Imagine this scene. Your child is chatting away about different topics when they declare that they want to be blind. Now, as a parent you know that there are people who are blind that are very capable and successful. Think Stevie Wonder, for example. Yet, you know they had to overcome challenges and learn in different ways. So, do you try to impart your wisdom to your child verbally? Are you the type of person who will have a discussion and check out books about Braille or Helen Keller? Will you go to a presentation about seeing eye dogs?

This exact situation happened one day. Our daughter declared that she wanted to be blind. One would have to wonder what would cause this declaration and once I figured out that she was simply curious, I decided to seize the opportunity. While the previous mentioned methods of teaching about blindness work fine, I figured we had a great learning opportunity. As I recalled my many fun sociology experiments in college and our flexible homeschool schedule, I quickly made an administrative decision and replied, “I can arrange for you to be blind for the day.”

After our daughter got over being stunned she got excited about the prospect of this experiment. I think she figured she would not have to do anything all day! But what type of parent would I be if I didn’t give her a realistic taste of being blind especially since blind people function in society daily. So, I got two eye patches, from when I had corneal scratches, and a eye mask for sleeping and promptly arranged them over her eyes. Then I gave her a stick and let her go.

She was very fascinated with this experiment as she banged around the house trying to orient herself as to where everything was situated. Of course, the dogs were running for their lives. We talked about how blind people use their other senses more to assist them. So, for example, their hearing is more attuned. They often will feel things around them. They will ask for help or use a tool such as a stick for guidance or a guide dog and so on.

She continued this for about 2 hours and then lunch came. I fixed lunch, gave her a plate and let her go. When she realized I was going to watch a little television she decided to join me. As she arranged herself on the couch, she decided that she would only be partially blind and wanted to remove the coverings on one eye. When I pointed out that blind people don’t have the luxury of deciding to all of a sudden see, I could tell she was starting to wonder what she had gotten herself into.

I explained that being blind is not something someone can turn on and off. So, I told her she would need to use her imagination and hearing skills to “watch” this show. She was bothered at this prospect but I stuck to it. I told her that after watching the show while being blind then she could decide if she wanted to continue with this experiment but not until she had watched the whole show.

So, she ate her food and listened. She shared how hard it was to listen to a show and how she felt like she was missing parts of the show. We talked about how blind people deal with these challenges and how they overcome them.

Once the show was over she promptly removed her patches and coverings and declared that she did not want to be blind. The experiment had clearly been a success. She learned about a different group of people and the struggles they face. She learned about compassion and how little she uses her other four senses. The lessons will stay with her for life because she did not just read about them or listen to a lecture, she actually lived them.

Oh no, I can’t speak in front of a group of people! What will they think of me? Will they laugh at me? Will they like what I say? What do you think of when you hear “public speaking”?

Most people become nervous or frightened. In high school, I joined the Debate Team. It was an excellent opportunity for me to hone my debate skills, become comfortable in front of people, both unfriendly and friendly, and just in general learn that most folks don’t bite. I have used my skills at various times in my life, everything from making announcements at a party to speaking before legislators at a public hearing and everything in between.

As I mentioned in Don’t You Want to be a HAM?, we are amateur radio operators. Our daughter is also a Brownie in the Girl Scouts. So, what would any self-respecting Mom do when she realized there was a HAM radio patch for Girl Scouts? You guessed it. I volunteered for US, yes that would be myself, my husband and our daughter, to teach the Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes and Seniors about Ham Radio so they could all earn this patch. Since our daughter got her HAM license she met all the requirements and had already received her patch.

The requirements we were teaching are listed at Ham Radio Patch. We decided to divide up the requirements so that each of us would have an opportunity to present. Of course, half of a presentation is being prepared and the other half is staying calm. So, my husband and I helped our daughter prepare her presentation. Her speech was double spaced, listed what she would say, what was on the handout for the girls, and even included a quiz item.

As the day approached, she practiced giving her presentation to each of us. Each time we would offer her compliments on things she did well and suggestions to make it even better. Since she was going to be teaching 25 girls, we had a discussion about how she needed to speak clearly, look up at the girls, pause when she asked a question, decide how many girls to call on for an answer and so on.

Each time she practiced she improved. On the day of the presentation, we went to lunch and over lunch my husband and I each shared some final ideas. My husband pointed out that it was critical that she speak loudly otherwise the girls would not pay attention if they could not hear her. I encouraged her to smile and have fun.

