We are offering computer classes for … Beyond the code 6th-12th grades. STEM classes focused on technology including digital forensics, cyber security, IoT, and Linux.
Laundry Sorting Chore
Chores. We all dislike them at one point or the other. We all have to do them!
In our family, chores are a requirement. They are a way of investing into the family. They are also an area of character training by way of teaching personal responsibility. We do not pay for our children to make their beds, help with laundry, unload the dish washer, or wipe/vaccume around the table after meals. If they want to earn money, we offer extra chores (perhaps a job that I would like done or would pay someone else to do anyway). Some of these paid jobs might be cleaning the inside &/or outside of the cars, washing blinds, or dusting baseboards.
The biggest chore, especially with 4 growing boys, is LAUNDRY! I started traing my oldest in how to do laundry when he was 2 1/2 years old. I let him “help” me and over time he could do more and more on his own (yes, this “help” does slow you down at first but it teaches too). Doing chores teach responsibility and serving as well as sorting, stacking, and all kinds of motor skills.
As each child gets bigger in our family, the chores get passed to a younger sibling- and they get a new chore. See What Every Child Should Know Along the Way for a list of age appropriate chores by year from 3-18 years old. My 9 year old has been trying to teach my 4 year old how to sort the dirty laundry into colored piles…and the learning process has been going slowly. There’s just SO many colors! Then I had an idea- a sort of “cheat sheet” to help Josiah with the laundry!
I created a sheet with color samples to illustrate what piles the items belong. While the color list is not exhaustive, it has helped a great deal for my visual learner to be able to sort most of the laundry by himself. I still get an occasional “Where does this go Mom?” but the frequency has been much less. I’m just wondering why I didn’t create this guide sooner!
Download a copy of the Color Sorting Cheat Sheet.
REVIEW – The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud
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Our nine year-old son Riley gives an audio review of The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud (The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz, Book One)
What was the book about?
What was your favorite character and why?
What was your favorite part of the book?
Did the book make the account of Noah and the flood more “real” to you?
How?
Did you learn any truths about God?
Would you recommend for your friends to read this book?
How many stars do you give this book?
Sherry goes on to share tips for reading a long chapter book to your kids. One tip Sherry gives is for you to have something for your kids to do with their hands. Sherry uses fidgets. In a blog post titled Juggling a Houseful with Learning Stations Sherry shares a picture of what fidgets look like.
Other items mentioned:
Teach Them Diligently Home School Convention
Riley’s Stop Motion Video:
Gluten Free Playdough
Play Doh© has not been an activity that has been used hardly at all in our home since having a four year old that is allergic to wheat and breaks out in severe skin rashes. If I were completely honest, I don’t care for the mess either! I have tried “Moon Sand” which is even messier- yikes! My children could really use the sensory exposure to Playdough. More than one of my boys wrinkle their noses at the squishy texture (probably partly because of their lack of exposure to it).
Then it occurred to me. With the gluten free craze, I wondered if there is any such thing as gluten free playdough, and better yet, couldn’t I make some with rice flour instead of wheat flour? You’ve gotta love the Internet- sure enough a quick search turned up more than one variety of wheat free playdough.
We tried two different recipes, one with common pantry ingredients and another recipe with rice flour (which can be found at many grocery stores in the speciality foods section). My children and I overwhelmingly preferred the rice flour recipe! It had the texture of the regular playdough whereas the all corn starch batch was much firmer and drier. The dough was pretty easy to make; I encourage you to give one of these recipes a try! 
Our favorite gluten free recipe using rice flour (Blue in photo)
I did kneed anything into the blue playdough recipe because it was the right consistency when I took it out of the pan. The more we played with it the stickier it got. I kneaded in about 1.2 cup of flour/corn starch mixture two weeks after I made the playdough. It blended just fine.If you over do it you can always add a few drops of water.
Gluten free recipe using more common household ingredients (Green in photo)
One last discovery….
All my years of working with children, and I have only recently discovered “Playdough Mats”! They are simple pictures that you print out and laminate (or cover with clear Contact Paper available at Walmart). I like to use them as guides so that when the young ones say “What do I do?” I have an answer AND a way to extend their attention! The frying pan mat was my boys’ favorite one. Check out the following site for some cute Playdough Mats or create your own!
http://planetoftheapels.blogspot.com/2011/09/busy-bag-swap-day-5-playdough-mats_05.html
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