How to Make a Gingerbread House: The Easy Way
Every Christmas season my kids and I make gingerbread houses from scratch. I bet that sounds like a crazy Christmas tradition, but I actually enjoy the whole process, minus the clean-up. Plus, it tastes so good! This year I stumbled upon simplejoy.com and found an easy way to make a gingerbread house. Her method made the whole experience far more enjoyable. First, I will address some questions readers might have about making a gingerbread house from scratch. Questions I consider making a gingerbread house our school work for the day. My oldest son, who is eight years old, had to read the recipe and the double it. He also used the template and cut out most of the shapes for the houses. The kids took turns measuring and scooping the ingredients. Also, it’s okay to take a day off to do something fun, especially at Christmas time. My kids enjoy making gingerbread houses from scratch. They beg to make them once Thanksgiving is over. The baby napped during most of it, but when he woke up, I plopped him in the carrier. He’s easy-going and happy. First, we made the dough. Then I sent the kids outside to play while I cleaned up. I’m sure someone out there would recommend having the kids help clean, but when dough and flour is on the floor, I kind of just want my kids out so I can clean up myself and make sure everything doesn’t spread all around the house. Afterwards, we rolled out the dough, cut the shapes, and baked them. Then, I sent the kids out to play again while I cleaned up. Lastly, we stopped and had lunch. We decorated the houses right before dinner. That gave me a break in the afternoon to get some chores done, read to the kids, and take care of the two younger kids. An Easy Way to Make a Gingerbread House I stated earlier that simplejoy.com had an easy way to make gingerbread houses. She recommends decorating the pieces of the house before they are assembled. That way you aren’t fighting against gravity. It makes so much sense. Why didn’t I think of this four years ago? That one tip made decorating our gingerbread houses so much more enjoyable and efficient. In years past, I had children crying because candy would fall off. This year our houses look much nicer! One tip I would add in is always use a plastic table cloth. You just wrap up the mess and the table is all clean! If you love somewhere warm, like me, then consider decorating outside. That way your kitchen or dining room doesn’t get messy. The Recipe The recipe from simplejoy.com worked well. At first, I doubled the recipe, but then I thought a third batch would be best since I was making three houses. I altered her recipe and skipped the shortening and used butter instead. The cookies tasted great to me, so I don’t think that change made a big difference. She provided templates to print out. My kids cut them templates out and we simply placed the template on the dough and cut around. I also used her frosting recipe. It worked really well! I let the decorated shapes dry overnight. The next day we assembled the walls. I placed cups inside the walls to help hold them up until they were dried. The frosting was dry within an hour or so. Afterwards, we assembled the roofs. To keep the roofs from sliding down, I propped them up with containers until they were dry. Make sure you put the right roof on the right house! I had to do some switching around. Final Thoughts Yes, you can buy a gingerbread kit from Costco or Target, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but making it yourself is fun. There’s something gratifying about doing all the hard work. Plus, it will taste amazing! I place all our gingerbread houses on our school shelf, which makes the whole area smell like gingerbread. If you’re up for a new Christmas tradition, then give this recipe a try.
Homeschooling Without a Homeschool Room
One reason why I have an Instagram account is so I can see what other children’s book homeschoolers are reading. That might sound like a very nerdy thing to say – watching what other people read. However, I love that I can quickly browse through and have a bunch of recommendations. Plus, my library often times has the books. Then I request the books, and I have a great time reading them to my kids. Unfortunately, while I am finding books to read, I am also taking in other content. Something I often see are homeschoolers showing their homeschool rooms. When I see someone else’s homeschool room, I sometimes become envious and think that I need one too. I start to think that homeschooling without a homeschool room is hard, but the truth is that it’s not as hard as you think. One impression I often get after looking at homeschooling mom’s accounts on Instagram is that in order to homeschool well, you need to be rich, organized, and beautiful. It can seem like everyone has a beautiful homeschool room that is bursting forth with artwork, books, and nature studies. I don’t have a homeschool room (You probably already guessed that). Instead, I have a dining room that seems with every passing year to get smaller as my children grow bigger. Even if someone knocked on my door and offered to add a homeschool room to our house for free, I know it would it wouldn’t change who I am as a homeschool mom. It wouldn’t make me a better at homeschooling. In fact, I would argue that sometimes lacking something that others have can make you more resourceful and creative. Where Do You Do School Without a Homeschool Room? If you don’t have a homeschool room, then where is school going to take place? Anywhere and everywhere! The list could go on! My favorite place to do school is outside in the backyard. It works out nicely because the younger kids can play while I homeschool. We all get some sunshine and some work done. Benefits of Not Having a Homeschool Room Are there benefits to not having a homeschool room? I think so because other skills become necessary in order to function. Lies You Shouldn’t Believe About Having a Homeschool Room When I see a beautiful homeschool room, I start to think things that aren’t true. Lie Truth I need a homeschool room to stay organized All you need are simple systems to stay organized. Mine is a book shelf with some baskets. Everyone else has a homeschool room. Most people don’t. I don’t personally know anyone who does. Homeschooling without a homeschool room is a reminder of how flexible homeschooling can be. A homeschool room would make me better at homeschooling First, comparing yourself to someone else is never a good idea. Second, being content with what you have and doing your best to homeschool within your means is an admirable thing. God can equip you to do your job well. My house would be cleaner if I had a homeschool room. Well, maybe that is kind of true, but you still need to teach your kids to clean up their school materials. The homeschool room will get messy. Homeschooling All Over the House What I like about my home is that there is evidence of homeschooling in every room. There is artwork on display in the dining room, bookshelves of pictures books in the guest room, a closet book shelf in the living room, and a globe and a basket of weekly read alouds in the dining room. Homeschooling takes over the house, but in a good and bookish sort of way. Books are literally all over the place. Personally, that’s really the only mess I will tolerate. Plus, I like that my dining room kind of looks like a homeschool room. It’s multi-fuctional. What’s important is to homeschool according to your means. Homeschooling really can be as simple as doing school at the dining room table. You know that saying, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” It’s true because moms set the tone for the household. Being content and able to homeschool within your means is an important skill, but it’s also important to be happy because I think that’s what your kids will mostly remember. Conclusion It’s also good to point out that some homeschoolers are well-off, and having plenty of money is a blessing. Naturally, a homeschool room may be one of those blessings for them. However, families who live on a smaller salary and have to give up things for the sake of having one income, also homeschool, and it works out just fine for them too. I think this proves that homeschooling can work in many different situations. If I could have a homeschool room, I definitely would, but I don’t. That means that I work with what I have and do my best. Do you have a homeschool room? What have you learned from not having one? What have you learned by having a homeschool room? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Math Facts for the Summer: Math Facts That Stick
This summer I have been using Kate Snow’s Math Facts That Stick Series with my two boys. She has created four math books that focus on improving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. What I like about her books are that the lessons are short, but effective. They take between 10-20 minutes. Sometimes we think longer math lessons are better. I disagree. These short lessons have helped my boys be better at doing mental math. These books are great for improving computation skills. They are not a curriculum, but if your child needs more practice, they can be used in addition to your math curriculum. Addition Facts That Stick This book covers skills such as adding one and two to another number, pairs that make ten, and adding nines and eights. There are six weeks of lesson plans and the format is simple. First, I use a tens frame to teach the concept for the week. Next, we play the game for the week where my son practices the skill. Lastly, there is a math worksheet with about twenty-four problems to solve. The rest of the week we play the game each day and do a math worksheet. It’s so simple and it works! My kids think the games are fun and ask if we can play one more time. The amount of materials needed for the games is minimal, but some preparation is required. The games and math worksheets need to be photocopied. I would recommend purchasing counting cubes and a deck of cards. Multiplication Facts That Stick The format for Multiplication Facts That Stick is almost the same as Addition Facts That Stick. There are some differences though. There are ten weeks of lessons and not six weeks. Besides covering multiplication facts under 100, other skills, such as using x5 facts to help compute x6 facts and using x10 facts to help with x5 facts, are included. There is a practice time for each lesson where we review our multiplication facts using a dot array. Next, we play a game. There are five games for each day of the week that are repeated each week. We learned how to play each game during week one. The subsequent weeks have the same games, but they are adjusted for learning different multiplication facts. There is more photocopying since there are five games and ten worksheets for each week. Like the Addition Facts That Stick, they are simple and effective. I haven’t used the Subtraction Facts That Stick or Division Facts That Stick, but I plan on using them further down the road. If you’re looking for a short and effective way to strengthen math facts, then this is a great resource. Check out Kate Snow’s website for even more ideas and resources.
