Home School Support Network

Teach your kindergardener to read at a 3rd grade level before they enter 1st grade. It is not only possible it is achievable. In this episode you will get some tips on how Sherry homeschooled our kindergardener. The key is focusing on what matters. Things mentioned in this episode: How to Teach a Child to Read Part 1 Interview with Elizabeth (Liz) FitzGerald where we talk about her book Cursive First. STEPS (Sequential Teaching of Explicit Phonics and Spelling) Curriculum SWR (Spell to Write and Read) Curriculum Subscribe to this podcast:  

Teaching your child to read can seem like a monumental task. The authors of Spell to Write and Read (SWR) akin this task to getting a jumbo jet off the ground. Once the jet is off the ground it will use half the amount of fuel per minute to fly at 500 mph, but getting that plane off the ground is going to require that the pilot commit to burning a lot of fuel to get to that cruising altitude. “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NLT) You need to print that verse out and repeat it to yourself every morning as you begin the journey of teaching your child to read. The goal is obtainable and the rewards are indescribable. It is possible to have your kindergarten child reading at a 2nd grade level by the end of the K5 year. You can invest 60-90 minutes per day and your child does not need to be a genius to accomplish this. Things mentioned in this episode: Samples of our son Riley’s progress with learning to read, spell, and write and cursive in kindergarten. Interview with Elizabeth (Liz) FitzGerald where we talk about her book Cursive First. STEPS (Sequential Teaching of Explicit Phonics and Spelling) Curriculum SWR (Spell to Write and Read) Curriculum Abeka Homeschool and Christian School Curriculum The Wise Guide for Spelling {Amazon Affiliate Link} Podcast Awards: Please consider nominating this podcast for the podcast awards in the Education category. Subscribe to this podcast:    

Liz FitzGerald In this podcast episode we interview Elizabeth (Liz) FitzGerald, M.S. the author of Cursive First. Liz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wonderful husband David and three children. She is an Endorsed Spell to Write and Read (SWR) Seminar Trainer, a credentialed Special Day Class teacher, and she holds a Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Before becoming a stay-at-home Mom, Liz had ten years of experience working in the public schools. She is currently homeschooling her own children as well as serving as an Educational Consultant to other educators. Questions answered by Liz FitzGerald in this episode:  – Would you share some of the statistics on our nation’s literacy failures? – Why is handwriting important? – What is the history of handwriting in our country? – How/why the shift in our educational system for reading and handwriting? – What are the advantages of learning cursive first? – Why cursive when we are a society filled print from computers and printing presses? – Is it confusing to switch from print to cursive if you have already begun? – Can this be used with special needs where they have weak or tired hands? – Introduction for homeschool parents on how to begin cursive. (i.e., tactile practice of strokes using a salt box, sidewalk chalk, etc.) You can order a copy of Cursive First at SWRTraining.com Images used with permission from SWRTraining.com  

Our nine year-old son Riley gives an audio review of The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud (The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz, Book One) (aff) by Jenny L. Cote. In this episode Riley answers the following questions: What was the book about? What was your favorite character and why? What was your favorite part of the book? Did the book make the account of Noah and the flood more “real” to you? How? Did you learn any truths about God? Would you recommend for your friends to read this book? How many stars do you give this book? Sherry goes on to share tips for reading a long chapter book to your kids. One tip Sherry gives is for you to have something for your kids to do with their hands. Sherry uses fidgets. In a blog post titled Juggling a Houseful with Learning Stations Sherry shares a picture of what fidgets look like. Other items mentioned: Teach Them Diligently Home School Convention Riley’s Stop Motion Video:  

