MId-week Morsel: Word Frequency Counter

As they say, variety is the spice of life.  That sentiment also holds true our writings.  Whether you are working your way through my Writing for Storytellers program, writing your own blog post, or writing an essay for school, you don't want to be repetitive with your word choice.  It is easy to fall into a rut and over-use words, which can give the appearance that you have a small vocabulary and make your work less interesting.  Write Words, an online writing community, has a simple word frequency counter to help solve redundancy problems.  Simply paste your text into their box and press the submit button.  To show you how it works, I pasted the text of this post into the box.  Here are the result...

6 the

5 your

5 you

5 writing

5 to

4 a

3 into

3 have

3 for

3 and

2 words

2 word

2 they

2 that

2 text

2 post

2 of

2 it

2 is

2 frequency

2 counter

2 box

2 are

2 an

2 also

1 writings

1 write

1 works

1 working

1 work

1 with

1 which

1 whether

1 what

1 way

1 want

1 vocabulary

1 variety

1 use

1 true

1 tips

1 through

1 this

1 their

1 submit

1 storytellers

1 spice

1 solve

1 small

1 simply

1 simple

1 show

1 sentiment

1 school

1 say

1 rut

1 result

1 repetitive

1 redundancy

1 program

1 problems

1 press

1 phrase

1 pasted

1 paste

1 own

1 over

1 out

1 our

1 or

1 online

1 my

1 make

1 life

1 less

1 interesting

1 i

1 how

1 holds

1 here

1 help

1 has

1 give

1 fall

1 essay

1 easy

1 don't

1 do

1 community

1 choice

1 check

1 can

1 button

1 blog

1 better

1 be

1 as

1 appearance

They also have a phrase frequency counter to check out. What tips do you have for better writing? Karissa

Preventing Summer Learning Loss 2016

 The idea for this post was originally going to be a Mid-week Morsel.  However, once I started gathering resources and putting it all together, I quickly realized that this was not a morsel.  It's a whole meal!

If you are concerned that your children will forget last school year's lessons over the summer, you're not alone.  It is estimated that students start the next school year 2-3 months behind where they ended the year before.  As a result, teachers spend much of the first month or so trying to get back that lost knowledge.

Preventing summer learning loss doesn't have to be time consuming, boring, or even expensive.  I've compiled a short list of websites that offer summer programs specifically designed to help prevent summer learning loss.  There is something for everyone in the list.  Some are free, some are paid.  Some focus on a specific subject, others combine subjects.  Some are straight forward practice pages, some are game and adventure based.  Check out each one to see what will work best for you.

Did I leave out a website you think should have made the list?  Share it in the comments below!

Karissa


Free Resources:

The Quantile Framework - Math, Reading

          The Summer Math Challenge - The Quantile Summer Math Challenge is a free math skills maintenance program targeted to students who have just completed grade 1 through 7 and is designed to help children retain math skills learned during the previous school year.

          Find a Book - The Lexile “Find a Book” tool is a fun and easy way to select books based on a child’s Lexile measure and interests. You can use this free search tool to build custom lists for readers of all ability levels and then locate your selections at the local public library. 

Khan Academy - Math, Science, Computer Programming, History, Art History, Economics, and more

          Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. We've also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.

Ten Marks - Math

          Assignments contain a wide variety of question types across all depths of knowledge to ensure your students understand the core concepts in a variety of ways. Immediate feedback promotes learning and retention. Hints and video lessons are embedded in every question. Scaffolded hints help students remember core concepts. Video lessons refresh foundational skills. 

Book Adventure - Reading

           Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can search for books, read them offline, come back to quiz on what they’ve read, and earn prizes for their reading success.

Brain Flex - Math, Science

           Get active and happy this summer. Build your math and science skills with daily practice.  Pick the subjects you want to practice.  Practice something every day.  Anytime and anywhere.  We will help you stay on track and monitor your progress.  Invite students to get a head start or review concepts they missed.  Track your student's progress over the 8-week challenge.


Paid Resources:

Brain Chase -  multi-subject - $79/6 week adventure

          The Summer 2016 adventure starts at 9 a.m. EST on Monday, June 20, 2016. Students in grades 2 through 8 will log in to the Student Dashboard watch the first animated webisode and meet Mae Merriweather as she and her team of adventurers search for the Mask of Tomoe Gozen. Also, check the mail for a mysterious object that you’ll need during the 6-week adventure.  Each week you have four tasks: earn 10,000 energy points on Khan Academy, write a journal entry, do one bonus challenge, and complete either reading or language assignments. We provide seamless access to all of our online curriculum partners for you, and all tasks are adaptable to the student's level.  This isn’t just fiction—there’s a real treasure buried somewhere on Earth. The first adventurer to decipher the clues and discover the treasure's location will receive a trip to dig it up and a $10,000 scholarship.

LeapAhead! -  Math - $24.95/8 week session

          LeapAhead! offers 4 assignments a week for a total of 8 weeks. Its daily assignments motivate children to log in everyday to find what challenges await them. Children love the interactive nature of online worksheets, and they can find out their mistakes and scores right away!  All worksheets are fully aligned with the Common Core State Standards.  Assignments will be automatically graded upon submission. An online report keeps track of each child's scores and progress. Every child will receive an online printable certificate upon completion of the program.

 Summer Splash - Math - $29.99/8 week program

          Halt the summer slide (students lose 2-3 months of math skills during the summer break if they do not practice regularly).  Review Skills from the current grade and practice key skills from the grade student is entering this fall.  Program is available for students from Kindergarten through Grade 5.  Diagnostics and practice assignments aligned to Common Core Standards.  Individualized report which summarizes the child’s progress and aptitude on both previous and next year’s math skills.  A Certificate of completion at the end of the program.

K5 Learning - Math, Reading - $14.95/month

           K5 Learning is an online after-school study program for kids in kindergarten to grade 5.  We build reading, math and study skills.  K5 kids learn to focus and work independently.  K5 allows kids to progress, unrestrained and un-pressured.  K5 organizes, instructs, and quizzes your child and provides reports to you.  We use simple interfaces, spoken instructions and bite sized lessons.  No ads, no chat, & no external links.  100% online. No downloads and nothing to install.

IXL - Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies - $9.95/month

          Embark on a virtual treasure hunt as you tackle math challenges and reveal colorful prizes. The more you practice, the more you win!  With IXL, it's easy to meet your learning objectives! All of IXL's skills are fully aligned to Florida standards. Get unprecedented insight into student performance with IXL Analytics. View real-time data on usage, trouble spots, and more! 

Writing For Storytellers

As you may recall, I like to have my kids do some sort of school work over the summer.  My kids don't like it as much as I do, but I do try to make it more fun than regular school-year type work.  I try to use the kids' interests to build fun and interactive elective-type classes for summer time.  One year, we spent the summer learning the science behind cooking.  There were some lessons to read, some worksheets to complete, and a lot of cooking & eating.

Lately, my 12 year old has been very busy writing.  She has taken a real interest in storytelling.  She has several works in progress, from short stories to screenplays to full-on novels.  So this summer I thought it would be both fun and beneficial to give her a class on how to write a novel.

Of course, I'm NOT a novelist!  I am, however, pretty good at scouring the internet for information.  I spent a few weeks doing research and gathering resources from people who ARE novelists, and came up with a 7 unit course to take her all the way through the writing process.  I'm still debating whether or not to add a unit to the end about the editing process.  I kind of feel like that could be a whole course of its own.  

The included units are:

• Before You Write
• Story Formats
• Theme
• Character Development
• Set Building
• Subplots
• As You Write

To make all this information easier to access and organize, I compiled all the articles and worksheets into one website.  If you have a budding author in your house, are one yourself, or are just looking for quasi-educational summer activities for your tween or teen, please take a look at Writing for Storytellers.  As always, the resources and worksheets are free for personal use.  If you wish to share them, please link directly to either that website or this post.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Free SAT Customized Preparation

 If you have kids in school, chances are you've already started thinking about college.  Or at least, you've started thinking to yourself that you should start thinking about college.  

College admissions has become very competitive.  There are programs to help increase your child's odds of receiving scholarships and admission to the college of his/her choice that start as early as middle school.  Unfortunately, for many years now, the best SAT scores have statistically gone to the students who could afford personal tutors to train them specifically to score well on the SAT.

Beginning in March of 2016, the SAT has been revamped to help level the playing field and give all students the possibility of a high score.  The exam itself has been modified to better test what students are actually learning in the classroom.  In addition, it will now also include questions about other skills that have been deemed necessary for college and beyond.

The final piece of the restructuring of the SAT comes from Khan Academy.  Yes, the same Khan Academy that your student uses to brush up on math skills.  The College Board approached and partnered with Sal Khan to create free customized SAT prep.  If your student has already taken the PSAT or SAT, you can link to his/her scores so that the site knows what areas (s)he needs help with.  If (s)he has not, there are diagnostic quizzes to determine where to start.  There are also practice tests, video lessons, and instant feedback so your student gets the appropriate help every step of the way.

In addition, Khan Academy has set up a page to give you an overview of the college admission process.  It is a great place to start so you can see how the process has changed since you were in high school, and gain the confidence that you are giving your child(ren) the best chance for success.

What are your tips for success in education?  Share them in the comments below!

Karissa

Sadie's Interactive Math Notebook

We've completed our first full unit of math using an interactive math notebook.  So far, my daughter and I are both enjoying math so much more than ever before!  It does take me a little bit of time to decide what kind of printable/foldable I want to use for each lesson and get it prepared, but it is so worth it to me to see her actually enjoying math class.

For those of you who aren't familiar with interactive notebooks, they are a way of taking notes for a subject in a creative way that is both visually appealing and...well...interactive.  I usually try to create some sort of printable that contains some of the information, but leaves a space for her to finish the "notes".  I also try to choose a fun way to present that information such as a foldable, and using fun fonts & colors.  Don't know what a foldable is?  It's easier for me to show you than to tell you, but basically a foldable can be anything that opens or can be manipulated by the student. It can be used to divide information into groups, or to help the information flow from one step to the next.  Graphic organizers and minibooks can also be used to hold information.  Let me show you what I mean...

I printed out a cover and inserted it into an old 3 ring binder.

I printed out title pages for each section of the notebook.  First is the Table of Contents.

Very simply, list either the title of the lesson or the topic, and the page number as you complete each lesson.

Next comes the body of the notebook; the actual lessons.

Place Value

 

Estimating

 

How to add, subtract, multiply, & divide.

 

Properties of Numbers

 

 Order of Operations

 

Place Value of Decimals

Comparing & Ordering Decimals

 

 

Front End Estimation

Operations with Decimals

Powers of Ten

Story Problems: 4 step plan

Story Problems: clue words

That is the end of the first unit.  We will continue on with subsequent units so that her entire year of work will be accessible in this one notebook.

The last section of her notebook is for vocab words.

Here she writes simple definitions or examples of terms she is unfamiliar with.

Wow!  That was a lot of pictures.  I hope I haven't overwhelmed you, or bored you to tears.  Since we have started using an interactive notebook, I'm always looking online to see what other people are putting in theirs.  I decided it would be nice to post pics of what is inside ours so that others can see it.  Do you use an interactive notebook?  How do you use it? What is your favorite foldable or mini book?  

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Talk Like a Pirate Day, It Be Me Hearties!

Shiver me timbers! Tomorrow is talk like a pirate day.  It's a great day to act silly and have some fun.  It's also a great day to sneak in a little history and science...along with the fun.  I've found the motherload of pirate resources for your little lads and lasses.

Before you can be a pirate, you need to learn about pirates.  Older pirates will get a real feel for the life of a pirate by watching any of the pirate documentaries a available on YouTube.  After that, let them learn which flags various pirates flew and what those images meant.

Younger pirates will get a thrill out of learning to talk like a pirate, and generating their own pirate names.  Disney has an entire subsite dedicated to pirate crafts & activities for younger children.

To be a pirate, you need pirate gear.  Younger pirates will enjoy this adorable yet simple duct tape sword.  This homemade compass is a great science lesson on magnetism.  Every pirate needs a telescope to see far off treasure.  I've found one tutorial that looks more like a pirate spyglass, but does not have lenses, and one less traditional looking telescope that gives a great explanation of how the lenses work to magnify distant objects.  Finally, pirates must love the water, and your little pirate will absolutely love making his own ocean in a bottle.

So smartly get yerself ready to be a pirate, or the youngsters may send you to Davy Jones' Locker!

Karissa
(Sal "One-Legged" Curnow)

Use Transparencies to Make Lessons More Clear

There are some times when no matter how you present a lesson, your student just can't see the connection.  One of the tools I use to make lessons more clear is transparency sheets.  They are a great way to not only mix things up a bit, but they can make lessons and lesson planning less wasteful, too.  Just be sure to use mirror images when printing.  Here are a few of the ways I use transparency sheets.

Lesson Planning - As I mentioned in my Workbox post, I use transparency sheets in our Workbox file folders.  Each day I write out instructions for every lesson so that my daughter can quickly see what needs to be done for her classes.  At the end of the day, I wipe them clean and write the next day's instructions.  No paper lists to throw away!  I've used the same sheets for 3 years now, and don't see them wearing out any time soon.

Handwriting - When my boys were little I printed out handwriting practice sheets for each of them.  Having twins, it was easy to see just how many sheets of paper were being used up.  When my daughter came along, I wised up and printed her handwriting pages on transparency sheets.  We used them in conjunction with her Doodle Pro for a no mess way for her practice her letters over and over again.  If you don't have a magnetic doodle board, simply use dry erase crayons or markers.

Science - As my youngest is now in 5th grade, classes are getting more complex.  In science, she is currently studying the body systems of animals.  How better to illustrate how all the body systems fit together than with transparency sheets?! I found images of the systems at InnerBody.com, and printed them on the sheets.  She added them to her science lapbook, layering them so that she can view different combinations of systems together.  (Just ignore the ugly packing tape used to attach the sheets to her lapbook.  Sometimes you just use what you have!)

Maps - Whether the class is U.S. History or Government, transparencies are definitely the way to look at how states vote. I found these election maps at NationalAtlas.gov.  Laying one on top of the other makes it very clear which states are red, which are blue, and which are more of a purple.

Early learning - Although I have not done it myself, as you can see from the purple states, layering colored strips of the transparencies blends the colors beautifully.  Print one sheet with 1/3 of the sheet red, 1/3 yellow, and 1/3 blue.  Cut the three colors apart.  Then, leave them out for your preschooler to discover, and watch the magic of the rainbow light up his face.

How will you use transparency sheets to make lessons more clear?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Stencyl Game Studio

The next stop on my list of ways to jazz up our learning this year is at the Stencyl Game Studio.  Stencyl allows users to create their own games, playable on iOS, Android, and Flash without coding (although you can write your own code if you wish).  Character behaviors are customizable using building blocks similar to those used in Scratch.  The freely downloadable program comes complete with resources for creating countless games, and also allows users to import their own resources to create truly unique games.  The Crash Course game and tutorial has you making your first game in minutes.  There is also an extensive "Stencylpedia" available to answer any questions you may have.  Once you have made your amazing new game, you can make it available in the App Store or Google Play Store.  You can also display the game on your website or blog.  BLiP is just one of many games available in the App Store created using Stencyl.  Of course, if you want you can simply play the game on your computer as well.  What will you and your children create?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Zooburst Digital Storytelling

