Unboxing Munchkin Education
I didn't miss the fact that it's April and everyone is wishing that school was out yesterday. But frugal thinking, like education, knows no seasons. Besides, all on the ball homeschooling moms (and that wouldn't be me) will be looking for next year's curriculum in a few weeks and will be able to offer lots of ideas for the rest of us slackers. e'hem
As a second generation homeschooler, I'm always looking for great, cheap, easy ways to impart knowledge to myself or my munchkins. I'm going to give you all get a peek at some more of my "secrets." If you don't homeschool, don't worry. A lot of my suggestions can apply or be adapted to non-homeschoolers as well.
"Secret" #1: Get a sturdy canvas bag or two from L.L. Bean, fill 'em at the library every week, then bring them home and read them. Our librarians know us by name and interest. I even had one of them tell me I get books about the neatest things. (Honestly? It's scary that they notice...)
If the thought of finding decent books at the library scares you, pick up a book like The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children or Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt or How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esmé Raji Codell. I also encourage you to choose different categories and things that you wouldn't normally read. You might find a curious new interest forming.
Bored with your small, local library? Take a field trip to your closest big town library for the day. Spend some time reading there. Have lunch in the park and see some sites.
"Secret" #2: As with adult education, the internet is such a wonderful place to find educational material for kids too. One siteseeing trip around Homeschool Blogger.com or Homeschool Journal.net can unearth hundreds of seriously delicious ideas. Sites that provide free curriculum, like Ambleside Online, are a amazing resources as well.
"Secret" #3: Do the math to see if it's cheaper to order directly from the publisher. Some of the big name publishers offer decent discounts in April and May. Places like Alpha Omega Publications offer 20% off your order if you purchase cirriculumn before April 30th. Others, like ABeka, provide free shipping on orders over $50. If you sign up for their emails, The Foundation for American Christian Education periodically sends out 15% to 20% off digital coupons. (F.A.C.E. was the company that reprinted Webster's big green 1828 Dictionary.)
"Secret" #4: Christian Book Distributors, (CBD) a.k.a. christianbook.com, discounts most new material homeschool materials and provides reviews by homeschool veterans. They even tag Christian based material so you know what you're getting. If you manage to make it to one of their warehouse sales, hang on to your wallet! You can find amazing deals on curriculum. Just make sure you go with a plan or you could end up with more than you bargained for. (Rich only lets me go once every five years or so...)
"Secret" #5: Look locally for free classes and groups. It was quite by accident we found out that our local cable access station has a professional studio and offers free training on everything from camera operation to editing with the latest software. We've been utilizing the resource for about a year now. When my two oldest get proficient at digital editing, I know they'll be begging me to write a screenplay so they can make a movie. Who knows where they'll go with it, but what they have learned along the way has been worth it.
As with last week, I know I haven't don't even have half a list. Please enlight me! What are some of your favorite educational resources for kids?
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13 Responses to “Unboxing Munchkin Education”
April 9th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Yes!! I love your out of the box thinking. I could not agree more with the library. We go often and not only check out books, but the used book store right next to it has books for .25 cents:)
Have a great day.
Julieann
http://juliean-mylife.blogspot.com/
April 9th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I homeschool older kids, 7th and 11th grades, and that means that the oldest has ‘topped out’ maths and sciences, so we pay for those at our local community college. Can you say ‘expensive’?
In our house, every penny counts.
Here are some tips, and favorite links. A caveat: I am not Christian (Buddhist) but sometimes use older, Christian-friendly materials. I’ll make note of them.
Flashcard program called Jmemorize. I use it for learning Welsh, the oldest uses it for German and his Art History and Astronomy classes, the youngest uses it for his Esperanto and his times tables from 8-15. Why I love it (besides the price) it’s HIGHLY customizable, java-script freeware with a small footprint on any machine, and because *I set up* the cards I want to learn, it’s more effective than off-the-shelf flash cards sets, and COMPLETELY versatile. The most amazing part is that the computer uses a staggered-interval repetition, based on the Leitner memory system, and *that* makes learning anywhere from fifty to a hundred and fifty cards/concepts per week not only attainable but EASY. site: http://jmemorize.org/
I love books. Our foundation is sinking due to more than 8K books *in active use* at home. But Project Gutenberg is only the tip of the iceberg, so take a look at The Baldwin Project for some child-friendly (and many VERY Christian-friendly) titles. My younger son LOVED Bullfinch’s “Age of Chivalry” from this site. http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displayarticle.php?article=christmas
The other online resources I use MOST often are the University of Virginia etext library (because many are already formatted for Microsoft Reader). Their section for young readers includes the ORIGINAL Illustrations, making it a “must” for those used to traditional books. http://etext.virginia.edu/ebooks/
And, for all-around ‘reference desk online’ plus SO much more, I use Bartleby.com. The complete five-foot bookshelf, plus the five foot fiction shelf, brilliant collections of poetry, qotations and MORE, all at one site. http://bartleby.com/
A specific note about penmanship. Don’t go bonkers buying workbooks or even the lined tablets. The first form of penmanship the boys did used a .txt version of Aesop’s fables downloaded from the net. I clipped a *SHORT* story into my word processor, *grayed* the text to fifty percent and set the font to Jarman 18point (1/4″). That’s a good intermediate size, while 12 point is roughly equivalent to college line spacing. The kids traced the copywork until they were comfortable with it, then did so with the same settings *plus* italics and slight kerning–which created ‘cursive’. (My whole purpose of using an italic font as it avoided teacing ‘print’ and ‘cursive’.) Now they’re given a paragraph of copywork and reproduce it on regular paper, but when they were first learning they NEEDED the visual reminder of drawing OVER the letters for correct starting points. The easiest link for the Jarman font is: http://desktoppub.about.com/od/fonts/p/jarman.htm
I can’t say enough about podcasts and RSS feed news. We subscribe to NASA news, astronomy magazine feeds, foreign-language feeds, computer-programming feeds, and MORE. Pick an interest, and then find only one or two per topic which appeal to you. Especially for parents of kids under twelve, PRESCREEN feeds before allowing the kids access, because many of them are created by college kids for their peers.
