tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54634972024-03-07T17:25:50.625-06:00SCHOOL @ HOME10 hands. 10 feet. But just one beat of our common heart.Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.comBlogger1861125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-32813085532672688432014-08-26T07:21:00.002-05:002014-08-26T07:21:27.313-05:00A New Era This week Maria starts high school not homeschooling. Weird to think the first day of "school" came when she was 15 years old. Still she will not walk the halls of a traditional high school, instead we have found a non traditional path for our very non traditional student :) She will learn under highly qualified professors with intellectual peers in an online environment for gifted students. <br />
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Looking back over the years I have truly enjoyed homeschooling her but I always knew that I would "know" when it was time to be done. She always said - "I will homeschool until college" but I think I knew deep down inside there was no way I would be capable of accomplishing that, as bright as I am - she is brigher :)<br />
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We spent the past few years being creative and outsourcing individual classes as needed, this worked for awhile but slowly I think we all realized she needed more. Not wanting to jump straight to college, which she honestly would be ready for academically we needed to find alternative solutions. We still live by our "life in balance" mentality here and all of us want her to have a more normal college experience and not rush the social maturity piece. This gives us hope as a positive compromise and step in her academic life. Will report back at the end of the year :)<br />
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I still have Ciaran and Sirah at home on our journey together, this year in 8th and 5th grade though typically working ahead in most class areas - with some outsourced high school level classes for Ciaran. Homeschooling has changed for us over the years but there are certain elements that always remian the same. We are committed to finding the best fit and maintaining the flexibility for our learners to help them become life long learners - that means changes every year and holding loosely to some elements while tightly to others. <br />
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Recently I took the kids to a working farm near us - and the older two thought I wanted them to be five years old again because I brought them. I think they believed I was trying to relieve the "glory days" of homeschooling with them. In reality I was not, I was bringing Sirah at the perfect age for her to enjoy and learn and they had to come along on the older end - when she came along she was too young to remember. I tried to encourage them to find new things to learn or new ways to look at it - instead of thinking I was making them be five again - they tried but I think they are just not there yet. Like CS Lewis said "Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again" - right now we are in the middle where they feel too old - to be expected I suppose. But it won't stop me from doing what is needed :)<br />
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I look forward to this year and all that it may bring - it will be exciting to see the growth in each of them and to be part of the process for a little longer.<br />
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Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-69298026202040713042014-07-11T09:39:00.001-05:002014-07-11T09:39:12.449-05:0017 songs for 17 years!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is a different post - one for my husband - a playlist to celebrate 17 years<br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-70955881616137952472014-02-26T07:54:00.002-06:002014-02-26T07:54:24.323-06:00Why Study Skills Matter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As many of you know in addition to homeschooling my kids I now tutor students for the ACT (college entrance test), Study Skills, and College Readiness. One of the things that still continues to surprise me is how unprepared students are for taking major tests and managing their time and study habits. I work with students of all academic abilities and from a wide variety of schools and VERY few have developed good study skills. Some feel they don't need it, others feel it is a waste of time, some want to do better but don't know how to start, and teachers have little time to teach it in the classroom. I don't blame teachers, they have a hard job in front of them right now, and developing study skills is not possible given all they have to teach. I do blame the schools though, every freshman in high school should be required to take a study skills class, if not taken in junior high. <br />
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Growing up I had a Catholic school education and a very good one at that. I recall a large part of my freshman year was devoted to study skills. Our teachers required us to learn how to take notes, outline, plan assignments ahead of time, and manage our time. We took classes that helped us learn vocabulary, Latin roots, and how to read texts efficiently. Maybe it wasn't a separate class, perhaps it was just incorporated into every class, but I know it was a large part of my high school education and it was ingrained in me. At the time I probably did not like or appreciate it but as an adult I have come to realize what an advantage that gave me and I try to pass it on to as many students as possible. <br />
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Some students are "natural' test takers, others never seem to "need" to study and manage to get by without developing study skills. This will catch up with them in college, or later in life when they are trying to balance a job and all the time management skills they need. I actually find my students who have to work at developing study skills and take the time to invest in them are better prepared for college then some of the "naturals" who just believe everything will always be easy for them. If you have one of these "naturals" I encourage you to require them to learn the skills and develop them now even when they feel they don't need them - because some day they will and others will have them in place and be prepared. <br />
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If you have a student who struggles with tests, time management, assignment completion, or school/works/sports/social balance it is even more important for them to learn these skills as soon as possible. Once they get the study skills and time management in place everything else has a tendency to improve as well. I often get asked where can I go to develop these skills? If you have a class in your area or a good tutor some time with them will be well worth your investment. If not, the internet does offer a lot of resources. Below are a list of the most important skills your student needs and a few ideas about how to develop them. You can start working these skills around the age of 12 and they should be well in place by the time they are 15-16 years old.<br />
<ol>
<li>Time Management </li>
<li>Organization of Supplies </li>
<li>Assignment Management</li>
<li>Homework Contracts </li>
<li>Note Taking in Class</li>
<li>Note Taking from Textbooks</li>
<li>Study Aid Building </li>
<li>Studying and Practicing for Tests </li>
<li>Short Term Goals and Rewards</li>
<li>Long Term Goals and Rewards </li>
</ol>
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<b>Time Management</b></div>
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This is first and most important learning the importance of time management, not just as it relates to school but to overall life balance. Teach your student to use a calendar and to plan atleast two weeks out at a time. Consider all the things a student balances including: homework, sports practice and competition, work schedule, social schedule, church, and other obligations. Many students prefer calendars on their phone or mobile device to a paper calendar. These offer students the convenience of always having them with them and they can sync with parent and team calendars if you use something like google calendar. The <a href="http://pomodorotechnique.com/" target="_blank">Pomodora technique</a> can be a good starting place for many people struggling with time management.<br />
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<b>Organization of Supplies </b></div>
Students should be encouraged to use an organizational system that works for their brain, not their parents. Some parents love folders and bins while their student loves binders and shelves. The specific organizational choices are not important, what is important is that some are made and kept up with. The more ownership a student has in this process the more likely they are to follow through with using it. I find most junior and senior high students either prefer a single binder with subdivisions or a separate notebook and folder for each subject. Consider having a long term homework storage folder on their desk at home so they don't need to keep a years worth of paper in their binder or notebook. I find <a href="http://www.staples.com/Staples-Accordion-Letha-Tone-Expanding-Files-Letter-1-31-Index-Each/product_119107?cid=PS:GooglePLAs:119107&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=26-307361299-2" target="_blank">these</a> work very well for long time storage - you tape a piece of paper to the front and write what is in each number. One of these could last a student through most of high school.<br />
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<b>Assignment Management</b><br />
Students need to learn how to manage lengthy assignments without procrastination. Many high school teachers try to help them plan with deadlines along the way (resources, thesis, outline, first draft, final draft, etc). These are important habits to develop and should start around the age of 12. In addition to balancing a single long term assignments students need to learn how to manage multiple assignments at the same time with pre-planning instead of tyranny of the urgent dictating their schedule. I find a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sZHbScp_NKkHZgxBQ2iC8oBoZZhIjm17VzcJGpHIMqQ/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">simple table</a> that shows all the subjects and then two weeks worth of due dates is a simple easy way to visually see all your upcoming assignments and help you plan. Students should list all tests, quizzes, major assignments, and anything that has to be handed in. This works much better for most students than flipping through a calendar and trying to visualize when each thing is due - students who work from a planner tend to look at the next day and maybe two days out when doing homework. Students who can see two weeks ahead can start to plan better.<br />
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<b>Homework Contracts</b><br />
Homework contracts are a proactive way to teach your student to take control of their schedule and time. I use these with my study skills students to help them pre-plan their homework. Students look at their schedule on Saturday or Sunday for the following week and then agree to set aside a certain amount of homework time for the week and pre-plan WHEN they will do homework and how much they will do each day - BEFORE they have all their assignments for the week. How does this work? Well Maria says on Saturday I have swim team every day for two hours, I want to go out on Thursday and I have an event Wednesday night. I will likely have about 10 hours of homework so she plans no homework on Thursday or Wednesday so she knows she has to fit in 10 hours on the other days - she does not like doing homework on the weekend so she plans for 3 hours of homework on Monday, Tuesday and Friday with one hour on Saturday. Another student might plan a different schedule. The key is on Monday night when she has finished her homework due on Tuesday in just 1.5 hours she has to keep working for another 1.5 hours on homework due later in the week since she will not be doing anything on Wednesday or Thursday. Students fill in the squares on the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S7xdlC4AFEsgQaI74UlqZE2mSHJPyDmwHJITXyMunEY/edit" target="_blank">contract</a> for the number of hours they will do each day and share it with their parent and/or tutor for accountability. The idea behind this is the student is more in control of WHEN the homework gets done by working ahead and in the times that work best for them rather then the tyranny of the urgent. At first a student may resist but<br />
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<b>Note Taking in Class </b><br />
It is important students learn how to take notes in the classroom. Many teachers are now better about giving handouts and powerpoints to students which has led students to abandon the art of taking notes. This is not helpful for the student in the long run, even though it feels like it is improving their circumstance in the immediate class. Students need to know how to take notes in their own words and to pay attention to what the instructor thinks is important. Students can still use the handouts the teachers give them when studying but they need to avoid relying on the printed notes and learn to take their own notes to train themselves for college and for classes where instructors are not so generous with the notes. I like the <a href="http://lsc.cornell.edu/LSC_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf" target="_blank">Cornell method</a> of notetaking and recommend it for all of my students. Cornell notes offer pre-made study aids and the student is doing double duty when taking notes - learning and pre-making study aids that make it easier to study for the tests later. Just like organization the notes must be done in a way the student likes and will follow through with. However, I do typically push Cornell on students whenever possible as it seems to be the best for most students in the long run.<br />
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<b>Note Taking from Textbooks</b><br />
Few people learn to take notes from textbooks until college or graduate school and this is unfortunate as it is a powerful learning and studying tool. I teach my own children this helpful habit in 7th grade and I generally teach high school freshman I tutor this. Students who take AP classes with this habit in place have a huge advantage as they know how to manage large amounts of reading and filter out the most important parts. I have students use the Cornell method again for note taking from textbooks and often have them work with a timer so they learn how many minutes it takes to outline a typical section or chapter in a textbook. This helps them plan how long it will take to do this when doing homework. I teach students to pre-read and then read and take notes at the same time, then review the notes daily (in less than 5 minutes a class) to best prepare for a class. Students who develop this habit at an early age tend to handle complex classes with much more ease and less stress than students who do not have this habit in place.<br />
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<b>Study Aid Building </b><br />
I have mentioned study aids several times in the note taking section. I am a believer in study aids, especially homemade ones that are based around what you need help remembering. Clean, easy to read notes done in the Cornell system are pre-made study aids that are very nice and easy to work off of. When teaching my son to build these I had him read a chapter in his Chemistry textbook and time himself. Then we did the notes together and I had him time himself reading over his important notes, which covered all the main important facts from the chapter. He realized reading the chapter in a college level textbook took him about 30-40 minutes. Reading his notes took about 5 minutes total. This made him a believer in the value of notes. When it comes time to study for a unit test covering 5 chapters instead of looking at 2-3 hours of reading to review he is looking at 25 minutes to review only the most critical information and it is easy to digest. Some other useful study aids are vocab column sheets. Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half or draw a line down the middle. Write the word on one side and across from it the definition. Then the next - by leaving these in columns instead of word - definition you have an easy to use study aid. You can take another sheet of paper and cover the definition to test your skills. Then you can cover the word and read the definition and test your recollection. For most students these sheets are more effective than the flashcards I used growing up and they are easy to create as you read your textbook and notebook. Just keep one sheet for all vocab in the class through the year. Whatever study aids you build you should review them daily and weekly for maximum effect.<br />
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<b>Studying and Practicing for Tests </b><br />
All these good habits won't help if your student will not learn to study and practice for exams. Part of why students balk at studying is it seems tedious and time consuming. The easier and more streamlined they can make the process the more they will do it. Studying should be done in frequent short bursts rather than major cramming sessions. Reviewing the notes and study aids each day for about 5-10 minutes a class is the most effective way to accomplish this. Then when it comes time to "study" for the test students discover they already "know" so much because their brain has been reminded of it each day. Some tests lend themselves to "practicing for", the ACT is a perfect example of this as are AP tests. Other tests require studying and comparing facts and information and being ready to synthesize it all together on the test. Students may resist this at first but after they learn they really can accomplish a lot in 10 minutes they are much more prone to continue doing so. <br />
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<b>Short Term and Long Term Goals and Rewards </b><br />
Some people will disagree with what I am about to say next but I am a firm believer in it. Life works with a system of rewards and penalties for us as adults and for young children so why do we not feel that is appropriate for our students? I recommend teaching your student to have both short and long term goals and to set out rewards for accomplishing them. I understand the philosophy of "the only reward needed for hard work is the satisfaction of a job well done" but in my experience it does not motivate pre-teens and teenagers - rewards do. <br />
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Sit down together and encourage your student to have some goals that can be accomplished in the following time frames: one week, one month, one semester, one school year. Most students can not think of tangible goals past a year at a time. Goals should follow the SMART pattern that businesses employ: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound. They should then have an equally weighted reward associated with them. So don't commit to an ipad for a week long goal :) Some ideas to get you started. <br />
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Goal: I will follow and meet the conditions of my homework contract this week<br />
Reward: You will receive an extra hour of screen time each day next week<br />
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Goal: I will hand in all assignments by the due date this month<br />
Reward: You will receive a movie date with mom/dad<br />
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Goal: I will get all B's or above this semester<br />
Reward: You will receive $5 per B and $10 per A if condition met - if any grade fall belows a B you receive nothing for any grade.<br />
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Goal: I will receive a 4 or 5 on all AP exams<br />
Reward: Whatever you feel appropriate. <br />
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These are not magic ideas or rewards and your child may not like them. Work with your child to develop reasonable goals and rewards that make sense to both of you. Rewards are good and meaningful when they are set from the beginning and worked toward as a goal. This is how life works for adults, so why not teenagers who are learning to be adults?<br />
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<b>Final Thoughts </b><br />
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Pick one or two items from the list above and start working on them with your student. I also encourage you to have them read my post themselves and to take ownership of this process. Most students do not want to do this at 12-14 years old but they are very trainable at this age and having good habits in place before they are 15-16 is very important and they will appreciate it and do it seamlessly when many of their other peers are struggling. These organizational skills apply well beyond high school into college, graduate school and even the workplace. <br />
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Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-14400463877648182722014-02-26T05:55:00.001-06:002014-02-26T05:55:15.668-06:00Time is FunnySerona asked me the other day if I still blog and I said "No, I don't have time anymore." He said "Yes you have time." It got me to thinking, I suppose I still have the same amount of time but I regularly choose to fill it with different things these days. <br />
