Learners at Home

Reviving our Love for Notebooking~

2012-02-08T06:00:00.001-05:00

I was up very early this morning and was very interested in reading a new ebook download I had gotten last evening. It is called Notebooking Success by Jimmie Lanely.

Here is the link to be able to see how you can also get this ebook.

I really liked this ebook. Really informative especially for the novice who might be just beginning or thinking about incorporating Notebooking in their home learning.

We have been Notebooking on and off for a couple of years now. I mention "on and off" because we haven't been as consistent as I think I would like us to be. This book sort of rekindled my reasoning for notebooking and in talking with my teen early this morning we are both anxious again to get back into using it more in our studies.

The book is very simple to understand and provides a great layout for the different styles of learning and how you can adapt Notebooking into any homeschool style. It gives some great links too, which were great reminders for me of sites I had long forgotten about and quickly skimmed those over this morning pulling a few gems I found for us to use right now~ . ( I listed a few ideas and things we do to "tweak" notebooking to suit my special needs kiddos, see below if interested)

If you are interested in Notebooking but not quite sure where to start or how to do it I would highly recommend this inexpensive "gift" you can give yourself and your homeschool. You will be thanking yourself later on~ Thank you Jimmie for sharing this wealth of information and experience with us~

Here are some thoughts and suggestions I have found to help us in our Notebooking at home:

* We use a combination of things for our Notebooking. I use printed copies of free notebooking pages I find on the internet, regular notebook and cardstock paper to attach lapbook folds and pictures we find to place onto a page for a particular topic ( yes, I also combine lapbooking and notebooking) and I also make my own pages when I can't seem to find something I was looking for or am feeling ambitious. :)

* I keep my pages that I print out in a big binder. I print out or copy several pages ( especially if they are generic and can be used for a variety of topics) and add the small stack to a page protector pocket so they stay nice and I keep them organized in dividers by topic in that big binder. Here is a blog post (look below for the part about the Notebooking Binder) I had written about how I keep my pages so that I or the boys can find them when we need them in a snap~

* Notebooking to help with spelling and writing~ My younger son continues to struggle with the process of the actual mechanics of writing including spelling. I think often children who has dysgraphia and problems with spelling often shy away from doing such tasks and we as parents can often find ourselves avoiding the dreaded tasks as well. Well, we can't. We need to find ways they can do things and function and in thinking more about how we had gotten away from our notebooking helped me realize that this could be a powerful way to help both with spelling and writing.

Sometimes one of the best ways to learn how to spell is through writing. Just Write! as so many people say, but when they say this usually they are talking about writing/composition programs, I am not. I am talking about writing to learn how to spell. Not from a pre-made list but from ( as my teens says) "real life". Writing because it isn't a random word you have to learn ( or in our case already knows) but writing for meaning because it is saying something about something you want to say!   My younger son does great in spelling. Sounds odd doesn't it? Well its true, we have tried many, many spelling programs and he does wonderfully. He gets his list works on the words and might only miss one if that. So whats the problem?

The problem is when he goes to write something ( he has a very high-leveled vocabulary, being twice exceptional) therefore many programs even higher grades do not seem to fit his needs and abilities. I need something more tuned into his own needs which is why we use a more "Individualized Spelling List". But again, this was seemingly separating out the lessons too much so I realized recently that what was missing was Notebooking. This can be a great tool for toward teaching with meaning for his spelling.

For us, using the writing program IEW also helps because again, it gives him "a reason" to need to write and write well so we can read the letters. This also helps in his spelling and dysgraphia.

* Using our Lifepacs differently to adapt it to Notebooking ~ We really like using Lifepacs periodically according to units we are working on in History and Science. We don't use them exactly the way they are "supposed to be used" Surprise! ( nothing new there for us right?!) What we like to do is work through the pages and then cutting out the pictures and using them in our notebooking pages for visuals and I read out the questions and we use those for narrations that can be written on the notebooking pages :) It works great!

A few more tips for children who struggle with writing~

   * copywork can be a great way to help with children who struggle with using pen/paper and also with spelling.   Early on and even now and then ( for modeling purposes) I will have my son narrate to me what he learned and scribe for him on notebook paper and then he can then go back and copy the words at his own pace, saying each word as he writes.

     * having the learner write down his thoughts and words on a separate piece of paper before adding it to the formal notebooking page helps those children who may fall into the "has to be perfect" category. So that they can work out their thoughts first before making it permanent.

   * recording their narrations also helps so they can go back and write or we can scribe for them what they wish to add to their notebooking page. This really helps kiddos who may have trouble with auditory processing, it can help them gather their thoughts a bit better and organize their writing verbally before starting to write.

I bring these thoughts up because so many books and things that are recommended are geared for the typical child. So many forget about the special needs learners and set expectations by age/grade of what they should be doing and when and how that may not fit our children at all times.   For us special needs parents we need to tweak things constantly. Know that your not alone and share in this "out of the box" thinking we find ourselves in. And realize that our successes we have with our special children are all that much sweeter! :)

Memory Success: Thinking Outside the "System"

2012-01-23T09:03:00.000-05:00

Rote Learning~ sigh, it doesn't come easy to some of our special learners does it? While surfing the net, reading books etc., most resources suggest consistent repetition and perseverance. But what about a tool that might be helpful for us while doing all this persevering and repetition?

I wanted to share this link resource that describes a Scripture Memory System from the Simply Charlotte Mason Website.

As I read through this article I could see how this kind of "memory system" could work in other areas of study.

This "system" could be a great way to keep track of any kind of rote learning from scripture memory to math formulas, or grammar learning, etc.,

Suggestions on the " what" I might use this "system" ~

Grammar~ When learning a particular part of speech I might add a few things that we might have just worked on recently, for example, listing pronouns, listing contraction examples, reminders of adjectives, or even for older children (working from the Blue Book of Grammar) work and list spelling rules.

Math~ Math fact practice ( trouble spots for those stinkers they can't seem to remember) math formulas they tend to be resistive about, shapes practice etc..,

History~ Important dates in history to remember, (what, where, who, why) great for self assessing and preparation for tests and study guide information.

Science~ Scientists information, formulas, body systems its just endless on what you can use it for.

This system can be used for Music Study, Art Study also much the same way.

Now suggestions on the "how "on using this "system" ~

Print out the cards at the bottom of resource link. I may change these to our day schedule instead of days of the week (day 1, day, 2 day 3, day 4). This works better for our schedule.

Our dividers would be color coded so I could have one index box for all subjects of rote learning. Science would be green, English, yellow, History blue, Math, red ( these are colors the boys have known for topics since the beginning and would make it much easier for me to flip to if I am looking for something) Electives like art/music might just be white.

I would write down information on those cards and add it to the day I want.

At the end of the box I would add one more tab that would say "mastered" I would place those index cards they no longer need to practice there, but for safe keeping just to go back to every once in a while.

For older children in specific higher leveled programs one could use this system for just one subject like Chemistry, Physics, Trigonometry etc..,

Thinking out side the "system", tweaking things to meet our learners and our own needs where we are at is what we are all about! Hope some find these suggestions and ideas helpful.

Update*:

Here are some photos of what I created. I printed the index tabs on white cardstock and turned them around so that I could add "Days" instead of using the days of the week.

In the back I added a "mastered" tab just in case I wan to go back to those later on and I also left a couple of the tabs empty in case I need them for something specific.

I labeled each index card box with the boys name on it and listed the color coding for each subject ( just in case my mind goes, lol ) for their reference if they need it for some reason.

Here is an example of a math card I added for my youngest that dealt with shapes. I even took it one step further and added an area where I can add dates and notes for me assessing where he is at with these. Again, "making it our own".

here is the back of that card where it gives a quicky assessment.

As I did this I quickly thought as we get into more and more work with shapes etc., I might keep this and have to staple a new card to it as well. Again, more repetition and the more times they see it and work with it the better and more able they are to "file" it into their long term memory.

here is an example of how I decided what to add to these cards, for us, we use LLATL and so I went through his book looking at the areas I knew he needed a bit more practice in.

I began to quickly see how this could be a very powerful, worthwhile tool for him.

Here is more examples so you can get an even better idea.

I want to mention that I don't plan on using these as "lesson" but only quick reviews that take a minute or two to read over. As we do, the boys will get to a point where they hear me or read over the card and they are saying "yup, yup, that's right I know that..." kind of review. Real quick NOT laboring. I intend to make this helpful not a dreaded hindrance to our home learning.

And here is a math example of what I have added.

I hope these are helpful in understanding in what capacity we are using this index memory system. ~

** 1/25/12 another update. I started incorporating this with the two boys this week, they loved the idea and it is working very well. We only spend about 5-10 mins. tops on doing these ( just running through and reviewing new concepts) I wish I would have thought of this much sooner! **

Picture and Music Study Made EASY ~

2012-01-16T08:56:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to share this with my readers I can hardly contain myself~ to use Nadene's ( author of Practical Pages) phrase "A Treasure for CM'ers" this is indeed so true.

She was kind enough to share about this "treasure trove" of items to use for Picture/Music and Poetry Study. Here is Nadene's post she shared.

I started searching All Things Bright and Beautiful and absolutely love it and will be incorporating this into our home learning at once. It also sent me on some bunny trails ( gotta love those too) for resources I can pick up to reinforce our Music Study as well.

Like the author ( Patti) explains in her introduction post,( which shares how to use the blog) we also have had a hard time trying to find the time to fit in art and music into our home learning. I think this will be a perfect thing to use in helping us do just that.

At times, I find myself having to sit back and reflect on so many homeschooling parents I run into that are so willing to work and share their labors with others freely~ it is truly inspiring.

I can't wait to get started on this~ I hope you find these two blogs as inspiring as I have~ enjoy!

Science Ramblings- with a Hop and a Skip!

2012-01-05T16:00:00.002-05:00

My 12 yo ended up skipping around the house today singing how much he LOVES his science lessons. ( We started using Intellego Unit Studies for Science back in late November) and he really loves using these. We are incorporating notebooking, posters and I plan on adding labs/experiments when I can also) he loves these because they move right along and have some great web sites to go along with the topics he is learning.

Seeing him hop and skip around all happy made me want to make a shift in his schedule plans a bit. Right now we are working a block schedule ( which he has always liked Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays are his core studies which include Math and Language Arts) but I think has he gets older it might be nice to go ahead and incorporate a bit more "delight direction" in his learning.

I am considering if perhaps it might be a nice change to maybe do more "sprinkles" throughout the week of LA instead of all of them every day and he would work his Science studies daily with short lessons to begin his day instead of waiting till the end of the week to do them all at once.

His favorite topic has been History but now I am seeing it might be a tie between History and Science~ ( not a very heavy burden to have I suppose) :]

He tends to be very visual and loves the different websites for learning. I really like how Intellego has everything there for us and I no longer need to go hunting interactives down for him.

Here is a copy of our old block schedule: ( your going to notice there are times added in here, He insisted I add these because big brother ( my teen who has to track his time for credit hours has this as well) has this and wanted to have what he has)

to print, click here

And here is what I have revised:


to print, click here

The above revised daily check list is much more involved, but I really think he is ready. We won't ever do every single thing on this list but it serves as a helpful guide for him and reminders of what can be done for each topic. It will also depend on my lesson outlines and what his particular interests are, in a given topic/subject.

I usually print these double sided so that I can use this sheet for two weeks to save on paper~ hope you find these helpful and gives you some ideas on how you can plan out your middle schoolers days~

Flash Cards for Practicing Shapes~

2012-01-04T11:35:00.001-05:00

We are just starting back with our studies this week and that means a bit of review~ here are some flash cards I made up this morning to help with learning some of the 2D and 3D shapes.

I have a few boxes empty so that you can add your own for younger learners like a star and heart etc.., I also will be adding more as we move further into geometry with our youngest. Some are quite easy but we are also using these cards for the spelling of the shapes as well~

If you would like to print these out you can find them here. I will post more as I create more for this set. For right now these are all we need I am going to laminate these and use a hole punch and add them to a silver stainless ring so that we can have easy access to them~

*update~ here are some activities and games to use for continuing practice with shapes:
Nets 3D models to make from Sen Teacher
Smartinies Shape Store - this is for much younger learners but thought I would share for my readers that have younger children.
Interactive Math Shape Games
Geometry from Math is Fun

A Far Bigger Picture Than Just Copywork- Reflections on Your Home Teaching

2011-12-21T07:48:00.001-05:00

I had seen this blog post from The Happy Housewife entitled " Ditch Copy Work " -This is a different perspective on copywork. We find copywork to not be agonizing or a punishment but rather a really comprehensive tool that can be used every now and then for learning several different kinds of skills. ( writing practice, grammar, usage, correct spelling etc. ) I could probably go on and on about the benefits of copywork but I will stop there~

Some learners really don't care for copywork and I can certainly understand that - it depends on the child's learning strengths and style, but I suppose I just have a hard time with others who state how much they dislike something and feel about it when in realty ( or at least my reality) it should be about the children and what their needs and likes are~

I have observed some homeschool parents who will often share about how they might hate a certain program or were not comfortable with it and will throw it aside. When I had asked how their child was doing with it they often would reply that they "seemed" fine but it was just not what they were comfortable with or liked.

While I do understand that we as home educators have to be comfortable with the material that shares our family values and beliefs, I can't seem to wrap my mind around home educators who make the teaching about them and not their own children. The reality is that it isn't about what our likes are~ it is supposed to be about what our learners needs and likes are right?

I suppose I felt compelled to share this reflection to remind myself and my readers to try my ( our ) best to keep the learning and teaching about the children and not about myself ( ourselves).

Changes here at LAH and a new Page added ~

2011-12-13T12:08:00.000-05:00

Along with some changes to our LAH learning blog, I am adding a new section called "LAH Categories " I think these categories will make finding things for my readers much more easier~

I will be adding a new page to our my LAH blog entitled " Apps for Learning" - here is where I will list a bunch of applications and online tools to use and where to find them to help with home learning~ stay tuned and I hope you find the categories more helpful~

To Study or Not Around the Holidays~

2011-12-13T12:03:00.000-05:00

Over on one the my email groups I belong to,
( Special Needs Homeschool) a question came up about whether or not others are doing homeschooling through December or the Holiday Season.

After replying and thinking about it some more I wanted to expand a bit on it here since this is a place I can freely share my own thoughts and reflections on such things~

photo credit link

This year for the holidays we are still doing some light studies. We don't have the time to do a full schedule of our studies but are doing daily Mathematics and Reading.

We also have been following the debates and politics going on lately and the boys have really been very interested in this as well.

I suppose you could say we are doing more of a relaxed or more unschooling approach for the Holiday Season and then we will be ramping back up the first week in January.

I really think it can be important ( for special needs kiddos especially) for children to continue on with their reading and mathematics skills. I have found with our boys it is alot easier for us when we ramp back up if we have been reading and doing math over the holidays than if we were to just stop.

Another reason to continue on with a light schedule is you can still accomplish learning but at a slower rate, while also maintaining some sort of sense of structure and "calm" among all the craziness the holidays has to bring. It can help keep the home a bit more grounded and normal during the really hectic times when your trying to bake, wrap, schedule dinner parties etc.. I have found my boys welcome curling up with a favorite book series or for my teen sitting with his laptop, doing some of his Math on Khan Academy. It can be comforting during a sort of stressful time.

I also have the boys in the kitchen with me baking and learning new things. ( math and reading ) We also went to see The Christmas Carol play at our local theater ( the arts). We have been writing out Christmas cards, (writing) shopping for both gifts and groceries ( consumer math ) etc... you can easily see how learning really doesn't stop during the holiday time or how it doesn't have to. ~

Happy Holidays!

Flash Cards for Geometric Shapes

2011-12-12T16:16:00.000-05:00

In between our Christmas preparations we have been taking this month to review some skills already learned - I thought about it and December is SUCH a busy month with everything going on that it might be best to just reinforce things we already have learned.

One of those concepts we reviewed this morning was Geometric Shapes and I noticed our youngest was really having trouble remembering certain shapes so I went searching for some flash cards we could use so that I could more easily reinforce them.

I found this site that allowed me to freely print many of the geometric shapes he was having a problem with.

I also decided to find some activities and maybe an online game for him to use as well just to change things up a bit~ here is some resources I found and thought I would share:

Kids Math Games
Polygon Matching Game from Math Playground
Interactive Quadrilaterals
Shapes Identification Quiz- I really liked this one and know my youngest will like the "no frills" approach to this game.
Looking at Polygons
Cricketweb has a few games to use for practicing about shapes.
Polygon playground

The History of the Christmas Tree

2011-12-06T07:27:00.001-05:00

It's Christmas at our home. All over the place there is lighted trees, decorations, baskets of cinnamon pine cones, candy dishes filled and ready for the picking.... yup, Tis the Season.

During the holidays ( the month of December) we usually take it off but this year due to a really crazy schedule we have not been as structured with our studies so I wanted to continue on with a "lighter set" of studies through this month and then ramp to a more structured schedule in January.

We are right now on average spending only about 2 to 2 1/2 hours on our studies because the rest of the day is filled with baking and other things~

I am planning on having the boys read some classical Christmas Stories this month and have a wonderful book of short stories from Dickens and will be digging out a couple others. I plan on doing these as a read aloud- but for a bit of a different spin I thought we would look into and learn more about the tradition of the Christmas Tree.

I subscribe to a great blog for gifted children called Byrdseed Gifted and found this great article that gave me the idea to do this. I think it will be a neat change up and will fit into our history learning nicely at this time of year.

Processing and Understanding their Learning: Tools and Strategies to Help

2011-11-13T08:06:00.001-05:00

As my youngest moves further into more in-depth learning I am finding his processing of the information becoming increasingly more difficult. He has been struggling with the processing of the information especially if there is many steps or levels of information on that particular topic.

I am not surprised with this, because of his learning disabilities this can be expected, however, I am not willing to allow his struggles to be a reason for not learning things and not understanding them.

There are strategies for these kinds of struggles and I thought I might share a few of them here;

Online Graphic Organizers/Mind Maps:

Free Technology for Teachers had a post on their blog that offered Nine Tools for Collaboratively Creating Mind Maps. There are many here to look through and try out on your own before introducing them to your learner. I found a couple here that will really help us. I searched out a few topics and found some great information on how I might use these. For example, we are right now studying the Human Body and that can contain LOTS of layers of information and topics. These online Mind Maps or Visual Organizers can really help my guy sort out his thoughts and reinforce new concepts and skills he is learning.

Printable Graphic Organizers:

Grades 4-8 Graphic Organizers- I really loved this site. This is a wonderful resource in helping to understand some tricky concepts in Mathematics. Just clicking on a couple will help you to see how helpful these might be to the visual learner.

Education Place has a listing of Graphic Organizers to print out for all areas of learning.

EducationOasis has some printable concept and also vocabulary graphic organizers.

Freeology is another great site that offers over 100 printable graphic organizers to use in different areas of learning.

Busy Teachers Cafe ( a K-6 site) has this helpful Graphic Organizer for helping younger learners understand new vocabulary.

Graphic Organizers - this site has a bunch of printable organizers to use.

Other ideas/tools to help:

KWL Charts- ( see example here) can be really helpful to be used for many different subjects and can really help reinforce lessons and skills learned from beginning and to the end of a topic.
Here is a KWLH which takes it one step further.

Mnemonics- ( definition on Wikipedia) Sometimes this kind of tool can really be helpful for a learner to understand bits of information that might be perhaps sequential. My son has found success using this kind of strategy. We tend to make up our own which I believe is part of the reason why they can be so effective since it is based on things that my son can relate to. But if we get stuck here are a few things:
Fun with Words and Math Mnemonics.
Education World has more math Mnemonics.
Index of Mnemonics

Role Playing- ( adding movement to learning) I remember a while back our youngest had been learning about Photosynthesis and we noticed he just wasn't getting it. We used an organizer, we colored it and talked about it more and more but he still wasn't getting a real understanding of it. So, I decided to add movement. I decided to get Daddy and big brothers involved and my youngest was the plant and all of us were the other elements that involve the process of photosynthesis. I explained it and we all acted it out and he finally got it! There was lots of laughing and carrying on, which I almost think he sort of loved too! Heck it was fun! lol

Another example I can give is my little guy a few years ago had trouble with skip counting. He just couldn't get his 2's down or any other really so I decided again, to add some movement. We went out side armed with some chalk and I made a ladder and I added the 2's in each of the boxes. I had him jump and yell out on each one the skip counting for the 2's. ~ we did this for only five minutes or so then I had him draw the 2's on our driveway, saying them as he went... the next day or two I had him tell me back and skip count the 2's. He got the first two or three then I saw him get up and march or hop and he was able to remember the 2's! I knew I was onto something at this point. :]

Consistency and Repetition in learning just about anything can be a very power strategy and tool that we can use in our teaching at home. Each day, as we begin our studies, we can go over things we did yesterday in a particular topic. We can do this in ALL subjects not just Math or Grammar. If you get stuck on what you did, then your daily home school journal will help remind you what they did and any trouble spots in say Spelling or a particular concept in Science.

I hope some of these ideas help your learners if they are struggling in a particular area of understanding.

Time Tracking for Highschool Learners

2011-10-18T09:28:00.003-04:00

We have been working through Khan Academy with great success this year. One of the new things we are trying to do this year is keeping track of our teen's time that he works on each subject for his credit hours.

Here is a tool I decided on using for helping him stay on task for a set amount of time. It really helps with time management since at times he can go way above the actual time we had allotted or way below the time if something is boring or he isn't as interested in.

As teens get more independent its not as necessary for us to sit over them while they work. So this really helps keep him better on track with his time.

TimerOnline Clock is a great free tool to try out for this!

Note: For tracking his credit hours we use a Daily Log Books that is printed by NARS. I have posted about this previously ( see previous post) scroll down to Record Keeping for a link example to our Daily Log.

This Daily Log has been working fairly well. He just has to remind himself to write down his activities and time ! But when he does I can see it will be a really helpful tool for me at the end of the year.

Literature Learning~

2011-10-12T09:37:00.000-04:00

We are starting the workshop seminar by Adam Andrews~ Teaching The Classics. I was actually going to hold off starting this till next month because we started a few other new things and I wanted to get those going first.
Our youngest started the book Cricket in Time Square a week or two ago and I had planned to use with this book a Study Guide. After starting it yesterday with him, we ditched it right away~ it was some of the "fluff" I had been mentioning in prior posts.

We didn't like it at all and for us, looking up a chapter in the book and copying words to fill in the blanks, for us, really isn't literature study. Its copywork! I wasn't happy, neither was my son. It ended up in the trash and we dove into Adam's seminar and my son is really finding it interesting.

We are going to be using this to analyze the book he is reading and if he would like, we can do a lapbook on it as well from Homeschool Share.

Everyone is happy again. At this point we are working all our Language Arts skills through an IEW approach. I can't tell you how much more effective and comprehensive deciding to do this has changed our learning and thinking.

The programs have helped me get away from the "fluff" and "busy work" where your jumping from one program or workbook to the next.

I am condensing their LA learning into one and will share examples of how I am doing this as I take notes on what we do and move forward.

Binders RULE!

2011-10-09T12:20:00.003-04:00

Ok, I have to admit it as bulky as they can be~ I have to acknowledge that I am a self described Binder Queen.

This was my first year trying out Homeschool Planners. I had all the pages printed and tabs placed in between the sections, it was great. I then had them spiral bound like everyone else does.

After using these for several weeks I became really frustrated. I needed to add some pages that were necessary, I changed the format of their lesson outlines so all the pages I created were no longer as useful.

I found that when I bound these in this fashion it became too rigid for me. If I sound like "you" then read on~

If you have been following my blog for any length of time now, you know very well I can be very bold and will change something that I find isn't working in a minute~ my planners are no exception.

I ripped up what my printer created and added the pages into a three ring binder. I even found out as I did this that my printer (person I had sent these to - to have them bound) had turned half my journal pages UPSIDE down! Thanks but no thanks, lol

After adding them to the binder I now can do the following:
*add pages more freely (ie., notebooking pages that are assigned with the units, change/delete things I do not need any longer,
*pages stay in better shape the bound books were taking a beating with me flipping through and referring to my journal pages in writing down what we did. It just wasn't very durable for me. I suppose I am tough on things.
* remove a particular page I am working on and take it with me instead of bring the "whole book". - that got very tiring having everything so connected. This way, I can just pop out a page and it goes with me instead of all the other things I don't need at the moment.

Another area that I tweaked early on this year is our lesson outlines to go from days of the week, TO just a day schedule ie., Day 1, Day 2 etc.. this has worked out far better to our advantage.

Now, when I do lesson outlines IF life happens ( dr. appointments, field trips, sickness - we all know that is coming) I have my schedule still in tact and just back up to the day before or the next day block.

Talk about relieving stress! It just so happened these next two weeks will be crazy busy with Corn Mazes, tests at the hospital, etc.. I don't have to worry about changing things and keeping up because we are following this day schedule.

I also tweaked their outlines for better subject integration. This also makes for much deeper and more comprehensive learning~ I am getting rid of the fluff ( will be writing more about that later on in another post)
I realized just how many program re-teach the same concepts year after year! I sat back and heard my son say "mom I already know about NOUNS!". Something to be said for this ~ so stay tuned and I will share more later on.

Math Facts - Using Number Bonds

2011-10-08T08:27:00.001-04:00

[before I begin talking about what I have learned about using Number Bonds for learning and mastering math facts I wanted to share a bit of some back ground on how I decided on using these a bit more in our mastery of the facts for our youngest]

We had started early on this year using Khan Academy for our math practice. We had made a shift because our textbooks were wearing us out and were so dry and boring. Information wasn't being processed as it should and the texts were either going at a snails pace or seemed to be just an overload of information on things the boys already knew.

I have yet to find that perfect math program and having tried several that I found to have worked for a bit I then, have often found some deficits/gaps in certain areas or was just plain dry! I am convinced in all my reading up on math learning that math really can be fun and interesting for my boys its just that we need to have a different mind set when thinking about math and how we explore and learn it. I want to break out of the cycle of how I was taught Math and so I decided to try a new innovative way for learning the concepts.

Khan Academy was a big jump for us and a big change but I would have to say after working through Khan this past month I am quite pleased with how things are going in the area of math for us - I will be sharing more as I go along and how I am using this for grading and such for our high school aged learner.

* note~ a new yahoo email group has been created for parents and educators who are using Khan in their home learning or classroom. Its been great sharing on there so far so if your thinking of using Khan or already do, join us! Rebecca and I would love to share with you!

******************************
We worked a module this week about ( a review) the Commutative Law of Addition. My son did very well understanding after watching the videos. I liked the fact that after watching the video instead of using just a typical problem Khan used a rather more in-depth problem to answer.

an example;

It threw my younger son for a loop and he immediately said "I can't do this". I realized how important the understanding was for him to realize the properties of numbers and symbols and this really helped me realize that he was so used to being "spoon fed" information by his math texts and even me, that he lacks the critical thinking skills and problem solving for breaking something down and attempting to figure it out on his own.

So we got to work~ I helped explain what he was "actually looking at" and he felt much better and he really actually enjoyed it. One thing I am loving about Khan is how it stretches things for him and us.

We started talking about talking a bit more about fact families and then I decided to talk more and bring up "number bonds" and as I did he really started to get more interested. He loves working with fact families and so when I googled a bit and found this blog post "The Secret to Teaching Math Facts" I became hooked on trying this method out and adding it to my arsenal of ideas toward his mastery of his multiplication math facts.

Here is another blog post toward using Number Bonds=Better Understanding, I love this article because it explains how having all four of the fact families can create deeper understanding and better connections with the relationships of numbers. THIS is something I think will work very well with my visual learner. It sort of reminds me of the same "kind" of connection if you will, with Patterns in Spelling and Word Families to teach spelling - showing the bonds between the symbols ( letters) that make up a word.

Here are some printables for trying this out on your own~
Fact Family Cards by Math Cats
Fact Families Triangles to Print from Helping with Math
Fact Family Cards from Super Teacher Worksheets (also be sure to see the printable games for practice here too, I downloaded the "to the moon" game which looked like alot of fun)

If any of you decide to try this out I would love to hear back about how it worked out~ we are going to be starting these this Monday~

Homeschooling for Free or Almost Free

2011-10-04T14:55:00.001-04:00

Here are a couple of new resources I have recently learned about and wanted to share with my readers;

Budget Homeschool is a site where you can find lots of resources for free to use for your teaching at home.

School 4 Free is yet another site where there are lots of free things to print and use for your home teaching.
Along with this page is an extension of her resources (smaller downloadable files) from the same author called
Aunt B's.

I will be adding this new the money saving tips page as well for future referencing. Always nice to save a penny here and there with free resources~

Grammar Chat~

2011-10-03T10:17:00.001-04:00

One subject/skill that is really not amusing or fun to my teen is Grammar. I am sure many can sympathize with me when I say, my teen basically can't stand doing it.

I have found a few things to remedy his distaste for Grammar. I thought I would share these resources with my readers~

Grammar for my teen never seemed to make any sense. Sure I did try making up a sentence using incorrect grammar. That didn't work, he would just laugh and say "Your being so stupid! it should be this"! but he couldn't explain why~!

We tried the color coding and that wasn't very amusing either~ then I heard about Grammar Revolution and we worked through Elizabeth's Basic Grammar Program and he seemed to begin to "get it" and not mind it as much.

I then decided I really wanted to integrate his Grammar much more with his actual writing. Not keep it as such a separate skill/subject. I was observing him while working with Andrew with IEW and he really seemed to pull things together while using it more in context rather than randomly abstract things from random sentences.

Because of what I saw I picked up IEW's Fix-It program and we work this while also using the Blue Book of Grammar for rules and referencing. (which for us we can use as little memory hooks or even anchors when it comes to remembering how to find something) We are learning the Rules for Grammar, but I try and teach them more as "tips" because then I found if we didn't call them rules then he isn't feeling like he is being "made" to do something, but rather a tip can be helpful and even used as a trick to find something. Much like a hint for a puzzle your working on.

Upon working with these new things I am seeing a shift in his feelings about Grammar, even saying "this isn't so bad", or " that's it today"? yup, learning grammar doesn't have to be like a root canal. You can integrate what they learn into proofreading with them their writings. Reinforcing lessons already learned by chatting more about what you go over when writing or "doing".

I do alot of "reminders" for example while working in his science ( his core subject) his science text had a wonderful example of how to use indentation for paragraphs, something he never really "got". I showed him how this author uses indentation to his advantage and how each paragraph was more or less a different thought added to his writing, yet it all seemed to work together under one particular topic. HE GOT IT.

This kind of integrating and brief examples is what many learners need to help them along to understand such abstract learning. YES, even for older children~ :)

Online practice is another fun, quick and easy way to just sort of build upon those skills already learned. Here is a couple links I found to help me do this so far~ (these two are my favorites so far)

Online Writing Lab from Owl - these are wonderful comprehensive exercises you can do online. My son writes his sentences out just to make it more multi-sensory. A helpful component for special needs children.

This site works along with using the Blue Book of Grammar. Its helpful for reviewing the skills and you can take an online quiz.

For more online practice, we have used Daily Grammar and my teen works the sentences out by writing them. These exercises are quick, easy and full of ways to reference so we can go back and look up things. We really have liked it.

I hope some of these things help in your considerations over the topic of Grammar.

October is the Month of the Holy Rosary~

2011-10-02T20:20:00.002-04:00

Here is some things we are going to be using to celebrate the Month of the Holy Rosary~

* The Resource Site has some information and printables.
* Introducing parts of the Rosary
* Printable for reciting the Rosary.
*History of the Rosary
* The Scapular, the Rosary and a Survival Story
* Inspirational Stories of the Rosary ~ and introducing Louis Pasteur so many times people use science for introducing this person I am going to use a different story. ~
* a blog~ The Rosary Trail

Human Body Unit- some resources to share

2011-10-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

We started our Human Body Unit this week. Here is a list of resources I am using for this unit with my 12yo.

We are using as our spine a unit study from Intellego Studies: Human Body Vol I ( we will be working Volume II and Volume III but later on breaking in between for some Chemistry and Physics units for a balance) I absolutely LOVE these unit studies.

Other supplements we are picking and choosing from:

Otters Elementary Science Curriculum: Human Body
This is a full human body on its own OR can be used as a supplement like I am doing. It has some great links and ideas much like Intellego has. Was put together by a homeschool mom for her younger son. I think its fantastic as well.
Note: if your planning on a Human Body Unit Study and have or wish to work also at a higher level here is one that is for Highschool aged learners: Big Otters Science Curriculum upon request from readers she also created a unit for the younger learners: Little Otters Science Curriculum all the bases are covered!

Here are some Science Printables we are using for our unit:
Guest Hollow science printables
Activity Village- has a few printables we can use
Super Teachers Worksheets has some printables as well.

Books we are using for our Unit:
The Human Body for Every Kid, by Janice Vancleave
The Usborne Complete Book of the Human Body
The Body Book: Easy to Make Hands on Models
Blood and Guts, by Linda Allison
We are planning on adding many library books also which I can add as we find and use them.

Videos
National Geographic
Human Body Videos

Links to use for learning about the Human Body:
Human Body Lapbook
Science for Kids: Human Body
Body Systems
Science with Me - has both information and some printables also.
Discovery - Human Body Explorer - my son loves this site I think we might just have to pick up the DVD's!
Get Body Smart- this is a wow site. A bit advanced but my teen can use this perhaps later on so it is a keeper. I suppose you would say this would be a "stretch" moment :)
Kids Health, How the Body Works - great information here too.
Human Body from .gov - free teaching resources this is another stretch for us some information would be more appropriate for an older learner. Useful for pictures as well.
Tour of the Human Body~ this is another really good site in how it is broken down.
Body Systems ~

I have many if not most or all of these links here all in one place also.

**update~ I knew it, I knew it... I should not have checked this ad in my email box, lol ~ here is a My Body Lapbook I just bought from Currclick to add to our resources. My son loved this!

Online Flash Cards for Learning~ a new site

2011-10-02T07:09:00.000-04:00

I found yet another goody a friend shared ~ its called Flashcard Machine. I think I love this particular site because of how easy it is to use and find things. I found a bunch of things here we can use~ and I can build my own!

This is an idea a college student had as he made his own flash cards and then thought of a way to make one big set and then share with his classmates for tests and referencing. Major innovation and collaboration!

Literature Lesson Index

2011-10-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

I am having one of those days when you end up finding all kinds of goodies~ ever have one of those days? I just found out about this Literature Lesson Index and found some wonderful resources I can use for some books we are using right now.
Its called Lesson Index, just click on the literary title and find all kinds of resources to either purchase or get free on that particular literature selection~ If you have time be sure and try and check this out!

Learning about the US Presidents~

2011-10-01T08:13:00.001-04:00

I came across this free download for learning about our US Presidents and thought I might share~ It is from Home of Heroes website. This could be a great resource for teaching about our US Presidents.

New Lesson Outline Pages

2011-09-29T17:34:00.000-04:00

We made some minor changes to our Block Scheduling bringing it down to a four day schedule while we continue to work all our subjects but more in a Unit Study fashion. It really seemed quite natural to do this because on the days when we would have our block days we wished we had been doing this all week~ We finally caught on and the boys had an idea. Turn thing around and let their favorite studies be their core, while integrating some of the other subjects!

We tried it out this week ~ I just wanted to see who it would go and it fit perfectly leaving Fridays for volunteer time, Home School Group gatherings, errands and chores etc.

If you are interested, I saved these outlines at these links: Science Core Outline and History Core Outline ( I call them outlines because I leave them very flexible to pull or push to the next day ~ always writing in pencil and this "outline style" has worked splendidly for us this year for the boys. ) Your also going to notice there are different Core Outlines, that's because I have two very different learners and I am following their real interests to make things much richer and rewarding. As we work further into these areas of their interests teaching, facilitating and learning has been so much richer and more successful.

I am now slowly transitioning their Language Arts skills to be directly integrated with their Core Subjects. It has worked wonderfully so far. It is much easier than I thought it would be~ My journals I use help me do this because I can follow what we do in the program on say Monday in IEW's Fix It and follow through the rest of the week reinforcing the topics/skills/lessons. We are finding more retention in certain areas too just because we are giving more "meaning for teaching" and that is always a good thing.

I have found by using more of a lesson plan method just means that things get all bogged down and we feel frustrated because the "plan" may not have worked out as well as we should. Our outline leaves room for bunny trails on the scheduled topics and makes learning much more fun and comprehensive!

Grammar Practice~ Subjects and Predicates

2011-09-26T15:47:00.001-04:00

Today we worked on learning about complete sentences and also complete subjects and predicates. We need a bit more practice in this area so I went looking for a few more resources for some fun practice in this area.

Here are some games I found for practice~

Quiz Time ~ find the complete subject and predicates with multiple choice
Rags to Riches ~ a game that you play to find simple subjects and simple predicates.
Gamequarium~ practice with sentences
Sink or Swim

Here is a wiki page on subjects and predicates~ Kmott

And some worksheets to add to notebooking pages etc~
Super Teacher worksheets
English for Everyone
Worksheet Works

I think many of these things will really be fun for practicing subjects and predicates~ Happy Grammar!

"Type it In" Reading Log~

2011-09-26T15:05:00.001-04:00

Here is a new Reading Log I created this morning for my youngest son who has been busily practicing his typing.
This is a unique Reading Log because you are able to type in the title and author. I thought it would be good for his typing practice and he will be keeping this on his desktop so he can continually add to this.

I also wanted to alter our old one to something a bit older for him as well he seemed happy with this one. ~

If you would like to download this Reading Log you can find it here.

Happy Reading !

Science Learning and new Unit Studies program

2011-09-25T18:49:00.000-04:00

We started our new year trying out a new science program for my youngest. It didn't go over as well as I had hoped. ( thank goodness for the flexibility we have while we teach at home) Even though we will still use this here and there, I decided to look and try something different for our science.

Before using our programs ( that never seem to work out just the way we want or need) I have used primarily, a more literature based way of studying science. For my boys this seemed to work very well but they seemed to want a bit more visual activities so I tried to find videos and online interactives to go along with the topics of study. We would also add in notebooking pages and experiments from time to time. I still find the approach much more comprehensive in the information they process and retain. Having picked up two science texts for this year to use as a kind of supplement, I quickly saw once AGAIN how very little information is actually in textbooks. I think for the most part we will be using them more for the graphics for things!

Over the past two weeks or so I had been reading up more on Inquiry Based Study for Science. I still have much to learn but since I had done some reading and looking back at my notes I decided I would try a more unit study approach to his ( our youngest) science.

The new program we are trying out is Intellego Unit Studies. I had wanted to try these a while back but for some reason forgot all about them and when a friend ( thank you Vicki) reminded me of these I was thrilled because it was just what my youngest was looking for. - a more hands on, inquiry based approach that would be more multi-sensory instead of just reading from a book, doing some narrations and a quick activity.

He likes to really get into what he is learning. We had worked with Aha Science last year and he misses that very much (even though I had a hard time using it and feel I didn't use it to its full potential) but funds being a bit lower this year school year and Home School Buyers Co-op no longer carrying that group buy I was out of luck.

So we decided to watch a video demonstration and pick up a subscription for The Happy Scientist. It is very inexpensive~ only 10.00 for the full year and my son watched the demo and really liked it.

I am finding as he grows older he really is starting to enjoy a more interactive, web oriented approach to his learning.

Intellego Unit Studies are quite new to us~ and I hope to be able to share our experiences with them as we use them not only in science but also Civics for the older son as well. I purchased our Unit Studies from Currclick because I could get the e-books and thought these would be more useful this way considering they have so many interactive links they use that are built into the lessons. Currclick has them very reasonably priced so we were very happy about that also.

Now that we have these to try we can't wait to jump into our Science Day blocks!

Our History Day~ and Homeschooling for Highschool the CM Way

2011-09-16T16:57:00.001-04:00

We started today working our new history program, Winter Promise. I had shown the boys this program and we were all very excited to start in on it and today was the day.

It went so well today. I absolutely love the program. It has so much in it that you really can't possibly do all the study guide gives you. But I love the fact that much of the background and research work is done for me. We are really going to enjoy our history this year, and I am really glad I made the choice to try Winter Promise.

photo credit

I have both boys working the same program~ American Cultures ( 1860-2001) it is scheduled for grades 5-8, however, I am altering this so that my teen can enjoy these wonderful reads and activities. His work will be a bit more involved and more will be expected. It has worked wonderfully so far.

Our youngest decided to go and create two separate lapbooks; one for the Union States and one for the Confederate States. At first I wasn't sure it would work but as he explained what he wanted I decided it actually would be great. His plan in creating two lapbooks is to show the similarities and differences more significantly between the two sides while our nation was divided. I thought this was a really interesting approach. And I was also surprised since he told me "NO MORE LAPBOOKS". As I asked about this he cleared things up with explaining "but this is different, making a lapbook like this is cool". ~

I like how he now takes the reigns with things and my teen was looking up propaganda ( after having read about Lincoln's secret train ride to the White House) ~ he decided he wants to look and create posters of the different forms of propaganda used during the Civil War and other times in history. I loved it! We have a tendency to really spin off from what we are doing but I think its part of the fun and freedom we have while teaching at home and teaching our own.

It really brings me back and grounds me more when I have days like today~ sitting and reading aloud to them from several living books and listening to the oral ( younger child) and written ( teen) narrations. I really feel as though Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick really had it right all along. We work so well this way.

I am planning on re-visiting my CM and RB books as a refresher this helps me to bring more whole learning and less busy work into our learning at home ( at least it does for me). I need reminders often since we can easily get pulled away into the more traditional, public school model for learning.

Often when you surf the internet you find lots and lots of questions on homeschooling through highschool and how to do while still practicing a CM approach, that has worked so well previously. I haven't found too many answers to these questions but hope to explore this deeper and be able to answer some of my own questions I have over this next year.

For starters, here is a series " Basic Mainstays, Homeschool Through Highschool" that Simply Charlotte Mason had written a bit back. I really find it helpful and thought I would share this with my own readers here. There are five parts to the series you can easily find the others below the first article.

If you would like to share any thoughts or comments on this topic/article ~please feel free to post, I look forward to any feedback anyone would like to post and share. It think this could be a wonderful conversation here at Learners At Home.

Free- Electoral College Voting Map

2011-09-15T16:21:00.000-04:00

Sign up to receive a FREE 2012 Electoral College Map. I just did this afternoon~ just in time for the 2010 elections. I found out about this from a favorite place I subscribe to: Freely Educate~ Enjoy!

Starting French - Printables and Resources

2011-09-15T15:22:00.000-04:00

We are starting French this year. Our first year working on a foreign language. I found some great links that have been working really well for us so I thought I might share.

We had gotten an audio DVD from our local book store that had been on discount, but we found it moves way too fast and there are no visuals to go along with the words so my teen sort of got lost with it. We needed something more visual~

We have used the following with great success so far:

Learn French Online - Free and this site is a real favorite of my teen. He likes how it is visual and can also click on the audio to hear it as he reads through. There is activities and quiz's you can take using hangman and other things as well. He loves it and is picking up things quicker than we thought.

Bonjour.Com - another site that brings the visual and audio together.

French in Action- this is a new one we have not used yet, I just found out about it. It looks very good because I want to bring the culture into the learning as well.

For further practice and more hands on learning I recently heard about the site Christian Homeschool Hub. This is a site where you can pay only $1.00 and receive unlimited printables. I found the French section PERFECT for our needs right now. Just great for extra practice and games we can play for assessing how he is doing. There is alot here so be sure and check it out.

I hope to find more resources and printables as I go and when I do I will be sure to share~

Spelling helpers~ Rules and a Resource to Share

2011-09-14T13:00:00.002-04:00

Many times I hear how people find that spelling rules don't always help their early speller. I would have to agree to some extent. I have found that when introducing spelling to a younger learner it can be hard at times,( especially for special needs children). My experience this far has been that when introducing spelling (encoding) AND rules at the same time it can be too much, too soon for many learners.

Later on, as the learner becomes more comfortable with the whole process of spelling ( which includes a variety of skills~ writing, sounding out, memorization) rules "can" be really helpful and actually act as memory hooks for a struggling speller. They don't always have to be a nuisance. There is a place for spelling rules, knowing when and how can be the trick as to how successful you and your learners is with them.

I found a link to share that provides a pdf of the top 10 spelling rules. I thought it was very useful so decided to print out our own for our spelling notebook.

Along with the spelling rules we are using a "new to us" text ( which I have written about previously) Tricks of the Trade by Gayle Graham, M Ed. And have been adding to this book as we work along and advance in our spelling. You can find my a review of this book here. I promised I would talk more about this and I have to say it is an excellent read for parents who are seeing their child struggle in spelling. Gayle's "How to Teach Any Child To Spell" is an easy, quick read. It has some great points and is extremely helpful. Kind of filling a parents "spelling toolbox" with some great tips and strategies for teaching spelling.

I also found a great new site that is interactive in helping children to practice spelling its called Type and Spell. An interactive site that is from grades 1-6 and also has practice for SAT Vocabulary too.

9/15/11 Update~ ** here is a few more resources you can use for spelling rules:
Reading From Scratch - an online list of rules you can use to make cards or add to a mini office, make a notebooking page or just refer to when needed.
Scholastic Spelling Rules Chart - to print

9/16/11 update~ ** I had been trying to find a more complete list of spelling rules and had just started creating our own when a wonderful homeschool mom ( thank you Cynthia Albright) shared this great resource with me: Spelling Rules Cards and also this one for spelling cards as well. Now I don't have to take the time and write out our own! ~
Off to work on more studies~

Our Assignment Blogs~

2011-09-13T20:02:00.000-04:00

I have had a few people asking me lately about our Assignment Blogs I have created for both my boys. I thought it might be helpful to explain things a bit better here for better understanding.

I started these after realizing I really needed a place for my boys to go to get their weekly assignments. ( a kind of syllabus if you will) I was trying to encourage more independence instead of the boys always feeling as though they have to come to me to see what they need to do for the day. My goal has always been to strive for them to be independent learners and this has helped my high school child the very most.

I had gotten the idea after seeing my oldest son ( now graduated from college) use something like this for all his studies at his college he attended. I noticed it had lots of information he needed and was a place where his teachers could easily communicate with him for assignments, class changes and resources.

I decided to mimic this same idea and scale it down to meet a high school child's needs. What I didn't realize is how powerful this actually would be and how it actually now has more than what my oldest even had on his own school site! I showed this to my oldest and he couldn't get over it and absolutely felt this was perfect for the ready, and independent learner, yay!

So I went to work further, I created a closed blog. I added things on it like "past assignments" ( this takes the place of the "blog archives" everyone has on their own blogs so he can go back and look at last weeks assignments to check on something. I added a safer more fine tuned search engine for him to use, he just clicks on Sweet Search and up pops his search engine when looking for something. I also added a Dictionary, Thesaurus, Scribble Maps and many other reference sites as well as link lists for Math, Literature, Composition, Videos, Audios and much more.

I also embedded study tools from Study Stacks for studying flash cards online for pronouns and other things he is studying. A place he can go and find all that he basically needs for his school ( for the most part)

I am constantly adding to these, since I find many more things all the time for them. It has worked out very well. I will admit my youngest (the 12yo) does not really use this too much yet, but uses more the sites he has on them instead. As he gets older more independence will come. I am not in any rush for him at this point but it is there for him when he needs it, wants it and is ready.

You will notice that the boys blogs look very different that is because it is designs they themselves chose - I think it shows their personalities pretty clearly~ :)

Our assignments surround a block schedule, which consists of a five day rotation.( the days usually fall with the days of the week- Monday being Day 1 etc.) Days 1, 2 and 3 are Core Days which are: Language Arts and all it sub skills ( reading/literature, spelling, grammar/usage, vocabulary, writing/composition) and Math and a foreign language daily. Day 4 is our Science Day which is Science ALL DAY, along with Math and then Art/Music Study. Day 5 is History Day which is all day along with Math and again Art/Music Study.
This schedule has worked quite well for us and there are many advantages to working in this way. There is no rushing with subjects and on the Science and History Days we can really sink our teeth into experiments, projects, videos etc.. without feeling like we have to rush onto something else to check something off. The learning is much more comprehensive and complete.

I hope this answers a few more questions others have emailed me about. If not be sure and let me know and I can try to explain further about our Assignment Blogs and Organization.

Starting our New Year~ Our Planners

2011-09-11T16:18:00.000-04:00

The covers to our planners

I had finished our Lesson Planners a couple weeks ago. I am just now getting around to sharing them. We have had a busy couple of weeks with lots going on at our home. My planners I have created are from various web resources I found and some that others have shared with me.

I will try and explain how I am going to be using these and things I changed in order to suit our own needs and why.

The covers I did NOT create, these wonderful planner covers are from "New Beginnings" I liked these because I found the calendar covers to be really functional because I can just look at the cover when I need to see a date etc.. I really liked them. I made a different one for each learner so I knew who was who whenever I need to just grab it.

I had separated the sections with white dividers so that I could easily find a section quickly if I needed. Both Planners were bound with these inside and seem very durable for any wear and tear. I was pleased with the finished product.

I could have just added these to a binder, but I wanted something a bit more flexible that could fit in a suitcase so that I could take these when we are traveling. Having these bound this way makes things much easier for me than taking a bulky binder around with me.


First Section: The Calendar

The Calendars:
The first section tab I created was for the yearly calendar. The first page was a full year planning list of the months so that I could write down goals and objectives by the month if I wanted. The following pages are calendar pages for each month starting in September 2011 (since that is when our new school year was starting ) and going through June 2012. I printed these off from the New Beginnings site ( scroll down to see the calendar pages options ) they gave for options for calendars and planning pages.

I plan to use the calendar pages for projects, volunteer planning, tv series or shows or just about anything else they have in their schedules that pertains to their studies.
* Note: right after the calendar I would have added an attendance record that you can also find at New Beginnings website. I chose not to since in my state attendance is not required nor is a specific amount of days so I left tht page out.


Section 2: Lessons Page

Lessons Pages:
The next section tab I labeled "Lessons" these are the pages I created myself to write up our own lesson outlines for the entire week. The template I created has Monday - Friday and is in a block schedule. I could not find anything that "fit" how we do our studies in this block fashion so I just created my own template to use. Since binding this I tweaked it again and now write next to the day of the week, the number of the day for example Monday is a DAY 1 day, etc.. I needed to change this that way when life happens I can just jump right to the next day and we can keep on going not worrying about the day of the week or playing catch up. You will notice also I don't date the blocks either, this is for the same reason. Its why I refer to this more as a lesson outline than a "plan". I have already begin paper clipping notes and pages ( as you can see) and adding post it notes to things as I go.


Section 3: The Journal Pages

Journal pages:
The third tab I created is for my Journal Pages. There is a template form you can bring out from the New Beginnings site called "notes" and I really liked it BUT I needed to print off enough for every day of the school year so I decided to save myself some money and just use regular notebook paper and counted out how many days I needed and just added that to this section. These journal pages are a really important component I use in my teaching at home. They tell me not just what we have done and how I have a record of it, but more importantly I am able to journal trouble areas like in reading and math, make notes on things I want to work on for the next day or reminders for the following week. I refer back to this often and would be completely lost without these pages. Its also nice to look back later on at the end of the year when you wonder if you have done enough and you can go back and actually read just what we did. Its very comforting, for me anyway~ especially when I start to second guess myself :)


Section 4: Planning

Planning:
The next section looks a bit different for my learners (as does the rest of the lesson planner pages) because I have one child starting High School and the other starting Middle School. More planning and more record keeping is needed for my older son, so I took extra care in looking at just what I needed to add to my older learners planner. This first page is a general Yearly Curriculum Planning Chart I created for Highschool ( my Middle School learner has one too, its just entitled "Yearly Curriculum Planning- Middle School". Its just a basic chart separated into Semesters ( which we are now using *first time this year, since starting homeschooling) that shows what programs and plans I have for start and end dates for specific programs and curricula. This page gives me a broadened view of our whole year.

Other pages I have in this section (for the highschooler) is the Four Year High School Plan, again that can be found from New Beginnings. this helps me to spread out the courses of study into a more specific plan of attack for the four years of learning. I am able to keep track on this page of what I need to purchase~ credits and course descriptions as well. here is the link to the specific page I am referring to, it is found on the left hand side of the Home Page under More Curriculum Forms. Here you will find also reading logs, attendance forms and much more.
Note:* In an effort to help the boys become much more independent I decided not to add their reading logs in here, since this is more a planner for me. They will be responsible for their own reading logs this year.

Section 5: Record Keeping

Record Keeping:
This is the last section of my planner. I added a Field Trip Log ( from Donna Young.org) and also I added a Community Service Record that I found as a sample from The Master Planner that I really liked.


Grade Tracker Page

And then finally I added to my highs school learners planner the grade tracker page. This I made copies of from the Daily Log Book I purchased from NARS. I really liked it and find this will be just fine for us for tracking his grades and the Daily Log Book will be good for my teen to jot down what he has down and the time spent on each subject. Here is a link to where you can see samples of this book. You can see this page if you scroll down to page 60 - 61 in the handbook.
Here is where you can purchase the Daily Log for your own learner.

I hope some have found this information helpful. Our week starts this week, so we will be really busy learning some new programs and picking up where we left off with the old ones. I'll be sure to share how that is going as our week moves along.

"Grammar Land" by M.L. Nesbitt

2011-08-18T12:14:00.003-04:00

Sometimes finding a different way to approach Grammar can be really helpful. For many kiddos Grammar really isn't a very easy or "fun" thing to learn but it is necessary for good writing so I wanted to share this~

A friend of mine reminded me of this narrative for learning Grammar. Its called Grammar Land, by M. L Nesbitt ~ ( you can download it freely on Google Books) I thought I would share some more information she shared with me about it~ here is worksheets that have been created by Jessica Cain that go along directly with the book~ Worksheets for Grammarland this particular worksheet is #1 but if you look on the lower right hand side under "more from this user" you will find the others that go along with the book. A great find!
* thank you Susan M* ~

Here is a few more things I found to go along with it~ GrammarLand People
You guessed right~ the audio to go along with it~ Grammar Land Audio

*Note: you can also purchase this book on Yesterdays Classics or Amazon.
Update: here is yet another freebie from my friend Susan M~ it is a Kindle edition book entitled: "Grammatically Correct" by Anne Stilman. If you have the FREE application for the Kindle app for your PC you can get this free like I did~ thanks again Susan~ : )

Odds and Ends~

2011-08-16T09:19:00.002-04:00

I have been busy going over what we are going to be working on for our new year. Adding a few more finishing touches and trying to organize and adjust things accordingly. Adding some things, taking out others that I feel may not work well.
*************************************
Most recently I had been having a conversation with my youngest son about a few things. He had been talking to his Dad about something in History he learned this past year. I listened to him and as I did it helped me realize a few things~

I always knew what his learning strengths were, I had learned about those a while ago and have always tried to work through this pathway for him. However, in really listening to him I picked up on how I really need to do more for him in this pathway~ ( he is heavily auditory and once he hears something read to him and can either make a poster or see it also it is then cemented in for the most part) I realized I want to incorporate much, much more audio books and visuals for him with all his studies not just history and science but all~

As I heard him re-tell a story I read to him in history I was able to pick up on the details he remembered and why~ this was a great thing for me and so a bit of tweaking is in store for my younger son :)
*******************************************
I have been working on our planning for this year; record keeping, tracking of grades ( new for us for highschool) lesson plan ideas and outlines etc... its been really busy. I feel like have things now starting to settle and it feels like we are just about ready to begin.

Homeschool Tracker update and our Lesson Planners~
I had been trying really hard to learn the new Homeschool Tracker. But I never could really get it figured out. I think you need to spend a ton of time on this thing to really understand the workings of it. I like it and think it has alot to offer ( don't get me wrong) but having a hubby in this field, and after (he) having looked at it also, he understood my confusion. The creators both had computer backgrounds and while they understood and could process where and how the background workings of the program flowed, it makes the program not quite as user friendly or as basic as we would have hoped. ( the program assumes you understand the background workings of it) I think they attempted to reach all homeschoolers and their specific needs and wants ( state regulations and homeschooling laws) and that can make for a pretty comprehensive and tricky program with tons of things some may not want or need.

I plan on still trying to learn this, ( just because I think the reports are so wonderful for year end evals and portfolios) but honestly, with all I have going on I decided to set it aside and work on our own planners that I have been creating pages for and also downloading other pages from websites that I can use. I have been picking and choosing certain pages as I go, ones that will work for us specifically since everyone does things just a bit different and homeschooling regulations can vary I found I didn't need certain things while others things I did so I have been working on our planners over this past week.

Once I get these finished up completely I will post a picture of them and the links for all the pages in case some of you might be interested in using a few. As I said I am using bits and pieces from a few different places and then also making up my own pages for us as well. Sometimes not everything we find is a real fit so creating a few things really helps in personalizing things a bit more.

I realized as I worked and worked and tried with HS Tracker how I tend to be a bit more hands on than I realized. I am very visual, but I realized that I like the fact of having the pages in front of me to flip through add post it notes or whatever to the planner. I also like the idea I can take it with me when I am out and about. If we begin traveling the way we plan I may really find this helpful to lean on. Even though, laptops can go with us, which they will, it isn't always easy to pull out and look something up like I can a written planner.

I am really satisfied now with how I am building this out for us. I'll be sharing more about these as I have these finished this week and my reasoning to have what I do in each of the boys planners.

Neat resource for Catholics~

If your Catholic, some may really like this site as much as I do~ as I am planning for this year I really plan to try and take advantage of this site. It has so much here ~ I have spoken about this site before so I will share it again as a great reminder and am posting a link to many of their printables that are available over at The Resource Site. - this link provides a directory for much of what they have on their site. Its great~!

Added a new money saving tip to my page ~

I added a new link and free curriculum CD you can get - its from the PASS program. These are student and teacher texts on CD - free for grades 9-12. Yes, FREE when you email them asking for a copy they have now on CD.
(As I add new tips and things I find I plan on dating these so that others will know that it was something new added. )

Back to our planning and organizing!

Declutterinng our Homeschool ~ Jumbled Notes and Ideas

2011-08-07T16:29:00.000-04:00

I am hoping to be working this week on going through more of our books and things we have in our homeschool room. We have LOTS, like I am sure many of you have. I am finding though, as the boys get older that I no longer need the things I used to need. We have found other things we use more and so things like mini-offices or the chalk boards we used for handwriting etc.. really are no longer needed.
Time to de-clutter our homeschool.


Our Raspberry Bushes blooming~

It isn't going to be easy for me since my own boys mentioned they would consider, when the time comes homeschooling their own children.( for those who don't know I have two other boys in their twenties as well) I am torn between boxing up particular things ( like the wonderful living books I have or manipulatives we have used for areas of learning) for their own children to use and getting rid of other things.... I am still undecided and need to consult my best friend, their dad ~ my hubby~ he usually is able to help me sort through things like this. I am very thankful for him- he's my anchor.

I found a few neat sites about re-organizing your homeschool and thought I might share them;

Homeschool Room Ideas - several areas for organizing and setting things up. Love some of the ideas.
The Healthy Homeschool; Decluttering Motivations....- suggestions in how to go about de-cluttering things.
Storing Homeschool Supplies-

When I worked in the insurance business sector I used to go into places and show them how to stream line their work flow, cut down on clutter and make things more simple, more functional and efficient. For some reason I have jumped onto the book wagon and it has pulled me along for a number of years... I need to take my own advice I have given others and have come to the conclusion that it is time to begin purging and boxing things up so here are a few ways I am going to be doing this;

1. Now that I have all their programs and new things we will be using for our school year I am ready to look back to see what I really no longer need. I plan on going through each shelf and in doing so taking under consideration a couple of things as I go through them;

a.) have I picked this up or used it in the past year or so?
b.) is this still relative and age appropriate for the boys
c.) do I plan, in the future to use this program, book or item?
d.) would this be a book, item or game my older boys could possibly use one day for their own children as they learn at home?
e.) If I have more than 2-3 items of something its time to get rid of one or two of them!( I really don't need three or four puzzles of the US in our school room do I ? lol )

If I can answer these questions then I will know what box I need to put this item and where it will need to go.

2. As plans have changed with our methods of homeschooling I tend to not get rid of something "just in case" - well I am at a point that if I have not used or picked up this item or have no plans on using it within the next year or two then it needs to go into one of my boxes.

3. Our Books~ Since now we are using exclusively just literature based learning for our history a friend gave me a wonderful idea do a dilemma I had in organizing my books.( Since literature based learning leads to having lots and lots of books I needed a way to sort them. I knew I wanted to sort them for history by time period but was not sure how I could divide them up so they were easier to pull out when I needed. )

Using colored dots~! I thought about what a simple idea this is. I ended up purchasing a bunch of different colored dots stickers and have our history books and classics ( these are the ones finished so far) completely sorted and organized in the way I will need to use them. Thank you Dawn :)

4. I plan to go through my organization system I have. At this point I have a couple of ways I organize my things ( One Note, Hanging File and a Binder with folders in it- this needs to GO) I want/need to just have one plan, one spot to go to in order to get information on something ( ie., notes, a page I printed etc.. )

Microsoft One Note is even getting cluttered up with information (notes from online about programs and products) lesson planning ideas and resources. I will be going through all this to rediscover just how I want OneNote to work for us.

My hanging folder file is set up something like this:

PENDING: ( these are things I am awaiting answer on, I put a post it not on the side of the page to let me know when I put it in there and it tells me how long its been sitting there waiting) what do I use this for? EVERYTHING ( home and home school ) in our home for example, my letter of intent I sent to our Superintendents Office went in there while awaiting my letter of confirmation. Paper work I am waiting for to come back, receipts from books I have bought and am waiting for to come in...

SUBJECTS for each folder: I have a hanging folder for each subject that has things I have printed for something I wanted to keep or information on a particular program etc..


my notebooking binder

The back of the folders I have a Notebooking Binder where I keep all my notebooking pages I use or forms I use often. I have them in page protectors and have 5-8 copies in each so I can just grab and go as I need to. I found this to be the best way to organize all my pages we use or may need when the time comes. Keeping it in the back of the folders in the plastic bin works very well and keeps my things all in one spot.

I really like the system of the hanging folders the best for me. I am going to be moving my things from my binder that I have had kicking around and add those things into hanging folders Its a great on hand way of organizing. It also can keep down my paper flow since you can't exactly fit TOO MUCH in those hanging folders right? lol ~

Best Wishes in your Organizing at Home!

Math Resource for Our Visual Learners

2011-07-26T06:35:00.001-04:00

My boys (including myself) tend to be very visual learners. If I can add a visual to something along then with an auditory component it usually clicks- What ever it is we are learning about. ( well, almost all of the time) .

Math TV

I wanted to quickly share this site because it is just one of those resources that is so simple and so user friendly that I really feel I would be neglectful if I didn't share it!

Math TV - it is a website that offers all free videos in ALL areas. Upon free registration you can create a playlist of the videos you are going to be working on or topics you are currently learning in math. Great for not only teaching but for a quick daily review ( a component we have built into our math at home model) and helpful for studying for any quiz's or testing that will be coming up.

Also there are online textbooks available that I really like! again, very visual and the first chapters for the textbooks are free for you to view and get an idea of what they are like.

If you choose to update your registration to a premium member the cost is 20.00 every six months to gain access to all the textbooks and all the worksheets available on the site.
Note: The videos are all free even without the Premium Membership.

I think the membership they offer is a reasonable price and would save families lots of money when trying to find a more visual, simple to use math learning program for their children. ~

A Free Resource for Highschool ~

2011-07-26T05:48:00.002-04:00

I just learned about this site this morning and thought I might share. Homeschool College USA has some great links and resources for learning during the Highschool years. I started looking closer at this site and found the following very helpful;
Under Getting Started Section ~
"Notes About the Program "- explains what this site is all about and who it is for. It also explains supplies that are needed to do the courses, tools for learning like the Study Journals and where to actually start in the program.

I viewed some of the courses and really like many of them. I may actually alter a few things in our planning after seeing this site (ie, the drawing course and photography and a couple of others I know my teen will just love). I left myself wiggle room as I always do in my planning ( allowing for flexibility has always been key to our success in learning at home) so it will be easy to add a few of these things in. In certain areas at the very least, I will make use of some of their great resources. I'm thrilled I found out about this site~

Planning and Organizing~ What I've Been Up To

2011-07-23T08:11:00.002-04:00

This past week has been all about planning and tweaking and then organizing. It can be exhausting.. but I am really making headway.

I started a new facebook group called Homeschool Necessities (Organizing and Record Keeping) I thought it was needed since there isn't too much sharing out there on this topic. We talk about more than just how to do it, we might share programs we use or strategies we found helpful to keep us on track and organized.

*noted update: recently the group has changed to "all things homeschool" be sure and check it out, its alot of hs parents chatting and sharing all kinds of great ideas and information - that still includes getting and keeping us organized. One NEW item is a new section ( docs) for members reviews about specific programs they have used. *

It is a closed group but you can subscribe to join if you would like. I am not looking for this group to have huge numbers of people but to be able to be a place to stop and chat and ask questions and share information that might be helpful when it comes to organizing and record keeping inside our home schools. We have 16 members so far and it is going very well! We have had some great conversations on here.

Planning for the new year;
Over the past couple of weeks I have continued and added the final touches to our planning for our new year. We ramp back to studies (fingers crossed in August) because we may be traveling a bit in the Fall so we are giving ourselves and early start to our new year.

This past week I have been busy outlining all the subjects and programs my boys will be working. I had laid it out as a chart and divided our year into three semesters, the first time I have done this since we started homeschooling six years ago. I really felt this was a good time to narrow down our goals and objectives with the boys getting much older now.

I made some minor changes in some areas and bigger changes in others. While all the time, taking into consideration their likes/dislikes and individual needs and strengths.( believe me when I tell you they play a pretty active roll in what and how they will work and I am very happy about this, they seem to be willing to take charge more of their own learning- tends to make my decisions on things pretty straight forward) I am pretty happy about what I have planned for them so far.

In an effort to help myself be more organized and track their goals, tasks, grades and information I decided to purchase the Homeschool Tracker Plus. I have not looked at it too much since I only had downloaded it the other evening. I compared this to Homeschool Shed track which is a free program and decided I would give Homeschool Shedtrack a try first since it was more "wallet friendly". I was very disappointed. I registered all my information and then when I went sign in it kept given me a validation error, even after I had confirmed my registration via an email message from them.

For a few days I continued to try to login and it kept failing and I had even decided to email their support and still have never had a reply. It was a waste of time. I suppose being a free program I might have been expecting too much. I am just glad that I found out earlier rather than later. I needed a program that I could count on - HS Shedtrack really wasn't that program for me, even though I hear so many great things about those who use it. Unfortunately it just didn't work out that way for me. And I will not look again at the program due to the lack of support.

HS Tracker Website

So I ended up looking at HS Tracker Basic (free download) but it really didn't do what I was looking for it to do, I needed more~ (here is a comparison of the two editions) and then joined their facebook page and learned a bit more. My responses from them were prompt, straight forward and courteous.. I was a happy HS mama! I joined the forum to see how active and helpful their support team was, learned about their new online chat they have for questions and I decided to go ahead and get the program. There are also many hs tracker lesson plan sharing groups also that are for HS Tracker Users. I am not ready to get into those at this point ~

Lots more to share later on~ happy organizing!

On a Tight Budget? Here are Some Alternatives You May Want to Check Out!

2011-07-15T08:20:00.002-04:00

We have been on a leaner budget with our homeschooling and I have been on the hunt for alternative ways for saving money and cutting corners without taking away from comprehensive learning.

I have found a few things I wanted to share with my readers that I will be using as alternatives to other programs that can be quite costly ~ I also wanted to share some tips I have found helpful along the way as well for finding the very best books, programs and activities for the boys~ ( I will be creating a page for this and will continue to add to these ideas and tips as I find more of them)

MATH:

I had been considering purchasing an online math practice program for my boys. We have used some of it for free but it will only let us work so many problems in one day and then asks us to sign up. It is very expensive so we have only been doing as many as we can daily. I decided to dig a bit and see what I might be able to find that was fairly equivalent to what we had been using and doing.

I found Soft Schools to be the best so far for online practice in all areas of mathematics (especially for my younger son) I like it also because when going into a topic some times I am able to customize what I want him to work on so it is more at his level. I really liked this and it is a much more affordable way for us to do our math practice without paying the yearly fees we would have been paying.

Soft Schools also has many other areas for practice as well. Language Arts, Science, Foreign Language, Social Studies, resources for teachers and alot more. I would recommend checking this out when you have time. Its a great money saver when looking for something for practicing and using concepts learned!

In a Nutshell~ Instead of paying 99.00 a year I am not paying anything!

ORDERING BOOKS~

We are using a completely literature based approach for our History this year. That means TONS of books I think so far we have over 35 listed ( could be more by the time I am finished) that can mean ALOT of money. Purchasing these books from the actual Literature Based Programs can be really pricey! I can't do that so I found alternatives for find these books and purchasing them. ( this has worked out for me very well saving hundreds upon hundreds if not near thousands of dollars so far and I am really not exaggerating)

Here is what I do~

I ALWAYS buy used or on clearance. Never new - almost never. ( tip: be sure to read all about the book before getting it so you know what your really getting. You want to know the condition and read the reviews of this and make sure you have a good rating on the seller. These might sound like common sense ideas but you would be surprised how many overlook these little details and when they get their book they might be very disappointed.)

Once I know what book or books I need I make a list of them, I don't include the author but include instead the ISBN number since this is much more accurate when looking for a particular book.

I have a list of all the places I search for discounted books~ (you might be thinking why not use those resources on line like "book finder" and resources like that? - truth is, I have not had ANY luck with those. I have always been able to find cheaper and better books on my own using these steps).

My searches includes ( in order by the way, with explanations also as to my madness)

Paperback Book Swap- I started this about a year ago and gave away alot of books and had lots of credits but never could find any I needed. I went back in over this past Spring just to check again and I found out that I was searching wrong! I needed to go into "posted books" for my search and wholah.. a whole list opened up to me! ( I know duh! ) lol Here is where I look continually!

Borders.Com ( believe it or NOT, this is the place I find the CHEAPEST books for us) why? because each September I sign up for the Borders Plus program- you know the one they bug you about joining that is supposed to save you a bunch of money at checkout. Turns out, ITS TRUE! I pay 20.00 each year ( pays for itself in the first month) and I enjoy all the benefits of ordering books online with free shipping and also in store discounts and coupons as well. It really doesn't get any better.

I'll give you an example. I had a book I needed that was 19.00 from the site that listed the book to go with their program. I checked Borders.Com ( used section) for that same book - found it for 1.04 and bought it on the spot with NO shipping. How is THAT for savings?

Amazon.com - is my next stop for used books ( I also really use this site to track and sort my books I want on their wish lists and wish list tool bar icon- Amazon helps me know more about the books from reviews and also knowing what other books "could be" similar as well)

Abe Books.com - again another wonderful site. Here is where my ISBN number comes in much more because often times for books I may be looking for they may not have the images. You can really find some good deals here too and I usually look for free shipping.

ISBNDB.com - this is one I use when I have a book and I really need to find the Teachers Edition or Annotated version of something. This past year I found my teens math text on Paperback Book Swap and needed the Teachers Edition so after careful reading in the student text I was able to get the ISBN for the Teachers Edition and found it for 4.00 on this site. It is very handy to have.

In a nutshell: buy USED, research that book and take advantage of money saving programs out there, they do help!

FACEBOOK! - I have used Facebook as a real money saver for me in finding resources. Here are some groups that have helped.

Homeschool Freebies- Nan Jacobs runs and lists items (as does its members) for FREE things to use for teaching.. this is a very HIGH volume group so be sure and use a filter for this to keep up. I have seen wonderful things listed on here from Nan and others.

Homeschool Freecycle-this is a facebook group I started that sort of follows along the same guidelines as Paperback Book Swap. I have listed and also have posted and found great help here when looking for things.
( basically you post things you wish to give away and agree to pay shipping for and in return YOU can post things you need and received freely without paying for shipping) some have emailed me in the past unhappy with having to pay shipping for someone. If this is a problem for you then I would not bother joining :) it is meant to be a kind of stewardship so that we have homeschoolers helping homeschoolers while enjoying the blessings ourselves.

In a nutshell: Community Social Networks can help save us money, taking advantage of these outlets can really be helpful!

I will be sharing many more as I go along~ so stay tuned! Happy savings!

Updating My Printables - And Creating New Ones~

2011-07-14T14:10:00.000-04:00

Over this summer I am hoping to organize and go through my things I have created. I have updated and made a few more pages ( you can see these on the right hand side of my blog).

We are starting this Fall a few new programs AND also starting Highschool so I will be creating a great deal more pages and will be sharing them here and then loading them into my "Freebies" section as well.

I just created this new log for my teen since I thought it would be very helpful to track and keep organized all his learning resources. This log helps my teen do just that;

Book/Periodical/Web Resource Log

I am planning on posting each thing I design and create so stay tuned!

Free Multiplication Printables~

2011-07-12T10:26:00.002-04:00

Here is a blog I just learned about ( I Homeschool) and thought this could be worth sharing with some of my readers. This creative and talented homeschool parent created these free multiplication activity booklets for others to share and use. If you look a bit further on the right she also has some writing printables also ~

I really liked some of the activities built into these printables and how she tackles multiplication and learning the tables from different perspectives, not just drill work. Hope you find these helpful!

Putting an End to All the Overlap ~ And Making Connections

2011-07-12T08:43:00.003-04:00

At one time or another we sit back and go over our plans we have for teaching and it all seems wonderful doesn't it? Everything is written down, outlined and the HS budget seems to be in line with what we have set out to do. Then you go over things again to make some last minute decisions~

I think its easy to get sucked into the curriculum machine~they make it sound so perfect! and you feel guilty if your child doesn't have that particular workbook or expensive lab set. We don't have to be sucked in though. We just need to remember who we are teaching and what our childrens needs are. Once we know this, many programs begin to look less and less exciting.

I had a realization recently and have found that a leaner homeschool budget and better organization really helped me to realize the overlap I was starting to see in our home learning. As I saw this I went to my book shelves and starting pulling out things one after the other... wow, I have ALOT! ( I even need a new book shelf and I have already six now!)

I heard from so many how Highschool was SO expensive I felt like I had to have all these really expensive programs that others were using. NO, I didn't. Just because one program may be beneficial to one child doesn't mean it will work for another. We need to remember that as we go into the teaching years beyond Elementary learning as well.

Some changes were needed and I realized that "less may be more" as long as things are kept comprehensive and on target. Here are a few of how I am changing things;

First a bit of some background of how I got here~
We finished our school year this past May. Each May or beginning of June the boys have their evaluations and we have portfolios we do ( state requirement where we live) and as much as I hate having to do these portfolios, I have found that the time I spend going over things that we have done and their accomplishments helps me to have a better understanding of just "how" overall things have been going. What adjustments might need to be made with time or goals and objectives.

One thing I came away with this year is I found the boys ( now 12 and 14) are beginning to come together a bit more in their learning. Before, there were many times the younger boy would come and watch an experiment or plop down for a reading time with my older son. But now, I started to really see how he wanted to be much more involved. How when I would go to work on something completely new in math or grammar he would already be able to teach it to me~! Yah! I hadn't yet understood the full extent of how successful learning together for them could actually be, that is until this year this year. When my evaluator brought up the fact that the younger one was working well above grade level while the teen was beyond highschool learning in many areas.

She had a more objective, outside view of the boys and in their work. She explained how in schools they "try" and do this by teaching children in groups so one works with another and that studies have found it to be very successful. She noted that in our setting the boys have learned on their own to do this very naturally which is why it is becoming so successful. I never really thought of that.

This year we are combining many subjects together, excluding Mathematics and some Science ( but not all ). I have re-vamped my plans over this summer to incorporate things where they will be working side by side on things at the same time with products we are familiar with ~ I will be sharing what we are using soon and just how I plan to do this. ( still collecting books in specific areas for my older teen)

I decided this summer that when I sat back and looked at things and the plans I had for this coming new year~ I could see overlap. Something I have tried very hard to stay away from. This was the first year I really saw that my plans had some and I have weeded those things completely out.

Why use a Language Arts program and yet also have a separate Grammar program as well or Vocabulary Program? I could very easily see this when I help other parents with their planning and sitting back I realized I did not need a separate Grammar program with what we are going to be working. I don't want to over do and that is where we were headed in some areas.

I hear so many times that some parents wish to do a bit extra because it is a "weak" area~ why do another program? Why not try making the program you have more comprehensive by attempting to find ways the skills can be incorporated into other areas/subjects of their learning? Try being more creative with the practice of concepts, with games, posters, skits etc... I think some could find it won't be the dreaded subject and if they are weak in one area chances are they won't do much better in that area with more drilling and another program ~

I think it is worth stepping back and looking to be sure that our plans do not overlap. And with the tight budgets we have look to be able to connect learning (especially in the area of language arts) more instead of buying and drilling through all of the books/programs that are out there. It is MUCH easier on the budget~!

I am so glad I found and realized our Overlap and am putting and end to it~ ~! :)

Notebooking Anyone?

