Blog - Page 14 of 14 - African-American Homeschool Moms: A resource for black homeschoolers

Drawing Animals: Free Tutorials

September 6, 2014 Leave a Comment

My girls love to draw. Unfortunately, God gave them a mother whose drawing prowess is limited to the creation of stick people. Though my stick people are quite fabulous, my girls need a bit more drawing instruction than I can provide.

Since I’m in need of help, you can imagine how excited I was when Kathy Wilson contacted me to tell me about her website We Draw Animals. Kathy’s website is awesome! It features detailed drawing tutorials of over five hundred (yes 500!) amazing animals. Some animals are warm and fuzzy, like the panda, rabbit, and fox, while other animals, like the dolphin and shark, are wet and wild. Kathy even has tutorials for kids who love creeping crawling creatures such as snakes and spiders!

You can have your children use the We Draw Animal tutorials for recreational drawing, but I plan to incorporate the artwork into our curriculum. Our first unit study focuses on Egypt, so I’m planning to add her tutorials on African animals to my lesson plans. You might also choose to study animal habitats (tundra, dessert, tundra, grassland) and draw the animals that live in each habitat.

Check out Kathy’s easy to follow tutorial, How to Draw an Elephant in 6 Easy Steps. If you like what you see, head over to Kathy’s site for more tutorials and to download a free copy of her ebook.

Making Homeschool Preschool Fun!

September 5, 2014 Leave a Comment

Homeschool Preschool: A Great Experience!

Many moms are teaching preschool age children. Some of these wee ones are the youngest children in their families, while others are the only ones in the family.

No matter what the scenario, homeschool moms want to help their little ones to grow into happy and active learners. This can be done by creating a fun and creative homeschool preschool!

Preschoolers are an active and intelligent group of learners. They are eager to learn and they absorb information as quickly as sponges absorb water. In order to have a successful homeschool preschool experience, moms must offer these little learners a variety of fun and educational play options. In addition, moms must rotate activities and introduce new ones frequently so these young children do not get bored and become mischievous.

Today I’m sharing a few of my favorite and easy to recreate homeschool preschool activities. Don’t feel pressure to create everything at once. Add a new activity each week and within a month or so, you’ll have a fun and engaging homeschool preschool your child will love. Ready. Get set. Go, mom, go!

Homeschool Preschool Activities

Bubbles: Our bubble supply stays well stocked throughout the year. In our carpeted basement, I allow Baby Girl to blow bubbles. The small bottles you pick up at the local drugstore are fine, but be sure to save the bottles and purchase lots of bubble juice refill or make your own if you’re crafty.

We were introduced to Gymboree’s Bubble Ooodles by our local librarian and we LOVE them. Bubble Ooodles create gorgeous bubbles that last a long time before popping. But beware! Popped bubbles leave behind an icky residue, so I wouldn’t use them near wooden surfaces or countertops. In our house, Bubble Ooodles are for use in our carpeted basement or outdoor areas only.

Do a Dot Markers: I seriously want to send a birthday gift to the individual who created these markers! They’re fun and help improve fine motor skills and they keep Baby Girl engaged for quite a long time. Each Do a Dot Marker contains colored liquid housed inside a sturdy plastic bottle with a sponge tip. In order to apply color, preschoolers remove the cap and apply color by dotting the page. They can use this method to create their own unique picture, or they can apply color to free Do a Dot art pages.

Dress Up Clothes: We have several bins of dress up clothes for play and as you can see, even some eight year olds still like to play with them. The princess costumes are among the favorites, but we also have conductor, fireman, and police officer costumes for gender neutral play.

Though you can buy new dress up clothes, they tend to be quite expensive, so consider adding dress up clothes to the birthday wish list you share with your family and friends. You can also hit yard sales, Ebay, or Goodwill stores to find washable dress up clothes in great condition. In the days following Halloween, costume stores often marked down merchandise by 50% or more. Stop by and purchase a few for the dress up box. Be sure to check places like Craig’s List as well. After Halloween many people are trying to unload the Halloween costumes that have only been used once or twice.

Kitchen Play: If space permits, add a play kitchen to your homeschool preschool. This is a great way to tap into your preschooler’s imaginative nature by allowing them to bake, blend, wash, and serve. The kitchen set in the picture above retailed for over $100, but I grabbed one from Craig’s list for only $40! Be sure to stock the kitchen with lots of play food and cooking supplies.

Play Dough: Play Dough is a fantastic medium for young children. So many things can be done with it. Create a Play Dough bin and fill it with several containers of colorful Play Dough, miniature rolling pins, toddler safe scissors like these Melissa and Doug Safety Scissors. You can even use Play Dough to help preschoolers make the letters of alphabet using these awesome free Play Dough mats from 123 Homeschool 4 Me.

