Showing posts with label Homeschool Help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool Help. Show all posts

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Dad's Helping Hand in our Homeschool

Years ago when I first started home educating there was a move within the home school community that Dad is the head of the house and therefore should be in charge of your home school. There was also a silent expectation that he aught to be doing A to Z within your home school.  I lived with such guilt, condemnation and confusion during this time. Paul didn't do even 5% of what was on the prescribed list. How could he ? He was up and out the home by 7am to be at work. Due to the physical demands of his job came home utterly exhausted.  I was so relieved when the mentor of our home school group broached this topic and said enough is enough.  Your husband works all day providing for you and your family.  He has entrusted the education of your children to you, stop with this craziness. There is no way under the sun that he can hold down full time employment and home educate your children.

As I thought about this weeks topic the following scripture kept coming to mind: Proverbs 31:11
  • The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her (KJV)
  • The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on and believes in her securely  (AMP)
  • Her husband has full confidence in her (NIV)
  • Her husband trusts her without reserve, (MSG)
Once we had prayed and come into agreement that this is what God wanted for our family Paul trusted me to research.  He trusted that I would equip myself to do the best I could possible do with the resources we have available for our family. He did not and does not micro manage our home school.  He quietly watches from the sidelines and encourages me when I loose sight of the bigger picture. More often than not this is a self esteem issue more than a home educating one. There has been once or twice he has stepped in and said enough you need to rest but other than that he trusts me to do what is best for our family in the homeschool front.  This is not to say we never talk about it, we do. If it's to do with academics he trusts me to choose and decide. If anything extra comes up I bring to the table we discuss, make a decision and it's up to me to follow through. He is not a man of many words but I know he is there if I need him all I need to do is ask.

My Assistant
We each have different strengths and abilities and we are both willing to bring what ever is needed at the time to accomplish the greater good for our family.  For us that means he is the bread winner in our home and I do the educating.  I don't like doing dissections and am not hands on but he is.  When ever we need to dissect something he is happy to do that.  I have had no Latin instruction so he helps with the pronunciations of that and teaches me. There have been times I have come unstuck with a question in a book and he has had the answer. He is my perfect counter balance and he completes me even in our home school. I am not technically minded, he is so he teaches that when the children want to know.  He is a hands on learner and is willing to help our children no matter what. 

Paul's Thoughts
What it means to be a home school Dad
Home-schooling is becoming increasingly popular as for some the pendulum swings away from institutionalised teaching. It appears that there are several reasons to home-school ranging from children being bullied, one on one teaching, instilling one’s moral values into one’s own children etc. Many parents find themselves at loggerheads with other family members who perhaps feel threatened by the unknown aspects of home-schooling or they may feel the resistance to change which is a perfectly normal human emotion. It is necessary to be supportive in this instance.
When a family does decide to embark on a home-school journey it is critically important for the parents to be in total agreement about everything that it encompasses. There will always be Government or State requirements to meet, agreement on what study material to use, it will mean that there is potentially one less income in the home (in a culture where the mother is expected to work). In short it is a tremendous commitment and not to be taken lightly. It is therefore vital that I as the Father encompass all that it entails to be united in our home-schooling journey.
In my role I do not do the actual day to day teaching however I read stories (normally curriculum related) on a daily basis. I will assist in certain scientific aspects of the work. Being involved in animal related work (as a Zookeeper) I have access to many interesting nature related topics.
It is imperative for me to be “on the same page” as my spouse concerning the direction we take in our schooling as well as philosophies and spiritual beliefs and support in the day to day running of things. I need to be a stable and mature personality for her to lean on during difficult times and be a permanent foundation for her and our children.

Paul recently started a blog {Bush Tales by Paul} where he intends to share about creation from a Zoo keepers' perspective.
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Practical ways for Dad to be involved
  • Discussion to help clarrify goals, direction and approach for your homeschool
  • Encouragement when your wife feels overwhelmed. Acknowledge that your wife is doing a great job.
  • Support and understanding.
  • Instructing the children in areas the wife has no experience in. For example car maintenance, be a guest teacher in an area that a child is struggling.  Sometimes you have a different perspective that can be the key to unlocking understanding in the student.
  • Spiritual accountability especially if a student is having a personal struggle in some area. 
  • Be a listening support for your wife
  • Take the children out for a while to allow your wife some time on her own.
  • Take your wife on a date.
 Support

 
Help for Homeschool Dads: I'm Married to a Homeschool Mom!

