Education | All Done Monkey

Home Field Advantage: Homeschooling Guide Author Interview and Giveaway

books, child development, education 1 Response »

May 202013

Scroll down to enter our giveaway of TWO COPIES of Home Field Advantage!

Are you an established homeschooler looking to improve her game? A newbie trying to figure out where to begin? Or simply curious about homeschooling and whether it would be a good fit for your family? Then this is the book for you!

For years Skyla King-Christison has used her popular blog At Home with Momma Skyla to chronicle her adventures homeschooling her three children. Now you can find her advice and know-how in a comprehensive guide for homeschoolers, Home Field Advantage.

It not only gives a window into what modern homeschooling looks like and what advantages it offers, it also gives an overview of the most popular and effective teaching methods and how to tailor them to suit your home and children.

Comprehensive: Home Field Advantage gives a thorough, accessible overview of everything you need to know to thrive as a homeschooler, from which method to choose to how to structure your day.

Respectful: It is rare to find a book that is so even-handed in its presentation of different philosophies. Throughout the book, Skyla is careful to present the advantages of each method as well as what is said by its detractors. Importantly, she also suggests which families or children would be best served by each, rather than pushing one as the best fit for all.

Empowering: Skyla’s philosophy is you can do it! A trained teacher herself, Skyla wrote the book to help homeschoolers to discover their own strengths and improve their teaching. Home Field Advantage gives the ordinary person the benefit of educator’s perspective and experience, so that they can create the home environment they dreamed about.

Here is my interview with the author, Skyla King-Christison:

1. What prompted you to write Home Field Advantage?

As a homeschooling blogger, I was getting a lot of e-mails from moms either asking for the details of what we do in our homeschooling so that they could do the exact same thing, or asking where they could get information on their options. I much prefer the second kind of question because no two families operate the same way and I don’t think it’s best to find someone who is homeschooling and just do what they do. As for learning about their options, I searched and searched for a book that would give an overview of the choices available without pushing any one.

No such book existed that was both thorough and unbiased. Most people take the approach that there is one best way to homeschool and then push that to sell a book or a product. That’s not what I wanted to give to parents who asked where to turn. So I ended up sending back long e-mail responses, trying to be as helpful as possible. Eventually I had the idea of saving all of those e-mails and compiling them into a file I could just send out without having to retype and rethink everything. Finally, after all of that work crafting the perfect comprehensive response for new and prospective homeschoolers, I decided that I had begun working on a book long ago and just hadn’t realized it. I found a publisher that caught my vision and the rest is history! Now I have this book that has a little bit of everything parents need to build their own plan for their unique family rather than copying what their friends are doing. I’m really proud of the final product!

2. What do you hope readers will get out of the book?

I really hope that readers will find just the right combination of information in the book to be empowered to jump into homeschooling and to feel confident enough to forge their own path. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can tailor the school experience to the needs of each unique child, and being able to do that effectively requires a broad knowledge base and some courage. I hope this book gives parents both of those things.

3. How in the world did you find time to write a book – especially one involving this much research – while homeschooling three children??

Well, like I said, it started mostly as e-mails that I squirreled away. Then little by little, a play date here, a sleepless night there. The bulk of the writing was done over the course of several years before I ever realized the book potential in what I had created. There was not research at that point, either. Once I signed on with Night Owls Press, they basically said we see your vision, but this is going to need some fine tuning and research and interviews, etc. That was the intense part of the journey. Most of the book was written without the pressure of the thought Hey! I’m writing a book! But once I found a publisher, I had deadlines and someone else to answer to. But it was good. My husband happily took the kids on camping trips or just outside for long stretches of time so that I could work. My dear friends offered to let the kids come over and play while I did observations. It was a community effort in that last stretch. You never realize how supported you are until you have an almost impossible deadline.

4. What would you say to someone just getting started with homeschooling?

Love this question! I always say relax and expect that quite a bit of time will pass before your homeschooling looks anything like you thought it would. And maybe it will never look like you thought it would, but you’ll settle into something better than you expected. You can’t see the final picture when you start out, and while you figure things out, it’s easy to feel like maybe it isn’t working and maybe you’re failing your children. But if you ride out those fears and the road bumps with a sense of serenity, you’ll find yourself in a comfortable and confident place. No one ever ends up doing things the way they did in their first weeks homeschooling. There’s a lot of trial and error involved in the early days, and that is really scary for some people. So just relax and settle in for the ride. It will be wonderful in the end.

