The Monthly Chat

July, 2007

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Printable bits of wisdom, ideas, and reflections for your friends and
homeschool group, from the members of HomeschoolClassifieds.com
Opinions expressed are those of the individual authors.
©1997-2009 HomeschoolClassifieds.com, Knoxville, TN

Lang arts: spelling/vocab
How Do You Spell Success?

I have homeschooled for 17 years, and I am helping to organize a group to facilitate activities for homeschoolers to have an opportunity to socialize, learn, and share their learning with each other. After a recent quiz bowl we found that spelling was a huge issue. We gave awards for 1st and 2nd place even when the percentage wrong would have earned them a failing grade. We were very surprised and that is why I feel so passionately that we homeschoolers can and need to do better.

Spelling is a foundation for all life skills, just like reading. It influences a person's self image, job performance, confidence, and opportunity for higher education. A child who can not spell adequately will be afraid of writing assignments and will be stilted in their language art achievements. The new technology of 'spell check' will not really save them from
embarrassment in every day activities. They may never feel able to teach their own children because of their handicap.
Some children are natural spellers. It comes easy for them.

But most people become good through hard work. By spending 15-20 min a day going over their words, practicing them orally and by writing, going over rules and exceptions to rules, we can make a big difference in their spelling prowess.
One thing we have done on long trips to use the time wisely is think of hard words as we go along. The kids love the challenge of trying to think them through and be the first to get it right. By keeping a list of misspelled words on assignments and paying special attention to them, you can also avoid future mistakes.

We need to prepare our kids the best we can for their futures, both to have the best options available to them for jobs, and for basic life skills. Spelling is not the most important thing. Their character and spiritual foundation supersede this, but I think spelling is very important and worthy of great effort on our part as educators.

pinecreek7

Bible & Spiritual growth
Homeschooling Builds Character!

I believe God commanded us to teach our children because it would build character...in us, the parents! It brings out the best and worst of it in every parent. God can and does use homeschooling to shape your character and as your children watch, they too will learn what godly, or ungodly, character looks like. I am ashamed many days at how I am impatient with my daughter when she doesn't get a concept fast enough, or how I want to quit because we are having a less than perfect ''homeschool day''.

God did not intend for us to do this halfway; He means for us to teach our children all the days they are in our homes with us. Government school cannot impart the Biblical truths, character, and encouragement that we as their parents can. No one else loves our children as we do.

God, because He does love our children more than we do, knew what He was saying when He said in Deut. 6 that we should teach them when we lie down, walk by the way, and sit. That means every day, all day, making life their education.
I love the fact that when someone calls my daughter to babysit it's because she has been taught how to care for children God's way and they love her for that. I love it when she comes to me and asks if she can cook dinner that night. I love it when she reminds me when we are out and I'm in a hurry, that we are to prefer others above ourselves and that I should just be patient.

These are the characteristics I want for my children and I am the only one who can impart them because God has chosen me to be the teacher, not a government school that doesn't care about their character and spiritual maturity. I thank God that I did not refuse to do what His Word is clear that I should do -- Teach my children and lead by example, thereby shaping my character to look more like that of Christ Jesus.

allpraiserising

Organization/time management
High School Transcripts

Begin in the 9th grade to prepare your transcripts, being sure to log volunteer time, special interests, awards granted, and so on. This saves so much time later when it's time to fill out college applications. Just keep a spiral notebook, and include everything.

carolvm

Organization/time management
Should You Have a Schoolroom in Your House?

I’ve noticed that there are two distinct preferences in where families like to spend their study time in their homes. Some people like to have a special homeschool room where they read, study and keep all their homeschool books and materials. I’ve seen beautiful pictures online of a family's garage converted into a lovely classroom complete with all the features handy to learning. Others like to spread out all over the house or even into the car to do their work. I’ve even met some children who like to do their reading in a tree in the back yard.

I have discovered that families often change their preference over time. If a new homeschooling family is just beginning to decide what would work best for them, they can be reassured that what worked in one season of homeschooling may change in another.

If you’re new to homeschooling, here are a few pointers to get that thought process started about what would work best for you.

You may benefit from having a schoolroom in your home if:
-Having books and materials all over the house bugs you
-You have the space available in your home
-Your children like the idea of having a special place for school
-You don’t want to advertise the fact that you’re starting to homeschool to disapproving “friends” and family.

You may benefit from schooling all over your home if:
-Your children have been in a classroom too long and would want the freedom of schooling all over the house
-You love the look of books and lab equipment and seeing them warms your heart
-You don’t always stick to a specific school time and might be found reading aloud anywhere or anytime

As for me, I’ve done it both ways. In fact I’ve done both in the same year! The point is, you can decide what works best for your family. You can be creative and choose something totally out of the ordinary. Happy schooling!

sallyc

Homeschool helps
Do You Operate From Fear or Faith?

I told a good friend of mine that I was selling a large quantity of my unused and outdated homeschool books and curriculum. She responded in astonishment, “Aren’t you afraid you’re going to need some of that some day, I mean, for reference?” She makes a good point. As a homeschooling mom, there are times when it’s much more convenient to answer a question by looking it up in a book on the shelf rather than going to the library. Having the basics of a good home library makes good sense.

There is a point, however, where I can go too far. If I keep every book and curriculum item I’ve ever bought, I end up with more than I can manage. In these days of quick Internet access, I don’t really need to keep every single reference book; the information is readily available online. Additionally, we have a good public library within a mile of our home. Other than a small shelf of reference books, I don’t need to keep much on hand.

I think the decision of what to keep and what to sell has a more foundational principle at work. If I am fearful that I may get rid of a book I may need some day, I’ll end up keeping everything just to feel secure. There will be no end to what I think I need to have on hand. If, however, I choose to have faith that the basics plus the library and the Internet will provide ninety-nine percent of the reference information I need, I can be free to confidently declutter my bookshelves.

Sometimes I wonder if the huge collection of books I’ve amassed is evidence of a thoroughly prepared homeschool mother or evidence of an individual lacking faith in the public library, in my child’s ability to learn or even in God’s ability to provide for my needs. As I dust off many volumes to sell to other families, my actions show that today I prefer to operate from the strength of faith rather than the uncertainty of fear.

sallyc

Testing
Remedial Reading Program is Great for Summer!

Please look into using the REWARDS Intervention Program as we did. This remedial reading program is outstanding, easy-to-use, and only 28 lessons. I very much would recommend this to others. Our 12-year-old son reads excellently now, but used to stumble, stammer, skip words, make up words, etc...prior to working through this program with me. He is enjoying reading for the first time. We not only saw the benefits immediately, but saw how much his reading ability grew within the next year or two.

Rewards is published by Sopris West; there are intermediate and secondary editions. The program is designed to help a reader with decoding, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, test-taking, content area reading, and sentence and content area writing.

joerachm

Math: fundamentals
Skip Counting to Familiar Tunes

Skip counting is an easy and fun way to memorize multiplication tables. There are a few skip counting audio products on the market today but I've found that they aren't entirely necessary. We've always done our skip counting to familiar tunes.

It takes a bit of trial and error to get the rhythm down correctly but once you have it you can quickly and permanantly memorize multiplication facts to these familiar songs:

2's Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
3's Jingle Bells
4's Row, Row, Row Your Boat
5's Three Blind Mice
6's Yankee Doodle
7's Happy Birthday
8's Ants Go Marching By or Singing in the Rain
9's Take Me Out to the Ballgame
11's Gilligan's Island
12's Old MacDonald
Perfect Squares: Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer (4 9 16 25 etc)

Have fun singing and memorizing multiplication facts.

sallyc

Organization/time management
Grade Calculation in Excel

It is easy to create a planner that doubles as a grade sheet if you know a few basics in Microsoft Excel.

Put each subject in a separate column with a row for each day's work. Often, assignment numbers can be auto-filled using a SUM formula (adding the previous day's cell plus 1). I separate each week with a blank row and use a separate sheet for each school session.

Grades can then be input on the same sheet. Excel will calculate session and final grades with a couple of simple formulas (Add cells together and then divide by the number of cells. To weight assignments and quizzes/tests, simply multiply the average of the cells by the appropriate decimal value and then add weighted averages together).

When the session is complete, print the worksheet with assignments and grades on one page for easy recordkeeping.

bamamom

Organization/time management
Luck Favors the Prepared

One of my favorite movie lines is from the animated feature The Incredibles. In it, one minor character sums up a situation by saying, ''Luck favors the prepared''. How true.

Every school year there is at least one week that I like to term ''crash and burn'' week. This is when everything seems to fall apart. Responsibilities at church all come due at once, the computer hard drive crashes, the car needs maintenance, and I have a huge misunderstanding with a friend. Adding to all this confusion is the guilty fact that I'm not doing anything about school.

I've learned that it's worth it to prepare something at the beginning of the year to do for school when I can't coordinate the usual activities. It might be a collection of videos on a particular science topic or an audio tape series covering world history or even the bonus material on a motion picture DVD. Ever watch all the bonus features on the Lord of the Rings trilogy? When I was in school we used to call a class like that Film Study and it always appealed to budding directors and film makers.

It may appear that I'm just lucky and don't have crazy weeks where school gets pushed to the back burner. But that's only an illusion. I'm prepared. And luck favors the prepared.

sallyc

Marriage & parenting
Homeschooling with Foster Kids

I have been a foster parent for 13 years and have homeschooled many in my home. This has presented many challenges. Many of these kids bring issues with them like anger, fear, abandonment, and rejection. These show up many times during our home school day. It seems that because they are home and in a safe place, they feel free to act out and often disrupt our teaching time.

At first I was discouraged and often angry that my day was not going as planned. But then I began to see this as an opportunity to teach them and love them in the midst of their acting out times. I began to see these times as ''teaching'' times and therefore I was still ''homeschooling'' them. This sometimes looked different depending on the child or situation. Sometimes it was having them write out their feelings, sometimes it was drawing a picture or reading a book together on loss. At times it was sitting in their rooms until their ''attitude'' changed.

This has been a very long road for us as a family, but we have all learned that investing in children who have lost their home is worth the sacrifice and we have seen many amazing lives changed!

hcinfo

Homeschool helps
Respecting the Choice to Homeschool—Or Not

I have a good friend who recently told me that after eight years of homeschooling, she and her husband have decided to enroll their children in public school. They did not make this choice easily; they struggled and prayed over it. They did not make this choice quickly; they spent many weeks examining it. They did not make this choice without gathering the necessary information. They were not running from the struggles inherent in day-to-day homeschooling. They did what was best for their family.

Upon sharing this decision with others in the homeschooling community, their decision has been met with some inappropriate remarks. If only they would try this curriculum or that program they could continue to homeschool. Their children would become morally corrupt within fifteen minutes of entering the public school building. They “could” homeschool if only they would try hard enough. Others were telling them what was best for their family.

Dear friends, we all know the pain of other’s disapproval of our choices. We all remember assumptions that were made about our parenting or our abilities to teach our children at home. Let us not create an “us vs. them” climate by not respecting other families choices in the same way we’d like them to respect ours. Let us only chose what is best for our family and respect choices that may be different from ours.

sallyc

Homeschool helps
We're Finished!

Today I finished homeschooling my youngest son.

I have taught him since kindergarten. It has been the most difficult, most rewarding task I have ever undertaken. I have learned that homeschooling is a marathon, not a sprint. There are wonderful triumphs and days of despair. Through it all, I knew it was the best choice for my son. There were days I wanted to quit, days where my son just didn't care if he learned anything or not, and there were days when we danced around the room because a concept finally clicked. We've laughed together, cried together, yelled at each other, hugged and made up.

He has grown into a well-rounded, hard-working young man who has the respect of those around him. It has been worth all the time, money, and sacrifice to get to this day. To those of you still in the fray, I say hang on, keep going, tomorrow will be a better day. It is worth it!

jsdickinson

Baby & infant
They Grow So Fast...

As I watch my two-year-old follow his daddy around the house that we are building, I get quite misty-eyed. He's ''helping'' his daddy by bringing him tools that he doesn't need, putting up the ones he does need and all in all, getting underfoot every chance he gets. Daddy is quite patient with our little guy, because not so long ago, daddy was on the road four weeks a month and missing so much. Yes, we've been through it with the older four children, but we've noticed each child's baby years getting shorter and shorter. We enjoy it so much that we tend to hold onto it as long as possible. Currently, the baby boy is sporting a long hairdo because mommy, daddy, and papa can't stand the thought of cutting all the beautiful, white hair off. Once you cut it, it never grows back the same, you know.

The advice I share with everyone I meet is to enjoy your children by taking time to pull them up on your knee and read to them, look at a magazine with them, look them in the eyes and talk to them. Hug your children, kiss your children, watch them as they play in the puddles or chase the kitty around. Listen to them giggle, talk, breathe. In just a blink of an eye, it's gone and they are 13, 15, 18. Mine are still 15 and younger, but I sure do miss their beautiful smiling baby faces as they discover some new delight. Oh, how I am stretching our baby boy's second year, already it seems I can see the earnest young man face peeking at me behind those big blue eyes and brilliant smile.

mommyatheart

Organization/time management
Summer for Mom (Teacher)

If possible, find time to read and renew and pray before you plan the next year. I found that ''feeding'' myself enabled me to be better prepared for what was needed for each of my children. One book that is especially useful and encouraging is: ''Things We Wished We Would Have Known'' (various authors who have ''been there and done that''). It really helped me to be reminded of what was important and why I was doing what I did.

Another very useful thing I recommend is a family weekend away to rest, relax, pray, and evaluate. We sit down with a notebook and we discuss the things we really liked about the year: favorite books, events, activities, studies, etc. What would we like to do the next year or in the future? And, of course, what we would like to improve upon -- things we really didn't like to do, or don't want to repeat. Taking time to evaluate helps us to better see what we have accomplished, where we have been, and where we are headed!

berryblue

Computer
Where Has Your Ink Gone...?

If you print with a color inkjet, have you noticed that no matter how little you actually print in color you end up buying/replacing the color cartridge as frequently as the black one?

Depending on your printer, this may help. In the print dialog, select the option that says ''Black and white'' or ''Print in Grayscale''. IMPORTANT: In addition, you may also have to select something like ''Black print cartridge only''.

Then, to conserve the black cartridge (when you don't need the best quality), choose ''Fast Normal'' or ''Draft'' in the print dialog.

This should cut the cost of buying so many color ink cartridges and maybe a few black ones as well.

lukesspiritacademy

Math: fundamentals
Replacing Math-U-See Blocks

I purchased two sets of the blocks when I began homeschooling years ago. Through the passage of time, loaning things out, getting married, moving to a new home (twice) I found I had lost many of the blocks. Even when putting the two sets together I did not have a complete set.
I tried for several months to get another set ''cheap'' through an auction or private sale.

Then a thought occurred to me...perhaps the publishers sell ''replacement parts!'' I went to their website, couldn't find a listing. I entered the ''support chat'' and spoke with a technician there. Sure enough, parts are available directly from them. I was able to order enough spare pieces to complete my set and am now ready to begin a new school year with my youngest children.

kairyn

Homeschool helps
Enjoy your Summer!

It's time to move back a bit and just enjoy your children and let them just be kids. If learning happens, let it happen with no interfence from you. Try to put all your worries and stress on the back burner and look forward to the new year as a fresh start. I've often been amazed at the way things we've struggled with have seemed to clicked over the summer. (Maybe things just have time to percolate when there's no pressure.) If you're feeling really burned out; you probably will have a much better attitude after a vacation. And next year try to remember all kids are different and nobody can learn everything at once or in the same way. I hope even those of you that school year-round take some time to relax and regroup. It does wonders.

13xblessed

Unit studies
My Favorites

I've homeschooled 13 children for over 15 years. My youngest is now going into grade 8! I've found that a good unit study is the best way to teach multiple grades, using the unit studies plus ability-level grammar and math for each child.

Of all the unit studies I've tried, Christian Cottage and Beautiful Feet Books were the easiest for me to use for grades 2 or 3 through 12. For Kindergarden and 1st grade I liked the Five in a Row unit studies plus added math and phonics. You can use them without the added stuff, but I found, especially for grade 1, they needed the extra work.

13xblessed

Other
Scope and Sequence

Don't feel bound by a printed Scope and Sequence! If your 10th grader is not ready for Geometry, wait another year or two, and both of you will avoid frustration! If your 6-year-old is not quite ready to read, enjoy the time reading aloud to him until he can pick up that book and read by himself. I have learned that government school time-frames for curriculum are set up only to ''beef up'' test scores on standardized testing -- not according to readiness or maturity levels. You know your student better than anyone else, so trust your mother-instincts and teach when the time is right for both of you!

musicmama

Organization/time management
How to Organize Your Pictures

''How do you do it?'' My mother asks me this often when we speak of all the pictures of the kids that I take and how I actually get names on the back with dates!

Honestly, many don't have names but I found this neat idea to save time. Since my children are in most of my pictures, I print out return-address labels once or twice a year with all 3 names and ages on one label, plus the year! I simply peel and stick on the back of our new pictures as they arrive! Easy as pie!

rrfpaf2

Organization/time management
Workbook Organization

Instead of leaving workbook pages in the book they arrive in, I put each workbook in a 3-ring binder. This way, the children and I can easily get pages out. Once a page is graded, the page goes back into the binder. At the end of the year, I pick out the best pages and make a portfolio for each of my children. The rest of the pages go to the recycle bin at church. Things stay neat and tidy (most of the time), and the children always know where to get their papers!

rcstar