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I think back to years ago when I was publishing our monthly reading lists and people asked how I could possibly read that much aloud to my kids and I kept thinking "How could I not, why does this seem so hard to people?" Now I look back and realize it was all about prioritization. Reading aloud to my kids was my highest priority and the one thing I always said Yes! to. Now they all read on their own and I am so thankful for that time we had together. <br />
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I started reading a book aloud for Sirah this week. I will often read the first chapter of a new book aloud for her. She gets more interested in the book this way and feels more comfortable with the names and vocabulary and rhythm of the book after just listening to one chapter. I started reading The Candyshop Wars aloud and my other kids soon trickled in, even though they are 12 and 14 and have both read the book. We sat there for two hours with them just listening to me read aloud and them begging at the end of each chapter for just one more. It made me realize read alouds have always been important to them as well and still are.<br />
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Life is different now to be sure. The demands of high school Chemistry, Algebra 2, fiddle, mandolin, art lessons, competitive swim team, church and friends all seem to pull on my kids and my driving schedule. I also work outside the home now, well over 20 hours a week sometimes approaching 30. Life is busy and time seems different. <br />
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Today I woke at 4:30am - very unusual for me - and could not fall back asleep. So here I am taking a minute to touch base here. Yes I am busy but this blog will always be a part of me - even when time is funny. <br />
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I hope you find time to prioritize whatever is important to you today and never forget to Kiss those babies!<br />
Tenniel<br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-29554118023695826292013-12-20T09:38:00.003-06:002013-12-20T09:38:54.891-06:00When the World Changes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is funny I never fully shut the door on this blog. I am sure no one reads it anymore as it has been almost a year in between posts, still I feel the need to write today. The world has changed for us. It was not an earth shattering change. It was a change of gradual increments, like the frog in the pot. It was a natural change, a normal change, a good change in its own, a sad change in others. <br />
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As I thought about our Christmas presents to our kids this year I realized this will be the first toy free Christmas. You could argue books, electronics and music are the toys of the pre-teen and teen I know. Still, this year there will be no blocks, dolls, legos, and little plastic toys of the year under our tree. I suppose that is a sign of the change. My kids are growing up. <br />
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My son asked me this week if I felt time goes too fast. I said no but many people do. As much as I am a bit sad about the gradual change I know it is the normal process and I am excited for all the other changes it brings. This morning my youngest daughter played the mandolin for me and her beautiful art canvasses hang on our walls and I realized the world has changed. In a good way. In a natural way. I don't feel time has passed me by because we have been on this journey together trying to enjoy each moment. This is part of why this blog is defunct. My time is spent in other moments.<br />
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We still homeschool. The lessons are different, no more letter of the week and nature walks, now it is replaced with private spanish, math, art, and music tutoring. We drive to Chemistry, gym and a lengthy list of outside classes. We still read history aloud, we still do math, reading and writing but it all looks different than when we began. I don't know that I have advice anymore beyond this. <br />
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Meet the needs of your kids. Listen to them and find what they need. Then provide it. <br />
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This may not look as you expect. For instance, we had been paying for science and spanish classes for awhile but never art or music, until our youngest. When she asked for professional grade art supplies for Christmas and a mandolin for her birthday and nothing else we knew it was time. She has private instructors for both and she is thriving. The picture at the top is her latest creation under her tutor, she is 10 years old. <br />
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We are working on staying out of the box and meeting their needs while still providing the best education for each of them. It looks so much different than I expected. We have hit bumps and challenges along the way. I have gone back to working in the evenings and that has brought its own set of challenges and changes but overall we are still doing well.<br />
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I always tend to reflect this time of year. As I close the book on junior high for one and enter high school record keeping years I am thankful for all the stress free, pressure free years we had to explore. I am determined to keep that philosophy into the high school years as well even as the demands and requirements increase. With several high school credits under her belt Maria has plenty of room for exploration and unique opportunities even as she continues to fulfill requirements. Looks like homeschooling high school is a reality with another shortly on the way. Ciaran is in seventh grade and starting his own high school work already so we can keep the pacing reasonable and interesting in high school itself. Sirah is still in elementary school and I need to remember to do things like the science museum and those nature walks even as I balance the needs of junior and senior high. It is good for us all to go back to those very important experiences and just be in the moment. <br />
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Maybe I have kept this blog around to reread for myself, to remind myself what is important to us in education and more importantly in life. We always said "Start with the end in mind" and we want them to love learning and be life long learners. Even in homeschooling it is easy to lose sight of those goals with another class to run to and another place to be. Still it is important to reflect and make sure you are still doing what you set out to accomplish and adjust along the way. <br />
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If you still stumble upon this blog, may you be blessed by what you find in it. Take what works, leave the rest and find your own journey. It is worth the time. I leave you with a new favorite video of mine, from a precocious 13 year old. <br />
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Hug those babies,<br />
Tenniel<br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-60745657223808322642013-01-12T23:04:00.001-06:002013-01-12T23:09:54.751-06:00Why You Should Read Every Day <img alt="20minutes" class="size-full wp-image-31922 aligncenter" height="873" src="http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/20minutes.jpg" width="654" /><br />
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I find this graphic fascinating and enlightening. I showed it to Sirah today to encourage her to keep up the good progress she has recently made in reading. Our children have to read an hour a day from the time they are good independent readers, usually first or second grade. So if the student who reads 20 minutes a day during the school year reads 1,800,000 words by the end of sixth grade by my calculations (according to their standards) our kids will have read somewhere around 5,400,000 words by the end of sixth grade. It really goes to show you how the numbers add up. I am not sure exactly how accurate their numbers are but I recently did a quick calculation for Sirah as she reads Andrew Clements novels. It appears she reads at a rate of about 33-40 words per minute. Going with the lower number 722,700 words per year for about 5 years would be 3,613,500 and the higher speed an hour a day adds up to 876,000 words per year and 4,380,000 words between second and sixth grade. So the study numbers are not that far off as I imagine the rate per minute would only increase. I have not timed Maria recently but I can not even hazard a guess at how many words she reads over the course of a year and over the course of her education. <br />
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Sirah and I talked about how these numbers can be applied to different skill sets and educational goals. She loves art and swimming and we talked about what these numbers mean for practicing both art and swimming strokes. It was a great conversation starter. Do you encourage your kids to read every day? If not, why not? Do you read every day? If not, why not? Even 20 minutes a day makes a huge difference and you and your kids can start right now. <br />
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Hug those babies<br />
Tenniel<br />
<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-60630695111432249802013-01-02T14:17:00.000-06:002013-01-02T14:17:36.383-06:00Reflections on a Decade of Home Schooling <div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A decade of homeschooling will ring in the year 2013 as will a decade of this blog. When I first started this blog back in 2003 I wasn't really sure why I was doing it. I think only my husband and the kids' grandparents read it. I meant it sort of as a record of our journey through homeschooling. At times it was exactly that, at times it has been a personal record, at times a place for lesson plans and reading lists. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I spent some time back on the first few posts of this blog and I was struck by this one I wrote and how true it still rings today. I wrote this when the kids where 4 and 2 and in the womb the very first month of this blog. I realize looking back how much of who my kids are today was present back then. They have grown and matured, as have I, still much is the same: their current learning styles, their unique interests and approach to life were in part obvious back then. From June 2003</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="header" style="background-color: #fff1e2; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">The early days... </span><span style="background-color: #fff1e2; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> Before I started formally thinking about homeschooling I've always been teaching my kids both informally and in more formal ways as was age appropriate. My first was subjected to so much in utero as I was finishing my masters degree in Communications Studies and coaching intercollegiate debate throughout almost my entire pregnancy. Serona's favorite early baby pastime was reading science fiction and fantasy books out loud to her while she laid on his chest. Then we moved across country and I found myself at home with a very young child as my only companion and I talked to her and with her almost all day long and not in baby talk either. We moved through our days together and I explained and labelled everything in her world and mine. When we went to the grocery store, each item we put in our basket was named and described. This is a pepper, it is red, it grows in the ground, etc. This continued and has only gotten more detailed as they got older. Serona thought a good challenge word for her when she was two years old was </span><i style="background-color: #fff1e2; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Anti-disestablishmentarianism</i><span style="background-color: #fff1e2; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> and we are very proud of the fact that at age three she could name her president, senator and governor and recognize them by picture. But the thing is we never saw this as odd, until others were shocked or surprised. </span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: #fff1e2;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">We just always have had the </span><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;">philosophy</span><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> of sharing the world with them and taking them to places others might not take their kids and teaching them by experience. They've been at political rallies, speeches at universities, formal talks by activists and religious scholars, band performances at bars, drama productions, a star wars convention and numerous other "unusual" places to find infants, toddlers and preschoolers. They have done amazingly well and have learned so much from their experiences. They have waved signs on election day and participated in campaigning, they have heard the president and first lady speak in person, and have shook hands with Ralph Nader. Sure they had their moments at some of these events - but overall they were extremely well behaved and received many positive comments from those around us. I can't help but believe that this has contributed to how well adjusted and smart they already are.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: #fff1e2; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">For a long time I just moved through life this way - teaching in the teachable moments and making it very real to them in ways they could understand. When our daughter was three she seemed to need more - her options would have been to go to a "preschool" which in most cases is paying for daycare and play with other kids, or to spend over $500 a month to go to a Montessori or Waldorf program - who actually do teach young children. So we decided just to increase our formal working with her at home. I began more structured (not to structured though - it is me and she was 3 after all) teaching. We picked a letter a day at first and then settled on a letter a week to learn about. We would make lists of words that started with that letter, keep a cardboard box that she filled with things that began with that letter, made collages from magazine cutouts of objects that start with that letter and practice recognizing and reading that letter. We would pick themes to go with the week, A week we visited an apple orchard, made apple pie, apple soup and learned a song about apples. B week we learned about bears and made our kitchen table into a cave and hibernated. C week we watched clouds and read "It looked like spilt milk" and so on the list went. She loved it, we had plans and my son then 1 1/2 started to get interested in it as well and we moved through the days learning and having fun, without too much structure but enough to keep us organized. By three and a half she was really ready to want to start reading on her own and we began trying to foster that desire. </span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: #fff1e2; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">My son is a completely different child with a completely different learning style. He is a very active child and easily bored, he needs hands on experiences and had little patience for sitting still. I found that I could meet both of their needs when "teaching" in the way I did. I could read a book about a subject and then have hands on experiences or objects that my son could learn from. I began to realize that this enhanced and stretched both of their learning styles while meeting the needs of each of them. I would spend more of the hands on time with my son making sure he understood what we were doing then and more of my attention went to my daughter when we focused on more bookish teaching techniques. Yet each was able to get what they needed from the lesson and a bit extra as well. It was and is a very natural combination of teaching and learning for us. </span></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: #fff1e2;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Being a pretty left brained individual I have found it more challenging to teach my younger son - but that is good as it stretches me too and helps us all to have more well rounded experiences. While flash cards and books were very effective in teaching my daughter colors and language - they did very little for my son. However playing with certain toys, letting him touch and see green leaves and oranges and our little cardboard sound box worked very well for him. Music and art and anything physical helps him learn and we utilize that in our life teaching experiences. I have many teachable moments with him playing in the yard that I need to take advantage of and in those moments I really see the advantages of homeschooling as both my kids would be likely lost in the "system" for completely different reasons. My daughter would go largely unchallenged and quickly become bored and my son would be forced to learn in a method that is not conducive to his learning style and would probably be left behind or misunderstood and </span><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;">mislabeled</span><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">. </span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: #fff1e2; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">I am so thankful for these early experiences we have had for they have shown me the benefits that teaching our kids at home can offer our family and has given me the confidence that we have naturally been doing that at home all along. I have learned so much about each of my children and myself through these experiences and that can only serve to enhance our education throughout our lives. As we stand at a crossroads where we are making a choice to "homeschool" I realize that we made that choice a long time ago and that we have been doing it all along, we are just choosing to continue and improve upon that. </span></span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our days are no longer filled with Letter of the Week, colors and preschool activities. Now we have chemistry, fencing, engineering club, and swim team to fill our days. Still it is amazing how much is the same about our approach to education and life. We still find ourselves moving through life taking advantage of the natural teachable moments. It is my job to find and create more of them now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We still choose to homeschool ten years later and I suppose no matter the educational choices we make we will always continue to homeschool. I am thankful for this past decade and all we have learned and discovered together. I look forward to the next decade and all that it may bring. Ten years from now if all goes according to plan our homeschool days will be finished with our youngest in her first year of college :) When I started I certainly did not think I was signing up for two decades of homeschooling but now I can't imagine anything different. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kiss those babies,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tenniel</span>Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-70784482752027039182012-12-13T14:33:00.002-06:002012-12-13T14:33:32.621-06:00September - November Humanities Reading <div class="right uitext">
</div>
<table border="0" class="table stacked" id="books"><thead>
<tr class="tableList" id="booksHeader">
<th alt="cover" class="header field cover">Below is a list of books read for a 20th Century High School Humanities Course. These books were read between the months of September and December of 2012 and deal with the years 1900-1930. More to follow throughout the year. Order is not relevant. </th></tr>
</thead></table>
<table border="0" class="table stacked" id="books"><thead>
<tr class="tableList" id="booksHeader"><th alt="cover" class="header field cover"><br /></th>
<th alt="title" class="header field title"><br /></th>
<th alt="author" class="header field author"><br /></th>
<th alt="date_added" class="header field date_added"><br /></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody id="booksBody">
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_477011837">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5129.Brave_New_World"><img alt="Brave New World" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327865608s/5129.jpg" title="Brave New World" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5129.Brave_New_World" title="Brave New World">
Brave New World
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3487.Aldous_Huxley">Huxley, Aldous</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_477010811">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/188572.The_Complete_Sherlock_Holmes"><img alt="The Complete Sherlock Holmes" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348815538s/188572.jpg" title="The Complete Sherlock Holmes" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/188572.The_Complete_Sherlock_Holmes" title="The Complete Sherlock Holmes">
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2448.Arthur_Conan_Doyle">Doyle, Arthur Conan</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_477010475">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit"><img alt="The Hobbit" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353852111s/5907.jpg" title="The Hobbit" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit" title="The Hobbit">
The Hobbit
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/656983.J_R_R_Tolkien">Tolkien, J.R.R.</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_477010154">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7613.Animal_Farm"><img alt="Animal Farm" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327872845s/7613.jpg" title="Animal Farm" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7613.Animal_Farm" title="Animal Farm">
