Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Safety and the sixth grader

Last time I mentioned letting your child surf the web. This time I need to mention something that seems obvious, but could be overlooked. It is important to monitor your sixth grader’s use of the internet. Remind them to use safe practices, such as not sharing personal information. Just because we have taught them about internet safety for kids in the past doesn’t mean that they don’t need reminding.

There are other places besides the internet where we need to remind our children to be safe. Sixth graders are growing more independent, and at the same time the world is becoming a more dangerous place.

Review with them the rules of the house, what they are allowed to do, what they are not allowed to do. I’ll give you an example of this. My sixth grader is perfectly capable of heating something in the microwave, or even putting something in the oven, like chicken nuggets. However, I had never told her that the rules had changed since she was little. The rule then was that she was not to touch the stove, or the microwave.

She came to me a while back and asked if I could reheat her tea. I told her to put it in the microwave for one minute. Her look said that was clearly surprising. “You mean, I have permission to use the microwave?” It seemed obvious to me that she would know that the rules had changed, but to her, it apparently was not. As they get older, the rules will change, and they need to know what the new rules are so that they can play the game!!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Exploring Individuality

When we began home schooling I knew that straight academics was never going to be enough for my child. She is very curious and inquisitive. She has many interests and loves to follow tangents. I remember when I was young, reading encyclopedias and following the trail of “see also”, where at the end of each encyclopedia entry they showed other words or topics to look up. These topics were usually related, but could lead you a long way from the original thing you looked up.

I know that is an old fashioned example, but my daughter does a modern version of that same exercise. She surfs the web. She jumps from blog to blog, and subject to subject, searching for things that interest her, and in the process she learns a great deal about things that have nothing to do with school.

A great example of this is…her horse riding instructor told her that her assignment was to go and find different videos of people posting a trot. The videos my daughter found provided her with information about posting to the diagonal. Now this is a fairly specialized idea that she might not normally have even known enough to look up. When she went back to the stable, and the instructor started talking about diagonals, my daughter already had the information in her head. All she had to do was put it into physical practice.

Your child might have different interests, but any information he finds can help him become more knowledgeable about his hobbies, or goals. Who knows where that knowledge could lead. Our children have more access to more information than ever before. Letting them access that wealth of knowledge, at the very least, will make them well-rounded. It might make them brilliant!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Reading

There are many choices faced by students today. There is more reading material today than ever before. And learning to read the different types of material available is important to. It is not enough to just know how to read. I know, you thought that once you had a reader you were in the clear, but not so!

Knowing the characteristics of different types of reading materials not only makes it easier for your child to read, but also makes them better able to write different types of material. Let me give you an example. You don’t read poetry in the same way you might read a graphic novel. In the graphic novel you don’t have to be concerned about meter, or rhythm or rhyme. However, you will need to know that graphic novels are generally read from top to bottom, and left to right. If you don’t follow those “rules” it becomes hard to follow the story or know who spoke first in a frame.

Oddly enough, the whole point of this is that reading, any form, and any style of reading is good for your child. It doesn’t have to be a text book, or an autobiography for your child to gain knowledge or to read of an experience that she might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Comparative religion, what are all those holidays about anyway?

You do not have to be homeschooling for religious purposes to recognize the fact that the time between Halloween and New Year is full of holidays spanning a large number of religions. Some parents will totally ignore those holidays that do not coincide with their own beliefs. Other parents don’t just ignore the other holidays, but will even attempt to discredit those holidays.

There are a number of families that will use this holiday season to present to their children the richness of diversity that exists in our world. Remember that it is not necessary to believe in the religion for which the holidays are important. Teaching our children that there are other beliefs, and comparing those beliefs to your own family beliefs, helps our children make their own decisions about what they believe.

