Author: Kristen Blanchard

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Coloring Sheet Series

Kristen Blanchard

Welcome back!! Today is day 2 of my coloring sheet series. I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s pages as much as I enjoyed making them.

It took me a bit of time to decide on my next coloring pages. There are so many things that I can draw for you to enjoy. I was looking back on some of the art projects that my family has done as we have been doing homeschool. Boy are there a lot of them! I made the decision to share two of my favorites so far. I’m sure there will be many more favorites as this series continues.

coloring sheet series: Matryoshka

This one is in honor of Mother’s Day coming up. I know it’s a little early but who says it’s ever too early to celebrate mothers? I mean we are pretty amazing right?! This little cutie is a Matryoshka doll. When we were doing a social studies section on Russia I drew a few of these in different sizes so that my daughters could color them in and also “nest them” behind each other. They loved it and actually still play with them from time to time as they come across where they “stored them for safe keeping”.

Coloring sheet series: Farm

For the kiddos, I decided to recreate the farm that I made the other day so that I could scan it and post it for others to enjoy. Farm animals are always cute and fun to color, especially for the little ones who are learning about their animals.

I hope you enjoy day 2 of my coloring sheet series. These are so much fun to create and share with all of you. If you are having fun with these daily sheets or would like to recommend something specific, please let me know so I can make it happen. Happy coloring!

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Coloring Sheet Of The Day

Kristen Blanchard

Hi there! Welcome to my coloring sheet of the day series. I recently posted a picture of a coloring sheet I made for one of my daughters. She asked me to make a farm so she could color it in. Being the artistic person I feel like I am, I decided to take on the challenge. It was quick and fun to make….but she ended up not wanting to “mess it up” so she chose not to color it in. I felt like I wasted a bunch of time, but it made her happy to look at so it was worth it.

After I posted it online, a few of my friends suggested that I had scanned it instead of just taking a picture. So, here we are today. I made two coloring sheets. One for the kiddos and one for the parents. I personally love to color with my kids, but I do get tired of coloring in Disney characters and childish things. I figured if I feel that way some of you must feel that way also.

Coloring sheet of the day rocket

This little guy in the rocket was for my son. Yes he’s only 2 years old but he loves to color with us as well. He actually has some pretty creative ideas when it comes to things to draw for him to color in. Once while we were having dinner we came up with a crocodile in a top hat with a mustache. It was very cute and my son carried that picture around with him for a few days.

Coloring sheet of the day mandala

This one is for the adults…or if you have older children who might enjoy it. I absolutely love to draw mandalas. They are so relaxing and fun. I just draw whatever comes to mind and let my creativity take over. They are so pretty and after just a short while you have something that has blossomed like a flower. I hope you all enjoy this coloring sheet of the day as much as my family did. If you like these or want more, feel free to leave me a comment below. If you leave a specific idea I’ll try my best to draw something for you. Happy coloring!

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Homeschool

Spirit Week For Homeschool

Kristen Blanchard

When it was time to return to school a few weeks ago my kids were, for a lack of a better word “depressed”. They wished that we could be on vacation forever. I totally understand the feeling but life must go on. Our first week back was pretty difficult. We were all feeling a little down and it was hard to get into our routine. I decided that for our next week we needed to do something fun to make us feel excited about school again. I looked back to when I had gone to school and one of the most fun things I remembered was spirit week. Getting to dress up and feel excited to go to school and see what everyone else had chosen to wear. So, we chose to do spirit week for homeschool.

I used this time to involve the kids in the decisions of what each day’s theme would be. This way they were able to feel included and also more excited about the outfits they would get to wear throughout the week. We talked about themes they could choose like: beach day, crazy sock day, inside out day, and a lot more. Here are the themes that we chose.