5. Could you envision a school system where homeschooling would not be necessary (adequate, loving attention could be given to individual students), or do you think there will always be a place for home-based schooling?

Wow! What a question! Let’s see… I already feel like homeschooling isn’t ideal for everyone. That’s not an agenda I push. I know people who love their kids’ school, they feel good about the balance they’ve found. That’s lovely. For me, my choice to homeschool wasn’t based solely on the quality of schools available to us. In fact, we have a fabulous charter school in our town that lots of former homeschoolers have chosen to send their kids to, which had my husband and I sitting down and asking ourselves are we missing out on a great opportunity for our kids here? And that really is when we realized how much more homeschooling means to us than just trying to create a perfect education. A healthy family unit is a microcosm of a healthy society, and as such, the strengthening of unique family bonds through education equates on so many levels to the strengthening of society. But still, just as our society is supported by having all sorts of different personalities (the risk takers, the meticulous planners, the reflective refiners, etc.), homeschooling allows everyone to develop different skill sets and academic areas, which results in a more well rounded and balanced society. There’s something about being perfectly standardized in our education that seems risky to me, and so even still, I lean towards home education.

6. Many people would like to homeschool but don’t because of finances or family pressures. What message do you have for them, and how can they make use of your book?

I hear the finance question a lot. And it’s not an easy question. There certainly are some people who maybe couldn’t find enough sacrifices to make ends meet on a single income. I accept that reality. However, we have friends in our homeschooling community that are lower income, that struggle a bit to make ends meet, and that still choose to homeschool because it’s what they believe is best for their family. And they do make it work.

I have a section in the book on finances and reflecting on how we spend our money. I think for most people, when we look at what we claim to value – often what we know we should value – and then look at where our time and money go, we find places where we are putting out energy and our finances into things that are not in harmony with what we truly wish for our family to value. For instance, when asked to write down what we value, no one ever writes down surfing the internet or watching television. But when we write down how we spend our time and our money, many people will write that they spend hours each day on internet and television, and thousands of dollars each year on expanded cable packages and the like.

So, most of the time, when our finances and time align with our values, homeschooling fits into the budget. Our family doesn’t pay for cable and we don’t go to the theater to see movies. That’s one of the sacrifices that we make that enables us to afford homeschooling. It’s not for everyone, but if your heart is in homeschooling, generally speaking, the money can be found.

7. Anything you’d like to add? Are you planning to write any more books?

I’ve got other ideas for books, but I am not eager to begin the process again just yet. Writing the book was so much less work than talking to people about it, speaking at gatherings of prospective homeschoolers, and guest blogging about it has been. This is a lot of fun too, but it’s harder to schedule around homeschooling and it takes a lot more energy. So, for now, this is getting my focus. Still, as I talk to people who have read the book and invited me to speak at their meetings or do Q&As like this one, more little ideas for books that could help people pop into mind. LOL! I’ve got a running list in my Day Runner. But for much, much later.

Thank you to Skyla for the interview and to Night Owls Press for letting us give away not one but TWO e-copies of this wonderful book! Be sure to enter below for your chance to win an e-copy of Home Field Advantage by Skyla King-Christison!

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Disclaimer: We were provided with a complimentary copy of this book for purposes of review. All opinions are our own.

Kid Lit Giveaway Hop: Giveaway from Kids Yoga Stories!

bilingualism, books, education, Kid Lit Blog Hop, natural parenting, travel 21 Responses »

May 122013

Enter our contest below to win a copy of Sophia’s Jungle Adventure, a yoga-inspired children’s book by Giselle Shardlow

My Monkey loves to move! Even when reading or playing a video game, he simply cannot sit still. On a recent visit, my dad couldn’t stop laughing as he watched Monkey watching a video. First Monkey was laying on his stomach, then sitting, then hanging over the edge of the couch, then upside down, and so on. At our preschool playgroup, he is the same way. He can’t just sit and sing the songs with the other kids. He has to get up and dance.

So I was thrilled to come across Kids Yoga Stories, the yoga-inspired children’s books by author Giselle Shardlow. Giselle bases her books on her own experiences as a teacher, traveler, yogi, and mom. She was kind enough to send us a copy of her wonderful Sofia en una Aventura por la Selva (available in English as Sophia’s Jungle Adventure), and Monkey loved it straightaway. Finally a book that spoke to the way he likes to read – in motion!

As someone who has always loved yoga, I adore these books because they finally give me a fun, easy way to introduce my son to yoga. I tried to teach him some movements myself when he was younger, without much success. And as my own yoga practice has fallen by the wayside, so has my motivation to teach him.

Enter Kids Yoga Stories, which make yoga fun for kids by setting the movements within the context of a story, so that each motion taught is linked to an action in the storyline. Kids zoom like an airplane as Sofia and her family travel to Costa Rica (yes, our beloved Costa Rica!), salute the sun with Sofia before she begins her hike through the jungle, and act like the monkeys and jaguars she sees.

Along the way, they also learn about the importance of saving the environment for these beautiful creatures, in a way that is easy for children to understand and therefore to care about.

The book is also a great resource for parents, who can refer to the full, illustrated list of poses and a parent-teacher guide at the back of the book.

Monkey loved acting out the story and imitating Sofia’s poses. I was impressed with his attention to detail, as he even made sure to hold his hands the same way as she does. Of course, he often decided to change things up a bit: “How about like this? How about upside-down? How about like a robot?”

This kind of creativity is encouraged by Giselle, whose motivation in creating these interactive books is to “get children moving, learning, and having fun.” Mission accomplished!

You can find more about this and other books and resources from Giselle at Kids Yoga Stories or on Amazon worldwide.

Kid Lit Giveaway Hop

I am so pleased to be able to offer a copy of this great book as a prize to one reader, as part of the amazing Kid Lit Giveaway Hop! Each participating blog (find a list of all of them at the end of this post) is running a book giveaway to celebrate Children’s Book Week.

The contests will all run through May 19, 2013, so see how many you can enter this week!

But before you do, make sure to enter below to win a copy of Sophia’s Jungle Adventure! The winner can choose either the English or Spanish version of the story.

Enter now to win this great book!

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Nightingales: Ridvan Craft and Sensory Play

education, Kid Fun, Ridvan 12 Responses »

Apr 282013

“Consider these nightingales. So great is their love for these roses, that sleepless from dusk till dawn, they warble their melodies and commune with burning passion with the object of their adoration. How then can those who claim to be afire with the rose-like beauty of the Beloved chose to sleep?”

- Bahá’u'lláh to His companions in the Ridván Garden, as related by Nabíl (quoted in God Passes By, p. 153).

“Hear those birds, Mommy?” It’s just before dawn, and Monkey has crawled into our bed. Just outside our window, the birds are singing their greeting to the sun as it begins its slow rise over the treetops.

We love listening to the birds in the morning, in that magical time suspended delicately between the dark of night and the brightness of the coming day. In those few moments, not yet burdened by the chores of the day but full of the promise of the new dawn, we lie in bed and listen.

For Bahá’ís, this time of year brings to mind one bird in particular: the nightingale. This bird, known for its plaintive melodies, was used frequently by Bahá’u'lláh as a metaphor for a person in love with God. The nightingale is a prominent figure in Persian poetry, in which it is characterized by its sweet melody, sung to its beloved, the rose. In a similar way, people in love with God will not rest but instead spend all their hours singing praises to their Beloved.

Here is a beautiful Bahá’í song that I grew up with that uses the nightingale metaphor to talk about Bahá’u'lláh. If you’d like to play it yourself, here is the sheet music.

To teach the little ones about these beautiful birds, last year at our community gathering we did a really fun nightingale craft from the Core Curriculum for Spiritual Education.

We set up a table with the materials, including stickers and markers to decorate the birds. I also found some colorful streamers to use for the tails. If you look closely, you will see one of our ladybug cupcakes on the table!

It was a simple craft, but at the end the kids had something really cute and fun to play with. Monkey still loves making the wings flap!

By the time this Ridván rolled around, however, Monkey really wasn’t very interested in crafts, so I tried a different approach. First, we listened to this recording of a nightingale’s song, which Monkey asked me to play several times. It really is beautiful!

Then we sat in our Ridván tent and did some sensory play. This was so much fun! It would also make a great activity for a group.

