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.

Part of the requirements to adopt from Ukraine is the judge wants to see proof that you have a residency. So, if you rent you need to show proof of a lease and if you own your home they want to see a notarized copy of the deed to your home.

Enter another homeschool lesson. My daughter and I set out to our town clerk to obtain several copies of the deed to our home because we are hoping to adopt a sibling pair and need the copies for the dossiers. (And an extra copy should anyone lose a copy of the deed.)

I expected that we would walk in to the town clerk’s office, request the information, they would pull the book, copy it, notarize it and then we would pay and be done. What a surprise when the clerk told us to go to the vault and look it up ourselves. Huh?

The look of dumbfoundedness on my face must have been pretty clear because the clerk then proceeded to explain the steps. I took a deep breath and realized I was going to experience this homeschool lesson first hand, side-by-side with my daughter.

So, walked into the vault and found a locked area that contained all of our town’s vital statistics, such as the births, deaths and marriages. As we looked in awe at books dated back to the 1800s, I could tell this was going to turn out to be a pretty cool experience.

As most parents know, I could have completed the task in a record 10 minutes but realized that this would be a great hands-on learning opportunity for our daughter and quickly determined she needed to perform the task. (Did I mention I had no clue how to do this search?)

We located a large book that listed all the home owners in town. Our daughter looked up our last name, first name and street and identified the book that our deed was located in. We then walked around the vault a couple times as we tried to orient ourselves with how the books were arranged. Once we figured out the order, our daughter quickly located the book volume that contained our deed and then found the pages of our deed. Wow!

In a short period of time she had found the deed to our home and a new interest was seriously sparked. We proceeded to copy the deed, have it notarized and pay for the copies. Throughout this part of the process, she kept asking if we could go back in the vault. Through several questions she realized that we could go back and search our home’s previous owners, see how much they had paid for it and so on.

As our daughter asked questions, the clerks could overhear our conversation. Soon one of them offered some information on how to do title searches in the vault and I realized there was a serious field trip opportunity here. I learned that Town Clerk does field trips for the local kids to the vault and explains the clerk’s job, the records and other interesting facts. So, what would any self-respecting mom, specifically a homeschool mom, do but realize that we need another field trip to the town clerk’s office with some friends.

Don’t underestimate your local town resources. Children can learn about the history of their town and home. They can learn about economics and inflation as they identify home prices over the years, legal documents as they see how deeds are written and notarized, how to do research and of course, communication by asking for help from the clerks. This unplanned errand turned into a great educational experience.

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.

When our daughter was learning to write, I figured one of the best ways to encourage her was to purchase some stationary and stamps of her selection. My thought was then she would have all the tools to write to her grandparents. This worked out better than I had intended.

After she would write her letter, she would come to me for me to address the envelopes. I quickly saw this as another real world learning opportunity. So, I explained how to address the envelopes. Why they were addressed that way and what happened when mail was returned.

I remember in school learning about how to address envelopes but we always just wrote down the answer on notebook paper or on a copy of an envelope but never on the real thing. Additionally, the feedback we received was very limited since the only person giving feedback was our teacher.

So, with these experiences in hand I decided to approach this a bit differently. I drew lines on the envelopes of where everything went. (You can also purchase envelopes with lines or get stickers with lines on them and place them on the envelope to guide your child.) Then I provided her with the individual’s address and encouraged her to write neatly. I explained that we would know if she wrote neatly if the postal worker could read her handwriting. If the postal worker could, then the letter would be allowed to be sent, if not then she would need to rewrite the envelope.

Our daughter eagerly set out to address her envelope, stamp it and seal it. When we ran our errands that day we stopped at the post office, went in and waited our turn. When she approached the counter, she asked the postal worker, “Can you read this?” The postal worker seemed a bit confused and so I explained that she was learning about how to address a letter properly and she wanted to mail the letter. I further explained that our agreement was she could only mail the letter if the postal worker could read the addresses.

The postal worker was great. He immediately took the letter, seriously looked at it, read it out loud and declared he could accept the letter to be mailed. Our daughter was so excited that she had succeeded in officially addressing and mailing her own letter.

To this day, she takes great pride in addressing her envelopes. She understands the process of mailing a letter and the importance of writing clearly.

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?

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!

What did you do with the box that you recently received at home? Ever wonder what happens to all the boxes at the stores and grocery stores? When was the last time you used a box? Was it for moving or storage? If you are like most adults, you overlook the measly cardboard box. After all, once it serves its purpose what use is it?

There are many uses for a box beyond moving, storage or shipping. A simple box can become an imaginary car, train, sled or ship. It can be used for a table or desk when flipped over. This can then be used for the purpose of an imaginary restaurant, dining room table, or grocery store counter. Larger boxes can be used for huts or tents. Most boxes just get crushed once they serve their purpose so why not ask for a box to bring home. If you are looking for a larger box, check appliance stores.

While the main learning experience will be the use of your child’s creativity and imagination, many other lessons can be incorporated. If your child is very young you could ask them to tell you a story using their box as a car, for example. You could record their story or transcribe it and help them create a book. Then you could read the story they wrote.

If the child is older you could ask them to write a story with a beginning such as: “One day, I sat in a box which magically became ….” Now, spelling, creativity, writing, and English can be incorporated. Another option might be to set up a grocery store using the box. Let the child practice selling items and making change with real money. This allows them to practice communication skills, math and entrepreneurship.

For older children you could invite them to decorate the box and collect cans for the homeless shelter or treats for the troops overseas. In these situations, they get to use many skills while learning the following: - Communication and persuasion skills can be developed while doing the collecting. - Math can be used for weighing and measuring so that packing can be done properly. - Geography can be used to locate the place to which the box will be shipped. - Current events as to what is going on in that part of the world and why the box is needed there. - Good citizenship can be learned by helping their fellow man. - If they drop off the box to a homeless shelter or food pantry, they can learn about how one can be in poverty, organizations that help individuals who are in poverty, whether it is the government’s responsibility to get people out of poverty, and other ways to help.

So, the next time you see a measly box bring it home for your kids. You will be amazed at the fun and learning that can take place for less than a $1.00.

If you have others ideas of how a box can be used be sure to click on comments and share your ideas!