School at Home - Homeschool Blogger

Spelling that has helped my daughter...

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:47:00 -0600

I really like the Bible-based spelling lessons I found for free on the Internet. My oldest daughter spells very phonetically... you know... fonetikly. :-) But for some reason, this spelling has helped her. It's not fancy, but I like how it combines dictation with old-fashioned review. I also like how it has her spelling conjugated verbs, as that's hard for her, too.

So if this helps any other struggling spellers out there, I'll be thrilled!
~Anne

Teaching Handwriting

Fri, 9 Feb 2007 11:05:00 -0600

I wrote the following e-mail to a friend this morning, and I thought it might be helpful to someone else, too....

Her question: My question is about handwriting. This seems to be my weak area of teaching. My almost 9yo has deplorable writing and my 7 year old is no better. What do you use? What can I use with my 4yo so he doesn't develop the same bad habits?

My answer:
You know, I think our poor firstborn children get to be such guinea pigs! LOL! At least, my son and daughter were. My son is 11 now, and my daughter is 8, and it seems like about 2 years ago, we were right where you are. In fact, I can't say that my son's handwriting has improved THAT much, but at least I can read it now. But I switched curriculum on him so many times, it's no wonder he couldn't ever remember how to write his letters.

Now I teach my kids cursive from kindergarten on. I know that sounds strange, but my third child (also a son, now age 6) has really great handwriting. My 8yo daughter's handwriting is pretty, too.

About two years ago, I stumbled on this website for Cursive First:

http://swrtraining.screwlewse.com/id17.html and I was convinced! I ordered it and I still love it. It comes with yellow cards (I laminated mine), one for each letter of the alphabet, and it suggests an order for teaching them so that it's easier to learn them. They also have a clock stamp so you can stamp a picture of a clock on their papers to give them a reference of where to start when writing a letter. (For instance, the cursive letter c starts at 2 o'clock, goes back around the clock until you get to 4 o'clock, where it then "tags" the next letter.)

Back then, we took a couple months and had a handwriting lesson each day on our whiteboard. All the kids, even my 9yo boy. They all learned together, and we just had a concentrated time of review. My little guy (age 4 then) learned it SO well, and the older ones had a harder time breaking bad habits. But they all improved, and now we had a common vocabulary and common way of writing that we could refer to.

Then I purchased ABeka handwriting books, since they also believe in starting from the beginning with cursive and since their letter formation is very similar to Cursive First, especially in the lower-case letters. My younger son has used ABeka from that time, and my daughter (2nd grade now) is still using it. My son (5th grade now) isn't using it any more. Maybe he should be...

So the moral of the story is, whatever method you use, try to be consistent and stick with it. I'm sold on cursive, but I think the same principle could hold true for any style.

Decluttering plans

Thu, 8 Feb 2007 10:53:00 -0600

Oh, I can tell it's February, because my house is getting cluttered. Gray skies combined with cold weather make me slow down and want to spend my life in front of my computer screen, rather than working on my house or being generally sociable with anyone... including my kids! So today's list "To Do" includes the following:

Clean up my desk and make "homes" for all those annoying piles that have started to spring up. I need to revamp my mail and bills piles especially.
Make a spot for my DD (age 2) at my desk, so that she can color or cut (yes, that's scary!) without cutting up important papers of mine. Maybe I should hide the scissors for a year or ten?!?!
Put away old school papers. They're stacking up on top of the sewing machine that I hardly ever use. Hmmm...
Help my DD (age 8) catch up on her coloring book. She's been coloring a book about birds. It's a really neat book, but she's feeling burned out. Maybe we should put it away for awhile. There aren't too many birds out our window right now anyway -- just cardinals, blue jays, finches, and woodpeckers. Okay, that's quite a few. But she's tired of coloring! How much can she learn when she sees it as a punishment?
I need to do laundry today or there will be no underwear tomorrow... Uh, oh!
I need to make a list for my bulletin board of all the ongoing projects I'm involved in. Probably too many.... But at least I could see them, and then I wouldn't always feel like something is hanging over my head. Which is probably what I'm feeling right now... and which probably explains why I'm hanging around on all the blogs rather than working. Can't be a good thing!

Well, it's off to work I go! Breakfast is ready and some hungry little critters (I mean children) are calling....
~Anne

Well, so much for using ABeka...

