All posts by Lucinda

5 Ways to Homeschool Foreign Languages

October 15, 2013Foreign Languagegrade 3, grade 4Lucinda

Some homeschooling parents are a little overwhelmed at the idea of teaching foreign languages. But in many ways in this internet age it’s easier to homeschool foreign languages than it is to learn them at school.

Foreign language – Goals

My goal is to expose my children to as much foreign language as possible, in a natural and enjoyable way, while they are young.

I want to ignite their curiosity and show them that languages are fun. I would love for them to choose to study a language or two more deeply when they are older, but that choice will be theirs.

How we homeschool foreign languages

Here are some of the ways we bring foreign languages into our homeschool. Some we learn more formally, others we playfully dabble in.

1. Sessions with a native speaker

The language C(9) and J(8) learn most formally is French. We chose French because C(9) had been learning it at school and because France is the country we visit most often.

The children have weekly classes at the home of a local French teacher. Madame Celine follows a syllabus and uses workbooks, but she also plays games and cooks French food with the children. I was delighted one day when J(8) – who at the time claimed cheerfully to know “not a single word of French” spontaneously broke into fluent French song as we prepared to bake at home!

C(9) is much more interested in languages than her brother, but I don’t think J(8) could manage a class on his own, so the joint session works well. Our solution was for C(9) to start going to class fifteen minutes early for one-to-one French conversation practice, while J(8) at the very least gets to spend an hour listening to spoken French!

If teaching costs are an issue and you live near a town with overseas students, you could find someone willing to do a conversation-exchange for free or a reduced fee. When I lived in Spain, I did this sort of “intercambio” with several families.

2. Apps and Software

I’ve always wanted to learn German, and I found the perfect way to do so when Julie of Highhill Education posted about Duolingo. This is a fantastic free app for learning French, German, Spanish or Portuguese.

When I told C(9) about Duolingo – thinking she might use it to practise her French – she got very excited and decided to learn German too, because her best friend is half German and speaks German at home (great!).

One of the reasons we love Duolingo is because, being an app, it’s so easy to grab the iPad and do a daily lesson without having to gather together a bunch of books or log onto the computer.

Memrise is a useful app for learning vocabulary in a huge number of different languages. Do be sure to preview courses for younger children though – my Norwegian course contained a few rather colourful phrases I couldn’t imagine needing!

For more free resources, check out the free BBC languages website or search for a YouTube course.

For fast exposure to a wide variety of languages, check out the Earworms apps. An “earworm” is one of those catchy tunes that gets stuck in your head. The app utilises the science behind that phenomenon to help languages stick. I’ve used it to brush up my French before a trip to France and we all learned a little basic Italian before visiting Florence.

3. Classical languages

I was lucky enough to learn Latin at school. Latin was a huge help with French, Spanish and Italian, and has also enriched my appreciation of English.

Some homeschoolers worry about teaching Latin pronunciation, but unless your child is going to be singing or reciting in public, it really doesn’t matter how you pronounce it – that’s one of the many benefits of learning classical languages!

C(9) is learning Latin with Minimus: Starting Out in Latin. When she’s ready for something a bit more sophisticated, I’ll suggest the Cambridge Latin Course. Ecce Romani is another possibility – I enjoyed using this series all through school.

Last winter I decided to try my hand at a bit of Ancient Greek. I used Learn Ancient Greek, a deceptively slim paperback which is densely packed with Greek grammar and wonderfully dry humour in equal measure. I’d recommend it for teens up.

4. History and geography unit studies

Ever since I saw how much the children enjoyed reading and writing hieroglyphics when we studied Ancient Egypt, we’ve brought language into our history and geography studies whenever possible.

I find this a particularly useful way of introducing C(9) and J(8) to unfamiliar alphabets. They love deciphering codes, writing their names and making up secret messages for eachother.

Homeschool Foreign Languages — Secret messages using the Cyrillic script

So far we’ve taken this approach with Ancient Greek, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. (I’m not sure how we missed out Arabic. Must come back to that one.)

5. Travel opportunities

Living in Europe, we are lucky enough to be a short plane ride away from many different non-English-speaking countries. Wherever we go, we learn at least a smidgeon of the language.

I’m writing this on the plane home from Turkey. Before we left England, we used a course I found on YouTube – Turkish 101 – to learn how to say “hello”, “goodbye”, and three ways of saying “thank you”.

It’s amazing how far just those basics can go! Even though we were staying in a tourist city where most people we met spoke at least some English, everyone appreciated our Turkish greetings and thanks.

Before we visited Norway last July, we used Norwegian in 10 Minutes a Day and flashcard website Memrise to learn a few Norwegian basics. The book came with a fun CD Rom we all enjoyed, and as well as some useful ones, the Memrise course contained some hilariously random phrases. Our favourite was, “Harald died. He was skinny, and broke in two.” (Funnily enough we didn’t use that one on our cruise.)

homeschool foreign languages - Norwegian in 10 Minutes a Day — Norwegian in 10 Minutes a Day CD Rom

The children listened to the Italian Earworms app with me before we visited Italy last year and the year before.

And C(9) enjoyed practising her French with a French girl in her ski class one year, though this year was slightly more of a challenge when she found herself the only English girl in the class!

Looking ahead

I’d love for my kids to become as passionate about languages as I am. Whatever path they choose, though, I hope what we’re doing now will give them the confidence to learn any language they might need in the future.

And I like to think our approach helps them understand and appreciate a little of other cultures, as well as enriching their experience of travelling abroad.

The best way to learn a language well is to be immersed in it – I found that out when I had two Spanish flatmates during my year working in Spain.

When C(9) and J(8) are older I’d love for us to spend a few months having language lessons in another country. And I’d certainly encourage them to spend a year working in a foreign country at some point.

Finally – in case I’ve mistakenly given the impression that I’m some kind of super-polyglot, I should make it clear that I’ve only ever come close to being fluent in one other language (now very rusty!). But I do enjoy – and highly recommend – my hobby of dabbling in languages alongside the kids!

homeschool foreign languages

To see how the other Homeschool Help ladies teach foreign languages, visit:

Highhill Education – Our Foreign Language Philosophy

Every Bed of Roses – Seeking to Learn a New Language

One Magnificent Obsession – Fun With Foreign Language

Hammock Tracks – In Regard to Teaching a Foreign Language

Barefoot Hippie Girl – Parlez-Vous Francais

{This post contains affiliate Amazon links}

I’m appreciatively linking up here:

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Weekly Wrap-Up – Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Hip Homeschool Hop

Unschooling Snippets – September

October 11, 2013UnschoolingLucinda

Back in August I announced there would be “no more school time” round here – at least for a while – as we take another step towards unschooling.

I thought I’d post a monthly round-up of how unschooling is going. (Yes I know it’s mid-October already, but we went away for a week at the start of this month so I’m a bit behind. It’s a hard life ;-))

What’s been going well

C(9) and J(8) have been busy with their own projects – individually and together – and I don’t think I’ve suggested anything they haven’t wanted to do. (Hurray!)

We’ve followed our usual routine of copywork and maths, and we’ve done some fun history projects (more on these soon).

We’ve been reading aloud Understood Betsy, a delightful tale I first came across on a homeschool blog a couple of years ago. (Thank you, if it was yours!)

September school — Russian and Turkish history, film-making, copywork and J(8)’s experimental double-digit addition method

We made machines using air pressure and water pressure.

September science — Our hovercraft and hydraulic “theme park ride”

And I’ve been delighted to see C(9) spontaneously creating art again, which she hadn’t done for a while. As well as painting and art journaling, she excitedly seized some packaging the minute I unwrapped an Amazon delivery, to make into a room set. I love it when that happens!

Artistic September — Glow-in-the-dark Happy Birthday pictures for Daddy, and a junk-model room set

We had plenty of time to enjoy being outdoors.

September outdoors collage — Watersports, dog-walking, swing-sharing and dune-jumping!

And I had time to try out some new recipes I found at my new favourite food website, MOMables.

unschooling snippets - September — Pesto pizza rolls, Japanese food (at Wagamamas), pear sauce brownies, strawberry waffle-wiches and broccoli mini-muffins (don’t ask me how the muffins tasted. Sad story involving a cat and two dogs… At least I have a picture to show for my trouble!)

What I’m working on

This month I intend to be a bit more organised about planning maths and science projects. I have so many ideas in my head and on Evernote, but I need to plan specific days to actually suggest them to the children.

I’m also excited about beginning SQUILT, which looks beautifully simple to use, even for a musical ignoramus like me.

Changes I’m planning

I’ve suggested to the kids that on weekdays we try and hang out together a few hours a day in our family room, even if we’re each doing our own thing.

Without “school time” bringing us together, I’ve found there are days when I lose the kids to their rooms. While that can be quite appealing to the introvert in me, I think we might get more learning done if we spend at least some time together!

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Please bear with me if posts are a bit sparse for the next few weeks – poor Fun Dad has just broken his ankle wakeboarding, so won’t be available for his usual cooking and chauffeuring back-up. Please send healing vibes for a fast recovery, for all our sakes!

I’m appreciatively linking up here:

Homegrown Learners – Collage Friday

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers – Weekly Wrap-Up

Homeschool Mother’s Journal

Dad’s Role in Our Homeschool

October 8, 2013Homeschool RoutineLucinda

dad's role in homeschooling

Just as there are thousands of ways to homeschool, so there are a multitude of roles fathers can play in happy homeschooling households.

Dad’s role will vary depending on many factors, including how often he works away from the home, the ages of the children, and of course the personalities and interests of all concerned.

For this week’s Homeschool Help series, here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at C(9) and J(8)’s dad’s role in our homeschool.

For most of the time we’ve been homeschooling, James has worked at least twelve hours a day outside the house, Monday to Friday. He leaves the house at 7am and returns at 7pm or later.

This means that almost all day-to-day childcare and homeschooling falls to me. But that’s not to say that my husband doesn’t play a very important role in our homeschooling family.

Moral support

Perhaps the most important role my husband plays as far as I’m concerned is that of sounding-board. No-one else knows our children like he does, so whenever I’m considering any changes in the way we homeschool, I talk them through with him.

James wasn’t sure about homeschooling in the early days (he hadn’t read the seven zillion books and websites that I had), but to my eternal appreciation he’s always kept an open mind, and he’s now fully on board.

I relish sharing with him our children’s successes – usually in the children’s presence – and I discuss with him privately any challenges we’re facing.

