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How Our Family is Celebrating Christmas This Year

By Joy D.
In Christmas, Timberdoodle News
3 Min Read
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Our Christmas traditions have morphed through the years as our kids grew up. Now, after several years of having only adults at our celebrations, we welcomed three amazing foster children ages 1-4. Our excitement is palpable! To make this the best year possible for them, we’re bringing back some of our earliest traditions, while setting aside some cherished ones that would not be a good fit for them.

Advent Books & Nativity Sets
Introducing our little ones to the Christmas story is our highest priority this year. So we found 25 different picture books that retell the nativity story and wrapped them up as gifts. Every evening one of the children opens up that night’s book, unwraps a character for the nativity set and disperses mini candy canes for each of them.

Christmas Day Shepherds’ Lunch
We’re excited to bring back our “shepherds’ lunch” tradition this year. Starting when we were tiny we would have a family bonfire and eat a shepherd’s lunch by the fire. Of course, everyone imagines themselves as shepherds of an invisible flock and may even walk away with a sliver of empathy for the shepherd crews. Lunch is not limited to traditional shepherds’ fare but often includes pita bread, string cheese, mandarin oranges, and Keebler elf cookies (FYI elves look like shepherds if you can’t read yet). Over the years we had aged out of this tradition but we are thrilled to break it back out this year. We’re adding hot dogs too, since it is a favorite food for some of our little ones.

Christmas Activities
We have nativity puzzles set aside for Christmas day and are stocking up on candy to attempt an edible nativity. With such young ones in the house we’re holding both of these ideas with an open hand though!

The Wise Men’s New Year’s Party
For our family we found that adding gifts to Christmas day tended to be a huge distraction from the Christmas story in our own hearts. At the same time, we love the generosity and celebration of gifts, so we opted to move that element of the festivities to New Year’s Eve. The celebration begins with a treasure hunt, to honor the magi’s search for the Treasure, Baby Jesus. This year our little guys will be searching for balloons, which will not only contain a clue to the next balloon but also small candies to sustain the hunters as they journey. Our final destination this year will be at Grandma’s, who is mostly housebound but loves being part of the festivities.

What is your family doing to celebrate Christmas this year? Any new traditions or ones you’re setting aside this year?

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Teach Your Baby to Sign review by Pray Species

By Karla
In Uncategorized
1 Min Read
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Erika says, “As a Mom of three, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but one thing I got right was teaching my kids sign language when they were babies. It has reduced frustration and enhanced language development in all three of my children.

Signing together has proven to be a wonderful bonding experience for us as a family. If you aren’t signing at home, I highly recommend you give it a try. Baby Sign Cards are a great, inexpensive first step.”

Read the rest of her review at Pray Species.

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Why don’t we add a Bible portion to our curriculum?

By Karla
In Bible, God and Homeschooling
3 Min Read
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Why don’t we add a Bible portion to our curriculum?

From the time our children could sit in our laps, family devotion was a mainstay in our home, so teaching Bible to our children was paramount. But for too many families the sum total of Bible instruction for their children is Bible workbooks that are little more than read-and-regurgitate exercises, and that alarms me. Yes, I did want children to know the facts of the Bible – who killed a giant with a small stone; who was thrown into a lion’s den; and who changed water into wine, and The Action Bible does a splendid job of that. But my experience has been that children need massive amounts of intimate daily input to fully grasp the glory of the gospel, and there is no easier way than through a daily family devotion.

Then what about requiring each child to read their Bibles every day?

That is certainly the trajectory we all want for our children, but how is that working for you personally? Have you ever had times where you ‘read’ your daily chapter(s) while thinking about dinner, the toddler meltdown, or updating your shopping list? Your children have the same struggles.

How is a daily devotional different?

With a daily devotional, the Bible reading can be explored in a much more personal manner. You know your children better than any publisher and if the prescribed questions are not relevant to the sins and follies of your child, you can adapt and even drill down further. You can also use that time to point out how the Word is living and active in your own life with personal anecdotes that pertain to the topic at hand.

Then can’t you include devotional materials with each grade level?

No, for the simple reason that many of our favorite devotional materials, in particular Long Story Short and Old Story New are usable for multiple ages and multiple years. And because God’s work in each family is unique, we are much more comfortable exposing you to what we consider the best all-around resources and letting you cherry-pick the most appropriate for your use and your situation.

What does the ideal devotional time look like?