You might even be able to use the holidays to launch a couple of lessons in history related to the time and place where the holidays originated. Maybe add these history lessons to your timeline, or reconnect to family traditions that might have been lost to time. If nothing else, you might even discover new traditions that you might want to include in your own family.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Stargazing

Last time I mentioned telescopes and told you that there was a wealth of information online to supplement your child’s homeschool science studies. However, you should know that if your child is interested in astronomy, the winter season is the best time for stargazing in the Northern Hemisphere.

In the winter, it gets dark earlier in the evening so you don’t have to wait until midnight to get adequate darkness. Additionally, at least for the southern United States, winter is a much more clear time, with less atmospheric haze because of the reduced humidity in the air. Add to that, winter is pretty bug free!

If you live in the northern US winter is still a good time for you, but there are a couple of things to remember. Your telescope will need to acclimate from the warmth of the house to the outside temperature, otherwise your lens will fog up. Bundle up to stay warm.

And for everyone interested in stargazing in the winter with their children, remember to have fun, build memories, and enjoy the together time. Remember, they are growing up fast!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Tools of the trade

The bad news about being a homeschooling parent of a sixth grader is that you are going to have to budget for things like a microscope and a telescope. And the good news is that you are going to have to budget for things like a microscope and a telescope. While it is possible to do your child’s entire homeschool science curriculum without these tools, they certainly make science more interesting for your student.

One of the things that is really neat these days is that you can find great pictures online. If you decide that the scopes are not in your budget, or you think that your child might not have enough interest to go beyond just the bare minimum of microbiology and astronomy, then don’t feel like your child will be deprived.

There are several sites online, including NASA that have great catalogs of images. Another alternative, especially for astronomy is to see if there is a local star gazing club. Many times they will have viewings on weekend nights. The very best part of that is that there will probably be great telescopes and knowledgeable people, eager to share that knowledge.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Grammar, there sure are a lot of rules

English is a difficult language to learn to write and speak properly. Many students today seem to be weak in spelling and grammar skills and this may be, in part, because so much emphasis is placed on math and science skills. It is understandable, because so much money is tied up in students doing well in those two areas on standardized tests.

Regardless of the emphasis, it is important that our sixth graders learn the grammar rules necessary to write well. As our students begin to write more and longer papers, the temptation is for them to use spelling and grammar checkers that come with word processing programs. While this may fix the most glaring errors, it is still not a substitute for recognizing and repairing the errors yourself.

Additionally, English grammar rules are very flexible. It is just not possible for any word processing program to come up with every possible instance of potential errors. The better your student understands the grammar rules, and the spelling rules, the better their writing will be. Since writing will only get longer and more complex as our students get older, it is very important that we give them a firm foundation now. If your child is struggling, it is worth the time to slow down and let them firm up that foundation.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Strategies for working word problems

Word problems are very difficult for some students. There are a couple of strategies that we can teach our children to help them solve word problems with less math anxiety.

The first step to solving a word problem is to read it and figure out what answer they are looking for. This seems obvious but many students are so overwhelmed by the size of the problem, especially if they are reluctant readers that they can’t even get to the point of working the math.

Next, the student should make a chart or at least separate the numerical information from the words and write an equation. Important in this step is for the child to look for key words that will help them decide what the operation of the problem is. Words like total, sum, and together will indicate addition. How many fewer, and the difference between will indicate subtraction. Each operation has key words within the word problem to help decide what operation to perform.

Finally, once the numeric portion of the problem has been written out, the student should solve the problem, and then check to make sure that the answer they get matches the question asked in the problem. An additional step would be to have your student double check their math to make sure the answer is accurate.

Giving your student tools to break down word problems into mathematic equations will help her find all of the words less intimidating.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Back to School

If you are a new homeschooler this year, welcome to the growing ranks of parents who have chosen, for whatever reason, to homeschool their children! If you are new, you might find the whole deal of home schooling a little bit intimidating. What if you get something wrong, what if you fail to teach something? How will you know if your child is learning?

