Archive for summer school

Another Great Website

June 10, 2007 at 12:24 pm · Filed under children, childrens' summer programs, family, family fun, homeschooling, moms, parenting, summer fun, summer school, the sneaky mama, tips & tricks, website reviews, websites for kids

I seem to be running into a slew of fantastic websites for kids this week.  So if you’ll pardon the onslaught of posts about great websites, here is another one:  The Old Famer’s Almanac for Kids.

My favorite feature about this website is the description of the night sky.  I can never find anything I’m supposed to and so to have something written out for me very clearly is definitely helpful.  Now if only we lived in the country where we could actually see the stars. . .

The site also has a calendar in which kids can learn what happened on this day in history, and about special (and um, strange) holidays that may not necessarily be commonly celebrated.

I could tell you all the other cool things about this site but then I’d spoil it.  You just need to go check it out for yourself.  Definitely put this on your list of activities to keep your kids entertained this summer!

Sneaking in fun and learning together,

The Sneaky Mama

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The Coolest Website Ever for Art

June 9, 2007 at 10:31 am · Filed under art, children, childrens' summer programs, family, family fun, homeschooling, kids' crafts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, painting for kids, parenting, reading, summer fun, summer school, the sneaky mama, tips & tricks

My kids are the ones that refuse to color inside the lines.  It’s actually a point with pride for me.  Yep–that’s right.  I’m proud of them for not coloring in the lines.   They have the ability to see the world in any color that they want:  trees are purple, animals can be green with pink polka dots. . .the possibilities are really endless.   Needless to say, we like doing art in our house. 

Art is a very good rainy day activity.  I see many parents neglect art becuase it’s not one of those ‘academic’ disciplines.  (Or they don’t want to deal with the mess!)   If you fall into that category let me challenge you to think a little differently.

Art encourages spatial reasoning skills.  It also encourages self expression.  It also improves hand eye coordination.  It can be paired nicely with just about any other subject.  Doing history?  Look up the art of that period to see what it tells you about the culture.  Doing science?  Draw what you’re observing.  Or, just give your kids some clay, chalk, pencils, or even crayons and let them have at it!

So now that I’ve convinced you to ‘sneak’ in some art. . .what are you going to do with the finished masterpieces?  Why not store them at Artsonia?  You can take pictures of your child’s artwork and store them for free.  Then you can invite family and friends to view your child’s art gallery and the world can comment on their stuff.

Comments are completely controlled by the parent and the site reviews all work for appropriateness before publishing to ensure that the art work put up is family friendly. 

The site gives ideas of art activities based on your child’s work (although I haven’t had time to check this feature out yet.)  AND they offer a variety of products that you can put your child’s artwork on.  (Can we say Christmas gifts?)

So what are you waiting for?  Go check it out and start uploading photos of your child’s work?

Sneaking in published art,

The Sneaky Mama

By the way. . .are you looking for another ‘sneaky’ tip to get in some extra reading?  Why not tie in your summer reading with some art projects?

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5 Sneaky Ways to Get Your Kid to Like Reading

June 8, 2007 at 11:10 am · Filed under children, childrens' summer programs, discipline, family, family fun, family values, homeschooling, moms, parenting, reading, summer fun, summer school, the sneaky mama, tips & tricks

I started out this post by explaining why some kids don’t like to read.  Then it got too long, and I realized that I would never be able to tell you all the tips and tricks I have to get your kids to read.  So I’ll sum up why some kids don’t like to read in a few short sentences.  Check their hearing and their eyes.  Talk with their teacher.  If you still have no clue, they’ll probably grow into liking it with the right encouragement.  If there is anyone reading that would like me to expand on that. . .I’ll have to do it in another post.

So now onto tricks to get your kids to like reading (or like it more):

1.  Show by example.

Do your kids see you reading?  When you read the message is clear:  reading is important.   Try setting aside a little time every day this summer for reading.  If it is at a consistent time every day, then it isn’t something that they have to stop playing for. . .and then they expect it.

2.  Choose Good Books

Forcing kids to read a book they don’t like is a great way to kill any desire to read.   Another great way to kill a child’s desire to read is to force them to read something that is too hard for them.  (I’ll get to that in a minute.)   If you have a child whose chronically into ‘junk’, go ahead and let him read the junk within reason.  Sneak in quality literature during read aloud time.  (Which I’ll get to in 2 minutes!)

3.   Choose books that are appropriate to your child’s reading level. 

If you’re not sure do the 5 finger test.  Randomly pick a page in the middle of the book.  Every time your child comes to a word that is hard for him, hold up one finger.  If you have all 5 fingers up by the end of the page–that book is too hard–pick something easier. 

4.  Read out loud to your child.

Studies show it is beneficial to read out loud to your child until grade 8.  So go for it.   And yes, you have to do the voices. 

 One great trick to picking read aloud books is that you can pick things above a child’s own reading level to improve his vocabulary and comprehension.

5.  Use some incentives

Just about every library has a summer reading program as does Barnes & Noble.  You may also want to check out Bookadventure.org and during the year, you can always sign up for Book It!  (If your child’s school doesn’t do Book It–offer to run the program for your child’s teacher.)  All of these programs generally offer some type of rewards for reading.

Also, in our house, television and computer time are earned.   Each child (except for the twins who are too young to watch television or read) has an allotted amount of television for each day.  They can watch one show per day.  Anything beyond that has to be earned.  They can earn more minutes by extra chores, saving up their time, or you guess it. . .reading.

I am always happy to answer reader questions about any of my blogs!  If you have something you’d like me to try and tackle–just let me know!

Sneaking in some good literature,

The Sneaky Mama

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Sneaky Things to do This Summer: Learn to Play Chess

June 7, 2007 at 2:47 am · Filed under chess, children, childrens' summer programs, family, family fun, homeschooling, parenting, summer fun, summer school, the sneaky mama, tips & tricks

Now that the kids are out of school, what are you going to do with them to keep their academic skills sharp?  Try teaching them to play chess!   Don’t worry if you’re not a chess pro.  This site has interactive games, quizzes, tests. . .everything you could possibly want to teach your kids how to play chess.  

Chess is a great exercise in critical thinking.  It requires logic and the ability to spatially visualize several moves ahead.  My husband is a chess buff so we’ve taught our own kids how to play. 

Now you can ‘sneak’ around a chess board,

The Sneaky Mama

PS  Click on the interactive chess game board.  It explains each move and what they are planning on doing next so you can better learn the game. 

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My Brilliant Idea to Sneak in Summer Review

June 4, 2007 at 4:20 pm · Filed under art, children, family, family fun, family values, fun in New York City, homeschooling, homeschooling field trips, Metropolitan Museum of Art, moms, parenting, summer fun, summer school, the sneaky mama, tips & tricks

Some of you may already know this, but if you don’t, we are homeschoolers.   We go year round and take off days here and there so that my kids don’t forget their stuff.   However, you can use this idea to review anything your child has learned this year.  All you need is paper, pencil and a great place to go hunting! 

As for us, we are coming to the end of a unit on Ancient Civilations.  If you think Ancient Civilizations are boring–think again.  There’s mummies, and mystery, strange writings and cool pyramids.  My kids however, have not always seen it that way.  They tolerate ancient history with only a moderate amount of zeal unless there’s something extraordinarily cool.  So now that it’s time to ‘recap’ the unit, I was looking for a way to pack in one last punch to make the pertinent information sink in.  And then it happened.  A semi stroke of brilliance unusual for me early in the morning. 

You know how the best way to learn information is to teach it?  Well, I decided to have my daughter do just that.  She is making a scavenger hunt based on all of her information on Ancient civilzations.   Then we will host a field trip among our homeschooling co-horts (but you could get friends, another mom, etc. to join in).

Here’s What You Do. . .

1.  Have your child write out questions having to do with the unit.  Some of ours include:

Find a piece of hyroglyphic writing. 

Find something that was in a pyramid.

Find an example of an early Chinese invention.

Now two things are happening here.  First of all, she’s getting practice writing & spelling.  If your child is older you may require that he/she write the answers to the questions as well.

2.   Plam a Scavenger Hunt at your local museum.

For us, the place to go find things is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We are inviting kids from our co-op to grab a list and we’ll see who can find the most things.  We are asking families to bring digital cameras to take photos of their finds.

3.  Host a post Scavenger Hunt Party

We plan on having an after the hunt party at a nearby park where we have pencils for all of the participants and a bigger prize for the family that wins!

My daughter is very excited.  I think that this idea could be used for just about any subject and would only need to vary slightly based on age!

Happy hunting,

The Sneaky Mama

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Introducing the Sneaky Mama’s Summer Reading Program!

May 29, 2007 at 10:52 am · Filed under Books for Kids, children, childrens' summer programs, family, family fun, homeschooling, moms, parenting, summer fun, summer school, the sneaky mama, tips & tricks

This week (and maybe next) the Sneaky Mama is covering summer reading!  How to get your kids to do more of it, what books to read, improving reading, reading games, the importance of reading out loud and don’t miss my picks for summer reading! 

Have a question about motivating your kids to read?  What books to pick?  What books to read out loud?  Leave it below and I’ll make sure and answer it!

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5 ‘Real’ Summer Bridge Activities

May 23, 2007 at 1:37 am · Filed under Books for Kids, children, family, family fun, homeschooling, moms, parenting, summer fun, summer school, the sneaky mama, tips & tricks

We went to Barnes and Noble tonight with our five kids because I wanted to pick up a few books for their DEAR time.  (DEAR stands for “Drop Everything and Read” and it is our fancy way of saying, “This is the time you spend reading for pleasure.”)  My kids who read; read voraciously and the others seem equally interested in books.  I have a theory on how we were so successful at that, but I’ll save it for another post.  I digress.

There before me were several book shelves of workbooks.  Surrounding me were parents talking about how their kids must get workbooks to work on academic skills over the summer.  I admit it:  I was eavesdropping.  But I am perplexed by this phenomenon of ‘getting ahead’ by kids doing work books.  

Workbooks aren’t bad per se.  It’s true they keep your kids from watching too much television, and they can keep your kids occupied but I’m going to let you in on a little secret:  you can do better.  Yes, even research backs up this wild claim that you can do much better at helping your kids out academically than can a workbook.  I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty except to say that if you have elementary aged kids. . .skip the workbooks (or at least lighten the load) and do these academically enriching activities instead.  

1.  Go to the zoo. . .

 or the Hall of Science, the Botanical Garden, Children’s Museum or anything else.  Reading comprehension improves ten fold the more rich experiences kids have.  So take a few days off and make a point to go see some sites.

2.  Curl up with a good book. . .

Most local libraries have summer reading programs.  Make sure and sign up.  Or try Book Adventure .  Or better yet do both.   Take books on road trips.  Read books instead of watching television.  (We actually make our readers read in order to earn television watching priveleges).  Also, make a point to read out loud to your kids.  Even 8th graders are not too young to benefit from being read to.

3.  Sit down to dinner together.

 About 5 years ago, a study was done to see which factors most heavily influenced academic success.  One consistent factor that seemed to be true irregardless of socioeconomic status was family dinner time.   The bottom line is that kids who spend time talking to adults learn to express themselves more clearly and have a better understanding of the world around them. 

4.  Get out the board games. . .I

Kids learn just as well, if not better, by playing than they do by repetitive book work.   

5.  Go outside and play. . .

Here’s the deal. . .the more your kids exercise, the more oxygen they have going through their brains.  The more oxygen they have going through the brains–the more clearly they think.  Playing also reduces hyperactivity (duh–isn’t that common sense?)  The AAP says that kids should play at least one hour per day–so try to make that happen during the summer. 

Sneaky fun in for academic success,

The Sneaky Mama

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