MorningStar’s Home Education News

By Mimi Rothschild
Founder & CEO, Learning By Grace, Inc.

One of the reasons why parents choose not to homeschool their children is because of the extracurricular that public schools offer like team sports, clubs, music competitions, and others. Most homeschoolers are not allowed to participate in those things because they are reserved for students who attend that particular public school system full time. So, many parents give in to the pressure and ultimately trade a better education for their children’s social life.

Certainly homeschooled children need to learn social skills, just as we all do, but parents must not let them spend the bulk of their time with others who will not be a good influence or example to them.

It has been shown that more often than not, homeschooling parents in general are very diligent about the people their children socialize with. They want more control over their children and situations with those people their children are spending their time with, so they choose to monitor their children’s friendships and relationships more closely.

When we began homeschooling our children, one of the first concerns others would convey to us was about the “extras” that our children would miss out on. We were constantly being warned that our children would be isolated and socially inept when it came time to get a job, go to college, date, or just make friends. They even called them social misfits. However, now that our kids are grown and have moved on with their lives and their own families, those same people have come to us with a different story.

Now these folks are telling us how happy, encouraging, congenial, and respectable our children are, how wonderfully they get along with people of all ages, and how proud we must be of them. One gentleman even told us he had been wrong about his statements in the past, and he apologized.

My encouragement to you is to keep your children’s academic education first and foremost, and let their social skills develop naturally through time.

By Mimi Rothschild

Here is part two of the visualizing article I posted yesterday.  Let me know what you think!  Have you tried a visualizing strategy before with your children?  Did it work?  If it didn’t then what has worked for your child’s reading comprehension?

Taking Visualizing to the Next Level

Visualization activities lend themselves to follow-up lessons. For example, the few sentences suggested in the “Starting Small” activity lead the way for deeper discussions about making inferences. Students can discuss not only what they visualize when they hear or read given text but also the questions that the text suggests, such as, “Why do you think Joan received all of these gifts?” or “What do you think Joan will do next?” You can take this particular discussion further by allowing students to personalize the experience by answering questions such as, “What would you do if you were Joan?” or “How would you feel if you were in Joan’s place?”

When Can You Use It?

Reading

Students can sharpen their visualizing skills as they read independently, participate in small group reading activities, or listen to a text. To encourage visualizing, turn out the lights and ask students to close their eyes as they listen. Pause frequently to allow students to share their images and mental pictures with the class. The ability to generate visual images from texts becomes increasingly important as students move from richly illustrated storybooks into “chapter books” with relatively few pictures. Ease the transition by explaining that skillful writers use descriptive language designed to generate imagery in their readers’ imaginations. Encourage students to create their own mental images, thereby illustrating the books themselves-filling in the pictures that the author paints using only words.

Writing

Text that is easy to visualize is often filled with vivid descriptions or strong verbs. Watch for sentences or paragraphs in students’ writing that lend themselves to practice with visualization. With students’ permission, share these examples with the class, encouraging discussion not only of the images created by the text but about why the chosen text allows for visualization. And encourage young writers to use language that generates images-this is when writing really sparkles!

Math

Visualization is a helpful skill in mathematics as well. Students often use manipulatives to make math concepts more concrete, and visualization is a way of internalizing the concepts the manipulatives reinforce. For instance, a class that has been studying fractions and using fraction bars can segue into a discussion comparing the sizes of fractions using common images. A question such as, “Would you rather have 1/2 or 1/3 of a pizza?” is more easily answered if students can picture a pizza (or at least a circle) and what 1/2 versus 1/3 looks like. At the beginning of such a conversation, you can draw two pizzas on the board, shading in 1/2 of the first and 1/3 of the second. As the discussion continues, (1/4 versus 1/8, 2/3 versus 3/4, and so on) challenge students to picture the pizzas in their minds or to draw their visual images.

Social Studies

As students study history, they are sometimes presented with a list of dates and names. For students to really visualize historic events, they need sufficient details to create rich pictures. Allow students opportunities to listen to or read personal accounts of an event or time period they are studying. When available, pieces written from a child’s perspective are helpful in forging personal links between students and the time period in question. For instance, Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day In The Life of a Pilgrim Girl and Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day In The Life of a Pilgrim Boy, both by Kate Waters, provide context to help young children understand colonial life.

Science

Visualizing is sometimes a good challenge with some of the more abstract concepts studied in science. For instance, many classes study plants, and students are told that plants need water to grow. While students can memorize the fact that water travels from a plant’s roots through the stem to its leaves or buds, putting a white carnation in a vase filled with water that has been tinted blue with food coloring provides a vivid example of this process as students witness the flower eventually turn blue.

Lesson Plans

Visualizing: Following the Drinking Gourd
This lesson is designed to establish the skill of visualizing for primary students. In this lesson, students use clues from the text to be able to create their own images and imagine how characters are thinking and feeling.

Visualizing: Hill of Fire
This lesson is designed to expand the skill of visualizing for primary students.

By Mimi Rothschild

It is crucial that homeschooling children perceive and understand what they read, no matter if they’re in first grade or twelfth grade.  The ability to comprehend text is an absolute necessity for students in the current fast-paced competitive digital world.  One way homeschoolers can improve their reading comprehension is by visualizing.  Read all about visualizing below in this great article I recently discovered.

What Is It?

Visualizing refers to our ability to create pictures in our heads based on text we read or words we hear. It is one of many skills that makes reading comprehension possible.

Why Is It Important?

Visualizing strengthens reading comprehension skills as students gain a more thorough understanding of the text they are reading by consciously using the words to create mental images. As students gain more deliberate practice with this skill, the act of visualizing text becomes automatic. Students who visualize as they read not only have a richer reading experience but can recall what they have read for longer periods of time. (Harvey & Goudvis 2000)

Visualizing text as it is being read or heard also creates personal links between the readers/listeners and text. Readers who can imagine the characters they read about, for instance, may become more involved with what they are reading. This makes for a more meaningful reading experience and promotes continued reading.

How Can You Make It Happen?

Visualizing is a skill that can be helpful in many domains, and while it is often associated with teaching early readers, even experienced readers can benefit from practice with this skill. When selecting a text for a visualizing activity, start with a piece that contains descriptive language and strong verbs and that lends itself to conjuring vivid images. It is not necessary to start with an entire book-even a well-crafted sentence or short paragraph can provide a rich springboard for a visualizing lesson.

Starting Small

To begin a series of lessons that will focus on improving visualizing skills, you might choose to start with a short passage taken from a text or of your own creation. For instance, the following sentences could be used to spark discussions:

Joan could barely believe her eyes. All these gifts were for her! She had never seen so many packages, not even on all her birthdays combined!

After listening to or reading the sentences once or twice, students can discuss the mental images created by the sentences. Students will likely differ in their descriptions of the scene. For instance, some may picture a small child surrounded by stacks of gifts. Others may imagine an older girl in front of a table piled with presents. There is no single correct answer, and those three simple sentences, though not particularly rich in detail, do offer enough information for the reader or listener to begin to form a mental picture.

Group Activities

Students can work on their visualizing skills as a whole class or in small groups. One way to challenge young students to improve their visualizing is to read a picture book aloud, sharing only portions of the illustrations. Then ask students to create their own illustrations based on the text they heard. More advanced readers might listen to a selection from a novel that the class has been reading and create a picture or written description of a character or setting based on the information in the text.

Independent Reading

Students can also practice their visualization skills as a follow up to independent reading. Ask young students who keep track of their reading in reading logs or journals to respond to prompts regarding the images created by the text they have read: “Does the main character remind you of anyone you know?” “Have you ever been to or seen any place that is like the setting of your book?” Very young students can also draw images in their journals, recording their mental pictures in response to their reading. You can discuss these drawings during one-on-one reading conferences.

Older students who are reading novels can think about questions such as, “If you were going to make a movie based on your book, who would you want to play the main characters?” “What would the scenery look like?” and “Where would you want to do the filming?” These questions get at the imagery created in the mind of the readers and encourage those readers to share their mental pictures in their responses.

By Mimi Rothschild 

Math and science are not always the easiest subjects to learn, I wish they were because there are so many fascinating lessons to be learned in both subjects.  While surfing the web I found this excellent list of strategies that will help your student improve in the areas of math and science.  Each strategy includes articles or lesson plans so homeschooling parents can better understand how to apply them into their child’s homeschool curriculum. Below are the different methods scholars use to better understand math and science. 

