Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Benefits of Pets

Recent research shows there is a big benefit to keeping pets. One benefit is that it helps relieve stress to those who like having animals around. The medical community is now using medically approved class of "therapy animals," mostly dogs that are brought to visit folks in nursing homes and such. Another benefit comes from walking your dog. You both get fresh air, social interactions, and exercise. You might want to include that as part of your P.E. program. Pets make good companions for lonely people too.

The most popular pets are dogs and cats, but there are also lots of people who have fancy pet rats (my family does), gerbils, turtles, fish, hamsters, ferrets, guinea pigs, and various birds. We also have five cats, two dogs, a cockatiel and finches, two cows, and four goats. I include the cows and goats because we bottle fed them and they are very much like pets. We also have chickens, ducks, guinea, and geese, but they really are not pets. They do not come to us. Well, the geese do, but that is only because they want to bite us; nasty little fellows.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Vocabulary

A strong vocabulary is crucial for better reading and comprehension. A fun way to increase your child's homeschool vocabulary is by playing games.

Here are a few ideas you might want to try.

· Bingo-Kids write meanings on blank bingo card, parent calls out word

· Vocabulary Pyramid-This plays just like the t.v. game. Divide a pyramid into 8 blocks and write vocabulary words in each numbered block. Four kids can play at a time in two teams. Two kids guess and the other two describe. Have the kids start at the top of the pyramid. The givers try to get receivers to guess the meanings by giving definitions or words related to the vocabulary word in each block. They move down the pyramid as they get each block correct. They get 1.5 minutes to complete the whole pyramid. They can pass if they need to do that. They can go back to any passed words as time permits. You can decide on a point system.

· Matching -Draw a picture or write words on a 12" x 12" piece of construction paper (cowboy, alphabet letter, dog…). Turn the paper over and draw 2" x 2" or 3" x 3" squares. In each square, write an antonym. Laminate and cut apart. On a second piece of 12" x 12" piece of construction paper, draw another set of squares. Write the correct answer in the squares. Laminate, but do not cut apart. Your kids should place the smaller squares on the larger square. They can then check their answers by turning over the smaller squares to form the picture.

· Play Concentration