My Little Robins

Loving and Learning in the Nest

How to Teach French at Home Using TalkBox.Mom

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I've always valued learning a foreign language, but never felt confident enough to actually speak what I had learned.  I wanted to give my children the gift of learning a foreign language at a young age, rather than making them struggle with it through adolescence like I did. But, as a novice French-speaker and homeschooler without any foreign-language speaking relatives up my sleeve, it didn't seem likely to happen. 

Talkbox.Mom is a foreign language resource that helps make foreign language instruction possible in our home. Incorporating language into our homeschool everyday has been the key! We aren't learning foreign language through workbooks and verb conjugation, we are living foreign language. 

 We've been using Talkbox.Mom in our home for over a year, and I was excited to have this opportunity to write a sponsored post about it. All of these ideas are my own. You can check out my policies page for more information. 

What Is Talkbox.Mom?

I first learned about this curriculum in a Charlotte Mason homeschooling group. It is so similar to how Charlotte Mason taught languages: through phrases and real life conversation rather than grammar drills. The first box we ever received was full of phrases to use at meal time and in the kitchen. There were 8x11 posters to put up  around the kitchen as a reminder to use the phrases. We also received a book full of additional phrases that I could look through to add to our home. An account at Talkbox.mom gave us access to French audio and fun games and activities. Since our very first box, the resources  inside have varied and we love how they mix it up on us! We've gotten big posters, cards to place around the home, and flip charts, all filled with French phrases that we can learn and impliment in our daily life! 

Related: Learning a Foreign Language Like a Native

Tips for Using This Foreign Language Curriculum

Throughout our year of foreign language learning, we've had highs and lows. Sometimes we haven't been as consistent as others. I've narrowed in on the things that have given us success with Talkbox.Mom. 

1. Put up the posters

When we first got our Talkbox.Mom box, our house was under renovation. This did not work out well because we didn't have anywhere to put up the posters. But, I thought I could refer to the posters when we wanted to, or that just having the curriculum nearby would magically transfer knowledge to us (lol!) Nope! The moment our home was somewhat presentable, I put up the posters, and our language learning increased exponentially!

Some of the posters are small, and some are much larger and come in a tube. I always take those posters out right away and flatten them under books or they will be perpetually curled.  

We put our posters, including our progress sheet, in our breakfast nook, as well as other places around the house. We refer to them as we do 10 minutes of French during our morning basket time. 

2. Don't let the posters become part of the decor

When I was preparing my Talkbox.Mom materials for this post, I discovered a card from the rooms and games box on the wall in our basement. We did that box almost a year ago! Because we are creatures of habit, it's easy to train ourselves to ignore something that we post on the wall. The key, I've found, is to take it down before it starts to blend into the background. Move it to a new spot, or take it down for a couple of days before putting it back up again. This has been an important step for me so that I don't forget to look at the posters. 

3. Prepare ahead of time

At first, I tried to just learn as we went, but after awhile I realized how important it is to prepare ahead of time. Taking a moment to go through the phrase book and the app phrases each week has helped us be more intentional about finding phrases that are relevant to our family. 

4. Try for a few phrases a day

Without taking the time to intentionally choose phrases, I often just went through phrase after phrase at our breakfast table French lesson. My children didn't learn much that way! I started narrowing down on a few phrases in our Talkbox.Mom box each day, and that helped to give us focus. 

This also helped us to more easily apply the phrases we learned outside of our morning time language lessons. If we have a specific focus, then we know what we should practice throughout the day, whether it's outdoors, getting ready for the day, etc. 

5. Listen to conversational French every day

Listening to the audio phrases through the app is a huge part of Talkbox.Mom that we tried to skip at first. Sometimes during our morning time lessons, it gets a little hectic and it's hard to hear French phrases amidst the din of two preschool boys! But when we really narrowed down on a few phrases, it became easier. Now we listen to a few phrases multiple times, rather than trying to listen to many phrases once. My daughter is really starting to get the hang of the accent since she has listened to it so much, and even my preschoolers join in to share phrases! Implementing language in a conversational way has been key! 

6. Write it down

On the same vein as narrowing down the phrases we learn and preparing ahead of time, I bought a notebook and started writing down the phrases that we wanted/needed to learn. The notebook happens to have two columns, one for the French phrase and one for the English phrase, but any notebook will work! At our morning time lesson, I often reread through the phrases that we've already learned. 

