How to Play a Simple Sight Words Game

One of our learning goals for our second child this year is to help him read more sight words. The other day, I made a simple matching game for him using sight words. He and his older brother loved playing it. This encouraged me to continue using it yesterday but with a new set of sight words and a twist.

Let me share what we did. It's actually very simple so anyone can easily do what we did.

1. First, I typed a number of sight words using Word per page and printed them using bold and big fonts on a bond paper. I typed 4 sight words per page so my son can easily read the words even from afar. You can also print them on cardstock or board and laminate them to make them last longer. I was just experimenting. That's why I used bond paper but I think I will make sturdier versions later.

2. I cut the paper into strips to separate each sight word from the other. 

3. Then, I put some masking tape at the back of each strip of paper.

4. Our first game the other day was match the sight word with a body part. I initially wanted my 4-year-old to stick the strips of paper on his own body parts. But his older brother wanted to play with him so my eldest son volunteered to be part of the game. The boys had fun playing! My younger son enjoyed sticking strips of paper on his big brother. My eldest son had fun playing with his younger brother while helping him learn to read sight words about body parts. This is one of the reasons I love homeschooling. It provides many opportunities for family members to bond, have fun and learn at the same time.

5. The following day, I printed a new set of sight words. I did the same steps I mentioned above (steps 1 to 3). This time, these are sight words for what he usually sees in our home/house.

6. After putting masking tape on the strips of paper, we stuck them first on a wall. 

7. Before starting the matching game, I asked my 4-year-old son to spell and read each word first. Since he could not read them yet, I helped him by sounding out the letters and teaching him how to easily decode them and I read them for him too. After spelling and reading each one, I asked him to turn around before starting the matching game.

8. I asked him to get one strip of paper at random from the wall and stick it to the right object at home. All the sight words I printed yesterday pertained to objects except one. I included the word baby to make it more fun. ;) Mateo already knows how to read and spell the word BABY but I wanted to include it still because I saw how much he enjoyed having his older brother participate in the game. This time, I wanted him to enjoy it with his baby brother. :)

We will be playing with these sight words in the next days until my 4-year-old son masters them. Then, I'll add more sight words as we progress.

What do you think of this game? Will you try it with your child too? Let me know how it goes.

Saturdate with My Sons and Geronimo Stilton

I got an invite to the launching of the Geronimo Stilton Academy Pawbooks. This is a new workbook series based on the popular series Geronimo Stilton. I was happy to get this invite because my eldest son loves Geronimo Stilton. So, I confirmed with the organizer right away and told her that I'm definitely coming with my eldest son.

I shared this information with my son and told him that attending the launch will be our date. It has been part of my schedule to date each of my sons at least once a month so I can spend one-to-one time with them. My son was also happy to hear the news and he looked forward to our date.

The weather was bad on the day of the launch but we still went to Powerbooks at Greenbelt 4 on August 22. The event was from 3 to 5 PM. We got there a little past 3 PM. 

Our original plan was that while my eldest son and I are having our date at the event, my husband and two younger kids will also have a date nearby, either in the bookstore or they will eat ice cream somewhere. But since we found out that they can also stay, they joined us. So, it was now a family date! 

We got a big bag of Geronimo Stilton products as soon as we registered. The canvass bag we got contained two sets of workbooks: Vocabulary Pawbooks from levels 1 to 3 and Comprehension Pawbooks from levels 1 to 3 also. It also had Geronimo buttonpins and a copy of Mockingjay by New York Times Bestselling Author Suzanne Collins.

The event was already starting when we arrived. They were playing a game wherein the participants need to find words and letters from old newspapers that they can form to match the titles of the books in the Geronimo Stilton Series. My son and I still got to join. We had some fun playing even though we didn't win. 

The other game that was played was ensaymada eating for the parents. The parent who is able to finish his/her ensaimada first wins a set of books from the series also. I didn't win but I enjoyed eating the ensaimada. hahaha 

There was a parenting talk after the games and prizes were raffled off in between the games the talk. We didn't win in the raffle but it's alright because being together at the event was already a win for our family.

Book stamping and picture taking opportunities followed after the talk and raffle. Snacks were also served while people were lined up to have their books stamped and their photos taken with the mascots. Even the snacks were according to the theme. Snacks had cheese on them because Geronimo and his friends love cheese.

While waiting for our turn to have our photos taken with Geronimo and Thea, my husband and younger sons roamed around the bookstore to check out copies of the Geronimo Stilton books. The first copy that our son had was Space Mice. We bought it at a time when he was very interested on outer space. This time, we were looking for the first books in the series. Sadly, there were no copies available. But we discovered that Scholastic sells the books in the series in packs or bundles too. My husband saw a pack for the books from 11 to 20. He discovered that we would save a lot if we buy the books this way instead of buying them per piece. So we asked if they have a pack or bundle for books 1 to 10. The staff we talked to said that this pack was out of stock but she was kind enough to inquire from the other branches. She found out that there is an available stock from SM North Edsa and that she said they can request it to be transferred to their branch and we can buy it from there. We were delighted! We had that pack reserved.

After having snacks and having our books stamped and our photos taken, we checked out other books for my younger son who loves Thomas the Tank Engine. I was looking for Step 1 into Reading books for him with stories about his favorite character Thomas. We didn't find any Level 1 books but we found two Level 2 books. I still bought them since the books are still easy to read for kids his age. Now, everybody is happy.

My eldest son who is 6 years old could not get his hands and eyes on his new workbooks. He wanted to read them even while in our vehicle on our way home. He also wanted to read that night but we said he will have to wait until morning. True enough, he was seen reading these books most of the time in the days that followed.

I told him that we will start answering these workbooks after he's done answering his Grade 2 English Grammar worksheets (the ones we are using in our homeschool). I said this to motivate him to work faster on his worksheets before starting on a new one.

Several days after the launch, I got a text message from the Powerbooks staff that our order is available for pick up at their branch. I informed my husband right away so he can make time to buy it for our son.

Finally, our son got his hands on the much-awaited book bundle last weekend and kept reading book after book in the days that followed. Actually, he said that he already read 5 books in just a single day! I told him that I will check if he understaood the stories by making him answer the workbooks. 

We started using these workbooks last Monday and I am really glad that we discovered these workbooks. My son is happy to read and answer the workbooks because the lessons were based on his favorite character Geronimo Stilton. Of course, when my son is happy to do his lessons, I am also happy because I don't need to force him to answer his workbooks.

When he was much younger, one of his favorite characters was Lighting McQueen from the movie Cars. I also used activity books then which were inspired by this character. He also enjoyed using these books and he was usually eager to answer them. I also bought him flash cards with the Cars theme for he was still a toddler then.

Then, when I had my second child, I used the same strategy but this time I bought materials inspired by Thomas the Tank Engine or anything related to trains, unlike with his older brother which were related to cars.

Are you struggling to get your kids excited to read books or to learn something related to their lessons? I strongly suggest that you find a related material that is based on your child's favorite character or interest. That will surely spark your child's interest. I have been doing this for years now and both of my children are responding well to this strategy.

How will you know which characters interest them?

Here are 2 ways:

1. Ask them. If you are not sure or you have no clue, just ask them. It's that simple. But you will not know unless you make time to ask and wait for their answer.

2. Listen to them tell stories. Kids like to include their favorite characters in their stories. They also like to talk about their favorite characters at least once a day when given the chance. Again, this goes back to my previously shared tip to parents to converse with their children. Make time to listen to them and to encourage them to keep on talking and telling stories to you through your verbal and non-verbal responses.

So, don't let this day pass without you doing any of these two tips I shared! Then, look for something that you and your child can use that is related to his interest!     

Update:

The Stilton siblings will be at the MIBF 2015 (Sunday). Catch them at National Bookstore's booth.

Photo source here.

My Son's Favorite Teacher

I heard something I didn't expect to hear last Sunday afternoon while I was reading aloud a new book to my sons before their nap. This book was given to my eldest son as a gift by his godfather who's also one of my closest friends in college. When I came to a part wherein a question was posed, I asked that question to my eldest son.

His answer was, "You... and Daddy."

The question in the book was, "Who is your favorite teacher?"

It was our first time to read the book. So, I did not expect to encounter that question there. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear my eldest son's answer. 

Tears clouded my eyes right away. I could no longer continue reading the story. I could not stop myself from crying. I was too happy with what I accidentally found out.

