “Don’t turn the water on, turn it _____.” “If you jump up, you’ll fall ______.” Continue using sentences to add fun and interest to the game. For added interest, let the children act out the opposites where possible (happy-sad, etc). Once the kids catch on, they may want to dispense with the sentences - just say the word so they can supply the opposite.

Eventually you will want to make the game more challenging, so add some antonym relationships that are more subtle, such as cool-warm, or tiny-huge. Try some of these after the children have mastered the more common or obvious opposites. Here are some common (and then some trickier) antonyms:

long-short rough-smooth same-different clean-dirty

big-little wet-dry boy-girl full-empty

hot-cold wide-narrow up-down hard-soft

happy-sad sick-well good-bad open-close

fast-slow on-off old-new young-old

day-night over-under dark-light fat-thin

mom-dad ugly-pretty awake-asleep left-right

cool-warm loud-quiet huge-tiny clean-dirty

play-work baby-adult forget-remember black-white

city-country laugh-cry run-walk sharp-dull

burning-freezing nice-mean top-bottom whisper-shout

You will find right away that the children will have lots of other word solutions for this game. Many will be synonyms of some of the words on the list. For example, skinny for thin, or grown-up for adult. Or how about gigantic or humongous for huge? This can be a great lead-in to more vocabulary games, such as (you guessed it) a synonym game! I have one for you - next post.

Arts and Crafts for Preschoolers

If you are the homeschooling parent of more than one child, has this ever happened to you?

Breakfast is finished, chores are semi-done, and it's time to get started with lessons. You settle in with your third-grader to work on his times tables and meanwhile your preschooler does one or more of the following: tease the cat, pour cereal onto the coffee table, pull every toy off the shelf and throw each across the room, or scream "Mommy!" or "I need you, Mom!" every two seconds in her effort to get your attention.

As a homeschooling parent, one of my biggest challenges was keeping my little ones entertained while working with the older children. This can make all the difference between a happy, well-behaved child and one who is coloring bedroom walls, cutting their own hair, or pushing peanut butter sandwiches into heating vents. Young children are curious and imaginative, so if they feel they are being ignored, even for just a few minutes, they will find their own sources of entertainment.

I know of one terrific way for homeschooling parents to keep their little ones happily occupied during the homeschooling day. Not only does it keep them entertained, but it accomplishes a variety of other things as well:

- Builds positive self image
- Encourages self-discipline
- Rewards hard work and diligence
- Promotes eye-hand coordination
- Cultivates a love of learning
- Fosters cooperation with others
- Encourages their imagination

The answer is simple: doing crafts with your child. You're probably thinking "Woohoo! What parent hasn't already thought of that? Crafts with older kids are okay, but with toddlers and preschoolers? Yeah, right. How do you find workable ideas, organize everything, and avoid a major mess?" Okay, gotcha.

First, consider how arts and crafts activities make your job as a parent so much easier:

1) Kids love arts and crafts, so are happier and argue less among themselves and with you.
2) Discipline becomes easier and less necessary.
3) They play together better and use their imaginations; even develop their own little games.
4) Your little ones won't need you to constantly entertain them anymore.
5) Your oldest may start helping you more with the younger ones.
6) Homeschooling lessons with your older children will be easier because the little ones will be happily engaged at the same time.

You get the picture. Arts and crafts activities can make life happier for everyone. The only problem is finding age-appropriate crafts. Most craft resources are created with older children in mind. This is why I am recommending "Little Kid Crafts For All Seasons."

Wow! I absolutely love this book!

The author, Chris Yates, has even put in a lot of extra ideas to make each unique craft more or less challenging, depending on the skills of your child. This is a terrific resource for homeschooling parents; a guide on how to craft with your child, create learning opportunities, and create your own projects to do with your child as they grow. Chris really wants you to get the most mileage out of every craft project she writes about.

This is also the first kid's crafting book I've ever seen available as an e-book, so you can get instant access to it (plus a bonus ebook, "Little Kid Paper Plate Crafts"). "Little Kid Crafts For All Seasons" is available in PDF format - readily available anywhere, anytime.

I guess you can tell that I like "Little Kid Crafts For All Seasons" and I feel comfortable recommending it to you. In fact, I wish I'd had this book when my children were little. Take a look - I think you'll really like this outstanding value for parents who craft (or want to try crafting) with their little people!

Let 'Em Paint!

As a college art major and a mother of five home-schooled children, I know that children of all ages love to paint! However, I also recognize that painting can be messy and time-consuming and probably not on most moms' top ten list of favorite activities to do with their children.

My purpose for this post is to say, "Let the children paint!"

There are a lot of art projects we can do with our children, but take my word for it - painting is the probably the most rewarding. It is well worth the time, the effort, and the clean-up to get your kids painting. Consider a child attempting a pencil, marker, or crayon drawing of a tiger, for example. A complex subject, to be sure, but a popular one with children. Now, consider the added excitement and possibilities of painting the tiger using tempera or poster paints!

The beautiful tiger above, by Kalvin, age 10, was painted using only the three primaries (red, yellow, and blue), which he mixed to get just the right colors. You can see two more examples of painted tigers on the Blackfoot Art Center weblog.

Here are some tips for providing successful painting experiences at your house:

1) Use tempera paints or poster paints, which are brighter, thicker, and much easier to mix and manipulate than water colors. I suggest using only the primary colors - red, yellow, and blue - plus white and black. Then, it is up to the children to mix the secondary (orange, green, purple) and tertiary colors (yellow red, maroon, turquoise, etc), as well as shades and tints (pink, sky blue, etc.). What a great, hands-on way to learn color theory! Your child will love the beautiful variations of green, for example, that can be created for outdoor scenes by mixing blue and yellow, compared to the bottled kelly green, which is not found in nature at all! Use old tin pie pans for paint palettes; you may need more than one for a painting project.

Hint: Teach your child that when mixing colors, always add dark colors to light colors. A light color added to a dark color is quickly absorbed so that in order to get the desired color, a lot of paint may be wasted. To create a shade, add just a drop of black to the color; for a tint, add a brushful of the color to white.

Another hint: Encourage your child to use opposite colors on the color wheel to create grey instead of using black and white. Use two opposites that are prevalent in the painting for a much more interesting grey, such as blue mixed with orange, yellow mixed with purple, or green mixed with red.

2) Use heavy paper, such as sketching, drawing, or watercolor paper to paint on. Size should be at least 10 X 13 inches, masking taped around all sides to a smooth masonite or drawing board.

3) Cover the work space with newspapers. Use large water containers (empty margerine or cottage cheese tubs work very well) and a variety of brush types and sizes, including large soft brushes for filling in larger areas with color, and medium to small brushes for more detail. Use large button-up shirts for paint smocks to protect clothing, or purchased paint smocks.

4) When planning a painting, use these tips:

- Encourage the child to focus on a specific subject. In other words, instead of painting a forest scene, focus on something in the forest such as a bear with her cub(s) or a campfire scene with a forest backdrop.
- Use plenty of resource materials for topic ideas. We use magazines, old calendar photos, and art books to find great subject ideas.
- Fill in all of the paper with paint, even "white" areas should be painted, using a very light tint (such as a bluish white to represent clouds). Remember that the sky touches the horizon. There is no empty white space between the sky and the ground (a common misconception for young children).

6) Once the work is completely dry, carefully remove the masking tape and cut a mat from poster board or matboard. Insert and proudly display your child's artwork.

Amazing Science: Floating Apple

This video is amazing. You won't believe your eyes!

I haven't personally tried this experiment, but if you decide to do so, please add a comment and tell us what happened. Did it work? Why or why not?

Special Events for Homeschoolers

One of the best things about homeschooling is attending special events; and we did it as often a possible! Most of the community events we went to were free, such as holiday concerts, art shows, museum lectures, and walking tours. However, some of the events we wanted to attend were out of town and a bit costly. Getting tickets was sometimes a gamble, especially at the door.