In case you were worried, the robots didn’t miss out on the fun! In fact, play was suspended for several minutes as Monkey carefully rolled them – one by one – in from the other room.

Beforehand I had gathered some materials related to the holiday, such as tea bags, rose petals, a flower from our yard, and a small rose made of tissue paper.

I covered the bowl with the beautiful blue scarf we are using as the “river” around our tent. I had Monkey reach his hand under the scarf and try to identify the objects in the bowl. It was hard! Especially considering that I hadn’t prepped him at all for the kinds of things that would be in the bowl.

I then had him close his eyes and smell the tea and the flowers. Afterwards, we examined the flower petals and noted the differences between the fresh petals and the dried ones. We then cut open the tea bag to play with the dried leaves. It wasn’t the first time Monkey had seen loose tea, but it was the first time I had let him play with it!

I think his favorite part, though, was our “taste test.” It is amazing how difficult it can be to guess a flavor when it is completely out of context! When I put some sugar on his tongue, for example, Monkey told me it tasted “spicy.” He was surprised to see what it was! Honey, though, he guessed instantly, probably because he frequently has it on its own.

Once Baby woke up from his nap, I let him play with some of the objects as well. As soon as I held out the first one, his eyes got huge, and he started cooing, so I know he was excited!

**Please note: Sensory play with infants should be strictly supervised for safety reasons.**

When doing sensory play with babies, be sure to use larger objects than you would with older children. In addition to the choking hazard, it is also more fun for them. Baby Monkey quickly became frustrated with small objects, as they were difficult for him to grab and hold onto. Of course, don’t give them anything with sharp edges or points, and be very careful that they don’t put anything in their mouths, which of course they will try to do!

But if you follow precautions and good common sense, sensory play with babies is extremely rewarding. Baby and I had so much fun, and it was a great way for him to connect to the holiday as well.

Have you done sensory play with your kids?

This post is part of the series Walking Through the Garden of Ridván with Bahá‘í Mom Blogs. For a full list of the posts in this series, visit our main page.

Raising Bilingual Kids: What We Have Learned

bilingualism, education, family, multiculturalism 15 Responses »

Apr 192013

Since Monkey was born, we have worked hard to raise him to speak both English and Spanish. My husband speaks to him only in Spanish, and I speak to him only in English, a method known as One Parent, One Language. (For more on the most popular methods, read this post on teaching your child a second language).

For a very long time, I have skated by on the fact that my husband is a native Spanish speaker. I could boast about my son’s bilingualism, all the while having a very easy time speaking to him in my own native language, surrounded by other English speakers. Too bad for others that didn’t have this advantage, but how nice for me!

Yet here we are nearly three years into our “experiment” – as we affectionately call our son – and I have to face the fact that raising our kids to be bilingual is going to require a lot more work on my part.

Monkey’s comprehension in both languages is high, but since we live in an English-speaking country and he spends most of his time with me, Monkey speaks mostly English.

As a stay at home mom, I consider Monkey’s education to be part of my job description. So just as I have been systematic about teaching him numbers and letters in English, I should be doing the same in Spanish if I expect him to have an even somewhat comparable level of comprehension.

Raising Bilingual Kids: What We Have Learned - Alldonemonkey.com

Farmer’s Market in Costa Rica, Summer 2012 – Can you spot Baby Monkey?

I am proud of all that we have done with Monkey so far, but of course there is a lot of room for improvement. And now that we are starting the process all over again with Baby, it is a good time to take stock and make some changes.

Here are some things I wish we had done differently:

Spanish at home: I think it would have helped tremendously if my husband and I had spoken to each other more in Spanish. It would have greatly increased the amount of Spanish Monkey was exposed to on a daily basis, and it also would have helped him to hear more conversations between Spanish speakers (instead of just hearing his father speak to him in Spanish).
Other Spanish speakers: We have a number of dear friends that speak Spanish, and they are great about speaking to Monkey in Spanish. Unfortunately, things are so busy that we don’t see them as often as we like, so I wish we had made more of an effort to be around them. Also, with Skype it is so easy to chat with family in Costa Rica, which is great not just for Monkey’s language development but also for building his relationship with relatives so far away.
Costa Rica Summer 2012
Spanish immersion: We have made several trips to Costa Rica, including one three-week visit last year, but because of the distance and expense, it is difficult to do this often. But you don’t have to travel to find opportunities for language immersion. I wish I had made more of an effort to find a Spanish playgroup for Monkey when he was younger or gotten involved in local cultural groups. I am pleased that he has just started a Spanish class, conducted by a close friend from Mexico who is a former preschool teacher. I can’t wait to see what comes of this!
Spanish language media: One step that would have been so easy to take would have been to make better use of Spanish language media. Living in California, it is so easy to find Spanish cartoons on TV, plus there are so many DVDs available to rent or purchase. When Monkey was younger he loved watching the Pocoyo cartoon, but after he got bored of that, I didn’t make much effort to find another Spanish program. I also wish I had looked into the great programs out there specifically designed to help youngsters learn another language. One that I have come across recently is Little Pim. This is a really well-done program to teach Spanish and other languages. It is fun for kids to watch and makes it easy for them to learn. The little panda is adorable, and Monkey loves watching other kids. Each segment is relatively short and teaches a number of related vocabulary words, with a review at the end of each. The DVD we have focuses on eating, so kids learn words for common foods as well as associated terms like fork and spoon. I was so pleased to hear Monkey repeating after the video, since he speaks Spanish so infrequently. My only regret is that I didn’t start him with this at an earlier age. Although the video says it can be used up to age six, I found that it really seemed designed for younger children. It reminded me a lot of some wonderful baby sign videos we watched when Monkey was much younger. He loved those at the time, but lost interest by about age two. Still, Monkey will watch this Little Pim video occasionally, so it does help, and I am glad to have it for Baby Monkey later on! A friend was experiencing a similar problem with her four year old losing interest in the Little Pim DVDs and so came up with these great activities to reinforce the DVDs. Will have to give these a try!

As with anything in parenting, raising bilingual kids is a learning process. I am happy with what we have accomplished so far with Monkey, especially because it was all done in a loving, stress-free way. Ultimately, helping our sons gain a love of both languages is more important than exactly how much they speak one versus the other.

How has your parenting changed as your kids have gotten older? What do you wish you had done differently?

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Raising Multilingual Children Blogging Carnival.

Disclaimer: We were provided with a free copy of Little Pim’s “Let’s Eat!” DVD for purposes of this review. All opinions are my own.

Prying Penguins and Northern Lights: Book Review of Pandora’s Box by Julia Dweck

books, child development, education 4 Responses »

Apr 092013

Do you march (or, in the case of penguins, waddle) to a different drummer? Do you go left when everyone else goes right? Then you will love Pandora the Penguin, the delightful main character in Julia Dweck’s Pandora’s Box.

Pandora doesn’t want to just fish like her penguin siblings. She simply has to explore, and it is her wanderings across the ice that bring her face to face with a mysterious box, hidden under the icy water.

How will Pandora open the frozen box? What is locked away inside, and how is it related to the extraordinary Northern Lights? You’ll have to read to find out!

This book is a wonderful way to encourage your child to follow his own path, even when others would rather he leave well enough alone. Pandora’s confidence and pure spunk will endear her to young readers, and her adventures will entice them to seek their own.

What makes this version of the Pandora story different is that the results of Pandora’s curiosity are wonderful. Rather than releasing misery upon the world, she brings it something wondrous and awe-inspiring, And I love that in the end her friends decide to help her open the box, despite their initial skepticism.

But enough about me – what did Monkey think??

He loved it! As soon as we finished he wanted to read it again. This was lucky because a few minutes later when I started to give Baby his bath, Monkey settled himself in a nearby chair and asked me to read the book a third time. I didn’t know it well enough to recite all of the fun rhyming verses of the original, but well enough to satisfy Monkey until bath time was over and we could sit down and read it properly.

I wasn’t sure what he would think of an e-book, but Monkey loved the format, since he likes getting to swipe the screen to turn the pages.

Julia Dweck has a background in elementary education, which is perhaps why she has such a good feel for how to retell a classic tale so that it will interest young children. Monkey laughed out loud at Pandora’s tumble through the ice, and he cheered when she pulled out a jackhammer to try to open the mysterious box.

Another book for preschoolers by Dweck is Donuts, a modern fairy tale that will help children think about the importance of caring for the earth – perfect for Earth Day! And Dweck writes for older children as well, so be sure to browse the full list of her works on her author page.

