Homeschooling Articles
Homeschooling While You Shop
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 469)
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Yes, It can be done! We are all busy juggling multiple tasks at once, and it does not get any easier when you are homeschooling. Here is an idea to get your children to help out with a chore and provide them with a learning opportunity at the same time.
Before going to the grocery store, ask your children to help you with a shopping list. You can go around the house - the fridge, pantry, and the bathroom cabinet, etc.- and categorise the list. You can also go through the flyer and see what's on sale and check on the price differences from one store to the another. (You can also discuss distribution channel and marketing for older kids.) Bring a calculator (if your kids prefer doing math that way) for your shopping trip.
Once you are at the grocery store, let the children do the shopping while you supervise. Show them how to select items based on the quality and/or price. While you are comparing the price, do a quick math lesson, or if you buy multiple of one item, what the total price differences would be. In the produce section, discuss where fruits and vegetables are from, and why you find thing from that particular climate. You can also talk about environment and organic produce. Have children weight vegitables and ask them how much a pound and a half of grapes would be.
In the meat and seafood section, discuss where they come from, how they keep them fresh, and what would happen if they are not kept cold. Many seafood items are imported, so you may discuss geography. If you are cooking a roast that day, you may have the children use the meat themometer and determine how cooked it is, and if it is safe to eat.
While you are in line at the check out counter, take out your coupons and ask them how much you can save if you use the double coupons. If you buy 3 Klenex tissue boxes on sale for $3, and have $.75 off coupon, how much would each box costs? How about if you get "buy one get one free" can of soup for $2.50 and have $.50 off coupon?
Don't forget to recycle those soda cans and talk about aluminum, recycling, and environment! On the way home, talk about how much gas you used for what distance, and how you can save money and environment by reducing the number of trips you take each month. Why is the gas so expensive? Where does the oil come from? How about the new hybrid cars? If the kids are done talking, you can listen to a CD and complete you day with a music lesson!
Education Teaching Language Acquisition
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 1001)
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Brenda Geier K-12 Reading Specialist - The research tells us that with the support of parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators, as well as exposure to a literacy-rich environment, children progress from emergent to conventional reading. By interacting through reading aloud and conversation, children are exposed to learning early. It is very important to read aloud to children and provide opportunities for them to talk about the stories that they hear. As Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, and Wilkinson (1985) state, "The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children, especially during the preschool years". It helps them develop oral language, cognitive skills, and concepts of print and phonemic awareness.
Children read to develop background knowledge about a range of topics and build a large vocabulary, which aids them in later comprehension and development of reading strategies. They also watch how others read and therefore become familiar with the reading process. They are constantly learning.
Still, many enter elementary school without a strong background in literacy. These are the children who are most at risk of developing reading problems. To provide high chances of success, teachers should be involved in professional development to learn more about child development as it relates to literacy acquisition.
At age 3-4, children begin to "read" their favorite books by themselves. They begin to use "mock handwriting" (Clay, 1975). Around age 5, in kindergarten, most children are considered emergent readers. They make rapid growth in literacy skills if they are exposed to literacy-rich environments (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Children may try to recall what has been written or use a picture created with the text to reread instead of using the letter clues (Kamberelis & Sulzby, 1988; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Although they are beginning to apply phonetic knowledge to create invented spellings, there is a lapse in time before they use phonetic clues to read what they write.
For those parents who choose to home-school their children, an enormous advantage exists to teach children phonetic knowledge, sight words and decoding before they enter school. This learning advantage gives them power with text that most will not be equipped with.
Most children will become early readers during the first grade. They commonly look at beginning and ending letters in order to decode unfamiliar words (Clay, 1991; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). They know a small number of sight words.
By second grade, they are transitional readers, able to read unknown text with more independence. They use meaning, grammatical, and letter cues more fully and use pictures in a limited way while reading (Clay, 1991; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, burns, & Griffin, 1998). Transitional spellers can apply spelling rules, patterns, and other strategies to put words on paper.
By the third grade, children are typically fluent readers. They can read for meaning while focusing less on decoding. They may use transitional and phonetic spellings to spell infrequently used words.
The child's concept of words changes as the child's literacy development evolves. Children construct their own knowledge thus the difference between how an adult understands reading and writing and how a child understands reading and writing.
Children progress through several categories of phonological skills from rhyming to blending. The most difficult task involves the complete segmentation of phonemes and manipulation of them to form new words (Griffith & Olson, 1992; Hall & Moats, 1999). If we begin teaching our children how to segment and manipulate phonemes at the pre-school age, they will have the tools necessary to spell correctly, understand the meaning of words and be able to write and read complete sentences with ease.
Screen and assessment are crucial tools to determine children's literacy needs. Data helps teachers identify children who are developing at a less than normal pace and are in need of intervention. The earlier, the better to find these children. Throughout kindergarten and first grade, children can be screened for phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and an understanding of basic language concepts (Texas Education Agency, 1997a). Performance based assessments, such as observational records of reading and writing, developmental benchmarks, and portfolios can also be used to inform daily teaching (Allington & Cunningham, 1996; Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; international Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Slegers, 1996).
Teachers, parents and caregivers need to understand and support children's emergent literacy and, in later years, children's transition to conventional reading and writing. Teachers, administrators, and specialists must understand the developmental nature of emergent literacy and early conventional literacy and ensure that the curriculum and instructional materials are appropriate. Parents need to be educated in child development and support sharing and exploring literacy with their children. The literacy program needs to support children's social, emotional, aesthetic, maturational, and cognitive needs. The reading program must be balanced and include quality literature, writing opportunities, development of phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge.
To provide opportunities for children's literacy acquisition, schools should work with community groups and libraries to provide informational programs for parents regarding the development of literacy skills in young children. Teachers should review research on reading and young children and become familiar with Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children. (The joint position statement of the International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children). All teachers should develop an understanding of phonological terms and work to provide a developmentally appropriate curriculum in reading and writing that is attainable but challenging. Educators need to develop strategies for preventing reading difficulties to begin with. Libraries or resource centers should have extensive and varied resources.
Learning should be a fun process that instills a desire to learn even more. If we all work together, we can accomplish this.
Putting Reading First
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 515)
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It's well documented that when children develop good reading skills early on, they are much more likely to be better learners and better educated. Reading is the foundation for success for all other subject matter and the level of success throughout life for the child.
Learning to read isn't an easy task for a child. This is why it is so very important that you as the parent is a model for reading and work with and encourage your child to read each and every day.
As a parent or homeschooling parent, you should help insure that your child develops essential skills associated with reading such as:
>Use of language and vocabulary.
>Having your child respond after listening to stories - read short paragraphs and have your child tell you about what they just heard.
>Lean and recognize the alphabet and letters - use everyday items around your house to use as examples. For example, cut out big letters and have your child find items around the house that begin with that letter and stick the letter to them.
>Work with your child to connect the sound the letters make to the spoken language.
>Read... and read often to your child so they know that reading is a daily activity.
>Work daily with your child to add a new word to their vocabulary.
>Discuss with your child what was just read. This helps you monitor their level of comprehension.
These skills are vitally important for the pre-first grade level reader. Once you child gets to the first grade level the focus becomes building upon these skills that the will set the stage for the child essentially for the rest of their lives. As a parent it's not enough to merely incorporate these skills into your child's daily activities, you keep your fingers on the pulse of your child's progress and understanding. At this early age, it is critical to get the reading journey off on the right foot.
At its simplest form, reading is a skill. Just like any other skill, it takes practice to become proficient at it. In fact, reading is such an important skill... it takes more practice than a child will receive if they attend a traditional school. As a parent you need to augment the school's reading program with daily reading time at home. If you are homeschooling, make reading a daily top priority type of activity.
Introduce your child to your local library as soon as you can. Get them signed up for summer reading programs. Set aside an area in your home where your child can have and develop a library all their own. Put their favorite chair in their library or where they like to read and have you read to them.
Reading truly is fundamental to education and successes. Without good reading skills, much of life will always be a struggle. Build a sound and solid foundation for your child by ensuring early on that you help establish a love for reading in your child and success will follow.