The kids appreciate their dad’s moral support too. Like most homeschooling families, C(9), J(8) and I spend so much time together we mostly get on great. Even so, having another person around can provide a welcome change of mood!

Dad’s special skills

James is a technical whizz who, bless him, happily spends hours posing Lego minifigs and creating green screen special effects making movies with the kids.

I’m sure he enjoys using his technical skills to make movies more than he enjoys his role as family IT support guy – but I don’t know what we’d do without that aspect of his expertise in our teck-heavy homeschool!

If a dad is going to take on any homeschool teaching or mentoring on top of paid full-time work, it helps if he’s passionate about the subject. I know one homeschooing dad who loves taking his son to museums and history clubs at weekends. Another friend, who plays in a band part-time, shares with his daughter his passion for electric guitar.

dad's role in our homeschool

Role modelling

As the non-homeschooling parent, James has more time to make a contribution to the world outside our home. Much of what he does in his role as a banking IT manager goes right over the kids’ heads (and mine!), but he makes a point of sharing with C(9) and J(8) those parts of what he does that they can understand.

Earlier this year, for example, James wrote an Android smartphone app in his spare time. The kids and I excitedly followed along as his app was listed on the Google Play store, then got noticed by a few of the technology news websites, and ended up with over 18,000 active installs.

As a consequence of his app’s success, this summer James was invited to attend a three-day, all-expenses paid, developers’ retreat in Paolo Alto, California. We all thought that very cool indeed, and it was fantastic for C(9) and J(8) to see where hobbies can lead!

Practical support

Of course, when only one parent is doing paid work, their income pays for every book, activity, car journey and computer in a homeschool – not to mention the very roof over the family’s heads!

But as well as financial support, I love that James takes on other practical tasks when he can. From Monday to Friday I do a lot of cooking and chauffeuring, so I love it when James rolls up his sleeves and gets cooking and driving at weekends. (Cooking is not one of my passions!)

I love that on Sundays, he not only takes C(9) to her rugby practice but even walks the dogs at the same time, then comes home and cooks a roast – my hero!

Active and outdoors

Left to our own devices, we’re a family of geeky couch potatoes, so making the time to exercise and get some fresh air is important.

When our kids were babies, James made a conscious commitment that he was going to get active alongside them as they grew up.

In the summer they surf, kayak, sail and swim together, and all year round he kicks and throws balls and goes on cycling trips with the children. {I join in when the weather’s good 🙂 }

My lovely husband even agreed – much against his own personal wishes – to get a dog (now two dogs), which gives us a reason to go walking together, whatever the weather.

When the kids are asked to describe their dad, one of the first words they use is “fun” – which tells me how much of a success he’s made of the commitment he made ten years ago.

Dad's Role in Homeschooling

I hope I’ve managed to strike a balance here between sharing the contribution my husband makes to our homeschool and not embarrassing him.

But I can’t sign off without recognising the fine job my single mum friends do of homeschooling.

I began this post by acknowledging how many ways there are to successfully home-educate. That includes homeschooling with no dad around. For many reasons, some women find themselves homeschooling without a partner by their side. And some of the most amazing kids I know have at least equally amazing single mums.

I myself was brought up by a single mum who did a stupendous job of meeting the needs of my brother, sister and me. Thanks to her example, I’m not the slightest bit fazed by the amount of time I spend alone with my kids.

But I do know that C(9) and J(8)’s dad makes a huge contribution to our family and our homeschool, and for that I am truly thankful.

How does your partner contribute to your homeschool?

Homeschool help - dad's role in homeschooling

For the other Homeschool Help ladies’ posts, see:

Highhill Education – How My Husband Helps us Homeschool

Every Bed of Roses – Dad’s Helping Hand in our Homeschool

Barefoot Hippie Girl – He’s on my Team

One Magnificent Obsession – Dad’s Role in our Homeschool: the Silent Philanthropist

Hammock Tracks – Dad – The Homeschool Bouncer

5 Writing Games Your Kids Will Love

October 1, 2013Englishgames, writingLucinda

Writing Games

This week’s Homeschool Help topic is “Help! My child hates writing!”

My suggestion whenever a child hates anything is to take a complete break from the current routine and have some fun.

The writing games I’m sharing here are not the kind you find on educational websites or in books of writing “games”. {A quick search of those resources turns up a list of exercises I’d rather gnaw off my own writing-hand than have to endure.}

Here you will find genuinely fun games that adults will enjoy playing as much as children. In fact several have been enjoyed by adults since Victorian times or even earlier. My mildly dyslexic and dysgraphic son adores them too.

Something the first four games have in common is that they cannot be played without writing. (Contrast these with some “learning games” which begin with a reasonably promising premise and then have every drop of joy wrung out of them by the introduction of an inauthentic and completely unnecessary writing requirement.)

writing games

1. Consequences

Each player starts with a blank sheet of paper and pencil. We use A4 (letter) size, portrait orientation.

The game works best with three or more players, but we have played with two on occasion.

How to play

At the very top of the paper, each player writes the name of a male. They might choose a historical figure, a cartoon or nursery rhyme character, a pet, a famous actor or even someone in the room.

Each player then folds down the top of their paper to conceal what they’ve written, and passes it to the player on their left.

Each player then writes down the name of a female on the paper that’s just been passed to them. Then everyone folds over and passes their paper again.

