Nov. 5, 2006 Cleaning House
After today, I'm going to try and keep my homeschooling blog and my personal blog seprarate. I thought to move all posts not schooling related (knitting, grief, etc) to my other blog: Journaling Back to Joy at http://www.osbornz.net/amy but that task is a little daunting! lol
But from this day forward - I hope you will come read about the other parts of our life there. :)
Also, check out http://cornerstoneacademy.osbornz.net for more of our favorite homeschool links.
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Nov. 5, 2006 Special Education: Writing
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I’ve been meaning to tell you all about the meeting
I went to last month in San Jose. It’s a monthly meeting for parents who are
homeschooling kids who have been diagnosed with special education needs. The director of the group is Sharon Hensley
who wrote “Home Schooling Children With Special Needs”.
Last month our meeting was about writing. We spent most of the evening talking about
handwriting and a bit about composition.
First she challenged us to consider why we teach
handwriting. In fact, she asked “Why are
homeschoolers so worried about handwriting?”
There was much discussion…and it boiled down for many of us that we
recognize that our children (and thus us) are judged by their handwriting. But in this technological age – is it
dying? What is more important? Getting ideas out in a reasonable manner or
have it be nice looking?
For many students this isn’t an either/or
matter. But for children with special
needs, it can be. Many moms shared that they
are only teaching cursive in order for their children to (1) be able to read it
themselves and (2) to be able to sign their names. Other moms shared that they had success moving
to typing.
After an exercise meant to show us how many of our
children felt when we ask them to write and then hover over them, we came up with
the following actions to help us:
1)
Provide time (without nagging, but not to waste of
course)
2)
Find something to praise (every day/assignment)
3)
Balance (to be honest – I can’t remember what this
meant lol)
4)
Move towards typing as he gets older
5)
Flexible – fit your student, not the curriculum
6)
Coloring is good practice for manual strengthening
Then we moved to composition – my biggest
concern. Sharon explained that our students learn what
a sentence is by copying, then dictation before they can compose a sentence of
their own. And she suggested we ask them
to compose less than a sentence to start.
**Remember if you are not dealing with a child with special needs, your
child might do this in a matter of minutes as opposed to days/months/etc**
After they can write a good sentence, then you can
go to paragraphs then more complex paragraphs and then essays.
A few products she recommended to help us:
Apple Tree – I’ve started to use this with
J2. His disabilities are all in the
language arena. He loves it and I do
too! It’s taking the steps of creating a
sentence and breaking them into smaller steps.
First he’s adding the correct word, then phrase and finally he’s doing
the sentence. Here is a link: http://www.proedinc.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=1559
When it’s time to move onto paragaphs, she
recommends a product called FourSquare.(I think this link is it: http://www.teachinglearning.com/foursquare/writing_method.php)
As my student isn’t that far along – I didn’t
take many notes on it.
Hope this helps someone! 
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Oct. 3, 2006 Our School Seal
After reading Jay Ryan's article in the Spring 2006 copy of TOS "Boy Scounting and the Homeschool" (pg 96-101) I started to consider this option for my boys...mainly for the one I homeschool.
Last week was our first den meeting - a tour of the local police station. Below you will find pictures of our day.
I can't tell you how excited I am about scouting! It will really enhance our homeschooling! I hope to share more about it in the next few weeks! If you are wondering about scouting and homeschooling - check our Jay's article or check back here for more about our experience!
  Listening well A real jail! Scouts gone bad? Nah, just having fun! :-)  Great listening J2! Posing with the Chief Meeting the local K9 unit - not getting too close though! |
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Sep. 18, 2006 A Great Day (so far ;)
Today has been great! I got up late....but it didn't seem to create too much havoc. I got Dh and J1 & J3 off to school and then J2 and I got busy. He did about 20 min of the Study Dog program while I got organized. Then we started flashcard practice, he read to me and did his comprehension workbook. Then math, handwriting and grammar. Then we worked on the Scout promise, salute and handshake.
