A Tribute to Homeschooling Moms

It’s May – the month that we honor mothers. As I coach homeschooling moms all over the world, I’ve come to the conclusion that you are a breed apart. For Mother’s Day, I wanted to write an article honoring the homeschooling mom; but how do I do that without sounding trite or using all the common clichés? As I pondered this, what came to mind is the following. Here is why I respect and honor you, the homeschool mom, so very much:

You slug it out, year by year, in spite of the fact that there are many days you want to give up.

You live with big messes in your home (which drives some of you nuts!) because kids and books and papers and pencils just don’t want to fall neatly into place by themselves. But you put up with it because it’s worth it to have the children learning at home.

You spend countless hours in research and study, asking questions and going to conferences to find the best curriculum for your darlings.

You give up the peace and quiet that could be yours if you sent the kiddos off on the bus every morning.

You agonize over your choices; sometimes you know you must choose to send one or all back to school, at least for the time being. But homeschooling is still your heart.

You give of yourself to your homeschooling community and help new homeschoolers get started.

You cook, clean, do laundry, answer the phone, care for your husband, walk the dog, make a meal for a neighbor, drive the kids everywhere, nurse the sick, practice hospitality, watch other people’s kids, change diapers - all while wearing the hat of primary teacher as well.

You struggle with uncertainty, high expectations, exhaustion, fear and self doubt yet you press on toward the goal and the high calling.

You lose your temper, yet you apologize. You get discouraged, yet you go on. You are disorganized, yet you make constant attempts at organization. You threaten to send them all to school, yet you love them too much to really do it.

You do so much more than the ‘average mom’ yet you don’t even realize it because it’s all part of your lifestyle and normal routine.

You love your children more than you love yourself; that’s why you do all the things you do for them - day in and day out.

You do all this (and much more) in spite of the fact that the world tells you you’re crazy and that what you really need to do is serve yourself.

And as I talk with many of you in our coaching sessions, you inspire me. You inspire me to press on and to quit complaining. You inspire me to be grateful for the wonderful blessings that God has given me in these children and in this choice to homeschool them. As you struggle to meet the challenges of your homeschool lifestyle, you encourage me to face - head on - my own challenges.

You are my heroes - every single one of you - and in this month that we honor mothers, I truly honor, respect and love all of you.

Written by Charmaine Wistad from http://www.homeschool-articles.com/.

Living Stones

One of the traditions our church has is that when a family joins, they are given a rock to decorate as they wish. Each Sunday we pile up the rocks as an altar to God. Joshua 4 is the inspiration behind this tradition. After Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River, the Lord told him to choose 12 men, one from each tribe, and those 12 men were to each take a stone from the middle of the Jordan River. Joshua set up the stones as a memorial so that future generations would know of the things the Lord had done.

We actually joined Harbins a few months ago, but because of travel and busyness, we hadn't finished our rock yet. We finally got it done on Saturday! First Jon did some awesome artwork (as you can see above) and then we each wrote a verse on it. Jon wrote John 10:29 - My Father who has given them to me is greater than all; No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I wrote Philippians 3: 7 - 11 - But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I WANT TO KNOW CHRIST and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. I would've also written verses 12 - 14, but I ran out of room. Oh well.

Caleb chose 2 Chronicles 16:9 - For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

Abbi chose 1 Timothy 4:12 - Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Jacob chose Psalm 100:3 - Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Our church recently merged with another and the two pastors have been teaching about our covenant the past few weeks. Yesterday was the last sermon on this and several families brought their rocks to add to the pile. We try to have the kids involved in worship each Sunday. Yesterday Pastor Steve asked Abbi to read 1 Peter 2:4 & 5 - As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. She was nervous, but did super!

Each family that came was first prayed over and then they went and added their rock to the pile. Above (the Webb Family) is the only photo I took of the families that turned out decent.

This was the finished result.

Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner - Part 3

Characteristics and Interventions

www.diannecraft.org

3. Auditory Processing Dysfunction - ADD kids fall into this category...not to say that all kids in this category have ADD. This is Caleb's glitch, but he does not have ADD.

1. misunderstands conversations often - only 50% of what you say gets through. Information is going in, but there's no 'velcro', so it just bounces around. These kids seem to not be able to process information in a way that they can put velcro on it. Some children later described it as listening to a radio in your car. You go through a tunnel, there's static, you miss part of your program and you get frustrated. Children with this dysfunction are also frustrated. These are the kids who, you ask them a question and they reply, 'Wellllll.....' and you could eat a sandwich waiting for their answer (this is classic Caleb). The back of the brain is receptive, the front of the brain is expressive. It's like there's all sorts of roadblocks as information goes from the back of their brain to the front, so verbal expression is very difficult for these kids. For this reason, these kids are typically quiet, more quiet than they want to or should be. We call them low-expressive, meaning they don't say the things they want to say. One boy described it as feeling trapped. He had good things to say, but he couldn't get his words to come out the way he wanted them to. (I see this in Caleb a lot.)

A hallmark of children with this dysfunction is that they tend to be angry. They are very frustrated about not being able to hear things. It seems that in this world we can get along better not being able to see things than not being able to hear things. They can hear tone and volume (it's not a problem with their ears), but they can't hear it, put it all together, store it and retrieve it easily. They lose whole chunks of the material (which explains why, when I read aloud to the kids, Caleb can tell me very little, if anything, of what I've read). An example would be giving your child 2 or 3 directions and asking them to tell it back to you. You're lucky if they remember one thing. This is very frustrating for your child (and for you). They know they should be able to tell it back, they know there is a problem. This dysfunction is pervasive and subtle...and it creates misery. This dysfunction affects everything they do (not just academics).

2. easily confused - these kids never quite know what's going on all the time. These are the kids who, after an instruction is given, they will look around to see what everyone else is doing because they can't trust their own hearing.

3. can't sound out words when reading - the middle of the word falls out (remember becomes 'reber'). Phonics is lost to them because they can't remember the sounds. When most of us read something, we hear our voice in our head. Children with this dysfunction don't. They may prefer to read out-loud to themselves so they understand it better.

4. difficulty with math facts

5. responds slowly with questions

6. poor memory

Children with Auditory Processing Dysfunction typically have tight, contracted muscles. If they bend over to touch their toes, they may only reach their knees. PE tells us that when their muscles are stretched, learning improves (fascinating!). It's been found that sports that require crossing the mid-line (swimming, gymnastics, wrestling) is of great benefit to these kids. It's been proven that the stretching and lengthening of the hamstring area, in particular, helps their ability to express themselves. They begin to hear their internal voice and speak their thoughts. This has something to do with the corpus callosum in the brain, but I had no idea what Ms. Craft was talking about!

An easy way to check the integrity of your child's auditory processing is to have them write the alphabet in lower case and watch for when they pause. What's happening when they pause and have to start over is that they can't store it and retrieve it efficiently. So they have to stop and start all the way over again. The severity of their dysfunction can be determined by how soon they have to pause.

So, how can we help these kids?? Dianne Craft mentioned a few things and also said she gets into more of it in the next DVD, so you'll have to stay tuned (again).

1. audiological examination - have their hearing checked

2. Brain Integration Therapy (manual available from www.diannecraft.org so you can do it at home with your child). I've already mentioned some of her techniques that I'll try to explain in a coming post. The Ear Eight exercise is recommended for this dysfunction. I'll share more on that soon!

3. Right Brain Phonics Program (also at www.diannecraft.org)

4. Teaching the Right Brain Child DVD (www.diannecraft.org), that teaches visual methods for math facts, spelling, vocabulary, etc. (Help them remember things by associating them with pictures.)

5. anti-histamines or decongestants - this was so interesting. She said that many children with this dysfunction have inflammation in the back of their brain. Dr. Harold Levinson (Smart But Feeling Dumb) recommends giving 1/4 dosage in the morning and evening to help relieve this inflammation. (She encouraged the audience to research that information.)

6. essential fatty acids and lecithin to improve auditory memory

She also talked about antioxidants and said she gets more into foods and nutritional helps in the second DVD.

Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner - Part 2

Characteristics and Interventions

www.diannecraft.org

1.  Learning Disabilities - or learning glitches as Dianne Craft calls it:  these are the kids with average intelligence but low achievement.  They're probably good in math, but read below their grade level.

A.  Processing Problems

1.  Visual Processing Dysfunction Characteristics

1. labored oral reading - they can read okay but it's one. word. at. a. time.

2.  reverses words or letters - straight reversals

for example, 'b' could look like 'd', 'p', or 'q'

'm' looks like 'w' (so your child may read 'wan' for 'man')

'n' looks like 'u', 'h' looks like 'y', 'f' looks like 't

This prodlem is not too harb for any doby to beal with. (labored reading)

But your child may also rotate their letters.

Tyaf cau qe a liffle yarger fo tignre onf.

Ask your child if this happens to them.  Preface by saying, 'sometimes this happens to smart children.'  I asked all my kids today and they all said this has never happened to them.

3.  mis-reads familiar words - sometimes the letters scramble so the word 'the' looks like 'eth' or 'hte.'  Your child won't tell you their letters scramble - to them it's normal.  You need to ask them if it ever happens to them.

4.  poor eye tracking - the right brain is automatic.  The left brain is where we think about things.  When we learn how to drive, for example, we start by using our left brain.  As it becomes more familiar, we move it over to the right brain and it becomes automatic.  We can then relax a little and listen to music at the same time.  We need to get the basic skills of eye tracking over to the right brain.  She shared a vision training technique here that I'll try to share in another post.  I'll probably have my kids do it and record it...it's much easier to see than explain.

5. becomes fatigued easily - here Ms. Craft talked about using colored transparencies to help with eye fatigue.  College students use these to help them study longer without getting eye fatigue.  She bought a package of vivid colors - blue, red, green, yellow and gray - and let her students each choose a color to lay over the books they read.  One child laid the transparency on their page and said, 'oh, it's a magnifying glass.'  Another said, 'my words are still with this.'  Another said, ' look at the spaces in between the words.'  And another said, 'oh, the green dot stopped moving.'  She had always seen a green dot move along with her as she read, but when she put the green transparency over her book, the dot disappeared.  Gray and yellow are the most common for adults to use and blue is the most common for children.  I haven't been able to find colored transparencies (or plain ones for that matter...who uses them these days?), but I do plan to try this with the kids (and myself).  As the visual processing dysfunction improves, they'll use the transparencies less.  

If we don't find a way to relieve the stress in their learning system or give them some answers, they'll think that they're really dumb.  They need to know it's just a glitch and it can be fixed.  

2.  Writing Dysfunction Characteristics

1.  frequent letter or number reversals - some people say it's okay for 1st graders to do this, but if that's true, why don't they all do it?  It could be a warning sign.

2.  difficulty writing above or below line - like there's a forcefield blocking them from crossing the line.  Caleb does this.  If he writes the word 'they' it looks like 'theY' because he can't drop the tail of the 'y' below the line.  'Therapy' would be written 'TheraPY.'  Same with g's, j's, and q's.

3. no spaces between words - thedogwenttothestorewiththegirl

4.  poor placement of math problems - lining up numbers in problems is hard

5.  resists cursive - some parents are just satisfied that their child can print and don't force learning cursive.  But our kids need to know how to read cursive (Caleb can't wait to learn cursive so he can read his birthday cards), which means they need to learn how to write it.

6.  low production of written work - good orally but written work is poor.  Kids who never finish anything.  They write very little when asked to.

7.  Leaves out letters in Spelling Test even though they know how to spell the word

8.  no established hand-dominance - young children who haven't established hand-dominance yet are frustrated, short fused and probably have behavioral issues.

9.  mixed eye/hand dominance -  An easy way to check their eye dominance is to tear a small hole in a piece of paper and have the child hold it at arms length while peering through the hole at an object on the wall.  Tell the child not to move his arms while you go behind him.  Cover one eye and ask if he can still see the object without moving the paper.  Do the same with the other eye.  We sight with our dominant eye so when you cover that eye, the object on the wall will seem to disappear.  If their left eye is dominant and they are right handed, this is mixed dominance (and vice versa).  You'll recognize these kids as hunching over when they write because they're trying to see what they're writing.  Many children who experience difficulty in written expression, particularly in the area of reversals, are found to be mixed dominant.  In order for the brain to function and process most efficiently, single side dominance (right eye and right hand or left eye and left hand) is best.  Mixed dominance children are forced to cross the midline of the brain/body every time the eye and hand have to work together.

Here Ms. Craft recommends the Writing 8 exercise.  The point is not to change the child's dominace pattern.  With repatterning and integration exercises, we can facilitate efficient brain processing for the dominance pattern that the child has.  This will greatly reduce the stress on the child's system and relieve the fatigue associated with mixed dominance.  Some children who are mixed dominant are 'hard wired' to be left handed, but are using their right hand to write.  Watch them draw a circle.  A child who is hard wired by the brain to be right hand dominant will make his circles counterclockwise.  A child who is hard wired to be left hand dominant will most often make his circles clockwise.  (Isn't that interesting?  I am left-handed and I do make my o's clockwise.  And my left eye is dominant which makes me uniform-dominant.)  For this child it is very important to do the Writing 8 exercise.  This will greatly relieve the stress in the child's writing system.  Anyone will benefit from doing the Writing 8 exercise daily, whether he is mixed dominant or uniform dominant.

So, what is the Writing 8 exericise?  I will share that soon.  It's another one where a visual will be very helpful.  The kids and I have been doing it together each day and it's quite relaxing.

Next time I will share my notes about Auditory Processing Dysfunction, which is Caleb's glitch.

The Profound Influence of Band on My Life

Yesterday afternoon, I took the kids for their instrument fitting in preparation for band this fall.  Mr. Uterhardt (who is fondly called Papa George by the students) met with us and let the kids see all sorts of instruments.  Abbi had already decided she wants to play the flute and Caleb was fairly certain he wanted to try the snare drum.  But Jacob had no idea what instrument he wanted to try.  We arrived at the music store and George had a trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, flute and drum waiting for us.  He started with Abbi and the flute and tried to show her how to blow across the mouthpiece to make sound.  I told him I used to play the flute so he sent us out into the hallway so I could help her while he worked with the boys.  After watching Abbi attempt to make a sound come from the flute, I took it from her to demonstrate where the mouthpiece should rest on her lower lip.  And I played the flute for the first time in at least 20 years.  And do you know what I find absolutely incredible?  It all came back to me.  Just like that.  I played a scale.  Just like that.  More than 20 years have passed since I played the flute and it felt completely natural to play it again.  My fingers just went into automatic and played a scale.  It brought tears to my eyes.  My heart swelled and I was completely overwhelmed with emotion.  Why did I ever stop playing the flute?  I have no answer.

I pondered all this on our drive home.  I was lost in memories of band.  I still remember my junior high school band class.  I'll never forget my teacher, Mr. Wilson.  I can still picture every face in my Concert and Symphony Band classes.  I don't remember all the names, but I can picture it as though it were yesterday.   I will never forget my first week of middle school band.  I was the only 7th grader in the 8th grade band, which already made me unwelcome.  We all had to play a little something so that Mr. Wilson knew where to place us...1st chair, 2nd chair and so on.  The day of the placement announcement was full of anxiety (for me anyway).  Mr. Wilson started with the flute section.  I still remember how he sat in his chair looking over his list.  And then the bomb hit.  "1st chair...Amy Eder."  My heart dropped into my stomach and I know I went pale as a ghost.  I truly did not want to be 1st chair.  1st chair had pressure...the 1st chair flutist also had to play the piccolo when the song called for it.  1st chair was a leader and an example to the others.  I did not feel up to the task and I really did not want the attention.  Not to mention I could feel the daggers of all the 8th grade flutists glaring into me.  Then to my relief Mr. Wilson said, "Wait a minute...1st chair...Becky Skinner.  2nd chair...Amy Eder."  Thank you, Lord!  2nd chair was much better than first.  And the pressure was off.

So, why is it that I remember so much about band?  I remember other things about school...a particular oral book report, my 7th grade Social Studies teacher - Mr. Cowgill, my volleyball coach, how much I loved Pre-Algebra and lots of other random things.  But I don't remember big chunks of things like I do about band.  Could it be because of the things I've shared here the past 2 weeks?  Because band was so multi-sensory that I remember it more clearly than any other class?  Hmmmm...interesting thoughts.

The kids are now super-excited about band, as am I.  Caleb was very pleased with the snare drum, which I think is a perfect fit, and Jacob decided on the saxophone.  Cool.  It looked good on him.  I can't wait!!

Oh, the above photo is of a band concert from 7th grade.  Becky Skinner, the 1st chair flutist is close to the middle wearing white shoes.  I'm next to her wearing a black skirt.

Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner - Part 1

It seems like I mentioned the DVD I bought called Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner in another post. Dianne Craft presents this seminar on two 90 minute DVD's...I'm only half way through the first one and have so much to share already! If you have a bright child who has to work hard to learn, I encourage you to read on!

Ms. Craft talks quite a bit about ADD & ADHD in the beginning of this lecture. If you have children who are in these categories, I can't recommend this DVD enough! She also discusses Dyslexia and Dysgraphia and has tips and techniques on how to help children with all of these disorders. Also in the beginning, she asks why more boys have learning struggles than girls do. She said that boys have 3 times more Essential Fatty Acids deficiency than girls do. Some symptoms of this deficiency are: dry hair (you're always taking a wet comb to their head to get their hair to lay down), dry skin (a white trail is left on the skin after scratching), eczema, rashes, always thirsty, licks butter out of the tub. She also said that most, if not all, of hyperactive children have been helped by using oils in their diet. The white matter of the brain, where transmitters signal from the left to the right brain hemispheres, is 90% fat! Fats (good fats) are essential to kids! When I went to the Brain Balance lecture at the GHEA conference, Dr. Scire also said we MUST be giving our children fish oil supplements (and lots of antioxidants so their bodies can break down the oils), if we want them to have healthy brain development and function.

Sidenote here...since I mentioned the Brain Balance lecture, I thought I'd share a few tidbits.
1 in 4 kids has ADHD (up 2,000% in the last 20 years)
1 in 100 kids has Autism (15 years ago it was 1 in 10,000)
He mentioned the rise in diabetes and obesity in kids (I had no idea doctors are prescribing Lipitor to children for high cholesterol) and blames most of it on how sedentary kids are these days. The average child today spends 8 hours a day in front of a screen be it TV, movies, computer, video games, and texting.

Dr. Scire said (I have not confirmed this) that because we know so much more about the brain and how it functions, and what it needs for optimum learning and development, that the American Pediatric Association is now recommending NO television for children under 5. All other kids should receive no more than 30 minutes of screen time per day. Wow...I had to let that sink in. My kids only get 30 minutes per day, if any, on the computer. But we usually watch something as a family in the evenings. These days it's been 2 episodes of Little House on the Prairie, so 90 minutes. I guess I'm not really worried about them, because they do play outside and jump on the trampoline for hours a day (weather permitting). We got rid of our PS2 over a year ago, so video games aren't an issue anymore. If they're not outside, the boys are probably building Legos or playing a game and Abbi is probably reading or knitting as she listens to a book on CD.

Dr. Scire said two of the most important things kids need (for a healthy brain) are exercise and freeplay. And of course a healthy diet. Less carbs and gluten-based food. More protein (amino acids), essential fatty oils, antioxidants, fruits and vegetables. And NO SOY! Soy is full of estrogen and is proving to be detrimental to boys especially.

ANYWAY - I bought this DVD so I can learn more about Caleb, my youngest son (age 9), and how his brain works. For the past year or so, I've known that something wasn't quite right with him. Maybe you're in the same boat. Your friends tell you, 'he'll grow out of it,' but you just know something is wrong. Caleb is very bright, but there were little clues that he just wasn't 'getting' things. He still, to this day, writes his name caLeB. We've practiced and practiced his handwriting and we've gone over and over when we capitalize nouns, but he still doesn't get it when it comes to his name. My problem was that Caleb didn't really fit into the ADD or ADHD or Dylexia categories. I really didn't have much to go on, because I couldn't pinpoint exactly what the problem was. I just knew something wasn't right. And then I received an email from HSLDA last summer with an article called Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner. I read it with tears knowing I was beginning to get answers. If you think you may have a struggling learner, please look at the characteristics of the 4 learning gates. That's where I learned about Dianne Craft. She is all about brain integration and says if you can get the right and left brain hemispheres to work better as one unit, things become easier for the child. Interestingly, Dr. Scire from Brain Balance, said that teaching only to your child's learning style will worsen your child's brain imbalance. What?! One of the great things about homeschooling is that we can teach to our child's learning style, right? We can teach the way they learn...isn't that the best way? Dr. Scire says, 'no.' He said when you teach only to your child's learning style, the other part of the brain suffers. His advice is to teach as multi-sensory as you can. Involve both sides of the brain as much as possible for proper development.

Well, this ended up being much longer than I anticipated, so I'll close for now. I'm barely into my notes from the DVD...good stuff though, isn't it? What I've learned about Visual and Auditory processing is fascinating. I hope you'll stay tuned.

Reaching the Reluctant Writer

I think this was my favorite class by Andrew Pudewa at the GHEA Conference.  I left this lecture feeling completely confident that I could go home and duplicate it with my children.  Really.  It was that good.  I've already talked about several things he mentioned at the beginning of this class, so I'll try not to duplicate what you've already read.  This is more of a 'how to use a source text to teach writing' overview.  He walked us through exactly what he means.  We'll start with an Aesop Fable (which he highly recommends to teach this technique...you can find hundreds of them free online).  

The Fox and the Goat

By an unlucky chance, a Fox fell into a deep well from which he could not escape.  A Goat passed by, and asked the Fox what he was doing down there.  "Oh, have you not heard?" said the Fox, "there is going to be a great drought, so I came down here in order to be sure to have water by me.  Why don' t you come down too?"  The Goat thought this a good idea, and jumped down into the well.  But the Fox immediately sprang on to her back, and by putting his foot on her long horns, managed to hop up to the edge of the well.  "Good-bye, friend, " said the Fox, "remember, be careful of the advice of one who is in trouble."

So, we started by choosing 3 key words from each sentence.    Mr. Pudewa used help from the audience and here's what we came up with.

1.  fell, well, escape (with a 'no' symbol around it to mean 'did not' escape)

2. G (symbolizing the Goat so we'd remember who said it) - passed, asked, "what?"

3. F (symbolizing the Fox is speaking) - "heard?", drought, water

4. G - thought, idea, jumped

5. F - back, horns, edge

6. F - "Good-bye", careful, advice, trouble (we used 4 words for the last sentence)

Then we tested our outline to see if it worked.  We went through and made sentences using our key words.  And that was it!  So simple, isn't it? When you do this with your children, remember that the goal is not to remember the whole, but only part of the source text.  Also remember, that boys 'see' in verbs and girls 'see' nouns.  So don't be surprised if your son chooses all verbs for his 3 key words.  

Basic Concepts

1.  Using a 'source text' allows the student to 'get content' for writing, while reviewing content from subjects such as history, science, Bible, literature, geography, etc.  Writing should be a part of the study of these subjects rather than a 'subject' in itself.

2.  Just as Benjamin Franklin took "short hints of the sentiment of each sentence," to teach himself to write, our children can use 'key word outlines' to help them get started with writing from simple source texts.

3.  Source texts can be fiction or non-fiction.  Material should be at or below the reading level of the child.  Selections of 4 - 7 sentences are ideal.

4.  Imitation, as a critical part of learning anything, is not only OK, but is actually the best way to begin learning to write.

Oh, and this was huge for me...when your child is writing and they ask you how to spell a word, do not tell them to go look it up.  JUST TELL THEM HOW TO SPELL IT!  Mr. Pudewa said if we always respond this way, eventually the child will resort to only using words he knows how to spell.  He gave a great illustration of a 10 year old boy looking up the word 'pencil.'  He gets out the dictionary and goes through the alphabet in his head "abcdefghijklmnop...P" and he finds the P's in the dictionary.  Then it's 'abcde...E' and he finds PE.  And so on.  By the time he's figured out the correct spelling (20 minutes later), chances are high that he's lost his train of thought and can't even remember how he was going to use the word in his story.  Is there a time to teach dictionary skills?  Of course!  But the writing process is not one of those times.

For many children it may be best to do several 'key word outlines' from short, easy to read paragraphs and practice choosing words and telling back content orally, until the process becomes fairly easy.  Telling it back is vital to being able to write well.  

So, first have the child verbally tell back the content, then proceed to write down on paper the sentences he said.  As the child writes and you're reviewing it, remember:

Don't expect great handwriting; do wait until the clean copy to say anything

Don't expect perfect spelling; do be his 'human dictionary'

Don't worry about neatness; do encourage 'no erasing' 

Don't over correct or lecture; do praise the child's efforts

Don't frown, grimace or look serious; do smile as much as possible

After he is finished, the parent edits to correct spelling, syntax and punctuation.  Then the student must neatly copy (or type) a final version.  There is no such thing as a 'first and only' draft.

These steps should be repeated numerous times until the process has become relatively easy (or at least less painful).  Don't hesitate to help, give suggestions, and even dictate sentences if necessary.  When you feel your child has confidence and understands the process, you can begin to 'dress-up' their composition.

Introduce the idea of 'dressing up' the compositions to make them sound a little more professional.  Teach them to add an 'ly' word and give them a nice list of adverbs to choose from.  Do many assignments requiring just one 'ly' word.  When that becomes easy, add a 'who/which' clause, and when that is easy, add a 'because' clause.

1.  who/which - The clever fox convinced the goat, who jumped into the well.

2.  ly word - The fox effortlessly jumped up on the goat's back

3.  because - Because of the Fox's sincerity, the goat believed him.

4.  strong verb - The fox spun a tale of impending drought.

No erasing allowed!  Erasing is a huge waste of time.  Just cross it out and move on.  Pens are better than pencils.  Especially for boys.  Pencils are constantly changing.  As they become dull, the child must rearrange it in his hand.  Then it becomes dull again and requires sharpening.  This is quite distracting (especially to boys).  Mr. Pudewa suggests writing all rough drafts in pen.  Here he mentioned 'tired hands.'  Do any of you have children who complain about this?  He said the reason is because of visual immaturity.  Their eye is tracking what they're writing and they want clear contrast.  Pencils write considerably lighter than pens do, so some children will trace and re-trace their letters to make them darker, leading to tired hands.  (Jon recalled doing this as a child.)  So, use pens for the rough draft and pencil for the final copy.  This way it's easy to fix a mistake and your child won't have to start over.

And the last little tid-bit from Mr. Pudewa - one of the best things to have on hand is an electronic thesaurus/dictionary.  He said the more words it has the better.  This will encourage your child to use new words in their writing.

This ends my notes from Andrew Pudewa's classes.  Wasn't he great?!  

Next I will be blogging about my struggling learner and how his brain works.  If you think you may have a struggling learner, you won't want to miss it!

Jacob's 12th Birthday

My oldest son turned 12 on Wednesday.

Where has the time gone? I surely do not know...

I don't know when or why this tradition began, but the kids love to make their own birthday cake. They get to choose the flavor and icing and away they go. This year Jacob chose yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I wish the photo below showed the detail better...my perfectionist son can't even frost a cake without being totally perfectionist about it...it was quite tasty though!

I couldn't believe that I timed my camera perfectly to capture this expression on Jacob (below). For a few weeks I had been telling him that this wouldn't be a 'normal' birthday. 'With paycuts at Kenwood, we just couldn't afford to get Jacob a big gift this year.' Which he seemed to be completely fine with. Another of our traditions is that the birthday kids gets to choose where we go out to eat that night for dinner. All day long Jacob had been saying we were going to Outback Steakhouse, but when Jon got home he changed his mind and said he wanted to go Johnny Carino's. We hadn't been there since Jacob's 10th birthday when Aaron and Sera came for a visit. When I found that out, I decided to have Jacob open his gift before we left (Johnny Carino's just happens to be right by the Lego Store)...I got him a Star Wars Pocket Model Trading Card game and the surprise was a Lego gift card attached to it. Jacob was not expecting the gift card AT ALL and was shocked when he opened it. I LOVE this picture of him. It made me think about Matthew 7:11 "If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" It was so fun to surprise Jacob in this way. I pondered how much God must enjoy giving us those extra little surprises that we do not expect.

So, with Lego gift card in hand, we headed to dinner. And OH MY GOODNESS! It was incredibly yummy. Next time you go to Johnny Carino's, order the Fire Sticks! Truly, you will not be sorry. They say they're a little spicy, but none of us thought they were. Delicious!After dinner we indeed headed to the Lego Store so Jacob could purchase his heart's desire. I meant to take his picture as he was paying for it, but was talking to several of the employees and missed it. So I took his picture just outside the store.

We left the mall to discover that God had a birthday present for Jacob, too...

It might be a little hard to see, but it was a DOUBLE rainbow! Gorgeous!

The 4 Deadly Errors of Writing - Part 2

Continuing on with the last two errors of writing...

Deadly Error #3: Withholding help - "If I help my child too much he won't be learning." Haven't we all thought this at one time or another? Or, how many times have our children said, "I don't know what to write about," and we respond with, "Be creative...just make something up." In other words, "Be - like - God." Ouch! Did that make you flinch the way it did me in this class by Andrew Pudewa? His solution to the "I don't know what to write about" problem is to let them know it's okay to use already existing ideas. Have our children had enough life experience to pull something out of thin air and write about it? If we were told to 'just make something up,' would we struggle thinking of something? Mr. Pudewa's advice is to provide content through a 'source text.' Let them re-write an existing story. Give them content to work with. We should teach HOW to write before we charge into WHAT to write. "Helping too much" is deeply ingrained in those of us who were public schooled. Schools have convinced parents not to help their children...Mr. Pudewa says 'this is dumb!' We think it won't be 'fair' if we help too much. "I shouldn't just tell them what to write...it wouldn't be their own work." There is truth to that statement, but we can't forget our goals: to model structure and style, teach through application and develop confidence and fluency. It is IMPOSSIBLE to help a child too much. They will tell us when to stop. "Okay, Mom, I've got it." Children are wired for independence. He used this example...how do we teach our children to swim? We hold them up, show them how to kick and stroke, teach them how to blow bubbles thru their nose. So, why wouldn't we do the same when teaching how to write? There is nothing 'illegal' about teaching by providing examples and options. It is especially important for reluctant writers. How else are they going to learn? (I will have another post soon about Teaching the Reluctant Writer with application to this point and how to use a source text.)

Deadly Error #4: Over expectation - We CANNOT compare our children with others. Mr. Pudewa says this will either lead to vanity or bitterness. Comparing children does not benefit the children - it benefits society. It comes down to this: they are GOD'S children and we don't need to compare them to others. Standardized tests are as meaningless now as they will be in 16 years. (This was particularly comforting to me. All 3 of my children will be tested next month and I have found myself getting anxious about it. I'm not worried about Abbi, but I am concerned about the boys. Jacob, because if he's asked questions that he doesn't know the answer to, he feels dumb (like why don't I know this? If they're asking me, I should know the answer) and he gets teary-eyed. Caleb because he is a struggling learner. He still doesn't know the difference between a verb and an adjective. Do I care? No, because I know he'll eventually get it. He still has many years of education in front of him, and a verb will always be a verb. But I know that when the test results come back, if Caleb is in the 'below average' category, I will feel like I've failed him.) The bottom line is that elementary kids should love learning and believe they're good at stuff. So, we need to allow our children to focus on one aspect of writing without expecting them to do everything right the first (or even second) time. When they've turned in a paper, we cannot say, "You had this word on a spelling test a few weeks ago. How could you spell it wrong in this story?" Spelling, Handwriting, and Composition are very different neurological functions. These activities don't even happen in the same areas of the brain (which was confirmed in the brain class I went to that I'll share about soon). Not that Spelling and Handwriting are not important - they are. But they are very different activities than composition. For many children, writing neatly requires full concentration, so stopping to determine the correct spelling of a word can derail the whole train of thought. We should always look for something to compliment first, before pointing out errors. Success breeds success and we, as the teachers, must be the coach, not the judge.

Writing is an art - we practice, we improve.

Strawberry Picking at Washington Farms

Today we loaded up in the van and headed to Washington Farms to pick strawberries with some great friends. I hadn't been strawberry picking since I was a kid, and this was my kids' first time to experience it. Caleb was not too thrilled when I announced what we'd be doing, since he doesn't care for strawberries. But Jacob and Abbi were pretty excited. We were blessed with a gorgeous afternoon - warm and breezy. Perfect for strawberry picking! We all met at Chik-Fil-A for lunch and then headed to Washington Farms.

I had to laugh at 6-year-old Jessica (in the red, above). About 5 minutes after we began picking, she announced that she couldn't find any strawberries. I had to say, "Are you kidding?! Look behind you, look in front of you, look next to you! They're EVERYWHERE!" I think she was a bit annoyed with my response, but really, they were everywhere!

Above- Tanya with her two boys, Jake and Josh.

Below - Caleb saying, "Look at this BIG one!"Above - Jessica and Bethany

I guess Jessica found some berries afterall!After we filled our two buckets, the kids couldn't wait to clean a few and try them! And oh-my-goodness! They are SO super-delicious!Remember me saying that Caleb doesn't care for strawberries? The above photo is him right after he took his first bite out of one. Crack me up! We got home and cleaned all the berries and got them ready for the freezer. The kids, of course, were sampling as they helped. Caleb ate 5 more and decided they're not too bad!So, you may be wondering what I'm going to do with all my strawberries. Tanya asked me if I'm going to make jam. Jam? Me? I don't think so. Now, I know some of you are thinking, "Come on, Amy! You make your own bread for goodness sake. You even grind your own wheat!" I know...but jam? Isn't that, like, an all day event? With my bread-making, I can get it made, have it happily rising in pans AND have the dishes done and counters wiped in 45 minutes. And that includes the time it takes me to grind the wheat. Maybe next year Abbi and I can attempt jam. I guess I should try it at least once, right? For now, my strawberries will go in our breakfast smoothies.

The 4 Deadly Errors of Writing - Part 1

I got so much out of this class by Andrew Pudewa. I have four pages of notes (and I still couldn't write fast enough) so I thought I'd split this into two posts so you're not totally overwhelmed. Writing is another one of those things that I knew I wanted to work on next year (the other being band) so this talk was extremely helpful. Mr. Pudewa said this was originially called The Seven Sins of Writing, but thought it may turn people off. One, because the number seven sounds awfully daunting...as does the word 'sins.' So he changed it...

So, here we go with the four deadly errors of writing.

Deadly Error #1: Over-correcting - Probably the most common and dangerous mistake. Writing is not like math where it's right or wrong. Writing is about improvement and there are many levels of improvement. Everybody starts somewhere and everyone improves. Many of us might recall the experience of getting back a redmark plastered paper. Did we look at it and think, “Wow, look at all these great corrections. If I carefully study the teacher’s marks and really try to remember these things when I write my next paper, I’ll probably get a better grade. I can hardly wait!”? Unlikely. More commonly a child looks at the paper and each red mark makes him feel: “I’m wrong...I’m bad....I’m stupid...I don’t know anything...I’ll never be able to do this...etc.” Or perhaps we received a paper with no corrections or comments but simply a “C+/B-” at the top and no explanation as to why the poor grade. That’s another cause for hopelessly thinking: “I’m lousy at this and have no idea how to do better.” How then to correct?

Think of “editing” rather than correcting. Every good writer has an editor (and few good editors are accomplished writers). Every child needs an editor, and parents often need to know what that means. The difference between a mom and an editor is that an editor gives corrections without a lecture attached. An editor does not give grades; he helps prepare a piece for publication. He is an assistant rather than a teacher. With children, your goal is to help them produce a finished product they can be proud of and teach by “editing,” not “correcting.” So, you should only mark on your child's writing assignments if they are going to correct and revise it. Otherwise, your comments and lectures on what they should've done differently will not get through. (Think back to Charlie Brown and how the adults always sounded muffled...that's how your corrections will sound to your child.) Unless you require revision, write positive comments on their paper, give it back to your child and be done with it.

TEACH AT THE POINT OF NEED (this was a big one for me). Instead of correcting, choose a particularly awkward sentence from the child’s composition. Copy it into a notebook for yourself, and then at the start of the next lesson, create a similarly awkward sentence (be sure it's not exactly what your child wrote so they don't know this came from their paper). Put the sentence on the board and discuss it with your students, helping them to see why it is awkward or incorrect, then rewrite it together. Repeat this process each day or each lesson, using a similar (but different) sentence, until they can consistently correct it by themselves. Children (and adults) are always more willing to correct other people’s errors than their own. By providing them with contrived mistakes to correct, we give them the practice they need in small, focused, non-threatening parts. So, we teach at the point of need, without stomping all over our child for every awkward word or construction (which can wipe out the student’s motivation).

He recommended several editing helps: Editor in Chief by Critical Thinking and Great Adventures in Editing were the ones I heard and wrote down. There were 1 or 2 more that he mentioned.

Deadly Error #2: Unclear Assignments - Perhaps the most frustrating problem for children, whose basic nature it is to want to know exactly what is expected of them. Boys especially, crave concrete instructions - "tell me what to do" as opposed to "let's work on it." We need to communicate as precisely as possible what we want our children to do. How long do we want their paper to be? We must give clear guidelines. We cannot say, "make it long enough to cover the subject." This is too unclear because it is vague and open-ended. Tell them how many paragraphs you want (if you tell them how many words you want, they will likely count their words and add as many fillers as they can like 'and then.' It's better to tell them how many paragraphs you want). Be specific about what you want in the paragraphs. A topic sentence, how many supporting sentences and a concluding sentence. (Elementary kids should have 3 or 4 supporting sentences...increase up to 8 in middle and high school.) Or if they're doing a book report, tell them in the 1st paragraph you want to know about the characters, setting, author, etc. The 2nd paragraph would be about the problem that occurs in the book. The 3rd paragraph would tell about the solution/conclusion of the book. Define what you want in each paragraph.

Make sure if the assignment were given to you you'd know exactly what to do.

To be continued with Deadly Errors #3 and #4...I know, the suspense will kill you!

Teaching and Motivating Boys & Girls

Note - I have edited this since first posting...

I added a little tidbit to point #1.

I've had a difficult time trying to decide what to share next from the GHEA conference.  Andrew Pudewa gave such great talks...I decided to go with Teaching & Motivating Boys & Girls today (which we found out was really to be titled Motivating Boys & Other Kids Who Would Rather be Making Forts All Day).  First he talked about the neuro-physiological differences between boys and girls.  If you have boys AND girls, I'm sure you already know they are different.  These days it is politically incorrect to say that boys and girls are unequal, but in fact, they are.  Mr. Pudewa discussed schools where the classes are separated by gender and what a wonderful thing that is.  It frees the students up to learn as they were made to learn.  So, here are some practical differences between boys and girls:

1.  Boys don’t hear quiet sounds. They don’t ignore you. They just don’t hear you.  Mr. Pudewa suggested that if both boys and girls are in a classroom, the teacher should seat the boys on one side and the girls on the other and then stand in front of the boys so they can hear. It has been proven in infants, toddlers and children that girls can hear softer sounds than boys.  It also explains why, when I'm reading aloud to the kids, I have to give Caleb 'the look' because he is tapping or humming or making noise somehow.  But he doesn't hear it!  He usually doesn't realize he's been making noise until he gets 'the look.'  To prove his point, Mr. Pudewa had us all be silent and pointed out all the sounds going on around us...the hum of the A/C, the buzz of the lights, etc. Boys will hear these noises first and it's difficult for them to tune those sounds out and focus on what they're supposed to listen to. Adults (most of them) are accustomed to tuning these sounds out.  Boys can't do it yet.  (Saturday morning we had to stop to get gas before arriving back at the conference center.  Caleb asked if we were near the airport and I said, 'yes.'  He commented on how he could hear the engines of the planes...I hadn't even noticed until he made that comment!)  Mr. Pudewa said many boys don’t do well in school because they cannot hear the teacher. He also suggested that if our sons cannot sit still to do math, have them stand up at a counter to do it. 

2.  Boys optimum learning temperature is 68 - 69 degrees. Girls is 74-75 degrees. Note to self: keep heat low this winter and have Abbi and me bundle up.

3. Boys tend to track speed and motion because their eyes have more m-cells which are connected to rods.   Girls have more p-cells connected to cones which track color and texture. (This has something to do with how/where the retina is attached to the brain...it is different in boys and girls.)  Because of this, boys and girls actually see the world differently.  Boys see verbs in black; girls see nouns in full color.  Have you ever given a drawing assignment? Typically boys will try to draw action...a bird flying, a rocket exploding, a volcano erupting (and they will usually draw in black).  While girls will typically draw nouns with lots of color...a horse, a rainbow, a horse, a flower, a horse, a horse, a horse.  Kids draw how they 'see.'

4.  How they handle emotions like being upset: Boys stomp around and make lots of noise. They need to stand up if they are upset because they think better on their feet, moving around. (Which is why men pace and women do not.)  So don’t make them sit down to talk about it. They can’t if you want them to work through it. If a girl is upset, you have to go find her first. He suggested that you can usually find her on the couch with a blanket pulled over her head. Her bedroom in our case. No need to search for a boy unless he took off on his bike.

Next he talked about the Science and Art of Motivation: Children are NOT lazy...children are NATURALLY industrious.

A.  The Three Laws

1.  Children LIKE to do what they can do (as do adults).

2.  Children WANT to do what they think they can do.

Example - Mr. Pudewa WANTS to speak in front of a full coliseum of 20,000 +.  He would love to be on Oprah.  Why?  Because he thinks he could do a good job in front of a huge audience.

3.  Children HATE to do and will refuse to do something they think they cannot do.

He told a story here about a snowboarding adventure he had and why he will NEVER go snowboarding again (unless he was paid a 6 figure sum).  This is the same reason I will never go skiing again.  I did it once, hated it, was terrible at it, was miserably cold the whole time and I will NEVER go skiing again.  I'll hang out at the lodge and have hot cocoa and coffee ready for the ones who do enjoy skiing, but I will never be on skis again!  But when we're trying to get our kids to try something, what do we say?  "I'm sure you could do this if you would just try."  I can testify that this is not a good tactic.  For myself and for my oldest son.  I remember as a child when my parents would try to get me to try something new.  Whether it was food or an activity.  They would say things like, "Amy, I know you'll like this," or "you're missing out on so much fun."  All I wanted to say was, "Will you please back off and leave me alone!  I DON'T WANT TO DO IT!"  And my wall would go up and I would not try whatever it was they wanted me to.  Well, my oldest son, Jacob, is just like me in that regard.  My husband, Jon, will try to get Jacob to try something new and I can see Jacob's wall go up the more Jon pushes.  Jon is one who will try anything once, no fear, let's go have an adventure, so he doesn't understand this part of Jacob (although he is trying).  But Jacob is a watch-and-see person (just like me).  We have found that if we ask him to try something new and he says 'no,' we let it be.  And usually, if we haven't pushed, he'll see everyone else having fun and decide to join in.

B.  The Four Forms of Relevancy

1.  Intrinsic - something is interesting just because it is.  For boys this will be knives and swords.  For girls this will probably be horses.  He commented that knives and swords are universally interesting to boys. “They will invent them if they've never see them.” How many moms can attest to that? Keep swords and guns out of the house, and a boy will invent them out of a stick!   Boys need to learn interesting, relevant, and applicable information. They see no reason for anything else. Mr. Pudewa said the most important motivator was to teach things that are intrinsically relevant. Those things are naturally interesting.  We should go in-depth with something our children want to learn more about.

2.  Inspired - something that is not too interesting to me, but a loved one is interested so I become interested from them.  This is where the importance of mentors comes in. For example, Mr. Pudewa has NO interest whatsoever in Science.  He thinks science is a waste of time and incredibly boring.  So, should he be the one teaching science to his children?  Probably not.  Especially if one of his children is particularly interested in science.  He needs to find a mentor/teacher for that child who will be knowledgeable and inspiring and encourage that child in his interest.

3.  Contrived - create a game to learn boring things (like grammar, multiplication tables, etc.)  Saying things like, "Do this or else..." leads to suffering and will likely not be motivating.  Boys, especially, need a game with positive and negative results, otherwise they might decide it’s not worthwhile and decide to opt out. For example, after a writing assignment, have your child go back and find all their mis-spelled words.  Pay them a certain amount for each one they find.  But if there are any they don't find, take that much away and if they don't find any they must pay you $1.00.  The rewards must be physical, not mental or emotional (for boys).  Mental or emotional rewards will probably work for girls. 

4.  Enforced - using force, threats, 'you must,' and fear

C.  The Two Secret Weapons

1.  Communicate you love your children and are grateful for them.  Smile, humor, laughter

2.  The emotional bank account - give way more compliments than criticism

HOW YOU LEARN IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT YOU LEARN