Continue writing and passing papers in this way until each paper contains the following:

male character
female character
where they met
he said:
she said:
what happened in the end (the eponymous consequence)

Once the consequence has been written, everyone unfolds the paper they’re holding and takes turns reading their story aloud (usually accompanied by loud guffaws).

writing games

Varations

I’ve described Consequences as we’ve always enjoyed playing it. You can, of course, modify it however you choose.

A popular variation is to add one of more adjectives before each of the male and female characters. You might also add adverbs before “he said” and “she said”.

Personal experiences

I just love it when Ghengis Kahn meets Anne of Green Gables on one of Saturn’s rings and they end up inventing a time machine so they can help build the leaning Tower of Pisa. Or when Little Miss Muffet warns our postman to, “Watch out for low-flying hedgehogs heading this way!”

We played a version of Consequences at my baby shower when I was pregnant with C(9). I still chuckle when I look back on the scenarios my friends came up with for our baby.

writing games

2. Telephone Pictionary

Like Consequences, each player starts with a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.

How to play

Each person writes a phrase or sentence at the top of their page, then passes it to the player on their left.

Each player now draws what’s written on the page they’ve just received. Then they fold down the paper so that only their picture shows, and papers are passed to the left again.

Next, each player writes a phrase or sentence describing the picture they’ve just been given. Then fold down papers again to reveal only the last piece of writing, and pass papers again.

Keep going until there’s no room for any more pictures, then unfold the pages.

Have fun comparing each original sentence with the final drawing and then following the metamorphosis in between.

writing games

Telephone Pictionary Tips

Like Consequences, Telephone Pictionary becomes more enjoyable the more you play it, as players intuitively discover what makes for the most entertaining denouements.

Bad drawing helps. Anyone too good at drawing should be sat next to someone with a talent for imaginative interpretation!

Any child who can read and have a go at writing can enjoy Telephone Pictionary. I don’t worry about spelling – children will naturally want to write legibly and spell accurately to communicate their meaning, but if they have to give a whispered translation to the player to their left, it’s okay.

Writing Games

3. Telephone Oracle

This one can be played by all ages but will yield more entertaining results with slightly older children.

Once again, begin with papers and pencils all round.

How to play

Each player writes a question they want the Oracle to answer at the top of their page. Papers are then passed to the left, and each player makes up an answer to the question they have been given.

Players then fold the top of their papers over, concealing the original question, and pass papers round to the left again.

This time, each player makes up a possible question which could be answered by the answer they see written on their paper.

Players fold down and pass papers round again, and answer the question they see written.

Continue to the bottom of the page, ending on an answer.

At the end, each player unfolds their paper and reads out first the original question and final answer, and then the in-between steps.

Telephone Oracle Tips

The more off-the-wall, yet detailed, the questions and answers, the better this game is.

Kids will intuit this as they play and strive to come up with increasingly creative and linguistically complex questions and answers.

Check out Deep Fun’s Parlour Games for a hilarious example from an actual game of Telephone Oracle.

4. Mad Libs

The template story game Mad Libs involves slightly less actual writing than the above games, but it compensates by requiring players to provide specific parts of speech.

And the resulting stories are equally entertaining.

Handwritten Mad Libs

You can buy books of Mad Libs (we have Kids’ Mad Libs and Best of Mad Libs) or print off your own for free from one of these websites.

Mad Libs online

If you’re not bothered about your kids writing by hand, you can find plenty of Mad Libs online:

It’s a Mad Libs World

Mad Takes

Word Blanks

There’s even a Mad Libs iPad app.

Find out more about how Mad Libs was created, and how an eavesdropped conversation led to its unusual name, at Wikipedia.

5. Love letters

This one’s not a game so much as a simple and lovely ritual.

Write a short note to your child and leave it on her pillow. Thank her for something helpful she’s done recently, acknowledge her for something (tangible or intangible) she’s been working on, or tell her how much you enjoyed doing something with her.

End your note saying that you’d love a reply if your child feels inspired to write one. If you he does, write back in a day or so. If not, write to him again anyway. Show your child how special it can be to communicate by hand-written letters.

Variations

Each person could pick the name of another family member to write to out of a hat. Rotate so that everyone writes to each other family member.

Brave Writer’s Julie Bogart wrote this week that, “Format writing teaches kids to solve the ‘puzzle’ of the assignment rather than teaching kids to tap into their writing voices.”

This is one of the reasons I don’t do any formal format writing with my elementary-aged kids. Instead we use freewriting, conversation and games that encourage them to connect with their inner voices.

What I like about the writing games listed here is that the “puzzle” is to have as much fun as possible. This playful state fosters creativity and self-expression – both essential components of writing.

I’d love to hear from you if you try out any of these games.

And do please let me know of any goodies I’ve left out!

For more fun writing ideas see Unschooling Writing.

writing games

To read the other Homeschool Help ladies’ views on writing, head over to:

Highhill Education – Motivating Kids to Write

One Magnificent Obsession – When Writing Brings Tears

Every Bed of Roses – Teaching Composition {Language Arts}

Barefoot Hippie Girl – Cultivating a Love of Writing

Hammock Tracks – Tips to Help Non Writers Lose their Hate

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Entertaining and Educational

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Hands-On Hydraulics – Science Fun for Kids

September 29, 2013ScienceEngineering, grade 3, grade 4, Hydraulics, PhysicsLucinda

hands-on hydraulic

This hands-on hydraulics experiment is a fun way to investigate the power of liquids.