At age 9, our daughter did her first real public speaking gig. She did great! All the girls learned about ham radio, they earned their patch and our daughter got to experience not only teaching others and helping them learn but she experienced speaking in front of a group of people. Because there was no grade tied to the presentation she just focused on doing the best she could rather then worrying about a single person making an arbitrary grade. She read the audience appropriately, engaged them, encouraged them, and had fun. I’m looking forward to her giving more speeches in the future.

Recently, our daughter was struggling with looking up words in the dictionary. After discussing the challenge with her, it became apparent to me that she was not connecting with the concept of alphabetical hierarchy. Therefore, I decided to give her a game to play while empowering her to discover/create her own alphabetical hierarchy.

I started by asking her to pick out a bunch of words based on things she was thinking of or things she saw in the room. Here is her list:

• Car
• Molly
• Multiplication
• Kit
• Clue
• Flecity
• Pen
• Math
• Happy
• Latin
• Man
• Staples
• Monkey
• One
• French
• Pencil
• Sleep
• Map
• Blue
• Won

There were more words than this, but I only wrote down those so we had a list which (a) had enough words to be challenging but not too many to be discouraging, (b) had at least a few words with the first letter(s) identical, (c) had at least one word with a subset of another word.

After writing the words on a blank piece of paper, she cut out the words and began the Dictionary Game! I asked her to put all the words in an order that would make them easy to use. There were no other rules to the game. Of course, I planned to help her along with assessing each decision and arriving at logical conclusions.

After a brief discussion, she suggested and agreed that ordering them alphabetically made the most sense because nearly everyone has learned the alphabet in an order that they can easily recall. Had I been doing this game, I would have started with ordering two words and then inserted the other words in the correct location, one at a time, based on my computer programming background.

I was pleasantly surprised to see her start in a different way. She immediately started by grouping the words, some by their first letter and others by their position in the alphabet. I found this so refreshing to see a new way of looking at things, especially one which appeared to be more global and holistic, rather than strictly logical!

Soon, however, she realized that there were too many to manage this way and decided to begin with the 4 or 5 she had and move to inserting the other words. It was interesting to see her deal with the words “pen” and “pencil” because she had to decide which should come first. After measuring the merit of both choices, she decided “pen” should be first, because it was shorter.

She struggled well with the 6 words beginning with “m” as she tried to remember which letter of each word she was comparing. It helped her when I said the letters of each word, starting at the beginning, stopping and emphasizing the one she was comparing.

When she finished, she asked if this was the way real dictionaries sort their words. When I told she had figured out exactly the same way, she was elated! Then we looked up a handful of words in the dictionary and we both were very proud of her accomplishment.

Afterwards, she was so enthusiastic about the activity that she put all the words into a baggie and labeled it “Dictionary Game by {her initials} and Dad” so she could play it again. I suggested that each time she play, she add one new word to the mix.

What a privilege it was for me to spend this time helping my daughter think of her own way to do something, realize that others had already done it that way (confirmation of her thinking), then use this knowledge in a practical way!!

Alright, if you’re like most folks, by now you are getting tired of the mudslinging that you are witnessing courtesy of every politician that wants your vote in November. The next couple weeks will only get worse with the upcoming elections. But every time you hear a radio political campaign ad, or see one on television or in print do you just gloss over it? Do your eyes glaze and you start daydreaming you are in Bermuda? Do you wish it would all end sooner than later? Or, do you see this an awesome opportunity for homeschooling?

If you are like me, you seize the opportunity for some good old political analysis. I know it sounds weird, but as a Political Science major I always find this time period fascinating. So, besides enjoying food, geography, history and cultures I also happen to enjoy politics. For some this might seem like the height of absurdity but politics is as much about life as any other subject. In fact, politics determines in many ways how you live your life since politics affects the laws that govern you. In addition, politics at its core is about people, compromises and communication.

If you understand the U.S. Constitution, then you can analyze the campaign promises and discuss whether what they are promising is even feasible. When an ad attacks the incumbents voting record you could check out the voting record of the candidate. Perhaps there was some pork in the bill and that is why they voted against it.

Heck, you can have great discussions with a child of any age. What is pork when it comes to legislation? Is it really a pig? What is a candidate? How do they become one? What is a party primary? Why is there a convention? What is a third party candidate? How does one become an incumbent?

For younger children you could just point out the yard signs and analyze the colors. Which ones grab your attention more? Why? Do they tell you anything about the person running for office?

As they get older you could have a discussion about what it means to be a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, Socialist and Communist. Give examples of where each party stands on issues they understand and that are age appropriate. For example, they will grasp topics such as the environment, local issues such as libraries, and whether they support the family.

For older kids, you can ask them to read an article or two about the campaigns each day. Perhaps assign or recommend that they follow a particular campaign for about 6 weeks. Ask questions and see if they can figure out the answers. Kids are very resourceful.

There are many ways political campaign ads can be incorporated into learning about government, politics, communication, advertising, writing, reading, critical thinking, analysis, statistics, debate skills, campaigning strategies, and much more.

So, next time you see a political campaign ad don’t tune out. Engage your child. Don’t underestimate your child. They get more than you can imagine. And you will get something too. The opportunity to become a better informed voter while teaching your child.

Living in an age of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and the American Automobile Association (AAA) people rarely pull out maps, plan a route on their own and use a map to get to their destination. And now with unlimited calling for phones it is not uncommon to call your destination and get directions. Yet, knowing how to read a map and locate one’s way in the world are not just skills that are useful but necessary. Let’s face it, the last time I checked there was no GPS for the mall map. Just kidding!

Our daughter enjoys learning about maps, geography and practicing her map skills. While she can always practice her skills with a workbook, what better way to utilize her map skills than to guide us to our vacation destination. Vacation, you say? Yes. Now, I do have to admit that allowing an eight year-old to map out a route, plan turn-by-turn directions and then navigate you will most likely take you longer. This requires patience on your part, guidance for your child and time. There is no doubt a GPS or AAA map could quickly guide you to a highway or at least the most direct route much more efficiently. Yet, how would this really help your child?

So, it was with this attitude that my husband and I invited our daughter to determine what route we would use to get to our vacation destination. This homeschool lesson is definitely one that is wise to employ during vacation as it can take longer for both the planning and execution versus if you just drove to your destination. Our normal 1 ½ hour trip took almost 2 hours and the route planning took an additional ½ hour.

After she highlighted which route we would take she wrote out turn-by-turn directions. She even estimated the number of miles it would take for us to arrive. As we jumped from one route to another we took in the colorful autumn scenery. She confidently directed my husband turn-by-turn, while she learned the difference between junction, highway, route and street signs.

This real-world homeschool opportunity is not difficult but it is unique. Think about it. How many children do you know get to guide their parents anywhere? How many children get to use their map skills in real life? Not many. And yet, if they did, if children had a real reason to learn to read a map, wouldn’t they?

All-in-all our map skills maven did a great job. We arrived at our destination relaxed and ready for a vacation. She was able to modify her directions as needed and practiced her communication, math, writing and map reading skills. We discussed the importance of being able to read a map and stay focused when traveling so that you arrive where you want and not in Kalamazoo. And her reward, and ours, was not a check mark on her paper or a letter grade it was an actual vacation! Not bad, I have to say.

As a child I remember learning about money two ways. One was the formal way at school. We would sit at our desk, pull out our book and look at a page with pictures of the fronts and backs of coins and bills. Then we would do math problems with the pictures of the money for classwork or homework.

Now, as a child I saw several problems with this method of learning about money. First, it was not realistic because all the money was flat as a pancake on the page. Second, I could not get a real sense of the size of the money because I literally could not get my fingers wrapped around the money. Third, I had no real world context in which I could use my skills. Fourth, let’s be honest about this one, it wasn’t my money so who really cared if I got the answer right?

Thankfully, my mother had a creative way to teach money to me that made it very real, very fast. Whenever we would go to a store, while I was learning about money, she would pay a little bit more and get change. Then, while we were still in the store, she would put the coins in my hands and tell me that if I could figure out the exact amount of the change on the first try then I could keep it. Whoa! For a kid, that was one very cool deal.

While I definitely grasp that schools might not be able to implement this idea this is definitely something that parents can do on their own. My mother succeeded in allowing me to use real money so that I could wrap my fingers around them and relate their size and texture to this subject. She gave me a real world context and she succeeded in making me care about getting the right answer. After all, we were now talking about what could be MY money.

Some of you might not agree with this method so I encourage you to think back to when you were trying to learn a skill, maybe cooking. Remember how reading about cooking was never the same as once you got to practice what you read in the kitchen? Learning about money is no different.

During that time period, I probably earned less than $10 but it cemented in my mind how to count money correctly and why it was an important lesson to learn. And frankly, it was fun!

What does an address book look like to you? If you are like pretty much anyone on earth you will say it includes lines, name, address, email, and home, cell and work phone numbers. The question is how realistic is that for a young child?