Including Preschoolers in Your Homeschool: Family Style Learning
I remember a few years ago my three-year old wanted to do school like his big brother. Even though he wanted a real math book (the cheap math books from the Dollar Store did not satisfy him), I knew he wasn’t ready to begin formal schooling. What was I to do with a preschooler who wanted to do school, but wasn’t ready? How was I to include my him in our homeschooling? Family style learning was my answer. I guess I could have purchased a preschool curriculum, but that’s a lot of work. Plus, the more I homeschool, the better I think it is to wait until they are close to 5 or 6 before any formal schooling needs to take place. Three-year olds need to spend most of their time playing, being read to, singing songs, and playing outside. I found the answer to my problem when I learned about family style learning. Family style learning is when everyone participates in the same lesson, but at their own level. It involves multiple ages, so the older kids will grasp onto more complex ideas, while the younger ones will learn basic concepts. This type of structure is helpful with subjects such as science/nature study, history, Spanish…etc… Other subjects, such as math and phonics, need to be taught at a student’s level. Family style learning wouldn’t work well for those subjects. Once I found a curriculum that had a family style learning structure, it changed our days so much. My three-year old wasn’t doing math or reading, but he was doing a nature study that functioned as preschool for him. It gave him a special time of the day when he knew that he would be included in our homeschool. Since then, I have kept that structure for subjects like Spanish, nature study, and geography. Family style learning is different in that children aren’t given individual textbooks and sent off to read them on their own. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but it isn’t my style. I also like how family style learning can simplify a mom’s crazy homeschool day. You don’t have to do two or three separate history or science lessons. As long as your kids are reasonably close in age, they can study the same subject matter. Below are some of my favorite family style learning resources. Treehouse Schoolhouse Nature Study This is the nature study that I first used with my two boys. What I love about this study is that it includes a wonderful booklist. Every week we studied a new topic. That meant we had a new stack of books to read that centered around the moon, apples, worms, dirt, seasons, or storms. Some of the books were fiction and some were nonfiction. Each week also featured a song, a poem, a finger rhyme, and portrait to observe. There was a project or experiment that went along with each topic for the week. My oldest kept a notebook where he would draw a picture and write a sentence or two about what we learned. My three-year old would only draw a picture about what he learned. Sometimes I would write a sentence for him. It was simple and lots of fun. Niños and Nature: Spanish in the Wild This is a nature study in Spanish, and it was a lot of fun. It was hard for my kids because the vocabulary was sometimes difficult, but despite that, they all learned more Spanish. All three of my kids did these lessons together. The nature study included a topic for each week, flash cards, a poem or song, and an activity or experiment. There was also a nature journal template, but I ended up having my kids keep a nature journal like they had done the year before with Treehouse Schoolhouse. My daughter, who was then two-years old, would follow us around as we observed things in the backyard, or she would do an experiment with us. I’m not sure how much she really learned, but even if she didn’t learn any academic material (because I don’t care about that at that age), she learned that she’s included in our homeschool day. Beautiful Feet Geography: Picture Books Around the World We have been doing geography from Beautiful Feet for about six weeks now, and we love it! Right now, my kids are seven, five, and three, and they all participate in this subject. It is centered around reading high-quality fictional picture books that take place different countries. I know my older ones are understanding the stories far more than my daughter, but she still benefits by being read aloud even if it’s above her level. They also keep a travel notebook where they color the flag for each country, a map, and some animals. Yes, my