2011-06-28T07:13:00.000-04:00

Morning everyone~ Amongst all the chaos going on at our home this week I wanted to share a few links I find really helpful when it comes to notebooking. We do notebooking much more than worksheets. Its just more fun!

Here is a brief explanation about Notebooking in case you were actually new to this concept and trying to get away from all the dreaded piles of countless worksheets; Notebooking for us is a way to explain and organize information learners are taught that is creative, innovative and something that they can call their own. We use Notebooking for all subjects, even math when understanding skills and concepts, for grammar when learning about a specific part of speech, for science for our nature study or for an experiment or article or web site we might have explored, for art when learning a specific discipline or media for just about EVERYTHING. Think of Notebooking as a way of reiterating information learned but in a creative way with pictures and cartoons and such. :)

When just starting out using Notebooking; trying one or two with a particular topic to replace a worksheet works out really well and your learners are given a chance to just kind of see where they want to go with it. One of my boys likes to get really creative while the other is more read and narrate back in writing sort of a notebooker.

We also combine notebooking with lapbooking or folds when we want also. It creates a great portfolio of work when studying a particular topic in history, science, style of writing or grammar ~ :)

Here is a post What is Notebooking by Highland Heritage.

Some Notebook pages to be shared;

* Composer Study Pages - From That Resources Site, a listing of 26 different composers!

* Freebies List from Betsy these are pages in all different kinds of areas.

* Notebooking Pages - this is a site that sort of started me out in learning about Notebooking be sure and sign up and enjoy your journey with tips, tricks and freebies along with great pages to buy and learn from like I did.

* Notebooking Article from Love to Know - this is a great insightful article to read. Your going to quickly see how Notebooking can be used in a variety of ways even for assessments! ( that's right forget the quiz's try notebooking to evaluate where your learner is) I really believe there is no better way or more natural way to evaluate a child's work, understanding and competence in an area than to have them teach it back/tell it back or write about what they learned. ~ it really works.

* The Notebooking Fairy, - first I love the name ( I love fairies and all that comes with them) this is a site that really provides lots of freebies, tips and recommendations for Notebooking, "a new to me site" of recent weeks.

*Homeschool Launch is a real favorite of mine. It shares pages all of us homeschool parents create to help our own children and these ladies are kind enough to share with everyone else their time and talents.

Hope this helps send you on your way out of the doldrums of worksheets and into the world of Notebooking~ !

Math Reading ~

2011-06-21T19:54:00.000-04:00

Below is a book I am planning on reading over this summer. I started looking over Larry Zafran's site a while back and we have used many of his tutorials. He is very helpful, his lessons are easy to understand, to the point and also he is very accessible. I was able to contact Larry with a couple of questions and he responded back very promptly with the information I needed.

As I used his site a bit more I started digging a bit and realized his books might be quite helpful. Larry ( a former school teacher) was talking my language as I flipped through his first book entitled " Math Made a Bit Easier - Basic Math". His writing appealed to me because he explained how grade levels in math really don't matter much, what matters is the concepts learned and that a solid foundation is formed for later math. He also talks about how having pages of problems really doesn't always help - ( less is more philosophy) and that by consistent practice and instruction Math can be successful.

As I started reading I have enjoyed his "matter of fact" approach and also how he quickly explains in the beginning how many books will add "tips" about specific topics and how these are supposed to be notes/suggestions that the current concept might be needed later on~ Larry explains he will just tactfully outline those areas by explaining that the student NEEDS to know this... I like that! ~

Narrations for Highschool Learning~

2011-06-21T07:35:00.003-04:00

Just a quickie post to refer my readers to a great blog post from Barb of Harmony Art Mom ~ she talks about narrations for High School and I have to say we have done this with my teen for a couple of years now with great success so I thought I might share~

Here is here blog post.

Literature Based Instruction~

2011-06-20T17:15:00.001-04:00

I had recently seen a great article from the ByrdSeed Gifted Blog entitled
" Teaching With Literature in the Primary Grades". I had posted about it on my facebook page but realized this article while good, was specific to teaching only in the primary grades.

I loved the examples the article gave but could think of identifying and explaining all kinds of older, gifted or twice exceptional children could benefit from teaching this way.

My boys love learning this way~ as they grow older we have narrowed much more in our learning due to preparation for college and the feeling like you "have to learn this" or "have to do that" sort of thing. I am not so sure that is so helpful.

Perhaps by being more creative and intuitive in our teaching we can combine both worlds of the necessary studies and also the more creative, delight directed approach as well. I really think the both can co-exist in an at-home setting.

Planning may be a key factor especially as our learners grow older and objectives and goals become more and more important factors in their learning. Finding and discussing which books you will be reading together and also separate is helpful. One idea might be having a spine book as your read aloud while then having the children read their own articles, websites, or lower leveled books also for further exploring and understanding on a topic.

Using a literature based learning approach woven into your eclectic homeschooling style can give your homeschool a much more "authentic" and deepened approach to learning . Research has shown us that "literature-based instruction helps all students become better readers, writers, and thinkers (Tunnell & Jacobs, 1989)." ~Tunnell, M.O., & Jacobs, J.S. (1989). Using real books: Research ÞFindings on literature-based instruction. The Reading Teacher, 42(7), 470-477. and more research here about Literature based instruction.

Many have become quite surprised at how in our home learning we have never used a vocabulary program, ever. We really find we don't need it. Often times, people will ask my children how old they are or more like what grade they are in. They become very surprised when they find out their ages and grades because they often use words that are not normally used with other children their own ages. How do we do this?
We read and we talk ALOT. Its just that simple. I have never dumbed down words for my boys we talk in terms that often might loose some children and yet my boys if they are not aware of a word I am using will just ask me what the meaning is. I consider this a great advantage in the home environment for learning.

I really think I have overlooked quite a bit of how we actually use a literature based method in our home learning. For us, it comes a bit more natural - I am not exactly sure why it just does. Some may call this kind of learning "bunny trails" or somewhat "delight directed" but for us it can feel like bunny trails at times but is more a kind of inquiry. I really found the boys can certainly find ways to "take off" on a topic and from the very book we are learning from it can grow into something really very amazing.

One program that taught me a great deal about this kind of teaching is Five in a Row and Beyond Five in a Row. ( they have recently added a program for highschool called Above and Beyond Five in a Row) I read through some of the younger lessons in FIAR and picked up how they incorporated an inquiry based learning into the stories. Beyond Five in a Row cemented things for me as to how to go about using the boys reading books both fiction AND non-fiction to be able to do this.

A great website to use as a resource that I have used countless times is Homeschool Share. It is a literature based website that offers countless lesson plans, unit studies and lapbook activities based on many different literature books you can choose from. If someone was interested in just trying out a literature based approach I would recommend this site first. The plans/lessons are entirely free and are just wonderful. These lessons can really give you some great ideas for books you might have at home to use as well.

I remember a while ago my youngest had been reading "The Littles" ( the first book in the series) We had just finished up reading the Boxcar Children and used lesson units for the book from Homeschool Share ( just a note their Boxcar Children only does about 4-5 units only they did not finish it so we just did things ourselves afterwards with the rest of the chapters. Had I known this I probably would not have started our first literature based lesson with this one) my son really enjoyed it and so I decided to tackle one on our own. Here is what I did~ I read through the first couple of chapters and found ways to integrate other learning subjects with those chapters. This was my first one I tried out~ we worked like this up through several chapters of the book ( this might give an example of how you can build your own literature based integrated unit study)


flip through the rest of the excerpt here

I also found this outline to help in considering a literature unit study. I thought it was very good and I hope others find it encouraging as well.

I really think it is worthwhile to try this out in your homeschooling if you have never done it before, we were really surprised at how well this works for us~

Spelling~

2011-06-17T07:50:00.001-04:00

I recently came across this spelling program. We, right now are very happy with our spelling program we are using and do not plan on changing programs at this point but because I have dyslexics and because for some of my dyslexics spelling can, at times, be a major struggle. I often find myself reading more and learning more about spelling and programs and strategies and techniques for teaching spelling (sometimes referred to as encoding also).

I found this program and wanted to share about it. - How to Teach Any Child to Spell by Gail Graham. I am intrigued by it because after looking at some of the samples of the book it was very close, if not right in line with what I have learned about spelling. I had to get it, so I did.

Here is a link to see more and view the table of contents and read some excerpts which you might find very interesting and helpful.

Language Arts "news" about LLATL

2011-06-17T06:52:00.002-04:00

photo credit

I just received a newsletter from Common Sense press that LLATL ( a Ruth Beechick inspired LA program) is now offering placement tests for those who are new to the program.

I wish I would have had these when we first started out with this program, however, I was lucky in having been able to contact the authors of the series I was considering and by consulting with them was able to better determine placement for my younger son.

This program has been very successful for us with my youngest and so I thought I might share this information with others~ here is the link where you can find the placement tests for the LLATL Series.

* An update: Because this program has been SO successful with our youngest we are working this program as well for our teen as well. *

What I have been up to lately~

2011-06-11T20:21:00.002-04:00

I have been busy even though we are on a kind of break from most of our regular studies. I needed the break actually. It is really nice to just work an hour or a bit more in the mornings and then head up to my studio to do some painting or catch up on my Spring Cleaning that never had gotten finished. ~

Some odds and ends~

Homeschooling my teen for Highschool:
I've been researching more about homeschooling highschool, worked out some bumps I was concerned about as far as record keeping and just trying to decide what will be best for my teen and for our family. I will share about that on another post I have started. ( there is a bit of resources I have gathered for this so it is taking a bit more time to put it together).

What we are working on lately:
We have been working only Math and Reading this week and its SO nice. Thursday we spend a whole 2 hours on math and didn't even notice it! I suppose that is what happens when your not rushed and don't have a laundry list of other topics and subjects to cover. ~ Some shifts are needed in their math and so I am needing to re-work things just a bit because my younger son is a bit stumped on division, almost there but not quite and I forgot all about the Division Made Easy book we had checked out at the library. ( that will teach me for not following a lesson plan!) :S. So we are starting that over this next week. I think it will help go over the foundations for division for him more.

My teen's Prealgebra was going full steam ahead until a few lessons had no exercises for practice with so I needed to go looking for some resources for practicing a bit with integers. Which lead me on some bunny trails and a bunch of great links~! ( this always happens to me) We also got in our newest addition to our math book shelf Prealgebra & Introductory Algebra by Elayn Martin Gay - I am still waiting for the annotated teachers edition also to go with it, so I am thinking of just using this over the summer with him to get him ready for the Algebra 1 in September. I was unable to get the Paul Foerester Books I had planned on. The books were way too much to spend on math (after much more thought) when I could find many other books that will teach much the same thing. Which brings me to my free resources I have found for Pre Algebra and Algebra - WOW I have lots of goodies to share!

Here is a list of my newest resources I have found:

Shmoop - I like this site better than the other Free Ed.net Prealgebra we were using. It is more consistent and has practice with each new concept taught the other one is sort of sporadic, like it is not yet finished.
PreAlgebra2Go - this site shares notes, lessons and exercises and sometimes videos
Pre Algebra Math Videos - always helpful
* Xtra Math - this isn't pre algebra but help for math facts for my 12yo for over the summer - free
Dad's Worksheets - a worksheet site I thought was great! in case I need some practice problems.
Math4Me - downloadable math videos and texts for prealgebra
Examples in Pre Algebra by Glencoe
Math OPS - free math lessons
Pre-Algebra video lessons

Also I had joined Nan Jacobs new Facebook Group "Homeschool Freebies" and she has tons of links she shares daily and encourages her members of her group to share free links as well to help in homeschooling. I have found oodles on this new group she has and it has honestly saved me a bunch of money. If your own Facebook you might really want to check this group out, but fair warning~ it is best to create an email filter for this group because you can get LOTS of emails with all the resources shared and this way you can go through it at your leisure, like I do.

I also decided to go ahead and sort through my Library Thing. I really like this online book site. And since I have been using Paperback Book Swap faithfully now ( saved TONS, finding books I really needed for Highschool references) - I need to delete some and add some as our interest and concentrations have changed as the boys have been getting older. I plan on using this site (Library Thing ) for my homeschooling and will open up an account with Good Reads ( with encouragement from a few friends) for my own personal books I will be reading and writing some reviews for when I can.

We've been busy! I will be adding quick blurbs on things I find to use for our new year with my 12 yo and finishing up my planning for High School post over the next two weeks or so. I am attempting to begin mapping out our four years so I have a solid outline for us to move forward with. It will be the first year since homeschooling that my teen will have his year now cut into two semesters. I think this will help with consistency and time management on getting things done. ( we shall see) :)

Something I am Up To this Month - Better Organization

2011-06-03T07:01:00.002-04:00

With our studies winding down, portfolios now completed, I am now thinking of finishing up the Spring cleaning and thinking more about organization and streamlining to make my life much easier.

I had posted a while back about our Home Log and now I think it is time to evolve this tool - Here is a link I was reading this morning on how I can take my idea of our Home Log and bring it into a whole "system" ( Household Notebook) of organization to help me track, sort, and maintain contacts, errands, and other things.

I often need to juggle many different things within the same week or even the same day, as many of us do being mom's and dad's with children. I often thought that as my boys were much younger that I was really busy then because they were so young and needed me so much, but now I laugh because as I have learned, the older boys can at times keep me even busier than I thought I had been before! Organization and multi-tasking is a necessity in my world~

*Update~ I started really digging a bit more on the above site and found some examples of binders others had made, it really got me thinking... and inspired! I found this blog ( I subscribed and love it) that shows how to create a cover for my binder. I am not thinking of using this idea for my recipe binders I have created for our home. ( will be sharing about that over on my cooking blog this summer) ~*
OK, so I suppose I wasn't finished finding great things to share about this here ya go~
Craft Blog Part I - creating a pattern to make your binder cover.
Part II - Cutting and preparing pieces
Part III - the construction
Part IV - more construction.. I am just loving this at this point.

Over on this blog there are many other ideas and things like cloth napkins and coasters etc.. I love it! I think I might be pulling my sewing machine and iron out again and getting down to some sewing! I have tons of fabrics up in my studio that I can put to some good use!

Articles & Reflections: Homeschooling for the Middle and Highschool Years

2011-05-30T08:43:00.000-04:00

As my boys grow I can certainly see how our homeschooling is evolving. I sit back and really take in how my boys have changed in both their thinking and also in how they take more and more control of their own education.

I had seen these two articles this morning and thought I would share them with my readers here at my LAH blog; A Montessori Education for Middle Schoolers and also A Montessori Education for Highschoolers
I thought these articles were very timely for us. As I read through these I considered where my boys are now in their learning and where they came from and how their learning has developed.

Perhaps this is a normal thing to do when you consider we are now in our sixth year of homeschooling having taken them out of the public system six years ago this May. I have an oldest son who just graduated from College with his and is now considering his next steps (while trying to take a breather) and our 14 year old is heading into Highschool Studies, while our youngest boy is entering into Middle School learning.

I probably have a right to be a bit melancholy. I am so proud of my boys. I had been talking about how far we have come in certain areas my boys have struggled in; handwriting ( dysgraphia) and reading ( dyslexia) and math (dyscalcula). Among other things!

As I read these articles I realized just how eclectic we really are. Their dad constantly encourages the boys to learn through their interests and often can be found talking with them about "trying this" or going and "getting that" to do "this"~ it makes me chuckle.

While reading these I could see how we are really leaning this way. We use such a hodge podge of things that help "make things work". And I don't think I plan to change any of that now.

Most recently our youngest decided he really wanted to garden and so he is starting his very owe vegetable garden next week. He had recently had been researching when to begin planting for our Region and found out the week that would be perfect so he has been buying and planning what items he will add to his garden. He also decided he wanted to experiment with some different kinds of bird seed because he wanted to see if he could try and attract some different birds than our usual ones he sees.

While working on his cells lapbook and unit study and looking at some pond water under his experiment, he quickly decided we needed to add a "pond study" to his list of things he wants to do this summer. Explaining to me all the things he wants to check out and learn more about and why.
None of these things have been to my encouragement.

He also loves cooking and often calls "me" his cooking buddy. How cool is that? He tells me to call him into the kitchen when it is time for starting dinner and he now bakes coffee cakes and makes rolls etc. . just because he likes them! My older boys can't get over it ~ lol

My teen has taken on some projects of his own most recently starting to be involved in some "voice over" activities on line with his teen friends. They are creating their own videos from Little Big Planet and have things all outlined as to what and when they will be doing things and when the first "roll out " of videos will be done. - Again I have had NO involvement with this either~ lol

Recently we went to an Alpaca Farm and met a woman from Belgium who raises and shows Alpacas and my teen really became very interested with them. He asked the woman if he could come to help and volunteer to learn more about them because he and his dad were considering getting a few and would like to come help and learn more about them. The idea was a big hit and he is going to be starting working out at her farm some time this summer.

They continue to surprise me each day. I am so less worried now about programs and finding things to work with them on. We seem to be buying less and less programs and curriculum because there is so many things on the internet and free ideas and activities they can do. Our library card, the internet and being out and about letting the world be our classroom in my opinion has worked the very best. My youngest decides now what programs he uses and he tells me what he likes and what doesn't seem to help him and so we go with that.

I recently had purchased our "third" yes, third book of A Patriots History of the US. Because my youngest would listen in on our history reading with our teen. He saw I picked up the book and leaped up to give me a hug because he knew he could follow along now with his own book. (seeing this kind of enthusiasm is what tells me what I am doing RIGHT). ~

I am finding as the boys grow older they really enjoy working together more especially when it comes to history, science and writing. They like watching their writing DVD's with Andrew and then comparing notes and writings.

They also love the history videos, internet links, and reading aloud together because they can then have a conversation about the information. The same goes for Science. Even though there will be some areas of science that our youngest just might not be ready for I think I have learned that if he doesn't understand something, he has shown me that he will find a way to understand or get the information he "needs" to understand the information. ( I have learned this through starting topics with him that he FLYS through because he remembers me working with my teen on so I have to laugh because it was then that I thought he might now be "ready" for certain information and he very eloquently has proved me very wrong). ~

I really think it is the beauty of homeschooling and being able to let things go~ let them learn and how we can let them be our teachers and show us and guide us at times. Its really an amazing thing. I can only imagine if more children were allowed to do these things, I think our world would look very different and we would have much happier people who love their jobs and love learning even as adults.

Summer Reading ~ An Idea to Share

2011-05-29T10:11:00.000-04:00

I can't take any credit at all for this "neat" idea to use as a tool for reading over the summer months.

Over on our AKOL e group a member was posting about trying to get some ideas for creating a summer reading program.

One member posted this resource on the group and I thought I might share it here because I just think it is a really neat idea for all age levels and readers.

It's called Reading Bingo

Be sure and check it out if your looking for a reading incentive for your learners over the summer months.

Division Struggles - and a favorite Math Reader Series to Share

2011-05-25T07:22:00.000-04:00

I might have shared this series before but just in case I have not I wanted to share a REAL FAVORITE of ours ~ it is by Enslow Publishing called Making Math Easy. We started with this when my youngest was struggling learning subtraction. He just couldn't get it so I looked over some books (instead of more textbooks or programs) to help him and found this Making Math Easy Series. We just love it.

Now we are working with division and have written above how he struggled in subtraction I think I understand why division might be yet another difficult concept for him to grasp. He works through the problems fine with the steps but lacks the basic understanding (even using manipulatives of just what he is actually doing and I want to nip that right away so he has a better basic understanding of the concept/skill) I am going to be getting from our local library Division Made Easy. I think it will really help him understand things much more. If we want we can even try some of the worksheets if he wants that is provided on this site. ~

photo credit

Here is a preview of the book you can probably quickly see why we like these SO much. I plan to go and get this today so we can stop right where we are in our math learning and go through this over the next couple of weeks to get a better foundation.

This series can be found in many libraries so be sure and check it out!

Math E-Books - Some Resources to Share

2011-05-25T06:31:00.000-04:00

In an effort to find free, helpful resources for our home learning, I wanted to share these new resources we plan on using as we work into our higher levels of learning.
XP Math has a section of downloadable math reference books that I am adding to my boy's learning assignment blogs.

FreeBookCentre.Net is another site with free math e-articles and books on various math topics/skills.

I found Totally Free Math a real gem! This book is completely free and can be used as a great learning tool for those learning the basics of Algebra. Please read through the site for more information.

* Note for further reference ( not ebooks) I found this link to be very helpful.

* Online Mathematics texts is yet another resource for areas of Calculus and Algebra

More online resources for help with math~
Algebra Help
Purple Math
Help Algebra
Algebasics
Hippocampus
Kahn Academy
Shmoop - pre-algebra

Happy FREE math learning!

Literature for Summer ~

2011-05-24T16:52:00.000-04:00

Lately we have been planning on what we will be doing this summer. We continue our learning, just at a much more relaxed pace. We don't work all subjects per week but we are planning on continuing with Reading, Math and Writing.

Here is a new site I found while downloading some free ebooks for my Kindle PC. I thought this might be a neat idea to have us do either together or separately and have the daily readings sent to their emails~ The site is called DailyLit. You read books online daily through your email or RSS feed.

Happy Reading!

The Textbook Dilemma-

2011-05-22T14:27:00.001-04:00

Photo Credit

Over the past few weeks I have been working on transitioning my teen from 8th grade studies into Highschool. I have been reading over lots of information and plans I had outlined previously for our 9th grade are being tweaked just a bit as I observe further into my teens unique abilities, interests and needs.

I have long avoided using textbooks. I don't think I have ever really liked them except for the pictures, I just really never found them to have all that much to offer a child. Many can be tainted with agendas and offer inaccurate information especially in the areas of science and history. They quickly ( like many reference materials ) can become outdated and irrelevant and I just didn't wish to deal with all of that.

My thinking has really evolved over time. With my teen going into Highschool and reading more and planning things out in greater detail for this new year, chatting with colleges he shows real interest in attending and speaking to professors and also veteran homeschool parents of children who have now moved on from the homeschooling environment, I have a bit of a different perspective on them.

I have learned over this past year that for my 8th grader it has been a "growing year" for him and also for me as his teacher and now facilitator. I am learning to let go more embrace his way of learning with his own needs and abilities.

Here is some brief insight I have picked up on over the past month or two;

1. All textbooks are not ALL bad. They CAN have a place in your home learning. ( used as a guide for a general theme or starting point on a topic, these texts can be useful).

2. Special Needs children CAN benefit from using these as your guide and starting point for learning more in depth concepts about a topic.

3. Errors occur not only with textbooks publishers and writers but also with authors who do not write for textbooks. Unless it is a primary resource or something similar you will run into the same thing because it depends on the authors purpose and ideals of what they are trying to bring forth. Also, these errors we might find can be a real opportunity for our children to dig deeper and using critical thinking skills to processing these errors also. * this is something much more conducive for learners who are gifted/twice exceptional or are more Middle/Highschool age. This would NOT be something I would recommend for younger learners in Elementary grades*.

4. Children with APD or Dyslexia can take advantage of using textbooks or similar learning books because the information is presented mostly in little chunks and as a very high level of understanding and can be used as an overview and guide and then you can dive deeper more complex concepts for your special learner to understand and in doing this, you may use many other books to bring this information forward.

5. Upper level (highschool textbooks and college level) can be helpful in learning about a topic since they are so much more in depth and cover much more material. I have found the younger textbooks act more as a workbook approach and are not as valuable.

6. Pictures and links ( now available in many textbooks or media texts) can be a real advantage for our more visual children when learning.

I am still not satisfied and never will be completely satisfied with using ONLY textbooks for our learning but Textbooks can play a role with a combination of good literature and resources to surround your subject or topic.

Allowing the textbooks to be your guide to enter into a more organized, laid out approach to tackle a large subject like Biology can really be helpful in teaching and for helping our children learn about such a vast topic that has so many sub-topics.

Biology Learning

2011-05-15T08:24:00.000-04:00

We are currently working in the area of Biology with both boys and I just learned about this site from my Teachers First Newsletter I subscribe to~ For us, this site could not come at a more perfect time! I just love it. It is called Practical Biology.

The site offers free learning resources, experiments, activities and downloads for learning about this topic. It is has a multi-level material component that is perfect since my teen is working through an online Biology text from CK12 all through this summer and my younger son is working on a cells unit study and creating his own lapbook with resources we put together.

Be sure and bookmark this or check it out if you have a chance. ~

FlipSnack - a new reader tool

2011-05-14T07:47:00.000-04:00

I just learned about this new, free online tool for taking PDF's and converting them into an online reader format. I have a few PDF's that I wanted to convert into a book format for my dyslexic son and this is a perfect tool to do just that. Its called FlipSnack. A free program to use~ but a premium membership is also available, that removes watermarks and has a few more capabilities.

Below is one I had tried out with a PDF download I had for my son to use as a writing resource.

Your able to customize how you want your book to look (spiral, hard bound, colors etc..) - there is a limit of 500 pages per pdf upload.

A neat tool to try out!

Thoughts from a Dyslexic ~ Something to Share

2011-05-11T15:44:00.000-04:00

We were watching the news this morning and there was a father/daughter on TV that explained how she "had" dyslexia but no longer "has it" ( ok lets not go there right now, lol but anyway) she explained how her dad helped her overcome her struggles by every Saturday evening he would read to her and they explained how this REALLY helped her problem with her Dyslexia. - my son heard this and said. " That's really good mum, but I know that reading more and more is what really helps me and kids. And the thing is, when you read alot like that you do better in everything else. Reading helps all the rest of the stuff, from what I can tell". WOW ~

Oh my goodness its days like this that I just feel so blessed to be able to do what I am doing. ( Background- my son started off homeschooling at the end of 2nd grade and they said he was reading at 1.8 reading level ( his IEP read) and I had him tested and he was at a K level, just beginning sounds. He now is still working hard at reading but is at a fourth grade level at this point he has made significant progress "in all areas of study" as you heard from him,- and it takes alot of hard work but as you hear from him it's worth it.

Onward and upward~

Summer's Relaxed Learning-

2011-05-09T10:18:00.000-04:00

Summer is coming and for us that means we still continue with our learning, but in a more relaxed way. We still learn all areas of study but more freely and interest driven.

Our shelves get a good organizing. We work together on sorting books, placing others in boxes for sale or to give away. ( I have us work together because when I do the boys have a chance to really go through our shelves and see books that they might have forgotten about and so it helps to get more use out of them- I caught them several times flipping through certain books and I would make a note of them since it told me what they might want to explore even further- GREAT way to get ideas, I know sneaky but it works!) We also go through our programs, finish up any writing assignments left in our Writing Organization Folder and give our room a good spring cleaning. Here is another archived post you might like or find helpful for organizing.

Multiplication.com

I also like to look at links and things to change things up for us that makes learning and practicing more fun and relaxed instead of all the book work we do through out the year. Today, we while taking breaks from our "homeschool cleanout" we needed to get our Math in so we did a quick two pages in our workbooks while also spending some time practicing some skills on the computer. My younger son found a neat (new to him) game for practicing his multiplication facts. - called Sketchworld ( For summer I plan on sharing some goals we have one of which is really nailing down the multiplication facts) He worked this morning laughing and doing pretty well as he progressed along. I love mornings like this because he is having so much fun, yet learning an important skill as he goes further and deeper into his division concepts.

Here is another neat and funny site Torture the Teacher from Mr. Nussbaum's site to practice spelling. Both boys had fun with this one this morning~ Some can be very tricky - what a great fun way to practice those tricky words!

Each Spring I end up creating a folder on their desktop and adding practice games like these into each folder for each subject. There are many and as I find neat ones and add them I will share them.

One other thing we added for our relaxed learning is a computer game called Minecraft. It is a first person building game. Similar to legos where you can make virtually anything you would like. A neat game that the boys have been hooked on lately and is perfect timing since we had recently downloaded Blender for my teen. I think it is a great way for the boys to spend their "downtime".

Off to do more organizing~!

Weekly Wrap Up-

2011-05-05T16:11:00.003-04:00

What a week!

In Science we started working with my teen his new Biology Unit ( resources are posted over on my science tab also see the resources below under "NOTES") and I found some great resources. I have one resource I wanted to highlight and that is CK-12 Flexbooks.

This is a free program. You join and register for free and can browse through their text listings for what you might be looking for.

My teen REALLY wanted and asked to do Biology so I decided to try out their Biology Book (Highschool Version).

He absolutely loved it. He read through the first chapter which included objectives, vocabulary words, video lessons embedded right into the text and review questions.

I learned more by watching their quick video tutorial they have on the bottom left of their web site and found it very helpful. Just this week I signed up and registered and submitted a request for the teachers books I need for the texts I will be using. All Free.

I also created my own "Flex book" this week by clicking and dragging the chapters I want in his textbook. Once you save these you can send it to your print center and then after a short time you will get an email explaining that your text is now ready to be used and adapted into three forms, an HTML, PDF or Reader. How terrific is that?
We are very happy with this so far and my son (most importantly really enjoyed it) It gives interesting facts and in-depth considerations for topics he is much more interested in. We just love it. Now I find I am looking and browsing over more of them!

Since we have been working more consistently with our block schedules Science is now more at the forefront of their learning and I love that and I think they do too.

Our teen also downloaded Blender (an open source 3D creation program) today on our computer. He heard about this through another homeschool buddy and was able to really see what it was liked and was instantly hooked. So even today - after lessons he was on Blender tutorials learning 3D animation~

Our younger son asked me the other day if he could learn about "puddles" and I remembered exactly what he may have been talking about.. ECOSYSTEMS! He described how he knew his older brother didn't like it to much but wanted to learn about living cycles inside things like a puddle! I could not believe he remembered this because it was a year ago when we worked on it. So we are going to JUMP right on that soon as we finish up our cells unit. ~ and having heard this, I am going to extend out an experiment we are doing for our cells unit with Pond Water. I think a "Pond Study" might be very appropriate right about now~ :) He was already saying how we should not only test the Pond Water but compare it to our own water from our well.
"music to mum's ears" !! hooray... ~ we are on the move with our science!

Math is going well working through our concepts. Today division was a struggle for my younger son~ here is my "math story"; ( this may be a repost for any MOTL users so you can skip if you want)

We have been working through learning division this past week. My younger son has dyscalcula so I sort of figured we might have some issues with his understanding it. We did. ~lol He was doing "ok" but it was at a point where he wasn't clearly understanding just how he was getting these answers. He surprisingly had gotten all the steps down but he would still mess up when trying to understand the beginning where your trying to see what ___ can go into ____.

I think I started off wrong. I almost ALWAYS use MOTL teaching books first when introducing a new concept. I don't even look at what the workbook says~ Carlita's explanations are so much easier and logical for me to relay back to the boys I just always use these as our "start". We are working in ABEKA Math - only because my son saw one of his friends doing this and LOVED the pages etc..as I mentioned I started off wrong. I did not go right to MOTL to read through her notes. I just jumped in because I was working with my teen on something and skipped me going to my teaching books, big mistake! Can I just say!

I was wording things all wrong for him. I was taking a problem like 8 divided by 4 and saying/modeling "ok, so we can ask our selves what times 4 equals 8 ". oiy. I don't think I was thinking.. as I worked he was getting some but he wasn't understanding what we were doing I could see this clearly while having him work a few problems when he started adding! - He started to get that sad look on his face with disappointment and so I said "ok, we are going to stop here, mum is doing something wrong". - (that sounds alot better and is more truthful than him doing something wrong in my opinion).lol I said " I need to go back and read Carlita's books". He said

"OH mummy you forgot to look at Ms. Carlita's books! " yup..lol

I learned I needed to use our manipulatives and not assume he understands division and reword things to ask "how many groups of 4 can go into 8". sigh. Once we came back together after break, I ran through this with him and he got. No troubles, no frustration, he was chuckling because of how easy it is to understand.. so at the end "my teacher" says " now I need to practice my skip counting more" LOL ~ sigh...

I wanted to share this because I thought it could help others who might not understand how or if MOTL can fit for them. It can fit for anyone. It works by itself or as a "go to" place or a supplement. I have not read too many posts where people use it as a supplement but can offer my own experiences that it is a GREAT resource and is SO flexible I really don't know what I would do without it. :)

Our History is now filled with lapbooking and lap-n-notes. I designed a history syllabus / lapbook outline for my teen to match his history and he is going to be doing lots of folds for facts and things. I think he will really like the change up!

Science NOTES:
OUR BIOLOGY STUDY

On-line Biology Text- from CK12 can use from the very beginning

The Biology Outline (link resources included for each topic)

On-line Biology Text- from CK12 can use from the very beginning Biology Course- Hippo Campus - videos and lectures

Book Resources- Biology Homework Helpers

Janice Van Cleave's Biology for Every Student

Lifepac 804 ( Nutrition and Nutritional Diseases)

Lifepac 809 ( Photosynthesis, Natural Cycles, Balance & Disruption

Video Resources-

The Wild Classroom

Kahn Academy - Biology section for first year college or highschool biology

Zane Education- Biology section- mostly classification and animal videos.

Bio Lectures

Learners TV many video lectures and videos

Online Resources-

Topic guide for Biology

Biology 4 Kids

Labs

Troy Labs

That's about it for us this week~ Until next time!

Practicing Pronouns~

2011-05-03T11:45:00.004-04:00

photo credit

We are working through our Analytical Grammar program and it was recommended that one of the best ways to really be able to know the pronouns in a sentence is to just memorize them.

Since memorization isn't actually fun or a strength for my teen I decided to use Study Stacks to perhaps help him while he learns his pronouns. I plan on adding a few more ways to study these but this is just a "start".

Study Stacks is FREE you only need to sign up and create a user and password name and your ready to go. There are Q & A in order to help you learn how to use the program. I am still learning how I might like to use this program and I think it is a great tool for "rote" learning.

Once I created the Study Stack for Practicing Pronouns, I embedded the html code into my teens learning assignment blog so he could study daily ~ here is what it looks like and you can try it out~

More educational activitites at StudyStack.com

Here is one I made from quizlet:

Study these flash cards | Study pronouns flash cards

There are many more to try out also~ happy learning! * here is one I found that someone made on quizlet*

Adding to our Learning Assignment Blogs-

2011-05-02T16:49:00.000-04:00

photo credit

As time goes by and as I find specific resources to help in our studies I have been adding them to the boys Learning Assignment Blogs. I found this particular resource lately and it has been one that I have been glancing at back and forth for a few days now so I thought I would add it to my middle son's blog and share it with my readers.
Many might already be familiar with Harcourt School Links for Math but Science was new to me~ I just learned they had these great interactive links and am finding a bunch of neat things to use - even for our cells lapbook!

I started looking for some fun resources to use for our cells unit and as usual, I end up finding more than just cells for us! Its always the way when it comes to the internet. I try and be better about things though because I really try to look more closely now at the different sites to really see if I will be able to incorporate certain things into something we might be learning- this is definitely one of them~

I really liked the"Cell Inspector" interactive and think it will be a great addition to our unit and also I like "How do Plan and Animal Cells Differ"? great for a Venn Diagram for our lapbook~ I could go on but I will stop there. Be sure and check it out if you have the time. The site is for K-6 grade in case your looking for a specific content level.

Radical Unschooling- learning more

2011-04-30T08:24:00.002-04:00

I have started this post over and over again. Not exactly sure where to start. I am sort of at a loss for words in many ways ~ so I suppose I will just try my best to express my thoughts on this;

We attempted and ( from what I thought) gave unschooling a good try. I sort of tweaked things ( as I always do with so many things in our lives) to suit/meet our needs. It really never caught on with my boys, there were no sparks, no "aha moments" etc... that you hear from so many- how it totally transforms you lives and gives your children more control etc.. nope, not any of that.

My youngest said it felt odd and all "sloshy"~ I think we were doing something wrong. We weren't doing it our own way~

I read a bit on it - not a ton but thought I would just give it a try and see where things lead us. I thought to myself how the boys SO enjoy taking a topic and kind of hopping on all these "bunny trails" as homeschoolers have called them, so I thought I must be on the right path. Now I am not exactly so sure~

photo credit

After reading this recent post from Robin about a new book she had entitled " Radical Unschooling: A Revolution Has Begun" by Dayna Martin. I read over Robin's thoughts and then what really made me starting reflecting even more is some of the questions she asked the author about Radical Unschooling.

I have had a few experiences with the Unschooling Community and I have to admit they have not been as positive, but I wasn't going to let that stop me because I really was intrigued with the ideals and could very much relate to the writings of John Holt and a few others.

My experience with many ( but certainly not ALL) unschoolers has been a mindset of having to follow their own ideas completely. ( A "their way or the highway" kind of mentality that quite honestly I just could not handle) I think any kind of closing of the mind, hinders learning and is not very helpful or productive at all.
As Dayna recommended ~ Keep looking for your Tribe. I most certainly intend to do so~

Early on, I had joined some unschooling groups just to learn and listen to parents but I often found their ways were not always my own and many were very judgmental and harsh to those trying to learn and understand.
These have been my own personal experiences.

So you can imagine how I might re-consider or reflect on how we do things at home as I read the answers Dayna Martin gave Robin ( the post's author) I was intrigued, excited and I really think shocked all at the same time.

some notes/ thoughts I have;
I kind of feel like "wow, could I have been possibly following many of these ideals/methods all along?

As we have moved along in our homeschooling journey we have made a big shift from the "teacher and trainer" approach to the "facilitator and partnership" approach a while ago, it has been the best thing I could have done so far in our homeschooling. I have often talked about this before and how many really don't quite understand the concept and I realize that~ showing examples of this has been the best way for me to show what I do and how I do it. We don't have to be the "know all" and "all knowing" person in their lives, you can explore and learn together~ it makes for a much richer education and learning environment.

I am thinking that this could be one of the most important posts I have ever written. Because it reflects the core of learning and education.

a quote from Dayna - "Radical Unschooling is not for the lazy parent. It is an involved, connected role facilitating your child's interests while giving them all of the resources at your disposal to expand on their interests."
This is really SO true~ anyone can pick up a book/program/text and follow along like we have been taught in school for so many years. Responding to our children's needs and interests takes much work and time ! Not an easy job~ !

another quote from Dayna - " It is about free choice of all that the world offers - this can include school as well."

I really found this so liberating don't you? I think the more I read her words the more intrigued I became. I hope to be able to pick this book up very soon and try to understand more. I suppose I feel like she is speaking my language. So many times I felt like we never "fit" into so many places, then I realized it isn't about "fitting" its all about doing your own thing and doing what works for your children, EVEN when at times it may not work completely for you~ ( the whole walking a tightrope thing I talk and refer to about so many times.)

I look forward to learning more~

Weekly Wrap Up-

2011-04-29T15:44:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh this has been such a busy week for us~ I think with the weather getting warmer it adds to the many more things we have to add to our daily/weekly to-do lists, don't you think?

We had a good week considering we were tired out from Holy Week and the Easter holiday weekend. It was lots of fun but trying to get back into the swing of things can be really hard to do at times. We managed though.

I never got to the weekly lesson assignments for my younger son but did get to them for my older son, now to just have him remember to cross things off! It's like anything the first few weeks its great and then all of a sudden something happens~ nothing! lol

We worked our block schedule this week sneaking in our homeschool group outings and appointments. This has been going very well and I am glad I made the switch for both boys.

In science;
We have been working further on our Cell Unit ( I posted those pages for vocab and different types of cells earlier and you can find those over at Homeschool Launch of in my freebies section) its coming along very nicely my youngest is worried he won't remember all the information, I told him that's why we have the lapbook! He is really enjoying doing it this way. We read over the sections in his Lifepac and then for each section we create something with the information. I am using the folds we handmade and stored in page protectors and in a big binder. I label each page protector so I can just flip through to what we need - works great ( here is the archived post) and I love the flexibility I have of being able to adapt it right to our books we are reading or sections in the Lifepacs. ( I always found the pre-made lapbooks too confining, lol )

In history;
We are working right along my teen with his book and written narrations ( I also made up some notebook pages for him for the first few pages of the book see my freebies sections for those) but I noticed today that he was not as enthusiastic with the narrations as he has been. I talked with him and we are going to be doing some Lap N Notes and some lapbooking for him also. The same way we work with my younger son. He would like to really give it a try and things it will change things up a bit. He tends to be very creative so I think when I mentioned to my younger son about maybe finding cartoons or funnies written in that time period during the war etc.. it sort of sparked his interest. So they both will be doing lapbooking for both History and their Science.

I was thinking this would be in place of the written narrations. He will create folds and notes in place of all the narrations. And for those working a program like the Lifepacs or perhaps a more traditional program you could use pose the questions and answer them using folds for your lapbook.

It got me thinking more and more about lapbooking for older learners. I have not been able to find too much on it~ I did learn about a yahoo group that I had joined but is not really active any longer. Also Lapbook Lessons just started a new group called Advanced Lapbook Learners so I can see what might be on there.

I really think that needs to change~ I hope to be able to work at creating some things for more advanced learners and share with others. If I find more resources for older children I will be sure to share and post.

Grammar Supplements - Games

2011-04-28T13:11:00.001-04:00

Its always fun to change things up and add some fun things into our days. Games seem to really help us do that while still practicing skills already learned.
Grammar seems to be an area that is a bit harder to be able to use games - at least that has been my experience up until now.

In searching through the EduPlace Students Site I ( grade 6-8) found some great finds!
Here is a link for "Grammar Enrichment" from Houghton Mifflin English. This particular link is for grades 6-8. The games and activities on here look like real fun~ and are a great way to reinforce concepts learned!

Listed by grade level it gives you a pdf link to click onto so you can print out each activity/game.

The K-5 portion is set up just a bit different and also has some great things for practice in areas of English~ I am probably going to add a few of these also to my younger son's lessons for reinforcement and to help change things up a bit.

For a complete index of what Education Place has to offer click on this link here. Some of these links are great to use as a supplement or enrichment while working on something.

We tend to use textbooks in a very non-traditional way~ We use these for the games, activities, pictures and things to print out for lapbooks and notebooking there are some great ideas we can use here.(example of spelling activities for printing here)

A "new to us" Book Series and Author- Lee Roddy

2011-04-28T08:25:00.000-04:00

I am adding a few more things to my order list for our new year~ and am finding some gems -

Our youngest has always enjoyed a more traditional way of learning. I have found he enjoys very much the older book series like Box Car Children and many others~ I think that is why he enjoys Yesterdays Classics so much. I have tried many times to encourage him to try the Magic Tree House Series or maybe Flat Stanley and others but he doesn't want any part of them ~

Lee Roddy is a "new to us" author and I plan to pick up a book or two of his to show my younger son.

I think he will be very interested since it seems like it fits his style and personality and interest level as a 12 year old boy. Here is a link to Lee Roddy's books.

photo credit

Initially I heard about Lee Roddy from the IEW email loop list. It was a suggestion given for a book he had written entitled "How to Write a Story" and also the other "A Guide to Writing Your Novel".

My list is getting longer - how is yours going or should I say growing?

Geography - How the States got their shapes

2011-04-26T07:47:00.000-04:00

We had seen bits and pieces of this last year on the History Channel but plan on trying to watch this in its entirety this year~ we really liked it and found it very interesting with facts and information. Here is a listing of the states from the History Channels site.

Check your local listings for this great show~ and here is a study guide to go along with the show - (you will notice the dates show October that is when I believe it aired the first time our local listings show airs this Wednesday)
You can also purchase the DVD here and there is some more brief information about it.

Our Science Learning~ some thoughts and shifting

2011-04-22T10:18:00.001-04:00

We have been doing pretty well with our science but I really would like to add more zest to our science. I have been looking at how we have been working further in our history and see that that even though it is helpful to use a program as your guide, it still can zap some of the enthusiasm out of the whole learning and exploration process when it comes to science.* updated*

Originally when choosing our science program ( this was a group effort with the boys in looking at program's topics and the sequence and depth of the program) I knew at the time ( due to health issues) I needed to have something that could be our spine and something I could turn to if on the days/weeks I was unable to do lesson plans or research things for them I could "rely" on their program more heavily.

( my health issues are still a factor but )I have had a change of heart a bit. I have seen how well the boys have now grown into their own learning styles and how important it is for them to not have every little thing laid out for them, but to be able to take a topic and be able to "find out", "observe", "explore" and then "learn" about their science topics. I hope to do much more less "leading" and more "facilitating" at this point.

I have found in talking with so many people how many times children have their hands held during this process so that they never really "learn" or have the knowledge of how to "find out" about something or how to learn "how to" do a particular something.

In order to alleviate that a bit we are shifting things so that I will be following more a basic "science scope" and then adding in our program more as a supplement than our spine.

I think the boys will find this more appealing since they really enjoy science and I think using the same method we are using with our history will be just for them.

I have been reading more and more about getting away from textbooks and have realized I need to be sure to continue to take this path for our home learning. I think we only have "technically two textbooks" (excluding math) on our books shelves but its often seems like because so many use these things for higher grades that I was starting to re-think my own choices in our learning.

Not any longer. I am going to continue to compile some great resources for a more "living science approach" and I ordered for my own use, the book from Kathryn Stout " Science Scope".

I have many of her other books and find them very helpful, why I didn't have her science I really can't say, but I will now~ :)

I still have lots and lots of great experiments and resources we will be working with our Lifepac science. Shifting things will not wreak too much havoc in their science learning except to perhaps add more flexibility in their science learning and exploration.

I'll keep you posted on how things are going in our weekly wrap ups~
*here is a blog post about science from an LAH reader and blogger from Cabin in the Woods, I thought this was a great post - I love comparing notes!

A Summer Project- organizing my bookmarks

2011-04-19T19:23:00.000-04:00

I was recently looking in my OneNote at some of my pages and wanted to add a divider for lesson planning. Our lessons are going so much smoother having things planned out a bit more, especially in the area of science and history because we use so many resources for our topics.

With the lesson planning I can make better use of my saved resources, books, maps, and online bookmarks.

I was in my Diigo this evening and realized WOW I have so much information in here. I really need to go through and organize these much better. Sure I have folders but I also have tags and I think I became very lazy in organizing these gems I find on the internet. So I am taking this summer or late spring to try and spend a bit of time re-organizing things.

I think one of my problems is I zoom around and find things and just stick them in different places "I think" ( yah right) that I will remember. hmmm sometimes I DON'T remember hmmm~

So I decided to back up a bit and make sure I learn better about what Diigo has to offer me so I am making better use of this great online bookmarking tool~
here are some links to help me;
a blog post from Free Technology for Teachers on Diigo (videos and resources to help me review Diigo a bit better- for things I may have missed in the beginning)
using Diigo in the Classroom- a blog post, (even thought I don't have a classroom I thought there might be some information I can gain for the boys learning assignment blogs or something similar)
Let Diigo Turn the Net into Your Notebook- an article (again, just hoping to glean some more insight, the title caught my eye and made me think further about Diigo and my own business)
EduDiigo- Dig Deeper with EduDiigo- this sounded too techy and impressive to pass up on reading
Diigo Help Guide - last but not least the help guide

Wish me luck! I have my work cut out ahead of me, but in the end I think it will be worth it! (I'll keep you posted) :)

A new site resource - eThemes

2011-04-19T16:04:00.000-04:00

Sometimes certain resources are just TOO GOOD not to share. eThemes is certainly one of those resources. Whether your a homeschool parent, classroom teacher or parent of a child who has a report due in a specific area this site has so much to offer it is just terrific.

Broken down by grade level and then by alphabetical order there is no end to what you will be able to find here for different areas of learning. I think this is a great addition to any homeschooling method and can be a great addition to your personal book marks for lesson planning~

Outline of American Literature- an online text

2011-04-18T17:01:00.001-04:00

Here is an online free book we may explore over the summer. Its called Outline of American Literature.

It starts at Early American and the Colonial Period through Contemporary American Literature.

I thought this might be very interesting to read as our teen begins to dive deeper into literature and literary analysis. A real history lover, I think he will be able to appreciate this and may be great for some practice essays as well.
*other books you may find interesting to check out;
Outline of US History
Outline of US Government

Cells lapbook - next section added

2011-04-18T13:14:00.000-04:00

In trying to get a few things out of the way for our week back to school I had created the next section for our lapbook on cells. We are also making our own folds for our lapbook as well as we read material. For example, when reading about the two kinds of microscopes we decided to make a side by side match book fold with a venn diagram on the front explaining the differences and similarities for them.

These pages I have created are for more vocabulary words and then also different kinds of cells "folds".

As we finish up this lapbook I will be posting pictures and these pages will be found in the freebies section.

Changing Plans and New Notebooking Pages

2011-04-18T10:39:00.000-04:00

We just decided this morning, after looking over our schedule for Holy Week that it is probably best to take the week off. We were planning on taking next week off ( we usually do for a Spring break so I can begin some Spring cleaning and get their papers in some sort of outline for the portfolios for the following month but I think this will work out better for us this year since our week became increasingly busy with things going on.)

I also had a chance to start some Notebooking Pages adapted from my teens book he is reading "A Patriots History of the United States". I have added these to my Homeschool Launch page and also the freebies page.

A great time saving history resource-

2011-04-17T16:50:00.000-04:00

Why should we have to re-invent the wheel? Sometimes we need to create things for our home learning and yet at other times we find such great things others have created ~ that we are then able to enjoy what someone else has created and save ourselves so work! this is one of those sites~

I remembered this really great site I have not looked at for some time and wanted to share it with my readers- Highland Heritage Forms.

What a really terrific site. With LOTS here for you to look through for all kinds of ages.

There is also a yahoo group to join and be able to share more pages etc..

One favorite section- history and wanted to share this part of the site that I had overlooked previously. I found so many things here I can use its just great! You can click on Creation to the Fall of Rome and then Fall of Rome to the US Constitution. These have been adapted from the "Tapestry of Grace" curriculum, which we do not use, however many of these pages can be adapted to other kinds of programs. Be sure and check it out if you have a chance!

Writing Checklist for Kinds of Writing-

2011-04-17T16:26:00.000-04:00

I just finished a writing checklist ( added to my freebies section) I will be following for my teen and then a bit later my middle schooler. I thought perhaps some might be interested in using this for their own writing at home.

*I would like to give a shout out to my good friend JenB from Special Needs Homeschooling for encouraging me to do this*

We are working through an Essay Course now and after that I plan on running down this list and having him practice different kinds of writing.

For my younger son we are working IEW and their layout follows a similar pathway and is outlined as follows:
types of writing are encompassed in the units.
Unit 3: narrative
Unit 4/6: expository
Unit 7/8: persuasive, compare/contrast, letter, cause/effect, literary
analysis‹most of the essay types including term paper
Unit 9: critique (book report)
So his is just a bit different but as you can see, he is working these types of writing.

Once this is complete I will be using the Elements of Language model list to go over and do any others we have not done yet. I plan on making a check list for this as well, but I thought this would get us started. I was so happy to have learned about this site and where I have very visual, literal learners this is excellent for them.

The list I created is adapted from the Write Source 2000 writing handbook. (those are the pages I refer to on this list) and the tutorials are from the link Great Source iWrite.

Happy Writing!

Composers Timeline -

2011-04-17T08:38:00.001-04:00

I subscribe to a great blog called The Resource Site and have found some really great things to use for our learning at home~

This week they have a pdf download for a timeline with composers that I thought was really excellent and so I thought I would share- I added these to my Arts Page. Also the timeline learning cards are really neat too.

There is lots more here to check out as well I really like this site~

Happy Learning!

A new reading blog-

2011-04-16T16:15:00.000-04:00

I just found out about this neat blog and thought I would share. This blog has great direction and information on teaching younger learners to read. It is called Teaching Reading with BOB Books. The blog author provides daily lessons for teaching reading with the blog books. I also was impressed with her New and Improved Binder System - Good Stuff!

If you notice Brandy has a "Are you New Here?" tab that helps you get started with the lessons. Enjoy!

Weekly Wrap Up-

2011-04-16T16:14:00.000-04:00

We had an incredibly busy week ~ I think this week we had every dentist appointment scheduled, doctors appointments and much more. The boys enjoyed Nerf Club, a park day with our new homeschooling group that is just starting up, yard work with the weather getting nicer and our snow FINALLY melted away!

In between all of these things studies had to get done since I wanted to get as much done as we could this week due to Holy Week coming up for the next week.

The learning assignment blog is going great for my teen. He really enjoys going and seeing exactly what is needed and refers to this throughout his whole day of studies and activities. He also never was really big on checklists so going in and crossing out his assignments is much more his "style" - although I noticed I needed to remind him to go in and cross out work he does now and then~ :)

I love the fact that I now am writing out our lesson plans for the week- I typically have found that Sunday is usually the best day for me to do this, although I have been trying to get a running start on it during the week especially if we are working on something and I come upon a site or have an idea, I will go ahead and jot it down so I don't forget. Really helps me to remember what resources we have in a particular area so I am very thankful for that.

My youngest isn't as "big" on the blog, I think he is comfortable with his checklist ( he really loves these) and is happy just having mum lead the way for right now. But I do try and encourage him to pull up his assignment blog especially if I have a note in my lesson plans that there is a link or video to use. I think it time as he gets older he will learn to appreciate these and his independence much more.

Math ~ is going well for my younger son, he and I chose a workbook program that fit him so exactly. I am so pleased we both agreed to use this program (Abeka Math) I like the way it runs and how it repeats the new skills/concepts that was taught previously. I also like it much better than Horizons because there is less problems on the page, yet there is ample practice because we only highlight certain problems to work on and if there is more work needed he can go back the next day and work on the ones that were not chosen. Also Abeka (for certain concepts) provides supplement practice in the back of the book also. What more could I ask for ~ we still refer to MOTL's teaching books when we need to, but due to his interest in doing much more math daily we have set aside our five a days for now. Perhaps at another time these will come back when math problems become much more intense if we need it. I plan on staying with this math just because he has been so successful using it.

History~ we had gotten in the mail those new Amercian History books I posted about that were a surprise for my youngest and he loved them! He is anxious to start reading these and we started our American Revolution Lapbook as well. I noticed my teen looking things over too ~ ahem, I think perhaps the teen may want to do a bit of lapbooking as well~ "sure why not" was the answer. I think he likes the creativity it brings into the study.

Grammar~ we have been working Analytical Grammar and had a few bumps along the way but we ironed things out and I have noticed real improvement in his understanding in working with the parts of speech. I am so impressed with this program and how comprehensive it is I am considering getting AG Junior for my younger son~ I know he will love it because my younger son really "loves" grammar ~ he enjoys it so much I really can't explain why it can be a bit perplexing when he goes over and helps his older brother on certain things but I'll take it! :)

I have seen a real jump in my younger son's progress in the area of Language Arts so I am very happy with his program he is using right now, I hate to add another program on him so I need to re-think how I will work AG Junior with his LLATL since I really don't want to be too redundant.. I am thinking of picking and choosing certain things throughout the LLATL program but what happens when I do this is my son usually wants to do them anyway... so we shall just see.

It really was a great week considering how busy we were. The Block Schedule change for my teen is going very nicely and he is able to apply much more effort into his history/civics and science learning on those days without having to jump from subject to subject. He learns much better like this and I think he will be a great candidate for Unit Studies once I get these lined up.

I also learning something new this week - my younger son has no interest in working Unit Studies. He basically told me so, yup. He said he enjoys moving through his morning from one thing to the next and likes the "change" that happens. He is very happy with things as they are so unless ( which USUALLY happens, wink) he decided to come pop over when we are working a unit study his lessons will remain as they are.

I am adding my younger son's weekly checklist to my Homeschool Launch page so if others care to check it out and tweak it to their needs they can since I left it in document format. I also am adding my lesson plan templates I made. I never really found much use or functionality in the teacher lesson books because of the way we do homeschooling so I made up my own pages to meet my own needs. These also are going to be uploaded there and left in document format instead of PDF so you can tweak them to how you like. :)

Thats our weekly wrap up for this week ~ until next time!

A Weekly Wrap Up -

2011-04-09T14:24:00.000-04:00

Notes on our week-

Our younger learner -
A fairly productive week - our youngest is doing really well with his new math book and things are finally looking more as though consistency is settling in with his new skills learned and old ones practiced, thanks to our new math notebook system we are using ( 3 components daily; review, lesson, correct/teach me).

I think for our youngest it will take some time for him to get used to using the Learning Assignment Blog I set up for him, this is fine with me since I only did this for my own sanity and not as much for him right now. We can work on more and more independence as he gets older and doesn't look to mum as much.

Our Gym Days have now been days our youngest looks forward to, where before he would dread them. He is now feeling better about his abilities in the gym and his speaking with his friends ~ and I am very pleased about this.

He really seems to be enjoying videos more and more and so I am tapping into the internet much more now for more enrichment with his studies in all area of math, grammar etc... another reason I am so happy I began the learning assignment blog for him since it helps me to be able to take better advantage of the resources I find for him.

Our teen -

This week was fairly smooth sailing for my teen also - his learning assignment blog is PERFECT for him to gain the independence and control of time management he needed. He is able to learn how to balance things more between his social things and his studies. I am so glad I started this for him. I would highly recommend doing something like this if your homeschooling for highschool.

Math also is going much better now that we are incorporating the internet more in our learning - videos for various concepts and new lessons really seems to help my guy. I really want to look at a few of the math video learning programs to see which one will be a good fit for him. Right now I am looking at Tenmarks, Adaptive Learning and Mathtutor DVD's. Not sure which I will choose but will keep you posted on what I find most helpful.

We started that new history book I had posted about and gosh does he like it! I think primarily because it goes into such depth and isn't bothered with all the political correctness so many texts worry about these days. It is really an interesting read so far, unlike any history text I have read in years. I hope to be able to either make some notebook pages of some things to go along with these chapters we are working on. Will share those if they get finished.

The weather has been gorgeous here in New England, finally most of our snow is melted and the boys have been able to get their bikes and skateboards out and get used to using them again! We will cross our fingers for NO MORE SNOW - usually by this time of year we are storm free, but in New England you just never know!

Until next week~

Re-Orgainizing our Schedules - our update

2011-04-09T08:34:00.000-04:00

"The answer is a balance between structure and non-structure. But this balance must be reached after a consideration of various factors. These factors include the age of the student, the learning ability, the best learning style for the student, the teacher-mother's ability, and the subject matter itself." Mary Kay Clark, Catholic Home Schooling

Flexibility with structure can be a difficult balance at times. While working with two different ages/stages and abilities it can be a tricky for sure~ after five years of homeschooling we have now found that balance and it is a wonderful feeling~

We had attempted this past year a more unschooling approach mixed with a bit of flexible structure built in to their weeks but we found this was not a good balance for them at all. The boys explained they did not like unschooling, that it was not for them. They enjoy more working on things and then being able to go off on a topic and work several days with that particular topic. ( I really saw in them the real benefits of working a more delight directed approach than an unschooling)

My younger son described it for him and "all floppy" ~ I had to chuckle since mama also found it to be "floppy" and told him this was a great description!

We have homeschooling friends who unschool and that is all they have ever known and do VERY well with this approach. I suppose with my boys and our family this approach isn't a fit probably for a variety of unique reasons; they started out in public schools for their early learning, and I think they have found they both in different ways enjoy a bit of structure built into their days, my own health issues also plays a role and in keeping some sort of structure provides a bit of security and balance in the boys home learning.

We had gone back to a block schedule for my middle schooler right after the first of the year. He was very happy about that and really likes his schedule now and works very productively with it and it is very successful for him. I brought him back earlier since he was really struggling with the more unschooling approach.

My teen recently has gone back to the block schedule just this past week. We both agreed that a more block schedule would be the best for him. There are several reasons for us to go back to a block schedule rather than a more public school or classical approach to his work;

1. he likes to work in depth on his subjects and not be rushed- a block schedule allows him to do that and I feel like where he is not going to be homeschooling for highschool he doesn't "need" to ramp up and do all subjects EVERY day.

2. he likes to have the flexibility in his learning where if he is working on something, he may want to explore and research something a bit more, with this schedule he can do that.

3. he has joined a few teen groups and is helping me in creating our own local homeschool group- this takes some time and we have been much more social and planning and out doing lots of things with other homeschoolers and so by using this kind of schedule he can be out and about having fun and not worrying about all his studies he missed for that day~ he has that "structured flexibility" to be able to work on his things as he needs to.

Learning Assignment Blogs
Our new learning blogs help us to keep up with the goals for the week. Plans are laid out with lots of care and are unique to each child. If we are not able to work on a particular something it will be there the next day or the next. ;) but it will be able to be completed by weeks end. IF by some chance there is sickness or "life" decides to get in our way then we can just bring it over to the next week.

Our block schedules look like this -( a somewhat integrated approach )

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are our core studies day ( studies of discipline) Reading, Writing, Grammar and Mathematics.

Thursday is our Science Day- we work Mathematics lessons and Science lessons on this day.
Note- our reading is from our science books and resources links, our writing is writing from science concepts and math is our regular lessons. ( so in actuality they really are working reading and writing just more on an integrated approach)

Friday is our History Day - we work this subject just like we do our Science Day incorporating reading, writing and also art on this day since it compliments history so well~ Our teen also works civics on this day as well, while our younger son enjoys lapbooks and projects/crafts in the time period he is learning about.

I have found that while working this schedule it takes the stress out of our days. It enables the boys to do things they wouldn't normally do- for example I was working with my younger son on division in his math notebook and we went over to the site Kahn Academy and watched a video on division. We chatted and my son wanted to see what other things were there on the site. We stumbled upon something my guy is always interested in.. MONEY - so we watched a video on Banks and how they work. We plan on watching the next video in the series for our next math lesson. He LOVED it and discussed this information over lunch with Dad. Impressive yes, would he have been able to do this if he was worried or had to jump to the next subject on his "list" to check off? probably not. I suppose this is where my experience comes in with homeschooling and it is a really nice feeling. :)

Happy Scheduling!

Working through our American History -Thoughts on Methods

2011-04-07T19:38:00.003-04:00

We have been working on American History and using our AOP Lifepacs as a kind of "spine". However, I plan to coordinate this with lots of living books and wanted to share a series we are going to be starting this coming week.

My younger son enjoys and was asking to listen and sit in on our reading of the book my teen is reading from called "A Patriots History of the United States" -we are really enjoying reading this almost into the second chapter and I am learning right along with them. It gives much more depth and my sons really enjoy this.

I could really see the interest in our younger son so I decided to go ahead and purchase a series of his own. ( he can still of course share in our reading but I really think these will be very fitting for him) I was only planning on having him read this series online but I can see he enjoys having the book in his had and flopping down on the couch in the den or living room and just reading away... history is a favorite subject of his~ I want to encourage this so we are going ahead and getting the series

American History Stories by Mara Pratt ( these can be found free over on The Baldwin Project) There are several volumes I - IV and as we read I hope to take advantage of other books I might be able to find on specific events and people to give a more richer flavor for his history. I know he is going to love this and don't dare tell him - I plan on making it a surprise for him once it comes in.

I was really taken back how he would sit and listen to the reading aloud we were doing with the above book- he would jump right in and discuss and ask questions on Cortez etc.. we ended up jumping online to look up something in particular on the Aztecs etc.. it was a really great discussion, unlike in school where so many times children tend to be "talked at" it is wonderful to just "talk with" and explore the journey together.

I share this since it might be something to consider when planning and teaching history in your home. It can be as simple as just finding a really good history book and diving in, the children will do the rest.. posters, lapbooks, websites, projects - it all comes out, the only difference is that much of it is their ideas ( with a little help from mum (wink) - but having them dive in and internalize makes such more of a difference.
I really have to be candid here~ I think we are really hooked on learning through real books- I doubt there is any going back. Relief also since my oldest who sees this as a wonderful way to encourage reading of these subjects since in higher learning this is really all you do! :) Its a very good thing~
* update, ok so I ordered the volumes and add "just one more" The Story of Napoleon" by H.E. Marshall ~ * that is a surprise too! ( wink)

Happy History Learning~

Current Updates - Facebook an invitation~

2011-04-05T06:06:00.000-04:00

I wanted to mention to my readers that if you enjoy reading the blog posts you may want to stay updated with things by joining the LAH facebook page.

Here is where I add my personal thoughts, share many links I learn about and add updates on things we are doing or trying.

For example this morning I just added a "note" to update everyone on our first day with our LAH Academy Blogs. If interested you can find LAH here.
You can also see my page below~

My reason for using LAH Facebook a bit more often is to not over burden your email boxes so you can read and enjoy at your leisure, so if your on facebook~ please join me! :)

Learning Technology Through Doing- creating a website

2011-04-04T18:13:00.000-04:00

I had an idea just this morning. I had been talking with my teen idea~ and we might be looking at starting an online site for his teen group. A place they can go to "hang" share music videos, game reviews, articles, links etc.. on things they are doing or are interested in.. we may also have a forum on the website also.

I thought this would be a great way to use this as a teaching tool for technology. We can both share in the efforts of creating the site and he can be more a part of things and monitor things on the site.

We have not yet started it yet. It is still in the planning stages but I thought this would be a really innovative idea. I am thinking of using either Weebly or Free Webs for our platform, but am not positive. I want something that is easy to manage so any other suggestions would be very appreciated. ~

I would like to have a calendar in it also so that the teens can refer to it for events that will be coming up, meetings we will have and group activities. ~ here is to adding yet one more thing to my list ~ :)

Thinking about ART -

2011-04-03T09:02:00.001-04:00

You know the saying about the contractor whose home is falling to pieces yet he/she does beautiful work building and fixing other peoples homes. For me it isn't much different ~ and I have to chuckle, even though I am a freelance artist and have an at-home studio my boys art appreciation and art exposure have been lacking.

Perhaps it might be my long nights they remember with mum having paint on her hands at breakfast and the old studio shirts spattered with all different colors and the work that paintings can involve, who knows- but I do want to help the boys tap into their artistic side much deeper and so instead of using lesson plans I have for my own students I decided to take a back seat and search for someone else to teach my boys.

I am still in the gathering of information stage and plan to email and/or contact some of these resources I am finding but thought I might share them with my readers.

In searching I found this one site called Free Online Art Classes by Lois DeWitt. Here is a video she offers:

" Information Rich Art Instruction"

I have much more reading through her site to do but really like what I see. I think the boys and I can have lots of fun with these courses. You can check out here classes and then email her and ask her for the classes. I also plan on checking out her other resources she mentions about Homeschooling as well.

I am also planning to find out more about "Art with a Purpose" books and see if these also might be fun to do.

I also stumbled upon the Gluck Method site and was looking at these dvd's and liked these also very much. I think the boys will like them to.

Here are some more resources:
Incredible Middle School Lessons
Art Graphics. Net - free online art tutorials in different mediums
Kinderart - a large selection of art/craft projects ( check out "lessons" )
National Gallery of Art/NG Kids Homepage - interactive art you can make online, I think my teen will really like this one!
Ten Free Online Art Lessons - painting landscapes

Art Blogs:
Art Projects for Kids - K - 5
Sketch Tuesday - popular many homeschoolers take advantage of this blog, I have yet to attempt it. But I think we are now going to hop on and get going with it.
Art Lessons For Kids
TeachKidsArt - this is another I really liked.
Creating Art with Kids

There are so many more it is impossible to list them all but a quick google search brought me to many, many areas for teaching and learning about art. If you wish you can see more of a list that I added to here at my art diigo page. I do plan on adding more as I find ones I find suitable.

Geography Resource- Scribble Maps!

2011-03-31T09:00:00.000-04:00

A really cool tool for teaching Geography ~ it is called Scribble Maps. I tried it out and it is very easy to use, you do not need to login and your work can be exported and printed. We just loved this and will be using this quite often ~

Updating/Changing Some Plans and Continuing with our New Project

2011-03-30T15:50:00.000-04:00

I had been working yesterday evening on the new LAH Academy Blog. I ended up finding a way to create a post template so that whenever I have the daily/weekly assignments I will be adding ( I am thinking at this point of adding the whole week. Two reasons; one, it is easier than creating a post for each day - even though at times I may want to do this, but not very often, secondly, it will be a good way in case we don't get to something or finish up on a particular lesson they can go back to look at what they had the day before instead of having to go and look at the "past assignments" the weeks work will be all right there, and even thirdly, it can help with time management and act for my teen more of a syllabus so that if we know we have a gym day or teen club coming up he can go and jump ahead and do a bit more lesson assignments if he chooses.

It is taking shape since working hard on it yesterday and it also helps me in going through links I had saved in their folders for future assignments. Now everything will be laid out nice and orderly and having these things on hand might help us to use them much more.

This past month we had started our "new year" pretty much~ especially for our teen. He shifted his studies more toward his abilities and how he can learn more in-depth and more toward his interests and fine-tuning of his study skills. This all sounds really tricky and clinical but it really isn't. I spent the month stepping back and looking at what we had outlined and decided on which was going to work and which will not work out as well as we thought.

In home learning we can do this. Learning at home gives us the flexibility to make these changes and tweaking as we need and not be afraid to make changes in the beginning or mid-stream- as long as we are moving forward with concepts and skills.

Our changes at this point are in the area of Mathematics and in US History. In Math, we are doing a switch-a-roo ~ we are setting aside the Horizons Math and moving into Saxon Math for some time to see if that works a bit better. I always hesitated staying away from Saxon just because of all the groaning I would often hear and reviews I would read about it. I thought it might not be a fit. I decided to look at the books in-depth and compare it to Horizons. BIG difference here. Horizons is an accelerated math program that runs approximately one to two years ahead depending on a few factors. It has a very short explanation for new skills but is wonderful if using it as a review.

We found working with Horizons as we have that while my son needs the spiral method it provides, the rest was not as helpful. He isn't a puzzle person when it comes to math anyway and often would skip over those and we also found the new skill explanations to be lacking for his style of learning. He just needs more direction. Horizon wasn't giving him that. I grew tired of constantly having to dig resources up for teaching a new concept/skill and with me attempting to help him ( and him wanting to be more independent in his learning) it was just not working.

I decided to sit with him and check out a Saxon Math book and we were both pleased. He sat the other day for the Saxon Placement Test and I saw some gaps but overall I pretty much knew where he was at ~ He is going to work through quickly pieces of one Saxon Book and then advance to the next possibly working chunks of that one also.

It isn't my intent to make his already learned skills redundant so in this case I am picking and choosing what problems and concepts he will work. We are going to fly through some things, skip others and just keep on going... Saxon is spiral so it is nice because the new skills he did learn, he can practice by me making sure I assign these for further practice. I suppose you could say we are using Saxon as our spine and then going from there if we need videos, games etc.. I think it will work nicely for him. And I also think it will be a lot less work for me~

photo link & info on book

For history, we had been planning on him continuing on with his Lifepac's and then moving toward the Susan Wise Bauer book for Ancient World History. I ended up sitting down last night and reading some of her work. I really love it. I talked about this with my teen and I really have found that he enjoys just reading fine literature and good books and discussing them. He did this much of last year and in my haste I thought to perhaps re-introduce him to a more formal approach to learning this information. But I can see it is taking the enthusiasm away from his love of history. He does his reading and answers his questions and for the most part does rather well. But I did notice that he often answers the questions very differently than the answer key shows. He sometimes goes into more detail ( he explains from something else he had read or how he interpreted the questions) or he may answer it correctly because of the way the question was presented. It made me scratch my head. I realized that he has great insight and that I don't want to squash that kind of thinking and so I decided that he would go back to his way of learning history through many, many books, videos, field trips and such.

A little story that happened this past week or so~
I think I also realized this when he had taken a tour of our local highschool. We decided to go check it out to see if maybe he would like to take a couple classes there. We walked into an AP WWII history class, my son LOVED it! He sat looking at everything explaining to me and our tour what he thought about things. He also had observed how the class desks were set up~ and showed our tour guide and asked if she knew why the teacher had set up the desks that way~ she had no idea. He explained how the desks were lined up in such a way that showed the symbol of a WWII private. She and I were both really surprised he noticed this and was going to go back to the teacher because she didn't think anyone had picked up on that one~! :) He is unable to take this course till 11th grade but I promised him we would look at some classes at our local community college. He felt satisfied with that I think. :)

So I realize now that I do not need to have him work a more traditional approach ( reading and answering the questions) in college he will be basically doing much the same as he is doing now~ reading great reads on topics of study and writing essays on them. I think we are on the right track, finally. I no longer am going to fret about how other children may work from workbooks and have so many papers. When I do I may just go ahead and print out his written narrations like I did for his neurology unit and sit back and he can sit back and see all the hard work that went into all of it. :)We will be using as our main spine "A Patriots History of the United States".

I plan on picking up another copy this week so that we can read it together for discussion and written narrations questions and projects etc.. I like having the two books. It helps me keep better track of his work and we can work much better together.

I really think because he learns so well this way he will do great on essay tests. ~ ! Perfect since we are working on our Essay Course now and he is really seeing just how easy writing an essay really can be~ :)

So with a few changes we are back on track and enjoying things even more. In observing these things I have seen in him I am not going to abandon this idea for his science either. We will continue on with Lifepac Science as a Spine, but I realize I need to be mindful of adding in literature when we are learning the topics as well, just like we are in our history.

Our younger son is happily doing his studies we had plan with no troubles at all I did end up looking at Saxon for him just because I liked how they introduced topics and was fortunate to find his grade available for us to try. He is happy with his programs and what he is doing and often reminds me of this. Although I will not be at all surprised if he decides he would like to sit in and listen to the history and "include himself" in some of our discussions. (grin)

A New Project - Learners At Home Academy

2011-03-29T19:38:00.000-04:00

I am currently working on a new project. We are creating a new blog, Learners At Home Academy. This is a place where all of the boys assignments will be listed daily. It is going to be used much like a virtual school/place where my son can go and retrieve all his daily assignments and link resources for those assignments and further learning.

I plan to pack this site with all the information they need for their studies. I think it is a clever way to assign work, help them stay organized ( including myself) and also take advantage of the internet and resources we have at our disposal much more.

I had gotten idea when I had posted this link on the AKOL facebook page. I started reading and realized that this is exactly what I needed. A place to post assignments I can do ahead of time to help me save some time and having all of the resources we need in one organized spot will be very efficient.

I decided to not make this site public, however, for those interested you can always contact me and I can add you to the list of readers who might be interested in following our assignments.

This project will probably take me some time to put together~ I am hoping to have this completed and running within a few weeks.

I thought I might share my idea in case others may find this helpful for their own home learning.

Learners at Home

Reviving our Love for Notebooking~

Memory Success: Thinking Outside the "System"

Picture and Music Study Made EASY ~

Science Ramblings- with a Hop and a Skip!

Flash Cards for Practicing Shapes~

A Far Bigger Picture Than Just Copywork- Reflections on Your Home Teaching

Changes here at LAH and a new Page added ~

To Study or Not Around the Holidays~

Flash Cards for Geometric Shapes

The History of the Christmas Tree

Processing and Understanding their Learning: Tools and Strategies to Help

Time Tracking for Highschool Learners

Literature Learning~

Binders RULE!

Math Facts - Using Number Bonds

Homeschooling for Free or Almost Free

Grammar Chat~

October is the Month of the Holy Rosary~

Human Body Unit- some resources to share

Online Flash Cards for Learning~ a new site

Literature Lesson Index

Learning about the US Presidents~

New Lesson Outline Pages

Grammar Practice~ Subjects and Predicates

"Type it In" Reading Log~

Science Learning and new Unit Studies program

Our History Day~ and Homeschooling for Highschool the CM Way

Free- Electoral College Voting Map

Starting French - Printables and Resources

Spelling helpers~ Rules and a Resource to Share

Our Assignment Blogs~

Starting our New Year~ Our Planners

"Grammar Land" by M.L. Nesbitt

Odds and Ends~

Declutterinng our Homeschool ~ Jumbled Notes and Ideas

Math Resource for Our Visual Learners

A Free Resource for Highschool ~

Planning and Organizing~ What I've Been Up To

On a Tight Budget? Here are Some Alternatives You May Want to Check Out!

Updating My Printables - And Creating New Ones~

Free Multiplication Printables~

Putting an End to All the Overlap ~ And Making Connections

Notebooking Anyone?

More Math Reading~

Math Reading ~

Narrations for Highschool Learning~

Literature Based Instruction~

Spelling~

Language Arts "news" about LLATL

What I have been up to lately~

Something I am Up To this Month - Better Organization

Articles & Reflections: Homeschooling for the Middle and Highschool Years

Summer Reading ~ An Idea to Share

Division Struggles - and a favorite Math Reader Series to Share

Math E-Books - Some Resources to Share

Literature for Summer ~

The Textbook Dilemma-

Biology Learning

FlipSnack - a new reader tool

Thoughts from a Dyslexic ~ Something to Share

Summer's Relaxed Learning-

Weekly Wrap Up-

Practicing Pronouns~

Adding to our Learning Assignment Blogs-

Radical Unschooling- learning more

Weekly Wrap Up-

Grammar Supplements - Games

A "new to us" Book Series and Author- Lee Roddy

Geography - How the States got their shapes

Our Science Learning~ some thoughts and shifting

A Summer Project- organizing my bookmarks

A new site resource - eThemes

Outline of American Literature- an online text

Cells lapbook - next section added

Changing Plans and New Notebooking Pages

A great time saving history resource-

Writing Checklist for Kinds of Writing-

Composers Timeline -

A new reading blog-