Monday: Crazy Hair Day

When my oldest daughter had gone to TK at public school they had a spirit week and her favorite day was crazy hair day. So of course we had to include this in our spirit week for homeschool! It was a lot of fun. I like to do my daughter’s hair but most of the time she likes to wear it down so I don’t get to play with it as much as I used to. This gave me a reason that she was excited about to get her hair done. She decided that she wanted 3 ponytails with lots of bows. My younger daughter told me she wanted a mohawk so I gave her little “buns” going down the middle of her head. She felt like Rae from Star Wars and loved to wear it the whole day.

Spirit Week For Homeschool

Tuesday: Princess Day

My younger daughter loves to pretend to be a princess regularly (she even talks with a slight accent and more proper), but when she had the opportunity to dress up like one at school she was thrilled. We found their fanciest dresses and dug into their dress up box to find tiaras, gloves, necklaces and bracelets. They went all out and even found some toy high heels. Of course about an hour into school all of the accessories came off and they just had fancy dresses on, but they had been so excited to start the day and were more eager to focus on school.

Wednesday: Favorite Character Day

Originally the girls wanted to dress like warriors on this day but I really don’t have many clothes or even dress up items that would work to be a warrior (other than my older daughter’s Wonder Woman costume). Since we couldn’t find enough for both of them to be warriors, we switched it to favorite character day. My older daughter chose Wonder Woman and my younger daughter chose Elsa from Frozen. They dressed up in their Halloween costumes from a few years ago and enjoyed their day playing out their characters when we weren’t busy with school.

Thursday: Mismatch Day

As we got closer to the end of the week the girls weren’t sure what to do next. We had a Zoom meeting with our teaching consultant and I told her about our theme for the week. She suggested that we do a mismatch day. When the girls heard this idea they loved it. My younger daughter loves to mismatch anyway so this was right up her alley. We did green floral shorts with pink unicorn leggings underneath and blue camouflage top for my oldest. And we did long black and green striped socks, pink shorts and a teal polka dot top for my youngest. It was fun…because who needs to match anyway?

Friday: Free Day

Friday we decided that they could wear whatever they wanted to school. One chose pajamas and the other chose a pretty dress. They were both happy and comfortable and willing to put in the effort for school.

Take Away From Our Spirit Week For Homeschool

We learned that sometimes you just need to have some fun. Life gets so busy with what we “need” to do…deadlines to meet, things to learn, meals to cook, that we forget to just relax and do something for ourselves. Taking the week to be a kid, at least with what we wore was much needed after the relaxing break and being forced back into the seriousness of real life again.

Spirit Week For Homeschool

If any of you are struggling with getting your kids motivated for school, consider taking a step back and remembering some of the fun things you used to do in school. What are some of those that you can bring to your children? Let’s remember that kids are kids and while they do need routine and structure, they also need variety and stimulation. For us, our spirit week for homeschool was just what we needed.

Let me know if you have tried anything to break up the same old routine. Or if you have any suggestions for fun activities to motivate your children.

Homeschool

Learning About Different Countries

Kristen Blanchard

Social studies has many different areas that can be covered. One of our favorite things in social studies is learning about different countries. Often times we read a book for Language Arts that takes place in another country and we decide to make our week of social studies based on the country we read about.

Depending on the number of days you choose to do Social Studies, you can break this lesson into 3 or 5 days. We typically do 3 because they are so young, but I do like to try and incorporate something from the country each day even if we aren’t going in too much in depth. Here’s a little bit of what a typical week of learning about different countries looks like in our house.

Monday- Pick Our Country

We begin our book (usually a Five in a Row curriculum book). We discover the country that our story takes place in and we learn about the country in relation to where we live in California. This gives the kiddos a small idea of where things are and how far away they might be.

I like to give the kids a map of the country that they can color, as well as a picture of the country’s flag. We talk a little bit about the flag and why they chose the colors or design and what special meaning the flag has. We also talk about which continent the country is on and make observations of whether the country is surrounded by land, sea, or a combination of both.

A little something I like to add in are a few words from the country we are studying. We’ve learned a few French, Japanese, Swahili, and Spanish words as the weeks have gone by. Each time the kids find it fun to say and sometimes they even say the words to me later in the day after school is over.

Tuesday/Wednesday

I like to continue our lesson with a bit of culture from the country we are learning. For example, we might learn about the clothes that men and women traditionally wear in these countries. Also what types of jobs they hold, special holidays or festivals and what types of food they eat. We also go over our words throughout the week so that they have a chance to actually remember the word for more than a day.

I think the most fun they have had so far is learning about the clothes and the types of food that other people eat. It’s also been interesting for them to learn that some people eat with different utensils like chopsticks or sometimes even their fingers.

Thursday

I like to come to the end of the week with some fun ideas to break up the seriousness of school. During our week of learning about different countries, I like to include some type of art work. Whether that be painting the types of animals that are found in that country or making a piece of art or jewelry like what you might find in that country.

When we studied Japan we painted a picture of Japanese cherry blossoms, when we studied Mexico we colored sugar skulls and when we studied Kenya we painted a picture of our favorite animal from there.

Learning About Different Countries

Friday

Fridays are my absolute favorite day of the school week. Not only because it’s Friday and the week is almost over, but because I LOVE to cook and bake and we make food from the country we studied that week. When we studied Mexico we made Pan Dulce, when we studied Sri Lanka we made curry and rice, and when we studied Japan we made sushi.

Learning About Different Countries

Not only does this count for social studies, but we get to add math into the lesson because we have to measure our ingredients. This past week I also included a Language Arts lesson. Because the dish called for special ingredients, we had to make a list of many different items and when we went shopping I had her look at the labels of the different items to find the things that we needed. It was fun for her and almost like a scavenger hunt at the grocery store. Who knew grocery shopping could be so much fun? I wish it was like that every time I went.

Learning About Different Countries

The kids help as much as they are able to with measuring and mixing and then most of the time they love to eat what they made. My oldest daughter loved the Pan Dulce we made when we learned about Mexico. So much in fact that she requested it as one of her sweets for her birthday.

Sometimes however, they don’t like the food as much…we made the curry for Sri Lanka a little too spicy and the girls tried it but said it was too hot for them. Not to worry though, at least they are trying everything they make which opens them up to different cultures, foods and experiences.

Lessons Learned

Not only do my kids learn about new cultures and countries, but so do I. I tend to teach my children a simpler version that is easier to understand but I like to go into more detail about the country’s history. It has been fun to research and begin to try and understand different people. They may not understand everything fully, but learning about different countries and being exposed to different experiences early on will help them to be more accepting and knowledgeable in the future.

This year I really wanted my kids to learn about the world around them. I wanted them to see that there are other cultures and that it’s ok for people to be different than they are. People they will meet throughout their lives will have different backgrounds and it is important for us to embrace our differences and come together. Remember to have fun with your kiddos and enjoy exploring the world together from the safety of your own home.

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Encourage Positive Behavior

Kristen Blanchard

It seems like, and I have read this before, that children simply want attention. Whether it is positive or negative. We are the ones who determine their behavior. If we only pay attention to our children when something bad happens, it reinforces that negative behavior. Similarly, if we praise our children when doing something good or give them attention just because they ask nicely to play with us, we encourage positive behavior.

Now that doesn’t mean that you should give them your attention 100% throughout the day. Of course there are other things that need to be done. But it does mean that we should be giving them attention in a healthy and positive way.

Someone recently asked me how I get all three of my children to sit still and behave while at a restaurant. I had never really given it much thought. I mean my kids are generally well behaved and do as I ask. It got me thinking, what is it that I do that makes my children act properly when out in public? Here is what I came up with on how to encourage positive behavior.

Encourage Positive Behavior

Treat Your Children Like Tiny Adults

This may sound strange to some, but from the day each of my children were born I have treated them like tiny adults. I never baby talked to my kids or treated them like they were insignificant or lesser than an adult. When they ask me questions I answer them with honesty and a real answer. Not “because” or “I said so”. I have found that it helps them to feel included and when you give them a solid answer and they don’t keep asking “why?”

Have Well Defined Boundaries and Follow Through

Letting your child be a free spirit can be fun and even necessary at times. But, the majority of the time children need to know what behaviors are good and bad. A very simple example is that hitting is bad and sharing is good. In addition, children need to know that there will be consequences for their actions and that you will follow through.

What I mean by following through is that if you tell your child that you will do something, do it! If you warned them that you would take away their toy if they don’t stop fighting, take the toy away. Or if you tell your child that they will go into time out, put them into time out. It lets your child know that you mean business and that what you said is non negotiable. They learn that when mommy or daddy says stop that they better listen or a negative outcome will happen.

Following through in a positive way is important also. If you say that you will go to the park, go to the park…the same day. Or if you said you would color with them, take the time out to color. This helps your child to know that you will follow through no matter what. Having more positive experiences with parents than negative ones will in turn encourage positive behavior in the future.

Having boundaries and following through are absolute necessities in my book. This is one of the ways I encourage positive behavior in my children.

Give Your Children Positive Reinforcement

As my children have been growing and learning I have made it a goal of mine to promote positive behavior. During the terrible twos and the temper tantrums they bring I didn’t argue or yell with my children when they misbehaved, I simply ignored them. Or if it was really bad they would go into time out. I would talk to them and tell them why they were in time out and let them know that when they were done we could start playing again. That may sound horrible, but when they didn’t get a reaction out of me they learned that they didn’t like it and changed their behavior.

When my children made and still do make good choices I encourage them and compliment them. I tell them they have done a good job or that what they did was kind and that we should always try to do that. I also make it a goal of mine to make time for them each day. Even though life is busy and I feel swamped a lot of the time, when they ask to play with me I know that I can sacrifice some of my time toward another task to make sure that they are getting the positive attention they deserve. This way they don’t act out in order for me to give them negative attention.

Encourage Positive Behavior with a Routine

I’ve said this before in another post, but routine is so important for children. When my kids were much younger the only routine I really had was the time we woke up, lunch, dinner and bed. Even with this simplistic routine, it has helped them to have stability and to know that certain things are going to happen the same way each day.

The most important of our routines in my opinion is our bedtime routine. This is where we always spend quality time together even if the day has been nuts. Every night around 7:30pm we get ready for bed. This includes bath, pajamas, brushing teeth, and then our favorite…story time. We head to the bedroom and I let each child pick a book to read. Then we read, get tucked in, pray and say goodnight. We do this every night no matter what. Some nights we cut it down to 1 longer story depending on the circumstances. Even so, I always make sure to keep our nightly routine the same. My kids go to bed feeling happy and safe and warm and that is an amazing feeling.

Give Your Children Options

Giving your children options helps them with decision making skills. Not too many choices though. When they are very little you can have them choose between two options and as they grow you can increase that number. I would still try to keep the choices between no more than 4 as they get older. Too many choices can be frustrating, even to adults.

From the time my kids could understand and respond to questions I asked I would give them choices. Something even as small as the color of plate they had for lunch. Now, they get to choose things like the clothes that they wear, how their hair is done for the day, and who gets to do what chore.

They also have choices when it comes to the way we approach dealing with conflict. For example, if my children are fighting over a toy I tell them to stop. If they continue, I give them a warning and a choice. I let them know that they can solve the problem amongst themselves or that the toy will have to be put away for later. More often than not, they choose to solve the problem on their own. This also helps them to identify the problem they are having and how to solve it without the penalty of losing the toy.

Final Notes to Encourage Positive Behavior

These tips or tricks aren’t guaranteed to give you well behaved children. This is just what works for our family. My children are definitely not well behaved all the time. But they do know what is expected of them when we go out. We understand each other and communicate rather than getting frustrated or whining at each other.

There isn’t a one size fits all way to parenting. We wouldn’t have all the uniqueness in the world if there was. Simply giving our children the attention they need and deserve now can save us from having to correct behavior in the future. Having a healthy foundation of love, support and patience with our children will encourage positive behavior. Remember that we are in this together. So don’t forget to breathe and enjoy the journey.

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Teaching Kids About Science

Kristen Blanchard

The basis of science is observing and recording those observations. Sometimes we perform experiments and make a hypothesis about what the results may be. But if you have young children, teaching them about the scientific method may be challenging. An easy and fun way to begin teaching kids about science is to teach them about making and recording their observations.

A fun science project I like to do with my kids is make an observation journal. At the beginning of “quarantine” or the shut down of school, I made a few of these observation journals for my daughters. We made one for birds, plant germination, and measurements. They loved it so much that it is something I have decided to continue. These are also great for younger kids who can draw but not write yet.

How to make an observation journal

All you need to make these journals is:

  • Stapler
  • A few sheets of blank printer paper
  • 1 piece of construction paper

Once you’ve gathered your materials, fold the printer and construction papers in half (hamburger style) and staple them where the binding of a book would be. Viola! You’re done. All you have to do now is decide what you’d like to observe and record.

5 Senses Nature Journal

We recently read the book Who Owns The Sun by Stacy Chbosky. In it there is great use of imagery and many places where she writes about the senses. As a way to incorporate a science lesson into our learning we made a 5 Senses nature journal.

Not only was this a fun experiment, it also helped us get our exercise for the day as we were out walking and running around for about an hour.

Inside the journal I wrote a header for each page. I see…, I hear…, I feel…, I smell… and I taste…(that was a little challenging).

Before we started our nature walk we discussed the 5 senses and what each is. I let them know that they should pay close attention to all the things that they would see and hear along the way. I also let them know that if they saw something that they wanted to touch that they should go feel it and make a note of the texture as well as see if it has any smell.

We started our walk and I had them close their eyes and tell me what they heard. They told me they heard dogs barking, birds chirping, and sirens from a police car. While their eyes were closed I also had them tell me what they felt. They first told me that they felt the paper in their hands but I asked them what they felt without using their hands. They told me they felt the wind and the sun. It was fun to get them to use their senses in a different way than they are used to.

Once we made a few observations we stopped and recorded them. My younger daughter just turned 4 and is learning to write so I had her draw pictures of what she observed and I wrote down what she told me. My older daughter recently turned 6 and is very good at writing. I had her draw pictures as well as write down the things that she observed. We continued to make observations as we walked to the park near our house

Finding something to taste was the hardest part. I wanted them to taste things, but probably not grass or dirt. Even though they have had their fair share of these in the past. When we went to the park we found a huge Bur Oak tree. After doing some research I found out that all acorns are edible, but you can only eat them raw in small amounts because they have a large amount of tannins which are an anti-nutrient to humans. I also found out that if you “leach” them you can either eat them or use them to cook with. Who knew I would learn something while teaching kids about science?

I decided to try and leach them but that didn’t turn out well at all. So I tossed them and we decided to search for something edible in our back yard. One plant that most people see as a “weed” but is actually edible is the common mallow plant or cheese weed (because the fruit looks like wheels of cheese). Here is a great article about the plant and it’s uses. Because all parts of the plant are edible and there were no flowers or fruit at this time of year, we harvested some of the young leaves from the mallow that grow very well in our yard. We washed them and recorded our observations.

Both of my daughters and I tried the mallow plant leaves. My younger daughter tried it and immediately spit it out (she doesn’t like vegetables very much). My older daughter tried it and loved it. She told me she could eat them all day. They are actually quite mild tasting and my older daughter described them as sweet. As we were using our senses with the mallow root, I talked a little bit about the plant and what it has been used for in the past. Did you know that Native Americans used to use the mallow plant as a poultice for wounds and also as a laxative? I had no idea that a plant in my backyard had such an interesting history.

I love these observation journals because they are so simple and most of the time the things you choose to observe are inexpensive or free. Teaching kids about science is so much fun. Doing it in an interactive way is even more fun. This simple project gets everyone involved and learning new things. When we encourage learning through play, our children are more likely to want to learn and to retain more information. So get out there and explore with your little ones and remember to have fun!

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3 Tips to Raise Little Leaders

Kristen Blanchard
Leadership is not wielding authority — it is empowering people.

We have all heard the phrase “children are like sponges” and it is so true. From such an early age they watch and mimic our actions. Because of this, it is important to pay attention to the style of leadership they are being instilled with. We’ve all experienced leaders that we either loved or hated and who have made an impression on us whether it was good or bad. Chances are that you’ve made a mental note or two about how not to lead. What about what it takes to be a good leader? Keep reading to find out my 3 tips to raise little leaders.

It recently came to my attention that I have a leader on my hands. My oldest daughter loves to take control of nearly every situation that she is able to. From deciding what game to play with her sister, how to organize their bedroom or even how to help with chores. Somehow she always manages to get her way. Occasionally there is a disagreement but for the most part things tend to resolve themselves.

Since I’ve noticed my older daughter “bossing” everyone around, I’ve made it a goal to try and show her what it takes to be a good leader. Here are my 3 tips to raise little leaders.

Lead By Example

First and foremost I think a great quality in a leader is to lead by example. Act the way that you would like for those you are leading to act. It doesn’t do any good to tell someone to do something you would not be willing to do yourself.

I find my older two struggling with this occasionally. For example one will take a toy the other has had and be quite rude about it. They will start to argue and one or both of them end up in tears. I use this moment to teach them that they need to treat others the way they want to be treated. The main reason for this is that you are teaching others how to treat you. If you steal a toy, they will in turn steal from you. If you share, play or work together, they will be more willing and likely to share and play or work together in the future.

Teach Rather Than Tell

Second would be to teach rather than to tell. It is in our nature to want to to be right whether or not that is the case. I have yet to meet anyone who enjoyed being told they were wrong. It is important to correct mistakes with kindness. To show them your expectation and to do so with respect. People are much more likely to listen if they are treated with respect and understanding.

When my younger daughter decided to start learning how to build LEGOs she asked her sister for help. But being only a few years older, she misunderstands the word help for “please build this for me”. I noticed my younger daughter getting frustrated so I encouraged my older daughter to “teach” her sister how to build the LEGO rather than to do it for her. Now when they get a new LEGO set they build them together and have fun playing with them for hours after.

Don’t Suppress Their Urge To Lead

Finally, don’t suppress their urge to lead. I know that it can be challenging to have a strong willed child. Many of us feel that it’s “my way or the highway” and want them to comply to our rules. Here comes the part where we have to think about the leadership style we are instilling. Are we going to be strict and force them to do everything our way? Or are we going to let them have some freedoms to learn and to lead in their own ways.

By no means am I telling you to let your child have free reign or control over your house. It’s more that we need to understand that we were them once. Exploring the world around us and seeing where we fit in the world. We should allow them to do the same. Most definitely have boundaries that you do not allow them to cross, but have some flexibility when it comes to things you are butting heads on.

For example, in my house I like to be in control and always thought that I would run a tight ship and things would be perfect all of the time…boy was I wrong. Once my daughters got old enough to think freely and question the things that I do I realized that I would have to lighten up…a lot. It is less important to me to have strict order in the house, but rather to have children who can and do think for themselves. Children who question everything and want to learn the reasons behind why we do things. Children who will eventually be able to care for themselves and hopefully one day when I am old and frail they will take care of me.

We as parents are as my father likes to say “social engineers”. We teach our children how to be in our society. How to think, act, and treat others. So keep these 3 tips to raise little leaders in mind while you’re raising your little ones. Teach them to use their leadership skills for the better. Above all else, remember to breathe and know that you will make it through this stage in life and so will they.

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Traveling During School

Kristen Blanchard

We have been doing some traveling lately and normally that would be a hard thing to do during a school year. Thankfully we’ve chosen to home school our children during this challenging time. I have to say it’s been quite wonderful, especially given the fact that we made an impromptu trip to Southern California. Here is how we dealt with traveling during school.

We decided to travel to Southern California last month for a few days. Just enough time to get away and be together as a family. However, we would be returning home on Columbus Day, a Monday, which we did not have off of school. So instead of skipping school I packed it with us.

If you haven’t read my previous post Top 5 Tips for Homeschool you should check it out. In there I have the 5 things that have helped me with this homeschool adventure so far. Among the post you’ll find an organizing solution that helped me so much while we were traveling during school.

Having a few days to plan out our trip, I made a lesson plan that would incorporate Columbus Day and be interactive for my kids to stay busy on the long drive home. Inside of our storage containers for school I made sure that they each had pencils, crayons, extra paper and their workbooks that would be necessary for their lessons. I also made a small notebook that they would use to make their own map for our journey home.

Routine is so important to children. It gives them a sense of stability. Because even in this uncertain time, they can count on some things being the same or similar day after day. Even though we happened to be traveling, I kept up with our routine and tried to make school on the road similar to how we do it at home.

We started the day off with an introduction to Columbus and why it’s a day that is recognized. After that I made it more interesting for them and we discussed the topic of explorers. I had them grab their notebook and I asked them what things they think an explorer might be looking for on their travels. We made topics on each page like: miles to home, landscape, wildlife, and stops made along the way.

This was done by my 3 year old.

We drew the state of California and charted a course for home. Next we used a map to find out the number of miles it would take for us to get there. Then we moved on to Language Arts until it was time to head home. One of the things we like to do for Language Arts is to draw a picture and write about it. The cool thing about vacation, or traveling during school, is that that there are so many things that you’ve done that you can draw and write about.

My older daughter loved the driving that we did. She drew a picture of our family in the car…it wasn’t quite realistic with a different compartment for each person. When I asked her about it she said “It’s my imaginary mom!”. You know what? I’ll take it. I’m glad she could incorporate her imagination into our trip. My younger daughter loved the beach so she drew her and myself at the beach. I’m pretty sure one of us was a mermaid. It was too cute.

After a while we headed home and began our explorer journals. As we were driving I had them look out the windows and tell me what they saw. They recorded it in their journals and labeled them. I also had them record each stop that we made. We looked at our map to see how many miles we had gone and how many we had left to go. We also tried to find one “cool” thing at each stop. Their favorite was finding dog paw prints in some mud. Of course we had to draw and label it as well.

We all had so much fun traveling during school. The kids felt like explorers and they were very entertained on the ride home which helps everyone. They were engaged for most of the drive and genuinely curious about the world around them. Our girls had so many questions about the things they saw. Thankfully we were able to answer them…I’m sure one of these days they will have some harder ones for us that we might have to look up.

Overall, I’d say that traveling during school was successful for our family. I was able to plan ahead to be able to bring the things that we needed and to make a fun and engaging activity that incorporated most of our subjects into one easy activity. I think the key to handling homeschool is to have fun with it. We have so many more opportunities than traditional school and we have the ability to really engage with our children and make a difference in the way that they learn. If your children see you enjoying the process of teaching, more than likely, they will enjoy the process of learning because you’ll both be having fun.

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Earthquake Experiment

Kristen Blanchard

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? I have only been in a very mild one in Southern California. It felt like I was dizzy and the room was spinning. It lasted for a very short time and was over almost as quickly as it began. Imagine being in a severe earthquake where your whole house shakes or buildings topple over. That would not be a pleasant experience. But because we live in California and earthquakes are a very real possibility where we are, I thought that an earthquake experiment would be a great activity for my kids.

Not only does this experiment give us the opportunity for education about the surface of the Earth and the way it moves, but it also gives us the opportunity to learn about earthquake safety and what to do if we ever experience one.

To perform the experiment you will need:

-Jello

-Cookie sheet with edges or shallow baking dish

-LEGOs or other blocks for building structures

Step 1:

Make the Jello and place it into the cookie sheet with edges or a shallow baking dish to set.

This thin layer of Jello will act as the Tectonic plates on the Earth’s crust that move. It is important to try and give the Jello a level surface in your fridge to set otherwise the block structures that you make may have a harder time standing on their own.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make the Jello the day before you plan to do the earthquake experiment. It takes several hours for Jello to set.

Step 2:

Create an example model for your kids.

Make a tall and somewhat narrow building. This will allow the jiggling Jello to knock over the building with ease.

We chose to use our math manipulative blocks to make our structures.

Step 3:

Place your building in the center of your Jello. If you haven’t already, this is a great time to discuss with your child about the Tectonic plates in the Earth and the different ways that they can move.

Next have your child shake the container of Jello until the building falls. They will have so much fun with this part!

Step 4:

Have your child make their own building that is different from yours and try it out in the Jello to see how stable their structure is.

During this time of your children experimenting with their own structures, it is a good idea to explain what makes buildings stable (foundation, reinforced beams and pillars, center of gravity, etc.) if they are old enough to understand these concepts. If they are younger you might want to talk about what stability means and what you can do to make things more stable.

This was especially fun for my older daughter. She loves LEGOs and building anything she can get her hands on. When I gave her the task of making her own building, she chose to make a bridge. Her first attempt was too narrow with not enough support on the bottom and it fell over almost immediately. I asked her thoughts on why it failed to stand then gave her some additional information about stability. She had the chance to make adjustments and try again. The next attempt she made was much more stable and actually was not able to be knocked over by the Jello.

My younger daughter made a really tall and narrow building with a flat base that fell over almost immediately as well. I explained what can happen if there is too much weight at the top of a building. When she had the chance to make adjustments, she made a very short and wide building. When it was time to test it in the Jello her structure remained standing.

Once you’ve finished with the earthquake experiment it would be a good time to brush up on what to do in case of an earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey has some good information about what to do in this situation. After introducing the idea to your kids you can make it as fun as possible by acting out an earthquake and taking the appropriate actions to take to keep everyone safe.

We all had so much fun with this earthquake experiment. My girls learned about the Earth’s surface, movement, stability, and gravity all while “playing”. They were so proud of themselves for being able to fix the issues in their buildings and actually have them work out. It was such a great learning experience for them and something that I think will be memorable as well.

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Tornado In A Jar

Kristen Blanchard

Have you ever seen a video or photo of a tornado? They are so beautiful but so very dangerous. If you can’t go out and observe a tornado, how do you teach your children about one safely? You make a tornado a jar of course.

This experiment is so much fun and very affordable. All you have to do is look around your house for these items and you’ll be making a tornado in no time.

Materials:

1 L bottle or a large glass jar

Water

Liquid Dish Soap

Food coloring

I tried this experiment a few times with different materials before I settled on the best things to make the clearest looking tornado to observe inside your jar.

If your child is old enough, allow them to help you with the steps. If they aren’t, they will have just as much fun watching you do it.

Step 1:

If you are using a 1 L bottle take off the label so that you can see clearly through the bottle.

If you are using glass make sure it’s clear so that you can see what is happening.

Step 2:

Fill the bottle 2/3 to 3/4 full of water.

Step 3:

Add 1 drop of liquid dish soap and 1 to 2 drops of food coloring of your choice (this gives good contrast so you can see the tornado more clearly).

Step 4:

Place the lid back on the bottle or jar and make sure it is on tight!

Step 5:

Swirl the bottle around as quickly as you can to make a large vortex.

Depending on how old your children are, you can choose to have just a fun experiment for them to see, or you can go further into the science behind wind. How there are currents, pressure systems, and even how flour mills were once powered by wind.

Finally, enjoy watching your little one’s amazement as they watch the water swirl around. I did this with my little ones and they were in awe. It was priceless.