Back to School Tips – Start with the Basics
What I really enjoy about homeschooling is being able to provide a huge variety of topics for my kids (and myself) to learn about. We are not limited to the specific recommended courses but instead, we can explore our interests, our wonders and even some off-beat ideas.
Of course, without the basics, none of this exploration is possible. The basics meaning, reading, spelling, writing and math. A strong foundation in these subjects will allow children to explore anything they want.
Recently, I had a chance to explore the ClickN SPELL program from ClickN KIDS. This program is an entertaining online program to help kids with spelling. It features the ability to set up a number of children and various learning levels. Each child can follow up to 100 lessons. Each lesson provides new words to learn through repetition. The spelling lesson will also increase typing skills as the child types in each spelling word. There is amazing encouragement as the child progresses and in each lesson the words get progressively more difficult. Each lesson ends with a practice round which reviews the words learned with a little mini-test. The results are then given in a report that can be viewed on the screen, printed and emailed to the parent. The cartoon cat that helps the child through each lesson adds some fun to spelling drills.
ClickN KIDS also has ClickN READ Phonics program to help a child learn to read. The programs provide some entertainment along with lessons and represents a “video game” idea which is sure to attract children to play!
As you get ready to start a new year of lessons make sure you are aware of all your children’s learning styles. There are three main learning styles Auditory (hearing), Visual (seeing) and Kinetic (doing). A child can be strong in one particular style or a combination of two styles.
It is important to understand a child’s learning style so that you can find the best way to teach to them. Of course it is important to develop all the learning styles in a child but especially necessary to teach to their learning style on a subject that they struggle with.
Be creative with your lesson plans so that each learning style is practiced. This is especially helpful when teaching more than one child the same topic. Use manipulatives in math, science and spelling class (for kinetic learners), Read stories out loud or use music to accompany lessons (for audio learners) and use pictures and colour codes to help the visual learner.
If you want to find out your child’s learning style, download this free questionnaire.
Getting ready for back to school means having lesson plans ready to go. A great asset to you lesson plans is downloadable workbooks.
Ebooks are quick to download, ready when you are, no problems with out of stock or out of print resources. Ebooks are broad ranged or specific so they can be used for review or in a theme study. Downloadable workbooks let you print only the pages you need, as many times as you need them. There are thousands of titles available and even a chance to preview some of the pages before you buy!
All you need is internet access, a computer and a printer and you can have thousands of books, workbooks and theme units at your fingertips!
Even as homeschoolers it is important to have a specific area for school lessons. A place where the students know that school work is done here – each student should have a separate work space/desk and a shelf for their books. As we start to plan for back to school, here are some ideas on getting this school space ready.
First look around the space and determine what is available that will be used for this year’s school year. Then make a list of what is still needed (perhaps a chair from another room or some school supplies from the store). Take away anything in the area that is not school related, especially anything that might be distracting (toys for example). Organize the school items so that frequently used items are easily on hand and items which are used less often are neatly stored away (on a shelf or in a drawer). Have new workbooks or binders, texts and lesson books ready on an easy to access shelf.
Now, organize your desk/work area using the same steps. Get out your lesson plan organizer and start to plan ahead!
Everyone has heard about the BP oil spill that resulted from an oil rig explosion in April. Although the flow of oil has now been capped, the repercussions have only just begun.
Nature and the environment are a great Science lesson. The oil spill can add to this lesson by showing the damage that occurs when the delicate balance is destroyed. Incorporate geography so kids can see where the spill occurred, and track the waterways that may show evidence of the oil spill. Create science experiments that show how oil and water react together and try to figure out ways to clean the oil from the water. Create a project about sea life and what kinds of animals are affected by the oil spill, directly and indirectly. Even an economic lesson plan could be created to identify the loss to the local fisherman and other water based businesses.
It is easy to lay the blame on the company and its slow reaction to the problem, but discuss with the students what they might have done. How long would their ‘fix’ take to implement, would it work? Obviously the oil spill is a disaster but more time should be spent on solving the problem and preventing it from happening again then on what could have been done better.
Current events can make great lesson plans and keep students up to date in the world.
Blackbeard – a reading comprehension activity
One of the most famous pirates to ever sail the seas was Edward Teach who is better known for his nickname, Blackbeard.
Teach began his pirate career as a teenager on board a ship captained by Benjamin Hornigold, a British privateer. Teach remained part of Hornigold’s crew throughout the War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne’s War). By the end of the war Teach had become an experienced sea robber. After the war he joined a group of fierce Caribbean pirates. Soon, he became captain of his own ship.
Teach, who then became known as Blackbeard gained a reputation as the most frightening pirate. His appearance was also fearsome. He was over six feet tall and always well armed. Across his chest he wore a sling that held three pairs of pistols. A cutlass and a few knives completed his attire. His long black beard was braided and often, before a fight, he would put smoking fuses in his hat to make him look menacing. Even his own crew thought him to be the devil himself.
Blackbeard’s ship was a French frigate called Concorde. When it was captured it held twenty-six guns (cannons). Blackbeard upgraded the ship to forty guns and renamed it “Queen Anne’s Revenge.” Blackbeard and his crew terrorized sailors in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea from 1716 to 1718.