7. Don't miss the extras

The website has fun extras that you can download to enhance your language learning. It would be easy to look them over if you aren't on the website often, but that would be a mistake! These games offer a fun way to shake up your language learning. Talkbox.Mom is currently offering a free ball challenge, as a way to start speaking the language of your choice right now! Sign up here. 

Another extra is the Talkbox.Mom Facebook group. I have gotten so much good advice and inspiration from other moms who are using the curriculum.

A highlight of this month was when my three-year-old started speaking in French. This is not unusual among Talkbox.Mom families. Hearing and applying the language makes it possible to start speaking it right away.  And if we can find success with it, then so can you! 

If you need help deciding which language to start learning, go here! Use the code thankful for $20 off of your first box and book now through December 20, 2020.  

Tips for using Talkbox.Mom to teach French in your home.

Primary Source Letter for Thanksgiving

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Going into the Thanksgiving season, there is always some debate about the story from which it originally derived. Over the years, I've collected books that balance out the view of Thanksgiving, from the pilgrim's perspective and the Native American perspective. But recently it occurred to me that I had never sought out primary sources for Thanksgiving. 


Primary sources are accounts from people who actually experienced the event in history. There seems to be one man from  which the idea of a Thanksgiving feast was passed on to progeny. His name was Edward Winslow, and he was a pilgrim who traveled to North America on the Mayflower in 1620. 

Related: Cozy Read-Alouds

 

Thanksgiving Primary Source Letter

Winslow was 26 in 1621 when he wrote to a dear friend at home. He told his friend of the progress the Pilgrims made on building a village, and how the Native Americans had helped them learn how to fertilize the corn with a type a fish called shad. 

So that you can use this primary source in your homeschool, I've written out the first portion off the letter in cursive handwriting. This portion of the letter describes the construction of the colony, the pilgrim's interactions with the Massasoit tribe, and a feast attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 pilgrims.

I've also given some background information on Winslow, and have typed out other portions of his letter in case you'd like to include them as well.

You can get the free PDF in My Little Robins' Shop!

SHOP




One-to-One Correspondence Preschool Math Activity

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My preschooler recently turned five, and his newfound maturity caused him to start asking to do math. He is not eager to learn to read, but math is something he really wants to learn! I decided to start at the beginning with a preschool math activity on one-to-on correspondence. This skill allows children to understand that numbers aren't just meaningless symbols, but that they represent a specific quantity. 

When my daughter wanted to learn this, I used large numbers on chart paper and dot stickers. She stuck one dot sticker on the number one, two on number two, etc. But I knew that doing something a bit more elaborate would be perfect for my son, who also needs sensory activities to keep his mind and body functioning well.  I ordered some paint pallets on Amazon and realized they were the perfect tool for teaching this skill. They had 10 little circles, were inexpensive, and have another function in our homeschool (we are all into painting lately, but that's another post!) So voila:  the new fan favorite, pompoms and paint pallet math. 

Related: Early Years Math By The Way

I've used affiliate links in this post to share the materials needed for this learning idea. You can read more about affiliate links in my policies.

Preschool Math Activity With Paint Pallets

I bought these 6 paint pallets on Amazon (they came with brushes, too!) You can get more pallets for just about the same amount of money if you don't want the brushes. 

The center well is perfect for number cards. I printed out circular number cards that would fit into the center of each pallet. (You can get my cards through the sign-up form below.)

Related: The Complete Charlotte Mason Preschool Guide

Then, I cut the cards out. I placed a few of them in the center of three of the paint pallets. 

Pretty pompoms that I got on Etsy from Cutest Little Garlands were perfect for this activity! I scattered them around the table and let my little guy pick them up using big toddler tweezers. This adds an extra little bonus skill for his pencil grip needs!

Playing With Pallets and Pompoms

After the setup process, which happened while all three children were upstairs and playing together nicely (miraculously!), I invited my son to match up the number on the pallet with the correct number of pompoms. But of course, he had to place the pompoms there with tweezers, which also helps him build the muscles that he needs for handwriting and for proper pencil grip. 

