IDEAS FOR INCORPORATING SERVICE PROJECTS INTO YOUR HOMESCHOOL
from the Homeschooler's Notebook
Encouragement and Advice for Homeschool Families
Here are some terrific ideas submitted to the HOMESCHOOLER'S NOTEBOOK that might be helpful for your homeschooling experience! (To subscribe to the Homeschooler's Notebook and get these kinds of great ideas direct to your mailbox, click here and just hit "send" and you will be subscribed!)
From Donna:Thank you for putting this
in your newsletter. We keep "meaning" to get around to helping others and end
up caught up in our own lives. The following are ideas we have incorporated
and ideas that others in my local homeschool group are doing.
The girls in my homeschool
girl scout troop are doing 2 -3 community service things this year: we started
with the Operation Christmas Child shoe box program which is sponsored by www.samaritanspurse.org
. They are also putting together baskets for the needy for the upcoming holidays.
The money we collect this year will be donated to a nonprofit group of the children's
choice. Out troop is trying to focus on others and on giving.
A mother of 7 in my homeschool
group has her entire family work twice a month at a food kitchen. They get up
at 4:30 am to help serve breakfast (a meal often missed by the homeless and
needy) at a downtown food kitchen.
While it may not be considered
reaching out, just having kids write letters to older, distant relatives is
a boon. Younger ones can send drawings and older ones can do both. They are
typically encouraged in doing this as the older generation will usually reply
to letters and kids love getting letters in the mail.
From Roben: Our homeschool group packs
shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child every year. They are a part of Samaritan's
Purse. For more information, you can visit their web site at samaritanspurse.org and follow the links to Operation Christmas Child. Thanks
From Lisa M: I enjoy your newsletter
very much. We have always homeschooled and really enjoy this lifestyle and way
of learning. My girls are 11 and 9 and they have done a couple of different
kinds of service projects the last few years. They are members of 4-H and last
year we went to a nursing home once a month with a small group of 4-H girls
calling themselves "The Nail Brigade". They had put together all the supplies
they would need to do manicures on the residents complete with different shades
of nail color.
This year we have formed
a 4-H Knitting Club where all the kids are learning how to knit. They knitted
baby blankets for the neonatal intensive care unit at our local hospital, which
have been very appreciated and much needed. They are completing knitting hats
for the homeless for Christmas and knitting outfits for stuffed animals that
will be given to the local firemen to hand out to needy children also at Christmas.
Another idea that my oldest
is considering, is to read to a group of children once a week, maybe through
"Head Start" or one of the other organizations where she could be a positive
influence on a group of beginning readers. She loves to read and is great with
changing her voice and inflection for each character.
Maybe some of these ideas
would be helpful.
From Jeanette: My kid's service project
is spending an hour a week at a nursing home. We go on an afternoon when the
residents are gathered for "recreation" time. What we do is very varied. Sometimes
we assist a resident who is painting a wood craft. One resident may just need
someone to hold the piece of wood still while they paint. Maybe the resident
needs to hold the piece still while it is painted by one of the kids. Next week
my daughter is taking a story she is trying to memorize and one of the residents
is willing to have her recite while they read and prompt her. My son will be
"practice" teaching the missionary stories that he uses for Child Evangelism
Fellowship. Some weeks the puppet director from our church brings the puppets
and she and the kids "practice" a show.
Last Sunday my daughter
danced during the "church" service. There were several practice run -throughs
while the residents were being assembled in the room. It did not diminish the
applause of appreciation when the did the dance "for real."
Another week several residents
were interviewed about the type of training they did for the jobs they had held.
This was an assignment from part of their medieval history course.
The best part is that this
is also a high school credit course. How???? Both kids have taken a "Senior
Sensitivity Training" program. They will read one book per year on dealing with
Seniors and the problems they face and when the high school transcript is finished
there will be the course on dealing with Seniors (have not yet decided on the
name).
Does it take time to do
this? Yes, it does but where else can you do three things at once? We do service,
study and gain course credit.
Do we do other service?
Of course we do. We raise a Seeing Eye Puppy for the Seeing Eye of Morristown,
NJ. She often goes with us to the nursing home.
From Darlene H:
My children are 12 and 14, and we have just taken on a committed service project(which I regret we waited so long). We volunteer for the United Way in the county where we live. We have helped with a Success by Six Celebrate Kids Day, We also have participated in a Kickoff fund-raiser and now are ending the time with our Victory Party. We have had many jobs that have taught my children that there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to raise the type of money each county needs to help different organizations. My children and I have helped also in the planning of both celebrations with different creative ideas. If we should withdraw our volunteer services today, I could walk away knowing that a part of my children's lives have been touched not only by volunteering but by the people with whom we've been involved. My children and I have entered into a place we ALL never want to put aside. They look forward to every Thursday (our day for service work), knowing we are going to the United Way.
The United Way has many different agencies within its scope, such as Boy Scouts, First Call for Help, Manna (feeds homebound), Salvation Army, & American Red Cross, and that is just a few. I encourage any family, homeschoolers or not, to participate in service work. You and the ones you have helped, walk away with a renewed sense of belonging and blessings.
From Sybil: 4-H offers an abundance
of opportunities for service, both home grown and institutional. Being active
with a club, at the local level, the district level, the state and national
levels are the beginning of this.
People who want to do 4-H
at-large, without the club meetings, etc., are able to take any idea at its
basic level with their child(ren) to develop whatever interests they have will
find more opportunities than they can begin to pursue.
Example: suppose I want
to have my children learn about horses: being active with a 4-H horse club will
give the chance to get to children with disabilities who need someone to lead
the horse or to help get the animals ready for the children to come or . . .
That's service.
Suppose I want to have my
children get nutrition information: searching through the publications reveals
a marvelous booklet on cooking for groups. So now my children and I can learn
about the standards for making food presentable and safe for the church supper/dinner/breakfast
we're working on!
Service learning.
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