Wednesday, August 8, 2012

A Guest Post!

A homeschooling friend of mine and I thought it might be fun to guest post on each other's blog this week. :)

Here is her post about her back to school plans...

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 Back To School Plans

I want to thank Katie for allowing me to guest post on her wonderful blog. I appreciate getting away from my own blogs every now and then.

I realize it's a bit cliché to write about my back to school plans, I usually never do that, but I really wanted to explore a few of the supplemental plans I have for my daughter.

Technically my daughter is a sophomore this year, but I held her back a level when she was in second grade because I thought since she has ADHD, CAPD and dyslexia, an extra year might benefit her…NOT! We don't really believe in grade levels anyway, it's more about where you are at the moment and moving forward.

We use Time4Learning eighth grade level, Vocabulary Spelling City, Drive Thru History, and Vocabulary Can Be Fun as our base. We supplement with various areas of interest. I will lay out some of our supplemental plans below.

Last year my daughter used a cool Forensic Investigations book as a supplement to science. We basically completed that series, so I ordered a huge book for this year. It's a fun way to work in science without her getting frustrated and bored. I enjoy it too. 

I will continue with her Steck-Vaughn Core Skills Writing book since we didn't finish it. She will also continue to write her online blog. She writes fan fiction and we edit together. The blog is a super way to get her to improve her writing skills because she cares about what her readers think. If you haven't tried this idea, I would encourage you to do so. Your child can begin by taking a free Pre-blogging course to get started.

I bought a book called Use It! Don't Lose It! at Barnes and Noble for quick daily language practice. I have the 9th grade level spiraling sequence book. The idea is to have the student complete really quick five question lessons each day for 36 weeks. Like T4L, the questions are correlated to state and national standards.

I have some mental fitness cards I want to try this year. I will use one card a day. A few examples of the cards are: "Sugar is to Sweet as Lemon is to---", "How is a Store like a House? How are they different?", and "Name all the things you can think of that are found in a library." If you have more than one child, these would be fun to do in the car on trips.

I am going to include a quick map exercise daily. I will call out a location and my daughter has to find it on the globe. My hope is this quick hunt will lead to further exploration in geography as she gets in to it. I am also betting she makes this a competition between us. I might be purchasing another globe this year.   :)

For a little fun in math, I found a neat book called Origami Math. It is for a much lower level, but as a supplement, it will work great. You use vocabulary in geometry, fractions, symmetry, sequence, measurement, spatial reasoning...as you challenge yourself to follow the directions and fold the paper correctly to create something such as a pinwheel, hat, page-hugger bookmark, jumping frog, and more. There are only 14 lessons, but I think combining art with math will be fun while it lasts.
Finally, we will supplement with a Pre-GED book as a guide to knowing what she does and doesn't know at this point. She asked for this book during the summer and I certainly wasn't going to say no. I am proud that she is interested in knowing where she is and what she needs to focus on in order to get her GED.

The beauty of homeschooling is that if none of this works, I can simply change directions and try something new. Don't you just love it!

Jackie, a former public and private school teacher, enjoys the challenge of customizing a curriculum for her right-brained visual learner. Her daughter has been using the Time4Learning curriculum for three years because she enjoys learning on the computer. You can read more about homeschooing topics at both of Jackie’s blogs: Quaint Scribbles and 3D Learners

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Thanks so much, Jackie! While we use a lot of similar programs and supplements, I definitely saw some that I would like to check out with my boys! Drive Thru History and Origami Math sound cool, and I would love more info on that Forensic Investigations book you mentioned...they both watch way too many crime shows with me on TV, lol, so I think they would enjoy something like that.

Be sure to look for my guest post on Jackie's 3D Learners blog later this week! :)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks again, Katie! This was such fun.

Joyfully,
Jackie

Unknown said...

Always welcome, Jackie! Hope we can do this again soon. :)