Creative Learning and the Importance of Creativity

The Importance of Creativity

For children, the creative process is always more important than the end result or product. The benefits lie within the creative activity itself: the enjoyment, the freedom, the exploration, the hands-on learning.

Much has been said about problem-solving skills, which are certainly important. But expecting children to solve a problem, or to come up with solutions, without having ample opportunities to be creative and inventive, can limit their abilities to solve problems.

Therefore, creative-thinking skills are as important as critical-thinking skills. To help foster creativity in children, we can avoid focusing on perfectionism, or on making comparisons or judgments, which only add pressure, stress, and anxiety.

Respect and support for creative endeavors, experiments, and projects is much more helpful. If a project doesn't turn out the way a child anticipated, we can encourage him to try again or to consider a different approach the next time. We want to refrain from taking over the project and telling him how we would do it.

Here are a few ideas on encouraging creativity in your children:

1. Allow plenty of free time for working on creative projects.

2. Create space for projects, so children can easily revisit them and work on projects between other activities.

3. Provide plenty of craft and creative materials: papers, card stock, colored pencils, markers, crayons, paints, paste, glue, tape, safety scissors, clay, craft sticks, chenille stems, beads, sequins, glitter, felt, yarn, buttons, gears, dials, nuts, bolts, spindles, construction pieces, small motor parts or solar parts, etc.

4. Encourage discussions about projects and activities, including "what-if" questions, alternative ideas, and unique visions.

5. Allow quiet time and solitude for contemplation and creation.

6. Be a creative role model, participate in creative projects, and encourage brainstorming sessions and collaboration on projects.

For Free Homeschool Activities, plus Weekly Homeschool Lessons for Grades K-12, see our Home page at:

EverythingHomeschooling.com

Happy homeschooling!

Learning through Play + Free Learning Activities

The Importance of Play

Children learn naturally through play, curiosity, and exploring and pursuing the many topics that interest them on a daily basis. Through their play and explorations, children automatically acquire new knowledge, learn hands-on skills, and retain the information they acquire.

Children's play and interests are self-inspired. When learning is self-inspired, it takes on special meaning and is remembered for longer periods.

When children are curious about something, or they have a pressing need to learn a new skill, they become fully engrossed in the experience. Often, they challenge themselves to go further, research more, acquire new information, try new skills, make connections, and apply that new knowledge to their lives.

It's a natural learning process that makes sense to the child. Additionally, through play and explorations, children can "branch off" from their initial areas of interest and learn even more than they had anticipated!

Ask your children what skills or topics they would like to learn through playing this week! Then have fun learning together!

Free Learning Activities This Week

1. Animation Fun

2. Autumnal Equinox

3. Roman Numerals

4. Scientists & Inventions

5. Story Writing

6. Spelling Fun

* More Learning Activities & Homeschooling Lessons at:

EverythingHomeschooling.com

Happy Homeschooling!

New Homeschool Year and Free Activities at Everything Homeschooling

A new homeschool year is beginning for many families. We at EverythingHomeschooling.com are also looking forward to the upcoming homeschool year.

We hope you enjoyed the Summer Activities on our site these past 3 months. Summer continues until September 22, so feel free to visit our "Summer Activities" page over the coming weeks. (See the "Summer Activities" button in the menu on the left of our website.)

This week we provide Free Activities for Monday through Friday, as noted on our Home page at EverythingHomeschooling.com. The "Monday through Friday" Free Activities offer fun learning in:

1. Reading/Literature (Read a Book a Day)
2. History (Levi Strauss & Gold Rush)
3. Social Studies (Famous Explorers)
4. Science (Magnetic Experiments)
5. Math (Cooking + Baking)

Print the blank Weekly Planner Log Sheets from our "Homeschool Forms" page. (See the "Homeschool Forms" button in the menu on the left of our website.) Then jot down everything learned from the 5 "Monday through Friday" activities, in each of the subject areas.

Children will most likely take the 5 Activity Areas and run with them! Encourage and guide children in the activities at EverythingHomeschooling.com, and have a great start with the beginning of your homeschool year!

Happy homeschooling!

Homeschoolers, Read a Book a Day!

Try our ONE-BOOK-a-DAY READING CHALLENGE!

Kids, take the challenge! Read one book a day for 1 month and win a Free Book.

Print our Book-a-Day Log, read a book-per-day, fill out the log and the date each book was read, have your parents review your log and send your log to us.

The first 5 children to return their completed Book-a-Day Log to us will receive a free book!