I have a few pieces of advice that hopefully will make the beginning of this homeschool journey less stressful. First, find a good curriculum. When we began home schooling in I was afraid that I would mess my child up by skipping some vital piece of information. So, instead of making up my own curriculum, I turned to an online homeschool curriculum called Time4Learning. The beauty of that program is that the lessons are already planned for you, based on state and national standards. I also worried about keeping adequate records. Again, Time4Learning to the rescue. Reports on what my child completed, and grades were easy to compile and print.

Find a good support group. Local home schooling groups can be invaluable when it comes to peace of mind, support, and companionship, both for you and your child.

Welcome to a great adventure, relax, and have fun!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Physical Education

If your child was in public school, there would be physical education courses available. As homeschool parents we can not neglect our child’s physical education. And that doesn’t just mean getting our kids out and moving.

Believe it or not, there are other things that are good that come out of PE classes. I realized that my child was missing a part of being American that had little to do with her physical fitness. There are a lot of games that your child learns the rules for during PE. Since my child has been home schooled most of her schooling career she had never been exposed to jumping rope, or Chinese jump rope, or even more common games such as baseball. We are not baseball or basketball fans at our home, and as such, she didn’t know the first thing about the rules when asked to join in a game at a homeschool picnic a couple of weeks ago.

Besides the rules our kids also need to stay physically fit, and that can mean joining soccer teams, or other ball teams. Maybe your child likes swimming, or gymnastics. My child has a black belt in TaeKwonDo, and has started with horseback riding lessons. The benefits to keeping her active are not just physical, because the concentration required for her two sports spills over into other aspects of her life. As a child with ADHD any concentration and focus she can gain is a great thing.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Building a history timeline

A fellow home schooling mom showed me her family’s latest project the other day. She proudly took me to her hall and showed me a piece of paper as long as the hallway, taped to the wall. As I got closer I could see that it was a timeline. I asked her to tell me about it.

She explained that the way most history curricula are set up, you get a specific period in a specific area, for example Columbus’ exploration of the New World. Her complaint was that while her children were learning what happened in the New World in 1492, it might be years before they learned what was happening in Asia during that same period. Truth be known, she continued, that they might never come across what was happening in Asia during that time period.

She decided that the timeline would allow her children to get a picture of what was happening in different parts of the world during the same time period. Consider this, in a 20 year period, around the world, the following events occurred. The East India Tea Company was formed, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, Jamestown was founded, slave ships arrived in the New World from Africa, Galileo saw the moons of Jupiter through his telescope, and the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, and the King James version of the Bible was created.

What an incredible number of events in such a short period of time! And those events do not include what was going on in Asia, Australia, or most of Africa during that time period. I will tell you, I am very tempted to add this idea to out regular homeschool curriculum lessons. I am thinking, let's put one of these timelines up in my hallway too!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Music, a subject witih many benefits

Many public schools today are having to cut their music and arts programs due to budgetary restraints. That is a terrible trend considering how important music and art are to children’s development. Fortunately, for homeschoolers, we do not face the loss of these programs.

There are so many benefits to music and art curriculum, that it is difficult to pick just a few to mention here. Studies indicate that children who study music score higher on the SAT in math and language by about 50 points each. Children who study music and art score higher grades in math and science on a consistent basis. But grades and college admission are not the only benefits of music and art study. Music education improves your child’s spatial and temporal reasoning abilities.

Children who studied music in school show greater self-esteem than students who did not. Music helps children with their organizational skills, and attention issues. Musicians are better at functional multitasking because their brains are already trained to adjust such things as tempo, pitch, volume, and tone all at the same time as they play. Practicing and studying music encourages children to be disciplined, and that discipline does extend to academics and study habits.

Your child does not have to be a musician to benefit from music either. Students who took music appreciation also showed benefits and improved scores in math. All in all, there are few disadvantages and many advantages to including music in your child’s homeschool curriculum.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Building the Diorama

Have you ever considered having your child make a diorama as part of history project? It doesn’t have to be difficult, and researching to build one can be very educational. Dioramas are miniature scenes and can depict anything from historic land and sea battles, to fantasy castles, complete with dragons.

To begin with, your child will need to determine the subject of the diorama. Then they will need to determine exactly what they want to include, for purposes of illustration let’s use a Mississippi River scene from Tom Sawyer. Your child will need to determine scale, meaning how big pieces need to be in relationship to the entire project. Then he should lay out the landscape, or river-scape in this case, on a piece of paper, drawing in the points of interest.

For this example, a river boat, a river, a raft, perhaps some trees for the bank will all be components. Some things can be bought, such as the trees, from model railway suppliers, but all of it can be constructed from cardboard, construction paper, digital photos, paper machete, and pieces of plastic.

Imagine what your child will learn from researching this project. Reading about Tom Sawyer, learning about river boats and the Mississippi River, organization, exercising their artistic knowledge and eye for detail as he creates this scene in realistic miniature scale. When the project is finished, let him become the teacher, and tell you what he has learned.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Digital collections

Back when I was in school (a really long time ago!) when we had to make a collection, say of bugs, we had to use kill jars, and push pins, and the worst part about it was we actually had to catch bugs, eww! I remember paying my little brother fifty cents a bug for some of the most offensive of bugs (read: wood roaches) to complete my collection for my 6th grade science class.

Well, times have changed, and the powers that be have figured out that it is not good to expose our children to formaldehyde, imagine that! Technology has made it possible for our students to make collections without killing a single creature. For my daughter at least that is really important, she is incredibly soft-hearted, even when bugs are concerned.

So how can technology help us with collections? Through digital photography! Consider taking your child on a nature hike, and having them photograph as many different kinds of mushrooms as they can, never having to touch potentially poisonous varieties, then coming back, labeling and identifying the digital pictures. The same principle works for trees, birds, and yes, bugs!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Summer Camps

If you are a homeschoolers, then your child probably doesn’t need the type of summer camp that is intended to baby sit children who are out of school for the summer. Many homeschool parents forget about summer camps all together because their families tend to do things with other homeschool families. Field trips and other educational outings are often accomplished as part of the local homeschool group.

So why might your sixth grader need a summer camp? Well, there are many reasons, but the two that I would like to mention here are: 1) for educational opportunities, and 2) for social opportunities.

In the case of educational opportunities, consider sending your child to a camp that specializes in something that your child has a deep interest in, or a talent for. One example here is horse camp. Last spring break we sent our daughter to a four day long camp that taught her how to groom, and tack up a horse, and the basics of riding.

The social opportunities option is to allow her to have experiences with other kids who might or might not be home schooled, but have an interest in common with her. Since our children do not need babysitting, we can look beyond just the need to stick our kids someplace, and look for opportunities that will enhance their education, interests, and social interactions.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Project

I am setting my daughter up to do a major project over the summer. I would like to teach her how to organize, research, and execute the project, but I want her to do the work as independently as possible.

In the past we have done what we call special studies, where we concentrated on a subject of her choice. While she chose the subject, from dinosaurs, to earthquakes and volcanoes, I provided the materials and the opportunities to look things up. I would have color pages, or model kits, or books for her to look at pictures in. In the case of volcanoes, I found a site that showed the locations of the worlds active volcanoes and showed them erupting. It was great fun, and she learned a lot.

What she didn’t learn was how to research a topic. She didn’t learn how to organize her materials in order to present the project to other people. She didn’t learn to write up her final information in a paper.

I believe she is ready to learn these skills based on her ability to read a text book and tell me about what she learned. Now I just need her to be able to formalize that information. If she can learn the skills needed for “The Project” she will be able to carry them forward to high school, college, and beyond.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Parallel reading

Do you remember when your sixth grader was younger? Do you remember play dates where the little children didn’t actually play with each other but near each other? It is called parallel play and is a stage that children go through.

Well, I would like to suggest another form of parallel play for your sixth grade homeschool student. It will be parallel reading, and it has been a lot of fun at our house.

Here is how it works for us. My daughter will pick a book she wants to read, usually it is a young adult fantasy novel or books by homeschoolers. She reads it, and at the same time, we read it. Sometimes it is on the family e-reader, sometimes it is an actual physical book, but there is only one copy for the three of us to share. We each have a different book mark, and it is strictly against the rules to move or lose another person’s book mark.

What good is this parallel reading, you might ask. Well, for one thing, I know for a fact that whatever she is reading is appropriate. I know if there are issues that might be disturbing to her that need discussion. Another thing it does is that it allows us to have common interests and knowledge. We can discuss story points, or literary devices that the author uses. It is another way for us to stay in contact with our increasingly independent child, and it is a good thing!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Journaling

Journaling can be useful to your sixth grader in so many ways. And there is not a right way or a wrong way to do it. It can be as individual as each person who does it. That being said, what is journaling?

Well, it is a way of recording information, thoughts, and feelings in writing. My daughter is a reluctant writer, and we have failed in the past to get her to write down anything on a consistent basis. She loves to draw, however, and she has several sketch books a year full of drawings she made. If you look at the oldest ones, her drawings were very childlike, simple, and unsteady. Her newest ones show detailed anatomical drawings of different forms of dragons, and a significant improvement in her ability to successfully draw the legs and heads of horses.

Is her art work really journaling? For a non-writer I would say yes. The good news is sometime in the last couple of months my daughter has begun to keep a written journal, using words instead of pictures. I have seen an improvement in all of her written expression in those few months.

Writing in her journal has helped not only her writing skills, but also gives her a place to express her deepest feelings, fears, and joys. It gives her a private place to say the things that are in her head, where no one will read them, or judge them. I’m even thinking of scheduling journaling time in our day. Sometimes even I have things in my head that need to be written but not read by anyone else.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Logic, and why didn't we know that?

This year, for the first time, we began a formal study of logic and critical thinking as part of our homeschool curricula. My daughter does exercises several times a week. I discovered that in some aspects of this she is very good, and in others she just doesn’t seem to get it.

Let me give you a couple of examples. In the word problems that relate one object to another, in the form of “orange is to fruit as wheat is to ____” with a multiple choice answer following, my daughter doesn’t seem to be able to provide the answer “grain” to fill in the blank. I have discovered a whole area of learning that she seems to have very little knowledge of. How did we miss this learning? And where would we have learned that wheat is a grain?

It is not that she doesn’t understand the problem, but more often it is an experience issue. If we do not consume alcohol at our home in any form, is there a reason for my sixth grader to know that wine is the alcoholic product of grape fermentation? It is not that I am opposed to her knowing about wine. The subject just never came up.

There are so many things that we take for granted as adults. We have heard things, and read things, and experienced things that our sixth graders haven’t had the opportunity to experience yet. Working through the logic book has shown me that there is a gap in her knowledge, I am not really sure how to fix it yet, except to let her live and learn. And maybe practice some more problems in the logic workbook!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The History of Science

Do you know who invented the light bulb, or the telephone? Do you know when penicillin was discovered, or when spontaneous generation was disproved? These milestones in science are what is known as the history of science. Names, places, and dates of these milestones are important. But, how important are they?

Up until sixth grade science has been a rather general thing. Our students didn’t really study zoology as much as they just learned about animals in a larger sense. And for some homeschoolers, it is not important for them to know about Charles Darwin, since they do not even study evolution.

How do you decide what historical points of science need to be remembered, which names are associated with which discoveries? Some parents would argue that it is more important to know about the invention or discovery than it is to know who discovered it or when they discovered it.

I think, starting around the 6th grade, that my student needs a more well rounded view of science and so we are beginning to emphasize not just the science, but the history of the science. Being able to place different steps in science in historical context, is important not only for the significance to science but also to the students knowledge of the world in general.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Math, making it real!

Some students find math difficult; even to the point of developing math anxiety.  Sometimes it is because the topic really is difficult, like long division. Sometimes it is because the math they are studying on the paper, or online, seems to have little relationship to the world they see around them.

My daughter hates to study geometry and balks at the very mention of the word, yet will gladly incorporate geometry principles when she is drawing things she sees in the world around her. She dislikes fractions, but loves to use recipes. Decimals and percent give her fits when she is studying it as a subject, but she can tell you how to figure a tip in a restaurant in her head.

My daughter dislikes the theoretical study of math but when you put that math in a real world application she has no problem applying the theoretical to the reality. If I can remember that when math lessons are presented then it would go a long way to getting my daughter to learn the math lessons.

If your child has trouble with the theoretical lesson, step away from the theoretical and make it real. Show them how many quarters a half a dollar is, or how many cups go into a gallon pitcher. Point out angles and lines and tangents in real world settings. Make math real and you might just make it really easy for your child!

Friday, February 3, 2012

How do I get organized?

For some homeschoolers it is very difficult to get organized. Things that make it harder to get organized include number of children, ages of children, special circumstances such as learning disabilities, and one’s own organizational skills.

I only have one child, but I am a somewhat disorganized person, and my daughter has ADHD, which contributes to the chaos around our house. I have found that having an online homeschool curriculum that plans lessons for me, and keeps the grades and completion records for each lesson, quiz, and chapter test works great for general school record keeping.

Some people use the box method, where the work for each student for the day is included in a box or file folder. I can’t really use this method because each day is a new day for us. One day we might finish everything I had planned for the day, the next we might accomplish nothing I had planned for school.

I have found that keeping a schedule book like a day planner, with a week and a month view helps me know when and where we need to be. It also works as a record keeping system of sorts, since I can use it to cross reference why no school was recorded on a day, or when we attended an event that I would consider a field trip.

Each family is different, and being honest with yourself about your organizational abilities, and your child’s ability to stick to a schedule will help you choose the right organizational method for your family.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sixth grade Science - Scientific Method

Sixth Grade Science - Scientific method

Sixth graders will need to understand the scientific method. What is the scientific method, you ask? Well, it is a tool to help students recognize, understand, and solve a problem. It is a method to help answer questions in an organized fashion. Often at this grade level the basic steps are: recognizing a problem or issue, asking how the problem can be solved, researching to see how others may have solved that problem or similar problems, suggesting a possible solution to the problem, laying out a method by which to test that solution, collecting data, and organizing that data into a form that helps the student and others understand the outcome of the experiment. You might also see the scientific method described as a way of setting up an experiment. Much like graphing in math, the scientific method is a way for sixth graders to learn to think critically, and enhance their problem solving abilities, without overwhelming them with too much information. The ability to think critically, and to problem solve will be used in many other subject besides math and science. A good foundation in the understanding of the scientific method will help your sixth grader excel as she encounters more advanced material.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sixth grade Math - Graphing and data collection

Sixth Grade Math - graphing and data collection

On the surface graphing doesn’t really seem like something that is very important to teach, but graphing has implications beyond just math and so its importance carries across subjects. Part of understanding graphs and graphing has to do with data collection and organization. Whether the data collected is science, or number of people voting for a political candidate, the ability to organize that data into an easily understandable form is essential. Students should learn to construct several different forms of displaying data such as leaf graphs, bar graphs, pie graphs, charts, and tables. Being able to organize and graph data enhances a student’s problem solving abilities, and the ability to recognize connections. Being able to make those connections is important in being able to understand higher math and science. If you have a math visual learner, it may make more sense by using graphs since that will appeal to the way visual learns organize and record information in their heads. An example of this might be that fractions are much easier for visual learners to understand if they can view pie graphs to understand the relationships of parts to a whole. Don’t hesitate to spend a little extra time on graphs and graphing. Your student will enjoy benefits that go beyond just math.