At the end of it we all need to realise that each and every family is different and what is good for one family is not necessarily a good fit for another family. You need to find your comfortable place and go with that rather than try to be what other people expect of your family.  

Blessings

Chareen

This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.


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Tuesday 1 October 2013

Teaching Compostion {Language Arts}

Teaching writing seems to be one of the catch phrases amongst home school families and one of the most discussed topics within home school co-ops and support groups and is evidenced by the quantity of writing curriculum's available today on the market.

Writing structure and style is not something that comes with ease to us and the reason for this is because it was not something that was taught to us.  Most adults I've consulted with have memories of topics and word counts but no formal knowledge on tackling the written paper.

Composition com·po·si·tion (kmp-zshn) n.
  1. a. The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole. 
    b. The manner in which such parts are combined or related. 
    c. General makeup: the changing composition of the electorate.
    d. The result or product of composing; a mixture or compound. 
  2. 2. Arrangement of artistic parts so as to form a unified whole. 
  3. a. The art or act of composing a musical or literary work.
    b. A work of music, literature, or art, or its structure or organisation.
  4.  A short essay, especially one written as an academic exercise.

Charlotte Mason says "The earliest practise in writing proper for children of seven or eight should be, not letter writing or dictation, but transcription, slow and beautiful work... Transcription should be an introduction to spelling. Children should be encouraged to look at the word, see a picture of it with their eyes shut, and then write from memory." v1 p239

In the Charlotte Mason philosophy composition starts with the art of Narration.  Once a child can narrate with ease he is then ready for written narration (composition).


"...Composition is not an adjunct but an integral part of their education in every subject "Charlotte Mason ~Vol. 6, p.192


Tools
  1. Spelling - without a good grounding in spelling a student will struggle in formal written work.
  2. Writing - A student needs to be comfortable with letter formation and do so with ease before starting the formal written assignments. Copy work is a two edged sword: it serves to learn letter formation and correcting spelling.
  3. Vocabulary - Without a sufficient vocabulary it is difficult to express oneself. Vocabulary is easily acquired via listening to excellent literature read out loud and reading quality books to oneself.
  4. Narration - helps the student to organise their thoughts with ease.
The first years of school are the foundational years of these four tools in the life of a student without these tools the student is severely handicapped in their journey to writing well. Teaching writing starts by practising the art verbally {narration}.  We do not want to over whelm our students with formal written composition while they are still developing the formal mechanical ability to write. This frees up the student to learn the art of ordering their thoughts in preparation for when they formally start written compositions.  

How
The art of written composition is started at around the age of ten after the student has a sufficient efficiency with the mechanical necessities of writing and a good grounding in the servant spelling.  There is very little point in overwhelming a student by expecting too many things all at once.  It is to our benefit to equip our students with excellent vocabulary via great literature read out loud and to themselves. Teach them to spell well and practise organising their thoughts via narration. 

At this point introduce the lessons from the Student Writing Intensive. This program is a good transition into formal compositions as the student does not have to compose any written work simply from imagination. IEW teach the student how to take good notes from supplied stories and re-tell the story in their own words on paper. Once this step is complete the students are then equipped with how to improve their written work and formulate excellent presentable work with no stress. 


Resources

For Further Reading

What is your favourite resource for teaching children writing ?
Blessings

Chareen

This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of home school Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.


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Tuesday 24 September 2013

Math is a problem - What now ?

Earlier this year I shared with you about my approach and philosophy about teaching Math. Today I want to tackle this subject from the angle of what do I do if my student hates math or they are really struggling to grasp a mathematical concept. In preparation for today's post I did a quick Google search Help! My Child Hates Math! and was surprised that it came back with over 21,700,000 results!

One of my earliest memories of teaching a math concept to a struggling student was trying to teach one of my children fractions. It was the third or fourth day and I had pulled every idea out of the bag to help this child understand their work. They were getting frustrated and so was I! After all I thought what is so hard about fractions!!!! In desperation I rang a friend and went over for a cuppa coffee to regain my sanity and shared what had been happening in math class. She calmly called over my children did a quick lesson on fractions to which said child looked over at me and asked "Why didn't you just say that?" Oh boy ...

The greatest lesson I took home with me that day is that if they don't get it the way I teach it ask a friend.  There is no one right way to teach math or any other subject for that matter. We all see the world in our own unique way.

 History and Research on the Teaching of Math This article takes a fascinating look at mathematical learning and teaching over the years and how this impacts our ability to learn math easily. It has helped me be far more relaxed in my approach in doing math with Sir N. Our brain development plays an enormous role in our ability to learn math than we realize. I highly recommend this insightful article if you have a child struggling to cope with math.

Some solutions
  • Step away from the text books for a while and play games
  • Slow down. Sometimes the text book we are using moves along at a pace that may be just a little too fast for some students. Get to know your students learning curve and move at that pace.
  • Use online games to learn math facts. Math facts do not need to be understood to be learned.  This is route learning but plays a very important role in the highschool years.
  • Play card games 
  • Use dominoes to learn math facts. Drill work.
  • Ask a friend to teach a lesson.
  • Ask the child to teach you (I have found this helpful as it helps to clarify their point of misunderstanding)
  • Do practical math application learning. (banking, area, shopping, etc)
  • Ask questions
  • Keep the manipulatives for as long as possible. It's been shown that pushing a student to abandon the use of manipulatives hampers a students progress in later years when doing more complex equations.  Manipulatives are very important in math competency.  Allow the student to drop the use when they are ready. 

On the Net
    TED talks on math
    I have enjoyed TED talks on the subject of math. They have helped me think through my preconceived ideas on teaching and learning math.

    Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers

    "Stop teaching calculating, start teaching math"

    I would love to know your thoughts and how you approach math

    Blessings

    Chareen

    This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.


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    Tuesday 17 September 2013

    Teaching History Revisited

    Teaching history is not solely about the subject of history or a set of isolated events found important by some textbook author. For me personally  learning history chronologically is at the very heart of all our learning. To aid our historical studies we made our own Book of Time. Dates help us to anchor our learning as we mark them off on a time line.

    To aid this assimilation of history and to make it more real for my children I have added in family to our book of time including important dates (marriage, immigration and the births of nieces and nephews).

    When I started home educating I only had the experience of history via a textbook. I am grateful to Sonlight who introduced me to studying history in the context of excellent literature. I agree with this statement by Jimmie Lanely
     "But living history books — even historical fiction — capture the imagination while informing the mind. The reader soaks in the the facts of history in a natural and enjoyable way that forms a much stronger base of understanding than rote memorization."
    his·to·ry noun \ˈhis-t(É™-)rÄ“\
    1. tale, story 
    2. a : a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes
      b : a treatise presenting systematically related natural phenomena
      c : an account of a patient's medical background
      d : an established record  
    3. a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events
    4. a : events that form the subject matter of a history
      b : events of the past
      c : one that is finished or done for
      d : previous treatment, handling, or experience (as of a metal) 
    For Us
    Sir N is eight this year and we are concentrating on exploring the world around us.  We are working our way through Sonlight's Core curriculums until he is 12 when we will be adding in Mystery of History for the high school years. I am also adding in missionary biographies.  We are currently reading Seed Sowers and a YWAM biography Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose.

    Charlotte Mason said, “The fatal mistake is in the notion that [the child] must learn ‘outlines’ of the whole history… just as he must cover the geography of all the world. Let him, on the contrary, linger pleasantly over the history of a single man, a short period, until he thinks the thoughts of that man, is at home in the ways of that period. Though he is reading and thinking of the lifetime of a single man, he is really getting intimately acquainted with the history of a whole nation for a whole age.” Home Education, Vol. 1 Part XVIII.–History, p.280 

    Although I have a liking of Charlotte Mason philosophy I am in no way a purist in my approach. I am more an eclectic home schooler in my history studies approach. I have been influenced in my approach by Charlotte Mason, Sonlight and The Well Trained Mind.