We are ardent proponents of reading the Bible every day. For the little ones there is the The Big Picture Story Bible, slightly older ones will enjoy The Jesus Storybook Bible, and then they should be ready for Long Story Short and Old Story New. But don’t stop there, add in great theological books that you have enjoyed. When our children were little we read books by John Piper, Ravi Zacharias, R.C. Sproul, Randy Alcorn, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. We read them slowly, sometimes just a page or two a day, pausing often to discuss the concepts and how they related to our lives, the lives of their friends, and the world at large. Every devotional time ended with a chapter out of a true-to-life story, both Christian and secular, where opportunities again presented themselves to discuss motivations, temptations, and how God’s Word pertains to this situation.

 

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The Extraordinary Versatility of the Extraordinaires Design Studio

By Karla
In Art
3 Min Read
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A guest post by John Fiore.

When the Creativity Hub set out to make a plaything that would introduce young people to design thinking, they ultimately created The Extraordinaires Design Studio®, a wonderful combination of empathy, design, and self­-esteem building that invites every child to do much more than just draw. As part of Timberdoodle’s Fifth Grade Curriculum Kit, The Extraordinaires Design Studio® can easily be integrated into a variety of subject area activities to support or extend values­-based curriculum goals.

Writing and Empathy

Every great design idea starts with a meaningful purpose. The larger-­than­-life clients depicted on the double­-sided Extraordinaires’ character cards have larger­-than-­life needs. As children examine the cards to learn about the Extraordinaires’ lives, environments, hobbies, and hopes, they will quickly discover that each character has an extraordinary story or two to tell. Why not tell that story for them?

Whether as a first-­person account or a personal letter requesting help, a writing activity in which children take on the point­-of­-view of an Extraordinaire can be a powerful learning experience. It can provide a fresh take on narrative writing assignments, but, more than that, it can be a genuine exercise in empathy, giving children an opportunity to see the world through someone else’s eyes.

Math and Design

Every great designer needs to be a pretty good mathematician, too! As children are sketching their designs on the Idea Pad, they can be asked to consider many different mathematical concepts along the way. From the relative size of something small for a much bigger Extraordinaire to the space needed for a building in an unusual environment, all sorts of math can become part of a project. Why not include some?

Scale drawings that look three-­dimensional are easy to draw on the Idea Pad, and children can calculate ratios and proportions from their own designs. Converting measurements to match real sizing can also make for interesting applications of typically tedious math. And if the family has lots of building toys around the house, kids can become young engineers and bring their designs to life!

Art and Service

Being able to draw well is not a requirement for being a great designer, but striving to help another person solve a problem–no matter how difficult–is. Children might be tempted to just “draw anything” to get a project over with when they get stuck, but, in those moments, they can learn something important about putting the needs of others above the insecurities they feel about their own art skills.

Let them know that, ultimately, it’s not about the drawing itself but about the importance of others understanding their ideas. Striving to be understood rather than just focusing on artistry furthers empathy and makes children more likely to want to try again, actually improving their art skills. Having designed something helpful for another person is worth so much more than having drawn a masterpiece!

The Extraordinaires Design Studio® truly has the ability to provide a wide variety of subject-­area options that transcend its role as a fun art project. With creative lesson plans and cool ideas, your young designers will utilize the studio to its fullest!

John Fiore is Creativity Hub’s educational consultant. He helps the Hub help teachers by developing educational content and teacher support materials for the Extraordinaires Design Studio®. He has been a teacher, administrator, and professional development provider for over 25 years.

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Are Phonics Taught in Spelling You See?

By Karla
In Phonics, Spelling
4 Min Read
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A Guest Post by Jean Soyke.

We’re often asked if Spelling You See uses phonics to teach spelling. Learn how Spelling You See’s use of phonics differs from most other programs.

It’s fun to be at a homeschooling convention and watch someone leaf through a Spelling You See book for the first time. The puzzled looks are often followed by questions such as:

• Where are the lists?
• How do you know which words to teach?
• Are there tests?
• Does this program use phonics to teach spelling?

Are Phonics Taught in Spelling You See?Spelling-You-See-Listen-and-Write-300x200

The last question is the one that is the focus of this blog post. There is absolutely no question that a child must understand the relationships between sounds, letters, and words to develop strong language skills. Where these skills appear in the Spelling You See program, however, differs from most other programs. Here’s the reason why.

In a previous blog post, I explained the difference between the process of learning to read and the process of learning to spell. To summarize, when someone is reading an unfamiliar word, phonics rules are a useful tool to help him decode it, or “figure it out.” If the student doesn’t have sufficient phonics skill or if word doesn’t follow phonics rules (almost half of English words do not), the reader can use context clues from surrounding text and graphics to help him self-correct. Using phonics rules for spelling, however, is a much more difficult process. Once again, the brain begins the process by drawing from known phonics rules to try to encode the word, converting sounds to letters. Now, however, there is a much wider range of possible spellings. For example, there may be three or four ways to read the letters p-h-o-n-e, but there are at least six ways to write the sounds in the word “phone”, assuming that it is spelled phonetically. If the student chooses the wrong spelling, there is nothing to help him self-correct, and if the error is not addressed immediately, it is likely to make its way into long-term memory, where it will be difficult to replace.

Spelling You See recognizes the differences between these processes in the way in which phonics rules are incorporated into the program. It also utilizes phonics rules in ways that are appropriate for each stage of spelling development.

Phonetic Stage

The beginning levels of the program (Listen and Write and the first half of Jack and Jill) are designed for students who are still learning the associations between letters and sounds. Words are spelled in isolation at these levels, using only consonants and short vowels so that students don’t have to think through all the possible sounds that a particular letter can represent. Instead, they can focus solely on developing the skill of translating sounds to letters in the order in which they appear in a word.

Skill Development Stage

The focus for students in this stage is extending their language skills to a rapidly-increasing vocabulary. Since this learning extends through most of the elementary years, Spelling You See devotes several levels to this stage (Jack and Jill, Wild Tales, Americana, American Spirit, and Ancient Achievements). Phonics rules are actually de-emphasized in this stage because of the wide (and often confusing) variation in the ways that words can be spelled. Instead, students build their spelling skill by working with words in ways that encourage transfer to long-term memory, where they will be retrieved and used correctly in the student’s written work.

Word Extension Stage

Once students have mastered the correct spellings of many words, they are able to analyze them and construct new words by adding prefixes and suffixes. The final level of the Spelling You See program, Modern Milestones, walks students through the spelling rules associated with this process, such as doubling the consonant at the end of a short-vowel word, dropping a final –e, changing –y to –i, etc.

Knowing phonics rules is important for any student to be successful in the language arts. However, it is equally important to know when to use these rules in learning how to spell words. Spelling You See’s research-based approach guides both you and your child through this process, resulting in a confident speller who is able to communicate clearly and accurately.

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This post first appeared on the Demme Learning blog. Used with permission.

ff4f3cb1c54ce004d0fd4cf6b639d365Jean Soyke is a certified elementary educator with specialties in math and curriculum development. She taught in both public and private schools before homeschooling her four children, grades K-12. For the past several years, Jean has worked for homeschool publishing companies and currently serves as the Managing Editor for Demme Learning.

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Timberdoodle Communities

By Karla
In Timberdoodle News
1 Min Read
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Looking for a place to hang out online with like-minded homeschoolers? Wondering how anyone else handled this particular science kit? Or wishing you could encourage someone just getting started this year? Join one or more of our Timberdoodle Facebook Groups:

 

Homeschool_Community
www.facebook.com/groups/Timberdoodle
Join this group if you enjoy using a Timberdoodle approach to homeschooling whether that is with one of our curriculum kits or not.

 

HC_0-K
www.facebook.com/groups/EarlyTimberdoodle
If you’re homeschooling using Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits for Tiny Tots, Preschool, PreK, or Kindergarten, this is the group for you!

 

HC_1-4
www.facebook.com/groups/ElementaryTimberdoodle
If you’re using Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits for 1st through 4th grade this year, this is the group for you!

 

HC_5-8
www.facebook.com/groups/UpperElementaryTimberdoodle
If you’re using Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits for 5th through 8th grade this year, this is the group for you!

 

HC_HS
www.facebook.com/groups/HighSchoolTimberdoodle
If you’re using Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits for High School this year, this is the group for you!

 


www.facebook.com/groups/SecularTimberdoodle
If you’re using any of the Non-Religious Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits this year, this is the group for you!

 

special_needs_text
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TimberdoodleSpecialNeeds
If you’re using Timberdoodle materials for a special needs student this year, this is the group for you!

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Free Placement Test for 0-K

By Karla
In Choosing Curriculum, FAQ
1 Min Read
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Young children are learning machines, simply because their brains are wired for constant exploration and experimentation. Children want to learn, and while giving kids what they want isn’t always in their best interest, we make a strong exception for learning.

Much of your child’s education is absorbed by daily living. But you have an option to maximize their potential with Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits. Packed with hands-on learning, brain-stretching puzzles and games, and top-notch workbooks, we’ve heard from parent after parent that this is just the right mix for their child. And with most Timberdoodle Preschool and Pre-K students logging less than 2 hours a day, often much less, your child will still have plenty of time for raiding the kitchen cupboards, digging in the litter box and building forts with couch cushions.

Is your three-year-old best suited for Preschool or PreK? Is your four-year old ready for PreK or Kindergarten? Curriculum that is too easy will be boring and curriculum that is too hard will be frustrating. To find the best difficulty level to start with try our free PDF placement test for your 2- to 5-year old!

PDF_Placement_Test

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Timberdoodle Kit Options

By Karla
In Choosing Curriculum
3 Min Read
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With so many options to choose from, it’s hard to know which kit would be right for your family. Each of our Timberdoodle Curriculum kits is available in 3 models: Basic, Complete, or Elite. What’s the difference (besides price)? I’m glad you asked!

  • Our Basic kit includes grade-specific materials for language arts, math, and thinking skills. It is not a complete curriculum. You’ll need to add in history and science materials. This is a great option for families on a strict budget who are willing to do the work to find those materials at the library, or for those with multiple children who already have history and science materials that all the children can share.
  • Our Complete kit includes everything in the Basic kit plus materials for history and science, and a few more hands-on tools that tie in well with the basic subjects. This is a great option for families who want to make sure they cover the main academic subjects well but don’t have time for a lot of extras.
  • Our Elite kit includes everything in the Complete kit plus a nice selection of hands-on enrichment activities… “the fun stuff” like a stop-motion animation kit, advanced robotics, art sets, etc. This is a great option if you find yourself running out of things for the kids to do.

 

For larger families, we recommend choosing a Complete or Elite kit for your main “group” study, and then adding on Basic kits for your children at other grade levels.

What if you like one of our kits but want to make a few changes? Say you need a different level of math, or you already own or don’t want one or more of the items in the kit? No problem! We offer a custom kit builder just for you.

What if you prefer to not receive faith-based materials? Or you purchase through your local school district and need a secular-only curriculum? We offer Secular Homeschool Kits. Our secular kits are based off of our elite curriculum kits, with all of the religious content removed or substituted.

Of course you can always choose items a la carte, but there are advantages to purchasing a kit:

  • convenience of buying your entire year’s homeschool curriculum in only minutes
  • typical savings of 10-15% off our already discounted prices
  • free ground shipping (see our website for details)

 

Still have questions about what to choose? Feel free to contact us any time. We love to hear from you!

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Recipe for Conductive Dough

By Karla
In Science, Tips, Tricks, and Opinions
2 Min Read
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Making your own play dough is easy, fun, and inexpensive. The kids love helping mix in the colors… or mixing together two different colors of finished play dough to see what new color they can make. Obviously, there are endless sculptures to be created with play dough, but did you know it can also be used to conduct electricity?

Here’s a recipe for an easier to make conductive play dough from our team here at Timberdoodle. It can be used along with our DIY Electro-Dough Kit for a fun summer activity.

Conductive Dough

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 6 oz salt
  • 1 tablespoon oil (vegetable or olive)
  • 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • food coloring (if desired)
  • 8 oz all-purpose flour
  • lots of extra flour

Instructions

  • Mix the water and salt together, then bring to a boil on your stovetop.
  • Boil for 1 minute.
  • Add oil and lemon juice, then bring mixture back to a boil.
  • Add food coloring if desired, then stir until combined.
  • Stir in flour.
  • Remove from heat as soon as the dough clumps. Scrape dough out of the pot and onto a bed of flour.
  • Knead when cool enough to handle, adding flour until the dough stops sticking to everything. When your dough is still soft enough to mold yet stiff enough to hold its shape, it is ready to use! Store the dough in an air-tight container or bag for best results.

A Note on Food Coloring: Food coloring paste from a jar seems to make for the brightest colors, and you’ll want to add enough to make your water mixture a little darker than you’d like your finished project to look. It will lighten up a little when you add the flour. If you want to make multiple colors in the same batch, you’ll need to add the coloring while you knead in the flour. Be prepared for colorful hands!