To get started and to print your log sheet, visit this link:

EverythingHomeschooling.com.

Happy reading!

Free Summer Homeschool Activities

Free Summer Activities are added and updated throughout the summer on our EverythingHomeschooling.com website.

Here are a few Summer Activities featured on our site:

1. Identify summer constellations, or use the link on our site to help identify them.

2. Identify insects, plants, trees, and animals with the Field Guides link.

3. Make a time capsule detailing summer adventures.

4. Make homemade ice cream with the yummy homemade ice cream recipes!

For more ideas on keeping kids learning and having fun all summer, just click the “Summer Activities” button in the menu on the left of our Everything Homeschooling site. Or go directly to our Summer Activities page at this link:

EverythingHomeschooling.com

Happy homeschooling and enjoy the summer!

Summer Homeschool Planning

Evaluating the Past Year and Planning Ahead

We have high expectations for each homeschool year, and we might feel let-down if we don't accomplish everything we had planned. But don't fret about things not accomplished! Just make note of them and work them into next year's plans, or try slipping some of them in during the summer.

Summer Catch-up
If you didn't get around to the study of the solar system, for instance, don't worry. During the summer, visit the library and choose illustrated, informative books on the solar system. Read them together on lazy summer afternoons.

If possible, visit a planetarium. Or rent a video from your library on the sun and solar system. Pop some popcorn and sit down with your children to watch and discuss the video on a rainy afternoon.

Get the family involved in making a mobile of the sun and the planets. Your children can invite their friends over to take part in the fun, too!

Planning for Next Year
By reviewing our past homeschool year and accomplishments in May (as our homeschool year drew to a close), I could begin planning for future topics of study. And we have the entire summer to do our planning! As a result, I'm under no last-minute pressure as August and September creeps upon us.

EverythingHomeschooling.com

Happy homeschooling!

More Free Homeschool Activities

 5  New Things to Learn This Week!

Imagine if you learned 5 new things every week. How many new things would you learn in one year? And in two years? (Have children do the math! 5 new things x 52 weeks = 260 new things a year; times 2 years = 520 new things learned!)

Here's 5 new things you can learn through our Free Activities page:

1. How to filter water (in the Earth Day Activities)
2. Which birds build camouflaged nests (Bird Nest Building)
3. Why and how shapes are found in nature (Finding Shapes in Nature)
4. How much weight paper can support (Paper Structures)
5. How to create a Civil War Timeline (Civil War Activities)

In addition to our Free Activities, we provide approximately 4,000 Learning Activities through our Weekly Lessons! Our Weekly Lessons provide Daily Learning Activities in each subject area: Language Arts and Literature, Social Studies, Math, Science, Life Skills, Health and Safety, Arts, Music, Crafts, and more.

See our Home page, to learn New Things this week, at:

EverythingHomeschooling.com

Happy homeschooling!

Free Homeschool Activities This Week

Check out the Free Activities for Monday through Friday, this week.

Learn about -- and do -- the activities on:

* Kites, Kite Making, and Kite Flying
* Colors and Light
* Water and Water Cycle
* Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas
* Paper Structures
* Geography Fun
* Origami
* The Human Skeleton
* Sleep & Dreams
* Tornadoes & Weather
* And much more!

To get started now, click:

EverythingHomeschooling.com

Remember to visit our Weekly Homeschool Lessons, too, for Grades K-12, at:

EverythingHomeschooling.com.

Happy homeschooling!

Free Homeschool Activities and Weekly Homeschool Lessons

Free Learning Activities This Week

- Valentine’s Day Crafts: Hearts Quilt, Be-Mine Jewelry, Bumpy Love Bug Sculpture
- Valentine’s Day Coloring Pages
- Valentine’s Day History and Origins
- Plus: Build Paper Skyscrapers
- Learn about Skyscrapers and Tall Structures
- Static Electricity Activities
- Library Activities and the Dewey Decimal System
- Learn about Charles Dickens and his books
- Learn about Submarine Technology, and more free activities!

For Free Activities, click:

EverythingHomeschooling.com

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Black History Month Activity

Read and Research these African-American Women Inventors:

Write brief descriptions about these women. What did they invent or accomplish? Which is most amazing to you? How have they inspired you?

1. Miriam Benjamin
2. Sarah Boone
3. Sarah Goode
4. Lyda D. Newman
5. Judy W. Reed

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This Week's Lessons: Week 20

Language Arts:
- Take the Book Adventure;
- Write and Illustrate a Book, with Activity Lab;
- Play the Educational Language Arts Games on Nouns, Verbs, Grammar, and more;
- Practice the Vocabulary, Spelling, and Reading Skills;
- Read the Featured Book Online, Starting Today!

