Hello all….  First I want to thank you all of the Math post ideas.  And…

As you all know we are new to homeschooling so naturally I am doubting myself .  Tonight I was taking a bath….( without the toddler…a rare luxury) and reading The Well-Trained mind.  I was looking at all of the things that I needed to cover, and frankly getting a bit depressed and worried that I was not doing enough.  When in barged my 3rd grade daughter and announced that the squares in the tiles on the floor have 4 possible lines of symmetry.  She then went on to talk about how many a circle, triangle and rectangle have.  I asked her where she learned that ( I knew the answer) and she said…Time 4 Learning of course!!  The Lord works in mysterious ways to encourage us…..he uses a small child…and time4learning!  

Zach was having a 6 year old moment today. He did not want to read his science. I enjoy it when they find common ground and get along for the few minutes of whatever they are doing. Loud or quiet, it is fun to see them do things together with a common goal. Unfortunately, most of Zach’s science lesson was with lots giggles and seating struggles but they eventually got through it… At one point I said “Could you boys please just get through it???” Q turned to me and said (in his 9 year old animated way) “We are on 6 of 7, do you THINK I WILL SURVIVE???”

I am posting this blog because recently I’ve been reading or hearing in the news the statistics about children with adult diseases. I am not surprised to hear the latest statistics on diabetes and high blood pressure in kids.  It is sad but so much can be done to prevent such problems from occurring to our kids.  I visited my daughter’s school last week to attend a PTA meeting after which I decided to have lunch with her and some of her friends.  The girls, all in 8th grade, had little or no concept of nutrition or what they were putting in their mouth.  Cafeteria food may not be the most balanced meal out there, in my opinion, but still kids can have a decent meal if they choose to or they can bring their own.

However, I don’t blame the cafeteria food or the fast food industry for the problems these kids face.  To my point, it all starts at home.  I honestly don’t rely on PE in school to keep my kids in shape and really teach them the importance of nutrition, reading labels, and most important portion control.  I truly believe in teaching children by example.  My plea to everyone out there…homeschoolers and traditional education alike, make physical fitness and nutrition a part of your child’s curriculum.  You don’t need special equipment or books to be a good role model for your kids.  I’m a fitness instructor and personal trainer certified by AFAA but I work mostly with adults and seniors.  I love working with kids because they tend to have more energy, like me.   One of my favorite websites is kidshealth.org.  This site puts the information in a language kids and parents can understand.  Here you will find information about everything and anything about kids health, including a section about fitness and nutrition.

It’s obvious to me that we all want the best for our kids, otherwise we wouldn’t be on this blog getting excited over every little achievement.  In fact, use what they learn in their Time4Learning lessons in reading, math, and science to teach them about the nutrition label, bones, muscles, digestive, respiratory and cardiovascular systems, etc..  It’s never too early to make them aware of what part of the body does what and why it’s important to live a healthy lifestyle.

Natalie and I used one of the Kindergarten Math lessons to learn about nutrition:  In the lesson she was asked on which day of the week a certain meal was served in the cafeteria…etc.  Basically, she had to learn to read a calendar.  She was pretty excited when she was able to find her birthday on the calendar–anyway, after the lesson we created our own calendar for the current month and then she asked if we could write in what we were going to eat on each day.  Of course I jumped on that idea.  I told her that we had to make sure each meal had one from each food group: Grains, Veggi or fruit, Protein, Dairy, etc.  We had a great time working on this project, which has become a weekly activity.  We only do one week at a time as it is a time consuming project.  Ever Sunday we cut cupons and make a menu for the following week.  It’s really a lot of fun and great bonding time for us as a family– my older kids have joined in the fun too.

Many of you probably already do this…Kudos to you!

 I am into quotes for my family blog.  I try to find inspiration in different quotes for different reasons, whether it be running (for this massive weight loss program I’m on) for writing, for family struggles or happy times, and for friends….   I was looking for a quote on a new site that I found and I happen to miss-click and I found myself on education.  I ran across this one and thought I would share it……  I thought that it would inspire, help lift and maybe calm, even a little bit, fears that you might have.

We as “teachers” at home, need to stand together, stand strong, and help one-another….  Our support for each other helps us grow, learn and become better parents and teachers.

No doubt to teach one’s own children…takes special qualities. But these are qualities that many people have, or with a little help, can get. …The home-schooling movement is full of such people, “ordinary” people doing things that they never would have thought they could do – learning the law, questioning the experts, holding their ground against arrogant and threatening authoritiues, defending themselves and their convictions… Seeing them, other ordinary people think they can do the same, and soon they do. This is why it may be a little misleading to speak of the homeschooling “movement.” Most people think of a movement as something like an army, a few generals and a great many buck privates. In the movement for homeschooling, everyone is a general.

-John Holt, Teach Your Own (New York:Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, 1981) pp. 68-69.

I have always been totally honest with describing math and writing being our boys curse.  They are both good in math; not so good with the writing (or penmanship as it were)  Today we struggled.  End of story.  As I write this both boys are doing math.  One is subtracting 3 numbers and one is subtracting 2 numbers.  “Taking away” or “carrying” is always a challenge but I think that more than not understanding, the boys are just lazy and don’t want to do the work.

They both happen to land on math at the same time so at each end of the room I have groans and moans.  The excitement of the morning is gone and now we are struggling to get through 10 problems.

I must say that I am impressed that they each got a piece of paper and a pen unprompted from me and began their work. With all the moaning they are doing well but it is just frustrating listening to them.  I am thrilled that they are finally each understanding that scratch paper is a necessity and it really does show an amazing growth. 

So through aggravation and tears I see a light and see improvement that was not there very long ago.