Tag Archives: Education

Summer Fun: Now With More Learning!

kid on swing with sky and clouds in backgroundShould summer vacation be a full on vacation from learning or should parents try to work some educational activities in there? What about actual school work, such as math workbooks or non-fiction reading? How do you handle summer vacation with your children?

I really believe that three months is too long to go without any structured learning. I know that if I allow my son to waste his entire vacation on video games and television and even playing outside with friends that he’ll forget half of what he’s learned this year. In most schools the teachers have to spend a few weeks reviewing material from the previous grade just to get the kids back up to speed. This year? I have a plan.

Eeyore is going to continue working on his second grade math workbook. The math program we have is for thirty-six weeks of school, but because we only did math four days a week for awhile we still have four weeks worth of lessons to go. This actually works out quite well, because math is Eeyore’s toughest subject. By continuing with math all through summer (maybe two or three days a week depending on our schedule) the math concepts will all stay fresh in his mind and he’ll be able to jump right in to third grade math with no problems and no need to review a lot of second grade concepts.

Another way I am planning to use the summer is to teach Eeyore cursive writing. He doesn’t enjoy writing very much, so I try to plan our day with lots of breaks in between writing assignments. For example, he does his math (writing) and then we read our history book (no writing) before going on to his phonics workbook (writing). Switching back and forth seems to keep him from being overwhelmed, but I know that as he gets older he is going to be writing a lot more and breaking it up won’t be an option. I’m going to try easing him into this by teaching him cursive over the summer so that he doesn’t have that extra time learning cursive during a regular school day that will already be filled with writing assignments. (How many times can I say writing and cursive in this paragraph? TOO MANY.)

We will probably join our library’s summer reading program, although Eeyore loves to read and that really isn’t an issue. He reads a few chapters of a book he chooses each night before bed anyway. I do think that the extra motivation of a summer reading program will be nice and hopefully inspire him to read a bit more during the day rather than turning to me and telling me he’s bored. A lot of the books he has are Magic Tree House books and I love to see him reading those.

Eeyore will also continue taking Spanish classes over the summer at a local learning center. He will also be taking a science class there once a week as well. Both classes are presented in a fun way and he loves to attend.

This sounds like quite a bit, but I estimate that we’ll spend about an hour three days a week on math, a total of an hour a week on cursive, and two hours each week at his Spanish and Science classes. All in all, six hours a week isn’t such a bad deal.

What plans do you have to keep your children’s minds working over summer break? Or do you believe that a break is a break and not worry about educational activities during summer break?

by Karly Campbell

Photo graciously provided by Guacamole Goalie, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

A Strengths-Based Approach to Parenting

child solving math problems with sharpie markerI was really fortunate to speak with Jenifer Fox this week for the LD Podcast. Jenifer is the President of the Purnell School, an all-girl’s boarding school, and the author of Your Child’s Strengths- Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them. We talked about a range of subjects, but the most important one of all is how critically important it is to emphasize the positive and not the negative all the time with your children. This is not about blowing up their egos, but giving children specific feedback about what they do well, rather than constantly chastising them for never meeting expectations.

I had an opportunity just 36 hours later to put this advice to work. One of the boy’s midterm report came back, and the news was at best mixed and not what he had led us to believe it would be. Rather than getting angry, as he expected, I sat down with him and we used it as an opportunity to learn. What had been going well, and what had not? Which study methods had been panning out, and which were not working so well for him? Instead of using this as an opportunity to make the kid feel worse- (he was doing a pretty good job all on his own of being disappointed and needed no help on that score from anyone), we chose instead to decide together, with him, what we could do differently that would help him.

The path forward requires that he have a little less independence and a little more checking in with the folks about work and help studying. We set him up with Dragon Naturally Speaking, where he can speak sentences into the computer and it will type them for him. We did this not to provide him with a toy or tech solution to the problem, but in part so that he realizes what he thinks, what he says and what he writes are often completely different things, and maybe this will help bring these three skills into some sort of symmetry with each other. Here’s hoping.

What I learned from Jenifer Fox, from Dr. Bob Brooks, and from Rick LaVoie in turn is that kids need to be taught that making mistakes is okay. They can’t be perfect and will make mistakes. And we make mistakes as adults all the time as well. The purpose of mistakes, however, is to not hide them, but to learn from them and construct a path going forward, using those ouchy things as lessons learned, and try not to repeat them.

So many times, we repeat the same behavior over and over again expecting different results. If someone doesn’t seem to understand what we said, we think saying it again, or louder, will get the point across, when that’s rarely true- we need to take another approach. Likewise, kids repeating a grade won’t necessarily make them any more successful the second time around- you have to use the failure or mistakes as diagnostic of a problem, and work on solving that problem, not just do the same thing louder or slower over and over again to infinity.

If you get a chance, I urge you to read Jenifer Fox’s book, Your Child’s Strengths. Give it to teachers you know. And if you want to hear more about Jenifer and her approach to helping children succeed, stop by and listen to my interview with her over at the LD Podcast. It will be in two parts, and I can guarantee you that the information about schools, kids, and what we need to do to help both work together will be worth your time.

by Whitney Hoffman

Photo graciously provided by ninjapoodles, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

The Price Of Homeschooling

dollar sign made out of various coinsI hear plenty of parents who say that they would love to homeschool if only they could afford it. There are plenty of ways to minimize the cost involved in homeschooling, but there are also plenty of ways to go broke as well. I tend to be one of the people who go broke. I’ve really been thinking a lot about the cost of homeschooling the last few weeks, due in part to the property tax statement we received.

Do you know how much you pay to your local school district in taxes? I had never paid attention before and, to be honest, I wish I wouldn’t have looked this year. About 80% of our property taxes go to our local school district. That is A LOT of money! Consider spending all that money PLUS what you spend on curriculum, extra-curricular activities, and other related expenses and homeschooling can definitely get pricey. I, for one, would be very happy if educational expenses were tax deductible for homeschoolers. Of course, they aren’t tax deductible and probably never will be. Making these purchases tax deductible would only encourage parents to homeschool and I don’t think that is something the government is going for.

There are plenty of ways to homeschool on the cheap, though. For example, Ambleside Online is a completely free curriculum. You only need to purchase the books that aren’t available at your local library. A lot of times you are able to buy used books as well to save even more money. There are plenty of free or cheap resources out there. You can also get discounts at a lot of different schools if you are a homeschooler. Apple and Dell both offer a discount on their computers and Barnes and Noble and Borders offer a discount on books that will be used in your homeschool.

There are so many other resources out there for free curriculum and ways to save, but I’m probably not the best person to give out advice on homeschooling cheaply, because I just wasn’t born with that frugal bone a lot of other people seem to have. Sure, I love to find stuff on sale, but if it isn’t on sale and it is something that I really want or need then I’ll buy it. I just ordered my History and Language Arts programs the other day and was shocked to realize that I spent $600 on just the two programs. My goal for the year was to spend only $700 total on both children. I still have math and science to order and each of those programs will be total nearly $300. I’ve gone over budget, but I’m okay with that. I am really happy about the programs I’ve chosen and I think they’ll work wonderfully.

Many families homeschool practically for free. Many families spend a lot more money than I do. Homeschooling is such a personalized thing that I really believe anyone can afford to do it.

What I’m trying to say is that homeschooling cheaply CAN be done. Maybe not by me, but by other people. If the cost of homeschooling frightens you just remember that it will only be as expensive as you allow it to be.

by Karly Campbell

Photo graciously provided by pfala, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Apparently I've Been Living Under A Rock

smooth rock on layer of sandWhen I started out homeschooling I did quite a bit of research in to the state laws and the different curriculum types. I read a book or two about the benefits of homeschooling and I joined a couple of email groups with other homeschoolers. One thing that I did not do was sit down and write a list of goals. I also did not consider what kind of learner my son is (auditory, visual, or kinesthetic). I heard about the different styles of homeschooling (Charlotte Mason, traditional, unschooling), but didn’t do a lot of research to see where I fit in those styles. All of a sudden I am realizing just how unprepared I really was.

I am trying to piece together a language arts program for next year and in doing so I have been looking at a couple of different books that basically tell you what your child needs to learn and when. While I was at the library the other day looking for one of these books, I picked up Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. I had heard of this book many times before, but didn’t realize just what exactly it was. Based on the name of the book, I wrongly assumed that this was basically just a list of her favorite curriculum and why she loves them. I thought to myself, “What a waste of money that book is! You can read reviews of curriculum online!” Oh my word, was I ever wrong.

This book is so much more than just a list of someone’s favorite curriculum. This book is the homeschooling BIBLE. You start out by establishing your own philosophy of education. I KNOW! It sounds scary, doesn’t it? She makes it so easy. She asks you all these questions and you write your answers down. Easy peasy! And, truly, you feel so much better once you really know what your goal is. My goal in home education, up until now, had always been to teach my kids. To make them smart. To keep them safe. To see them grow and learn and enjoy their childhood. My goals now are a bit different, a bit more detailed and a lot more motivating.

After you’ve established the goals you want to meet, she helps you decide what approach to use to meet those goals. Do you prefer a traditional approach? Classical? Unit Studies? There is a QUIZ in the book to help determine what method most meets your needs. AMAZING!

I haven’t even gotten to the curriculum reviews yet, because I’ve been too busy creating goals for my children and making my husband answer the questions in the book and then comparing them to my answers.

If you are a new homeschooler, you don’t want to skip over this book. I promise it is more than just someone’s opinion on curriculum.

by Karly Campbell

Photo graciously provided by mandolux, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Summer Learning

stockinged legs and closed book on grassy fieldAs a kid, I can remember long lazy summer days, filled with books. In reality, I don’t think that my summers were all that lazy, but it sure felt great to have a break from the school year routine. My mom, actually kept us pretty busy in the summers. We took beach house vacations, we went to sleep away camp, we went backpacking in the Sierras and camping all over the western states, we took enrichment classes in topics such as cooking and art, we went to sports day camps, we took swimming lessons, we went swimming in relative’s pools, in short, we were actually pretty busy in the summers. Not all of these activities happened all the time, every summer, but we were lucky enough to have many varied experiences during our summer days.

The one activity that happened with regularity was visiting the library. My brother and I were always stocked up on books. Especially if we would be traveling by car, we wanted to make sure that we would have enough books to make it through the trip. As I got older, this didn’t always work. I can remember before one beach vacation, checking out books based solely on how long they were, in hopes that I would not run out of books before the week was up. I believe this was the summer that I read The Winds of War and War and Remembrance and even started in on War and Peace. But, even as a younger kids, we always did the summer reading programs at the library and had no problem earning the rewards.

I am not sure if my mother set up our summers to be deliberately educational, or if she was just hoping that the more we were busy, the less we would be bothering her. But, my summers were so filled, that I could not help but gain experiences, memories, and knowledge that would last a lifetime. I do think that there is such a great value of have the summer be a time where the pressure of school is gone, the deadlines are just a memory and that the learning takes place in a way that kids do not even realize that they are learning. I would not want to turn summertime into all learning all the time. I don’t even know if I would want to be sneaky and try to disguise learning as fun. But, there is so much to be learned just by doing new things and going new places.

I know that the things I learned in the summers of my childhood went well beyond the book learning of the classroom. There is a huge difference in reading about the westward expansion and the trials of the settlers traveling over the mountains and actually seeing the monument to the Donner Party at Donner Pass that shows just how amazingly high the snow was that terrible winter. At week long sleep-away camps, I learned about responsibility and making new friends. In our annual packing trek through the Sierra Nevada’s, I learned about the wonders of nature and the care and keeping of llamas while using them as pack animals. I spent time learning geology from the guides at the Grand Canyon, and about the formation of geysers from from a ranger at Old Faithful. I learned about the dangers of rip currents after being rescued by a lifeguard in Newport Beach and how to catch the perfect boogie boarding wave from my cousin. I learned how to play a mean game of cribbage and how to roast the perfect marshmallow for my s’mores on camping trips with my grandparents. I also learned the value of having a trusty stack of books to keep me company on long car trips and on hot afternoons by the beach.

I hope to give my kids the gift of experiences throughout their summer vacations. We might not always be on the go. We might actually have afternoons to just enjoy our time to do nothing. But, one of the best parts of my job is having a full 2 months to explore this world we live in with my family. This summer we will be spending three weeks with my family in California. We will have the requisite visit with Mickey Mouse, it will be Jack Jack’s first. We will also have a trip to the mountains for a week and we will have time to spend at the beach or just hanging out at the pool. Knowing my kids, we will also be carting along a box of books everywhere we go. In fact we may have to hit up my hometown library to restock, part way through the visit. Back in Indiana, Violet will spend a week at a YMCA camp and Dash will get his first experience with a park day camp. I have nothing planed that is explicitly for learning purposes. But, if there summers were anything like mine, I hope that the memories and the experiences will serve them well for years to come.

by In The Fast Lane

Photo graciously provided by …..dotted….., through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved