The last couple weeks have been LOUD at Adventure Academy. Transportation theme lessons have led to a center filled with kids honking and beeping. Not always music to my ears, but the sounds of happy children is! Luckily there are many transportation songs that sound nicer then the sounds cars, trains, planes and boats make. From “Wheels on the Bus” to “row-row-row-your-boat” we’ve been singing and dancing the time away. The movement activities this month have provided many teachable moments about health and safety. All movement is good for your health BUT all movements can be dangerous, if your not watching where your going or who is next to you! Transportation lessons have led to safety discussions of the importance of helmets and seatbelts and also to teachable moments like “no you can’t fly” to “it’s too cold for a boat ride today.”
hot air balloons
adding balloons for more fun
The weather changed quickly from warm fall days of raking leaves to freezing days of shoveling snow. The seasonal tools meant being careful moving with rakes and shovels in our hands! The new season doesn’t mean we stay indoors, our bodies need the fresh air, but the cold air means we need to think of ways to stay healthy and safe in the snow. The snow also provided lessons on how do we travel in the winter. Our Mother Goose Time “On the Go” kit discussed many forms of transportation, but we needed to get outside and explore with snow travel. We explored air travel outdoors as well, but had to do our water travel fun inside since our water table was iced over!
helicopter heads
if we spin our heads fast enough?
By land, air or water we discovered ways to travel for one, a couple or many people through public transportation. I miss the past adventures of traveling in cities sometimes, but I must admit that living on a road with farms is very peaceful. We often watch tractors or horses go up and down the road, instead of taxis. Most children at Adventure Academy have never seen a subway so they loved making the sub on the rope railway craft. They loved all the crafts and games and activities during the transportation month. Some of our students are moving away and others are just starting our program, so this has been a great theme to discuss transitions and changes. As our group of students change, as the seasons change and as lessons change we transition using travel as an example of where we’re headed next.
transport shapes
boat math
Next we head “over the river and through the woods” as many travel for their their Thanksgiving break adventures. Then we’ll head into “The sights and sounds of winter” as we prepare for the Christmas season. The past month of transportation activities have provide an introduction to using our senses of sound to identify modes of travel. Wonder what we’ll be listening to next month … the silence of snowflakes? From sounds to our other senses we’ll be exploring the changing of the season and invite more friends to join us on the adventure. We have no more full time spaces available but we do have some day, evening and weekend options for child care and tutoring services. Contact Christi@MiFamilies.com if you have any questions about Adventure Academy or other programs Mi Families facilitates, for parents and providers. Feel free to network with other parents and providers on our Facebook , Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, or Pinterest sites and feel free to subscribe above for updates on what we’re up to! Thanks for reading this one 🙂
HONK HONK rattle rattle CRASH beep beep … This song among others is stuck in my head as we drive full speed into the middle of a month learning about transportation. This week Adventure Academy has been busy using “On the Road” activities from Mother Goose Time. Adventure Academy uses many different curriculums to meet the needs of all the kids we work with, but all the kids seem to love what comes in the Mother Goose Time box each month. From infants to elementary school students we find ways simplify and expand the lessons.
MGT Racecar Matching
Car and Truck crafts from MGT
Since most of my kids are boys this unit is a big hit! I’m sure there are many lil’ girls who love the theme as well, but sometimes we can have 8 boys at once all playing cars together, so starting off the week with car work was an easy transition from play time to school time. Sometimes we all work together on an activity, sometimes we separate into groups and sometimes I work one-on-one with a child. During some activities I use all 3 ways! With the “Racecar Matching” little ones matched colors, while older ones worked on the letters. While making “Parking Cars” little ones worked on colors, middle kids on shapes and older ones on numbers and adding and subtracting and well that game lasted all week in different ways!
MGT:Drive the truck packages to the right letter house
Wheels and Ramps from MGT
We talked about when a car vs a truck is the best mode of transportation and again simplified and expanded the Delivery Truck game to teach basic skills. The favorite activity from truck day was experimenting with wheels and ramps… the experiment continued the next day with rolling all sorts of materials during bike day. The experiment got a bit outta control when we added rolling and wheels and ramps to our stop and go games on foot day!
MGT shoe lacing. We kept the shoe outlines for tracing & hoping games
MGT racetrack game
During foot day we worked on a tie-the-shoe craft that gave me a great chance to observe fine motor skills. Many of our crafts and games lead to small motor development, but watching children try and lace shoes gives you time to step back and assess skills beyond coloring, gluing or using scissors. Both fine and gross motor activities were implemented this week through crafts, games and sensory play with transportation materials, toys and our imagination – which led to animal transportation… which animals use land, water and sky to move, which use a combination? Ducks use all 3 and we enjoyed watching a flock flying south during an outdoor adventure on bikes – which magically turned into speed boats and rocket ships and all forms of travel!
As fall transitions into winter we observed the travel of leaves through the air and with our rakes. We discussed how rakes and other tools help us move things. Pretty soon we’ll be using those handy shovels to move snow! Adventure Academy is re-structuring it’s schedule for winter activities and we are excited about the new friends who enrolled for our next semester. We have no more full time spaces available, but if your seeking child care or tutoring services we do have some random day, evening and weekend spots available. Please email Christi@MiFamilies.com for more information. For more information about Mi Families (“my families”) search the rest of THIS WEBSITE. Mi Families provides programs for families and those who work with families. Parents and Providers enjoy our “education through recreation” programs for children and workshops and trainings for themselves. They have also said they have enjoy networking through our social media sites. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc… You can find me, Christi Morgan (the Director) on Linked IN and if you are curious about what else me, my family or our programs are up to please subscribe to these articles up on the right side of this page. THANKS for reading this article and let us know in the comments below what other topics you’d like to see us ramble about!
P.S. Many of the pics posted showcase MGT materials. CLICK HERE to order MOTHER GOOSE TIME. They are now taking orders for next months theme of “Sights and Sounds of Winter.”
There are lots of resources for helping children through transitions, which is great because times of change are often times of chaos for little ones. Learning to handle times of change is an important piece of the developmental puzzle. During a recent meeting parents debated if children should be taught or tossed into change. In a world where only the strong are thought to survive – do we enable our children and teach them to be dependent on formal lessons to overcome new obstacles? Many argue it’s best to throw them into obstacles, but I believe there are so many obstacles that we should help them with the ones we can, teaching them skills to face greater challenges as they grow.
see that cone in background?fun dice game moving to cones
poster discovery
The argument that you were left in the woods and found your own way doesn’t mean your child needs to face that survival skill. Instead of saying I’m tough because of my upbringing consider how much stronger you would have been with more support systems in place, with support systems ready for you at each new obstacle. This isn’t a question to point blame or say “if only” it’s to help you consider what supports, skills and tools you’d like your child to have with them during a challenge. Challenges can be peer pressure, dealing with family dynamics, changing schools … even changing subjects. For children who struggle with certain subjects anxiety can build on the way to the classroom. Instead of saying “too bad or toughin’ up…” question why they are struggling. Use the subjects they are interested in to build confidence in new areas.
building roads and bridges
building bridges plus
Each new month brings a new theme to study at Adventure Academy. We use many different curriculums to support the theme and cover all subject areas using the children’s interests. As a new month begins I transition students from the last theme using the topics they enjoyed in the previous month. Last month was “In the orchard” and the children loved using the fall theme to visit farms and orchards. We enjoyed local field trips to support unit activities provided by Mother Goose Time. Living in a rural area made the activities pertinent – even if we don’t grow banana’s in Northern Michigan kids understand produce and harvesting lessons. Many of the kids I work with don’t understand lessons about other weather systems, culture or worldly events however. This was one reason I was excited that the next theme Mother Goose Time developed was “On the Go.”
mechanics take their tools with them
road construction crew kit
Some kids stress about learning math, some struggle with learning about other places and diversity. Some kids have a drive to explore and discover new places, while others feel safer in what they know and understand. As with all transitions I encourage adults to share their knowledge about new places before leaving a child in one. Bring culture and diversity into their comfort zone so they can learn acceptance and respect for all without others biassed opinions. I grew up in the Detroit area and lived near Los Angeles and miss the culture and diversity of big cities. I love our calm rural home, but make sure we expose our children to a greater world then this small town, and love watching them interact with the world around them. They love to tell others of their adventures beyond these orchards.
mechanic men
“Down the road” is this weeks subject and our boys have been sharing their travel experiences with friends that join us for child care and tutoring. From building a road, to playing construction games, mapping journals, building bridges, and being mechanics we’ve been busy. Not only are we busy using our brains and learning traditional subjects matters, but we are busy using our bodies and gaining small and large motor skills. Many of this weeks games have a physical component and like always the kids around here play them as designed then add their own rules or create similar games. This theme will last a long time as we learn about the world while traveling through it, creating crafts… as we sing and dance to the provided music, play red light / green light a million times and ride vehicles indoor and outside.
on the road
As we transition into our new theme we are enjoying the transition of the season as well, and although we often have snow this time of year it has been sunny and warm and we’ll be spending much of it outside: playing with cars in the sandbox, boats in the water table, flying toy planes through the air, and taking fall hikes on our rope train around the yard. The acres outside and activities indoors are ready for learning adventures and we have expanded hours for more friends to join us. If you know anyone seeking child care or tutoring services near Kingsley please have them email Christi@MiFamilies.com. Mi Families (“my families”) offers many programs for children, their families and those who work with their families. You can learn more about us by checking out our WEBSITE, subscribing above to our articles …finding us YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter etc… Feel free to network with other families on our Facebook page and feel free to network & learn more about my background on LinkedIn.
fall fun
*Pics posted display activities from this weeks “On the Go” theme from Mother Goose Time. CLICK HERE to order this theme
I woke up to snow and realized we didn’t get through our “to do” list yet this week. This last week of October always seems to be a busy one, trying to keep up with work and home life while preparing for winter. Yes it’s still fall, but in the northern mitten we often have winter weather starting up, so as we rake we prepare the yard for the next season. I wont list here how we prepare, but we do need to make a list to conquer the task. Since we have been focusing on language and literacy this month I thought I’d have my boys read my list and then write their own. Their list show insight into what they find important (apparently stocking up on cocoa is important).
Even though my boys have the same parents and experiences they are so different from each other,
and their lists of what is important to them is unique. I love watching my boys develop into their own, explore their own interests and create their own style. As Halloween approaches differences are apparent in what costumes they choose to show their interests and often it initiates conversation of interests for future careers. Costumes give children a chance to play out different roles and problem solve. From pretending to be a zombie to a doctor they conquer fears, learn new skills and strengthen their communication. This is one reason we have costumes available for dress up play year round at Adventure Academy. My boys and the children who join us for child care and tutoring sessions love playing make believe beyond Halloween.
Watching children play make believe is the best way to learn about a child’s interests and observe their needs and abilities.
Observing play is a more accurate way to assess a child then any test. Under army clothes or a princess costume we can enter a child’s world and view the world from their point of view and discover how they handle obstacles and learn new things. Under skins and shells we discover they all have the same basic needs and they all have the same curious minds. We can foster their curiosity through offering more open ended play and times to explore activities instead of preparing formal learning objectives for them. If you are like me and behind on your “to-do” list you may prioritize a certain chore or lesson on your schedule, forgetting that discovery time is just as important to schedule.
Through homeschooling my boys and teaching others I have countless curriculums on hand and want to make sure that all the kids I work with have the opportunity to learn from all the materials available. I often remind myself it’s not a race to a finish line. It’s more important that children have time to fully explore each subject matter before moving on to the next. I know some feel a month long theme is too long, but if you let the children guide such lessons, often a month isn’t long enough as they flow in and out of related topics investigating all surrounding areas. One curriculum we use is Mother Goose Time, which prepares month long units for preschoolers, but the activities are easily simplified for the tots I work with and even the elementary students love having time to research deeper into the subject matters. I also find that refocusing on the basics strengthen their skills.
This months focus “In the Orchard” has provided ample opportunity for my students to work on their reading, writing, math, science, social-studies… through engaging fall activities. Last weeks focus on the orchard animals transitioned nicely into those animals preparing for winter: Do the animals hibernate or migrate? If they hibernate what foods keep them full while they sleep, if they migrate what do they eat along the way … what about the animals that harvest and store their goods? Skins and shells lead to a discovery tub of leaves and pine-needles and acorns and pine-cones… Then other nuts, fruits, berries and of course pumpkins were investigated.
Through art and play the children worked on basic skills counting walnuts, reading chestnut poems, making avocado dip, writing banana names, rolling peach pits … The children enjoyed learning skills and building small and large muscles without realizing they were working – which made my work fun too! We worked hard during our typical daily schedule, but also worked hard when we got off our schedule to enjoy a pumpkin patch party. Even during a playful party we sang songs and played games provided by Mother Goose Time. Thinking it was holiday celebration students didn’t realize they were gaining academic knowledge designing pumpkins and doing math with “Beware of the Bat.” Often our academic games were reused throughout the week in different ways: turning the scarecrow into a patch-match game, turning our pounded pumpkins into geo-boards and dissecting them for science… After the Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater snack every meal had pumpkin faces somehow included (right now they are creating different kinds of pumpkin pizzas).
The best compliment I had this week was a child telling me everyday here feels like a holiday celebration! I do attempt to make each day exciting while planning the activities for Adventure Academy. If your child is here for an hour of tutoring, or a week of care, I try and discover what interests them and how to make them interested in learning about new things. Learning should feel like a celebration. Yes learning is their job, but why can’t we celebrate our hard work and love our jobs? I know I do! If you’d like your child(ren) to celebrate their hard work and enjoy adventures in learning please email me at Christi@MiFamilies.com. Mi Families (“my families”) has many programs for children, their families, and providers that work with families. To network with other families or those who work with families simply like/follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube… every like/follow shows support for our efforts in educational and recreational resources. THANK YOU
(Many of the photos posted are MGT materials. Visit www.MotherGooseTime.com for more information on MGT. Visit our homepage for more information on us! Thanks again)
Some songs get stuck in your head and some stories your children want read over and over and over … and although it’s annoying you – it’s linking language for them. Books and music are the number one links to language, so let them listen to that requested song or story again. Language is listening, comprehending, communicating, speaking, reading, writing… Language is key to future academic success, but more importantly the key to success in life. Success should not mean “the attainment of popularity or profit / prosperity” as some define it, but rather mean “the accomplishment of a goal.” The main goals for the children who attend Adventure Academy is simply to become respectful, responsible and resilient.
Becoming resilient starts by becoming confident, and those with language disabilities or delays have shared how language affects their confidence to communicate their wants, needs, interests… Often children with language barriers are very bright and want to share information and teach others, which would build confidence, but they instead become frustrated by the barriers. When asked What a language barrier is most say it’s a speech issue, like stuttering, but language includes all forms of communication. Barriers can be any failure to communicate, including understanding speech. For example: children who are very literal do not understand sarcasm and may have an interesting sense of humor, which complicates connecting with others.
Language is important for connecting with peers while growing up, and communicating in our careers as adults. Language disorders can be life long and those with subtle language issues often do not get the assistance needed early on, to prevent miscommunication issues in their adult years. Often these bright children with speech delays do not get to use their gifts and talents in careers simply because of miscommunication. For our children to become responsible adults who can provide for themselves and their families we need ALL parents and providers to have access to early developmental screenings.
Adventure Academy understands that all families deserve the same screenings, evaluations, referrals and services. Children who attend tutoring or child care services learn that everyone has different goals they are working towards – and everyone has different gifts and talents they care share with each other. Even the smallest child can learn to be respectful of another’s needs and abilities. When respect for all is modeled it becomes the norm instead of a taught attribute. Differences and diversity teach us acceptance, that we are here to help each other and encourage each other. Encouraging means being proud of others accomplishments and not jealous. Encouraging means being a part of the same team with a goal for everyone to find their success.
Goals change and sometimes goals change for survival focus. The last few articles have discussed fall changes and as fall turns to winter – survival is the focus for many. Survival is apparent in nature as we watch the leaves fall and animals begin to migrate and hibernate. Adventure Academy uses various curriculums to teach academic skills, life skills and seasonal skills. One curriculum that teaches such skills is Mother Goose Time. The hands on nature lessons this month “In the Orchard” has opened up many teachable moments during our fall field trips to farms and nature centers across Michigan. This week alone we adventured into orchards and learned about wild life on a reserve. When we came back to the center and opened up MGT activities for “Animals in an Orchard” we were excited to see some animals featured we had been learning about on location.
Sadly the porcupine on location was roadkill by the parking lot!
But we enjoyed making a pokey porcupine puppet none the less. We watched bird migration patterns, enjoyed ladybug pizzas, made sneaky raccoon masks, played Sammy Squirrel Math and matching apple games… We also turned our Where is the Lady Bug cards into a matching game. We often used the lesson materials as prepared then change them up. Adventure Academy has toddler thru elementary age students attending in scattered schedules so often we re visit concepts for children who missed the first activity, but if the child is younger or older we change it up and simplify or extend the activity. For example during “bird” day we used the Seed States activity, but continued to use the storytelling set in different ways throughout the week. All ages love the pieces and after using for lessons we laminate and put felt on the back to add to our felt board collections to tell further stories. Stories can be from past lessons or made up. It also gives opportunity for observing speech and noting delays and language development.
In the video 2 boys who have language needs are using the pieces (and a lil one is listening in). This is not a glimpse into using it as a therapy tool, but rather an observation of communication and comprehension. If you’d like tips on using it for therapy or observation please email Christi@MiFamilies.com. If you’d like tips on extending or simplifying lesson plans email me as well. Feel free to get in touch to discuss how I can help you as a provider or parent. Feel free to share my contact with local parents looking for childcare and tutoring services through Adventure Academy. Adventure Academy is a program offered through Mi Families (“my families”) which offers programs for families and those who work with families. We are on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, YouTube … find us, follow us, subscribe to us above! Being a part of our family helps other families! Thank you
Many make excuses for their eating habits, even though they admit they know the importance of eating a healthy balanced diet. When comparing a balanced diet to a balanced education a student said “it’s like making sure you eat all the food groups every day. You can’t just eat chocolate because you like chocolate, and you can’t just do art because that’s the class you like – you have to do all the subjects.” But, what if there was a was to integrate all subjects through the ones your students are most interested in. What if you made a casserole with the subjects, and covered up the parts students didn’t enjoy – like covering the veggies with melted cheese encouraging those picky eaters to try it. It might work – but are we teaching them to learn to love veggies that way?
What if we could get them to enjoy all the food groups – including the veggies? What if we could get the student who loves art to also love math, and the student who loves gym to also love science, and for all students to love reading and writing… The best part of my day is watching a student love learning especially if they are loving learning something new, especially if they are loving learning something they struggled with or were hesitant to try. Children can be picky about school subjects, foods, clothes, toys, tv shows … My children are no different. You can blame sensory issues, stubbornness, anxiety or whatever for a child being picky. You can decided it’s not a battle worth fighting over and cover the veggies with cheese and hope they don’t notice or you can encourage them to overcome the issue. You can encourage through reason of why the veggies or whatever are important, or you can encourage by exposure and modeling, or you can utilized their strengths and talents to build confidence in their ability to try new things and overcome obstacles.
Different methods work for different kids and I’m not sure if it was one of these approaches or the combination that worked for us, but I love that our boys ask for veggies as a side in a restaurant and I love that despite obstacles our boys have overcame challenges others didn’t believe would be possible and they are loving learning about all subjects. Yes, they have their favorite foods and favorite subjects and favorite clothes, toys and tv shows but that simply shows their personality, and teaches me how to teach them best using their interests and gifts. It doesn’t limit their options and it doesn’t mean they can’t change interests, or excel in new areas. Just because my youngest plans to be a ninja doesn’t mean he has to stick to that plan in the future, and just because my oldest wants to be a singing astronaut doesn’t mean he can’t become just that. Interests and abilities can change. Our last article talked about how this season is full of change. Although Spring is considered the season of growth fall doesn’t mean the opposite. Fall is the season to reflect on how much growth you have made through the year. Look at the harvest that has produced many veggies and fruits, which started as a simple seed.
Each fall I try out new curriculums and go back to old favorites for homeschooling my boys, tutoring other children, and teaching little ones in our child care program. I consider students interests, needs and goals while picking out curriculums that provide the seed to a balanced education. One balanced curriculum is Mother Goose Time (most photos shown are MGT products), which provides experiences in various subject areas through a monthly themed approached. This months focus is “in the orchard” and this week we explored the fruits in orchards. Just as it is important to have a balanced diet of various food groups, it is also important to have variety within each group. How many types of fruits have your children tried – how many types of apples alone – what’s your favorite type of apple? I like red delicious, my youngest says granny smith, my oldest says the ones at his aunts farm… a little boy visiting on apple tasting day decided he liked all the kinds if there was carmel to dip them!
Picking produce at farms
cidermill
Sadly “try it and you’ll like it” doesn’t instantly work, but studies show repeated tries helps accustom taste buds to new flavors and textures. Trying new subject matters and presenting the information in different ways can also help a struggling student understand and actually learn to love learning new information. Having a friend play teacher and present the information is another way to help a struggling student learn or be willing to try new things. Peer modeling is often more affective then adult encouragement. Also peer modeling is one of the best ways to build confidence and motivation for themselves. Struggling students gain skills teaching their peers. I found my boys do not have anxiety reading to younger students (or a stuffed animal) as they do with adults. They loved me reading this weeks “Johnny Appleseed” story, but loved even more reading the “I can read” books and “Little Jack Horner” poem to a little friend.
They loved singing and dancing along with the orchard music, making crafts and playing games related to the fruit studies – from apples, to cherries, lemons, oranges and plums we enjoyed experiments, make believe and of course taste testing. We compared the fruit sizes, shapes and colors then compared those categories with veggies. This one week could have extend into a whole months study, as a simple topic of fruit provided ample opportunity for us to learn about all subject matters from language and literacy to math and science … social studies field trips to orchards and what grows in our areas vs far off farms … we worked on small motor skills with manipulatives and danced into large motor skills. From music to art activities we worked on basic skills. The topic of fruits and veggies and other foods has made an easy transition into who eats what. What do the animals in our home, in the woods or at the farm eat? We can’t wait to learn about the animals in the orchard next week.
If you’d like your child to learn with us check out ADVENTURE ACADEMY for more information or email christi@MiFamilies.com. If you’d like to learn about other education and recreation programs facilitated by Mi Families CLICK HERE. If you’d like to network with other parents and providers find us on all our social media sites: Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube… and if you’d like to read about our activities in the orchard next week make sure you subscribe above. THANKS FOR READING THIS WEEKS ARTICLE!
Parents and providers recently discussed how resources regarding growth and change are provided throughout spring themes, but not throughout other seasons. Considering all the changes and transitions the fall season brings Mi Families (“my families“) reached out with resources, and considered the transitions currently happening in our own programs. New programs are always added upon request or changed to meet needs of participants. For example, our educational through recreation program (Adventure Academy) still offers assessments, tutoring and referral services for infants through elementary students, but we recently expanded services to offer child care. Adventure Academy now offers on-call, part-time and full-time services and we will be one of the only 5star programs in Northern Michigan (and the only 5star home based environment in the city). A loving home-based environment with above center standards that includes meals, field trips, top rated curriculums… Yes, we could settle for simply registering as a daycare, but why not strive to be more and provide more services and more resources for families? Why not provide services and resources for other providers? Providers should not be in competition, but rather a team trying to change the face of “babysitting” and make transitions easier for families. Providers should be a team learning about what issues will be debated and voted on this fall. Fall is a season all about change: changes in government, changes in nature, changes for children in new classrooms and daycare settings… Change is not always easy, especially for children, so Adventure Academy is considering different ways to approach change and transition for our students, starting with the two students who live here! Children who live in an environment shared by daycare friends have to get use to change. Thankfully these two boys are excited about the changes and even requested we reopen our center. This time they wanted to be the teachers.
A is for apple picking, F is for fall fun on farms
Our boys are currently homeschooled, not because we hate the school system or anything dramatic, but because it meets their needs and our situation at this time. Who knows what the future holds for their educational environment – but today this one is working great! They are able to work at their own speed (some subjects slowly, some subjects skipping ahead) and they are able to grow skills in diverse areas, with diverse age groups and cultures, and in diverse environments. Homeschooling is not simply schooling at home as these boys travel far with dads job, explore locally through community field trips, and enjoy many extra curricular activities. However, homeschool does mean we created a school environment at home where they can focus on their studies and learn from their surroundings. This does not mean we have a classroom where desks face a teacher who lectures, it means we created a space that encourages exploration. It means we created a one-room school house where young children can play while listening in as older students discuss their studies (introducing future concepts). It means we have a lot of toys that foster imagination, a lot of hands on projects to try new ideas with, and a lot of books – a whole library filled with books (and other rooms with more shelves with more books)… The environment is created with one goal – to love learning.
just some of the materials provided for 1 day with MGT
seed to tree learning with MGT
We use many different curriculums to explore subject matters at Adventure Academy. Some curriculums are all subject based, like Little Lincoln, and some curriculums are specific subject based or age / grade focused. Mother Goose Time is a curriculum that is preschool focused, yet all ages in our program (currently 1-9 years old) enjoy the activities and themes. As last months theme of “Friends and Feelings” ends we begin to change over to a new unit, but we transition slowly – discussing the changes and comparing them. Although “Friends and Feelings” is a different topic then “In the Orchard” we found a comparison in team work. Last month we talked about the impact one can make on his/her future community vs the impact of a community working together. From planting to harvesting one farmer can work an orchard alone, but he sure is more productive working with others. And although it seems like a long process from the seeds to the produce there is measurable success while waiting for the rewarding treats. Education should be no different to measure and the rewards should be as sweet. Just as our environment does not mean desks in a line our success measurements do not mean standardized tests. Sweet results are observed when young scholars lead with their interests, abilities and needs guiding teacher choices on activities and environments. The classroom environment can be a democracy, even a team work effort when you listen to the students voice. Even the youngest of students can show you how to teach them when you learn to listen in ways other than with your ears.
shapes and colors in fall – basic skills taught by MGT
It’s a hard lesson to put away text book reasoning, but you’ll learn more letting your students become the teacher. I am glad I trusted past examples and listened when our boys expressed they wanted to help teach the visiting students. When they were younger we were told one would never talk and the other would never read, yet they both taught each other to do just that. Often children have patience and understanding beyond adults, and teach with genuine passion and encouragement through each step. They don’t need to read a whole chapter book to feel they accomplished a reading goal. They cheer each other on when one holds up the shape of an apple saying “A is for _” and the other responds “APPLE!” Reading research tells us that language and literacy are the key to future academic success and the first step is teaching communication skills. How we respond to their forms of communication predicts beyond academic success. How we respond teaches children their wants, needs, interests and emotions are valued, so the boys first job as teachers was to observe how students communicate. Noticing a toddlers attempt to get them to help pick up fallen leaves the boys later created a matching leaf game indoors to continue his interest. They were excited opening the Mother Goose Time teachers guide and noting the first week was all about trees: seeds, roots, trunk, branches…and leaves.
leaf matching tree (tree with leaves and velcro matches)
They decided they needed to practice some of the upcoming lessons and even planned how to transition to future orchard lessons. Transitioning from last months theme they are relying on observation of emotion and interests from their friends and are learning how to balance helping others while taking time for themselves. They want time to explore the topics presented themselves and integrate further studies. They decided they need to continue working with letter “F” for “fall fun with family and friends at the farm.” They have helped plan fall fieldtrips and festivities for the friends who join us this month. If you know of a child who’d like to join us at Adventure Academy or have questions about integrating such activities to your program feel free to comment below or email Christi@MiFamilies.com. If your child’s involved in the program and they (or you) have ideas to add to our lesson plans also feel free to get in touch, as we know communication is the key to a successful program. Open communication is just another example of how our program is not the typical teacher guided format, but rather one guided by a group of learners who are learning how to work together to produce the sweetest community.
apple tree art from MGT
more apple and A art activities
If your looking to work together with other parents and providers, or simply network for resources, please subscribe above and find us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc… Here’s our latest YouTube video – showcasing the boys trying out a Dance-N-Beats video to teach their friends more fall fun (and also showcases how the Mother Goose Time dance program works):
Towards the end of our last article I wrote “…They have goals, and these goals include becoming responsible and respectful members of our future community…” I was asked if kids even understand the concept of community: A 9year old answered that community means a group of people who are working together, a 7year old answered it’s people who live by each other, and a 6 year old answered it’s people who like each other. These answers aren’t just great definitions, but also an answer to what they hope their future communities are like. How do we achieve such hopeful goals? According to an 8 year old we try and solve problems by talking and not fighting, according to a 4 year old we need to make friends, and the 2 year old simply answered by sharing his toy with me when asked. It’s that simple: be nice.
Being nice starts with learning how to communicate. Communication skills are learned through behaviors modeled during our earliest years, for others such social skills need to be formally taught. What if we started formally teaching all children how to communicate their wants, needs, thoughts, affections, emotions… Mother Goose Time has a monthly curriculum that helped us do just that! During this months “Friends and Feelings’ unit our one room school house worked on communication. It was the perfect way to start the back 2 school season, but one nice thing is knowing I could have used the unit anytime since the materials are not date sensitive. Mother Goose Time units teach basic skills, but also include character lessons and this month was filled with character building activities. During each unit I ask students what they know, what they wonder about and what they have learned using a KWL chart. Mother Goose Time provides such charts in their teachers guide for each weeks sub-theme. This weeks theme was “talking with friends,” which helped open discussions about communication forms including body language, the telephone, using mail, computers and also being a good listener. Toddlers to 3rd graders enjoyed the activities and were observed using various ways to communicate with all age groups in different environments. We are learning that our community isn’t only within one environment. We are a part of many communities.
As a homeschool family where the dad is a film maker we have opportunities to visit many locations and learn within many communities. One assumption about homeschool families is that they “bubble wrap” their kids and don’t expose them to social situations. We interact with many homeschool kids who are actually more social then students I’ve worked within the school system, as often homeschooled kids are exposed to more environments and more age groups building confidence to communicate with more diverse people than simply their same-aged peers. They learn to communicate with more diverse cultures and people with diverse needs. The topic of body language with a focus on sign language became a focus week long as we remembered when one of ours was labeled with “non verbal autism” at 2o months after losing his speech he had before a year old. He didn’t talk again until he was close to 4 years old and still has a speech delay, but has come a long way since being told he wouldn’t speak. My husband and I believe using signs helped him find his voice again. He was so frustrated not being able to communicate that he couldn’t calm down long enough to relearn verbal communication. Something as simple as him wanting a drink of juice could result in a 45min meltdown when we didn’t know his exact request. Today he is very patient helping determine what the little ones in our daycare want understanding their frustrations. He is great at modeling how to use signs and other body language to express themselves.
Both of our boys love to help the younger students and modeled the lessons playing make-believe as mail-men delivering letters, playing with old phones and toy computers. The week was filled with examples of good communication, including good listening and good observation of others body language and behaviors. We also discussed how the little ones mimic behaviors and how to be a good role model through our actions. After working in special needs programs and watching my own son in such a program I believe that sometimes even purposeful programs with great intentions and great teachers can still be the wrong plan. Often in such programs children learn to mimic undesired behaviors and come home each day acting their label. However, being with “neurotypical peers” in the general education placement doesn’t work either when they are overwhelmed, discouraged and even bullied. Homeschooling was never our plan, but it gave us the results we were looking for – where one could work at their own speed (even speed ahead) and conquer social skill challenges. Homeschooling gives may kids the confidence they need to discover gifts and talents and ways they can contribute to their future communities. Our home-based child care program (ADVENTURE ACADEMY) offers the same encouraging, yet individualized results. All kids have gifts and talents they can offer the world around them and our education through recreation activities helps children discover their strengths. Their strengths are the key to fulfilling futures where they are responsible for themselves and respectful to others. Their strengths are the key to the success of our future communities.
If you’d like more information on how to tap into your child’s strengths and focus on abilities instead of disabilities and focus on development vs delays please email Christi@MiFamilies.com. If you’d like to learn more about ADVENTURE ACADEMY click here. More about MOTHER GOOSE TIME click here. To meet other mothers, fathers and providers network on our FACEBOOK site. Follow us on all our social media sites and subscribe above for updated resources. 🙂
Classrooms are finally starting to get the school year rhythm down. Peeking inside a classroom you’ll see kids sitting at desks and teachers standing up front explaining the lessons. As teachers figure out the keys to help their new students learn best, students learn the keys to their classroom success. They learn how to navigate their school schedule and how to interact with their peers. Even the littlest ones at Adventure Academy are transitioning into the routines and making friends. Our “Friends and Feelings” curriculum from Mother Goose Time is helping. This week was “Keys to Friendship” and while the littles were introduced to new concepts the older students were observed practicing social skills. From “including everyone” (which is a song that gets stuck in your head!) to sharing and caring, and learning to apologize and learning to work together … it was a great week for social skill building, but also for self awareness.
corner of our 5 acre playground
The lessons helped vocabularies grow to what makes a good friend and what behaviors affect friendships negatively. The lessons offered opportunity for children to vocalize their feelings, and instead of just running off upset they were able to say why they were upset and learn to resolve conflict. I can think of some adults who still could use such lessons! No matter the age the lessons are relevant and the older students felt empowered to model best behaviors for their little friends. That’s one of the best things about multi-age programming. Yes it can backfire when older students model negative behaviors, but fingers crossed – so far we have some great roll models here!
after doing “friendship train” activities we played with trains
Being a roll model means you lead the “Friendship Train,” but it also means you encourage the little ones to lead at times as well. Being a roll model helps you define yourself and who you want to be. Being a roll model means helping others define who they want to be by encouraging their interests and assisting with their needs. How do you know another’s interest or needs? Watch their behaviors, and their expressions. Learning about expressions and emotions has continued this week with watching how others react to their surroundings and how they interact with others. If they seem upset did you do something wrong? Do you need to say sorry? How do you show you are actually sorry? What’s the difference between an accident, being mean and being a bully? These are sadly all lessons we need to learn.
pieces to friendship puzzle
We also need to learn how to cooperate and work together to solve issues such as bullies. Learning to work together starts with how your family works as a team at home. When one is taught we don’t do chores for the allowance, but because it’s our responsibility, we learn to respect the others in our home. Respect and responsibility are the two most important lessons at Adventure Academy. I don’t care what students grow up to be, as long as they grow up to be responsible for themselves and respectful to others. Even the youngest child can learn these two life skills, but more by modeling than through taught lessons. Modeling how we talk to and treat others in our homes teaches them how to talk to and treat others when they are at school and when they are grown contributors in future communities.
build together projects – after MTG build tangrams activity
I have been asked how my boys practice being respectful to others since they aren’t at school and are homeschooled. That question made me laugh as when they were in school one was picking up undesired behaviors and the other was only learning how to be victimized and adapt to being bullied. Sadly playgrounds are not filled with roll models teaching bullies to be kind and mentors helping children handle conflict. Yes they need to learn to handle conflict – I’m not saying bubble wrap your kids – but as preschoolers and kindergarten students they shouldn’t be afraid of their peers. They shouldn’t hate school – as early education is supposta be the fun years to learn to love education and learn to trust those you interact with. The socializing issue wasn’t why we took them out of school though, in fact that’s why we wanted to keep them in hoping they would adapt and learn skills that were delayed. My boys are on the “autism spectrum” so learning those social skills were a bit complicated. Sadly the term “autism spectrum” is often misunderstood and people think they don’t want friends – they do – they often have just learned how to adapt by being alone. For us homeschooling has made it so they don’t have to be alone and so they can learn such skills through smaller groups they are excited to participate in.
Like many other homeschool kids, ours love their sports programs, homeschool co ops, church groups and random playdates … they are not homeschooled, they are life schooled as they are learning to interact in more diverse settings and with all age groups. They are learning more social skills then they would at school (while strengthening their basic skills through diverse curriculum options, including Mother Goose Time * as photographed above). They are learning more lifetime skills than they did at school. They are learning how to respect others and themselves – they are learning to find themselves, their interest, their own needs and work towards their goals. They are proud of themselves as mentors helping little ones and love following the lead of older ones they feel are their mentors. They are learning to be responsible and give back by being around positive roll models and learning consequences from negative roll models by simple observation of life. Life is not only same age peers sitting at desks listening to a lecture. Although that method works for transitioning into life for many students, not all students learn life skills that way. I’m glad there are so many options for educating todays youth and I’m glad we have the option to homeschool. We might not homeschool forever as we don’t know where life leads us tomorrow, much less years down the road, but for now we consider it a blessing. If they do re join the traditional school path their social awkwardness can’t be blamed on homeschooling, because in fact being in special ed programs and even being pulled out of the general ed classroom for services was making them more socially awkward. Letting them be their socially awkward selves in an environment where they are comfortable working on other skills has been the best way to help them grow into the confident boys they are today. They know who they are and who they want to be. They have goals and these goals include becoming responsible and respectful members of our future community.
“I care” bandaid man
Even through the friends and feelings theme will be ending next week, our lessons of friendship and emotions will never end. Lessons of responsibility and respect will never end at Adventure Academy. If these are character builders you’d like your children to learn consider enrolling them in our program. To learn more about ADVENTURE ACADEMY click here. To learn more about MOTHER GOOSE TIME click here. Students also have the opportunity to learn from Creative Curriculum, Little Lincoln, Right Start Math, Math U See, Spelling U See, All about Reading, Explode the Code, Road to the Code, Hooked on Phonics, Handwriting without tears, Homework without tears and many other great hands on programs – including simply learning through play during “toy time” in our “imagination station,” and exploring the other areas in our one – room school – house. We have part time and full time openings. Adventure Academy is a program offered through Mi Families for our youngest family members. We offer other youth programs, parent workshops and provider trainings as well. Check out our WEBSITE, Friend us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and Pinterest, Subscribe to our YouTube channel, learn more about me on my LinkedIN page … We’re building connections to “Reach out with Resources” for all families and those who work with families. Seeking specific resources – feel free to email me at Christi@MiFamilies.com and feel free to comment below about other topics you’d like our articles to include – oh and don’t forget to subscribe above for future articles. Thanks for reading this one!!!!
Tis the season for back 2 school subjects, study skills and test taking. In believing that these academic achievements mean nothing without a love of learning, Mi Families went inside classrooms to ask students what makes them like school. The number one reason – being with friends. Some students stated they enjoyed gym or art or other passion areas, but most talked about their relationships (even those experiencing negative relationships wanted to discuss conflict before classes). Research tell us that we learn how to relate to others during the early years, even before we head off to school. We build social and emotional skills as babies, toddlers, preschoolers … and most of these skills are learned through experience, yet for some these developmental skills need to be taught.
using a magnify glass to investigate expressions and features that are same/different
This week Mi Families daycare, “Adventure Academy,” went back to the basics on forming friendships and expressing emotions. Social skills and emotional development are learned together. You have to know how to read your friends feelings, you have to express your emotions properly, you have to learn how to be empathetic and relate within relationships… When one learns how to regulate their own emotions they learn how to navigate others feelings, they learn how to help others and learn to express their own needs. Expressing ones needs and interests is a very important piece to surviving the back 2 school season – and life. It’s what helps one develop goals and begin to love learning. After the student loves learning you can start to worry about study skills and test taking techniques. (Pictured below – the subject of feelings and friendships are best taught through life experiences and not worksheets, but MGT add ons for More Literacy and Math workbooks are fun for extending the topic. Click for larger / clearer image *)
In the last article I rambled about learning about others, by learning about oneself, and that is especially important when we are surrounded by relationships at school, home and around the community. Our identity helps us connect with others and define ourselves. This can be tricky with kids who need more direct lessons on those social / emotional puzzle pieces. This can be tricky when kids have to share space at school and home … We recently decided to make our boys share space, because Adventure Academy took over my husbands office area. He edits movies and other videos from home so he needs space to focus. Luckily the boys were excited about having a big-boy office with dad (while I use a lap top at the kitchen counter!). Although it’s not Pinterest worthy I made a lil’ video attempting to show how we utilized the small areas to encourage individuality and kept things organized, so they don’t have to share everything. Some would argue that sharing everything is important at home, but I understand that some materialistic items are special to my boys and they shouldn’t have to share (although it is nice to) and the sibling should learn to respect that and ask for permission before using the others things. You can see our set up in the video below.
It’s important to encourage a child’s unique identity. Pay attention to items that are special to him or her. Why is that item important? What do their interests say about them? Why do they not like other things ~ are they too challenging? Consider needs and abilities and how you can encourage them to interact with other activities, which are different then their favorite items. What emotions do they express while interacting with different items? Help them define those emotions and discuss emotional reactions. Teach them it’s ok to feel the way they feel about different activities and events, and that it’s good to express themselves so you and others know how to respond. Teach them how to respond and acknowledge others feelings.
This week Mother Goose Time provided some great tools for teaching children about emotions and expressions in their “Friends and Feelings” unit. We made and read books about feelings, ate face bagels and face pizzas, made crafts, played games, sang songs and danced around expressing ourselves. I’d say emotions were full of happy energy during most activities and I’d say the kids loved learning this week. They even learned some of those back 2 school skills some think is the most important part of school! Our basic skills included discussions of how colors and even shapes represent emotion, we talked about shapes in relation to geometry … Zero is a circle, 1 is a line … all numbers and letters are made up of lines and curves … we worked on letters, reading and writing … Below are a couple reading and writing videos showcased by my boys.
One of the nice aspects of the Mother Goose Time curriculum is that it’s adaptable to use with my babies and big kids. I simplify the activities for the littles, use as intended for the middles and expand the activities for the big kids. Although it’s developed for preschoolers, all ages (and parents) seem to like the program. We’re able to use it in combination with other programs, and it’s flexible to use in multiple ways within our routine. Also, the students love coming up with creative ways to use the materials on their own! It’s adaptable for various needs, however sometimes I need to get creative because of allergies – for example we couldn’t make the science squeeze activity because of a corn allergy so we used playdoh, but most things are easily worked around for my kids and those I work with. At the end of the day the kids are proud to show off their work and parents are pleased with the take home materials that allows them to see what their children do each day and provides them with ideas for extending lessons at home. I send home a binder each day which is a growing portfolio filled with resources, photos and projects, although some projects they’d rather bring home on their heads!
However they bring home their lessons I know they are loving learning at Adventure Academy. If you’d like your child to love learning consider enrolling in our educational child care program by contacting Christi@MiFamilies.com. If you’d like information about the Mother Goose Time curriculum contact my friends at www.MotherGooseTime.com. If you’d like to make friends with other parents and providers join our Facebook group. You can find more parents, providers and resources on our other social media pages (Twitter, LinkedIN, Pinterest…) and you can subscribe to our resourceful videos on our YouTube Channel. Here’s a resourceful video about how I prep for a busy day at Adventure Academy:
