Building a science display takes time. The process of building the display also takes up a lot of room and can disrupt the pattern of daily schedules for a number of weeks. What is the value of a science display, considering that you might only display it once? I suppose that if you view a science display as an ‘extra’ – a thing that you have to go out of your way to do – then its value may equal that of an increased burden. Alternately, if you view a science display as an assembly of summarized learning, together with supporting devices, then its value becomes… invaluable!
From the eyes of a child, they often see what is directly in front of them, and learn through experience. It is up to us as parents to enlighten our child’s perspective and to educate them about life in both future and present tense. It is important to highlight other cultures within this globe. One year, when my children were in the elementary school years, we met up with friends in our neighborhood and studied different countries. We made this into an educational co-op led by moms. We would meet once a week and read about what other children experienced in their lives. Details such as clothes they wore and games that they played. We also read together and made a dish from the country we were studying. This was a dinner so that the dads could be included too. It was a neat experience on many levels; it helped them to respect these new things through food, games, friendships, and laughter.
I found this Around the World Lesson Plan (posted below) and just love how it breaks down the way in which you could implement any culture. We would often start with studying our own heritage and then move on to our friends’ or neighbors’ heritage.
Often, we fear what we don’t know. When I first did my Special Needs training, I feared not knowing how to interact with a child who had specific needs. But once I was educated and trained, the fear disappeared. Just like another child can dress differently or eat different foods, that can seem strange to our own child until they learn or experience for themselves. Children are so inspiring as they are often very slow to judge someone who is different from them. They may stare at them, but it usually has to do with having a sense of curiosity more than anything else.
Education doesn’t have to be complex, and it doesn’t necessarily have to take up a lot of time. My goal every year is that our sons continue to love learning. And the rationale behind having a lesson plan with a stem activity, fine motor, creative gross motor etc.…. is so that they have a fully enriched learning experience. You could study a country every day or even every week. You could even just study one a month. That is the beauty of home education: it’s whatever works for you, your child, and your family.
Just like the song says, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” We are called to love one another. And if we can’t travel the world, then we just need to bring the world to our house.
It should be noted that some solutions for signing a PDF are about putting your actual, visual signature (or something that is good enough to be one) on the file, while others are about adding a digital "signature" in a different sense to the file to show that it was you who signed it. Sometimes one or the other is what's needed and you'll want to make sure you've picked the right one.
On computers
While Adobe Reader might be treated as an industry standard, there are other options.
- Foxit has a free reader with signing capability.
- On macOS, the built-in Preview app, which is the default app for opening a PDF file, has an option add visual signatures and few handy ways to create them that are easier than clicking and dragging with your mouse.
- Open the file
- In the menu bar, go Tools > Annotate > Signature.
- From there you can pick an existing signture, or add a new one with a simple webcam scanning process to digitise one written on paper, or finger-draw one on the laptop trackpad or a connected phone. (This is also where you'd remove existing saved signatures.)
On mobile phones & tablets
Here are a few suggested apps for filling out and signing PDF documents while on the go!
iOS
- pdfFiller
- PDF Expert (a bit more advanced/complicated)
Android:
- DocuSign
- Adobe Scan (thanks Peter!)
Homeschool Freedom (AND Fun) in the Summer
I must admit I love the freedom of home schooling at any time of the year, but home school freedom in the summer time is especially sweet.
After a long home school year of planning, home schooling and meeting our goals, I (and the girls) appreciated a break from academics during the summer months.
Many years, I had a Summer Binder and I would make a plan for each week. I made a list of activities I thought the kids would enjoy and spaced them out through the summer months.
Having activities listed on a calendar in my Summer Binder always made it easier for me to get things done. Sometimes we would do one activity a day – other times, there would be an activity for the morning and another one for the afternoon. I had family readalouds, nature walks, fun baking ideas, crafts, games, and more listed down. We never got all of them accomplished, but if I needed an idea, it was there. (And I reused it from year to year!)
A few years, we even had a Summer Fun Afternoon where we invited extra kids to join us for fun water games, a pinata, snacks and prizes one day. The kids LOVED that. (AND I almost always did childcare through the Summer!)
We also went swimming every summer weekday afternoon for two or three years AND hosted Japanese Exchange Students for four or five summers, too. (I loved hosting Japanese Students. We got a closer look into their culture and life, while they got a close look into Canadian culture and life. Some girls were easier to host than others, but it was always a great family extra to do in the summer times. *ALTHOUGH perhaps don’t go to Heritage Days before you know how to pronounce your Exchange Student’s last name…. We did find her! She got tired and sat down by the Playground.)
Life was very full for me, and I loved it, but perhaps that isn’t the kind of summer you (or your family) want or need. The great thing about Home School Freedom (AND freedom itself) is that each of us gets to choose what kind of summer we will have. Here are some ideas that you are free to use or not, as you wish!
Happy Home Schooling! This eLetter (Terry’s Terrific Learning Connections or Terry’s Tender Loving Care) is meant to encourage and inspire families homeschooling their children. (*If you would like to opt out of receiving this email, simply click the button at the bottom of this eLetter to unsubscribe.)
Christmas is just about here. No matter what year it is, time marches along. Christmas is a relatively short season – as is Summer. I try to appreciate each and every day.
It was with the support of their local school principal that Ken and Marlane Noster brought home their eldest child, half way through grade 3. The superintendent threatened to charge them with truancy. The late 80’s were rife with inconsistencies in treatment of home schoolers.
In response to the first Alberta Home Education Regulation of 1989, Ken was invited to help a school board develop its program for administrating home schooling. He and Marlane began to pray for an answer to two burning questions: how can a board designed to administrate schools administrate home schooling? and what am I being called to do?
When I look back on my years of home schooling through high school, I am sure that I will have many fond memories of WISDOM’s Online Courses. Since the autumn of 2003, I have taken seven online courses, all of which were profitable. I take one every season – In fact, one season I took three at the same time! My plans are to continue into my eighth course in the upcoming school year. I do not wish to stop!
I was not sure that I would feel this way when I first signed up for a course three years ago. This was the “Introductory Great Books” course. When I looked at the reading list initially, I was uncertain as to whether I could manage the weekly reading assignments, or discuss them adequately. After all, books such as the “Iliad”, the “Aeniad”, and, at that time, “War and Peace”, can seem rather intimidating to a nearly-thirteen-year-old! I thought that the conversation might be over my head, especially as there were students in the class several years older than me. However, encouraged by my parents, and made hopeful by seeing that such favourite authors of mine as Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien were on the list, I took a deep breath and signed up for the course.
The desire of my heart is to encourage families with grace and love. I do pray and hope that the attached article will bring encouragement to you and other home schooling families.
Building strong families together in Christ,
Karen Dargatz
(780) 962-3727
There exists constant pressure in our society to adapt to a way of thinking. Webster’s dictionary defines ‘adapt’ as “to modify (oneself) to conform to a circumstance or environment” or alternatively “to become adjusted to a circumstance or environment.” When studying and researching in the sciences, the student will eventually (if not immediately) encounter the evolution perspective. Whether it is biology, geology or astronomy, the processes of evolution will be applied to living and non-living objects. When something evolves, it is believed to have changed from a less complex form to a higher order of complexity. Ignoring this perspective will not make it disappear. But remember… it is only a perspective.Webster’s dictionary describes evolution as a doctrine. Yes, a doctrine!
So often, we lose ourselves in parenthood. Our own desires are often set aside as the demands of parenthood are so constant. I hope that you can just take a deep breath as you make it through another day - and so did your children.
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson