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My maternity leave

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

My maternity leave is coming to an end. Although most mommies take a longer break, most mommies don’t get to do most of their work from home … with their baby and big kids at home too! I love the job I’ve created within Mi Families. “My families” facilitates programs for families and those who work with families. Our programs are designed to “reach out with resources” through educational and recreational activities. Programs such as provider trainings, family events and youth services are offered in schools, daycare centers, churches, family homes … my home. My home is registered as a childcare and as a non-public-school. Infants through teens visit our home for quality care, developmental services, and tutoring programs using top-rated curriculums. I’m proud to say these programs are the highest rated programs around!

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for adventure academy ratings check out Great Start

Our home based program is named “ADVENTURE ACADEMY.” I’m currently planning our fall adventures for inside the home, across our 5acres and for out on field trips. We’re starting September with a theme of “me, my friends and my family ” (with help from Mother Goose Time). Everyone participating in any of the Mi Families programs is a part of the family. In understanding that not all families are a “nuclear unit”, Mi Families works with non-traditional families, blended families, teen parents, single parents, grandparent led homes, adoptive homes, foster homes… Every home, every family, every individual has different needs, strengths, interests… Mi Families embraces such differences and Adventure Academy uses such differences to individualize learning.

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papa loves all 16 grandchildren

Everyone learns differently and everyone comes from a different home, culture and background. I try and teach my children and the children I work with to not judge people because of the differences. I don’t judge the reasons people request or are referred for services. I don’t judge when a new mom has to go back to work and is searching for someone to care for her baby. Too many people seem to want their opinions heard regarding if a mom should work or stay at home – luckily I can do both – but many can’t and many don’t have an option. Too often people want their opinions heard regarding if a mom is choosing to breast feed or bottle feed her baby… if her baby was born naturally or needed a c-section…

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lil’ sisters baptism

I believe most mom’s (most parents) are just doing the best they can with the situation they are in AND making the best decision they can based on their resources and options. I didn’t have an option how my babies were born. Because of something called Chiari I had to have a c-section. I couldn’t even be awake and my husband couldn’t be in the operating room. Of course I wish my delivery options were different, but I have 3 kids who wouldn’t be here without the option I had. All of my pregnancies had various risk factors and all my babies had various needs … I wanted to do it all “by the books,” but some of those needs led to me having to feed one prescription formula, while nursing the others. Some needs led to developmental services helping my kids reach milestones…

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our classroom

Some needs led to a decision to homeschool my boys, while working from home and although some have made their homeschooling opinions known – their opinions don’t matter. What matters is that I’m a mom doing all I can to make sure my children stay healthy, happy…get a quality education…make friends… What matters is that I’m doing all I can to make sure I’m on the same page with their dad and we’re a team on such decisions – actually that we’re co coaches and that this family is a team and we discuss together what directions are best for all of us. We believe that each family has a different path and that path might change and that path might lead you to our door. We believe that your family is a part of our family when we work together to help your children stay healthy, happy…get a quality education…make friends…

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Adventures

Making friends, make believing and making a mess is part of our learning adventure. If your child would like to join in such learning adventures with our discovery daycare kiddos or with other elementary explorers tutoring program email Christi@MiFamilies.com – there are limited part time spaces left available for our fall session. Also email if you’d like to discuss our parent and provider services. Feel free to find us on LinkedIN, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube… also feel free to subscribe above to read up on our future adventures. School starts soon – even baby is going “back 2 school” this year. My boys are excited to teach their new little sister and work with our friends who are returning and meet new friends as well!

New friends and their families … and returning friends and their families … and parents and providers … everyone involved in Mi Families programs gets free resources. From learning supplies to referral contacts every participant gets a resource portfolio to keep. For our students this means a binder to keep their work saved in with daily notes and information about child development, etc… Students can join us for hourly sessions or full day programming. Parents love our flexible childcare hours, including evening and weekends … and our infant and toddler developmental services. Preschoolers, young 5’s and kindergarteners love our early learner activities. Traditionally schooled and homeschooled friends love our tutoring sessions and small group events. Providers love our hands on trainings… If you’d love to be a part of Mi Families – family – contact me about enrollment!

Posted in adventure academy, Back2School, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Health, Homeschool, Learning through Play, Meet our Director, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Organization, Parents, Providers, Special Needs, Tutoring Tagged with: Adventure Academy, back 2 school, bottle fed, breast fed, c section, child care, free resources, homeschoolers, infants, kindergarten students, maternity leave, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, natural birth, preschoolers, stay at home moms, toddlers, Tutoring, working moms, young 5s

My Family

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile – I have a good excuse though – a new baby has taken up a lot of my time! From bed rest from pregnancy complications to bed rest from delivery complications I haven’t been able to do much work for Mi Families. Luckily Mi Families keeps moving forward and I’ll be able to play catch up soon and prepare for our fall programs. From parent partnerships to provider trainings, and our Adventure Academy (child care and tutoring services) … the list of activities and events are growing, as is my family tree. I come from a giant family tree filled with more relatives then I can count, and have wonderful memories filled with family traditions and customs. I pray my children get to have such experiences and hope they feel a sense of pride while learning about their family heritage. I also pray my children grow up respecting others heritage. Recent news reminds me to teach my children acceptance and encourage their loving hearts.

I am blessed with loving children. From the moment we told our boys we were having another baby they were in love with this baby. I was nervous to tell them as we had lost 6 babies through miscarriages, but my husband wanted to tell the world! We were told we couldn’t have more children a few years ago, but after seeing that heartbeat we knew the doctors were wrong. Still, the doctors were right that it wouldn’t be an easy pregnancy. For months I had issues with fevers and fainting, blood clots … I had to see specialists weekly, was put on bed rest, and I wasn’t “glowing,” but I loved feeling her grow and move and knew it’d be worth it. Despite pregnancy complications and insurance issues and other stresses I knew it’d be worth it. Despite suggestions that this should be our last pregnancy because of pregnancy complications – then delivery complications taking away even the option of conceiving again – it’s worth it.

As a child I played “house” constantly. I was planning to grow up to be the “lil’ old lady who lived in the shoe…” the one with so many children “she didn’t know what to do.” I loved caring for children and started working in classrooms and babysitting at a young age. I wanted a large family with lotsa kids. Since I work with kids I was ok with the fact we’d only have our two boys – I enjoyed working with extra little ones all day then enjoyed the fact that my boys were getting bigger and we could focus on bigger kid adventures as a family. I enjoyed the fact my boys would stay up late and sleep in and could play outside without me having to monitor each movement. I enjoyed they could come inside and take their own showers and get their own snacks. They are growing up quickly – and I miss their baby stage – yet I enjoy watching them grow and become independent – giving me more independence again. Starting over with a newborn – completely dependent on me – is worth it though.

It’s harder to type a blog wearing a baby. It’s harder to to find time to eat, sleep…even use the bathroom…but it’s worth it. She’s the last baby I’ll give birth to. We have talked about adopting in the future and I’ll always have extra little ones I’ll work with, but she’ll be my baby forever. I now understand why my parents and siblings still consider me the baby of our family. With siblings much older they helped raise me – as this baby’s siblings will. Alex is almost a decade older then she is and Sam is 8 years older. I hope she finds her over protective brothers as a blessings. I hope she knows how much they love her. I’ve never seen more loving big brothers, who want to help care for her and helped prepare for her before she was born. They were involved in as much as they could be during the pregnancy – even helped name her. Sam picked Makayla as her name. Alex requested she have 2 middle names, like he does (because and extra name means your extra special). My husband, Jeff picked Twilight as a middle name and I picked Marian.

Marian is the name of my grandmother, who taught me a great deal about loving your family. We had many names we liked with various meanings and many names from family members we wanted to honor, but Makayla Twilight Marian Morgan is long enough! Makayla is the 16th grandchild for my parents and the 5th grandchild for Jeff’s parents. She will have memories filled with family and traditions and customs. She will be taught to have pride in her heritage and respect others heritage. She will be taught life skills and academics along side her brothers and friends at Adventure Academy. Her brothers are already planning curriculums for how they’ll teach her to read and sing and learn about animals… Currently they are doing a great job teaching her what it means to be a part of this family: lots of hugs and kisses, bedtime stories, family movie nights… they are teaching her that we are there for each other.

I pray all the family’s I work with feel I’m there for them. Mi Families programs are developed with intent to “reach out with resources” through education and recreation. More about our programs can be found at www.MiFamilies.com. We are also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube… Wether you “like” us on a social media page or send your child to our daycare – your family is a part of our family tree. Children in our childcare and tutoring programs get the benefit of being part of a family, while growing and learning in a loving home environment. We have limited full day and part time space available for our fall children’s programs. Feel free to email Christi@MiFamilies.com for enrollment information. Fall sessions will begin soon with the theme of “me and my family.” We will use an assortment of curriculums – such as Mother Goose time to learn about ourselves and loved ones through hands on activities and adventures!

