March Blog Round-Up

So, in the interest of keeping the blog more concise, I'm going to just keep all the blogs I find each month to one post per month.  If you write a blog about your family and you are a Jewish homeschooler, please send me a link (in the comments below)!

I've had Jewish Home Education saved for quite a while now, thanks to this post, which is an overview of homeschooling philosophies and their relationship to Jewish homeschooling.  Although I don't agree with her outlook on Unschooling (my homeschool philosophy of choice), I did enjoy reading her post.  Regina is a mother living in Israel.  She writes, "I am passionate about education and particularly about Jewish education that can take place in one's home. Home and education are themes that are very central to Judaism. I am a big believer that parents should play a key role in their children's education. In this blog I share my thoughts and ideas on education, parenting inspirations and other related topics that interest me and might be of interest to other Jewish parents."

I feel sort of silly with this next one... because I don't have anything to write about it.  I'm sure there was a post I liked, but I can't remember!   But join Shady Lady over at Unschooling Royalty to learn a bit about how unschooling works in real life!

Now here is a blog I really enjoyed reading a lot!  Homeschooling, farming, Jewish life... what a great combo!  Everything I'd love to do.  Frum Philly Farmgirl writes about herself: "I am Lover of my Beloved, Imma to my three blessings, a dreamer of dreams and maker of my home. I have homeschooled now for about 13 years and it is our way of life. I am a preschool teacher, doula, childbirth advocate, Jill-of-all-trades, Mistress of none and aspire to someday become the local village Wise Woman."  Philly Farmgirl: Adventures in Homeschooling, an older homeschooling specific blog, also written by her, may hold some interesting reading as well.   Neither of those blogs is actually current because... she's moved on to new things at her current blog, Village Wise Woman.  Although not homeschool related, she's written some interesting posts on herbal remedies, being a doula, and life in general.

Over at Learning Al Pi Darcho is another blog about a homeschooling family.  Dean and Kerith write about their family goings-on, including homeschooling of their four children.  They sum up the direction of their blog thus: "This blog was started to describe our journey to Ethiopia to adopt two children. Now it has expanded to include our whole life - Judaism, homeschooling, frugality, cooking and the fun of being a family."

Tiny Torah by Sweet & Crunchy

A very talented local-to-me mom, of the blog sweet & crunchy, created this toy Torah, which I thought was amazing when I saw it last summer at a little-kids Shabbos party.  Not exactly homeschooling related, but I think this would be a great toy for little homeschoolers!

Check out her blog post about this project (and also check out how she built her own toddler bed).

The Torah In Haiku

Is Ed Nickow a man of few words?  It would seem so.  He writes Haiku poetry on the Parsha at his blog, The Torah In Haiku.  A talented poet, he's also published The Haggadah in Haiku.

Here is a sampling of his prose... click over to see the complete haiku for this weeks parsha.

Moses asks of G-d:
Since I’ve found favor with You
Show me Your Glory

G-d says “no can do”
Man shall not see Me and live
I can’t show My face...click here for the rest

Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective

Balashon is a fascinating blog written about the etymology of Hebrew.  A great resource for learning Hebrew, or studying the Parsha.   You can also follow this author's language detective work via Twitter (don't ask me how to use Twitter... I've only read about it so far) here. 

"On this site I investigate Hebrew - Biblical, Talmudic, Medieval and Modern - including slang; related languages like Aramaic, Arabic, Akkadian and Yiddish; and how foreign languages like Greek, Latin and English have entered Hebrew - and how Hebrew has affected those languages as well.

I discuss the meanings of words, with a focus on etymology."

Homeschool Chumash

Meet an observant Jewish mom who's been homeschooling for 12 years!  Her eldest is now in high school, but she continues to homeschool her younger children.  Join her as she writes about her family's daily activities, triumphs and struggles in learning Chumash together.

She writes, "I am an Orthodox Jew and I've been homeschooling for twelve years. Teaching chumash is one of the most important subjects, and one of the most challenging. We care so much that our children love Torah. v'shinantam l'vanecha. We want so badly for them to have the skills and the ability. Skills work is a particular challenge for homeschoolers, who have not accepted boredom as a fact of school. Or should I say it is a challenge for the mom/teacher..."

Do you think you worry more about your child's learning skills (for Jewish subjects, I mean) than you would if they were in school?  Are these skills something you actively teach, or do you focus on a love of learning and teach those skills as a result?  Leave a comment with your perspective or experiences.

Parsha 4 Kids

Here is another great resource for learning parsha with kids.  Betty Ann Ross tries to bring Torah out of the school context and into everyday life.  If that's not applicable to homeschooling, I don't know what is!  In her own words,

"I am a Jewish educator who is passionate about helping students see Jewish wisdom as integral in helping us make meaning of life in the world in which we live. Jewish thinking is too valuable to be cooped up in a school setting. It needs to be part of everything we see and do. It needs to be the lens through which we view the world. IT NEEDS TO BE IMPORTANT!!"

Parsha 4 Kids: Easy-to-understand Parashot conversations created with the help of kids like you

"TORAH is filled with a lot of things - stories you may already know, like Noah and the Flood, and people you have probably heard of, like Moses.

Torah is also filled with ideas - big, meaningful ideas that are important within the Torah and also in your life. This is your chance to think about some of these BIG IDEAS, and to ADD YOUR VOICE to the voices of other kids who are thinking about some of these same things."

Jewish Education & Entertainment

http://www.j.co.il/

This website has five educational games: Language Match Game, Multilingual Word Search, Hebrew Hangman, My Jewish Coloring Book, and Israel Geography Game.

There is also a list of other websites, although all are basically a part of this website, with other topics that might be of interest:  The Jewish Trivia Quiz, The Hebrew Sign Maker, The Hebrew Language, Learn Hebrew Videos, The Jewish Wisdom Database, The Bible Quiz, My Hebrew Songbook, The Jewish Clipart Database, and 3 Year Jewish High Holiday Calendar.

BabagaNewz

"BabagaNewz.com is an innovative, educational web site for Jewish middle school students and teachers. The web site will help our readers understand the values that are at the core of Jewish beliefs and practices.
BabagaNewz.com will encourage young people to explore Jewish values, traditions, life-cycle events, holidays, and Israel, from perspectives that are novel, hip, fun, thought-provoking, exciting and that will encourage them to continue these explorations with the full power of their imaginations and reflections."

This website looks like a great resource.  There are articles under the headers: Israel, Celebrities, 'Kid Power,' Videos, Science, Humour, Peoplehood, and History.  There are games, like Brachot Trivia, and English Hebrew Match Game, Puzzles, and something called Jewpardy.  Under Activities there are: Crafts, Recipes, How To, Board Games and Interactive (I wonder what that means?).   And at the bottom you can choose to navigate the site according to a particular holiday, the current parsha, or Jewish value.  Now that is innovative!  And last of all, in their music section, called JPod, they have all sorts of music.  I think I see some tefillahs, some holiday related music, and much more!

Oh, and I just noticed there is one more section, called Teachers, which seems to have articles or tutorials for teachers on how to use very new internet technology to make virtual bookshelves, webinars, wikis, pod casts, word clouds, etc.  I'm sure that will be useful for homeschool parents as well as teachers.

This definitely looks like a great resource!

*This post looks like it was published on Shabbos, because I had preset some posts to publish themselves and neglected to check which day would be Shabbos.*

Akhlah: The Jewish Children's Learning Network

This site looks extremely interesting.  Here is a sampling of what they cover. Jewish Crafts, Worksheets, Tanach, Parsha, Yomim Tovim/ Jewish Holidays, Learn about Israel, Learning Hebrew, Jewish Biblical Heros, and Jewish Traditions. 

Of specific note is their aleph-bet resource!

"Akhlah, the Jewish children's learning network, is an important resource created to provide Jewish children and their families access to the prayers, stories and rituals that have bound Jews together around the world and through the ages. Akhlah is specifically designed for the youngest and least knowledgeable among us, while maintaining scrupulous attention to the details of the subject matter.

Children and others who wish to learn about Judaism will find that Akhlah offers a comprehensive yet non-sectarian perspective. Akhlah does not subscribe to any of the branches of Judaism, but celebrates them all. We wish to provide information about the traditions and practices of all the major branches of Judaism, for although the vagaries of geography and circumstance have spread these branches in different directions, when we look back, we share the common bonds of ancestors, history and language: these are the roots of our Tree of Life."

Hebrew Vocab Quizzes with Pictures

This website has some fairly easy looking Hebrew vocabulary quizzes using pictures.   I'm not sure why, but the Hebrew fonts didn't come out for me... maybe something to do with my own computer, or with the age of the website.  If anyone finds that the Hebrew does show up properly for them, or figures it out, feel free to leave a comment here with tips/instructions. 

Beit HaChatulim

 

A website about a conservative Jewish homeschooling family's experiences homeschooling children of various ages from 1996 through 2008.  The website is currently being rebuilt.  I would like to read through their experiences and suggestions sometime soon.  There is also a link to the Chevra Jewish Homeschooling List, which is an email list for Jewish homeschoolers of all denominations of Judaism.

League of Observant Jewish Homeschoolers

"LOJH was a not-for-profit league of families designed to satisfy the growing demand for Orthodox Jewish Homeschooling. Although we are no longer active, the number of requests we receive about this topic is overwhelming. However, we believe the content we have collected on this site (over the years) is still relevant and helpful for many people."


Although this group is no longer active, I thought it was good to add, since it has some interesting resources about Jewish, Orthodox homeschooling that I'd certainly like to look through at some point.  If you find anything especially interesting there, please leave a comment here telling about it! 

Lionden Landing

 
Michelle blogs about her homeschooling family of three.  She writes about their homeschooling, as well as other themes and events in her family's life.  She's joined in with the Homeschool Diary, a blog carnival, that Jennifer began a few months ago (that I have dismally neglected... along with this blog, oy).   Michelle's daughter is currently learning the Aleph-Bet, and I really enjoyed reading about Michelle's new birthday tradition, as I've been discussing birthday traditions with my better half recently, trying to hash out what we want to do each year.  Please head over and read Michelle's blog!  I'm happy to have another to add to my (hopefully, if I can keep this up semi-regularly) growing list of Jewish homeschooling blogs.

the mishnah project

 

 

The mishnah project is such a cool endeavor.  So, a long long time ago, in a far away land... the sages used to use tunes to help memorize the Mishnah.   The makers of this project recognized that memorization of Jewish texts is not so easy for everyone, and not always enjoyable.  They saw that the average person can remember lyrics to their favorite popular songs easily... and decided to tap into this great ability we all have, by putting the Mishnah to music... and pretty darn good music at that!  This is also a way of returning to the oral roots of Jewish tradition.  So, go on over and listen to a tune or two... I am as I write this, and humming along.

As a side note, does one capitalize words like Mishnah and Talmud?  Torah?  I'm not quite sure.

Sukkot Activity Round-Up

A Mother in Israel has posted a great sukkah decorating round-up already; including graham cracker sukkahs, beautiful paper ornaments, bunting, kids painting ideas, and so much more!  I doubt we'll manage to get much decor up, between building the succah and getting ready for an in-law visit... but I hope that in the years to come we'll add until its the most beautiful sukkah ever!

Jennifer, over at Adventures in Mama-Land, posted a lovely set of pictures of their sukkah's evolution over the years, as well as a Sukkot themed poem (with PDF print-outs in Ashkenaz or Sephardi pronounciation)!

Finally, A Jewish Homeschool Blog has posted some Sukkot printables, including songs, coloring pages and games, for your children's pleasure.

I didn't have time to search for more, but if you want me to add a link, just leave a comment!  Chag Sameach everybody!

Ah, here is another Edible Sukkah idea!

Our Homeschool Diary #2

This post is part of the Our Homeschool Diary meme, but as we're unschooling thus far, I haven't really got a 'plan' for our week.  So I'm going to publish posts on Mondays with all the days of the week, and perhaps I'll remember to fill it in as the week goes by ;)

If you'd like to join the meme, head on over to her blog and snag that cute icon for your own blog (I think its for sharing, right Jennifer?)


Monday:  My father came over, and we went with the kiddos to view a condo (a spacious 3 bedroom, amazing to see such space in a condo in this area) in the neighborhood.  What was the lesson?  Well, a lesson for me, that we really still can't afford it.  But, at least there is something to aspire to, some time in the future.  We baked cookies that morning, and I showed Temima a bit more detail about measuring, since she is reading numbers now.  So, I could could tell her to fill 1 cup in the measuring cup, and she could.  I think she sort of grasped it.  And that evening we were playing a matching/memory game and I explained how to play with the 'real' rules, and we had a few goes of it, and she liked it a lot.  She really started being able to keep track of which cards we had already seen.   Oh, and also, she's been building sukkahs out of random things in our house, so I should put up a picture soon of what she made.

Tuesday: Temima, amazingly, played by herself for prolonged periods of time today, while I got some cleaning done before my mother-in-law arrives.  Our bathroom is now... well, definitely not sparkling, but at least it doesn't gross me out at first glance.  We went to the park, where Temima played with a group of girls, two older and two younger.  That was lovely to watch, how they all interacted and helped each other out and played together.  After I put Shua to bed, Temima and I played that matching game again... but this time I remembered to call the card's pictures by their Hebrew terms.  And then we spent some time with me writing out words on our white board and then reading the letters and the word to her, and then Temima would use one finger and wipe out each letter (drawing the letter, in a way, as she erased it).  That was pretty cool, because she instigated the whole thing, I was just doing what she told me to do.  Oh, and she can now dial the phone if I tell her which number to press!  Very cool.  Joseph is outside currently, in the dark, with our 14 year old neighbor boy, hammering away at the sukkah and hopefully getting the schach up.  Yay!  We have not decorated it at all, and I don't know if we'll get to it.  Its supposed to rain when we want to be eating out there, too.  And, to top it off, we have no idea where we are going to be able to store it afterwards, since we don't technically have our own garage space here. 

Wednesday:  Sukkot begins... hopefully we'll have schach by then.  Family is coming over.

Thursday:  Mother-in-Law arrives from out of country.

Friday:  Shabbat is coming, Shabbat is coming, Shabbat is coming... Shabbat Shalom!

Saturday: 

Sunday:

I'm joining a Meme! The "Our Homeschool Diary" meme!

As you may have noticed by the number of links I include to her blog, I'm an avid reader of Jennifer's Adventures in Mama-Land... because I like her, we're friends in real life... and well, once you add a blog to your reader, its fun to actually read it! 

She's started a homeschool meme (what's a meme?) for us Jewish homeschoolers (or maybe its for any homeschoolers, since it's called "Our Homeschool Diary"?)  And I'd like to join in.  But, as we're unschooling thus far, I haven't really got a 'plan' for our week.  So I'm going to publish a post on Monday with all the days of the week, and perhaps I'll remember to fill it in as the week goes by ;)



If you'd like to join the meme, head on over to her blog and snag that cute icon for your own blog (I think its for sharing, right Jennifer?)  I'm going to park a copy right there in my handy sidebar ---->

And as I write this, the lovely song I learned from Jennifer is running through my head, but of course I have no idea how to let you know the tune that goes with it.  But the words are.... Sunday Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Friday, then comes Shabbos... LOL.  So, I'll add in more details for each day as it happens and when I have the chance. 

Monday:  We rode bike/trailer down to the library to return some truly overdue books... and happened to stumble across a pile of not-yet-shelved books about the current set of chagim, which we promptly signed out.  I also bought a not microfibre mop, some animal crackers, much needed scotch tape, and shampoo at Shoppers in the nearby plaza.  So educational ;)  We had fun, fresh air, and new books.  Who could ask for more?  Also got some laundry done.  My sister came over for dinner, which was a simple - boil everything boilable and stick it on the table dinner - perfect for kiddies.  She helped me watch Temima while I put Shua to sleep - our first night of Daddy's new schedule of coming home late in the evening.  He's joined the gym!  Wow!  And he's starting a university course online next month, so we're practicing my nights alone ahead of time. 

Tuesday:  This morning I managed to get into the system and sign Temima up for the two classes she desires, despite the long wait-times!  Later, we rode over to Yorkdale Mall to meet a friend, ask a salesgirl about some crocheted play food used in a window display a while ago, and pick up a gift for a certain little boy with a special haircut scheduled for this Sunday.  We had some ice cream, read the letters off a mirror in a store while helping out said friend with her two girls, and discovered the joys of toy shopping with a child around ;)  Sorry sweetie, I bought you some things you wanted, and now its time to shop for the birthday boy.  When we got home, its a bit blurry, but I remember some fun typing a story out on our typewriter to illustrate, watching some the Yom Kippur G-dCast.com video, and eating dinner.  Oh, and I remember some alphabet candy thrown in as well.  Temima is loving exploring letters!  Oh, and the best part was that I finally bought a toy cell phone, and now I will NOT being giving the toddler my phone anymore, since he has programed a gazillion strange things into it already. 

