GIANTmicrobes

Sunday, August 29, 2010

School is starting around the nation

Many homeschoolers follow a schedule that mimics the public school schedule, so this week and last was probably the beginning of school for many homeschooling families.

I never really stop educating my son because it is my firm belief that you learn something new every day. Also, I don't want to get him out of the habit of learning. However, because he has friends in regular school we do lighten up a bit during summer.

I know I sound like I'm being too strict by continuing school through the summer, but Nick doesn't even realize it because I use the unschooling method for the most part and let him direct his own education. Because of this, he's actually the one deciding to continue his education through summer.

This summer Nick learned a great deal about making stop-motion videos and other short movies (using our digital camera and Flip video camera) and editing them in iMovie (we're on Macs at our house). We got him his own YouTube account and let his creativity soar.



Nick also learned a great deal about research as he spent a lot of his time looking for video game walkthroughs and other video game-related information. He got an education in setting goals, saving and spending because of these same video game desires. Every day I'd come home from work and he would tell me what he learned that day. I don't care that it's about video games because I know he's developing a lot of Internet search skills that will serve him well into the future.

Now the real work begins
But now with the official start of school I've developed a loose educational plan. Because he was so interested in video games and creating movies, I thought we'd continue his education with the software programs he was researching plus learn a little more about graphic design and programming. I know enough about graphic design to be of help there, but I turn to others for the programming part (Lynda.com helps out there along with all the free tutorials I can find).

There's a free program called Unity that allows you to build video games and they have a lot of tutorials to help you get started. We are going to be looking over that and learning more about actually creating a video game. Because there's a lot that goes into it, he will be learning coding, art, math, writing (or at least story development) and more. Hopefully we'll have something I can share with everyone and their children by the end of the year (or later, I don't know yet).

I'm also going to be ordering the Adobe Design Suite for him to begin working on graphic arts and design. Because I homeschool I can get MAJOR discounts from Academic Superstore on the set.

Still considering the curriculum
Even though unschooling is my main method of teaching Nick, I still have this nagging feeling I need to teach him the mainstay stuff they teach in public schools: history, science, math, etc. So I use all the free videos and online resources I can find (YouTube, the History Channel, National Geographic Kids) to help out with that. I also sign on to a lot of iTunes Podcasts which are free and very helpful in sharing important information. I recently joined a local homeschool group too and we have a lot of group activities planned that will allow the kids to learn a variety of information (ecology, food preparation, conservation, etc.) as well as hang out together and learn from each other.

Excited for the possibilities
I have a lot of expectations for this school year, but I will let things go as they wish to go. I hope everyone has a great school year. Please share your plans for the year and any ideas you have or triumphs and anything else you'd like to share. I love to hear from other parents on their educational goals and successes with their children.

~

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Dreams of Ivy League for your home schooled child?

I was talking to a friend of mine recently who is already thinking about college possibilities for her 13-year-old son. He's super smart and was giving me lessons on C++, computers and the like. He built his own computer without any classes; he just did the research and figured it out. Yep, he's headed for great things.

My friend was worried about how well he'd do in regular school (she's putting him in a school with accelerated studies). She decided if he didn't feel like he fit in, she'd home school — they were using charter school previously but he was so far ahead of that curriculum too.

Her main worry with homeschooling was whether Ivy League universities or other elite schools, like the one she attended, would consider home-schooled kids. Many colleges are accepting home-schooled kids with excitement, but she feels the Ivy League schools might not give them a second chance.

Many institutions are relaxing their admissions policies
I had read somewhere recently that many schools, Stanford included, are relaxing their admissions policies when it comes to homeschooling. A GED is fine as a certificate to prove an education in most and some don't even require that. All they really want is good SAT or ACT scores. Some request a letter of recommendation and an essay.

But I got to thinking about Ivy League schools and wondered if home-schooled kids are rejected more often or have a harder time with admissions. I did some research and found that is NOT the case. According to the Home School Legal Defense Association's website, many prominent universities are accepting home-schooled kids with glee. Harvard only requires the "results of the SAT and SAT II, an essay, an interview, and a letter of recommendation" from home-schooled teens. Yale, Princeton, Texas A&M, Brown University, and the Carnegie Mellon Institute among many others have flexible transcript criteria, accept parental evaluations or do not require any accreditation.

No worries
So the worrying about a higher education can end. I joked to my friend that by the time our kids get to college-age, the curriculums in most public schools will be so poor, that many colleges and universities would jump at the chance to have a home-schooled kid. Hopefully that won't be the case, but it certainly seems like that how things are going.

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LearnOutLoud.com - Your Audio & Video Learning Resource

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Video games as part of an education

Nick loves his video games. I know I am not alone in wondering how bad or good they are for his overall mental and physical health.

However, it is important to get kids to learn critical thinking, planning, organizing and other forward thinking skills. These skills allow kids to learn to prepare for future events, to consider many options or possibilities, and to think outside of the box. These are very important skills for artists, engineers, scientists, and inventors as well as anyone who needs to be able to solve problems and find unique solutions to them.

When kids are young we give them board puzzles and games that encourage this kind of thinking. As they get older we find computer games that teach them reading, math, spelling and the like, but we generally consider video games as "just for fun" and not so much educational. Some game creators have tried to make educational video games that teach math or other subjects, but because their main focus is teaching they sometimes use the same tricks over and over again and the games lose their fun value after a while.

Nick really has fun with video games and I thought I'd do some searching to see if there were some that could actually be helpful. He really enjoys building games on the Wii and his DSi and PSP, so I'm encouraged by that. He has to think ahead in order to build structures that won't fall down. With his Sims games he has to find ways to protect his citizens, which also requires some planning ahead.

However, the games for those systems are expensive and add up quickly. Plus, he does become bored with them after he's beat them. That means buying more games and running out of money quickly.

After much research I found that Big Fish Games has a lot of really inexpensive puzzle games that I can feel comfortable buying and they won't break the mom bank.

They have many online games you can play for free and the games you can buy are only $6.99 (and they have $2.99 specials every day). They have quite a bit to choose from for kids of all ages (including the parents). I really enjoy the Match 3 games and Nick really likes the Hidden Objects games. They have games that are suitable for younger kids and Brain Teaser games with Professor Fizzlewizzle among others.

I like Big Fish Games a lot and would suggest them to anyone who tends to buy a lot of games but doesn't want to spend a whole lot every time. They've got a lot of selection and Nick and I have a lot of fun with the games we get. You can always test the games out for an hour before you buy them too, giving you plenty of opportunity to decide if it's a good fit or not.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Do homeschooled kids need extracurricular activities?

There's more to life than a solid book-and-facts education. If children do not learn how to work as a team – interact, cooperate and compromise with others — they will have a difficult time succeeding in many situations outside of school.

Recent research of children in public school showed extracurricular activities helped students improve their grades, attitudes and overall well-being. While researchers couldn't be certain why without further studies, the results definitely showed a strong correlation between higher grades and motivation and participation in activities such as sports, performance groups and other outside interests involving other participants. The researchers reasoned that the students learned character-building skills in the activities that they could use in their studies and life in order to succeed.

An introduction to the real world
Learning to accept criticism of their work in art and music classes, to be a part of a group in theatrical performances, or to work as a team in sports is very critical to learning how to cope in most work situations. Remember, once our children leave the protection of our home schools, they will enter into "the real world" where they will need to work with others on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Public school is not the best way to teach socialization skills. Studies show it actually prevents children from becoming more open and social because they are always stuck with the same group of children, mostly of the same age, and they form cliques where they hang around children with almost exactly the same interests.

Homeschooling families have the option of introducing their children to many kinds of people, of various ages and interests. Having this variety allows children to learn to be more open and better able to cope with people who are not like them when they have to work with them.

Benefits of extracurricular activities
Extracurricular activities gives you the opportunity to introduce your children to the world. In most activities children learn to work with others as a team, to compromise for the good of the final goal, and to understand their position as an important part of the team.

Children also learn how to organize and manage their time more efficiently in order to get their tasks done by deadline. They take these skills home with them as well because they know they need to complete other work at home in order to successfully participate in their activities.

Working together with others for a common goal helps motivate children to complete what they've started. They know they have a team to back them up and they don't want to let that team down. When they understand that the work they do has an impact on the larger group, they tend to work harder to complete their tasks.

Life skills
I've mentioned before that life skills are more important in home studies than the standard public school curriculum (see A financial education and Cooking). Knowing how to live in the modern world is much more important than knowing the exact path Louis and Clark took on their trek across the country (threatening the natives that the country owns them along the way).

Participating in extracurricular activities gives children a tremendous life-skills education. There are so many more benefits than the ones I mentioned above. Not to mention, children may find their calling by participating in these activities. They may learn to become a leader in teaching others the skills they learn. They may chance upon the time of their lives.

Most importantly, however, children participating in extracurricular activities will learn to succeed in life. That's the greatest benefit you could ask for.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Relaxing the homeschool curriculum

Before I switched to a more relaxed atmosphere in my son's education (using unschooling as our primary homeschooling style), I created lists, plans, and my own curriculum, and tried my best to stick to the "plan."

When you have an extremely inquisitive child, and are yourself just as curious, it is so very hard to stick to the plan. When my son asked a question, we'd look it up and discuss it. I had heard somewhere that Einstein's mom allowed him to be curious and explore as well. You can probably tell by my lengthy blog entries that I can go on a bit so these tangents took some time.

In the back of my head, I knew that his curiosity was a good thing, but I didn't want to get too far behind on the schedule. So I would try to recoup by starting with a lesson we missed the night before. I would try my darnedest to not go off on tangents, but we would just get further and further behind. I would get so stressed thinking Nick was so far behind other kids his age, and not just because of his dyslexia.

So, it went for a long time. Nick was seeing his friends who went to public school get weeks or months off at a time and would ask if he could get more time off too. I went over the whole "so far behind" lecture and also explained that taking so much time off between lessons would cause us to spend more time we didn't have reviewing old information, and blah, blah, blah. That "blah, blah, blah" part was what Nick heard.

Revelation hits
One day the neighbors had friends with kids visiting and they sent their kids over here to see if Nick could play. They played here for a while and then went over to the neighbors' house and played there for a while. Nick was having so much fun. I finally went over there to see if he was ready for lunch and he hadn't even noticed how much time had passed. He asked for a little bit longer and the neighbors said they'd feed him a sandwich, and it was all settled.

So I chatted with the parents of the kids for a little bit and it didn't take long for the conversation to turn to school. Nick had mentioned he was dyslexic to the parents and the mom told me she didn't really know what that meant, but it was clear to her that Nick was intelligent. She was really impressed with his vocabulary and how much he knew about certain topics and how much thought he put into his responses.

After talking to her, I felt truly relieved. I guess I had never thought about it that much, but when we do go off on our tangents, he's still learning. Maybe the fact that we spend the extra time to research something is more important than I realize. It probably explains why he's so eager to do his own research now on the things he wants to learn more about. This usually is video games, but one day it'll be something more.

The three R's
I once talked to someone who said that kids really only need to know how to Read, Research and Reason and they will be fine. I believe that's pretty much true. Nick has a hard time reading sometimes, but he gets around that with video and audiobooks.

And the more I learned about unschooling, the more I adopted it as the plan. I still take the time to focus on his reading, writing and spelling skills but most of the rest is just letting his curiosity run wild. We've done pretty good so far.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Fun at the museum

One of my favorite place to take Nick is the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. It's a wonderful museum with a lot of variety. They have free days twice a month with guided tours, which I really love because then the "professionals" can teach him.

Technically, I'm an artist at work, but I never studied art. I just know how to work the graphics programs. I don't consider myself an artist in the same way a painter or sketch artist is. I know that I am creative and if I had the time to study art, I could be really good. But I love going to the museum and looking at the works of others, studying them very closely (as close as I'm allowed). I love looking at paint strokes or seeing the imaginations of others.

I'm very moved by the passion artists have. To bare your soul like they do is an amazing and beautiful thing to me. If all people shared even a portion of what some artists do, I think the world would be a little more open and accepting.

Celebrating the Human Touch
On our recent trip we got to experience the "Human Touch" display (if you live in the area it's going on until November 14). It features "artworks devoted to creative interpretations of the human figure."
There are a variety of mediums to showcase the human being; some are emotive photographs, some are abstract comic-book style, and one is made of chocolate syrup (well, it's a picture of one made with chocolate syrup). The tour guide talked about several of the paintings and asked the kids to tell what they saw and what they thought. I think it's important for children to be exposed to a variety of artistic styles like that. They get to learn the why and how of it and may incorporate it into their own imaginations (just like I try to do when I look at others' work).

After the tour we learned to hula hoop. Why? Because, Burning Man, the ultimate show of personal and artistic expression, is coming and the woman teaching us hula hooping goes every year. It wasn't just hula hooping for fun but getting creative with your moves. Dance, after all, is yet another form of artistic expression. Some people thought it was a stretch to connect the Human Touch display with Burning Man, but I don't think so. Burning Man is about making connections, about being human and understanding how we all fit into the world together. I think it was a perfect combination.

Anyway, here's video of Nick free-styling with the hula hoop.




Which Way USA Club

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Creating better learners

I am somehow able to absorb information like a sponge and remember much of it through reading, watching, listening, or whatever method in which it is delivered. I had an easy time of school, but was never motivated to do any more than what I felt was necessary. I got good grades because I realized that was necessary, but I never took part in activities or attempted to learn new skills or talents or anything outside of what was required.

Because my son is dyslexic, learning is a much more difficult task for him. I love learning now that I'm older and realize how much I missed when I was younger. Nick loves learning as long as it is delivered in such a way that he can absorb it best. He learns best through hands-on experimentation or through video presentations. It is certainly possible to deliver much of his education through these methods, but sometimes I wonder how much he is missing because he has a hard time reading.

As someone who doesn't have difficulty reading, I often feel sorry for him because I see how much it pains him, physically and emotionally. As his teacher it sometimes frustrates me because both our lives would be easier if reading was easy for him. Then I think about how much I missed because reading was easy for me. I took it for granted. You never really appreciate something that's always there. So maybe his dyslexia is a giftfor a different reason: the easier reading gets for him through the methods we use, the more he appreciates it and the ability to use it when he wants to learn.

In the beginning
Nick was 3 when I first started teaching letters and sounds to him. He picked it up easily and was able to sound out three-letter words very quickly. We used those refrigerator magnets and I would slide letters into place. I remember very distinctly him reading "fun", then "sun", then "run". I was just so excited.

When kindergarten started, I had prepared him the best way any mom could. I remembered the things I needed to know in kindergarten so I taught him how to count to 100, his ABCs, his colors, shapes and so many other things. He had learned how to work with safety scissors, glue and other craft supplies in preschool as well as at home and already knew how to write his name. He was even working on the computer already.

After several months, all parents were called in to conference with the teacher about testing scores. They had spent three weeks testing all the children to see where they were and explaining all the results to the parents. Nick scored well above the national average as did several other children in the class. One kid got a 4 (the national average was 23).

I was excited that Nick had scored so high and his teacher said he was ready to read. I knew that because we were already reading. So I asked her what her plan was and she said she wasn't going to do anything. Because that one kid got a 4, all the kids in the class had to be brought down to his level so he could catch up. I was livid. I didn't want her holding my son back because some other kid's parents didn't teach him well enough. She said she didn't want the kids forming cliques. At five years old? I knew I couldn't leave my son in this system that purposely dumbed down all the smart kids.

Homeschooling begins
I figured I had already taught my son everything they were planning on teaching him in kindergarten before he even started, so I could teach him everything else. I knew I could do a better job than his teacher. So it began.

At first I was using workbooks for Nick to go through. I didn't really know what else to do and they seemed to be helpful before. Besides, that's what his teacher was doing. That should have been a red flag to me, but I wasn't paying attention.

The workbooks for reading helped Nick identify the letters and their sounds, but it was all the same stuff I had already taught him and I decided to move past that and just start reading simple books. He was doing fine until we got to words that had those weird vowel combinations that seem to never sound the same way twice.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone through the workbooks in order like I was supposed to. First of all, repetition is important to learning something thoroughly. Secondly, all those weird vowel combinations were covered later on in the workbooks. However, workbooks alone aren't enough. I could have made life a lot easier for him by using multi-sensory methods to work with the letters, sounds and words. Things like making the letters out of clay or Legos would have solidified their images in his mind better.

My methods simply weren't working. He could identify the letters individually most of the time and write what he saw but when we were reading, it seemed he no longer recognized them. If I could have seen what he saw in his head I would have understood exactly what was going on, but at the time I just assumed he wasn't really paying attention to my instruction or just had a super short memory.

Then I suspected dyslexia
I don't remember when it first hit me, but at some point I finally realized it could be dyslexia. My mom is dyslexic and I knew it was genetic. That's pretty much all I knew. I tried getting help from the public school system, but they didn't know much about the condition either and pretty much blamed me for his inability to read. They seemed much more interested in harming me rather than helping him.

After trying many methods that only helped him read small words, I started doing some serious research into what dyslexia is and what can be done about it.

After much research, I began using the methods described in the book The Gift of Dyslexia.

They help by allowing Nick to use his imagination in order to create a personal connection to the words that cause him trouble. He worked with clay to form the letters in 3-D. He also used the clay to form representations of words that cause trouble, so that when he reads he "sees" what's going on in his mind.

We all tend to form a mental picture while we are reading, but there are certain words that don't have a picture. Those of us who are not dyslexic just read the word but the image of the story remains in our heads. For some people who are dyslexic, it is hard to read the word without having a visual connection to it. The book teaches dyslexics to create images out of clay to represent troublesome words so they can use those images in their mental picture when they are reading. This allows them to continue the story without getting stuck on the troublesome words. There were a few other methods in the book that I found helpful (two are described in the video below).



But the methods in The Gift of Dyslexiaonly got us so far. Nick's imagination was stuck in video game mode and all of his clay creations were too similar. I wasn't supposed to interfere with his creations, but I knew he wasn't going to remember anything if they were all Mario or Zelda related. I will admit he is a much better reader now because of it, but we still get stuck in ruts. So I added the methods into my collection of methods and we moved on.

Many years later
So what do I use now to help him read? Well, a combination of things. Most important is using multi-sensory methods to help him solidify the lessons in his mind. Combining sight, sound, touch, and taste and smell if it's feasible, helps him actually take part in his own instruction and he begins to own the lesson in a sense. By making it his own, he feels more of a connection to it and will remember it more.

Repetition is also important. Going over previously learned words, spellings, rules and tips at the beginning of every session is really helping him form solid spelling, reading and comprehension skills.

I have been using the All About Spelling system for a while now with amazing results in his spelling. The bonus is that his reading has improved tremendously as well. The trick they use which I've been using for other lessons as well, is to review previous lessons at the beginning of each session (the repetition I mentioned) and they use colored flash cards (studies show color enhances retention by about 30 percent). They use multiple senses (hearing, seeing, touching, etc.) and positive reinforcement (a completion chart that shows his progress). Oh, and magnets. I knew the magnets worked when Nick was 3; I should have just stuck with them.

The point of it all is that getting him engaged in the activity in more ways than one helps him retain the information better. I use multi-sensory methods to teach him all of his subjects and it makes life easier for us both. He actually enjoys learning, is enjoying reading more and we are making major progress in his education.

...

I know I didn't exactly start Nick off right when I decided to homeschool. I made the assumption that because we already covered something, he would know it forever. I can't stress enough how important it is to reinforce lessons by reviewing them until they are second nature to your child. Reading is like learning a foreign language. You don't just hear a new word and have it permanently imprinted in your brain. You must go over it again and again until it feels natural to you and you can automatically recall it. Reviewing it is how you reinforce it in your brain.

I started off right by using the letter magnets, and I should have just continued using similar methods (fun and multi-sensory ones) to teach him. When I taught him his colors, numbers and shapes, I used visuals and verbal repetition. I also used computer programs that made the learning fun. These methods are best in teaching all children, because when they become involved in the lesson like this, they connect to it better and retain the information better.