ofamily learning together

Kids Books – The Ark adventures

Posted on May 6, 2014 by ofamily

I stumbled onto a set of lovely books called Ark adventures by Sally Grindley and Alex Paterson. It is a very modern entertaining version of Noah and his Ark and his attempts to get the different animals on his Ark. Each book starts off with Noah and Mrs Noah arriving somewhere eg Africa, they get out their Big Book of Animals and select an animal that lives in the ares to come and join them on their Ark.

Blue who is normally a car or train book reader is really enjoying these books and is finding the animals very amusing. After reading the Giant giraffes Blue actually went and got his toy giraffe out and was helping him reach the leaves on the tree (he borrowed the bean which Pink has been growing). Had to add the photo of the giraffe – just so sweet.

The books in the series are :

Giant giraffes – based in Africa
Too slow tortoises – based in the Galapagos Islands
Pesky Sharks – based out in sea
Cheeky Chimpanzees – based in the forests in Africa
Crazy Chameleons – based in Madagascar
Hungry Bears – based in Northern America
Playful Penguins – based in Antartica
Kung Fu Kangaroos – based in Australia

The home-educator in me could not resist getting out our Map puzzle (from ELC here in the UK) so that Pink and I could look for the location of each story.

And naturally it also was a good excuse to revisit the terms herbivore and carnivore as they do mention in each book what the animals like to eat.

If you are in the UK the series is currently very cheap on the Bookpeople website but I have also seen the books on Amazon. We are all loving them (yes even me as it is a nice change).

Oh an another great thing about these books as they would make great readers (Pink is not at that stage yet maybye another 6 months and we could give some a go – with a bit of help).

Posted in Book Ideas, Homeschooling | Tagged african animals, home ed, homeschooling, kids books, kids geography | Leave a comment

Simple animal spelling pages

Posted on May 5, 2014 by ofamily

Pink is not a naturally keen writer, so I am often try new ideas to see if I can find something that she likes. Every once in a while I hit the jackpot. These simple spelling pages seems to have done just that. She likes the lines as there is enough space for her letters and she likes them as there are only a few on each page, so she does not get overwhelmed. She has liked these so much that she keeps asking me to make her more (busy working on some general nature pages and around the house pages).

So if you think your little one might like these pages you can download them for free here : Simple animals spelling pages

Posted in free printable / worksheet, Homeschooling, ks1 English | Tagged free printables, home ed, homeschooling, ks1 english, sight words, spelling pages | Leave a comment

Conversation about sensory kids

Posted on May 4, 2014 by ofamily

I have often had other moms ask me why Pink covers her ears, flaps her arms or gets upset if they play loud music and when I try and explain she has spd the responses can vary from being very understanding to thinking that I am just a very overprotective mom. I am starting to develop a much thicker skin but if I find some of the responses hurtful I can guarantee that a child would also find them hurtful.

I never understand why other parents think that it is okay to talk about a child while that child is standing right there. Why do they not think that the child will hear what is being said about them ? Why do they think it is okay to be negative about a child ? Do they not realise that they are just setting a bad example for their own kids, an example that says it is okay to talk about someone like they do not matter. Is this really the example parents should be setting ?

When another parent asks me about Pink or about spd, I always ask her is I can explain. If she says it is okay I try and explain it using terms that we use at home (eg super senses). If Pink says no it is not okay for me to talk about it (and yes she had done this before) then I explain to that parent that my daughter does not want me to discuss this topic right now and I leave it. When I have done this other moms have asked me why I am asking my daughters permission. My response is how can you not ask your kids if it is okay to discuss them when they are standing right next to you hearing everything you say. Why would I spend my time loving my child and nuturing her while we are at home but as soon as other adults are around stop respecting her ? How can this be right ? What message does this give our kids ?

So if you ever do bump into me or another mom at a playground and they are not overly keen to discuss why their child may cover their ears, flap their arms or do something a bit strange please bear in mind they are not trying to be rude, they are just trying to respectful to their child, afterall isn’t that what most adults want – To be treated is a respectful manner.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged homeschooling, parenting | Leave a comment

Beans Beans and more beans and then some more again.

Posted on April 30, 2014 by ofamily

The first time I made a bean sensory tub was over a year ago and was for the sole purpose of getting Pink to dig out hidden treasures and hence work on her spd. Over a year ago and our tub of beans has taken on a life of its own. Different beans and pulses have been added and I noticed the other day that the kids have even added some rice (where they got it from I am not entirely sure).

So a bunch of you are probably thinking a tub of beans – what ? why ? how can that be fun?

Yes a year ago I thought that but now I know differently. My kids have driven their trains and cars through the beans,

they have used the beans as cargo for their trucks,

they have used the beans as play rocks and stones on the side of their train track,

they have used the beans as pretend ingredients for their pretend cake baking, they have feed their toy animals the beans and I could go on and on and on.

We have also used the tub of beans for art. On a number of occasions I have placed a big splashmat on the floor, put our tub of beans in the middle and placed paper and glue next to the beans and watched the kids as they create their works of art.

Yes it often ends up being a big mess and I often am not 100% sure what they are making, but they are kids, they are having fun and they are being creative and all without it breaking the bank.

And don’t forget a tub of beans is great for sorting. My kids love getting containers out of the kitchen and they will sort the beans into the different containers, we have often used tweezers for this (great fine motor activity). An old egg carton is also great for this.

Posted in Art and Craft Ideas, Homeschooling, sensory play | Tagged art, beans, homeschooling, sensory bins, sensory play | Leave a comment

Revision of sh, ch, th, wh

Posted on April 29, 2014 by ofamily

I believe in revisiting and revisiting and then revisiting some more what the kids learn at this age. I think it is really important to make sure that the basic building blocks of their language skills and maths are solid.

Pink loves her word searches and word maizes so I made a few to go with the revision. The first page is a sound search of wh, th, ch and sh. She did this quite quickly but I thought it was a good reminder. The following pages focus on a sound per page. On each page she had to identify all the words that contained the sound at the top of the page. These pages ended up taking her a lot longer than I thought but it was because she took her time and ended up reading all of the words – so that was good reading practice.

Download : Word searches sh, th, ch and wh

After we finished these pages we tried a spelling sheet that I had made focusing on the sh, th, ch and wh sounds. She seemed to enjoy these so I think I may be making more like these in the future. Download : Spelling sheet sh, th, ch and wh

If you are about the to teach these sounds to your little one be sure to check out my earlier post about making sound flowers