Animal Farm
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3706.George_Orwell">Orwell, George</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_477000077">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/335052.The_1920s_from_Prohibition_to_Charles_Lindbergh"><img alt="The 1920s from Prohibition to Charles Lindbergh" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348516311s/335052.jpg" title="The 1920s from Prohibition to Charles Lindbergh" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/335052.The_1920s_from_Prohibition_to_Charles_Lindbergh" title="The 1920s from Prohibition to Charles Lindbergh">
The 1920s from Prohibition to Charles Lindbergh
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18573.Stephen_Feinstein">Feinstein, Stephen</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_477000034">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/483696.The_1930s_from_the_Great_Depression_to_the_Wizard_of_Oz"><img alt="The 1930s from the Great Depression to the Wizard of Oz" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348519017s/483696.jpg" title="The 1930s from the Great Depression to the Wizard of Oz" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/483696.The_1930s_from_the_Great_Depression_to_the_Wizard_of_Oz" title="The 1930s from the Great Depression to the Wizard of Oz">
The 1930s from the Great Depression to the Wizard of Oz
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18573.Stephen_Feinstein">Feinstein, Stephen</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999982">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13728614-the-great-depression"><img alt="The Great Depression" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347367213s/13728614.jpg" title="The Great Depression" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13728614-the-great-depression" title="The Great Depression">
The Great Depression
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10715.Melissa_McDaniel">McDaniel, Melissa</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999938">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4671.The_Great_Gatsby"><img alt="The Great Gatsby" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349925337s/4671.jpg" title="The Great Gatsby" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4671.The_Great_Gatsby" title="The Great Gatsby">
The Great Gatsby
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3190.F_Scott_Fitzgerald">Fitzgerald, F. Scott</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999885">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3449896-duke-ellington"><img alt="Duke Ellington" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348343367s/3449896.jpg" title="Duke Ellington" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3449896-duke-ellington" title="Duke Ellington">
Duke Ellington
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15658.Mike_Venezia">Venezia, Mike</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999852">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/608237.The_Long_March"><img alt="The Long March: The Making of Communist China" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266597305s/608237.jpg" title="The Long March: The Making of Communist China" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/608237.The_Long_March" title="The Long March: The Making of Communist China">
The Long March: The Making of Communist China
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10150.Tony_Allan">Allan, Tony</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999772">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2255407.A_Nation_Is_Born"><img alt="A Nation Is Born: World War I and Independence, 1910-1929" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347233742s/2255407.jpg" title="A Nation Is Born: World War I and Independence, 1910-1929" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2255407.A_Nation_Is_Born" title="A Nation Is Born: World War I and Independence, 1910-1929">
A Nation Is Born: World War I and Independence, 1910-1929
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/388257.Sheila_Nelson">Nelson, Sheila</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999577">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3736843-the-causes-of-world-war-i"><img alt="The Causes of World War I" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266875944s/3736843.jpg" title="The Causes of World War I" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3736843-the-causes-of-world-war-i" title="The Causes of World War I">
The Causes of World War I
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10150.Tony_Allan">Allan, Tony</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999523">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112953.Winston_Churchill"><img alt="Winston Churchill: British Soldier, Writer, Statesman" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348412069s/112953.jpg" title="Winston Churchill: British Soldier, Writer, Statesman" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112953.Winston_Churchill" title="Winston Churchill: British Soldier, Writer, Statesman">
Winston Churchill: British Soldier, Writer, Statesman
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/65385.Brenda_Haugen">Haugen, Brenda</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999478">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4933962-notorious-americans---al-capone"><img alt="Notorious Americans - Al Capone (Notorious Americans)" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1267038121s/4933962.jpg" title="Notorious Americans - Al Capone (Notorious Americans)" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4933962-notorious-americans---al-capone" title="Notorious Americans - Al Capone (Notorious Americans)">
Notorious Americans - Al Capone
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/93548.David_C_King">King, David C.</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999373">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3102805-the-wall-street-crash-october-29-1929"><img alt="The Wall Street Crash, October 29, 1929 (Days That Shook the World)" src="http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png" title="The Wall Street Crash, October 29, 1929 (Days That Shook the World)" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3102805-the-wall-street-crash-october-29-1929" title="The Wall Street Crash, October 29, 1929 (Days That Shook the World)">
The Wall Street Crash, October 29, 1929
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/84013.Alex_Woolf">Woolf, Alex</a>
<span title="Goodreads Author!">*</span>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999298">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13248266-the-magnificent-ambersons"><img alt="The Magnificent Ambersons" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1324083086s/13248266.jpg" title="The Magnificent Ambersons" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13248266-the-magnificent-ambersons" title="The Magnificent Ambersons">
The Magnificent Ambersons
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/73021.Booth_Tarkington">Tarkington, Booth</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476999423">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2243313.World_History_Biographies"><img alt="World History Biographies: Gandhi: The Young Protester Who Founded a Nation" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320513597s/2243313.jpg" title="World History Biographies: Gandhi: The Young Protester Who Founded a Nation" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2243313.World_History_Biographies" title="World History Biographies: Gandhi: The Young Protester Who Founded a Nation">
World History Biographies: Gandhi: The Young Protester Who Founded a Nation
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/188003.Philip_Wilkinson">Wilkinson, Philip</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476998311">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31189.Miss_Spitfire"><img alt="Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348345977s/31189.jpg" title="Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31189.Miss_Spitfire" title="Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller">
Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17490.Sarah_Miller">Miller, Sarah</a>
<span title="Goodreads Author!">*</span>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476998230">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10200161-bootleg"><img alt="Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317064369s/10200161.jpg" title="Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10200161-bootleg" title="Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition">
Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/121951.Karen_Blumenthal">Blumenthal, Karen</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476998145">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14313082-prohibition"><img alt="Prohibition" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347519938s/14313082.jpg" title="Prohibition" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14313082-prohibition" title="Prohibition">
Prohibition
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/122382.John_M_Dunn">Dunn, John M.</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476998076">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13728626-world-war-i"><img alt="World War I" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347391278s/13728626.jpg" title="World War I" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13728626-world-war-i" title="World War I">
World War I
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4953782.Josh_Gregory">Gregory, Josh</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476998020">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3849622-the-united-nations"><img alt="The United Nations" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266984159s/3849622.jpg" title="The United Nations" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3849622-the-united-nations" title="The United Nations">
The United Nations
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6673.Stewart_Ross">Ross, Stewart</a>
<span title="Goodreads Author!">*</span>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_476997956">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12479015-titanic"><img alt="Titanic: Voices From the Disaster" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331848906s/12479015.jpg" title="Titanic: Voices From the Disaster" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12479015-titanic" title="Titanic: Voices From the Disaster">
Titanic: Voices From the Disaster
</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14256.Deborah_Hopkinson">Hopkinson, Deborah</a>
<span title="Goodreads Author!">*</span>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407504615">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5471.Nineteen_Eighty_Four"><img alt="Nineteen Eighty-Four" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327892247s/5471.jpg" title="Nineteen Eighty-Four" /></a>
</div>
</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5471.Nineteen_Eighty_Four" title="Nineteen Eighty-Four">
Nineteen Eighty-Four
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3706.George_Orwell">Orwell, George</a>
</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407388056">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117837.Heart_of_Darkness"><img alt="Heart of Darkness" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317686353s/117837.jpg" title="Heart of Darkness" /></a>
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117837.Heart_of_Darkness" title="Heart of Darkness">
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3345.Joseph_Conrad">Conrad, Joseph</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407387999">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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Maria Montessori: Teacher of Teachers
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5680343.Marie_Tennent_Shephard">Shephard, Marie Tennent</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407387956">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8351175-genius" title="Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein">
Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/135558.Marfe_Ferguson_Delano">Delano, Marfe Ferguson</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407387916">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/878924.The_Russian_Revolution" title="The Russian Revolution (20th Century Perspectives)">
The Russian Revolution
<span class="darkGreyText">(20th Century Perspectives)</span>
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10150.Tony_Allan">Allan, Tony</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407387817">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2790802-the-1900s" title="The 1900s">
The 1900s
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/85526.Bob_Batchelor">Batchelor, Bob</a>
<span title="Goodreads Author!">*</span>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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Marie Curie
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/359529.Janice_Borzendowski">Borzendowski, Janice</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407387705">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/933865.Tara_Dixon_Engel">Dixon-Engel, Tara</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1959507.Paul_C_Zanne"><img alt="Paul C'Zanne" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348715532s/1959507.jpg" title="Paul C'Zanne" /></a>
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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Monet
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15658.Mike_Venezia">Venezia, Mike</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_407386910">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/126904.Carla_Killough_McClafferty">McClafferty, Carla Killough</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1438712.The_Jungle" title="The Jungle">
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23510.Upton_Sinclair">Sinclair, Upton</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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Kitty Hawk: The Flight of the Wright Brothers
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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Albert Einstein
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/34121.Ann_Heinrichs">Heinrichs, Ann</a>
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_406406902">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
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<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_406406849">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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Henry Ford: Automobile Manufacturer And Innovator
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_406406759">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_406406560">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_406406520">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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</a></div>
</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_406406610">
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</td> <td class="field title"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><div class="value">
<span title="September 03, 2012"><br />
</span>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="bookalike review" id="review_406406414">
<td class="field cover"><div class="value">
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</td> <td class="field author"><div class="value">
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</div>
</td>
<td class="field date_added"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-75339124653520379992012-08-17T18:39:00.003-05:002012-08-17T18:39:59.205-05:00Making History Interesting to Teens <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b1rLwP0Rf18/UC7QqlXvPNI/AAAAAAAABAk/vaOJ1JuXfVM/s1600/humanities.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b1rLwP0Rf18/UC7QqlXvPNI/AAAAAAAABAk/vaOJ1JuXfVM/s400/humanities.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Maria made the mistake of telling me last year that she does not like history, she finds it boring. You would think by now my kids would know better, or at least be able to predict what will follow a statement like that :)<br />
<br />
I have spent the last few weeks creating a high school 20th Century Humanities course for this fall. Each month we will focus on a single decade 1900-1909, 1910-1919, etc all the way through 1999. We will study historic events, famous people, inventions, science discoveries, art, music, literature, film, television, and philosophy. The goal will be to prove to Maria that history is fascinating and linked to everything else going on in the world at any given time. The course will be interdisciplinary and have both breadth and depth. I have been having a lot of fun putting the class together. <br />
<br />
I have learned through my years of teaching that most learning occurs when students are engaged, interested and having fun. They rarely realize they are learning because it is just so interesting. This is the goal and so far I think I will be able to accomplish it with her. Yesterday I spent the day looking at 100 years of art selecting our works for the year. You really learn a lot about a culture when you spend a day doing that. Today the focus was music, the day before literature and inventions. I can already see trends and patterns across just these few subjects. Connections will be formed all semester long and hopefully carry with her throughout her life. <br />
<br />
The key is finding the hook. I thought my way in would be through film and literature. As I prepare though I realize in her case it will be through science and inventions. So many amazing things happened and were developed last century. Science played a critical role and she will enjoy that part being the scientist that she is. The literature will be interesting and fun, the music telling of the cultural changes but as I prepared I realized there are so many more connections between science, inventions and history this past decade that I am getting excited to discover them all and help her along the way. <br />
<br />
I remember my first interdisciplinary class, my high school senior art class. We only combined history, art and music but it had a profound affect on my understanding of the world to be able to see all the connections. I have always approached my kids education with an interdisciplinary/unit study flare but this will be our first year studying exclusively this way. Only her math curriculum and chemistry class will be outside of this class. I was tempted to bring my younger kids into the study, it certainly would be easier for me, yet I know this needs to remain just a high school level class. The 20th century saw a lot of events, art, music, and historical figures that one needs to have a certain level of maturity to grasp and handle emotionally. I know Maria is ready for this and the others are not, so they will have to wait their turn. <br />
<br />
I was disappointed to discover there was no curriculum already made that could do what I wanted. Still it has forced me to make it truly what I want as I develop everything from scratch. There are many wonderful resources available so mostly I am compiling a big spreadsheet of lists and material to study. We will focus on primary and original sources whenever possible. Most of the original material is readily available thanks to the internet and the library. I will report back at the end of the year letting you know if I found a way to make history interesting to teens, or at least to my teenage daughter. <br />
<br />
<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-26624990234993475822012-08-12T22:03:00.004-05:002012-08-12T22:03:48.731-05:00Teenagers are Amazing. Stop Judging Them so Harshly<a href="http://www.thefinestdj.com/images/shutterstock_2000969.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="http://www.thefinestdj.com/images/shutterstock_2000969.gif" border="0" src="http://www.thefinestdj.com/images/shutterstock_2000969.gif" /></a>I have always loved teenagers. Everyone tells me that will change when I have my own. So far we are doing okay but we are only a month into the official teen years. People told me to hate two year olds and I did not. I actually found two to be a magical and interesting year for my children. I will go into the teen years positively and take it as it comes. <br />
<br />
My own teenagers are not the motivation for this post, teenagers in general are. I thoroughly enjoy teenagers and I am at a loss as to why more people do not enjoy them as well. Sure they are loud and at times rude and rambunctious but they are always interesting. Teens are fascinating as they learn to navigate the world around them as themselves and not as who their parents told them to be. The teenage mind is interesting to watch a problem and see their creative ways through difficulties. Yes they can be impulsive but often that is because we allow excuses for them to fall back on. <br />
<br />
For anyone who thinks they dislike teenagers I challenge you to get to know some teens. Really get to know them and ask them about their interests, joys and hardships. Learn about how they balance school, work, sports and friendships. Ask about their goals and dreams and how they plan to get there. <br />
<br />
I always tell people my favorite age people are 15-22. So much
happens in those years. The mind is developing, strategizing,
understanding, negotiating, and it is amazing to witness that process.
Conversations, debates, and discussions are very rich with individuals
in this age group. Opinions alternate between firm, fluid, unsure and
firm again. People in this age range are trying to figure out who they
are, what their place in this world is, what this world is all about and
what it really should be like. They love to engage on issues of
religion, politics, sexuality, money and all the world's biggest issues
and questions. Adults are foolish to not engage and learn from them and
help teens and young adults learn from them and see the world from other perspectives. <br />
<br />
<br />
I am a tutor. I primarily work with teenagers on their study skills and their ACT test prep. The first question I ask them is what sports or musical instruments they have played. I ask about their favorite movies, music, books and video games. I work hard to find connection points with each of my students and to help them feel comfortable with me. The only part I dislike about my job is that when I am successful I work myself out of it. When my students succeed they stop working with me and I miss getting to know them and see their success and journey. <br />
<br />
I watch other adults look at teenagers with disgust or cross a street to avoid them and I am saddened. Our culture needs more cross generational relationships and the adults in this culture are doing little to connect with the teenagers and young adults and be active parts of their lives. If I was a teen receiving looks from adults like I observe I would not want relationships with adults and I would likely continue behaviors that were repelling the adults. <br />
<br />
Our home school group meets at the beach every week. Several times this summer I set up in the middle of the high school/college zone. It was interesting to see how the teens served as "adult repellent" with no other adults wanting to be anywhere near them. Yes they smoked, yes many of them swore, yes they gave me incredulous looks at first. A strange thing happened though after I smiled, returned a football that landed at my feet and they realized I was not going away. They spoke to me, they smiled, they seemed to have cleaned up their language some and even spoke a little softer. I did not ask them to, I did not encourage them to, I did not even really interact with them. <br />
<br />
I work with many teenagers and every one of them is unique and interesting. They are totally amazing and special people. They are polite, kind and engaging. They just want people to treat them with respect and kindness. They want people to believe in them, build them up, support and encourage them. They don't want to be talked down to, belittled, or prejudged. They care burdens and walk hard paths. They want to do hard things, be challenged and will respond to the opportunities laid before them. <br />
<br />
In all of my years of teaching and tutoring I have learned you always teach up. Students long to be recognized, they long to have someone notice the specialness within them and help bring it out. Students will always rise to the challenge when encouraged and supported. I still believe Aristotle was right and work hard to help all my students realize I am only helping them discover what they themselves already knew. It is not about the teacher, it is the student who knew and just needed a little help getting it out of themselves. <br />
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Teenagers want the adults in this world to realize they are just as capable and hard working as fellow adults. Teenagers want to be treated like adults but also be given some breathing room to be allowed to make mistakes and screw up along the way, they are still learning. Treat teens with respect and you will be amazed at the results. You will meet some really interesting and amazing people along the way. <br />
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<br /><br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-76594485791061746002012-06-19T12:27:00.002-05:002012-06-19T12:28:51.890-05:00Reflections on Eight Years of a Reader<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.3029753187266556" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
have kept journals for each of my children since I was pregnant with
them. Their journal is a place I record important times in their lives,
funny stories I want to remember and advice I want to give them years
later. These pages are made up of moments I want them to remember, a
picture of their childhood without all the snapshots, just my verbal
descriptions. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Occasionally
when I write in these I skim back over past years and see where they
have been and where they are now, even in their young lives you can
begin to trace paths and see how each experience led to the next. I was
doing that recently when I came across an entry that stuck with me. I
wrote in Maria’s journal on January 22, 2004 when she was 4 years old. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“<i><span style="color: red;">Today
was a special day. It was as if the light bulb just clicked and you
truly got it. I was so thankful to be a part of it - to be there to
help and to see you read your first words and whole book. Your first
book was “Al” by Primary Phonics read on January 22, 2004. I truly hope
this develops into a passion for reading much like your father and I
both have. You love being read to and your excitement over reading
yourself is contagious. You are so proud of yourself as you should be -
not many children read at the age of 4. Thank you for sharing your
life passion and learning with me - it truly is a gift I cherish and am
so thankful for. Love, Mommy</span></i>.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Part
of why this entry struck me was the timing in relation to recent
accomplishments in Maria’s life. In February 2012 she took the ACT
(College Entrance Exam) as a twelve year old. As I drove her to the
college where she took her test I was struck by the fact that just eight
years ago I was witnessing her learning to read independently and
praying for her to have a passion for reading. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It
was this very passion that led her to take the ACT in the first place,
to experience a challenge in reading. As I dropped her off in a
classroom of juniors and seniors in high school and walked away I
wondered if what she was doing was right for her. I am not a fan of
grade skipping and I am not a tiger parent, yet there I sat with my 12
year old daughter taking an exam to determine her college readiness. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of
course I knew she was not taking it to try to get into a college and
her reasons for taking the test were sound. I am glad she had the
initiative to do so and I was so proud of her for being brave enough to
give it a try. As I sat at a coffee shop a few blocks away I wrote her
a long letter about her journey that brought her to this point. I
shared some of what I hoped would follow which continued with the theme
of lifelong passion for reading and being a lifelong learner. I have no
journal entry from this day because I wrote a letter and handed it to
her when she got in the car after the exam. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
asked her reactions to the test and she said “It was fun!” Not what I
expected, though I probably should have. She said the math was hard
because she had not even learned half of it yet and science was too time
pressured but the rest of the test was fun. As I drove away I was
thinking about how much can change and how much stays the same in eight
years. Maria has always loved reading and she devours books of all
types. She has had a lot of freedom to read as often as she wants and
if the 10,000 hours to become an expert rule has merit I am pretty
confident she has achieved that level or is very close to the threshold
:) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We
recently attended ceremonies on the campuses of Northwestern University
and Hamline University to celebrate her accomplishments on the ACT.
Taking that test and her results have opened many new doors and
possibilities to her for her present and her future. She has discovered
some new things about herself and her potential and plans to use them
well. She is as excited and motivated as she was eight years ago when
she first learned to read. Her enthusiasm is at times contagious. Now
though my messages to her are a bit different. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">From my journal entry after we received her ACT scores. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“<i><span style="color: red;">While
it is true that your composite ACT score and all your subscores would
get you into most colleges now, we would not encourage you to or let you
go to college now :) As I tell you all the time I am pro balanced
life. I want you to excel in school and do well but I also want you to
enjoy swimming, youth group, and just having fun with your friends. I
want you to keep your whole life in balance even as you pursue your
passions and gifts....You are extremely self motivated and disciplined.
You set very high goals for yourself and work harder than almost anyone
I know to achieve them. Set your goals for a whole and balanced life
where you still pursue your passions and talents becoming a lifelong
learner and person who is happy with the whole of her life</span></i>.” </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
am very proud of Maria but not because of the results of a single test.
I am proud of her bravery, her discipline, her hard work, her passion
and talent and her willingness to try new things. I am proud of how she
attacks a problem and faces new challenges. Her test results show this
more than anything else. Her test results just confirm what we have
known about her for a long time. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Her
journey of reading may seem incredible to some from learning to read to
a perfect reading score in just eight years and it is quite an
accomplishment! When I reflect though I realize she was given freedom
and encouragement and support to explore and pursue her passions and
talents at the rate that was best for her individual personality and
motivation. She is very hard working and always willing to try new
things and challenge herself. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Each
child has their own bend, talent, passion and motivation level. As
parents we need to encourage and support those passions in our children
and give them the freedom to explore on their own and provide new
challenges to help them rise to the next level when they seem to be
leveling off or stagnating. This is one of my favorite parts of home
schooling. Having the freedom to give my children freedom and room to
grow and become who they want to be. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
have enjoyed walking this eight year reading journey with my daughter
and I look forward to seeing what the next 6 years bring. It will be
fun and interesting to see where she decides to continue her journey
when she takes the ACT to actually apply to colleges and heads out the
door to one, if that is the path she chooses to follow. A lot can
change in six years but then again a lot can also stay the same :) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kiss those babies,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tenniel </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-67846500778017121412012-05-30T06:21:00.000-05:002012-05-30T06:21:47.837-05:00Teaching Older Kids<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I started this blog so many years ago I was in the middle of the preschool and toddler years. I threw my creativity into teaching the alphabet, learning life skills and experiencing the world. Most of my posts were made up of field trips, letter of the week games, and surviving life with three kids under the age of 5 while beginning our home school journey. <br />
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Here we are 8 years later and this blog has a very different tone as my life has a very different tone. I never would have believed I had more time for things like blogging back then but I simply did. I know someday again I will. I can not bring myself to close this blog down no matter how little I blog because it is such a part of us and our home school journey. <br />
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Yesterday was a great home school day here. We are wrapping up a school year and getting ready to find our summer rhythm. Typically at this time of year my responsibility winds down and I have less and less to do with the kids. This year is a bit different though as Maria has decided to do an independent study in Chemistry through the summer. She is working through a high school level course with what looks to be a college level textbook. Yesterday I spent the afternoon teaching her how to outline a textbook and take good study notes. I actually even used our chalkboard :) As I taught her these skills I thought back to my own educational and my freshman year Biology teacher who taught me the outlining and note taking process I still teach my students. A great big thank you to her!<br />
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Maria thought I was a bit rigid at first and this was a very different experience for her. I am not often "rigid" or particular in my teaching. Overall the experience will be good but it is much harder than anything else she has ever done and it definitely challenged her. Not the reading, not even the material, but rather the concept of taking study notes and keeping an actual notebook for a subject. I made her start a three ring binder just for Chemistry with sections for Notes, Vocab, Problems, Labs, Questions, and Misc. The idea of having all those sections for just one subject was foreign to her but she understood the logic of it by the end of our session together. <br />
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We worked together on outlining the first chapter of the text and I wrote out her first chapter vocab/definition list so she can see what it should look like each chapter. She learned the best format for keeping good clear visual notes and is learning how to write in keywords rather than all complete sentences. I demonstrated how she should pick out the key concepts and have her notes follow along with her text. As we worked together I explained that this system she was learning would be key to both high school and college studies and the difference good note taking skills can make. <br />
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Maria is a very cooperative student and hard working so she was a joy to teach, honestly. As we worked together I found myself getting filled up as well as I watched her learn a new important skill that was hard for her. It has not always been easy to challenge her as a student so I cherish the moments when she faces true challenges that she has to work her way through. She is a bright light at those moments burning furiously until she figures out the task and can settle into her new rhythm. <br />
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We will continue to touch base throughout this course to make sure her Chemistry notebook is coming along and she is maintaining good study habits. Yesterday was an excellent start and I am proud of her. I am excited for moving into this next step of her education with her. Next year we will be working together on a very cool interdisciplinary modern history course that I am developing for her now. I am glad she is learning these skills now in Chemistry so she can easily use them next year once they have become habit. <br />
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Home schooling her through high school does not scare me, it excites me. I know there will be challenges to be sure just as there were when they were little. Somehow I feel more up for the challenges of chemistry and high school history than I ever did for the playdough, paint and sparkles from the younger days. I have always loved working with older kids and everyone keeps telling me that will change when they are my own, but so far I don't see it and just like the "terrible twos" that we called the "terrific twos" I believe a lot of it results in how you approach it. I will not be scared of the teenage and high school years, I will be ready, I will expect challenges, but I will embrace them and be excited for them. Besides I do love teaching older children, so why in the world would I not love teaching my own. <br />
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Kiss those babies!<br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-57879663754921766112012-04-13T08:32:00.001-05:002012-04-13T08:36:24.022-05:00Starting with the end in mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lately I have found myself having many conversations about our educational philosophy and how we made the choices we have on our home school journey. I keep coming back to the same answers. We started with the end in mind. We knew what we wanted our kids to achieve and experience in their education and what we wanted them to be prepared for, then we worked backwards. <br />
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We wanted our kids to grow up to be life long learners, confident, well rounded, contributing citizens who were ready for college. Each family will have a different picture of their end for their unique kids an that makes sense. Each family will then need to find their own path to reach it. The one thing I would add, stepping up on soap box, is all kids should have the right to be prepared for college. Over recent years I have heard more and more, well my kid does not want to go to college, or probably will not. That is fine if they choose not to but as educators and parents it is our responsibility to make sure that option is open to them and to give them rigorous enough studies and schooling experiences to leave that door wide open for them. Let them make that call their senior year, but make sure they have the option open to them, stepping off soap box now. <br />