Social Studies:
- Learn about Black History Month;
- Explore Culture, History, Geography, Government, and Economics;
- Learn about Natural Wonders, World Geography, and more;
- Play the History and Geography Games;
- Choose a Variety of Social Studies Games to Test Your Knowledge Base.

Math:
- Practice Math Skills with Math Magician, Multiplication Bridge, Olympic Challenge, and more;
- Learn from Probability Activities, such as Fish Tank, Coin Toss, Train Race, and more;
- Refresh Fraction Skills with Flowering Fractions, Wise Up, and Who Wants Pizza;
- Enhance Algebra, Geometry, Graphing Skills, and Overall Math Skills;
- Play the Money Games, Fraction Games, and Improve Everyday Math Skills.

Science:
- “Visit” SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Discovery Cove online, to Observe and Learn about Animals;
- Try the Activity on Food Chains and Draw Examples of an Ecosystem;
- Learn about the Animal Kingdom, Vertebrates, Invertebrates, and more;
- Explore the “Cells” page to Learn More about Plant Cells, Animal Cells, Mitosis, Meiosis, Cell Biology, and more.
- Learn about Energy, Matter, Light, the Solar System, and more, with This Week’s Science Lessons!

Life Skills, Health, and Safety:
- Get Kids and Teens Cooking with the Featured Kid-Friendly Recipes;
- See Healthy Recipes for Kids and Help Them Understand Nutritional Information;
- Learn about Being a Hero in the Community;
- See How to Develop Good Character;
- Learn about Compassion and How to be More Compassionate.

Art and Music:
- Create Art Online with the Interactive Art Applications and Ideas;
- Use the Interactive Ideas to Replicate Art on Drawing Paper or Canvas;
- Learn How to Read Music through the Basic Instructions;
- Create Music Online and Play the Music Online;
- Duplicate Your Online Musical Compositions on Your Piano, Recorder, Guitar, or Other Musical Instrument.

LEARN All of the Above and MORE! Just click the Grades K-2 Lessons, Grades 3-6 Lessons, Grades 6-9 Lessons, or Grades 9-12 Lessons on our Everything Homeschooling site at:

.EverythingHomeschooling.com

Happy Homeschooling!

How Children Learn – Love lies at the heart of all true learning

"Love lies at the heart of all true learning."

I recently reread How Children Learn by John Holt, an early advocate of education reform and learning at home.

The last paragraph, in the last chapter, continues to echo through my mind. It states:

“Gears, twigs, leaves, little children love the world. That is why they are so good at learning about it. For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought, that lies at the heart of all true learning.”

That bears repeating and digesting: “It is love that lies at the heart of all true learning.” Not tricks, as John Holt pointed out. Not techniques. But love.

"Curiosity grows by what it feeds on."

Earlier in this book, Mr. Holt states:

“People have often said to me, nervously or angrily, that if we let children learn what they want to know, they will become narrow specialists, nutty experts in baseball batting averages and such trivia. Not so.”

He goes on to explain that healthy children, still curious and unafraid, are not boxed in by their learning.

Rather, their learning:

“… leads them out into life in many directions. Each new thing they learn makes them aware of other new things to be learned. Their curiosity grows by what it feeds on. Our task is to keep their curiosity well supplied with food.”

"Keep their curiosity well supplied with good food."

I believe that all of us who have homeschooled our children know exactly what John Holt means. We have seen it with our own eyes, in our own children, in our own homes.

“Keeping their curiosity well supplied with food doesn’t mean feeding them, or telling them what they have to feed themselves. It means putting within their reach the widest possible variety and quantity of good food,” explains Mr. Holt.

When we provide encouragement and guidance, plus an interesting environment filled with a wide variety of topics and ideas to explore – along with the time and flexibility to follow those interests – there’s no stopping a child or the learning that will result. Because “their curiosity grows by what it feeds on. Our task is to keep their curiosity well supplied with good food.”

Happy homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!

Learn about Microscopes, World Geography, Electrifying Facts, Self-Education, and more

This week at EverythingHomeschooling.com, learn about:

- Microscopes
- World geography
- Electrifying facts
- Green living
- Self-education
- Famous authors
- Math and literature
- History and literacy
- Science experiments
- Art and music
- Life skills
- And much more!

Start with our Home page at EverythingHomeschooling.com.

Happy New Year!