Friday Greetings! Storytime and Apple Activities!

Fall is in full swing here in Michigan and we have beautiful leaves of all colors on the trees. The air is getting colder and I have to wear a jacket, and even gloves when I leave for work in the morning! At this time of year there is a lot of apple baking going on! My favorite is apple crisp, but people also love to make apple sauce, apple pie, apple cider and other great apple foods! Here is a quick and fun mini apple crisp recipe that kids can make all by themselves!

Simple Apple Crisp Recipe

Ingredients:
one apple
2 tbsp butter softened
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup oatmeal
a sprinkle of cinnamon
- add in chopped nuts if you like!

step 1: Prepare a pan by putting a cupcake liner into a cupcake tin, or use another kid sized baking dish.
step 2: Prepare the apple: Peel and cut into small sections one large apple. I have even had 5 year old children peel their own apple with a plastic knife. It takes them some time and they often lose some good apple in the process, but it is great for practicing their fine motor skills! If your child is young, help them with the cutting part.
step 3: Crumble mixture: Mix the butter, sugar, oatmeal and cinnamon together in a bowl. Adjust amounts so that you have a moist and crumbly mixture. Kids love to do the mixing part with their hands!
step 4: Put the apples into the baking dish and top with the crumble mixture. Press the crumble down to make it smooth.
step 5: Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.
step 6: cool and enjoy! It's delicious topped with ice cream, or non dairy alternative!

If you try apple crisp this week, let me know at next week's storytime how you liked it! It is one of my favorites. If you want to make it fancy you can add more spices. I like nutmeg and lemon zest on my apples. What do you like? Creating in the kitchen is so much fun! You can share your pictures of your apple crisp on griggs facebook page, or email them to me so that I can see your creation.
If you are interested in more apple activities for this week, check out the attachment to this email. There is an idea for an apple experiment, recipes for apple sauce and apple chips, even apple play dough!
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. C

PS...  Here are some more great apple activities for you to try!

As we enter the fall season, we at Griggs thought it might be fun for parents and students to do some apple-related activities! We’ve made a short list of some of our favorites with material lists and instructions. We hope to see pictures of the students having a wonderful time this fall! If there is a U-Pick farm nearby, we encourage you to take your students to pick apples! When you get home, you can slice an apple in half and place the flat side of the slice in either paint or ink and stamp the apple on a piece of paper for decorations, or to show our student the different parts of the apple!

Rotting apple experiment

·       Empty glass ( for air)

·       Water glass

·       Vinegar glass

·       Oil glass

·       Apple slices

Set an apple slice in each glass and watch how each slice reacts to the solution over time. Have your student write a hypothesis of what they think will happen. Will one solution make the apple decay faster? Slower?

Make applesauce

·       8 apples, peeled and cut into chunks.

·       ½ cup of water

·       Measuring cups and spoons 9for water, sugar, and cinnamon)

·       ½ cup of sugar

·       Cinnamon

·       Stove or slow cooker

·       Two bowls

·       Wooden spoon and/or potato masher

1. Put half of the apples into one bowl. Put the other half into a stove pot or the slow cooker, depending on how you will heat the apples.
2. Add the same amount of water to each container of apples.
3. Leave the bowl of apples alone. Heat the other container of apples until the apples are soft. This should take about 10-12 minutes on a burner set to medium or 2 1/2 hours in a slow cooker set on high.
4. When the heated apples are soft, remove them from the heat and put them into the second bowl.
5. Have children stir and mash each bowl of apples. (Be careful with the hot bowl.) How are the heated apples different from the unheated apples? What happened to them? Describe the changes.
6. Once the applesauce has cooled enough, add sugar and cinnamon to taste. Enjoy the applesauce. If the unheated apples haven’t browned, you can drain the water from them and eat them, too. How do they contrast with the heated apples? You’ll probably use words like crispy, crunchy, and mushy.

Talk about it:

·       Why do we have you make a bowl of unheated apple chunks? We do this so that the investigation is a true experiment, with a test (heated apples) and a comparison (unheated apples). Because we treat the two bowls of apples exactly the same except for the heating step, we know that it's the heat-and not some other difference-that caused the change in the soft apples.