Posted in adventure academy, Back2School, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Health, Homeschool, Learning through Play, Meet our Director, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, Parents, Providers, Tutoring Tagged with: acceptance, Adventure Academy, baby, baby names, boys, brother, child care, Child Development, customs, delivery, family, girl, heritage, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, pregnancy, sister, traditions, Tutoring

Safe-Summer

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

Adventure Academy is taking a summer break as I await the arrival of our family’s next lil’ adventurer. We will re open for child care and tutor time services next fall ~ and are currently enrolling tots to preteens (Discovery daycare (1-6years), Elementary Explorers (5-12yrs/k-6th grade).) Until fall students have access to materials encouraging summer smarts, such as Mother Goose Time’s “More Math and More Literacy” workbooks. Students are also encouraged to participate in our local library summer reading clubs (even non readers can participate with parent assistance).

My own children take the summer reading program as a challenge and are getting quite competitive trying to out-read each other. They are also busy finishing their summer studies – as their homeschool program goes year round – preventing the summer slide. Year round they work on building their brains and bodies. Since they aren’t in a traditional gym class they pick various sports and other activities to interact with peers. Currently they are playing baseball – their team has made it to the playoffs!

We are working on them understanding the team concept – even if they are not the strongest players they are contributing to the team in the many ways. Playing on a pee-wee team with other 7,8&9 year old boys should be simply about learning team concepts and the basic rules/skills of the game. I grew up playing every sport possible and was very competitive, and I think competition has it’s place. However, as the mom on the sidelines (who’s supposta be home on bed rest and stuck silently observing) I notice which parents and coaches are a little too focus on the winning aspect.

As the mom who grew up playing every sport possible – but loving baseball the most – it’s hard hearing your child say they don’t want to play next year, because they let the team down. They feel they let others down and aren’t good enough when they don’t get enough chances to learn the game. When we only use the strongest players in the field, we don’t give them the chance to gain strength on the field. When coaches argue with other coaches and umpires, and teammates are allowed to tease and bully their teammates – we aren’t teaching them the game I loved.

Sports should be a fun way to build skills and friendships. Sports should also be a way to build confidence and face fears. Many kids are scared of the ball, many get hurt on the field – and I’m one that says that’s ok. No I don’t want my child seriously injured, but teaching one to get up and keep playing with the scuffed knee teaches resiliency. Teaching children resiliency and how to face fears is a needed skill. Teaching how to face fears, while facing them safely is the key. It seems many families are at opposite ends of bubble wrapping their children – to tossing them into the wild.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/07/japan-lost-little-boy-released-hospital-home/85545104/

In baseball we should wear helmets… in the wild we should have tools to meet survival needs. In recent news a child was left in Japanese woods as a form of punishment – the child luckily survived. He gained some survival skills, but also gained some trust issues. Teaching one to face fears doesn’t mean abandoning them and losing their trust. Facing fears often means trusting someone is watching over you … just in case. Sadly we can not watch over our children ever second – believe me – I can be quiet the helicopter parent, but even my legit fears after being an emergency tech at summer camps – hasn’t prevented all injuries.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/us/alligator-attacks-child-disney-florida/

Luckily my children’s injuries have not been too serious and I’ll continue watching over them even though they are 8&9 years old, but there are times I lose my attention and look away and sadly that’s when serious accidents are more likely to occur. Serious accidents that make more news headlines such as toddlers being taken by Alligators at Disney World and little boys falling into Gorilla zoo exhibits. Still, I don’t point fingers and blame the parents. The horror the family at Disney faced wondering where their toddler was dragged and the tragedy heading home to bury him…

http://gossiponthis.com/2016/06/07/charges-parents-boy-harambe-gorilla-pit/

Even though the child who fell into the Gorilla’s habitat survived the traumatic situation will never be forgotten. That mom will forever blame herself so we don’t need to. The only parents I would blame are those who put children in harms way purposefully. There is a difference between encouraging your child to play ball knowing they might get hurt and leaving your child alone in a dangerous situation for punishment. Although I encourage my boys to explore our yard and dig for treasures we talk about safety of staying together on their hikes and not talking to strangers and what to do if a friend plays with a gun…

http://www.gunsafemom.com/

We talk about safety and pray that when we can not watch over them that they look out for each other and themselves. Summer time adventures often require bandaids, but summer time shouldn’t be spent stuck indoors simply reading about adventures – even if that’s safer. It’s hard to be a parent and know when to hover and when to let them fly so I try not to judge others parenting, but I encourage everyone to take a moment to evaluate your parenting and how much you observe and interact and teach your child this summer.

When Adventure Academy opens after summer break we’ll be back in action discovering and exploring together. One benefit of our multi-age program is big kids helping being the extra set of eyes to avoid accidents. It is not a big kids job to raise younger kids, but they love helping watch over their little friends and it teaches confidence and compassion and so much more when these kids work together! If you’d like more information about our program please email Christi@MiFamilies.com. If you’d like more information on any of the Mi Families programs visit www.MiFamilies.com

Posted in adventure academy, Back2School, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Health, Holidays, Homeschool, Meet our Director, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Motor Skills, Parents, rules, Safety Tagged with: adventure academ, child care, Mi Families, more literacy, more math, Mother Goose Time, news, reading, Safety, sports, sportsmanship, Summer, supervision, Tutoring

The ME in theme

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

I just realized I’ve been trying to cram in all the activities I want children to enjoy before closing Adventure Academy for summer vacation. I just realized that’s not the smartest teaching style as when we rush through anything we miss out on what activities can offer. Activities can offer more than what’s written on the lesson plan when we let students take the lead and explore the topic to its fullest. Our current topic is A-Zoo from Mother Goose Time – and you can’t rush through children’s animal interests!

Mother Goose Time is one of the curriculums we use. Although it’s designed for preschool development younger children enjoy the themes and older students expand on their unit knowledge by diving deeper. Last month we dove into “bubbles, boats and floats,” which transitioned smoothly into water animals – then animals that fly and so on. We put animals into various categories from bugs to the biggest of creatures. We talked about some bigger creatures being the mommies and daddies of the smaller ones.

Since Fathers day is coming up we researched how animal parents care for their young. We transition from one topic to the next, staying within theme, but allowing children to morph through their academic development as a tadpole morphs into a frog and a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly. Children are captivated by animal changes as they relate to their own developmental changes. Each child develops and morphs in different ways and at different speeds.

Often a child is referred for tutoring or other developmental services with a specific label and often that label is challenged as the child develops and grows because their needs change. Sometimes that child was wrongfully diagnosed and a label of “delay” would have been more appropriate, as he/she simply needed more time to work on that skill then their peer, but he/she might be ahead of their peer with other skills. Developmental skills, talents, interests … every child, every person, changes and morphs on their time line.

A child might be behind on learning their letter sounds, but ahead at building puzzles. That child might be interested in learning about ocean animals, but not interested in math worksheets. Using theme studies a child is interested in can help you teach needed skills in a fun and hands-on way. An alphabet puzzle with ocean animals teaches those letters sounds with a picture that holds their attention, and which they can count the creatures at the end teaching math skills.

As Ben Franklin once said “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” Involve them in the learning process – ask them what they want to learn about – follow their lead. If you haven’t used themes to teach previously – check out Mother Goose Time for an easy package, which guilds you and involves all subjects through various activities. If you’d like more information Mother Goose Time visit www.MotherGooseTime.com. If you’d like more information about Adventure Academy and other Mi Families programs visit www.MiFamilies.com

Mi Families provides programs for families and those who work with families – which includes our child care and tutoring program: Adventure Academy. Due to my maternity leave we will be closed for summer vacation, but are currently enrolling students for Fall 2016. If you know a child near Kingsley, MI who would like to join us for learning adventures please email Christi@MiFamilies.com. If you’d like to network with Christi or others on our team, including other parents and providers – find us on LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube…

Posted in adventure academy, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Holidays, Homeschool, Learning through Play, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Parents, Providers, Reviews, Special Needs, Tutoring Tagged with: a-zoo, Adventure Academy, animals, curriculum, fall, fathers day, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, multi age classroom, Special Needs, Summer, theme, Tutoring

Summer School

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

As summer’s official start date get’s closer – so does my maternity leave! As the director of Adventure Academy I planned to have a year round program, but this surprise baby changed up this years schedule! Luckily she’s arriving during a convenient time, when most of my students would be on vacation anyway. Still, I’d like to help my students avoid the summer slide so I’m continuing tutoring sessions as long as possible and starting back as soon as I can. Both tutor time students and daycare kiddos will receive supplies to help prevent summer slide. Even wee – ones get to take home books and workbooks and various activities to keep them learning all summer long!

Many students get to take home More Math and More Literacy activity books from Mother Goose Time. Although we utilize many different curriculums for our multi-age, multi-need and multi-talented students – Mother Goose Time has been a fun themed program used all year by all the children. While littles learned about the topics through books and hands on fun, older students researched the topics more in depth and helped teach their younger peers. All subjects matters are covered in this pre-packaged monthly-curriculum, but the More Math and Literacy books have been a helpful bonus for extending lessons and sending home “homework.” Instead of a typical workbook the pages are filled with different types of activities.