MIT Open Courseware deserves its own blog. Pick something for YOURSELF, and feed your own mind even as you teach the kids. Give this very comprehensive undergrad/grad-level resource a dya of its own. I’ve modified downward for my then-6th grader, and haven’t had to modify anything of the undergrad work for my oldest since Freshman year, MOSTLY due to the one-on-one advantage of homeschooling. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
For kids from early readers through 8th grade, try Book Adventure. The parent creates a ‘master’ subscription, and each kid gets their own. For every book they have indexed, the child earns points after answering questions. Points are redeemable for some very nice *real* prizes, but have to be okayed by the parent. (A fact I love!)
Site: http://www.bookadventure.org/
Okay, I’ll try not to take up your whole page, but I had to include one more resource for the prek-2nd grade crowd. Look for a “Family Resource and Referral Center” near you. Ours has a library of Allison die cuts which are free to use (bring your own paper). To keep the youngest busy in our early years of schooling, I made Concentration games with small punchouts mounted on squares of cardstock, or letters for same, plus punching out bookmarks by the DOZEN to help us keep track of which books each child was reading. It’s very, very easy to make folder games for the preschool set, and *you* can set the pace to match what they WANT to learn rather than what the local school expects them to.
Okay, more than long enough. I’ve emphasized book sources largely because even WITH the local library, e-libraries and used bookstores, our family still spends $20 per week on ‘fun reading’!
Hmm. I’ve got a ton more links and reviews. Would anyone be interested in this as the theme of a blog?
April 9th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Okay, this thing has eaten two messages already. I’ll keep this short: my kids are 15 and 13, so our needs are very subject-specific. Included are only the handful of items I suggest to any concerned parent or new homeschooler.
http://www.bartleby.com
-Single most used website at our house, save hubby’s electronic daily comics page. Not only quotations, dictionaries, poetry collections, encyclopedia; it also has the Harvard Classics (five foot bookshelf) and Shelf of Fiction collections. Adore it.
http://etext.virginia.edu/ebooks/
-University of Virginia’s etext center. Some GORGEOUS childrens books with illustrations, and a wealth of Early American documents highlight this site. Books also formatted for Microsoft Reader, which makes hubby happy at lunch!
http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displayarticle.php?article=christmas
-The Baldwin Project.VERY Christian-friendly collection of books with illustrations. The youngest loved the copy of Bullfinch here, while he barely scanned the plain text version at Project Gutenberg.
http://www.bookadventure.org/
-Book Adventure. NOT a library, a collection of comprehension tests on a wide range of books for the K-8 crowd. Parents sign up as well, and monitor the child’s progress and approve prizes gained through correct answers to questions. The prizes are *real things*, plus a few printables.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
http://jmemorize.org/
-This isn’t a library. It’s a program I use daily, the kids use daily— I could probaby talk hubby into using it for quizzing himself on TCIP protocols. FREE, java-based, small footprint progam quizzes you on cards you create using a time algorithm you can adjust. The kids use it for German, Esperanto, Art History questions, multiplication facts and more. REALLY love this and personally have mastered fifty to a hundred Welsh words per week *easily* because of the Leitner timing system.
For those with kids who need manipulatives for math, try
http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?external=http://mason.gmu.edu/~mmankus/Handson/manipulatives.htm&original=http://www.proteacher.com/100033.shtml&title=Hand-Made%20Manipulative%20Instructions
(pattern blocks, attribute blocks, Cuisinaire rods, and GRAPH PAPER we love!
http://donnayoung.org/
-TONS of printable organizers for homeschoolers, in many styles. TONS of manipulatives and other resources. (I submitted the templates for the Geosafari Laptop to make your own cards, specifically to return some of the value I’ve gotten from the site.)
