Saturday, November 5, 2011

Right Brained resources

A response to a friend who said they were in the totally frustrating, "my son will never learn to spell and I've probably screwed up his whole life because I haven't figured out how to fix it" season of life.

My oldest (now 15) was at grade 1.4 to 1.6 spelling (Woodcock Johnson) until about 6th grade.  Then we did vision therapy for 40 weeks (a very long, very expensive period but that paid off 100-fold over) and he rose to grade 4.4.  Over the last few years he's slowly increasing and is almost at grade level -- though spelling is grade levels below anything else except for writing fluency (speed) which is about the same as spelling!

We got some great visual spelling techniques when we took vision therapy -- similar to how Dianne Craft approaches math -- each word is written out alone, with pictures around the letters if needed and color coded, and he would hold it up above his head, really picture it, close his eyes and spell it to me forward and backward.  Two or three times of doing that for each word and he had it.  Completely and forever.  Another thing they had us do was take turns coming up with a sentence (3 words or more -- "The black cat sat.") and we'd bounce a ball back and forth -- spelling the sentence forward and backward -- then bouncing the ball once for each letter but not saying the vowels or only verbalizing every other letter forward and backward -- much harder for me than for him!  But it gave him experience visualizing the whole sentence in his head.

His spelling has improved.  However, he depends a lot now on spell check.  And caps/periods he only gets if he's proofing someone else's writing -- can't see his own!

One of the major players in the right-brained/visual learner arena is inda Kreger Silverman. Her website is:
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm

Her book: Upside Down Brilliance:  The Visual Spatial Learner is absolutely great but very hard to get.  I got it from Interlibrary Loan.
http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Down-Brilliance-Visual-Spatial-Learner/dp/193218600X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295024560&sr=1-2

She's got a great 23-page summary of her approach with check lists at:
http://www.euronet.nl/~mjkbeeld/Upside-Down_Brilliance.pdf 

2nd best book with suggestions by topic area (math, reading, etc):
Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Brained-Children-Left-Brained-World-Unlocking/dp/0684847930/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295024629&sr=1-1

Some other great resources:
http://throwingmarshmallows.homeschooljournal.net/r-b-resources/

A yahoo group by Cindy Gattis from the mountains of NC who has several right-brained learners and is a big proponent of not trying to change our children, but to change the timeline (much easier said than done!):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolingcreatively/?yguid=1572768

And here's her blog - dig through it to find some resources like her collaboratively-based learning philosophy by ages, etc.
http://applestars.homeschooljournal.net/an-introduction-to-the-creative-right-brained-learner/

Hope that helps...


Monday, August 22, 2011

SAT and ACT Accommodation links

Based on testing we did in November, I believe I'll need to apply for accommodations for testing for my 15 yo for the essay.  The dysgraphia makes his written work about 6 grades lower than his typed work.  However, it's a challenge to do that.  Here's what I've found so far:


A good homeschool-focus description of the process of getting accommodations for the SAT/ACT.  I need to get started on that in the next few weeks!
http://www.learndifferently.com/SAT%20SSD.htm

And info from the college board:
I think this is only for schools but worth a call to find out:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/ssd/application/online-accommodations-eligibility-system

Overview section about Students with Disabilities and the application process:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/ssd/application

Need to check out the dysgraphia yahoo group for suggestions as well as far as documentation goes.

Taking Notes

Here are the resources I'm going to use this year to try to help my 15 yo develop better note-taking skills (which are currently at the abysmal level!):

Note Taking Made Easy!: Strategies & Scaffolded Lessons for Helping All Students Take Effective Notes, Summarize & Learn the Content They Need to Know by Deana Hippie

How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport


Learning to Learn: Strengthening Study Skills and Brain Power by Gloria Frender

Your instructor is not going to hold up a flag when he or she states an important new idea or gives an example, but he or she will use signal words to give you the message that what's being said is important. Every good speaker does this, and you should expect to hear these signals. For example, he or she may introduce an example with "for example" as done here!
http://english-zone.com/study/signals.html

Educational Apps for the iPhone and iPad

High School
Trying to decide whether or not it would be worth having an iPad for my 15 yo for school.  Did a search for high school apps and here is a great list -- sounds like it could be a great addition IF it didn't turn into a time waster:
http://palmbeachschooltalk.com/groups/ipadpilot/wiki/70925/High_School_iPad_Apps.html

Most of the Khan Academy videos are available for the iPhone/iPad:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/khan-academy-a-classroom-in/id361975619?mt=8

Quizlet -- he uses this for going through Spanish vocabulary on his desktop but we just found he could access all that through his iPhone (also for Android):
http://quizlet.com/mobile/

Early Elementary
One thing we did was take an old iPod touch and put all of the music, games and a few favorite TV shows (cyberchase, Star Wars Clone Wars) that were appropriate for my 5 yo on it. I keep it in my purse and when the car rides get long or we have to wait long times at places for his older brother, I can pull it out -- and I know he won't be online or messing up my phone! Worked great on our trip across the continent last week.

Here's a great source of iPhone/iPad apps for kids...
http://www.iphone4kids.net/

My favorites for my 5 yo (he prefers AirPenguin and Pikachu Jump but he doesn't mind these!:
Handwriting: iWriteWords:
http://gdiplus.ptgdi.com/iWriteWords.htm

Sequencing -- alphabet, skip counting (5's, 10's, etc): Dot to Dot numbers
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dottodot-numbers-letters/id333188500?mt=8
(they also do PocketPhonics -- haven't tried it yet)



Local Diane Craft resources

A post on a local loop from the local homeschool store in Raleigh, NC:  The Homeschool Gathering Place:

If you heard Dianne Craft speak at NCHE conference in May, did not purchase her materials and are not regretting it, regret no more!!! HSGP is now carrying Dianne Craft materials. We have the following items in stock:

1. Biology of Behavior cd: detailed step by step nutritional guide to help improve behavior, learning "glitches" focusing issues, etc.

2. Brain Integration Therapy Manual: easy to use at home therapy program to help make learning easier by using your child's body to make brain connections.

3. Right Brain Phonics Reading Book: 20 minutes a day program that turns a word guesser into a word reader. Great for dyslexics.

4. Smart Kids Who Hate to Write DVD: Does your child seem lazy, sloppy, unmotivated? It could be dysgraphia, where the child has to use so much energy for the writing process that they are reluctant to even put pencil to paper. This DVD will help you identify a child with a writing glitch, dysgraphia, visual/spatial problems and more importantly, give ways as to how to correct them.

5. Teaching the Right Brain Child DVD: Does learning seem harder for your child than it should be? This DVD contains right brain learning techniques taught by Dianne Craft that teaches the child how to store information in long-term visual memory for maximum retention.

6. Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner DVD: Use this DVD to find out the symptoms that a child presents when he/she is experiencing an information processing glitch and what to do about it.

7. Right Brain Multiplication cards: learn multiplication facts with right brain strategies.

8. Right Brain Phonics cards: Teach phonic sounds so they stick

9. Sight Words cards: Sight words taught using right brain strategies.


Thanks for letting us serve you,
Jim, Julia, Cally, Emily, Joyce, Mary Beth, Lynn, Kelson, Vicky, Kira, Beth,
Ashley, Elizabeth, Kathleen, Victoria, Kimberly, Royale

Stop Motion for 5 and 6 yo's

My 5 1/2 yo decided that he really needed to do LEGO stop motion videos like his 16 yo friend Clark does.  Unfortunately, he doesn't read yet and he has big plans in his head about how it will work.

You can check out some of my son's stop motion videos on the youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/lwhipker?feature=mhee)

However, this video one is a better one to show "how to do stop motion with a 5 or 6 yo" -- it's a Dad video taping his 6 yo talking about how she does stop motion and you can see the one she did which was with paper drawings -- I've strongly suggested to my son that he do 2-D stop motion and he's pretty firmly refusing!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-hi4AYxzCc

Here's what we've learned on this process.

Option 1:  Windows Movie Maker
  • Camera -- make sure it's mounted, take 50+ photo's of individual shots
  • Download onto the computer
  • Pull all photo's into Windows Movie Maker 
  • Add sound via Audacity
  • Add titles
PRO:  inexpensive
CON: quite parent-intensive.

The challenge with the age of our kids is that it's not very easy to see it -- my son likes to take 5 pictures, run it to see how it looks, see which frames his hands are in and delete those, etc.  Plus, he doesn't read.  And he and I both like having him be independent so he doesn't drive me crazy.  So it needs to be simple.  I tried out several other demo's to see what worked well.

I have a webcam attached to my computer and can take photos with it directly from the keyboard.

Option 2:  iKitMovie
Our first attempt (free demo for as long as we could): 
  • iKitMovie (http://www.ikitmovie.com/) -- it has almost no reading, lots of sound clips, logs of drag and drop, easy to delete, easy to play
  • really suited for a 5 to 6 yo EXCEPT it does not have enough control if the animator wants to do anything more complex so we outgrew this fairly rapidly because my son's trying to do stop motion "like Clark" -- who turned 16 today... (but has some great stop motion movies -- his youtube channel is 103clark -- worth watching some!)
Option 3: Dragon Stop Motion
We used a month long demo for Dragon StopMotion -- which is more complex and much more expensive but does more of what he wants to do (sound's a challenge -- we're using the free audacity program, and today we're probably going to try pulling it into Windows Movie Maker to combine the sound and titles).  The demo allows 50 frames per scene -- hence, all of the 7 second videos on youtube!

Option 4:  ZU3D
This is the one we finally ended up with.  Again, a long demo to try it out. But, it's great for kids to use and has many, many features (except for Star Wars light saber sounds which I've had to search out and manipulate through audacity to use).

Pros:  Easy for kids to use, very intuitive, not too expensive (relatively), allows  titles and credits to be made right in the program (very important, apparently!)
Cons:  Some sound still has to go through audacity



BTW:  For lighting, I know of some GREAT LED lightbulbs that work well for kids doing stop motion close to lamps!   My older son's FIRST Robotics Team is selling some nearly unbreakable LED lightbulbs online  ($5 shipping, regardless of how many you purchase):  http://www.teampyrotech.org/  My son puts them in some inexpensive gooseneck lamps from Target. 
 

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Annotating

My oldest does most of his thinking in his head (probably because of being quite right brained and a serious case of dysgraphia).  Nonetheless, I think one of the skills that will help him further on in life (college, meetings, etc.) is being able to annotate text that is more difficult to read.

Here are some resources to look at this fall that I might want to look at a bit closer:

NC Course of Studies happens to have an outline about annotating text:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/languagearts/secondary/rightdirection2/11annotating

Colorado University outline of what to annotate and what each section means:
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/reading/critread/pop5b.cfm

A 6-page outline for annotating which included a test with grading scale for annotation -- not sure the link will work but it's a good outline:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CFgQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.birnbaumslearners.com%2Fuploads%2F1%2F4%2F8%2F6%2F1486903%2Fhow_to_annotate_a_text.pdf&ei=TUf-TezVOcTZgQfGgc3wCg&usg=AFQjCNHjESeKR11bnSSZxfrUml4TLE-U_Q&sig2=mN98GJ-Fn9pNQUBS5VkbTA


ACT/SAT Prep classes

Something to consider when it gets closer to SAT/ACT time...

Math Review for SAT/ACT
http://www.chalkdust.com/satrevout.html


BraveWriter:
http://www.bravewriter.com/program/online-classes/class-list/sat-act/

SAT/ACT Essay Class
Want to beat the odds on the SAT/ACT essay portion of the test? Prepare your kids. The skills they learn here will also translate into the timed writing tests they’ll take over and over in college. Truly, this is a course no high school student should be without.


The SAT/ACT Essay Class is designed for college-bound high school students (10th-12th graders) as preparation for the writing portion of both the SAT and ACT tests. Students write 1-3 essays per week plus special exercises designed to help them succeed in crafting this type of essay. This course trains students to work with their knowledge base (what they already know) while addressing sight-unseen questions.


(NOTE:  Students recommended to take the Research Paper class first:


IEW also has a SAT/ACT essay writing program: High School Essay Intensive
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/hse

This seminar presents tools and tips for tackling the timed opinion-based essay as currently included in the SAT exam, and introduces strategies for writing a well-crafted personal essay for a college application. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the .pdf files for both seminar handouts, as well as several bonus files dealing with other aspects of SAT preparation.


Statement from The College Board, Creator of the SAT Test: "Our own research involving the test scores of more than 150,000 students admitted to more than 100 colleges and universities shows that, of all the sections of the SAT, the writing section is the most predictive of college success..

Highschool Writing Outlines


MLA Research Essay

This course walks high school students (grades 10-12) through the steps of writing a persuasive essay using the Modern Language Association (MLA) format, the most common format used in high school and university research papers. Students will write a 5-7 page persuasive essay with a minimum of five sources used in the paper.
http://www.bravewriter.com/program/online-classes/class-list/mla-research-essay/

Also from Bravewriter:
Highschool Helps (ebook download)




Personal Finance for K-2

As I was looking at materials for a high school Personal Finance class I'm teaching this fall, I glanced throught he  Financial Fitness for Life books targeted for K-2.  It might be a great option to work through with Jm.  It sounds fun -- and covers a lot of topics that he's very interested in.
http://fffl.councilforeconed.org/table-of-contents.php?gradeLevel=K-2

Table Of Contents : K-2 Book
Theme 1: Lesson 1 - A Good Day for Money
The students listen to a short story introducing them to Penny and Nicholas, the "Money Kids." They discuss ways in which people receive money - through earning income or receiving gifts. They are introduced to the concept of human capital (work skills) and the relationship between people's ability to earn income and the education and training they have. The students also produce a paper chain representing ways in which they have received money.
Theme 1: Lesson 2 - Working for Income
The students discuss goods and services that satisfy people's wants, and they construct a spyglass to help them identify goods and services at school. They also construct Busy Town, a model business community. Using a puzzle, they are introduced to the concept of entrepreneurship and its relationship to the resources used to produce goods and services.

etc...

Personal Finance class

This fall I'm going to teach a high school Personal Finance Class.  The idea is to learn about decisions they'll be met with in the next few years.  This will be 8 units, 3 weeks on, one week off, with discussion/field trip/discussion for each topic.  I think it will be a lot of fun.  (Figuring a half credit but the class lasts through the whole year -- not much homework)

Careers/Salaries/Resumes/Applications
  • discuss with career coach
Banks and Credit Unions
  • types of accounts, services
  • field trip to bank or credit union
  • credit
Renting an Apartment/Buying a house
  • including field trip with realtor
Buying a car
  • car dealership, loan
Insurance
  • all types
Taxes
  • 1040 EZ/1040
  • where taxes go
  • other deductions from a paycheck

Health Insurance and other benefits

and other things...

Two resources for this are:

Video: Teaching Reading

An interesting 10 min video about teaching reading and reading comprehension vs. teaching about the world and hooks in life to be able to interpret what is read.
http://youtu.be/RiP-ijdxqEc

Wonder if that's why homeschoolers (who are around adults and many other family interests day in and day out) often score higher on standardized tests...



Monday, July 4, 2011

Educational Philosophy Discussion

We just finished up a 3-month/3-session workshop on Educational Philosophy. Lots of great ideas. The co-facilitator and I both have high schoolers and younger -- but all of the participants of the workshop were homeschoolers (with experience) and their oldest was 5 to 8 yo.

