Free lesson plans: how to homeschool for nothing (zip, zero, no cost)

 Hello my friends! Om-school Omi here with some good...nay great...news for homeschool families. You can literally homeschool your children for nothing, as in zip, nada, zero cost with these free lesson plans and a little know-how. I'm going to share easy, free ways to educate kids, gleaned from 43 years of teaching. 

I've been doing this education thing in one way or another since I was 15, at summer camps, VBS, Sunday school and then as a certified teacher in K-8, Montessori, adult, preschool, special needs, tutoring, homeschool and substitute teaching. And I can assure you that it's not really that difficult if you plan and prepare accordingly. 

If the Covid 19 pandemic taught us anything about homeschooling our children it's that we prefer to pay for things (or feel more comfortable with purchased curriculum, cyberschooling, apps, etc.) than we do trusting our own teaching skills and common sense. But happily, as quarantine wore on, I saw many parents begin to have aha moments as they realized, hey, this isn't so difficult. We can teach our kids! To quote my beloved Barack Obama, yes we can! Parents began to wean from purchased packaged and digital lesson plans and experiment with ideas of their own. 

So now that Covid 19 is winding down, you can also keep up that momentum with homeschooling if you want. You don't have to homeschool every day or keep them out of group education. The key is to remember that every moment we are with our children we are teaching, modeling, and communicating in every act we perform or word we say. Daunting? A little. But also exciting. So how do we teach, model and communicate positive healthy, proactive ideas to our kids? Here are some ideas, my "free lesson plans" if you will. 

1) Be authentic. Just because we are educating constantly, doesn't mean we have to adopt a fake "teacher voice." Educating doesn't mean pontificating, preaching or proselytizing. Speak to children respectfully, positively and gently. 

2) Build for natural learning. Teaching is more about doing and showing than talking. St. Francis of Assisi said of preaching (which in its truest form is teaching) "preach always. Occasionally, use words." Genuine learning takes place when teachers share, foster and facilitate experiences. 

3) Facilitate. Montessori identifies this as the teacher's main duty. Make natural learning experiences accessible to students. Create activities--a craft project, for example--and then step back and let children interact with materials. Or just point out learning experiences (a bird's nest on a nature walk). Don't hover, orchestrate or  manufacture results. Let kids take from experiences what they will. See my post on grandchildren Lucian and Ezra and their experiences with a sand mold project we did with them. 

4) Observe. I can't emphasize enough the importance of quiet observation and reflection in the classroom. In an upcoming post I'm going to cover observation journals. There's so much going on around us in our world. Children know this and are constantly making us adults aware of this, if we listen. Sometimes, we learn more from them than they learn from us and what a blessing that is. I guess that's why Montessori says to "follow  the child" and the Bible that "a child will lead them." 

5) Empower. Sadly some children have had their experiences, observations and ideas diminished and need an infusion of confidence. They have come to believe that they aren't good enough and require constant validation from someone they think is superior. This is where we educators can interrupt and redirect that cycle and validate them. When subbing in an alternative high school for troubled teens, students were reading "The Crucible" aloud as a play. I complimented one young man who was generally very angry and withdrawn, on his delivery as Judge Hawthorne. I said he should consider community theater. He literally blossomed and I heard him after class telling students that he was thinking of trying out for a play. 

Stay tuned for more ideas on how to educate children without spending a cent! Photo is eldest grandson Silas mucking about with his homemade slime, making a mess, having a blast, oh and btw, learning about polymers. 

How to Adapt Lesson Plans for Multiple Ages

 Greetings from the Om-School! Teacher Omi (grama) has been lucky to spend more time with the grandkids lately and it's got me thinking again how important it is, not just in homeschool, but in any educational setting to tailor lesson plans to various ages and ability levels. Two things you want to avoid when doing activities with kids is boredom and planned failure. And activities that are geared to young or too old will cause both of those. But age-flexible lesson plans will automatically provide the opposite: engagement and success. 

I know you may be thinking, but I don't have time to create separate lesson plans for every age or ability level that I'm teaching. Good news! You don't have to. Here's how to adapt lesson plans for multiple ages. You may have noticed that the lesson plans on this blog are flexible to fit many ages. That's because I want them to be user-friendly for you as the teacher but also for the students who even if they are all the same age, are variable in skill levels. 

The key to age-flexible lesson plans is breaking down the activities and steps involved and then let each child do the part he can have most success with. I'm thinking especially of craft projects here. Too often, children fear crafts because we adults make kids think they have to be done a certain way to "look right." The child fears that he is doing his wrong or that it doesn't look as good as someone else's.

For example, on our recent vacay to visit our six grandkids we made plaster sand molds with them. Children range from baby to age 8. Moses and Silas, the 8-year-olds, could follow the directions to mix up plaster, configure the molds and create their designs. So they were project managers. This gave them a great feeling of success. 

