"Annie Murphy Paul is the author of "Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives." She's now working on a book about learning, and writes a weekly column at Time.com called "Brilliant: The Science of Smart." TED is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "Ideas worth spreading," which it distributes through talks posted on its website."


Check out this video featuring Annie Murphy discussing fetal learning._

Made handprint Rudolfs for Christmas craft today. They turned out DARLING. I modified a poem I got from firstgradefanatics.blogspot. No dissing meant, but the grammar was wrong, so I had to modify. [Talking TO Rudolf, then about, then to again, then about again...well, it just isn't correct.] I'm not very happy with the consistency of the new brown paint. It's kinda gel-like, and I don't think it worked best for this activity. We did the foot first, [remember not to paint the toes!], then did the hands. Once dry, I used washable (a big fat lie) markers on the tips of a finger for the nose and eyes. Afterward, I thought the eyes looked a little flat, so I added a touch of white-out to them.

The children were VERY patient, and did a wonderful job of positioning their parts in the right places. Here's a look at the blank I made. I added their names at the top and the date at the bottom corner to mine. This little one was pretty squeamish about getting the paint on her foot, but she was fine with the rest of it and loved the end result, "My Rudolf."
 

_We had just gotten a new advent chest and I hadn't put anything in it yet. It was just sitting there on the front table. One of my clients told me the story of how his mother placed a single mint, a special mint that he only ever tasted at Christmas, in their advent calendar. Whenever he smells or tastes spearmints since, he is instantly reminded of Christmas, family, and his childhood. I loved that story.  

Our chest has small little cubbies, so I wasn't certain what to put in there. We had enough junky Happy Meal toys that were never used and were constantly broken, so I didn't want to put in meaningless trash just so he could have something each day. I thought about the holiday, what it meant: giving, receiving, family, tradition. There were things that he simply had little control over and things he wanted to do that he simply couldn't. But wouldn't it be nice if he could have that option? If I could GIVE him that option, every once in a while? That was meaningful. That was something he could look forward to each morning, finding out something special that he could choose to do. So I made up coupons that gave him special opportunities or choices or treats that he could redeem in those times when it was very important to him. He LOVED it!!

_PRINT  for a blank sheet of coupons like below. You can write in the treat of choice.
I've found you may want to include an expiration date below or any restrictions above.

PRINT

Some of my coupons:

NO GO          
For when I go shopping, which he HATES doing, so I either don't go that day or arrange for him to be somewhere else while when I do.

Ice Cream Shop Visit
I'm not big on paying $5 for ice cream, when I can buy a 1/2 gallon AND toppings for the same $, so this is a special treat.

Family Game Night
With everyone going in different directions, this should be a regular activity, but it's not. So, when he feels he needs to connect, he can pull this one. Everything else gets put aside.

Day Off School
Since he's back homeschooling this one isn't that big of a deal, but when he was in public school it was. Everyone just sometimes needs a day off.

Restaurant Pick
Yeah, his choices definitely aren't mine...and I'm paying. He likes this one.

Sweet Treat   
I'm not that big on sweets for children, though I've let up a lot as he gets older. Sometimes a kid just has a craving.

Late Caffeine  
For when he REALLY wants a Mountain Dew after 8pm. (He usually only gets Sprite, if he gets any soda pop.)

Your Choice    
Makes his own coupon from the choices given.

Cocoa Chat    
When he wants undivided attention to discuss something. We both LOVE cocoa!

Sleep Over       
Not that he can't have this usually, but sometimes he hasn't gotten his school work completed, or I need to get up early the next day, or I just have things to do and would rather he not. This trumps anything not major.

No Chores Day 
Yeah, like he does them anyway, but hey, if I INSIST, then he has an out. For one day.

Movie at a Theater
His pick that I really don't want to have to sit through or pay to see. Last year it was G-Force. Combat ginea pigs. Yeah.

Family Movie Night 
Another one to use when he wants us all to connect. Rent a DVD, pop some popcorn, get in our snuggies and pile in to watch...combat guinea pigs. Again.

Family Meal of Choice
Eating at the table, together, for a meal. Often we grab and go, do leftovers, or eat out since I already make 3 hot meals a day for work.


Added this year as we enter the 'tweens: Shower Free Night, 3 Months of No Haircut (not good for the month of April when pictures are taken, or after November 15th!), and Massage. In the past I have also added trips to the zoo, amusement park or arcade. For younger children I would suggest an extra 1/2 hour of stay-up time, one more bedtime book, additional TV or computer time, or lunch visit.

Christmas, advent, advent coupons, elementary, tween,

Woo Hoo!! Love, love, love, LOVE (you get it, but I could go on) this new playdough recipe!! I hadn't made playdough in...well...years. I really liked the cooked one I did, but it was messy, inconsistent results, and it didn't last long at all. This one came out PERFECT the first time round, was easy, went together smoothly and quickly, has a great consistency, and the kids loved it as well. Even my home-schooling tween had to get in on the action with this stuff!

