by Donna | Sep 11, 2013
I is for INDEPENDENT WORK!
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| Chart by picstopin.com |
If you don’t start Independent Work Charts/Lists with your littles, you will definitely want to start it in elementary school after your child learns to read!
(Some people feel that they have very little to put in an Independent Work Chart for little kids. We always managed to find things as I felt it kept my littles learning and exploring all the time–and it helped my preschoolers to NEVER be bored!)i
Here are some tips for creating Independent Work Lists for elementary children:
1. Either make it on a chart that the child uses wipe and write markers and mount it somewhere–or make it in Excel (or your favorite record keeping program) and place it on a thin clip boards.
Trust me: loose papers never make it back to mom at the end of the day. (Spoken from true experiences–plural–you would think I would have learned this the first time or two! 😉 )
2. Put things in the order of importance on the chart–in the order that you want them done.
3. And/or put things in sections.
I used to have mine in order and sections–the first so many items needed done before the child met with Mom or before the child had a morning snack or before lunch chores, or whatever. Never underestimate the value of teaching children time management, prioritizing, etc. via these daily checklists.
4. Explain to your child that this is his daily accountability list.
He is to get these things done each day. (Hint: We taught our children from their earliest recollection of school that school is their occupation. It was what they were supposed to be about every day. No questions asked. No exceptions (unless we parents wanted an exception for sickness or family trips, etc.–in other words, the child doesn’t choose to do school or not do school–ever).
5. For things that you are uncertain of/change-ables, put time or generic wording, such as “30 minutes of uninterrupted CQLA work” or “All CQLA assignments from previous meeting with Mom,” etc.
6. Be sure to include drill work, silent reading, etc.–all the extras that you want him to do each day.
(I even put the things that they would often do as I read aloud on this list in the section marked “During Read-Aloud”–such as coloring in educational coloring book, penmanship page, building something with Legos, etc.)
7. Be sure there is a time in which it is turned in each day.
This is kind of another subject, but it fits here as well: A child should not go to basketball practice, Girl Scouts, youth group, or any other activity if he doesn’t do his school. Period. We have so many parents come up to us at conventions and say, “I just can’t get my fifteen year old to finish his school each day, and he keeps getting further and further behind.” Then we ask, “Does he go to sports practice in the afternoon? Does he go to youth group that night?’ etc. etc. None of those things should ever happen if he doesn’t do his school. School is non-optional.
If your child’s independent list is on a clip board, he can simply put the clip board on your desk at the end of the day–all checked off and ready for the next day.
8. The Independent Work Checklist is, in part, to help keep the child moving as you are working with other kids, walking your college kids through a difficulty on the phone, or helping Grandma with something. In other words, you want to teach your student to get up and start on the list right away–and to go back to the list any time he is not meeting with you or doing chores, etc. (I even put things like “Read to Jonathan for 15 minutes” and “30 minutes of morning devotional book and journaling” on the list–everything the child does (outside of chores) was listed on this chart.
I just can’t stress enough the benefits of the Independent Work Lists–for Mom and for the student. It takes away gray areas of parenting (something crucial that we teach in our parenting seminars). It helps the child become an independent learner. It teaches many character qualities–perseverance, prioritizing, resourcefulness, responsibility, diligence, timeliness, and much more. Yeah, I am pretty crazy about my thirty years of Independent Work Lists! 😉
by Donna | Sep 10, 2013
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| Speaking about “Building Study Skills and Comprehension” at a conference |
There are many aspects of teaching a child how to learn, one of which is working to increase our children’s comprehension. When people have good comprehension, they can learn anything, anywhere, anytime.
There are three primary ways that we have worked to increase our children’s comprehension: (1) Discussion with parents and those more knowledgeable than the child; (2) Good questions following reading or discussions; and (3) Provide a rich background of experience.
The first two of those go hand-in-hand. Discussion of everything with our children from very young ages has given our kids experiences in areas that they would normally not have experiences in. It gives us the opportunity to teach all the time—and gives them learning hooks that they create with the discussion material to bring into other learning situations.
Good questions, not just rote questions, help the student think more deeply about subjects and allow you to observe his thought processes and help them along. Lastly, a rich background of experience gives your student the edge in learning any subject. Like discussion, it gives a child more knowledge, more background, more information to bring into future learning scenarios.
I am adding some information about teaching children how to learn, good materials, links to articles, etc., in the sidebar of this article for those who would like to study this further. Just being aware of always teaching our kids how to learn, how to study, how to research, how to further their understanding is a big step in teaching kids how to learn.
SIDEBAR….
Tips and Links for Teaching Children How to Learn
~People often ask us what we would have done differently in our homeschool. One of the things I would have done differently is that every child, every year would have done a thinking skills book of some sort from the Critical Thinking Company: https://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jsp?code=c
by Donna | Sep 2, 2013
by Donna | Aug 24, 2013
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| Eng111cafe clip art |
A is for APPOSITIVE!
We teach the appositive extensively in our writing and language arts books because it is an amazing conciseness technique–and it shows a student’s skill in handling difficult grammar concepts and punctuation challenges. Plus, it truly does help a student write more concisely!