·       Ask your child to think about other examples of irreversible change—things that can't go back to the way they were. If your unheated apples turned brown, that's one example! The Perfect Pancake episode includes descriptions of lots of these, and there are plenty more all around us.

Apple scented playdough (no cook)

 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup salt

2 tbsp. cream of tartar

3 tbsp. cooking oil (or coconut oil)

3 tbsp. apple pie spice

Food coloring

Mix all together and slowly add 1 ½ cup almost boiling water to mixture. Stir and a ball should form. Allow 5 minute to cool before playing

Apple Chips:

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  2 hours

Total time:  2 hours 20 mins

Serves: 2 cups

Homemade Oven Baked Apple Chips: It's amazing how different an apple tastes once the moisture is removed. Naturally sweet, healthy and totally addictive.

Ingredients

·       2 apples

·       1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1.     Position oven racks in the upper and lower third of oven.

2.     Preheat oven to 225 ℉.

3.     Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

4.     Wash and dry the apples.

5.     Core apples. (Optional)

6.     Slice apples as thin as possible (about ⅛ inch) with a very sharp knife or a mandolin (leave skin on).

7.     Place apples on the baking sheet in a single layer and not touching each other.

8.     Sprinkle cinnamon evenly over apple slices.

9.     Bake for approximately 1 hour and then turn each slice over, and continue to bake for at least another hour so. The longer they stay, they crispier they get.

10.  Best served the day they are made. Can be stored in an airtight container for a few days.

Notes

The baking time will vary based on the thickness of each slice and the moisture content of the variety of the apples.
Once the apple chips have been baked, they will crisp up as they cool off.

The School Year Begins!

Welcome to a “new” school year. Although the Griggs calendar year begins July first, Labor Day weekend marks the start of the traditional school year in the U.S. Even non-educator's get excited about the fresh boxes of crayons, clean notebooks, and  packs of glue sticks that greet you at the doors of many stores.

Over the years I have homeschooled for many reasons; schedule, finances, curriculum management, learning needs, and just plain because I loved it. Whatever your reasons for choosing to homeschool this year, I want to welcome you to Griggs.

The first time I homeschooled, I set up a lovely little classroom in the basement. I painted the walls, put up a marker board and a flag. My husband built little desks, and I set up kid’s book shelves and bought a bean bag chair. I pictured myself happily presiding over two little engaged learners. That’s the way it worked when I was teaching traditional school! Of course, the toddler and infant might be a challenge; but surely they would play quietly with toys, or nap while the older ones worked…

We used that classroom steadily for about a week. By the second week my “school aged” kids preferred to do most of their work at the kitchen table, and I spent my days jumping between changing diapers, explaining math, trying to get my reluctant reader to cooperate, and making sure the toddler wasn’t quiet because she was coloring on the walls in the next room. Of course, there was still housework to do and a family to feed as well. There were days when I just longed to go to the grocery store all by myself.

But I wouldn’t trade the memory of those precious days with my kids for anything. Some days were carefully scheduled and routine. Others days were chaotic. We have memories of great field trips to museums, zoos and historic sites; science experiments with dissections and explosions in the kitchen; hiking and camping trips; gathering up for good movies in the middle of a rainy day; and family meals and cooking that we never seemed to have time for while participating in traditional school.

For this year, you have chosen to homeschool. Whatever your reasons may be for doing so, I pray that you are able to embrace the experience, and enjoy the extra time with your children. Remembering that to maximize their learning you need to balance their learning, provide play time and social interaction, as well as focused academic time. Keep in mind also that your experience will not be productive if you and they are both too stressed.

I want to encourage you to take your time starting up. While children thrive on routine, they also thrive on novelty. It will be important to find a balance that works well for your child. Don’t feel that you have to start every class on the first day. I would be surprised to find an elementary teacher in America that starts with every subject on the first day of school. Try starting with just a few subjects for the first few days of your schooling. This will give both you and your student a chance to adjust to a new schedule and new class requirements. Then slowly build up at a pace that you and your child are comfortable with, until you are completing each subject at a pace that will allow you to finish your curriculum within your allotted time.

