Spelling Helper

Spelling, in our house, has been a bit of a struggle. My 10yo ds tries to spell things phonetically, but makes up his own phonetic rules rather than following the ones set forth in the English language. I do have to agree, though that the phonetic rules of English can be overwhelming. There are so many rules, exceptions, and then exceptions to the exceptions. I spent a long time studying Spanish, and am just amazed by the simplicity of their phonics. All the vowels have one sound, period. Just imagine how much easier it would be to teach spelling. No more long hours of spelling practice, drilling, and quizzing.

Daniel Hite has created a program that he hopes will help with the drilling and quizzing. The program is called Spellquizzer. It is a simple program to be used with your own spelling lists. You enter this week’s spelling words into the program, and record an audio to go with them. You may either just say the word, or say the word and a sentence, or whatever you feel like. There is also a function to import lists from others, including your child’s teacher if they use the same program, or export your lists to others.

Then the program takes over. Your child gets quizzed on their spelling words. They play the audio, type the word, the program tells them if they got it right or wrong. If they get it wrong, Spellquizzer shows the correct spelling. At the end of the list, the child is asked if they would like to practice the missed words again.

I don’t know if the program will work for us or not. We have never spent hours practicing spelling words. Maybe we need to do a bit more of that. My son seemed to like the program for a minute, but then got bored with it. And when we do practice spelling words, I rather enjoy spending the time with my kids. Usually, we practice them during dinner time. But if your time is limited, and need your child to get the extra practice, you may want to check it out. Spellquizzer is available for $29.95, and the website is great at showing exactly what you are getting. There is also a free trial available if you’d like to give it a try for yourself. Happy spelling!!

Looking for a Plan?

Who wouldn’t like for their life to be easier? I’ve always wanted to have a schedule, a plan, goals, and be able to stick to them. A couple of weeks ago I saw an e-mail advertising the 2009 Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I read over the description and then dreamed about being able to buy it so that I could create a plan. Needless to say, when I was asked to review it I was overjoyed.

What is the Schoolhouse Planner? Wow, it is so much more than just a calendar. It is a 375 page bundle of calendars, forms, educational material, and more. The planner is broken into sections. The first section is the actual planner, broken up by month. The month is split into two pages. The first page consists of Sunday through Tuesday, and Wednesday through Saturday on the second page. You can type information for each day, and then print out the calendar. Following the calendar, each month has its own little unit study. I am especially fond of February’s study on the miracles of Jesus. I can’t wait to dig into that one further. There are also studies on American government, the planets, letter writing, and more. They also have included lists of additional resources (with links) available from the Schoolhouse Store to go along with that month’s study. Each month also includes two recipes.

After all twelve months (July 2009 to June 2010), there is a section of additional educational information. There are charts on measurement conversions, states and capitals, US Presidents, timelines and more.

The next two sections are my absolute favorites. Forms, forms, and more forms. The first part is all kinds of homeschool forms. There are annual, monthly, and weekly plans, report cards, transcript forms, forms to use for co-ops and more. All of them allow you to enter information and print them out, or print them out and write in the information. The second part is household forms. There are forms for menu planning, chore charts, budgeting, garden planning, and more.

Overall, I would call the planner very useful. I love the forms. I love the bonus material, a.k.a. the lessons. There is even a Bible reading schedule. I really need that. If only it came with accountability as well. What I don’t like is the way the monthly calendars are split in half. I guess if I were to print it up and hang it somewhere, I wouldn’t notice. Also, on some of the planning forms I wasn’t able to type in as much info as I wanted. But again, I could always print them out and write in what I want.

Bats

"They're creepy and they're cooky, mysterious and spooky, they're altogether ooky..." That line from the "Addams Family" theme song pretty much sums up most people's opinion of bats. At least it was mine, until we started studying them. Bats are not creepy or spooky. They are amazing, helpful creatures that this world would be a nasty place without. Part of bat's public opinion problem is that they are nocturnal. They come out in the dark. Darkness is associated with so many scary, evil things. Therefore, it is logical to assume that bats are scary and evil. Bats are also associated with Halloween and vampires. Let's put that to rest once and for all. Yes, there are a few species of sanguiniverous bats. That is a big vocabulary word that the kids and I learned. If you studied animals at all, then you know the "iverous" part of the word has to do with what animals eat. And, if you've studied Latin or any of her related languages you will be able to figure out that the "sanguin" part means blood. But these saguiniverous bats do not go around turning into vampires or drinking human blood. The animals they do bite are usually sleeping and are less affected by the bat than by mosquitoes. The majority of the bats we have in the U.S. are insectivores. I don't know about you, but anything that eats insects immediately is a friend of mine. If there is any creature I am not a big fan of, it's insects.

Yesterday, we had some friends over for the afternoon. The kids wanted to do some art projects. I instructed them they needed to make bats. And then I left them to their own creativities. The 10 and 11 year old boys immediately asked if Batman was allowed. "Of course," I said. They did not end up drawing Batman, but instead plain old bats. It was the scenery that went along with the bats where it got a little interesting, including alien ships. The girls and my 6yo ds had very different ideas. Their bats involved glitter. Lots and lots of glitter that ended up on the bats, the sky, my dining room table, the kitchen tile, the living room carpet. But, it was well worth it to see the resulting pictures. They took something that most people think is scary and turned it into something sparkly, shiny, and pleasant to look at. After the glue is well dried, I am going to attempt to scan their pictures without glittering up the scanner.

Homework

Homework: Juggling Home, Work, and School Without Losing Your Balance

This book from The Old Schoolhouse is packed with inspiring stories of families who not only homeschool, but also run businesses. It is their unique story. Each family has their own style of schooling. Each family has a unique business. All the families have a passion for what they are doing.

I have tried my hand at multiple ventures. The problem I had, was that I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I knew I needed something to make extra money, so I followed every whim. Somewhere in the middle of my last whim, I realized that I had not found what I could truly be passionate about. This book really inspired me to begin that search. It talks about so many different types of businesses. Some of them are very unique, designed by the family to meet their specific needs and passions. Some of the businesses are consultant businesses, working with a bigger parent company. The variety was very helpful, giving me some ideas to take to the drawing board. Most of the contributors talked about daily life. How do they balance all they do? I found this book to be inspiring. Even if you don't want to run a business, it is an inspiring tale of how to organize and balance school and life.

Writer's Workshop

Writer's Workshop: Getting Kids Excited About Writing by Maggie Hogan

This is a great resource for anyone thinking of organizing a co-op. This will take you step by step through the process of organizing, planning, and running your "Writer's Workshop". It does not, however, give any actual writing lessons. Many of the steps and ideas given are similar to what I use for a science co-op. But, there are many unique elements that only apply to writing. I have not been a fan of the WeE-books up to this point because of their broad generalizations. This one, however, is perfect for its purpose.

Homeschooling the Rebel by Deborah Wueler

I was really excited to dig into this book. My oldest son is ten years old. We started homeschooling him after first grade. I was scared to death. When he was in first grade he had homework. It was very simple work that should have taken about 15 minutes. It would end up taking three hours, and usually involved some yelling. In fact, I wish I had this book then. It could have spared me from the downward spiral of the last three years. It is extremely frustrating trying to teach someone that refuses to learn, follow directions, and do their work. Opening this WeE-book I thought, "great, finally I will learn how to change my child." I really should know better than that by now. Instead, I opened the book to find clear directions on how to change me: my teaching style, my attitude, my reactions to his rebellion, and what I teach. The book reminded me that I need to spend more time in prayer. Overall, I don't think the book really told me anything that I didn't already know. Partly because I have been researching this topic for some time now. It's the practical application that I struggle with. Though it was very encouraging. This is the second WeE-book I have reviewed. The problem I see with them is that they are very generic. There isn't a lot of space to go into great detail on the topic. I would be interested to read Part 2 of the series before I recommend this one way or the other.

Flying Creatures

We have been studying birds for several weeks now, but I have been lax in posting about it. I am thoroughly in love with this study. The reading just cracks everyone up. I will read part of a section, and then stop for discussion. We always come up with some great conversation about what I just read. Then I will start reading again, and I swear almost every time, it will say exactly what we just talked about. The kids have been drawing some amazing pictures of birds. We built birdhouses. We made bird feeders out of juice bottles. I will have to see if I can scan some of the kid's pictures and post them here. I have also been having a blast photographing birds. It all started several weeks ago when we went on a nature scavenger hunt. I did not want the kids actually gathering all the "nature stuff" on the list. I am more of an indoor kinda girl, and don't do well with dirt, bugs, or most other outdoor stuff. So I thought, rather than collecting the things on the list, we would photograph them. Since then, I have been taking my camera everywhere and getting pictures of all sorts of different birds. It probably helps that we also just got a new camera that I absolutely love. It is a Nikon Coolpix P80. I highly recommend it for the non-photographers like me. It is so fun and easy to use, that even I can take good pictures with it. And don't get me started about the stop motion feature it has. I have gotten some great shots of birds using that. So last night, I was looking online at ordering some owl pellets and some caterpillars or butterfly larvae. I think those would be great fun to add to our lessons. Next week we are talking about nesting. Our project is to see if we can build a nest as well as birds. Of course, that involves mud, dirt, and other "yucky" stuff. I may have to look for an alternative craft, that uses some materials that are less gross.