Think about it. If your child can not read, how helpful will an adult address book be? When our daughter was about three she liked to draw pictures to mail to friends and family. She enjoyed doing this because she quickly learned that she would often get mail back from whomever she sent letters to.

One challenge was that she did not know how to spell everyone’s name. So, I came up with a photo address book. My husband and daughter created the photo address book. They took pictures we had of everyone and cut out their face. Then we put their name under their picture. (Digital pictures are very easy to use.) Each page had about 15 to 20 pictures on them. Afterwards, we put the pages in a 3-ring binder

This worked very well and gave her independence. She enjoyed pulling out her photo address book, creating her picture and addressing it to the appropriate party.

This photo address book would also work if you wanted to include the person’s address below, particularly when they are learning to write and address envelopes. The only thing that limits your ability to homeschool is your imagination. With some modification, which is often easier to implement in your home than in a school, many things can be easily presented. Children like copying their parents. What is more adult than their own address book?

Garlic shots, garlic marinated beef on a stick, garlic bread knots, garlic chocolate chip chocolate cookies, garlic mushrooms, garlic jelly, garlic oils, garlic dips, garlic chocolate candy bars, garlic burgers, garlic ice cream, garlic popcorn and the delectable garlic dipped in chocolate fondue. So, did you figure out what they all have in common? Well, yes you are correct, they are all food items, one of my favorite things to experiment with, but that is not what I am referring to.

Have you figured it out? If you said, GARLIC then you would be on to something. Recently, we attended the annual Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY and we tried everything just mentioned! We first heard about this festival from some family that lives in the area. So, we decided that we had to investigate this festival dedicated to garlic. Now, I am sure if you are unfamiliar with this website/blog you may be asking yourself what does a garlic festival have to do with homeschooling?

Well, besides the experimenting with many different items made with garlic we learned that there are many different types of garlic. Seriously, until you have tried the white German, red German, red Italian, and French garlic, among others, you have not experimented or explored garlic. Science could easily be incorporated in this learning opportunity and we did include some science in this opportunity.

Of course, one could learn about the economic impact of such an event on a community. By exploring and researching the event, one could learn how the money is used in the community, how the event came about, who contributes to the event and so on.

Then there is the fact that while experimenting with all the food one could learn how to be daring by having a positive attitude and approaching the whole experience as an adventure. While at the garlic festival we had a couple other opportunities to experiment with other foods, venison and alligator gumbo. While our daughter is generally daring with a positive attitude, the venison and alligator somewhat taxed her patience with experimenting. Although, I must say, she did enjoy telling all her friends how she had eaten alligator the next day and seeing their face!

While all of those are great things one could learn from going to a garlic festival, the thing we all took away from the event was just how creative and daring the individuals were who developed some of the garlic uses. After all, can you imagine being the one to come up with the idea to stick garlic in a perfectly good chocolate bar? I mean honestly, what did the friends of this person say? What would your spouse say if you said you came up with a new dessert, garlic cloves dipped in chocolate fondue? Could you keep a straight face if your friend said they had just made some garlic ice cream to add to their pie?

Yet someone came up with each of those ideas. Even if the recipes were passed on from generation to generation, there was someone who was willing to experiment, possibly be laughed at or ridiculed, make mistakes and then try again. Those are amazing lessons and after all isn’t that what learning is all about?

While we have all heard of many people who were willing to fail and try again, the garlic festival offers a unique perspective on this lesson. So, the next time you are afraid to shake things up, try something different, or make a mistake reconsider and remember the garlic festival.

To learn more about the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival visit: http://www.hvgf.org/

Kids love beans. Uncooked that is! Younger children love playing with them because of the sounds they make, their color and the way they feel. This is a great way for developing gross motor skills, manipulation and creativity.

When our daughter was younger she was thrilled whenever I would give her a pot of uncooked beans, a spoon, plastic measuring cup, and a couple bowls or pots. She would spend a good half hour just scooping and pouring them between the pots. They have been included in her pretend restaurant.

For less than a few dollars, beans are a great tool in learning, especially when they are purchased in bulk. They can of course be used for creativity as in imagining the child is cooking but take a moment and think of other uses for this protein?

For younger children they can scoop beans from one pot to a bowl and develop their gross motor skills. As they get older and use a spoon they can develop their hand-eye coordination. If they are given a decent size funnel they can even practice using both of their hands to scoop and hold a funnel.

Pictures can be created used different beans and colors for a collage. The beans can be used as an impetus for hearing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.

