When Children Lie…..

Guest Post by Cherie Logan at The Family Life Coaching Group

Lying was being discussed in a homeschool forum I am part of.  I know I have struggled with this quite a bit with my oldest child.  Cherie has some really profound advice (well, I found it profound, and I hope that you do too).  I invited her to guest post on the blog so others could read her points too. I’m happy that she accepted this invitation, and am thrilled to be able to share her words of wisdom with all of you!   - Jen

When Chani was tiny, she lied. I called her on it and my sweet mother-in-law (8 children, LDS ward primary president for decades) gently suggested that I be very careful about how I label lying. That started some pretty intense research and pondering on the subject for me. Here is what I found:

1. Be honest yourself. When those tough questions about sex are asked, answer them correctly. When you say you are going to do something, be sure you can do it. When something unexpected happens and you can't do what you were going to do, be honest about why. This teaches that there is a difference between making plans and changing them and lying.

2. Do not ask stupid questions. If you have one child, and the television has been smashed because a toy was thrown through it, don't ask, "Did you do this?" If you know the answer, do not force the child into a Lying Corner by demanding that the child to fess up. It is a battle you can't win - so don't start it. Just act appropriately to the problem without adding the secondary problem of lying.

3. Don't ask Why - Ask How. Why is a very emotional question and often triggers the brain to seek a reason. Seriously, with children, there often isn't a reason. If you ask why did he throw the toy, you will probably kick his brain into a value search and however he answers, it will probably not sound honest. Instead, ask "How did this happen?" Better yet, put that puzzled sound into your voice, cock your head like you are going to listen for the answer and see what happens. He could make up an elaborate story, or he could really tell you the truth. Either way, you will get a better response than asking Why. When Ryan was four years old, I came into the living room and found that my beautiful boy had a bald streak along the top of his head. Because he had older and younger siblings, I knew it could have been any of them - or Ryan - who had found the scissors. "Ryan, what happened?" "Well, you see, this bullet came right through the window, just like this..." And he took his index finger and shot it along the bald line. Of course, that wasn't very truthful, but it has made for a lifelong delightful story. Now would be the time to ask, "Oh. But what really happened?" (Sometimes, really just isn't as much fun as pretend.)- and you are looking for a thought or step-by-step process do make a determination - does the action warrant discipline, teaching, or laughter? Once that it is clear(ish), if knowing why it happened is important - then ask. By now, you'd be into conversation mode so the emotion factor will have diminished. Keep in mind, once you shift to the Why, the child's response could shift as well to the Blame Game of "It was my brother's fault!" It can feel strange to ask How questions when we are so programmed to ask Why. Sometimes, you can ask What questions, but be careful because parents can make What questions sound very anger-filled and that would certainly stop any real communication.

4. Talk about honesty and lying when you are not in the middle of a problem. Very young children, really have trouble with real vs pretend. They get it - sort of - but not really. It is a process of growing up and development. This is why my mother-in-law wanted me to be very careful about labeling my preschooler's stories as lying. At around 8 years old, a child becomes concerned with honesty and rules - other people's honesty and other people following the rules. It is the time to explore the different shades of communication - is it lying to tell a friend that her new hair cut is horrid? Is it lying to plan a surprise and tell a person something false to bring it about? Is it lying to say you are sorry when you don't feel you did anything wrong? These types of conversations should happen on a normal, frequent, life-living basis and will go on for many years - maybe for a lifetime.

5. Accept that lying will happen. When it does, and needs to be addressed, make sure the discipline is one you and the entire family can be happy with. Do not ground the person from family activities, church functions, or isolate them to their room. This is like shooting yourself in the foot, or tossing the baby out with the bathwater. You WANT an errant child to be around family and church. Find something that you are willing to oversee without messing up everybody else in the family. When I was twelve, I lied to my mother. My father was so unhappy with me, because honest was one of his most valued virtues, that he didn't talk to me for a week. He didn't even look at me. It broke my heart. It also, at age twelve, let me know how incredibly important honesty is in a person's character. This would be devastating to a younger child, but at age twelve - I was more than ready to know better. His very low key response was enough to change me. When the week was over, he acted as if nothing had ever happened. A very powerful lesson.

6. Understand and teach why telling a lie is an enormous sin - in Doctrine and Covenants 76:103, it lists "liars" first before any other character who has rejected Christ. I believe it is because lies often accompany the other, more serious, sins - sins against others and sins against self. It is important to know why God would think so poorly of those who lie. Talk about the safety found in honesty. Don't keep secrets. Don't keep dangerous confidences. Lying includes attempts to make the sin belong to somebody else (an abuser makes the victim feel it is her fault.) Dangerous confidences is a big deal among teens. Talking about why that is deadly, and what to do about it often starting at least by age 10 is so important. When your teen is told by a friend that she wants to kill herself but "don't tell anybody" - your teen should know exactly that the confidence is not one to keep - no matter the consequence to friendship! Your children need to know what types of confidences are right share with somebody who has the power or judgment to know how to handle the problem - this ties back to #4.

7. Trust your instincts. Some study done many, many years ago, found that parents of a big family almost instinctively know which child did what. They were wrong about 10% of the time. So, when you can't figure out something (see #2), trust that you are probably right in what you think happened and who did it. Do not hold off on addressing the issue because of insecurity over who did it and the fear of misjudging an innocent. Also, use group discipline when appropriate because sometimes it is (see #5). I'm sure if you do group discipline, one or two of the children will come with tears in their eyes and say, "It wasn't me, I was reading..." and you'll know - because you know your children - that it is probably the truth and so you simply adjust the group discipline accordingly. Isn't parenting grand?

8. Teach them to tell Mom and Dad. Actually, that happens easily and we hate it. We really do. We call it tattling and it drives us crazy. But I always thought, "What if I instill in them to not tell me by my frustration over tattling, and then they become teens and they don't tell me when a brother is driving them around town while texting?" Okay, back then, I didn't wonder that exactly - but you can see my process. So, when the brother did - they told. That had been my real goal all those years of not wanting tattling but controlling my reaction - so they would be comfortable telling me things as a teen when they wonder so often if something should be told or not. It worked.

9. Facing Truth. I want to add this, even though it doesn't totally fit in with actually parenting this issue. When a person sins, lies are usually involved. They don't have to be outright lies. It can be a lie of not recognizing that anything wrong happened. It can very easily be the Blame Anybody or Everybody Else type of lie. Before repentance happens, we have to acknowledge that a sin happened. If we are dishonestly blaming, we are not recognizing. If we don't recognize, which is the first step of repentance, then we can't go on to the next step. So, the adversary wants us to immerse ourselves in lies, especially any lie that doesn't recognize that we are wrong.

By doing the things I mentioned, teaching the gospel, and explaining why keeping this commandment matters, we can give a super strong foundation for our children to grow up valuing honesty deep in their psyche.

Did my nine children lie? Absolutely. And a couple of them stole their siblings money and gave it back. Now, with the youngest 17 years old, they are remarkably honest individuals and it is their turn to struggle with raising children. And they all know, without doubt, that if they ask their parents a question, they will get an honest answer.

 

Cherie Logan is the mother of ten children and began her home school journey in 1981. She is a family communication expert, a home schooling mentor and a family life coach. She has been a speaker at home school and family conferences, as well as, teaching parents in her community the ins and outs of managing and improving their family life. She resides in Cedar City, Utah with her husband of almost four decades, Neil C. Logan.  She has just started a new blog of her own.

ABCs of American History

 

You can find me again this week Guest Posting at Something2Offer as part of the ABCs of American History Series! 

This week is F is for French and Indian War! 

ABCs of American History

Today you can find me guest posting as part of the ABCs of American History at Something2Offer Blog.

I’ve added a lot more resources to the unit I previously posted here on my blog!  Check it out!  Each Tuesday there will be a new installment to this wonderful A to Z series!  Several of which will be posted by yours truly! 