I love that it is totally non-toxic and not harmful if swallowed. That was one of the reasons we hadn't done playdough in a long time, the little ones just wouldn't keep stuff out of their mouths. YES, the little girls did try it, but only one taste, so it must not be that appetizing.

I only had Tropical Punch on hand, but it made more than enough for the 6 children to play with. I will be getting other flavors quickly to try out! When they are a little older, or I'm certain they won't eat it, I'll try adding glitter.

I saw something similar packaged up as class gifts, both completed and as a make-it kit which I think are wonderful ideas...made up for younger children and as a kit for older ones to do with adult assistance, as it does use boiling water.

_Kool-Aid Playdough Recipe

2 1/2 Cups         Flour
1/2 Cups            Salt
2 Packets          Koolaid (unsweetened) 
1 teaspoon         Cream of Tartar
2 Cups               Water-  boiling
3 Tablespoons   Oil

PRINT

With younger children this year, we kept to the simpler crafts. The pic with everyone smiling and better lighting came out blurry, so this is what I got...

Yeah, sorry my camera sucks. These would be great for a Thanksgiving get-together to keep the kids busy as well as preschool or childcare crafts.

We do finger painting all the time, so I went with making the Indian corn using Q-tip stamping. A new tool for this crew. They did really great at dabbing dots rather than using them in brushing motions. G lost paint table privilege pretty quickly with that one, so he doesn't have a corn to share. A was sick today, but she did a great job on hers and I wish she was able to be in the photo op.

For the corn, I folded the yellow construction paper in quarters and the green in sixths. I then used a small plate and drew out the maximum ovals on each. I placed a paint palate in the middle of the table with some Q-tips, gave each a piece of yellow and let them have at it. I did my own at the same time to show them the way without telling them what to do.

They came out really cute.

My son had done the turkey hand print card with poem at some time earlier in his life. He wrote on it well, so it wasn't that long ago. His had cut and paste feathers, which my little ones are just not ready for, so we just went with a full hand print.

After cutting typing paper in quarters, I helped paint their palms brown, then had them pick the colors for their fingers and helped paint those as well. They did a really great job of not moving their hands around too much and smearing the paint all up when printing. When their prints dried, they picked the color for their card and I cut the sheets of construction paper in half crosswise. I helped them glue the edges and place the two sides. Then I helped them add the eye, beak, snood and feet with crayons. Next time I would probably use markers so they show up better. We didn't add a to and from on the front, since they can't write anyway, so that their parents had the option of giving to grandparents or keeping for themselves. For preschoolers, I would have them choose someone to give it to and add that to the front with a drawn Thanksgiving picture. I did add names and dates to the bottom of the turkey, since I have siblings whose have to be identified apart, and I wish I had the date on my son's.

The poem [set of 4 on a sheet] can be printed out here at Turkey Hand Print Poem.

_
From the website The Power of Dyslexia


"The following are possible signs of dyslexia that may occur during certain phases of a child’s development. These signs are not necessarily confined to the particular phase they are categorized below; in some cases, the symptoms may overlap to other phases of a child’s developing years. For example, a child who suffer dyslexia may suffer one or more of the following symptoms or may have the same symptom from pre-school phase right up to high school phase.

Signs of Dyslexia in Toddlers (Children between 1 to 3 years of age)

• Slow speech-learning skills, sometimes delay talking until the age of 5;
• Suffer ear infection;

Signs of Dyslexia in Pre-school Children (between 4 to 5 years of age)

• Constant switching from left to right hand when drawing, coloring or writing;
• Inability to tie shoe laces;
• Difficulty in pronouncing words that have three or more syllables;
• Difficulty in uttering words that rhyme;
• Difficulty in learning to write;
• Problem in pronouncing ‘M’, ‘N’, ‘R’ and ‘L’;
• Stuttering.

Signs of Dyslexia in Elementary and Middle School Children (between 6 to 12 years of age)

• Weak in spelling and handwriting abilities;
• Slow, disrupted reading and commit similar mistakes every time;
• Difficulty in telling the time;
• Struggles with math problems or concepts;
• Find it difficult to find the right words when expressing themselves;
• Mispronunciation of common words;
• Untidy lockers, bedrooms and bags;
• Difficulty in remembering telephone numbers or a series of numbers."

"Most parents don’t even think about it but the statistics are staggering and the results are heartbreaking.

It’s not a well-known home hazard -- and that makes it even more dangerous.

TV and furniture tipovers kill scores of children and injure tens of thousands of children. One child dies every two weeks when a TV, furniture, or appliance falls on him, while more than 22,000 children are injured each year.

Between 2000 and 2010, CPSC staff received reports of 245 tip-over-related deaths involving children 8 years old and younger. More than 90 percent of the incidents involved children 5 years old and younger. In the majority of the fatalities, the child was crushed by the weight of the television, furniture or appliance, receiving fatal injuries to the head. 

Find safety tips about how to prevent tip-over tragedies at www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11345.html.

Use the latest poster to alert parents and childcare providers in your community to this hazard and show them how easy it is to prevent it. (English) (Spanish)

Share this mother’s story to encourage parents in your community to take action. (Mother’s Story English) (Mother’s Story Spanish)

Once again, thanks for spreading the word and helping to make your community safer." - JoCo Health Department

"The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day." - Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess

SO...we had time to do this classic!