Month 1: What is an Educational Philosophy
-- including what people are comfortable with as far as education and homeschooling
-- and what areas do people feel the most unsure about
-- how do you walk through an educational philosophy, what is the definition of education, what is a successful person

Month 2: Educational Paradigms
We all have lots of educational paradigms that we may or may not recognize. Nature/nurture, providing children with lots of free time versus helping them work within a structure, etc. The ones we recognize we feel strongly about are the ones that provide direction for the type of curriculum we choose, the type of framework we feel most comfortable with. The ones that are not as well defined in our minds are the ones that make us more vulnerable to others' opinions about what works most with them.

You can take a survey about your educational paradigms here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/educational_paradigms


Month 3: Based on your definition of education, what your long term goals are, and your educational paradigms, how do you actually plan out the year? Methods of planning objectives using math as the example were discussed, along with a few sources of organizational forms.

To see handouts and discussions from this workshop, check out the wiki:
http://homeschooltopics.wikispaces.com/

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Decimal Street

Decimal Street:

My sons and I played this a lot while they were 3 to 6 yo — making up stories, moving people around, writing out the numbers (5 0 6).. By the time they approached carrying, they knew the how/why and concept of place value, carrying, etc. They also had Decimal Street pictured in their head for mental math problems.


The Story:

The Units Townhouse holds 9 of everything — 9 toothbrushes, 9 plates, 9 forks, 9 beds… (and the story goes on…). Units come to visit. If too many visitors comes, the Tens Moving Truck (a 10 block) comes down and moves them all over to the Tens Apartment with there are also 9 of everything. If too many 10’s come, the Hundreds Moving Truck takes them to the Hundreds Castle. If no one’s home, Mr. Zero looks after the place — he does not move in! If Units need to go to Disney World, a Ten may need to be moved back to the Units Apartment so enough units are there to go.

Materials:
Revised from Math-U-See and sized for Math-U-See manipulatives (which are great for building with and showing negative as well as positive numbers)

Directions: 
Print the "decimal_street.pdf" file on cardstock, cut out pieces and glue them to a large poster board. Decorate Decimal Street as the child desires.


Enjoy!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Initial Academic Plan for Kindergarten

Very initial look -- off the top of my head!
Of course, many more things to consider for Kindergarten than academics but I haven't planned them out yet.

Reading:

GOAL: 
To move from current level of slowly blending cvc words to:
  • being able to recognize basic level K-1 Dolch words
  • read cvc, cvcv, cv, and several cvcc words
  • continue learning the phonics sounds of each letter and blends (from All About Spelling)
  • want him to feel that he likes reading!
Sources:
Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye
Headsprout (online)
100 Easy Lessons
Leapster Star Wars Reading
Evan Moore Centers:  Phonics and Literacy (both K-1)
Some sight words

Books/Literature:
GOAL: 
To have him enjoy great books, the sound of language, artwork, creating books...

Sources:
Audio books
Magic Tree House
FIAR books


Hand Writing:

GOAL:  Improve handwriting so that it becomes more fluent.  Currently working on numbers and most lower case letters.  (Upper case letters are all recognizable).
Probably need to do a bit on hand position

Sources:
Games for writing
Handwriting without Tears -- manipulatives
LEGO, clay, sand/rice writing, sidewalk chalk, paint

Math:

GOAL:
To continue to explore numbers, quantities, measurements, and relationships between them
Continue to work on time and money
Place value, multiplication and division, writing number equations, functions, patterns, geometry...

Sources:
Evan Moore Math Center (K-1)
Maria's Math Club?
Singapore Math/other workbooks when it's helpful
Decimal Street games
100 chart
Add in some homemade Montessori methods?s

Science/History/Geography:

GOAL:  Explore all topics on a regular basis to get the "hooks" for more indepth learning later on.  Might be interesting to do 2 week units on topics -- alternating between Science and History?  Maybe a "theme of the 2 weeks" to focus all reading/internet videos/activities/games on...

Options:
Life cycles
Space
Magnets
Electricity
Water
Sink/float

Egypt
Greece
Rome
Vikings
Great Wall of China
Medieval Knights/Castles
Renaissance

Other:
Building
Animation
Tae Kwon Do?
Bicycling
Yoga?

Initial Plan for 10th Grade

Current plan (and this could definitely change!  I'm at the "extremely optimistic" phase!):

Literature/English/History/American Civics (2 credits):
English (Literature/Composition) and History will focus on American History and Civics.  The following sources will be used in combination to cover the topics.
The Great American Bestsellers:  Books that Shaped America
Institute for Excellence in Writing:  US History-Based Writing Lessons Civil War to Present
Connect the Thoughts:  History VII - American Civics—An Owner's Manual
Thinkwell's American Government

Geometry (1 credit):

Math-U-See Geometry

Biology (1 credit):
Pre-College Course in Hands-On Biology by the Contemporary Science Center
Supplemented with the following texts/study guides
Thinkwell's Biology
Campbell's Biology:Concepts and Connections

Spanish II (1 credit)
TBD

Electives
  • Game Design (1/2 credit)
    • 2D and 3D game design
  • Personal Finance (1/2 credit)
  • Physical Education (1/2 credit)
  • Basic Engineering (CAD, Programming, ME, Robotics)
  • Basic Business (marketing, graphic design, public speaking, presentations, meetings)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Montessori Materials Links

An excellent blog about making your own Montessori things at home...
http://homemademontessori.blogspot.com/search/label/math

What are "Grammar Filling Boxes"????
And other discount montessori things...
http://www.alisonsmontessori.com

I really like these number/place value boards
http://www.montessoriland.com/site/1270021/product/ID_%202051

Shiller Math -- look at this a bit and try the first year diagnostic to see where Jm's at or how useable it is:
https://www.shillermath.com/sm3/showitem.php?itemcd=K01-DL5-0408


--

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Unit Study: Star Wars

After my 5 yo has totally immersed himself in all aspects of Star Wars for the past 8 months, I finally decided to write it up in more educationalese so I felt a bit better about the process!

 
Literature:
  • Critical analysis of plot, character and settings – and their consistency across the original movies, Star Wars the Clone Wars, and Star Wars LEGO wii.
  • Exploration of character – is C3PO patient? When does Anakin become angry and is that what made him go to the dark side?

 Reading:
  • From the Wii game: how do you spell each of the special options that need to be turned on and off (“Force Blasters,” “Poo Money,” “Invincibility”).
  • Star Wars Reading for the Leapster: sounds of letters, blending, spelling, sight words.
Science:
  • Discussion of body parts essential to keeping your body alive
  • Life cycles and familial relationships (who is who's mother versus sister versus wife)
  • The difference between a droid and a human.
Social Studies:
  • Weaponry -- who carries what types of weapons and what are the pros and cons of each.
  • Habitats and cultures of societies on various planets.
Math:
  • Comparison of patterns between levels and episodes
  • Calculating how much money it takes to get a new character on a Wii game
  • Star Wars Leapster Math: addition, subtraction, place value, time/clocks
Philosophy:
  • Exploration of philosophy
  • Meaning of peoples' innate tendencies toward good and evil
  • Meaning of life and death
  • When people “turn bad”
  • Why, why was Anakin angry?
  • What is the difference between a droid and a human in terms of what they feel?
Drama
  • Playing Star Wars with friends – each episode and each series, depending on who was alive and whether they were on the good side or the dark side
  • Set design with LEGO's and DUPLO's
  • Performance for Book Club about Boba Fett

Art:
  • Drawing Yoda, various other Star Wars scenes

Music:
  • Singing the Star Wars theme at all times of the day, including 6:45 am as a wake up song.
  • Learning to distinguish by ear between those who “can’t sing Star Wars theme songs” and those who can.

Technology:
  • • LEGO Star Wars Animation using iKitMovie

The requirement of this unit study is 14 hours/day of immersion for several months.

How to create a highschool Nutrition Class

Steps one would go through to create their own highschool class -- using Nutrition as an example:

1.  Look up sample syllabus examples
to see what other courses cover and see if there are some good resources out there -- look at their textbooks, the topics they cover, etc.  Pick and choose...
("nutrition syllabus" = search terms -- can specify high school as well but not as helpful for nutrition -- sometimes helps for other topics)

http://ocw.jhsph.edu/courses/humannutrition/index.cfm
http://faculty.deanza.edu/liechtybarbara/stories/storyReader$105
(plus one attached that I couldn't figure out how to link to)

Look at some university programs:
http://www.ncsu.edu/foodscience/acdprg/u-nutrtn.html

2.  Figure out if you want it to be a full credit
or a half credit (60-80 hours vs. 120-140 hours)

3.  Find a "spine" -- what you use as a basis of topics that you build from or if you want to create your own spine of topics
(remember -- you want to have multiple sources, multiple viewpoints so you get a good perspective of the topic -- not just one book's "bias"):

A textbook?  (search for "nutrition textbook" -- gives a good idea of the main topics -- here's an example but there are lots available)
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Human-Nutrition-Society-Textbook/dp/063205624X

Reviews of nutrition books:
http://www.todays-women-and-health.com/10-nutrition-books.html

Some favorite video or online sources:
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/search/search.aspx?searchphrase=nutrition

Decide if you want to add human anatomy/physiology with it:
http://www.ed2go.com/waketech/online_course/hap/detail/Human_Anatomy_and_Physiology.html

or search for "free online course materials nutrition" and get a list like this:
http://www.nafwa.org/lma/directory/Free_e-Courses/Nutrition/Nutrition.php


4.  Find something to supplement with:

Supplement with videos:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiSearch?oq=nutrition&ac_posn=-1&v1=nutrition

Sciencehttp://www.khanacademy.org/

Field trips:  
NCSU -- here are several faculty involved in their cross-departmental nutrition program:
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/food_science/acdprg/index.html

Duke Sarah W. Stedman Nutrition & Metabolism Center
http://stedman.mc.duke.edu/modules/stedman_about/index.php?id=1

Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.sph.unc.edu/nutr/

5.  Create your own syllabus.  Include a description of what it will take to get a "C," a "B" or an "A."  Maybe a "C" is to read 1 book, watch 3/4 of a DVD course and write watch one movie.  Or an "A" is to complete a 6-week ed2go class on Human Anatomy and Physiology; read 2 popular nutrition books with different perspectives; create a blog with weekly tips/information about nutrition that lasts a minimum of X months or XX blog posts...???   

Get started!  And enjoy!

SolidWorks and Project Based Learning

Project-Based Learning - Making SolidWorks Meaningful to Students
by Elise Moss

A good description about how/why to do project-based learning.  Interesting idea that the students should have 80% of the skills in place in order to pick up the other 20% successfully in the project.  Wonder if it could be more like 60% of the skills?

http://www.solidworks.com/includes/swworld/presentations_/proceedings_display.cfm?sid=24555

Squishy Circuits

Here's a great way to make circuits and talk about conductors and insulators -- by making playdough recipes that conduct and don't conduct electricity.

Very, Very Cool...

http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/index.htm

Earth Science

Prentice Hall Earth Science
Including Guided Reading and Study workbook (0-13-125901-6)
and online resources:
http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?area=view&wcprefix=cuk&wcsuffix=9999

Teaching Company's
How the Earth Works
or
Geology

Lots of options

Thoughts on Co-ops (especially early years)

I've been asked which topics are best for coops and which are best for doing at home -- and I've been pondering that. Now that I'm paying attention to that decision, I have noticed that coop and group learning needs are different for my highschooler versus my almost-kindergartner.

 
In both areas, I guess I look for group learning opportunities to provide things that are positive for the student, it keeps me on track to provide a better quality product in those areas, and makes learning overall more fun for both of us.

 
In the early years, the students have so many social cues they're learning that sometimes learning with 2 to 6 other students their age can provide great learning experiences regardless of the topic.  In the early years, it is much easier to do a coop for supplemental topics where students aren't trying to pick up specific skills -- so it can more easily accommodate different stages of learning and skill level.

 
Social studies, science, art, exploratory math concepts are areas where groups of students can work together without feeling like some are "ahead" of others.
  • Those are areas where I don't put as much effort for Jm as it takes more creativity -- and often more work pulling it together for one student than it takes that student to do.
  • More creativity is required to get the most fun out of it -- again, difficult for me to get motivated to do with one
  • Students learn more about these areas by hearing other students and working with other students

That leaves the more "factual learning" to do at home.

Areas I'm thinking about for coops for Jm this year would be:
Regardless, I'd like to have the units and basic framework spelled out ahead of time -- with expectations clearly laid out for everyone involved. Makes it easier!


Starting Next Fall's Plan for Grade 10

Science:  This year's Chemistry filled a lab requirement but did not adequately cover an Honors level understanding of Chemistry.  Next year, we'll take Glencoe's Chemistry: Matter and Change 1 chapter per week and work through the text, understanding, and problems.  Completing that will mean an Honors Level Chemistry course.

In addition, I think a Biology lab if they're still offering it -- that means that a second year of BIology could be added if this wasn't enough (expensive, though!):  http://contemporarysciencecenter.org/homeschoolbiolabs.html    Here are some interesting hands-on biology classes:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/waldron/

Literature and writing:  We will be losing our marvelous Literature/Writing teacher this coming year.  What to do?  One option is a private tutoring for writing like what a friend is doing (is that available?), or doing an essay class from IEW's materials, or maybe something like EMC's Write In Reader for Grade 10: http://www.emcp.com/product_catalog/index.php?GroupID=862%20

PE:  TKD Black Belt testing occurs in October!  Training will need to be done before that.

History:  Time to add some history -- might be interesting to do a Winter Promise history like...?  We do need to do American History this year or next with the election coming up.

Math... oh, yes, math...


Robotics, goes without saying

Sunday, March 20, 2011

GREAT add-on for dysgraphia

Being in high school now, my son's dysgraphia is causing all sorts of challenges when it comes to algebra and chemistry.  Rewriting a chemical equation to balance it takes long, often brings in more mistakes, and is completely demotivating to him.

From a yahoo group for dysgraphia (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dysgraphia), I found out about this software to make writing math equations, drawing graphs, doing chemical equations and chemical structures much easier:
http://www.efofex.com/

I just downloaded it and it integrates completely into Word.  Click on the add-in, type in chemical equations and it automatically formats to subscripts, arrows,  superscripts, etc.  Amazing!  The graphs, math, and chemical structures also are extremely easy to integrate into a Word document.


To get an annual subscription of the entire program (math, drawing, chemistry), it's approximately $150 US per year but with proof of special needs (letter from a school or, for homeschoolers, qualified test results showing learning challenges -- that we have), my son can download it and use it for personal use free for 10 years.

Extremely cool!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Social Studies Curriculum Meeting

Dayspring Home Educators had a Humanities Curriculum "show and tell" parent meeting this week.  Here's all the great curriculum examples of their social studies curriculum/resources -- including a great list of series for elementary students:

Social Studies

History Curriculum

Trisms: 
·         Reading Through the Ages book list by the era (any age)
http://stores.shoptrisms.com/-strse-22/Reading-Through-the-Ages/Detail.bok (available in ebook)
·         Also have history programs for Middle-High school
http://trisms.com/  
Classical Conversations (in-person local coops)  (K-12)
http://www.classicalconversations.com/
Tapestry of Grace – full curriculum for multiple ages (K-12)
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com
Connect the Thoughts (Current Wars; Free weekly journal) (K-12)
http://www.connectthethoughts.net/
Winter Promise (literature based curriculum:  PreK-12)
http://www.winterpromise.com/
Sonlight (literature based curriculum:  PreK-12)
http://www.sonlight.com/
 

Resources on CD (timeline, maps) (PreK-12)

·         Hold That Thought (CD’s – maps, timeline)
http://www.holdthatthought.com/
·         Uncle Josh’s Outline Maps from Geography Matters
http://www.geomatters.com/products/details.asp?ID=27
·         Historical Timeline Figures by Liberty Wiggers
http://www.geomatters.com/faq/details.asp?PID=172

History spines:

o   The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
o   The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History
o   DK (Dorling Kindersley) – History of the World

Resources for finding books:

o   World History Reading List:  http://www.abookintime.com/worldhistoryreadinglist.html
o   American History Reading List:  http://www.abookintime.com/americanhistoryreadinglist.html
o   Reading Through the Ages book list by the era (any age)
http://stores.shoptrisms.com/-strse-22/Reading-Through-the-Ages/Detail.bok (available in ebook or paper copy)

Preschool-elementary level book examples

o   The Usborne Book of Living Long Ago by Felicity Brooks, Helen Edom
o   Story of the World (Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer)
o   NC Freaks of History (NC curriculum, workshops, field trips)
o   Rats and Bulls and Flying Machines (Core Knowledge)
http://books.coreknowledge.org/home.php?cat=300
o   Around the World in 100 Years by Jean Fritz
(Jean Fritz wrote some great history books:  http://www.biblio.com/jean-fritz~105730~author )
o   Explorers Who Got Lost by Diane Sansevere-Dreher
o   Take it to Your Seat Centers (Geography, etc.) by Evan-Moor
http://www.evan-moor.com/centers

Series of great history books

o   Series:  Chester Comix  (graphic novels)
http://www.chestercomix.com/
o   Series: American Kids in …. Colonial Days, etc.  (list: http://www.homeschoolfcgs.com/product_info.php/cPath/21/products_id/929335)
o   Series: Rookie Biography (many available – Amazon/library)
o   Series: Ingri D’Aulaire (list:  http://www.squidoo.com/ingridaulaire)
§  Benjamin Franklin by D’Aulaire
o   Series: Famous Men… Renaissance and Reformation, Medieval (great short biographies of people with study materials if you want them)
http://www.greenleafpress.com/
o   Series:  Timeline Graphic Novels (eg.Queen NZinga) (several reading levels and many topics)
http://steckvaughn.hmhco.com/en/timeline_home.htm
o   Series:  If You…  Sailed on the Mayflower  (Scholastic) (many topics)
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/search?N=0&isBrowse=Y&Nr=AND%28Collection_ID:WK%29&Ntk=Series_Name&Ntt=If%20You...
o   Series:  Graphic Library from Capstone Press (www.capstonepress.com)
§  And several other series
o   Series:  Horrible Histories (from the UK but available in the US)
§  Original website:  http://horrible-histories.co.uk/
§  US order site:  http://www.horriblebooks.com/
§  Some available at Amazon
o   Series:  You wouldn’t want to be…  an American Colonist
Series titles at:  http://www.mymcpl.org/cfapps/juvser/title.cfm?id=1844

Language Arts Curriculum Meeting

Dayspring Home Educators had a Humanities Curriculum "show and tell" parent meeting this week.  Here's all the great curriculum examples:

Language Arts

PreK-Early Elementary

Five in a Row (Pre-K – 10 yo)
http://www.fiarhq.com/fiveinarow.info/index.html
Happy Phonics – learn to read through games (PreK-2)
http://www.lovetolearn.net/catalog/product/07073
All about Reading: (from All About Spelling) (PreK)
http://www.allaboutreading.com
Take it to Your Seat Centers (Phonics, etc.) by Evan-Moor
http://www.evan-moor.com/centers

Grammar/Vocabulary

Michael Clay Thompson (Gr 3-4 through high school)
http://www.rfwp.com/mct.php (this is a summary by age/topic)
  • ·         Building vocabulary/grammar – SAT focus
  • ·         The Word within the Word (vocabulary)
  • ·         Magic Lens (grammar)

Winston-Grammar (kinesthetic approach to grammar)
http://www.winstongrammar.com/

Writing

Four Square Writing Method:  easy – basis for organizing ideas (Gr 1-9)
Available many places, including Amazon.  This is the Rainbow Resource list:
http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1287784692-90000&subject=7&category=1616
Writing Strands (preK-12)
http://www.writing-strands.com/
The Writer’s Jungle/Bravewriter (curriculum and online 6 week classes) (Gr 3-12)
http://www.bravewriter.com/program/home-study-courses/the-writers-jungle/


Institute for Excellence in Writing – lots of material (now Pre-K through high school)
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/
  • ·         The Elegant Essay
  • ·         Window to the World
  • ·         Excellence in Literature
  • ·         Teaching the Classics
  • ·         Student Writing Intensive
  • ·         Student Intensive Continuation Course
  • ·         Portable wall
  • ·         (not shown:  PAL – for K-2)
Susan Wise Bauer/The Well Trained Mind (K-4)
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/language-arts.html
  • ·         First Language Lessons
  • ·         Writing With Ease (Strong Fundamentals)
Evan Moore Literature Pockets (Gr 1-6+)
http://www.evan-moor.com/Product.aspx?SeriesID=82
Jensen’s Format Writing – good for essay questions at college (Gr 4-12)
http://www.jsgrammar.com/
Write with the Best: Modeling Writing after Great Authors of World Literature (Gr 6-12)
http://www.edudps.com/WWTB.html
Fairview’s Guide to Composition and Essay Writing by Gabriel Arquilevich (high school)
http://www.amazon.com/Fairviews-Guide-Composition-Essay-Writing/dp/0964904217
Bringing the Classics to Life – CD (abridged) and questions/workbooks (Gr 1-5)
http://www.edconpublishing.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=41_14