Wednesday:  Duferrin Grove Park!  Yah!  Mud pitt and playground, here we come  Change of plans, we went out and did some errands instead.  Stopped at the library for a bit, picked up some scotch tape and a new mop.  It was a great day for me to bike around doing errands with the trailer, sunny and cool.  The mop kept the kids enthralled for a little while when we got home.  What is it with toddlers and mops/brooms? 


Thursday:   Visit mom at hospital.  Not much to say about this, except that it takes up our whole day. 

Friday: Are you ready for Shabbat?  No we're not, no we're not. We spent the day not getting ready for Shabbos.  I think that was a bit confusing for Temima, along with not having kiddush or challah and all of that.  In retrospect, I regret what I didn't do.  If the house had been clean and some food cooked, then Yom Kippur would have gone by a bit more smoothly.

Saturday:  Yom Kippur.  I think I'm going to fast... maybe drink if I feel headachy.  Wish me luck, first time in 8 years. So, the day didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, and I think I'm getting an ear infection.  I didn't fast... or rather I tried fasting several times but failed, but after a small lunch I did fast until the end, and I felt some good feelings about denying my hunger for bigger reasons.  So... positive, I suppose.  I had a nice visit with a friend as well, which passed the time.   Did this suddenly become a blog about me??? Woops, back to homeschooling news soon, perhaps.

Sunday:  Gavriel Zev's Upsherin!!! 

Baby awake and I need to get to sleep. I'll add that linky/icon into my sidebar tomorrow night, I guess.  Thanks Jennifer for starting this out for us all :)

Challah Crumbs

"ChallahCrumbs is a celebration of Jewish living. We offer creative ideas to inspire your family and enrich your homes. Our site is full of Kosher recipes, Jewish crafts and learning for parents and kids."

This website looks like a great resources for all of our little homeschoolers out there.  There are themed crafts, lots of recipes, book recommendations, Parsha and Holiday learning for families, etc.  A treasure trove!

Parsha Activities dot Com

"A couple of years ago, I was elevated from the position of regular shul group leader to Parsha Man. This meant that instead of running all the programing for one age group, I was now in charge of teaching the parsha to every age group, ranging from three year olds to fourth graders.  My immediate response was to search the web for a source of parsha activities I could use every week for this new job.  As much as I searched though, my efforts were in vain.  I simply could not find any parsha activities online.  Nearly every week since then, I have been amassing my own arsenal of parsha games.  Some activities came from my own head.  Others are well known games that I simply connected to a parsha.  Family, friends, and youth directors were other useful resources.  Week by week, one parsha at a time, I slowly amassed what was the beginings of what one could call a parsha curriculum. 

"But my job was not yet complete.  For I knew that every week, countless group leaders around the world were facing the same problem that I faced several years back.  There was still no online source that gave you just what was needed.  Sure there were parsha summaries and parsha questions all over the internet.  But no activities.

"And that's what this website is intended to fix.  Parsha by parsha, it provides you with some interactive method of teaching about the lessons and big ideas from every week's laining. 
But it's far from finished, and this is where you come in.  Email your favorite activity to parshaactivities@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and become a part of this wonderful project."

Chinuch.org

"Chinuch.org is designed to enable Torah educators to share quality educational ideas and materials. Access to the best resources and inspiration from hundreds of mechanchim and mechanchos worldwide enhances the quality of chinuch everywhere. The program flourishes because of the generosity of countless educators like you who submit their valuable resources.By sharing the fruits of your labor to help others in the world of Chinuch, you are reaching thousands of students with each word, and are truly being M'kaim the words of Pirkei Avos: 'V'ha'amidu talmidim harbeh.'

Our mission is to facilitate the sharing of finished and raw printed materials, and to encourage networking ideas and solutions."

From Preschool to Highschool, and even Special Education, Chinuch.org has materials for every age, stage and subject of Jewish education.  This website is a bottomless resource of materials for home educators and school teachers, created by home educators and school teachers!  

Their main topic headings (with numerous sub-sections) are: Chodshei HaShana, Torah, Mishnayos and Gemara, Yahadus/Hashkafa, Hebrew Language, Interactive Classroom (Puzzles, Stories, Songs/Music), Yamim Tovim (Rosh Hashana, Tzom Gedalia...More), Navi'im and Kesuvim, Halacha/Dinim, Jewish History, Arts and Crafts, and Administrative Resources.