Well, the Olympics have come to an end and my family will definitely miss the late nights shared watching swimming, gymnastics, and track and field while cheering for our favorite athletes.
As I watched the games this year, it became apparent that these were not just talented athletes in their chosen field, but many were also dedicated homeschoolers too!
2016 Rio Olympians: Simone Biles (gymnastics), Serena Williams (tennis), David Boudia and Steele Johnson (diving)
So I looked back and found that the US Olympic team has been full of homeschoolers for many years: Carly Patterson (2004 gymnast), Bode Miller (2002 skier), Michelle Kwan (1994 figure skater).
Of course, these are just a few of the many homeschooled Olympians. So I got to thinking, there must be more than the benefit of a freer training schedule that breeds success for these homeschoolers. Undoubtedly the following homeschool skills and lessons were also contributing factors:
1. Dedication: homeschool students are not passive learners who sit idly in a classroom and wait to advance with a class—they attend to their work with diligence to learn and better themselves daily.
2. Independence: homeschool students learn to depend on themselves for answers and success.
3. Responsibility: homeschool students are accountable for their own mistakes and successes...they learn to be ambitious.
4. Time Management: homeschool students value time and don’t waste it.
5. Confidence: more than anything else, homeschool students have unbelievable confidence that they can do, learn, or be anything.
With all of this in mind, I’m eager to see where the next generation of homeschoolers leads us! Who will we see competing in the 2020 and 2024 Olympic games?
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Choosing the Right Class for Each Student
Some children have a particular interest in writing and know just what class suits their ability and interest set. However, other students are less inclined to the written arts or have specific learning challenges. These parents often ask which Online Scribblers class is the best fit for their children.
The first thing to keep in mind is that there is no one size fits all when it comes to our children and learning. There are many different routes to take, but I want to share a few thoughts on the subject.
Beginning or Struggling Writers:
Do not underestimate the importance of strong paragraph writing. Just because a student puts a string of sentences together and indents the line doesn’t mean that she understands the proper way to form a paragraph. If your student can’t identify a topic sentence versus a body or closing sentence, then perhaps Paragraph Writing Basics is your best fit. Similarly, a student should understand the importance of using details, transitions, and adjectives while maintaining a single main idea. If any of these concepts are weak or lacking, I suggest Paragraph Writing Basics for students of any age or grade level.
Reluctant Writers:
If you have a student who is adept at writing strong paragraphs, but he is struggling with confidence or is a reluctant writer”, consider enrolling in a creative based course. Creative Writing courses allow for students to boost confidence and skill at the same time that they are having fun and learning to express themselves. Poetry, Short Story and Techniques of Creative Writing are excellent places to begin the process of building up reluctant writers of all ages.
High School Writing Students:
Students in high school have the unique opportunity at Online Scribblers to experience genres that are often unavailable in mass curriculums. It is in high school that students often begin to dread the “work” of writing. The high school years are the best time to try something out of the box—perhaps journalism, journaling/blogging, creative writing, or even business writing.
These ‘new’ genres often wake up a sleeping interest or hidden talent that transforms a student’s idea of what writing is and can be in his life. This is not the time to back away from writing, but a time to embrace its full potential.
The first thing to keep in mind is that there is no one size fits all when it comes to our children and learning. There are many different routes to take, but I want to share a few thoughts on the subject.
Beginning or Struggling Writers:
Do not underestimate the importance of strong paragraph writing. Just because a student puts a string of sentences together and indents the line doesn’t mean that she understands the proper way to form a paragraph. If your student can’t identify a topic sentence versus a body or closing sentence, then perhaps Paragraph Writing Basics is your best fit. Similarly, a student should understand the importance of using details, transitions, and adjectives while maintaining a single main idea. If any of these concepts are weak or lacking, I suggest Paragraph Writing Basics for students of any age or grade level.
Reluctant Writers:
If you have a student who is adept at writing strong paragraphs, but he is struggling with confidence or is a reluctant writer”, consider enrolling in a creative based course. Creative Writing courses allow for students to boost confidence and skill at the same time that they are having fun and learning to express themselves. Poetry, Short Story and Techniques of Creative Writing are excellent places to begin the process of building up reluctant writers of all ages.
High School Writing Students:
Students in high school have the unique opportunity at Online Scribblers to experience genres that are often unavailable in mass curriculums. It is in high school that students often begin to dread the “work” of writing. The high school years are the best time to try something out of the box—perhaps journalism, journaling/blogging, creative writing, or even business writing.
These ‘new’ genres often wake up a sleeping interest or hidden talent that transforms a student’s idea of what writing is and can be in his life. This is not the time to back away from writing, but a time to embrace its full potential.
Writing is a Process
Writing well is not something that can be achieved overnight. Anyone who has stared at a blank sheet of paper and wondered where to start knows this.
Writing begins before the pen hits paper—or fingers hit the keys as it may be. Writing begins with thought. Thought becomes ideas and then the ideas come to life on the page. The form on the page is only the final step.
It is the careful training of how to transform thought into ideas and then transfer them to ink that takes time...and what makes writing excellent. This is the process that we often refer to as prewriting or outlining. It is also the process that most students avoid because it takes time and doesn’t really seem like “writing”. And it is a major reason why writing is difficult to teach...it is a daunting task to teach our children how to think and form ideas. But if we take the time to teach the process and insist on quality, our children will indeed be great writers!
Writing begins before the pen hits paper—or fingers hit the keys as it may be. Writing begins with thought. Thought becomes ideas and then the ideas come to life on the page. The form on the page is only the final step.
It is the careful training of how to transform thought into ideas and then transfer them to ink that takes time...and what makes writing excellent. This is the process that we often refer to as prewriting or outlining. It is also the process that most students avoid because it takes time and doesn’t really seem like “writing”. And it is a major reason why writing is difficult to teach...it is a daunting task to teach our children how to think and form ideas. But if we take the time to teach the process and insist on quality, our children will indeed be great writers!
Put Literature on the Curriculum!
As a voracious reader since elementary school, I have always preferred character driven, relationship laden stories to non fiction or action based thrillers.
Now, more than ever, there seems to be an excellent reason to make literary fiction part of a child’s regular curriculum.
In a 2013 study, David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano found that “reading literary fiction improves theory of mind.” Theory of mind in the world of psychology are the processes involved in a person’s understanding and expression of empathy and sympathy: those life skills missing in
much of today’s world.
The findings of the study, then, suggest that exposure to literature and creative characters who reveal complex emotions and relationships help readers to develop their own expressions, most notably empathy for others’ situations and feelings as well as intuitive sympathetic responses. Readers of literature are better able to understand their own feelings and those of others.
It seems logical.
After all, we have all seen the studies that show that repeated exposure to violent video games can increase a child’s predilection toward aggression and desensitization to it.
How wonderful that we have an equally powerful alternative to help us enliven and enrich positive emotional awareness in our students—and how appropriate that this successful method is traditional and “old school” as many things of high value often are.
Empowering our children with selfawareness, generosity, kindness, and the ability to form healthy and empathetic relationships might be as easy as placing good literature in their hands and on their curriculums!
Now, more than ever, there seems to be an excellent reason to make literary fiction part of a child’s regular curriculum.
In a 2013 study, David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano found that “reading literary fiction improves theory of mind.” Theory of mind in the world of psychology are the processes involved in a person’s understanding and expression of empathy and sympathy: those life skills missing in
much of today’s world.
The findings of the study, then, suggest that exposure to literature and creative characters who reveal complex emotions and relationships help readers to develop their own expressions, most notably empathy for others’ situations and feelings as well as intuitive sympathetic responses. Readers of literature are better able to understand their own feelings and those of others.
It seems logical.
After all, we have all seen the studies that show that repeated exposure to violent video games can increase a child’s predilection toward aggression and desensitization to it.
How wonderful that we have an equally powerful alternative to help us enliven and enrich positive emotional awareness in our students—and how appropriate that this successful method is traditional and “old school” as many things of high value often are.
Empowering our children with selfawareness, generosity, kindness, and the ability to form healthy and empathetic relationships might be as easy as placing good literature in their hands and on their curriculums!
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Good Writers Read Out Loud
Reading out loud is an excellent tool for students to learn about the flow and pacing of good writing. If reading a sentence makes him feel tongue tied or rushes by so fast that he runs out of breath, chances are that the sentence needs revision.
Good writers use their ear to HEAR mistakes even when their fine tuned brain compensates for errors that they SEE on a page.
An added bonus of learning to read out loud properly is a big boost in selfconfidence. Public speaking skills are sorely lacking in many students partly because they don’t have the opportunity to practice and get good feedback along the way.
So the next time your child hands you a draft to read, hand it right back and say, ”Let’s hear it!”
Tuesday
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Top 10 Uses for the Comma
10. Dates and Addresses: place a comma between cities and states or cities and countries; place a
comma between the day and year in a date.
9. Numbers: place a comma in large numbers each three places right of the decimal.
8. Dialogue: place a comma between the line of dialogue and the tag which tells who is speaking.
7. Direct Address and Interjections: place a comma after the name that you are speaking directly to as well as after words that indicate exclamation or emotion.
6. Between Adjectives: place a comma between adjectives that are side by side and used to describe the same noun.
5. Appositives: place a comma around the noun or noun phrase that renames another noun beside it.
4. Conjunctive Adverbs: place a comma after a conjunctive adverb used to join two main clauses.
3. Introductory Elements: place a comma after introductory phrases, clauses and words that appear
before the main clause of a sentence.
2. In Lists: place a comma between three of more items in a list.
1. Compound Sentences: place a comma before the conjunction that joins two independent clauses in a compound sentence.
comma between the day and year in a date.
London, England January 12, 2016
9. Numbers: place a comma in large numbers each three places right of the decimal.
5, 567, 543
8. Dialogue: place a comma between the line of dialogue and the tag which tells who is speaking.
Mary said, “Pass me the sugar.”
7. Direct Address and Interjections: place a comma after the name that you are speaking directly to as well as after words that indicate exclamation or emotion.
Wow, I love chocolate!
6. Between Adjectives: place a comma between adjectives that are side by side and used to describe the same noun.
It is a big, blue house.
5. Appositives: place a comma around the noun or noun phrase that renames another noun beside it.
The mosquito, an insect, leaves red bumps that itch.
4. Conjunctive Adverbs: place a comma after a conjunctive adverb used to join two main clauses.
I love the holidays; however, I often work too hard.
3. Introductory Elements: place a comma after introductory phrases, clauses and words that appear
before the main clause of a sentence.
After breakfast, I leave for school.
2. In Lists: place a comma between three of more items in a list.
I like pizza, pasta, and garlic bread.
Harry hit the ball, but John caught it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Education: The Great Equalizer
The answer appears evident. Online learning affords students a unique educational experience emphasizing superior accessibility, individualized pacing, and custom feedback.
First, online learning allows every student access to experts in their field no matter where they live. Previously, students in metropolitan areas had greater access to higher education and renowned professional experts. Now even students in rural, less inhabited areas can learn from the best. Even more importantly, these students can collaborate and learn together. Their diversity lends a greater depth to the learning process. Online learning equalizes opportunity among all students.
Secondly, online learning allows students to progress at their own pace and around their schedules. No longer must one student spend an hour on a lesson that made sense to them in 20 minutes. Similarly, a student who struggles with a concept has the chance to repeat and review it as many times as needed to fully grasp it.
Online learning also allows students and families to forge their own academic experience. It is flexible.
A family might travel frequently: no problem.
A student might deal with intermittent health concerns: no problem.
A student might be pursuing a competitive talent: no problem.
These students don’t need to choose between their specific interests or circumstances and a quality education. Online learning makes everything possible.
Finally, online learning allows teachers to provide individual and customized feedback to each student. The teacher can push an excelling student a bit harder while praising and encouraging the smaller accomplishments of a struggling student to affecting greater confidence. It eliminates the competition in education and focuses on the outcome. No two students are the same and neither should be their education.
In many ways, online learning is akin to having your own private tutor. And similar to the special relationship that develops between a student and their tutor, a unique relationship evolves between online students and their teachers. There is no hiding in the back row of the classroom or sinking low in a chair. There is no waiting for the outgoing student in the front row to answer all the questions. Online teachers get to know each student personally. Each student is held to a higher level of accountability and responsibility for their work.
In a traditional classroom, a teacher has a finite amount of time to communicate a lesson, discipline, and develop a rapport among students. What a feat! However, online learning accelerates this one to one relationship between student and teacher. And once a level of comfort is achieved, the real nitty-gritty of learning can flourish.
So, while knowledge is power and the road to success, online learning just might be the modern face of education in today’s world: the great equalizer.
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