As I continued my search this summer for ways to make school more fun, I set out to find a way to motivate my reluctant writer.  After numerous searches (that I couldn't retrace if I tried), I stumbled upon a website that was just what I had been looking for; Zooburst.  I was familiar with sites like Storybird and MediaChalk that allow users to create digital stories, but Zooburst takes digital storytelling to the next level. Users can create pop-up books either from preloaded clip art, or art they upload themselves.  I like having the option to upload our own art, particularly if my children have a specific topic they are to write about.  As I said, I was looking for a way to encourage my reluctant writer.  What I didn't expect to find was a creative and interactive way for the kids to study & display what they have learned.  Check out this great Zooburst story reviewing math's order of operation rules...

One final note:  as with many great sites, Zooburst offers some of its features free, however other features are only available to paying subscribers.  Oh, and they have an iPad app also.  What cool tools have you found to keep your children excited about learning?

Karissa

Working on Behavior

One of my favorite tv shows is NBC's Parenthood.  There are so many times when I burst out laughing because I can totally relate to something said or done on the show.  I had one of those moments while watching the episode "Trouble in Candyland" during which one mom asks another about how she gets her son to behave and cooperate.  "Bribery," she replies.  "We call it an incentive program, but it's really just bribery."  While there is some debate about the technical differences between bribery and incentives, I found myself nodding in agreement, and laughing out loud.

The final piece of the school at home puzzle is behavior management.  You can't be an effective instructor, and your child can't be a receptive student if you both are constantly battling behavior issues.  We have created a new incentive program at my house, and so far...it's working.  I'm calling it Working on Behavior.  My daughter is 9, but very much wants to get a job so she can earn some money.  We don't offer allowances at our house, but I won't go into the details of that decision right now .  We do, however want to fulfill her need to get some satisfaction for her hard work, so she and I had a talk about the fact that her school work and household chores are her job for now.

After some thinking and discussing we agreed on this...

She can earn up to $10 per day based on her behavior during school and completion of her chores after school.  At the end of each week, she will receive her paycheck, which she will need to deposit into her account.  She can then use her checkbook to buy rewards from us.  Rewards can be things like extra dessert, staying up late on weekends, or extra tv or video game time.  We also agreed that other rewards can be added to the list as we go.  This allows her to feel more grown up, and gives her more of the things she really wants while teaching her that successes in the working world are linked to performance and effort.  (It doesn't hurt that she is learning to manage money and a bank account at the same time.)

I sat down and made a chart to display how much she is earning each day, an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of her weekly pay, and then linked it with Word documents I created for printing her paycheck, blank checks, deposit slips, and check register.  I formatted all of these documents so that you can download them and quickly fill in your own information.  I set up the spreadsheet to accommodate up to 35 students, and set up the Word documents as mail merge templates so that you can easily print paychecks, blank checks, and deposit slips for multiple children.  Download my Working on Behavior Starter Pack for free.

Last, but not least, please congratulate Melanie S. on winning the Ready-to-read Bundle!  Thank you for the entries I received.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Playing the Stock Market

Even when my children attended traditional public school, it has always been important to me to teach them the things that aren't taught in school.  My 16 year old boys got their first checking accounts this summer, but they've known how to manage and balance a checkbook for several years.  It was one of our summer school topics a few years back.  Now I've found another great resource for my older kids; a free virtual stock exchange! HowTheMarketWorks.com features a stock market game allowing players to practice trading real stocks using imaginary money.  It will make a great addition when we learn about the stock market.  Speaking of which, they also have an education center on their website where both teens and adults can learn the basics of how the market works.

Karissa

My Mega Ready-to-Read Bundle Giveaway & Sale

I'm ending back-to-school month with a bang!  With the help of my wonderful dad, I've been working hard to get some more of the materials I made for my daughter converted to pdf so they can be posted online.  I'm calling it my Mega Ready-to-Read Bundle.  It includes 5 books, 6 worksheets, 52 print-n-cut Word Builder cards, and a template for printing custom Words I Know cards.  There is one 8 page book for each short vowel.  I wrote the books so that, unlike many store bought beginning reader books, children just learning to sound out words can actually read the entire book themselves.  There are no difficult words in these books.  Each book has a review sheet which requires the child to match words from the book with their corresponding picture, and there is one final review sheet that covers all 5 books.  The books are formatted to either be read as ebooks or printed & assembled.  The print-n-cut Word Builder cards allow children to take the words learned in these books and use them build other words containing the same base sound.  For example, in "A Man, a Cat, and a Rat" children read the words "cat", "mat", "rat", "sat".  Take the "at" base, then add different letters to the beginning of the base to build new words such as "bat, "fat", "hat", and "pat".  There are 26 bases and 26 individual letter cards.  After you child sounds out all of those words, open the Words I Know template and print out each word your child can read.  Cut them apart and let your child use them to build his own sentences and stories.  There are so many ways to store these cards.  Punch a hole in each one and put them on a key ring, attach a magnet to each one and put them on the fridge (or print them on magnet paper), or create a Words I Know wall in your house so everyone can share in his accomplishment.  The purpose is to build your child's confidence while making reading interactive and fun.  

I have posted this entire bundle for sale in my CurrClick store for the very affordable price of $1.43.  $.43 goes to CurrClick for hosting my store, and I make $1 from every sale.  I have really tried to make my materials as affordable as possible. However, I know that sometimes each and every dollar counts, so I will be giving away one completely printed, and assembled set.  Minus the template; that will be emailed to you.  The giveaway will run for one week, ending at midnight on Friday, August 30th.  The winner will be announced in my post next Saturday, the 31st.  The more you spread the word, the more entries you can earn, so be sure to share about the giveaway on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter!  Even if you do not have ready-to-read aged children, this bundle makes a great gift.  I truly hope your family (or friends) enjoy these materials as much as mine has.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Scratch

Most kids aren't too excited to get back to school.  While they may have a favorite subject or two, there are plenty of other less well liked subjects to curb their enthusiasm.  Whether your children attend a traditional public school, are unschooled, or fall somewhere in between, adding something truly fun to their school year can work miracles in terms of keeping up their morale.  I have found several ideas for adding some fun education this year that I will be revealing in upcoming Mid-week Morsels .  The first is Scratch.  What is Scratch?  Their website explains it best..."Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically. Scratch is designed and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab."  Scratch is a great free way to introduce your children to the world of programming.  My next idea will be introduced in the August 27th Mid-week Morsel.

Karissa

How We Use Block Scheduling

If you are the parent of a child who goes to school at home, you know what a difference scheduling can make in how smoothly your day flows.  Now that you understand your child's learning style, it's time to consider her personality traits.  Ask yourself questions like, "Does she transition easily between subjects & activities?", "Does she loose interest in activities after a certain period of time?", "Does she feel overwhelmed by the number of classes she has to take?"  Knowing the answer to these kinds of questions will help you decide what type of class schedule will work best for your child.  If you have more than one child, remember, they may all be different.

My daughter does not transition easily between classes, but my boys do.  However, she can stay interested in a topic much longer than my boys (unless we're talking about video games or military history & weaponry).  She is also more likely to feel overwhelmed by having too many classes to complete each day.  Because my children have such different personalities, they also have very different schedules.

I don't really have to do much scheduling for my boys because they are capable of scheduling themselves...which is the ultimate goal.  From time to time one or both of them may put off one class so that they can work longer on another class. They will do this when they are in a groove and don't want to stop, but for the most part they follow a pretty traditional school schedule, working a little on each class every day.  They are both the type of person who feels like he is getting more done if he can quickly cross things off his to-do list.  Give them a longer list of quick things to do, and they breeze through it.

My daughter is just the opposite.  If she saw a list of seven classes to be completed, it wouldn't matter if you told her each class would only take five minutes, she would be overwhelmed.  For her schedule, we use much larger blocks.  Last year, she only worked on one class each day, completing a week's worth of lessons at a time.  That was actually a little too big.  This year she decided she would like to have two classes each day, completing half a week's work for each class. Bigger blocks allow her time to get a lot of work done in a subject without having to "change brains" too often.  Here is our plan for this year:

One of the perks of schooling at home is having flexibility in your schedule.  If after a few weeks of school, we realize that this schedule isn't quite right, we can tweak it a little...or completely trash it and start from scratch.  If you aren't sure what type of schedule is right for your child, check out this free ebook from The Education Alliance at Brown University.  It is written for schools systems, but starts with some great examples of various versions of block schedules and lists pros and cons for each.

What kind of class schedule do you use in your home?  What type of schedule does your local school use?  How is it working for you?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: What kind of learner is your child?

How does your child learn best?  Is he a visual, aural, read/write, or kinesthetic learner?  Perhaps he's a multimodal learner, meaning he uses more than one way of learning.  More importantly, how can knowing what type of learner your child is help him be a better student, and you a better teacher?  Understanding how your child learns best will enable you to present information in a format that most interests your child, and allow him to absorb the information.  Even if your child attends a traditional public school, knowing what type of learner he is, and passing that information along to his teacher, can help her know how to interact with him in order to bring out his best.  Furthermore, understanding your child's learning style gives you the information you need to teach him study strategies that will actually work for him.  Writing down and reading notes is not an effective study method for a child who is not a read/write learner.  Have your child take this 16 question VARK (Visual Aural Read/Write Kinesthetic) questionnaire to determine his learning style.  Then read the helpsheet(s) for your child's learning style(s).  They offer tips to improve your child's input, study methods, and output.  In case you're interested, there is also a questionnaire for adults, too!   So you both can get the most out of this school year!

Karissa

Our Modified Workbox System

Ready or not, August is here.  All month long I'll be writing posts about what we are doing to be ready for school.  Today's post is all about our version of Sue Patrick's Workbox System.  If you're not familiar with the Workbox System, it is an organization and teaching system that allows your children to work more independently.  There is much more to her system than I will cover here, so if you want more information you can search Google, or buy her ebook.  However, let me give you a brief overview.

You start with some sort of cabinet or container for each student.  It can be a set of shelves, an organizer drawer set, or in our case a portable file box.  Within that container you have smaller containers for each class that student is taking. For example, if you are using shelves, you might choose to use plastic shoe boxes for each class.  If you use an organizer drawer set, then use a different drawer for each class.  Since we use a file box, we have one hanging file for each class.  I know that sounds a little confusing.  It's not complicated, just kind of hard to explain.  Let me show you.  Here is my daughter's workbox, and each of the files for her classes.

Each day, I only put that day's classes in the box.  So, if she only has math & social studies on that day, those are the only files in her box.  Within the files is that day's work for the class.  I include everything she needs so that she can work independently and not loose focus because she has to find her textbook, manipulative, or any other material.  I also include an instruction sheet so that she knows which pages to read, what problems to solve, etc.  (Tip:  I use blank transparency sheets for my instruction sheets, and write on them with Crayola Dry Erase Crayons so they are reusable.)  Here is what is in my daughter's social studies folder for her first day of class; it contains her textbook, workbook, lapbook, and instruction sheet.

Notice that there is a cute little decorative label clipped to the front of the file.  I made these easy to remove in order to boost her sense of accomplishment.  We have a ribbon with paper clips hanging on the wall at my daughter's desk.  As she completes each class, she hangs the label on the ribbon as a visual reward for finishing the class.  This makes it very easy for her (& me) to see what she has done, and what she has left to do.

I hope this helps you understand the Workbox System and how you can customize it to fit your home classroom.  It does take a little bit of time to set it up for each day.  I usually get the next day ready after the kids are in bed each evening. However, it saves even more time each day because everyone knows just what to do, and has all the tools to do it.  Next week, I'll share how we use a block schedule to stay focused.

Karissa