    For Further Reading
    Over the years I have come to realize that history is more than what has been dictated upon us by textbooks at school. It is a rich tapestry of life.  Every single thing that happens every single day is a historical fact. Science, Math, Geography it's all a form of history as every single aspect of every single subject has taken place at some point in time and by adding these points to a time line we grow in our understanding of the world we live in.

    "In history, a great volume is unrolled for our instruction,
    drawing the materials of future wisdom 
    from the past errors and infirmities of mankind.    "
    Edmund Burke
    Blessings
    Chareen
    This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.

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    Tuesday 10 September 2013

    Journals in Homeschool

    This is rather an interesting topic.  My first question was "What's the difference between a journal and a notebook ?" Over the years I've heard both terms used interchangeably and wondered if they were the same thing or not.

    notebook [ˈnəʊtˌbʊk] n
    1. a book for recording notes or memoranda 
    2. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Banking & Finance) a book for registering promissory notes
    3. a book of or for notes, esp. a book or binder of blank, often ruled pages for recording notes
    4. a small, lightweight laptop computer.

    jour·nal (jûrnl) n.
    1. Personal. A personal record of occurrences, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis;
      a diary.
      b. An official record of daily proceedings, as of a legislative body.
      c. Nautical A ship's log. 
    2. Accounting
      a. A day book.
      b. A book of original entry in a double-entry system, listing all transactions and indicating the accounts to which they belong. 
    3. A newspaper. 
    4. A periodical presenting articles on a particular subject: a medical journal. 
    5. Engineering / Mechanical Engineering
      The part of a machine shaft or axle supported by a bearing. 
    6. Government, Politics & Diplomacy
      an official record of the proceedings of a legislative body 
    7. a periodical or magazine, esp. one published for a group, learned society, or profession.
    After having a good look at the definitions I discovered that it depends of the use of the book as to the correct term used.  You would keep a personal journal in a lined notebook or you could use a lined notebook to keep an official journal. It really does become a play on words.

    Homeschool Notebooking
    Within the home education community however notebooking refers to a school folder in which a student records what they have learned.  There are some amazingly creative home educators who create some rather impressive notebook pages for a variety of educational topics.  You don't need a fancy page however you can simply used lined paper and write out your thoughts.

    Notebook Page Resources
    Homeschool Journal
    Journaling with in the homeschool community often refers to a more intimate and decorated book.  Although some homeschoolers will journal along a notebooking style. More often than not however they would use journaling in Nature Study.

    For the last couple of years I have been journaling here about my week in the Homeschool Mother's Journal. This is a great link up to meet like minded homeschoolers and a relaxed way to keep a diary journal of what you've been up to. I have always intended on starting a Nature journal/notebook and recently Sir N and I started one as spring is upon us.

    Journal inspiration

    If you are after an inspirational book on Journaling I highly recommend books from the author Gwen Diehn.  In particular try to get her book The Decorated Journal {Creating Beautifully Expressive Journal Pages}. This book is full of inspiration.  She shares a multitude of ways to do a journal and how to personalise a journal as well as the educational benefits of different types of journals.



    Do you use journaling or notebooking and what are your favourite resources ?

    Blessings
    Chareen
    This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.



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    Thursday 5 September 2013

    HELP There's NO money for Curriculum!

    A while back I stumbled upon a post by Jimmie and Pam called: What if I had no money for a curriculum ?  This has been playing on my mind especially after sharing my extensive home library of books with you this week. I began thinking what would I do if there was NO money for any curriculum. As I pondered this question I came to realise that this question has a two fold answer. For most people reading this post they would have regular access to the Internet and for some people they would not own a computer much less have regular access to the Internet.