He would pull aside a merchant ship and raise his flag demanding surrender. Blackbeard’s flag was not the traditional skull and crossbones. His flag contained a skeleton with horns and hooves which symbolized that he was in league with the devil. The skeleton held an hour glass in one hand and a spear in the other. The spear was aimed at a red heart which dripped blood. These were to symbolize that time had run out and surrender or blood would be spilled. The sight of Blackbeard’s flag added to his fearsome reputation usually led to immediate surrender. In fact, there is not record of Blackbeard ever killing anyone.
In 1718, Blackbeard established a base in the British colonies at what is now North Carolina. From this base he pirated ships along the North American coast. He would steal their goods and sell them to the local townspeople. After Blackbeard decided to settle down, the governor granted him a pardon in June of 1718. But when Blackbeard began pirating again Lt. Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy was sent to stop Blackbeard once and for all. On November 22, 1718, Blackbeard and Maynard fought in hand-to-hand combard on board Maynard’s ship The Adventure. Blackbeard suffered twenty sword wounds and five gun shot wounds until he was finally killed by a slash to the throat.
Maynard hung Blackbeard’s severed head from the bow of his ship as a warning to other pirates. It was the end of Blackbeard’s reign of terror.
For the complete unit study go to www.homeeducationresourceemporium.com/unit-studies
There are many definitions for success. My focus, is to have the child do well, enjoy the challenge and want to keep learning and improving -to me, that is homeschooling success.
Helping your child achieve this success can be a combination of words, thoughts and motivations. Encouraging words can go a long way to help anyone succeed. Point out improvements, creativity and proper behaviour. Keep your comments and words positive rather than negative. If you are marking a test or projects, use only checkmarks – if things are wrong they can be discussed afterward but without writing X’s on the page. Discussion about the tests, the project or any other work or behaviour can lead to positive reinforcement and an understanding of what would have been a better answer or action.
It is important to think before addressing a child’s behaviour or poor work. Think about what influences may have led to the problem, what behaviours they may be copying or what challenges they have faced recently that may be affecting them. We can recognize that everyone has bad days, bad moments and bad judgements. A child that is learning must also be taught appropriate behaviours, reactions etc in order for them to interact appropriately.
Understanding a child’s learning style is also an important step to their success. Recognizing how they learn best and then helping them learn using that style will not only help them learn but give them confidence to continue to do well. Understanding that children learn differently and at different paces will help you provide proper encouragement and lessons for each child. Motivating them to work hard, challenging them to stretch their abilities and encouraging them to keep trying are all great influences to provide them.
Of course, the world is not as encouraging as we are and at times children will run into negative people and influences. It is important to teach them how to deal with these challenges as well. Face negativity with confidence so that it doesn’t have a devastating affect. Remove yourself from situations that are degrading and negatively charged. And discuss any issues or problems they have faced that has troubled them.
Positive thoughts, words and motivations are the key steps to homeschooling success!
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re are some great, meaningful quotes to help inspire, encourage and support homeschoolers!
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. ”
– William Butler Yeats
” What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools, but that it isn’t a school at all.”
–John Holt
” The idea is to educate, not follow anyone’s schedule about when something should be studied. ”
–Ray Drouillard
“Educating a child is a natural process. Home schooling is nothing more than an extension of parenting.” ~Sue Maakestad
He is educated who knows how to find out what he doesn’t know. – George Simmel, German Philosopher
Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind. Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be rather a sort of amusement; this will better enable you to find out the natural bent of the child. – Plato
“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” Flora Whittemore
There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.
-Ghandi
The secret of teaching is to appear to have known all your life what you learned this afternoon.
– Anonymous
Homeschooling is a choice parents make for many different reasons. But sometimes that choice is influenced greatly by a sick child. A child that struggles with an illness, a disability or a disorder may also struggle in school. Missed days cause them to fall behind in lessons. Issues during class may cause them to have to leave the room (which again results in a missed lesson). And comments from the other kids could cause emotional problems.
So, homeschooling is sometimes a better option for children that have a ‘special need.’ It can allow them to learn at their own pace, on the days when they feel good. It can allow creative lessons to help those learn that struggle with sitting still. It can create a more relaxed atmosphere for the child to learn in (sometimes added stress inflames the problem).
But it can also add more expense to an already expensive issue. Homeschoolers need to keep one parent home to teach, making it a one income family. Add to that the cost of medications and treatments, gas to doctors and specialists and the necessary books and resources needed for home lessons. Of course, parents feel it is worth it to help their child, and it is just one more choice they make on behalf of that child.
Do you know there are children being turned away for treatment because they can’t afford the cost of medications!
You can help by donating to this specific cause, or check with a Sick Kids hospital near you to find a family to help.
www.robbiesrainbow.ca
So, the first mountain you have climbed led you to the decision to homeschool your child. It sure was an uphill battle but at last you have reached the top and feel accomplished.
So now, your child would like to learn about car mechanics, or magpies or even mustard plants. But you don’t know about any of those things! In this case, there really isn’t a mountain to climb. It is just a little hill that can easily be reached by a little reading and research. Look to the library for books on the subject, or find some unit studies and workbooks to help you plan a lesson. Ask people in the neighbourhood or family that have had experience with the subject and just get in there and learn it together!
Homeschooling does have its share of mountains to climb, but teaching subjects that are unfamiliar doesn’t have to be one of them. You may be surprised how much you learn, and enjoy learning in the process!