We are moving to a new blog web address.

We just wanted to let everyone know that we are moving to a new blog web address.
This will not effect our blogging in any way, however for those that are on our e-mail updates list will have to sign up again under our new name.
There is not much difference in the name we just added a letter "g" in our homeschoolinggarden.

To make a long story short the facebook updates dating September 2012 and older, will still be going to our old name with one "g" and anything new will be posted under our new name.
After a while the old page will automatically re-direct you to our new address.
Thank you everyone and enjoy.

OUR NEW ADDRESS IS 

http://homeschoolinggarden.blogspot.com/

Skip counting books

It took a while to find skip counting books that would be fun and easy for the kids to follow.
So to make your life easier, we included those that we used here for you.

Skip counting using sticky notes

This is a fast and fun idea to use while teaching skip counting. Get a stack of multicolored sticky notes and a poster board. Use one color for the numbers that you are skipping therefor that you don't see, and use the other color for the numbers that you are actually saying out loud. We are skip counting by twos all the way till 20 so it all worked out nicely in two rows of 10 notes - 5 being invisible numbers and 5 visible.

I use this method for practicing skip counting after I already explained it to them and read them some books on that topic. 

 

We used the same activity for skip counting by 5s and 10s. I had the kids switch the sticky notes themselves and they LOVED that! We didn't only say the numbers out loud, I also removed one of the numbers and they had to figure out which one was missing by repeating the skip counting in their head. We also stood up, faced the numbers, and read them out loud while jumping. For more advanced, you can turn around and say them without looking (watch for the mirror on the opposite wall, that I forgot about but the boys didn't :-D ). Have fun skip counting!

Skip counting socks

 We used this activity while we were learning skip counting by two. I started by explaining to the boys that skip counting by two is like counting pairs of something. Ask how many feet they have? How many hands or eyes? Tell them that having two of something means you have a pair - pair of hands or pair of eyes. We tried to find other pairs around us (shoes, ears, knees...) And that is when I pulled out the socks! We are counting till 20 so I had 10 pairs of socks for them to hang on the clothes line.

Everytime they pined a pair to the line, they would skip count from the beginning all the way to the one they just pinned.

 

They thought this was such a funny idea ;-)

Jonah and the Whale

Nearly everyone knows the story of Jonah, who refused to listen to God when He asked him to go to Ninive. What happened? When someone doesn't listen to God, there is a consequence, right? And so Jonah got swallowed by the big fish! 

After reading the story in the Bible, kids got to work to recreate the scene of Jonah's misfortune.

 

For step by step instructions please go here and visit Danielle's Place
Thanks for stopping by!

Kite counting

As a part of letter K week, we created this Kite hopscotch for the little kids to practice their number order from 11-20. Click here for your free download ! We found it best to be laminated but you can also print it on card stock paper.

Make a kite

We are back from our summer break and we are ready to dive right back into work. First up is letter K and so we are making a kite. I should stress that this kite is NOT meant to fly, it is just another cute art work we can hang up to decorate our house ;-)

First cut out a diamond out of a stock paper in the usual shape of a kite and draw a line that connects opposite corners. Have the kids color the shapes whatever way they want.

Then have them glue skewers that you cut before hand so they match the length of the lines you drew earlier, on top of the kite.

 

Punch a hole on the bottom of the kite and tie a string through it. Have the kids tie ribbons to the string just like this.

We had them tie 3 to 4 ribbons.

Your kite is ready for display!

Skip counting by 2's

We kicked off the school year with skip counting by 2's. Here is a little activity to help the kids to get familiar with the new way of counting.

Use permanent marker to write the numbers on the bottom of an egg carton. The little kids are learning letter M this week so we used M&Ms for this activity, but you can use rocks, marbles or any other similar object you have around your house.

Have the kids place two objects in each spot and have them skip count while doing it.

When they finished, we emptied the egg carton and did it again. This time, when they filled the spot, they started skip counting from the beginning only to the last filled spot. And when they filled the next spot, they started counting again.

 At the end they all got a little M&M treat!

Fun video for all homeschoolers

We are slowly returning back to our routine and with that our posts are coming back as well. We have been working on few of them in the past couple of days and will schedule their publishing very soon. In a mean time, we thank you for your patience and here is a fun video to amuse you during your wait.

Painting with ice cubes

What a fun activity for a hot day! We used it as an art project for "The Letter I" but this is still something the kids like to come back to and I have to reload my ice cube trays with more paint very often.

You will need:

ice cube tray

washable paint

water

card stock paper

You have to prepare the trays night before. Pick colors and dilute them with water. Pour them into the tray and place into a freezer for overnight.

 

Take them out immediately before kids are ready to use them because they melt fairly quickly in this weather.  Squeeze the paint out of the tray and have kids paint away.

 

Because it is hot right now, kids appreciate the cold ice in their hands and don't complain!

 

Mix colors, smudge them, share them - have fun!

 

 These are the results! Unplanned effect? The table surface pattern showed up on our pictures! It looked really cool!

Jelly Bean math

Including some sweet props into our daily learning always motivates the kids. Letter J is for jelly beans and so they found their way into our math today. 

We were focusing on learning how to count till five and we included some color sorting in this activity as well.
You can download free copy here.

It is also very good for the kids to pick up small objects such as jelly beans in order to exercise their fine motor skills!

Another free download you can get here is a "J is for Jelly Bean" counting puzzle. Simply print it out, cut up the paper on the marked lines, and if you wish you can laminate it. Printing it on card stock paper also works great.

Mix the strips up and have the kids put them in order creating a picture. The kids should say the numbers out loud. 

Jump the rope for letter J

We jump for letter J! During the week of letter J, we took the kids outside and had them jump over the jump rope.

To make it more interesting, you can say different words one after another and have them jump every time you say a word that starts with the letter J. Another idea is to say different letters and have the kids jump every time you say the letter J.

Painting a Jar

For our art activity for letter J, we painted some jars that we decided to use as candle holders and decorate our porch with it.

You will need:

glass jars

acrylic paint

paint brushes

newspaper

This art activity is fairly simple, just have the kids pick out 3 colors tops (more colors will cause the paint mix into brown) and place them on a palette.

Then have the kids paint the jar they picked. You might want to place newspaper underneath the jar in order to keep the surface from getting dirty.

We got some cute jars that decorate my porch table now. I am using them as candle holders!

Summer Reading Program

Does anyone have the best library in the world? We sure think our library is the best and we love our helpful librarians for being so friendly and helpful to us and our kids! Every summer they put together a Summer Reading Program, to encourage the youth to keep up the reading and maybe even sharpen up their reading skills over their summer break.

Check your local library if they offer the same program.  

 

As a kick off to the program, the librarians threw us all an awesome party, where we got delicious ice cream...

 

... the kids got to participate in some crafts, such as wet chalk and crayon drawing on a black paper...

...or recreating "The Starry Night" by Van Gogh using paint. 

We also got to sign up for the program right on spot, which was very helpful too. Way to start the summer break!!! Happy reading!

Letter I is for Ice cream

Letter I for Ice cream!


We start with the letter recognition.
We lay out the letters (alphabet cards) that they worked on so far, which is A through I in this case. We place them on the floor and have the kids pick a letter, you pick one as well, (if the new/introduced letter is not chosen by the kids the adult usually grabs that letter) Have them run around and sing "we're running, we're running, we're running in a circles."

  Then you yell out "stop!" or "freeze!" This is where they place the card on their head and we ask: "What letter do you have on your head?" or "What letter do I have on my head".

It seems to work with our kids so far they learned their letters this way.

Then we go straight into our do-a-dot activity. The kids dot around the letter I.

Next up is letter hunt. Sometimes I find perfect objects for our activities. How are these cute little ice creams I found for our letter hunt? One container includes ice cream erasers and the other ice cream magnets.

Find letter I on the page. You can download the page here.

The little kids are learning patterns. Go ahead and download here. If you are just starting patterns, say the pattern out loud and have the kids finish it with you. You can also have them finish it themselves, or if they are advanced, have them work on it alone and then review it after they finish. 

For Art Jar we made colorful popsicles. Please, see this post  for instructions. 

We created number order 1-5. Have the kids put the numbers in order and create a yummy ice cream!

You can download Ice cream 1-5 here.

For more math, we counted ice cream flavors. 

You can download Ice cream counting here. Have the kids count the ice cream flavors and place the same amount of objects underneath the ice cream. We used small marshmallows because we didn't have enough magnets or erasers. 

And how about making your own ice cream? Here is a link to a separate post that gives you detailed instructions. Yummy!

This letter was too much fun! Enjoy and don't forget to check out some of the letter I books listed below.

 

Make your own ice cream

For our treat on letter I day, we made ICE CREAM!

You will need:

ziploc bags - 1 sandwich size, 1 gallon size


For the sandwich size bag:
1/2 cup of whole milk
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla


and for the gallon size bag:
1/2 bag of ice
6 Tablespoons of rock salt

We wrote kids names on each of the bags so they don't get mixed up.

Have the kids help you measure the ingredients for the sandwich bag.

Put the vanilla in.

Then pour the milk. Ask the kids to tell you when to stop.

Put the sugar in, close up the bag and have the kids carefully mix it by gently squashing the bag.

Get the ingredients ready to the gallon size bag. Pour the ice into the gallon size bag and add the salt.

Place the small ziploc bag (make sure it's really closed tight) in the large ziploc bag and close the big bag up. Now comes the fun part for the kids - shake the bag for about 5 minutes. We had to help as their hands got cold from touching the bag.

You might have to add few minutes to the shaking and stop when the consistency reaches the consistency of ice cream. 

Squeeze it into the bowl and your dessert is ready!