Posts Tagged homeschooler
Classic Storybook Appeals to Mom and Child
Posted by Diane in Recommended Homeschool Books on April 6th, 2010
Rare children’s books like those wonderful elementary “primers” your grandmother used to read to you when you were a little girl are often difficult to find; however, homeschool mom, Barbara Frank, has recently published a beautiful new vintage book of short stories for reading aloud to young children called Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks. Isn’t that cover illustration scrumptious?
With over 125 vintage illustrations to supplement this 1894 text and an emphasis on virtues such as truth and gratitude, Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks is sure to please your young homeschooler as you snuggle and read about animals, nature, fairy tales, fables, and even how old-timey household objects were made and chores were performed like how to churn butter. Here’s an excerpt from the “Milk, Butter, and Cheese” chapter:
Alice was greatly interested, when after this the milk to grow thick and form curds. She watched Aunt Lizzie chop the curds and press them till all the thin liquid whey was squeezed out of them, and they were salted and pressed in a round, solid form like those in the dairy, each cheese being put into a large hoop of wood, until it became of the right shape.
“See! this is a cheese, Alice”; and then kind Aunt Lizzie let Alice press and salt a tiny cheese with her own hands. How pleased and proud was the little girl when it was placed on the supper table, and mamma, papa, and even Aunt Lizzie each ate a small piece of Alice’s own cheese.
Especially interesting to me are all the references to what we now call “homesteading” and the lost art of homemaking from scratch with whatever resources you have on hand at the time. My mother-in-law would love this classic storybook, and I’m sure that she would stop every now and then and tell stories from her own childhood. In fact, this would be a great gift to purchase for read aloud time at granny’s house.
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Are you looking for classic storybooks for your young homeschool children? Check out my favorite selections in Best Homeschool Books for Preschoolers. There you’ll find my picks for predictable plot lines that are sure to please both parent and child during read aloud time. And if you know of a rare, vintage children’s book to share with us, tell me about it in the comments section below.
Punctuate Your Reading with Meaning
Posted by Diane in How to Teach Homeschool Skill 1: READING on July 16th, 2009
The other day I was in the children’s section of the local library pulling example books for a homeschooling workshop that I was giving at our state convention on the benefits of reading aloud. As I advanced further and further into the shelving, I began to hear a sweet little voice confidantly reading aloud. Every now and then she heroically pushed her way through an unfamiliar word, but by and large, she successfully managed the written word. I peeked around the corner and discovered not one little child reading to her mom, but several little kids gathered on the floor with picture books carelessly scattered. The simultaneous voices of children (one reading to her mom, another reading to a friend, and a mom reading to her son) cheered my heart and brought a knowing smile to my face. My spirit swelled, “ah, thank you, Lord, for books and the simple pleasures of reading aloud!”
Where did this precious little girl learn to read with such feeling and emotion? Surely her parents or siblings have consistently demonstrated the skill of inflection because she couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old, yet she tackled that picture book with as much sensitivity as a little child can muster. To inflect an object is to bend or curve it. Words can be inflected as well. All you have to do is change the pitch or tone of your voice. But this is not as simple as it sounds.
In fact, reading with feeling is a difficult task that takes lots of practice. At first, all a beginning reader can do is decode the pronunciation. Next comes comprehension. Eventually the child learns how to glance ahead so that he can decide what kind of emotion to put into his voice. Here are three ideas for teaching your homeschool kids how to express themselves when reading aloud.
What Does the Punctuation Mark Mean?
Don’t wait until your homeschooler is officially studying English grammar to teach the meaning of punctuation marks. As you read aloud with your child, use your finger to show them that each sentence ends with a special mark that is not a letter like the ABCs, and sometimes these funny marks show up at the beginning or middle of sentences when someone talks or when a series of things are being listed. Tell him that each punctuation mark has a special purpose that requires a certain vocal response. Demonstrate these common punctuation marks when you are reading aloud to your homeschool children:
Period – come to a complete stop (take a breath after the period to force yourself to stop)
The puppy played with the sock. [stop and breathe]
Comma – pause when reading
Noel, [1 second pause] please put your dirty clothes in the laundry room.
