Give ’em the Rigamarole

emilylaughHave you ever been given the “rigamarole”? The dictionary says the word rigamarole is a noun that means: a set of confused and meaningless statements or a long and complicated and confusing procedure.

Rigamarole is also the name of an old fashioned American tongue-twisting classroom game . “Give ’em the rigamarole” and your students will learn the writing and speaking skill of alliteration and never forget it! (An alliteration is the repeated use of the same beginning sound.)

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Project: Souvenir Rocks

souvenirrocks

We love to travel!

From an educational standpoint, travel really intensifies learning! And family memories are made that form a wonderful store of inside jokes, and shared experiences. (We arecamping_oregon_10still laughing about too-hungry Emily’s comment when locating a road sign that announced that the state police were on the right. She read it, “The steak police are on the rice.”) Hee hee. What a bond travel creates within a family!

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Project: Feel-Good Place Cards

emily_centerpieceMake your Thanksgiving table extra “feel-good” this holiday by tucking a heart-warming surprise inside each guest’s place card!

Make homemade place cards by folding an unlined 3 x 5″ index card in half (or cut your own from colored cardstock). Write each guest’s name on the front and decorate with stickers or drawings, front and back. Pile these into a basket with some pens, so that incoming guests can draw one card out and discover the name. Then inside the place card, they can write an anonymous compliment to the person, telling about one trait that they are personally grateful for.

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Lest We Forget

ammonworking

My son Ammon

No matter what our intentions are, no matter how lofty our goals, it is the disposition of all of us who live on this earth to forget. It seems it is our natural inclination. We know what we want. We are firm in our resolve. Our values are sure. Nothing can shake us from our goal. Nothing, that is, except time. As time passes, we forget. We can’t seem to recall the fervor we began with. We drift into complacency, once again!  New Year’s Resolutions seem like a joke…because by February, most of us can’t remember what we resolved to do.

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Towel Overload

towelWith 9 family members taking a daily bath or shower, wet towels built up quickly! I found myself having to do a load per day of just towels.

I solved this problem by buying 4″ lengths of colorful grossgrain ribbon. I let each member select the color they liked, and write their name on the ribbon in permanent marker. This ribbon was safety-pinned to the edge of a bath towel to last all week long. Every Saturday morning, one of the young children was assigned to go and collect all the towels in a laundry basket to be washed.

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Teaching with Movies

popcorn-707364_1280Are you tired, Mom? Wake up to an effortless way to make a lasting educational impact on your children!

We all know how powerful and convenient the “electronic baby-sitter” is! (I don’t think I’d ever get a nap without it.) The “electronic baby-sitter” can be an “electronic educator”—if videos are carefully selected. It can ease our teaching load in a very productive, meaningful way.

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Project: Autumn’s Glory Wreath

harvestwreath3Autumn’s beauty is pretty overwhelming where I live. As I drive up my little lane, it seems to have turned all gold!

This is the time of year that my kids start asking when we are going to make our fall wreaths—a very easy craft for little ones that helps them enjoy autumn’s glories. Here are the simple instructions: [Read more…]

Pre-Reading Skills

shooting-star-147722_1280by Becky Ross Redwater, Alberta, Canada

There are many things that preschoolers could be learning to assist them in becoming ready for reading. Here are some easy things to try!

1. Hear and Identify Rhyming Words

  • Recite and memorize nursery rhymes and songs. Favorites are: Humpty Dumpty, Baa-Baa Black Sheep, Hickory Dickory Dock, Jack and Jill, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
  • Make them aware of the rhythm by clapping out the words or the syllables in the words to the song or rhyme (Twin­-kle, twin-kle lit–tle star . . .).
  • Repeat rhymes or songs having the child clap only on the rhyming words.
  • Continue to familiarize the child with rhyming by reading rhyming stories such as Dr. Seuss Books, The Teeny Tiny Woman, etc. . . .
  • More challenging songs to try at this point would be:

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