Homeschooling the High Schooler
4-H Camp T-shirt Contest Winner!
15/01/10 16:24
Here is a shot of my awesome son, Noah. He won the Louisiana Camp Grant Walker T-Shirt contest with his drawing and slogan. All three kids entered the contest, and the judge said that theirs also made finals. Great job, Noah! I'm proud of you!
I encourage all homeschool families to consider 4-H. You can learn more about 4-H on my CHEF 4-H page. It is a great venue for the children to learn competition, speaking skills, and leadership opportunities. The project books can be done as unit studies and the kids love them! There is something for everyone, from photography to fashion, to of course, livestock. The involvement is minimal compared to other clubs, and there are also opportunities for the children to serve their community in volunteer projects.
COOL SITE!!! Legistalker
14/11/09 19:35
Now, we have an awesome opportunity to keep up with our legislators in one easy place! This is really cool for your children who are keeping track of their congressmen and senators in government class.
The paragraphs below are from the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Blog:
Legistalker is a wonderful site for keeping track of members of Congress and the Senate. The site accumulates references to politicians that appear in news stories, on YouTube, also their twitter feeds and the appearance of their names on bills. Click the headline to go straight to the original full story.
Legistalker is easy to use and you can add specific politicians to your ‘watch list’ so you don’t have to search for them each time. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds for automatic updates. It’s a great way to stay informed! Read More...
Book review: DRIVE
09/11/09 14:56
Book review: Drive: 9 ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve by Janine Caffery
This is an awesome book! I borrowed it from the local library, and there is a link to Amazon if you need it. This book is about re-evalutating how you parent your children, in order to create children who not only want to move out and be adults one day, but who also have a motivation to succeed at life (not necessarily in financial terms).
The book begins by giving a history of Ms. Caffrey’s background and why she is qualified to write such a book. Then it goes into the state of our culture, and how we have raised a generation of children who have no drive or motivation. Isn’t that the truth? Her basic premise is that we have raised children who never feel discomfort and so they do not feel any need to get out of the nest. They are content to sit around and do nothing. She brings to light much of the plight of parents and illustrates exactly what we are doing to create these problems in our children. What an eye opener!!!
Next, there is a survey to pinpoint exactly where you are at parenting a child who has drive. I did pretty good, but knew there were some things I would need to work on to help my children succeed.
The book then goes into detail about 9 different strategies you can use to develop motivation in your children. I really woke up to these. I won’t go into detail about the strategies, because you owe it to yourself and your children to read this book.
Here is an excerpt from Oprahselects: Drive: 9 ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve by Janine Walker Caffrey
The quality of drive provides the momentum for a person to dream and achieve, creating a unique, independent life. Without it, a person is like a rudderless boat, drifting around a flat lake. In Drive, nationally renowned educator Dr. Janine Caffrey shows how to inspire your children and develop this vital characteristic. How do I get my child excited about learning? To enroll in a good college? To move out of the house? To create his own life? Designed to assist parents, educators, and counselors to get kids of all ages off the couch and into the world, Drive outlines nine specific steps proven to beat boredom and foster self-motivation and resourcefulness. Filled with quizzes, anecdotes, and practical strategies, Drive helps parents turn “Generation Me” into “Generation Move.”
Bottom line: what did I learn and work on changing?
1. Assignments in school take precedent over appointments whenever possible. I often get into the habit of running a few errands when I’m at an appointment, which takes away valuable school time. I make excuses about already being out, and about how bad traffic is after school, and then I’m upset when the kids don’t finish school! It is an easy trap for us.
2. Punishment should be swift, severe and complete. I often threaten until I turn purple, and then punish so much that it messes up all our lives. “You’re grounded forever!” Well, that was practical. I now understand to punish completely and not to take away something for a long period of time.