Question Mark – bring your voice pitch up at the end
Can I please have a chocolate chip cookie? [cookie should be higher than can]
Exclamation Point – verbally punch the thought with excitement or alarm
Tommy left his bicycle in the street! [add some tension to your voice]
Quotation Mark – talk as if you were the character
Granny said, “my old feet are aching after all that walking at the garage sale.” [trembling voice]
Parenthesis – lower your volume like you’re telling a secret or go back to your own voice as narrator
The crowd cheered with excitement (Dad wouldn’t mind if I took a quick peek). [whisper]
Practice punctuation responses every time you read aloud. In fact, this is a great exercise to do every time you ask your child to read until he gets the hang of it.
How Does the Punctuation Mark Sound?
Now that your homeschooler knows what the most common punctuation marks mean, practice making these sounds out loud without words! Yes, you read that correctly…without words! Substitute your favorite sounds for the words, and read the “sentence” out loud using the proper inflection for the mark like this:
Da da da da da. [stop and take a breath] Da da da da da? [bring your voice up at the end of the sentence] Da da daddaa. [stop and take a breath]. Da da dadada! [increase your volume and act surprised] Da da da, [pause for 1 second] da da da da da. [stop and take a breath] Da da da, “da da dadaaada.” [talk with the character's voice then stop and take a breath] Da da da da (da da da). [lower your voice like you're telling a secret then stop and take a breath]
You can type out a conversation with your favorite nonsense sounds to practice this skill, and eventually, your reading child will be able to look at a written text and substitute “blah blah blah” for the words and see only the punctuation marks.
How Would Your Emotion Change the Meaning?
Even little kids understand the idea of emotion. Children experience feelings just like grown-ups, so give them a list of emotions and have them read simple sentences as if they were feeling a certain emotion. For example, take the following sentence and read it five times using a different emotion each time:
The dog ate my last brownie.
Read it as if you are: shocked, distressed, amused, afraid, and outraged. Now choose a basic sentence and give your child some options as to what feelings she wants to express, then have her read the sentence out loud. You can do this with singular words, too, like “hey, well, and no.”
Learning how to read with appropriate expression can really add depth and meaning to the written text. Start teaching punctuation and inflection today, and your young reader will eventually delight and entertain his or her audience by creating lasting images and bringing home school books to life.
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Have you signed up for my free homeschooling parent workshop called “Classical Home Education 101” yet? Several home school moms have been working their way through the tutorial, and the feedback that I am receiving is very good. Many of them have completed the questionnaire, the roadmaps to mastery, and some are already working on their customized strategic semester plan for this fall! All you have to do is subscribe to in the right sidebar, or send me an email if you are already a subscriber, and I’ll send you the password.
Speech Mastery: $1000 Essay Contest is Yours to Win!
Posted by Diane in Post-Trivium Homeschool | High School on November 10th, 2008
“I believe, or at least I hope, that there is public virtue enough left among us, to deny ourselves everything but the bare necessaries of life, to accomplish our end.”
—George Washington
Here’s a great homeschooling opportunity for your rising classical scholar to validate his mastery of speaking skills (classical trivium skill number three). The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and the Circe Institute are co-sponsoring a national essay contest for high school homeschool students. A $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to the first place winner. Registration forms are due on November 28, 2008, and essays are due on January 23, 2009. Here are the details:
“George Washington and the Formation of the American Character”
George Washington’s leadership and legacy remain an important part of American identity. ISI is committed to keeping the vital lessons of the American Founding alive for the rising generation through this prestigious essay contest.
Focus and Format of the Essay
Charles deGaulle once scoffed at the suggestion that he was indispensible to the effort to rebuild France and Western Europe in the wake of WWII, responding that “the cemeteries are full of indispensible men.” It is tempting to believe, however, that at the time of the American founding, George Washington may well have been the exception to de Gaulle’s rule. He conspicuously stands out from among the other central figures of the founding era and earns Lighthorse Harry Lee’s encomium as having been “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen….”
The task of defining American identity is an ongoing, and seemingly endless, project—and one that each generation must take up anew. Answers to the question of what constitutes the distinctly American character range far and wide, taking on a different cast when examined through the respective disciplinary lenses of history, political science, economics, or the arts.
Careful study of the nation’s founding architects reveals a remarkably diverse and complex set of animating convictions that only compound the challenge of defining the American character. Like his renowned contemporaries, Washington’s personal narrative was hardly monochromatic. It may well be that his enduring contribution to the American personality is the imprint of both his personal and public identity upon the nation he loved and served.
Home school students participating in this essay contest are asked to consider at least two central elements of Washington’s public or private life that found expression in American identity. Essayists are encouraged to consider how those characteristics have been weakened or strengthened over the past two centuries and what this suggests about the American character.
Essays are to be between 1,200 and 1,500 words long. Printed entries should be double-spaced and printed on one side of the page only. All submissions must be postmarked or e-mailed by January 23, 2009. Essays will be judged on the basis of scholarship, imagination, and quality of writing.
Deadlines
Registration – November 28, 2008
Essay – January 23, 2009
Scholarship Awards
1st place – $1,000
2nd place - $500
3rd Place - $250
4th through 10th place – a set of ISI books on “Order and Liberty at the Founding”
Bonus Gift # 1
Every homeschool entrant receives a complimentary one year subscription to the Intercollegiate Review, ISI’s flagship publication which provide critical essays, reviews, and commentary on a wide variety of topics related to politics, economics, and culture. This journal retails for $13 a year.
Bonus Gift # 2
Patriot Sage, a 369 page paperback retails for $30, and every homeschooler who enters gets a free copy! In this lavishly illustrated book, the life and legacy of America’s Founding Father is commemorated by bringing noteworthy scholars and authors together for a timely and topical consideration of Washington’s enduring importance.
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Consult ISI Programs for complete information.
Questions? Contact essaycontest@isi.org.
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt educational organization whose purpose is to further in successive generations of college youth a better understanding of the values and institutions that sustain a free and humane society.
Founded in 1953, ISI works “to educate for liberty” — to identify the best and the brightest college students and to nurture in these future leaders the American ideal of ordered liberty. To accomplish this goal, ISI seeks to enhance the rising generation’s knowledge of our nation’s founding principles — limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, the rule of law, market economy, and moral norms.
Wouldn’t it be GREAT if a home school student won this year?
Forward this post to a friend today!
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ISI Student Guides are a favorite of mine because they are small (usually less than 100 pages), concise overviews of various subjects like American History and Philosophy. Intended as a preparatory tool for the college student, these little surveys summarize the main points of the discipline and save mom lots of research time! You can find these handy little guides at Amazon.com. Here are two favorites we use in our home school:
Literature:
U.S. History:
You can find other great homeschool books for birth to high school teen in six The Classical Scholar Book Stores.
Supervised Independent Study: Your Personal Fitness Program
Posted by Diane in Post-Trivium Homeschool | High School on July 9th, 2008
Progressive responsibility and appropriate consequences are two characteristics of self-discipline in a classical home school. But those are not the only attributes. Supervised independent study, a superior alternative to a canned homeschool curriculum, is the pinnacle of self-discipline to which all parents using this classical homeschooling method should aspire. When your children have substantially mastered language, thought, and speech, pay attention. You will probably notice that your preteen or teen is also regularly teaching himself the material instead of relying on you to relay knowledge.
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David and I belong to a local health club. During the first few months of our membership, we hired a personal trainer to (1) perform some tests, and (2) show us how to use the equipment correctly. We had to fast from food and drink (no coffee…oh the headache!) the night before the first test, and when we arrived that morning, we had to wear this strange mask that measured our resting heart rates over a 20 minute interval. Next we both got on a treadmill and, still wearing the masks, ran a difficult course of increasing elevation to determine our body’s minimum and maximum metabolism. We were told to do as many push ups as we could (I hate pushups), and timed abdominal crunches. Finally, we were weighed (gasp…did I really weigh that?) and the dreaded pincher tool grabbed our thighs, waists, and arms to measure body fat percentage.
After all the results were entered into the computer program, a concise report was generated which gave us our personal baselines for improving our health IF we ate a healthy diet, exercised aerobically, and lifted weights. Personal goals for weight loss, strength, and body fat reduction were established. We then began a 12 week program with a personal trainer who used our personal plans to teach us how to use each piece of equipment without injury. Each week we saw improvement in strength, endurance, and weight loss as she challenged us to work at our maximum abilities.
When we began the program, we had high hopes that we would see results immediately (after all, we had doubled our exercise time!), but each week, we only saw little gains. However, now that the entire regimen with the personal trainer is over, we clearly see a difference in the way we look and feel; the physical results are measurable and positive. Neither one of us met the computer’s prediction by the end of the 12 weeks, but we are both still faithfully working towards those goals and know that, with time and practice, we will arrive at our destination even if it takes longer than expected.
Although we greatly enjoyed our personal trainer, we no longer need her help. She gave us all the guidance and even shared copies of her twelve plans with us so that when we were ready, we could launch out on our own fitness adventure. If we need any help, we can find her quickly and resolve any concerns or questions that we have.
Supervised Independent Study is like a Personal Training Program
Coaching your maturing child to the point of supervised independent study is like starting a homeschool sports fitness program. Imagine that you are the personal trainer, and he is the trainee. After all those years under your careful guidance, he has learned how to use the language to express his thoughts in writing and in speech. In essence, you have taught him how to learn!
As he gains confidence and age, he begins to take ownership of his own learning as he acquires more knowledge and interprets the meaning of what he’s learning. Not only have you taught him how to learn academics, but you have taught him administrative skills, too. Over the years, you have given him more and more responsibility. You’ve shown him how to regulate his own schedule. Perhaps you even have him check and correct his own work now.
Once you determine that he is ready to begin the systematic study of disciplines like economics, history, and philosophy, your role as personal trainer changes. Just like our personal trainer showed us the ropes then released us to implement the regime on our own, so, too, you need to release your child to supervised independent study when it is time. In this regard, the homeschool curriculum can be uniquely tailored to his interests, abilities, and goals.
If there is knowledge that you or your husband are especially qualified or eager to teach him, then by all means, continue teaching that information! My husband, David, is an American Civil War buff, so there is no better mentor in that area of U. S. history for our kids. I love to write, so I take responsibility for supervising their increasing competence in composing speeches and essays. However, we employ the expertise of outside personal trainers in some areas: Meredith takes voice and piano lessons from a university professor, and we use video, audio, and live instruction from other experts as necessary. I regularly download the mp3 lessons from The Teaching Company, and I’ve spent too much money taking the kids to debate camps and Andrew Pudewa workshops!
Most of all, I’m delighted that both kids are able to let the text teach them! The homeschooling tools that we have given them (like annotation and abstracts) enable them to have a “conversation” with the author of the text that really helps them to get to the bottom of the author’s intent and take ownership of what they discover. Later in this series, I’ll outline the scholar’s tools.
Four Mental Attitudes
Self-discipline is often about pushing yourself to accomplish tasks or adopt behaviors even though you’d really rather be doing something else. Every time that I had to do those push ups, I inwardly dreaded them but willed myself to move forward. Obstacles to progress, temptations to slothfulness, and hardships along the way will inevitably arise. You need to train your kids in rejecting immediate satisfaction for the greater good. Here are four lessons that David and I learned in the gym.
1. Identify your goal.
Before you can make progress, you need to first establish the baseline from which you are starting. Ask yourself, “where am I in terms of…?” Accurate assessments, no matter how embarrassing or painful, will help you realistically set achievable goals. Decide what steps you need to take to get there. Which steps are easy, and which steps are challenging? Be realistic as you establish the goals of the homeschool curriculum for your high school student.
2. Take the plunge.
As the Nike ads say, “just do it.” Once you have decided on a course of action, it’s time to move forward. Train yourself in tackling the project sooner rather than later. Don’t procrastinate. Attack the steps identified in reaching your goal systematically and strategically. It helps to break the goal up into to baby steps, plus you’ll get more endorphin rushes when you check off more to-dos! Don’t try to write a homeschool curriculum for the entire four years of high school. Take a semester at a time and adjust accordingly.
3. Work hard.
Achieving your goals is hard work, but you need to work hard to achieve them. The challenges will be great, but so will the reward. Learn to use your time efficiently so that you are productive and effective. The pain may seem unbearable, but you will get through it. As mentor to your homeschool high school teen, you and your spouse initially work hard to cast the vision of the homeschool curriculum and sketch out a plan of attack.
4. Keep moving.
Don’t give up. There is such a joy to pushing through the pain even if you think you cannot take another step. The sense of achievement is worth the difficulties that preceded the goal. Move on even if you don’t feel like it. As creator of the customized homeschool curriculum, you have a responsibility to make sure that your homeschooler is on track periodically. Keep your eyes on that vision that you established earlier and imagine what can be. Persist. Persevere. Supervised independent study is the very best kind of homeschool curriculum!
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Ready to homeschool high school? Get ready now by gradually weaning your homeschool child from too much dependence upon you.
How Do You Measure Mastery?
Posted by Diane in Personalized Homeschool Curriculum on June 27th, 2008
Before releasing your homeschoolers to experience the thrills of the socratic paideia in which dialogue drives instruction during the high school years, you need to determine whether mastery of the three skills of the classical trivium has been attained.
How do you measure mastery?
The Race
I live in Indianapolis, Indiana, home of the “world’s greatest racing spectacle,” the Indianapolis 500. Every May, nearly 300,000 people gather to watch this exciting 200 lap, 500 mile race. Adrenaline rushes as the cars fly around the track, traveling the length of a football field in one second, at speeds exceeding 220 mph. As drivers compete for placement in the turns, they endure G-force of four times the weight of gravity which is comparable to the G-force of the space shuttle take offs. The sleek fiberglass shell of the Indy car hides a powerful engine that can run at 675 horsepower which is 4 times the speed of an average car. Experienced pit crews perform mechanical magic as they refuel and replace worn tires in an astounding 20 seconds or less. Aggressive, careless, or tired drivers occasionally lose control of their cars, and the yellow caution flags come out when fiery crashes bring the manic race to a screeching halt. Unlike horse races which are over in a few minutes, the Indy car race is a marathon often exceeding three hours!
Imagine for a minute that classical home schooling is an Indy car race. As in the Indy 500, other factors enter into the equation for a successful homeschooling race such as unforeseen circumstances (weather), finances (sponsors), and the community (spectators), but for this post, we’ll focus on the three factors which most impact mastery: your homeschooler (the driver), the content (the car), and you, the parent (assuming the roles of both pit crew and clean up crew). But before we tackle the driver, the car, and the crew, let’s define the end of the race.
The Finish Line
Every Indy Car driver dreams of winning the Indy 500. Completing the race is the ultimate goal. In homeschooling, we’re not concerned about finishing before our peers, but we want to finish the race in God’s perfect timing for our particular homeschooler. The first race that we need to finish is “Teach the Skills of the Trivium,” so that we can then move on to finish the second race during the high school years, “Socratic Paideia in which Dialogue Drives Instruction.” Both steps culminate in mastery.
According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, the primary definition of the verb “master” is
“to conquer, to bring under control, to overcome, to subdue, to own, to rule, or to solve.”
Powerful images of domination and achievement arise, and, in the purest sense, to master something is to dominate. However, I prefer the second definition in Webster’s which is “to become skilled or proficient in the use of.” To complete the thought left dangling by the above preposition, your task as the homeschooler’s parent is to teach until your child is:
- skilled or proficient in the use of the English language
- skilled or proficient in the use of critical thinking abilities
- skilled or proficient in the use of oral and written communication
Once the trivium race is finished, your job is then to supervise the continued acquisition of knowledge and skills in areas of interest so that your homeschooler is on his way to mastery in areas of personal interest.
You know your child has reached mastery when he or she has consummate possession of the skill. Theoretically, full command of language, thought, and communication signals the end of the first race and the beginning of the second race. Practically, your son or daughter needs to have such command of the English language that the vocabulary, complex sentence structure, and literary style of the classics is not overwhelming. The ability to comprehend and wrestle with the meaning of the text is also necessary. Finally, the child who is ready to move on to the socratic paideia of high school has the skill to write extensively about the themes of the classics.
The Driver
Some glamorous Indy Car celebrities grow up in renowned racing families, but no matter how famous Daddy was, junior doesn’t just inherit the raw DNA ability to drive. All champions have to learn the basic rules of driving just like every other licensed driver. Once the basics are mastered, then they can then move on to more sophisticated concepts. Your homeschooler is no different. He starts as a novice, moves on to apprentice, and eventually becomes a master in his craft.
The Crew
The highly-skilled mechanics who work on Indy Car crews are some of the best in the world. They receive regular training as technology advances. They know their cars and drivers so well that they can anticipate problems and solutions before they crop up. Quick to respond, they are proactive, monitoring the status of the vehicle with wireless radio and detailed gauge readings. To give your child an authentic classical education, you need to be current on all that you are teaching. Plan time to refresh your memory if you are a little rusty (Mom’s continuing education) or do a little advance reading before you need to teach a concept. You’ll be more confident and serve your homeschooler’s needs better if you are prepared. If you find yourself unprepared, that’s okay, too. Declare a reading week and catch up! Your classical homeschooler will love the break!