Here is the basic of this grammar item:
1. Is a phrase that restates something else.
2. Is usually used to restate (or elaborate on) the subject (though it can be used to restate anything really.
3. Is set off with commas if it falls in the middle of the sentence. (Remember: Anything that is set off with commas should be “removable” and a complete sentence remains without it!)
4. Can be used to combine two sentences into one in short, choppy sentences.
Example:
Donna writes language arts and composition books every day.
Donna has written over fifty curriculum texts.
Donna, WHO HAS WRITTEN OVER FIFTY CURRICULUM TEXTS, writes language arts and composition books every day.
Cool, huh?
A is for APPOSITIVE
Did you know that last week’s PUNCTUATION PUZZLE had an appositive in it?
I had barely noticed her mood, HER TEMPERAMENT, when she suddenly blew up, and she began shouting and throwing things at me, which was something I was not accustomed to seeing.
Notice the following:
1. Her temperament renames the noun mood.
2. It is set off with commas surrounding it (her temperament).
3. It (along with the commas) can be removed from the sentence, and a complete sentence remains.
by Donna | Aug 24, 2013
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| Edudemic (clip art) |
B is for BACK-TO-SCHOOL!
Do you start back on the traditional school schedule? Or do you school in the summer to get some days in? Or do you school year round and take breaks throughout the year?
Homeschooling provides flexibility in all areas (not just starting school but literally EVERYTHING) that we don’t even begin to appreciate fully. (I didn’t until my kids started taking college classes, and they were so locked in to schedules and no time off!!!!)
B is for BACK-TO-SCHOOL!
Do you have a command center? Regardless of whether you use charts, sticker posters, wipe and write, or clip boards for your schedule/chores/organizational systems, I recommend you follow this one tip first:
Get the first hour of the day down pat before you try to “perfect” everything else.
When the first hour of your day is good, the whole day can be good!
https://www.remodelaholic.com/2013/07/family-command-centers
B is for BACK-TO-SCHOOL!
While we are blessed not to have to buy, buy, buy…clothes, supplies, etc., every August just because everybody else is (sometimes I do think it would be fun to go “back to school” clothes shopping with the kids though!), do pay attention to the sales during this time.
For example, we use a lot of three-pronged, two-pocket folders for each monthly unit of work (for storage when the month is done), and those are available now for fifteen cents each vs. up to sixty cents each during the “off season.”
Plus, I just have to get some scented markers, cool sticky notes, or other fun thing for the teacher!
by Donna | Aug 24, 2013
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| CLK Clipart |
A is for ATTENDANCE!
What does attendance mean in your state?
In our nearly thirty years of homeschooling in Indiana, we have had laws that have read something like this: “A student between the ages of seven and sixteen (not sure what age this is now) must attend public school or have equivalent instruction” and equivalent instruction has usually meant 180 days of “instruction.”
More on this later–such as attendance keeping AND what constitutes a day of school–if our child is home, isn’t he “in school”?
A is for ATTENDANCE!
If you live in a state where you are mandated to keep track of your days (your kids’ “attendance”), I recommend keeping it simple!
Even if you use an elaborate lesson plan or other tracking system, I would still get a dollar pocket calendar and write the days on it. It can be as simple as putting in the corner of each school day 4/180 (day four of attendance out of 180 total).
The reason for this is that if all you really HAVE to have is 180 days recorded somewhere, then do that in a simple, non -fussy way so that you can be sure that it gets done. Then if you want to record it i your lesson plan, tracker, etc., as well, that is fine.
However, even if your more elaborate system breaks down somewhere mid-year (or your computer loses it!), you will still have your pocket calendar with the minimum that you are required taken care of.
More on WHAT to count as a homeschool day later!
A is for ATTENDANCE!
How do you know when something should be counted as a full day or half day or no day?
There are plenty of ways to look at this: (1) must complete all regular daily work to be a day; (2) schools take half days all the time for movies, inservice, etc., so it won’t make that much difference; (3) a certain number of hours equals a full day; (4) field trips count/field trips don’t count; (5) other!
The point of this isn’t to solve your “what do I count” dilemma but rather to make us all aware of the need to give our children the best we can and the need to be above reproach at all times.
We personally have decided what to “count” as a day in different ways during different seasons: (1) as long as language arts and math were done, we would count a half day of art and gym or library and cooking along with that for a day; (2) a certain amount of time. We used an hour counting approach (hours worked on academics or training-only non academics (PE, art, home ec, etc.–not daily/routine activities) that went something like this:
a. 2 hours for K-2nd grade
b. 3 hours for 3rd-5th
c. 3.5 hours for 6th-8th
d. 4 to 5 hours for high school
Regardless of how you count your days of ATTENDANCE, please consider the following:
1. Always be above reproach
2. Always do more, not less–and teach your children to go the extra mile while doing this
3. Consider the non-book learning as long as it is true training including audio, video, hands on, etc. (again, not routine, like regular daily chores or skills that are already full developed like making breakfast, etc.)
4. Be consistent. Either count time or count books or count classes, etc. Or count field trips all the time or do not count field trips
5. Keep your system simple–just a simple calendar marking system or tick mark/running day total in your daytimer, etc.
6. Be excited for each day that you complete!
