A Apple a Day - Enhance your child's mind with puzzles

      Optimize your children's brains and enhance their intelligence with puzzles!

Did you know that puzzles strengthen your brain? 

Puzzles create new neuron pathways and keep the mind sharp. They improve reasoning ability and help children optimize their math and reading skills. They keep adults sharp and fend off senility. They help develop the ever-so-important spatial and timing abilities that are important precursors to math understanding. They help children (and adults) see patterns in language and numbers, which skill spills over into other areas of their lives.

Puzzles help children learn to think abstractly, which gives them the ability to be better problem-solvers in life as well as in school. It has been proven that the maths and sciences help people learn to think and see alternate possibilities.

Children should start doing simple jigsaw puzzles as young as 18 months, if not younger. Start with wooden cut-out puzzles then graduate to cardboard jigsaws with increasing difficulty as the child ages.

The next step in the puzzle progression would be simple pencil word puzzles. For elementary school ages, the Highlights magazine is a good start, but there are also many other makers of children’s word puzzles.

In teenage and adult years, there are all kinds of pencil puzzle books from makers like Dell and Penny Press. My favorite word puzzles are Cryptograms, Flower Power, Cryptic Crosswords (British version), Math Story Problems, and anything that requires some sort of deductive reasoning. 

My all-time favorite number puzzles are “Math and Logic” puzzles, including Word Math (long division in letters), Kakuro (a.k.a. Cross Sums or Sum Totals), Sudoku (a.k.a. Number Place), Sumdoku (marriage of Kakuro and Sudoku), Crossmath, and Figure Logics, to name a few.

So the next time your teenager says, “Why do I have to take algebra?! I’ll never use it,” tell her that she needs algebra in order to think better in general. Tell her to look at algebra as a fun puzzle, too.

Just as a side note, you can use algebra on your shopping list to make your total come out exactly, so you DO use algebra later it life! I use algebra every day.

For instance, if you only have $100.00 to spend and tax is 6.25%, how much can you spend so that the amount plus the tax on that amount add up to exactly $100.00?

It is algebra – say that one “y” is the amount to spend before taxes, and that the tax (6.25%) would be “0.0625 times y” then your equation would be:

y + 0.0625y = 100.00.

Add the y's together (or distribute out the y). Do the puzzle: y(1 + 0.0625) = 100.00, or

(1.0625)y = 100.00.

Remember that algebra solves like fractions, so

y = 100.00/1.0625 (The slash line means divide).

Then y = 94.12 and the tax (94.12 x 0.0625) on that amount = 5.88, so

$94.12 + $5.88 = $100.00. 

The maximum you can spend before taxes is $94.12. When you add the tax on that amount, you spend your $100.00 exactly. What a fun (and helpful) puzzle!

You can do this with any dollar amount and any tax rate. It’s a great way to keep a tight allowance within budget!

http://thegodfreymethod.com

An Apple a Day - Using homeschool with public school

               There comes a point in your child’s life where a “best practice” may be to take advantage of what the public domain has to offer education. My niece, Olivia, was homeschooled her whole life, but as a teenager, she decided to attend Davis Technical College as part of her homeschool “high school” experience. She thoroughly enjoyed taking classes and learned how to navigate multiple classes, her peers, and is prepared for college now.

               Some homeschoolers I know let their children take a few classes a day at the public high school. For others, they try a charter school approach or a work-study approach. As children grow up, sometimes they desire to stretch their wings and be more independent. Mixing outside classes in with homeschool can facilitate this need.

               Do not feel guilty to use public school as needed. I have gone through times in my life when, as a single parent, I was the bread-winner and couldn’t continue to homeschool. However, I kept supplementing my children’s education at home in the evenings. I also returned to homeschooling when my situation improved. Most of my children have done both homeschool and public school, depending on our situation.

               We do the best we can with what we have. Supplementing your child’s learning at home – whether public, private, or home school – is one of the very best practices needed to help your child succeed. It can make the difference to overcoming the obstacles in education that hold so many children back.

                However, I caution you. Common Core is a horrid curriculum, and I completely disagree with open bathrooms. Our children are no longer safe in the federal public school system, so proceed with caution and keep both eyes wide open! Plus, if Christianity and Judaism have no place in our public schools, than neither should Islamic studies. You have the right to refuse any course of study that goes against your conscience.

http://thegodfreymethod.com

An Apple a Day - Helping your child learn through field trips

Homeschool Field Trips – Helping your child learn hands-on:

               We use every situation as a learning situation or field trip. When my husband goes on out-of-state fishing trips, he takes our son with him and turns it into a learning experience. He has my son write down all the wildlife he sees, the geography of their travels, the states through which they pass, the license plates of other vehicles – to see how many other states they can find, places and cities of interest, and they even check out library books about the flora and fauna of the destination area. They also talk about the types of fish they catch.

               Each state has a website of interesting things to do, which can be used as hands-on educational experiences. There are cultural events, nature reserves, amusement parks, museums, libraries, symphonies, community playhouses, national parks, recreational facilities, etc. Wise parents will make use of these resources for interesting field trips, while getting to know their own state better.

               In each one of my volumes of It's Not Rocket Surgery! by Shannah B Godfrey on Amazon.com, I put ideas for things to do in Missouri at the end of each subject. There are similar types of activities for each state. Check them out! 

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An Apple a Day - The flexibility of homeschool

               I love homeschooling for its flexibility! My youngest son has bipolar sleep issues. His circadian sleep cycle changes with his bipolar mood cycles. It is almost impossible for him to wake up early. Public school mornings were a nightmare for him. Now with homeschooling, we have the flexibility to have school any time of the day or night.

               My son sleeps in as long as he needs, then does his school work with his father. One of his classes he does at bedtime, because that’s when he prefers to read the lesson – in bed. Homeschooling has helped him thrive. The flexibility has eliminated the early morning battles. A sleep-deprived person is less reasonable and less able of self-control. Our family life is much more pleasant now.

               Be flexible. Homeschool does not need to be done on the same schedule as public or private school. As my quotes from Hartman Rector, Jr., show, it also does not need to be 6 hours a day, every day. For best practices, find the rhythm that works for you. Then stick with it.

“There’s no question in my mind that about 14 minutes with mother is equal to all day in the public school. That’s what they determined when William Bennett was director of the Department of Education under President Reagan. He tried to determine how much time it would take with private tutoring for a child who had been injured and couldn’t attend school. All it takes is 1 ½ hours a week to keep a child up with his class. That’s about 20 minutes per day!

“[Mother burn-out] happens because they try to put on a public school in their home. They even use public school materials. That doesn’t work. You’ve got to adapt to what will work. I’m convinced that Glenn Kimber’s gone a long way down the road to getting past this burnout problem. He suggests teaching three days a week, four hours a day, and no homework. Homework was devised by Dewey to make kids hate school. He didn’t want students to love learning.

“Don’t teach on Monday. You need Monday to get over Sunday. That’s when you do your housework, learn about Tide in, dirt out and if you put yeast in, bread rises. Then when you go on [your own] you’re not helpless… and the kids who came out knowing how to cook and mend were better qualified to survive well [as adults].

“The afternoon is open for students to play in the band or sports with local high school, if they want to. Friday is field day; you’ve got to know how the fire department and the police department work. I’m convinced this is a great system.” ~ Hartman Rector, Jr.

http://thegodfreymethod.com

An Apple a Day - How to get your children to read more

One more idea for motivating your children to read more: TV Bucks

One thing my father did with my siblings and me, that I have used with my children, is TV Bucks. To encourage us to read more and watch TV less, my father insisted that we read an hour for each hour of TV watched. We had to do the reading first – we could not go into “debt” nor make up the reading later. No reading, no TV.

               My father kept track of our reading hours in a notebook. I expanded on his idea by creating TV Bucks, which are the shape and size of Monopoly money, have the letters “TV” on the front center, and are laminated. Whenever my children read for an hour, they get a TV Buck. They can spend them on TV shows. TV Bucks have greatly increased reading time and decreased TV time. They are a great visual to keep track of reading time.