April 9th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
A non-computer freebie! Check your local area for a “Family Resource and Referral Center”. They’re geared toward early-childhood care, but tend to promote preschool heavily… HOWEVER, they also have a library of Allison die cuts *specifically* aimed toward early ed and preschools. I used them from the moment I found out about them, and STILL do! Bring your own paper, OR a sheet of magnet, OR felt (even more options, but ask the clerks for advice before using ‘odd’ materials like new Contact paper with the backing on it)… It took only a few minutes to punch out items needed for a preschool/early reader game which would keep my youngest “doing school” with his brother. Check your local scrapbooking stores for the same kind of resources. For the cost of a pad of construction paper at the dollar store, I’ve made HUNDREDS of small games (matching, sequencing, letters, numbers, concentration games and more). Specifically for a small, 2″ magnetic alphabet, look at the scrapbooking shops near you, and save those silly free magnets, covering the WHOLE magnet with a patterned Contact paper (scraps from another project in my case). It only takes a few to amass quite a printer’s tray!
April 9th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Don’ forget YOUR OWN education! I pick something every semester to learn alongside the kids, ofen WITH them. There are a HUGE number of podcasts on any subject you can imagine. Search for things you’re all interested in, especially language-learning podcasts.
The best resource I have for my own studies and my older son’s is MIT’s OpenCourseware. Give yourself time to really browse this site- it’s AMAZING what’s available! http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
April 10th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Great post! I love the idea of your kids learning all about digital editing at the tv studio. Who would’ve thought?! Learning comes in so many shapes and sizes today.
Take Care,
Trixie
April 10th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Expand your small library! See if any other local libraries extend borrowing privliges to you! Also, use “Interlibrary Loan” to get things from any library. Sometimes libraries charge a small fee for this, but you can often get DVDs, music and even artwork in addition to just books.
FYI–I’m a librarian in real life! We LOVE patrons who are interested in anything other than looking for a potential Russian bride via internet! People who read to their kids or read to themselves usually top our lists of Favorite Patrons!
April 10th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
If you have a community college in your area, BROWSE THEIR BOOKSTORE and check out the textbooks. Give yourself at least the afternoon to do this, and *really* check out the books. I think of it as a semi-annual “personal curriculum fair”. Let’s be honest; many, many community college classes are remediating things students SHOULD have learned in high schoool, so it’s a very effective resource for middle school or high school students, OR for someone tackling a new subject who needs/wants a gentler learning curve (say, macroeconomics or non-Roman characterset languages).
Copy the ISBN for five or six books you think are THE BEST. Not the best in the subject, the BEST in the bookstore. Then look for these *BY* ISBN at the most comprehensive site I’ve ever found for price matching: GOOGLE. Type in “ISBN” with a space and either the 9 or 13 digit code. EVERY site offering the book will be listed, USUALLY along with price. Shop away!
April 10th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Wow! The resources listed in the above comments are fantastic. I agree with Lisa the librarian who says,”people who read to their children and to themselves are our favorite patrons.”
The web is a great resource but nothing beats snuggling on the couch with your child and a good book.As a former preschool teacher and homeschool mom I have found that children’s literature opens the door to a marvelous array of learning. If you visit your local library for materials then you have a free source of curriculum. My website Wondersome StoryTime http://www.wondersomestorytime.com features a new book on each post and activities that enhance the learning aspects of the story. There are so many ways that you can develop unit learning from Children’s lit. I’d love input for books to use and activities to try.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
It took going 0ut to run errands last night to remember this tip: Keep a basket (the size of a shoe box) in the car at all times, and keep ‘edutainment’ type things in it along with a big box of baby wipes. When the boys were younger, it held: a deck of playing cards, a deck of numeral-only cards, a couple of eggs of silly putty ALSO sealed in snack bags, and a snack bag of odd crayons, with another full of homemade chalk. A pad of manila paper and a spiral notebook, both bought at the dollar store finished it out.
We could either pass time in the car using crayons and the paper to play games like Dots or tic-tac-toe (they quickly preferred the 4X grid for that!) OR we could take the basket with us to the park or into the office to wait for a doctor’s appointment. Crayon rubbings, even if it’s only the “Pay here” mounted plate next to the receptionist window,absolutely FASCINATED my kids as they learned letters and early reading. Chalk was messsier and tended to stay outside, but I’ve never had anyone argue with us if the kids drew a hopscotch path (usually just numbers) on the sidewalk. Baby wipes take care of most of the chalk if you’re worried about leaving a mess.
Now that the boys are teens, the basket still has baby wipes for cleanups, a cheap spiral notebook and handful of pens, a deck of cards (they play gin or cribbage most now) and a labeled notebook for each boy.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
[...] at Frugal Hacks recently posted some of her tips at Unboxing Munchkin Education, and several of her readers have chimed in with their favorite homeschooling web [...]
April 10th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
You all rock! Those are excellent resources. Thanks so much!!
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