Waxing Eloquent

Alright, more reasons to homeschool…Remember 8th. grade grammar? Parts of Speech, BAD sentences you had to label and correct. Then you did the same thing in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th ? Frustrating, isn’t it?

Sooo, Ryan is in his college level business class and guess what’s in his textbook? Yep, those same old BAD sentences..he has to identify the problem, label the problem, and fix the problem…this, is just repeating 8th. grade (again) and has no benefit. It’s the premise..if you start with the BAD sentence…
Okay, so here’s my (slightly sarcastic) response.

Federal marshals have unique training. They do not look at counterfeit bills. They study the real thing. How do aspiring writers become great authors? How do artists improve their work? By studying the masters. Students even pick their favorites.

Why hasn’t this concept made it to the teaching of writing? Especially college writing. It seems we are all destined to repeat 8th grade. We look at really bad examples. These sentences appear randomly and are rarely, if ever, in context of any REAL piece of writing. (Yes, I am referring to numbered exercises). The student is asked to identify the bad part (modifier, clause, adverbial, etc.). Then the bad part must be labeled. Then it must be fixed to create a better sentence.

Apparently the purpose of this exercise is to identify and correct mistakes. However, this does not cross over into the students own work. At best, it’s busy work. At worst, it’s playing with garbage.

Why not find great business writing and emulate it? Even sentence combining exercises have more merit than identifying and fixing dangling participles.

As a teacher, I want my students to aspire to be their best. I am not going to feed them junk food. I want them to have the real thing.

There is great curriculum out there for home educators who follow my train of thought. LLATL comes to mind. Still, I was surprised by Ryan’s COLLEGE textbook. Perhaps a well-worded email to his instructor can help push things in the right direction. In the meantime, my poor husband is trapped changing around sentences for no apparent gain.

Paper Plate Art

Sarah now knows where the Drawing/Art books are at the library. Inevitably, we end up bringing at least one home every trip. This week’s choice was “Paper Plate Crafts”. So we bought an extra package of paper plates and began our little project. However, I realized we didn’t really need the book at all. We made paper plate kites, and swords, helmets, and shields, all on our own. We made birthday hats, masks, and flower petals with Sarah’s face in the middle. They came up with idea after idea. Sarah made a shark’s mask, and a queen’s crown with room for her pigtails. We ran out of time and paper plates before we ran out of ideas. So, next time you use a paper plate, just think what you could make with it first.

Homeschool Hints

Wipe Away Boards

These things are great. We’ve used them for numbers and letters and pictures. You can even laminate what you want and use a wipe away marker for those. Sarah and Tim are currently working on their cursive letters. It also really cuts down on the paper waste. It reminds me of the “slate work” in the one room schoolhouses of times of old.

Timing
No, not “timing is everything” timing, but the actual stop-watch kind. My kids love it if I “time” them, on their math sheets, flash cards, even on their writing wipe-off boards. Neatness still counts, but they love to be timed. Sometimes they race to beat their time from last time and sometimes they race each other’s times. Timing also works great with clean-up and getting dressed.

Choices

Which subject do you want to do first today? Math? Okay, do you want to do your game, your flashcards, your counting or your math sheet? (Once one subject is picked, there’s no picking another until all parts of that subject are done.) They also get to choose their treat. One treat for each subject. (I love it when they pick Hershey’s kisses because only Mamas can read the secret language on the “tags”. This one says, “Be kind to everyone.” This one says, “Daddy is proud of your hard work.”) I also gave my seven year old a page where he can check off each subject once it’s completed.

Challenge Fridays

I set up a challenge course while they wait in another room. The challenge course has stations. One station may be a page in their handwriting book. The next station is five math problems. The next is read a Dr. Seuss book to Marc and Luc. My 7 year old boy loves this and it motivates him to get things done. I am always amazed at how quickly he can accomplish this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA

This is the Jesus Dance dramatic skit. Our youth group used this skit on Sunday to open our pastor's sermon about the church. At the end of service, Pastor invited the congregation to join the skit and "be the church." Imagine this skit with the believers jumping in and pointing the way to Christ and praying and rejoicing with the girl. It was very moving and a visual reminder of WHY we need each other in the church.

Things Kids Say (and Moms)

Things kids say (and moms)

All our kids look at and/or read books when they lay down to go to sleep at night. Marc and Luc have graduated from the “board books” of toddlers to the “paper pages” of big kids. But they still love the board books. Lucas’s nightly request is for “a brick book, please.”
“Here’s your brick book, Luc.”

“How did they make crayons in your world, mom?” asks Marc, after watching a video clip about how crayons are made in a factory.
“You mean when I was a little girl?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“They made them the same way they do now, in factories.”
“How did they make crayons in Jesus’ world?”
“Oh honey, they didn’t have crayons in Jesus’ world.”
Marc was shocked, "You mean Jesus didn't HAVE crayons?"

“Mom, can you tie my scape?” asks Marc. He holds up a square scarf.
“It’s a cape, Marc, say ‘cape’ “, I point to my lips just like I learned from the speech therapist.
“No, mom, I want to call it my scape, cuz I can get away FAST!”

“Mama, the clock says it’s 29 degrees! Is that enough money for ice cream?” Marc. (I think we need to work on some things….)

We have been listening to “Adventures in Odyssey” in the car these days and Tim always says, “Can we listen to Adventures in Odyssey?” the moment I get in the van. He also likes to play with rhyming words. Today he said, “Can we listen to Adventures in Modesty?”

My boys love to watch “Bibleman” (a superhero character who literally wears the armor of God). Today Marc was pretending to be “Bibleman” as he zoomed his apple bowl to the sink after snack. He held the empty bowl in his hand, lifted his arm high and declared, “The suction cup of faith!”

Lucas is my early riser. Today he sat in the kitchen by the counter all alone waiting for his oatmeal to be ready. He was talking to himself, “No, Marc, you can’t sit next to me. I don’t want to be by you. I need time A-lone.” I just listened, wondering if he was all the way awake. He stopped talking and looked around and spotted me. “Where’s Marc?” he asked. “Still sleeping,” I replied. His shoulders drooped with disappointment and he looked like he was going to cry. “Oh, I need him. He’s my best friend. Oh, I miss him.”

Tim’s soccer schedule
You are hereby invited to attend any of Tim’s games. He would love to have you there. You will need to bring a lawn chair, and wear warm clothes. The fields can be quite windy.

September 12 10:30 am Port Sheldon Sports Field 3
September 19 8:00 am Port Sheldon Sports Field 3
September 26 8:00 am Port Sheldon Sports Field 3
October 3 9:15 am Port Sheldon Sports Field 3
October 10 9:15 am Port Sheldon Sports Field 6
October 17 11:45am Port Sheldon Sports Field 6

1. Port Sheldon Sports Georgetown Township Click here for map and directions
2. Port Sheldon Complex Field Diagram