The Internet has changed all that. Now, planning to attend special events with the family can be a breeze! Get your tickets for sporting events, concerts, theatre events, and shows through a premium online ticket broker such as Premium Seats USA, and all you'll have to worry about is getting everyone there on time.

When your homeschoolers are looking forward to a special event, an online ticket broker can make it so much easier for you to plan ahead, get the seats you want, and most importantly --avoid disappointment.

Ringing in the New Year!

Just a quick post here wishing you all the best in the coming new year. I have had a rather rough year, so I'm hoping for better as well.

If you happen to subscribe to the Hands-On Homeschool Newsletter, you may have noticed that you have not recived an issue for quite some time (OR if you are a recent subscriber, you may have not received your first issue at all). Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you! My computer crashed and burned, so to speak, a couple months ago, and unfortunately I had not backed up all of my files. It has been a nightmare getting things back on track, including transferring my website backup files from my webhost to my new computer, so I can carry on; and I still have not been able to recover my entire mailing list (but working on it). I also switched ISPs, which meant making changes to my email configurations and working on unclogging my spam-filled mailboxes.

Arrrggghhh!

As I said, I'm looking forward to 2007 and a much better year.

Sponsor a Child

Have you ever considered sponsoring a child? We decided to become child sponsors when our first two children were quite young - before we began homeschooling. We didn't just dive into it; for us it took a lot of thought - just as though we were adopting or fostering a child. We researched several child sponsorship organizations with the following questions:

How much would it cost, and could we afford it over the long term? We recognized that this would be a long term commitment to a child and family who would depend upon us.

What percentage of our payments would go directly to the child/family?

What kinds of things would the money be used to pay for? Would these things make a real difference in the child's life?

How long has the organization been in the business of sponsoring children? What was its track record? Could it be trusted?

In which countries did this organization work, and how long had it operated there?

How much personal, direct communication would we be able to have with our sponsored child? What kinds of personal exchanges could take place? How much would we be able to learn about our sponsored child and his or her family, church, and school?

After exploring several different child sponsorship programs, we finally decided upon Compassion. We liked everything we learned about this organizaton, but I'll be honest with you. When we received our snapshot of Rita (photo above), we just fell in love with her. Rita was an beautiful little eight-year-old girl living with her family in Indonesia.

How could we say no?

During our sponsorship of Rita, our children wrote letters to her and also sent cards, photos, and bookmarks - anything flat that could be mailed in an envelope. For her birthday and Christmas we were permitted to sent a little extra money, with which she bought new shoes and a school uniform. (She was so excited about her uniform, the first day she wore it she danced in front of her classmates.) She draw pictures and wrote letters to us that were translated into English by her teacher, Harry. We also received some of her actual completed school work and interesting information about Indonesia. Our experience was so positive that we decided to also sponsor an African child, again through Compassion. We received yearly photographs of our Ugandan child as well as many group photos taken at her school. We exchanged one-to-one letters, cards, and artwork, and we received copies of her progress reports and several family situation updates.

As a homeschooling family, child sponsorship was extremely rewarding. Through letter writing, photo exchanges, personal financial contributions (even pennies), and prayers, our children learned that they CAN make a difference in the world by helping a needy child in very personal and tangible ways.

We have since lost track of Rita, who would now be 31 years of age, one year older than my oldest child; and Nanduga Mary, of the same age. However, we still have both girls' letters and photos and think of them often; and we continue to pray for their health and well-being.

More "Buzz" About Flowers

Speaking of "Christmas" and "flowers," you may remember that I have mentioned Dot Flowers in Homeschooling Helper before. This company is one of the best around for same day flower delivery, unique gift baskets, and yummy gourmet treats and savory snacks. Does someone on your list have you stumped? Click on the link above and you'll probably find the perfect gift for him or her.

I love the Dot Flowers easy-to-navigate website, and you'll find that their customer service department is superb. Their goal is to make sure you are satisfied; and, of course, to make sure your recipient absolutely loves your gift! Dot Flowers can help you make a great impression.

Here's to a happy holiday season!