I am here to share your experience and help you along the way. You will have days when you love homeschooling. You may have days when you are overwhelmed and need some direction or advice. Try connecting to our Facebook page to stay updated on news and events. Log in for elementary storytime*.  Respond to or follow this blog to begin connecting with other parents in the Griggs community to share ideas and experiences. Together we can team up and support each other in this homeschooling adventure.

Blessings!

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3  ESV

*For information on elementary storytime, see the announcement on the homepage of your child’s elementary Bible or reading course.

Computer-Friend or Foe?

We have all seen them, young children glued to their parent’s phone in order to keep them quiet during dinner out, an important meeting, or in a church service. I have certainly handed my phone to my children to keep them quiet and occupied when I had other things to attend to. While no one wants their child to grow up addicted to screen time, most of us have taken advantage of an electronic device to entertain our children. Many of us now carry phones in our pockets that have 1,000 times the power of the first desktop computers. More powerful than the computers that put Apollo on the moon! We can pay bills, read emails, and Facetime a friend on the other side of the globe with this tiny handheld device. There is tremendous power for good, and for evil, in computers. Just as with any tool, it requires wisdom and knowledge to handle a connected device in a beneficial way.

God has ordained parents to ‘raise up their children’. There is a divine responsibility to be an authority figure and share what you have learned with your kids. I have seen parents shrug and say ‘Well he likes it, I can’t get him to put it down’. I find myself wondering if these parents have forgotten who the grown up is. If you do not control your child’s access to a screen, he can easily become addicted. Research continues to mount on the addictive effects of computer games/screen time. If you have not taken the time to educate yourself on these issues, try a quick google search. Steve Jobs practiced a low tech philosophy with his kids, many other technology experts do the same, because they are well aware of the power of the screen.

Be sure you know what your child is doing on the computer when he is on there. Keep computers in main living areas of your home so that when your child is using the computer, you can see what he is doing. If your child has a cell phone, tablet or laptop, don’t allow him to take it to bed with him. The internet allows access to everything that is out there. There is a lot of good out there, but a lot of what is out there isn’t good. I googled ‘parental controls’ and got over 5 million hits in less than one second. There are many tools out there to help to protect your child from inappropriate websites and pop up advertisements, but it does take vigilance.

“But Mrs. Cancel” you may say, “Griggs has online classes”. Yes, we do, and I recommend them to many families. You may notice that they are for older students and are not offered until 6^th grade. These courses often still offer textbooks and projects that do not involve screen time for students. Raz-Plus is a wonderful reading program used by many of our younger students, but it is just a supplement, not a main course. Like all great computer programs, it needs to be used in moderation. The internet allows us incredible access to information and resources that enrich our curriculum in ways that I couldn't have even imagined when I started teaching. ,Your student’s learning experience can be enhanced greatly by using these resources, but please use wisely. Be proactive about protecting, and educating your child to protect himself.

 

I’ve attached an article here that you may wish to browse if you are interested in the topic of screen addiction. As always, I am interested in your thoughts and experiences as you navigate the waters of educating your child.

http://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/

The Instructional Zone for Reading

I am seeing an occupational therapist right now for recovery from a broken hand. She pushes me hard to progress! When I do the exercises at home however, sometimes I do them wrong and cause pain to the joint that is trying to heal. I can tell the difference between healthy, progress inducing effort; and painful actions that damage or inhibit progress. In teaching children to read we must be aware of the differences between good healthy effort, and anxiety producing frustration.

Reading specialists talk about three levels of reading materials in relation to a student's ability. The first level is the ‘Independent Level’. This is the level at which a student can read easily on her own. She is able to decode the words with very few mistakes, and is able to understand what she is reading. You should keep plenty of books on this level available to your student. They will entertain her and help her to practice reading fluently. Independent level books are excellent for practicing reading with expression so that the meaning comes across. She may be able to read these books to a younger sibling, or a stuffed animal; but if your student reads only at her 'Independent' level, she will never progress as a reader.

The second level of reading is the ‘Instructional Range’, where supervised reading will take place. You could think of it as I think of my sessions with the occupational therapist. This is where growth happens. An instructional level book will continue to offer your student a majority of words that she can easily decode; but there should also be words that are unfamiliar to her. These are words that she can learn with adult assistance for sounding out, practicing a phonics skill, or using a dictionary. Instructional level books should also spark discussion about people’s feelings or intentions, or why a plot may not turn out the way that you expected. This will develop comprehension skills, and help her to look for deeper meaning. In order for a student's reading skills to grow she should spend a lot of time reading at her instructional level. An instructional level book should still be read primarily by the student with an adult following along to assist. Another great approach with this level is to take turns reading every other page. In this way, you will be modeling reading fluency as you go.

The third level of reading is the frustration level. Rather like exercising my healing joint the wrong way, a lot of damage can be done by trying to force a child to read a book that is too difficult for her. Teachers of young children often use the ‘five finger’ rule. When a child starts reading, hold up one finger each time she gets a word wrong. If you get to five fingers before the bottom of the page, the book may be too difficult. Pushing a child to read a book that is too difficult for her will create frustration, and teach her to believe that she is not a good reader. Don't try to determine your child's reading level based on the age range on the back of the book, or by what her friend is reading. Pay close attention to your child's cues. If your child doesn't look forward to reading with you, or her attention is constantly drawn away from the book; if her muscles are tense, and certainly if she's frustrated or stumbling over every other word, then the book is too hard for her.

This is not to say that a book that is too difficult for your student cannot be used at all. A book in your child's frustration range may make an excellent 'read aloud' book. You can use this opportunity to demonstrate fluency to your student. As you read, follow the words with your finger and encourage your student to follow along. If you are a fast reader slow down a bit so that your student's eyes can keep up, but don't read unnaturally. It is important for your student to hear the words flow. You can encourage your student's eyes to follow your finger by stopping once in a while at a word that your student knows, and letting her fill it in. Most children enjoy looking for words they know in a harder text.

Remember that reading should be a joy! Students will progress at their own rate. Provide plenty of interesting books for your students at various reading levels. Focus on materials that will spark interest and encourage success. Be aware of the proper use of independent, instructional, and frustration levels in reading, and take advantage of what each one has to offer to your child! Keep Reading!

Me Do It!

I had a cousin who, at a very young age, exhibited an independent streak a mile wide.  When her mother tried to assist her with anything, she would respond with “Me do it!” regardless of whether she was capable of accomplishing the task or not.  In parenting and in homeschooling it is often difficult to know when to help our children, and when to encourage them to be independent.

In today’s field of parenting there is a vast spectrum from ‘Helicopter’ and ‘Tiger’ moms to ‘Free Range’ parenting. While our hearts may want to hang on to these precious years of childhood, our heads know that our children need to become independent, successful adults. It can be difficult to know when to hover, both physically and emotionally, and when to allow them space.

Miss Frizzle of ‘Magic School Bus’ fame likes to tell her students to “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!”.  I would like to explore these ideas with you in relation to helping children learn the skills of independence and responsibility.

“Take Chances” In their schoolwork and daily lives, allow your student to take chances. Without taking chances, there is no innovation in the world. My son enjoyed making up recipes. Sometimes I would stand by and groan over his creative use of ingredients, but some of them surprised me. Cinnamon on nachos for example, not bad!

“Make Mistakes” within safe parameters of course, let them fail. Sooner or later everyone is going to fail at something. If we don’t allow children to experience failure in the safety of their secure home environment, it can have disastrous results on their mental health when failure occurs in the “real world”.

“Get Messy” Most kids enjoy a good mess, whether it’s exploding a baking soda volcano, building a fort in the living room out of chairs and blankets, or experimenting in the kitchen. Messy can also refer to not having a clear plan of action for completion. It is just as important however, that they practice the responsibility of cleaning up after themselves.

How have you found balance between protecting and guiding while allowing freedom for exploration and independence? Can you think of an example?

Snow Day!

