Episode Thirty Five: Homework

Hey Team!

Part way through last year my middle boy started school. I still can't believe I have two kids who go to school. We're all getting old! School has been a friggin nightmare for us, I can't lie to you. My eldest boy has been let down by his school a few too many times to mention (probably best left for another post). It had made me incredibly apprehensive about my middle boy starting school, but we got there. Part of that was starting him at a totally different school to his older brother on the other side of town. I'm happy to report that so far it's been a success. 

His transition into school was made a bit difficult with his ear problems. He, unfortunately inherited my propensity for ear infections and had his first set of grommets when he was younger. Moving into school he was basically so deaf he wasn't picking up much of what his teacher was saying. Poor guy. After getting that sorted with more surgery, we played catch up with some of his learning at home. Part of this was re-learning letters and their sounds (letters sound pretty mangled with glue ear, unfortunately).

This was a simple process of making cards for each letter (capital letters on one side and lower case on the other). To start off with I held up each card and asked him what letter I was holding. If he got them right, they went into the correct pile. If he got them wrong they went into a 'to learn' pile. What I found was that the letters that sounded similar (F or S) needed a bit of reinforcement. So, each day for a week after work I held up the cards with the 'to learn' letters and quizzed him again. By the end of the week we were humming along nicely.

We practised the sounds of these letters which needed to be re-learnt (is that a word?!). This was a really simple and easy process. We were lucky that he had a foundation from which to start from and a familiarity with some letters. But really, little exercises can go a long way to reinforcing what happens at school. I'm not a huge homework fan - both as a parent and when I was a school kid - but I can certainly see the benefit in bringing what's happening at school to home life. Pointing out instances of letters, objects or phenomena they're learning about at school in your time together is an easy way to do this. It can't hurt, right?

Investing in your children's learning can seem like a bit of a drag - especially if you're like me and you want to spend your time with your children actually having fun and doing cool stuff. But, if you can show your children that learning doesn't have to be torture and you can reward some of that learning with praise and admiration - well, it's not so bad. You can do ten minutes a day here and there and then move on to the playfights on the trampoline. Deal? Deal!

Have fun!

Episode Twenty Seven: Screw Screws

This project has taught me the following things: Inspiration can come from anywhere and the simplest ideas are often the best. Case in point: this little gem that I nicked from Softfluffycloud on Instagram. Also, this isn't so much about spending time with your children, but thinking on your feet and finding ideas from different sources. Fear not though, I will be screwing screws with my kids soon in another idea coming soon.

On New Years Eve the Auckland cousins came to play! It was awesome and without a doubt our children's favourite past time: playing with them and showing off their toys. As the children get older and can entertain each other I get a chance to talk to my brother without being interrupted. Win-win really.

On this particular visit we had arrived home from our Christmas camping expedition the day before and the children discovered that there was one more present they hadn't unwrapped on Christmas day: A 14ft trampoline. Needless to say they were ecstatic and very keen to show it off to their cousins.

For one reason or another we had to keep the children off the trampoline and so quick thinking was needed. That's when I looked at the huge pile of cardboard boxes from the trampoline and thought about that Instagram image. These kids could screw screws into the cardboard and that would keep them distracted and would (hopefully) be more interesting that the trampoline.

The instructions for this one are pretty simple. Grab some cardboard (I used about three pieces stuck together to make it hard work for the boys), half a dozen screws and a screwdriver. Bam! Done. I got all of the boys together and told them I needed their help: I needed all of those screws screwed into that cardboard. They were off and away laughing. I had them distracted for a good ten to fifteen minutes.

Just a quick word of warning here: Obviously the screws come out the other side and they can be sharp, that's why I put the cardboard on the grass. This avoided them screwing into our wooden deck or anything else precious. Also, I gave them strict instructions to leave the cardboard on the grass and not carry it around as the other end of the screws can really hurt. Keep that in mind.

All in all this was a dead simple idea that I was able to pluck out of the memory bank and, best of all, it actually worked! Have you found any great ideas from unlikely places? I really enjoy Pinterest for finding ideas and old magazines like Jabberwocky. Let me know of any other places I can look.

Have fun!

Episode Two: Cardboard City

Here’s a great rainy day activity that doesn’t cost a lot and will get both you and your children thinking. It may take a bit of preparation on a sunny day but it will keep your children entertained for hours. My kids and I call this one ‘Cardboard City’.

All you need is a pencil, a permanent marker, coloured felt tip pens, a ruler, a craft or stanley knife and a fridge box. Most appliance stores are happy to give you big fridge boxes - but remember to ask permission before you start rifling through the recycle bin. Also, it’s a good idea to get your fridge box on a sunny day, often times the recycle bins are uncovered and on a rainy day, soggy boxes will disintegrate in the car boot before you get them home.

You’re basically making a cardboard mat, so at home, using the craft knife, carefully cut through one corner of the box, so you’re able to flatten it out on floor. Once you’ve got your cardboard flat and you’ve put your craft knife somewhere safe, it’s time to start planning your city. I typically measure out roads using a two match box cars side-by-side for the width of the roads. I create blocks of empty sections and draw streets dividing the sections. You may be thinking; “Big whoop, I can buy a play mat with roads printed on it” but, while those types of mats are great, they don’t encourage the sort of interaction and discussion you’ll have with your children.

Drawing your own city on this blank canvas will provoke the ultimate question: What does our town need? Don’t be surprised if the first ideas are along the lines of toy store, lolly shop, amusement park. To us, these might not be the most important features of a city but they’re fantastic and valid suggestions. Decide which suggestions are going into which section and label them in pencil. Once you’ve got the initial suggestions drawn in, get your children thinking about their world around them. What does the real life city you live in need to exist? Houses, police station, dentists etc. Get them thinking about the places they go in their lives - they might like visiting the library. Get them to decide where the library goes. You’ll be amazed at what they know about the world around them. This awareness and what makes a town, and a community is a fantastic thing to encourage in your children.

Once the roads have been drawn in, the empty sections have been designated and labelled, get them to draw the details of their own house or the aquarium they work at. What colour is the roof? How many car parks do they need? Having this sort of say and control over their own little world is a dream come true.

Your cardboard city is a work in progress, try not to fill in all the sections straight away, you’ll find you and your children think of other ideas well after you’ve folded the city up and put it away in the cupboard. If you do finish your town and think of more ideas, all it takes is another piece of flatten cardboard and you’re away laughing.

My boys love our cardboard city and get a lot of play out of it on rainy days. In our cardboard city my house has a six car garage and is only five minutes walk to my job at the Chocolate Fish Factory.

Have fun!