Pajama School Blog » Teaching Games and Ideas

Bible Lessons for Preschoolers

natalie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:00:55 +0000

Julia, a good friend of mine with three young children has recently started a blog with Bible Lessons for Preschoolers. Julia is a gifted writer, curriculum developer, and mother – a great combination for this creative blog! In searching for and researching available materials to begin homeschooling her children, Julia had a difficult time tracking down any Bible Lessons specifically designed for this age. Thus was borne her blog and The Proverbs Project. I LOVE the lesson plans she has put together for this!

Each lesson plan for The Proverbs Project is centered on a specific character-building theme, and includes a Bible verse, one or two activities, and a prayer point. If you are looking for a simple, but powerful, way to begin training young children in biblical wisdom, you will love these lessons, too!

I was able to visit Julia and her family last week and can testify to how much her little ones loved the lessons! Here they are pictured working their way through the obstacle course we designed to go along with a lesson on diligence.

7 Points for Communicating in a Memorable Way

natalie — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:44:56 +0000

The following teaching tip is a portion of last week’s Passing the Baton e-newsletter from Jeff Myers. Passing the Baton is an incredible organization that trains and equips leaders to make a lasting impact on the next generation. I have gleaned much wisdom from Dr. Myers over the years through his books and video courses. He is one of the rare communicators who expertly balances philosophical teaching with lots of practical ideas to actually make the information relevant to real life situations. This brief list of points for getting your message across in a memorable way is a helpful guide to keep in mind when planning lessons or preparing for speaking engagements.

The best way to make sure you’re getting your point across in a memorable way is to make each point as concrete as possible. This is done by:

Defining it

Explaining it

Giving an example

Offering a personal experience

Developing an analogy

Quoting an expert’s opinion

Citing a statistic

20 WAYS HOMESCHOOLERS BENEFIT FROM TRAVEL

natalie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:00:44 +0000

Rachel Kokensenski offers a wealth of creative and practical tips and ideas that homeschoolers can implement in their family travels in the following guest post:

Children who go to school at home can benefit greatly from traveling with their parents and siblings. Educational trips can add untold advantages to a basic homeschooling curriculum, enhance children’s learning in all areas, and build strong family ties all at the same time. Here are twenty ways that homeschoolers can benefit from educational travel.

PLANNING A TRIP
1. Children can learn to set goals.
2. Map reading skills are encouraged.
3. Library and online research about possible destinations becomes highly motivational.
4. Creating and following a vacation budget teaches financial accountability.
5. Organization and planning are developed through packing for a trip.

WHILE TRAVELING
6. Skills with charts and graphs are enhanced by reading airline and train schedules.
7. Teamwork is encouraged through getting the whole family on the road or aboard the plane.
8. Regular homework can be done during the trip.
9. Children can keep a journal of their travels, which develops writing skills.

WHEN VISITING ATTRACTIONS
10. Students can create a list of questions they want to have answered through their visit.
11. Science museums and displays will suggest topics for further research and experimentation at home.
12. Historical sites will give a personal feel to subjects covered in textbooks.
13. Viewing quality works of art or professional music, drama, and dance performances will build appreciation for fine arts.
14. Visiting new cultures will broaden a child’s understanding of citizenship and provide motivation for learning a second language.

AFTER RETURNING HOME
15. Regular homeschool assignments can build on information and experiences gleaned through traveling.
16. Students can outline and condense the knowledge they gained into a report or presentation to be shared with relatives or friends.
17. Practical math lessons can be devised centering on miles traveled, fuel used, money spent, etc.
18. Homeschoolers can find creative outlets by writing a song, play, poem, or other piece that tells about their trip.
19. Older students can become mentors to younger children by teaching them about their newfound knowledge.
20. Family members can share their memories with each other for years to come.

These are just a few of the many advantages that educational travel can provide for homeschoolers. If you try it with your family, you are sure to come up with many more benefits yourself.

Author Rachel Kokosenski, Co-Founder of Travel 2 Educate: With a background deeply rooted in the love of learning inspired by her parents in her childhood, Ms. Kokosenski believes that educational travel is vital to the learning and development of children. Through combining common practices, hands-on knowledge, and cultural enrichment early in life as part of growth process, Ms. Kokosenski is devoted to helping parents plant the seed of the love of learning early in their children. Using the specially designed research and planning tools of Travel 2 Educate, Ms. Kokosenski strives to construct an easy-to-use and easy-to-access information platform for homeschool parents.

Custom-Designed Guess Who? Game

natalie — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:03:20 +0000

Josh Harris has a fabulous post about how he custom-designed for his children a Narnia version of the popular Guess Who? game. This is such a creative idea! And I could see doing something similar to tie in to other areas – Early Church History, Reformers, Presidents, Composers, etc. I may just have to go pick up a Guess Who? game so I can try this out!