A Jewish Homeschool Blog

Our Curriculum and Daily/Weekly Routine

2012-02-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

I get ALOT of emails asking me what Curriculum we use- both Jewish and secular. I also get many questions about our daily/weekly routine. So here it is, in a nutshell- hope its helpful!

Like I said in this post, having a bunch of little kids at home, you need to know that things will NOT always go according to plan and as much as you have your schedule and routine, know that it is a LOOSE routine and be prepared to work around it.

Using a dry erase board, I made a "tentative" schedule and put it up on the wall in the kitchen, just so the kids have an idea of what to expect throughout the day. It goes something like this:

6:30-7:30 Get dressed, brush teeth, breakfast

7:30-9:30 Older kids online class, younger kids play

9:30-10:00 Snack, play

10:00-12:00 School time, younger kids nap time

12:00-12:30 Lunch for everyone

12:30-2:30 Toddler nap time, quiet time for older kids (play, watch a video, go on www.Brainpop.com)

2:30-4:00 Snack, Trip (park, aquarium, playground) or outside play

4:00-4:30 play, tidy playroom

4:30-5:00 Dinner

5:00-5:30 Bath time and P.J.s

5:30-6:15 Reading time

6:15-6:30 Get ready for bed

6:30 BEDTIME!!!!

We keep this schedule Monday-Thursday. Friday, they go out with Daddy for the morning while mommy cooks for Shabbos, Shabbos is Shabbos and Sunday mornings we have Hebrew School with other kids and we usually go out as a family in the afternoon.

Now, I must tell you that I am a FIRM believer that little kids should be encouraged to PLAY PLAY PLAY and not get used to being entertained by an adult. Yes, I play with my kids, but only during "school time". I also read to them for a nice chunk of time at the end of every day. Other then that, they read and play by themselves.

I also must add that if the kids are playing and busy, I NEVER interrupt them, even if it goes into "School time". Unless it is something very important, if they are in "the zone" and are playing nicely together and very involved in whatever game they are playing, I let them be until they are done. I feel this shows them a certain respect for what they are doing which encourages them to keep doing it.

Our School time is done using the Montessori approach. We converted our garage into a classroom and have it set up Montessori style. I have many activities set up and prepared so during school time, the kids can pick what they want to do. As you can see in this blog, I plan many activities around the weekly Parshah/Jewish Holiday.

It is important to realize that each child is unique and has their own learning style- and to cater to it and embrace it.

The older 2 have the Jewish online class in the morning where they cover Davening, Hebrew reading and writing, parshah and holidays, and so our School time is a time to learn about anything they want to learn about.

My oldest is 6 and he LOVES anything Science. And so, we have a section of the classroom with all things Science: books, puzzles, models, activities. He can sit there for 2 hours straight working on different things, and sometimes he does.

My 4 year old loves coloring and Playdo. She has her little section with markers, crayons, papers, coloring books, stickers, Playdo, cookie cutters and all things fun like that. She keeps herself very busy there too. Sometimes they ask for help, sometimes they don't. That's what I love about the Montessori method. The kids are encouraged to work by themselves, without the help of the teacher.

My 3 year old is new to the classroom and is enjoying all the new "toys" that he discovers on a daily basis. He mostly sticks to the practical life and sensory materials (puzzles, building blocks, sand table, classic preschool stuff).

We have a rule that we can only be in our classroom during School time. This keeps things exciting for them, as they know that this is the only time they can play/work here.

For us (my husband and I) it is important that our kids learn what they are interested in. We introduce them to lots of things and the things they like, we encourage.

In regard to Jewish subjects, we have TONS of Jewish children's books in our library and live an Ultra-orthodox Chassidic way of life, which is an education all of itself. We also have the online school, so that is their "Jewish" curriculum.

In regard to Secular studies, I wish I could list off to you the specific books we use, teachers manuals and all- but the official curriculum's just don't work for us.

We use all types of books, from Dr. Seuss's Learning Library to National Geographic magazines. We use lots of different workbooks, LOTS of library books and books from Amazon as well as this fabulous site www.Brainpop.com. We make learning an all day affair in our lives, try make every opportunity a learning opportunity so the kids really develop a love for learning.

I don't ever make them do something they do not want to do. Some would agree with this, some would not. But it works for us.

Although I did not post any actual resources in detail, I have posted MANY throughout this blog, so just go to the search button in the side bar and search for whatever you might be interested in.

I hope this was helpful~

Wishing you a wonderful week,

Parshas Yisro- The Luchos

2012-02-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

Okay... I'm back with my baby wipes caps:)

This time, we made our own Luchos (tablets with the 10 Commandments)-

Here's what we did:

Took a piece of thick cardboard and covered it with this funky scrap-booking paper that the kiddos picked out.

Then glue gunned the wipe covers to the cardboard, 5 on each side:

Kiddos then decided what colors they wanted the cover of each cover should be and settled on a red and white pattern- their own unique creation.

My big guy then wrote Alef-Yud (for each commandment) on each paper and we glued them onto each cover.

Using 2 pages listing the 10 commandments from Parshas Yisro in My Parshah Reader, I made 1 copy of each. We cut out each one (one in English, one in Hebrew) and glued it inside the correct letter.

The kids really love opening and closing each one. Its great for discussions on each mitzvah. We might get more creative over the week and maybe add a picture in each one... but you can really add your own twist on this project.

And here's just a very cool thing we did that I wanted to share-

Using the tea cans from Starbucks, I covered them with different colored card stock, made a label, stuck it on and voila... some great quality storage bins that look really cute all lined up next to each other.

Just like the baby wipes, we have lots of these tea cans (we are tea drinkers in this house:) and they are so cute and so sturdy. Go us for saving the environment!

On a blog roll, so until next time~

Shabbat Menu for You!

2012-02-05T20:50:00.001-08:00

Every Thursday I sit down, take out the nearest notepad or piece of paper and write out my Shabbos menu for the upcoming Shabbos. I stick it on the fridge, forget to throw it out and end up with 10 little papers with different weeks Shabbos menus all over the fridge.

So I decided to make this template that I printed out, laminated and stuck on the fridge with a dry erase marker hanging next to it (attached to a magnet). Like this, every time I need to write out my Shabbos menu, I have the template and can just fill in the blanks- and erase it each week.

Feel free to download it here and use it for yourself~

And don't forget, 2 more weeks until the FOUR Giveaway winners for the Simply Fun Games are announced!!! Click here to enter!

Have a great week~

Always,

Finding Balance

2012-02-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

I am by no means a homeschooling expert... in fact, I consider myself a homeschooling rookie as my oldest is just 6. Whether you homeschool by choice or because you have no other choice, Jewish homeschooling moms share many of the same challenges.

Since I am just a rookie, giving out homeschooling advice is something I don't feel is my place just yet, but what I can do is let you all know the things that really work for us and that help me keep my sanity (most of the time:)

Going with the flow

I have a few little ones at home and rely heavily on their nap times to get things done with the older kids. For the most part, this works as they are on a great schedule, but there are days where one of them will decide not to nap, or one isn't feeling well and the next thing you know, all plans for the day are out the window.

So now you have 2 choices:

1. Get extremely frustrated that things didn't go according to plan, feel like a failure that you didn't get to "teach" your kids for the day and end the day on a sour note since "nothing" was accomplished

2. Realize that we are NOT in control. That Hashem is running the show, as much as we like to think we are. Realize that yes, there will be days that no official teaching will get done and things might be a bit chaotic... but guess what: it will be okay! Tomorrow is an entire new day! and if it is like that for more then a day or 2 or 3, it will be okay too, trust me- I have been there, and my kids are turning out just fine. Actually, they are turning out pretty awesome:)

Trust your kids

I am not talking trust as in kids telling the truth. I am talking having faith in them as curious intelligent little beings. Little people that Hashem has created, little people who taught themselves how to crawl, how to walk, how to speak- yes, without your help! (well, my first got lots of special attention in all those departments since I actually had the time to sit with him one on one and point to his nose and say NOSE until he got it right- but guess what: as each little one came along... 4 more in 3 years! they all pretty much figured out where there noses were and how to say nose all by themselves. Who would have thought?:)

So yes, we feel like if we dont sit down with out kids and drill information into their heads, they will never know anything. WRONG. Just give them the tools. Surround them with lots and lots of great books, talk to them, answer ALL of their questions and if you don't know an answer, look it up together. Encourage them to ask. Every thing we do with our kids is a learning experience.

Another thing is, the younger kids learn SO much from the older kids. I never sat down and taught any of my younger ones any letters, numbers, shapes or colors. They just figured it out. It is all around them. Our kids are just so much smarter and capable of learning then we actually realize. We just need to get to a place where we trust that they will learn things without us throwing it at them.

I also have a lot to say about the whole "Curriculum" idea, but will save that for another post. It goes somewhere along the lines of, "Kids will automatically be good at something they enjoy doing. So encourage it. Don't force your kids to learn something if they are not showing an interest in it. And encourage the things that they are showing an interest in." Stay posted for more on this subject matter:)

Personal Mom time/Mom and Dad time

Okay. This ones a biggie. Whether you homeschool or not, these 2 are imperative.

I was speaking with a friend about this the other day and she asked me what I do for myself, you know, in my "personal" time. Embarrassingly enough, I had no answer. Um... check my email at the end of the day? That's personal, right? Blog once in a while. Oooh, I LOVE going onto Pinterest! She just shook her head. No, no, no! You have GOT to make some time for yourself, doing something, ANYTHING, even if its just 2 hours a week, that is JUST YOU.

Take a walk. Go to a coffee shop and have a cup of tea. Go window shopping. Dedicate 2 hours a week, just for you.

Now some of you may be thinking, wow, poor lady! 2 hours a week, are you kidding me?? that's nothing! Or some of you may be thinking, wow! I guess I am not the only one who could use a little me time! Whoever you are, do what works for you, but YOU need to do something, out of the house, just for YOU. Even if it means putting on headphones and walking around the block.

Hubby Time

Date Night. Once a week. No questions asked. Doesn't matter where you go or what you do. Just take one night a week. Take a shower, get dressed up, do your hair, put on make up, heels, whatever makes you feel like a WOMAN and go out with your man.

And that folks, is my two cents for the week.

Have an absolutely fabulous Shabbos!

Always,

SIMPLY FUN GAMES Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

2012-01-22T00:08:00.000-08:00

As a part of the prize package for the Homeschool Blog Awards, I received 3 educational and really awesome games from Simply Fun.

We got the following games:

As we opened and played each game, I became more and more impressed-

My kids LOVED each game and not only are they fun, but they are SO educational and so simple to play. I went to their website to check out their other products and I was blown away.

These 3 games (above) are brilliant, and if you are planning on investing in a game or 2 for your kiddos, these games are the way to go.

I emailed the company to tell them how impressed I was with their products and offered to review one of three specific games which I thought my kids would really enjoy.

Well, not only did they agree to send me ALL THREE games that I had mentioned, but they also tossed in a FOURTH game and told me that should I decide to have a giveaway, they would send ONE of the following games to 4 DIFFERENT winners! That means that FOUR of you will be the lucky winners of one of the following games:

PICKY STICKS

This game is adorable. Its like pick up sticks for the new generation. This little hedgehog has his spikes and you need to insert sticks in a way that they don't fall down. So great for fine motor skills and so simple yet super fun to play.

LETS JET

Oh, this is so great to learn about world geography. Definitely for older kids (ages 8 and up) but very cool.

LETS DRIVE

Similar to Lets Jet, but takes place in the USA on a road trip. Super fun and a great way to learn about the states, their capitals and scenic locations around the world.

SPACE IT

This game helps kids understand number patterns - a preliminary step toward algebra and advanced math. My son LOVED the whole space theme going on here!

Here's how to enter:

In the comments section below, let me know what you did. #1 is mandatory. For every other comment you leave, it is another raffle entry. On Sunday, February 19th 2012, raffle will be drawn and winners will be announced . FOUR lucky winners will be picked and hopefully will be sent the game of their first choice!

1. Go to Simply Fun's Website, check out the four games above and let me know your first and second choice of those games to win.

2. Tweet about this giveaway

3. Post this giveaway as your Facebook Status

4. LIKE Jewish Montessori Activities on Facebook

5. LIKE this blog post

6. Subscribe to A Jewish Homeschool Blog

Tell all your friends and Good Luck!!!

Parshas Va'eira- first few plagues

2012-01-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

Some things we have been up to this week:

Super cute makkos (plague) puppets. I found these printables here, printed them out, laminated them, cut each one out and glued it to a Popsicle stick. One kiddo had the "let my people go" sign, and I had the "no". We acted out the whole scene of Moshe going to Paroah and each kid got a chance to hold up a new makka (plague) and describe what happened:

We then made 2 cups, one of water (for the Jews) and one of blood (for the Egyptians) using foam with a sticky back. I used a knife to carve out 2 cups and using colored sand, the kiddos did the rest. It's really great using this foam since their is no messy glue involved and the sand sticks to it really well:

I made a few printables which you can find here of the first 4 plagues, this is the first one of a Jew drinking and an Egyptian drinking. The kids can use paint, marker, crayons, stickers etc. to color the drinks of the Jews and the Egyptian:

We then went on to Frogs. I found this fabulous lesson plan on Frogs from this website which the kiddos LOVED. I cut out the pictures of the metamorphosis of a frog and made little puppets on Popsicle sticks (what can I do, my kids love puppets:) and this was a great way to learn about it:

Then using the same lesson plan, we made a little tad pole and watched how a tadpole turns into a frog. The kids painted the legs and tail, cut it out and attached it to our frogs body:

Just some frog math- behind each frog is a number and they stuck the correct amount of stickers on each frog. (Just numbers 1-10):

Classic Montessori counting:

This was just a very cool learning moment- the sun was streaming into the room and happened to hit our globe just so--- it was so clear to my little guy how the sun shines on one side of the world (day) while the other side is dark (night time)...

Will work on the rest of the makkos this week- its a 'fun' Parshah in regard to the different science experiments and projects to do. Click here to see what we have done in the past with the 10 plagues.

Wishing all a great week,

Parshas Shemos and Our Shabbat Box

2012-01-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

My kids absolutely LOVE this Parshah. Actually, the entire Chumash Shemos is pretty great to learn since it is familiar to the kids, being that we learn about it on Pesach and Shavuot as well.

Here are a few things we have done in learning about this weeks Parshah, Parshas Shemos:

Here's the story of Baby Moshe in a sensory box. We used blue glass marbles for the water with little plastic fish inside. We had a little plastic baby in the basket as baby Moshe and used Mitzvah Kinder as Princess Basya (with a pipe cleaner attached to her as her "stretched out arm") and Miriam, watching her baby brother. I had these cool green fuzzy things we used as the river bank. My daughter LOVES sensory boxes. She actually plays out the entire story and loves holding, feeling and finding all the cool little things inside.

Here are some super easy puzzles I made for this Parshah. I downloaded and printed out 3 pictures of this weeks parshah from www.chinuch.org. I made the sizes 5x7. I then laminated them and using a hot glue gun, glued large Popsicle sticks to the back of each picture. I then used a knife to cut along each stick to separate the pieces of the puzzle, and voila- super cool custom made puzzles for the parshah! Kids loved them. They even mixed all three puzzles together and put them back together again to make it more challenging.

Here, we used the movable Hebrew alphabet to make a few words. You can use those plastic magnetic Hebrew alphabet letters too. I just took the letters, spelled out the words on the actual copy machine and made a copy. I laminated it so it will last. The kids then found the correct letters and vowels and placed them on the matching one on the paper.

We made a burning bush using real tree branches which the kids had a great time collecting from outside. We cut up flames from tissue paper and glued it all on to look like a burning bush.

It came out looking more like a tree in the fall, but to the kiddos its a bush on fire, so that's all that counts:)

We then spent a good chunk of time finding all the different ways to make pyramids. Here, we made one out of colored squares...

...Plastic Tubs (you can use plastic bowls or cups too)

Magnet toy...

Geo-board...

and Wedgits...

And here is a GREAT book about this weeks Parshah:

I also put something together today which I have been meaning to do for a LONG time...

I made Our Shabbat Box--- it's a special box (in our case, a medium size trunk we got from a friend that I have been trying to figure out what to put inside) and it is filled with books, toys and games that we only use on Shabbat. It gives the kids something to look forward to and they don't get bored with the things inside since they know they can only play with it one day a week.

You don't need to go out and buy stuff, just take some of the kids books, games and toys and put them aside (obviously make sure the games/toys/books are not electronic).

Here are some great books to fill your Shabbat Box up with:

Here are some great toys to fill up your Shabbat Box with:

Here are some great games to put in your Shabbat Box (appropriate for Shabbat):

Feel free to throw some ideas this way in regard to this weeks Parshah as well as fun stuff you have included in your Shabbat Box!

Wishing you all a great week,

An interview with Jewish homeschooling mom, Mayim Bialik

2012-01-05T21:38:00.001-08:00

Growing up, one of my favorite TV shows to watch was Blossom, which I am sure many of you 30 something moms have very fond memories of watching. Blossom was played by an adorable Jewish girl named Mayim Bialik.

Fast forward a decade and then some later, and Mayim is still a very talented and well known actor, but she has also received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Hebrew and Jewish Studies from UCLA and earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UCLA. She is the celebrity spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network, a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting holistic and green parenting and living. You can click here for Mayim’s full bio.

She has just written a book called Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way which will be out in March and she writes weekly for Kveller.com, a Jewish parenting site.

Mayim is a fellow Jewish Homeschooling mom and has generously taken the time to answer some questions about her life as a Jewish Homeschooling family. I am sure many of you will relate to many of the things she says. Enjoy!

*****

1. Can you tell us about yourself and your family.

We are a happily holistic homeschooling family. My husband and I met in college in calculus class and he stays home when I work. We have 2 boys, ages 6 and 3 and we are both 36. My husband has a masters in Political Science and I have a PhD in Neuroscience. I am an employed actress on The Big Bang Theory, but I also teach Neuroscience and piano in our homeschool community.

2. What type of Jewish education did you receive as a child?

I was raised in a traditional house that affiliated with the reform movement. My parents are both first generation Americans and taught in public schools for a combined 60 years. My mother also was the nursery school director at our shul when I was a kid. I attended Hebrew school once a week from age 4-10 and twice a week as well as 5 shabbatons a year from 10-19. I was Bat Mitzvah'd and confirmed and we observed holidays such as Pesach and Chanukah in the home, but we didn't have a halachic home for the most part.

We were kosher when I was a child but my parents stopped being kosher and I then took it on again in my early adolescence. My mother's parents were orthodox and so I learned a bit about orthodoxy from them, but it was a very specific kind of eastern European orthodoxy and was not the whole picture as I know now!

3. Why did you decide to homeschool your own children?

Many reasons. My husband and I enjoy the flexibility: travelling, scheduling outings and such on our time. We like our children not being held to some standard of what other kids are doing as their defining label. Both of our boys are very sensitive and gentle and developed "late" in terms of walking, talking and interacting. A public setting would not have allowed them to progress under our care and we like to keep our finger on the pulse of their development as organic and natural and normal.

Private education is very expensive and we really like the Waldorf philosophy (no media, natural toys, emphasis on non-academics for the first 7 years and after that, very child-led), but we also love being a part of our boys' learning and life. We like to know we can teach them all aspects of every subject and we love being part of a progressive community of people who are open to a lot of types of learning styles. there is also a lot of socialization that goes on in schools that I don't think would work for our boys or for us, nor do I think it's always best for communities. We love school and we want our boys to be able to go to college if they want to; we are not at all anti-school; we really believe all children deserve a better shot at developing to their unique potential than what school in many places looks like.

4. What method of homeschooling are you using with your kids?

We are unschoolers. Not radical unschoolers, but unschoolers. We never taught our boys shapes or colors or numbers of the alphabet until they started showing interest in them. We limit media (they don't watch TV or see movies) also because we like to see what they are ready for independent of the "peer" pressure of the media.

We are Waldorf-inspired but I don't think that fits us as a label.

5. Do you follow a specific curriculum? If yes, which one? (both Jewish and secular)

Our boys are still young but we have not used any curriculum and we don't even do workbooks yet. Our older son does a lot of learning with us: we did a basic animal science module (that's my word for how we learn) last year and we started geography. I teach him piano (but also allow him to take breaks when his world seems more about play which has been the past 8 months or so!) as well and my husband does math.

We also started learning the Aleph-Beis and we do Parsha together. We also study middos with the Baruch Chait books about the middos pirates, and this year I intend to start teaching davening more formally. A wonderful woman in our community does a Hebrew school-style playgroup that our boys love, and they are the only non-kippah wearing kids in the group, but it's working out great! We also have used www.room613.net and I think our older son may be ready for some more classes through that great site.

6. What are some benefits you find in homeschooling?

Time with our kids, getting to see every shift and change in their ability, interest and wonder. Allowing their neshama to come through every day because the world is so open to them in terms of what they love, what they want and how they love to just be joyful and play and explore.

7. What are some personal challenges you find in homeschooling and how do you overcome them?

Time with our kids (lol). We don't really get a break. I don't work full days at all so I experience it too, but since we don't use nannies or anything, we sometimes get overwhelmed! Our boys are wonderful and we love them infinitely, but they are often needing more of us than we think we can give! Outings are important, outside play is very important, and having toys that keep them engaged for longer periods of time is great. We don't use a TV for breaks but I for sure can see why people do!!!

8. How do you incorporate Judaism into your homeschool curriculum?

As I mentioned we do Parsha and we study holidays on all levels. Every moment is an opportunity to teach about the wonders of the universe and to instill a sense of gratitude and I think that is a very Jewish thing to do! we host homeschool families for all of the Jewish holidays so that our boys get to see what welcoming people in for holidays looks like, and I keep them very involved in preparing and learning about halachos as well as much as I can. And everything stops on Shabbos, and that's a great reminder to them of the rhythm of the Jewish week!

9. Do you have any Jewish resources you would like to share with the Jewish homeschooling community?

Room613.net I mentioned; I also love the natural Jewish parenting group run by Yael Resnick. We have a Jewish homeschoolers community here in la that is fantastic and I hope other communities have it too...middos series books I mentioned are fantastic for all ages (we modify for the little one since the concepts and words are sometimes geared for older kids) http://www.feldheim.com/authors/chait-rabbi-baruch/the-middos-series.html

We make sure to have a lot of Jewish books always around and we take them out several weeks before each holiday to get the concepts solidified. I also love the Artscroll books and siddurs for young people; I can't wait until we are ready for those!

10. Do you have any words of advice/encouragement for Jewish moms who are new to homeschooling and want to make sure their kids get a well-rounded Jewish education?

I am not as religious as many Jewish homeschoolers I know and I have seen incredible diversity in approach and great outcomes. Some people hire Ravs, some people don't; some use a curriculum, some don't, but the beauty of being home with your kids (especially as a mom) is that the heart of the Jewish home is constantly available to them. They get to see a lot of the intricacies of how the Jewish house runs and prays and breathes, and that is not to be taken lightly. Also, the internet resources and discussion groups available make help and support and education a click away and I think the benefits are tremendously rewarding if you have faith, find like-minded people, and trust yourself!

Thank you Mayim for your great insights and for your time!

Wishing you all a wonderful Shabbos,

Parshas Vayechi

2012-01-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

I can confidently say that we are very proud supporters of Costco's Kirkland Baby-wipes and Kitchen wipes. I came across another mom blog out there and she brilliantly used the caps of these wipes to make a calendar for her kids.

Now a big goal of mine, being a Jewish homeschooling mom, is taking these awesome idea's and giving them a Jewish twist. So I started saving all the caps of all the wipes but just couldn't come up with a good idea of how to use them in a Jewish way.

Until.... this weeks parshah, where Yakov is blessing his 12 sons. I figured we could tie it all together and give each Shevet the color of their stone on the Kohen Gadols Choshen (High Priests Breast Plate) and then we could use this in a few weeks time again when we learn about the garments of the Kohanim and Kohen Gadol.

So here is how it went:

We hot glued a piece of felt to a card board box cover (one of those office boxes from Office Max). We then hot glued the caps of the wipes onto the felt like this:

Then each munchkin got 6 cards to color specific colors (the color of each Shevets stone)

We then glued the cards onto the tops of the caps and wrote each Shevets name on the correct color card, in order:

I then made a copy of the cover of My Parsah Reader- Sefer Bereishis and laminated it. We cut each one out and stuck a little Velcro sticker behind each one. Each picture depicts the blessing that Yakov gave each son:

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?? The kids LOVE using it and we talk about the different blessings and who got what and where it goes. Just looking at it is so enjoyable. And it was super easy.

Here is a cute little Menashe and Efraim project we made:

That's Yakov in the middle. We acted out the story of Yakov blessing them and switching his hands. That's Efraim on the left, my son made him "special" clothes since he got the first bracha.

Here's another one we did- I just drew the outline of 2 men and the kiddos each colored and glued and stuck whatever they wanted on each man. The Alef is for Efraim and the Mem is for Menashe.

They then traced their hands and we were able to switch the hands to show how Yakov switched his hands.

And here's a really great Alef Beis project that my daughter LOVED. Just cut out colored strips, long and short but make sure they are all the same size. Use one long one and one short one to make templates of the Hebrew Alphabet and have the kids glue on the correct sticks to each letter.

And that's what we've been up to. Have a great week!

Chanukah Giveaway Winner!!!

2011-12-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

And the winner of the Chanukah Giveaway is....

~~~~BRINA GONZALEZ~~~~

Congrats to you and your kiddos!

Please email me your mailing address to Jewishmontessori18 AT gmail DOT com

And wishing all of my fabulous readers a HAPPY CHANUKAH, may your Chanukah be filled with lots of love, light and many revealed miracles!

Always,

Chanukah Worksheets

2011-12-19T12:33:00.001-08:00

Here's a great link to some Chanukah Worksheets--

Chanukah Worksheets

Chanukah Math Work Sheets

Stay tuned, winner of the Chanukah giveaway will be announced tomorrow!

Amazing Playdo Recipe and Home Library Organizing...

2011-12-06T20:43:00.000-08:00

I found this FABULOUS Playdo recipe and knew I just HAD to share it with you to make for your tykes-

Homemade Playdo Recipe

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 Tbsp. cooking oil

1 Tbsp. cream of tartar

1 cup water

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl

2. In a small sauce pan, mix the dough on medium heat until it turns into a ball, about 2-3 minutes. Some residue may stick to the sides of the pan, but it hardens and falls off.

3. Place the dough on a flat surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth. It will be warm.

-- To color: take amount of dough you wish to color, drop a few drops of food coloring on it and knead it with your hand until a solid color forms. I used plastic gloves to prevent my hands from getting full of food coloring. Also, as you knead it with the food coloring, it starts off with a marble effect, but keep kneading until it is solid. You can use any colors, mix colors, etc.

-- To make a scent: add a few drops of any nice essential oils, vanilla essence, cinnamon, any good smells and knead it well. You can add more if the smell isn't strong enough. I also added some glitter to ours, the kids loved it. There are lots of fun things to add to the dough, feel free to share any good ideas.

Store it in a Ziploc or Tupperware with a lid.

Here is a cute project we did, using the playdo:

note: after this project, the kids got busy rolling, shaping, braiding etc until all the colors were mixed and we had a nice big grey blob:) Its a good thing we can make more Playdo should we need new colors!

Okay, so back to the project-

While my husband is more of the scholar and Rabbi, and I am the dreamer and creative one, my oldest has shown an amazing interest in all things SCIENCE. So its a REALLY good thing we have the Internet and a bunch of great resources so any time the little guy wants to learn something new and has questions that we do not know the answers to (like, what layer of the earth is lava found--- yes, he is 5 and asked this question!) we can just google it...

So in answer to his question, using Playdo, we built a little 3D model of the earth and what the layers somewhat look like:

I know I learnt it in high school once upon a time, but Science was REALLY not my thing. I really like the kids to have a hands on experience in whatever they are learning, so this was really great.

And by the way, lava is found in the Mantle. That's the 2nd layer from the top:)

***

Now I must tell you, I am not an organized person by nature. Because my kids are home for a large part of the day, I really try to have as many organized systems as possible, just to prevent utter chaos from happening.

We are a book family. The walls of our home are lined with books- including the kids playroom. We have all types of books: Jewish books, Story books, Dr. Seuss, Baby Board Books, Educational Books and some Hebrew Books. (I'm not a fan of Disney stories, Fairy tales or Nursery Rhymes, so they can discover those on their own one day, just not in our house)

Our kids (like most kids) LOVE reading. Even my little ones, just sitting on the floor with a book on their laps, love flipping the pages to see what comes up next.

Now the problem was, at the end of everyday, we had books ALL over the floor. And when it was time to clean up, the kids would just stuff them into the nearest space on the book shelf, upside down, side ways, whatever. It was getting ridiculous, especially when they were looking for a specific book, it took forever to find.

THEN...

I came upon a post of another homeschool mom and found her amazing idea that I tweaked for our family.

Using colored dots, we color coded the books into the different subjects I listed above. This took about 2-3 days to do, and not all at once.

Each subject has a different colored dot stuck on the bottom of the book. Now when they are done with a book, they put it in the correct section, facing the correct way, how awesome is that???

So if this is helpful to any of you- enjoy!

Chanukah Activities and Giveaway!!!

2011-12-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

A few things we've been up to lately...

Chanukah Sensory Table:

Sorting biggest to smallest:

Dreidel Paintings:

Chanukah Collages with Chanukah Foam stickers:

Building a Chanukah Menorah with Shapes, Hammer and Nails:

A "stained glass" Chanukah Menorah- you can make a dreidel like this too:

Chanukah Menorah made out of colored collage squares- glitter for the candles:

Here is a very exciting project we are working on: Continent Boxes...

Basically, each box represents one of the seven continents.

I added Israel to the mix, cos its our country and it made sense to do so.

Inside each box, you put photos, chatchkes, books, any thing that pertains to that continent.

This is a classic Montessori project, but I am giving it a Jewish twist. I am looking for photos of different types of Jews and Shuls in the different parts of the world as well as traditional Jewish recipes. My husband happens to have a huge collection of Tanya's (an incredible Jewish book on Chassidic Philosophy written by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi) that were printed all over the world. The only continent box without a Tanya that was printed there is Antarctica. We did manage to find a photo of a Jewish scientist lighting a Menorah in Antarctica, which was very cool.

Once we have filled the boxes I will take photos of what treasures we found, and if anyone has any good ideas of other Jewish things to fill them with, please share!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Okay... now for the fun stuff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WE'RE HAVING A CHANUKAH GIVEAWAY!!!

In this Giveaway are the following Goodies:

an Alef Bet coloring book
a Shabbat Activity Book with activities to do on Shabbat, and the kids can color the fun pages during the week
an Alef Bet writing book with picture to color
One Minute Jewish Games
Alef Bet Rubber Stamp Collection
Alef Bet Puzzle
Alef Bet Flash Cards

Here's how to enter...

You can do one or all of the following... each thing you do is one entry in the raffle:

Leave a comment. You can leave as many comments as you wish. Every comment is a raffle entry.
LIKE Jewish Montessori on Facebook and let me know you did it in the comments
Tweet about this Giveaway and let me know you did it in the comments
Share this post on Facebook and let me know you did it in the comments

Winner will be announced December 20th, 1st night of Chanukah!

Have Fun and Good Luck!

Best Homeschool Mom Blog Winner!

2011-11-21T23:57:00.001-08:00

A special thanks to all of you who voted for

A Jewish Homeschool Blog!

Some Pretty Cool Activities

2011-11-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

We have a huge tub of crayons in the kitchen that the kids use to color and draw... inside that tub are tons of broken crayons that the kids just don't use and so thanks to the many awesome ideas out there in the blogosphere, this is what we did:

First, place them in a cupcake tin, I divided them into like colors, but you can mix them, either way is fine...

Put them in the oven at 400 for 10 minutes... only after I put them in the oven did I wonder if this would be a problem in the Kosher department- but I found out that since crayons are not food and these are non-toxic, that it is fine. Feel free to ask your own Rabbi if its okay to put wax crayons in your oven.

After 10 minutes, I took them out- they were completely liquid and marbled so I carefully put the tray of crayons in the fridge to harden. After about 15-20 minutes, they were hard and I pushed them out of the molds... and VOILA!

My 4 year old daughter has claimed them as her own, she piles them on top of each other, colors with them, traces around them- yes, it was a hit and I am looking for Alef Bet molds to make our next batch of crayons with. If anyone know where I can get them, let me know!

Okay, now this next little Science project we did was absolutely awesome.

It is all about Density in Liquids.

We took 4 liquids:

Honey

Dish Soap

Water with red food coloring

Oil

We poured the honey, then the dish soap, the water then the oil and this is what we got:

Note: we did it very carefully so not to mix the dish soap and the water. After a day the water started seeping into the dish soap. Someone suggested we try rubbing alcohol on top of the oil as it is less dense then oil and would rise above it. If anyone tries it, let me know, we didn't have any in the house.

Have a good one,

Parshas Chayei Sara, Alef Bet and more...

2011-11-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a great book to go along with this weeks Parshah, all about how kind Rivkah was at the well:

Keeping my 2 year old busy while we work... using large beads and pipe cleaners, he made necklaces and bracelets just like Rivkah received from Eliezer:

We made our own well with real water inside and a bucket the kids could use to retrieve water. They used little mentchies and animals to reenact the story or what happened at the well, they played with this for a while:

The more advanced version of Rivkah's jewelry for the bigger kids to make (smaller beads):

Some hands-on Alef Bet activities--

Creating letters using shapes, hammer and nails:

Creating letters with the Geo-board:

We used the Montessori Red Rods to create the letters of the Alef Bet:

Using the Sandpaper Hebrew letters, they traced it with their fingers then traced it in the sand:

This is Avraham's tent from last weeks Parshah, Parshas Vayeira:

A pretty awesome Science experiment we are doing- get 2 stalks of celery and slice the bottoms giving the water direct access to the veins. Place them in 2 different colors of water (using food coloring) and watch how the water goes through the veins in the stalks to the leaves. It took a few days but the kids loved checking on it every day:

And thats what we've been up to~

Wishing all a great week,

Parshas Vayeira- Bikur Cholim and Hachnosos Orchim

2011-11-09T23:03:00.000-08:00

Here are two Mitzvah Activity Packs in connection to Parshas Vayeira- click on the TEXT to download:

My Hachnosos Orchim (welcoming guests) Activity Pack

My Bikur Cholim (visiting the sick) Activity Pack

Here are some great books and puzzles in connection to Bikur Cholim and Hachnosos Orchim:

A great a week to all~

Homeschool Blog Awards!

2011-11-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Ok everyone, the annual Homeschool Blog awards are up an running and I would LOVE your vote!

Its super easy, just click here, and click on the dot next to A Jewish Homeschool Blog-

Thanks for your vote!

Parshas Lech Lecha- Transportation Activity Pack

2011-11-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

In connection to Parshas Lech Lecha and travel, here is a little Transportation Activity Pack

Click Here to download

Enjoy~

Parshas Lech Lecha- Stars and Transportation

2011-10-31T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things we have been doing in connection to Parshas Lech Lecha:

Aside for My First Parshah Reader, we are reading A Little Boy Named Avram by Dina Rosenveld.

We printed some coloring pages from Chinuch.org and Munchkin colored them and stuck on star stickers while we were talking about how Hashem promised Avraham that his children would be as many as the stars in the sky.

Then, using Star cut-outs which I got at Walmart for $1, I cut them up to make little puzzles and stuck a magnet sticker on the back of each piece. We took all the pieces, mixed them up in a basket and the kids used a magnetic cookie pan to put the stars back together again. The nice thing about using the magnets is that the puzzle pieces stay in place once put down.

Here is a math activity using the Montessori beads. Pretty straight forward. You can make your own beads using pipe-cleaners and colored beads.

A great counting activity, stick the correct amount of Star stickers as the number written on each star. My Munchkin (3.5) LOVES stickers, so anything with stickers is an instant winner with her.

Creating a night sky with different types of star stickers, some foam, some glittery and all different sizes. She actually made a pretty awesome sky, overlapping stars, mixing colors. It was very cool:)

Simple beading with star beads.

After working with stars, we moved on to Transportation- "Lech Lecha", Avram and his wife "traveled" to Canaan. So we are learning about all things connected to modes of travel.

Cutting activity with cars using the Kumon Cutting Workbook.

Transportation Sensory Tub, using black rice we picked up from the local Health Food store in bulk. We put in some Lego street signs and Toob Cars. This was SUCH a hit with my 2 year old, he sat there for quite a while burying all the cars then trying to find them.

Then what started as a simple sorting activity, turned into this:

Taking the idea from my little one, we used the sensory box to hide all the cars, planes and boats and the older kids would search for them and once found, place them in the correct section.

Then using big blocks, cars, street signs and little people, they each designed there own roads.

Using chalk, they drew streets on black construction paper and used these transportation stickers to create a whole scene.

This was a kit we got and they made boats, trains, cars and planes.

Here is where you can get some of the products we are working with this week:

A great week to all~

Noach Activity Pack and some more activities...

2011-10-25T23:23:00.001-07:00

I like incorporating the weekly Parshah/Holiday into our regular secular subjects. Below you will find a few math activities, reading and science activities that we have done. I have also included a Noach Activity Pack which includes some of the papers we used for the activities. Feel free to print some or all of the printables.

Click Here to download My Noach Activity Pack

Counting Doves (in connection to the Dove that brought back the Olive Branch). We made these doves out of white felt glued on to card stock then cut each one out:

Matching the upper case letter to the lower case letter- each letter is the beginning letter of each animal:

Counting animals using clothes pegs:

This was a cute science experiment we did. We discussed the difference between fresh water and salt water. We then made 2 identical cups of water, one with A LOT of salt, the other, just water. We then took 2 eggs (boiled or raw, both work) and dropped them into the cups:

Check out what happened- the egg sunk in the fresh water and floated in the salt water.

Well, that's about it for now on Parshas Noach- have a great week!

Parshas Noach ~ Noah's Ark (and keeping the little one's busy)

2011-10-24T23:13:00.001-07:00

Every Homeschooler has their own set of challenges. One of ours is keeping our little one's busy while working with the big ones. Below are a few tried and true fabulous activities that we do with our very curious, very busy, very cute and very active little 2 year old:

Using 2 containers, place a bunch of rocks (you can collect them together from outside) into one of them. Place the lid on the empty container and cut a small "X" in the lid. I actually cut it from an "X" into more of a small square so he wouldn't pinch his chubby little fingers when squeezing the rocks through:

This is a classic Montessori dressing frame. Very easy to make yourself. The ones with buttons and laces were too advanced for him, but the velcro was a hit. He would open all 5 of them then close each one. He did this over and over again, really enjoyed it:

Okay- now this one is real winner. Get a basket and go around your house and collect about 6 different little bags/containers that open and close in different ways. Place a small rock/pebble/stone in each one. He absolutely LOVED this- kept him busy for a long time, opening and closing each one, trying to put some inside the other...

I'm not sure what it is about opening things and closing, and filling things up and emptying them out, but my little guy sat there for a really nice amount of time with these little tubs. They actually are part of the older kids alphabet tubs which I will post one of these days, but I gave him a few of them to play with. He opened them, emptied them, played with the contents inside, loved seeing what each tub had, stacked the tubs on top of each other, knocked them down, you name it, he is in his own little world having a ball.

Just get a few containers with lids and fill each one up with 2-3 little goodies. Could be anything little. Little hands like holding little things. Instant winner.

And what 2 year old doesn't love making noise? This was quite the hit... gave me a bit of a headache, but to see him sitting there banging away was quite delicious to watch:)

In is defense, he had been sitting at the kitchen table for almost an hour doing his little activities- the attention span was coming to a close, so I figured, lets end this with a bang!

... meanwhile

The older munchkins were busy with their own set of activities-

Since we are learning about Parshas Noach this week (Noah's Ark) we are focusing on Animals, the Ark and Rainbows. So any activities we do are somehow tied into those themes.

These animals are from a lacing set. My kids aren't so into lacing so we tried something a little different. Using thumb tacs on a cork board, they pushed the tacs through each hole.

Voila, a great activity~

A Rainbow Sensory Tub- we used colored rocks (used for fish tanks), colored pom poms, colored feathers, colored springs, a miniature sun, umbrella and rainbow and of course, a magnifying glass. Oh- and a few little miniature people in there as my 4 year old LOVES sensory tubs and always makes a whole story with all the goodies in there so we always include 2-3 little people.

I put the bowls and spoons on the side for them to use with the tubs if they wish.

Picking up miniature animals with tongs and placing them in the "Ark":

Feeding the chickens and ducks corn kernels, using a mustard spoon and transferring them from one dish to another:

Spelling 3 letter words, using the moveable alphabet and a basket of animals (cat, dog, cow, rat):

Building an Ark using shapes, hammer and nails:

Sorting the people, animals and food into the Ark:

And thats pretty much what we have been up to so far- any other goodies and printables I will post when I get a chance~

A great week to all,

Torah, Torah, I Love You...

2011-10-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

"Little Torah, Little Torah, Let me hold you tight!

Teach me, Teach me, all your mitzvot so I can do them right!

The Torah teaches every Jew, Torah, Torah, I Love You!"

Simchat Torah is such a fabulous Holiday- the reading of the Torah goes on portion by portion throughout the year, throughout the ages, in everlasting cycles. The Torah is concluded on Simchat Torah, but it is also immediately started again from the beginning. This shows that there is no end to the Torah and that it must be read and studied constantly, over and over again.

And so here are a few things we have been doing~ preparing for the great celebration!

We spoke about how a Torah is written on Parchment using a Quill and ink... then we used a feather and paint to create our own "quill and ink" experience:

Then, what started out as this project which I got from Chabad.org to make your own stuffed Torah from felt...

...turned into the most adorable Torah puppets- thanks to my 2 year old who found the Torahs drying on the table with the bottom part not yet sealed... he stuck his chubby little hands in and before we knew it, everyone had their own Torah puppet! It was such a hit- they made a whole puppet show singing all the Torah songs they know. So much for the little stuffed Torahs, but I guess there's always next year:)

Of course, we made Simchat Torah flags... and being the Montessori inspired mom that I am, I gave each munchkin a piece of white card-stock with a glue stick and put a box filled with all types of goodies in the middle of the table giving them the freedom to make their very own original creations...

Once completed, they went outside and each found a strong branch to use as the stick for the flag. We taped it on with strong packing tape and are keeping it on the wall until Simchat Torah.

Here's a little game that the munchkins actually made themselves. We used a paper plate and cut it into a smaller circle. Using a marker and a ruler (my big guy LOVES using rulers), we divided the circle into 6 sections. My big guy stuck little Torah Stickers in each section numbering 1-6. We then took paper clips and stuck the numbers 1-6 onto each one:

He then gave it to his little sister and explained to her how to clip the correct number on the paper clip to the correct amount of Torah's on the chart:

Good job kiddo!

Here are a few other toys and books we have been using in connection to Simchat Torah:

This is also a great link to adorable songs on each Parshah- and since we are starting at the very beginning next week, I thought some of you might enjoy using it as you teach each weeks Parshah to your little ones.

So hope you have a wonderful and happy Holiday,

Always,

Yom Kippur Activites

2011-10-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things we're doing this week to prepare for Yom Kippur:

The classic craft for Yom Kippur- Slippers: made from foam with sticky backs. Have the kids trace each of their feet on a piece of foam and cut it out, a little bigger then their actual foot...

Let them decorate another piece of foam and cut it out like below:

There is a piece of paper on the back of each piece of foam. There are 3 tabs, 2 on each side and one on the top. You will use these to stick to the bottom of each foot cutout. Peel the paper off the back of each tab leaving the rest of the paper on the foam so it doesnt stick to the kids feet. Fold the tabs over the foot cutout, press down to stick, and voila... got some nice looking Yom Kippur slippers!

The nice thing about the sticky foam (you can get it at Walmart or any craft store) is that the sticky part STICKS. No glue or staples are needed and the kids can use them right away.

Next we made a Tashlich pond...

Using a plate filled with water, shave different colored chalk into the water. You can let the kids use a plastic knife to shave the chalk.

We cut out little fish from white paper and the kids dipped each fish into the water for a few seconds then laid it out to dry.

And here you have the finished product... you can do this with anything, the chalk creates a really cool effect.

Click Here to download My Yom Kippur Activity Pack

Should be a great week and an easy fast to all~

Oh, and for those who are making Kreplach, you can use ready made won-ton dough, just fill it with filling and drop into the soup to boil. It comes out great and its super easy!

Better Late then Never!

2011-09-27T23:48:00.000-07:00

I know, its only a few hours til Rosh Hashanah but maybe some of you have a few moments to spare to do a cute arts'n crafts project with your kids......

Well, if not for this year, there's always next year- enjoy!

Here are a few things we have done over the past few days/weeks:

We made a beehive using those little white cups as stamps then made a little bee out of pom poms, pipe cleaners and googly eyes:

A Shana Tova Card- this was awesome... using card board, stick on scotch tape in the shape of the Hebrew letters. Let the kids paint the entire paper how they wish and then remove the tape to have the letters revealed:

Just a little sorting activity in connection to the 6 days of creation- a basket of fish and birds, place the birds in the "sky" and the fish in the water:

The "sounds" of the Shofar (in no particular order):

Our Tashlich fish- although we used apple sponges to sponge print the scales, it came out really cool:

Just a simple apple collage- cut out a shape of an apple, have the kids cut up red and pink paper (or whatever color they want their apple to be) and glue on as a collage:

Honey Jars or Rosh Hashanah cards or any other fun ideas... take white paper, color with wax crayons all different colors- when the entire page is covered, take black crayon and color over the whole paper. Cut it out to any shape and use toothpicks to draw on the black to reveal the colors:

DIY Sand Art- this is fabulous! Take foam sheets with sticky backs. Use a pencil to draw a picture then using a small blade, cut out the picture through the paper. Gently remove each piece you have cut and sprinkle colored sand on it. It will stick to the sticky part of the foam. Ideas are endless, we have made so many of these- you can get the sticky foam from Walmart or any craft stores:

Simple counting activity using apples. This page is from My Rosh Hashanah Activity Pack for Toddlers

We made honey cakes with this awesome recipe- I printed and laminated it:

Rosh Hashanah Sensory Table:

You can find some of the stuff we used here:

And last but not least, the classic honey dish and honey jar- dish made from tissue paper and plastic plates, honey jar is a painted baby food jar:

Wishing eveyone a Happy, Healthy, Successful and Sweer New Year filled with all things Wonderful!

SHANA TOVA UMETUKAH!

Me in My World

2011-09-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

Since we are learning about how Hashem created the world, I saw this project on another mom blog somewhere and knew my kids would just love it- and it ties in nicely to what we are learning about.

Basically, you are showing your little one where they are in this whole scheme of things, from what planet they live on to their address.

This is what the finished product looks like:

In more detail:

Click here to download a PDF of the first 3 pages (Our Planet, Our Continent and Our Country)

Enjoy~

The Birthday Party Craze

2011-09-20T00:41:00.000-07:00

We live in a world where we like to think it’s all about the kids. Playing classical music and reciting poetry to your belly upon finding out you are 3 weeks pregnant. Showing your one month old flash cards of art work by Monet, Van Gogh and what not to make sure they have a very well-rounded education.

We want to make sure that they have the best education, so teaching them to read at 2 will ensure they turn into geniuses. We take them to every type of extra-curricular activity a child can possibly cram into their day and of course, we make sure to throw the BEST birthday parties out there.

Okay, not all of us are that crazy.

But I will admit to one thing. The birthday party crazes. Guilty. As. Charged.

Every year, each one of my kids gets to request a birthday cake. Anything they want. And their devoted loving mother stays up till 2 in the morning creating the master piece for the big day. We’ve had hot air balloons, race tracks (with a tunnel and a bridge!), princesses, ballerinas, clowns, and trains.

There was always a theme, with color coordinated decorations and activities and an array of goodies sure to sugar up every single child at that party.

Well, this year was different.

Firstly, this year we celebrated the first birthday of our twins. Gosh, I had this party planned from the day I found out they were twins! The colors, the themes, the cakes, decorations- this party was gonna be SMASHING!

I started baking when 2 of my kids asked if they could help me. Okay. Sure. And the next thing I knew, another little rascal arrived at the kitchen table and everyone was busy, pouring flour, sugar, and all that good stuff that makes our kids go a little nutty once consumed, into the mixing bowl.

Each got a turn to mix, one was assigned to put all the cupcake holders in the cup cake pans, and another poured the batter into each holder. We then moved on to the brownies, chatting, singing, messing but really having a pretty awesome time.

Came time for the frosting and my little scientists decided they wanted to create their own colors, mixing all the different food colorings in their own bowl of white frosting.

Thank you Maria Montessori for instilling in me the understanding of how children are naturally curious and love figuring things out for themselves, not just in a school environment, but everywhere in their world.

And so we had these pretty awesome marble multi colored frosted cupcakes.

Then came the biggie.

“oooh mommy, can we decorate outside with streamers and balloons, pllllllleeeeeeeease!!!!!!”

There I go, handing over all the balloons and streamers, with some ribbon and tape. All yours kiddos. And there went my color coordinated strategically themed birthday party.

But. Outside in the yard, balloons were everywhere. Streamers hung from the trees, the slide, the swings, the fence, even the hose. And those kids could not have been happier.

All the kids had a blast at the party. The twins enjoyed their multicolored cupcakes, without a clue that the party was for them.

And it all became pretty clear. It’s not about us. It’s not about our fancy decorations or our perfect cupcakes. It’s not about teachers sending home the perfect arts and crafts (that they finished up for the kids so the parents would be impressed) or the fancy projects (that the kids have no clue what it’s all about but it looks like the teacher put lots of effort into it).

It’s about letting the kids be kids. Let them mix the colors. Let them decorate the back yard. Let them take as long as they need to finish a picture, because it’s not about the end result. It’s about them having pride in the fact that THEY did this. THEY created this. Let us adults put our egos aside, and just let these little amazing people, just be little amazing people.

Sensory Tubs

2011-09-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

Although Sensory Tubs are not exactly Montessori style, my kids absolutely LOVE them-

Just pick a theme and fill the box up with any little tidbits that pertain to that theme. The idea is to let the kids touch and feel and use their imagination to create whatever it is they want to do with it.

At first, I didn't quite understand the concept. Put a box of rice with some toys, a magnifying glass and then what? But after making our first Sensory box, I gave it to my 3 year old daughter and just observed her. She sat there for about 30 minutes, maybe more, just sifting through the sand (it was a beach theme) then she picked out all the shells and lined them up. She took the fish, people and birds and had a whole situation going on. She absolutely loved it. So now, each time I make a new box, she is SO excited to explore whats inside. I think it would be good to switch themes at least every month, keeping things exciting.

Check out our 6 Days of Creation Sensory Tub:

Inside is:

sand for the land

blue glass stones for the water

plastic fish and duck in the 'water'

miniature animals on the 'land'

Wooden sun and moon

Silver stars

Boy and Girl for Adam and Chava

miniature tree

flower beads

Here is a link to the post that contains our Rosh Hashanah Sensory Tub:

http://jewishhomeschool.blogspot.com/2011/08/rosh-hashanah-and-yom-kippur-activities.html

Given our rich Jewish heritage, there are endless ideas of Jewish themed Sensory Tubs- just think of each Jewish Holiday, different Mitzvot (Kosher, Shabbat, 10 Commandments etc.) and find objects around the house that connect to the theme. And its always nice to fill them with different things like glass beads/marbles, rice, lentils, feathers, pebbles, sand- there are lots of blogs out there with some great Sensory tub ideas. Just google "Sensory Tubs".

Set it up in a way that each object is clearly displayed for the kids to see, then let them play with it however they wish. Its okay if they mess it all up and mix it together. They are learning and exploring and having a great time. But I should advise that setting up some ground rules is a must: they can take the bigger objects out of the tub but need to return them when done. They CANNOT pour the sand/rice/lentils/beads etc (whatever you use to fill it with) out of the tub. It might take a few times getting used to, but once they know the drill, its fabulous.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom!

Tzedakah

2011-09-09T00:19:00.000-07:00

During the month of Elul we focus on Teshuva (returning to Hashem), Tefilla (prayer) and Tzedakah (charity).

Here are a few things we did in connection to Tzedakah:

Firstly, we learned that Tzedakah is not just giving MONEY to people who need it. It's giving clothes, a job, even a kind word. Its helping people in as many ways as we are able.

This is a sweet craft of friends helping friends:

Decorating a Pushkah (Tzedakah Box)- you can use any container with a lid:

Shining pennies with Q-tips and lemon juice- it took a while, and they really needed to shine the coins but the kids eventually saw results:

Counting 100 pennies to make one dollar- this is a Montessori 100's board, you can easily make one with paper/cardboard and markers. It really gives the kids a visual idea of what 100 pennies look like and that 100 pennies make one dollar:

On the 25th day of Elul, Hashem started to create the World. On the 6th day of Creation, Hashem created man. The 6th day falls out on Rosh Hashanah.

Here is a "Day's of Creation Activity Pack" I out together for my kiddo's-

You can download it HERE

You can use it together with the Shabbat Activity Pack which you can find HERE

Hope this is helpful!

~Shabbat Shalom to all~

Happy Elul

2011-09-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

Here is the calendar we use- its a regular classroom calendar but I made Hebrew letters for the Hebrew dates with Shofars for Elul

Click here to download the Hebrew letters to print for your own calendar

as well as an Elul Do A Dot coloring page

We also mark down what the moon looks like at the different times of the month- very easy to make, I used sticky foam to make ours

A friend sent us some foam shapes for Rosh Hashanah, so we made a Shofar collage and used the 3 primary colors and ultimately mixed them to make other colors, it came out really cute

Once the color mixing began, we were on a role- heres a super easy yet awesome color mixing activity. You just need a drop of food coloring with water and leave it to your little Einstein to create their own colors!

Just a little snack the munchkins prepared themselves. They were so proud of themselves that they made their own orange juice. Make sure to get sweet juicy oranges. These were so juicy, each orange filled an entire glass with juice.

We have some great activities planned for Elul, stay tuned~

Chodesh Tov,

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Activities and Printables

2011-08-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

I am really excited to be getting my Montessori teachers certification through NAMC. It is so enjoyable, I actually look forward to studying:)

Here are a bunch of Montessori activities I have put together for my munchkins for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. At the end of the post is a link to all the printables you see in the photos. Feel free to download and print any of them you wish for your sweeties.

Apple sorting by color, red, green and yellow

Apple fraction magnets puzzles- red, green and yellow, whole, half and quarters

Creating hexagons with popcycle sticks to create a beehive (done on the floor)

using a picture of an actual beehive with bee's as a frame of reference

Sifting yellow sand and black rice into a glass jar, pouring the sand into empty bowl once all the yellow sand is sifted

(yellow and black, color of a bee)

Simple cutting exercise, either solid paper or squares with lines and various Jewish pictures

Dress and create people for Yom Kippur in white

Simple coloring pages, printed from www.torahtots.com

Thumb tacks on a picture, great for fine motor

Hebrew movable alphabet, using just the beginning sound of different miniature objects pertaining to RH and YK

Hebrew movable alphabet, spelling out the names of different miniature objects pertaining to RH and YK

Rosh Hashanah word and picture matching cards

Hebrew word and picture match

Simple hole punching on squares with various Jewish pictures on each pertaining to RH or YK

Pouring Yellow and Black rice through a funnel, alternating to create a bee in in a glass jar

Beginning Hebrew sound match with magnets on a cookie sheet

Number match with small pegs (good for sensory as well as counting)

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur sensory bin

contains:

a bee making 'honey'

apples, shofar

wine for kiddish

a fish in 'water' for tashlich

2 rams with horns for the kids to see clearly where a shofar is from

chicken and rooster for tashlich

gold coins for tzedaka

a lady with a siddur davening

shiny hearts scattered around indicating Ahavas Yisroel

and its all on a bed of clear glass stones

Create your own crown ('The King is in the field' and we crown Hashem King)

Pomegranate seed match- each match has a dot of the same color on the back for the child to use as control of error

(to make sure they did it correctly)

apple sorting using tongs

Using the tongs, dip a sponge in any color water, let it soak,

place in the garlic crusher and squeeze out water into any section of the empty round tray.

Can mix colors to create other colors

Here is the Link to all the Printables.

CLICK HERE

It is ONE pdf file, but you can pick and choose what you wish to print.

Hope this comes in useful and is helpful!

LIKE us on Facebook!

2011-08-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

I just started a Facebook page, Jewish Montessori Activities---

Trying to figure out how to get a LIKE button on this blog, but until then,

Click HERE and LIKE!

Good Morning/Good Night Checklists

2011-06-26T00:40:00.001-07:00

Having a morning and bedtime routine is very important to me in running a somewhat smooth household-

I made these 2 checklists for my munchkins, its a list of the important things to do in the morning upon waking up and at night before going to sleep.

I printed and laminated them and attached a dry erase marker to each chart. In the morning, they wake up and as they complete each task, check it off with the dry erase marker, same thing at night. I then erase it at the end of each day once they are all sleeping so they can start again the next day.

Like this, they wake up by themselves and get into a routine of doing certain things which will hopefully start to come naturally to them (like making their beds!!!)

Feel free to print them if they suite your needs~ and hope you're having a fabulous summer!

Good Morning Checklist:

click here

Good Night Checklist:

click here

Have a great week,

Happy Shavuot!

2011-06-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

Some projects we've been busy with~

The mountains fighting over who will get to be the mountain where the Torah is received... a Tall one, Wide one and little Har Sinai with flowers on:)

A flower collage by my 3 year old... just cut out some flowers from tissue paper and gave her glue- those are the luchos in red... a red card with Alef Bet stickers...

Jello Torahs... pour jello on a cookie sheet, leave it for a bit in the fridge and using Torah cookie cutters and a spatula, make little Torahs!

Torah lacing- Using construction paper, put a rectangle, sticks and a crown and use a hole puncher to make holes. Attach a piece of string for lacing~

Torah collages: I had a Jewish toys catalogue, cut out all the Torahs I could find and gave them glue and paper to make their own designs~

We have these dye cut Torahs in all colors, divide the color erasers amongst the colored Torahs~

Happy Shavuot to everyone!
Mommzy~

My Shavuot Activity pack for Preschoolers

2011-06-01T01:55:00.000-07:00

My Shavuot Activity pack for Preschoolers

Don't eat too much cheesecake:)

2011-05-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

My Lag B'Omer Activity Pack for Preschoolers

Download and Enjoy!

Have a great week~

My Pesach Activity Pack

2011-04-04T00:21:00.000-07:00

For you and yours to enjoy!

My Pesach Activity Pack for Preschoolers- Click Here!

And here are a few fabulous books that we are reading for Pesach that the kids love, as well as using the 10 Plague finger puppets- a major hit!

Amazon.com Widgets

Have a great week~

Pesach... let the fun begin:)

2011-03-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a cute project we did a while ago but it really fits well into learning about the first of the 10 plagues- Blood. We learn how the Jews would drink from a cup and it would be water, then the Egyptians would drink and it would be blood.

We did this science experiment using HOT water with red food coloring as the Blood and COLD water with blue food coloring as the water. We then carefully put the Hot water on top of the cold, upside down, and due to the difference in densities of the Hot and Cold water, they didn't mix!

Granted, we did this on the second try as you have to do it really quickly and carefully or it mixes...

We've also been making tons of different types of pyramids, out of Lego, Wooden Blocks and magnets.

I decided to get the kids involved in cleaning their rooms for Pesach this year. We made these signs that we will put on their doors once we have cleaned each of their rooms to remind them not to bring ANY chometz in... it will also give them a sense of closure that they have cleaned their room and on to the next thing to clean.

A great week to all and happy Pesach cleaning:)

Science and Purim... gotta love Nancy Larson!

2011-03-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we were fortunate to receive the Nancy Larson Science Homeschool Kit to review, which is just fabulous. I have written about it in the past, and we just can't get enough of it!

The fact that I am a left handed Pisces and am a lot more artistically inclined then Scientifically inclined, makes it very ironic that my little guy is OBSESSED with finding out how EVERYTHING works, and why, and when and what etc.

So when we are learning about Purim, you would think I would be safe from going in the direction of Science- but oh no... check out these tangents that the little guy led us on and thanks to Nancy Larson, he was completely satisfied with his answers!

She just explains things SO clearly and literally has the dictation written out on how to explain each thing to the kids. There is constant repetition and review so by the time we are done with a topic, the kids completely understand it and feel really good about it. I wish she had other subjects, the way she gives over information is just wonderful. She does have a specific order in which to learn the curriculum, but for us, we incorporate it into the other subjects we are learning at that present time.

It all started out when we were baking Hamantashen, (with this recipe!)

when the little guy goes, "mommy, where do the Hamantashen go when we eat them?" so I told him it goes into our tummies. "I know," he says, "but HOW does it get into our tummies?" .... looks like a job for.... NANCY!

So we took out this fabulous book that comes with the set and read about and looked at gorgeous simple illustrations of digestion. We spoke about this for quite a while...

Then he is looking at the windpipe and asks, "what's that for?"... and we move on to the respiratory system! There are workbooks and student pages and it is all so clear and simple, he completely got it. So we were talking about the lungs and I took his hand and put it on his ribs to show him where his lungs are- little did I know that now we had to talk about the BONES! To which I told him we would do the following day (didn't want to cram him with too much info in one day).

So the next day, first thing in the morning, he wants to learn about the bones. Now this was SUCH a huge hit- the Science kit came with a true to life size X-ray copies of the entire body (child's body), so we lay it out on the table and used it with the different books and workbooks and felt our own bones and he was just completely engrossed. I think we may have a future doctor on our hands, and I'm not just saying that cos I'm a Jewish mother:)

Here is one of the books-

and our x-ray man- it comes with all the names of each bone that you can put on it, but we didn't get that far. We did look at the femur bone and he felt his and we spoke about Yakov and his fight with the Malach and how he broke his femur bone- he was fascinated!

Ok, so later on in the day we got back to talking about Purim... and my hubby told the kids how Esthers name was Haddasah which means "myrtle" and a myrtle tree is an evergreen tree. We learn that even in the Palace, Esther kept her Jewish ways, just like an evergreen tree, no matter what weather it is in, it stays the same.

Evergreen trees. "mommy, do we have any evergreen trees outside? what do trees that are NOT evergreens look like?" Oh NANCY! I took out the cards that the Science Kit came with and we put them down on the table which made things VERY clear to the kiddos.

Each card had the 2 trees on each side in each season. You see how the evergreen tree stays exactly the same through each season and how the deciduous tree changes with each season.

and then I really have no idea how we got to talking about mammals, but Nancy to the rescue once again! The kit came with a bunch of different large clear cards for the different subjects, so we took cards of mammals and non mammals and divided them up to get a clear picture on what mammals are and what constitutes one to be a mammal. The little guy got a kick out of the fact that humans and certain animals are BOTH mammals:)

So yes, this is such a fabulous kit, we use it all the time and whether you are using it like you SHOULD (as a curriculum in the order it is written) or like us, to fit in with everything else we are learning about at that time, it just works.

Oh, and to any orthodox Jewish homeschooling moms, I have not found anything in the curriculum that contradicts Torah- it is a very pareve kit.

Wishing all a wonderful week,

Easy Yummy Hamantashen Recipe

2011-03-13T00:08:00.001-08:00

I make this every year and people LOVE it and ALWAYS ask for the recipe... hope you enjoy it too!

Soft Hamantashen Recipe:

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

1 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons water

Filling of your choice*

Directions:

1- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2- Spray cookie sheet with cookie spray.

3- In a large mixing bowl combine flour and cake mix.

4- Stir in water and eggs until a stiff dough forms.

5- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/8 inch.

6- Cut into 2-3 inch circles, I use the top of a drinking glass dipped in flour before cutting.

7- Place dough 2 inches apart on cooking sheet.

8- Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle.

9- Fold the sides in to form three corners (triangle).

10- Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

11- Cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheets and remove to wire racks to cool completely.

*I took plain macadamia nuts, poured melted chocolate chips over them and mixed them in a bowl. I then place the nuts covered in chocolate on a cookie sheet by the teaspoon full and froze them like cookies. Once frozen, I used each "chocolate mac nut cookie" as a filler for the hamantashen- Chocolate Macadamia Nut Hamantashen- YUM!

Some more Purim activities and other fun stuff

2011-03-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some Purim puppets we downloaded from www.chinuch.org. We laminated them and glued them to Popsicle sticks- a HUGE hit with the kids, they were "playing" the Purim story for hours, each one as a different character with the puppets, it was fabulous.

This is "King Achashverosh's Palace" with little pockets to put the puppets in, so simple and so great!

Loving the idea of the Montessori "prepared environment", I prepared a bunch of different activities for the kids with every thing they need and worked out great. Here is a clown mask:

A Palace kit:

Just some letter/picture matching...

Rhyming cards...
A finger puppet activity ready to get done:

A gragger activity: Paint the outside of the paper plate, let it dry. Place dry beans in one plate, cover with the other plate and staple together- voila! a gragger!

That's it for now,

Some Purim Fun and more

2011-03-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

Hamantash Lacing: I just cut out triangles from Manila hanging folders, stuck in a red center and used a hole puncher to make holes. Took string and tied it to one of the holes and voila, the kids loved it- will definitely do more sewing from now on!

This is just a cute little something I found in the flour before making schnitzel for Shabbos:)
We made jello using Kojel, put it on a baking pan and let it set. Then used Alef Bet cookie cutters and Purim Cookie cutters to make shapes. The kids got such a kick out of handling the jello, they loved it:)

Just a fun Eric Carle Alphabet game, really educational and lots of fun...
Painting food we made out of clay, then baked it so it got rock hard and then painted it. Can use it for brachos sorting or food grouping or just plain old pretend play, another hit!

Here's to a great week!

I spy Alef Bet, a homemade compass and sandpaper letters

2011-02-27T23:58:00.000-08:00

I got this great idea from another awesome homeschooling mom over at Counting Coconuts- but tweaked it with Alef Bet "beads" which are made from white beans. I used a Sharpie to write each letter on a bean and dyed the rice blue using food coloring.

Munchkin uses her Alef Bet chart to mark off the letters she "spies" until she finds them all! We use the same white beans as "markers" for the Alef Bet chart which I laminated for future use.

We also made a compass, just to satisfy The Little Guys curiosity... it was super easy and such a great learning experience.

Just take a saucer or bowl and fill with water. Then take a piece of cork (we used a cork wick holder left over from our oil Chanukah menorah) and place a needle on it, very carefully. Make sure to stroke the needle on a magnet a few times to activate its magnetic energy. Just place it on the cork and watch it automatically face north.

We turned the saucer around, only to watch the needle stay put. We also carefully turned the needle to face south and it automatically turned around by itself to face north. The Little Guy was AMAZED!

My sister in law gifted us with a set of Montessori Sand Paper Alef Bet letters. The kids love lining them up in order as well as feeling the letters.

I went one step further and made script Alef Bet letters out of sand paper and glued them to the back of the corresponding letter to get the kids familiar with script. So far, so good- they love them and its a GREAT introduction to Hebrew writing.

Here's the front:

and back:

Have a wonderful week,

A Purim Activity Pack!

2011-02-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

A Purim Activity Pack

Click Here to View

Enjoy!

Some fun activites

2011-02-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Some fun activites that have been keeping the kiddos busy...

Alef Bet wheel, you can add different vowels as well as use pegs to match up the letters. Great for beginners in letter recognition.

Same idea, just with colors:
Used an ice tray and rubber erasers, color sorting. I had tongs but my munchkin got impatient and just used her fingers to place the erasers in each correct hole:)