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Back to our little unique family. Well rounded life long learners, that is our ultimate goal. I tell my kids this often and I sometimes remind myself of it daily when their unique learning styles are driving me crazy. To build life long learners you need to help kids fall in love with learning and knowledge, something that I believe is rarer in our modern educational system. This does not mean making school "fun", but rather rewarding. Making the child take ownership and feel pride (the good kind) in their achievements and successes and giving them the passion and determination to see through the hard things and the boring things to make it to the rewards. A life long learner is someone who loves to learn and just can not help but to continue to learn and grow every day of their life, long after they are required to work on their education. This is what I want for my children and for my students.<br />
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When I talk to my children about their education I often share our overall approach to their education. I explain how in the end I want to give them three skill sets to help them in their lives.<br />
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1. Research<br />
2. Data Analysis<br />
3. Communication<br />
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Life long learners need to be able to find information on any topic they want to learn about. Research skills are important. Being able to find data now is not hard, being able to find good and relevant data is. The first goal is teaching the kids how to find out information about whatever they need and giving them the reading skills to be able to understand it.<br />
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Having information means nothing unless you can distill it and know how to utilize it. Data analysis is very important for any life long learner, high school or college student, or any employee who needs to deal with data. Having the skills to allow you to take raw data and comprehend it in useful ways is essential. Here I talk to my kids about the skills of discerning fact from opinion, discovering bias, finding connections across disciplines and learning to add new information into your current understanding of the world. Learning to take the good and apply it in your understanding of a situation, a subject or the world at large. This is the second skill set I want them to excel at.<br />
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Lastly having knowledge is not that useful unless you do something with it. I want my children to be able to communicate effectively in the world about what they know. They need to be able to speak, write and present effectively. In our world that still includes written essay type communication but more importantly it includes things like power point, twitter, facebook, video presentations, and learning to communicate in every available media. So in our home school we work on our communication skills.<br />
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In the end if my children end up with these skills, the classes and schooling they need to be successful in college and they have had a well balanced life filled with friends, sports, service, church, and other activities we will have achieved our goals. <br />
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Remember your goals are different than mine but I encourage you to think through your own goals for your own family. Start with the end in mind, work toward those goals and the rest will fall naturally into place. Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-59131971945916109852012-04-13T08:27:00.000-05:002012-04-13T08:38:18.847-05:00Story Starters<br />
<div id="__ss_12198861" style="width: 425px;">
<b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/billycripe/more-story-starters" target="_blank" title="More Story Starters">More Story Starters</a></b> <iframe frameborder="0" height="355" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/12198861" width="425"></iframe> <br />
<div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">
View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/thecroaker/death-by-powerpoint" target="_blank">PowerPoint</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/billycripe" target="_blank">Billy Cripe</a> </div>
</div>
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<br />
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<div id="__ss_12198877" style="width: 425px;">
<b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/billycripe/even-more-story-starters" target="_blank" title="Even More Story Starters">Even More Story Starters</a></b> <iframe frameborder="0" height="355" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/12198877" width="425"></iframe> <br />
<div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">
View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/thecroaker/death-by-powerpoint" target="_blank">PowerPoint</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/billycripe" target="_blank">Billy Cripe</a> </div>
</div>
<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-25981629152460043842012-04-10T16:56:00.001-05:002012-04-10T16:56:33.582-05:00Scope and Sequence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As I sit at my computer today I find myself doing a task I knew was coming but still seems to have snuck up from behind. Today I started working on Maria's Scope and Sequence for junior and senior high. Maria and I had a great talk today about goals and paths to achieve them. We started to talk about how the rest of this year should look and more importantly how the next 6 years will look. Seems appropriate at this midpoint to begin giving her more choice and control, within boundaries of course. <br />
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As of now Maria plans to home school through her first two years of high school and then take advantage of the PSEO opportunity here in Minnesota to dual enroll at a community college as a high school student and to finish whatever else she still needs to at home. We have begun outside the home classes this year for Spanish and next year she will likely do a few online science and humanities classes through either <a href="http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/">EPGY</a> or <a href="http://cty.jhu.edu/ctyonline/courses/">CTY</a>. Still we need to plan out the overall plan including CLEP, AP, PSEO, online, home school classes and internships. I did not realize how enjoyable I would find this process.<br />
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Starting next year we will keep a portfolio of work and complete reading lists, along with service projects and extra curriculars. I figure it is easier to start with the end in mind and collect more than we may need than to be scrambling at the end to pull it all together for college applications. We are starting with the high school sequence that we believe will be best for her and working backwards to make sure it all will work out. Of course there can be some flexibility and changes along the way as needed but it is exciting to think about and begin to plan. Maria has some big goals and some clear approaches to try to achieve them, it will be fun and exciting to be part of the process and to help guide her through these years and see where her path lies and the journey she takes to get there. <br />
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Here's to fun tables, charts, book lists, and getting to research and buy new curriculum. Always fun :) <br />
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Kiss those babies!<br />
Tenniel<br />
<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-30307376670392391082012-04-07T07:14:00.002-05:002012-04-07T07:22:18.184-05:00Hosting a successful book club<div>
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Poke around this website long or simply walk through my actual home once and it quickly becomes evident we are avid readers here. Reading is a part of every day life for each member of this house. To some it came naturally, to others it has been developed and for others it has at times simply been required :) Still readers we all are. <br />
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To encourage more reading in my kids and some of their peers I host monthly book clubs in my home. My kids tried a variety of book clubs before I started hosting. We found that many book clubs were simply social time with many of the kids having not actually read the book and fewer wanting to actually discuss it with any depth. These traditional book clubs also tended to be very gender divided both in attendees and book topics. This really bothered Maria who loves fantasy and science fiction books and has good friends of both genders. She could not find a girls fantasy book club or any book club with peers who also really wanted to dig down and discuss ideas and topics in the books. So we started one here. <br />
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I have led a book club for Maria and several of her friends for over three years now. I have read so many good books with great kids and have truly enjoyed our conversations and the way we learn together. Through the years we have had between six and twelve attendees. The age span of our group is four years, when we started the kids ranged in age from 10 to 13 and now they are 11 through 15. Currently we have 12 kids who meet regularly evenly divided between boys and girls. Through the years there have been meetings with one boy and four girls or one girl and five boys.<br />
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I also lead a book club for Ciaran and some of his friends. His group is made up of 6 boys ages 10-12. He just started last summer but the group seems to have developed nicely. He tried for a co-ed group too but they only found one brave girl to join in the mix and eventually she moved on to other things. For my son I think the all boy piece works nicely at this age for him, I may try to encourage more co-ed options later as he and his friends get older. For now though they need the comfort of being just with each other and developing into readers together in a safe place with both they enjoy. <br />
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These two book clubs have many similarities. Both groups meet once a month. The kids pick the books each month and the older kids actually vote on
which books to read and in what order. Both groups tend to live in the
fantasy and science fiction genre. I read the books along with them each month and I lead discussion with both groups. Both have to have an hour of discussion before they get their hour of social time.<br />
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I never realized how easy leading book club was for me until I recently needed to ask some other people to help out and take over a month or two. When I wrote out some discussion questions or found materials to help support the leaders I discovered how natural this process was for me and how unnatural it can be for others. It is easy for me because I have done it so long and I know the kids and the patterns of what works and what does not work. It is easy for me to lead because I am an avid reader and I love talking about books. It is easy for me because I love teaching literature and I often do it in different ways like through the kids understanding of movies. So I have decided to share some of my strategies. There really is no secret formula for a successful book club other than enthusiasm but there are some tips that may make it easier for you.<br />
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<b>Find Kids With Similar Reading Interests</b><br />
This is important, perhaps the most important. More important than age and gender is the reading habits and interest of the kids involved. Maria needed to find avid readers, she wanted people who loved fantasy and would not be scared off by the size of the books she enjoys. She needed to find peers who actually liked reading just for fun and would read series of books over the course of a single month. In order to do this we sat down together and figured out what she wanted the group to look like and then we wrote a very detailed description of what our book club would look like so people joining us knew what they were getting into. Then we sent that description out via email to groups and forums we were a part of and to her friends with similar interests. We found a fairly diverse group of kids who all had the same interest in joining a fantasy book club that would read and discuss big books. The first book we read was Eragon by Christopher Paolina. The size and topic was a pretty good filter :) <br />
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When Ciaran started he knew he wanted a smaller group. He wanted action and adventure with some fantasy and science fiction. He knew Percy Jackson and the Olympians series was his baseline book. If someone would enjoy that book they would probably have a lot of reading in common and enjoy a book club together. We wrote up his description that way and reached out to his friends. They would not be the same book club as Maria and they would read smaller books and only one per month. Some in his group go on to read the series but we only read and discuss book one together. <br />
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So we started with the kids interest and built the book club around it. We followed "If you build it they will come" and they have and it is quite harmonious. The kids like reading the same sorts of books and trust each other to pick good selections. They find new books and they also find new friends.<br />
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<b>Let The Kids Pick</b><br />
Discussion will always be deeper and
better if the book came from the kids themselves. Let them rotate
choices between members or have all members suggest a book and then vote
on them. In all the time I have led discussions only once have I
picked a book for them to read. That book went over very well but it
was years into our discussions and the kids trusted me by that point to
pick something they would all love. Let them pick and be ready to read
some diverse things yourself.<br />
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<b>Have One Discussion Leader </b><br />
We have been to book clubs where the leading responsibility rotates and there are benefits to this as well. However, I believe our book clubs have lasted so long and been successful because we always meet at the same place and have the same discussion leader. I read the books alongside the kids. I do not just read a summary of plot and find discussion questions on the internet, I read it and create my own discussion questions. There has been one exception to this and the older kids had a grand time making up characters and plot lines to pull one over on me when they realized I had not read the book. They were creative and cooperating which was fun but I don't think I will skip another book :) <b> </b><br />
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Having a single leader has the benefit of truly getting to know the kids and the way they discuss and approach books. Having one leader lets you carry lessons from one book to the next and to build on discussion topics and understanding of literature from session to session. Having one leader provides insight into the group dynamics and the best discussion strategies for the group. Of course the kids have to like the leader and the leader has to like the kids for it to work It is similar to having one teacher over the course of a school year, much better than continual substitutes. <br />
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<b>Have Great Discussion Questions </b><br />
Kids rise to the occasion. If you ask great questions they will give you great answers. I have had some of my most recent intellectual discussions with teenagers on the book The Hunger Games. We have talked about politics, government, children used as soldiers, desensitizing violence, what love really is, and how we could survive ourselves if thrown into life or death situations. When we discussed the book Ender's Game we talked about governments using children, being forced to grow up too quickly, carrying burdens of the world, deciding who gets to live and who gets to die, and the reality of war games.<br />
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Kids are capable of so much more than they are often given credit for. Ask them tough questions, expect great answers, keep pushing them past their easy first off the cuff answers and you will be rewarded with great discussion. In addition to the serious questions be sure to ask the fun ones. Kids reveal so much about themselves answering questions like "What one piece of technology would you bring out of the book into your world?" or "What character would you want as a best friend?" or even "Which piece of candy would you choose in the Candy Shop Wars?" Some of the light questions, lead to great discussion as well and help the kids in the group get to know one another. <br />
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<b>Skip the Crafts </b><br />
Perhaps this is biased because I am sort of the anti-crafter so have little talent in this area. Still I have found the kids enjoy the discussion much more than doing a craft or hand project along side book discussion. Crafts and book activities are a lot of prep work for the group leader and I have rarely found they add more to the book or a kids understanding of it past about second grade. They also tend to be a distraction from group discussion time and I find the kids would rather have unstructured time or organized games for their social time then be forced to work on an activity or craft structured around the book they read. Often these activities can feel forced and kids are fairly diverse and do not enjoy the same types of crafts or activities. I gave up on crafts and structured book activities and think the clubs have been rewarded for it.<br />
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The one exception to this is if you are doing a book club for younger kids. When I did our American Girl Doll, Little House or If You Lived Groups those succeeded because they had specific crafts, music, food, clothing and activity that brought those books to life. Of course all of those had real historical roots as well and lent themselves quite naturally to book specific activities and crafts. I think this type of book club works best with first through fourth grade and past that good discussion and social time has been a better format for us. <br />
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<b>Combine Serious and Fun </b><br />
I get really good discussion
out of the kids for an hour. They know there is an end to our
discussion and that they will have an hour of social time. They have
clear expectations. One hour of discussion and then one hour of play.