It's not rocket surgery! - but much more important than that. You, mom and dad, are the key.


http://thegodfreymethod.com

An Apple a Day - One way to negotiate with your child

Poker Chips – 

               One of the tools I use for negotiation is plastic, red poker chips. One of my sons has defiance disorder (but this works for all children). He has very little self-control over his anger and will say and do inappropriate things when his expectations are not met in his way. Poker chips have helped him curb his outbursts and control his reactions.

               We have a jar that starts off empty each day. He gets 2 poker chips put in his jar just for waking up each day. He is a person of value, regardless of his behavior, so he starts fresh with 2 chips. Throughout the day, he can earn a chip for each of his school subjects that he completes. He has 5 core subjects, so he can earn 5 more chips for 7 total.

He uses these chips to pay for privileges, which cost 2 chips each, such as playing an hour of video games, watching an hour of TV, playing on the computer for an hour, or using the cell phone for an hour. He can only “afford” 3 of the activities, so he has to choose his priorities.

Yes, there is a chip left over. It is insurance because if he swears at mom or dad in a fit of rage, he loses a chip. If he refuses to do his work or screams at us, he loses a chip. If he loses too many chips, he can no longer afford as many privileges. We try to pick our battles and not have a power struggle over every argument. We try to give him the benefit of the doubt, not take away all his chips (it would be easy to do, some days), and not back him into a corner, emotionally.

But we have noticed that with this motivation – to have to earn his privileges – he has more self-control and can calm himself down and respond better. Negotiation with poker chips helps him overcome his rage and feel better about himself. He also appreciates his blessings more if he has to earn them.

And it helps him understand the Law of the Harvest, that we reap what we sow. It helps us battle his feelings of entitlement, that he should always get his way no matter what. Control issues and entitlement are a common problem for bipolar children, children of rage (defiance disorder), and some Aspergers/autistic children.

The poker chips help us remove our own frustration and anger from the equation, too. Our son can see, by the chips in his jar, what he has earned. We can keep our emotions out of it. It is a visual point system that works for us.

http://thegodfreymethod.com

An Apple a Day - Using negotiation to motivate children

How do we motivate defiant children without nagging, yelling, and screaming? Last time we discussed using a kitchen timer as a challenge. Here is another idea:

Negotiate – 

Sometimes I motivate my children with negotiation. They need to earn their privileges, not just be handed everything. Children’s chores and studying need to be done before using electronics, TV, or playing. They need to be respectful to us parents, too. They need to learn gratitude for the treats, privileges, and activities they receive, too.

               There are certain chores that my children do just because they are part of the family and need to contribute to its success, to keep it functioning properly, and to appreciate their bed and food and care. For us, these include cleaning their rooms, doing dishes, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming, helping with laundry, etc.

               There are other chores that my children can do to earn money, to learn the value of work. For us, these include mowing the grass, washing windows, Spring cleaning chores, shoveling the snow, etc.

               I have a son who will only cooperate at times if he gets something extra from it. So I negotiate for extra TV or game time if he finishes writing his essay in a timely manner. He wants to be paid a privilege for every little requirement, but I tell him that some things are not negotiable, that he needs to do them just because, and shouldn’t need to be paid. We compromise on some things and not on others. If he is being especially defiant, I might give him an extra incentive to go do simple things.

               People say that we shouldn’t bribe children to do what’s right. Well, negotiation is not a bribe. A bribe is paying someone to do something illegal or immoral. However, we all respond to a reward system. Getting a paycheck is a reward for going to work. Rewarding children is not a bribe.

However, negotiation is not meant to spoil a child, give him or her something harmful – like a lot of candy – just because of a tantrum, or anything and everything s/he wants. That is not what a reward system or negotiation is for. In fact, if my child throws a tantrum, he or she definitely does NOT get his or her way. Sometimes a parent just has to say, “NO!” and stick to it. Be wise. Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Choose your battles wisely, but don't always concede.  Be consistent, whatever you do.

http://thegodfreymethod.com