Have you Taught your Kids to Sell on Ebay?

As parents know, learning does not just take place inside the school room or inside their workbooks.  Actually, quite the opposite. I believe that LASTING learning often happens during real-life.   I could list hundreds of ways to incorporate life into your learning, but one I wanted to point out today is Ebay.  I have been selling on ebay since 1999 after a friend introduced me to it.  I started before I even owned a digital camera...that's a long time ago.

If you haven't yet learned to sell on ebay, I highly recommend it!!  It's simple to learn, and once you do, you will likely be hooked,  and then you can teach your own kids!!

This post is not a "how to" but an overview on WHY selling on ebay is great to incorporate into your kids' lives.

Here are a few good reasons:

• Many kids get into the habit of spending.  Selling and making money can be just as fun, and it is a much better habit to learn to think like an entrepreneur.  Looking for nice quality or highly desired items that they could purchase to resell.
• It will help them declutter.  When they see that the toy or clothing that is sitting there unused and can be turned into cash, it motivates you to declutter!
• It teaches them a skill they can be proud of.
• Often people want to sell things on ebay but they don't want to learn. We have had dozens of people ask us to sell their junk on ebay for a 50% or so commission.  That translates into a nice little work from home job for kids.  No age requirement necessary.  (I have kids as young as 12 that have mastered ebay and do fantastic!!)  
• It teaches them how to type and describe items and type sentences.  Language Arts right there!!
• It teaches them math.  They get to calculate postal rates, sales and fees on paypal and ebay.  They can do it on paper or learn a system like Excel if you want to deepen the education. 
• They become familiar with how to package boxes/envelopes. How to calculate shipping rates.  Learning how to track packages to make sure they arrived. 
• They learn to deal with people.  Most transactions are smooth and easy but occasionally you'll get a picky buyer who finds SOMETHING to complain about.  Voila...people skills right there...learning how to keep customers happy.  
• Digital Photography.  A picture is worth a thousand words...learning to take a good picture so buyers can see exactly what they are bidding on.  It's not hard but most kids haven't learned that yet.   Also editing photos, rotating pictures, cropping etc. 
• Finding out what something is worth.  It's important to do quick research on completed items to see beforehand if it's even worth your time to sell that item.  This comes in VERY handy when you're at the clearance section at Walmart,  or at Goodwill or a yard sale to check right then to see if it's worth your time to sell.   Sometimes you see that it isn't but often you'll see that this $2 item sells for $30 on ebay!  Or this $20 Lego set will sell for $60 online.  Grab it!  
• patience...sometimes you can sell something quickly for cheap, but if you stay patient and stick to your price, if reasonable, you'll make more money if you just keep it on ebay and wait for the right buyer.
• One year, when my older kids were younger, we tracked packages as part of geography.  We would mark on a map where each item sold and put a mark on the map to show all our sales that year geographically.  
• Most shipping labels are printed at home and the package can be thrown in the mailbox.  Sometimes it's too large or you have too many packages to fit in your mailbox so it requires a trip to the post office.  This is good for social skills--- having them take the package(s) into the post office and handle the transaction.     When my oldest son was 4, he was able to do this. (It was a small town and I could see the door of the post office and knew the postal lady)  Since the label is all ready, he just had to wait in line and hand it to the postal worker.  You may want your kids to be older if you live in a larger town and can't see inside clearly. 
• With the money they will make, they can open a savings account and learn banking.
• If you believe in tithing, that is another good part of earning money is giving some away to the church or a ministry that they feel passionate about.     Raising money for a missions project is another good reason for kids to learn to make money.  

So there you have it! I'm sure there are even more reasons why selling on Ebay is a good idea to teach your kids.  What other ideas do you have?

"Remember to be Jesus!"

I was grabbing my purse and heading out the door, and I heard the familiar voice that I hear when anyone in our family heads out into the world......

REMEMBER TO BE JESUS!!!!

One of my younger children never fails to remind us parents and older kids of this when we are leaving on an errand.   I can't tell you how much this helps and impacts me.   I get my mind so set on conquering my Walmart shopping list, post office trip, or gymnastics run that I sometimes forget the most important thing. 

Last week, I heard these words again.  But I don't take it lightly or brush it off.  I was getting out of my car with my 10 year old, and as I'm walking into Walmart I hear her voice from home ringing in my head, "Remember to be Jesus!"   I smiled at an elderly African-American lady, and she smiled back.   

A few minutes later, the Walmart greeter was sitting on his stool with a sad look on his face.   "Good morning! How are you?" I said with a smile, again hearing in my head, "Remember to be Jesus!!"   

A little later, on the other side of the store, someone was blocking the aisle for quite a while without realizing it.  I was in a hurry, but the voice in my head reminded me...and I took a deep breath and when she said, "Oh I'm sorry," I patiently replied.  "Oh that's okay, no problem," and meant it.  "Remember to be Jesus." 

This post has nothing to do with me being kind that day.  Because without that reminder I may have done none of those things. I may have tuned into my grocery list and gone about my trip accomplishing what I came to do...fill up the cart, cross the items off, and head home.   But this child of mine, reminded me that we are called to be so much more.  We are God's representative to a lost and sad world of His goodness.  We are ambassadors, witnesses.  We have love and joy in our hearts because we have HIM in our hearts..and HE is love and joy. 

I recently asked her where she got the idea and she said that it was her older brother. YES! Of course!  My oldest son has said the same thing for years as well...but he's been gone a lot so I had forgotten.  By his example she has picked up the mantle of godly reminding us of our calling and destiny as Christians. 

Let me encourage you so you can encourage another Christian and remind me and everyone around you.  Don't lose focus.  Don't forget the purpose.   

When you are running to Walmart....

REMEMBER TO BE JESUS!!!!

When you are running to the post office....

REMEMBER TO BE JESUS!!!!

When you are taking your kids to gymnastics, soccer or baseball....
REMEMBER TO BE JESUS!!!!

When you are being a wife, a mom, or a friend...REMEMBER TO BE JESUS!!!!

Early Elementary Language Arts Homeschool Curriculum through 3rd Grade

In my last post, I talked about math curriculum.  This post will discuss some curriculum that I use or have used for Early Elementary:  roughly preschool through 3rd grade for handwriting and language arts. 

I love teaching these grades because everything is new and exciting! I love to see light bulbs go off as they "get it."  I love to see their reading slowly improve until by 4th grade they read to themselves.

There is a lot of great curriculum out there for these early years.  I wish I had time to use more than I do.  I will caution you that there is also a lot of curriculum out there that is terrible for little people.  Curriculum that brings tears and squelches any love for learning that could be ignited in these precious, early years.   I won't name specifics, but steer clear of curriculum that brings tears. That causes small kids to "do school" past lunchtime. (that doesn't include the more fun hands-on stuff, or reading out loud, just any book-work type stuff.)  If their face looks like this you may want to re-think what you're doing.     

In my experience, actual sit down and do workbooks at this stage should be limited to no more than 1-2 hours.  Less (much less) for kindergarten.  Add a lot of reading out loud, fun hands on learning outside or in the kitchen, and let them guide you as to what they love and have a desire to learn as well.

For Handwriting, I have 2 that I like a lot:

• Handwriting Without Tears
• The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting

I'm currently using TGTB because I like that they build art into the curriculum, but if you have a child that doesn't enjoy art, then HWT might be a better choice.   Another good option is A Reason for Handwriting, especially for girls that like to color and send letters in the mail. 

Spelling:  Fun Fact:  I never teach spelling with a formal curriculum in the K-3rd grade range.  You can waste a lot of time teaching them to spell words that if you wait until their reading gets better, they will just KNOW how to spell....so trust me on this one....hold off on spelling until later!!

Phonics/Learning to Read:
In Preschool, I typically like to "do school" as they ask to be like the "big kids." 
Some books that I've used and really like are:

• Horizons Preschool book 1 (only) *book 2 has too much writing for this age IMO so I don't buy it.  
• My First School Book (Handwriting without Tears)
• Explode the Code Primers: Get Ready Get Set Go for the Code
• Horizons Math K
• Sonlight Preschool Read Alouds  (I bought most of these books when my oldest kids were in preschool....you can, honestly, just get any great books and read aloud to them from the library...just be sure to include Bible, and a variety of books like fiction, science, social studies etc--this is usually their favorite time of the day).

Kindergarten Language Arts: 
**Treasure is starting Kindergarten in the fall and this is what she is currently working on**

• The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting (Link above)
• Explode the code books 1-3
• Learning Language Arts Through Literature Blue Book  (I have used this since 1998. It is just FUN.  Lots of hands on things.  Lot of tiny books they can start reading on their own right from the bat just like Bob Books).   I enjoy teaching it and they enjoy learning to read with it.   It does have handwriting built in, but I don't care for their style (Italic Handwriting) so we do skip that portion of it.   

1st Grade Language Arts:

• Explode the Code (roughly books 4-6...but honestly some kids go faster and some slower so I do books 1-7 total at their pace until they are done, usually by the end of 2nd grade.)
• Learning Language Arts Through Literature Red Book (This is a continuation of the Blue book...by the time they are done with the Red, they are pretty great readers)
• Abeka Language 1  (Okay, I'm honestly NOT an Abeka fan at all...but I do love their Language 1,2,3 workbooks...they are short, to the point and just work to reinforce what this age group needs..after 3rd grade though, I'm really really not a fan of their language arts)
• Good and the Beautiful Handwriting 1 

2nd Grade Language Arts:

• Explode the Code book 7 (or finish wherever they left off in 1st grade)
• Abeka Language 2
• Sonlight 2 Readers (Read out loud to me all the 2nd grade readers starting with the Beginners Bible)
• Good and the Beautiful Handwriting 2

3rd Grade Language Arts:
**This is Ransom's lineup for next year Language Arts**

• Good and the Beautiful Handwriting 3
• Abeka Language 3
• Sonlight 3 Readers (Reading out loud and transitioning to reading independently when they are pretty fluent readers...usually halfway through this year)
• Language Lessons for a Living Education book 3 (which replaces Explode the Code from last year) 

One other thing that I have seen good results with is the website Starfall.com   We use the free version, and they like to "play" with it in their free time.  My 6th child loved it so much, she accidentally taught herself to read on her own.  

Another one some of my kids have enjoyed for reading is:  https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

To answer a few questions:

**I really don't teach spelling at these ages**

**It might seem weird to have more than one Language Arts curriculum most years.  I really like these combinations..and I feel the most important thing academically to accomplish in these early years is to create good readers.  To make them fluent and to enjoy reading as well.  So we focus pretty heavily on Language Arts in the first few years.  That said, our school is not long and tedious.  Most of these books can be accomplished in under 15 minutes each. We devote the most time to out loud reading from real (good)books, and not boring curriculum readers....and they all have seemed to enjoy snuggling on the couch and reading a good book to me.**

**I think reading aloud to your kids is very important.  I try to do this when I can, and I typically choose good books from our home library.  If you need some ideas, check out the catalogs from curriculum like Sonlight,  Heart of Dakota  or My Father's World.  They all have great selections of good literature ideas. 

I firmly believe that Christians need to be some of the best communicators both with written and oral communication.  How else can we share the Good News of Jesus?   In our homeschool, we tend to make Language Arts a priority for that reason.