After we finished school I created a menu and a grocery list and we got all our shopping done for the next two weeks (not counting trips to restock the produce - we can never make it two weeks for produce)!
And, now I have time to work for a few hours while he does Legos and plays. Then dinner and a homeschool support group meeting tonight.
I love days like today! I feel like I've accomplished something and am in control of my environment. It sure beats all those days when I feel like the world is spinning out of control and I'm hanging on by my fingertips!
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Help! I need to create my own
spelling curriculum – and I’m not sure what to do. Basically I’m taking the
“new” words that J2 encounters in his reading (Pathway Readers) and putting them on a list…thus a
spelling list. But then what? I thought maybe I’d have him create the list
himself. Maybe add 5 words each day to his book and we’ll find ways to review
them daily. But the list grows very fast! When I look at the stories he’s
going to read this week – I see 32 words that I know are new to him.
Any ideas? Should we spell them
outloud? Copy them? ??
BTW, when I'm not posting here - you might want to check my original blog - it's where I post 98% of the time. I used to to mirror stuff here, but it's become too much! 
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Aug. 22, 2006 First Day of School, Take 2
Yesterday was J2's first day of school. I use Homeschool Tracker and have been totally prepared for weeks ... lesson plans printed, schedule created and everything! But there is nothing like actually doing the work to show you what you need to do!
We started with Bible - we are reading the Proverbs along with the Miller
Family. And, then Grammy came over and we did PE. We stretched out and walked for about 35 minutes...well, J2 rollerbladed. I admit - this is 80% for me (though J2 does have a bit of a belly - his brothers are slim to skinny) - but J2 seemed to really enjoy it! Last night he asked me a few times "Is Grammy coming tomorrow? Are we going to walk again?" So, I'm thinking he enjoyed it!
When we got back - we took a bit of a break and then started re-reading our Pathway Readers. I'm glad we are reviewing as J2 really struggled. :( But what else is to be expected with taking such a long break? This year we also bought the workbooks that he can do on his own - working on building independence and also giving him more practice with the words. This time in the readers also showed me that jumping right into the spelling book I bought him was not going to work. So I put it aside and we'll use the new words in his readers...or ones he struggles with. I'm glad I haven't sent our course of study into AVCS yet - I can change it!
The rest of our school work sent great! Daily Grams 2-3, Miquon Math and History (self-created) rounded out our morning. Oh! And, computer time! :) We found this great program online called Study Dog! Check it out!! All three of my boys enjoy it!
Oh yes - the other thing I realized is that we need handwriting practice again. So I ordered some cheap D'Nealian workbooks that I love!
All in all - a great day! He whizzed through his work and only got a bit frustrated at his reading skills. I pray I can encourage him today!! Off to get busy!
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Aug. 21, 2006 Homeschool Meme
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As seen on Sara's Blog:
1) ONE HOMESCHOOLING BOOK
YOU HAVE ENJOYED
Just
one?? Currently it’s “Home Schooling
Children with Special Needs: Turning Challenges into opportunities!” by Sharon
C. Hensley, M.A.
2) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULDN’T
BE WITHOUT
My Computer! lol
3) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH YOU
HAD NEVER BOUGHT
Considering God’s Creation – a great science curriculum for some – just frustration
for me!
4) ONE RESOURCE YOU ENJOYED
LAST YEAR
We
both enjoyed Saxon last year – taking a break this year – looking forward to it
again next year.
5) ONE RESOURCE YOU WILL BE
USING NEXT YEAR
Study
Dog – it’s a downloadable program (free to lower income families) from the Literacy
council (I can find the link if anyone wants it).
6) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULD
LIKE TO BUY
I’m pretty satisfied with our resources onhand. I just bought Handwriting materials though.
7) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH
EXISTED
A local Christian support group for homeschooling parents of special
learners
8 ) ONE HOMESCHOOLING
CATALOGUE YOU ENJOY READING
I get a lot of information (products, styles, etc) from The Old
Schoolhouse Magazine – however, that is not a catalog. Favorite catalog would
have to be Timberdoodle.
9) ONE HOMESCHOOLING WEBSITE
YOU USE REGULARLY
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com
it’s pretty much the ONLY HSing website I use.
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I’ve been missing in action…and it’s hard to start up again! While
I was gone - Eric worked his butt off on that tent trailer…someone gave
us another one (going to use for parts) and a van to haul it with!! PTL!
I had a birthday of signifcance 
and my mom rented a house at the beach for all of us to stay together
at the Beach. My mom and my family were there for the whole 7 days, my
brother and his family came for about 4 days and my sister and her kids
for about 3 days. We missed my BIL who could not get away from work.
I’ve got pics to share - but that will have to be another day!
I’m working on getting organized for our new year of homeschooling
J2 (J1 and J3 will attend the school where Eric teachs 4th grade - J1
will be in 5th grade this year and J3 is doing K). One area I want to
work on with J2 this year is independence. I’d like to move away from
me sitting beside him as he goes through each lesson. I’d like him to
gain the confidence to realize he can do this! (He’s a slow learner
and had many challenges)
One thing I’ve done is moved us away from the dining room table and
created a work station for him. And, I’m considering an assignment
sheet/book that we can review and then refer to for daily assignments
(for instance, Monday - Math: Lesson 12). He’ll still need me to read
certain parts to him but I really want him to realize he knows more
than he thinks he does.
Does anyone have any suggestions, ideas? If it helps, my son is
going to be 10 in about two weeks and doing 3rd grade work - except on
language arts and then we are working at a 1st/2nd grade level.
Oh! One more thing before I go - I’m having an Usborne Book party online!! If you don’t know about these books, you need to check it out!
If you are like me and drool over these books everytime you see them,
well, go see what specials Tricia is sharing with us this month!! The
Eshow will last only until August 17th - so don’t put it off! If you
order you will help me be able to afford the Ancient History book I
want!
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Jun. 21, 2006 Discount Home School Supplies is giving away a FREE microscope Jun. 21, 2006 Misc Links (Journaling and movies in time) Jun. 21, 2006 Audiobooks Online Jun. 21, 2006 History 2006/2007 Jun. 21, 2006 Science 2006/2007
I'm deep into planning next year's curriculum. I'm waiting on planning Math and Language arts I want to talk to our special education consultant first. But I am working on science and history now. I thought we'd do Astronomy this year (and DH is a huge astronomy fan) but J2 really wanted to study animals/plants. And, that fits in with the loose Classical approach I'm taking right now.
So, I've created our own curriculum of sorts with some books we have around the house. I plan to hit the library and print out some coloring/activity pages online (Enchanted Learning) . I want him to create his own notebook and maybe make some lapbooks for individuals species or animals. Still a work in progress.
Here is the tentative schedule I've worked out using a Kid's encyclopedia we have as a source book:
| Week |
Topic |
| 1 |
Animal Life - vocabulary |
| 2 |
Animals w/Skeletons - 5 groups:
fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds & mammals |
| 3 |
Insects |
| 4 |
Soft, Slimy Animals |
| 5 |
Arachnids |
| 6 |
Fish |
| 7 |
Amphibians |
| 8 |
Reptiles |
| 9 |
Birds |
| 10 |
Birds |
| 11 |
Mammals - Placental |
| 12 |
Mammals - Marsupial |
| 13 |
Mammals - Monotremes |
| 14 |
Ocean Life |
| 15 |
Seashore Life |
| 16 |
River Life |
| 17 |
Pond Life |
| 18 |
Grasslands |
| 19 |
Woods |
| 20 |
Rain Forest |
| 21 |
Mountains |
| 22 |
Deserts |
| 23 |
Ice |
| 24 |
Seasons |
| 25 |
What is a plant? |
| 26 |
Flowering Plants |
| 27 |
Woody Plants |
| 28 |
How Plants Live |
| 29 |
Food & Decorative Plants |
| 30 |
Seeds |
| 31 |
Fruit |
| 32 |
Unusual Plants |
| 33 |
Fungus |
| 34 |
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| 35 |
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| 36 |
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May. 24, 2006 I'm so excited!!!!!!! May. 21, 2006 How to Read a Book - Chap 4 Comments
"The Second level of Reading: Inspectional Reading"
"...you can not read on the inspectional level unless you can read effectively on the elementary level."
There are two types of IR:
INSPECTIONAL READING 1: Systematic Skimming or Pre-Reading
Main aim is to discover whether the book requires a more careful reading. Also, skimming can tell you lots of toher things about the book - even if you decide not to read it again.
Acquire a habit of skimming:
a) Look at the title page and preface - it will give you a good idea of the subject and help you categorize it with other boks you've read.
b) Study the table of contents - to gain a sense of the book's structure -- a road map on a trip.
c) Check the index (if applicable) - quick estimate of the range of topics and books and authors referred to.
d) Read publisher's blurb (dust jacket) "It is not uncommon for author - in these blurbs - to try to summarize as accurately as they can the main points in their book." If the blurb is fluff...mayb the book is too!
**"At this point you may already have enough info about the book to know that you want to read it more carefully, or that you do not want or need to read it at all." If not,
e) Look at chapters that seem pivotal to it's arguement.
f) Finally, flip through the book - reading a paragraph or two or even several pages in a sequence (but no more). Do not fail to read the last 2-3 pages (not the epilogue).
NOTE: Due to some newish features at amazon.com and the like - we can do much of this online now. Features that I use EVERY time I try to figure out if I want to buy a book or not.
This is very active reading. You are a detective looking for clues to the book's general theme or idea.
INSPECTIONAL READING 2: Superficial Reading
Rule - In tackling a difficult book for the first time, read it through without ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away.
Pay attention to what you CAN understand. Go right on reading past things you don't understan until you get to that which you do understand. Even if you only understand 50%-it will help you the next time you read it.
p 37 - reading Shakespeare - exactly!! No fun!
On Reading Speeds - Inspectional reading shoud happen quickly. P 40-41 how to speed read.
SUMMARY: p 42 "You can not comprehend a book without reading it analytically; analytical reading...is undertaken primarily for the sake of comprehension (or understanding)."
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May. 12, 2006 How to Read a Book - Chap 2 Comments
"Your goal in reading determines the way you read."
Most definitely! Since I want to soak up this book - I'm not reading it like I do an Agatha Christie. But rather I'm sitting here with a pen and notepad and scribbling down the things that I want to remember!
Such as:
The 4 levels of Reading:
(1) Elementary Reading (basic reading - ordinarily learned in elementary school)
"What does the sentence say?" (in the simplest meaning)
(2) Inspectional Reading (skimming or prereading)
It's aim is to get the most out of the book within a given time ... too little to get everything out of a book that can be gotten.
"What is the book about?"
(3) Analytical Reading (more complex and more systematic)
"What this book is mainly about"
Must ask many, and organized, questions
~~Analytical Reading is mainly for the sake of understanding~~
"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."
~ Francis Bacon
(4) Syntopical Reading - most complex and systematic.
Comparative Reading
==
I think the only thing I read at level 3 and 4 anymore is the Bible. I've got some retraining to do!!
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May. 10, 2006 How to Read a Book - Chap 1 Comments
I joined a Reading Partnership this week. The first book we are reading is called "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler. I totally scoffed at the title the first time I read it - but three chapters later I'm really enjoying it. I'm taking notes as I read and posting them on the Reading Partnership blog - but I'm going to post them on my blog too. Since others are commenting too - I'm not sharing everything I learn, just the things that haven't been shared yet or that I was to particularily highlight!
I am an avid reader...I read anything and everything! However, in the past few years I find I'm skimming more than reading. I think it's due to the internet and other 'easy' informative avenues. Why excercise my brain to gather information when I can drink at the firehose of the internet!
So, as I started this book - it is with a bit of fear of not finishing or worse yet, not comprehending. The first chapter seemed to be written just for me!! When I consider this book was first written in 1940 - well, think how much easier "information" is to gain now. But understanding - ah, now that is a different story! I can quickly tell you how much the oil prices are today - but understanding WHY the oil is that much money - that takes some more work!
Since the other ladies have covered so much of what I was struck by - I wanted to share something else I found interesting. The author said, "we can learn only from our "betters". We must know who they are and how to learn from them." For some reason that has made me pause everytime I reread it. I think I really need to better consider who I'm learning from - and, online, who knows who wrote something!
I really like the idea that "being informed is prerequisite to being enlightened." Doesn't that sound so much like how we teach our children!
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Apr. 14, 2006 I'm so frustrated
| I saved up some time this morning to check out http://www.time4learning.com and now my computer won't let me view it! I've tried IE and Firefox...the webmaster says it's working great this am...my friend says she can see it just fine...and I'm getting more and more frustrated! I've shut down my computer....unplugged my modem....I don't have any kind of net nanny program on this computer. And, yet I still can not access the page. It keeps saying "Page taking too long to load"! Anyone have an idea how I can get it to work??
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Apr. 12, 2006 Where to Start?
Sorry I haven't written sooner - it was due in part to needing to process my thoughts and in part because we've had company. My Dad and Stepmom are here for their biannual visit. It's nice to be distracted at a time like this.
The test results were and were not a surprise. Basically, J2 is about 2 years behind his age - both academically and psychologically. That was not a surprise. However, hearing it confirmed was still hard. Their recommendation is that he be enrolled in a special day class in the public school system. I really think that would be a bad idea for him. But I'm not sure I have my husband's support.
Through the help of the California Christian Home Educator's email list - I found out about a private school in the Bay Area that gives support and curriculum consultation services to parents of special needs kids who want to keep them at home. I've applied for their waiting list, but I have not heard from them yet.
I'm glossing over lots of details...lots of pain....maybe I'll talk about it more later. Right now I just need to keep praying and letting the Lord speak to my heart. I covet your continued prayers!
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About Me
Cast of Charaters
Me - I like to read and knit. I've been a Christian for many years and
loving learning about God and seeing the Lord work in our lives! I also post on my other blog,
"Journaling Back To Joy"
DH - Is a theologically trained teacher of 4th graders at a Christian school.
He loves astronomy, LOTR and playing with the kids! He is the funniest man I know.
J1 - 12 - our oldest. He came to live with us when he was 16 mos old and completely turned
our lives inside out! While he is struggling with self-control right now - he is the
one who can brighten the room just by smiling! He loves creating things from our recycling
and anything that allows him to move (trampoline, skateboards, inline skates, etc)
J2 - 11 - our middle son. He is the one who I am currently homeschooling. He loves to create things
from Legos and he loves movies. He would watch movies all day if I let him :( He has just had a major
breakthrough in reading - for which we are praising the Lord!
J3 - 6 - my joy. He has a very tender heart for me and really works hard to make me happy. He loves
to cuddle and is just learning about Legos. He wants to be with his big brothers so much, but the age
difference is a big hurdle right now.
Joshie - 5/29/02 - 2/22/03 - Our surprise! Our only pregnancy that the Lord allowed - and we were blessed
to have him for those short mos. We are all still grieving his loss - you'll hear alot about that from time
to time. We look forward to getting to know him someday.
Curriculum Choices
• Math: Modern Curr. Press
• Language Arts: Apple Tree, Pathway Readers & Phonics Pathway
• History: California History (Beautiful Feet)
• Science: Exploring Creation Through Astronomy
• Current Read Aloud: Redwall
• Current Audiobook: Blue Dolphin
Links
• Home
• View my profile
• Archives
• Friends
• Email Me
• My Blog's RSS
• Journaling Back to Joy
• My Knitting Blog
• My Hubby's Site
• Joshua's Memorial Page
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