From basic worksheets, to crafts, to games… the children will be able to continue this months A-Zoo theme studies at home or on vacation. Until then we’re using up the monthly kit a bit differently than our typical “follow the lesson plan” routine. Since we ended last month’s water-world theme discussing animals that lived in lakes, oceans, swamps … we transitioned to animals that lived on both water and land. Then we discussed the unique creatures that could swim, walk on land, and fly. We talked about the zoo animals natural habitats in water, on land and in trees. Today we discussed which zoo animals lived near us in Northern Michigan VS which of the animals we could only visit at a zoo (or far off lands).

Animals are a great way to teach the alphabet, but since we don’t learn the letters best in ABC order and animal types are best learn by classification – we will continue to change up the animal order over the next couple weeks – and students can review the animals and the alphabet with their take home supplies this summer. We’ll review such topics when we return together at the end of the summer. Then we’ll dive into our fall themes, starting with “me, my family and my friends.” The new school year will bring us a chance to make new friends, make believe and make a mess together – while learning in our 1-room school house. Many of our old friends have already signed up for the fall.

If you’d like your child to join us next fall please email Christi@MiFamilies.com for more information. If you’d like more information on our other programs – visit www.MiFamilies.com. Adventure Academy is our tutoring and child care program, but we also facilitate workshops and events for the whole family, for parents, and for providers. All of our programs have an education through recreation focus, and all of our programs provide take home resources. Mi Families reaches out with resources for families and those who work with families throughout Michigan, however Adventure Academy is only located in Kingsley-Mi. We are a top rated program that will fill up quickly so enroll soon if interested in our Fall 2016 session.

Posted in adventure academy, Curriculums, Education, Family, Homeschool, Meet our Director, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Parents, Providers, Reviews, Tutoring Tagged with: a-zoo, Adventure Academy, alphabet, animals, child care, fall, homework, lesson plans, Mi Families, Michigan, more literacy, more math, Mother Goose Time, multi age program, school, Summer, Tutoring

Summer Smarts

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

As Memorial weekend approaches the students and weather remind me that summer is near. Students need more fun in the sun and less time sitting for subjects. This doesn’t mean we stop learning and skip the subjects – many subjects are easier taught while exploring the world – not when we’re stuck inside! We’ll work on our Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic through social studies and scientific discovery. As we finish up our “Bubbles, Boats & Floats” curriculum (from Mother Goose Time) we use math skills measuring and weighing liquids, write with bubbles, read about water animals…

We’ll continue playing with water and use water animals to transition to our next theme of A-Zoo animals! We’ll learn about animals that live in water, animals that live on land, and animals that can do both … even animals that fly! Animals are an exciting topic for students of all ages and can help teach concepts of physical, life and earth science, as well as social studies. From the pets in our homes, to local wildlife, to the animals we’d visit at the zoo or in far off lands – animals are always an easy theme to teach all subject matters.

Although Adventure Academy uses diverse curriculums for the diverse ages, stages and subject focuses of our students – all love the themes we teach through. If you are looking for an easy curriculum for young children I’d recommend Mother Goose Time. All subjects are incorporated into a new theme each month and can be adapted for younger kiddos or expanded for the older students. Right now they are shipping off A-Zoo animals, which is a great review of basic skills taught throughout the school year.

It’s a fact kids fall behind during summer vacation. It’s also a fact you help your child (or kids you work with) learn through simple activities. Reading, doing crafts, playing games … learning can be fun and packages like the A-Zoo kit make it simple. One nice aspect of Mother Goose Time kits is that the boxes are not date determined – meaning you can use any past theme any time. If your child is interested in a different theme – use that. Use whatever a child is interested in to teach them.

Interest doesn’t mean what the child is best at. Interest simply means they are curious and will therefore be engaged in the topic. Using themes help keep students engaged and therefore learning. From animals, to seasonal studies, to topics about space or superheroes or Minecraft… ask kids what they like, then use that to teach! Find books on the subject to read with them, have them write a story about the topic, make up math word-problems with the theme, how can you incorporate that theme into science or social studies?

If you’d like ideas on how to expand a theme contact Christi@MiFamilies.com. Also email Christi if you’d like to enroll your child at Adventure Academy next fall! Adventure Academy is an educational child care and tutoring program from MiFamilies, LLC. Mi Families (“my families”) also facilitates programs for parents and providers. More information can be found at www.MiFamilies.com. If you’d like to network with the Mi Families team find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube…

Our social sites are growing resources – here’s the latest video resource showcasing the A-Zoo curriculum. To order visit www.MotherGooseTime.com. To follow how we’re enjoying the kit simply subscribe above for our next article. Have topics other than curriculum resources you’d like us to write about in future articles? Let us know topics you’d like to see showcased below in the comments or email Christi. Thanks for reading this article and hope you have (had) a Happy Memorial Day – not that it’s actually supposta be a happy day… but we won’t ramble on about that in this article… at least not today!