Disclaimers: This post contains affiliate links. I was provided copies of the above books for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are mine.

April Culture Swapper Is Live!

education, family, food, multiculturalism, Worldwide Culture Swapper Linkup 10 Responses »

Apr 022013

Welcome to the Culture Swapper! I am proud to be co-hosting the Worldwide Culture Swappers link up again this month, created and sponsored by Worldwide Culture Swap and co-hosted by myself and Kid World Citizen.

The monthly Worldwide Culture Swapper is a way for bloggers to share blog posts or photos about anything related to culture, geography, language, traditions, customs, etc. So if you are searching for new ideas for teaching your children about the world, this is the place to look!

Each month favorites will be highlighted on our website and Facebook page. In addition, we pin featured entries to our Raising Global Citizens board on Pinterest, so be sure to check it out!

Here are a few of our favorite posts from last month’s Culture Swapper:

We learned how to make Portuguese caldeirada (fish stew) from the piri-piri lexicon.

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with Crystal’s Tiny Treasures by making Irish colcannon.

Finally, we learned all about the unexpected expat life from Good Night, Sleep Tight.

Thanks to everyone who shared in March’s Culture Swapper. We can’t wait to see what you’ll share this month!

And now on to this month’s Culture Swappers Link up….

The rules

Link up any family friendly activity, craft, recipe, articles and posts that say a bit about your nationality or one that you are learning about.
You can submit more than one link so come back throughout the month to share your activities.
By linking you are giving us permission to feature your activity on our website and Facebook page.
Please grab a Culture Swapper badge from the sidebar and put it somewhere on your blog (or add a text link to us in your post).
Sorry, no giveaways or shops.

A new Link up will start on the first day of every month.

Runaway Radish: Book Review and Experiment

bilingualism, books, education, food 11 Responses »

Mar 192013

This post was written as part of the Gingerbread Stories from Around the World collection on Kid World Citizen.

As you all know, I love bilingual books, especially ones that are as fun to read as Runaway Radish/El Rabano Que Escapo by Janice Levy. During a trip to Mexico, Levy learned about the Night of the Radishes, an annual festival in Oaxaca, Mexico, featuring elaborate sculptures made from radishes. Fascinated, Levy created this story about Don Pedro, whose dreams of winning first place at the festival are threatened by a rebellious radish.

The radish jumps off Don Pedro’s table and runs out the door, determined to avoid being carved into one of Don Pedro’s sculptures. As they run through the town — crashing through the mercado (“market”), bumping into mariachis, and knocking a chef into a pot of mole sauce — the line of people (and animals!) chasing the radish grows. Will Don Pedro catch the radish? Will he win first prize in the contest?? I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I will hint that he shares his prize money with all the new friends he made while chasing the radish!

Monkey and I loved this book right from the start. The text has a great rhythm that bounces you right along the cobblestone streets of this small town, and Monkey had fun singing along to the repeated refrain of the radish as she runs away from her pursuers. The drawings are fun and fit the quirky text beautifully.

Those of you familiar with the Gingerbread Man story will see the obvious parallels here: a favorite food that jumps off the table and runs right out the door. It turns out that stories like this appear around the world! Becky of Kid World Citizen has organized a series of book reviews based on this theme, and we are so happy to be participating! You can also read our post for her Cinderella Around the World series last fall.

The obvious activity to do with this book would be carving radishes; however, I am not about to do an activity involving knives with my three year old! Instead, I decided to focus on an aspect of the story that piqued my curiosity. Don Pedro is always careful to spray his radishes with water so they will stay fresh. Indeed, one of his main concerns with the runaway radish is that it will dry itself out and become so brittle it will break.

I am not very familiar with radishes, so I didn’t realize how great they are for carving. For example, I only know the tiny radishes served as an accompaniment at Mexican restaurants. I had no idea that when left in the ground they can grow to giant proportions. Here is a photo of my dear friend Daria (of Making Multicultural Music) with an enormous radish that she grew! As you can see, she is also a big fan of this book!

I wondered how much radishes would really be affected by the lack of water. Monkey recently watched a video involving a science experiment, so I decided it was a good time to try one of our own. We got some radishes (Monkey did try a bite of one, which he declared “spicy”), and we divided them into three piles. The first we left alone, the second we occasionally rinsed with water, and the third we put in a small bowl of water.

