"Wasting" Foil and Other Household Stuff

Joel apologized for wasting foil to make little nunchucks for himself and his siblings. He was hot glue gunning foil balls to the ends of yarn to make little weapons. Michael once apologized for using parchment paper like tracing paper so they could trace Pokemon figures and then cut them out and laminate them.

I don't see any of that as wasting because they are learning. They are being resourceful and making stuff and they are having fun.

I was sick some last week and we didn't get a whole lot of formal homeschooling done. So we "wasted" our week on stuff like this:

• The kids set up little stores and sold stuff to each other (math, economics, handwriting, spelling).
• They had a friend stay the night (social).
• They got to play at a church with an indoor gym and outdoor play area (physical education).
• We had dinner at a friend's house twice (manners, social).
• Daddy was in Wyoming (geography).
• They made these oil/water/salt/food coloring lava lamps (science).
• They got to see the Marching Cobras at Callie's Upward Cheer celebration (music appreciation).
• They gave to a food drive at the celebration (altruism).

Oh, and Joel read a lot. So the week was NOT a total bust! On to the next ...

Teaching Kids to Read

I love love love seeing my kids sitting around reading for pleasure! As a homeschooling mom, I didn't push reading like a crazy person. With Joel, we tried "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and HATED IT! I threw it across the room in frustration. It did not work for either Joel or Michael. Instead, I like to make sure they recognize their letters FIRST, then know the SOUNDS that go with the letters. Then they can sound out words. After that, we cover sight words and weird rules as they come up.

Joel just read The Hunger Games and loved it. Michael likes Calvin and Hobbes. Hey, comics still count as reading!

Some people are mean about WHEN a kid learns to read. Does it matter, if you are homeschooled and there is nobody to make fun of you? I think not. I'd rather NOT push my kids and then have them ENJOY reading instead of PUSH them for my OWN benefit and then watch them hate it and struggle along. That's just me. I don't feel the need to compete with other parents. I know we rock.

 My baby is so cute when he snuggles up with a book! He used to hate reading, and I tried all sorts of genres on him to get him to read. Then he saw me reading The Hunger Games and asked about it. I decided to let him check it out. No nightmares, and he read it within a week. Ah, the value of a good book.

This is a sight I will sorely miss someday: my boys quietly reading in our family room. Maybe someday I'll have ALL my kids reading in the family room together, alongside Aron and I!

What are YOU reading today?

Cleaning With Kids/I'm in Cincy Parent & Indy's Child!!!

I'm so excited! I wrote an original piece for Cincinnati Parent and Indy's Child called Making Housework a Family Affair and it's online (click on the article title) and out in the magazines. This was a piece I had been working on for years, so when the editor contacted me to see if I had something with this title, I knew it was time to get off my butt and write the thing.

So do you think making kids do housework is bad? Did you do chores when you were a kid?

Next assignment for them = Teen Dating. So if you live in Cincinnati or Indianapolis or know someone who does, please send them my way at mommykerrie at yahoo dot com so I can interview them about navigating the teen dating waters.

Sam Post: I Like Cake (the Band)

So I discovered this rockin' band called Cake. I like the song Going the Distance. But I did some chores for my mom recently to pay for the $1 downlad of the remake of I Will Survive. It's from the 70s, which is a looooong time ago. My dad likes the original best, but my mom likes the newer version.

I like to pop in my earbuds and rock out on Mommy's laptop. My mom grew up around a lot of music: her mom always had cool mix tapes in her car made by her dad, and her dad always played cool records around the house. They always had good music in their van (NOT a minivan!) and her dad would play leg guitar (you know, when somebody plays guitar  on their leg with one hand while they drive with the other.)

They didn't have seatbelts in big ole vans back then so my mom spent many hours on the floor of the van watching her dad play leg guitar to Led Zeppelin and The Who and The Beatles while her mom would journal in a notebook. Mom tells me stories and stuff.

Oh, that's part of my sister Eva in the picture ... she and I are besties. We get in SOO much trouble together and like it when Mom's face turns red because she knows she should spank our butts red but instead her face gets red and she shoos us out of the vicinity of the mess.

So to all my fans, what's your favorite song or memory of childhood/your parents? I promise I will comment back to you in the comments section!

The Kerrie Show Theme Song of the Week

April
Surrender by Cheap Trick

May
I'm Goin' Home by Chris Daughtry
Get Your A** Back Home by Gym Class Heroes