Homeschool resources, notes, rant
I mentored a homeschooled boy a couple of years ago who had a lot of work to do in the language arts area. In a very short time, we (his mother and I) managed to turn him into a very good writer. He was soooo good in fact that his college essays were primarily the factor that got him into college. How did we do it? We encouraged blogging. So when I came across this site today, I had to recommend it to you.
The first step to winning a debate is to always respect your opponent. I don't think we can call what was on TV last night a debate. ...And then there's rule #4. Don't confuse passion with hatred. I think maybe we should bring debating back into childhood education.
Another case of schools over-reacting: "A few weeks into the school year at Jordan Middle School, school officials took note of Colman's medical history, information that eventually was shared with another Jordan parent whose two children have classic cystic fibrosis and are predisposed to chronic lung infections. "The school district freaked out," Colman's mother said." And asked him to transfer to another school. The family is homeschooling until the issue get's straightened out. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Boy-in-school-flap-over-cystic-fibrosis-3944802.php#ixzz29ZRI0xY2 Once again, people have to realize that schools are not interested in what is best for the individual student. Sometimes what is best for the school, school districts, etc, can be very detrimental to the child. This is why the option to homeschool is so important.
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Educational Website Reviews, Homeschool resources
I was recently sent a link to a site called Fat Cat Phonics. This educational tool/ learning toy started out as a craft project between mother (Jennifer Powell) and daughter who wanted to give out refrigerator magnet gifts. With the help of her educational consultant friend, it quickly morphed into a valuable learning tool that teaches and reinforces fundamental reading & math skills using a highly engaging hands-on format.to teach phonics and math.
The best part of this program is that the child will be learning through play. That puts this item on my list of possible Christmas presents, not for my high school kids, but for preschoolers through third graders. Check it out, it looks like a great investment and excellent use of the Christmas budget.
Don't just take my word for it. Check out the website which includes a web portal with membership.
Homeschool resources, Sponsored Posts, Website Review
I have always said that the best way to teach children is to not even let them know they are learning. Of course this is easier to do with elementary aged kids than middle and high school kids are there is not as much educational software available for older kids as there is for younger kids.
When we first started homeschooling, we took full advantage of software such as Math Blaster, Reading Blaster, and similar titles. These games are as much fun as they are educational, and it sure made me happy when my kids came to me asking if they could "play" their educational games.
These games I mentioned and more are available through a company called Knowledge Adventure who creates many award winning multimedia educational software that is used in both homes and schools.
I haven't used their product much in the last few years since my kids are getting older, but Say it in Spanish looks good for my Christmas list. I wonder if they plan do make one for Mandarin Chinese... my daughter would love it.
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Homeschool resources
Here is a story about a new method of homeschooling called Thomas Jefferson method that pupports a child with zero literacy can reach high school level in 100 hours. see video here While it sounds a bit iffy to me, it it is moderately affective, I would use it for a summer school program with kids who need improvement.
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Homeschool resources, Preschool
I see many email groups and blog questions asking for advice on preschool curriculum. I ran across the same question on this rather cool blog today.
Personally I feel using the words "Curriculum" and 'preschool" together is an oxymoron. It's pre-school... curriculum's is school-school. When you are homeschooling, the first thing I believe you should teach a child is to love education. To get a child to love education, it's a great idea to not let them know they are actually learning anything.... (unless the concept has already been driven home by older siblings and relatives).
Learning for preschool age children should be as natural as breathing, playing, and picking their noses.
If I'd had the courage and opportunity to homeschool my kids beginning from preschool, we would have played games, stacked alphabet block, counted from charts on the wall, and played fun video games like Reader Rabbit, and read them lots of books.... WAIT. We did do all of that and more at home... and then I sent them to preschool anyway... sigh.
I hope you all get my point... for preschool, curriculum is not really necessary. It is just an extension of growing and being a kid. If public preschool is good for anything it is teaching kids to sit still and listen to prepare them to learn in the coming years.
So I've had my say.
If you still feel that curriculum for your preschoolers is absolutely necessary, consider some of these books:
I also like time4learning.com!
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