    On the Internet
    The Internet is fast becoming the new home school support network and we have some really generous home school mom's who have supplied some excellent resources. There are new resources being continually added to the Internet on a regular basis.

    If I had access to the Internet and a reliable computer I would make use of this amazing resource. Earlier this year I shared over 90 links in a Homeschool for FREE Resource List.

    You will find links to
    • Curriculum by Grade
    • Curriculum by Subject
    • Complete unit studies by subject and grade
    • Websites dedicated to compiling free curriculum by subject
    • Blogs that generously share what they find on the net by subject
    • Bloggers who have a weekly Freebie 
    • Pinterest boards to get you started on finding free resources by subject. (you don't need an account to use these)
    • A list of veteran homeschoolers on Pinterest who have collected some amazing resources.
    • Facebook pages to like and follow that share where to source Free curriculum.
    If you are a blogger I would encourage you to build a network of followers and then apply to be on the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  This would open up opportunities to receive curriculum for FREE in exchange for a review.  I estimate you would have access to an average of $ 1,000 worth of curriculum a year. Once you start doing this you would receive offers from other companies to review products.

    No Internet
    If I had no Internet access I would use public access Internet to  request a catalogue from Sonlight Curriculum. I love the Charlotte Mason philosophy of twaddle free literature and this company offers the best collection by grade I've ever come across.
    • Armed with this I would join my local library and home educate with the list of books provided. 
    • Add in a couple of extra books that are interest led by your students.
    • Get your children to journal about what they are learning or do mini projects in a notebook.
    • Get to know your librarian and she will help you put together an amazing curriculum. 
    • Libraries these days have some excellent math resources on hand. 
    • Do old fashioned math. Memorise math facts daily.
    • Use a world map and memorise countries and their capital cities.
    • Frequent your local opportunity shop and see if you can find any treasures on their shelves.
    • Make friends with some local homeschool Mom's.  Most homeschool mom's I know are quiet happy to help, impart knowledge and or share their supplies. 
    • Get to know the area you live in.  Visit the local park.  Read the signs.
    • Go to your nearest Tourist Information office and pick up brochures to learn about what you can do and see in your area.
    • Go to a travel agency and pick up a few travel brochures and do unit studies on the destinations talked about in the brochures.
    • Read your city councils What's on page to find Free family activities. 
    • Go to community helpers (police, vet clinic, Doctor office, pharmacy, Fire Brigade) speak to the receptionist and arrange an interview with a helper and learn from them.
    • Visit a retirement home and discover the wealth of informative learning through friendships here.
    • Get to know people in your church. One of the families in our homeschool group wanted to learn to knit so they asked around church till they found someone willing to teach them and they go over for an hour a week lesson.
    One of the most important things to remember on your home education journey is that you can not teach everything there is to know.  You need to learn how to learn together.  Answer questions together. Search for information together.  Most importantly you need to enjoy time together.

    If you had no money for curriculum what would you do ?  I've enjoyed the challenge of thinking about this question.  It has helped me count my blessings and realise just how privileged we are.

    Blessings
    Chareen

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    Tuesday 3 September 2013

    Book List Resources

    Welcome to the confessions of a book-a-holic. One of the very first things I always need to say when a new homeschool mom arrives at our home is "You do not need to own a personal library to home educate!"  My collection is a result of a personal love of books not home educating. Although over the years I have discovered the two do go hand in hand with most home schoolers I meet.  Today I would like to share with you some of the resources I have used over the years as a book collector and home schooler.

    To give you an indication of some of my collection I thought I would share a picture. Here are five of the six bookshelves in our home.  I am very blessed with a husband who is happy to indulge my attachment to anything that vaguely looks like a book. This collection has grown over 15 years and mainly through Sonlight, op-shops, second hand book shops and library sales. My greatest hurdle was trying to figure out how to distinguish twaddle free literature from the mirades of books available these days.

    When I first started I collected books that I had borrowed from the library and enjoyed. Years ago as I embarked on my home educating journey much to my joy and surprise I discovered some excellent resources for twaddle free literature. With this discovery arrived my addiction delight in home school catalogs and the Sonlight curriculum.

    Book Catalogs I have and do enjoy
    Favourite books I have enjoyed reading aloud to my children
    We are currently enjoying
    Book list Resources
    Source
    This year we will be reading through a whole range of books from Sonlights Core.  You can find a full list of our scheduled reading for this year here: Curriculum Choices for 2013/14. If we enjoy a particular book we look for any sequels and other books by the same author.  One of my favorite past times is browsing other home school Mom's bookshelves.

    Do you have any favourite literature lists that you refer to ?  Or if you have blogged about some great books I would love for you to join me and share your lists in my weekly book recommendation list Tuesday's Treasures.

    Chareen

    This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.


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    Every bed of Roses

     Welcome to Tuesdays Treasures.  I started these posts as a way of sharing great books in honour of my friend in New Zealand who would arrive with the treasures she had unearthed at her weekly trip to the library!

    There are so many wonderful books out there hiding on shelves so I invite you to blog about a book on your shelf, one you're reading or one you found at the library. Grab the button for your post and add a link to your post below. I would love to read about your treasures.  
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    Tuesday 27 August 2013

    How do you teach poetry ?

    The idea of "teaching" poetry always leaves me filled with panic!  I love words and the clever use of words can be a real pleasure to enjoy in poetry. For me however, when I think of teaching poetry my mind drifts to school days. At school we had to dissect poems and try to work out what the teacher thought of it.  We had to analyse it, search for symbolism and hidden meanings, look for and explain the rhythms and or patterns, categorise the different parts of speech and then the dreaded composing of poems ... 

    I'm sorry this post will not contain a detailed how to on teaching poetry as this is a new season of home education for me. One of the methods I am keen to incorporate in my homeschool is a Charlotte Mason approach.  Charlotte says of poetry
    "Children should practice reading aloud every day, and their readings "should include a good deal of poetry, to accustom him to the delicate rendering of shades of meaning, and especially to make him aware that words are beautiful in themselves, that they are a source of pleasure, and are worthy of our honour; and that a beautiful word deserves to be beautifully said, with a certain roundness of tone and precision of utterance. Quite young children are open to this sort of teaching, conveyed, not in a lesson, but by a word now and then." from volume 1 pg 227 Older (age 9?)

    I'm always amazed at how life unfolds.  On Monday we had a home school mothers meeting and the theme for the meeting was Poetry. The guide for this conversation was taken from The Charlotte Mason Companion Chapter 29 Approach to Poetry.

    Karen shared some of her view on teaching poetry online over at Homeschool World in her article The Charlote Mason Approach to Poetry.

    My gleanings from Karen
    • Through carefully chosen poetry, mothers can teach their children to recognise sin, be inspired, and be filled with admiration of God's gifts to man.
    • Poetry is not just a means to moral instruction. It is part of the humanities.
    • It's a deep expression of thought and feeling.
    • It should be permissible to have a different taste for poetry than that of the teacher. Making a connection with poetry 
    • If you do not like poetry, there is an obvious remedy: introduce the child and the poem and leave them to make friends for themselves.
    • Poetry is strewn with ideas. Saturate yourself in the words - they can have an intoxicating effect on the intellect.
    • After years of a relationship with poetry, built on shorter poems, children will be capable of enjoying and comprehending longer and more abstract works.
    Ways to incorporate Poetry
    • Read out loud daily (no twaddle allowed)
    • Mark the seasons 
    • Use poems in nature journals
    • One Poet a week.  If you have an anthology choose one poet and immerse yourselves in their poems for a week or two.
    • Use a child's favourite poems in copy work.  If it's a long poem choose a stanza a week.
    • Memorise poetry and present it at a special tea or a homeschool co-op
    Poetry Books

    On the WWW
    Charlotte explained that “the magic of poetry makes knowledge vital, and children and grown-ups quote a verse which shall add blackness to the ashbud, tender wonder to that ‘flower in the crannied wall,’ a thrill to the song of the lark” (Vol. 6, p. 328)
    I would love to know your thoughts and favourite books in this area of your home school
    Blessings

    Chareen

    This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.