My home in Maine is buried, quite literally, in snow. They have received about two feet of snow in the past week, and another 10" may be coming tomorrow. It is a beautiful site. The world is buried in a blanket of white. Trees are frosted, fires are burning, and the air smells of cozy fires in fireplaces. School children are waking up to "No School" announcements. After lingering for some extra sleep, they make plans for hot chocolate, sledding, and snow men later in the day.

For those of you homeschooling in northern areas, you may also be waking up with driveways to plow, walks to shovel, wood to carry, perhaps even loss of electricity. You may ask yourself,  "Am I allowed to have a snow day, when all our schooling happens at home?"  My resounding answer is Yes! Everyone needs a snow day once in a while! The beauty of a snow day is that you are unexpectedly marooned at home with a whole day to yourselves. A day that you have not filled with expectations for accomplishment.

Winter in Michigan this year has been very mild. While my Maine home is buried in snow, the temperature here is heading towards 50 degrees (F) and the sun is shining. While I am loving the mild weather, my kids are complaining that they haven't had "even one snow day". I know they are missing the snow, but I believe that what they are really wishing for is that unexpected day off. That day that is not filled with school work, practicing their instruments, sports and chores. A whole day together with the family, because no one can go anywhere.

There are 365 days in a year, and as a Griggs student you have 365 days to complete your coursework beginning with the day that you registered. The Griggs school year is built on 180 school days/lessons. That gives you 185 days per year that you don't have to "do school". While we don't want to be neglectful, there is something that is very rejuvenating about taking a needed day off, just to spend time together.  It can sometimes be difficult without "built in" vacations from a school calendar to tell you when your kids (and you) need a break.  I want to encourage you to listen to your kids. If they are dragging themselves through their tasks, acting overtired all the time, seem more emotional than usual, or are listless and unable to stay on task, it may be time to take a day off. Winter and lack of vitamin D can have a strong effect on kids as well as adults, so take break! Whether you are building snow men, or sandcastles enjoy a snow day!

disclaimer: This entry is rather selfishly focused on those in the northern hemisphere. For those of you "down south" enjoy your summer!

Traditions

There were 147 noodles in my soup Friday night. While this may seem to be a strange and obscure fact to begin a homeschool blog, let me explain. It is a tradition in my family to have soup for Friday night supper. It doesn't always happen, but a good percentage of the time there is some kind of soup, fresh bread and salad for supper on Friday night. Our favorite is grammy's homemade chicken noodle soup.

When I was a little girl I grew up with all of my family in town. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents everyone lived nearby. When my mom went back to work, my grandmother would often invite us to her house for vege chicken noodle soup on Friday nights to welcome the Sabbath and give my busy mother one less thing to worry about. Entering the house you could smell the soup bubbling and find grammy busy cutting her homemade noodles with her fancy round pastry cutter. I loved to put the noodles into the boiling broth and would stand on a stool by the stove while my grandfather would stand stirring the broth and reminding me "one at a time Cindy, one at a time". My grandfather was Italian and was particular about noodles not sticking to one another or being over or undercooked. My grandfather passed away 12 years ago, but to this day when I make this soup on Friday nights I can hear his voice telling me over my shoulder "one at a time Cindy, one at a time".

So what has this to do with homeschooling? Much. My impatient nature was challenged by my grandfather's reminders to put one noodle in at a time. That lesson was gently taught to me in a very practical way and repeated over and over again so that I still remember it. It is a pleasant memory and always makes me smile. Homeschooling is a big undertaking! Some days are fun and sweet and full of memory making. Other days may feel like battles that we would rather forget. Whatever your day is like, remember the goal, that continued and gentle reminder in your child's ear. Be strong in the knowledge that you are taking full responsibility for forming their characters, and that it is the small continued lessons that make this possible.

So when I add my noodles to my soup I find myself counting as I go. 147 noodles. 147 reminders and memories. I encourage you to build traditions because traditions stick with kids. Whether your traditions are related to your school day or family recreational time, your kids will remember them and ask for them. If you have any special memories that were character building for you or your children please feel free to share. We have many new students starting out with homeschooling for the first time at the beginning of this new year! I wish you all many blessings!