Rachel and the TreeSchoolers: Review

We are a pre-homeschool family.  Next year Manasseh will officially start Kindergarten.  This year both of our older boys are doing preschool activities and work.  We love learning!  The boys were super excited about the chance to review Rachel and the TreeSchoolers: A Rainy Day.

This video uses music, story, sign language, and questions to help draw preschoolers into the lesson and really understand and apply it to their minds.  I love the education model that Rachel uses with the children.  My boys were instantly drawn into the problem at hand: a bird who is afraid of a storm.  I also love that this tackles a subject that is very relevant to young children.  In fact, I wish I would have had this video when I worked with Jr. High boys in a children's home.  One of my favorite features of this DVD is that it comes with a CD that has all of the songs on it.  This means that we can take it with us.  I frequently find my boys singing the songs on their own as they recall the lesson.  I would love to see more videos in this series and use them with my boys as learning tools in the future.

My boys love the catchy music.  Even my 3 year old that does not sit still for anything on television was captivated by this video.  They also were extremely excited that the characters learned about kindness.  They  like to remind each other to be kind.  They are proud that they know some new signs and I am certain that when we start to get into yucky stormy weather, they will recall the lesson again and again!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Fears and Monsters: Elementary and Preschool

This week for our fun with elementary friends day, we chose the theme Monsters (and fears).  Halloween is coming up and we see "scary" things everywhere. In fact, one of my boys recently confided in me that he sleeps at the edge of his bed because he's afraid of monsters.  

This week we had 5 kids (4 preschool through first grade).  We talked about the verse, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7.

Homework is always first.  The Princess had homework to finish - reading.  She read to the boys (she read the book forward and backward).  They loved it.

As we started talking about God's power to help us when we're afraid, the kids used biodegradable packing peanuts to build monsters.  Did you know that if you wet the packing peanut it sticks to another peanut?

The Princess made arms and legs on her monster.  Others came in a variety of interesting shapes.

Next we did a quick experiment with the packing peanuts - we put them in water to see what would happen! This gave us a chance to talk about the difference between "melting" and "disintegrating".  

The kids used wiggly eyes, blank label stickers, and foam frames to make monsters (I forgot some of the essential other pieces at home - they didn't know the difference).  I think they really loved getting to use the glue the most.  These were creative monsters indeed!

Someone was upset that they could not have any more eyes - they had a little difficulty sharing with the others.  More learning opportunities at each activity.

We had some delicious frozen hot chocolate.  How do you make frozen hot chocolate?  Well it's simple.  You take a little milk, a lot of water, some hot chocolate packets and some ice.. throw them in a blender, and push the button until the ice breaks down into slush.  This guy loved it!

We finished by making play doh monsters.  I don't know what happened to those pictures.  The kids had a great time making monsters and talking about God's power over fear.

How do you teach kids about fear?

The truth is...

I'm intimidated by chicken.

There.  I said it.  I am all for conserving money on food, and living more green, and eating a bit more healthy... but I just can't figure out what to do with a chicken that has skin and bones.  Maybe I am just spoiled.  It just makes me want to gag when I think about it.  Ugh.

Any advice on getting over my fear of chicken with skin and bones (but no head or feathers).