Guest Post: The Strength of Fall Colors

The trees start out green. Using air, sunlight, and water, plants create a type of sugar (glucose) which they use as energy to grow. If you remember from your elementary science book, this process is called photosynthesis. Throughout the summer, plants will grow, thrive, and produce a large quantity of this sugar. Then daylight time begins to last for shorter time periods. This triggers something in trees. They know that they must ready themselves to rest. There will not be enough sunlight or water for photosynthesis to occur, so trees store up the glucose. As the trees "shut down" their photosynthesis factories, the green that has been in the leaves begins to fade. The other colors have been there all throughout the summer, but they could not be seen because of the green chlorophyll. Treasures of reds, oranges, yellows, browns. Eventually the leaves fall from the trees and the tall plants slumber throughout the winter. Wouldn't it be great if somehow we could store up Jesus so that we had enough of Him when we walk through the winter times of life? Yet it's the good times, the "happy days," when we seem to not pick up His word as much as we ought. Reader, we must be sure that we are being fed by the scriptures every day. For it's through the hiding of His words in our hearts which allows us to face the dry, dark days of winter. You see, if we have those wonderful words of life hidden inside and stored up, then when our "happy days" fade and the green goes away, the glorious colors of the strength of God can shine through us. People will not see your stress, or failure, or hard time. They will see the rainbow of your Lord as you are resting in His arms.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:7

Anne Marie is an Austenite and the author of the blog Future.Flying.Saucers. She is a southern belle who is married to her Mr. Darcy. They have two of the silliest children in South Carolina. Anne Marie has a passion for Bible study and teaching the Word to adults and children. On Wednesday nights you will find her teaching Biblical concepts to Awana clubs at her church. All of her Awana and Bible lessons can be found for FREE on her blog. You can also find her on Facebook.

Frugal Halloween Tips–Guest Post

 

 

 

 

Halloween can be a fun holiday for kids- and their parents. But, costumes and candy and decorations can get expensive, and costs add up. With a little planning, having fun for Halloween doesn't have to break the budget. Here are some frugal ideas for enjoying the Halloween fun.

 

Costumes: Costumes are fun, but trying to buy them for one child, much less several children, can be very expensive. There are ways to enjoy dressing up for Halloween without spending much money.

    * Buy costumes at the end of the season. Immediately after Halloween, pick out some costumes from the greatly marked down costumes that are left. Then they can be used to play dress up throughout the year and can be worn for the next Halloween.

    * Use what you have. Dressing up doesn't have to involve buying a costume. There are all kinds of ways to use pieces of clothing around the house to come up with a costume. This site has some great ideas for using things around the house to make costumes.

 

Candy: Don't wait until the weeks before Halloween to buy candy. Use coupons and shop all year long. Stock up on candy after other holidays when it is on sale. Most candy doesn't go bad. Chocolate candy can be kept in the freezer to it fresh. When Halloween rolls around, you can use your stored up candy for parties or to hand out to trick-or-treaters.

 

Decorations: As with costumes, decorations don't have to be purchased. They can be made from things you have around the house. I don't really like scary decorations. We usually just let the kids each carve a pumpkin. But if you do enjoy having some decorations- creepy or just fun-this site has some great ideas for using what you have around the house.

 

 

Leah Courtney is a homeschooling mom of four. In her (very spare) free time, she enjoys blogging, reading, and reviewing books and homeschool materials. You can visit her at As We Walk Along the Road.

Guest Post: Vocabulary Lesson Ideas for the Homeschooler

Just about every child today has one subject that is a struggle for them. One subject that can cause significant trouble for young children is vocabulary. However, thanks to all of today’s technological advancements, including the Internet, there are plenty of resources available online today to parents and homeschoolers alike.

One technique that can help a child with vocabulary is reading. Reading usually helps increase a child’s vocabulary, or at minimum, help keep the child from falling behind. It can also fuel a child’s love of reading. Look at the Harry Potter phenomenon as a perfect example. The magical book series sparked an entire generation of readers! A good way to spark that love of reading is to take a child to the library regularly, or contact the local school system to ask if they do bookmobile days and inquire if homeschoolers would be permitted to participate. The American Library Association also sponsors a “National Bookmobile Day” to remind everyone of the importance of bookmobiles and libraries in communities. By encouraging children to read, chances are their vocabulary will continue to improve. It is important for parents to take time to read aloud to their child, which will also help a child’s vocabulary. Parents can take turns reading sentences or paragraphs, depending on the age of the child, so they not only practice annunciating, it will help with their reading comprehension as well as their listening skills when it is the parent’s turn to read.

