How To Harness Metacognitive Decision-Making

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

To organize a homeschool co-op requires an awesome team of innovative planners. The e-mails keep flying as we attempt to generate dynamic problem-solving strategies. Our goal for the fall semester is to orchestrate learning intensive experiences that will encourage real-world critical thinking in our upper-level students, while at the same time maximizing developmentally- appropriate enrichment for our preschool and elementary communities.

Now you, too, can talk just like a school system bureaucrat with this handy-dandy Educational Jargon Generator. Have fun!

[Hat tip: Matthew Tabor.]

Spring, the Season for Planning…

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Oops! No Alexandria Jones post this week. My writing time has been overtaken by the monster school supply catalog (“Mom, haven’t you ordered my books yet?!“) and by yesterday’s co-op planning meeting and today’s 13 (so far!) follow up emails.

Planning a homeschool co-op is a little bit like juggling kittens. No matter how careful you are, something is going to get scratched. Several of the classes I was hoping for did not draw enough interest in the public polling, but of those that remain, I would like my students to study:

dd#1 — drama, photography, sewing, Spanish, writing, guitar, and biology lab
ds — drama, photography, writing, Spanish, guitar, PE/health, and maybe biology
dd#2 — art, sewing, cooking, music, science, and maybe PE/health
[Wouldn’t you know it, not a single one of my kids wants to take any of their mom’s math classes. 🙂 ]

Problem: We only offer three class periods. And dd#1 plans to teach karate during one of those time slots.

Well, whatever else works or doesn’t work out, I sure hope we can get the lady who took these pictures to teach that photography class.

Homeschool Burnout? 10 Tips for Coping

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

Spring cleaning has made my desk look worse than before. Nobody feels like studying. The kids would rather be outside, and their mom would rather take a nap. Sound familiar? It is our annual attack of homeschool burnout.

If you, too, are suffering from lethargy and can’t face another day of school work, here are some ideas that have helped me:

(1) Re-read the homeschooling books on your shelves, or get some new ones from the library. Try to read about one a month, if you can, to help get your enthusiasm back. And then read at least one new homeschooling book per year to help you stay inspired.

(2) Connect with other homeschoolers. Meet with friends for tea, or have a Mom’s Night Out while Dad babysits.

(3) Attend support group meetings. I find that after so many years, I let the meetings slide. I think, I already know everything they are going to say. But being with other homeschoolers is encouraging, and if you find out that you can help a new homeschooler with advice, that gives you a boost, too.

Continue reading Homeschool Burnout? 10 Tips for Coping

The “Are You a Homeschooler?” Quiz

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

It is spring cleaning week at our house, and I thought I’d do some virtual cleaning, too. So from a folder where I stuff the “To blog about sometime” websites comes this quiz. It claims to determine whether you deserved your high school diploma — Ha! There is no way I could remember anything from that long ago.

So tell me, what did the quiz really measure?

Continue reading The “Are You a Homeschooler?” Quiz

What is a Blog Carnival?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

The Carnival of Homeschooling is almost ready for its first birthday, and Henry at Why Homeschool is looking for submissions. So if you’re a homeschool blogger, go back over your recent blog posts and pick out a good one to share!

A blog carnival is a collection of blog posts loosely related to a given topic. Some, like the Carnival of Homeschooling, are posted weekly, while others come once a month or whenever the organizer gets around to doing it. Blog carnivals give bloggers a chance to reach a wider audience than just their regular readers, and they give readers interested in the topic a chance to access a wide variety of articles at once.

Continue reading What is a Blog Carnival?

The “Aha!” Factor

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

For young children, mathematical concepts are part of life’s daily adventure. A toddler’s mind grapples with understanding the threeness of three blocks or three fingers or one raisin plus two more raisins make three.

Most children enter school with a natural feel for mathematical ideas. They can count out forks and knives for the table, matching sets of silverware with the resident set of people. They know how to split up the last bit of birthday cake and make sure they get their fair share, even if they have to cut halves or thirds. They enjoy drawing circles and triangles, and they delight in scooping up volumes in the sandbox or bathtub.

Continue reading The “Aha!” Factor

Fibonacci Poetry = Fun!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

Well, I hadn’t planned on spending my day this way. One of the great things about homeschooling is that we can spend time following rabbit trails…

While browsing the Carnival of Homeschooling, I found a link to Farm School blog’s article Fib Foolery, which sent me to Gotta Book for his articles The Fib and More Fibbery (read the comments on both threads, but be warned that some are crude) and several other posts, all of which set me off on a morning of poetic fun. I know what I’m going to share at our Tuesday Teatime and Poetry Reading this afternoon.

Continue reading Fibonacci Poetry = Fun!

Kids Do the Craziest Things

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

My youngest daughter wanted to do Singapore math today. Miquon Red is her main math text this quarter, but we add a bit of Singapore Primary Math 1B whenever she’s in the mood. We turned to the lesson on subtracting with numbers in the 30-somethings. The first problem was pretty easy for her:

30 – 7 = []

I reminded her that she already knows 10 – 7. She agreed, “10 take away 7 is 3.” Then her eyes lit up. “So it’s 23! Because there are two tens left.”

Continue reading Kids Do the Craziest Things