Life, the Give Way
-
California State Parks Checklist
After this last year plus of quarantine, I’m itching to get out more. But, not too far out for now. So, as I plan for next year, I was thinking we could start a couple longterm goals. 1. Get to all the national parks in the U.S. and its territories.2. Get to all the California State parks (and future goals of many state parks of states we don’t live in…not sure we have enough time in our lifetime to hit them all!) So, I easily found a free checklist for national parks here. But, I had a much harder time finding a checklist for the state parks. All the ones…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Life, the Give Way, Teaching, the Give Way, You Not Them
The Give Way Reading Challenge
One of the things I love about the TJEd philosophy, is the aspect of “you, not them.” Essentially it’s about making sure I keep focused on my own education as a way of improving myself and following my passions while also being an example of lifelong learning for my kids. I found a great list of 52 book genres related to a weekly reading challenge. Since, I’m focused on classics and recently found how wonderful audio books are (thank you, Librivox!), I figured I could do it! So, I used their list, but created my own after that first year. This is such a fun challenge! It got me out…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Book Club: A Southern Linner
This was our cookbook month for our adult/teen book club. The plan is to read a cookbook or read about a cook and everyone cooks and brings a recipe from it. This month’s book is: A Love Affair with Southern Cooking I chose this book first because everyone loves to read it and the recipes! I have to admit, it was tons of fun to read. She traveled the South for decades learning all about southern food. The book has great personal anecdotes, a timeline of food in the South, and histories of people and products that are from the South. Many of the recipes I liked, but some were…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club
Book Club: Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
Book for this month’s adult/teen book club: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Even though this book club is for older teens and adults, sometimes, when we read kid’s classics, we’ll ask the rest of our families to join us. This was one of those instances. Nursery Alice is a simpler version Lewis Carroll wrote for younger children. And Great Illustrated Classics are always good abridged versions for the lower to mid-elementary range. Here was what my event description said: Everything’s a little topsy turvy on Daylight Savings day — the perfect time to have a Mad Hatter’s tea party! This is a family affair, so read the book with your family…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club
Book Club: A Tale of Two Cities – Bangers and Baguettes
Book for this month’s adult/teen book club: A Tale of Two Cities This book is about a 9th or 10th grade reading level and would interest 14/15 year olds and up. If you’d like to include younger kids, I would suggest Great Illustrated Classics: A Tale of Two Cities, which is a 5th or 6th grade reading level. But, again, the story itself is for older readers, with this kind of content, I would say a 12 or 13 year old might enjoy it too, but it’s unlikely that anyone under 11 would enjoy this story. I preferred this free audio version. I found she was easy to listen to…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Curricula, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club
Teen and Adult Book Club
I took a homeschooling test, which said one of the areas of homeschooling that I leaned toward was Thomas Jefferson Education. I’d never heard of it, but looked into it. I liked a lot of what I read. But, like any of the homeschooling philosophies, I pick and choose what I think will work for us. There were two things that I could start immediately, without knowing much else about the philosophy — read classics to your kids and make sure you are also focusing on your own education, which they term “you, not them.” It was just the push I needed! I’ve been really wanting to start reading classics,…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Guest Posts, Interest Led Homeschool, Parenting, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Squashing Boredom: Scavenger Hunt Style!
Photo Credit: Rachel Samanyi We were stuck in a rut. The “I’m bored bug” was crawling out far too often. I could suggest an activity, but rarely did it spark a creative fire in my kids. I decided that instead of waiting for them to be bored, I would send them on an adventure to start the afternoon. We are blessed to live on a farm with plenty of space, but I think this can be done in any space…just use what you have! It took me about 10 minutes or less to write up short clues for outside and inside. The only problem…they were a little too excited! They ran…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Creative Commons Photos, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Virtual Field Trip
South African Safari Photos (Pilanesberg National Park)
Here are a photos from the spring in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa. Find a list of historical fiction set in Africa here. These photos are published under a creative commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0). If it seems like the photo isn’t downloading at a res you’d like, please leave a comment with the number of the photo, and I’ll send an original. Thanks! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 6. 7. 8. There’s a lion laying in the grass, dead center…if you look hard enough. 🙂 9. 10. 11. 12. Hippo in water. 13. 14. 15. …
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Creative Commons Photos, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Teaching, the Give Way, Virtual Field Trip
Dachau Concentration Camp Photos
Here are images taken by me at Dachau Concentration Camp in 2008. I put them in order of entering the camp, turning left and going clockwise around the site. Go here for information about each area. Here’s a map of the camp. Find a list of historical fiction related to the Holocaust here. These photos are published under a creative commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0). If it seems like the photo isn’t downloading at a res you’d like, please leave a comment with the number of the photo, and I’ll send an original. Thanks! 1. Main camp gate 2. Roll Call Area and reconstructed bunker 3. 4. Inside bunker …
-
Thank You for the Smooth Transition
After having my second baby, I was reminded again of how wonderful it is for people to give their time to help. We had some great meals provided to us. And, my mom of course has helped tremendously, as always. Thanks, mom. I look back, with regret, and think of all the friends and family I could’ve helped more. I had so much free time! In fact, I hope if I’d known, I would’ve been like my friend Stephenie. There are people I wish I was more like. She’s definitely one of them. She has gone above and beyond and truly exemplified the give way of life. Being pregnant and having…
-
Thank You, You’ve Saved Me A LOT of Money
Giving — it’s not always an easy task, especially if what you’re giving away could potentially make you money (or at least be written off on your taxes). It is also often a thankless task (especially if someone like me forgets to express my deep gratitude!). So this one is for all the people who have given (and continue to give) me bags of hand-me-down clothes, shoes, toys, unused diapers, books, and other baby stuff. I’ve rarely had to buy any clothes, let alone toys. (This is not to mention all the new clothes and new toys and books she’s been given!) This is also in addition to all the…
- Adult Education, Book Reviews, Classroom Management, English, Healthy Living, History/Social Science, Life, the Give Way, Parenting, the Give Way, Teaching, the Give Way
Book Recommendations
In an effort to share information, I thought I’d put together a list of books that have been very helpful to me as a person, teacher and parent. I’ve written reviews of some of them, so you can link to those below, or head over to Amazon to find out more. Teaching The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Wong (The main point: procedure, procedure, procedure — the best and most effective teaching tool (I think it’s effective as a parent as well). He gives other info, but that was my huge take away, and it made my classroom function 100 times better.) Help Your Preschooler Build…