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:05:00 -0500

God provided everything we need for school this year, but I don't have everything ABeka like last year. My son (going into 5th grade) will be using ABeka math, science and history. I purchased the math workbook and speed drills, plus a teacher's key because his work is getting harder so this will save me time. We were graciously given a science and history book, but I don't have teacher's guides. I simply went through the books and divided them into 170 lessons myself. I decided I can give oral tests, based on the chapter review questions. As usual, I will be supplementing the textbooks with read-aloud books after lunch each day. These books will include historical fiction and some Usborne science books mostly. We were also given some 5th grade readers, but I have some other books (from the Sonlight catalog) on my shelf to round out his reading program. I arranged this into 170 lessons, too.

For his language arts, we'll be going totally without curriculum, although I again made out 170 lessons to keep myself on track. We're using KISS grammar. Here is my weekly plan:
Monday - Copy 4 sentences (from his reading, or from history or science).
Tuesday - Compare his copy to the original. Discuss word usage, vocabulary, spelling or punctuation, etc. Make any changes needed.
Wednesday - Mark prepositional phrases, then underline subjects once, verbs twice, then mark sentence patterns (such as S V Predicate Noun, etc.)
Thursday - Mark modifiers (adjectives & adverbs, etc.), then diagram the sentences.
Friday - Have him write the sentences again, this time from dictation.

Twice a week I will assign creative writing, too, with ideas taken from the book Writers Inc.

For my son and daughter who are entering 1st and 2nd grade, I am using Abeka's math and readers, and I have the curriculum for language arts but no workbooks. So I figured we can do it all orally and on the white board, or occasionally on tablet or notebook paper. It isn't as pretty, but it's cheaper and should be effective since I can tailor it to their specific needs. For history, we're going to read through A Child's History of the World and learn about animals in science from old Sonlight books I already owned. We'll probably do history and science just once or twice a week since they're so little.

We'll also add in some music, piano lessons, art, chores, Bible, lions, tigers, and bears, oh, my.... as we have time! :-)

We start school Monday, August 21. I'll have to report back as to how it goes.
~Anne

Not feeling well this week...

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:16:00 -0600

... so it's one of those weeks I'm thankful for two things:

(1) Workbooks. They're not always the enemy! This week, my children's A Beka workbooks are ensuring that they continue to get lots of review on phonics sounds and math concepts, even when I don't feel like doing much else. If I were feeling better, I would concentrate on games, hands-on activities, etc. But this week? Well, at least we can keep having school.

(2) Read aloud books. I don't have a sore throat, so I'm quite capable of cuddling on the couch with my kids and continuing to read through The Secret Garden, The Sign of the Beaver, and our Bible reading. We're reading slowly, but books give me a chance to cuddle even when I might not feeling like doing much else.

Homeschooling, combined with homemade soup, storebought sourdough bread, and a fabulous husband, is even possble on the rough days. :-)

Hugs,
~Anne

Interesting article by HSLDA

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 18:05:00 -0600

http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/washingtontimes/20051220.asp

I read an article by Michael Smith, president of HSLDA, suggesting that a large number of formerly homeschooled families are turning to government charter schools. Why? It's so attractive to have curriculum materials (and oftentimes computers) provided. Charter schools often provide support teachers who can advise Mom when the going gets tough. Smith recommends that homeschooling families provide this support to new homeschooling families so that they don't feel like giving up.

I agree. Homeschooling is not easy. There are many days that the best of moms will feel like giving up. What can we do to help new or struggling families? Please leave your best ideas in comments!

Update on Test Scores

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 23:07:00 -0600

Well, a few days ago, I talked about homeschooling test scores, and I've been wanting to revisit the subject. My Internet research below is by no means official, but here is my best stab:

HSLDA has a great article on the encouraging statistics of homeschoolers. One of the best quotes: "A significant finding when analyzing the data for 8th graders was the evidence that homeschoolers who are homeschooled two or more years score substantially higher than students who have been homeschooled one year or less... The homeschoolers who have homeschooled all their school aged years had the highest academic achievement. This was especially apparent in the higher grades. This is a good encouragement to families catch the long-range vision and homeschool through high school." Yes, that is encouraging!
An incredibly interesting survey of all types of homeschooling characteristics can be found on the EPAA site. (EPAA stands for Education Policy Analysis Archives.)

It appears that private schools do not have to publish how well their students do on standardized tests, in contrast with public and homeschooled students. So it's a little tough to find good information to compare private school students with homeschoolers. But here are some things I found:

A private Christian school in Indiana publishes its students' test results. Their students did just as good as homeschoolers, when compared to results listed at this website.
Pensacola Christian School (I'm using them as an example because I use their curriculum with our kids, plus they happen to be one of the few schools who advertise their test scores) boasts: "Our 1st�8th grade classes average over 1 1/2 yrs. above grade level on national achievement tests, and our 9th�12th students average post high school."
The Florida Association of Christian Colleges and School's website seems to indicate that private school test scores are very similar to homeschool test scores. Like homeschoolers, the scores seem to increase in the higher grades.

Okay, I never said my little report was very scientific. To be honest, I'm not very sure where to get good information. (Anyone want to comment?)

So what's my point? If I think private schools are so great, then why am I homeschooling? Well, I never said they were great. I'm a graduate of one myself, and while I loved my school, there are some definite drawbacks. First of all, how can any school, public or private, compete with the one-on-one personal tutoring that a homeschooled student receives. Secondly, and more importantly, educational quality isn't anywhere near the top reason why I homeschool. I am far more concerned with what teachers are adding to the curriculum with their worldview and mindset, and I'm also terribly concerned about the influence of peers on my children. I praise God for the opportunity to homeschool.

However, sometimes I think that homeschoolers could do even better. I don't want us to sit back on our laurels and think that simply because our kids are home with us means that they will automatically get a good education.

It comes down to what our goals are as we educate our children. But that's a topic for another time. It's way past my bedtime! :-)
~Anne

How can a homeschooled child do homework???

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:11:00 -0600

My oldest son is 10, and he's in fourth grade. He's always been homeschooled, so you'd think his mother would have it all down pat by now. If only! The last few years have seen us trying this curriculum or that, making our own, reading more books than you can imagine, and spending too much money, all in the hopes of finding the perfect method that truly justifies our homeschooling venture.

We've settled on a love of literature, best seen in the writings of Ruth Beechick and Charlotte Mason. We prefer living books, books that spark the imagination and encourage a lifelong love of learning. We prefer a gentle, relaxed approach to learning.

But we're discovering there is more than one way to skin a cat.

For instance, our son has never had homework. Not until yesterday, that is. We're using A Beka's fourth grade history textbook as our "spine" and adding in "living books" from Sonlight's catalog. Yesterday the teacher's manual for A Beka recommended that the student answer the questions on pages 47-49, the questions at the end of the chapter.

I was revolted. How boring! How trivial! Was it my goal to teach my son to parrot historical facts from a textbook? Or did I want him to internalize the big picture of American history by getting to know real characters and real authors and real issues from those time periods (in the pages of real books, of course)?

Yet I gave my son this homework assignment. I followed it to the letter. I was amazed at the result.

Arik asked me, "Mom, when should I do my homework? Do you want me to do it right now?" Good question. After all, for a homeschooled child, when is school really over for the day so that homework time can begin?

"I don't care when you do it, Arik, as long as it's done before lunch tomorrow." (We usually do history after lunch.)

"Well, when do you want me to do it, Mom?" He was lost. He'd never had this kind of choice before.

"You could do it now, you could do it after supper, you could do it as soon as you wake up in the morning, or even right after breakfast," I replied. "As long as it's done before lunch, I don't care."

Perplexed, he went to talk to his younger brother and sister. "Andrew," he asked, "When do you think I should do it?"

Andrew and Kaitlyn discussed this new thing called "homework" for several minutes. Finally, Andrew (age 5) wisely turned to his older brother and said, "Arik, I think you should do it right away and get it done!" And that's what Arik did!

I smiled. This was a successful homeschooling day! My son learned initiative and planning and how not to procrastinate. Yes, he reviewed facts, but we've added plenty of great books to our plan (like Sign of the Beaver and The Courage of Sarah Noble) to ensure that his imagination will be stirred. On the other hand, I am confident that he'll not only be inspired but that he'll also have solid facts in his mind on which he can hang his inspiration.

Homework for a homeschooled child? Maybe it needs a better name. Meanwhile, in our house, this old-fashioned idea is here to stay!
~Anne

A Daily Routine for Real Moms

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:57:00 -0600

One of the hardest parts of "school at home" for me is knowing when to start school in the morning. You see, I'm not just a school teacher who shows up at school at 7:30 a.m. with an ample amount of time to prepare my brain, my room, and my supplies. Nor do I get a planning period during the day or quiet, uninterrupted time for planning and grading in the evening. No, I'm a mom of five children, a wife, an author, and a woman involved in my church -- in addition to my "side job" of teaching for five hours a day. Oh, and did I mention that I'm currently teaching three grades simultaneously -- and that someday I'll be teaching five grades? Yikes!

A realistic morning at my house begins with an alarm clock that isn't always welcome. Yes, it's 7:00 a.m. I'm aware that many homeschooling mothers are up much earlier than this, but if I want to spend some quality time with my husband in the evening, and still get enough sleep, this is the earliest I can get up and still stay awake during math class. :-)

A realistic morning at my house means that I'd like to serve a nutritious breakfast to my husband and children. I'd like to serve the majority of our meals with homemade, nutrient-dense foods (see my website at http://www.AnnesHealthPlace.com). I prefer not to fuel growing bodies (or my own) with store-bought cereal, pastueurized/homogenized milk, high-sugar orange juice, store-bought toast with margarine, or even doughnuts and Pop-Tarts. Rather, I'll make omelettes and porridge. I'll serve sprouted cream of wheat with honey or real maple syrup. We'll gulp down tall glasses of cold, fresh farm milk. We'll slice tomatoes or peel a fresh orange. Of course, after I've made breakfast like this, eaten it (while maybe listening to a music CD or a book on tape), and cleaned up the kitchen, plus ground wheat for bread and gotten it into the bread machine for lunch, thawed meat for supper, and started a pot of stock for homemade soup, it's nearing 9:30 a.m.

A realistic morning at my house means that I also need some time to grow as a mother. I need time to clean my own bedroom, to make my bed and to start the laundry. I need a shower and some fresh lipstick! :-) I need time to get with the Lord and read His Word and pray. I might even need to talk with my mother on the phone. These things keep me sweet and loving and gracious to my children. Of course, by now the clock is reading 10:30 a.m.

A realistic morning at my house means that we start our homeschooling day with Scripture reading, prayer, stories out of picture books for the little ones, songs with clapping or reverant singing, and maybe a discussion of proper manners. These things keep us remembering that we are a family with common goals and love for the Lord, with compassion for young children, and with a joy for music and good literature.

A realistic morning at my house means that while I love to discuss learning and to discover new methods, I also value having a teacher's manual. I prefer having a teacher's manual that I can open up each morning. Are we on Day 47 of our school year? What a relief to know that my day is planned for me. I can always change, delete, or add to the plans, based on the needs of my students, but I enjoy have a basic framework from which to work. A Beka fills this need in our home, and we use workbooks and textbooks for the next few hours of school.

A realistic morning at my house means that we won't get all of our schoolwork done in the morning. We'll take a restful and/or playful lunch break, we'll stop to read from good literature (currently Sonlight's Core 3). We'll change the laundry, change lots of diapers, tuck little ones in for naps, and do a little more work in preparation for supper. I'll often stop to write on the computer (as I am right now) or to pay a bill. The day continues, naturally, not always predictably, but usually pleasantly.

Realistically, I don't usually have a lot of extra time for myself, for hobbies or getting together often with friends. I can't make a lot of trips to town for shopping or even field trips. But I'm slowly learning to be content as a stay-at-home mom. I'm certainly not a perfect mom, but if I learn to be content with realistic life instead of a pretend, super-mom ideal, my children get a better education and a happier home.

This is good enough for me.
~Anne

Test Scores for Homeschoolers Lower Than Private School Students

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:32:00 -0600

Homeschool students scored an average of 1093.1 on the SATs, compared to 1012.6 for public school students and 1123.8 for private-independent schools. (Homeschool Fact from http://www.percipion.com)

Interesting? I think so! At first, I was a little irritated that private school students scored higher on average. Many things could account for this. However, I'm starting to question the methods of homeschoolers. Could it be that "school at home" isn't such a bad idea after all? Hmmm... I feel a soap box coming on! LOL!
~Anne