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Home Educator's Family Times - Newsletter - May 16, 2012
Homeschooling's an adventure! We hope you are enjoying it!
Do you have a story to share? Please send it to us.
Some of our best features come from homeschooling parents 'in the trenches'!
FEATURED ARTICLES
Let’s Think About It
by Shirley M.R. Minster, M.S.Ed.
think: ‘to picture in one’s mind, to consider, to contemplate, plan’ (The World Book Dictionary)
Whether educating oneself or others, the process should always include thinking. That should be as obvious as the nose on one’s face, but adults do not seem to consider it often enough. Then frustration enters the picture. Adults perceive that actions are proof of what children believe, but this is not a good indicator. Actions may speak louder than words, but words are the better basis for good communication.
How a child processes what he hears plays a part in how he responds. For instance, I have coined a phrase called fishtank thinking. I call it this because it reminds me of how fish get their food. First fish flakes are poured onto the water and then they sink. A child hears the words someone says, needs time to process the words (flakes floating on the water), and then responds to the words. If a child is in a classroom or other situation where he must always respond immediately, he will exhibit signs of frustration, anger, or anxiety. Read more...
Understanding Ideas
by Dave Marks (National Writing Institute/Writing Strands)
There's a saying about the way people think that makes sense to me. It's this: If you can't put it into words, you don't understand it. I've had students tell me for years, "I know what I mean, but I can't put it into words." What this meant to me was that that young person didn't really understand the idea well enough to express it clearly.- We can start very early with our children helping them understand ideas, but it does take time, patience and effort. One important step in this process is insisting that they say what they mean. It's a mistake to wait till they're teenagers before asking them to be logical and articulate their feelings and ideas. You could state this the first time you hear, "Because," or "Just because." That's an effort on the child's part not to have to think through the idea or situation. A thoughtful response on your part might be, "No, I don't accept “because” as an answer. Tell me why you feel this way?" Read more…
Advertiser
What Is Writing Strands?
Writing Strands is one of the first and best composition programs developed for the homeschooling student. I have recommended it to hundreds of families with great success and have used it in my family to teach confident composition skills. Many children/teens become overwhelmed with the combination of grammar rules, spelling rules and composition built into traditional writing programs. WS focuses on WRITING! The lessons, which can be worked through with little guidance from the parent, are broken into daily steps making it happily manageable for every student. Excellent models of good writing are provided. Children learn to write by writing, writing, writing. As the child learns grammar (separately), they can easily begin to edit their own work. If you want to end 'writing-phobia' for you and your children, I high recommend Writing Strands. To try samples or more informaion, please visit http://www.writingstrands.com
Building Emotional Intelligence Through Books
by Barbara Curtis
"In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of a cow jumping over the moon" To this day my oldest son-now a strapping 17-year-old- gets Goodnight Moony-eyed when he hears me read these lines, though nowadays I'm reading to his youngest brothers. Just goes to show how the stories we read our children night after night stay nestled in their hearts forever.
And, I must admit, they nestle in mine. Thirty years of turning pages with my children hasn't diminished at all the wonder of children's stories. I still perk up at the rhythms and well-chosen words of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I'm still captivated by the whimsical images of Runaway Bunny. But there's much more in those pages than meets the ear and eye. The longer I read with my kids from books like The Rainbow Fish and Where the Wild Things Are, The Tales of Narnia and David Copperfield, the more I appreciate the deep impact stories have on the lives of children. Read more…
Tantrums in the Grocery Store
by Barbara Frank
As a homeschooler, I don’t pay much attention to the local school district’s calendar. But I can always tell when summer vacation starts in my area. All I have to do is go to the grocery store.
Once school’s out, there’s a huge increase in the amount of screaming and tantrums going on, and most of it is coming from the moms. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve ever heard a mom yell, “That’s it, so-and-so, you’ve got a one!” (or a two or a three), I’d be a rich woman.
Moms whose kids go to school are accustomed to shopping alone, but summer vacation changes all that. To make matters worse, it’s pretty obvious that they haven’t taught their kids how to behave when out shopping. The combination of screaming moms and screaming kids often sends me out of the store with a headache.
Read more...
IN THE NEWS...
The changing face of home-schooling
by Nicole McKeon
Several months back, I wrote an article about my desire to change the name “home-schooling” to “new-schooling.” I have given this a lot of thought and spent time observing many home educating families. I really believe that as more and more families leave traditional school and enter the home education realm, the face of home-schooling is changing. I think this is for many reasons.
What I observe in the home-schooling community, both online and in our local setting, is an ever more “in tune” parent. Parents are taking the time to learn about how children learn, about why children struggle and have an understanding that just because a child struggles in a traditional school setting, he or she is not defined by this struggle. Read article...
Bright futures loom large for homeschooling children
• By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
• 5/15/2012
• Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Home-schooling is growing and changing rapidly.
Across the nation, more and more parents are making the decision to homeschool in an effort to ensure their kids are kept safe, well educated, and get the attention they deserve.
Homeschooling offers many advantages over traditional public schools, particularly the avoidance of impersonal instruction and standardized testing.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Parents are starting to take the time to learn about how children learn, how and why children struggle, and have an understanding that because a child struggles in a traditional school environment, he or she is not defined by struggle.
Read article...
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