homeschool

Getting Feedback as a Writer

March 25, 2019 By Annette1 8 Comments

I blog, I LOVE it when people comment, it gives me some validation as well as feedback as a writer. The question is, what type of feedback should I be looking for? Are comments on a blog truly the validation I need or are they just the fun candy of blogging? In Pep Talks for Writers, Grant Faulkner leads us to understand what type of feedback we should seek, and from whom to seek it.

Critique is a part of writing. It shows us what we did right, and what needs tweaking. A good reader can point out how we can improve our writer whether it be a weakness in a character, or a line of poetry that just doesn’t read right, a fatal flaw in a story sequence, or an explanation that makes no sense. Critique also shows the good in a piece, such as excellent pacing, a good battle scene, humour at just the right moment, great explanation or an intriguing character. Sometimes, a readers enjoyment of a character can make that character take on a greater role. Those who critique help shape the work we do, either while we are still in the writing stage, or when we reached the editing stage.

Some questions to ask when submitting a work for oversight. This is not an exhaustive list, and it would change depending on the work being critiqued. You definitely don’t need to ask all of these questions either.

What is working well and what is not. Why?
What would you cut?
What needs to have more added? Why?
If you had written this, what would you edit?
Is anything confusing?
Is the work balanced?
Any word changes that need to be made?
Adjustments to subplots needed?
Does it read well?
What expectations were you left with?

“Do not let arrogance go to your head and despair to your heart; do not let compliments go to your head and criticisms to your heart; do not let success go to your head and failure to your heart.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Where to find Readers to Critique

Writer’s Guild
Fellow authors
Professional reviewers
Professional editors
Writing workshops
Beta Readers who are members of your target audience

Don’t choose people who are close friends or family. It’s too easy for them to love everything that you write, and harder for them to say “this needs to be changed”. You want that impartial reader, who is reliable, who will honestly tell you the good and bad of your book.

Add Board Games to Your Homeschool Routine

March 16, 2019 By Annette1 5 Comments

I love having people guest post on my blog. Today I want to thank Tyler for visiting with us. I hope you enjoy Tyler’s post.

Add Board Games to Your Homeschool Routine

One of our goals in homeschooling since the start has been to find a way to make it fun. My wife and I both went to public school and we knew we didn’t want homeschooling to be ‘public school at home’. However, we weren’t sure what we DID want it to look like. Starting out we were planning fun activities each day. The kids loved it and we could see they were having fun while learning, but we quickly realized we would be burnt out on creating this fun learning environment long before they learned everything they needed to know. So we started looking for something fun (and easy!) to supplement our homeschooling activities. Enter gameschooling.

What is GameSchooling?

Put simply, gameschooling is homeschooling using games to teach. For us, gameschooling is primarily board games, but also includes some outdoors games. Adding board games to our homeschool routine has been an amazing change for our house. For the kids, board games have kept learning fun and engaging. As parents, gameschooling has taken a lot of the stress out of homeschool planning, because we know board games are there to help us teach or reinforce our homeschooling efforts.

How to Add (or Increase) Games to Your Homeschool Routine?

Fitting board games into an already full day of homeschooling can be a challenge. Here are our top five ways to fit games into our homeschool schedule:

1. Pick a Subject and Find a Board Game A great way to get started using board games in your homeschool activities is to simply pick a subject you are working on and find a board game to reinforce it. Looking for some inspiration? Check out this article on 100 things kids learn from board games, with game recommendations for each!

2. Add a Daily Game Time

Another option to consider if you’re looking to add some gameschooling to your days is to set aside a certain time each day for board games. A lot of modern board games can be played in fifteen to forty five minutes. This makes them a perfect activity when the kids need a break. We love to play board games right before lunch when the kid’s focus starts to be more concerned with what is in the fridge then the topic at hand.

3. Start a Family Game Night

Rather than cram board games into your school day, try out a family board game night. One of my favorite memories growing up was playing board games as a family. Board game night was the one time all the hecticness of work, school, and other activities seemed to fall away and we were able to enjoy family time playing board games. Little did I know I was learning at the same time! If you have a family with a large age range, check out this list of the 10 best games that preschoolers through adults will all love.