Beading with pipe cleaners- they can match the beads to the same colored pipe cleaner or make their own design...

Now this was a HUGE hit: Made 2 felt boards using a picture frame and felt (got this amazing idea here), then cut out different shaped eyes, noses, mouths, hair and hair accessories and the little ones created all types of faces, over and over again-
The felt boards:

Self portrait of the little guy:)

Classic Cheerios book with Cheerios... we didn't do this in a long time, so it was fun.

Movable Hebrew Alphabet with board- another great hit, the little guy made tons of words, it was fantastic...
and lastly, Counting Chocolate Chips- you can use anything, really. This is more for number recognition and counting for little ones- you can make lady bugs with spots, bees with stripes, get creative:)
And thats what we were up to today...

Hope to create and post more soon, wishing all a wonderful week,

Homeschooling 101

2011-01-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

Homeschooling (for us) is such a transient journey. I used to rely on a "curriculum" with worksheets and workbooks. And when any of the kids did not want to do something, I would get frustrated.

I also noticed that when they were interested in something, they could do it for an hour or more, completely engrossed.

And so we have begun leaning toward the child directed, Montessori prepared environment approach where we make every opportunity a learning opportunity and move in the direction that the kids are interested in.

It has worked amazingly.

My big guy is very interested in the Jewish kings and so we have started learning about the Kings of Israel, starting with King Shaul (from The Family Midrash- Kings 1). He finds this so fascinating, we can read about it for hours. He's 5.

We also have a garden that the kids enjoy working on. Here are some photos of some of the things we have:

wild rasberries

our avocado tree

parsley

basil

broccoli

We also have carrots, cabbage, zucchini, lettuce and beets. Its great for them to pick it, wash it, prepare it and eat it.

Here's a little chart we have that we update every morning. On the bottom is a moon chart, we mark off what the moon looks like during each phase:

Here's to a great week!

Busy Mama

2011-01-26T00:46:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

Just a little note to say that we have been really busy on this side of the world, thankfully with lots of good things, so I have been MIA in cyberspace for a while-

Hopefully when things quieten down, I will have a chance to continue blogging, which I love so much to do and miss dearly!

I also hope to put up some more printables in the near future, but until then, enjoy all those other amazing mom bloggers out there!

Oh, for Elizabeth, check out this video, it teaches Hebrew colors and my little ones absolutely love it, kinda like the Jewish version of Baby Einsein:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xyVQYh6050

Until next time,

My Jewish ABC's!

2010-12-31T00:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something I made for my munchkins-

The Jewish ABC's... you can make it into a book or laminate and cut them out and make flash cards.

Either way, enjoy and have a great Shabbos!

Click Here to Print My Jewish ABC's

Parshas VaAira- first 7 Makos (plagues)

2010-12-27T14:45:00.000-08:00

While I know the East coast is getting its fair share of snow storms, we, here in the tropics, had a very cloudy day today- and when every day is hot and sunny, a cloudy day calls for hot cocoa, snuggling on the couch with a nice thick blanket and mommy reading from The Little Midrash Says all about this weeks parshah, Parshas VaAira.

After reading about the first 7 plagues in my most dramatic voice (the kids were at the edge of their seats and upon finishing the parshah begged me to keep reading into next weeks parshah:) we did a little project-

We took a hanging folder and made 10 squares. In each square we made each plague in order (we will do the last 3 next week).

Check it out:

Here it is in more detail:

Blood

Frogs

Lice

Wild Animals

Cattle Disease

Boils

Hail

And that's our project for today! And we are thinking of those of you in the snow:)

Puddle Jumping!

2010-12-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am officially the COOLEST mom EVER:)

It rained all day today, until about 3pm when it suddenly cleared up completely. The kids were going a bit stir crazy from being in the house all day so we decided to take a little trip to the park down the street since it was now warm and sunny outside (we live in the tropics).

As we pile out of the car, my big guy takes a running leap and goes flying into a huge puddle, splashing everyone! My first instinct was to reprimand him, but the next thing I knew, the words, "ok guys, lets go puddle jumping!" came out of my mouth!

My goodness, the giggles, the squeals of delight as they jumped from puddle to puddle- I dont think there is any amusement park or anything out there that could have gotten the absolute and utter fun and enjoyment these kids were having:)

After about 30 minutes, I decided we need to close it up so everyone marched back to the car, soaked and covered with mud. I am just so sorry I didn't have my camera with me:(

As we arrived home, my husband pulled in only to see a bunch of wet muddy kids... with the biggest smiles on their faces:)

"I guess its bath time!" he smiled.

So once in a while, its pretty awesome to let kids REALLY be kids~

Have a good one!

Alef Bet Bingo Give-Away! and Botany with Nancy Larson and Shabbat Activity Pack

2010-12-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, its been a while, but life gets busy as we all know and I have finally found a few moments to blog-

So lets start of with the fun stuff!

I am making an Alef Bet Bingo giveaway to one lucky reader!

Aleph Bet Bingo plays like a conventional bingo game, but used the Hebrew aleph bet. Cobines two games in one: Aleph-to-Lamed and "Aleph-to-Tof."

Ages 3+, 2 to 14 players.

Here's how to enter!

You can do one or all of the following, but let me know which ones so I can enter you in the drawing~

1- Subscribe to my blog

2- Tell one other person about this giveaway (tweet, FB, your blog etc.)

3- Tell me one or more fun ways you teach the Hebrew Letters /Hebrew Reading to your kids

Drawing will be held next Sunday, December 26th and will be picked via random.org and I will post the winner that night-

Good Luck!

******

Now, this is what we have been up to lately:

We are keeping up with the weekly Parshah using My Parshah Reader and The Little Midrash Says. We practice our Herbrew Reading using the Osios book as well as the Siddur. We have done a few Parshah projects which I have not taken photos yet, but will post when I do-

Since TuBishvat is a few weeks away, we have begun learning about plants and trees. We are using the Nancy Larson Science kit that was sent to us for Review which is just so fabulous. I know she prefers the unit to be studied in the order that she has put it in which makes perfect sense, but the type of homeschool that we do, it just works for us to do the different subjects at certain times-

The kit comes with an entire unit on Botany, including a bag with pine cones, a tree cookie with a looking glass and 3 great books on trees: Peterson First Guide to Trees,Trees to Paper and The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree which the kids love. There is also a booklet on Botany as well as review worksheets. It is done in such a simple, well thought out way that it was a pleasure to teach and the kids were so engaged, they just loved it!

Here are a few books and a CD that we will be reading and listening to over the next few weeks:

Amazon.com Widgets

I know its early, but it works for us right now:) We live in a tropical climate and so we took a walk through the neighborhood the other day looking for a Deciduous tree... boy, if only I had known what a mission that would become! We finally found a peach tree in someones yard and managed to pick up a few colored leaves to make a project with for fall- but the rest of the neighborhood is filled with Evergreens!

This week we will do some bark rubbings and looking at the difference between trees and shrubs. I hope to post some pictures of our adventures~

Oh, and before I forget, here is a fun Shabbat Activity Pack I made for my munchkins- feel free to print it out for yours!

Click Here to Check it Out!

Wishing all a wonderful week,

Some more Chanukah activities and Planning and Preparing

2010-12-06T12:44:00.001-08:00

Here are a few more Chanukah activities that we have been doing over the past few days:

Made a dreidel out of ICE by pouring water into a plastic dreidle that usually comes with candy inside- the little guy really got a kick out of trying to spin it since it was so cold:)

We then made a Menorah out of Legos, he did this all by himself, very proud mama!

And here is our human dreidle!

And last but not least, Chanukah cookies!

Suri at http://jewishul.blogspot.com/ asked me how I find time to prepare all the things we do-

So I figured I would turn it into a post, maybe it could be useful to others!

The truth is, I would love to say that I have a planner and sit down every week and make a plan for the week- but I don't. We have alot going on in our busy lives with some very unpredictable little ones at home and so I found a system that really works for us right now- this is it:

Every Sunday I fill the drawers with new activities and worksheets that I either made or from the Jewish curriculum resources on the side bar that I listed.

Then as the week goes by, I will refill them with new things. Its a nice way to organize, kind of a tweak on the Workbox system.

We also do ALOT of things spur of the moment, like baking and projects, games, etc.

I think that as the kids get older I will have a more organized schedule and curriculum, but for now, this really works for us!

Wishing all a happy last days of Chanukah!

Latke Frying Pan, Size Sorting and Cute Printables

2010-11-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

Here is a really cute project that we did today-

We took a paper plate and covered it with silver foil. Then attached a handle to it made out of Popsicle sticks stuck together covered in construction paper so it wouldn't bend when you hold the pan. We then cut out "latkes" out of white card stock and colored them yellow. We glued 2 latkes to the pan and attached one latke to the pan with a piece of string.

The munchkins had a ball "flipping" their latkes and trying to make it land on their frying pan!

We then did a size order activity which you can find here:

And a really cute Chanukah printable booklet made by Elizabeth at Creative Learning Fun can be found here- Enjoy and have a fabulous Chanukah!

I have a little Menorah, I made it out of clay:)

2010-11-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

The great thing about this clay Menorah, is that the kids get to make it literally from scratch.

Here's the clay recipe:

3 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water (plus a little extra if needed)

Mix all the ingredients together until it forms a nice smooth dough. I found that we needed to add some water along the way to get the smooth doughy consistency. The recipe said you can add food coloring but I found it just stained the kids hands when handling the dough which was not too exciting.

Preheat oven to 275.

Once we had our dough, we made a base for the menorah, made 8 round balls and used actual Chanukah candles to form little holes to put the candles in. Make sure to make the holes a bit bigger then the size of the candle, as it shrinks a drop in the oven. Use water to "glue" the holders to the base and the shamash.

Place menorah in the oven on wax paper for 1 hour.

After an hour, take it out and let it dry completely, then paint with acrylic paints. As you can see, ours turned into a finger painting session:)

Here's the finished product:

We then did dreidle sorting into the different colors with the little ones- I have a printable of colored dreidels here, feel free to use it-

This is what we did:

Wishing everyone a happy Turkey day:)

Homeschool Blog Awards - I Won:)

2010-11-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to all my amazing readers, friends and family for voting for my blog!

It feels really good to know that I have a great support system out there:)

Homeschooling is a lot of work, but I love it and I see such incredible results in my amazing little munchkins- I am so glad that you are able to share in our adventures in homeschooling!

So please continue to stop by and check out what we are up to- and keep that positive feedback coming:)

Thanks again,

A Jewish Homeschool Blog

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~~Happy Elul~~

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I have a little Menorah, I made it out of clay:)

Homeschool Blog Awards - I Won:)

Happy Elul