Here’s this week’s practical tip ~
“Busy hands with listening ears” has helped my kids focus during read alouds in our homeschooling. I always planned hands-on activities for each theme so that my kids were quietly and constructively busy while I read aloud to them. But, while some projects were distracting, drawing, painting and coloring-in activities were very helpful. 
Combining several children on the same core and covering the same Fine Arts is a wonderful way of streamlining and easing your homeschooling! We used my traced outlines of art masterpieces and painted them for art appreciation lessons and this was a wonderful opportunity for combining art with listening to classical music or our current read aloud.
Many first-time homeschool moms are often overwhelmed by the huge amount of reading they have with their children and fine arts is often neglected. So, why not plan a simple art activity for each week and let your children quietly create while you read aloud.
Each week try put out new art materials such as oil pastels, or glue and string, or some magazines and scissors, or puffy paints or glitter, so that your kids can experiment and enjoy a variety of art supplies (Look on my Art Page for many more art appreciation lessons and ideas.)
Often I encouraged my kids to illustrate the characters or current scene in the read aloud. These gorgeous illustrations often formed part of their narrations. After the chapter reading, my kids would dictate or write their narrations next to their pictures. My youngest is a visual learner and could often express her ideas far better in an illustration than with words!
Alternatively, small kiddies can play with playdough, felt boards, stacking, sorting, beading, or threading, while older kids who do not want to draw or paint can do handwork such as knitting, embroidery, hand sewing, or building puzzles, or making models.
Legos were a favorite, but it was sometimes difficult to prevent the noise of sorting through all the blocks and pieces. I would encourage them to pour out the pieces on a towel and spread them out first before I started to read aloud. We even used Legos for narrations!
Read Jean Van’t Hul of Artful Parent.com “Why Read Aloud Time is Drawing time“.
Hope this encourages you in your homeschooling!
Blessings, Nadene
Practical Pages 
Thank you for this post. I know it’s an older one, but it is so true!! One of the first things our children often ask me as we get ready to read something aloud is, “May I please grab something to do while you read?” They might choose colored pencils, Legos, or something else that keeps their hands busy. I appreciate your tip about putting a towel under the Legos. I know they are listening because time and time again, they are able to narrate well and give their thoughts on what they have heard.
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On another subject: I am considering possibly switching to Sonlight just for next year but wondering wether I will be getting from one intense Program to another from a weekly planning and preparation point of view. I am considering doing Core G Bible, History and Literature as it fits in nicely with our 4 year cycle through history. How long did it take you to prepare a lesson on a weekly basis? I would like to have them orally and sometimes give me written answers to the Bible, History and Literature questions and I would like them to have a History notebook filling information about the important event or person and culture or interesting fact about the week in History and offcourse a timeline. I am assuming the time preparation would be the same across the Cores.
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@mulengakatabua, Sonlight lessons come fully prepared and so there is almost no preparation needed from you the parent. Their schedule is full and very detailed, and the trick is to learn to use the schedule as a guideline that works specifically for your children at a pace that works for you and your family. If you purchase the full Sonlight cores, all the subjects will flow along with the same topics and themes and will work well together. You will find what notebooking or oral narrations work best for each subject and each child as you go along. Wishing you all the best and you plan and prepare.
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