Prairie Scraps

  With the invention of cell phones and texting, and even social media, I knew that we would rarely actually talk to people in person, but I have recently noticed that we don't even respond to people anymore, not even a text!  Is this our fate?    As a direct seller , I make a special effort to really try to personally connect with my customers on Facebook and also by texting them.  I don't just send advertisements, but I try to connect!  I was trying to call them, like a good direct seller, but people weren't answering my calls anymore.  It was then that I realized that people are just not talking on the phone anymore.   I decided about a month ago, to send 3-5 personal messages each day either on Facebook or by text to my friends and customers to try to reconnect.  Here's what I say: "Hi, Jenny!  How's it going?"  That's it!    I would say that less than 5% of people actually respond to this bland question when I message them. Don

As you may have already guessed from my previous article, 5 Reasons to NOT use Standardized Tests in Your Homeschool, I'm not a huge fan of testing my kids at all. It's not that I don't think that tests have a valid place in homeschool, I think in some instances, you should put your child through the process of testing. But I'm here to say that testing, especially Standardized Tests, are not the tell all for your child's knowledge and understanding. Here are 5 Ways to Know that Your Homeschool Works Ask your child questions after presenting the subject.  Can the give you important details about the subject back, in their own words?  Are they able to tell others about what they are studying?  I often "set" my children up.  When we see a friend or family member, I'll ask them to tell them about what we have been studying.  If they're at a loss for words, I'll prompt them.  For example, I'll say: "What war are we studying?" &

As I mentioned in my prior post Back to the Keyboard, Mr. Right was really excited about the possibility of me offering piano lessons!  Thankfully, I acted on that and got in about six new students to teach each week.  One of the main reasons I've been hesitant to teach lessons, is that it ties up that evening time, where my own kids have sports.  I try so hard to be at my own children's games, that it's hard to be tied to lessons every single week all year round. What surprised me most about putting it out there to my Facebook friends that I was looking for students, was how many wanted their preschool age children in lesson.  My first response was that they need to know how to read.  Well, as I've been researching to get inspiration and see how to run a music studio, I ran across a preschool music program.  I've looked at a different Kindergarten music program before, but had two objections to it.  First, that program involved me teaching a group of 3-5 year ol