Thanks to the Internet, parents and homeschoolers have access to resources to help their children unlike ever before. Homeschoolers can connect with other homeschoolers around the country to share teaching methods, identify resources, and even plan a get together with other homeschoolers nearby. This can be especially helpful when a child is struggling with a specific lesson or subject. Zaner-Bloser offers great vocabulary lesson ideas for homeschooling. By utilizing the provided vocabulary lessons, parent and child can work together to overcome the trouble with vocabulary.

Ultimately, the keys to overcoming trouble with any subject are patience and consistency. Children want to please their parents and do well in their studies. What it is important is to now allow them be too hard on themselves. Parents should consider sharing a struggle they had in school and talk about how they overcame the challenge. It will help them understand that everyone has a subject or two that can be difficult. It will also be a wonderful bonding opportunity between parent and child.

Guest Post: You are Never Too Young to Help!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Meet Michele from Family, Faith, and Fridays.  She is a military wife and homeschooling mom to four, ages 6, 11, 15 and 19.  She blogs about schooling, family, adoption, modesty, cooking, savings and everything in between.  You can read more about her and her family at http://www.familyfaithandfridays.blogspot.com/.
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Being a helper is not necessarily a natural born talent.  In our family, we believe that it takes time and training to encourage children to be helpers.  They all want to please, they just don't all want to help.

The answer for us- chores, starting at a pretty young age.  Not to get money.  Not to be a punishment.

But simply because you are a part of the team and you are expected to learn to help others.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16

Chores and how we tackle them change often around here, usually in tandem with our moves.  It always seems about that time some children have aged up and out of certain things and need to be taught others.  Sometimes changes just need to be made to keep things fresh.  This move has been no exception.  It was time for the newly turned 6 year old to go from just his personal chores to ones that benefited the whole family.

Because chores have never been negotiable here adding and switching around does not rock our kiddos worlds.  We treat it as a right of passage..."look what you are big enough to do now" and they usually embrace the challenge.

The hardest part usually comes on our side- the training.  You cannot just give a child a job and expect that they will know how to do it.  Just like anything you want done well, you must teach them how to do it and then allow them to practice.  And sometimes practice some more.  Make it fun though and you will be surprised at how well this goes.  The first few times may take more parental involvement, but in the end, the results are worth it.

So for your six year old...

Helping to empty the dishwasher.  I would like to say this is not daily, but with a family our size, it often is.  He does the silverware as well as small fruit size bowls that we use for snacks and fruit.  I made sure that the bowls were in a bottom drawer that was easy for him to pull out and place them in. Minimal worry of breakage!

Cleaning off the front and back doors weekly.  Why?  One, because he is the one that  puts most of the fingerprints on both.  (despite asking him to keep his fingers off the glass.)  Plus, because we use normally use homemade cleaning products there is no risk in him poisoning himself.  As for the Windex bottle this time, well, you can always tell when my Mom has been visiting.  And hey, if she wants to help clean she can use whatever she wants!

Vacuuming the kitchen floor.  This he does twice a week.  Again, most of the crumbs come from him. Go figure! ;)  We have a small lightweight vacuum that he loves using, so this is not a biggie. The kid likes to vacuum.  Is it always perfect?  No way.  But it gets done, he gets thanked, and it blesses our family.

Bring your clothes up from the laundry room once a week and put them away.  It did take a few times to get this to not be a throw-them-all-in-the-first-drawer-you-find thing, but I think we have it now!

Daily morning chores.  These are the same every morning.  Make your bed, get dressed, brush your teeth.  Easy.  When he was younger I laid out an outfit for him at night so he would know what to put on.  Now that he is six, he chooses from his drawer.  His outfits are in a few stacks and the only rule is you have to choose one from the top.  No digging in to find one you like best.  Keeps the mess to a minimum AND keeps us from seeing the same 7 outfits over and over again!

Nightly chores.  These are the same every night.  10 minute tidy your bedroom.  Brush teeth and take vitamins.  Easy.

And how do we remember it all?  And not seem like a nagging mom?

A chart of course!  (you knew that was coming, right friends?)

This chart hangs in our kitchen where everyone can see it.  Each morning the kids check the chart to see what they need to that day and then plan accordingly.  No need to remind them. No need to nag, no need to have to remember it all myself.  Easy!

I will say that when we first start teaching chores at a young age we used a system by the Maxwell Family at Titus 2 called Chore Packs.  We printed out the chores on cards, put them into a name badge and then the child could wear that badge.  When they finished the chore on the card it went to the back of the pile and they did the next one.  At young ages you just use a picture of that chore and no reading is necessary.  It was great and allowed them to feel big and responsible.  The girls still have fond memories of those chore pacts.  Now that the kids are all older, the chart works as well.  Another resource I highly recommend is one I reviewed this past year called The Everyday Family Chore System .  It has some great ideas you can implement as well as lists of age appropriate chores.

Again, our reason for chores is not to be lazy parents whose kids do all the work.  It is to raise responsible children who know how to help, WANT to help and know what responsibility and teamwork are all about.  Isn't that the kind of child YOU want to raise?

Blessings,

Guest Post: Homeschooling: Some Great Tools for Teaching Each Step of the Writing Process

Of all the subjects to teach homeschoolers, writing can be the most rewarding, but is sometimes the trickiest to teach. There are so many details that must be taken into account, from developing ideas to putting them on paper, that the task can seem daunting. Because of this, the general steps and procedures of writing regular prose can be a bit like those related to building a web page. Just like a coder, if a writer misses a step, then the whole structure can come tumbling down and be of no effect. But these problems aren't impossible to address. They're actually really easy to fix, because these online tools can help children develop the right processes to be a writer who creates prose with a strong foundation.
Research Tools:
There's an immutable fact about writing that's the same no matter my child's age or grade level: in order to be a good writer, she must be a good reader. Sites like DailyLit, Refdesk and Reading A-Z let homeschoolers explore the depths of knowledge on subjects they'll appreciate. Blogs and news sites featuring current events are also a great idea. If your child isn't keen to write down what he or she finds in a notebook every day, there are always programs like Google Notes and Evernote (which allows your homeschooler to drag and drop clips straight into the program).
Grammar and Vocabulary Helps:
There are a lot of different teaching ideas about how much a student needs to study and learn about grammar, but it never hurts to have a good foundation. That said, it's a lot easier to learn the rules when the method of learning is fun or has deeper significance. Free Rice is a game that donates 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme for each right answer your student gets. Fun Brain is another great site that lets homeschoolers play engaging games such as Grammar Gorillas, Spell Check, The Plural Girls, Spellaroo, and Word Confusion. It’s important to teach a child to do her best when she writes and then perform a grammar check at Grammarly.com before she turns it in or publishes it on her blog to make sure she gets everything right. Everyone makes mistakes, but that doesn't mean we don't have to check for them ourselves.
Putting It Together:
Once research and grammar skills are developed, the next step is actually putting pen to paper. This can start with a pre-writing process, and work through the steps of drafting, editing, and revising. For pre-writing, a tool like bubbl.us—a utility that allows her to create a mind map and connect ideas is a great tool. Then, she'll use a program like Microsoft Word to outline her ideas in a way that will help her build paragraphs from them. (Free Mind is another great program for this.)
After that, it’s a best practice to write the paragraphs, put the work down for a day, and come back to it at a minimum of three times to edit and revise. Doing premapping exercises really helps a child to have paragraphs that “flow” and have ideas that stick together. When editing, a child can highlight blocks of text by subject matter and see if they need to be rearranged or don't fit and need to be taken out completely. When revising, a child can use spell and grammar checks to make sure that she hasn't missed an error. After she's all finished, a child can publish to her blog and have great work that she can look back on any time she needs a reminder that hard work pays off.
By

5 Common Myths About Homeschooling–Guest Post

 
At present time, there are more and more parents who choose to give their children an education that is taught at home instead of a traditional method of going to school. This lifestyle is sometimes frowned upon by society because people think that children can only get a good education at school. According to college paper writing experts at SolidEssay.com, homeschooling is a great way for a child to get a good education. It’s mostly focused on activities and is considered to be more engaging than school education. Naturally, there are many stereotypes and myths surrounding homeschooling but most of them are wrong. Below, there are 5 common myths about homeschooling explaining why they are wrong.
1. Homeschooled children are antisocial.
This is one of the most common assumptions people make about homeschooled children. Everybody thinks that homeschooling involves sitting around the house all day in front of the computer or watching TV and spending time only with their parents, but this is not the case. Homeschooled children are always involved in activities such as music lessons, babysitting, church related activities and of course camps. All of these activities involve interaction with other children. Being homeschooled is a great way to encourage your children to interact with people of all group ages, thus, their social skills will be greatly increased in comparison to children who go to public schools, in an environment where bullying is always a problem and children are encouraged not to express themselves but, instead, just listen.
2. Homeschooled children can’t join the army.
This is, again, not true. Currently, the U.S. Army is recruiting homeschooled children too. After checking out goarmy.com website, you will see that homeschooled children can even get cash bonuses or scholarships to go to college!
3. Not very many parents choose homeschooling for their kids.
According to the Census Bureau, there are more than two million children being homeschooled in America right now. Statistics tell us that the number of children being homeschooled is continually rising at approximately 20% per year. The Internet has made homeschooling much more engaging, attractive and even fun. Nowadays, lessons or even lesson programs can be downloaded online and your child will get the same education as in a public school but in a much more friendly and loving environment.
4. Homeschooled children are homebodies.
This is another myth that is far from the truth. Most homeschooled children are involved in homeschooling groups. Homeschooling groups often organize events for their children and they are always involved in doing something engaging. The great part is that they don’t always have to learn at home; learning can happen everywhere and some children even go to public schools for Arts class or P.E., for instance, if they can’t do it anywhere else.
5. Homeschooled children don’t have a normal adolescence
It’s widely believed that homeschooled children miss out on important events in their teens because they can’t participate in proms, sporting events or go out with their friends. Obviously, this is again only a myth. Most high schools actually encourage and welcome any homeschooled child to participate in their events as a guest. Some homeschooling groups even organize their own proms or sporting events.
Author bio: Nick R. is a freelance writer working for a few college paper writing services, including SolidEssay.com, where he consults students on how to write essays, research papers, and theses. Read more here.

Music Lessons and the Home-Learning Family

GUEST POST  by Rebecca Fuller of LearnFluteOnline.com

Why music lessons?  Let me count the reasons.

1. Music can bring a beauty and peace in ways no other curriculum can.
2. Music teaches focus and self discipline… not something every child/adult wants, but definitely something every child/adult needs.
3. Self confidence will grow by leaps and bounds.
4. Subjects that require stick-to-it-ness are a must in a home-learning environment.  The skills that keeps on giving.
5. The skills gained during music learning cross paths with all other curriculum.
6. Not many other subjects allow an expression of self.
7. When the family learns together, no one feels alone in the learning process.  Thus, the family bond grows.
How music lessons and homeschool?  Learn Online.
Yup.  It’s totally possible.  The internet is making all things possible.  Even awesome music lessons.

Parent and Child learning together is theee best fun!  Bond-it-up!  Show your child you are interested in learning as well.  This sparks genuine interest in all education in your home.
I have spent the past 25 years molding and shaping others and my own children’s musical skills.  They are wonderful musicians and I have a huge sense of accomplishment when I see any of them pick up their instrument and play with eagerness and emotion - just for “fun”.
We have been able to use the skill as income for many, many years including keeping the boys funding themselves even during football season.
My love and enthusiasm has been used to train other families to do just what I have done.  And it brings such a feeling of accomplishment as I have received hundreds of letters of thanks for bringing music to a person or a family.
Carry-on, home-learners.  Stay homeward bound!
-Rebecca Fuller
You can find Rebecca online teaching with passion and organized to the hilt at: http://LearnFluteOnline.com  where she helps people of all ages hone their musical skill by using the beautiful instrument flute in a step-by-step, affordable online approach.  

