Make Time to Play

A reminder for the whole family:

My precious boy with the golden hair
Came up one day beside my chair
And fell upon his bended knee
And said, “Oh, Mommy, please play with me!”

I said, “Not now, go on and play;
I’ve got so much to do today.”
He smiled through tears in eyes so blue
When I said, “We’ll play when I get through.”

But the chores lasted all through the day
And I never did find time to play.

When supper was over and dishes done,
I was much too tired for my little son.

I tucked him in and kissed his cheek
And watched my angel fall asleep.
As I tossed and turned upon my bed,
Those words kept ringing in my head,

“Not now, son, go on and play,
I’ve got so much to do today.”

I fell asleep and in a minute’s span,
My little boy is a full-grown man.

No toys are there to clutter the floor;
No dirty fingerprints on the door;
No snacks to fix; no tears to dry;
The rooms just echo my lonely sigh.

And now I’ve got the time to play;
But my precious boy is gone away.

I awoke myself with a pitiful scream
And realized it was just a dream

For across the room in his little bed,
Lay my curly-haired boy, the sleepy-head.
My work will wait ‘til another day
For now I must find some time to play.

--Dianna Neal

Worthwhile Writing Practice

I always felt that if a child is going to practice his handwriting, he should be given worthwhile things to copy and write- whether of personal interest to him, related to the lessons he is learning or educational in the formation of character, values, etc. such as useful sayings, sastric verses, poetry  and the like (I prefer to do spelling tests this way, too, using a dictated spelling word in a sentence that child can relate to or simply to remember Krishna by). Children's narrations on a lesson may also be included.

For this purpose,  Start Write is a program I purchased years ago and recently started using again with my younger students. One thing I love about it is the ability to add pictures of my own choice if I so desire. Here's a sample, including a narration that was dictated by a student (although I could not find a way to show the actual fonts used in the program):

Bharat is taking Rama's shoes to remember that Rama is the king, not him.


He carries them on his head to carry back to Ayodya.


He puts Rama's shoes on the throne.


He worships them.


Bharat loves Rama so much, and Rama loves him.

Depending on the ability of the student or circumstances at the time, I'd include any or all the sentences from a dictation. Also with "Start Write", a student can first practice by tracing over the words before advancing to copying underneath. The fonts provide both options as well as a font that has pointing arrows for showing proper letter formation.

Another option is that a space can be left blank to let students include their own illustration if time permits. Do you see how Language Arts, Handwriting and Art class can all be covered during a lesson in handwriting practice?

What We're Doing This Year

For one thing, we are still with the K12 program. Once again a large shipment of books and school supplies came via UPS, cost free, for both second and eighth grades. Simultaneously, I try to incorporate the Krsna conscious perspective into every subject. After some seventeen years of experience and having already spent last year getting used to K12, things have been a lot easier (and by Krishna's causeless mercy). The only thing that wears me down a bit is working outside as well as cooking and chores at home. So not much sleep, but that's my life as usual, and I really do love all the things I get to do.

Next is a quick overview of what we strive to get done each day or each week:

LIFE SKILLS
First thing, besides the all- important point of taking darshan at the temple, chanting japa, hearing Bhagavatam class at the temple and so on, students and I get necessary things done at home before school begins. Granddaughter helps with cooking breakfast and sweeping the floors, for example, while son takes out trash and keeps his room clean.

STUDENT BLOG IDEA
Next, while I explain to son what his assignments are for the day, granddaughter is working on her math facts. Here's the link. This link I also have added to a private blog I created for her, so that she can practice at home and also her parents and other relatives are allowed to view her schoolwork. It contains samples of her artwork,

video presentations such as reciting poems and sastra verses, her illustrated writings and various kinds of memory work, along with more links and other material she finds interesting. For example, we just finished the story about Rama building a bridge to Lanka with the aide of monkeys and I showed her on Geo Earth the location. She was fascinated, so I put a photo of it on her blog also.

USING THE COMPUTER AND LARGE SCREEN TV
I've been getting ideas how to use my PC more and more to make lessons interesting for students as well as convenient for me. Hooked up to a large screen TV, students now can view class from the living room couch while I pull up lessons (using the mouse as a convenient pointer) and provide supplementary material such as videos, images, maps, a blank page on paint to draw on like a white board, etc. Ideas keep popping up.
LATER NOTE: Two screens are even better! One large one that acts as the "white board", etc. A smaller sized screen for simultaneously opening other material that corresponds with the lesson. For example, a map related to a lesson opened on the larger screen.

MEMORY WORK
One folder I have on my desktop is entitled "Memory Work". How nice it is to have everything there when I start the day, right after sastra class, by also reviewing all memory work. This includes Gita verses and our disciplic succession as well as stuff like the continents, measurements, months of the year, select poems or whatever else student needs at the time. I like to illustrate these whenever possible. One example is a piece from a skip counting chart I put together:

ILLUSTRATED GITA VERSES
Stored on my PC for easy reference, all our Gita verses are also being illustrated this year. Here's a sample:
na tv evaham jatu nasam
 na--never; tu--but; eva--certainly; aham--I; jatu--become; na--never; asam--existed;
na tvam neme janadhipah
na--it is not so; tvam--yourself; na--not; ime--all these; jana-adhipah--kings;
na caiva na bhavisyamah
na--never; ca--also; eva--certainly; na--not like that; bhavisyamah--shall exist
sarve vayam atah param
sarve--all of us; vayam--we; atah param--hereafter.
 (I also include all the diacritical marks of the verse but they did not show up here.) 
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

Each week a new verse is studied and all previous verses reviewed except those that are mastered. Those will be repeated now and then in a maha review or pulled up again each following school year.


EXPANDING THE CLASSROOM
Today was a nice day out, so instead of reading class in the house, student and I spent time reading aloud on a sunny bench in the back yard!

These are some of the ideas beings implemented and presented here to share. I will try to add more to this later if time permits.

MIDDAY SWITCH
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My older student works more on his own this year, during morning hours and we go over his lessons after lunch.This includes discussing his given literature and history assignments or doing stuff together such as the science labs and art projects. It's a nice opportunity to spend time together.

He also attends live online classes with K12 teachers for extra help or information. I can watch recordings of these teachers' classes, too, if I wish, to keep myself informed in the various subjects (as well as strengthen my teaching abilities by observing how others do it!)

LOOKING AHEAD
Also each Friday and Saturday, when I get home from working at Govinda's Buffet, I pull out students' lessons for the week and do a quick check what they are about, whether I know the material  (so that I can help a student that needs it), what supplementary materials I can dig up to enhance a lesson, what work samples are due to send in to the K12 teachers, as well as what materials are needed in general such as for a science lab or art class. I can streamline lessons also. I pick from what may be a very involved lesson to what student actually needs to do to accomplish the objectives. This is important to avoid burn out for both students and teacher.

MOVING FORWARD
K12 moves at a very fast pace, but it helps me to put the children first and get things done. I used to be paralyzed by perfectionism, which means in simple language- I'd put things off. Now I try to do something, anything, even if imperfectly. Just dive in an learn to swim in the process, letting ideas flow and actually implementing them before their shelf life expires.