3. Let my kids fail. I want to catch them and heal them and protect them, and I have not let them fail enough. I watched my son cook quesadillas for the first time last week, and he made a mess and flipped one and saw the consequences of it being flipped too fast. He stomped around mad, but he corrected it himself. Sounds silly now, but at the time, I wanted to rush in and take over.
4. More let my kids fail, sort of. I try to teach the kids critical thinking, rather than giving them the answer, but I may have not succeeded so well with the 3rd child. Myself, as well as the older kids, easily step in and give him the answers. He now says, “How do I do this?’ handing you the paper and watching you do it for him. It is insidious, and I need to be more aware and let him think problems through rather than giving him the answer.
5. Allow my children to make more daily decisions. Give them more freedom to mess up and choose their own path, even if it is an inconvenience.
And I’m not even finished with the book!!! Seriously, I also learned to apply it to my marriage: don’t rush in to do something for your spouse just to help them out. Step back and let them do it themselves occasionally. They will be blessed by it.
I have a long way to go, but every day is an opportunity!
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Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1
26/01/09 19:27
http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/
We began Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 last week. In the course of my 7th grader’s homeschool “career,” we have used 3 math texts. We started first grade with A Beka, then changed to Saxon in sixth grade. This year, he completed Saxon 8/7 early, and for the first time I realized he was not bad at math! A Beka is a tough program and can get students down, and by fourth grade, we were struggling to get any math done at all without whining and balking. We switched to Saxon for 2 books, 7/6 and 8/7, and did wonderfully! The books are great, but this is not a Saxon review.
I was going to put my son into Saxon Algebra 1/2, but I decided to take a leap and have him take the placement tests for Teaching Textbooks. Some of my friends do TT, but I always cringed at the price. I figured when my child reached the point of needing Algebra, I’d better get him a curriculum that provides a bit more support. Until then, I could make it with less expensive options. I could “relearn” Algebra, but who has the time? Besides, I could use the program for my next 2 children. So, my DS takes the pre-algebra placement test and flies through it. Takes the Algebra 1 test and flies through it, too. When I pick myself up off the floor from shock, I give my DS the Algebra 2 test. Not so great. So, I bought the Algebra one set and off we went!
Okay, enough about me, let’s talk text. The text is divided into 129 lessons, sub-divided into chapters for testing purposes, and 17 tests. No speed drills or Investigations like Saxon. Each lesson has a lecture, practice problems and a problem set. They go quickly and are easy to digest. If your child needs it, there is a set of CDs that cover the lecture, each practice problem, as well as the problem set. You also get a solution manual with answers to all practice and problems, and tests with answers. There is also a CD that has the walk-through of each test question. Very comprehensive.
We have only completed a few lessons, and they are going well. I introduced each item in the Algebra 1 package to my child, and walked him through what a typical math lesson would be like. I only need to interact with him for a few minutes while I call out the answers to the daily math lesson. He checks his missed problems and determines if it is his error, or a lack of understanding. Easy!
The only thing I have not seen is extra problems. I did not see any supplemental exercises on their site, either. In my 9 years of homeschooling, I have only used extra practice 3-4 times, so I doubt it is a big deal.
Oh, and for you (wonderfully enlightened) Mac users, the CDs work on a Mac. They are flash driven, so everything works wonderfully.
Overall, I am very pleased with TT. I think it is a great transition from Saxon. I plan to put my younger ones in Saxon from 4th grade to 7th grade, and then transition them from there to Teaching Textbooks. My reasoning is two-fold and money driven. First, I already have 2 Saxon sets to use with my next 2, and second, I see no need to spend such a large amount of money for math that I am capable of teaching them. When we get to higher math such as Algebra, that’s the point I need some help, so it’s a great place to transition to TT.
One of the things my DS finds hilarious are the problems they give you. They make up the funniest work problems. “The hippos back was so filthy that 1/4 of the parasites voted to migrate. If 126 parasites voted to migrate, how many parasites were there in total?” TT makes algebra at least a little fun.
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