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Angie Mc
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What are your favorite common educational & family living practices? How do they enhance your living and learning? What have you found to be the benefits of using common practices? How do you make the most out of common practices?
I've been thinking about this as of late because there have been times in the past when I've felt that our home education wasn't all that...I don't know...special. Yet, I'm coming to appreciate that there are many benefits to doing common things. Common practices and materials tend to be economical, easy to obtain, easy to implement, and time-tested.
For example, our family really enjoys watching movies. We pump this common practice up by watching movies of worth, to include classics, those based on literature, those that inform and/or tell a story well, etc. Between our library, Tivo, netflix, and online options, we're easily able to access the best. Movies often lead to or from a rabbit trail and help us to make connections to a variety of other material. Watching movies is popular, in part, I bet because so many people can do it!...and do it with others who are at different ages/stages of life. In that way it is unifying and relationship building. Plus, the enjoyment value is high as is the relaxation value.
I'm curious about what others enjoy and why. Please feel free to repeat faves - that's why they're common and favorites, right? Your take on your favorites will add to an even greater appreciation for the common. THANKS!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Mackfam
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Great thread, Angie! Let's see...common practices...so these are ideas that you'll find in common with life, play, and with other educational methods, right?
Living books - Incorporating a wide variety of living books in our days has yielded a lovely variety of subjects my children are conversant on. They become familiar with different styles of writing, settings, viewpoints. Incorporating this rich variety communicates a liberal education which I believe to be very valuable. It's not a classical education, but it does have many elements which are common.
Movies/programs - this is something we love as well. In fact, we've so enjoyed the use of Netflix for this - we borrow documentaries, nature shows, history programs, programs and movies that enrich our faith, movies that speak to a particular era in history, movies that are based on a piece of literature.
Times of Wonder - most of these take place outside, but they're not limited to the out of doors. I love that this common practice often springs us into learning about interests we discover along the journey. I relish and find great joy in the thought that I need not be an expert at anything but my own children. I can simply look with eyes of wonder at...a grasshopper, a Passionflower, an Indigo bunting, a new lego creation...and wonder aloud...admire God's handiwork...ask questions without anyone necessarily expecting an answer to every one. I like that *Times of Wonder* springboard learning in an informal and joyful way for us.
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JodieLyn
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On the Movie watching.. we do rabbit trails and talk about them but something we all love to do here.. is watch the "making of.." the movies.. the little stories behind the scenes, the movie magic that makes things happen, which parts of a movie are true stories and which parts are made up for the movie (like in Cool Runnings.. some of the clips of the bobsled race that crashes are actual clips from the real event)
Not only is it fun for all of us to know that bit more about the movie, but all of the kids are that much better versed about movies being made up and HOW they are made to look real without being so.
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G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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Kathryn
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We love our TV too and I try to make them educational dvds from the library if they're watching w/o me (during my much needed 1st trimester naps lately). If altogether, dad picks the science type shows and I tend toward the "family" type movies. Lately, we've watched a lot of cooking shows. We used to love musicals but haven't had those out in a while.
We also spend a huge amount of time outside. Most of this is completely unstructured play (hanging out at the park esp. if there's a pond, working in the yard, riding bikes, climbing trees (not me!), chalk on the sidewalk, basketball, kick the soccer ball, kids' building forts etc.) but today was spent *finally* getting our few vegetables for our small garden and I did try and weave some reminders about the concept of measuring when determining proper placement.
My most favorite are prob. the "field trips"...lots and lots of field trips. A field trip to me could be a trip to the garden center. It's ironic that I tend to be a homebody and yet when I have 3 very busy little people around me all day, I so want to take a field trip. Could be the fact that they're all strapped in the car for at least the 10-15 min ride there and back!  I do the "real" field trips though as well to the museums, zoo, rodeo, botanic gardens etc. There's the local airplane museum and a new space museum coming up on our to do list. Oh, tomorrow we're going to the downtown Arts Festival in the morning b/c this guy added kinetic energy to his art and I sooo want my son to see this! And this event is free! So many of the other places offer season passes that make it cheap to go on a regular basis and I also watch for discounts. Someone gave us tickets about a month ago that they won and couldn't use (which would have cost us $60 so we wouldn't have gone) to take the big kids to see a play about the Alamo at the local children's theater. Anytime I think about moving out of the hubbub of activity here in the DFW metroplex for some p & q in the country, I remember allll the resources available here and am so thankful to be close.
Sorry...didn't mean for this to be so long! May be this is why I have no time for planning. 
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Kathryn in TX
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guitarnan
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We love impromptu field trips.
Of course, scheduled field trips are nice as well! But, there's something fun about a Mystery Bus Trip (expedition where you don't know the destination) or a spur-of-the-moment, hey-it's-nice-outside field trip that jazzes up an entire school week.
Some of our past trips include:
Learning to skip rocks at Brandywine Lake in WV;
Birdwatching and exploring the National Wildlife Visitor Center (in snow...few birds...  );
Discovering eclectic art at the American Visionary Art Museum (highly recommended if you ever visit Baltimore! I have details!);
Hitting a well-loved museum's new and updated exhibits and skipping all the stuff we've already seen;
It's the surprise element that makes it work. (And not trying to see museums on Mondays. Most are closed. Trust me!)
I got this idea from a friend's dad, long ago when I was in high school. He used to dream up Mystery Bus Trips (they had a Travelall, not a bus) - I went to Catalina Island with them once, for example - and I've been known to take dh on a trip or two. It's harder now, with our dancy stuff, but I try to look at the weather forecast in fall and spring and suggest an impromptu day out now and then.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Angie Mc
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Mackfam wrote:
Great thread, Angie! Let's see...common practices...so these are ideas that you'll find in common with life, play, and with other educational methods, right?
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Sure! I'm realizing that common practices are just that, in part, because they can easily be integrated with life. I'm also thinking about everybody-can-do-it common, like...
Coloring. We have a million coloring books (well, not exactly a million!) and a big bin of crayons. That's it! We either choose coloring books based on a current area of study or just pick a favorite topic and everyone can dive in! We also just color for fun on assorted papers. Which reminds me...I've been meaning to start a Favorite Coloring Books topic - maybe tomorrow!
I need to get back to Easter Parade...set in 1912, Irving Berlin, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Ann Miller spinning, spinning, spinnig, NYC, Follies, musicals, dare I say I see Rabbit Trails? (Easter - Rabbit -  .)
Love,
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Angie Mc
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Becky Parker
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Yes to coloring, and drawing! We go through reams of paper, tons of notebooks, loads of pencils!
Nature viewing - we do this ALOT. Either from the trail when we're nature hiking, or out our back picture window that looks out over the woods and river.
Daniel Boone (and the like)! - We love to watch old TV series like Daniel Boone, Andy Griffith, Alfego Baca, etc. This is a favorite family evening activity.
Morning and Afternoon read aloud times. We read a history type book in the mornings with breakfast and some other sort of literature in the afternoons at our very informal "Tea Time".
And of course, our regular daily prayer times!
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Angie Mc
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Becky Parker wrote:
| Yes to coloring, and drawing! We go through reams of paper, tons of notebooks, loads of pencils. |
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Becky, I'm so glad you said yes to coloring, too! We do more coloring here than drawing and mostly use crayons and colored pencils, with some markers thrown in for good measure. I tried pastels once...I think...
I've been sharing what we do here at home for years, both online and IRL, and yet have never mentioned "coloring" before, in part because it is sooooooo common - almost assumed! Yet, the more I ponder what is common, I'm seeing how different ways of approaching what is common plus combining common practices in different ways can be turned into something unique and special for each family - can reflect what's unique and special about each family!
Love,
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Angie Mc
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Mackfam
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Angie Mc wrote:
| Which reminds me...I've been meaning to start a Favorite Coloring Books topic - maybe tomorrow! |
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Eagerly looking forward to this! Coloring books are something we love here - and there are so many great ones that add so much to a topic of study!!! Coloring is an enjoyed common practice here.
How about Teatime Read Alouds? We enjoy this more and more! I especially enjoy this time with my older children now, though I have very fond memories of this when all my children were younger as well (I'm just enjoying growing into days with big kids and the delightful conversations that grow).
Our teatime is usually quite plain, punctuated with lemonade or tea...but it's that special time set-aside thing again. We enjoy reading books that enrich our faith during this time. My older children are asking about and digging into bigger topics, so they enjoy a more meaty selection for a read aloud. Our theme of reading this year focused on "The Year for Priests." I just read one chapter of a book at a time and we discuss. Sometimes, we read something current from the paper and discuss.
