I moved.
No, not that move. Just a little bloggy move.
I have combined all my blogs and am now over HERE.
Please come visit me. And comment. It's lonely there.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Twaddle Free in a Twaddle Era
Charlotte Mason was vehemently opposed to what she labeled "twaddle". She said, "They must grow up upon the best. There must never be a period in their lives when they are allowed to read or listen to twaddle or reading-made-easy. There is never a time when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told" (Vol. 2, p. 263).
I agree. However, the writers of early readers do not agree. Have you read those books? In my efforts to find books my barely readers can read, I have paged through many an early reader. They take a while to get through because I fall asleep by the 3rd page.
(ok, so that isn't a good judge of a book. I fall asleep every time I read a book, just ask my kids) but emotionally I fall asleep on these books.
After scouring two full libraries I finally stumbled upon the answer. Baby books! That's right, take a step backward. Early readers are created based on number and type of words. The "story line" is about 10th in priority level. Those colorful board books were designed to delight brilliant babies. And many were designed to delight bored moms. They are clever, funny, and short w/ a lot of repeat and a lot of rhyming. Only about every 12th book in the baby section fits my criteria but we have found some gems.
I agree. However, the writers of early readers do not agree. Have you read those books? In my efforts to find books my barely readers can read, I have paged through many an early reader. They take a while to get through because I fall asleep by the 3rd page.
(ok, so that isn't a good judge of a book. I fall asleep every time I read a book, just ask my kids) but emotionally I fall asleep on these books.
After scouring two full libraries I finally stumbled upon the answer. Baby books! That's right, take a step backward. Early readers are created based on number and type of words. The "story line" is about 10th in priority level. Those colorful board books were designed to delight brilliant babies. And many were designed to delight bored moms. They are clever, funny, and short w/ a lot of repeat and a lot of rhyming. Only about every 12th book in the baby section fits my criteria but we have found some gems.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Question I was Dying to Answer
No one has asked me any doubting questions about homeschooling since I became confident in my answers. Until today. I finally got to answer the most dreaded (perhaps because it's the most absurd) of all.
My neighbor took a break from weeding to join me on the front porch where I was strapping my rollerblades on my one year old. (And their education is what is of most concern??)
Out of the blue she asked how long I intend to homeschool. Until it no longer works.
Do you have a projected grade in mind though? 12th.
How will that work with socialization though? I try to get out with my friends occasionally.
She laughed.
How will you do it without going crazy? I laughed and told her, while hugging the 5 year old who is most driving me batty, "The kids keep me sane".
Ah yes. Socialization. Whose socialization is most in jeopardy? Mine of course! With 2 sports a season and a dozen kids in the classroom (well, 4 at least - hopefully more), I think alone time for every one of us is of more concern than socializing.
My neighbor took a break from weeding to join me on the front porch where I was strapping my rollerblades on my one year old. (And their education is what is of most concern??)
Out of the blue she asked how long I intend to homeschool. Until it no longer works.
Do you have a projected grade in mind though? 12th.
How will that work with socialization though? I try to get out with my friends occasionally.
She laughed.
How will you do it without going crazy? I laughed and told her, while hugging the 5 year old who is most driving me batty, "The kids keep me sane".
Ah yes. Socialization. Whose socialization is most in jeopardy? Mine of course! With 2 sports a season and a dozen kids in the classroom (well, 4 at least - hopefully more), I think alone time for every one of us is of more concern than socializing.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
File Folder Game Ideas
I have not made many file folder games yet and am still looking for what and how. These are someone else's ideas in an email I got from Kelley:
The first one was on Proper vs. common nouns. I just wrote "Proper Nouns" on one side of the folder and "Common Nouns" on the other. Then I wrote up a list of nouns, cut them out, and put them in a baggie that is paper-clipped to the folder. The kids just pull out the words, read them, and put them on the side they belong on. It was fairly easy for my neurotypical son, but harder for my AS son. He'll get the concept eventually, but the file folder helped me to see that we still have work to do in that area.
Another game I made was a plotting game, though this one wasn't my idea. I made a graph numbered up to 6 on the X and Y axis. Then I added a baggie of little chips and a couple of dice. Ideally the dice would be different colors, but I just made some markings around the edge of one to differentiate them. That way when the dice are rolled, you can still see which one corresponds to which axis. When the kids play the game, they roll the dice and put the chips on the corresponding graph point (3,2 or 5,1 or something else like that). I'm hoping that it will make graphing fun and it'll be something that evolves as we move through our math.
Another game I made matches numerals with their words, like "1" and "one." This was a challenge for my 7yo because he's still shaky on the reading, but it's helping the number words become sight words for him. I'll probably have him do it again this week.
I'll tell about one more game. It's a synonyms game, and is fairly straight-forward. I wrote lots of different words all over the inside of the file folder. Then I made up a worksheet with words that are sysnonyms of the ones inside the folder. When the kids play the game, they have to match the words on the folder with the ones on the worksheet. I'll probably do ones for antonyms, rhyming words, and probably homonyms, too.
The first one was on Proper vs. common nouns. I just wrote "Proper Nouns" on one side of the folder and "Common Nouns" on the other. Then I wrote up a list of nouns, cut them out, and put them in a baggie that is paper-clipped to the folder. The kids just pull out the words, read them, and put them on the side they belong on. It was fairly easy for my neurotypical son, but harder for my AS son. He'll get the concept eventually, but the file folder helped me to see that we still have work to do in that area.
Another game I made was a plotting game, though this one wasn't my idea. I made a graph numbered up to 6 on the X and Y axis. Then I added a baggie of little chips and a couple of dice. Ideally the dice would be different colors, but I just made some markings around the edge of one to differentiate them. That way when the dice are rolled, you can still see which one corresponds to which axis. When the kids play the game, they roll the dice and put the chips on the corresponding graph point (3,2 or 5,1 or something else like that). I'm hoping that it will make graphing fun and it'll be something that evolves as we move through our math.
Another game I made matches numerals with their words, like "1" and "one." This was a challenge for my 7yo because he's still shaky on the reading, but it's helping the number words become sight words for him. I'll probably have him do it again this week.
I'll tell about one more game. It's a synonyms game, and is fairly straight-forward. I wrote lots of different words all over the inside of the file folder. Then I made up a worksheet with words that are sysnonyms of the ones inside the folder. When the kids play the game, they have to match the words on the folder with the ones on the worksheet. I'll probably do ones for antonyms, rhyming words, and probably homonyms, too.
Friday, August 21, 2009
One of our favorite activities this year has been to visit the aquarium. Not much has changed since our monthly visits when the twins were Pretty Girl's age - they practically have the sea lion show memorized. However, on a visit this past May we saw something new! We watched this 1400 lb sea lion climb a wall. I was able to catch his descent on my camera.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Lists of Rhyming Words aka Word Families
On several occasions I have made up lists of rhyming words (or word families as they are apparently called). Then I stumbled on THIS wonderful site that had them all listed including a few fun ideas for using them.
-ab
-ab
cab dab gab jab tab crab drab
back hack Jack lack pack quack rack sack tack black clack crack knack shack slack smack snack stack track whack
bad tad glad fad clad dad brad had lad mad pad sad
bag gag hag jag lag nag sag tag rag wag brag drag snag flag
bail fail frail Gail hail jail mail nail quail rail sail snail tail trail wail
brain chain drain gain grain lain main pain plain rain Spain sprain stain strain train vain
bake brake cake drake fake flake Jake lake make rake shake snake stake take wake
bale Dale female gale inhale male pale sale scale stale tale whale
ball call fall gall hall mall small stall tall wall
am ham jam Pam Sam yam
became blame came dame fame flame frame game
lame name nickname same shame tame
ban bran can clan Dan fan flan Fran man pan plan ran span tan than van
and band bland brand grand hand land sand
bank blank clank crank dank drank flank Frank Hank lank prank plank rank sank shrank spank tank thank yank
apple cap chap clap flap gap happy lap map nap pap rap sap slap scrap snap strap trap wrap tap yap
are bar car far jar star
ash bash cash clash crash dash eyelash flash gash hash mash rash smash splash trash
acrobat at bat brat cat chat doormat fat flat hat mat pat rat sat splat that
crate date gate grate hate Kate late locate Nate plate rate skate slate state
awful claw crawl draw drawing flaw gnaw jaw law paw raw saw straw strawberry thaw
bay clay day gray hay pay play say spray stay stray sway today tray way
-eat
beat cheat eating heat heater meat meatball neat repeat seat treat wheat
bed Ed fed Fred led Ned red shed sled Ted wed
bell cell fell seashell sell shell smell spell tell well yell yellow
Ben den hen Jen men pen ten then when yen
best chest contest crest forest jest nest pest rest test vest west
bet get jet let met net pet set wet yet
-ice
dice ice mice nice price rice slice spice twice
-ick
brick chick click kick lick pick sick slick stick trick
bride glide hide pride ride side slide stride tide wide
big dig fig gig jig pig rig twig wig
bright fight flight fright knight might night light right sight tight tonight
bill chill dill drill fill grill hill Jill mill pill quill shrill sill spill still thrill will
bin chin fin grin in into kin pin shin skin spin thin tin twin
dine fine line mine nine pine vine shine spine whine
bing bring cling ding king ping ring sing spring sting swing thing wing zing
blink drink ink kink link rink sink stink think wink
chip clip dip drip flip grip hip lip nip rip ship sip skip snip strip tip trip whip zip
bit fit hit it kit knit lit pit quit sit slit
-ock
block clock dock flock hock knock lock mock rock shock sock smock stock
broke Coke joke poke smoke spoke stroke woke yoke
bog clog dog fog frog hog jog log smog
bold cold fold gold hold mold sold told
chop crop drop flop gumdrop hop mop pop shop stop top
bore chore core lore more pore score shore snore tore wore
cot dot got hot knot lot not pot shot spot
buck Chuck cluck duck luck pluck stuck struck truck
bug chug dug hug mug rug slug snug tug
chum drum glum gum hum plum strum sum swum yum
bump clump dump grump jump lump mump pump stump thump
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Public Speaking: Golf
We belong to a wonderful group of homeschoolers who gather bimonthly for a Kids' Forum. (On alternate months we do some other group activity.) The children stand in front of the group and present anything they like. For our first forum (I believe it was October 2008) they read a book called "I want to be an astronaut".
This video is a recording of their second presentation (I think February 2009). Tackler is still a little hesitant to speak in front of the crowd. Maybe we need to think of something he can do that requires more showing than speaking to get him comfortable.
This video is a recording of their second presentation (I think February 2009). Tackler is still a little hesitant to speak in front of the crowd. Maybe we need to think of something he can do that requires more showing than speaking to get him comfortable.
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