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Spending quality time with kids and staying present

by Mary Ann on December 28, 2010

little-jack-man

A couple of days before Christmas I found myself watching Jack and Mary, spending time with them. As you know Jack is almost 3 and Mary turned one today, Dec. 27. It wasn’t planned; it just came up that I needed to have them. Having children around is rarely convenient. Let’s just be honest. When they are around, there has to be a slight mind shift from what we need or want to do to what is happening NOW. I am not immune from needing to make this mind shift.

I was writing my article for this blog. I write one every week day and I have to have it to Shiniga, who gets them titled and on line for me and bless her heart for it!, by 4:00 pm. Now I have to say here that my grandchildren are wonderful and I LOVE having them anytime. However, when they came I still had my “me not them” mindset going on. I set them down in front of Qubo (terrible isn’t it) and gave them some cubed cheese. “Ah, they are good to go and I can finish my blog.”

Jack eating molasses and clowning around!

Hmmmm that is just not how it works with children. Jack needed a drink, he needed the toy closet opened, he wanted to know this and that……I could feel the worry about my writing deadline rising.

A short time ago I wrote about a wonderful day when I spent time with Jack and Mary learning about and making a rain stick. It had actually gone about like this day, with me trying to stay in my “me not them” mode and finally coming to my senses and being present with them. It was a glorious and fun experience. I was just about to have that experience again.

Jack sleeping in the dog bed

Jack came into the office and climbed up on my knee. “Can we look at rain sticks again,” he asked. The real question he was asking was “Can you spend some time with me.” I looked at Jack and again took my own advice. I stopped. What was the worst thing that could happen if I missed the 4:00 deadline? Nothing. Shiniga would email and I would tell her I was running late. She would say Ok and I would get the blog to her when I could. If it was too late and she had other obligations it would just get published the next day. It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last. So I dropped my self imposed deadline and just decided to spend quality time with them for the next hour.

I asked Jack what else he might want to learn about and we decided caterpillars and butterflies. We did a little internet snooping and found two great videos, one of a caterpillar spinning a cocoon and one of a chrysalis breaking open, the butterfly coming out and the wings getting dry and longer. It was fascinating. I didn’t try to “teach” Jack anything, we just watched.

As in the rain stick scenario I kept up a running dialog with Jack though to help him stay present. “Look Jack, that caterpillar is spinning a web like a spider”. “Gosh, that butterflies wings are wrinkled”. “Don’t you love that color”, and on and on”.

He asked if he could make a butterfly. “Sure”, I said. I just happened to have a few great color pages in my Dover file, where I save the downloaded free coloring pages. We got out the water paints and he painted. Then he wanted to know if he could make a caterpillar. “Sure”, I said and we headed for our trusty junk box (which I use to teach/homeschool at low price), (see item 3) christened the creative craft box, and found an egg carton, a pipe cleaner and a couple of big wiggly eyes.

Junk Box

I thought painting it would be good so out came the poster paints. Jack actually only dabbed at it a few times because what he wanted to do was put on the antenna and eyes! What a great caterpillar he made with the egg carton.

Egg carton caterpillar

When his mom came to get them Jack wanted to tell her all about the caterpillars and show her his. She responded with, “Isn’t grandma school so fun!”

We were having so much fun that I forgot to take a picture and as of today the caterpillar has been played into oblivion. Bummer!

I know that this had a great impact on Jack and that he loved learning about and making caterpillars because our friend Cindy visited his home the next day. She reported to me that Jack was very excited to show her his caterpillar.

It isn’t easy being so honest about the fact that kids can feel like an interruption to me or that I don’t do the best thing right off the bat; that I still have to come to my senses occasionally and decide to be present. However, I tell you this because I think it will give you hope that you to can learn to make choices that will bless your children and ultimately give you many happy experiences with them. You can do this!

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Free coloring pages and worksheets for homeschooling

by Mary Ann on December 22, 2010

The Dover Sampler:

The Dover Sampler

The Dover Sampler

I am going to share with you a secret for one way that I come up with amazing and free worksheets,coloring pages and other free stuff for my Spark Station. I use the Dover Sampler– I signed up to receive a sample of the books they are offering each month.

When they send the sampler you can click on different book options and then page options to see what might work in your Spark Station. Once I have a coloring page open, for example, I right click on it and then save it to my DOVER file in my documents. In my DOVER file I have many folders: animals, history, stories and fables, paper dolls, puzzles and mazes, science, math, etc.

Here are some examples of what I have saved in my Dover File. There are coloring worksheets and descriptions of Stonehenge and the fist crossing to the North Pole. I have a description and coloring worksheets of the explorer Desoto, the Vikings, the Pilgrims, Sutters Mill, the building of the White House, photos from the Civil War and how hurricanes are formed.

Van gogh

I have some wonderful pages to color of master paintings by Van Gough, Renoir, Cézanne, Chagall, Goya, Grandma Moses and Mary Cassatt to name a few. I have also collected color pictures of these works, as well as information on many of the painters.

I have coloring pages of various occupations.

Galapogos Island

There are coloring pages of more animals and descriptions of many of them than you can shake a stick at. For example, I have a series of coloring worksheets with descriptions of animals from the Galapagos Islands.

I have math puzzles, brain teasers, mazes, information on authors, poetry from around the world, and dinosaurs. There are stories and fables from many different countries, historical photos, coloring pages and dialogue of Shakespeare’s plays, paper folding instructions, drawing instructions and paper dolls of historical figures, medieval times, famous people, and even figures from classic books like Alice in Wonderland.

Let me give you two examples of how I might utilize this information.

Native Americans

We just finished the Thanksgiving holiday season. This is a perfect time to check books out of the library about the Pilgrims, Native Americans, the Dutch, the 13 colonies and the Mayflower Compact, depending on the ages of your children.

Cherokee Indians

In my Dover file I found coloring worksheets of the Pilgrims, Cherokee Indians history, a map of Massachusetts (one of the 13 colonies), a Tom Turkey paper doll and outfit, Ojibwa Songs, and four Native American Why Stories and other fables.

The book on Pilgrims will be free at the library. The color pages, pictures, paper dolls stories etc. were free and sent right to me. I have material for making aprons and squares of fabric for role playing the landing at Plymouth. None of that would cost a cent. What it does take is thought, planning and enthusiasm on your part.

We are in the Christmas season right now. In my Dover file I have coloring pages of different elements of the Christmas season. I have coloring pages of the Nativity and Nativity paper dolls. There are quite a number of puzzles, mazes and games that center on Christmas. One picture puzzle even comes with a simple cookie recipe.

Tom Turkey Paper Doll

One of the great things about my Dover file is that it can help inspire me! I just take a look at the contents and then I in turn can inspire my grandchildren.

Tom Turkey’s Clothes

To sign up for the website go to http://www.doverpublications.com.

Here is a letter from one of the families in the pilot program that has taken this idea to heart.

I just finished listening to Lesson 5, and wanted to thank you for the Dover
Samples resource idea!! I signed on, and got my first samples – they are great!
I now have a new document folder where I will put all those wonderful pages. My
son is going to love the Ultimate Maze page!

Thank you!

Lynda

Happy filing and Merry Christmas!!

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OUR CONTEST WINNER!!!!!

by Mary Ann on December 18, 2010

Jody Jarvis

The Inspiration Connection:

How Being Inspired Transforms the Quality and Effectiveness of our Education.

by Jody Jarvis

When educational experiences are required the result is students who are bored, who day dream, who memorize the minimum required and forget it the next day. For the student, the learning experience seems to drag on forever (“Are we done yet?”) and minutes seem like an eternity.. For the teacher it seems like pulling teeth just to get the student to participate.

When educational experiences are inspired the result is students who are excited, who focus on the activity with zeal, who go above and beyond the expected and remember it the rest of their lives. For the student, the learning experience seems to fly by in a flash (Are we done already?!), hours seem like mere minutes. For the teacher it feels like the student is almost pulling them along instead of the other way around, or that the student is hot on their heels and the race to the finish could be won by either participant – them or the student.

Recently I had an experience in both scenarios. My kids and I participated in an online class for which we had to read several classic books. Two in particular really stood out. One was called Mythology by Hamilton. While the stories themselves can be considered classic, our family’s personal opinion of this rendition was not so great. It was fairly dry reading and we had to push ourselves to even try. None of us finished the book, myself having read the least of the three of us. We did it only because it was part of the class but it seemed to drag on “FOREVER!!” We tried to read the minimum required but couldn’t even pull that off. Our attention as we read was on other things and so for the most part I do not think we will remember much of what we read.

The other story, on the other hand, was a different experience all together. It was called Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. We couldn’t read it fast enough. We couldn’t put it down. Since we read separately in order to be able to mark our books with our personal ah ha’s and underline our favorite lines, I was ahead of the boys in the story. As I got to exciting parts I would exclaim over the storyline, or hint that something amazing was coming up. But I wouldn’t tell them what it was. “You have to read it yourself!” I would say. I didn’t want to spoil it for them. They, for their part, tried their best to catch up to where I was. There came a time when none of us could put the book down, we just had to see how it turned out.

The Jarvis Family - Kenyon, Schyler, Pierson, Jody

In order to get my kids (and I) to read the first book we had to remind each other, set aside time each day, remind each other, to have it as part of a class assignment, and remind each other again of our need to read it. In other words – require. In order to get them to read the second book all I had to do was give them a taste of how much I enjoyed it myself, to add a little mystery and suspense, and to be the example. In other words – inspire!

What did we learn from the first book? Not much, really. Maybe a tiny bit about the Greek Gods and how depraved they were, but not much else and I am sure we will forget whatever it was we did get out of it in a matter of weeks perhaps.

What did we learn from the second book? Tons! We learned about different leadership styles, we learned that a leader must continue even when it gets hard, we learned about compassion, strategy, love, loyalty.

The difference was partly the books we read (one was very dry, the other quite exciting and thrilling). But I also believe that my example as a parent also played a huge part. I lost interest in the Mythology book, I decided I needed to work on other things (convincing myself that since I wasn’t a true member of the class I didn’t truly need to finish the reading). How might this have played out differently if I had put more effort into learning about Mythology with my kids? How might it have be different if I had been excited to read the book, read it ahead of them and enticed them with hints of what was to come in the next chapters? I was excited by Elantris and my kids were pulled along by my enthusiasm. When they were asked which was their favorite book in the class they both said Elantris. Least favorite? I’ll leave it to you to guess, but I bet you already know.

Now what should I inspire them about next……..?

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The “Just Before Christmas” Essay Contest

by Mary Ann on December 14, 2010

Gingerbread house

When I was in ninth grade I moved to Salt Lake City and attended a brand new high school – Skyline. I was a bit intimidated by the size of the building; the number of students and how much more challenging the work was for me. My grades dropped into the bucket. It was a long year!

At Easter time I noticed a beautiful sugar egg in the home economics room. It was the upcoming project. I asked the teacher if the ninth graders were going to do it only to find that it was reserved for the Juniors and Seniors. I knew right then that I would never get to learn how to make it, we moved too often.

I must have really wanted to make that egg because in an uncharacteristically brave moment I asked the teacher if I couldn’t please have a copy of the directions. She gave them to me. I had been INSPIRED and the teacher had responded, even though in a small way.

I had none of the hard materials to do the project, no money and I knew my parents didn’t have any money. So I improvised. Instead of plastic egg molds from the store I used Leggs nylon containers. Instead of pastry bags I used bread sacks with a hole cut in a corner. Instead of plastic bunnies and chicks I used hand drawn figures.

My mom still has those very first eggs. They are terrible! At the time I was supremely happy with them and thought they were beautiful. This initial inspiration and desire began a 47 year long love affair with cake decorating.

Jodie's history project

When I first saw the “egg” I knew in my heart that I could do it. I yearned to try. All I needed was a bit of information on how to get started. Then I taught myself. Later I taught myself to make gingerbread houses and eventually moved on to wedding cakes. When a child is inspired about something all we need to do is give them a bit of information, or materials, or tools and they will take it from there!

A Young Women's group "Best of Show" at Thanksgiving Point

Of all I have learned to do in cake decorating it has been the gingerbread houses that have given me the greatest opportunity to bring joy into the lives of other people.

I have taught hundreds of children and adults to make different variations of them. My family and I have given hundreds away to homeless shelters and community centers. I have taught all of my children to make them and they have earned awards. My youngest garnered her first award at the ripe old age of six. My oldest took first place in a very large contest for adults, at age 15.

Best of Show and First Place for the Johnson's

This year has offered new opportunities to carry on the tradition. I hosted a gingerbread party for all the neighborhood children and their parents. My oldest daughter and I have been to school rooms. It has been fun.

Now I would like to share this joy with you, so I am hosting a “Just before Christmas Essay Contest”. This contest is open to everyone near and far. If the winner is within the Salt Lake Area, I’ll come personally to help you build your village. If you’re a distant winner you will receive a full kit in the mail just in time for Christmas. This project is perfect for any child, even the very youngest ones. It is a perfect family activity.