If there is one thing in my homeschool that I am very thankful we’ve done over the years, it is “memory work”. It seems as a natural part of conversation, one of my children mentions a poem they have learned that pertains to the topic we are discussing. For example, today we were talking about prayers that don’t seem to get answered, when Ammon said, “That reminds me of a poem,” and he went on to spontaneously recite, “God Answers Prayers”. It can bring tears to my eyes to hear my teenage boy bring forth from his memory such beautiful words and profound truths that he has learned and stored from years of memorizing.
Pronunciation Poem
Pronunciation Poem
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, laugh, and through.
Well done! And now you wish perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead—it’s said like bed not bead—
And for goodness’ sake, don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(they rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
Teaching Children to Write the Natural Way
I would like to share with you some of the things we’ve done in our homeschool that have really worked so well over the years. Teaching my children to write has been a joy to teach, and any mother can easily do it without any expensive program.
Project: Heart Zoo
If you kids can cut out a heart, they can make a whole zoo of fun Valentine creatures!
Teach children to cut a heart by folding a piece of paper in half and drawing an “ice cream cone” on it’s fold:
Now just a little imagination and a glue stick can turn out fun animal Valentines!
Elephants…
Memorizing the Times Tables
Question:
My 11-year-old boy is still trying to memorize his times tables. He’s finally gotten his 5’s and 9’s (and of course 0’s, 1’s and 2’s) but the rest seem to be hard for him. I’m wondering what we can do without spending much. [Read more…]
Help for Math
Question:
I have a 10 year old boy who is doing Saxon 76. It takes 30 minutes for me to work with him on a lesson, working only the amount of problems I feel are necessary, as taking longer than this causes math burnout. Would using the D.I.V.E. CD help my son be more independent in his math time? Can you pick and choose which problems to use? Is it worth the $50? [Read more…]
Remembering Phonics
Question:
My 7 year old loves to read, but now that I am teaching my 5 year old to read I can see how the 7 year old struggles with reading. I taught him to read using phonics but I notice him guessing at words a lot and so I say, “say each sound”. He enjoys reading and I don’t want to change that. Do I just keep keeping on or what would you suggest? [Read more…]