The combination works well. The kids who are there to socialize still
know they have to discuss first and they all come prepared. Some may
come just for the fun but they do the work required to get to the fun,
read the book and participate in discussion. The social time has really
bonded them together as friends and has benefited the discussion time
as well. As they have grown from a collection of kids with similar
reading habits into friends who laugh and work together. I believe the
combination of the two serious and fun has allowed the kids to grow
closer, the book club to grow stronger and our discussion to have much
more depth. The social also build trust which is important in a good
book club.<br />
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<b>Food </b><br />
We always have a snack after our discussion time. Kids can go two hours without eating but something about sharing a snack together bring them together. Food brings adults together and it brings kids together as well. Root beer floats, Orange Creamsicles, Girl scout Cookies, Homemade Hand painted Hunger Game Cookies, Chips and Candy, all the usual kid suspects. They enjoy having food and parents are quick to chip in and rotate bringing snacks which helps relieve that from me and lets the kids all take turns sharing their favorite foods. <br />
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This post has gotten far longer than I expected. Thanks for reading and good luck starting your own book club if that is your intention! <br />
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<br /></div>Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-48605987180947968852012-03-23T14:34:00.000-05:002012-03-23T14:34:47.536-05:00Hunger Games Essay Questions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With the movie being released the Hunger Games book series by Suzanne Collins is getting even more attention. Awhile back we wrote some essay questions to review some of the central themes found in The Hunger Games trilogy. Some questions apply to the entire of the trilogy. <br />
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If you have not read the book I encourage you to read it along with your kids. I will be posting some book discussion questions as well after our teen book club tonight. <br />
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Pick one of the following themes of the Hunger Games Series and discuss it in a 1-3 page paper.
1) The Hunger Games series shows how old habits die hard. People will continue old traditions even though they know that they are unfair and unjust. Discuss how the people in the different districts and the capital felt about the hunger games. Why did they continue to participate?
2) The Hunger Games series shows that good people can be especially cruel and violent if the situation allows for it or even demands it. The Hunger Games and then the civil war required some incredibly violent actions by people who were not "bad" people. Discuss your thoughts on if and when violence and cruelty is OK.
3) The Hunger Games shows that the ends justify the means and that if the final outcome is good, that makes the strategies, tools and actions getting there OK. The final tactic that won the civil war was the dropping of bombs on the civilian shield around the presidential mansion. We don't know who ordered the attack. If it was the rebels, was this OK? Was it worth the price of those who died to stop the war and even more killing?
4) The Hunger Games shows that good leadership often requires morally questionable decisions and actions. Discuss 3 specific actions that the rebel president did or that Katniss did over the course of the books that was morally questionable. How did these actions contribute to their leadership?
5) The Hunger Games shows that television plays a very important role in society. Discuss how the televised games were received in the Capital. Discuss how the televised games were received in the Districts. How did people's actions change because they were going to be on TV? Did it make them try to be more "sensational" than they would otherwise have been? If so, was it really "real" or was it a simulacrum?
6) The Hunger Games Series shows that honor is sometimes assumed where it is not warranted and found where it is not expected. Who was the most honorable in the book and why? Who was the least honorable and why? Who was assumed to have honor but demonstrated a moral and ethical ambiguity when it came time to act on that honor? Who is more honorable at the beginning of the series Gale or Peeta or Haymitch? How did this change by the end of the series?
</pre>Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-54861451373621407652012-03-10T12:49:00.000-06:002012-03-10T12:49:06.155-06:00Why read biographies?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every summer we pick a reading challenge for each of our kids. The summer between fifth and sixth grade has been "Biography Summer". Ciaran is coming up on that this year and I am beginning now to try to encourage him to be excited for it. So far my enthusiasm has not been contagious, even Maria's good reviews have not helped. The summer Maria read biographies she averaged about 3-5
juvenile non-fiction books a week because she found she really enjoyed
them. For Ciaran I am going to require 1-2 a week, maybe he will find a similar passion for reading them. Like it or not he will be reading biographies this summer. Here is to hoping he enjoys them :) <br />
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Why biographies? They are a unique way to teach kids about invention, creativity, ingenuity, fame, power, and gifts of all sorts. Biographies offer people to relate to, real life examples of success, and a different approach to learning history. Giving the student freedom to pick the biography allows them to learn more about areas they are passionate about and discover some new areas of interest. <br />
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I do not pick the biographies. I bring the student to the biography section and make them select a variety of individuals across different disciplines. The only rule is the biographies must be varied and about someone you already do not know a lot about. It is fine if you pick an athlete, an artist, a scientist, an inventor and a politician. The point is to learn about a variety of disciplines through the story of a specific person. I also find that by requiring them to read so many biographies at once they start to discover the similarities of famous people across disciplines. I like encouraging inter-disciplinary thinking and studies whenever possible and reading a variety of biographies is one easy way to do so.<br />
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I find even as an adult I still enjoy reading biographies. It helps me understand some of the similarities and differences between the lives of famous people. I enjoy seeing the creative ways different people approach solving different problems and questions they face. I enjoy learning about the creativity and determination and discipline of many different people throughout history, both ancient and modern. I enjoy my kids discovering the same sorts of things for themselves. <br />
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If you have never read biographies yourself I encourage you to try. Your library is full of them. Encourage your kids to read biographies and then discuss them together. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover. <br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-23885428941664124262012-03-09T07:47:00.001-06:002012-03-09T07:47:17.308-06:00Preparing for the ACT or SAT in High School<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recently I wrote about the importance of testing and how and why to begin preparing for the college entrance exams in junior high.<br />
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If you have not read that <a href="http://schoolathome.blogspot.com/2012/03/importance-of-testing.html">post</a> yet please start there before you begin this one. There is some important foundational information that you should know first. <br />
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Remember testing is important in our culture and college entrance right now whether we like it or not so begin planning for that instead of avoiding it and hoping it will go away.<br />
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As an ACT tutor and a parent with three kids who hope to go to college one day this is an important topic to me. I have put together a list of skills to work on with your high school student to best prepare them for their ACT. Do not wait until they are a junior, begin these in their freshman year if at all possible and continue to build their skills and confidence over the years so their testing situation is not stressful but successful. Remember there are some skills you can start preparing for in <a href="http://schoolathome.blogspot.com/2012/03/importance-of-testing.html">junior high</a> as well. <br />
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<b>High School Test Prep Strategies </b></div>
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<b>Read strategy books on how to beat the ACT or SAT<br />
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There are many different types of strategy books designed to help prepare you for the exam. Your local library will carry most of them. Check out a few and find one that works really well for you. A few good names in the business are Princeton, Barron's and Kaplan. For the ACT I think the Princeton Cracking the ACT book is the best for strategy and I recommend it for the students I work with. Whatever book you decide on, read it and practice the strategies outlined even if they feel weird at first. Help your student to understand and adopt the strategies that will work best for them to beat the test.<br />
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<b>Set target goals </b><br />
The internet makes college applications easier in many ways. Just a few google searches will help you discover what the requirements for the various colleges you want to apply to are. You can type in any college name and ACT scores or SAT scores after it to be taken to a website that gives you the range of acceptance scores for the particular college. Digging into a college's admission page and you can find the scores needed both for admission and the ever important financial aid. Look at several schools and set goals for yourself. Have ranges (reach schools and safety schools) and determine what ACT score your student needs and can realistically expect to get. Start with a target composite range. You will determine the individual section goals soon. <br />
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<b>Understand your students strengths and weaknesses <br />
</b><br />
Have your student take a practice ACT under test like conditions. There is a complete free past ACT available online for this purpose. This document is put out by the official ACT company and can be downloaded <a href="http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/preparing.pdf">here</a>. It can also be picked up at any high school guidance counselor's office. If your student has already taken an official ACT look at the breakdown and results for the official and this diagnostic test, average them and see where the strengths and weaknesses are. Talk with your student and ask them what felt hard and easy for them and create a plan for them to work with their strengths to increase their scores. <br />
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<b>Make a plan based on number 2 and 3 and stick to it </b><br />
After understanding goals and actual present abilities create a plan to help you get from current ability to desired outcome. The ACT and SAT are predictable and if you know the score you need you can easily discover about how many questions you need right on each section of the test. Once you have that goal in mind you can create a study and practice schedule to help your student achieve it. <br />
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A practiced ACT tutor can help you with this as well. One of the biggest advantages students get from working with me is a tailored practice plan based on their individual strengths and weaknesses. We work together to discover how many questions they truly need to get right in each section to achieve their goals and then we build our strategy around that. What many people do not realize is that few students will actually need to get all of the questions right to achieve their goals. Many students only need to get half the questions right in each section of the test to achieve their goals, some may only be able to miss 5 or 10 questions a section, and only the exceptional students will really go for accuracy in every single question. Knowing and understanding your particular student and their goals makes a huge difference to your students success on the test. Working with someone who truly understands the test at this point can be very helpful. <br />
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<b>Practice real ACT and SAT tests. </b><br />
Bottom line your student needs to practice a lot. Just as with any other activity to get good at it you need to practice. Your student needs to build up familiarity and muscle memory with this test so when they sit down to take the test nothing is unfamiliar and much of it will feel easy or at least routine. By practicing with the skills they adopted after reading a strategy book or working with a tutor they will begin to make the skills part of themselves so on test day it is natural and habit. Practice with a timer, practice with distractions, practice under test like conditions. Practice. Practice. Practice. <br />
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<b>Practice some more. </b><br />
Now repeat the above. Seriously the biggest difference to your student's score is likely to be how much they have practiced. I often get asked how much time I recommend practicing. The answer is as much as your student will. I don't believe you can over practice. If you have a young student they have many years to practice and could go at a slow pace. If you have a senior I would sit them down and tell them to prepare for a lot of work over a short course of time. <b> </b>I recently worked with a student who only had 8 weeks to prepare and some high goals I let her know you are looking at two hours of homework a day to properly prepare, are you ready for that? She was and she did it and she reached her goals. She practiced a lot and she was rewarded. I had another student who practiced an hour a day for over 4 months and also saw much improvement to his test and achieved his goals. <br />
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Bottom line, the practice matters more than anything else. Hold your student accountable to whatever practice schedule you set up. Do not just hand them a book and expect them to do it themselves. Create a practice schedule with assignments they have to hand in to you. Evaluate their work, continually discover patterns to their correct and incorrect answers and help them work on the areas they need to. <br />
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<u>If you get nothing else from either of these posts pay attention to this. For most students success will depend on the amount of practice they put into the test. Make them practice! </u><br />
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I already about the next three areas in the <a href="http://schoolathome.blogspot.com/2012/03/importance-of-testing.html">junior high prep</a> section but they still all apply here in high school, especially if you have not done so before they reach high school age. <b> </b>If you have already developed these skills in your student now is not the time to stop, keep at it :) <br />
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<b>Build your vocabulary </b><br />
A good vocabulary will help with the test in a variety of ways. The SAT directly tests for this, the ACT indirectly tests for it. Your writing will get a higher score with good vocabulary use. The science and reading and english sections will all seem less scary if big words are not scary to your student. Develop their vocabulary. <br />
<br />There are many books available at your library and local bookstore that highlight words for the SAT. Give your student these to read and practice. Encourage unique vocabulary words. Improve your own vocabulary to help your student improve theirs. Subscribe to word a day emails or apps. There are also many free website with word lists such as this <a href="http://www.majortests.com/sat/wordlist.php">one</a>. <br />
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Practice decoding strategies for unfamiliar words. Look at roots, use context clues, show how to use the answers to discover clues about the actual word. Teach them to rephrase unfamiliar words and to discover relationships between words and analogies. The more you practice the less intimidating big and unusual words will be for your student. No matter how much you practice there will likely be unfamiliar words on test day, the key is being comfortable with unfamiliar words and understanding how to approach them. This sort of practice is far more important than memorizing a bunch of words and definitions. <br />
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Remember building vocabulary is not just studying for this test it is giving your student a life long skill that will help them in all areas of school, college, writing, business and just general intelligence. <br />
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<b>Write 20 minute essays often </b><br />
I encouraged you to start this in junior high or even younger if your student is ready. If you have not started yet start as soon in possible and practice often. I would encourage writing one 20 minute essay every week in high school. Yes I can hear the groans. But really how many minutes a day does your student spending texting friends, surfing the internet, or watching TV? Surely they can find 20 minutes in the course of a week.<br />
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By the time a student is in high school these essays should be about real topics, similar to the ACT and SAT writing prompts. Pick topics both of interest and non-interest to your student so they get practice writing both things they enjoy and know little about. Pick topics that have two sides to an issue and force your student to take a position on one side. Set a timer. Allow them up to 10 minutes to outline before they start writing the essay. After 10 minutes set another 20 minute timer and they hand it in when the beeper goes off no exceptions, no finishing sentences. This is how it works on test day, this is how it must work when they practice.<br />
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Read the writing section in your strategy book and help your student structure their writing around this outlined structure. A good standardized test essay will have an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. The body paragraphs should contain one showing the opposite side of the issue from your conclusion and two paragraphs supporting your conclusion. Learning to write five complete paragraphs in 20 minutes is a learned skill and not a natural one. <br />
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Organizing ideas, drawing conclusions and writing complete ideas in a short amount of time is another lifelong skill. This will serve them well in college as well as the business world. While they may not have to ever write another complete essay in less than 30 minutes they will be required to organize complex issues into coherent thoughts and arguments quickly for the rest of their lives. Practicing 20 minute essays develops this skill and helps prepare them for test day essays as well. <br />
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<b>Read. Read. Read. </b><br />
Highschoolers are busy. I get it. They are balancing school, homework, sports, clubs, social lives and for many work. Now mom and dad have added test prep and writing homework every week! Where in the world are they going to find time to read? <b> </b>Help them find and make the time. Reading now is just as important as it was when they were learning to in elementary and when they did for fun in junior high. <br />
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Avid readers score better on tests. They have better vocabularies. They tend to be better writers. They can simply spot errors in the english section of the tests because something doesn't sound "right". They have an advantage because so much of the test requires reading and they are comfortable with reading and likely faster readers. Being a good reader will also serve them well in college. Being a good reader will help them be life long learners. Reading is important, make them read. <br />
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Not all books are created equal. Encourage reading good books. There are many lists of classics, award winners, books that have stood the test of time. There are books with intricate plots, character development, and amazing vocabularies. Few of them are about vampires :) Assign good books, or place some around the house and encourage them to pick up some of your favorites. If you don't read, try. Set a good example. Create a book club for your student and their friends. Read and discuss the book with them. Either way encourage them to<br />
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Keep a list of all the books they have read in junior high and high school. Consider sending it with their college applications to show them as a rounded and well read individual. Reading will always bring more rewards than the work that went into it. Encourage your kids to read! <br />
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<b>Get help where you need it </b><br />
There are many tutors and prep classes available to you. If you are overwhelmed just reading this post consider finding help for your student. If you start the process and feel like you need some extra help get it. You may find your student only needs a few meetings with a good tutor to set them on the right path or you may discover they work really well with a particular tutor and keep them working with the tutor through the duration of their preparation. <br />
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Keep in mind not all help is the same. There are big name agencies that charge a lot of money per hour or per class for their tutoring and there are local tutors that may charge substantially less. Tutoring for this type of test typically runs between $30 - $100 an hour depending on where you live. More expensive does not necessarily mean better, and cheaper does not necessarily mean bad. Both can be good, both can be bad, the key is finding the right fit for your student. Also when working with an agency you may want to understand how much of your money the company gets and how much your tutor receives, people are often very surprised at these numbers when they examine them. <br />
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When interviewing a tutor be sure to understand their method and approach and what is expected of your student when working with them. If they don't require outside work I would keep looking until you found someone who did. While taking a class or meeting with a tutor to review strategies is better than going into a test cold it is not as helpful as actually practicing the skills and strategies with a seasoned tutor. I would recommend you find someone who focuses on individual test strategy as well and not a cookie cutter presentation of each section of the test that is the same to each student. <br />
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Not everyone needs outside help. A motivated student and an involved parent willing to read strategy books and manage practice can be just as effective for many students as a tutor. But you need to put in the time and energy to make it work. <br />
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If you do choose to work with a tutor remember this is an investment you are making in your child.