4. Use board Games to Wind Down for Bed

I know I can’t be the only one who has kids who seem to get more and more awake the closer bedtime gets. Board games are a great tool to burn some of that excess brain energy off and help your kids wind down for bed. We try to avoid silly games, or active games right before bed, and instead target something like sleeping queens or robot turtles. These games hit the right balance of challenging without being too complex for them to focus on right before bed in our house.

5. Travel with Board Games

Traveling is a great time to try out gameschooling. Regular homeschool activities are difficult when your away from home. The combination of not having your regular homeschool tools at your disposal and kids being excited about traveling is not ideal. If you pick the right board games, they’re easy to play in a car, on a plane, or where ever you might be traveling and they won’t take up much space in your luggage! To get you started, here’s a list of our favorite kids board games to travel with.

Start your Gameschooling Journey!

I hope these tips can help you start (or expand) your gameschooling and see what a powerful homeschool tool it can be. I’d love to hear from you in the comments! If you already gameschool, what is your favorite way to fit board games in your day? If you haven’t started yet, which of these tips will you try?

Tyler blogs at kidsloveboardgames.com. Kids Love Board Games focuses on the benefits of playing family board games, gameschooling, as well as board game recommendations and reviews. Sign up for Kids Love Board Games newsletter and follow Kids Love Board Games on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

My Three Favourite Homeschooling Methods and Why I like them

January 18, 2019 By Annette1 2 Comments

YAY! I just love having people guest post on my blog and today Miss Rebecca is guest posting. As you can see, she’ll be addressing homeschooling methods.

Out of all the different homeschooling methods, I like three the most, and I’d like to share them with you. In particular, I like these methods because they seem to bring out the potential in our children and teach them about the world around them without burning them out or making learning seem like a chore.

And these three homeschooling methods are:

The Classical Method
The Charlotte Mason Method and
The Eclectic Method

Let’s get started!

My Third Favourite Method: The Classical Approach

Classical education has been around for hundreds of years. It was in its zenith around the time that Charles Dickens wrote his best-selling books. The Classical approach is a vigorous education that teaches children in three stages – the grammar, logic and then rhetoric stages.

It values things like:

Latin – because it’s the root of all the romantic languages
Debate – because it helps children think critically, speak clearly and organize their thoughts consistently and
Memorization – because it helps children remember important concepts that will help them immensely throughout their lives

Why I like The Classical Approach

While the Classical way of homeschooling is a vigorous education that expects a lot of children, it pushes them and gives them a good work ethic. It expects more of children than public schools might, and in that way, it helps children take on plenty of concepts and values that will benefit them in the future.

In short, we’ve lost a lot of rigor in our education today and I think Classical education will help us get this back.

Shortcomings of The Classical Approach

The biggest shortcoming of The Classical Approach is its inflexibility and rigidity. Picture a flogging for a poor Dickens boy who hasn’t reached his schoolmasters expectations. If not paced correctly, can it expect too much of some children.

But this is why Charlotte Mason invented her educational approach…

My Second Favourite Method: The Charlotte Mason Approach

The Charlotte Mason method was invented when Mason saw the strictness of the Classical approach and thought things should be gentler. As such, the Mason method has a lot of similarities to the Classical approach because Mason was trained as a Classical educator herself. (Indeed, many people who choose either the Charlotte Mason or Classical homeschooling methods tend to also enjoy teaching with elements of the other method).

While there are similarities, the Mason method is particularly known for:

Testing children with narration – this is when children are tested by parents asking them what they learned, and children narrate back their answers. This can be done orally, in writing, drama, interpretive dance or even STEM building!
Nature walks – Charlotte Mason was the founder of Scouts! She thought children should spend more time outdoors discovering nature
Habit training – All education should train us in good habits, so we benefit society as well-rounded individuals. Mason was a Christian and rooted her beliefs in Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection for our sins and benefit

Both Classical and Charlotte Mason homeschooling methods value lots of reading by children separately, and in a group with parents. Homeschooling parents who adopt either of these methods can be found reading tomes to their children for many hours each week. As such, children learn through exciting and challenging texts, instead of texts which are boring or given to children so they can pass an exam.

Why I like The Charlotte Mason Approach

Many Charlotte Mason homeschools are warm places of learning where families bond together as they learn together. For instance, if we look at narration we find harsh exams are replaced with parents simply asking their children what they’ve learned.

A lot of learning is face-to-face, and children and parents learn things together. I love that about the Charlotte Mason approach!

Shortcomings of The Charlotte Mason Approach

The Charlotte Mason approach expects a lot of parents. For example, reading for so many hours is lovely, but it can become a burden if the curriculum isn’t flexible.

I heard of one mom who turned back to use traditional homeschooling (school-at-home) methods because they lost their voice due to reading aloud so much.

And this leads me to the benefits of eclectic homeschooling…

My Favourite Method: The Eclectic Approach

Eclectic homeschooling is picking and choosing parts of different homeschooling methods and curricula that you like and using them in your homeschool. Eclectic homeschooling is like a buffet, you choose what you like.

Why I like The Eclectic Approach

Out of all the different educational methods, my favourite method is the eclectic homeschooling method. I like it simply because you can take the best parts from every educational theory and leave the bits of rubbish.

The eclectic method also lets you individualize your way of homeschooling to fit your child. This means that while one homeschooling method might work best for one child, it may not work for another.

And this makes sense as we’re all individuals and we all like or dislike certain things. It’s no surprise our learning preferences, strengths and weaknesses also work this way.

Shortcomings of The Eclectic Approach

Maybe the biggest thing you need to be aware of when you choose the eclectic homeschooling method is its ability to lead you everywhere if you don’t have a plan. For this reason, I advise you to write down your homeschooling plan so you don’t go down a rabbit hole as you discover all these other amazing ways to homeschool.

Conclusion: My Three Favourite Homeschooling Methods and Why I’m in love with them

Being able to our own way of homeschooling is a huge blessing. We have a smorgasbord of excellent homeschooling methods and resources at our fingertips. And this means we can choose the best ways of homeschooling to suit our own families. Among other educational theories, I believe the Classical and Charlotte Mason approaches are worthy of great consideration if you’re considering homeschooling. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join them all together to form a wonderful eclectic homeschool!

Rebbecca Devitt is the author of Why on Earth Homeschool: The Case for Christian Homeschooling. She’s the wife of a husband who is her best friend and makes her laugh and a son who is too cute for words. She’s dabbled in Nursing, Medical Science, Medicine and Law before settling down to her dream job—being a full-time mother! The family live in Wollongong and actively participate in their wonderful church, Wollongong Baptist Church. Rebbecca has written for various blogs including Homeschooling with Heart, Why on Earth Homeschool and her own Christian homeschooling website, How Do I Homeschool. As you can guess, her passion lies in helping people to homeschool well.

Show Your Voice with Punctuation

January 14, 2019 By Annette1 8 Comments

As a grade eight student, my son is starting to write more and more. As he writes he’s learning several things: like the need to spell better, sentence length, sentence structure and punctuation. Today I thought I’d talk about the best use of punctuation.

Punctuation is our use of a variety of dots and dashes. We use them to point the way for the reader. Pointing the way through our use of voice (the pace at which we read) and to divide our words, phrases and ideas into manageable pieces. How we use periods, commas, exclamation points and what not, shows our voice and helps the reader follow our words more clearly. This makes proper usage important.

One of the things I tell my son as I review his work is … how would you say this. As you revise it, read it over and everytime you pause, you need punctuation. Usually, it will be a period or comma, but sometimes it will be different. So stop, read, think, jot it down. If you are reading and there’s punctuation where you aren’t stopping, ask yourself why it’s there.

What is all this punctuation anyway?

. (period) ends a sentence

, (comma) most versatile of all your punctuation. It shows the author’s voice, shows continuity or the need for a break.

; (semi-colon) divides and organizes big chunks of information

: (colon) announces a word, phrase or clause

– (dash) sometimes is overused. Is best used to set a phrase apart or add punch to a closing line.

( ) parentheses are like a side trail that need to be manoeuvred around.

All other punctuation such as {}, !, ?, [], ABC all gives voice to the author. They show the pitch, tone and voice of the author. Each author will find their own path to how they use punctuation. After all, it’s OUR voice that we are sharing. Some will use commas and periods almost exclusively, and others will frequently toss in dots and dashes. It’s all part of making your writing your own. Just as you need to watch your adverbs and adjectives, you also need to watch how you use your punctuation.

So Get Out There

Write as you write. Mind you be reasonable about it. For instance, I’ve read people who insist on not using capitals, who won’t use periods, or who have odd gaps that leave you wondering where to read next.

So don’t be silly. You do need to follow punctuation rules. Remember, the goal is the HELP your readers find YOUR voice. Therefore USE the writing rules but make your writing your own. Pause when you would pause, hurry when it seems best to do so. Use excitement, and tension, and slowness. Make your words YOUR words.

The Evolution of Homeschool Hours

December 7, 2018 By Annette1 6 Comments

Do you know a startling fact? Not all homeschool days last the same length of time! I KNOW.. it is SO different from public or private school eh? Homeschooling parents all set up their days differently, as many different ways as parents who teach. The funny things is… your days will evolve over time.

I thought I’d take a moment and walk you through how over lives have changed over past 8 years.

We started our homeschooling journey when the lad was 5, he’s now 13. When he was five, you know what we did? We walked and talked, we played and told stories.

I remember the advice a homeschooling friend gave me. Don’t buy curriculum until he’s 8 years old. You don’t know anything before then. Take your time and just have fun. Count everything, read a lot, take him everywhere and talk about what you doing, bring him places where he can ask questions and have his imagination turned. I took her advice to heart (beyond the buying curriculum, which in the end… we never did use). We held this course pretty much for the next three years.

I tell stories as naturally a breathing (people tell me I should always write them down but they never come out the same you know?) Through stories we learned history, practiced our math, tried out new words, and wove in elements of experiments. Did we use books and what not? Of course we did. But they weren’t the mainstay of our life.

My son has always been big into weapons and fighting. And we have gone through many renditions of armour. Back in 2012 we learned about warriors from Fiji whose weapons were shaped like pineapples. Schooling for us back then was a whole day affair of simply living life and learning. We tried different things like word walls and some book work but reading and talking about things worked so much better than anything else at this age. Bookwork perhaps took an hour at the most.

From 2014-2017 bookwork gradually increased. We learned some important lessons such as… even if a boy does math backwards (at least in mom’s mind) but gets the correct answer and can explain how he got there, it’s okay. Just means a mom’s mind and a boy’s mind work differently and math can still be learned. Ergo, I don’t teach math, but I do act in a supportive role! Early on, we discovered the joy of learning on-line. We kept reading, books at breakfast, lunch, and bedtime. So many great books we read, and the histories we went through, delightful!

We learned to work with how a boy set on routine works when his momma isn’t a routine/organized type person. It was HARD. On a positive note it meant that school would last exactly three hours or four hours. AND a boy learned to bend when “come on, it’s field trip day, NO, you don’t have time to do everything you usually do”.

One winter we spent hours learning about snow and compacting it and using water to create a thin, but durable layer of ice.

We still spent time exploring different ideas. Reading poetry and drawing what we thought it meant. It’s amazing sometimes where words can take us. How many different directions they can take us, and yet, at the same time, how often they can take us in the same direction. We laughed often and were amazed together. The cat often joined in the fun.

And now we are in 2018. With a lad doing most of his work independently. Needing a weekly conversation to see if we are on track. Learning together doesn’t happen quite as often. School happens differently now. A lad often getting up before his mother does. Doing his easy stuff in the morning before Dad gets up (takes about an hour). Then playing and doing things with Dad until it’s time to go to work. Dad gone, it’s off to do schooling again (takes about 2.5-3) hours. Sometimes we do things differently with videos being watched at night, research papers written on the weekend, flexibility is more easily managed now.

And now I have a boy who will volunteer to read a good section in a book to me out loud. 🙂

It is magnificent watching a boy learn and grow. To develop skills and confidence. I absolutely love it!

What about you? How do your days go? Have you seen changes in your scheduling over the years? Or if you are just starting out, are you prepared for things to change?

World War 1: War Starts!

October 27, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

For the past two weeks We’ve been looking at the first battles of world war 1. Germany attacking France (through Belgium) after Austria attacked Serbia. England engaging Germany.

Do you remember that we took a rhetoric course through Silverdale Press? Well, we took some of what we were learning through that course and are applying them to speeches we are finding about the start of the world wars.

Wilhelm of Germany and Lloyd Jones of England. The lad read through the speeches giving me the main points and figuring out what persuasive points each man made in favour of their own people and country. The lad was shocked to read Wilhelm say he wasn’t looking for war but he would take it if the opportunity presented itself. With the Lloyd Jones speech he asked “what made the Germans barbarians?” This led us to start understanding how the rhetoric happened.

Books Read:

The lad read through sections of the following books.

The Great War.
Desperate Glory: the Story of WW1.
First World War.
Battles.
The War to End all Wars.
The First World War.

Videos:

We watched these movies as well as others. I love watching these videos with my lad. We learn so much and often stop just to talk.

We paused this video frequently to talk about some of the ideas. The lad was really able to show me the results of his reading as he answered my questions and filled in some of the background this video doesn’t provide. For instance, he told me that Britain had a treaty with Belgium because of it’s proximity to a weak spot in Britain’s defenses. Having Belgium as an ally meant that if anyone wanted to attack Britain they would have to go through Belgium. This alliance meant that attacking Belgium meant you had a powerful enemy defending them. We watched the next four in this series as well. Taking us through the first five weeks of the war.

The lad had mentioned the Krupp420 to me a few times. It was 24 feet long, weighed 98 tons, and had the ability to fire 2000 lb shells over the range of 9 miles. The German’s used this gun effectively against the Belgium forts. It’s a massive gun.

And for variety I played this one… which ended up really helping ME understand how all the alliances came into play. The lad helped me put all the pieces together as well.

Since Germany first attacked Belgium, we had Belgium Waffles for supper on Thursday night. Seemed fitting. 🙂 I wanted to make a bigger, more “Belgium-ish” meal but couldn’t find what I needed.

Looking Forward

Looking forward we’ll be studying

Soldiers, training, recruitment, uniforms
Trench warfare
War at sea
More battles
Animals of war
Canada at war
Shell shock
Propaganda

I discovered some twitter accounts to follow that provide us with photos of the war to look at and information we didn’t otherwise know or even think to learn about. World War 1 & 2 Photos. News from the Front. World War II facts. WhatIfHistory. The Great War. Great war 100 years.

Others in this series:

Assassination!
Belgium in the early 1900’s.

Use Boredom For Good

October 22, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

You know how letting kids be bored isn’t a bad thing?

It’s the same thing for writers. We need to learn to use boredom for good.

Just as a child who is bored, who doesn’t have their time or brain filled with things to do, finds something to do, usually something with a creative bent. A writer who is bored will find something to think about and eventually to do or at least write about. I know when I have nothing to do my mind immediately fills with a storyline.

So utilize boredom. Don’t treat it like an enemy but rather is a friend and helpmeet.

Shut off the devices. Close the doors. Don’t read a book, or chat with friends. Perhaps you need to get outside and just be alone in your own space. Let your mind have the freedom to roam unimpended or distracted. Let your body be busy if necessary but let your thoughts be free to mull around and come up with their own ideas.

Next time you are sitting at a doctor’s office mindlessly waiting don’t pull out your cell phone. Pay attention to your boredom, what is it teaching you? So many stories and ideas might be surrounding you. The elderly fellow using a cane with a pin in the lapel of his vest. The youngster hanging off his momma’s leg. The lady in the business suit tapping her fingers impatiently. What are their stories? That interesting fabric, could it be important? Who designed that purse? Could there be a world ruled by spiders? What thoughts are inspired? Any interesting worlds that might be imagined? What research could be spurred on?

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