We talked about including music in your homeschool curriculum last time. This time I would like to encourage you to use art in your homeschool program. Some of the same things apply, cost of a private teacher would be a good example. But, just like there were ways to get around that in music, there are ways to get around that in art.
As part of my child’s core curriculum, the company offers an art program, Time4Art. It is basically an art appreciation program. It introduces my daughter to color, texture, different art techniques, art history, and the art of the great masters.
The reality is that my daughter has taken this course two times already, and is taking it a third time. It is the same course, yet as she gets older, and gains more knowledge in other areas, she finds new things within the program to learn. Just as her own art work grows and changes over time as she learns new techniques, taking the course again lets her put new things into practice, and recognize various artist by their techniques.
Last year, in addition to the online course, my daughter took group art lessons. These were very reasonably priced through our local art council. The price for a month was about equal to the cost of one private lesson session. There are other online courses to consider as well. Do a little search on the internet for online lessons, or pictures of great works of art. Maybe do a study of a sculptor or painter, let your child try to mimic their techniques and use of materials.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Music and home education
Music is a great thing to add to your homeschool curriculum. I know, music lessons are expensive, and might require an outside tutor. But music provides so many benefits to a child, and it doesn’t have to include an outside tutor, even if you are not musically inclined yourself.
First let me tell you about a few of the benefits of music. Students who have music instruction do better on standardized tests. They show better reason abilities, and they tend to do better in math. Additionally, students who have regular music instruction learn discipline, the value of practice, and commitment. Any or all of those benefits make considering including music as part of your homeschool program worth the investment.
Speaking of investment, music teachers are expensive! Yes, I know that. But the benefits of music do not have to be gained from individual, private lessons from doctoral candidates from the local university. Students who participated in music appreciation courses also showed benefits to some extent. Consider studying a composer, his life, his times, and his music. Go on the internet and listen to his compositions. Discuss the music, and what it made your child think of or feel.
Some communities have free concerts and even reduced rates on matinee orchestra performances. Any exposure to good music is a good thing!
First let me tell you about a few of the benefits of music. Students who have music instruction do better on standardized tests. They show better reason abilities, and they tend to do better in math. Additionally, students who have regular music instruction learn discipline, the value of practice, and commitment. Any or all of those benefits make considering including music as part of your homeschool program worth the investment.
Speaking of investment, music teachers are expensive! Yes, I know that. But the benefits of music do not have to be gained from individual, private lessons from doctoral candidates from the local university. Students who participated in music appreciation courses also showed benefits to some extent. Consider studying a composer, his life, his times, and his music. Go on the internet and listen to his compositions. Discuss the music, and what it made your child think of or feel.
Some communities have free concerts and even reduced rates on matinee orchestra performances. Any exposure to good music is a good thing!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Why are you homeschooling?
Do you know why you are homeschooling? Can you pin the reason down to one item? Don’t feel bad if you can’t list the single reason you homeschool. Most people homeschool for multiple reasons, even if they don’t know that they have multiple reasons.
Some people homeschool because they feel that it is a mandate from God. Those people are sometimes labeled as Christian homeschoolers. It is a noble and honorable reason to homeschool for religious purposes. It means that you know exactly what your child is being exposed to regarding world view and theology.
Some people homeschool for strictly academic reasons. These homeschoolers are often considered secular homeschoolers. These people believe that they can give their children a better, safer education than the public or private systems can provide.
Yet other families homeschool for a combination of reasons. Sometimes circumstances just make educating you child at home a better choice. Consider military families that move often. Homeschooling provides better continuity of education for those children. Sometime a child’s health, either physical or mental, dictates that he or she be schooled at home.
Maybe your child’s learning style is easily disrupted by outside distractions and in the home setting you can control those distractions. Perhaps your child is, like mine, ADHD. My daughter needs to move, to talk, to take frequent breaks, to hang off the sofa upside down, spin around in the desk chair, or take frequent comfort from her pets.
In the end, all most homeschoolers want to do is what is right and best for their children. I know that is what I want!
Some people homeschool because they feel that it is a mandate from God. Those people are sometimes labeled as Christian homeschoolers. It is a noble and honorable reason to homeschool for religious purposes. It means that you know exactly what your child is being exposed to regarding world view and theology.
Some people homeschool for strictly academic reasons. These homeschoolers are often considered secular homeschoolers. These people believe that they can give their children a better, safer education than the public or private systems can provide.