Pony Beads: I love these colorful beads because they can be used in a variety of ways. (If you’re not sure what Pony Beads look like, check them out here.) They look similar to small candies, so you’ll need to make sure your child does not eat them.

I give Baby Girl several pipe cleaners and allow her to string the pony beads onto the pipe cleaner. Though the pony beads don’t normally slide off, I recommend making a hook or loop at the bottom of the pipe cleaner just in case. I like to make the pipe cleaner task more interesting by asking Baby Girl to color code the beads (red beads on red pipe cleaners, blue beads on blue pipe cleaners) or by asking her to recreate a pattern on the beads (green bead, purple bead, orange bead).

Another great way to use pony beads is by having preschoolers use tweezers to pick them up and sort them. This is another excellent exercise for fine motor skills. I line up six small glass votives and drop a single colored bead into each one. Baby Girl then uses tweezers to pick up and drop colored beads into the correct votive.

Keep beads, pipe cleaners, votives, and tweezers contained by adding them to a serving tray. This way if supplies roll around or get dropped during play, they don’t end up on the floor.

Magnets: Preschoolers love the Magnet Fishing Game and creating your own is easy to do. Find a simple fish pattern and trace several fish onto several colorful pieces of paper. Laminate the fish for durability and then use a hole punch to punch a hole near the mouth of each fish. Insert a metal paper clip into each hole.

Tie or hot glue a thick ribbon to a stick or dowel and attach a magnet to the end of the ribbon. Have your preschooler “catch” fish by using the magnet on the rod to touch the paper clip on each fish.

Pattern blocks: Help your little one learn more about shapes and patterns by using pattern blocks. You can purchase pattern blocks at an educational store such as Lakeshore Learning or you can buy them from Ebay like I did. After you’ve got your pattern blocks, download and laminate some fantastic pattern block pages from Prekinders.com. Keep your preschooler interested by adding themed pattern block pages for holidays or specific unit studies such as animals or transportation.

Preschool at home is possible and it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg! With a bit of time and patience, you can create activities that will keep your preschooler learning happily. Are you homeschooling a preschooler? Do you have any tips or tricks? Feel free to share what you’re doing by leaving a comment below.

Tips for Creating Weekly Lesson Plans

September 1, 2014 Leave a Comment

For many homeschool moms, weekly lesson plans are part of their regular routine. Lesson plans help keep us on track and help us ensure that learning is taking place in a progressive and well organized manner.

When it comes to creating lesson plans there are no hard and fast rules for doing so. Ultimately, how you decide to create your plans will be determined by what works best for you and your family.

Some moms use a spreadsheet to create lesson plans, while others prefer to use a software program. And then there are moms who stand by the trusted method of planning using paper and pencil.

Creating lesson plans can be time consuming, especially if you have multiple children on different grade levels. To prevent lesson planning from becoming an all encompassing weekly task, my overall piece of advice is short and sweet. Keep it simple. Here are a few tips to help you do so.

Lesson Planning Tips

1. Set a date and time for planning. This helps you settle into a routine and prevents last minute and late night planning sessions.

2. Think about the activities for the coming week. Doctor’s appointments, instrumental lessons, playdates, field trips, etc will affect your plans for the week. Be sure to consider these things when you plan and then build your plans around these events.

3. Review last week’s lesson plans. Were you able to zip ahead in math because your son quickly and competently breezed through his math lessons? Do you need to go back and spend time helping your daughter revise her history essay? Use last week’s progress to determine your course of action for the coming week. Tie up loose ends before starting something new.

4. Don’t plan too much. If you find yourself ahead of schedule that is great! If you find yourself ahead of schedule that is great!. If you over-plan and can’t meet the goals you set, you may become frustrated. Also, if you plan too much, you may feel the need to push through just for the sake of getting done.

5. Be flexible. Don’t let your lesson plans hold you hostage. Life is fluid. Things happen. Children get sick. Moms get sick. A field trip lasts longer than intended because you get stuck in traffic. Likewise, you could receive an invitation to a great educational outing. Don’t miss out on a great educational opportunity just because it wasn’t written down in your lesson plans.

6. Plan what’s best for YOUR family. Just because your homeschool buddy is doing a fantastic unit on ancient Egypt featuring sugar cube pyramids and chicken mummification doesn’t mean you have to do the same. Your family dynamic may not allow you to do those things right now and that’s perfectly fine. Craft lessons that meet your children’s needs. Don’t frustrate yourself by trying to keep up with others.

Lesson planning is often an essential aspect of a mom’s homeschool responsibility. Even though it’s important, lesson planning should not be overwhleming. Do you have any tips for planning lessons? If so, please leave a comment letting me know. I’d love to hear what you do.

Avoiding Motherly Burnout

August 26, 2014 Leave a Comment

A new school year is here and our motherly responsibilities have shifted into high gear. If you’re anything like me, you spend the day wearing many hats simultaneously.

Of course, you’re always mom, but you’re also teacher, chef, counselor, laundress, chauffeur, manager, etc. Your responsibilities include cooking, etching, driving, folding, sweeping, hugging, and nurturing, just to name a few.

I’m sure you’re well aware that trying to keep up with all those tasks can soon become overwhelming. In the blink of an eye, you find yourself buried alive under dozens of responsibilities. Beware busy mom, motherly burnout may be lurking just around the corner!

Let’s start the school year right by making sure we’re aware of the symptoms of burnout. Understanding the symptoms now can help avoid a devastating crash and burn later this school year.

Symptoms of Burnout:

exhaustion crankiness mental fogginess physical ailments

overeating loss of appetite negative thoughts forgetfulness

anxiety lack of self care inefficiency pessimism

crying anger hopelessness guilt

detachment fear insomnia cynicism

How To Avoid Burnout

Motherly burnout does not have to be a fact of life. There are things we can do to prevent becoming a burnout victim. Checkout these five tips and put them into practice today.

Lower your expectations. You don’t have to do everything. In fact, you won’t be able to do everything. Don’t berate yourself if the house isn’t dust free every day. Don’t give yourself a mental beating if each meal you serve isn’t gourmet quality. Stop blasting yourself for not having time to get everyone’s hair twisted or braided perfectly before heading out the door to lessons.
Prioritize. Recognize that everything can’t be at the top of your to do list. Determine what’s most important and start there. In my household, the most important things are homeschooling, meals, and laundry. Review your household responsibilities and talk to your family. Together, determine your family’s top three priorities.
Require children to help out. One of the reasons many of us are struggling under the heavy weight of responsibility is because we don’t require our children to help out around the house. When children help out with dishwashing, laundry, sweeping, and vacuuming, and even cooking (depending upon the age of the child) the motherly load we carry is lightened.
Be flexible. Be willing to change when you see something is not working. This is not a failure; it’s merely a readjustment. If the science curriculum you’re using is too hard to teach or the number of toddler playdates is draining you, make some changes. You’ll feel less stressed and your family will too!
Plug into a support system. Please put down that Superwoman cape and stop trying to fly solo. Homeschooling is much easier when you have a support system. Find fellow homeschool moms in real life and/or online share your struggles. Most are eager to connect and you’ll soon be reminded that you’re not alone!

Have you ever experienced motherly burnout? If so, how did you handle it?

Homeschool Resources

August 20, 2014 Leave a Comment

Some people believe that in order to homeschool, a family needs a seemingly endless list of supplies and a huge budget. This is far from the case! By employing proper planning and carefully determining what is needed, families can gather the materials they need in order to homeschool successfully.

I recently asked the moms in the African American Homeschool Moms Facebook group to share their list of homeschool must haves. These knowledgeable ladies have offers up some great suggestions.

Library cards: A library card will give your family access to a wide array of resources. You can check out books and DVDs on a variety of topics and use the library’s computers to work, research and play games. Library card holders will also be able to register for special library events such as story times, Lego club meetings, and craft times, not often available to non card holders.

Pencil sharpener: Pencils are a necessity in any classroom setting and the homeschool environment is no exception. Buy a high quality pencil sharpener that will survive frequent use and endure lots of wear and tear.

Art supplies: You don’t have to purchase easels, fancy paint, or state of the art color palettes. For the average homeschool family, a ream of basic construction paper, a few boxes of sturdy crayons, some bottles of paint, a few pairs of scissors, bottles of glue, and few gluesticks will be just fine.

Computer and Internet access: In this technological age, many families would find it difficult to school without a computer and an internet connection. As I mentioned earlier, you can use the computers at the library, but most families will prefer the convenience and privacy of home computing. During the school day, we use our computer to watch supplemental YouTube videos, take online classes, and of course to play the educational games my children love so much.

Printer/Copier: A few years ago we began to use downloadable books from a great website called CurrcClick. Though downloadable books or e-books as they’re often called, don’t cut into our valuable storage space, we must always have a printer/copier and ink cartridges to copy or print out what we need.

Paper: Our paper stash includes lined paper, colorful construction paper, butcher paper for large art projects, and printer paper. We use each of these types of paper for a variety of educational projects and activities.

Curriculum: Every homeschool family needs to decide what they’ll use to teach their children. Purchased curriculum is the go to method for most homeschool families, but there are a variety of free homeschool curricula and materials as well. To see a great list of free homeschool resources, please check the Freebies link in the top menu bar.

Balls: Playtime is a necessary part of homeschooling. Just as our children’s minds need to be stimulated, we need to remember that their bodies need stimulation as well. Help keep your children active and physically fit by providing them with materials they need to exercise. Give them time to play with footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs, and bouncy balls.

Homeschooling does not have to be expensive. Once you’ve secured all of your homeschool necessities and you’re happily using them, you may wish to branch out and purchase additional items to make your homeschooling easier.