Friday, September 2, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Improving Your Child’s Learning and Grades
Most parents want their children to learn and get good grades. What can you do when your child’s grades are low and your child is not working up to his or her potential? There are no simple formulas that would apply to all students. To help your child best, you will need to understand the different elements that can affect learning and grades. Once you discover the elements that are negatively affecting your child’s grades you can provide some practical help in those areas. This booklet was designed for that purpose.
ELEMENTS THAT CAN AFFECT LEARNING AND GRADES
“I need my child tested. His grades are low. I worry that something is wrong with his learning.”
Reports like this are often heard in schools and clinics. While problems with learning can show up as low grades, there are also other elements that can affect grades (see figure). These include the home and school environment, as well as aspects within the child. In order to help your child, you will need to consider each of these so that you can develop the best plan.
The students’ home and school environments provide the foundation for learning. As parents, you have the responsibility of getting your children to school in a condition where they are most ready to learn. This includes both physical and mental readiness. Physically, you need to send your child to school on time, well-rested and well-fed. Mentally, you need to send your child to school happy and calm, motivated to learn, and well-behaved. In addition, you need to send your children to school prepared to learn. This includes helping them to discipline themselves to work hard and use good work habits. The Center for Effective Parenting has two booklets that have ideas for creating a home environment for learning and school success (Creating a Home Environment for Learning and Parents Make a Difference! Helping Your Child Do Well in School).
Teachers typically arrange the content and pace of their classroom program around the “average” student. You can expect a student with average learning and attention abilities who is motivated and uses good work habits and skills to be successful with learning and grades. Problems in one of more of these areas can show up as low grades. As indicated by the arrows in the figure, each element affects and relates to the others. In order to get good grades, each element needs to be working well enough.
Mental ability or intelligence is the ability to gain and apply knowledge. Tests that measure intelligence are generally good predictors of success in school. Through teaching, students learn specific knowledge and skills. Achievement is the term that is used to describe this type of learning. Schools and clinics can measure a student’s mental ability and specific learning skills with special tests. Intelligence or IQ tests measure mental ability. Group achievement tests given at school or individual achievement tests given at school or clinics can measure a student’s learning in areas such as reading, math, and writing. In general, you can expect a student to learn or achieve specific skills, such as math and reading, at a rate similar to his or her mental ability. For example, you can expect a student with “average” mental ability to learn an “average” amount of math skills. If your child is doing poorly in school, you should talk with the school principal or your primary care physician about whether additional testing would be helpful.
Two groups of students may need additional help in school. The first group is those students that have below average mental skills. Since the regular class program is set up to teach the average student, these students may fall behind. They may need additional help, such as tutoring or additional instruction at school and home in order to keep up with the class. The second group of students is those that are learning at a rate that is well below what you would expect from their mental ability. An example would be a student with average mental ability whose reading skills are well below average. This student may have a learning disability. Many times, students with learning disabilities will need special help at school such as special education.
In school, students have to sit still and pay attention for long periods of time. Some students have problems with keeping their attention focused over time. Some students have trouble sitting still and being quiet. Students with these problems can have difficulty getting their class work and homework completed. If you think your child has problems with attention and hyperactivity you can ask for an evaluation from your school principal or primary care physician.
A student’s motivation to learn can also affect school performance and grades. Motivation is what drives students to stay engaged in learning. It involves student beliefs about their skills and about what the results will be if they try. Students that do not think they can do a task may not start the task. Also, students that believe that things will turn out bad even if they try may not start a task. Motivation also involves the value of learning to the student. Some students know they can do it and that the result will be good if they try, but they do not want to do it. These students will choose to do something they value more. What parents and teachers expect, communicate, and do with students has a powerful effect on motivation to learn. Additional information on student motivation and ideas to increase it are available in the booklet entitled Increasing Your Child’s Motivation to Learn (see the Center for Effective Parenting’s web site – www.parenting-ed.org).
This element involves the behaviors that the student must do to learn and get good grades. What it takes to learn is not a mystery. Learning requires repetition across time. The key words in this statement are repetition and time. For example, we learn phone numbers by repeating the numbers to ourselves many times and across many occasions. Students have chances to repeat information they are trying to learn in three key activities: classroom participation, homework, and studying for tests. Problems in one or more of these areas can lessen the amount of repetition and decrease learning.
Students will need to discipline themselves to participate in class and spend regular time in doing homework and studying for tests. In doing this, they will need to use specific organizational, work and study methods.
IMPROVING WORK HABITS AND SKILLS
Homework
Homework provides an important chance for students to repeat skills taught in school. Research shows that students who do homework learn more than those that do not. In addition, the more time a student spends doing homework, the more learning takes place. As a parent, you play an important role in helping your child do their homework on their own and on time. If your child needs help in this area, the Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Homework: How to Motivate Your Child that provides practical ideas for monitoring and structuring your child’s homework times.
Studying Skills
Studying for tests at home provides another important chance for students to repeat material taught in school. Since studying for tests at home is not always required by the school, you need to help your child develop this habit. Since learning requires repetition across time, it is best for your child to begin studying several nights before each test rather than “cramming” the night before. It is also important for your child to use good study methods during his or her study time. Effective studying requires many different skills. Parents can teach these skills to their children in early elementary school. As a parent, you play an important role in teaching your child to spend the time to study and to use good study skills. The Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Strengthening Your Child’s Home Study Skills (www.parenting-ed.org) that has things parents can do to help their children learn specific home study methods.
Organization
In order to regularly do homework and study at home, students will need to plan ahead and get their books and papers to and from school. Disorganization can be a part of the cause of poor grades. Organization and planning ahead are learned skills. Children often have a hard time organizing themselves and staying motivated to practice good organization skills. You play an important role in teaching your child how to stay organized and in keeping them motivated to practice the skills. The Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Improving Your Child’s School Organizational Skills (www.parenting-ed.org) that has things parents can do to help their children write down assignments, bring home books and materials, keep track of papers, and plan ahead.
Class Participation
Participating in classroom activities provides a critical opportunity for learning new skills. Participation helps students make deep, meaningful connections in the mind that are important in learning. Participating in class involves several types of behaviors as listed in the table at the right. Signs of problems with classroom participation can include low grades, incomplete work coming home as homework, and low grades on classroom papers. If your child often does not know how to do homework, this could be a sign that he or she is not participating well in class. Teachers typically assign homework as a drill or repetition of skills already taught in school. Teachers are the best judge of your child’s level of class participation.
Although you are not present in class to monitor or encourage your child to participate, there are some things you can do to improve your child’s classroom participation. The Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Improving Your Child’s Classroom Participation (www.parenting-ed.org) that provides some specific ideas you can use to improve your child’s classroom participation.
TEACHING WORK AND STUDY HABITS
Parents play a very important and specific role in helping their children get good grades. You need to teach your children to use good work habits and skills. Since habits and skills take time to develop, you should expect to spend most of the school year working with your child. Students form their work habits at the early grade levels. A good time to work with your child is when the school load increases(for example, about 4th grade). You can successfully teach a child as young at 9 years of age to
use many of the same study techniques as high school and college students. At first, you will need to put in extra time teaching your child the skills and monitoring your child’s use of the skills. You will probably always need to stay involved with your child’s education; however, you can expect to spend less time as your child becomes more independent and skilled.
You can use this four step process to teach your child good work and study habits.
Develop and communicate high expectations about your child’s work and study habits
Teach your child how to use the specific work and study skills
Monitor your child’s use of the skills
Reward your child for using the skills
ASSESSING THE PROBLEM
In many ways, getting good grades is like a game. Successful students know how to play the game. You will better know how to help your child if you know why the grades are low. A good place to start is for you and your child to talk with the teacher about what goes into the final grade. The following questions can be helpful when talking with the teachers.
What elements go into the final grade?
A grade in a course is usually made up of several elements such as those listed in the table below. Every class may be different. Find out what specific elements are included in the subjects with low grades. Find out how many of each element there are for a reporting period.
How many points is each element worth?
Find out how many points each element is worth in the overall grade. In early elementary grades, sometimes every element is worth the same amount. For example, a homework paper is worth 10 points and a test is worth 10 points. In later grades, it is common for the value of each element to differ. For example, a homework paper can be worth 10 points, while a test can be worth 100 points.
How did my child do on each of the elements?
If you know how your child did on each of the elements, you will have a better idea on where to focus your attention in helping your child. For example, you may find that your child had several zeros on homework papers as a result of not turning them in. This may suggest a need to work on organization. Other children may have low test grades, which might suggest a need to work on improving study skills.
What kinds of suggestions can you give me to help my child bring the grade up?
You and your child can use the answers to the above questions to keep up with the current grade in the class and to make any adjustments to work habits. The teacher may also have some good ideas your child can use to pull up the grades.
Center for Effective Parenting
Little Rock Center: (501) 364-7580
NW Arkansas Center: (479) 751-6166
For additional resources, visit our website:
www.parenting-ed.org
The Center for Effective Parenting is a collaborative project of the Jones Center for Families, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences/Department of Pediatrics, and Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The Center for Effective Parenting serves as the Arkansas State Parental Information & Resource Center (PIRC), which is supported by the U.S. Department of Education (Grant #84.310A)
This publication was produced and/or distributed in whole or in part with funds from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Parental Information and Resource Center program, under Grant # 84.310A. The content herein does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, any other agency of the U.S. government, or any other source.
ELEMENTS THAT CAN AFFECT LEARNING AND GRADES
“I need my child tested. His grades are low. I worry that something is wrong with his learning.”
Reports like this are often heard in schools and clinics. While problems with learning can show up as low grades, there are also other elements that can affect grades (see figure). These include the home and school environment, as well as aspects within the child. In order to help your child, you will need to consider each of these so that you can develop the best plan.
The students’ home and school environments provide the foundation for learning. As parents, you have the responsibility of getting your children to school in a condition where they are most ready to learn. This includes both physical and mental readiness. Physically, you need to send your child to school on time, well-rested and well-fed. Mentally, you need to send your child to school happy and calm, motivated to learn, and well-behaved. In addition, you need to send your children to school prepared to learn. This includes helping them to discipline themselves to work hard and use good work habits. The Center for Effective Parenting has two booklets that have ideas for creating a home environment for learning and school success (Creating a Home Environment for Learning and Parents Make a Difference! Helping Your Child Do Well in School).
Teachers typically arrange the content and pace of their classroom program around the “average” student. You can expect a student with average learning and attention abilities who is motivated and uses good work habits and skills to be successful with learning and grades. Problems in one of more of these areas can show up as low grades. As indicated by the arrows in the figure, each element affects and relates to the others. In order to get good grades, each element needs to be working well enough.
Mental ability or intelligence is the ability to gain and apply knowledge. Tests that measure intelligence are generally good predictors of success in school. Through teaching, students learn specific knowledge and skills. Achievement is the term that is used to describe this type of learning. Schools and clinics can measure a student’s mental ability and specific learning skills with special tests. Intelligence or IQ tests measure mental ability. Group achievement tests given at school or individual achievement tests given at school or clinics can measure a student’s learning in areas such as reading, math, and writing. In general, you can expect a student to learn or achieve specific skills, such as math and reading, at a rate similar to his or her mental ability. For example, you can expect a student with “average” mental ability to learn an “average” amount of math skills. If your child is doing poorly in school, you should talk with the school principal or your primary care physician about whether additional testing would be helpful.
Two groups of students may need additional help in school. The first group is those students that have below average mental skills. Since the regular class program is set up to teach the average student, these students may fall behind. They may need additional help, such as tutoring or additional instruction at school and home in order to keep up with the class. The second group of students is those that are learning at a rate that is well below what you would expect from their mental ability. An example would be a student with average mental ability whose reading skills are well below average. This student may have a learning disability. Many times, students with learning disabilities will need special help at school such as special education.
In school, students have to sit still and pay attention for long periods of time. Some students have problems with keeping their attention focused over time. Some students have trouble sitting still and being quiet. Students with these problems can have difficulty getting their class work and homework completed. If you think your child has problems with attention and hyperactivity you can ask for an evaluation from your school principal or primary care physician.
A student’s motivation to learn can also affect school performance and grades. Motivation is what drives students to stay engaged in learning. It involves student beliefs about their skills and about what the results will be if they try. Students that do not think they can do a task may not start the task. Also, students that believe that things will turn out bad even if they try may not start a task. Motivation also involves the value of learning to the student. Some students know they can do it and that the result will be good if they try, but they do not want to do it. These students will choose to do something they value more. What parents and teachers expect, communicate, and do with students has a powerful effect on motivation to learn. Additional information on student motivation and ideas to increase it are available in the booklet entitled Increasing Your Child’s Motivation to Learn (see the Center for Effective Parenting’s web site – www.parenting-ed.org).
This element involves the behaviors that the student must do to learn and get good grades. What it takes to learn is not a mystery. Learning requires repetition across time. The key words in this statement are repetition and time. For example, we learn phone numbers by repeating the numbers to ourselves many times and across many occasions. Students have chances to repeat information they are trying to learn in three key activities: classroom participation, homework, and studying for tests. Problems in one or more of these areas can lessen the amount of repetition and decrease learning.
Students will need to discipline themselves to participate in class and spend regular time in doing homework and studying for tests. In doing this, they will need to use specific organizational, work and study methods.
IMPROVING WORK HABITS AND SKILLS
Homework
Homework provides an important chance for students to repeat skills taught in school. Research shows that students who do homework learn more than those that do not. In addition, the more time a student spends doing homework, the more learning takes place. As a parent, you play an important role in helping your child do their homework on their own and on time. If your child needs help in this area, the Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Homework: How to Motivate Your Child that provides practical ideas for monitoring and structuring your child’s homework times.
Studying Skills
Studying for tests at home provides another important chance for students to repeat material taught in school. Since studying for tests at home is not always required by the school, you need to help your child develop this habit. Since learning requires repetition across time, it is best for your child to begin studying several nights before each test rather than “cramming” the night before. It is also important for your child to use good study methods during his or her study time. Effective studying requires many different skills. Parents can teach these skills to their children in early elementary school. As a parent, you play an important role in teaching your child to spend the time to study and to use good study skills. The Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Strengthening Your Child’s Home Study Skills (www.parenting-ed.org) that has things parents can do to help their children learn specific home study methods.
Organization
In order to regularly do homework and study at home, students will need to plan ahead and get their books and papers to and from school. Disorganization can be a part of the cause of poor grades. Organization and planning ahead are learned skills. Children often have a hard time organizing themselves and staying motivated to practice good organization skills. You play an important role in teaching your child how to stay organized and in keeping them motivated to practice the skills. The Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Improving Your Child’s School Organizational Skills (www.parenting-ed.org) that has things parents can do to help their children write down assignments, bring home books and materials, keep track of papers, and plan ahead.
Class Participation
Participating in classroom activities provides a critical opportunity for learning new skills. Participation helps students make deep, meaningful connections in the mind that are important in learning. Participating in class involves several types of behaviors as listed in the table at the right. Signs of problems with classroom participation can include low grades, incomplete work coming home as homework, and low grades on classroom papers. If your child often does not know how to do homework, this could be a sign that he or she is not participating well in class. Teachers typically assign homework as a drill or repetition of skills already taught in school. Teachers are the best judge of your child’s level of class participation.
Although you are not present in class to monitor or encourage your child to participate, there are some things you can do to improve your child’s classroom participation. The Center for Effective Parenting has a booklet entitled Improving Your Child’s Classroom Participation (www.parenting-ed.org) that provides some specific ideas you can use to improve your child’s classroom participation.
TEACHING WORK AND STUDY HABITS
Parents play a very important and specific role in helping their children get good grades. You need to teach your children to use good work habits and skills. Since habits and skills take time to develop, you should expect to spend most of the school year working with your child. Students form their work habits at the early grade levels. A good time to work with your child is when the school load increases(for example, about 4th grade). You can successfully teach a child as young at 9 years of age to
use many of the same study techniques as high school and college students. At first, you will need to put in extra time teaching your child the skills and monitoring your child’s use of the skills. You will probably always need to stay involved with your child’s education; however, you can expect to spend less time as your child becomes more independent and skilled.
You can use this four step process to teach your child good work and study habits.
Develop and communicate high expectations about your child’s work and study habits
Teach your child how to use the specific work and study skills
Monitor your child’s use of the skills
Reward your child for using the skills
ASSESSING THE PROBLEM
In many ways, getting good grades is like a game. Successful students know how to play the game. You will better know how to help your child if you know why the grades are low. A good place to start is for you and your child to talk with the teacher about what goes into the final grade. The following questions can be helpful when talking with the teachers.
What elements go into the final grade?
A grade in a course is usually made up of several elements such as those listed in the table below. Every class may be different. Find out what specific elements are included in the subjects with low grades. Find out how many of each element there are for a reporting period.
How many points is each element worth?
Find out how many points each element is worth in the overall grade. In early elementary grades, sometimes every element is worth the same amount. For example, a homework paper is worth 10 points and a test is worth 10 points. In later grades, it is common for the value of each element to differ. For example, a homework paper can be worth 10 points, while a test can be worth 100 points.
How did my child do on each of the elements?
If you know how your child did on each of the elements, you will have a better idea on where to focus your attention in helping your child. For example, you may find that your child had several zeros on homework papers as a result of not turning them in. This may suggest a need to work on organization. Other children may have low test grades, which might suggest a need to work on improving study skills.
What kinds of suggestions can you give me to help my child bring the grade up?
You and your child can use the answers to the above questions to keep up with the current grade in the class and to make any adjustments to work habits. The teacher may also have some good ideas your child can use to pull up the grades.
Center for Effective Parenting
Little Rock Center: (501) 364-7580
NW Arkansas Center: (479) 751-6166
For additional resources, visit our website:
www.parenting-ed.org
The Center for Effective Parenting is a collaborative project of the Jones Center for Families, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences/Department of Pediatrics, and Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The Center for Effective Parenting serves as the Arkansas State Parental Information & Resource Center (PIRC), which is supported by the U.S. Department of Education (Grant #84.310A)
This publication was produced and/or distributed in whole or in part with funds from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Parental Information and Resource Center program, under Grant # 84.310A. The content herein does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, any other agency of the U.S. government, or any other source.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
How To Create a Dynamic Learning Environment in Your Home
by Susan Franklin
After nearly two years of reading, browsing through catalogs, cruising the web, and talking to many homeschoolers in search of the "right" curriculum, I have come to the conclusion that educating myself about teaching, the learning process, etc. is a higher priority than purchasing a curriculum package.
Why? Because only when you know how and what to teach and get a wide variety of input about what has worked best for others can you know which curriculum package, if any, you should decide upon. My degree in education has only given me a good foundation in this process. It has not eliminated the need for the process.
Learning at home is much different, but in my opinion, more effective, than learning in a traditional school setting. And so it takes time learning from others how to do it well, just as any other job requires training and continuously learning how to improve.
And in working at educating myself first, and my children next, I have discovered my second priority: transforming our home into a relaxed learning environment. Keeping the television off is the first step. You can read about how we rid our home of television in my article "Television: Do You Really Need It?"
Choosing to spend time and money to create a learning environment in the home should be a priority for homeschoolers as well as those who choose to educate their children in a traditional school. Most American children spend more time watching television than in school. If their home was a place where independent learning and curiosity was encouraged and television was not an option, we would all benefit as a society. I know what you’re thinking and all I can say is “I have a dream.”
All it takes is thinking hard about the choices we make.
For example, instead of spending $25 on the latest video, why not buy art supplies or an age-appropriate board game? Or, instead of spending $30 a month for cable or an expanded cable or satellite option, use that money to buy reference books, maps, legos, or biographies of people worth reading about. Christmas and birthday gifts can be deliberately chosen to fit into your learning environment.
The primary objective in creating this dynamic home learning environment is to make learning fun, natural, and to foster a healthy curiosity that should result in an independent learner.
The following is a collection of ideas I have gathered.
TOYS
The latest research about how the best learning occurs reveals that active and repetitive involvement, as opposed to passive watching or even reading, is when the most powerful learning takes place.
Purchase a few toys wisely. I avoid anything that merely entertains my children. Legos, building blocks of any kind, dress-up clothes and props acquired from yard sales or after-halloween sales, board games, large and small fabric remnants, a sand box, even a miniature indoor sand box made with cornmeal in a large plastic container are toys that encourage imaginative play.
BOXES
Give them a cardboard box and let them find ways to play with it. Save shoeboxes and bring the collection out occasionally to make a train for toys. Teach classifying and sorting by using boxes and other containers to organize toys when picking up for the day.
Box up toys that are not picked up at night and rotate toys every week or so. They will seem like new ones to your child.
Give children small boxes, paper, glue, scissors, stickers, markers or crayons and let them cover boxes and decorate them.
PUZZLES
Puzzles can be expensive. But they can also be purchased for pennies at yard sales and made from recyclable household items. Glue magazine pictures to posterboard or recycled cereal boxes.
For toddler puzzles, use the pictures in coloring books or picture books as examples to draw simple pictures to make your own puzzles. Use the puzzles to practice counting, understand spatial relationships, observation and problem solving skills.
GAMES
Introduce card games like "Go Fish" to teach colors, numbers, letters, and counting. Try Chess and Checkers to teach strategy and logic. Monopoly Jr. introduces a child to the world of investments and real estate.
Encourage children to make their own games with items on hand. Make your own flash cards using magazine pictures and play “Find It.” Hide several letter cards in a room and ask your child to find one letter.
ART JOURNAL
Buy a sketch book and write the day and date at the top of a page. Let your child create a picture of anything he chooses. Use questions occasionally to help him think of a project. This helps preschoolers understand the concept of time and the calendar and also teaches how to complete one picture on a page, instead of scrawling a line on each page.
COMPUTER/TV/VIDEOS
Limited video time can be used to teach character by choosing programs where the characters exemplify good behavior and the story line shows good winning over evil in the end(as it ultimately will in the real world). Look for educational videos to enhance unit studies or current fascinations. Educational computer games can provide motivation to learn phonics, math languages, and more while teaching basic computer skills at the same time.
ARTS AND CRAFTS
Teach your child to create something with his hands every day. I try to write every day and encourage my children to create a drawing or other project. In a few years, we will work on journals, correspendence and nature journals.
BOOKS
It goes without saying that reading aloud during the early years especially is critical and, for us, has been part of our daily routine. Children’s books can be purchased for ten cents each at yard sales. Stock up when you can. Also check out library sales and homeschool book fairs.
YOUR BACKYARD
Get out into the yard and take time to look at things and explore. Get binoculars, a magnifying glass. Make insect collection jars. Use leaves, dried weeds, etc. to create art projects.
WALLS
Yes, walls. Why not put up a beautiful map of the world in a family gathering place such as the family room or dining room? National Geographic has a beautiful one for $89.99. We are considering this for a family Christmas gift. Mount tables and charts appropriate for your child’s age but also introduce him the periodic table of elements and a chart of the planets or stars.
Paint a wall with chalkboard paint. Set up a dry-erase board on an easel. Make a felt board. See Lights, Camera Action! Felt Productions Dazzle Preschoolers for more ideas about using felt boards.
Assign a wall space in the house to display your children’s art projects.
LEARNING CENTERS
In my grand master plan for our homeschool environment I envision small reading areas assigned to related subjects. One could be for science, one for math, one for foreign languages, etc.
A small bookcase, reading chair, and cassette player with headphones could be a language arts listening and reading center.
Consider setting up a workshop if you don’t have one. Pick up tools and small appliances, as well as obsolete computers at yard sales. Let your children take them apart and learn how to put them back together.
CASSETTE TAPES
Listening to quality music tapes or language tapes during play time can be a non-threatening way to introduce classical and other quality music, as well as foreign languages.
Make original tapes with your own voice to teach Bible memory, poems, songs (if you dare), stories, child’s address and phone number, the multiplication table, etc. Especially at bedtime, a tape with mom’s voice reading a story can be a relaxing way for younger children to fall asleep happily in their own rooms.
CHORES
Sorting laundry, setting the table, working in the kitchen and other household tasks can be opportunities to learn about colors, shapes, counting, measuring, sorting. Just being open to using these times will unleash a new attitude toward those tasks for everyone involved.
Over time you can have puppets and a puppet theatre, a mounted dry-erase board, and easel, felt boards, maps, charts and reference books throughout the home.
Make books together related to what you are studying or your child's current interests. A simple alphabet book is a good start. Cut out pictures and letters together and glue them into a spiral notebook, using a page or two-page spread for each letter of the alphabet.
If your children still get bored, go to Family.com’s ActivitySearch . They have recently incorporated the entire book, 365 TV-Free Activities by Steve and Ruth Bennett into their database.
I have a long-term vision for my home. I want it to be a place where my children have fun, where they are busy learning and doing, and one that provides an inviting atmosphere for their friends.
Beyond the home your family can learn on the go. Talk about everything. Encourage questions and intellectual curiosity about the world. You can count to 100 or practice singing the vowel sounds while driving in the car, play “I Spy” while waiting in line.
Now, I will admit that this can get out control. My son gets upset when I try to teach sign language while driving the car. We now have rule prohibiting the teaching of sign language by any person operating a motor vehicle. ;-)
After nearly two years of reading, browsing through catalogs, cruising the web, and talking to many homeschoolers in search of the "right" curriculum, I have come to the conclusion that educating myself about teaching, the learning process, etc. is a higher priority than purchasing a curriculum package.
Why? Because only when you know how and what to teach and get a wide variety of input about what has worked best for others can you know which curriculum package, if any, you should decide upon. My degree in education has only given me a good foundation in this process. It has not eliminated the need for the process.
Learning at home is much different, but in my opinion, more effective, than learning in a traditional school setting. And so it takes time learning from others how to do it well, just as any other job requires training and continuously learning how to improve.
And in working at educating myself first, and my children next, I have discovered my second priority: transforming our home into a relaxed learning environment. Keeping the television off is the first step. You can read about how we rid our home of television in my article "Television: Do You Really Need It?"
Choosing to spend time and money to create a learning environment in the home should be a priority for homeschoolers as well as those who choose to educate their children in a traditional school. Most American children spend more time watching television than in school. If their home was a place where independent learning and curiosity was encouraged and television was not an option, we would all benefit as a society. I know what you’re thinking and all I can say is “I have a dream.”
All it takes is thinking hard about the choices we make.
For example, instead of spending $25 on the latest video, why not buy art supplies or an age-appropriate board game? Or, instead of spending $30 a month for cable or an expanded cable or satellite option, use that money to buy reference books, maps, legos, or biographies of people worth reading about. Christmas and birthday gifts can be deliberately chosen to fit into your learning environment.
The primary objective in creating this dynamic home learning environment is to make learning fun, natural, and to foster a healthy curiosity that should result in an independent learner.
The following is a collection of ideas I have gathered.
TOYS
The latest research about how the best learning occurs reveals that active and repetitive involvement, as opposed to passive watching or even reading, is when the most powerful learning takes place.
Purchase a few toys wisely. I avoid anything that merely entertains my children. Legos, building blocks of any kind, dress-up clothes and props acquired from yard sales or after-halloween sales, board games, large and small fabric remnants, a sand box, even a miniature indoor sand box made with cornmeal in a large plastic container are toys that encourage imaginative play.
BOXES
Give them a cardboard box and let them find ways to play with it. Save shoeboxes and bring the collection out occasionally to make a train for toys. Teach classifying and sorting by using boxes and other containers to organize toys when picking up for the day.
Box up toys that are not picked up at night and rotate toys every week or so. They will seem like new ones to your child.
Give children small boxes, paper, glue, scissors, stickers, markers or crayons and let them cover boxes and decorate them.
PUZZLES
Puzzles can be expensive. But they can also be purchased for pennies at yard sales and made from recyclable household items. Glue magazine pictures to posterboard or recycled cereal boxes.
For toddler puzzles, use the pictures in coloring books or picture books as examples to draw simple pictures to make your own puzzles. Use the puzzles to practice counting, understand spatial relationships, observation and problem solving skills.
GAMES
Introduce card games like "Go Fish" to teach colors, numbers, letters, and counting. Try Chess and Checkers to teach strategy and logic. Monopoly Jr. introduces a child to the world of investments and real estate.
Encourage children to make their own games with items on hand. Make your own flash cards using magazine pictures and play “Find It.” Hide several letter cards in a room and ask your child to find one letter.
ART JOURNAL
Buy a sketch book and write the day and date at the top of a page. Let your child create a picture of anything he chooses. Use questions occasionally to help him think of a project. This helps preschoolers understand the concept of time and the calendar and also teaches how to complete one picture on a page, instead of scrawling a line on each page.
COMPUTER/TV/VIDEOS
Limited video time can be used to teach character by choosing programs where the characters exemplify good behavior and the story line shows good winning over evil in the end(as it ultimately will in the real world). Look for educational videos to enhance unit studies or current fascinations. Educational computer games can provide motivation to learn phonics, math languages, and more while teaching basic computer skills at the same time.
ARTS AND CRAFTS
Teach your child to create something with his hands every day. I try to write every day and encourage my children to create a drawing or other project. In a few years, we will work on journals, correspendence and nature journals.
BOOKS
It goes without saying that reading aloud during the early years especially is critical and, for us, has been part of our daily routine. Children’s books can be purchased for ten cents each at yard sales. Stock up when you can. Also check out library sales and homeschool book fairs.
YOUR BACKYARD
Get out into the yard and take time to look at things and explore. Get binoculars, a magnifying glass. Make insect collection jars. Use leaves, dried weeds, etc. to create art projects.
WALLS
Yes, walls. Why not put up a beautiful map of the world in a family gathering place such as the family room or dining room? National Geographic has a beautiful one for $89.99. We are considering this for a family Christmas gift. Mount tables and charts appropriate for your child’s age but also introduce him the periodic table of elements and a chart of the planets or stars.
Paint a wall with chalkboard paint. Set up a dry-erase board on an easel. Make a felt board. See Lights, Camera Action! Felt Productions Dazzle Preschoolers for more ideas about using felt boards.
Assign a wall space in the house to display your children’s art projects.
LEARNING CENTERS
In my grand master plan for our homeschool environment I envision small reading areas assigned to related subjects. One could be for science, one for math, one for foreign languages, etc.
A small bookcase, reading chair, and cassette player with headphones could be a language arts listening and reading center.
Consider setting up a workshop if you don’t have one. Pick up tools and small appliances, as well as obsolete computers at yard sales. Let your children take them apart and learn how to put them back together.
CASSETTE TAPES
Listening to quality music tapes or language tapes during play time can be a non-threatening way to introduce classical and other quality music, as well as foreign languages.
Make original tapes with your own voice to teach Bible memory, poems, songs (if you dare), stories, child’s address and phone number, the multiplication table, etc. Especially at bedtime, a tape with mom’s voice reading a story can be a relaxing way for younger children to fall asleep happily in their own rooms.
CHORES
Sorting laundry, setting the table, working in the kitchen and other household tasks can be opportunities to learn about colors, shapes, counting, measuring, sorting. Just being open to using these times will unleash a new attitude toward those tasks for everyone involved.
Over time you can have puppets and a puppet theatre, a mounted dry-erase board, and easel, felt boards, maps, charts and reference books throughout the home.
Make books together related to what you are studying or your child's current interests. A simple alphabet book is a good start. Cut out pictures and letters together and glue them into a spiral notebook, using a page or two-page spread for each letter of the alphabet.
If your children still get bored, go to Family.com’s ActivitySearch . They have recently incorporated the entire book, 365 TV-Free Activities by Steve and Ruth Bennett into their database.
I have a long-term vision for my home. I want it to be a place where my children have fun, where they are busy learning and doing, and one that provides an inviting atmosphere for their friends.
Beyond the home your family can learn on the go. Talk about everything. Encourage questions and intellectual curiosity about the world. You can count to 100 or practice singing the vowel sounds while driving in the car, play “I Spy” while waiting in line.
Now, I will admit that this can get out control. My son gets upset when I try to teach sign language while driving the car. We now have rule prohibiting the teaching of sign language by any person operating a motor vehicle. ;-)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
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