Posted in adventure academy, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Homeschool, Language/Literacy, Learning through Play, Math, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, Our World, Parents, Providers, Reviews, Science, Sensory, Social Skills, Tutoring, Video Tagged with: a-zoo, Adventure Academy, animals, basic skills, boats and floats, bubbles, curriculum, memorial weekend, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, school subjects, social media, Summer, theme

Bubbles Bounce

Posted on May 21, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

“Bubbles bounce,” one child said. “No, bubbles pop,” another replied. A third child suggested they blow the bubbles and find out the answer.

We’ve been setting aside time for scientific discovery at Adventure Academy. We’ve been learning to observe, guess and test our ideas outside and indoors. During free play, while reading, when creating… Sometimes lessons are guided and questions are asked to lead the activity… other times materials are simply left out and I step back so see where the students lead the activity. If it’s a day with younger children, or older students, or a multi-age mix – it is still a day of peers teaching each other and encouraging each other.

Being able to teach each other and encourage each other does not mean the students already have the answers. It means they are growing confident in their learning skills. We use various curriculums to teach basic skills, but all our students enjoy the theme activities that come from Mother Goose Time. This months theme is “bubbles, boats and floats” and as the weather warms up we’ve been enjoying concepts of water play, learning about water cycles and discovering the importance of water.

Water leads to bubbles, which leads to learning about hand washing and making a mess helping clean up! Many avoid having children help with clean up because it takes time and you often have to re-do the clean up process, when they turn it into a bigger mess. BUT making a mess, making believe and making friends is how students at Adventure Academy learn and grow together. Listening to the students interactions, observing their play and allowing them to attempt cleaning up their own mess helps me design individualized and group activities.

As we finish up our water week we’ll morph into activities and lessons about water travel and water animals. The children have shown interest in learning about what animals live in water vs those that can live on both water and land – so I’m sure they’ll be excited as we transition later into learning more animals in the MGT “A-Zoo animals” theme. Following the children’s interests and leads it is helpful to transition to new themes and not just switch subjects. Helping them find ways themes are similar and different helps prepare them for transitioning through school subjects and completing lessons such as research papers.

It is so much fun to run a multi-age program and watch children of different levels interact. As older students research further into topics it encourages curiosity about the topic with younger children and installs work ethic. From child care to tutoring all students work at their own pace and learn through hands on activities. As we finish up our spring activities we are planning ahead for our fall session and have a few full day and part time spaces available for tots to teens. If you know a child near Kinglsey, Mi who’d like to join in our adventures please email Christi@MiFamilies.com.

If you would like to learn more about Adventure Academy or Mi Families visit www.MiFamilies.com or find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube… The Mi Families (“my families”) team is reaching out with resources online, in schools, daycares, churches, homes… We have programs for children, families, parents, providers… Mi Families is for all families and those who work with families. Let us know what resources you’d like information on! If you’d like more information on the Mother Goose Time resource mentioned visit www.MotherGooseTime.com.

Posted in adventure academy, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Homeschool, Learning through Play, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Parents, Providers, Reviews, Science, Tutoring Tagged with: Adventure Academy, animals, bubbles, Curriculums, day care, lessons, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, observation, Science, social media, transitions, Tutoring, water

Spring Sensory Science

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

This spring Mi Families has focused on a theme all about growing. From growing our team and programs, to pointing out the positive growth in each family and child we work with. One of Mi Families (“my families”) child-focused programs is Adventure Academy – a tutoring and childcare home-based-center in Northern Michigan. Adventure Academy has been observing each students growth and providing activities teaching about the growth of all living things as we watch our corner of the earth grow and change around us. From blooming flowers to caterpillars that morph into butterflies…

All living things need water to grow. This spring month we’ve been enjoying Mother Goose Time’s “Bubbles, boats and floats” curriculum. From water sources, to water travel, to washing with water – we’ve been busy making a mess then cleaning it up with bubbles! Our students learn by making a mess, make believing and making friends. Although we teach with many supplies provided by curriculum kits, materials are often left out to manipulate and explore without a specific learning objective. Watching infants thru pre teens problem solve without teacher interaction often provides the best lessons and observations.

Simply watching helps teachers identify student needs, as well as showcase a students interest and ability. Simply providing diverse materials encourages students to try new skills without intimidation. Students begin teaching peers and building confidence. Students show they understand concepts in all subject domains through using their senses. Using our 5 senses strengthens areas of reading and writing, math, social studies, the sciences… Spring is filled with scientific discovery! Things inside and out can be smelled, tasted, seen, heard and touched.

Since many children learn best by doing and using their hands we spent time this week exploring textures. We spent time touching objects indoors and outside and describing our findings. We described physical components of science and types of matter: Solid, liquid and gas. Water is a great way to learn about matter – from frozen, to wet, to evaporation we were able to watch and feel such attributes, while doing activities such as eating popsicles and blowing bubbles. We used our senses to answer why water is important.

Why do we need water? Why do flowers need water? Why do animals need water? What animals only live in water? If it were a bit warmer we’d practice being fish at the beach – but it’s not quite beach weather yet – especially with snow in the weekend forecast! Still it’s spring and we’re having fun in the sun when it’s available, and learning about need for a rainy spring weather when stuck inside. Indoor and outdoor adventures will continue for awhile longer – then Adventure Academy will be on Summer vacation!

Adventure Academy will re open next fall with more adventures and we are starting our lesson prep and enrollment process now! If you know a child near Kingsley who would like to explore with us please email Christi@MiFamilies.com. If your interested in learning more about the different programs Mi Families facilitates please check out our website www.MiFamilies.com. If you’d like to network with our team feel free to follow us on our social media sites – LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube… Here’s a lil’ YouTube clip from one of our lil’ friends:

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Posted in adventure academy, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Homeschool, Language/Literacy, Learning through Play, Math, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Motor Skills, Our World, Parents, Providers, Reviews, Science, Sensory, Social Skills, Tutoring, Video Tagged with: Adventure Academy, child care, growing, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, observation, Science, senses, Spring, students, subjects, teaching, Tutoring, water

No problem

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

Last week I challenged others to leave out materials without a learning objective, and without guiding their children or students in any way, and just observe. Change up and even leave out supplies to observe interactions and problem solving. Although Adventure Academy provides intended learning activities there is time set aside for un-planned discoveries. Daily discoveries using toys, manipulatives, art supplies, sensory materials… You discover what children want to learn about and what interests, talents and needs they each have by stepping back and observing.

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day 1 – bubbles, boats & floats from MGT

Sometimes alone and other times with their peers – I find children shine most when parents and providers step back and stop interacting. This doesn’t mean I never interact – I still facilitate guided lessons and of course make time for hugs – but I’ve learned when to step back. Sometimes it’s about a learning objective, sometimes to watch a behavior, sometimes for independence… In our multi-age classroom stepping back often leads to confidence builders as older students help their younger peers.

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MGT discovery poster

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MGT circle time story and other supplies

When an activity was getting a lil’ wild an older student changed up the rules of play today. Later that older student was observed reading a book to a child, but before long had the whole class listening in. After the story the student made up a musical-chair type game that somehow was connected to the story. This student who was once told he would never talk and would remain in special ed proudly exclaimed “I’m the teacher!” But instead of becoming bossy he delegated jobs and encouraged others to lead activities as well.

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boat counters from MGT

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counters = patterns

Sometimes the youngest even leads by pulling out old toys, or by asking a question. Their questions often show current interests. Apparently patterns became an interest with our boat counters as a younger child ask his older friends to help him solve a problem. The boat counters were provided in this months “Bubbles, Boats & Floats” curriculum from Mother Goose Time. Although we use many different curriculums for our program – all ages seem to love the theme based boxes that MGT sends monthly.

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MGT journal writing

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diff ages = diff stages

Each month Mother Goose Time provides a new theme and also a bonus day of activities such as “Mother’s Day.” Usually I have children use their own ideas to create a individualized gift for mom, but this year we made a simple project included in our box. Most kids loved making their owl’s wing-handprints, but some sensory students problem solved how to make handprints without touching the paint “too much.” Some students problem solved who to give their art work to, as not every child lives with their biological mom.

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Mom craft from MGT

Adventure Academy has a diverse group of children from special needs to gifted students, we also have a diverse group of families including children that don’t live in a traditional family setting. Some of these students are in foster care and days such as “Mothers Day” are challenging, so we problem solved who is a mother figure in their lives. In trying to be sensitive to all the children and families in our programs we even modify some of our parent/provider programs. Mother’s Day isn’t just hard for some kids – some adults struggle with celebrating.

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block building buddies

Children without moms, grown ups without moms… Grown ups who cannot become parents naturally or have lost a child. Mothers Day and Fathers Day and all holidays are sensitive times for many, but we still celebrate. We celebrate who we have in our lives that support us. Mi Families (“my families”) is all about finding supports and resources for all families and those who work with families. Adventure Academy is just one of the programs Mi Families facilitates. If you’d like more information on any of our programs visit www.MiFamilies.com or email Christi@MiFamilies.com.

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recess

We are currently scheduling events and enrolling childcare and tutoring students for Fall 2016. If you’d like your child, your family or your program to be a part of our “family” email Christi or find Mi Families on our social media sites: LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube… If you’d like to read future articles please subscribe above. Thanks for reading this article and I hope you have a wonderful Mothers Day weekend! I’m spending mine preparing for our next baby!

Posted in adventure academy, Behaviors, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Holidays, Homeschool, Learning through Play, Meet our Director, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Parents, Providers, Reviews, Social Skills, Special Needs, Tutoring Tagged with: Adventure Academy, Curriculums, lesson plans, manipulatives, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, mothers day, observation, problem solving, special education, theme

Bees, Butterflies, Birthdays, Bubbles…

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Mi Families — No Comments ↓

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B activities include BIKES

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chalk art

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spring = chalk

The sunshine has finally woken up our part of the globe! The earth around us is in BLOOM as flowers grow and we count the BUDS growing on our tree BRANCHES. We’ve been observing spring growth and spring life by following BUGS and looking for BEES and BUTTERFLIES… We’ve been enjoying the Mother Goose Time currriculum for “Bees and Butterflies” and getting ready to explore next months “Bubbles, Boats & Floats” package. We always find a way to transition smoothly into our next theme – this week we’ve continued our celebration of Earth Day and focused on taking care of our land and waterways.

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BUBBLES

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Bubbles & boys

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Ball = b activities … it’s Blue too 😉

We learned about the 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and reasons why we should care about saving the earth. For nature, the animals and all people to live and grow – we need to care! From BEES to BABIES everything needs a clean world to survive and thrive in. As we thrive and grow we celebrate – BIRTHDAYS are a great reason to celebrate. When students have to spend their special day with us we try and make it a celebration all day. We do birthday activities and even use BAKING as part of our school day.

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Birthday homework

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baking birthday cake!

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big kids read directions – lil ones follow them !

From baking cakes, to doing worksheets, making crafts, playing games, exploring outside … every activity has a learning purpose and we try and find the beauty in it. Yes, beauty even in a worksheet – “You made a beautiful pattern with those colors…” While building blocks “What a beautiful castle you created…” While on a hike “Look at the beautiful BIRD!” Everything is a piece of art and each student is an artist and each artist learns to appreciate the art around them. Art is the masterpiece of our eARTh!

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frosting = complicated small motor activity

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sprinkle time

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CANDLES for our 4year old friend!

Art is the center of everything on eARTh and everything we create and do – from painting to playing. Art is enjoyed when we play make-believe, when we read a story, when we sing a song, when we dance to the music … Art is creating and making things that show off your personality and interests and talents. Art is not about our struggles or needs, but it is a time to shine in our differences. Many curriculums include “art” that helps assess a students ability to follow directions and master small motor activities, but there needs to be time to create ones own vision.

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painting the earth – blue and green

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Mother Goose Time – MM&L workbooks

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creating books about washing w/ water

From creations to exploration what is your student learning from the activity? Is the purpose defined while you set up the lesson plan or do you have time set aside to see where the students lead the activity? In getting ready for the warmer weather and water activities I left a tote with a hose, soap and rags near a couple outside toys that had winter-funk on them, but didn’t image the bubble bath my yard turned into. The activity ended up doing more than cleaning up the toys as it taught bubble science, measuring math, language and social skills…organization skills…water conservation…

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bubble buckets

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clean toys

I challenge you to simply leave out a few supplies and materials and observe – not interact or guide in any way (unless of course someone is getting hurt in the process!!!). I challenge you to mix up your days with different kinds of art exploration – from sensory, to music, to make believe, to art scraps… and see what ways the children learn best in your group. Even my own children learn differently from each other. The tots to teens who visit us for daily adventures all have activities designed for their learning styles. Individualized lessons are incorporated easily in our multi-age program!

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make believe

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book buddies

If you’d like your child to be a part of Adventure Academy contact Christi@MiFamilies.com. Adventure Academy is just one of the programs Mi Families offers. Check out www.MiFamilies.com for more information on our programs. Please note that we will have limited programs for the upcoming summer session. We are currently scheduling events and enrolling childcare and tutoring students for Fall 2016. You can see what adventures we have between now and then by “subscribing” above, “liking” our facebook page, “following” us on twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIN, etc… We’re also on YouTube:

Posted in adventure academy, Child Development, Curriculums, Education, Family, Homeschool, Learning through Play, Mi Families, Michigan, Mother Goose Time, Motor Skills, Organization, Our World, Parents, Providers, Reviews, Science, Sensory, Social Skills, Video Tagged with: 3Rs, Adventure Academy, art, birthdays, earth day, land, letter B, Mi Families, Mother Goose Time, Sensory, Spring, water, water play

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