I did not expect him to give that answer. Although our sons are homeschooled and I am their main teacher, my eldest son had other teachers in the past. Most of them were his occupational therapists whom he calls his teachers. He had four so far. Then, about a month ago, we got him a piano teacher. A week ago, we enrolled him and his younger brother in a theater class. Thus, he has one more teacher to add to his growing list of teachers. 

I was so touched to hear that among the teachers he was exposed to in the past, he considers me his favorite.


My son's favorite teacher is me!

Another reason why I cried when I heard his answer is because I felt God's hand at work in my son's heart and life. I admit that I've made a lot of mistakes in teaching my sons, my eldest son especially. He was my firstborn. And just like in many cases when you are doing something for the first time, I made countless mistakes. I learned through the years through trial and error. I was so thankful to God that in spite of my mistakes, my eldest son still considers me his favorite teacher. 


Moreover, I felt that it was an affirmation from God that my husband and I made the right decision to homeschool our kids. 

After thanking my son, kissing him, embracing him and telling him how happy I was to hear his answer, I asked my husband to take over in reading and finishing the story.

I was still crying while my husband was reading the rest of the story.

I was moved not only by my eldest son's answers but also by how the author described the characteristics of teachers who usually become their favorite.

Let me quote from the book:

"If you're like most children, your favorite teacher is someone who cared a lot about you. That teacher cares enough to give you extra help when you needed it. Maybe she noticed when you were sad and cared enough to ask you why. Or maybe he worked really hard and did a good job, all because he cared about you."

We were reading the book Children's Book of Saints by Amy Welborn. The Saint story we were reading that day was the story of Don Bosco.

I liked the way the life and ministry of Don Bosco were told in the book. It was not only our kids who learned that day. My husband and I learned as well.

It was my first time to learn that Saint John Bosco or Don Bosco was first called by God through a dream that he had when he was just 9 years old.

His dream made an impact on me because in his dream he saw kids running wildly and God told him that he will be the leader of those boys. This surprised him. He also felt afraid because he didn't know how to lead those boys.

What God said to him struck me as well.

"Not with blows will you help these boys, but with goodness and kindness." It was said in the book that after this line was said in Don Bosco's dream, the boys in his dream became calm.

I could relate to Don Bosco somehow. My boys have the tendency to run wildly, too. They easily get excited and when they are excited they sometimes run around and shout or make a lot of noise. They are like supercharged atoms bouncing everywhere! These behavior drives me nuts and tries my patience A LOT each day.

So when I learned from the book that Don Bosco helped the boys to become well behaved through his love and his relationship with them, I felt that God was answering the questions in my heart through his story.

I pray that I would be more like him. I pray that I would patiently invest in my relationship with my kids and wait for them to be transformed by the love that I pour into their young lives. I pray that this story of Don Bosco's ministry would provide for me encouragement during difficult days -- when things do not go as I hope and expect them to be when my faith is wavering and I want to see tangible results of my efforts right away.

Do you also have very active little boys like me? Do you know who your child's favorite teacher is? If you are homeschooling your child and he gives the same answer as my little boy did, would you also be moved to tears?

Feel free to share in the comments. 

Our Lenten Journey (2015)

Lent has started! It's almost the second Sunday of Lent and I praise and thank God for the wisdom and grace He has given me and my family to continue our Lenten family traditions and to start new ones.

I consider this is a miracle because I have a newborn baby whom I breastfeed on demand. I thank God for sustaining me and giving me energy to lead our devotions and activities. I thank God also that it seems that my two older boys are enjoying our activities.

Let me share what we have started so far. 

Ash Wednesday was a full day in our home.

We changed the curtains and throw pillow cases changed into lavender. We also changed the cover of our altar into the same color.

  

My eldest son made Lenten banners.

My two older kids made the Alleluia banner and hid it.

I asked my eldest son to write "From: Jesus" in the gift tag
and on the opposite side of it, "salvation" and "eternal life."

We started using the Lenten calendar I printed the day before. For alternative Lenten Calendar ideas, click here.

Lenten Calendar from Catholic Icing blog.

The kids dropped coins on our alms box (a cereal box turned into a coin box covered with purple paper and with the word ALMS written on it).

I declared that for the entire season of Lent, our family will fast on our favorite dessert: ice cream and chocolates. So on the night before Ash Wednesday, my husband and I had a brief Valentine date at a nearby ice cream store. ;)

We've started observing the abstinence of meat on prescribed days like Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent. I put to use the 4-week Cycle Menu Plan for Lent that I made . Click here to go to my post about meatless Fridays of Lent.

And since we love music, we started reviewing and singing songs usually sang during Lent. Last week, my eldest son who can play the piano oido and who is starting to learn how to read notes learned how to play the song Hosea.

We went to Mass on Ash Wednesday and had ashes on our foreheads.



It's our baby's first Ash Wednesday!

As part of our new Lenten tradition, I have started reading the Bible or Bible stories from the kids' Children's Bible over breakfast. Then, I reinforce with a bit of storytelling as well when I read from my Bible.

After our storytelling and Bible reading, I sometimes ask the kids to make a drawing based on the story that they just heard. Sometimes, I ask them to color coloring pages about the stories that I told them. I also ask my eldest son to answer some worksheets related to our topics. Sometimes, he answers word searches, mazes, questions or fill in the blanks worksheets. I search the internet for ideas. I also get some help from the Holy Heroes site for inspiration and activities. I choose only what I think my kids are ready to do at this time/age.

Just like in the past, I reinforce these lessons and stories by letting them watch some videos on our topics/Bible heroes/characters. One of the recent videos I let them watch is about the 10 Commandments.

The kids so far are enjoying these activities. I hear them a lot talking about the Bible characters and stories we have discussed so far. Sometimes, these stories become the theme of their pretend plays. 

We have also resumed our night prayers as a family. For a while we just listen to the kids say their night prayers in the past months after I gave birth then we send them to bed to sleep. This Lent, we started praying again with them after they say their night prayers.

Lent is indeed a season of grace and I thank God for His grace that is new every morning. His grace is what enables us to keep on keeping on in our faith walk. It's what enables us to be faithful even after we fall and make mistakes along the way. It's His grace that reminds us of His unconditional and steadfast love. It's His grace that gives me encouragement to continuously strive to be more like Him in all things, especially in parenting my kids.

This year, I do not have a new verse to guide me throughout my Lenten journey. I have decided to stick to the verse that I adapted years ago. I believe that I need to be reminded of this verse a lot so I can grow closer to living it out. My verse for Lent again this year is: "Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

I pray that God would continue to bless the rest of our Lenten journey.

Simple Matching Games for Toddlers (Teaching Letters and Numbers)

I have mentioned in my previous posts on our letter of the week program that on top of these activities, I also let my toddler (2-year-old) play some matching games to help reinforce the lessons we have on letters and numbers.

 

Let me share with you some of these simple games which are so easy to prepare and are so easy to grasp by toddlers.

 

1. Matching letters and toys - We use small foam letters here. We began with the letters of my toddler's first name (MATEO). I noticed when we were still starting with our alphabet lessons that my toddler's attention wanders away after a few minutes when we use all flash cards or when we use all the foam letters to study the alphabet. Good thing I read in several blogs by other moms that it's more helpful and easier for a child to begin studying the letters of his/her name first. That way, the child does not get overwhelmed with the need to recognize too many letters right away.

 

So, I chose some of my toddler's favorite toys that start with the letters of his first name. (Mango, apple, tomato, eggplant and orange to match the letters MATEO). I showed him first how to match them correctly, sounding out the letters and the names of the toys and matching them with each other.

Then, I mix up the toys and the letters and ask my toddler son to match them. I began with arranging the letters correctly and asked my child to match the plastic toys. He easily learned the letters of his name through this matching game. I was also glad that I was inspired to use his favorite toys since this made the game more interesting for him.

Mateo matches the toys to the foam letters of his name.

When I saw that he got this correctly, I then mixed up the letters and arranged the plastic toys in order. My son also answered it correctly even when we played the matching game in reverse.

 

After playing this matching game for a couple of weeks, we tried asking my toddler to match the plastic toys with the letters in his puzzle mat. This time, all the letters of the alphabet were there already and they were arranged in order. My son was still able to find the letters of his name after some tries. When I noticed that he still gets a bit confused with a lot of letters, we limited the letters again to his first name. After practicing by playing this matching game for a number of days again, we let him try finding the letters of his name again with the entire alphabet puzzle mat laid out. This time, he was able to answer correctly even with his first try.

 

2. Matching flash cards and clothes pins with letters - I got this idea in another blog. It's so simple and budget-friendly as well. We still have a lot of wooden clothes pins at home so I adapted this activity right away as soon as I learned about it.

 

You simply need a permanent marker, clothes pins and flash cards. Again, we began with the letters of my toddler's first name (MATEO) to prevent overwhelm and confusion. I wrote one letter per clothes pin and separated the flash cards with the letters of his name. I showed him how to match them correctly, sounding out the letters and showing him the clothes pins with the corresponding letters. I mixed up the flash cards and clothes pins again and asked my son to match them to each other. At first, I asked my toddler to clip the clothes pins to the flash cards.

Then, when I found some yarn and a place in the house where we can hang our "toys," I asked him to hang the flash cards there as he plays this matching game.



Mateo hanging his flash cards using the clothes pins with the letters of his name.
 



My toddler happy and proud of his accomplishment!

  

3. Matching DIY Thomas and Friends trains and clothes pins with numbers - My toddler son loves Thomas and Friends so much that I try to connect as much homeschool lessons as I can with this character. Since I'm also teaching him numbers and helping him to become more familiar with them, I thought of using the character of Thomas and Friends for this lesson. The trains in this series have numbers so I researched the names and colors of the trains and began with the first 10 trains in the series to help my toddler become more familiar with numbers 1 to 10.

 

I asked the help of my two sons in this homeschool project. They helped me make the trains. I cut the rectangles from the scrap colored papers that we have while they traced circles and painted them to become the wheels of the trains. Then, I numbered the trains based on the story of Thomas and Friends. Next, I introduced them to my toddler son and pointed out the numbers of the trains.

 

Then, I wrote one number on each clothes pins again using a permanent marker. I read out the numbers to my son and asked him to match the clothes pins with numbers to the trains with numbers on their bodies. Like with our matching game with the letters of his name, at first I asked him to clip the clothes pins to the trains.

Our DIY Thomas and Friends homeschool project.

Then, when we had a yarn set up near our hallway, I asked him to hang the trains in the yarn as he plays this matching game. My son found this game interesting and fun. It's a short game but very effective in teaching him to recognize numbers. It's also very simple and easy to prepare.

Mateo matches the clothes pins with numbers to our DIY trains.

Mateo with Thomas and Friends, our version. ;)

 

If you have a son who also likes trains or the character of Thomas and Friends, I highly recommend this matching game to you and your son when learning numbers and colors. 

Here are names and numbers of the trains in this series:

1 - Thomas, blue
2 - Edward, blue
3 - Henry, green
4 - Gordon, blue
5 - James, red
6 - Percy, green
7 - Toby, brown
8 - Doc, green
9 - Donald, black
10 - Douglas, black

These are the simple activities that we do on top of our letter of the week activities. Based on our experience, they are effective ways to reinforce the lessons that my toddler learns in our letter of the week activities. Feel free to use the same activities in teaching your little ones if you think they would also work in your family.
 

A Terrific Start with the Letter T as Our Letter of the Week

We just had a T as in Terrific start for our new letter of the week -- the letter T!

 

First, my toddler son finger painted the letter T in upper and lower case.

 

Second, we made T as in trains from scrap colored papers and scratch papers.

 

Below is the step by step procedure to make these trains:

 

1. I asked the boys to trace circles for the wheels of their trains on scratch papers.

 

2. I asked my 5-year-old son to cut the traced circles.

 

3. The boys painted the circles with black paint and air-dried them.

 

 

4. I folded the colored papers and asked my 5-year-old son to cut along the line/fold to form rectangles.

 

5. I cut windows on the long rectangles and a spout for the train.

 

6. I taught the boys how to position the rectangles and the wheels of their train.

 

7. The boys glued the cut outs as I instructed them.

 

8. Then, I gave them yellow crayons so they can write the number on the body of their train.

 

9. I asked the boys to write the name of their train on the bond paper.

 

This is the train made by Mateo since he loves Thomas the Train!

Yanthy made James the red engine because his favorite color is red.

Just before lunch, the boys played by pretending to ride/drive a taxi. They alternated as driver and passenger.

 

After lunch and their bath, we read books all about Thomas with some props as I read them.

 

We bought most of these books from the Book Sale before.

When the boys woke up from their nap, they played with toys that start with the letter T -- trucks, trains, trumpet and tambourine. These will be the toys they would play with this week.

 

 

Instead of using the road track letter T in our Transportation-themed curriculum, we used the wooden train tracks of the boys to form the letter T when they played with their wooden train set.

In the evening, the boys wore their Thomas the Train shirts when we went to church to celebrate Mass.

 

 

Watch out for my next post about our other activities with the letter T!

 

Tips on How to Make Books Come Alive and September Homeschool Activities

I would consider the month of September another relaxed month for our homeschooling family. We mainly used the books that we bought recently from the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) for our homeschool lessons. (You may read about our experience of the 35th MIBF here in my previous post.) We also had activities related to or inspired by the stories in these books. This is my way of helping the kids appreciate the stories and lessons that we read from their books.

 

Let me share some tips on how we made our books come alive last month.

 

1. Make/Use toys as props when you read and/or reread your books. Encourage children to also retell the story from these books using your props.

 

One of the books that we spent most time with last September was the Jepoy the Jeepney series. It was such a hit to my boys that we purchased the complete set last month during the MIBF. I love the concept of these books because with each book in the series, there is a cardboard toy that the child and/or parent can cut and assemble. The child can then use this in retelling the story in the book or simply play with it. My boys loved the toys and they asked me to complete the set of main characters in the series so they can play with them. My boys would play pretend using these cardboard toys for hours. They would either retell the stories in the books or they would make up their own stories about the characters in Barangay Pag-asa.

 

For the other books that you have, I suggest that you use your kid's existing toys. Use their favorite toys as clues for the books that you'll read to them. Then, use their toys as props when you read these books. After reading, give them a chance to play with their toys that you used as props. I use this technique a lot when reading books to my kids. Recently, I used this to retell/reread the story of The Wizard of Oz to my kids.

 

 

 

2. Have art/craft activities related to your books.

 

I love doing art and craft activities with my kids. I search the internet for ideas and match them with my kids' needs and interests.

 

Since we recently purchased a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar during the recent MIBF, we'll been doing a lot of art and craft activities related to this story. You may read some of our activities inspired by this book in my previous post here.

Below is one of our latest art activities related to the book The Giving Tree.

 

 

Here are some of the book-inspired art and craft activities (as well as writing and drawing activities) that we have done in the past.

 

Hand-painting caterpillar and sun

More paintings of butterflies and flowers

Angel craft for our books on angels
Activities inspired by the 3 little pigs and another house for 1 of the little pigs

Activities inspired by the book Blue Cow Goes Out to Play

Activities Inspired by the Book In The Forest

Saying I Love You to Mateo: Another book-inspired activity

Painting Flowers after reading about them

 

3. Watch a play or musical based on the books you've read.

 

We were blessed to find out that there's a musical for The Wizard of Oz last month. My kids love music! I was confident that they would enjoy watching this so we bought tickets for a weekend show. It was their first time to watch a musical. I was glad to discover that they can already sit through it and that they had a good time watching it. After the musical, the boys made the musical/story one of their pretend plays. Sometimes, I would hear them sing some of the songs in the musical or exchange dialogues as if they are characters in the story.

 

 

 

4. Meet the author/illustrator of the books you've read.

 

We were blessed to have met the authors and illustrator of the new books we bought. The recent MIBF gave us that opportunity. But there are also meet and greet opportunities with authors and illustrators year-round, which are organized by bookstores or publishers so watch out for those dates.

 

You may read my previous post wherein I discussed how my eldest son's encounter with the children's book authors that we met recently had a positive impact on him.

 

5. Include the lessons from the books you've read in your conversations with kids and relate them to your routines or current events that you can discuss with them.

 

This book helped us reinforce
the value/lesson of sharing.
We also used this book to deepen and apply
our Math lessons on fractions.

The lessons that kids learn from their books need not remain in their books or in their minds alone. We can let children experience them or we can make these lessons come alive to them by relating these lessons to our day-to-day experiences or the current events in our lives.
 

 

Since September has been a rainy month, my kids and I read books about the rain and the weather. We brought out our books about the rain and the weather during the rainy days. We also read books about the environment and safety.

 

 

Here is my previous post and review on a book about the rain (The Rain is Here) and the activities we did related to it.

 

6. Go on a field trip.

 

Kids love field trips. They like to explore new places and discover new things. Kids would love the new experiences of witnessing something new.

 

Schedule field trips that are related to the books, lessons and concepts that you have introduced or are currently teaching your child. The experience would help the child appreciate and remember the lessons more. 

 

Some of the recent field trips that we had were our trip to Museo Pambata and the mobile planetarium at the MIBF. We had these field trips after we had our Linggo ng Wika lessons where we read Filipino books and our lessons on the solar system. Read about our Linggo ng Wika activities here. Read about our Space Book and the activities we did related to it here.

 

7. Teach them songs that are related to the books or characters in their books.

 

Music is an effective tool in entertaining and educating children. They love music and movement. Integrating music and movement activities in your lessons that are based on books will help you make your lessons/books come alive. Some of the songs we've used in our homeschool are the following: photosynthesis song, butterfly song, planets song. We also use nursery rhymes that feature characters (mostly animals) in our story books. When it was raining frequently last month and we were reading books about the rain, we sang Rain, Rain Go Away often. We also sang The Incy Wincy Spider.
 

These are just some of my tips to you to help you make your children's books come alive.

 

Let me now share some of our activities last month.

 

My kids' breakfast during Mama Mary's birthday.

Some of the activities we had were celebrations of Feast Days like the Feast of Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the Feast of the Archangels. Aside from going to Mass to celebrate these days, we had art activities and we learned/reviewed songs related to Mary (Hail Mary) and the angels (Christmas songs with mention of angels). He also learned (on his own) how to play Immaculate Mother in the piano. He kept experimenting until one day, he already learned playing the beginning of the song correctly. We (his parents and his mentor in the church) were all delighted to listen to him play the song. You may read my post on how we celebrated Mama Mary's Birthday here and the Feast of the Archangels here.

 

Aside from our eldest son's daily piano practice at home and frequent practices using the piano in the church, it was also last month that our eldest son joined a Tiples or boys' choir in our parish. The minimum age requirement to join this choir is actually 7 years old. But the servants in the parish are familiar with our sons especially our eldest. They know very well that he's the boy who usually sings aloud and well during daily Masses so event though he's still 5 years old, they invited him to join. Their weekly practice started last month. This is in truth a big blessing because he gets free voice lessons weekly now as part of the choir. It's also very convenient because the practices are done near our house. This also provides him with opportunities to meet and interact other boys.

Last month also, since Yanthy (my eldest) learned how to play the Our Father and Hail Mary in the piano, he and his younger brother had been singing these songs during their prayer time at night. They sing these songs after reciting their usual night prayers.

 

On weekends, my kids and I do our best to join their Dad in jogging at the nearby park. I was happy to find and buy a book about a father and a son exercising and bonding through jogging also when we went to the MIBF. This book is another welcomed addition to the books in our library. This book will help us teach our kids about caring for their body/health by exercising. We can also relate it to our science lessons on the body.

Our family picture during my husband's 5k race and
our latest book on Father-Son bonding through jogging/running as exercise.

 

Part of our science lessons for my eldest son last month are the different systems of the body. He has been asking a lot of questions about the brain, heart and lungs so we read books about these topics. It amused me to watch my son experiment on his breathing after reading about the nervous system and the lungs. He ran around the room and observed how fast his heartbeat was. Then, he rested on a chair and observe the changes in his breathing. After we studied the circulatory system, he observe the nerves and arteries he could see in his body.

 

Although I would consider the month of September a relaxed month for us, I was happy to discover that we have covered a lot of material by simply reading a lot of books and by following our sons' interests and answering their questions.

 

When we encourage kids to satisfy their curiosity and discover answers to their questions, education happens all the time and naturally.

 

How did your September go? How do you make books come alive for your kids? Feel free to share your tips. I would love to learn from you, too!