There are so many intellectual, emotional and spiritual benefits to music exposure! Your child’s brain benefits from music exposure and music education. Parents don’t have to spend tons of money or drive their kids all around town for music lessons to do so.

There are fun, inexpensive and effective ways to incorporate music and singing at home too! You may have older children who are already mastering instruments, providing music in the home and a model for younger children. Regardless of the scenario, each family can incorporate a love for music with a little intentionality.

Tips for At-Home Music Education

• Play Classical Music During Everyday Activities

I appreciate the way music has the ability to influence the atmosphere of my home. I will turn on classical music during meal time to set the stage for a more relaxed dining experience. It has accompanied our laundry folding, arts and crafts, or even trips in the car. There are many ways to naturally integrate beautiful music throughout the day.

Try Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf; Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals CD for a lively way to share classical music with children.

• Get to Know the Lives of Famous Composers

Our favorite way to do this is to read books by Opal Wheeler. In these books, you’ll encounter the composer’s childhood filled with adventures and upsets. In addition to a captivating story, snippets of waltzes, minuets, and sonatas are printed throughout.

If you can read music and play, these are a wonderful accompaniment. I don’t so we use the  Companion CD with the book so we can still benefit from the flavor of the composer’s music while reading the story. These are most appropriate for school-age children.

• Keep Instruments Within Reach

Regardless of the age of the child, a variety of sound-makers and instruments should be at their disposal. From an early age, babies love the power to make noise! From a rattle to a wooden spoon on a pot, babies and toddlers will find a way to create music. I keep a basket full of bells, drums, rhythm sticks and tambourines in our living room so my children can engage in music anytime.

Find a simple tutorial for easy to make music shakers to make with your kids!

• Sing Songs Together

Age-Appropriate Guidelines for Formal Music Education

Beyond the home, there are age-appropriate recommendations to get the most from music exposure and music lessons outside the home. Don’t underestimate your own ability to successfully give your child a musical foundation from a young age. However, there will come a time when you will need to determine the readiness of your child for outside instruction.

• From 6 months-3 years:

Group classes like Kindermusik provide opportunities for children to develop rhythm, pitch, concepts such as high and low or fast and slow, use their voices and internalize sounds. These classes can help the child internalize the precepts of music and prepare them for learning to play an instrument.

In these types of classes, children under the age of 3, have mom and the child participate together. They are exposed to a variety of music, fun physical activities and music theory through song and games. I participated in these classes with my oldest three when they were younger. We have lots of good memories.

• From 3 years – 6 years:

Children’s brains and motor skills have now usually developed sufficiently to begin to consider learning to play instruments such as the violin, keyboard or piano during these years. The child’s ear is more fully developed and they are learning to master language and abstract concepts.

I’ve always been impressed with the Suzuki method- ”an educational philosophy which seeks to create “high ability” and beautiful character in its students through a nurturing environment emphasizing immersion, encouragement, small steps, and a timetable for learning material based on each person’s developmental readiness. “

*I think it is important to stress that not all children are ready to participate in a class structure at this age. But Suzuki classes make learning music fun and respects the developmental stage of the child. You know your child best and his readiness.

• From 6 years onwards:

By now your child’s fine motor skills have begun to develop and they can master a wider range of instruments, such as a flute, percussion, guitar or trumpet. An important consideration is also to find an instrument that suits your child - for example, drums and percussion require a strong sense of rhythm, brass and wind instruments need well-developed fine motor skills, and a string instrument requires the ability to hear the note when they tune and play.

Whatever course you choose to take, make the journey more enjoyable by respecting developmental limitations, waiting for child readiness and keeping music alive in your home!

Fill a cute Valentines Day mailbox

Valentines Day is just around the corner. When I stumbled upon these little mailboxes at Target, I came up with a creative way to shower each family member with love. I wanted to share it with you!

I found these adorable little mailboxes at Target for $1. That’s just the right price when you are celebrating Valentines Day with 6 kids! The Target dollar section is one of my favorite places in the store. I spend a lot of time there .

The mailboxes come in blue, pink, white and red. I bought one for each of us in the family (8 in all). With a Sharpie, I wrote each of our names. For the record, mine is the only pink one! It’s one of the privileges of being the only girl in the family.

Here’s the Plan:

From February 1-14, I will be tucking little love notes and treats inside to celebrate! But I won’t be the only mailman in the family. I am going to encourage each of my boys (Daddy too) to put a picture, candy or note inside for each other. Let the love flow!

I thought this might be a good way to help my boys extend themselves in thoughtfulness and encouragement. Because it is “more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), I couldn’t hog all the blessings. It will be fun to love on them in this unique way in the days to come.

But I also wanted them to have the chance to creatively bless others with their drawing talent, gift of encouragement or thoughtful gifts.

Let’s have fun celebrating God’s love for us and loving family members this year!

]]> http://www.tips4mom.com/2012/01/kids-valentines-day-gifts/feed/ 2 http://www.tips4mom.com/2012/01/our-first-snowfall-on-the-farm/ http://www.tips4mom.com/2012/01/our-first-snowfall-on-the-farm/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:56:43 +0000 Ashley http://www.tips4mom.com/?p=7359 It's snowing! The farm looks magical and the kids are snowball crazy! Come & join the fun!]]>

Our little "farm house" covered in snow

Snow refreshes and beautifies. Ordinary things look extraordinary under a light blanket of snow. The world is brighter and takes on a sense of adventure.

So, we bundled up (which took all 7 of us around 40 minutes) & headed out not wanting to miss anything!

Joseph has been practicing snow angels on the carpet since Christmas. Today was his moment to make them happen!

Caleb & Samuel-more of MY snow angels!

Samuel was a snowball making machine!

I was his main target. Nice shot!

Our little ladies hovered around water which had frozen to ice waiting to be fed that morning by farmer Jesse!

White Socks & Barbie

Rain, sleet or snow the show must go on! Jesse faithfully milks Patience.

Every chance they got Caleb & Joseph plopped down and made snowballs!

Jesse was strategic and stock-piled his snowballs.

Wishing you an adventurous winter-wonderland in your neck of the woods!

One of our homeschool bins

With this system, I am empowering my kids to keep track of their own work and materials. They can bring their bins to the table and have everything they need at their fingertips.

Last year, I kept all the homeschool books we used daily or weekly in one bin. This year, I bought one for each of my school-age children. I have one for my teacher manuals too. Each of us have our own color.

In each bin, my kids store:

• A pencil pouch with markers, erasers, scissors, glue stick and pencils

• A journal

• Nature sketch book and Art book

• An expanding folder to keep completed work

• Handwriting workbook

• Math book

• Readers

• Additional school materials like an abacus, current projects etc.
  

  Compact & inexpensive way to store your bins

• Include a check-list of subjects in order of completion to encourage them to work even more independently. I haven’t found this necessary yet but I know some moms find it helpful.

We found our bins at Target for about $6 each. I love that these bins require very little space to store neatly away after use.You can buy a a ready-made particle board shelf. But we just tuck ours on shelves in a cupboard.

Organizing Homeschooling Material in a Storage Table

Organize Your Homeschool Bins in This Storage Table

Ingenious! Construct this homeschool storage table! It functions as a place to study and store each of your homeschooling bins.

Give Your Homeschool Routine & Organization a New Twist

I have friends who have taken this idea a step further. Have you heard of the concept “Homeschool Workboxes?”

It’s like a tangible check-list for kids! Each box (or drawer, envelope, however you choose to organize) holds one activity that the child is to do that day. The child uses a “schedule strip of numbers” that directs them to each subject/activity located in each numbered box in the order you choose.

One example of the Homeschool Workboxes System

There are a variety of ways to structurally set up workboxes.

Sometimes, when we feel we are in a homeschool rut, trying out a new “system” can revitalize our homeschool day.

The workboxes mix things up a bit and turn an ordinary routine into a surprise game! There’s a lot of information online about workboxes. Check it out!

I have always been a little envious of the mom who seems to mother with complete confidence. She unwaveringly makes decisions, gives commands, and  sets limits. No tantrum, complaining or criticism causes her to lose sight of the long-term goals she has for her kids. She has fixed her face like flint.

I, on the other hand, don’t always fare as well. I will second-guess some of the decisions I make, especially when my kids respond negatively to it.

I’ll question: Am I being to harsh? Do they resent me? Will I scar them for life?

I don’t have a master’s degree in mothering. I know. Who does? But some moms seem to enter into motherhood with lots of good tools in their belt. I didn’t feel so well-equipped.

How do I know I have what it takes for this huge task daily before me?

“It is not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God.” (2 Corinthians 3:5)

Competence means having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, etc., for some purpose; properly qualified. Synonyms for competent are fit, capable and proficient.

When I feel insecure about my capability as a mom of 6 growing boys, I don’t have to search within myself to boost my confidence. I just need to look up. By faith, I mother, believing that God is supernaturally equipping me with what I need. My competence is rooted in Him! I get to use His tool belt!

Through His Holy Spirit, He equipped the craftsmen of the tabernacle with the skills and abilities required for the job.

“And He filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftmanship…” (Exodus 35:30)

In the same way, God enables us to be the moms each of our children need. Each one of our children house His presence much like the Tabernacle did. We are co-laboring with God to craft them into Godly men and women that live to bring Him glory. God has filled us up with His Spirit for the task at hand!

Maybe you’re a tomboy mom raising crafty, girlie girls. Maybe you’re homeschooling subjects you never felt you had a decent grasp on yourself. You feel out of your league. Unfit for the role.

No matter what we feel, the Scriptures always speak a truer message. We are competent…simply because God says so. He bought our competence on the cross. It’s a gift. Not earned. Not from within ourselves.

So, today we can stick our tongue out and say “Neener neener neener” to the devil who seeks to defeat and disable mothers.

When the devil digs up our past or present mistakes and waves them in our face to cause us to question and doubt our position as mothers, we can speak this verse (2 Corinthians 3:5 stated above).

He’ll have to deal with our Daddy on this one. Because our competence isn’t from ourselves but from Him.

 ”Christ in us the hope of glory” …in our homes and families! (Colossians 1:27)

For more on this topic, please read my post on Overcoming Insecurity!

Instead of nagging and scolding, turn learning table manners into a game!

I’m no Mary Poppins but I grew tired of reminding my children to use their napkins and to stop talking when their mouths full. So, one night, at dinner, I invented this simple game. The boys enthusiastically play it and request it from time to time.

Manners or etiquette can be defined as “conventional requirements as to social behavior; properties of conduct as established in any class or community for any occasion.”

In this day and age, it might seem old-fashion to require proper table etiquette. This makes a great topic for discussion before introducing the game.

Ask, “What is the purpose of table manners?”

There are many possible answers.

We teach table manners as a means of providing a comfortable meal time experience for everyone. They help us be considerate of others needs. They allow us to show honor and respect for each person around the table. Those are valuable character traits we want to instill in each of our children.

Teaching Children Manners While Playing Manners Baseball

Here’s How to Play:

• The Object of the Game: Score more runs than anyone else at the table. Run all 3 bases and score a run! A run results in a marble or checker in a jar.

When the jar is full of “runs,” the family celebrates with a special outing, dessert or game night. You set the reward. The jar serves as an accumulation of every family member’s effort to put polite table manners into practice.

• Players: All kids and adults around the table (even though Mom and Dad may also be playing the role of coach/umpire). My kids love to try to catch me breaking a table rule.

• Advancing to the Next Base: Get “caught” performing a polite act by the coach (Mom or Dad). This is a happy way to review and teach proper table manners.

For example: You notice your son using his napkin instead of his shirt and announce “You just used your napkin. Way to go! You just got a hit to 1st base!” Make sure to verbally point out the polite act as extra reinforcement.

• 3 Strikes and You’re Out: Get “caught” being rude or impolite by the coach.

For example: Someone forgets to say “please” when they ask for the bowl of beans. The coach announces “You didn’t ask politely and say please. Strike 1.” Don’t forget to reinforce the table manner missed by mentioning what it is.

After 3 strikes: the child is asked to leave the table for a time. You can invite them back to “play” again and finish dinner after a brief time-out.  Being sent from the dinner table may seem too harsh for a 3-year old just putting manners into real practice but just right for a 9-year old who has a few years of etiquette under his belt. You set the appropriate limits for your family.

• Keeping Score: I have the boys each keep track of their own place on the baseball diamond and how many strikes they have. You may also want to keep score on a notepad or create your own baseball diamond. Get creative as you want!

I haven’t gone to great lengths to create a game board because I don’t want the game to interfere too much with the meal. I wanted to keep it  simple so it can be played anywhere, at anytime.

This game is to be played with lots of smiles and laughter. It is a joy to watch my boys go out of their way to be polite so they can advance around the playing field.

Of course, I am always more eager to recognize good table manners and only occasionally give strikes because that keeps the tone of the game positive. However, giving a strike to someone who has an habitual bad habit drives home the point in a fresh way that nagging seems to never achieve.

Confession: I actually struck out for talking with my mouth full. There I go multi-tasking again! Trying to teach, encourage, correct and EAT all at the same time. Next time, smaller bites kept me in the game!

 Let’s play ball!

This barn is home to Patience, our neighbor's chickens and our milking station

For years, we’ve paid $7 a gallon for creamy, raw goat’s milk. I feel so blessed to currently get fresh milk 2x a day from our beloved goat, Patience. My oldest son, Jesse, makes the trek to the barn morning and evening.

It’s a new way of life.

Added chores have not always been welcomed by the boys but I already see some of the fruit of responsibility and hard work at their young ages.

Read more about using chores at home as a training ground for future leadership.

With almost 1/2 a gallon of milk a day making its way into my refrigerator, we have to get creative with the uses of our milk.

Our neighbors make goat milk soap. I am using it in the bath for the boys. It can even serves as a shampoo ( for those little buzz cut heads!). With her help, I made a batch for Christmas gifts and scented it with lemon and orange essential oils. I hope to make enough to put a bar at every sink and one in the shower. With the farm, we do a lot of hand washing around here.

Bars of homemade goat milk soap wrapped in ribbon for Christmas

Meet Patience.

She is a Saanen dairy goat. They are always a beautiful white. I love her name. Patience is a virtue…and full of milk…and we’re thankful!

Here's Patience showing off her best profile!

In the best way,I feel overwhelmed when my refrigerator begins to look like this. Time to start doing more than just drinking that milk!

1/2 gallon jars of delicious goat milk waiting to be made into cheese!

Last spring, my husband took a cheese-making class. He’s the expert! Here’s a glimpse into the process.

Barely heat the milk, add a packet of cheese culture, stir and let it sit covered for 12 hours.

Who knew cheesecloth was really for cheesemaking? Hey, I’m not denying I’m a city girl!

Spoon the curds into cheesecloth. Hang so it can drip the whey into a bowl. Ah ha! So this is what whey is!

Look at the result of a little time and labor (thanks to my husband!)

Fresh, creamy goat cheese!

Ready to serve!

Your refrigerator can become an educational work space for little hands with these pattern blocksmagnets.  I saw a bigger version of this at our science museum and wanted to try it out on a smaller scale at home.

Provide rich and stimulating opportunities for independent learning throughout your home. Kids will keep busy and interested making pattern block creations! Giving children time to explore helps them make discoveries. These discoveries build upon each other over time. The home is an ideal classroom for experiential learning.

A key to raising children who love to learn is to make learning is FUN!

Find more early-learning activities to do at home here!

This pattern blocks activity can be an exercise in:

• Basic shape recognition

• Shape matching

• Spatial relation-one of the foundational skills necessary for recognizing and writing letters

• Critical thinking

• Creative art & design

How to Make Pattern Block Refrigerator Magnets for Kids

A few years ago, I bought the Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards.Because I had these blocks on hand, I just added the magnets.

Here’s what you need:

Wooden or plastic pattern blocks, a strip of thin magnets and a pair of scissors

Cut small magnets, peel back adhesive and stick them on one side of the selected pattern blocks

I made 15-20 pattern block magnets. My children ages 3 and up like to come by and make wacky creations!

Pattern blocks are not only fun on the fridge but are a great early learning activity at the table too. The set I purchased comes with 2–sided pattern block cards made of wood.

You can also find free pattern block printables online.

When the child uses a pattern block card and places the shapes directly on top, this is an exercise is matching. When they use the pattern block card as a guide and replicate the design on the table or fridge, this is more of an exercise in spatial recognition which is a building block to writing letters.

• TIP: Print Out Seasonal Patter Block Designs

This year, I printed some Christmas pattern block designs and laminated them so they’ll last a few more years for use during the holiday season.

Check out these giant foam floor pattern blocks. Don’t they make you want to get down there too and give it a try?

More pattern block activities for young children.

Find ideas here for using pattern blocks in math activities with school-age children.

Here’s a list of Christmas books that awaken WONDER & WORSHIP  in children and adults alike.

We could call them “living books” because to me, there is something eternal about each one that stirs me deep inside when read. These books give our children an opportunity to ponder and receive the miracle of God’s love to us through Jesus at Christmas. 

God chose to inspire with his Spirit the written story of his son’s birth through the Bible. Here are more stories written with the hope of pointing the readers to Jesus! These books will take you on a sweet, little journey to find the baby king who was  born in the manger.

In addition to reading Christmas books during Advent, we enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus with these family activities as well.

Devotional Favorites:

The Advent Book (birth-up): Open a unique door daily and enter into the Christmas story. The life-like illustrations capture the warmth and reality of the people and events. Reading this book has been our family tradition for several years and we never tire of it! Such fun to anticipate what is behind each door! A beautiful way to re-tell the story.

Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart (k-up) Sing-along with the included CD and learn the rich verses of many traditional Christmas carols. A devotion accompanies each song, often highlighting nuggets about the song writer and composer’s faith. A great way to bring more depth and meaning to the carols we sing year after year.

This year, during the month of December, I am using it as my music history “curriculum.”

 Jesse Tree Journey (7 yrs-up): Free E-book. Journey from creation to the manger, reading Scriptures that point to the promised Messiah. A devotional thought follows along with a prayer and a challenging application. Ann Voskamp’s thought-provoking writing is moving and meaningful. You can paraphrase and shorten the devotionals for younger children.

Ornaments with an image for each day’s devotion are included to cut out and hang on your own Jesse tree.  Or design and create your own.

We are reading bits and pieces from the book this Advent. It will be a book we can do for a few years, gleaning more and more from her meditations and applications.

We Three Kings (2yrs.-up): Tissue paper art accompanies the words of this wonder-filled Christmas carol. Take the journey and gain understanding of the significance of the gifts offered to Jesus and what they reveal about him.

• TIP: Create a Christmas Scene Using Similar Art Techniques (age 6-up)

Try out a new art medium in the style of the illustrations in the story. Using colored tissue paper, tear or cut out shapes. Glue down layers of tissue paper to create a Christmas scene. Olga Zharkova, illustrator, then drew over her images with gold paint and pencil. You can add detail with markers or paint.

Samuel's (age 7) artwork using the tissue paper technique

 

Count Your Blessings Books:

The Little Match Girl (k-up): This sobering story by Hans Christian Anderson has a bitter-sweet ending. A little girl, overlooked by many, is freezing in the cold winter streets.

Even though I haven’t yet begun my blog series on “Ideas for Small Living Spaces,” (you can read more about it here). I couldn’t resist sharing with you some simple ideas for Christmas decor in a small house. Below are a few touches of Christmas in our little house this season.

• TIP: Highlight Your Favorite Christmas Decor

With a small house, it’s hard to find extra space to spare. The tendency is to over-do. Because we  all are sentimentally attached to some of our Christmas decor, we may try to cram it into small spaces.

Instead, place your most-loved Christmas decor in prominent places.  Consider storing what doesn’t fit for another year or give it away. Just another opportunity to de-clutter and walk in generosity.

For more on giving, check out my post on “Giving Fearlessly.”

For more holiday and homemaking inspiration,  If you need an invitation to join, let me know and I’ll be happy to invite you!

On Pinterest, you’ll find my board with Christmas Decor for Small Living Spaces with more inspiring ideas!

Add a touch of greenery like holly to your already existing wall decor

Hang ornaments from an empty mirror or picture frame

Don't have a fireplace mantel? Hang stockings from bookcases using self-standing stocking holders

Hang a small wreath or ornament from a door knob

Add sparkle to a basket with shiny Christmas balls and glittered pinecones