I have found this works best in our family if I spend morning time reading aloud and snuggling with the littles with favorite picture books, and save our afternoon tea time for quiet time. The big kids really appreciate this time with just me, and I quite like it too.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Becky Parker
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Angie Mc wrote:
Yet, the more I ponder what is common, I'm seeing how different ways of approaching what is common plus combining common practices in different ways can be turned into something unique and special for each family - can reflect what's unique and special about each family!
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That's lovely Angie! I think so often about how I am blessed with friends whose lives are so different than mine, but most of us have two things in common: Our Catholic Faith, and our homeschooling. But what each family does as a regular part of their day looks so different in each home. It creates such an interesting mixture and adds a richness to the relationships we share.
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Becky
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lapazfarm
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Time spent outdoors: in a very relaxed way or in a more planned fashion. Either way the benefits are immeasurable.
Family read-alouds: It's getting harder, but I still try to find books I can read aloud that all of the children will enjoy. Our latest, Roverandom by Tolkein, was a big hit.
Discussion: of literature, current events, things seen on TV, anything really.Some great learning and some great bonding happen over simple discussions over the dishes or on car rides, etc.
Creative expression: mainly art, but also writing, play-acting, photography. So many ways to get those creative juices flowing.
Math with manipulatives and math games. The more hands-on and concrete we can make math concepts the better, I think.
Movies. Yep, we use them, too, especially for history. So many great things out there--I think they are a wonderful way to make history more alive and memorable. We also watch a lot of travel documentaries and shows set in exotic locations so we can "visit" far off places and peoples that we may never see in real life.
Getting messy. Just like Ms Frizzle says to do.'Nuf said.
Of course there are many more, but off the top of my head these are the main practices I feel we have in common with many homeschoolers.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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ekbell
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I love introducing my children to all the classic children's books I've read (and a few new ones).
Winnie the Pooh, Doctor Dolittle, Wizard of Oz, the Narnia series, Fairy tales, various Myths, The Princess and the Goblin....
Stories about Beowulf, El Cid (my parents had a lovely and very romantic version of his story), King Arthur.... [guess what time period we've been studying!]
I've also enjoyed the opportunity to develop a new appreciation for drawing and painting in the process of introducing my children to such activities.
In other words I really enjoy the opportunity to share old and develop new pleasures with my children.
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Angie Mc
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Thank you for sharing your ideas and experiences! You've given me a lot to think about...
So by "common" we can mean:
Readily available.
Easily integrated.
Easy to do - doable for most.
Done often within a family.
Done across/parallel within a group of people/s.
Done across time, space, and culture.
Anything else?
So, for example, movies and movie watching are readily available for most. They are easily integrated into a schedule because of interest/eagerness as well as provide a way to integrate content into our home studies. They are easy to do, although the content may be difficult. They can be done often, as in, "Come to my home often enough and there is a good chance that you'll catch us watching a movie." Our peers watch movies, too, giving us something to talk about, something to connect us. Movies haven't been around very long (nevermind TIVO and DVD on demand!)...but if I look at them as a form of communicating, then story-telling has been done across time, space, and culture.
Great! Tell us more about your favorite common practices, please  .
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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ALmom
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We are really, really notorious dawdlers - especially at dinner. We use this time for sharing neat things we found or learned and it often becomes an informal current events (politics/history connection), science (dh and son's passion) or a sharing of something important or funny. So for instance, my husbands father always circled or marked and left out for the family to note - anything that he read in the paper or such. Well, we do this with a twist - the articles are marked and the olders will all read (Mostly my husband circles things in his acoustics and engineering journals that he thinks would interest someone in the family particularly - like the time the acoustics engineers tested stradivarius violins or the article explaining why pianos could not be tuned a certain way or articles related to history and politics, etc. Since youngers are not always reading, we share what fascinated us aloud. I tend to find things in Catholic World Report or our Bishops letter to us in the diocesan newspaper or random quotes or letters that are particularly relevant. My husband sometimes shares something he heard on the radio - anything from dumb criminal stories, to car talk (which results in an informal discussion of any ideas the rest of us might have in how to trouble shoot the problem) to politics. We end up discussing all kinds of things. The children will sometimes engage in a debate related to their current studies or share their favorite book, science experiment, etc. It is also a time to coordinate schedules and .... Our dinners almost always run about 2 hours - but ...
Another tradition - my husband grew up being given anything that didn't work to try and fix. He has started that with the boys, so when the microwave went blitz, they tried to see if they could fix it. When they couldn't, they salvaged parts. They end up doing a lot of attempted repairs with dad this way. He also showed them how to work all his electronic equipment around the age of 2. I thought he was nuts, but it turned out to be a great thing and meant they didn't destroy things trying to figure out how they worked!
Sometimes he has neat little challenges for fun (this is all stuff that happens very naturally because of his interests or something he sees somewhere or ...) - so who can build a tower using 2 books, paper and tape (I think those were the parameters) that could withstand the most "wind" from a hand fan. We had very, very young toddlers that built too. It was hysterical to see differing personalities - oldest was all about aesthetics and made little bows for her tower, next child was totally outside the box thinking and used materials in totally unexpected ways that really held up and the boys had varying things they tried, the youngest imitated whomever they thought would have the best - and got a little help from dad in things requiring fine motor coordination.
Also, big chores like painting - we end up making them family projects - I really didn't realize that this was somewhat unique to our family until I asked another family how they got their room painted so picture perfect in one weekend - our paint jobs generally take months per room. Now this takes the fact that my husband is the most patient man on the planet and really will let the toddler paint under his supervision. It takes us much longer than most to achieve any results, and we generally have more clean up - but somehow we'd rather take longer and be together than anything else so we live with less than perfect paint jobs, etc.
They have also begun running together in the AM. Everyone goes at their own pace - but when you start to get out of sight of the stragglers, you turn and start running back. My husband bravely takes our dog. (I should join them as I really need the exercise, but right now it is an all guy thing).
Our children range in age from 7 to 21 now - but we've been doing stuff like this even when we had 2 year olds.
We also have always had bedtime stories - everyone gets to pick their own. As they get older in age, they often chose together and if it is lengthy we cut short at convenient spots. Most of this reading has been picture books (when they were younger) then either historical fiction - or lives of the saints. Mostly as they get older, it is lives of the saints and they tend to agree on one, but there was a time when we read 4 or 5 different books each night. Again we plan for extended reading time with bedtime - so we start earlier if we want a reasonable time for sleep. They all know I'm such a book person that I can be convinced to drag things out a bit and ....
We really are dawdlers!
Janet
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Jenn Sal
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Has anyone said puzzles? We just started doing them this past year and it's just wonderful! You can get some beautiful ones theses days.
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Jennifer, Texas
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Becky Parker
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Good idea Jennifer. We just returned from a beach house vacation and the owners had several puzzles. We started one when we got there and everybody contributed on an occasional basis. We finished the puzzle by the end of our week there. It was fun and everybody cheered for the accomplishment when it was complete.
I could see incorporating that into our home life too.
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Angie Mc
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Mackfam wrote:
Living books - Incorporating a wide variety of living books in our days has yielded a lovely variety of subjects my children are conversant on. They become familiar with different styles of writing, settings, viewpoints. Incorporating this rich variety communicates a liberal education which I believe to be very valuable. It's not a classical education, but it does have many elements which are common.
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I know that books and book reading are common. Choosing living books deliberately and with intention, perhaps that's less common. I wonder. I do know that living books are very common in our home and I feel very blessed to have become aquainted with the concept of living books and to receive help over the years with choosing excellent titles.
I just did a few 4Real searches on living books and twaddle - interesting! I was a little surprised that I couldn't easily find favorite living book lists and resources so I'll start that topic in a bit. I think I'll also start a few fun "If you were stranded on an island..." topics related to living books.
Be back later...
Love,
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Angie Mc
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** Games!!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angie Mc
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Angie Mc wrote:
| I was a little surprised that I couldn't easily find favorite living book lists and resources so I'll start that topic in a bit. |
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favorite living books lists and resources
Love,
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Angie Mc
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sunnyviewmom
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As Jennifer suggested, my DC "love" games as well! They play a lot of games together and sometimes we play as a family. We own quite a variety of games. They enjoy chess and many other strategy games, history themed games, Catholic themed games, trivia/fact games and others. It is wonderful how much learning takes place so easily and naturally this way.
Of course, we "love" living books!
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: favorite common practices