Podcast Episode 16 show notes. This week we had a few homeschooling families over for dinner and the topic of school planning came up.  As I shared how my method has changed over the years, my husband noticed the nodding heads (of mostly the husbands!) How is it that us wives stress out so much over lesson plans?! I have a couple of theories and some possible solutions. Theory 1 Temperaments! I know that I go back to this frequently but it is integral to understanding how God wired us up AND to understanding our strengths/weaknesses. If you will recall from episode 10, the Choleric & Meloncholoy temperaments are the task focused temperaments and they like to have a PLAN! Melanchologies are also perfectionists and love their Sticky Note “to do” list. I believe it is a natural tendency to be stressed when life (AKA school planning) is unplanned. Yes, God does work on our weaknesses but it is a process! Theory 2 I think our goals/purpose for homeschooling causes (or at least contributes to) the stress we experience in the area of school planning. This goes back to our discussion in episode 2. When our purpose in homeschooling is academic greatness rather than training their hearts and character in the ways of the Lord, then a natural side effect is pressure- sometimes extreme pressure- to find THE BEST curriculum, plan out GREAT lesson plans, and implement those plans! A good antibiotic for this is realizing that NO MATTER how hard you try, you WILL have gaps in your child’s education because it is not possible to teach your child every academic knowledge and skill there is. Despite the effort of “trained educators”, the same is true for them too- I’ve also been in that camp! But what you can teach them is how to love the Lord, obey HIM and exhibit Godly character…knowing that these things will follow them well in life and any laking skills or knowledge can be quickly obtained. Employers can’t train character but they can train skills. THE “SCHOOL” METHOD My college training ingrained in me a method of creating lesson plans where it was written out what would be accomplished everyday in each subject and the learning objectives/state standard for each lesson. These plans were kept in a book on my desk where the school administrators could view them at any point in our day. In addition to the weekly plans, I also had a “long range plan” of the skills I had to teach and how that was going to fit for the year. There is nothing wrong with this type of planning in your homeschool, if it works for you. This is how I started in my homeschooling until I started spending more time revising it than I did implementing it or creating it in the first place! You can look at an example of those plans on the shownotes. This method of planning will be more difficult if you have a lot of context situations (as discussed in episode 11). Another difficulty to this level of detail and planning in advance is that it works for the Choleric & Melancholy (task oriented) temperaments but not so well for the people oriented. The Lord revealed another method that has been working well for me. I like to call it a “Completed Work record”. COMPLETED WORK RECORD – for daily plans I started writing down everything we did in a school day AFTER it was completed. I have found that my life is much easier when I am electronically connected so I started using Google Docs to keep a record of daily work completed for each child. I will print these records out at the end of the year to include in their school work portfolios. Benefits: It has reduced the amount of frustration and time I spend revising daily written lesson plans–tremendously! I can edit the electronic record any where  (and any time I have a few minutes). Plus I can cut and paste…a nice feature to have! The best benefit has been the relief of stress to “keep up with my plans”. (Again, this is coming from a task-oriented temperament as opposed to a people-oriented person who actually does need more structure.) Using this method, I have been better able to put a halt on school to deal with attitudes of the heart which need training- which is my primary focus for home educating my children. I don’t get so frustrated and overwhelmed at seeing my week of beautiful lesson plans crossed out or with arrows marked all over simply because I had to deal with outright defiance, temper tantrums, or lack of personal responsibility! PLANNING FOR THE WEEK OR MONTH History and science are the easiest for me to plan because they naturally lend themselves to units or sections. These smaller chunks can be broken down into a weekly flow of activities. To give myself flexibility, I write down the order of activities to complete a unit and sometimes I break it down to “Day 1”, etc. If I don’t complete all the activities for that day, or I over plan, then it is at the top of the list to do on the next day. It can be likened to creating a sequence. I try to plan a unit at a time but sometimes life gets in the way and I end up planning a week. I do try to know where I am heading in the curriculum. Math gets done one lesson at a time and is little planning though that varies by curriculum. I tend to use history and science books for me to read aloud or for my child to read to me/brothers. I do a phonics/spelling/handwriting program, called STEPS, that is already broken into lesson and activity and easy to plug in wherever I need. Piano is practiced daily with a lesson once per week. “Daily GRAMS”(English/editing) and Bible are done almost daily. Other subjects like art, writing, PE, Geography, Latin, Bible/Character Club are done at our co-op once a week with the homework being done at home (but NOT ALL of these subjects are done every year!) WHAT I AM NOT SAYING I am not saying you should not plan at all. To think that you can embark on such a huge task of home educating your children without any plan at all is hugely nieve and risky!  I am not saying you should be lazy in your planning or not teach your children valuable skills. They must learn the basics like reading, writing, and math. But does that mean your child is doomed academically if he/she doesn’t know all his vocabulary, know where Tanzania is in his/her head, or doesn’t remember all the facts of the Golden Age of Greece? No. Be wise, be purposeful, but also flexible. What a relief to trust in my Lord and Savior to equip these children in skills they need to fulfil His purposes. Links mentioned in this episode: Donna Young’s Lesson Plans Subscribe: You can subscribe to this podcast via iTunes and/or RSS below:  

At the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention I attended a session led by Jeannie Fulbright. This episode of our podcast will feature some of the things I learned from this session. Timeline example completed at the end of 1st grade. Riley summarized what he learned about Martin Luther after reading a couple of quality books. Podcast Episode 15 Show Notes I briefly mentioned Notebooking in a Methods of Homeschooling blog post with a promise to go into more detail. I went to this session and for the first time received a good understanding of what “notebooking” is and the curriculum that uses this method. Jeannie Fulbright uses “a methodology of education that employs a child’s comprehension, critical thinking, and creativity to produce a permanent work of artistic and academic value.” This method is based on a Charlotte Mason approach (see previous blog post) which can be linked back to how many great thinkers of the past kept a learning notebook (IE Leonardo & G. Washington). Highschool lab manuals are basically Notebooking. You can use Notebooking with ANY curriculum. It uses “narration” which is telling back in your own words what you have learned. Is a great way to retain what is learned. You would read a book then the child draws a picture and writes what they learned or a summary. The child has to mull over the material. They forget what is read/learned if they don’t do anything with the information other than taking a quiz. It becomes a record of learning for the year. The child “owns” the book AND the knowledge that is in the book he/she created. Include in the Notebook: maps, mini books/lapbooks, photos of trips or projects, field trip reports, copywork, timelines, summaries, newspaper articles, brochures, and charts/diagrams. Notebooking does take more time than a test or quiz. Don’t go overboard by doing one everyday. Lets look at typical assessments for a minute. Notebooking replaces “artificial assessment” with authentic learning. Typical assessments don’t increase learning potential and they do not engage the child. In the lower grades, typical assessments do not develop critical thinking. no contemplation and it doesn’t engage the whole mind. makes the purpose of learning about the test uses mostly short term memory Other Links mentioned in this episode: Lapbooks Podcast Episode Notebooking Pages – Free Sample Page Downloads Apologia Science Subscribe to the Home School Support Network:      Other examples of Riley’s Notebooks: This is a 3rd grade example of a summary of what a "Relief Sculpture" is. It was completed in our study if Assyria. Copy work example included in a history notebook. Riley completed this in 3rd grade. Copy work focuses on handwriting and correct sentence formation/grammar. Historical Timeline Example of what would be included in a notebook. Map of ancient civilizations and the Bible. Include maps in your notebooks.

Conference Teach Them Diligently  Reasons to attend a homeschool conference: It “refuels” mom and gives much needed encouragement! Refreshing time away. Personal growth in the Lord. Hands on opportunity in the vendor hall to really “see” the curriculum. Rhino Technologies – Get audio files (MP3) of the sessions from the Teach Them Diligently conference. Yee Haw! Books for Boys- Jan Bloom Boys do what they see their dads do so dads need to model reading from a real book, not just electronic books! Allow boys to move around while you read a longer book- they ARE listening!  It takes all their concentration to “sit still” and it frees up their mind to be able to move AND listen. (See blog post on Fidgets) Allow kids to posses the books they love- write their name in them and keep them accessible. Be aware of when the books were published! Prior to the 1960s the school librarians were the “gate keepers” but it is not so now. Boys like books with odd information, obscure facts, and challenges. Don’t be afraid of books with battles and conquering. Keep a “Book Journal” or index box with cards of title, author, # of pages in the book, plot & a few sentences. Gives you a record of what you’ve read and you can go back through your favorites without forgetting them. (See Lamplighter Publishing) If reading continues to be difficult past 10-12 years, consider www.visiontherapy.com Books for “early reading” Nancy Drew, Beatrix Potter, Thorton Burgess, Frog and Toad, Bobbsey Twins, Marion Renich (sports), I Can Read Series, Boxcar Children- the first 19 books were written by Warner but not the later ones (the character & values are better in #1-19). Be careful of language and attitude in biography category. Check out Garrard Biographies, Childhood of Famous Americans “intermediate” reading Madeleine L’Engle, Jenny L. Cote,  Hardy Boys, Sugar Creek Gang, American Adventure, American Heritage, Scripture Slueth, The Building on the Rock Series (5th grade +) Be careful of language and attitude in biography category. Check out YWAM Biographies & Trailblazer Biographies The Seven E’s for Choosing Curriculum- Jeannie Fullbright See the last blog post for more of her points. Be more intentional about devotion time both personally and with the kids. Devotion tends to go whenever we think we are behind in our “curriculum”! I try to choose curriculum where Christ is in the center and woven throughout EVERYTHING rather than a curriculum with God as a ‘side entree’. When you abandon a curriculum because it no longer works/fits your needs, then try to figure out WHY. This is so you don’t end up buying the same thing with a different name on it! The Brain, Memory, & Learning- Carlita Boyle Takes 5-6 hours to move learning from temporary to permanent storage. Teaching a new skill befores this causes problems with the first learning. Application: It doesn’t always help to give more work- need short teaching times. the time of day influences learning- Learn your child’s pattern Most probable effective learning times are after waking, just before bedtime, few hours before/after midpoint of the day. Ask your child “Is there a time that you like to learn?” Stress has a major impact on memory. Children link the EMOTION they had when learning something back to the INFORMATION they learned! Not getting enough sleep interferes with memory. REM sleep happens in the later hours of the night and that is when short term memory is transferred to long term. Power Sleep by James Maas Exercise helps memory! Learn first then exercise- It releases epinephrin and they learn better. DON’T SKIP RECESS!! 3 ways to get information into long term memory 1. intense sensory experience to link memory to 2. intense repetition or drill (most commonly used in textbooks) 3. drill used over TIME- is effective when learning a little bit  at a     time, over time. Sensory Based Activities- Special Needs Consultant in SCAIHS “All children can benefit at some time instructionally with sensory activities to allow them to be better able to focus on the lessons being taught.” Osbornes call them “fidgets”. They keep the fingers busy so the brain can focus. Indicators of Sensory Integration disorder: speech & laguage delay/deficits, hypo &/or hyper activity level (like with Vestibular issues), stimuli reactions (tactile issues), difficulty with coordination skills (motor planning like with Proprioceptive issues) “FEED THE NEED!” Identify the need & provide opportunities for the child to do it in a safe and appropriate mannor. Examples We DO need to introduce textures they don’t like- little bits at a time. Plan some sensory activities in your day that are individualized to your child…even in busy or “bad” days. check out www.sizzlebop.com and carol’s Web Corner http://www.westfieldacademy.org/adhd/ for ideas on teaching distractable children and helping them to memorize or retain information. check out www.blueletterbible.com for awesome features that are helpful for ALL CHILDREN. I was also told (but haven’t figured it out for myself yet) that you can enlarge a passage and change the background/text color to make it easier for dyslexic readers.   Subscribe:   

We are giving away a copy fo this book. Giveaway:  God’s Design for Life: The World of Animals Details: This is a $24.99 value. Shipping within the USA will be paid by us. How To Enter: Register for our mailing list using the form below. Deadline to enter: April 2, 2012 Midnight Eastern Time Bouns Entry Methods: Tweet a link to our blog** Link to us on Facebook** **Please comment below in this post and let us know that you did these bonus actions. Subscribe to our mailing list   Our goal in this episode is to equip you with some basic knowledge of the types of curriculum with some pros and cons of each. This is so that you can identify what your educational styles are and what some curricula choices are that matches your style. This BY NO MEANS is intended to be an an all inclusive list! There’s no way to know all that is available on the market- it changes too fast! If you learn the basic categories that most curriculum falls into then you can identify it yourself. This is especially helpful when you go to curriculum fairs, homeschool conventions, or think you might like to try your friend’s favorite curriculum. I personally believe that the most rounded education comes from using a variety of types.  EVERY product available is going to have holes or at the very least, disadvantages. My best friend watched me run in circles trying to find the “perfect” curriculum when I began home schooling. I did finally realize there was no such thing because I didn’t write it (coming up with my own thing was time consuming, exhausting and at times- expensive). I have also learned there is a “season” for every type of curriculum to be used- by most people. For example, a workbook curriculum might be necessary in one subject or in a season of context (new baby or moving) even if it is not your preferred method. Or you might need to use a unit approach to get your reluctant learner excited about learning. The 4 types of curriculum that we are going to compare are: Workbook* Textbook* Unit Study Literature Books *Because of the similarities between these two, it can be difficult to define the difference because most textbooks also have a workbook component and vice versa. Below is a chart that we mentioned in this episode of the HSSN Podcast. This chart shows the Pros, Cons, Planning, Temperament, and example notes for each homeschool curriculum type. Also mentioned in this episode is an episode of the DaddyLife.net Podcast discussing Love Languages and HSSN Podcast Episode 10 on Temperaments.   Click image to download a PDF copy of the notes. Subscribe: You can subscribe to this podcast via iTunes and/or RSS below:  

One of the most difficult decisions I face in homeschooling is choosing a curriculum among the abundance of choices available. Ironically, it’s also one of the major “benefits” I see that Homeschooling offers! It is difficult for a few reasons. One is that I personally do best being able to put my hands on it to view the curriculum in it’s entirety (rather than viewing a lesson or unit that is available to view online).  Another reason is that I HATE wasting money! Finally, there are many review websites and blogs out there but I found some of the reviews to be written by the publishers of the curriculum (I didn’t want a sales pitch) and the other reviews would be all over the place. I realize that no one curriculum will be a perfect fit for everyone but reading some raving reviews right next to some obviously disgruntled reviews for the same curriculum was frustrating and confusing for me. I am going to do my best to give a factual review of the God’s Design for Science series. First let’s start with some curriculum details. This series is written by Debbie & Richard Lawrence and published by Answers in Genesis. It is divided into 4 theme areas: Chemistry and Ecology (3-8th), Physical World (3-8th), Heaven and Earth (1-8th), and Life (1-8th). Each of these themes has three individual books that goes into more specific content.  For example the God’s Design for Life has “World of Plants”, “World of Animals”, and “Human Body”. It takes about a year to complete the three books so the whole curriculum series would be four years of science. Advantages: The biggest advantage, in my opinion, is that it is multi grade level in the SAME book. EACH lesson is written with a “beginner” section that fits K-2nd really well, a section for 3-8th, and some “challenge” sections designed for 6-8th but my third grader can often complete. Included are “Special Features” articles which are fun facts or biographies of scientists who have contributed to the subject. It is creation based (meaning it is completely evolution theory free) and examples of God’s design of our world is woven throughout the curriculum. Comprehension questions are included for every level and in every lesson (the teacher’s book has the answers). There are added activities for each lesson like experiments, worksheets, research projects, and some charades/art. Any worksheets and tests are on the CD ROM that is included with each individual book. MOST activities do not require much prep time or materials (and the materials they do require are ones you would have on hand or from a grocery store). It lends well to pulling in additional picture books or activities. The cost is pretty low and you have the option of buying per book, per theme  series, or the whole series. Disadvantages The unit tests cover content for all the grade levels. If your child doesn’t do the “challenge” sections then there will be questions that he/she will not know on the tests. Likewise, the tests are very difficult for the K-2nd “beginner” level as much of the content would be foreign to them. The content of each lesson is light (at least for the “World of Animals” book but that may not be the case for “Properties of Atoms and Molecules” book!) If you want a science curriculum that is highly WORKSHEET OR EXPERIMENT based then this NOT for you! For our family, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I realize that no curriculum is perfect.  You may however, want to check God’s Design out! Also mentioned in this episode was the Teach Them Diligently Convention for Christian homeschoolers. We highly recommend this convention if you are going to be anywhere near the upstate of South Carolina between March 15-17. Subscribe: You can subscribe to this podcast via iTunes and/or RSS below:  

Podcast Episode 11 – Context – Educating at home when life gets tough due to illness of a child, spouse, grandparent. Maybe your context is caused by a job change, moving, or you have a new baby in the home. Context can strict any homeschooling family at any time. In particular “context” is an area I struggle with. I attribute it to the task oriented part of both my primary and secondary temperaments (I’m sure being a firstborn also has a part). But alas God is still “working on me” and having four boys (one with special needs) has a way of speeding up the process I think. Homeschooling can look completely different from one family to another and this is especially the case when there are special needs. This is also the beauty of homeschooling. Parents get to choose how to best teach their child by taking into account any needs. Caden’s Page – Read more about our special needs son. We never know what medical issues we are going to face or when they will come. GENERAL HELPS Heavier work load when Caden’s well. Which means we are mostly at home rather than out and about. When he’s well enough for therapy, which comes to the house, I make sure I count that as school time. Keep his goal sheets and evaluations. I give myself 365 days to complete 180 days of school. So basically we do school year around with short breaks as we need them. This also takes care of the problem that comes with long breaks which is that NO one wants to start back! Of course retention is better without long breaks. Record the work that WAS completed rather than the lessons you WANT to complete. This saves time & frustration from erasing lesson plans plus the pressure to get it all done. DURING ILLNESSES (Context or other context situations) Use less active school like videos, reading stories, and educational toy/game like TAG Reader or LEAP Pad. Videos may vary from “There Goes A Helicopter”, to “Character Builder” series, to “Ancient Egypt”. We do a lot of books on tape from the library because Caden is not reading yet or we listen to a Creation based science series called “Jonathan Park” which has our whole family on the edge of our seat! I give my older child more of the independent work subjects like those which are on the computer/online. Ex Teaching Textbooks, Rosetta, SOS, typing I write down everything we do and if it is really not much, then I may count two days worth work as one “school day”. Somedays I just have to remember that he’s doing more learning at home than he would be getting in a Special Ed class.  The amount of days he would miss in public or private would be MANY! Give yourself some grace and “tomorrow’s another day!” Resources Character Builders DVD Set – Capture your child’s imagination witfully-animated episodes on Obedience & Self Control, Sharing and Kindness, Patience and Peace, Confidence and Love, Thankfulness and Gentleness and more. The Amazing Bible Series – The Amazing Book Ancient Africa (Ancient Civilizations for Children) – We found a version on Greece in our local public library. Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution 1 Your Backyard: Identifying 18 Common Feeder Birds by Sight and Sound There Goes A….(DVDs) Real Wheels – Truck Adventures (There Goes a Truck/Fire Truck/Garbage Truck) Real Wheels – Mega Truck Adventures Real Wheels – There Goes a Rescue Hero Subscribe: You can subscribe to this podcast via iTunes and/or RSS below: