Memorizing Magic

Louisa and kitten

Louisa and her kitten “Nimbus”

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.

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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).

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Teaching Children to Write the Natural Way

My daughter Louisa has kept her school journals since she was 4 years old. What a treasure they are now! A whole childhood recorded.

My daughter Louisa has kept her school journals since she was 4 years old. What a treasure they are now! A whole childhood recorded.

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.

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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!

animal4

Elephants…

animal5

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Memorizing the Times Tables

My grandson Isaac

My grandson Isaac

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:

imageI 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

learning-164331_1280Question:

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…]

Does Harry Potter, Twilight Help Reading?

fairy-tales-671406_1280Question:

My child does not like to read, but she will read Harry Potter, Charlie Bone, Twilight and others on a theme of wizardry and black magic. How do you feel about that? Should I just be happy that she is reading?

Answer:

I feel concerned that encouraging children to read any book which has a theme of the occult, death, or black magic may promote a fascination with the “dark side” and develop an appetite for something less than praiseworthy. There is so much excellent literature of an uplifting, inspiring nature to read that there is scarcely time enough in one childhood to enjoy it all! Has your child read Summer of the Monkeys, Call it Courage, Mr. Popper’s Penquins, The 21 Balloons? . . . there are so very many that come to mind! I think that for some children who aren’t interested in reading but get “hooked” on a series that delves into the occult—reading simply isn’t worth the price of nurturing such a taste.

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