The Red, Red Robin

In anticipation for the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend -- we have a childhood favorite! The story behind this song: When Mama Voyager was a young girl, her daddy used to wake her and her brother up by singing this song. He didn't sound anything like Doris Day, but her version is quite energetic and happy, so I chose it for this video!

Feel Free to Sing-A-Long!

Learn More About the Robin!

Wild Bird Watching is a great website for learning about birds. The American Robin page has simple to read information and videos! Watch the mama feed her babies! 

The kidzone also has a good page about the American Robin - with printable worksheets and coloring pages.

To listen to the calls and songs of the American Robin - the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has recordings  from various states. This is a must bookmark website if you are interested in birds!

This ROBIN coloring page is from a 1930 newspaper. The article below was printed with it, and ran is several paper around the country:

Robins Stay In California All Winter
 

ROBIN RED BREAST, Oh yes, we know Robin. Every girl and boy knows robin. No one needs to tell us that it has a red breast, and that its back is dull black. Mother robin wears a duller coat and baby robin sports a speckled breast. We all know that.

Even though the robin is well known, it is interesting. We like to watch it getting its dinner. Its meals are eaten on the ground, but like all of us it likes dessert with its meals and that is usually gotten from trees and bushes. 

Insert - California paper only

If you want to know more about that you must watch it yourself for that is the one thing that people complain about when they speak of the robin.
 
They forget all about the good it does when it hops over the lawn, cocks its head to one side, listens, digs quickly with its sharp bill, and pulls out a grub or a worm. Or when it scratches the leaves, throwing them about, and gobbles up the bugs and beetles, and other insects that will come out from their hiding places at night when we are asleep, and do harm to the trees and other plants.
 
The robin is with us almost all the year Frequently we hear of one staying with us all winter. If we go hiking during the Christmas Holidays [winter] and make a list of the birds we see, we are very likely to have our robin on the list.
 
As many as fifty and more have been seen in a flock in this section during Christmas Holidays. But we have to go to some sheltered ravine in the woods to see them.
 
We say the robin goes south but it has been seen time and again, every month in the year, right around here.
 
You know the robin. Do you know its nest? It differs from other birds' nests in that it is plastered with mud.
 
You can see the robin in spring picking up wet leaves and mud, and often shaping the nest in a nice round bowl, after lining it with soft grass to make a nice place for the four or five pretty blue eggs.
 
Mother robin will sit on the eggs and spread her wings to shelter the eggs of the little ones from rain and storm.

Then comes the busy time when these little ones must be fed. There is not much time then for singing. In early spring Robin would perch on a topmost branch and call "Cheer up! Cheer up!" but now he may have these words in his little heart, while his mouth must be used for carrying food and putting it in the babies' mouths. 

End of California Insert

The robin has a song and a number of other calls that are all cheerful unless he is frightened because he or his little ones are in danger. It is worth getting up before sunrise to hear him begin the morning bird concert.

Robins like to take a bath and make use of a pan of water both for drinking and bathing, if a kind-hearted girl or boy will put one up where they can get to it. 

Robins also like to have a table set for them on a shelf or window sill where they can come for crumbs. They like soft food. 

(Copyright, 1930, for The TRIBUNE.) -- Oakland Tribune - Nov. 2, 1930

 Carrie Jacobs Bond, the author of the Robin newspaper article, was an amazing woman, who faced many challenges in a male-dominated world. After a divorce from her first husband, she married a doctor, who was hit by a snowball thrown by a child. He fell and died from his injuries. She had a son from her first marriage, and wrote music and poetry to eke out a living. Originally from Wisconsin, she later lived in California, and even had a home in La Mesa, not far from where we live! 

You can read a biography on History's Women - quite fascinating, really.

Snowball account from her Wikipedia biography.

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I have more bird articles by Carrie Jacobs Bond, which I will post at a later date. The series was from a Children's Coloring Contest that ran in many newspapers, from about 1927-1930.

Teaching Numbers First

Image from Totally Tots

While looking through some math books I had saved in my Google Library, I found one published in 1892. The preface surprised me! It seems that "old school" education is always being criticized as "drill and kill" and/or "not engaging," etc. The real surprise was the method employed in the book was nothing new:

The Preface continues:

The object of every teacher is  to present numbers that the mind of the child may grasp firmly the facts concerning them, and hold these facts tenaciously by the law of association. Success lies in requiring the child to show what he is talking about, and in following the "step by step" rule. The book illustrates these two principles. It abounds in examples which have not before appeared in print, and which are calculated to interest the child from their close connection with his varied experiences. It gives suggestions for versatility of drill, and illustrates in detail the teaching of a hundred topics.