• Mix brown paint (if you don't have it, I don't): 1/3 yellow to 2/3 red to dab of blue
• Palate green paint and red paint
• Have child paint their forearm brown and hand green
• Stamp onto appropriate sized paper
• Have child paint their other hand green and stamp in the white parts to fill in
• Have child do finger print stamps of red onto green for apples
• Sign and date
• Have child sign and date (may want to do first)

Preschool time in October for us includes a lot of crafts. One of these is making autumn trees from lunch sacks.
Here's what the children do, skills are in bold.

• Trace and cut a square from a cereal box
• Trace and cut a square from green construction paper and glue onto cardboard piece, aligning them
• Cut a square from orange construction paper and then cut the corners off to create an octagon
• Using black marker, draw a face onto the octagon
• Cut a rectangle from orange or green construction paper no longer than bottom edge of the pumpkin octagon, fold in half long ways and glue one end to green board in middle front and one edge to the pumpkin to make stand up
  
• Twist the lower 1/3 of a brown lunch sack and glue the bottom to a corner of the green board
• Snip with scissors the top of the sack 
• Tear off pieces of autumn colored tissue paper and glue randomly to the upper 1/3 of the lunch sack

                   Skills: tracing, cutting with scissors, cutting a line, gluing, fine motor, geometry, directional placement, fractions, shapes, colors

We had 6 pumpkins/gourds out. 2 were regular and orange (in picture), 2 were orange with a lot of warts/nubbies on them, and 2 were white with one nubby and one not, all of different sizes but with a distinct difference between the 3 larger and 3 smaller (one of each kind). The children could group by smooth, nubby, color, size or graduate sizes.

We measured their height, weight and circumference and charted this on the white board, along with the same measurements of the children. We used a measuring tape, yard stick, ruler, pound scale and ounce scale to measure and the children had to debate which tool would be best and jointly decided on which one was best to use.  H wouldn't quite fit on the ounce scale we found.

Tags: October, fall, autumn, pumpkins, trees, preschool, craft, cut, paste, glue

"Since we can’t know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned." Holt [6] via Wikipedia

Un-schooling is allowing children to learn at their own pace, in their own manner, following their own interests, with adult guidance.

Un-schooling may seem like some hippy B.S., but in fact, all children are un-schoolers. WE tell them what to learn and how to learn it in the school system, but outside of that autocratic, bureaucratic system, children learn what they WANT to, HOW they want to. Teachers and parents can facilitate that learning by providing encouragement and resources, then stepping back and watching the magic unfold. Whatever truly interests a child is like a wonderland of information that they consume voraciously. In so doing, they learn independence, study skills, logic, reasoning, language arts, mathematics, physics, scientific processes and basically EVERYTHING they need for life. In a joyful way. Above all, they gain a love of learning.

I asked my son, Jacob, this morning if he wouldn't rather be at school with his friends. He said no, that he really wanted to homeschool this year, and that he needed to get through his work because he had a lot he wanted to get done today. What does he want to get done? Coding. For a computer game he's making. He knows he must get through his homeschool assignments, accurately, before he can work on it.

I asked him last night about it as I saw him furiously typing in 0s and 1s across the screen. The first time I had given it my full attention. His typing speed was lightening fast as he went between the two and occasionally put in some command codes with letters. I asked how he knew how to do that. [I sure as heck didn't teach him THAT!] He said he learned it from the internet and YouTube videos. He talked for over half an hour on what he was doing, how he was doing it, why he was doing it, his goals and the problems he had encountered and how he had gotten through them. He not only knew what he was currently doing, but he had an organized plan for the immediate future to meet his goals. He also told me that he didn't know much. He said that he only knew [blah, blah, blah to me], but that good amateur coders knew [more blah] and professionals knew [mega blah blah]. He said he needed to get this specific process down before he moved on to the harder stuff. So he has a progressive plan for information and experience attainment.

His best friend is near expert regarding World War l and ll. Even though they don't have the same passion, they have the same passion for getting information and it is fascinating listening to them compare manipulation of resources.

By the way, they are 10.

Jacob wants to go to coding classes next year once he feels he's ready. He wants to skip the beginner stuff and go "straight to hard core." Of course I'll send him. It's not like I can sit down and teach him what he needs or wants to know in this case, and HE feels that his resources will soon not be adequate to meet his educational needs. So, he's checking out the classes available and will choose the one(s) HE feels he needs and is ready for attending. Again, it's not like I can make that determination.

What has un-schooling taught him? So much more than coding. The question should be, what has it NOT taught him? I truly believe he learns more life skills on his own through following his passion, than I will teach him through home schooling, house rules, and parental expectations. After all, as he told me this morning, once he has his empire built, he wants his own salad dressing, with a picture of him holding a bottle of it up on it. The kid has plans. Now to keep him to the 621 gaming rule...minimum 6 hours sleep, 2 meals and 1 shower a day. I just learned that one. In an un-school kinda way.