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    Tuesday 20 August 2013

    My teaching style goals for 2013/14

    Personality wise I am a very strong sanguine with a slight touch of choleric.  This as some of you might know results in a lot of talk but sometimes not quiet enough action!  If I had my way I would love to read read read and make loads of lap packs.  Unfortunately the season of life I am in results in very little energy (I've spent far too much of it on anxious worry as of late.  Yes I'm learning to let go and let God but that my friends is not as easy as it sounds...)

    In order to understand teaching styles one also needs to understand learning styles and a multitude of other factors that influence this area of your life as a home school parent.  It's important to note here that learning and teaching styles having nothing to do with intelligence. They are the vehicle by which we impart and receive information.

    A few years ago I embarked on a journey of discovery of just how complex we have been created.  It is not my intent to share everything about this topic today, however I shall touch upon a couple of areas and point you to those better equipped to help you understand these vital areas in yours and your child's life before sharing my goals with you.

    I first heard about teaching/learning styles around 10 years ago when I attended a conference with Diana Waring.  One of the workshops was titled: Different Strokes for Different Folks.  If you are ever at a conference and this is an available elective I would highly recommend it. Chapter 6 in Beyond Survival (as you can see from the cover of my book it's well loved) covers this topic in detail.

    If you look into this huge area of human development you will come across a plethora of ideas.  There is left / right brained, personality,  seven intelligences learning modalities, gender and the list goes on. Bill and Diana did a wonderful job of simplifying the information. In this workshop they used information from the book: Learning Style and Tools.


    After doing this particular workshop I came away with a much better insight as to how people learn and how this in turn effects the way we teach.  I am a visual learner.  I am quite happy to watch you do the experiment or read about it in a book.  Sir N however loves to do everything hands on.  Sigh

    She recommends the following resources
    1. People Types and Tiger Stripes: Practical Guide to Learning Styles  by Gordon Lawrence
    2. The Way they Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias
    3. Learning Styles by Marlene LeFever
    The Seven Learning Styles
    I discovered that there is a Learning Styles website where you can read more about the seven learning styles.
    1. Visual (spatial):You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
    2. Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
    3. Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
    4. Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
    5. Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
    6. Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
    7. Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study
     They also have a FREE learning styles inventory available.

    Intelligence's pay a huge role in how our children assimilate information.  I have enjoyed learning about this influence over our children's inbuilt style of learning
     Teaching Styles
    • Formal Authority - Teachers who have a formal authority teaching style tend to focus on content and feels responsible for providing and controlling the flow of the content and the student is expected to receive the content.
    • Demonstrator or Personal Model - This type of teacher acts as a role model by demonstrating skills and processes and then as a coach/guide in helping students develop and apply these skills and knowledge
    • Facilitator - Teachers who have a facilitator model teaching style tend to focus on activities
    • Delegator - This type of teacher will often give students a choice designing and implementing their own complex learning projects and will act in a consultative role.

    You can take an online teaching style self evaluation.

    For More information
    Pinterest

    For me I still have a lot more learning to do about this area of education and how it affects my home school.  For now I do know that Sir N enjoys hands on learning, hates writing, and would rather be outside building forts all day.

    Seeing as I am not a hands on learner and he is my one goal this year is to pursue a more hands on approach for him so that we can have a more delight directed approach in our homeschool.

    My aim over the next six months is to follow this advice from over at The Mom Inititative:

    1. Observe patterns of behaviour. What excites your child, what frustrates them? 
    2.  Listen to the way your child communicates. Listening carefully can teach you how you need to talk to them. 
    3.  Experiment with what works and what doesn’t. Remember that even if an approach to learning doesn’t make sense to you it may work for your children. 
    4. Focus on natural strengths, not weaknesses. You can’t build much on weaknesses, but strengths provide a much better foundation. 
    5. Learn more about learning styles in general. Find out what your own style is and how you can relate to your child’s learning style.
    I would love to know your thoughts and how you approach this delicate area in your home school
    Blessings

    Chareen

    This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of homeschool Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.


    This week
     ---ooOoo---


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