We used hydraulic power to create a simple machine which our Lego mini figs – and all the family – had fun playing with.

Our hydraulic theme-park even inspired a movie!

A liquid under pressure can apply a lot of force and this can be used by machinery to do work. Using liquids like this is a branch of engineering called hydraulics.

Science Experiments for Kids

Hydraulic Lifter Experiment

What You Need

short length of tubing
balloon
empty can
tape
empty plastic bottle
funnel
heavy book
water
scissors

hands-on hydraulic

What you do

{I’ve added a steps 1 and 2 to the instructions given in Science Experiments for Kids, to give you the benefit of our mistakes.}

1. Stretch the balloon by blowing it up and letting the air out again.

2. Attach the tubing to the empty balloon and seal the join with tape. Check the join is water-tight by attaching the funnel to the other end of the tube and filling with water. Remove the funnel and drain out the water.

3. Cut the empty bottle so that it is just a little taller than the can. (We should have cut a bit more off ours.) Use a pencil to make a small hole near the bottom of the bottle.

4. Feed the free end of the pipe through the hole in the bottle, leaving the balloon inside.

5. Put the heavy book on top of the bottle.

6. Attach the funnel to the pipe and fill with water. (Hold the funnel up high to quickly release any air bubbles.)

hands-on hydraulic

What happens

The water-filled balloon lifts the can, which in turn lifts the book.

hands-on hydraulic

The balloon feels very firm.

hands-on hydraulic

The scientific explanation

The weight of the water in the funnel creates enough pressure to force water into the balloon. This force is in turn transmitted through the balloon to lift the book.

Fluids transmit forces more effectively than gases because they can’t be compressed, even under pressure.

Hands-on hydraulics fun

We wanted to apply what we’d learned to create something like this very cool hydraulic elevator.

Unfortunately we couldn’t get our syringes and pipes sealed tightly enough to make it work.

Instead, C(9) had the idea of using hydraulic pressure to create a fun ride for Lego mini figures.

hands-on hydraulics — First of all C(9) made a hydraulic see-saw …

Real life hydraulics

Liquids are used in many kinds of machines to carry force through pipes.

Most of us rely on hydraulic machines every day, for example when we apply the brakes in our cars or fill them with petrol, and even when we run the dishwasher.

Hydraulics is used to design piping systems, pumps, propellers, water turbines, hydraulic presses, and flow-measuring devices.

Britannica Online for Kids

We enjoyed dipping our toes into hydraulic principles.

There are lots more hydraulics experiments I hope we’ll do in the future. They’re a great hands-on way to learn about the laws of physics, such as Pascal’s Principle.

For more pressure science, see our air pressure experiments.

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Entertaining and Educational

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal

Hip Homeschool Hop

How to Help Your Child Fall in Love with Maths (Even if They Hate It)

September 24, 2013Living MathsLucinda

how to help your child Fall in love with maths

In England, maths is the second most hated subject in schools, second only to science.

Most homeschooled kids I know love science. Why? Because they learn science in a fun, hands-on way that bears little resemblance to the dry textbook science of most schools.

But I’ve heard of more than a few homeschooled children who dislike maths. Which begs the question – why don’t homeschooling parents share the joys of maths with their children in the same way they do science?

The answer, sadly, is because of how most adults were taught maths. Whether they hated maths or excelled at it, most people have no idea what real mathematics is.

I know I didn’t. I was one of those kids who enjoyed maths at school because I was lucky enough to have a good memory. That, combined with a competitive streak, got me A’s through to age eighteen. At that point I quit maths and ran for the hills, amazed I’d managed to make it through to the end without anyone finding out that I hadn’t a clue what all those symbols actually meant.

It wasn’t until three years into homeschooling my kids that I began to get a glimpse of what maths really is. I’m still at the start of this journey of discovery so I’m certainly no expert, but I’d love to share with you some of what I’ve learned so far.

I can’t imagine any child who knows what real maths is finding it boring.

Maths is the art of making patterns

Maths is not about memorising a bunch of dry facts and procedures. Memorisation may have its place, just as learning vocabulary does. But it bears no more relation to real mathematics than a list of French verbs has to the lifetime works of Victor Hugo.

Just like music and painting, maths is an art – the art of making patterns with ideas.

Real maths is a fascinating process of creative discovery.

And what child doesn’t enjoy engaging their curiosity as they play with ideas?

how to help your child fall in love with maths — proving Pythagoras’ theorem

To fall in love with maths, your child has to know what maths really is. And you can’t show them unless you know what maths really is.

The good news is, you can start to think like a mathematician in just twenty minutes. After that you can just jump in and learn alongside your kids.

Learn how to think like a mathematician in 20 minutes

A Mathematician’s Lament

Read A Mathematician’s Lament (links to a free 25 page PDF). The twenty minutes it will take you to read might be the best homeschool investment you ever make.

After you’ve read A Mathematician’s Lament, read at least one of these books:

Let’s Play Math

Let’s Play Math: How Homeschooling Families Can Learn Math Together, and Enjoy It! Read this first if you’re keen to get started doing real maths with your kids, especially if they are elementary age.

I wrote about Let’s Play Math in detail here.

$how to help your child fall in love with maths$

What’s Math Got to Do With It?

The Elephant in the Classroom: Helping Children Learn and Love Maths (titled What’s Math Got to Do With It? in the US).

Jo Boaler, a maths professor at Stanford University, has conducted extensive, long-term research into how children learn maths. The approach she outlines in this book teaches all children to think and problem-solve – even those who think they’re maths failures who could never enjoy maths.

$how to help your child fall in love with maths$

How to help your child fall in love with maths

After you’ve read these, I guarantee you’ll be excited to share what you’ve learned with your children. You may be a little overwhelmed about where to start, but don’t worry, there are plenty of options.

And really, it doesn’t matter what part of maths your child falls in love with first. Just jump in – or if you’re an organised type, make a one month plan of fun maths activities, and get stuck in.

Many parents integrate maths play-days into their homeschool schedule alongside their regular curriculum. If your curriculum is working, this can be a good approach. All children will benefit from the opportunity to play with real mathematical ideas, even if they love their curriculum.

But if your child hates maths, don’t be afraid to ditch the curriculum – at least for a while – and jump into mathematical fun. You don’t even have to call it maths.

how to help your child fall in love with maths

Our living maths experiment

My own kids have always been mathematically able, but neither got on well with traditional curricula. We tried Singapore Math and Math Mammoth. Each worked for a while but didn’t last. It was frustrating at the time, but I’m grateful now for my kids’ honesty – without it, I might never have discovered the joy of real maths.

We’d always read maths stories and done a few hands-on activities, but too often these got pushed aside as “extras” when we were trying to get through the curriculum.

Then, six months ago, we began a one-term living maths experiment, which worked so well we’ve made the change permanent.

how to help your child fall in love with maths

What about tests and exams?

“This is all very well,” you might be saying, “but my child won’t be able to get a job or into college if she can’t pass maths. How is all this playing with patterns going to help her pass her exams?”

In answer to that question, consider this story of two girls, Lilly and Katy.

1. Lilly

Lilly is twelve years old. Her mother knows how much pleasure playing a musical instrument can bring, so she surrounds Lilly with beautiful music and encourages her to take up an instrument.

Lilly chooses violin, and soon enjoys playing simple tunes. Her enjoyment inspires her to play more often. As her love of music grows, Lilly decides she wants to learn about time signatures and note values, key signatures and scales – all the while learning to play more and more complex works.

Lilly enjoys her music so much that she even begins to compose her own little pieces, transcribing the notes onto staff paper and transposing the songs into different keys to share with her musician friends.

2. Katy

Katy is eight years old. Her mother, Tracey, has been told how good it is for children to learn music. And she knows that it will be useful for Katy’s future to pass her musical theory exams at age sixteen.

So Tracey has Katy get out her staff paper each day and copy notes from a book, making sure she gets her clefs and key signatures right. Tracey reminds Katy how important it is to neatly fill in her quarter-notes and get all her stems pointing the right way.

Katy is told that once she has a thorough grounding in music notation and theory and has passed her music theory exams, she will be allowed to listen to and play music – perhaps when she is at college.

Katy grows to hate this boring subject called music, and to Tracey’s frustration begins to dawdle longer and longer over her work, preferring instead to stare out of the window and hum tunes to herself.

What would you advise?

What if Katy’s mother were to ask you for advice. Tracey is in despair, saying that Katy hates music, cries through her lessons and begs to be allowed to stop them. “It’s obvious she just doesn’t have a music brain,” says Tracey. “But how will she ever pass her music exams if she doesn’t keep working at it?”

How would you respond?

Which girl will pass the exam?

Which girl do you think will do best in her musical theory exam at age sixteen? Katy, who has spent eight years learning dry musical theory – which she has come to hate – but has never heard a melody?

Or Lilly, who spent four years making and enjoying real music, and who was inspired to learn its technical language along the way to enhance her enjoyment even more?

If children are allowed to experience the creative art that real maths is, everything else will fall into place much more easily.

Resources

Once you’re in on the secret of what maths really is, you’ll begin to notice opportunities for maths play everywhere.

Let’s Play Math is a great place to start finding concrete activities to do with your children.

Before long you’ll be solving puzzles, playing games, crafting intricate geometric shapes, reading biographies of great mathematicians, cracking codes, learning from videos, getting acquainted with the maths section of the library and generally having lots of fun while you develop your mathematical muscles.

Here are just a couple of ideas to get you started.

Blogs

Let’s Play Math – the blog by Denise Gaskins, the author of the Let’s Play Math book

My Living Maths posts here at Navigating By Joy

Moebius Noodles

Stories from an Unschooling Family lists a stack of fun resources in her recent post Bite-Sized Pieces of Unschooled Maths

Math Monday Blog Hop at Love2Learn2Day – a themed blog hop, featuring posts on a different maths topics each week

Talking Math With Your Kids – how to talk with your children about numbers, shapes and other mathematical ideas in daily life

AngelicScalliwags‘ recent Helping a Struggling Maths Student series has several great activities for bringing maths to life

All these blogs contain links to other real maths activities. Enjoy the rabbit trail!

Books

There are so many to choose from, but here is a diverse selection of my favourites that will appeal to all ages:

The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places

Murderous Maths

Mathematicians are People Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians

The Sir Cumference series (not just for younger kids – middle-school children will appreciate these too)

The Number Devil

Enjoy your maths adventure. Begin here right now 😉

how to help your child fall in love with maths

For more views on homeschooling maths, check out:

Highhill Education – Math Curriculum Not Required

Hammock Tracks – Math, Tears and Frustration – Not the Perfect Arithmetic Trinity

One Magnificent Obsession – When Math Brings Tears

Barefoot Hippie Girl – Learning Flexibility Via Math

Every Bed of Roses – Math is a Problem – Now What?

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I’m appreciatively linking up here:

Hip Homeschool Hop 9/24/13

Collage Friday

Weekly Wrap-Up

TGIF Math Games for Preschool & Homeschool

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal

How to Make a Balloon Hovercraft

September 20, 2013ScienceEngineering, PhysicsLucinda

hovercraft experiment

We’ve wanted to try a hovercraft experiment since we saw a really cool leaf blower hovercraft (like this one) at a science show last year. As we don’t have access to a leaf blower, we used balloon-power!

There are many variations on this experiment. We tried quite a few. I’ll start with the one that worked best and then show you some of the others. (Maybe you’ll have better luck with them.)

What you need

* old CD

* hot glue gun

* sports cap from a water bottle (the kind that you pull up to drink and push down to close)

* push pin (drawing pin)

* large balloon

* a big smooth surface

What you do

1. Use the push pin to make two holes in the cap near the centre.

Hovercraft experiment

2. Spread a thin layer of hot glue around the base of the bottle cap and attach it to the CD, over the hole. Give the cap a slight twist as you stick it to ensure an airtight seal.

3. Make sure the cap is down (closed).

4. Blow up your balloon and pinch its neck while you attach it to the top part of the cap. (Easiest with two people.)

5. Place your hovercraft on a smooth flat surface. Give it a push and see what happens {not much}.

6. Now, without removing the balloon, pull up and open the cap. Quickly give the hovercraft a push and watch it continue moving. Push your hovercraft back and forth across a flat surface to keep it moving until the balloon is fully deflated.

Notes: (1) I’ve since seen the experiment set up this way in Science Experiments, but without the pushpin holes

(2) I’ve also seen a version that uses sticky tack (Blue Tack) instead of hot glue

Hovercraft experiment — Playing with our hovercraft

The scientific explanation

When you push the hovercraft when the cap is closed (stage 5 above) , friction between the CD and the surface soon stops it moving.

But when you open the cap, air escaping from the balloon cushions the hovercraft. The hovercraft continues moving much farther.

Variations that didn’t work for us {but it’s good to experiment}

1. First we tried making Science Bob’s hovercraft. This involved taping over the CD hole and making six push pin holes in it. No holes were in the lid.

Verdict: A complete dud! I’m not sure what we did wrong, but this hovercraft didn’t do much for us.

2. The version that eventually worked for us was from Steve Spangler Science. But Steve Spangler suggests making a cardboard collar for the hovercraft.

Verdict: We made a collar and the hovercraft worked fine, but it was very fiddly trying to get everything attached and the cap open. We eventually removed the collar in frustration, and found that the hovercraft worked just as well without it.

3. We tried making a hovercraft just using a paper plate and balloon.

Verdict: Another dud! Perhaps we didn’t make our centre hole big enough?

Hovercraft History

The first modern hovercraft was designed in the 1950’s by Englishman Sir Christopher Cockerel. It crossed the English Channel between Dover, England and Calais, France in two hours.

Until the year 2000, passengers could travel from England to France by hovercraft in just 35 minutes. Passenger hovercrafts still operate between Southsea, England, and the Isle of Wight.

Hovercrafts are a type of seaplane, and they require large amounts of expensive aviation fuel to keep their giant air-cushions inflated. This is one of the reasons large hovercrafts are less commonly used nowadays.

Military Hovercrafts

Because hovercrafts are able to cross any flat terrain, including water, marshland, tarmac and sand, they are still commonly used for military purposes.

The biggest hovercraft in the world – the Zubr – recently made the news when it landed on a Russian beach filled with hundreds of sunbathers. A Russian defence spokesman reportedly commented, “What people were doing at the beach on the territory of a military base is unclear.” Okay, then!

Sources

History of the Hovercraft – Squidoo

Giant Hovercraft Retire after 30 Years of Channel Crossings

Coming Up

Next time – How to make a hydraulic lift

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I’m appreciatively linking up here:

Highhill Education – Entertaining and Educational – Sept 19

Homegrown Learners – Collage Friday

Hammock Tracks – Look What We Did!

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers – Weekly Wrap Up

Teach Beside Me – Share It Saturday

Adventures In Mommydom – Science Sunday

Learn Play Imagine – The Sunday Showcase

Hip Homeschool Moms – Hip Homeschool Hop 9/24/13

All For the Boys – Let’s Hear it for the Boy

Almost Unschooling History

September 17, 2013HistoryHomeschool Help, UnschoolingLucinda

unschooling history

We may not be doing school time this year but that doesn’t mean we’re not enjoying learning history.

Here’s how we do it. It’s not much different from the way most homeschoolers do history. The key point for me is that my kids choose whether or not to participate in each activity we do.

History – How I prepare

Researching history resources and activities is one of my favourite pastimes. My aim is not to create perfect lesson plans. I don’t want to end up with something I’m so attached to that I can’t scrap it in favour of where the children’s interest leads us.

I save what I find in Evernote so that I can easily pull up everything relating to the topic when we need it.

1. The Story of the World

I pre-read a chapter of The Story of the World, which we’ve used as our spine since we began homeschooling. We’re now two-thirds through volume 2 (the Middle Ages).

2. Other books

I read about the topic in the Usborne Encyclopaedia of World History and do a library search for other books to strew.

3. Online research

* Google search for “hands-on activities” relating to the topic

* Google Images search for pictures of people, places, art, artefacts, architecture etc

* You Tube – our favourite videos include Crash Course World History and Horrible Histories

* Evernote & Pinterest – for resources I’ve bookmarked in the past

* Brainpop

4. Geography

Studying world history is the perfect way to show children how the world links up.

* I flag relevant pages in our World Atlas

* or print a map using Wonder Maps

* or I find a historical map online – e.g. I needed a map this week showing the Kievan Rus

* Google Maps and Google Earth – good for seeing where places are in relation to each other (and us), what they’re like today, and even “visiting” historical landmarks

* Geography Through Art – this book is full of mini-project ideas. It’s black and white so I usually browse it and then find examples of the projects online

unschooling history — C(9)’s map showing how first Australians and New Zealanders arrived

5. Collating resources

I save what I find to Evernote. One advantage of digital filing is that if we don’t use something now, I can easily find it next year {or in three years’ time}.

6. Printables

I print any materials I want the children to see close-up, and store them in a clear document wallet in our everyday homeschool materials crate.

unschooling history planning process

History – What we do together

Reading Aloud from SOTW

When we have a free fifteen minutes, I ask the kids if they’d like to hear a chapter of The Story of the World.

We’re a family of multi-taskers so I’m happy with the children doing other things as they listen. Ideally this means something hands-on like play dough or drawing. In practice it might mean J(8) playing Minecraft. I’m okay with that. His comments as I read and throughout the days afterwards let me know me he’s taken in what he’s heard.

Activities

Depending how much time we have and what else the children have planned, we either do an activity straight after I read from SOTW, or in the next few days.

We almost always chat informally about the topic throughout the week. This helps me gauge their interest in any activities I have in mind, and gives me ideas for other learning tangents.

Our activities usually inter-relate with other subjects, especially geography, art, science and maths.

We watch videos when we can fit them in throughout the week.

We might make notes on our Timeline Builder app.

Strewing

C(9) will read almost any library book I leave on the table. J(8) looks at the pictures. This is one of the reasons I like the Usborne Encylopedia of World History, which I leave open on our topic.

When do we leave a topic?

We stay with each topic until we’ve learned everything we want to know. Sometimes spin-off projects continue while we move onto a new chapter of The Story of the World. Other times we get halfway into a project and decide we’ve done as much as we want to. There are schedules and no rules. Only enjoyable learning.

Check out our history curriculum 2013-14 to see some of our unschooling history activities.

Coming soon: our activities relating to medieval Russia.

unschooling history

To see how the other Homeschool Help ladies teach history, visit:

Hammock Tracks – Finding Your Way as you Explore History

Highhill Homeschool – History with Activities at Highhill Education

One Magnificent Obsession – A Glance at How we do History

Every Bed of Roses – Teaching History Revisited

Barefoot Hippie Girl – Historically Speaking: A Barefoot Hippie Plan for Studying 1600-1800

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This post is linked to:

History and Geography Meme #91

Art Journaling for Boys and Girls

September 10, 2013Art & Craftsart journalling, Homeschool HelpLucinda

Art journaling for boys and girls

Art journaling is a wonderfully free form of self-expression.

The very definition of “journal” – a daily record of personal experiences – seems to bring with it the permission to create whatever you feel like creating at that moment in time – not the perfect piece of art designed to please others for all time.

Art journaling is also a fun way to build kids’ confidence in using mixed-media. It might even inspire writing!

When I art journal alongside my kids, my role is to offer exposure to new ideas, techniques and sources of inspiration.

We might look at books, artwork and websites together and chat about them as we work. But their work is their own. I respect my children’s process, and I would never say anything about their artwork that I wouldn’t say to a friend. {All pages here are shared with their permission.}

How we started art journaling

We began art journaling by following the simple process described at Notes on Paper. Since then, C(9) has created many pages in a similar way.

art journaling for boys — Pages from C(9)’s art journal

J(8) had never art journaled before this week. When he said he’d like to try it, I was intrigued to observe his process. I just knew it would be different from mine and C(9)’s. {It certainly was – see Art Journaling for Boys below.}

Supplies

* Notebook – any size, any kind. Ours are A4 (letter size) and cost under £3. Or use loose paper and collect in a binder

* Paint, paintbrushes

* Coloured pens eg gel pens, sharpies

* Scissors & glue

* Scraps of coloured paper

* Old magazines or pamphlets

* Stickers

* Optional – gesso, corrector ribbon, date stamper, old books to tear pages from

Art journaling for girls (C(9)’s page)

art journaling for boys and girls — add pretty stickers

Art journaling for boys (J(8)’s page)

C(9) and I spent a happy hour or so chatting over our pages as we worked. J(8), meanwhile, enjoyed himself thoroughly and was done within ten minutes.

Have you ever noticed how scissors and gel pens are completely different tools in a boy’s hands?