We ran the experiment for roughly 24 hours, until we could really see a difference among the three groups of radishes. It was so fun to see how excited Monkey got about the experiment. He was very diligent about rinsing the second group of radishes in water and examining them to see how they were different from the others. (I love that he is into posing for pictures now!)

In the end, we really could see what effect the water had on the radishes: The radishes in the first group (no water) were quite dry and bumpy, those in the second group (periodic rinsing in water) were less so, and those in the third group (submerged in water) were still very smooth.

Do you have a favorite experiment for budding young scientists? What foods have been running away from you lately?

Disclaimer: Amazon affiliate links were used in this article. If you follow them and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission.

This post has been shared at Fun A Day’s Stress-Free Sunday Link-Up and Kid Lit Blog Hop.

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #1

books, crafts, Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop, education, family, food, multiculturalism, music, recipes, travel 2 Responses »

Mar 102013

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop - Alldonemonkey.com

Hi, and welcome to the first ever Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop!

Don’t you love being in on something new? I love that feeling of getting to participate in something that is just starting, especially when I know it’s going to be great!

That’s how I feel about the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop! It’s a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can’t wait to see what you have to share with us this time!

I am fortunate to be hosting this brand new blog hop with two of my favorite blogging buddies, Frances of Discovering the World through My Son’s Eyes and Jody of Mud Hut Mama. We had a lot of fun chatting with each other as we worked out the details. Since we are in three different time zones (West Coast USA, East Coast USA, and Malawi), often I would be just starting breakfast, as Frances was thinking towards lunch, and Jody was preparing dinner!

(A big thank you to Frances, who came up with this idea and put in the bulk of the work to make it happen!)

It’s very easy to participate! Just follow these simple guidelines:

Be a sweetheart, and kindly follow your hostess and co-hostesses:

Frances: Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes
Leanna: All Done Monkey
Jody: Mud Hut Mama

Follow us via email, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook. Please let us know you’re following us, and we will be sure to follow you back.

Link up any creative kids culture posts, on anything from language, culture, books, travel, food, crafts, playdates, activities, heritage, and holidays, etc. Please, link directly to your specific post, and no giveaways, shops, stores, etc. When you link up your blog will also be shared simultaneously on our co-hostesses websites.

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Please grab the button code above and put it on your blog or the post you’re linking up. You can also add a text link back to this hop on your blog post. Note: By sharing your link up on this blog hop you are giving us permission to feature your blog post with pictures, and to pin your link up in our Creative Kids Culture Feature board on Pinterest.

Don’t be a stranger, and share some comment love! Visit the other links, and comment. Everyone loves comments!

The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop will go live on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month and run for a week. The following blog hop we will each feature posts from the previous link up. If you’re featured, don’t forget to grab the button below:

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Since we are just getting started, this week we are featuring a post from each of the hostesses, as a way of introducing ourselves.

If you are just getting to know my blog, a good place to start is my ABC’s of Raising a World Citizen series, since it includes some of my favorite posts and resources from around the web.

Frances and Jody are two of my favorite bloggers (and buddies), so I had a really hard time deciding which of their posts to feature!

For Frances, I chose this post about the Spanish immersion classes her son just began. It has been fascinating to follow Frances’ efforts to raise her son to be bilingual. She has great insights to offer, and I really admire her persistence.

For Jody, I chose this post about greetings among the Kaonde people of Zambia, where she worked in the Peace Corps. One of the things I love about Jody’s blog is her insights about the local culture. This post tells all about the beautiful way the Kaonde welcome people to their village.

Now let’s see what you’ve been up to!

March Culture Swapper Is Live!

education, family, food, multiculturalism, Worldwide Culture Swapper Linkup 13 Responses »

Mar 012013

Each month favorites will be highlighted on our website and Facebook page. In addition, we pin featured entries to our Raising Global Citizens board on Pinterest, so be sure to check it out!

Here are a few of our favorite posts from last month’s Culture Swapper (in addition to the ones featured during the month on our Facebook page).

Connecting Famliy & Seoul showed us how to celebrate the Lunar New Year with a toddler.

Marie’s Pastiche shared a number of great activities for the Lunar New Year, including this Firecracker Craft.

Finally, The Educators’ Spin On It got our mouths watering with this post on making baklava with kids, part of the wonderful Around the World in 12 Dishes series.

Thanks to everyone who shared in February’s Culture Swapper. We can’t wait to see what you’ll share this month!

And now on to this month’s Culture Swappers Link up….

The rules

Link up any family friendly activity, craft, recipe, articles and posts that say a bit about your nationality or one that you are learning about.
You can submit more than one link so come back throughout the month to share your activities.
By linking you are giving us permission to feature your activity on our website and Facebook page.
Please grab a Culture Swapper badge from the sidebar and put it somewhere on your blog (or add a text link to us in your post).
Sorry, no giveaways or shops.

A new Link up will start on the first day of every month.

Let’s see what you’ve been up to!

How to Enrich Children’s Play Through Make-Believe Play Experience: Post from Mum and Babies

child development, education 4 Responses »

Feb 212013

While we are enjoying some extra snuggle time with the Monkeys, we are so pleased to be able to bring you a series of posts from some of our favorite bloggers. Today’s post comes to us from YuMei of Mum and Babies.

YuMei and I are fellow members of both Bahá’í Mom Blogs and Multicultural Kid Blogs. Her company and blog are based on the belief that “each child’s extraordinary potential needs to be nurtured and developed.” YuMei not only has over ten years of experience working in early childhood settings, she is also a mother who founded her company after she saw how few practical educational resources were available for young children.

It is a pleasure to share YuMei’s post with you today, about how to enrich children’s play through make-believe.

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The popular view of play as an important tool for learning in early childhood is agreed on by most of researchers, educators and parents. I did a little bit research on the terms used to describe children’s play. The popular terms on the list: imaginative playing, playing make-believe, role-play etc. Play has a significant influence on child development, especially during the preschool and kindergarten period (3-6 years old). According to Vygotsky and Piaget’s theory: make believe play enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional development in mathematical ability, early literacy concepts and self-regulation. My personal observation as mother and early childhood educator is that play is a joyful, creative and spontaneous learning experience for young children. Thus, many learning opportunities should be provided either through real work experience or make-believe play experience to contribute to their learning and development.

What games or activities can we provide to enrich children’s play through make-believe play experiences?

Here are some ideas that have been time tested and still popular among us:

Play “Grocery Store, toy shop, clothes shop” games to encourage children to develop their vocabularies and role-play the appropriate behaviour of different roles in that content! Create a shopping list by drawing pictures or cut out the pictures of items for their “shopping experiences.”

Play “Doctor Game” – visiting a doctor to get a vaccination or when having a cold! Encourage the child to take over the role of mother, doctor and patient to act out their feelings and emotions. Vocabularies and responsibilities they each respond to in real life experience through his/her own interpretation.

Play “Occupations Game” – fireman or postman is the most popular game children in my class which they never get tired of! During play they allocate each other roles and rotate, they set the rules and came up with many creative ideas in their play!

Play “Dress-up Game” – dressing up dolls and a pretend situation with different costumes. The benefits for make-believe to young children are the development of creativity, empathy, decision-making and problem-solving. Children use make-believe to conquer their fears and explore their hopes and wishes. In make believe play, children initiate actions, interactions and feel safe in self-expression.

I have seen my daughter who is just 2 years old using imaginative play to express herself in response to different situations.

•   She was talking to two puppets about not using a loud voice as “it is too noisy” –she is often scared of the two little dogs in grandpa’s place because they bark very loudly when someone new arrives.
•   She showed the “doggies” how to do puzzles and read book to them acting exactly like what an adult would usually do together with her!
•   She enjoys playing ‘ice-cream shop’ with her little friends holding an ice-cream cone made of paper and walking around the room to offer them ice-cream.
•   She loves finger puppets for story telling and imaginative play.

One thing I have learnt in supporting children’s imaginative play is that a child must be active and remain herself/himself in their play. It is important not to suppress the initiatives of children; otherwise, the play can be destroyed and it will lose its value for development. Talking through roles and rules with the child and supplying them with toys and props which represented different cultures will broader their understanding and enhances their appreciation of people from different social roles and cultural environment.

Enjoy some fun times for playing make-believe as a family activity!

Yumei is a mum, a Montessori Trained teacher, an experienced early childhood educator & an e-shop keeper! She reads, tweets and writes blogs about parenting, early childhood education and learning. Find out more by visiting her blog or online store. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

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