Main Street

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When I walked down to get the mail today, our Main Street looked so pretty that I had to go home, grab my camera and return to take a photo. I’ve submitted it to the Mapping Main Street project. You’ve got to admit, we’ve got a pretty one, don’t we?

June 22, 2011 | Filed Under Homemaking, Homeschooling | Leave a Comment

Mapping Main Street

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Here’s a fun little project I read about in the latest issue of Woman’s Day. According to the Mapping Main Street project, there are 10,466 Main Street’s in the United Streets. You can contribute your own photos, videos and stories about the Main Street in your city or town. I thought this would be a fun summer project for the kids! Hop on over to Mapping Main Street and check it out. Who knows, you might even learn a little something in the process.

Mapping Main Street works for me. To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.

P.S. Don’t forget about our Summer Fun Video Contest!

June 21, 2011 | Filed Under Homeschooling | Leave a Comment

Entertainment-Free Education

This last weekend, Jennie, Marillee and I were able to spend three days together manning our booth at the WHO conference in Puyallup, WA. One evening we were talking about all the children we know who seem unable to entertain themselves in any way. We see, more and more, a society where children are immediately ushered from one activity to the next, with little down time. While intentions may be good, we are concerned that we’re creating children who are becoming less and less able to use their imagination to entertain themselves.

Imagination and creativity are essential skills that most often show themselves when children have sufficient “down time”, something that our society no longer seems to value. I know I’m always amazed at the games and creations my kids come up with, when left to their own devices. (And that does NOT include video, TV or computer access.)

For example, when I returned from the conference, my 10 year old showed me this paper gun that he had created. Not bad, eh?

What about you? We’d love to hear your thoughts? Do you entertain your kids or do they constructively entertain themselves? What are some of your kids’ favorite activities for “down time”?

Linking up to this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling.

June 20, 2011 | Filed Under Homemaking, Homeschooling | 1 Comment

Take it apart ~ put it back!

Jennie: My eldest son, loves to think up inventions. He has a notebook full of sketches and diagrams of the things he wants to invent. A very good activity for the engineer minded child is to let them take things apart and try to put them back again. I don’t suggest letting them disassemble your microwave but you can get things such as transistor radios, toasters and clocks, very inexpensively at second hand stores. Before you start, make sure they have the right tools and safety precautions have been gone over. The learning possibilities are endless!

Dena: As a mechanic, my husband regularly has to either mentally or physically document the way a piece of machinery was assembled. This is an excellent skill to practice. Work with your child on how to organize the parts to help in re-assembly. Show them how to draw the order of the parts or even take digital pictures. (Yes, my husband has been known to come and steal my camera!)

Practice with Legos by offering your child a completed model. You keep the directions then have him/her take apart and re-assemble the creation.You can even take this a bit further by letting your children create their own projects, complete with instructions. Then, give the instructions to a parent or sibling and see if they are clear enough that the project can be re-created.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out our Summer Fun Video Contest!

Destructive (educational!) fun works for me. To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.

June 8, 2011 | Filed Under Homeschooling | Leave a Comment

Summer Fun Video Contest!

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If you love Times Tales, here’s your opportunity to share your success story with the world! You might even win a great prize in the process!

We at Trigger Memory are running our first-ever Summer Fun Video Contest. This is a great project to entertain the kids and, depending on how you go about it, they could learn a lot in the process as well.

Not only that, but we have some great prizes.

First prize is a (red!) digital camcorder
Second prize is a digital camera.

First prize will be awarded to the “best” video as judged by the Trigger Memory publishers and second prize will be a random drawing. Every entry has a shot at winning.

Make us laugh, make us cry . . . WOW us! If you need some inspiration, check out our Youtube page.

You have until August 15th to submit your finished work, but we’re dying to see what you put together, so don’t be afraid to get started early.

CLICK HERE for full entry instructions. No purchase necessary. Read instructions for details.

June 6, 2011 | Filed Under Home Business, Homeschooling | 3 Comments

The Learning Calendar Works for Me!

Each month The Homeschool Mom puts out a Learning Calendar with interesting dates in history for the current month. These dates can be a great starting point for some summer fun (and education). For instance, June 12th is Anne Franke’s birthday and June 30th is Meteor Day. How about watching The Diary of Anne Franke on the 12th and eating all round food on the 30th? OK, you can probably come up with better specifics, but you get the point. Just click on the calendar links to find out more about each date.

The Learning Calendar Works for Me! To see more ideas in the “Mom, I’m bored!” edition of Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.

June 1, 2011 | Filed Under Homemaking, Homeschooling | Leave a Comment