Since I only had three pallets to devote to this (the other three are filled with paint from working projects!) I switched out the numbers once he was done with them. If I had a set of 10 pallets, I would be able to set up all the pallets with numbers at once. That really didn't make a huge difference in the activity, though! When he was done, either his big sister or I checked to see if he had the right number of pompoms on the pallet, and then we changed out the number. 

Simple and fun! 

Join in this activity with us by downloading the free circle number cards from My Little Robins. 

Make Your Own Dinosaur Eggs for National Fossil Day

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Never did I ever think National Fossil Day would be on my radar, but because I have two dino-loving dudes, it is now something we just HAVE to celebrate. We recently went to a dinosaur museum, and my boys bought (with their own money!) two chalky dinosaur egg "fossils." They loved them, but the eggs made a huge mess, and I was a little concerned with all of the dust particles flying around, especially for my not-even-three-year-old. (The age suggestion was something like 6+...oops!)

So a month later, we decided that making our own dinosaur eggs for National Fossil Day (October 14 this year) would be a great idea! This was not overly messy, didn't take long to do, and my boys enjoyed it! 

I've used affiliate links to share some of the material I used for these. You can read more about affiliate links in my policies.

Related: Introducing the Idea Nest

DIY Dinosaur Eggs

We make salt dough on the regular, so I didn't want to make salt-dough dinosaur eggs. That didn't seem special. I found a few recipes for coffee-ground dinosaur eggs, which is SO SMART! Instead of looking like smooth, whitish dough, these looked like legit rocks! I ended up combining a few recipes that I found, but here is one for reference. 

Making these eggs was even easier than making salt-dough eggs, because there was no cooking necessary. Thanks to a cook-free method, my boys could participate a ton! They helped dump the ingredients in the bowl, stirred them up, and then shaped the "eggs." 

 The coffee grounds were definitely key here. I used about a half cup of already-used coffee grounds. This seemed to be a good amount because I have a child who can't stand the smell of coffee, but wasn't bothered by the coffee grounds in these fossils. Getting the right amount of water was a little tricky. If you add more water, they become a smoother rock. With less water, the texture is really pronounced. 

Related: Preschool Pond Play

Dinosaur Eggs Recipe

There are only five ingredients in these eggs. Some recipes I found don't use sand, but I think the sand is a great addition. It helps them crumble nicely when little fingers are digging for treasures. 

Materials:

Ingredients:

  • One cup flour
  • 3/4 C salt
  • 1/2 C coffee grinds
  • 1 C sand
  • 1/2 - 3/4 C water

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Add water gradually to be sure you don't add too much. You can use a large spoon for this, but I think little hands mixing it up is best! Now you have a sensory activity! 

2. Place about a fourth-cup of the mixture in your hand, and put a small dinosaur on top of it. Take another fourth-cup of the mixture and put it on top of the dinosaur.

3. Shape the mixture until it resembles an egg. Even Little Guy did pretty well with this part! Make about 4 or 5 eggs. 

Dinosaur Egg

4. Place the eggs on a cookie sheet. Leave them there to dry for several days. Turn them over once or twice a day. You'll see the  moisture rise to the sides of the eggs, so keep the moist side up so it can dry. 


Cracking the Eggs

After four days of drying, our eggs were ready (or at least my boys were!) The fossils were still damp inside, but it made it a little easier for the boys to get their treasures. 

I gave them little wooden chisels, paint brushes, and wooden mallets (we use these mallets ALL the time!) to crack open their eggs. After a few attempts, they both needed me to get them started. Once I made a little dent with the chisel, they were able to hammer and dig away to reach their dinosaurs. 


This was slightly messy, but a quick run-through with the vacuum took care of it! 

 A certain little girl wasn't at home when we made these eggs, so we are going to make them again today. They are just so much fun! 

Cozy Read Alouds Starring Woodland Animals

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We went through a phase where all the books that we read had to feature human main characters. No animals allowed. This was a hard phase! There are SO many good books featuring animals, especially fuzzy, friendly woodland animals! Thankfully, that phase has passed and we're ready to embrace books about all people and animals. Books like these are especially perfect for the fall and winter! 

Since I have multiple little book-lovers now, I've broken this into three categories: picture books, chapter books, and non-fiction books. 

You can see all of these books here in my Amazon Affiliate Store. I've used affiliate links to share these books with you. You can read about affiliate links in my policies.

Amazon Store

 

Picture Book Read Alouds Staring Woodland Animals

Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklem- This is a favorite for the Charlotte Mason early years! The sweet little animals in the story are always finding something to celebrate. This collection features a story for every season, plus more. 

The Hat by Jan Brett- A must-read winter tale! A sweet little hedgehog gets caught up in the laundry line, and dons a new "hat." The other animals laugh at him, until they decide that they too would like some winter clothes. 


The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn-  This was my daugther's favorite book for years! Chester the raccoon is afraid to go to school. His wise mother gives him a kiss in his hand and tells him to take it with him so that he can have it all night. 

Wait Till The Moon is Full by Margaret Wise Brown- As if an amazing, classic author is not enough to convince you to read this book, it is illustrated be THE Garth Williams. This sweet story is about a little raccoon who wants to go exploring, but is told to "wait till the moon is full." The repetition of this cornerstone phrase started to irritate my daughter a bit, but my two younger children really enjoyed it. 

The Mitten by Jan Brett- Jan Brett retells the sweet folk story of a child who loses a mitten in the snow. But this wayward mitten is put to good use when animals flock to it for shelter. There are other versions of this story, but I'd argue that this is the most beautiful one! 


Annie and the Wild Animals by Jann Brett- There are so many Jan Brett books that we love, and that feature woodland animals. Her illustrations are captivating! In this book, Annie hopes to lure a wild animal to tame as a pet through some delicious corn cakes. 


The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi- Stir up the imagination with a tea party where all of the guests are animals! This book was used for winter Tinkergarten a few years ago, which means there is a lot of great play inspiration in it! 


The Snowy Nap by Jan Brett- I just can't get enough of Jan Brett's hedgehogs! They are so cute, and even my rough-and-tumble boy said, "I just want to cuddle it!" I guess we should also study real-life hedgehogs! 

Best in Snow by April Pulley Sayre- We enjoy these real photography books more for their photos than the words, but the text is short and sweet. The pictures show animals and snowflakes in the winter. 

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson- This sweet story features a young fox who is confused about the falling leaves and changing of seasons. 

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson- Karma Wilson wrote a slew of these bear books, and though some might categorize them as "light reading," they are clever and lyrical. This is not a book that I dread reading to my children! The Christmas book Bear Stays Up is equally delightful. 




Chapter Books Read Alouds Starring Woodland Animals

The Adventures of TumTum and Nutmeg by Emily Bearn- This is a book that we read my daughter's kindergarten year. We bought the treasury that included the first three books, but we only made it through the first book. It was a little scary for her at that point. Two years later, she has recently read the whole treasury on her own, and then shortly after that, my husband read it aloud to her. So it was a hit! 

Sophie Mouse by Poppy Green- These books are great for young readers because they are simple and sweet.


The Adventures of Geraldine Woolkins by Karin Koffman- In this existential story of a mouse, Geradline struggles to understand who her creator is. 


Poppy by Avi- A brave little mouse stirs up the order of things when asks the tyrannical owl, Mr. Ocax, if she and her family can move to another part of the forest. A suspenseful tale that is best for middle and upper elementary students. 


Rascal by Sterling North- 

A boy and his pet raccoon share adventures together in northern Wisconsin. Based on a true story, this book evokes the joy of a simpler time, and of a wild and free childhood. 

Heartwood Hotel by Kallie George- This book is on our to-read book, because they characters are wholesome and the story is sweet! I know H will get pulled into this series quickly! 

The Big Thornton Burgess Story-Book- I linked to this book for reference, not because I think you should buy an $800 book! We do happen to have this book, and it is the coziest, sweetest storybook. The premise is that the storyteller is telling animal stories to a bunch of children by a fire- couldn't be cozier than that! 


Non-Fiction

Perhaps non-fiction books don't make cozy read alouds, but these are great to include if you are learning about woodland animals!

Tracks, Scat, and Signs By Leslie Dendy- These take-along guides are some of our favorite books. They are factual and engaging. This book is helpful for identifying animals in the wild. 

Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints by Millicent E Selsam- This book can help you identify tracks, mainly those that you would see in your own neighborhood.  There are hands-on activities for little learners in the back. 

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