Productive Free Time List

Posted on September 10, 2008
Filed Under Home Schooling | Leave a Comment

DISCOVERING YOUR CHILD’S PASSION

When we pulled our oldest boy out of school, the words “Mum I’m bored” was heard frequently in our home. He had only one year of state schooling and was already infected with the boredom disease. Schooling seemed to have taken away his ability to have ideas and plugged up his creativity. He wasn’t able to stop, relax and enjoy spending hours on a project or hobby. I guess the school routine didn’t allow for periods of thinking and ideas and tinkering time. Boys need tinkering time!

So I had to come up with a way to get the thinking of ideas going, ideas of what to make and ideas of what to do. We spent the first year of our home educating journey getting to know one another again. Just enjoying reading a book, going on field trips together and getting to know our local area. Over this time several interests and passions started to emerge, it was exciting to see his mind become active and the sparkle in his eyes when we discovered something new.

He developed a love of climbing Auckland’s volcanoes. We captured our volcano discoveries on film and he gathered information as we went. It was interesting to stand back and ponder what was motivating his love of mountains. At first I thought it was the act of climbing them but he always wanted to get to the top and wasn’t really concerned with the process of the climb. I then thought that it was the mountain itself and was directing him to books on rocks and the history of volcanos but it wasn’t really any of that, he showed an interest but it wasn’t his passion it wasn’t what was driving him. His underlying motivation was…. what he saw when he got to the top of the mountain!! – the cityscape below him, the roads interlocking, the busyness of the cars, the people like ants scurrying around, the areas of industrial factories compared to the residential streets. That was what was interesting him.

From this experience (which took place over a year) he has developed his passion of cities and has moved onto road maps. At the age of six and a half he had very advanced mapping skills, owned his own copies of the Auckland street map and the road code. He would have passed the road code test if he was allowed to sit it.!

How can mum spark an interest in her child?

A start would be having a “productive free time” list. This is a list of activities that are fun and educational and may be the start of an interest or hobby for your child.

I found various “productive free time” lists on the internet where other mums had composed a list of possible productive activities for their home educated children. I sat down with my son and together we went through the lists and came up with our own. The list was printed double spaced and we cut each item into a long strip. We placed the long strips into a special box. When we had reached a point in the day when he didn’t know what to do with himself he had to pick two or three pieces of paper from the box and decide on one activity. Later on, when his decision making skills were more developed, the box was put aside and we had the printed list on the wall and he independently made a choice. The “productive free time” list had its place for a season and now we don’t seem to need it as the boys are fuelling their own passions.

The Larkin Family’s Productive Free Time List

1. Nature Walk – find some bugs
2. Build with Legos
3. Little Legos
4. K’Nex
5. Reading
6. Teddy Bears Picnic – big chest
7. Drawing
8. UNO
9. Building outside with wood
10. Climb a tree
11. Play in the sandpit
12. Make some cards
13. Write a letter to somebody
14. Collect different leaves and paste them onto paper
15. Play monopoly
16. Junior Scrabble
17. Jigsaws
18. Write on the concrete with chalk
19. Dress up
20. Crafts
21. Do gym outside
22. Do a treasure hunt
23. Tumble
24. Pick up sticks
25. Barrel of monkeys
26. Pasting – collage
27. Make your own comic book
28. Build a fort
29. Puppet play
30. Record your own radio play
31. Play dough
32. Dig tunnels outside
33. Build a parking garage and repair station for cars
34. Dictate a story into tape recorder for someone to type out
35. Build a spaceship
36. Cooking
37. Tent / cubby house out of blankets
38. Run through sprinkler
39. Press flowers
40. Pull weeds
41. Bird watching
42. Act out a play
43. Write a play
44. Invent a circus
45. Soccer
46. Throw a ball
47. Collect rocks
48. Play Frisbee
49. Make Frisbees out of plastic lids and decorate
50. Dust the lounge
51. Play dress up
52. Teddy bears picnic
53. Play store
54. Prepare a restaurant lunch/dinner with menus
55. Toy cars
56. Chase butterflies
57. Thomas trains
58. Gardening
59. Make homemade wrapping paper
60. Make bookmarks
61. Watch the clouds
62. Clean under your bed
63. Make music
64. Fold laundry
65. Sweep the driveway
66. Bike riding
67. Copy your favourite book illustration
68. Design your own game
69. Lemon juice painting
70. Hide and seek
71. Read a story to your younger brothers
72. Make up a song
73. Map of your bedroom/house/street
74. Cut pictures from magazines and write a story
75. Plan a treasure hunt
76. Make a treasure map
77. Plan an imaginary trip to the moon
78. Plan an imaginary trip around the world –where are you going
79. Sticks and mud and make birds nest
80. Make a family newsletter
81. Paper airplanes
82. Obstacle course outside
83. Read newspaper

Rachel Larkin

My Top Ten Books for the Home School Mum

Posted on August 26, 2008
Filed Under Home Schooling, Your Faith | 2 Comments

1. Joyce Meyer Amplified Bible: I LOVE my bible! The Amplified version just opens up the meanings of words to me. I highly recommend it.

2.“Heartfelt Discipline: The gentle art of training and guiding your child” By Clay Clarkson: This is awesome for gaining that parenting wisdom that we need in those sticky situations!

3.“Educating the Wholehearted Child: A Handbook for Christian Home Education” by Clay and Sally Clarkson: This is an all in one book for Home Education. It is one that I pick up every year to refresh myself.

4.“Homeschooling the Easy Way” By Cindy Rushton: This is also one of those books that you pick up again and again when you need to get back on track in your Home Education - very encouraging - we can do it!

5. “The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach Bible-Based Homeschooling” by Robin Sampson: This is in the same category as the last two above - It gives me a framework to how to teach my children and how to be Bible Based.

6. “The Power of Praying” By Stormie Omartian: This is actually three books in one volume. The Power of a Praying Wife; The Power of a Praying Parent; The Power of a Praying Woman. This book is always close by. It keeps me praying the scriptures over my life in whatever role that I am finding difficult at the time. It is the kind of book that grows with you - when you are a new wife to when your children are all growing up and you are now praying for your grandchildren. The prayers for your husband that are in the book are so powerful.

7. “E M Bounds on Prayer” by E M Bounds: This is a giant book and one that I pick up about 3 times a week and read a couple of chapters and then put down again. I am SLOWLY going through it. But it is so meaty that I need to have time to really process and meditate on the information. My hearts desire is to pray more and also more effectively. This book will transform your prayer life.

8. “The Transforming Power of Fasting and Prayer” By Bill Bright: I bought this from YWAM’s Doulos ship while it was in Auckland this year and it is so encouraging!. It has heaps of personal accounts of people being committed to praying and fasting for their churches and communities - it is a real inspiration to me. I am not there yet with the prayer and fasting - I have a long way to go!

9. “Encyclopaedia of Bible Truths” By Ruth C Haycock: This is actually 4 books that cover different teaching subjects, like maths, english, science, geography etc. Ruth Haycock has gone through the bible and pulled out scriptures that pertain to these subjects - God’s take on teaching this subjects. She shows us what the Biblical foundation is of each subject that we teach - it is really an invaluable set of books. I have only started using them in the last couple of months but I can see that they will be with me until I finish home educating.

10 “Freedom and Simplicity in HisStory” By Lisa Hodgen: This book has really put me on the right track for teaching History Biblically. It includes practical notebooking pages and timeline. It helps me to lay the right Godly foundation in teaching history. I have only just starting working with the information in the book but have already reread it at least 5 times!!!

Rachel Larkin

Chocolat Magazine Issue 11 is out!! FREE!

Posted on August 24, 2008
Filed Under 'Chocolat' Articles, FREEBIES, Your Faith, Your Family | 1 Comment

Issue 11 is now here!!

This is choc-filled with articles, quotes and thoughts - it is the biggest one yet!!

This issue’s theme is close to my heart lately - Praying for our Children and Grandchildren. Recently my sister and I took 20 or so ladies away to a retreat and we discovered that the most pressing issue on their hearts was for the salvation of their children and grandchildren. What better way to see this manifest than by prayer?

Issue11 Click Here

Enjoy!
Rachel Larkin

$100+ OF GOODIES FOR ONLY $5.97!!!!!

Posted on July 31, 2008
Filed Under Your Faith, Your Family, Your Finances | Leave a Comment

This must be the sale of the century! over $100 worth of ebooks, audio workshops and downloadables for only

- still a BIG Bargain!!! Here is the link Click Here!

Here are the wonderful products that are included :

**Supermarket Savings 101: Learn How To Drastically Reduce Your Grocery Bill! ($17.97 value!) Six audio downloadable audio lesson. 57-page downloadable handbook
**Simple Tips for Successful Home Management - Volume 1 ($5.97 value!) 32 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**What to Do While Waiting for Prince Charming: Encouraging Young Women and Their Parents in the Incredible Potential and Possibilities for Unmarried Women ($3.97 value!) MP3 Audio Workshop by Crystal Paine
**What My Parents Did Right: Encouragement for Weary Parents from a Grateful Homeschool Graduate ($3.97 value!) MP3 Audio Workshop by Crystal Paine
**A Proper Tea ($6.97 value!) 33 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**Make Your Own -Simple Crafts and Decorating ($6.97 value!) 65 pages of detailed instructions and illustrations and color pictures. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**Simply Centsible Breakfasts ($4.97 value!) 17 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook
**How to Start Your Own Business ($15.97 value!) 80 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**Menu Planning Made Easy! ($5.97 value!) 54 Pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**Homegrown Business ($15.97 value!) Over 80 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**In Good Season: Autumn ($6.97 value!) 41 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**The Bread by Hand eBook ($4.97 value!) 43 pages with illustrations. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**Momma’s Guide to Growing Your Groceries ($7.97 value!) 69 pages with illustrations. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**Simply Centsible Suppers ($4.97 value!) 20 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.
**Thriving on One Income ($7.97 value!) 80 pages. Instantly downloadable ebook.

What a deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CLICK HERE! to find out more.

Rachel Larkin

LAPBOOKING and NOTEBOOKING

Posted on July 27, 2008
Filed Under FREEBIES, Home Schooling | 2 Comments

The internet has so enriched our home education. There is a vast array of websites that can help us to teach our children. From -blogs that show us how other home educating mums teach their children, to watching videos on your chosen topic of interest, to searching online bible tools.

Its all about balance though isn’t it? The Internet can enrich but it can very quickly frustrate and steal your time. I have to continually force myself to focus once I am sitting at the computer. What are my goals for this computer time? Do you catch yourself jumping on the computer quite often during the day, maybe with the excuse that you have to check the emails and then find yourself surfing for longer than you had anticpated? Hands up, that’s me!

How can we keep focused and still be able to use the internet to enrich our teaching? This is what I have had to do – keep a “Computer To Do List”. Whenever I think that I must check up about such and such, or I have to do that bank transfer, or I must write another blog entry, or I want to look up about our current topic etc - I write it down on my list. Then in the afternoon, after our table time and lunch are over, I am able to sit down and go through that list. Having a Computer To Do List keeps me focused. As soon as I start to wonder off onto something that is likely to just waste my time I pull back to ticking off my to-do’s on my list.

If I had to boil it down to ONE THING on the internet that has really impacted my home educating journey – it would have to be the ability to attend live online homeschool conferences. It is such an awesome opportunity to be able to listen to well known and respected homeschool veterans sharing live, from all over the world, what they have learnt while sitting in my own lounge room. Some of the conferences are free to listen in live. The only problem is that most of the sessions are in the middle of the night for us – but there is always the option to buy a ticket and you get access to a membership site where you can download the sessions’ audios and print out heaps of other stuff like articles and ebooks. Last term I was involved in speaking at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo (you can visit my website www.Rachel-Larkin.com to click on the link for more information) which was incredible! There were so many great home school mothers AND fathers who shared on all sorts of topics. The next homeschool online conference is happening in August – here is the link to find out more: http://cindyrushton.com/BackToSchoolBlast.html

The other main reason that I use the internet (ok I couldn’t leave it at ONE THING!) is to gather resources for our lapbooks or notebooks. Here are some great sites that I have personally used:
LAPBOOKING
What is lapbooking? Here is a site that has very helpful articles on lapbooking http://www.cindyrushton.com/Lapbooking.html

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking - More information on making lapbooks plus free templates

http://www.homeschoolshare.com This is an awesome site – I have only looked and used the free lapbooking resources. Check out the Olympic Lapbook – all for free!!!

http://www.currclick.com this is a great site – every month they have a free ebook to download, this month it is all about butterflies. Join their newsletter to get the heads up on any free or discounted ebooks.

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/ full of really cool ebooks for different lapbooks. They also have a freebie; this quarter is all about Zebras.

NOTEBOOKING
What is notebooking? Check out a blog entry on my website – there is a FREE 30 page+ ebook from Cindy Rushton on notebooking - http://rachel-larkin.com/2008/04/17/reluctant-writer/

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Notebook_Pages.php This is part of the same site that I listed in the lapbooking section above – heaps of FREE notebooking pages.

http://www.notebookingpages.com/ This is the best notebooking website ever – plus there are free resources available.

Enjoy!
Rachel Larkin

Beijing 2008 -Summer Olympics Unit Study

Posted on June 12, 2008
Filed Under Unit Studies | Leave a Comment

I am on the look out for great resources for our next unit study - it will be on the 2008 Olympics!
Here is a fantastic FREE website for an Olympics lapbook!

homeschoolshare - summer olympics

I will keep you posted with other great resources. I am going to attempt to approach this unit study in a different way - through a principled approach.

Rachel

Interesting websites

Posted on June 4, 2008
Filed Under Home Schooling, Your Faith, Your Family | Leave a Comment

Here are two interesting websites that I have in my Morning Coffee (if you have firefox - it is an addon)

Daily Grammar It has daily lessons - really nice short lessons to teach the children grammar - great!

from me and my house This is my good friend Lisa Hodgen blog on Lifestyle Education Through Discipleship. It is full of useful information on how to teach our children - highly recommended!

Rachel

Just Take A Step

Posted on May 30, 2008
Filed Under Home Schooling, Organisation, Your Faith, Your Purpose | Leave a Comment

Hi There,

I haven’t blogged for quite a while - The Ultimate Homeschool Expo just about wiped me out! There was so much amazing information and freebies to go through not to mention all the audios.

I have latched myself onto Lisa from me and my house Lisa said some really great truths that I am spending time pondering. I highly recommend her seminars and HisStory ebook. It gives me a Christian framework to teach my boys a biblically worldview.

But whenever you come across something that is really lifechanging and full of wisdom - it takes a but of time to sort through what is the next step - right? The enemy wants us to get overwhelmed with new information or truth and will try his very best to make you feel like it is all too much. Well, here is a short article that describes that exact feeling and what you are to do about it.

just-take-a-step.pdf
Keep Moving Forward!
Rachel Larkin

Chocolat Magazine issue 10 is out!!!!!!

Posted on May 15, 2008
Filed Under 'Chocolat' Articles, FREEBIES, Your Faith | Leave a Comment

Hi there

Chocolat is an inspirational magazine that is free for you to download!!!!
Here is the link:

Issue10

This issue has a theme - Seeking God in Prayer! It is sure to bring you closer to God!

Rachel Larkin

Another Key in Becoming Beautiful

Posted on May 15, 2008
Filed Under Your Faith, Your Purpose | Leave a Comment

This is a reprint of a post that I recently sent to my Becoming Beautiful Ezine subscribers. If you wish to receive the FREE Becoming Beautiful ezine just subscribe by entering your details on the right.

Welcome to the Becoming Beautiful Ezine!

It is definitely autumn “down under” with leaves turning brown, red or orange. It is a difficult season for me – I LOVE walking through the fallen leaves and gazing on their beautiful colours. But I am also sad that winter is around the corner, blowing in fast!

This week God showed me another key to becoming beautiful! I am so amazed at how many times the Word of God talks about beauty. God is truly a God of beauty and desires us to live in a world of beauty.

Here is the key - from Proverbs 4 v 9 in the NASB says:”She will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty.”

Solomon here is talking about Godly Wisdom. Godly Wisdom gives you a crown of beauty and grace. As women, we all want to be beautiful and graceful, don’t we? Well, this is a key!

The Wisdom that Solomon is talking about is described further in verse 11 – it is the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God” (AMP). Having insight into the ways and purposes of God will bring beauty into our lives. Our relationships will be beautiful, our speech would be graceful and our lives would be reflecting God’s glory.

God’s glory is captivating - we would become captivating.
God’s words are life changing – we would become life changers.
God’s spirit brings love, joy and peace – we would also bring love, joy and peace.

How do you gain this Godly Wisdom? How do you become captivating, a life changer and bring love, joy and peace into your world?

1. You must desire Godly Wisdom above all else.

Value and prize it with all your heart. This means that you seek God’s ways and thoughts on EVERYTHING that happens in your day. Seek Him out before you move a step forward. Seek it like silver, and search for it as hidden treasure” Proverbs 2:4.Consider God’s ways as valuable as having a billion dollars.

2. Study and meditate on the Word of God

God’s word is inspired by Him and gives you the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God”. It is Godly Wisdom. So we must desire it above all else. We must consider God’s Word as valuable as gold. Go on a treasure hunt everyday in the Word. When my heart is right with God and I come with my opened Bible in my hand expecting God to reveal His treasures – I ALWAYS receive Godly Wisdom, ALWAYS.

3. Pray for Wisdom

God tells us in James chapter 1 to pray for wisdom if we lack it. He wants to give it to us. He knows that we need it. At the top of our prayer list should be Godly Wisdom – to know God’s thoughts on our home school plans, to know God’s thoughts on our financial budget and our food shopping list. We need God’s wisdom to know what and how to speak to that difficult child or that withdrawn husband.

We need God’s wisdom to create and maintain beautiful relationships, homes and lives.
What are your desires today? Is it to know God’s thoughts on today’s to-do list? Did you check with Him first? Is your life more beautiful than it was yesterday? Why? Why not?

Keep moving forward in your journey to Becoming Beautiful in God!

Rachel Larkin

« go back — keep looking »