Wednesday, July 13, 2011
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
http://fffl.councilforeconed.org/table-of-contents.php?gradeLevel=K-2
Table Of Contents : K-2 Book
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...
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
Health Insurance and other benefits
and other things...
Two resources for this are:
Careers/Salaries/Resumes/Applications
- discuss with career coach
- types of accounts, services
- field trip to bank or credit union
- credit
- including field trip with realtor
- car dealership, loan
- all types
- 1040 EZ/1040
- where taxes go
- other deductions from a paycheck
Health Insurance and other benefits
and other things...
Two resources for this are:
- Financial Fitness for Life (highschool)
- Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers: A Parent-Friendly Curriculum for Teaching Teens to Handle Money, Live Moral Lives and Get Ready for Adulthood, 2nd Edition by Barbara Frank
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...
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/
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!
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:
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?
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!
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?
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