6-year-old Lola was able to follow the directions the boys gave but needed an active duty, to stay engaged. She was the materials coordinator, counting out and distributing what each person would need. 4-year-old Lucian was less interested in the actual craft project part, than he was in the sand play. So we gave him some decorations to place in his mold and then a tub of sand, shells, water and a scrub brush, to explore to his heart's content. 

We helped 2-year-old Ezra and baby Remus make quick hand print molds and let them spend the majority of the time exploring. Ez and Lu built sand castles and had fun burying, digging up and then scrubbing their shells. Baby Remus got some large clean shells to explore. When everyone was done, the big kids joined the littles in seashell exploration.

Everyone got from the project exactly what he or she needed. When focus of an activity is on everyone making a cookie cutter project in the same way, children feel a lot more frustration, boredom and failure. When each is allowed to engage with materials as he feels comfortable, regardless of what the final project looks like, or if, indeed a project is even made, the outcome is authentic learning, success and enjoyment. 

Easy and cheap outdoor spring lesson plans for all ages: Art Walk

 Hello fellow educators! Yes, you too, grams and gramps, if you care for kids, you're an educator! Today, on this bee-you-tee-full spring day, I'm sharing some super simple outdoor spring lesson plans that cover science, art, math and even music and community outreach. These lesson plans were inspired by my baby grands Milo (3) and Juno (18 months). 

We're Omi (granny) and Opi (grampa) to nine kiddos. We were homeschool parents for many years in the early 1990s-2000s. Now I call myself an Om-schooler. Recently, Opi and I took Milo and Juno for a walk around the neighborhood. Milo insisted he bring the nifty egg-shaped sidewalk chalk that Auntie Molly (our oldest and a second gen homeschooler herself) sent. 

Along the way, he,  Juno and we would stop to color lovely pictures on squares of sidewalk. At one point, a neighbor called out the window that she really appreciated the sidewalk chalk drawings as they brightened up her day. Later, the we took mom and dad on the Artwalk to show them our pictures. It occurred to me that we could extend this into cross-curricular lesson plans by making our own sidewalk chalk and sharing our Artwalk throughout the community. Sidewalks surrounding hospitals, nursing homes and senior centers would be great places to share Artwalk drawings. 

To make sidewalk chalk, mix plaster of Paris, water and tempera paint. Tape off the ends of coin rollers, paper towel or toilet paper tubes. Fill with mixture and allow to harden. You could also fill Styrofoam egg cartons for half-egg shaped sidewalk chalk. 

For preschool math lesson plans, teach skip counting by encouraging children to color on every third, fifth, tenth sidewalk square (depending on which skip counting pattern you're currently working on). For music lesson plans, we sang spring songs on our Art Walk, kind of like Christmas carols only spring singing! 

I know, these are ridiculously easy but that's the beauty of authentic learning experiences...they develop naturally from activities you're already doing! Peace! 

Earth Month recycled trash crafts: homemade musical instruments

 Hello my fellow educators! Time to spring into Earth Month and what better way to celebrate the environment than by protecting it. And what better way to do that than to reduce, reuse, recycle and repurpose and what better way to do that than with recycled trash crafts? Here are "recipes" to make homemade musical instruments from the recycle bin or using found household object. Whether you teach at home, school or in a community setting, your students will love these activities. And as a former homeschool parent now in Gen 2 homeschooling with the baby grands, I'm gearing my lesson plans toward all ages including the toddlers. Juno, Emmett and Remus, Omi has you covered! 

First and simplest recipe for homemade musical instruments is to repurpose items from your pan cupboard and junk, erm, I mean utensil drawer! I've been privileged to enjoy four kids and nine grandkids and a favorite activity is a kitchen band. A funnel makes a great trumpet! An egg beater or wire whisks are great for percussion. Experiment with various spoons and metal, wooden or glass bowls to create a panoply of drum sounds. Kids can even simulate bells. 

Speaking of bells, have kids create homemade bell musical instruments using clean aluminum cans and jar lids. Smooth down any rough edges by running a can opener around the sides to press down (good job for older children). Next, pound a nail into the top center of closed end of can. Use nail to pierce a hole in the edge of the jar lid. Use recycled string or yarn to tie a loop through jar lid and then run it through hole in can. Make a large knot to secure. 

Make windchimes from recycled trash. Windchimes are very easy trash crafts to make. Repeat procedure for the homemade bell musical instruments punching several holes in aluminum cans and securing four or five can lids. Suspend them below the can so they can blow freely. 

Homemade "xylophone". Use recycled flatware (spoons, dinner knives and forks) to make chimes. Bend heads of spoons and forks so they will connect more easily. Cheap flatware works best as it is more bendable. Or leave flatware as is to create a xylophone. Have an adult drill holes in handle ends or use double stick tape to secure string or yarn scraps. Suspend from hooks attached to a flat board or 1x1x12 piece of wood. Encourage students to test sounds and arrange according from high to low. 

Stay tuned for more recycled trash crafts! Tip Junkie has a list of 28 free printable recycled trash crafts for Earth Day to take you all through Earth Month!