Encouraging Your Loved One To Finish Their High School Education
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 392)
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When you see a loved one end their high school education, it is a difficult thing to watch. Especially when it is your child. Many young people may not understand the importance of a high school education to their future and can only see the difficulty it may cause in their current daily life. It may be they don't get along with other students or even the teachers. Regardless of the situation, it is hard to watch a loved one throw their future away.
A high school education does not need to be received in the traditional high school setting. With today's technology, there are many ways in which to get an education. One of the best means of receiving a high school education is to participate in an online education program. Many are low-priced and offer choices to the participating student.
Online high school education provides the student access to as many classes as they need to receive their high school diploma. Whether the student needs credit in science, social studies, English, math, or a foreign language, an online education program will have them available. These online high school education classes also allow the student to learn at their own pace. If the student is working during the day, they can access their classes in the evening. The fact is online education makes it easy and convenient for the student.
When helping your loved one to choose an online high school education program, you'll want to make sure it is accredited. This means the school has been officially recognized as a qualified education program and your student will receive a quality education from it. You'll also want to make sure that your loved one has all the details and understands how the program works. You don't want them to feel frustrated again and quit halfway through their program. Providing all the details up front is important.
If your loved one has not received their high school education, provide them with the opportunity and support they made to finish out their high school education. It may be they are simply too scared or lacking the confidence to continue. When you give them the encouragement, they will thank you for it and greatly appreciate all of the support you gave them.
Homeschooling Faq 6 Kinds Of Record Keeping
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 714)
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Homeschooling, for those who are asking, is legal. As of now, fifty states have allowed homeschooling and have provided laws for its implementation. They have different laws though and some of the states require that you can show some kind of records to show that you're homeschooling your children. There are several ways you can keep record of your children's progress and here are some of them.
1. Daily Lesson Plans
Daily lesson plans show what subjects you have taught to your children. They will also show the way your children's lessons are progressing (from basic to intermediate to advanced).
These lesson plans could be important for school officials to learn what could be lacking from your schooling and in what area they could help you with. Teachers could also help you with lessons that could be a good primer for the next and more advanced level of any subject.
2. Time Spent For Each Subject
Time spent for each subject is an indication of what subjects you have focused on and what subject your children might be having some problem absorbing. Although this is not an accurate basis, this could be used to understand problem areas and reasons why your children are having an easy (or tough) time on their subjects.
3. Diaries and Journals Updated Regularly
Regular diary and journal entries of your children's achievements (or failures) are a good way to keep a record of your homeschooling. This can prove helpful in two ways. The first is you can keep track of what areas your children have already studied. This will prove beneficial in monitoring your children's progress with their lessons.
The second way it can help is that it will help you in knowing where your children are having an easy time and where they need more time and attention. This is important so you could focus on one subject if you think your children need it.
4. Grades
It is simple to create or copy a test or exercise from one of the books your children use. Results from these exams can be compiled and recorded. These, just like any other records, can be proof of your children's achievements. Grades are more concrete records of your children's progress and concrete proof if someone wants to look at your children's records.
Grades also give your children a sense of achievement. This will help in building their characters and giving a boost in their egos. Failures can also help, too. You just have to handle their feelings carefully and make sure that they realize that they can make their failures as stepping stones to success.
5. Portfolios
Portfolios are a collection of your children's works, from their exercises to their tests and anything that they have done while schooling. For your younger children, these could include the first time they write a letter or the whole alphabet. Included in their portfolio are their mathematical computations and other exams. For your older children, this could include pictures from recent field trips to museums and other historical trips. Other things that could be included are science tests and experiments and, if possible, a picture of your children's science projects.
6. Standardized Tests
A standardized test performed by an authorized school official could be a good way to let the government know if you've been schooling your child at home. These tests will show what subjects your children are having any problems with. Results from these exams (even if your children fail) will not really be a gauge of the success of your homeschooling. These tests would let school officials know how to help you with regards to subjects your children are having difficulty with.
There are several reasons why you would want your children to take a standardized test. The first reason is given above. These tests will let you know what subjects your children are having some difficulty with.
Another reason is to gauge your children's abilities and knowledge compared with people their age. These will help in knowing whether your children are advanced, late or at just the right level in respect to other children. This could help you in deciding what your next approach to your children's lessons you will take.
Education Online Discriminates In Favour Of Dictators
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 967)
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Distance Learning Education Online Needs a Dictator
Education Online: I know that it is politically incorrect to suggest that you should work to pass your exams because it discriminates against lazy layabouts. But...
Conventional Education for the Lazy
If you are at a politically incorrect school the teachers will be the dictators. They'll lay down the rules about what homework you must do and when it must be presented. They'll keep an eye out for any learning difficulties that you have and try to help you.
You will be spoon-fed. If you are very clever you will sit in the classroom and learn without any effort, just because there is nothing else to do so you might as well listen to the teacher. The teachers won't let you wander away to do something more interesting. They are dictators!
My son couldn't understand why his school reports always said "could do better" when he was top of the class. He never did any work, so his success was really the success of his dictatorial teachers.
My Distance Learning Home Schooling
My father set aside a room in the house for our distance learning. There was all I needed there for study and no distractions. I had to sit in that room till the job was done.
Boredom is many times worse for me than work, even though I am very lazy, so I read all the textbooks from cover to cover and invented a good way to memorise vocabulary that allowed me to learn languages with very little effort. I was an ideal candidate for home schooling and distance learning.
That was my whole aim in life - to do as little work as possible with as little boredom as possible. Because my father was a dictator I got into the way of doing everything as soon as possible, so that my father would let me have time to myself when I had finished.
In other words I became my own dictator forbidding myself to procrastinate. Without a dictator your home schooling, distance learning, education online - call it what you will, will fail because you never get around to it.
Education Online Needs Dictators
Someone is going to have to be a dictator. If you are a parent with children homeschooling online you will have to be the dictator. If you are a student using distance learning guess what...there isn't anybody else to be the dictator so you'll have to be your own strict disciplinarian.
You'll have to rule yourself with a rod of iron.
Keep Yourself Motivated for Education Online
Fine - if you don't have a dictator what is to prevent you failing to put in your projects on time? Nothing. So find the fun in the work. There is always enough fun in any job for some misguided individuals to do it as a hobby.
There is a forum associated with most online education. Become the "answers person". Whenever another student has a problem you answer the question before the lecturer gets round to it.
Oh yes, it does mean that you're going to have to work hard to get the answer before anybody else does, but remember that the others will probably be procrastinating, and the teachers will have finished their 9 to 5 day and won't reply till tomorrow, so you won't have much competition. I revel in the thanks that come my way when I help another student's education online.
Some studies will still need you to be your own dictator. I used to do one hour a day practicing the harmonium and one hour each day practicing the violin.
I was fortunate because my Father was a dictator. If I hadn't done my practice towards the end of the day he would interrupt whatever I was doing and order me off to do my practice. This politically incorrect procedure made me determined not to be caught out again. So I completed my practice before I started doing what I really wanted to do. Later on I had got so much into the habit of doing my practice as early as possible that I could be my own dictator.
What if there isn't a dictator?
Then don't consider education online. You will fail if you keep putting off your study. You need a dictator to keep you going even if you are your own dictator. There must be no compromise or distractions.
My boss once congratulated me because I was continuing to write a computer program while the partitions in the office were being torn down and new wiring and equipment installed. The noise was horrendous and people had to keep going round me and my computer. My experience with distance education had taught me to keep at the job ignoring all distractions. You'll have to do the same to benefit from education online.
The Sweetener to Education Online
If you are your own dictator you can do the projects with the related study in a fraction of the time that a conventional course would take. So you can enjoy yourself for the rest of the time, or if you are a real glutton for punishment, you can take two distance learning courses at once and get twice the satisfaction when you succeed.
Someone invented a tape recorder that would record a lecturer speaking at 50 words per minute and play it back at 500 words per minute without sounding high and squeaky. They found that our brains can handle the 500 words per minute better because our thoughts don't wander off after distractions. So if you can read at 500 words per minute perhaps you can do ten home schooling courses at once?! I feel tired just thinking about it.
Making Your Child A Part Of The Homeschooling Process
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 519)
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There are a myriad of different reasons why people choose to homeschool their children: there is the economic benefit of avoiding high private school fees; there is the convenience of scheduling schooling around other family activities etc. . . One of the most important benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility with which you can tailor your child's education. It is a well known fact that every individual has individual needs, and homeschooling allows you to create a learning environment that suits your child particularly.
When you undergo homeschooling, it is important that you have a clear curriculum and mind and a plan to execute it. But within that plan, you should understand that you have a tremendous amount of flexibility: there are many different ways that a child can learn something, and many different things to learn in a given subject.
One of the best ways that you can ensure a high level of learning retention is to encourage your child to take a personal interest in his or her education. Although this may seem obvious, many people growing up who went though a traditional school system will probably agree that their education was received in an authoritative way: schooling and your education was something that was done to you, not with you.
When homeschooling, however, you can take advantage of the almost unlimited flexibility at your disposal and let your child take a more active role. While you can't, obviously, let your child do whatever he or she wants education-wise, you should always explain to him or her a given education plan, and see what he thinks.
For example, when you start your school day, outline the plan for the day with your child. Depending on his or her age you can also explain the reasoning behind the plan. If there are any things the child seems averse to doing, try and take them seriously. You should not, of course, avoid certain subjects or activities simply because your child doesn't like them. You should, however, ask your child why he or she doesn't like something in the day's plan, and to suggest alternatives. In many cases you will be pleasantly surprised by what your child comes up with, and be able to incorporate it into the day's work.
As much as possible, you should have a list of alternatives in mind for assigned activities. The idea is to try and think of alternative activities that accomplish the same task. If your child protests against a certain exercise, then, you can offer them an alternative. This can be extremely effective in getting your children to learn material that they dislike.
Oftentimes the child simply has to feel that he or she is more in control of the situation to enjoy it. Even though you are ultimately controlling your child's education, by granting them small allowances and choices, while still sticking with the larger picture, everybody wins: your child feels he is doing what he wants to do, and you are still teaching your child what you want him to learn.
Architecture School
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 386)
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For some people, it was all about some building that inspired them as a child. Perhaps they grew up in some gorgeous mansion. perhaps they went to one of the great museums of the world as a kid and were completely captivated by it. Whatever it was, a single building got them interested in the process of designing and building others.
For other people, architecture schools are part of a political mission. You wouldn't believe how many visionaries there are at an average architectural school. At the one I go to, they probably make up half the class. Some of them want to design buildings with the idea of providing beautiful and affordable housing to the poor, others to change the way we see space as a society.
For me, going to architecture school was part of a much more down to earth experience. As a matter of fact, you could say that I always had an interest in buildings. I grew up on a farm, in one of the last communities in this country that still practices barn raising. For me, architecture school was not the realization of a lifelong abstract dream, but rather a way to build on my early, hands on experiences with communal buildings.
I feel like this gives me a much clearer vision than many people in architecture schools nowadays. Your typical architecture school student has his or her head in the clouds. In some ways, this is a good thing. It is good to have a vision to unify your buildings. There are many things that buildings have to be. They have to be functional, structurally sound, and comfortable to occupy. They don't necessarily have to be beautiful. When they are beautiful, however, it is like a wonderful luxury for the city around. Although not everyone understands an architect's vision, they can tell whether or not he has one.
On the other hand, if you enroll in a school of architecture without any hands-on experience, you can lose track of the purpose behind what you are doing. Architecture is, after all, about providing spaces for people to live and work. Architecture school can teach you many things, but unless you go in with this understanding, you will never build with both elegance and practicality.
Mysteries Of Language Development In Children
(category: Homeschooling, Word count: 88)
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The first step is to make time for the child in your busy schedule. Rework your life to give priority to the child. Spend quality time and read as well as sing songs to the child everyday. You could play soft music and other tapes like chants and so on in the child's room at specific times each day. Music enhances memory and learning.
Speak to the child and give the child time to respond. Make everyday activities a learning time
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