By Mimi Rothschild

What are your homeschoolers doing this summer? Going back in time? Sailing on the high seas? Hanging out with the three little pigs? Summer is the perfect time for homeschoolers to improve their readings skills and have a blast while doing it. We’ve compiled a comprehensive summer reading list for each Grace Academy grade so that your homeschoolers can improve their reading skills over the summer and have fun reading a variety of amazing stories. Encourage your homeschooler to read everyday and see their reading skills improve dramatically over the summer!

Homeschool parents should also check out our homeschool summer school program. Our summer school program helps homeschoolers grow their minds, gain credit toward a high school diploma, and surge ahead academically instead of developing lazy habits. Have a great summer!!!

By Mimi Rothschild

Yesterday I spoke about several ways to encourage different kinds of learning when homeschooling toddlers. Today we are going to wrap up this three part series with some advice on developing your homeschooler’s creative side with fun art projects.

1. Fun with crayons: Allow your child to draw outside the lines, explore scribbles and shapes, and generally just figuring out what to do with a crayon. They’ll learn how to draw later, now they are just discovering how crayons work. Offer your homeschooler several light and dark colors. They tend to prefer bright and dark colors over pastels. When preparing a coloring area, cover a length of your table with paper taped to the surface. Then you won’t be worried about straying outside the confines of the page. Draw a shape and encourage your child to copy what you have drawn.

2. Fun with paints: Grab a cardboard box and have your child creat his own “house” or “spaceship.” Make windows, and help them fill in details. They can use their fingers or brushes. Provide your child with his own apron to prevent dirty clothes. Your homeschoolers can go wild with edible paints like whipped cream, yogurt, and gelatin. Make sure to lay down a drop cloth!

3. Fun with paper: Kids love to tear up paper. Give them glue to make designs with the shreds. Give your kids rubber stamps and allow them to stamp away. Let your child cover themselves with stickers. Encourage your homeschoolers to make paper crowns and hats. Help your child make a newspaper sailboat. Then take it to and pull it around the water with a string. The possibilities are endless!

4. Fun with Sculpture: Clay, Play-do, and cookie dough will help develop small motor skills. Have your child create a shape and then bake it into a tasty cookie or scultpture. Explore the different ways to mold Play-do along with your child. You can even make cups, bowls, and saucers that your homeschooler can eventually use.

by Mimi Rothschild

Yesterday we learned about ways to facilitate toddler learning. Today we are going to focus on learning itself. Homeschooling toddlers can be very challenging, especially for new parents. I hope these hints will be useful to you in your homeschool experience.

1. Fill in the blanks: If your child says “Potty!” respond with “You have to go use the potty?” Filling in these blanks will help your child develop speech skills. If you don’t know what your child means to say, ask questions to find out more information. When they point to an object they want, encourage them to use words instead of gestures. Avoid using “baby-talk.” This will only encourage them to mispronounce words. Face your child and make eye contact.

2. Add some music to your day: Toddlers love singing. It encourages verbal skills in a fun way. Some songs have motions that you can perform with your toddler. Encourage clapping to the beat. Use soft music and sing lullibies to facilitate peaceful naptimes.

3. Spice up storytime: Add different kinds of puppets to liven up a story. Encourage the kids to jump in to the story-telling process. Have them fill in the blanks with their best guesses. Invite them to do a craft based on the story afterwards. Be dramatic and use different voices to represent each character. Use sound effects like splashes, bangs, and slurps to make stories come alive.

4. Explore Opposites: Learning opposites is a great way for homeschoolers to find out about the surrounding environment. Soft vs. hard, push vs. pull, off vs. on, and other opposites can be illustrated by touching, hearing, and doing. Sing loud songs and quiet songs. Run fast and walk slow. Hot and cold is an important safety lesson.

5. Label everything: Go crazy with labels in your homeschool. Use masking tape or index cards to mark furniture, doors, toys, foods, bathroom items, and more. Your child will begin to associate different objects with different words. Accompany this association by sounding out each object while reading the labels with your child.

6. Anatomy for toddlers: Teaching homeschooled toddlers about arms, legs, tummies, and more can be a fun learning activity. Show them each body part and ask them what they use it for. Don’t forget to tickle, pinch, and squeeze.

by Mimi Rothschild

Homeschooling toddlers can be a joy or an ordeal. There’s nothing more satisfying than the light of understanding in the eyes of a toddler. On the other hand, there’s nothing more stressful than a toddler throwing a hissy-fit. Here are some tips I picked up over my twenty years of homeschooling that you might find helpful.