For many students a few hundred dollars spent on tutoring may translate
into thousands of dollars in college scholarships. <br />
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<b>Conclusion </b><br />
Until colleges change their admission and financial aid scholarship policies the college admission test is here to stay. It is important and it needs to be faced. Don't bury your head in the sand, cross your fingers and hope for the best. You can be sure the students your kids are competing against to get into school and a piece of the financial pie are not. <br />
<br />Take the time needed to create a plan for your student to succeed on these tests. Follow through with it. This is an area in your control, don't miss the opportunity to help your student. Remember the more your student puts in the more they will get out of it. <br />
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If anyone has further questions. Feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment. <br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-60654762003142272522012-03-08T07:53:00.002-06:002012-03-09T07:49:05.976-06:00Preparing for the ACT and SAT in Junior High<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recently I have returned to tutoring for the ACT. For those who do not know, the ACT is like the SAT for the Midwest, it is a college entrance exam. I did well on my ACT's when I was in high school and then I tutored some in college to make ends meet. When our lives changed last spring I began tutoring again and of all the odd jobs I have been doing recently I have discovered I truly love this one and I am fairly good at it.<br />
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I will keep tutoring as long as I am able. The reason is I believe it is important and getting good test scores can make a substantial difference in the life of a high school kid soon to be in college and to the lives of their parents. I love seeing my students confidence and test scores rise. I love watching them achieve their short term goals with the understanding that it is a first step to helping them achieve their long term goals. I love knowing that together we have opened a door for their future that might have otherwise been closed to them. <br />
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<b>Why Testing Matters</b><br />
For better or worse testing has become extremely important in our country. Your college entrance standardized test score will make the difference between what college you get accepted to and how much financial aid you will receive. The test becomes that much more important for home educated students as colleges will put more weight on these scores and sometimes ignore all together the transcript grades of the home educated believing they could be inflated or fabricated if they come from mom and dad. In addition often home school students have little testing experience under their belt and are used to knowledge being tested in different ways than by the bubbles they must rush to fill in. Home school students also rarely have experience with the time crunch of these standardized tests and can feel more anxious about them.<br />
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If I can communicate one thing to home school parents with kids in the junior and senior high age group it would be <b>START PRACTICING</b> for these tests with your students <b>NOW.</b> They are not too young to start gaining the skills they need to beat this test and secure a better college future for themselves. The first thing I tell my tutor students is: the ACT and SAT are not truly a test of your knowledge or intelligence, they are a test of how well you can take their particular test. They are not a test you can "study" for but they are a test you can and should practice for. Together we work to develop a strategy that is unique to them to help them maximize their score working from their strengths and not fighting their weaknesses. You can do this with your own child at home as well.<br />
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<u><b>Junior High Strategies</b></u></div>
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<b>Practice Bubble Tests </b><br />
There are hundreds of standardized test practice books on the market. There are many free tests you can find and print online now. There are computer programs that give you multiple choice options. The resources are there, use them. From about second grade on I make my kids go through a grade appropriate test review book filled with bubble questions. We use the Spectrum series and that has worked nicely for us. This serves two purposes. It acts as a catch all review for things most schools are teaching at their grade level and it helps my kids get acquainted with the style of bubble testing of their knowledge. They get practice in these types of questions in a low pressure scenario and I get a general review of their knowledge each year. Win. Win.<br />
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<b>Practice Time Crunch Situations</b><br />
Every once in awhile set a timer while your student works. Give them five minutes to finish a math page or one minute to do a math problem. Make it a game if you want, challenge them to see how fast they can do a page while still getting everything accurate. As they get older do it more often. Make them practice moving quickly through a math page or seeing how fast they can read a passage and still understand it. While in general I don't believe busy or fast work is the key to knowledge and understanding I do think it is an important skill to learn so long as standardized testing has so much weight in our children's future. Set a timer, don't tell them why, don't make it stressful but get them used to occasional time crunches so they are not facing it for the first time as a junior in high school! <br />
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<b>Learn Vocabulary </b><br />
<b> </b>Good vocabulary is very important on these tests. The avid reader will just naturally have a good vocabulary if they read good books. Other students will have to work harder at it and should. The SAT will test it more directly than the ACT but having a good vocabulary will improve your score on both. It will also help your student feel more confident in all sections of the test if big words do not scare them or they understand how to decode unfamiliar words using context, roots, or other work a rounds. The stronger their vocabulary the stronger their test results. Build vocabulary skills by talking to them as you would talk to other adults from a young age. Challenge yourself to use better words. Make friends with Google Define and never say "I don't know" to what does a word mean. Play synonym and antonym games, use vocab workbooks. Occasionally assign reading from a dictionary during reading time. Get out 1000 best word books from the library. Keep a vocab list. Build your students vocabulary. This can only help them in life and translates to a life long skill not just a test prep one.<br />
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<b>Get Comfortable with the Uncomfortable </b><br />
Too often in home school situations the uncomfortable gets pushed aside or worked around. Challenge yourself and your kids to work through the uncomfortable testing, vocabulary, or math situation. Face the challenge head on together to demonstrate and build the skill they will need in the test when faced with a topic they are unfamiliar with. Practice reading really hard science or literature textbooks. Read something translated from a different language. Look for the hard and uncomfortable every once in awhile and teach your kids to embrace and work through it. Then when they see it on a test they will have built the skills up to deal with it. Science tends to be a test section that scare many on the ACT until they realize it truly is a reading comprehension section with charts and graphs and data. All the information they need to answer the question is in front of them they just need to decode it as uncomfortable as it feels. Practice this type of skill whenever you have the opportunity and create the opportunities from time to time. <br />
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<b>Make sure your math program teaches what is on this test</b><br />
I am not at all a fan of "teach to the test" but I am also not an ostrich. Your kid does need a substantial amount of math knowledge to do well on this test and they need particular knowledge, make sure they will have it. Not all math programs are created alike in the home school world. If you love your math program and it has holes in it when it comes to standardized test material fill the holes with other material. Make sure by the time they are a junior they are going to have all the math they need down. Math is the one test you can't really get around having outside knowledge in. No matter the tips and tricks you learn you need the math knowledge to do well on this part of the test. Kaplan has a 100 Math Key Concepts that is worth looking over in junior and senior high to be sure your student understands what they will need.<br />
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<b>Practice writing 20 minute essays often </b><br />
For some reason the time crunch in the essay part always seems to surprise people even though they know it is coming. This is a skill you can work on from the time your kids are young. Make them write 20 minute essays on various topics from older elementary years on. I start with creative writing and my expectation of my third grader is substantially different than my expectation of my 6th grader or it will be of my junior in high school. As they get older transition them to non-creative topics where they must take a position on a controversial or two sided issue. The point is they have to get used to writing fast, neat and complete in a short amount of time. Their brain practices organizing thoughts and getting them down on paper in a quick amount of time. They are training themselves in an unnatural skill as most people like to take their time to write, which in general is preferable. It is still important to learn how to organize and communicate thoughts in a quick amount of time. <br />
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<b>Read. Read. Read </b><br />
Well it is me writing this post so you knew this was coming :) I honestly believe the amount of time a student spends reading throughout their life will increase their scores overall. If you are a good reader you have a higher vocabulary, you can read a variety of topics and subjects and language arts does not scare you. The Reading and English sections will likely go well for you if you have always been an avid reader or even forced to read and retain. There are time crunch and test strategies you will need to work on later for these sections but if you start with a good reading base all of it will come easier. I have always made my kids read an hour a day since they were independent readers and I always will. Some of my kids choose to read more than that in a day. In the end I honestly believe there is no better preparation for college, for testing, and for life than a solid reading foundation. Make your kids read!<br />
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<b>Advanced Testing for the Gifted </b><br />
This last recommendation is not for everyone but it is important to consider for some. If your kid is truly gifted they could qualify for early advanced grade testing through an organization like <a href="http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/numats/">NUMATS</a> out of Northwestern University. <b> </b> Programs like this allow advanced students to take the ACT and SAT as early as 6th grade and see how they compare to other advanced students their age as well as the college juniors and seniors who typically take the exams. This experience can be very helpful for the gifted student and gives them early testing experience that will help them years later. It also allows them to compare their skills with other advanced students. It is not for everyone as the student goes to an area high school or college testing center and takes the test along with the seniors and juniors taking it, no exceptions. For some students the experience may be anxiety increasing and I would not recommend it for them. For others it is not stressful but rather rewarding and some even say fun! Our oldest tried this year and enjoyed her experience and was glad she did it.<br />
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<b>When to Start</b><br />
Everything I wrote above is appropriate to do and should be done with kids from sixth grade on. I have done these things naturally with my kids since about second or third grade so they have no idea I am giving them test prep skills, it is just another "weird" thing they accept about the way they are educated :) We don't do all of this daily or even weekly. It is rather peppered throughout their education from time to time. In this way I believe it is building natural habits that will serve them well later on. If you have not started these types of things I encourage you to do so in junior high.<br />
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Read the followup post. <a href="http://schoolathome.blogspot.com/2012/03/preparing-for-act-or-sat-in-high-school.html">Preparing for the ACT or SAT in high school. </a>Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-33584117340826627112012-03-05T13:30:00.000-06:002012-03-05T13:33:08.593-06:00Growing Up and Letting Go<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Some weeks are big in the lives of our children. This past week was one of those for our oldest. So many things happened all at once. Some highs and some lows. As I walked the journey with my daughter I was just awed by how she handled it all. With grace and humbleness and with tears and then stubborn resolve. With determination, with sadness and disappointment, with joy, with passion and with a deeper understanding of herself.<br />
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I loved the moments she just needed me to be there with her and know those are going to be fewer and fewer as she builds her resolve to deal with it all herself. I was there to encourage, praise, support, and just hold. I know after this week I will look at her through a different lens. I know she grew more all at once this week than she has in a long time. I know I see something different in her, or I suppose it has always been there just harder for me to accept and see for myself.<br />
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My daughter is growing up and she is doing a great job of it. I suppose this makes it somewhat easier to let go, though that is never the easy part for us mothers is it? Part of me just wants to fight her battles for her but I know the time for that has in general passed and it is her turn to fight them for herself. Of course I am still here with her and walking this journey but I am slowly learning to hand the reins of control over more and more to her and to step back an watch and support from the sidelines when she comes to me. <br />
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She is facing things now that I can't do for her, fix for her, or even really help her with at all. I can encourage and support her, let her know I love her no matter what, encourage her and be there to lift her up whenever she needs. I can not do the things she needs to do, or even understand how she is able to accomplish all she is. I can not determine her success or failure at tasks she puts so much of herself into. I can not determine whether it will go well or poorly for her. I can not make it happen for her as I could in so many areas when she was younger. I can not protect her from the failures and hurts but I can help her cope with them and get through them. I can not claim victory for her successes but I can celebrate them with her. <br />
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I can be proud of her and who she has become and is becoming. I can tell her this and show her love in all her favorite ways and support and encouragement in the ways she needs even if she does not prefer them. She is growing up and letting go and I am growing and letting go too. It is both painful and beautiful at the same time. Here is to many more years of growth for us both and may we always be gentle and loving with each other<br />
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Kiss those babies!<br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-68169698620419213172012-02-25T14:23:00.002-06:002012-02-25T14:23:25.832-06:00Confessions of a Swim Mom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My children amaze me sometimes, often in fact. They have the strength and bravery to do harder things than I ever did at their age or even do now in many ways. <br />
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Every time I watch them get up on a start block and dive in the water I think of everything that race represents for them. I think of all that brought them to that moment and I am so proud of them, no matter what the clock says or where they finish in the pack they are racing at the moment.<br />
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I have a confession to make. I never wanted to be a sports mom. Really, I mean it. We had a house rule. Only one sport at a time. No I do not mean one sport per kid, I mean one sport at a time. So when Maria played soccer unless Ciaran could be on her team (they were occasionally) he was waiting until her season was over and the next season was his and she had to sit out. The whole family went to practices, games, and supported the one participating and the other kids waited their turn. We had this whole season rotation worked out and the kids were content. They were young, they had no choice and they accepted it. <br />
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I was the mom who refused to let my kids learn how to ice skate until they were old enough that I knew it was too late to play hockey effectively here in Minnesota. Hockey scared me: too much time, too much money, crazy obsessed parents, insane schedules, high expectations on young children, my list went on and on. I am fully aware of the irony of this now being a swim mom. Everything I said about hockey could be said about swimming in addition to other swimming oddities and here we are fully in the throes of year round competitive swimming, three kids in with no end in sight. <br />
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We had another rule, notice the trend of rules, no swim lessons until you were willing to put your own head under the water and you could do it independently. Mom and dad were not getting in the water for paid lessons. We would take you swimming ourselves, encourage you even try to coax you to put your head under water but you had to be willing to do it on your own and to really want swim lessons. Then it was swim lessons in the lake with the Red Cross teenagers. If it was raining, you swam, if it was 90 degrees you swam, if it was 65 degrees and windy you swam. In Minnesota this can all happen in the same week and did one year. This was my oldest two kids introduction to swimming. How in the world did they ever love this sport enough to want to do this all the time?<br />
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I blame Michael Phelps, well I also thank him, for the best thing that happened to our family, even if I went in kicking and screaming. Long time readers of this blog know we don't watch TV, we don't even receive TV channels in our house. Why does this matter in a post about swimming? Well in order to watch something on TV we really have to want to and it is quite an ordeal with computers, digital receivers, external antennas running through windows, you get the picture. The Olympics is one of the few things that qualify in our home to be worth the work and our time to watch. Beijing 2008 Michael Phelps was the story and we watched every one of his races as a family, no matter the time it was on. After it was all done Maria said to me "You mean you can swim like a sport not just in the lake? This is what I want to try next." <br />
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Who knew where that simple statement would take us. She was nine years old. Off we went to the local pool and signed up for a "swim team" it was not intense, an hour a week and they were not very organized or honestly very good, knowing what I know now. She loved the water but was very unhappy with her "team". She was determined to find something better so she made me find a better club through research. We found a club and she started practicing 4 days a week for an hour a day. I thought what have we gotten ourselves into? At the same time I thought the intensity of a club like that would turn her off. After all this was the girl who said "What is the point of soccer I hate running up and down a field all day." Surely she would not enjoy something that made her look at a black line for an hour a day while she swam up and down a pool with nothing else to do. I was wrong, very wrong.<br />
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Three years and one more club later we are quite settled into the swimming world. Both girls made the state team this season and we will have attended something like 20 swim meets this season when it finishes. All three kids swim and I have a Swim Taxi bumper sticker that defines a large portion of my day :) My youngest was not subjected to swim lessons in the lake, instead she had private lessons with swim team coaches as her learn to swim. There are certain benefits to being the littlest :)<br />
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We spend our weekends literally "camped" in junior highs around the state playing cards, working on tablets, reading books and getting to know other families who have chosen a similar path. On a typical weekend we could spend anywhere from 10 to 25 hours doing this over the course of two days. My house has a perma-chlorine smell, I can never find a clean towel even though I have close to thirty in the house and the owner of the local swim shop knows me by name. There is no way this is less time, money, or craziness than hockey would have been. At least it is warmer, which given typical Minnesota winters I appreciate. You know you are a swim parent when you keep your birks and shorts out year round and use them. <br />
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So what turned this reluctant sports mom into a full swim mom? My kids of course and all the benefits our family has seen as a result of swimming. I can't even begin to explain all of the benefits but there has been a complete transformation in our oldest and much of it is due to her experiences in swimming. There are all the physical benefits of course. Life long healthy sport, easy on the joints, building lung capacity, strength, working both sides of the brain at the same time, building myelin, general fitness. That has all come and in spades. The girl who never wanted to run up a soccer field trains for 12 hours a week now and sometimes does additional work at home. She has seen great physical benefits in general fitness and strength and she knows those will only continue. It is wonderful that she found a physical activity that she loves and will continue with.<br />
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Honestly though it is the unexpected benefits that have come from swimming that have kept me supportive of it. In this sport you have to face a lot of things on your own. You have to get up on the blocks in front of sometimes hundreds of people all looking at you in a bathing suit during your awkward formative years. Then you dive in and race your peers including many of your friends but each time you swim you are really racing yourself, constantly trying to best your last time. It is you and the clock and how you perform. There is no team mate to pass off a bad performance on, no judge to blame, no other excuses. There is just you and your individual performance to evaluate. The longer you stay in the sport the harder it is to best your times each time and you need to find other successes for each race. It is a sport that constantly causes growth every time you swim and offers many hills to climb and plateaus along the way. It requires mental and physical toughness. This sport builds and challenges confidence in unique ways. I have seen so much growth in my kids that I can attribute to their time on swim team. <br />
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I have watched them set goals and then work amazingly hard to achieve them. I have seen them face challenges and unexpected obstacles and work through them to overcome them and still reach goals. I have watched them adjust goals when needed and face what they consider failures with grace. I have watched them handle success with humility. I have watched them be brave. I have watched them work through being nervous and through fear. <br />
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I have watched them build great friendships. I have made great friendships. Just last week I sat at a meet and cried together with another mom when Maria made her first state time, a goal she has been working towards for two years over a variety of obstacles. The fact that my friend cried with me speaks highly of my friend and of this sport that bonds us together. <br />
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We are making memories that will be a large part of my children's childhood memories when they grow up. I know they are positive now, I pray they will be looked back upon with favor in the future as well. I love that they are family memories and that all three kids are sharing this bond. It may not last forever but I will enjoy it while it is here. I have seen them draw together in new ways as they share their swimming experiences and look to each other for support and encouragement and sympathy that only a swimmer can give to another swimmer, how much cooler is it that they also have the sibling relationship. <br />
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So here I am years later with all my "rules" thrown out the door. I spend my weeknights shuttling kids to and from pools and fitting in good nutrition as best we can. I spend my weekends waiting for hours on end to cheer my kid through a few thirty second races. I am not just a sports mom but I a swim mom and I would not have it any other way for this moment in time. <br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-7833162736697051022012-02-20T03:44:00.000-06:002012-02-20T03:44:50.038-06:00Returning HomeTonight driving home from a swim meet Maria and I discussed recent months and my return to working outside the home. I have recently been able to leave my job teaching at the college and I am now able to return home full time starting this week. I will still keep tutoring a few students regularly but otherwise I will be home full time again. For this we all are thankful. <br />
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Maria expressed how glad she was that I would be home full time again. Even as I worked from home much of the time having a job outside the home really changed the way our house functioned and in general it was not for the better. We all did what we had to do and made it work the best we could. However, all of us agree it is better I am done with outside teaching responsibilities for now. These few months made us all realize how committed we are to having a parent home full time and why it is truly important for our family. <br />
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For a brief moment I thought about the idea of returning to school for my PhD with plans to eventually get a full time job teaching at a university when the kids were a bit older. Now I know that is not the right path for us at this time. Who knows where the future will bring us and I am thankful that as the need arises I am able to find a job and help the family out financially but the best help I can be is to be home full time and dedicating more of my energy to their home schooling and the overall well being of our home and family. <br />
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I love teaching, I am an excellent teacher. I can teach at all levels from the youngest through college. I enjoyed parts of teaching college but overall I still feel one on one teaching and tutoring is the most effective form of education whenever it is possible. I am thankful to be able to provide this style of education for my own children and for the students I am able to tutor. I am thankful for the privilege to do so as well. <br />
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We always said we were committed to home schooling and to having a stay at home parent. This year has really made us evaluate those claims and determine how much we meant them. We have discovered we truly meant them and these are some of our highest family values and things we want to preserve about our family. Sometimes you learn the most about yourself, your family and your values during times of hardship and trials. The trials are hard but you come out stronger and more confident of your beliefs on the other end of them. <br />
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<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-28246624120758435732012-02-02T09:27:00.000-06:002012-02-02T09:29:59.954-06:00Why History?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After her third grade standardized test Maria got very angry with me about how much history I teach in comparison to what she was expected to know. She came out of the test saying mom they only asked me what these three men had in common (they were all presidents of the US) otherwise it was graphs, charts, and reading so why do you make me learn all this history?<br />
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I don't teach to the tests, I teach what I want them to learn and what I think will make them a better life long learner and person. This means I teach a lot of history in addition to reading, writing, math, and science. Those would probably be the priorities in our house. Of course we still do spelling, grammar, geography, vocabulary, logic, music, art, pe and other standard lessons. But when push comes to shove if we are down to the things I spend a lot of time on as a teacher the first 5 subjects are it.<br />
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My kids probably feel like we do more history because it is the one subject I read aloud to the younger two and I always engage in extensive conversation and question/answer sessions. It is something that will come up sometimes when we drive in the car or talk over dinner. We often tie current events back to historical ones and try to name the similar patterns.<br />
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I teach history chronologically and worldwide from nomads to modern. We use Story of the World for two complete four year cycles and then move to different texts depending on the topics. I stop when we come to the American Revolution and spend about 2 full months on this time period and follow American history then through the Civil War before returning to world history.<br />
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I teach my kids to spot the patterns in history and understand the common motivations for certain events. My kids can tell you the main reasons people go to war throughout history and sometimes when we are reading about a time in history they will stop me and say "I know where this is going" and then predict the wars and the causes for them. We spend a lot of time talk about inventors and how they spotted problems in the world that needed a solution and then worked to find them. I challenge my kids to think about their world and spot problems that we need new inventions to fix and try to brainstorm themselves on possible ways to fix the problems.<br />
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I make them read historical biographies during their summer reading. We talk about the common traits in some of the worlds greatest inventors, scientists and historical leaders. We discuss how we might approach a world problem if we were forced to lead a country to make a decision. We do this from the time they are in second grade with the complexity of answers and my expectations increasing as they age and learn more. <br />
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I did not love history until high school, it was all just memorizing names and dates and events I did not care about. Then I had a teacher who would not let us use textbooks in our class and she told history like a story. She did not care much about particular dates as long as we could place things along a rough timeline and understood the story arc of history. This clearly had a lasting impact on me :) When I headed to college I majored for some of the time in political science mostly because I have always been drawn to the political leaders and systems throughout history. Even my modern classes seemed to always draw me back to the historical roots and patterns to see where we came from, how we got where we are and predict where we are likely to go and a reasonable guess at the outcome. I ended up going different directions for the remainder of college and graduate school but a part of me always still loved history.<br />
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I read presidential biographies for fun :) I read historical fiction as an escape. I enjoy political thrillers. I still like history. So I suppose that influences the way I teach it. I also truly believe that history repeats itself in predictable and patterned ways and it helps to understand the past to understand the present and predict the future.<br />
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Just last week we discussed why the Canadian separation from England went so different from the American one, as it came after the American Revolution and had all the lessons learned from that to be considered. When we discuss the years of civil rights abuses in our country we discuss how our treatment of black Americans was different than the treatment of the Jewish people in Germany. We discuss similarities and differences and how history often can teach us to make better choices if we listen. We discuss the main causes of war and conflict often and my kids understand battles over resources, ideology, and power better than most their age and even many older than them. <br />
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I teach history so much because I believe it is important and it will affect my kids for the rest of their lives. The lessons they learn through the stories of history will help them in whatever career or life path they chose for themselves later. Just as it is important for them to read and write and understand numbers, they need to understand where we came from and all that the past can teach us so we can move forward in the future. That is why I spend so much time on history.<br />
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This blog post is probably not much shorter than the answer I gave my third grader back when she asked why and includes many of the same reasons I gave her :) You would think that would stop my kids from asking me why :) I love that my long answers encourage rather than discourage my kids and that they truly are curious about the world around them. They have a deep desire to understand the reasons we make the decisions we do and how our choices can affect not just ourselves but those around us. They are starting to look at the world around them and wonder how they can make it better themselves. This I believe comes out of learning history the way we do. <br />
<br />Tennielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244439566953461973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463497.post-86293799000217351702012-02-02T09:02:00.000-06:002012-02-02T09:02:47.828-06:00I recently realized we were needing more field trips in our school days. With a 7th, 5th and 3rd grader it is easy to slip into the routine of workbooks and typical school studies. Still when I look back to when I had an 8, 6, and 4 year old we were on field trips at least once a week. My current 8 year old needs this as well so I need to do more of it for her, 2012 plans to be the year of field trips for our family. <br />
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We renewed family memberships and have been trying to take advantage of all opportunities we can. We have discovered sometimes just an hour or two at the zoo or museum really is enough and worth the time invested. The zoo is our destination today. The third time in January. The kids are now old enough to carry their own backpacks and bring their cameras and sketch books. We find ourselves spending longer in fewer locations. One day we simply spent three hours in the dolphin, shark and fish area. I love that the kids can spend that much time and attention in one place digging a little deeper and simply just being. <br />
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