Meet Ben



My daughter Miriam recently turned five.  For months she's been asking for a pet for her birthday.  In the past she's had pet fish and shrimp, but never a more interactive pet.  So after a lot of discussion and consideration we decided to give her a pet for her birthday.  It took a lot more discussion and consideration to decide to give her a kitten.  (We went with a kitten rather than a cat so that they can be used to small children from the beginning rather than having clashes between an older cat and kids trying to get used to each other.)

We thought that we had a pretty clear idea of what kind of kitten we wanted to get.  Then Miriam accidentally met Ben, a tiny all black kitten, and fell in love.  As soon as she saw him, she knew that Ben was her cat.  (Or, as my husband puts it, that she was Ben's person.)  Ben was the runt of his litter and was only a third the size of the other kittens his age.  In this picture he's 8 1/2 weeks old and easily fits in an adult's hand.

As an almost five-year-old, Miriam was excited for a pet because she wanted to be able to love it and play with it.  She had visions of a kitten who would follow her around, sit in her lap, etc.  So far she has spent large amounts of time stroking and carrying around Ben.  She also draws pictures of him and sings songs to and about him.

What's really impressed me, though, is the amount of responsibility that she's taken for her pet.  She is happy to help give him food and water and even to clean his litter box.  Having a pet is definitely going to help her to learn responsibility and commitment.  I'm looking forward to seeing what else she learns from having a pet (so expect to see more posts with Ben).

Meet Frankie

Meet Frankie.  Frankie is a little teddie bear that belongs to my daughter's class.  Over the course of the year, each child has a chance to take Frankie home.  Then the child writes in Frankie's book about their adventures together and draws a picture.  This past weekend was my daughter Miriam's turn to bring Frankie home with her.

Although I have often seen activities like this done in school classrooms, this could also be an effective exercise for home schooled kids.  Miriam was really excited to have Frankie visit her and do all of her weekend activities with her.  Because she was excited to share her experiences with the other children, she was happy to write about it.  She also read the entries put in by previous children.  It didn't feel like she was working on reading and writing (literacy) because she wanted to do it and got to play with Frankie.

For most homeschool families, you can't just pass it around kids like you do in a classroom.  However, you could start a similar activity with other homeschooling families.  It could either be local (through people you meet or a homeschooling network, for example), or you could post it back and forth between homeschooling families anywhere in the world.  Children will be excited to follow Frankie's adventures and practice their literacy skills with it.

My Bookshelf

If you are homeschooling--especially if you're homeschooling teens--you can look at a lot of books.  Especially teaching English it can be hard to pick out the right novels to read and books to use.

I read a lot, and recently started another blog specifically for book reviews and discussions of books.  This blog will cover all types of books from children's books to novels to non-fiction.  It may be of use to some of you to help you to get more information about a specific book, or to help you to browse reading possibilities.

My book blog is called Keri's Bookshelf.  Click here to check it out.

Springtime: Learning About Seeds & Plants

My daughter Miriam is four-years-old and is a reception student (the English equivalent of kindergarten).  Like most kids, she enjoys being outdoors.  We have our kids help us in the garden (including growing plants from seeds) and use playtime outside to teach them about science.  Kids are naturally curious about the world around them, so it's easy to teach them about plants, weather, etc.

Recently Miriam has been very excited about the beginning of spring.  She's been watching all of the signs of spring (like flowers blooming, longer days, and new leaves growing on plants).  I helped her to dissect some seeds to see the insides as well as taking apart some flowers to examine.  We've also just started planting new vegetables in the garden.

After finding interesting things outside, Miriam came in and started painting.  This is her painting of a new plant growing from a seed.  You can see the roots at the bottom of the seedling, the stem, the single new leaf, and the growing plant with the seed husk still on it (I think it's supposed to be a bean plant). 

I'm including all this not just to brag about my kid (although Miriam is bright and very artistic).  I'm including it because all kids this age can enjoy similar activities and have fun without even realizing that they're learning about science.

For some science lesson plans about plants/seeds/etc. for primary school children, click here.

How to Help Your Kindergartner With Their Homework

As a parent with a child in Year R (the British equivalent of kindergarten), I know that homework can start young.  My daughter is learning to read.  She comes home with reading books and activities that we are expected to do with her at home (and a homework form we have to fill out).

Even the brightest children and best parents can find it hard at times to be motivated to do homework together.  Here are some ideas that have worked for my family.  Click here for ideas on how to help your kindergartner with their homework. 

Please let me know if you have any other good ideas for helping your kids (especially kindergartners) with their homework.

Choosing a Major

Recently I've heard a lot of discussions in homeschooling groups about homeschooled teens starting at college/university.  I won't go into all of the advantages and disadvantages of applying to a university after being homeschooled in this post. 

I was interested, though, in what people had to say about how their homeschooled children were choosing their majors.  It can be difficult for anyone to decide what to study.

My undergraduate degree is in English.  I loved my course, but I realize that it wasn't necessarily the most practical degree.  Click here to find out what I've done with a B.A. in English. 

I do think it is important for people to study something that they love.  How did any of you choose what to study, or how are your children choosing their majors?  I'd love to hear your experiences.

Twitter for Homeschoolers

After putting it off as long as possible, I joined Twitter not too long ago.  I wasn't really sure what to expect when I signed up, but I've had a lot of pleasant surprises since becoming part of the Twitter community.  I think that was the biggest shock for me; there really is a community feeling on Twitter.

On Twitter, there's a large community not only of parents, but of homeschooling parents.  There are lots of links to informative articles, notes about different homeschooling resources, and simply a constant supply of support and encouragement.  Even if you don't know other homeschooling families in your area, on Twitter you can interact with homeschooling parents around the world.  This is a great place to get and give advice and inspiration.  If you home school, I would definitely recommend trying out Twitter.

I'm sure there are many more great people that I'm missing, but here are a few of the people who tweet about homeschooling: @homeschool, @HomeschoolSue, @hmschooliguide, @HomeCurriculum, and @Homeschoolounge.

My Twitter handle is @KeriWithington.