1. Keep them nourished: The difference between a cooing learner and a screeching maniac is often nourishment. The needs of a toddler are much more immediate than those of older children. Make sure your little ones get a snack or a drink of juice or water every few hours. Encourage them to serve themselves. Let your homeschooler help clean up as well.

2. Keep them rested: Most homeschool toddlers should get a nap after lunch. Make sure he or she has a quiety, peaceful room for napping. Also, make sure they make a trip to the bathroom first.

3. Keep them fit: Schedule some outdoor play in your homeschool each day. Even if its cold outside, bundle them up and play in the snow. This outside time will keep them refreshed and ready to learn. Encourage homeschool toddlers to dress themselves. Include toddler exercises in your day.

4. Cater to your child’s size: Sometimes it’s tough being a kid living in a world built for big people. Buy a toddler-sized chair and desk for your child to help remove intimidation. Avoid baby-furniture such as high-chairs and cribs. Your homeschooler wants to be independent. Avoid sharp edges and look for wide bases to avoid tipping and spills. Provide stools for bathrooms and sinks to help mobilize your child for growth.

5. Keep it organized: Your child will have an inherant desire to keep things clean if you reinforce this need when they are young. Make sure your toddler cleans up his toys and puts them back where they belong when finished with them. It’s best to have a trunk or chest dedicated to this purpose. Keep books on the shelf and desks clean.

6. Give them room to move: Toddlers need space. Give your homeschooler plenty of room to do their work to prevent them from feelings stifled. If you have a large room, you can devote specific corners to different types of work. One can be a play area, another a desk area, and another a crafts area.

7. Give them things to explore: Sand boxes, cardboard boxes, couch cushions, and grassy fields will encourage your child to experience the world around him. It’s important that your homeschooler has a variety of tactile stimuli to keep him curious.

Tune in tomorrow for more tips!

by Mimi Rothschild

I came across an interesting article in the Indy Star this morning. The feature chronicles the daily routines of olympic hopefuls who have turned to homeschooling. Home education offers flexibility that is vital for young athletes who are always on the road and always training for the gold.

Obviously many of these kids are not going to compete for the rest of their lives. It’s important that they have an education to fall back on. And yet, most public schools cannot cater to the needs of kids who are attempting to compete in worldwide athleticism. The strict schedules, curriculum, and classroom environment are hard to keep up with for an up-and-coming athlete.

That’s where the benefits of homeschooling come in. A young athlete can practice for a few hours in the morning, do an hour of school work here and there throughout the day, and continue training in between study hours. It’s up to the student and parents to organize a curriculum and coursework schedule to uniquely fit each child’s needs.

Unfortunately, not all schools allow students to compete on sports teams. Some states are more progressive than others. Contact your school administration to find out if your child can compete with in school sporting events.

Homeschooled athletes are able to earn college scholarships. Homeschoolers must register with the NCAA initial eligibility clearinghouse. You’ll have to submit standardized test scores and a transcript.

By Mimi Rothschild

When visiting friends last year, I had the opportunity to visit some homeschooling friends of mine on the other side of Pennsylvania. With eight children, their house is often a chaotic maelstrom of activity. My time spent at their house is usually marked by loud yelps, whines, stomping and running as the mother and I enjoy coffee.

On this particular morning however, I entered to find an unusually serene family. They invited me to sit down in one corner as their family commenced their weekly worship time. Each child held an instrument. Some were makeshift drums and tambourines, others were actual store-bought instruments like piano and flute. As we sang the first song, the rumble of hands on drums (in this case laundry baskets and buckets) increased. Tender voices and handclaps lifted up to the heavens.

This image almost brought me to tears. Here was a family that was worshipping the Lord together in upmost sincerity. Each child was praising according to his talents. Sometimes it was a disorganized din, other times a beautiful, quiet, melody with closed eyes and open hearts. It was always heartfelt and ultimately joyful.

What an amazing event! How can evil hope to stand against this family! The family that comes together to worship the Lord is a powerful force in His army. With every note, this family was taking ground against the Enemy. It wasn’t just a worship service, it was spiritual warfare at its purest.

I would encourage you to think about how you can incorporate a worship time in your family. You don’t need six kids or expensive instruments, just a desire to give glory to God. I think you will be surprised at how your children will behave. The desire to please Him exists within your child’s heart. This is just one creative way to bring it out.