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10 FAQs About 2016 Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits

By Joy D.
In Choosing Curriculum, Timberdoodle, Timberdoodle News
6 Min Read
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With the release of the 2016 Timberdoodle Curriculum Kits you’ve had many great questions for us. Here are our top 10 questions and answers so far. Please let us know if you have any more questions we can answer. We want you to be as excited as we are!

 

Why did you switch to Math-U-See instead of Mathematical Reasoning?
Before I answer I just want to let you know that if Mathematical Reasoning is working well for you and your child, we’d really encourage you to stay with it. It’s a fantastic program that we still sell and think well of. However, we were thrilled to add Math-U-See to our default K-2nd Grade Kits this year for a couple of reasons. First, the manipulatives. Math is so much easier to grasp and understand with the use of hands-on tools in the lessons, something Math-U-See has understood from the beginning! Second, the mastery approach makes math very doable, even for a child who finds a spiral approach too scattered to grasp. It is a very different teaching style, with online videos to help your child really master the skills. Also, you may find a child who has already done Mathematical Reasoning is ready to skip the Primer level of Math-U-See. We strongly encourage you to take the free placement test to make sure you start with the right level for your child: http://mathusee.timberdoodle.com/

Do the components of the old kits stay on your website?
Absolutely! As much as possible, 2015 items will become alternates for 2016 custom kits and will also remain available to buy individually. Sadly, some items were removed because of supply issues, so they will no longer be available. (For instance, the Tick-Tock readers are slowly being discontinued by the publisher.)

Why did you switch to First Language Lessons instead of Language Smarts?
First, let me just mention that if your child thrived with Language Smarts, we would encourage you to stay with the program. We still love it, and why change what’s already working? That said, we swapped our standard recommendation because we really like the scope and approach of First Language Lessons. It is a very friendly, gentle program with almost a mastery-learning approach. Level 1 (1st grade) starts with copywork, narration, picture study, and other classical techniques – Charlotte Mason would be proud! At the same time, the scope of the program is impressive. By the end of the 4th level your child will have covered parts of speech, punctuation, sentence diagrams, and skills in beginning writing and storytelling. One thing to note is that this program is more parent-intensive than Language Smarts, simply because of the frequent dictation and explanation from you.

Do I get reward points and the appropriate gift certificate during the pre-sale?
Yes! You’ll get your normal Doodle Dollars as well as the gift certificate!

Will the kits be available for preorder only? We are interested in starting ASAP.
Yes, we will ship the first part of your order by April 12th or so, and follow it with all of your backordered items/handbook as soon as they arrive here. There is a note on each grade level with details on what items we’re still waiting for.

I can’t get to the Custom Kit Builder!
We’re sorry – that is still getting 2016 updates done. We will make it live ASAP but do not anticipate it being done before the pre-order sale is over. To make sure you don’t miss out, we’re happy to build you a custom kit by phone (800-478-0672) or email (mail@timberdoodle.com).

Why did Wedgits move from Preschool to the Tiny Tots kit?
We used to have a kit in Tiny Tots called Edu-Animals. As great as it is, we realized that Wedgits did even more for that age than Edu-Animals. We then looked at Preschool and found that with the new STEM tools (Plus Plus Midi and Hape Dominos) a child wouldn’t need Wedgits to master those skills. Wedgits is a unique item that really excels for a wide age-range (We even used them with Grandpa to rebuild skills after his first stroke!), so it fits really well with either age range but it felt like it made each kit more complete to shuffle it this way.

Apologia is putting out a new astronomy edition. Which edition are you selling with the kits? When will the new edition be available?
All of the Complete or Elite 2016 First Grade Kits will ship with the new edition by default, as soon as it arrives here. We expect it sometime in April, but I’m still waiting on an exact arrival date. This may mean a delay in getting this part of your kit out to you, but you will definitely receive the new edition. The online pictures will be updated to reflect this soon.

Will the gift certificate offer be valid on the custom kits also?
Absolutely! Any Custom Kit equal to or greater than the cost of the Complete Kit in that grade will get the same $25 gift certificate. Any Custom Kit equal to or greater than the cost of the Elite Kit in that grade will get the $50 gift certificate!

Can I still order a 2015 Curriculum Kit?
Yes. Until April 6th we will do our best to keep all 2015 Kits available over the phone. There have been a few price increases to reflect our current costs from the suppliers, but no massive changes.

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