Spelling Resources

Sequential Spelling (AVKO) (kinesthetic/dyslexia)
http://www.avko.org/sequentialspelling.html
Dr. Fry’s Spelling Book (high frequency words) (Gr 1-6)
http://www.amazon.com/Spelling-Book-Words-Needed-Phonics/dp/1576907503
All About Spelling (all the learning styles – kinesthetic, auditory, visual)  (Gr 1 - ??)
http://www.all-about-spelling.com/

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

High School Chemistry Resources

Top Ten Reasons to Take Chemistry

10) It's fun to say "Erlenmeyer"
9) If your parents ground you, dissolve their car!
8) Mr. Guch's Chili Recipe!
7) Colleges like it more than "Basketweaving 101"
6) It makes you look smart, like what's his name, that physics dude in the wheelchair
5) Find out what's in your school lunch!
4) You don't have to mess with dead things like in Biology.
3) Goggles, Goggles, Goggles!
2) You don't have to get all sweaty like you do in P.E.
1) Many major corporations are now asking applicants to balance equations

Textbook:  Glencoe Chemistry Matter and Change (2002/2001 version)
  • Online Quizes/resources by chapter
  • Chemistry: Matter and Change, Student Edition
  • Chemistry: Matter and Change; Study Guide for Content Mastery
  • Solving Problems: a Chemistry Handbook (Matter and Change)

DVD Math supplement
Textbook order goes fairly well with the Teaching Company's Chemistry, 2nd Edition DVD's

Another supplement
For straight forward descriptions, though the title is horrible, Complete Idiot's Guide to Chemistry follows the same rough outline with descriptions of what's going on.

Here are some online worksheets for Chemistry:
http://misterguch.brinkster.net/practiceworksheets.html
and, from the same site, some online tutorials: http://misterguch.brinkster.net/explains2.html
(Check out the Gas Law tips and how to keep them straight -- some very funny stories!)
  • Reaction Worksheets (13): Balancing equations, word equations, stoichiometry, gas stoichiometry, percent yield, reaction types, limiting reagents, redox reactions, solution stoichiometry.
  • Solutions Worksheets (16): Molarity, molality, mole fraction, dilutions, acids and bases, pH, pOH, titrations, weak acids, colligative properties, Ksp calculations, making solutions, pop quiz, like dissolves like.
  • Covalent and Metallic Materials Worksheets (12): Lewis structures, VSEPR, polarity, intermolecular forces, practice test, properties of metals.
  • Naming Compounds Worksheets (9): Naming ionic and covalent compounds, organic compounds, acids and bases.
  • Gas Law Worksheets (8): Combined & ideal gas laws, Boyle's law, Charles's law, Dalton's law of partial pressures, RMS velocity problems, gas stoichiometry.
  • Calculations Worksheets (6): Unit conversions, molar masses, grams-moles-molecules, percent composition.
  • Miscellaneous Worksheets (16): Sig figs, types of solids, phase diagrams, electron configurations, subatomic particles, nuclear reactions, scientific notation, heats of reaction, Le Chatlier's principle, calorimetry, functional groups, first semester review sheet, properties of ionic compounds.
  • Practice Final Exam, Multiple Choice Only - It may not cover everything you did in your class, but it's a start!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

NCSU's Psychoeducational Clinic

NCSU has a full psych-ed testing clinic -- which can test for learning disabilities, processing disorders, dyslexia, working memory problems, etc.  We used them this year for my 9th grader -- a full battery ran $1050 but it also achieved academic testing (Woodcock Johnson) for the year. One pre-meeting, 2 3/4 days of testing, 1 post testing consult.

The person who did the testing for us used to work at Mel Levine's All Minds at a Time and my son was very comfortable with her. End result was a very extensive report with all test results -- and a lot of resources for working with challenges found.  Not for everyone, but when the time's right, this is a good place to check out.

http://psychology.chass.ncsu.edu/pss/facilities/clinic/

Dysgraphia resources

The typical accommodations for dygraphia are:
  1. permission to do all work on a laptop
  2. permission to mark answers in the test booklet (not on Scantron sheets)
  3. often extended time (double or time and a half, depending)
  4. if he has poor spelling then points not taken off for neatness and incorrect spelling on work completed in-class.

There's software that can help, including the FX Math/Science package for doing math problems, graphs, etc. This is available free to special needs kids from http://www.efofex.com.

Another resource is:  http://www.handwriting-solutions.com . Susanne Hutchinson is the owner of this company. Information is on the website, they have a resource book, and they'll do a phone/internet consultation to develop a set of recommendations.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Phonics File Folder Games

File Folder Fun.com
http://www.filefolderfun.com/KindergartenPhonics.html

Space Rhymes File Folder GameThis is a rhyming game for children who are working on early phonics skills.  Children read
the word on the rocket ship and match it to the correct planet.


Shamrock Phonics File Folder GameThis is a phonics game for children who are working on early sight word recognition.
Children read the word on the shamrock and place it in the correct rainbow pocket.  There is
lots of room here to decorate your folder in a fun way...think glitter and rainbow stickers!