Guest Post–Connecting Math and Writing

Today’s guest post comes from Stacy, an 8th grade English teacher, Stacy has written articles and blog posts for multiple online publications and has designed curriculum and assessments on nearly every subject for teachers and educational publishers. You can often find Stacy writing for TeacherLingo.com. As the mother of two, Stacy is also committed to learning ways to help her children learn and develop.

In school, subjects such as math and writing are often taught separately. However, writing in math class can be a powerful tool to help children learn. From reflective journals to creative stories, writing about math helps improve children' understanding of mathematical concepts and their own mathematical abilities.
Telling a Story
Turning basic skills such as addition and subtraction into stories can give children a way to recall those skills in other situations. Even if children cannot write well, they can draw and narrate stories to accompany math problems or dictate stories to an adult. For example, for the math problem 2+3=5, a student could write a story about two best friends who went apple picking. One picked two apples, the other picked three. Since they were friends they shared their apples, which gave them five apples.
Writing Poetry
Short rhymes are a good way to job children’ memory when it comes to recalling important equations, features of numbers or shapes or steps for solving a problem. Instead of coming up with rhymes for children, encourage them to come up with rhymes of their own. Children will practice writing rhymes, begin to understand poetic form and also learn important mathematic concepts.
What Are We Learning?
Having children write about what they are learning is a simple way to connect math and writing. This can be done individually or as a large group. Children can pretend they are writing a letter to someone as they discuss the basic math concepts they are learning and how they feel about the learning process. The process helps reinforce mathematic vocabulary and definitions of concepts while also helping children build their expository writing skills.
Having children regularly write in reflective math journals is another way for them to share what they have been learning while building writing skills. Children can use the journals to write about concepts they are having trouble with, set goals for math class or share what they think they are doing well.
Conducting Research
Children can also build their research skills in the mathematics classroom. Even children with basic writing skills can conduct research and present their findings in the form of a short paper, a slideshow presentation or a poster. Possible research topics include famous mathematicians, careers involving math and examples of real-life math.
Explaining their Work
Simply asking children to explain their work is another easy way to connect math and writing. The process of writing out a description of the process for solving a specific problem gives children a chance to practice writing about a sequence or process. It also reinforces the concepts they are learning by making them stop and think about the work they are doing.
Communication vs. Perfection
When it comes to connecting math and writing, the focus should be more on teaching children to communicate than teaching them to use proper grammar and how to spell words correctly. While you want to make sure children spell key terms correctly, you do not need to harp on other misspelled words, point out if children used your/you’re incorrectly or correct every fragment. If you get caught up in little details, the math may get lost in the process. When you connect math and writing, your goal should be to help children communicate about math through writing.

Homemade Birthday Party Decoration Ideas

If you’re planning a birthday party for your child, you probably want the best decorations for the party to make it look and feel more festive. You may be interested in making the decorations for the party yourself to save some money or because you enjoy crafting. If this is the case, you might be wondering what type of attractive and fun party decorations you could make and what kind of supplies you’d need to make them. Here are some simple, homemade party decoration ideas to help you out:

1. Birthday Banner
You can make a birthday banner pretty easily, using a variety of methods and supplies. You can try out something as simple as writing happy birthday in colorful, pretty letters on bulletin board paper you purchased at a teacher supply store. Or you can try something more elaborate like gluing cardboard letters that spell “Happy Birthday” on squares of cardstock paper, punching holes in the cardstock paper, and hanging the squares of cardstock paper up on a string that’s attached to your ceiling.

2. Paper Flowers
Colorful flowers made of tissue paper are a beautiful addition to a baby’s party or a young child’s party. If you want to make your own paper flowers, you’ll need some tissue paper and green pipe cleaners. To make each paper flower, all you have to do is:
· Get eight sheets of tissue paper and lay them on top of each other.6
· Fold all of the sheets together to make an accordion-like formation that is about an inch wide.
· Fold all the sheets in half, so that the ends of the tissue paper touch.
· Staple the pipe cleaner to the main fold that connects all of the tissue paper together. The pipe cleaner will be the stem of your flower.
· Fan out all the sheets of tissue paper to form the flower’s petals, making sure that none of them stick together.

3. Edible Centerpiece
You can make a colorful, edible centerpiece out of fruit. All you need is some bamboo skewers and pieces of different kinds of fruit to make this kind of centerpiece. You can skewer all of the fruit on the bamboo sticks and arrange the sticks in an attractive pattern on a large platter. Or you can stick the bamboo skewers with the fruit attached in something like a pineapple to create something that looks more like a bouquet of fruit. Edible centerpieces are an attractive, vibrant addition to the party, and kids love to snack on them!
These are just a few of the homemade decorations you can make for your child’s party. Feel free to be as creative as you want!
Author’s Bio: Melissa is a guest blogger who writes about planning children’s parties, crafting, and Mario party supplies.
Photos from istock

Addition and Subtraction with Homemade Play Dough

Any parent who wants to add a little fun to their kids’ educational activities knows how hard it can be to mix the two. This activity is a no fail combination of fun and math that will have your kids counting and subtracting like pros. Plus, the process is inexpensive and easy, safe for kids (it’s a no-cook recipe), and you end up with some awesome homemade play dough that will keep them entertained for days. Here is a fun way to introduce this addition and subtraction activity to your kids:
1. Read Your Recipe Aloud:
Here is the basic recipe for the play dough you will be making. Start out with your white board or a big piece of paper and write the recipe out on the board on a large piece of paper to hold up for your kids. Read out the recipe to them. Then, have your students take turns reading the recipe out loud.
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
Food dye
Have two measuring cups ready. Hold up one measuring cup and ask your students, “How much is one cup?” Then ask, “How much is a half cup?”

Using water to demonstrate, ask your students (depending on their age) to pour out a half cup in the first measuring cup. Write ½ c. on the white board. Then ask them to measure out a half cup in the second measuring cup. Finally, ask them how much you have when you add both the half cups together. Repeat this process, adding and taking away cups, half-cups, and even fourth cups, of water, until you’ve practiced for a while. After that, it’s time for the fun part!
2. Add to Prepare your Work Space:
-Count 8 sheets of newspaper. Lay them down on the floor, kitchen counter, or table.
-Plus 1 big bowl. Place it on the newspaper.
-Plus 3 small bowls (or as many as you want to use to make different colors).
-Plus 1 measuring cup. Place it next to the bowl.
How many items do you have now? (13 items)

3. Add to Find Ingredients:
-Count 1 bag or container of flour.
-Plus 1 canister of salt.
-Plus 1 bottle of water.
-Plus 3 bottles of food coloring. (Will vary based on how many colors you have.)
How many ingredients do you have? (6 ingredients)
4. Add to Combine Ingredients:
-Measure 1 cup of flour, and pour it into your mixing bowl.
-Measure 1/2 cup of salt and add it.
-Measure 1/2 cup of water and pour in.
Stir everything together with a large mixing spoon. You may need to adjust the measurements. If the play dough seems too runny, have your kids measure a small amount of flour to add. If the mixture is too thick, add more water.
5. Subtract to Separate the Play Dough:
Depending on how many colors you want to make, you will need to divide up the play dough accordingly. It’s easiest and most fun to subtract using handfuls.
-Subtract one handful for blue. Have one student grab a handful from the mixing bowl and place it into a smaller bowl.
-Subtract one handful for red.
-Subtract one handful for yellow.

6. Add to Make Colors:
Have students start with two drops of color each. Then they can add drops until they reach the color they desire. Simply drop in the color and knead the dough until the color runs solid.
If you want, you can get creative with addition to mix colors and make new colors, such as:
-2 drops blue + 2 drops yellow = green

By-line:
Jemima Lopez is a freelance blogger and writer who writes for Zen College Life, the directory of higher education, distance learning, and best online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email: lopezjemima 562@ gmail.com.
Photo credits:
measuring cups -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/like_the_grand_canyon/3444726721/sizes/m/in/photostream/
mixing bowl -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwstucke/2251927116/sizes/m/in/photostream/
play dough balls -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeliam/3894469442/sizes/m/in/photostream/
numbers -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/2272701122/sizes/m/in/photostream/
food coloring -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewbland/3111904731/sizes/m/in/photostream/