And concludes with this:

It is hoped that this book will find a welcome among all persons interested in leading children by easy and sure paths to a knowledge of numbers.

G. A. WENTWORTH.
E. M. REED.

*     *     *     *     *

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.

For a successful teaching of Number the teacher needs a great variety of objects. Blocks, splints, sticks, buttons, paper patterns, peas, beans, corn, spools, counters, shells, pebbles, horse-chestnuts, acorns, little tin plates, cups and saucers, tin money, are inexpensive and convenient to handle. For measurements, the teacher must have inch measures, foot rules, yard measures, a set of tin measures, a set of wooden or paste-board measures, a set of weights, and a pair of scales.

The teaching of Number as far as ten does not include the teaching of figures or other signs used in Arithmetic. No blackboard work is required of the child until after he has learned the numbers below ten. There is no difficulty in learning the figures along with the numbers; the difficulty comes in learning the numbers along with the figures. So it seems best to ignore the sign in favor of the thing.

It is more convenient in these exercises to have the children stand about a table on which are the objects to be handled, and many of the directions to the class are given with this arrangement in view. 

Let the children illustrate each story with objects, until it is evident that the relation between the numbers is as clearly seen without the objects as with them. Whenever a mental picture is formed, then the material is a hindrance to the teaching. Objects are a means to an end, not the end. When an idea has been abstracted from the concrete, objects no longer have an office to perform, and should be put aside.

[Emphasis added]

First Step - Pre-Assess:

Ascertain the child's knowledge of Number before attempting any teaching of Number. Do this by skilful examination after the child feels at home in the schoolroom.

 

"Show me so many blocks (two blocks); so many beans; so many pebbles; so many spools; so many pencils."

 

"How many blocks have I in my hand? Come, whisper to me, if you know." 

After each has whispered the number, ask the class:

 

"How many spools did you show me? how many beans? how many blocks?"

Let the class answer in concert, "Two," each time.

 

"Show me two buttons; two boys; two girls; two chairs."

"Put two blocks on the table in front of you; put two buttons on the table; take one button from the table and put it under the table; put one block under the table."

 

If two be known, try three, and so on until a number is reached which is not known.

Second step in the examination:

Require the child to show some number with which he is familiar. For example, two.

 

"Take one of your two blocks away. How many blocks have you left?"

 

"If I have two horses and sell one horse, how many horses shall I then have?"

 

"If I have two pencils and lose one pencil, how many pencils have I left?"

 

"You may put one block on the table in front of you. You may put another block with it. How many blocks have you now shown me?"

 

"One block and one block are how many blocks?"

 

"One horse and one horse are how many horses?"

 

"If I have one pencil and buy another, how many pencils shall I have?"

 

"If John has one cent and I give him another cent, how many cents will he have?"

 

"If Susie has one apron and mamma makes her another, how many aprons will Susie have?"

 

"Show me two buttons. Take the two buttons away. How many buttons remain?"

 

"If there are two cows in the barn and two cows are turned out in the yard, how many cows remain in the barn?"

 

"Show me two boxes. Put one block in each box. How many blocks does it take?"

 

"If these two little girls have each a doll, how many dolls have they together?"

 

"If these two little boys have each a sled, how many sleds have they together?"

 

"If there are two nests, and an egg in each nest, how many eggs are there?"

 

"If there are two stores, and a wagon at each store, how many wagons are there?

 

"Show me two blocks. Put one of these two blocks in this box. Put another of your blocks in this box. How many boxes does it take?"

 

"If you have two hens, and each sits in a nest by herself, how many nests will it take?"

 

"If you have two spoons, and put each into a cup by itself, how many cups will it take?"

 

"If you have two cents, and give one each Sunday, how many Sundays can you give before the two cents will be given away?"

 

"If you have two pencils, and put each on a slate by itself, on how many slates will you put them?"

This outline for review is merely suggested as being searching in its nature. The aim should be solely to bring to light all the child's knowledge of Number, that the teacher may waste no time upon teaching him what he already knows. Do not hurry the examination. See that each child does for himself what you require, and does not imitate you or his neighbor in his work. Let each one answer for himself. Distinguish between the child's failure to understand your language and his inability to do what you require of him.

When the examination is complete, begin the teaching, and take the child where he is. As far as the experience of most primary teachers goes, few children know beyond two when they enter school for the first time. In most instances three will be the starting-point in teaching.

The ability to count up to a number does not constitute a knowledge of the number; so this must not be taken as the test of the child's knowledge. Do not permit counting by ones throughout the work in Arithmetic.

 

In the teaching of every number the order to be observed is as follows:

I. The perception of the number. 

II. Analysis of the number.

III. Drill upon facts discovered by analysis.

IV. Comparison with smaller numbers.

[Emphasis added]

What I like about the lessons in this book:

1. Much of it is done orally. Talk, Listen, Show, Relate. Very engaging, builds attention span and encourages world to self connections:

2. Discoveries. Think, connect:

3. Fact stories. So much of the lessons are oral word problems. Love this! as this is always a problem area for many children. Teacher then student:

4. There are plenty of Review exercises, similar to the main lessons.

5. Rather than break out and isolate addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions, they cover many of these during the NUMBER study. In teaching the number three, it covers all of these except fractions:

6. Comparisons:

7. Write/Copy -- The chapter ends with this:

In the preface, it states this book should take four years to complete! Obviously written before textbooks became such a racket:

Here is a link to the book:

Title: The First Steps in Number
Authors: George Albert Wentworth, E. M. Reed
Publisher: Ginn, 1892
(GOOGLE LINK) 

These Numbers Galore worksheets look like a nice transition to numerals. They ask students to draw, tally, one more, one less, odd-even, and provide writing practice.

These worksheets are available for FREE at Wild About Teaching.

 

Setting Sail

 

Image from Picture Book

Welcome to Homeschool Voyagers!

Our family is new to homeschooling this year, and so far, we are loving it. Many people have wondered why we made this choice. Our answer: There really was no other choice.

Regular public school is, in reality, just an institution for indoctrination social engineering; not something we were comfortable with, for our children. So, we looked for alternatives; we even played the Charter School Lottery Game and came up losers each and every time.

So... we chose to HOMESCHOOL. 

The following excerpt is from an OLD book, written in 1838. It discusses the importance of parents as teachers:

THE POWER OF EDUCATION OVER MAN NO NEW DOCTRINE.

Such then is man—a creature composed of three natures, physical, intellectual, and moral, all united to form one being. Such is education—the great instrument by which the character of man is to be formed—the instrument by which the powers of the body are to be trained, by which the mental faculties are to be developed and expanded, by which the heart, the seat of the affections, is to be moulded.

*     *     *     *     *

PROVISION OP PROVIDENCE THAT THE CONTROLLING
LESSONS OF LIFE
SHALL BE GIVEN BY PARENTS.

If man is made to be the subject of education, and if the decisive stage in which he is most easily moulded is that of early life, how wise and benignant is the course of providence as displayed in this design. In the dawn of existence, man is to receive a bias for life. It is at this period that he is most ductile. It is at this period that he is formed to obtain the most lasting impressions, and acquire those trains of thought and feeling which will shape his future fortunes. And what seminary is provided for him? To what teacher is he committed? The seminary is home; the teacher is the parent. What spot on earth so likely to abound in genial influences as the fireside? What schoolmaster so likely to teach with blended wisdom and kindness as the parent?

It is plainly a part of the great scheme of the Creator, in making man the subject of education, that the fireside shall be the seminary in which the controlling lessons of life are to be taught. It is obvious that in placing the power of fashioning the characters of their children for good or ill in the hands of parents.

Title: Fireside Education
Author: Samuel Griswold Goodrich
Publisher: F. J. Huntington, 1838

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We want our children to have a strong academic and moral education. We believe ALL children are capable of learning a wide variety of subjects, beyond the basic skills, and should have that opportunity. We are working to provide that opportunity for our children.

Meet the Little Voyagers!

This is Rosetta. She is in 2nd grade. She loves reading the Boxcar Children series 

and learning to live like Laura Ingalls Wilder.

This is Saralina. She is in Kindergarten. She loves horses, gardening and living like 

Laura Ingalls Wilder, too.

 

And finally, we have our preschooler, Spiderman. Spiderman likes leaping from tall buildings; doing whatever his sisters are doing, and then some!

*     *     *     *     *

This being our first year for homeschooling, we are just beginning to get our routine established, but the little voyagers are really stepping up and taking turns at the helm.

*     *     *

Please join us on our Homeschool Voyage!

We hope you enjoy will enjoy our journey as much as we do.