Yet other families homeschool for a combination of reasons. Sometimes circumstances just make educating you child at home a better choice. Consider military families that move often. Homeschooling provides better continuity of education for those children. Sometime a child’s health, either physical or mental, dictates that he or she be schooled at home.
Maybe your child’s learning style is easily disrupted by outside distractions and in the home setting you can control those distractions. Perhaps your child is, like mine, ADHD. My daughter needs to move, to talk, to take frequent breaks, to hang off the sofa upside down, spin around in the desk chair, or take frequent comfort from her pets.
In the end, all most homeschoolers want to do is what is right and best for their children. I know that is what I want!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Get Legal!
It is getting ready to be time to think about the beginning of the new school year. I know, I know…summer is just getting into full swing. In some states the deadline for registering your homeschool with the board of education is the middle of July.
So that is why I am reminding you at this point. It is your job to get legal with your state. If you have homeschooled before, then you probably already know the rules, and what you need to do to ensure that you have no legal issues where you state is concerned. If you are new to homeschooling in the state you live in, then take some time to research the law.
You can check the board of education, or department of education website. You can check with the school your child would go to. Talk to other homeschooling families in the area and see if they have access to the forms needed, or know what the requirements are.
The other thing to do right around now is to find out when your state’s tax free school holiday is. Most states have one, and this can mean noticeable savings if you are not paying state taxes on supplies that are eligible for the exemption. Also look for your local stores to begin putting school supplies on sale. Admit it, you love brand new school supplies!!
So that is why I am reminding you at this point. It is your job to get legal with your state. If you have homeschooled before, then you probably already know the rules, and what you need to do to ensure that you have no legal issues where you state is concerned. If you are new to homeschooling in the state you live in, then take some time to research the law.
You can check the board of education, or department of education website. You can check with the school your child would go to. Talk to other homeschooling families in the area and see if they have access to the forms needed, or know what the requirements are.
The other thing to do right around now is to find out when your state’s tax free school holiday is. Most states have one, and this can mean noticeable savings if you are not paying state taxes on supplies that are eligible for the exemption. Also look for your local stores to begin putting school supplies on sale. Admit it, you love brand new school supplies!!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Spelling
How is your child doing in spelling? My child is not a great speller. This is kind of odd actually, because she is an excellent reader, and usually being an excellent reader indicates being a good speller as well. Just one more exception to the rule…my child seems to live for this!
I think that I have figured out something regarding spelling. If you don’t think you can spell, you probably can’t. Confidence has a lot to do with not only ability but desire. My daughter is an example. She believes that she cannot spell. She would never make any effort to learn to spell better because she has already decided she is a failure at it.
One of the ways that I hope to improve my daughter’s spelling is to let spelling be fun. I have to set her up to succeed because she already believes she has failed. If I teach spelling in a manner in which she is doomed to fail, not taking her learning styles into consideration, then she most assuredly will fail.
We use games, both online and in person. Sometimes we toss a bean bag back and forth as we practice spelling. Sometimes we do exercises like word ladders, that help build words from word families. Sometimes we can incorporate keyboarding and spelling together, so that she is practicing both. The other thing that we do is utilize Vocabulary and Spelling City. We can use their lists, or import our own, and those words can be used for word search puzzles, hang man, and games like hig pig.
I think that I have figured out something regarding spelling. If you don’t think you can spell, you probably can’t. Confidence has a lot to do with not only ability but desire. My daughter is an example. She believes that she cannot spell. She would never make any effort to learn to spell better because she has already decided she is a failure at it.
One of the ways that I hope to improve my daughter’s spelling is to let spelling be fun. I have to set her up to succeed because she already believes she has failed. If I teach spelling in a manner in which she is doomed to fail, not taking her learning styles into consideration, then she most assuredly will fail.
We use games, both online and in person. Sometimes we toss a bean bag back and forth as we practice spelling. Sometimes we do exercises like word ladders, that help build words from word families. Sometimes we can incorporate keyboarding and spelling together, so that she is practicing both. The other thing that we do is utilize Vocabulary and Spelling City. We can use their lists, or import our own, and those words can be used for word search puzzles, hang man, and games like hig pig.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Homeschooling Year round
Are you homeschooling through the summer? Whether you do or not is an entirely personal decision. Let me give you two views, one reason to take the summer off, another for continuing to homeschool. I will tell you up front, that we homeschool through the summer.
If your child has many public school friends, then the summer is the time when they will be able to get together and do things. The public school students will have the summer off. And your children will want to be off as well. Sometimes the parent is more in need of the break than the child. Taking the summer off can give both you and your child the opportunity to reduce stress, and do some really fun things in the time that you would normally be doing school.
In the case of our family, we school through the summer. There are a couple of reasons for this. Our weather is extremely hot and humid in the summer, to the point of being dangerous at times. When you add ozone air quality alerts, it just makes sense to spend time in the air conditioning. If we school through the summer then we can take time off when the weather is more pleasant.
Schooling through the summer also means that we don’t get burned out during the rest of the year. This may sound odd to you, but schooling during the summer means that we can take more frequent, shorter breaks through out the year. Schooling through the summer also means that my child doesn’t get the long summer months to forget the progress we have made, or have to review a lot when returning to school in the fall.
In the end, it is personal preference whether you and your family homeschool through the summer or take it off. Consider the pros and cons of each and make the decision that best suits your family!
If your child has many public school friends, then the summer is the time when they will be able to get together and do things. The public school students will have the summer off. And your children will want to be off as well. Sometimes the parent is more in need of the break than the child. Taking the summer off can give both you and your child the opportunity to reduce stress, and do some really fun things in the time that you would normally be doing school.
In the case of our family, we school through the summer. There are a couple of reasons for this. Our weather is extremely hot and humid in the summer, to the point of being dangerous at times. When you add ozone air quality alerts, it just makes sense to spend time in the air conditioning. If we school through the summer then we can take time off when the weather is more pleasant.
Schooling through the summer also means that we don’t get burned out during the rest of the year. This may sound odd to you, but schooling during the summer means that we can take more frequent, shorter breaks through out the year. Schooling through the summer also means that my child doesn’t get the long summer months to forget the progress we have made, or have to review a lot when returning to school in the fall.
In the end, it is personal preference whether you and your family homeschool through the summer or take it off. Consider the pros and cons of each and make the decision that best suits your family!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Learning Styles: Visual
One more learning style for you…visual. That is not to say that kinetic, auditory, and visual are the only learning styles, but they are good examples of three of the major styles.
So, visual learners. They learn by seeing. Often the more colorful and animated a lesson is, the better. Some researchers think that our children are having more visual pathways formed in their brains at an early age because of the amount of input our children receive.
Consider a child from the era when public schools were being created. There was no television, no internet, no video games, and no smart phones. Books and a black board were the height of visual stimulation in those classrooms. Today, children have all of that visual stimulation, much of it before they can even read.
We know that language pathways in the brain form early, usually before the age of three, and other pathways are not an exception to this rule. If you wire a child’s brain to rapid visual input, then it would follow that that might be how they learn best.
Visual learners think more in pictures than in words, they may dream in color, they are better at multi-tasking than some other styles of learners. Where they do not excel is in linear tasks, or multi-step tasks. Don’t be surprised if your visual learner doesn’t do well in long division, or even math in general.
After describing three of the main types of learning styles, you may not see a clear picture of your child. This is because many children are combination learners.You may even see that your child learns one subject visually, another kinesthetically, and a third by an auditory method. Being familiar with different learning styles means that you have tools in your tool box to help your child learn in a manner that works for them.
So, visual learners. They learn by seeing. Often the more colorful and animated a lesson is, the better. Some researchers think that our children are having more visual pathways formed in their brains at an early age because of the amount of input our children receive.
Consider a child from the era when public schools were being created. There was no television, no internet, no video games, and no smart phones. Books and a black board were the height of visual stimulation in those classrooms. Today, children have all of that visual stimulation, much of it before they can even read.
We know that language pathways in the brain form early, usually before the age of three, and other pathways are not an exception to this rule. If you wire a child’s brain to rapid visual input, then it would follow that that might be how they learn best.
Visual learners think more in pictures than in words, they may dream in color, they are better at multi-tasking than some other styles of learners. Where they do not excel is in linear tasks, or multi-step tasks. Don’t be surprised if your visual learner doesn’t do well in long division, or even math in general.
After describing three of the main types of learning styles, you may not see a clear picture of your child. This is because many children are combination learners.You may even see that your child learns one subject visually, another kinesthetically, and a third by an auditory method. Being familiar with different learning styles means that you have tools in your tool box to help your child learn in a manner that works for them.
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