Life really is the best lesson in homeschooling

I've said it before and I'll say it again, learning while living is a terrific option for homeschooling dyslexic children. The unschooling method is really paying off for us.

Learning to live, living to learn, or both

I'm in a homeschool group and one of the other families has a dyslexic son as well. Both our sons are into game design, so we thought we'd get them together often to work on a project of their own choosing. We really didn't set up protocols or expectations or any kind of curriculum. We just thought we'd let the kids figure it out on their own. They would plan and develop their game and we would just let the whole thing be a learning experience.

At the very least, they would learn teamwork and compromise. At best, they'd create a really cool game we can sell on iTunes.

The only thing us parents did was help decide which program would be best for them to work with. We chose Blender because it is free (big plus for both families), and there are a lot of video tutorials, user forums to consult and support for the program and its users.

The first time we got the boys together, my son, Nick, showed Jacob Minecraft and Blockland. These building games are perfect for teaching physics in games and creating scenes, plot, action and other things games need. Nick has been using the games for a long time and I'm often surprised by what he comes up with. He created his own Blockland Zombies series on Youtube with the Blockland program as well as doing his own animation. He can set up situations in Blockland and Minecraft, and it's basically like an introduction to coding and design.

The second time we got the boys together, they got serious. Jacob's dad is teaching him Python, the code language Blender uses, and Jacob had written some code for the game. Then the boys discussed characters and what the characters would be doing. When Nick got home, he began working on a model for the game so the boys can have something to work with. He did this all on his own without me having to prompt him.

Truthfully, I don't know what they are doing. I'm beginning to think I need to learn more about Blender so I can at least know what they are talking about. I know that I might be of assistance with the artwork because I am a graphic artist. Nick has been talking about creating textures in Photoshop, and I know ALL about Photoshop. I know I could help there.

But I'd also like to know what's going on because I'm curious. I'd love to be able to get more creative and I've seen some of the things other Blender artists have come up with. I'm really, really amazed. Nick and Jacob are off to a good start with the paths they are choosing for careers. But I think it could also help me venture into new avenues in my own career.

A learning experience that couldn't have gone better

So this is turning out to be a big learning experience for all of us. And it is all just from living our everyday lives and following our dreams.

Dyslexic students can look forward to bright future

I found this interesting article about a study performed on dyslexic boys, following them through their lives over a 55-year period. The study confirms what I (and many of you as well) already knew: our dyslexic children are bright and have a promising future. Here's the link: Dyslexia and Adult Careers.

Back to the blogging

I haven't written in a long time and I wanted to let everyone know I'm still here. I moved and lacked Internet for a while. Now I'm settling in to my new house.

When the student becomes the teacher

One thing I really wanted to share was something my son requested. Nick and I were watching a DVD he got in the mail from the LEGO company. I am always amazed by the creativity employed by the designers and the people who love LEGOs. On the video they showed a behind-the-scenes look at how LEGOs are made as well as several snippets of master builders at work. They also showed LEGO conventions and some of the amazing work LEGO lovers around the country create.

Of course, I know LEGOs are an important teaching tool for math, science, art and history (and maybe more). I use them frequently (see my post on using them after studying Egypt) to help enhance the lesson and make it fun.

However, my son piped in with his own idea for using them in history that I never really thought of. So I'm sharing because this is right from the student's mouth. He decided history (his most disliked subject) would be more fun if we could just act out the whole lesson with LEGOs.

I learned my lesson! LEGO history acting, here we come! It would require a little more planning and some scene and dialog development, but it would certainly be fun and if my son says he would like to do it, then I'm all for it. If he helps with the scene and dialog development, then he's learning everything he needs to know even before we start the show. I told him it was a great idea.

Reading and spelling successes

We've been working a great deal on Nick's spelling using the All About Spelling program. We completed the Reading Horizons at Home program and his reading is spectacular now. He reads without being asked and he enjoys it! He's even asked me to buy him books in a series he's been enjoying.

However, his spelling was still ... hmmmm ... lacking. So we have been working through the All About Spelling program to fix that. Even though he's 13 now, we started at the very beginning because I wasn't really sure if there were some basics I might have missed in my teachings. Just trying to get him to memorize a list of words every week never worked. He'd memorize the spellings and could pass a test with a 100 percent, but never spelled them correctly in his regular writing after the test was over.

So I thought this program, which teaches rules rather than memorization and uses multisensory teaching, would be better. I had started it a long time ago, but it sort of fell by the wayside for a while. So I picked it up again and finished the first set, and started on the second. In just a few short months I've noticed a tremendous difference in his spelling skills.

What I find most odd, however, is that his spelling on those sight words, like "said", is still not there yet. We've been texting each other a lot and he spells "said" phonetically ("sed") but in the same text spelled "animation", "watching" and "video" correctly. I'm going to keep going with the program though because I know the sight words are addressed soon. I'm really impressed with how his spelling skills have improved thus far and have faith they will continue to improve.

That's all for now

Sorry to keep it short but I've got other blogs to apologize on for my absence. I also have to get some education into my boy!

Because children around the world need a chance to survive

I know I am straying off topic this time, but this message urgently needs to get out. I thought who better to share it with than parents who would do anything to protect their children.

In East Africa there are parents who can do nothing to help their children. Due to the worst drought in 50 years, poverty, and rising food costs, more than a million people are facing starvation. The ones who suffer the most, the ones who need more food for growth and brain power, are the children.

Please consider donating to help humanitarian efforts bring relief to these children and their families. I support the group Save the Children, because children are our future, in this country and around the world. Save the Children not only works to create lasting change for the children they help, but they also support their families' efforts to help themselves. They are also top-rated by charity watchdogs, so I know my money is going straight to those who need it most.

A group working to bring emergency water supplies to East Africa (as well as look for more sustainable water sources) is Oxfam International. They are helping communities look for more sustainable sources of water by drilling boreholes, developing motorized water schemes and improving traditional water harvesting systems. In the worst affected areas they have been trucking in emergency water supplies. The water is treated and used for drinking, cooking, washing and keeping animals alive. Each person gets at least 5 liters of water per day, the bare minimum people need. Community health workers also conduct public campaigns to help stop the spread of water-borne diseases.

UNICEF is another group that focuses on helping children. They have been operating across Somalia since the 70s. They are working on health interventions and vaccinations for those who are more susceptible to disease because of hunger and malnutrition.

Samaritan's Purse is also helping by distributing food staples to the area.

Please consider giving to any one of these groups (or others you support) to help provide relief to the starving families in East Africa. Think of the parents who love their children and want to be able to help them, but can't. None of us wants to ever be in that situation. We can help those parents help their children.

Fun with the first test of the season

Getting back into the swing of things can be tough sometimes. I like to have a little more play and fun in the beginning of the school season, so that when we have to do serious stuff (because some history lessons are very serious) it's easier to get through once we've opened up the gates to learning.

I write a lot on Squidoo to reach other audiences as well as connect with other homeschoolers and teachers. Plus Squidoo gives me the opportunity to do some things more easily (read I don't have to learn too much CSS or HTML).

One of the modules I can use on a Squidoo lens is a quiz. I thought it would be fun to create some quizzes for different lessons for my son (because he loves doing things on the computer). I thought I could do history on it and make some of the answer choices absolutely and obviously crazy in order to make it more fun.

I had never tried the quiz module before, so in order to test it out, I created a silly little quiz on superheroes. He definitely got a kick out of it.

If you'd like to have a little fun with your kids before hitting the books (videos, software, etc.), go ahead and try it out. It's called Are you a superhero?

Free fraction teaching tools

This is just a quick note to let everyone know I just found a site that has free tools to help teach fractions more easily.

The Conceptua fraction tools are very visual and makes understanding fractions much easier. They have a paid subscription service (only $10 a month) but the free tools are there for anyone willing to learn them.

Conceptua has webinars to help teach people how to use the free tools and there are introduction videos for them.

I just want to have Nick brush up on fractions before we move on, so this is perfect for my purposes. Hopefully it will suit your needs as well.

Need help teaching multiplication and division?

If you need help with multiplication or division, check out Big Brainz' Timez Attack with the division expansion pack. This game is super fun. Kids (OK and me too) love it because of its videogame interface. They aren't just facing math problems but other challenges like mazes and moving platforms. The videos below show how incredible the program is.

Free videos for teaching higher grades

Since I started homeschooling 8 years ago, I have always been excited to find a website that helps me teach (especially with subjects I need to learn or relearn myself).

Now that my son is going into 8th grade, I need more help with certain subjects. For one thing, because I work a full-time job, my time with Nick is limited and if I can find someone else to do some of the teaching or explain some lessons, then I have more time to help him with his extracurriculars (like videogame design) and with actually practicing new skills.

I have previously used videos I've found on YouTube, National Geographic Kids, History Channel and other sites to help with science, social studies and a few other lessons. With a little bit of research you can find all kinds of videos to help you create a multisensory lesson that helps deepen your child's understanding of it. (For a more complete list of the free stuff I've found on the Internet, click here.)

Where does the time go?

The problem with trying to find the perfect video to go along with a lesson is all the time it takes! I won't say it is wasted time because videos do help make a lesson so much more interesting, but it still seems like a lot of lost time.

When I found BrainPOP I was willing to pay a nominal fee for the ease of finding the videos I needed. With YouTube you never know what you are going to get, but with BrainPOP I knew it was going to be kid-friendly. I can still use a lot of BrainPOP videos even though my son is getting older because he doesn't feel BrainPOP is too childish. They do cover some topics that will be part of his studies this year, so I'm keeping my subscription. Plus they just introduced games. We haven't tried many but we are certain to discuss them when we discuss videogame design.

Another site I was willing to pay a fee for is Lynda.com. They do mainly creative lessons (graphic design, website design, 3-D animation, etc.). I thought this would be perfect for my son who wants to learn more about game design. I think it's important for him to know what others he would be working with are doing. (Plus, truth be told, I use Lynda.com for my own education. I enjoy learning code and animation and things like that.) At Lynda.com the lesson are all organized and I don't have to create a lesson plan or anything. That's perfect for both of us.

What about government, higher math and sciences?

But I was still on the lookout for some way to provide video lessons for those big subjects. I still plan on going over book lessons (for reading practice), but I think videos on certain math formulas or government lessons will make the lessons sink in better (that and lots and lots of practice when it comes to math).

So I was happy to find a couple of free sites that have lessons for these higher-level topics.

Brightstorm has thousands (yes thousands) of free videos of instructors discussing math (algebra up to calculus) and science (biology, physics and chemistry). They aren't as exciting as BrainPOP with all the animated characters, but they do cover the topics pretty well. I think they will be wonderful introductions to a topic that we will cover in more detail later. Most of the time my son is actually paying attention to them (I can tell because he actually knows answers when we discuss the topics later).

Most recently, I discovered HippoCampus which actually does do a little more on the graphics side with their videos. They cover algebra, American government, biology, calculus, environmental sciences, physics, psychology, religion, statistics and U.S. history. Plus, the couple of math lessons I tested out quizzed me. I can't wait to look into those videos a little more.

Incorporating videos while not home

I mentioned earlier that I'm not home during the day. Yes, I work a 45-hour job. So, how, you may ask, do I get my son to watch the correct videos or do other online tasks that correspond with his schoolwork?

I create a computer file for my son with the list of things I want him to do. Because it is a computer file, I can copy and paste links to videos I want him to watch and all he has to do is click and watch. If there are worksheets or reading that go along with a topic, I will put those as separate items on the list and leave the supplies he needs on his chair in front of his computer. I will number items on the checklist if they need to be done in a particular order. Of course we discussed this plan long ago and he knows how it all works.

NOTE:
You may know (if you've read previous posts) I mostly unschool and my son creates his own schoolwork, but I do want to make sure he gets the basics. It's a give and take for both of us. I allow him to explore topics of interest to him as long as he gets through the list I create for him. I refuse to let him just sit around and play videogames all day.

Any links to share?

If you know of other websites that offer lessons for higher grades, please let me know in a comment. I am always looking for new sites to explore. Of course, I'll be sure to share any others I come across as well.

My stance on proper parenting

I received an email this week from someone promoting a story on how to embarrass your kids off of Facebook. The title already made me squeamish but I tried to remain positive and hope they were not actually encouraging parents to humiliate their own children publicly. Some writers will try to use some kind of reverse psychology in their headlines to lure readers in. 

However, I looked at the story and realized they were, in fact, encouraging parents to alienate their children. I was completely disgusted. It was basically teaching parents how to be cyber bullies to their own flesh and blood.

Let me just go on record right now and state:

It is wrong to ridicule, humiliate, belittle, bully or otherwise alienate your own children!

The way I think of it is this: Do I want to have a wonderful relationship with my son now and when he is all grown up? Well, of course I do!

If I treat him with respect — and that means respecting his feelings as well — then I am building a bridge of trust between us.

But parents who think it is funny to embarrass their children on the Internet — which would be the same as standing in the middle of town and shouting things to every passerby — are setting their children up for failure.

Failure number one

First off, how can children go to their parents to discuss important topics (like illegal drugs or puberty) if they don't trust or respect their parents? Parents who makes it a practice to ridicule their children are effectively cutting their children off from ever listening to them again. If they have something important to teach their children, their words will fall on deaf ears.

Failure number two

Secondly, if parents make a habit of humiliating their children in front of all their friends, then the only friends the children make will likely not be introduced to their parents. That means they will never know what kind of people their children decide to hang out with (or what kind of influences they will be). That also means their children will begin the practice of lying to keep the parents from finding out about their friends and their lives. That could only lead to more deceit and betrayal. And that starts them on the path to no good.

Failure number three

Finally, when children who have been bullied repeatedly by their parents move out, they will undoubtedly inflict the same kind of punishment on their family if they ever have the chance to have one. It will be hard for them to learn to form loving, trusting relationships with people if they have never experienced those kind of relationships at home while growing up. If they do form a family, it will likely be based in fear or superficiality.

Parents should be parents AND trusted friends to their children

When I first started out learning how to discipline my son in order to teach him to be a good person, I read everything I could find about child behavior and child psychology. I came at it with a scientific approach but also knew that I should trust my gut in some situations. It helped to understand how children learn and how their brains develop in order to know if I was using effective techniques in teaching my son right from wrong.

Many times I would read or hear: You cannot be your child's friend. You must be an authority figure.

At first, I understood why it would be important to be an authority figure. Young children must understand that they cannot do as they please. Young children have not yet learned how to be a good friend, so being an authority figure was best to help my son understand when he was not being nice to someone. This is important when teaching children to share, to respect another child's space and things, and to not hit and shove when they don't get their way.

But as my son got older and learned how to be a good friend, I felt it was important to allow him that sense of independence of being a trusted advisor. Family decisions were not made for him or without him. He was allowed to voice his opinion so that he knew he was an important part of the family and not just some object to be commanded around.

I did this partly because I knew I needed to develop independence in him. Some day he will need to make important decisions on his own, and he needs the confidence to make the right decisions. Being wishy washy when peer pressure is involved is the reason some kids fall to it. Knowing that his opinions and feelings matter means he will be more secure in telling someone "No" when he needs to.

Of course the fact that he feels comfortable coming to me about important decisions he has to make helps too. As a trusted advisor to him, he knows I won't belittle him or ridicule him when he needs to talk to me about something. On that same note, I know he will listen to me when I offer my opinions and knowledge on something because he knows I have his best interests at heart.

So I had to go with my gut on that whole friend thing, but so far it has paid off. He does come to me with questions or problems. And he does listen to me when I need to talk to him. Not only is schoolwork easier but teaching him about life itself is easier.

And none of this would be possible if I had decided to be a big bully to him.

Remember, children learn what they see NOT what you tell them do

Do you remember the poem Children learn what they live? It has always had an impact on me. Hopefully, you will take it to heart too.

Children Learn What They Live

By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D. © 1972


If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.

If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.

If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

What about writing?

I know I discuss reading and teaching reading a lot, but I don't really focus much on writing. So today, I'll go over some tips on getting a struggling writer to express him or herself on paper.

Started off the wrong way with reports

Nick teases me a lot because I apparently say, "When I was your age ..." or the equivalent of that phrase often. It often ends up being technology related. That's because when I was his age and older, we didn't have the resources kids have these days to get information to write really great reports.

The reason I mention this is that I tell Nick to do a report and he goes to the Internet, copies and pastes information he finds on websites, add pictures he finds on Google Images and he's done. He doesn't learn anything. When I read these reports, I see grammar errors galore and questionable information. I also don't know where he gets his information because he never cites his work (despite the many times I have stressed the importance of giving people credit for their work).

So, I realized doing reports wasn't a good way to start teach writing. He's not ready for report-writing yet. When he is older and has learned how to lend his own voice and opinion to his writing, we will try that again. Obviously the Internet is a wonderful resource, but one must understand its limitations before using it.

Starting off with personal essays

So, now what we are doing is working on essays on personal things. These could be a funny event he has seen, his favorite game, his summer vacation, etc. These are things I know he can't just look up on the Internet and ones that I know he will want to discuss.

The first essay we did was on his favorite video game. We started off with doing a story web. This is a visual element that helps him think out the essay before beginning to write it. The center theme is the name of his favorite video game. Then we talked about the things he likes about it and wrote those down in circles surrounding the center theme. He likes the story line, the added details in the graphics, the overall artwork, the action, the puzzles, etc. We then grouped those interests into three main categories.

The basic construction of an essay

We had previously discussed that an essay is formed of an intro, body and conclusion. If you haven't discussed this with your child, you should before he or she begins any writing.

I usually draw a candy wrapper shape (drawn vertically as shown) to show visually how an essay should be written.

• In the introduction, you state the main theme of the essay (the center of the story web). You also state the three main categories everything was grouped into. You will discuss these in more detail in the body of your essay.
• In the body, you talk about those three categories in detail, giving examples (and Nick likes to add photos since he does his essays on the computer).
• In the conclusion you wrap it up with a solid opinion or funny fact or something similar. I always tell Nick to never start a conclusion with, "So in conclusion ...". It's overdone.

As far as the actual words to use, I just have Nick tell me verbally what he wants to say and then tell him to write that. Most kids (and adults too) are afraid that writing on paper needs to sound more formal than the way we talk. I always say that writing the way you would say it verbally sounds more natural and people would be more likely to read just as they are to listen. We will worry about spelling and grammar after we get the words down.

Starting the actual writing

With his story web drawn out and sitting next to him at the computer, he began to write out his essay.

The good thing about doing it on the computer is that it is less frustrating for students who abhor the act of hand writing. Many dyslexics have a very difficult time forming letters and concentrate too much on the creation of the letters and words than the actual story. It is a slow and painstaking process and when you need to go back to correct spelling and grammar or rewrite parts, it can bring them to tears. So I avoid all this by having Nick write on the computer.

An added bonus is that he immediately corrects spelling errors when those little red lines show up. I've noticed his spelling is getting much better due to this.

I sit with Nick as he writes to add support if he asks for it. He will ask me how to spell things or ask what he should write when he's stuck on how to express a certain part. Usually I go back to having him tell me what he wants to say and for the most part it's good enough to write. He never has trouble expressing himself verbally, other than finding the right word, so I think he just needs validation sometimes that his thoughts are good enough for paper.

Writing the body of the essay

The body is the toughest part because I ask for examples and details. So for his statement that the graphics are really cool in the video game, he knew how to show me with a picture (and tell me) what he liked but wasn't sure how to verbalize it on paper (at least he didn't think he was sure).

That is why we pull over pictures into the report so he can "show" what he is trying to say. I tell him that it needs a caption and that is where we get the details I'm looking for. By pulling over images, he is able to give me multitudes of examples and details. He's still writing them down, but the images just give him the encouragement to do so.

Because this is homeschool, I figure whatever tool I can use that will get him to express himself will work for me. I don't worry about traditional essay-writing when it comes to getting my son to write. I know some day he will need to learn to write without the use of picture cues, but for now, we are just getting over the hurdle of writing as a form of expression. With enough practice he will be able to write well enough for college or work without needing pictures to help.

Writing the conclusion

With the body written, we are ready to wrap it all up. Many people find it hard to conclude an essay when they just got through saying everything they wanted to say about their topic. Nick just likes to say, "OK. That's it. Go home folks."

I tell Nick to think of ending an essay as the same as ending a phone conversation. You don't just say what you want to say and hang up. You lead up to the hang up.

Ending an essay is the same. You may want to restate your overall opinion in a different way than you did in the introduction. You may want to offer suggestions to the reader (if they should try the video game, restaurant, vacation spot, etc.). You may want to state what kind of person would like said game, restaurant, vacation spot, etc. You may want to mention one negative thing, but that overall you like it. You may want to leave the reader wanting more by hinting at some secret they could discover. But you do need to find a way to not just hang up.

We talk it through and come up with something to end it. It doesn't need to be brilliant or thought-provoking or philosophical; it just needs to end politely.

Now we edit

Just when you thought all the sharks were out of the water....

Because the act of writing, even on a computer, is difficult for dyslexics, we take a break before editing. He just got through pouring his heart out and that's tough work. It's time for a cookie.

But I never leave it undone and never wait for too long a period. His thoughts and ideas about the subject must still be fresh in his mind when we go back to edit. I will not wait a day. I will wait a couple of hours at most.

Flowing like a stream

What I'm looking for when we go back to edit is spelling, grammar and flow.

When I worked at a newspaper, my favorite copy editor would always say, "Good copy must flow like a stream." It's good advice. When you read back over a story it needs to feel natural like a friendly conversation. If it sounds choppy or seems like it is missing something or jumps from one subject to the next without gently leading up to the change, it will feel more like being in the rapids and not a gentle stream.

So the first task in editing is reading it over again. I find it best to read it out loud so you can hear how the story sounds, much like you would in conversation. That is generally how you will know where to add commas or other pausing devices. That is also how you will know when something needs to be added to make the story flow more easily.

Spelling is usually accomplished with spellcheck, but you do have to watch out for homophones like "its" and "it's" or "there" and "their." You also need to check for words that are spelled correctly but are just wrong (likely a typing error). For instance you might see "greet" instead of "great". My and Nick's biggest error in writing is not typing the letter "s" when we need to make things plural (like mother like son??). These things happen, so a careful reading will help eliminate these errors.

Be there or be square

It is especially important for a parent to be involved in the editing process because sometimes children just don't know the grammar rules or the right homophone to use or the right word to get the connotation desired.

Going over these rules as you are reading through your child's work will help immensely for the next time he or she writes. I usually tell Nick to listen for the pauses in my voice as I read out loud so he knows where to put some kind of punctuation. I overemphasize the pauses to help.

I also stop when we get to homophones and either tell him "good job" when he used the correct one or talk about the correct one to use if he didn't. And when a word doesn't seem to be a good fit, I'll tell him what it really means or how people feel when they see it, and we discuss what a better word would be. Sometimes he just doesn't know and so we look it up in his computer's thesaurus.

I never just correct everything on my own or just tell him where it needs to be corrected. He needs to learn why it needs to be corrected so he can adjust his writing the next time he does an essay.

Practice, practice, practice

Obviously, going over the rules of writing once is not going to make a famous writer out of your children overnight. You will need to do many essays (and eventually reports) so they can build on the knowledge they grasp each time.

Our dyslexic children should not be overloaded with all the rules at once, so some corrections you make in the first essay will be forgotten the next time he or she writes. That's OK and to be expected. But that's why we practice. You may want to focus on homophones for the first few essays, then commas and punctuation in the next few. Repetition is the key to building solid writing skills.

Novelist in the making?

We may create some wordsmiths out of children yet, but take it slowly. They'll get there. Start with personal essays and build from there. Use whatever tools work to help your children express themselves. Pictures work for my son, but your children may like a voice recorder to verbalize their thoughts before writing them down. You may want to use a speech recognition program to help your children with their writing. These programs are not perfect, so your children will still learn to edit.

Whatever works, use it. Just allow them plenty of practice and they'll be fine.

Plans for summer school

Learning never ends. Learning takes place all the time, even during the most mundane of tasks. I like to use this to my advantage during the summer when most kids expect to be able to take a break from school.

Yes, I'm relentless in my education of my son. I can't help it. I've always enjoyed learning new things, and I'd like to think that he will too as long as I make it fun and/or rewarding.

I've convinced my son to do a summer reading program of our own making. The libraries around our area each have their summer reading programs, but the prizes are more fun for younger readers. So I told my son I'd get him prizes he would appreciate and enjoy if he agreed to read during the summer. He accepted that challenge.

We are also still doing computer software training (Flash and Photoshop mainly) because Nick really enjoys creating cool animated graphics. It wasn't hard at all to get him to want to continue that education. I use Lynda.com to teach him these programs because it's all videos. He can watch a little, pause the video and practice what he just learned. Each video is usually less than a few minutes, so it works for those with short attention spans. He also does a little of his own research on programs he wants to learn, by looking for tutorials on Youtube. I'm proud to say he came up with that idea on his own.

I also bought K'Nex Education toys to brush up on some physical science fun. My son loves his building toys, so these K'nex Education toys are terrific. They come with a Teacher's Guide CD to give teaching points on the projects involved. I'll try to keep a low profile on the teaching thing and just let him have fun. I know I'll probably squeeze some tidbits of knowledge into these activities somehow, but for the most part, the act of engineering the structures will be the best learning for him.

We will likely take several field trips and just explore what nature has to offer as well. Sometimes something as relaxing as watching the wildlife is an education too.

What does everyone else have in store for their young learners this summer?

Inspired by a tween girl

Charity starts from the heart

My son was invited to a friend's birthday party and on the invitation she had asked that instead of bringing gifts, people donate to a favorite charity or bring nonperishable food items she could donate to the local food closet. I thought that was beautiful.

It began a conversation between me and my son about charity and giving and kindness. We often have these philosophical talks and it does my heart good to hear my son contribute so much. He thinks deeply about this topic and I know he will make me proud. I was about to say "some day" but he already has.

He told me some day he wants to change the world and make it a better place, and I told him you don't have to change the world. Just do what you can to share love and kindness and the world will follow. Kindness and charity spreads across time and oceans. It doesn't take much; just one act of kindness can change the world for one person. If you continue that practice, you will change the lives of many, who may in turn change many other lives.

I enjoy these talks with him. I know that deep inside that wandering mind is a brilliance we will all see and he will change the world.

Looking to the future

I'm thinking about the future.

Why? Because I'm certain the future is going to be grand.

I did my research

Doing research is key to knowing where you stand, where everyone else stands and where the world stands. Doing research is what I do. It is key to teaching my son, key to his education and my future education. Education doesn't end just because you graduate and get a degree. Life is an education and you really do learn something new every day, no matter how old you are.

So what's all this about research and future?

It's simple. The reason I educate my son is to ensure a happy future for him. The reason I do research is the ensure I give him a good education. It's all connected.

On top of that, I teach my son to research. He has used it well to educate himself. Sometimes it has simply been to get through a video game he is playing, but sometimes he does research to learn how to work certain programs or build things or fix things. He's a curious boy and I encourage him to look more into what it is he's curious about.

Research also helps you make good, educated decisions. We do this when we are standing in a store considering the purchase of some item. I'll look it up on Amazon on my phone to look at the rating and customer reviews. This often saves me money in a couple of ways: one is when we find out it's cheaper on Amazon with free shipping; and the other is when we find out it doesn't work that well or people just don't like it.

Obviously good, educated decisions are important in so many more aspects. Making choices on who or what to vote for, choosing a college or university, choosing a career, choosing a home, partner, pet, and more require research. With dedicated research, you will be able to change your future for the better.

And that is why the future is going to be grand!

I wish you and your family a grand future too.

Game design looks like fun

On with the show

Now that I have accepted that Nick really wants to be a game developer, I have been ordering books and we have been going over the basics. Nick and I have wonderful conversations about some of his ideas and are really having a lot of fun developing them.

Game Development Essentials

There's a game design book series, called Game Development Essentials, that is really popular with Amazon readers and has a lot of interesting titles. I ordered the book Game Story & Character Development and have been finding the text very interesting.



It's really a great book on story and character development in general, discussing the history of storytelling, different character types, story structure, plot twists, conflict and the essentials that go into a good story. It also discusses character psychology, character growth, and things that general writers need to know.

Of course it includes different ways to tell the story within the confines of the gaming atmosphere because that is the point of the book. But in general I felt it did a better job of teaching story and character development than other books I've found on creative writing. So I was really happy with it.

Developing game ideas together

The real fun I am having is seeing how Nick's creative mind comes to life when we talk about his ideas. We talk about the future of gaming and how it can be used in many ways: not just for fun, but for other areas of life like exercise (like the Wii Fit Plus or now the Xbox 360 with Kinect), or education.

I bought him a multiplication game when he was younger that he still likes because it was actually fun. It's called Timez Attack. The makers didn't just have players do flash-card style multiplication, but they made it a real game with real challenges (jumping onto moving platforms, crossing narrow bridges, working their way through a castle or other maze-like area, etc.). They have recently come out with a division game that I'm just going to have to get. It's a really fun way to help kids memorize basic math facts.

Anyway, the point I'm making is that there's a whole untapped market that game developers haven't really hit the mark on yet when it comes to making educational games. There's educational software, but it's not as engaging. Nick and I talk about the possibilities all the time. He thinks it would be great to learn history (a subject he dislikes), science or other subjects in a video game format. There are some game developers out there that are beginning to realize the potential, but of the games we've seen, they still need to work on their delivery.

When Nick and I talk about the existing games and what they could do to make it more fun, his mind goes into hyperdrive and he comes up with all kinds of ways to make a history game come to life. He believes if a game could be made where the player has to search for clues or work out puzzles and make it through levels and challenges, then kids would have fun with it and not even realize they are learning. All I need to do now is keep teaching the basics of game design and hopefully he will remember these conversations when he's actually creating games. From a marketing standpoint, there's a huge audience out there waiting for them. Not just parents like me whose children learn best through multi-sensory methods, but schools who are trying to accommodate students who need more engaging educational materials. It would be especially wonderful for dyslexic students who easily retain information when it is delivered in a more interactive way.

Other possibilities for gaming

Some of the other ideas we've come up with for gaming include vacations at home with your own holodeck-type room added to the house. Nick also came up with the idea of a virtual reality helmet that doesn't put you in the game but makes the world around you part of the game. That way you can move around without worrying about tripping over the dog.

It's good to think about the kinds of obstacles people might have. Truthfully, that's how a game developer needs to think. So we're halfway there! Now if only they had a game to teach game design. I'd buy it.

Making a (lesson plan) list and checking it twice

I know it's not Christmas yet.

I'm actually going over my son's school game plan. Every once in a while I assess where he is (in a very nonofficial way) and think about where he should be, by my standards, and where he wants to be by the time he's 18 and ready to go to college.

Nick wants to be a video game designer. I'm not a huge video game fan, but I do enjoy the hidden objects and match 3 games I get from Big Fish Games. However, I can see the potential for a solid, happy career for Nick in this field and I'm happy to help him along this path.

Becoming a believer

For the most part, when your child says, "When I grow up, I want to be (fill in the blank)," you smile, nod and say, "That's great honey." That's because the fill-in-the-blank part changes nonstop for most kids.

However, Nick has been saying he wants to be a video game designer (and nothing else) since he was 7 years old. Well, there was a short time when he wanted to be an actor on the side, but video games have always been his first love.

Here we are almost six years later, and I have finally decided I believe him. It took me long enough. I think my hesitation was that I was afraid he thought designing video games meant just dreaming up ideas and then playing the games after someone else made them. His fascination and adoration of them led me to believe that what he really wanted to do was play them. (You thought I was going to say "direct" didn't you?)

Well, the more he said he wanted to be a video game designer, the more I thought I should look into what it really is. If this is really what he wants to do (or thinks he wants to do) then we should both know what it is exactly.

Who knew?

As it turns out, being a video game designer is EXACTLY what Nick thought it was. You dream up the ideas and let the tech people and artists work on it. OK, well, it's not that simple. The video game designer takes the lead, creating the direction the game will go in, and works with all who are working on the game to make sure it stays true to his idea or vision of what the game should be. In a nutshell, the video game designer directs. (There, I said it.)

Doing my research

So how did I find this out? Lots of Internet research and a little bit of ingenuity.

I decided to look at the colleges that teach game design to see if I could get any information from them. I found Full Sail University and read some of the interviews they had done with graduates. At the end of an interview with game designer Jameson Durall was his blog site. I went to the blog and read what he was doing. (By the way, if you click on the link to his blog, please note it is NOT intended for younger viewers.)

I then contacted him and asked him what suggestions he had for teaching my son in order to prepare him for the world of video game design. To my astonishment, he responded to me and quickly. He was very nice and supportive, and gave me great advice and the name of a book to get that would tell us all about the reality of video game design. I looked at that book (The Art of Game Design) on Amazon and several others in the "Customers who bought this item also bought" section and actually learned a lot just by reading the descriptions.

So what does this have to do with the education game plan?

Now I am re-evaluating the education plan. I've been following an unschooling game plan, with a little traditional schooling thrown in for good measure. My thought was that Nick needs to have the basics in everything (literature, science, history, math, art, vocabulary, etc.) but he also needs to take the lead in what he really wants to do as a career. So along with doing the basics he's also been studying Flash animation and 3-D animation. He'll be studying PhotoShop, Unity, Blender and other animation and game design programs along the way too.

How will I cram it all in? It dawned on me the other day when I was talking to a co-worker. I was talking about the legend of the phoenix (because I had to draw one) and she didn't know anything about it really. She knew it was a bird that caught fire and came back to life, but that was it.

It occurred to me that it wasn't really necessary for her to know all about it. She's a very intelligent woman and one I turn to quite often for details on how to do my job (to make life easier for all the other workers). I did not think she was unintelligent at all for not knowing the story.

That's when I realized, it is NOT necessary to teach Nick EVERYTHING. The goal of unschooling is to expose him to as much as possible and let him decide what he needs to know in order to reach his goals. Nick does NOT need to know calculus to enter the world of game design. (Geometry would be good though. I use it all the time as an artist. And a video game designer does work with artists.)

He does NOT need to read every piece of classic literature out there. I can expose him to quite a bit through summaries and Cliffs Notes. If he decides he wants to hear more, we can read more. I pointed out a video game we played was based on a classic novel (Phantom of the Opera) and he liked the video game enough to want to hear the story. But for the most part, just knowing the basic story is enough.

I make a point to mention when a video game references certain classic tales, or legends or historic events. I have told him many times that learning about a lot of things will give him many ideas for video games. And it's true. Some stories, either fictional works of art or actual events, make great material for video games. We see it time and again on Big Fish Games.

So I am able to pare down the material I was going to teach him by realizing not all of it is absolutely necessary. If there is a time in history he is not really concerned about, we'll cut those lessons short. If he wants to learn more about a specific art style, we'll concentrate more time on it. We're just going to play it by ear for the most part, but have a list on the side for me (because I'm a list maker and it'll make me feel better).

Most important skill to teach

Most important for all of us to know, however, is that whatever you want to know or need to know is available to you if you just do your research. It starts with a simple library or Google search and goes from there. I think that is probably the most important skill Nick needs in life and he's already got that mastered (doing video game research wouldn't you know).

Many uses for guided reading lessons

At first I was using guided reading lessons to help my son gain more reading practice and improve his comprehension skills. For the most part, fiction stories were the main focus. But I have found it works really well with the rest of our lessons, especially history (a subject my son seems to hate).

I have been using the new skills I've developed to help him grasp new terms, make sense of the new information he's getting, and come away from the lesson with much more knowledge.

Planning is important to a guided reading lesson

I have my son read the history section we are working on during the day while I'm at work (as sort of a primer). But before he's even read it, I go over it and look for new vocabulary words or other terms he may not know. I make sure I know the location of the part of the world we're discussing on the map beforehand, and I locate any videos or websites that will help add a little to the lesson. I plan a hands-on project ahead of time too.

An example using an upcoming history lesson

Right now in history we are going over the rise of civilizations, and the next lesson is about Egypt.

I know where Egypt is on the map so I don't have to worry about finding that ahead of time. The lesson also mentions the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, and it mentions that Palestine and Syria were once under Egypt rule, so I'll make sure I know where all these are.

**By the way, if you have kids who love to color, Knowledge Quest Maps has great historical maps that will help a history lesson be much more interesting and memorable. There are literally hundreds to choose from and you are sure to find one to match your lesson. They are perfect for the project part of a guided reading lesson.**

Looking through the lesson I see the words pharaoh, chariot, fertile, shaduf, irrigation, surveying, hieroglyphics, hieratic, and scribes that may need some explanation. I'll create a vocabulary list that we can work on together. This is project number one. Because the word hieroglyphics is in there, we may try our hand at writing in this form later.

Of course the big project after reading the lesson will be to build our own pyramids because it's Egypt! I will locate some videos on the History Channel website about the pyramids and maybe look up something on the seven ancient wonders, of which the pyramids are the only ones left standing. I just found the Culture focus website that has lots of pictures that will be interesting to my son.

And that is the planning part.

The actual guided reading history lesson

When I get home from work (after he's read it once) we will go over the vocabulary words. Sometimes he surprises me and already knows what some of the terms mean (one of his video games is set in early civilization times and helps me out more than I would have thought). Then I'll have him read the lesson out loud to me. I'll stop him at times to look at the map or discuss certain events or the artwork on the page that goes with a certain passage.

In traditional guided reading lessons you are supposed to get kids to look at the clues in a book and predict the outcome of the story (for fiction) or tell you what they expect to learn (for nonfiction), but because I have Nick read the text once to himself before we begin the lesson it's not necessary for us to do that. Sometimes we do look at the next lesson (right after we've finished one) and discuss it a little and I let that be the prediction part of the lesson.

The reason I have Nick read the lesson to himself ahead of time is to help him practice his reading skill. In the book Overcoming Dyslexia author Sally Shaywitz wrote that having a dyslexic child read the same passage a few times will help cement some of the words they read in their long-term memory. So I am making his history lesson dyslexia friendly.

After we've gone over the text, pictures (and their captions) and sidebars and seen some videos or did our research on the websites I locate ahead of time, then we will do our project. This is the fun part. This is what brings the lesson home and helps it all sink in. For the pyramids, I imagine we'll make them out of LEGOs because Nick loves building with LEGOs. But we could try modeling clay or the magnet toys we have. I can imagine that we'll try to build tunnels through our pyramids to replicate the real pyramids and talk about what they are for. I know that my son has a mummy LEGO character that he may want to put inside of his.

Other ideas for projects

As I mentioned before, we might try our hand at hieroglyphics or we might get a blackline map of Egypt and color in where the major pyramids are (after doing some research), the Nile and other important features of Egypt. Because I'm teaching him graphics programs right now, I could have him practice his skills on drawing a mummy, one of the many gods ancient Egyptians worshipped, the sphinx, or any number of Egyptian icons. Of course, in order to do that, we have to research them and this is where more learning comes in.

I'm only mentioning these ideas to give you examples of the possibilities. If you were to choose guided reading as a way to teach history or other subjects that are troubling your child, you should know that there are many possibilities to the project part to make the lessons fun and, therefore, more memorable (and less troubling).

Visit my other blog for in-depth details and information on creating outstanding guided reading lesson plans.

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The book I use for my son's history lessons is The Complete Book of World History. I love this series of workbooks because it makes teaching a lot of subjects fun for the kids. The World History book has each lesson on a two-page spread so the lessons are like bite-sized little chunks. The U.S. History book from the same series wasn't quite so bite-sized but did have the projects already planned out for you in the "Show What You Know" sections. For the most part, planning a lesson and the project is easier on us teachers.

New blog on guided reading lessons

I wanted to share a new blog I created on creating guided reading lesson plans. While this blog focuses on life in general with a dyslexic and homeschooling a dyslexic child, my Guided Reading Lesson Plans blog focuses on actual reading activities to help struggling readers.

On the blog I give the basic guidelines to developing guided reading lessons, how to test your child's reading level, and how guided reading will help (and of course what it is). It is still new, but I also plan on sharing specific lesson plans and hands-on activities to do with certain books and book genres.

The site is geared toward teachers, tutors and homeschoolers (or just parents who want to do more for their children). So please go and visit Guided Reading Lesson Plans. I hope it is very useful in helping parents and teachers help their struggling readers.