Peaceful Perspective Planner (For the non-planning type)

I start to feel panic rising when considering the idea of planners.  I don't like reading blog posts about them either!  However, I know that having a calendar of some sort (even if I'm mostly writing what we DID rather than what is coming next) it does help me feel calm about what we are doing being enough.  I have tried so many planners though and none have been the right fit for my personality.

This is the front of the planner after I added some color!  You could color or doodle in this planner or just use it as it is.  Or you can get ideas from this and make your own pages!  I love visual journals and the idea of bullet journals and I've looked into the "happy planner" and other things, but I wanted something that was a bit more manageable and not expensive and something that would SAVE me time rather than give me more to do.

These pages are the "weekly" pages and I went ahead and printed out 5 of them even though I will probably only keep one at a time in my planner.  Too many pages can be stressful to me so having just a few pages to look at is much better.

For more pictures and a video about how to put it all together (and the link to the free printable of course!) click the "read more" below.

Herb Fairies & Poetry PIZZA Time!

We just got something that I have been interested in for about half my life!  *Healing Herbs! * But this is amazing because it's told in story form (I am all about the stories!) And with fairies (hello, love fairies!) And it is technically made for kids, but I would want it for me even if my kids didn't want to join me.

We live in a town home apartment so potted gardening is all I can do right now and I have to haul watering pots to water everything (which means my main problem is letting things dry out too much), but I have had a few herbs growing now for a few years!

"Poet -Tree" and Raising Caterpillars

Our "Poet-Tree" that we started in April (for poetry month) but it is staying up a long time!
It is made from packing paper from an amazon box and taped and thumb tacked to the wall.
The leaves are some old scrapbooking paper I had and we have slowly been writing poems
onto the leaves for most of our poetry tea times.  

We were in the process of raising caterpillars during this poetry tea time so we specifically looked for poems about caterpillars and Butterflies to add them to the "Poet-tree"!

For more pictures click on the read more below.

Alice in Wonderland : Poetry teatime

You can do a poetry tea time ANY way you want!  You could do a picnic poetry time, or go to starbucks, or not have tea but have some other favorite snacks instead.

Today I chose to go with an Alice in Wonderland theme because my 5 year old happens to be really interested in all things Alice in Wonderland.  She wanted me to read her the book and we have watched many movie versions of it as well.

When coming up with ideas I go with the ones that will be the easiest (in my opinion) and that will have the biggest impact.  So, the "eat me" and "Drink me" and letting them come up with a costume if they wanted was basically the full plan, but a I will talk about a few other details as well for people to see how this rolls out in real life.

Fun-schooling: the Early Years

Too often, people think that academic learning and school should be hard.  Like if it isn't hard and tedious then they aren't actually learning.  Yet, in reality we should work to the level of success!  

We should find every day life and interests to enjoy together.

Tie books to movies to games to art to field trips.

Be curious with your child about things they find in nature.

If they have a question you can say the truth that you don't know and google it to find the answer together!

Grab a huge stack of books from the library on a subject and don't worry about reading through them all.  Flip through or skip parts or read as much as they wish for.

I so often focus my research and homeschooling efforts into my oldest (because she is the one in the front to usher in each new stage!) that I got to thinking how I don't write as often about what I have been doing or have planned for my youngest.  She will be 6 in a few months and mostly has been benefiting from what I do with my older two.  I have done so much research over the past 7 years because of homeschooling my oldest, and we have tried several different curriculum choices.  Only now I feel like I've finally found our sweet spot and after all that testing and research (and research again!) and testing some more.  I feel like I can recommend my favorite choices!  BUT, the point isn't to do what works for other people, but to find what works for you and your family.  So, just know this is what works for us!  I hope it helps other people as well, but you are on your own journey and it will look different from mine.

December Traditions and Ideas

Next year I will likely forget the ideas I tried this year so I'll blog about it just for my own records. :)

I bought gift boxes from the dollar store (the smaller ones were in a multiple set for a dollar!) so that I'd have 24 total boxes that I could fill with books and crafts and such!  Each day the girls got to open one and the first few weeks this was absolutely wonderful, but it did get a little old in the week leading up till christmas.  I might do a 12 days before Christmas or something else to make it shorter.  Maybe just week days and not weekends?  I don't know, it needs more tweaking.  :)

A Look Inside and a Life of Learning

I shared briefly in the previous post about this pocket journal, but it was brand new and I hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet! It has a different feel than some of the others so is worth some extra attention.

My 8 year old thought it looked amazing and she wanted to use it right away, but I personally think it would work best for possibly 6th grade and higher or for a child who loves to read a lot and isn't as into the coloring and drawing and much.  The small size makes it feel more doable and less intimidating for children who don't enjoy writing as much, or for adults who want a book to guide their own studies but don't have a ton of time to put towards them.

This post will give you a peek inside this journal and how it can look to use it, but since I was the one using it, I will also share how it can be used for a mom book.  Or some people say "awesome adulting" or other people call it being an example, or modeling how to learn for our kids.  Whatever you want to call enjoying being an adult and learning what YOU want to learn is what I am going to talk about.

Thinking Tree books in Categories! (& Ideas for using them!)

 We have loved using the Thinking Tree books for over a year now (and longer if you include the Dyslexia Games books that we have used on and off for about 3 years too!  Which started back when I was learning about Right Brain dominant learners.)

There are SO many books by them and they are a different style than we are used to seeing (great for the right brain dominant learners!) But that can make it confusing to know which to pick.  I thought it would be helpful to share some ideas about the types of books (in categories) and a few ideas on how someone could plan to use them.

Many people have wondered how these books work and how they can use them.  I've broken the books down into a rough 8 categories to make it easier for people to see what types of books are available.

Poetry Teatimes Continue! (And my Poem about it!)

We have been doing "Poetry teatimes" for long enough now that we have started writing our own poetry at the end almost every time!  It might be silly or short or not that great, but still it is fun and a great creative time.

Our Typical Atypical Monday

 It's hard to begin a description of a typical day because I feel like I can only describe ONE day and not necessarily show that every day will look like this, but the principles are the same to the flow and rhythm of our homeschool.  If you read my previous post you will know that I talked about how we all parent and homeschool differently and it is based on our choices that we think are best for our own family AND our own personality and what I do (and what you do) isn't a judgement on the choices of other people.
 

Personally, I can't homeschool in a super structured rigorous way.  I hate the detailed teachers guides that don't show WHAT the goal is for that lesson but only the 3 pages of monologue that I'm (apparently) supposed to use in teaching it.  After 6 years of homeschooling (I started getting serious about what to homeschool when my oldest was 4.... I wouldn't recommend starting then, but most of us will still do that anyway) I have finally owned my personality and style.

Our style might be totally NOT what would work for you.  That's okay!  That's the beauty of homeschooling because we can tailor it to fit our own family! 

Choosing Joy - and not planning too much

 I started our new school year a few weeks ago, feathering in the subjects and routines slowly so we could get back into the swing of learning in a more regular way.

Before starting up though, I was feeling overwhelmed and a bit worried that if I was tired BEFORE starting, how would this year of continual planning, spontaneous learning, daily questions, messes, crying, laughing, following rabbit trails, goofing off, loving, being "bored" and all the other things that make up this 24/7 job of mothering and educating look like by the new year?

Enter the gathering of encouraging words from other homeschoolers! Blogs, podcasts, periscopes, Facebook lives... The online community of homeschoolers like me who are less concerned with looking perfect and more concerned with just doing our best for our kids.  If I read something that makes me feel more stressed, then I throw it out.  If I read or hear something that gives me courage and strength, I hold onto it.
And this blogpost is going to be all about the parts that have brought me encouragement for the start of this year.

Mom-Tips from A to Z

Following my completion of all the alphabetical chalk boards, how about some tips from Amazing to Zany for Moms (and homeschoolers especially)! And there are links to all those A-to-Z chalkboard posts at the end of this post too!


Also, a free sample "Mom's book" of 100 pages from The Thinking Tree!  A great thing to print out in the summer and start working through to help you relax while prepping for next year.  (Check out this blog post for other thinking tree books and how to use them.)

Or really, it can be used any time to get a little time away for a Parent Teacher conference/refocus time without feeling guilty!
 Child-- "Mommy, why were you coloring and talking to yourself in the closet?"
Mom-- "I was having an important teacher/parent planning time, dear."


Advice from Amazing to Zany!  -Yes, I came up with 26 bits of advice and encouragement (and humor) for you!

"Z week" is finally here!

Obviously my plan of the alphabet of the week wasn't just one week for each letter.  We did other things in between, and the past 2 years of going through the alphabet like this has been more of a way to find a theme and a resting point between each section (sort of like a unit study) and the blogging about it reminds me of what we have done instead of just getting caught up in the mundane every day stuff.

 Here is the design for this theme.  Zig-Zag race at the ZOO - Pizza Prize. ;)  We went to the zoo a lot (before it got too hot here!) and before that we went to the arboretum to find Zinnias.  We also planted some zinnias in our little potted garden outside our apartment.

Mom-School books, reviews, how-to, and 7 giveaways!

 These are the 7 giveaway books for 7 people that I have already given away!   But even though the giveaway portion is over you can still see inside these lovely books that everyone is talking about.

Variations on "Poetry Tea Time"

Have you heard about "Poetry Tea Times"-- check out the hash tag #poetryteatime on instagram or look at their website! Also check out their #poetryteatimecontest !

It's not a curriculum or for only homeschoolers.  It's an idea that can be molded to fit any family or interests. 

Here's the idea.
1. Parents (usually) value poetry (or other educational or enrichment type things they could plug into this idea.)
2. Kids value snacks!  Or a special meal of some kind!  (If they aren't into a tea party you could go to Starbucks for Frapps or a frozen yogurt place!)

Y and Why - Modeling Learning

 "Value academic work because nurturing the intellect is part of what makes us fully human, but don't elevate it beyond its place.  There are relationships to cultivate, books to read, oceans to swim in, forts to build, toilets to scrub, bills to pay, paintings to create, dinners to make.  This is why we homeschool, because we want to engage in a full-to bursting life."
(Quote from "Teaching From Rest")

"Yesterday, a yodeling yak was in the yard of yarrow playing with your toy yacht under the yew tree.  It yelled when it sat on your yardstick and yo-yo.  Then the yak said, 'Yummy,' when it saw a yucky yellow egg yolk."

And what each girl did for her own chalk board for "Y week"

 Our chalk board alphabet theme is winding down and I've been listening and reading about how children learn and meditating on the most important things in our days.  I hope this blog post will be encouraging to my fellow homeschoolers and Moms of littles.  I will be sharing a lot of quotes and links and thoughts that have been encouraging for me!

      I'm a second generation Homeschooler which is always the highest compliment to the original teacher (my mom!) because she created an environment that I have always wanted to copy.  And I've only admired her more as I've progressed down this journey.

Freedom in Order

 What most homeschoolers understand is that struggle we have between the need to have order to our home and school, but often one of the reasons we chose to homeschool is for the freedom and flexibility and ability to hone the school our children's interests even day to day.

How do you create order and structure while at the same time desiring to nurture creativity and freedom?  Not to mention the normal flow of a changing day with sicknesses, new babies, bad moods, and just household tasks that never end?  This post has a few ideas that we are trying, but we are always tweaking it as we go.

Inspiring Early Readers with Crayons

You can inspire your child towards an interest in story telling, languages, and creativity even at a young age and even just with crayons.

 It all started with a memory.

When I was a little girl (about my two oldest girls ages) I would organize my coloring box with like colors next to each other, and I distinctly remember in one season at that time in my life where I was fascinated with the names of the crayon colors and worked at sounding them out and asking my mom about the funny spellings.

My favorite color then was Periwinkle possibly more for it's interesting name than it's color!

Deciding to buy myself a box of crayons one grocery shopping day recently, I took them home, sat down, and gently poured them out and reorganized them the way I liked.

I then colored in the word "Being" in my journal.

 When my girls saw what I'd done they were so impressed that they were inspired to do their own!

As we colored I read to them the names on the crayons and we laughed at some and approved of others.  Names such as ---

"Razzmatazz"
"Wild Strawberry"
"Macaroni and Cheese"
"Snowball"
"Dandelion" and the like...

 I made word bubbles for the girls to create their own ribbon rainbow words with my crayons with the instructions to be very careful with them.

 Previously, crayons barely lasted a day and I was always sad to see them so quickly broken and ruined.

 My 7 year old was inspired to practice sounding out the names of the crayons as she saw me talk about the names.  The magnifying glass helped her do this!

If you want to inspire your early readers with crayons YOU need to be interested in those names as well!  

Actually, they are pretty fascinating to read.  It's not a box of red, red, red, red and red.. it's Maroon, Wild Strawberry, Wacky Watermelon, Brick Red, Magenta, and so on! 

 These words paint such a vivid picture if you will let them!  What stories could these crayons tell? Ask your child what they think of when they hear a name?  Who would live there?  How would this place feel?

I recently watched a Periscope to inspire Homeschooling parents to do some "Awesome Adulting" - meaning that we can't stop learning and growing and following our interests and passions because we are so caught up in the curriculum and homeschooling and surviving the days.
Doing more of my own art and crafts that I feel like doing is not only great for me it's even great for my kids to watch!  My Mom inspired me as I grew by just doing awesome things!  It made me want to learn those things too.

 I love seeing art videos that are sped up or the time lapse type and thought it would be fun to create my own coloring a page using ONLY crayons.  Did you know crayons could do this?

My new skill this week was learning to make a time lapse video and put it into Youtube so I could edit it all awesome.  This is what I came up with!

The coloring sketch journal featured is this.



 

It's been several days and the girls have been gentle with my crayons so I (once again) got them a box of crayons for their own.  First time getting all three a large box though!  And first thing they all did was sit down and organize their colors.  The 7 year old was very interested in the lovely sounding names and the 10 year old was quite taken with comparing the English names to the two other languages underneath each name!




What are other ways you could use crayons to inspire reading and creativity? 

 1.    Reading the names to them and talking about what it makes them think of.  If they can't think of an image or idea then come up with your own!  Make sure they know that this isn't a test and there aren't any wrong answers as you brain storm together and scribble.

2.     Compare the colors that look similar and be surprised and delighted when they look totally different on the page than the crayon looked!  You could talk about the names of those two crayons and discuss if you think the name was accurate or not.

 3.    Crayons can also teach responsibility as you teach them to take care of their art supplies.  Crayons layer really well if you don't push too hard so that's a great way to teach them to be gentle with the crayons.  Show them how to color with one and then color over it again to change the color to something slightly different or totally different!

4.     Come up with a short story game to make up together using their favorite animal toy as the main character.  Like, the toy bunny hopped along through the "Wild Strawberries"  .. Her name was "Razzmatazz"... she had "Periwinkle" eyes.  Pull each crayon out randomly and try to make the name of the crayon fit into the story!  You or your child could even write this down if you like to take it a bit farther!

5.     Draw bubble letter words that they are interested in spelling so they can color them in.  How much MORE fun would that be than copying a dry list of words?  Show them the video that I made below for inspiration!




"The highest form of learning is creating.  Creativity is a sign of true intelligence.  Creating something requires us to use our skills, knowledge and ideas.  First we look, next we copy, then we practice, and finally all we create.  This is the pathway to mastery.  
Little children are great creators, until they are told to follow the instructions, and do only as they are told.  Instead of valuing creativity, which is the highest form of learning, we value the memorization of facts - a lower form of learning that can be measured by testing."  Quote by Sarah Janisse Brown in "How to Homeschool"

To say that children can't have this freedom of creativity in how they learn, that we give to ourselves when we are older as we are learning new skills, is not only unkind, but demeaning and could even be considered cruel for some children.

If we want our children to love learning and be lifelong learners we need to think of more ways to inspire them.  

What inspired you as a child?  What memory do you have like my crayon one?  How could you ENJOY that right now and thus (hopefully) inspire those around you to want to join in on the fun!

Delight Directed with the Daddy

 This book is lovely and wonderful for Dads to use with kids, but it could be used by any parent or caregiver. I thought up some do's and don'ts for how to use this book along with showing off what some of the inside pages look like.

 Goals for using this-
Spending quality time together-
Sharing your own interests-
Discovering what your kids are interested in-
Getting to know each other-
Nurturing creativity and curiosity-
Starting great discussions-

 

Don't tell them what to do and have them do all the work in the books or force a perfectionist idea of how things should be colored "inside the lines" or a certain color.  Don't squash their imagination.
Do take turns writing, coloring with them at the same time, and speak encouraging words while you do so! Learn from their young imaginations!

Don't ask questions like you are giving a test. You don't have to know the answers, and neither do they. This is about discovery.
Do listen and ask questions that draw them out.  If they start to clam up, it may be that they are afraid of sharing their thoughts. Sometimes kids need to hear a story about "when I was a kid I struggled with this" and encourage them with stories of how you grew past things or what you learned. No one is perfect, and they need to know it's okay to be themselves.

 Don't keep talking and talking about something you might be wanting them to learn while their eyes glaze over.
Do pause that documentary when you see their interest wavering so you can explain what is going on a bit to help catch them up. If there are words they don't understand, define them or look them up together.

Don't pretend like you know something if you really don't.
Do admit when you're unsure about the answer to a topic or the meaning of the word. Show them how you would find the information out yourself.

Don't roll your eyes at the topics being learned or act fed up with their simplicity or that you might not be interested in the topics.
Do develop your own curiosity and follow the interests of your children.  Look for something in the topics that is new to you and SHOW that interest to them.

You are modeling a love (or hate) of learning, and they will learn more by watching you and how you interact with them than what is actually being studied.

Don't fall asleep or let your voice drone dully on when reading out loud to them that same book they have heard a hundred times or that boring one you wish wasn't on the shelf.
Do pretend like you are in acting class and make your voice sound happier, or add higher or lower "voices" to the characters in the book. Or for that really dull, repetitive book that they have memorized, choose to throw in a random word instead of the one that is really there to make everyone laugh!

 Don't rush through the coloring pages or writing parts or whatever YOU aren't into.
Do show them excellence in what you do while accepting them and all their lovely imperfections exactly how they are!

 Don't lecture or use this time to "teach a subject"
Do listen and listen and listen.  Ask questions about what things are their favorites, or what was their dream last night, or if they were an animal which animal would they be?

Keep the goals you value the most in front of you while doing this.  This is about your kids.  It's about delight and it's about relationship.  It's about being imperfect and being loved regardless.

The left page above is only at the very beginning and sets up the rest.  It's about the subjects that your kids might be interested in and you can write that down together and discuss.
Look on your own shelves or go to the library to pick out fun and interesting books! Let people take turns coloring the books. Learning to work together can happen through coloring!

 Happy to be reading with the daddy!

 Every so often, these pages rotate around so I'll show the types of pages next! They are relatively self-explanatory.  ;)  While you read, you could have a child or two do the coloring on the books to keep them busy.
I also like to have silly putty handy for the wiggly kids that don't like to just sit and look over my shoulder when I read.  Silly putty can be super special if it's only pulled out during reading time!

 "Logic!  Why don't they teach Logic in these schools..."  C.S. Lewis from "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"  WELL THIS school does teach logic!  Even we adults can have fun figuring out what the pattern is so we can complete it!  Have everyone take turns or choose to rotate children for each page you do.  Try things and see what works best.

Don't leave out the little kids!
Do consider photocopying a page if you have little ones that aren't able or ready to do some of these things so they can have their own school to scribble on or tear or crumple without it being a problem for the older kids. They will feel included and get to have fun, but it won't "mess up" an older child's work in the actual book. (You could also let them color the page after the fact if the older child doesn't mind!)

 This page might take some Google searching and could also include teaching moments as you do this with your child about what sorts of websites to click on and which to avoid.   
Tip - you can look ahead so that you already have some of this sort of info ready to go.  Just make sure it doesn't turn into a lecture on your part.  Think of it as you would talking to a friend who didn't read the news and you want to tell them what's going on.

For younger children, it can be hard to keep this page and topic age appropriate.  Just be aware of your own kids and observe how they respond.  If you child is unusually afraid of sharks, then talking about shark attacks might not be the best idea if you want them to be able to sleep at night.  ;)

 Through out the book for pages like the one above it will focus on different jobs (not repeating the same one) which could open up some interesting discussions.

Don't talk about a job in a way that makes the hearer think it's not as good as another type of job. 
Do recognize that you don't know the future.  Even if you don't think your child could earn enough money with a certain job and would prefer them to work towards another, the fact is, you don't know for sure. You don't know what the future may bring and they will likely change their minds later, or the thing that they love won't be their "job" anyway, but rather a hobby that brings joy to their lives. And who wouldn't want that for their kids!

 These pages all through the book focus on different animals, and I can see some pretty fun and funny conversations going on.
An idea to include young children: Ask them to move or talk or make their face look like the animal in question! And for lots and lots of laughs do this yourself as well!

 What are your favorite foods?  Talk, illustrate, and write here and consider the next time you could surprise them with a special food treat while doing some "Fun school" together!

On the right-hand page, it's "Reading time" and this could be you reading aloud or if you have a child that likes to read out loud (none of mine enjoy this yet) you could consider that or if no one likes to read out loud then plan ahead and get some books on CD!

 "Meet the Classics" page.  This says to "give this page to an older child who needs to practice writing."  You could of course do that or you could take turns writing the lines each and talking about any new vocabulary words you might run across as you all go!

Get a nice set of colored pencils or Gel pens 
To use in the books NOT just for coloring but for writing as well!  Take turns writing the lines together and use a different color for each line!

 "Tell this story in your own words" - if you aren't familiar with it or if you want a refresher, you can plan ahead with a page like this and have something pre-written so you feel more comfortable telling a story by memory.
Tip for including younger kids or for just making it more fun for older ones!  
Coloring is great, but if there are enough of you or if not everyone is into coloring you might consider modeling clay or play dough and re-create some of the objects in the picture! This might be random, but we like to roast tiny marshmallows over candles here in our big city apartment in the heat of summer.  ;)  And looking at a picture like this I'm reminded of that and how one could have their kids enjoying some roasted marshmallows while listening to this story being retold with fish being roasted over a fire.  :) 

 These are my kids favorite pages!  Create your own comic - and "Watch a movie" together.  The comic page could have brain storming going together and you could choose one person to do the illustrating. 
Tip- Real comics are made by one person doing the writing, one person doing the sketching, one person goes back over it with ink, and one person does the coloring!

With Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, PBS online, TED Talks, and Library DVDs for free, it's really not hard to find interesting documentaries and other programs!  On Amazon Prime we just watched "The Science of Bubbles" so very interesting!

Don't keep watching a show to the end just to "finish it" if no one is interested.
Do be aware of age-appropriate content and watch your children as you watch the show to see if they seem interested or if they seem confused.  Pause the show if you can to catch them up if they seem confused about the meaning of words or just have a hard time keeping up with the speaker.

If you have a right-brain dominant learner like I do, then you'll need to think of how to help them set up a picture in their mind about whatever topic you all are learning about.  That's usually not as hard with movies, but if it's a TED talk or one that isn't made especially for kids then you might need to pause and do a little "re-cap" of what was already talked about with words you know they understand.

 Complete the picture pages.  This is similar to the logic pages, but not quite.  Develop observation skills and teach through example by pointing out the different lines and shapes and talk about how they compare to each other.  For smaller kids bring in counting naturally as you point at shapes and talk about what's missing so they can pick up on that as well.  This is a great page to plan to photo copy if you have several kids that might like to do this!  It would be fun to see how differently they turn out.

 How is everyone feeling?  Color in the expressions that match your moods today.  This can spark all kinds of conversations depending on the kids!  The bottom of the page says "list 3 things that might help you all feel better."  And yes, there has been suggestions of having hot chocolate and yes we then broke out the mugs and made it into an event!  And yes, everyone felt better after we did this. ;)

Don't judge the feelings of your child or make them feel like they can't express what is wrong.  Don't laugh at them or make fun of them or treat them like "it's not a big deal"  and act like they should just stop whining.
Do tell them that all their emotions are normal and try to be understanding and patient with them.  If they are having a bad day then acknowledge the bad parts, but help them see the good parts as well so the bad parts don't totally cover over the good things that have also happened.

 "Font Writing Practice" for our four year old I've had her copy over my own writing.  You can make bubble letters and have a child color them in for this.  You can show off some cursive if your child is interested in that as well!  Basically, make this work for you and your family.  If something starts to feel like a drag then pull out some colored pencils to write with or look up a calligraphy video to get some inspiration.  Here's a Ted Talk about Penmenship that was pretty inspiring!

My oldest actually really doesn't like the page on the right "word hunt" but she did like it at first.  I think it got to be a drag for her to try and find the exact letter count and then having a hard time finding words that fit the asked for letter count. 
If this is a problem for you, then you can just have them find any words all around the house or in books, or you can stipulate it in other ways like the "longest words" they can find.  For this, you can choose to do the writing for them to be an example of good writing or if they are too young to write.  Or you can take turns copying the words, or turn it into a game and all have different gel pens to write with and see who can find and write the most (though watch out for competitiveness as it can make for some tearful little ones.)  Cooperative games have worked the best for us!

 Math time and a drawing game.  The Math time can be a fun time to teach kids how to use a ruler or if you have older kids you could challenge each other to create a certain shape or something.  Or if someone wants to do the whole page themselves then they could work while you and other kids do the "drawing game" on the right hand side.

Don't - give the book to a kid and walk away completely.
Do - even if they want to do it on their own be near by to be impressed and share the experience and be a listening ear.  If you don't know what to do don't reach for your phone!  Reach for a colored pencil and color some boarders around the pages.

 Listening time and room to color and draw.  Today, my 10-year-old listened to A Wrinkle in Time on CD while doing this page in her "Kitty Doodle" journal, and was enjoying it so much that she ended up listening through half the book!

And those are all the types of pages!  The front cover says for ages 6 to 16, but I've been able to incorporate our 4-year-old into our "fun school" and as I mentioned before, you could always copy a page to hand to a little one that might want to scribble on it.  They will be delighted to be included in the big kids' school!

 Also, don't forget to take time to just sit and play with your kids too!  Lego is such a great tool for this.  Both of us enjoyed building with Lego as kids so it's a fun thing to do with our girls now.  We had a "Lego Christmas" this year as so much of the Holiday was spent building together while eating candy canes!

 It's the simple things that can create the best memories.  :)