As the children get older they can be used as a math manipulative for counting, sorting, and doing math. Beans can easily be measured by weight. And different colored beans can be used to create a graph.

Different beans can be incorporated into a lesson on different forms of protein. They can be used for home economics by the children when they learn how to cook beans, incorporate them in different recipes and so on. They could even create a bean cookbook with their own recipes, which would then incorporate writing, math and creativity.

For older children, beans can be used as an aid in teaching about different food lifestyles such as vegetarians. They can also be used to learn about different cultures that utilize beans in their diet such as Mexico. There is, of course, the science experiment with growing beans and identifying their parts. Children can learn about the process of picking beans and the countries where different beans grow as part of social studies.

As with the lowly cardboard box, don’t discount the creative and learning opportunities that are presented by such a simple food, the bean. If you have other ideas of how beans can be incorporated into learning please comment below.

Our daughter regularly spends time in creative play. One of the things she enjoys doing is running a pretend restaurant. She created a menu to hand out to her patrons. I offered that we could create menus on the computer if she wanted and she quickly took me up on the offer.

We worked together to design the menu, write the selections, prices and even included pictures. Afterwards, we laminated them using clear contact paper and cut them accordingly. She really enjoyed making them and still uses them in her pretend restaurant.

Recently, she decided to create a family breakfast menu. This time she figured out all of our breakfast options. She designed the cover with our family’s name and titled it “Breakfast Menu”. Then she listed all our drink options, food selections and options for how we wanted our food prepared. Yes, it is quite detailed and she developed it all on her own. We can even decide what number we want our toast heated to for crunchiness. Even condiment selections and spreads, such as butter, jelly or Nutella, were included.

Finally, she folded the menu in half so that there were several pages in a booklet form. She even bound the pages together with yarn. Now, every morning we can select from one of many options. Often times we can even place our orders with her. She runs a real breakfast restaurant in our kitchen and we get to be the lucky recipients of a delectable breakfast prepared just so.

What began as creative play developed into an exciting project, which she initiated. She utilized her design and creativity skills, spelling, penmanship, and writing skills as she described all of our selections. In running her restaurant she learned about maintaining the food stock and often reminds me when we are running low on breakfast items. She also has learned about time management as she sets out to prepare several items at once and finally she has learned about presentation. Breakfast has been delicious and we have never had soggy cereal or burnt toast. Hmmm, maybe that’s why my husband and I like our daughter’s restaurant so much!

So, what do you do with that beautiful picture your child makes? The story they wrote? What do you with the 500th beautiful picture your child made or 100th story they wrote? Whether you homeschool or not, deciding what to do with your child’s beautiful works of art or learning, can become a serious challenge. After all, how many pictures can you really hang on your refrigerator? How many projects can you display?

Over the years, I have tried to figure out what to do with all of these items. Throwing them out is not the best option but swimming in them isn’t either. These are just some of the ideas that I have come across or implemented.

Office Corkboard-Whether it is at work or in your home office, corkboards are a great way to easily display work. It doesn’t take the paint of the wall and you can quickly change out the beautiful works as you get more. Simply hang a corkboard and make sure you have plenty of tacks to display the work.

Scrapbook-If you enjoy this hobby, you could place the work of art, project or story in a scrapbook as one of several highlighted accomplishments for that year. Be sure to use archival and acid free pages and materials. This will make these beautiful works not turn yellow and last for years.

Table Top Book-With this one you can photograph each project or art piece. Then get a large scrapbook and place them on each page. Again, be sure to use archival and acid free pages and materials. This can then be a Table Top Book to be displayed on your coffee table.

Gifts-Share your child’s beautiful works. Grandparents love getting gifts and showing off how gifted their grandchild is by displaying the beautiful works. The beautiful works can be sent to the troops or given to a nursing home to brighten the halls.

Digital Photo Frame-This is a new type of frame that has become very popular. With this frame you can take your digital pictures that are on a SD or CF card, take the card and put it in the digital frame. Then you can view the pictures in the frame in a slideshow format or as a single picture. This is another great way to show your child’s multiple beautiful works.

Website-If you have a family website or blog, you can share your child’s beautiful works of art by scanning or taking digital photos of the work and then sharing them with loved ones via these Internet tools.

Box Them-If time is limited but your child’s beautiful works are important then select what you want to keep. Then obtain an archival, acid-free box and place your child’s beautiful works in the box. By doing this they can be brought out to reminisce about years later.

If you have more ideas, PLEASE share them with the rest of us. Just click on comment and add your ideas. We are all looking for different ways to manage our children’s beautiful works!