daughter scribbles in her travel journal, but she’s proud of her scribbled messy notebook. There’s also an ethnic meal to make after studying each country. This has been a good opportunity to have my kids help in kitchen. Sometimes their help is more work for me, but it’s still fun. Flip Flop Spanish I am also currently doing Flip Flop Spanish with all three of my kids. I guess you could say all four of my kids because the baby is often in my lap listening. The cover says “ages 3-93.” How does that work, you wonder? You use flash cards to teach the vocabulary words. Then you use those cards to build sentences. You flip them over and read the sentence in Spanish. Non-readers can just listen and practice speaking. It’s very interactive, and the cards keep busy hands moving during most of the lesson. Conclusion One tip I will give before I finish is that all of these curricula have a large age range. Look for curriculum that says “K-3” instead of “grade 2.” That means in can accommodate different ages. My favorite part about using a family style learning in my homeschool is when I tell the everyone to
Reasons for Year-Round Homeschooling
There comes a point in homeschooling when you realize that you’re in charge of pretty much everything related to your child’s education, including your schedule. This has been my favorite part of homeschooling, and it’s why I do year-round homeschooling. Let me share some reasons why you should to consider year-round schooling. Yes, I know everyone looks forward to summer break – swimming in the pool, vacations, lazy mornings, and lots of time outside. Well, here in Arizona, the summers are brutal. It’s a time of year most people dread. For me, summer isn’t a time to be outside all day. In fact, my kids do school during the summer. You might think I’m a boring mom, but I have good reasons for choosing year-round homeschooling, which yes, does include schooling during the summer. Less Stress, More Relaxed I am less stressed and more relaxed doing year-round homeschooling. My kids are young and often get colds. We have days where we don’t do as much school simply because everyone is crabby and tired. Not having a deadline to finish school helps me to relax. Good use of time My kids do well having a some sort of routine. If I were to stop school during the summer, my kids would want to do something fun to do or want to go somewhere. It’s too hot to play outside, so indoor play areas are an option. Guess what happens when we go to an indoor play place? We get sick. So, we stay home and do school. The hot days are for school and the cool days are for parks. This leads me to my next point. Create your own schedule This is my favorite reason to school year-round. I can create a school week that works for us. We do school four days a week and use Fridays for going to parks or inviting friends over to play. My three-year old naps in the afternoon. If we go out then it has to be in the morning, which means we give up our best time for the boys to do their school. I want my younger kids to have the same experiences that my older children had before we started homeschooling, which is getting out and going to the park and the zoo. By doing school four days a week, everyone gets what they need. Even though I am not formally homeschooling my three-year old, I take her into consideration. She enjoys her playtime at home, but she also looks forward to going somewhere fun with her brothers on Fridays. More time off When kids take their summer break, they regress. Teachers spent the first month reviewing and assessing their students. By doing year-round schooling, we gain more learning time. We can skip the review time and keep moving on. This means we can take smaller breaks here and there and not suffer any significant academic loss. This summer I took off four weeks. We took two weeks off in June and two weeks off in August. When we started up in August, I implemented new curriculum, routines, and restructured our day so it worked for everyone. Even though there’s not an official stopping point, there’s a time to refresh and introduce new things. Right now, while most homeschoolers are gearing up for the new year, I am waiting for cooler weather and looking forward to a couple weeks off in October. Our schedule year-round homeschooling schedule looks nothing like most school calendars, but it works for us. I can change it whenever I want, and that’s one of the many things that I love about homeschooling year-round.