Homeschool Hacks

Hackers Love Bravewriter

I can not say enough wonderful things about Julie Bogart at Bravewriter.com.

Here is a brief intro from her site-

"Kids are tremendously interesting people, even the ones who write poorly. My goal is to help you do your job—to draw out the mind life of your child so that you can capture those precious thoughts in writing. What's on paper ought to be a fair and insightful representation of all that goes on in your kids' busy heads. And when it is, you and your young writers will love the results.

That, in a nutshell, is why Brave Writer exists.

Self-expression in written form should not be so infuriatingly difficult to teach. But it is for most of us. We have to learn what writing isn't before we can teach what it is."

If you have not yet fallen in love with Bravewriter, get ready to thank me!

Help your kids learn to hold their pencils correctly

Rachel, an Extraordinary Wife and Homeschooling mom of five in Ohio, sent in this great tip that was passed on to her from an Occupational Therapist. If your child is having trouble learning to hold their pencil correctly the answer is simple. Hang a chalkboard or piece of paper on the wall or fridge. Give your child a tiny length (1 inch) of chalk/pencil to write with. This will ensure your child grasps the pencil with the thumb and forefinger. Over time this finger positioning will become more and more comfortable. Thanks Rachel!

This post is part of Shannon's Rocks In My Dryer WFMW!

Make Your Own Time Capsule

Joanne from A Day in Our Lives sends us this wonderful hack - just in time for your New Year's celebration!

We're getting ready to open our time capsule in a few weeks (we buried it in Jan. of '06) and I thought your readers would enjoy doing it also.

We decorated a plastic quart size container and each of my three kids put in:

1. a photograph of themselves taken last month.
2. a self portrait using colored pencils.
3. a hand tracing.
4. a list of their favorites (food, snack, drink, movie, playstation game, computer game and Christmas gift).
5. what job they would like to have when they get older.
6. something that they would like to learn about or learn to do in 2006.
7. a receipt from food shopping that shows prices of foods we buy.
8. a prediction about the price of one of the items on the receipt.
10. a list of their New Year resolutions.

My daughter made a map of where we buried it and we'll be digging it up on 1/1/07. They definitely want to do it again.

Writing Pleasantries

John, homeschooling Dad of four, sends us this hack:

My idea is to encourage my kids, at least twice a month or so, to write a thank you note to someone who helped them out recently. It could be a store clerk, a librarian, a docent, whoever. It's good writing practice, both handwriting/typing and composition, as well as a chance to reflect on the many ways people cooperate to make life pleasant. Additionally, it'll probably yield the occasional coupon or other freebie for things that the kid already enjoys!

In a similar vein, setting your preschooler/grade-schooler up with an email account and helping them compose email to family is excellent spelling, composition, grammar and typing practice. It's also a great way to introduce them to a computer (beyond playing games) and they will love getting emails back!

children, writing, spelling, homeschool

Scrapbooking: Definitely a Homeschool Hack

Some of the best education hacks are the ones that are so much fun, your child asks to do them again and again. Scrapbooking and card making land in this category for my family.

I love to scrapbook and my nearly 8-yo son, after watching me and looking through my scrapbooks for several years, has recently taken an interest in doing some serious scrapbooking of his own. He started out with some colored paper and photos from my "leftover" stash, and he now shops for patterned paper and embellishments at our local craft store and asks me to take specific photos just for his scrapbook. This year, he wants to make his own birthday party invitations.

I watch him proudly as he works on his printing, spelling, storytelling skills, color balance and combination, layout composition, and even problem-solving -- he wanted to make a baseball diamond on a page and needed to figure out how to cut the paper into triangles to make it work.

If you enjoy scrapbooking and card making, check out Paper Crafts and Simple Scrapbooks magazines. Today is National Card Making Day and they are offering free shipping on their great idea books with a $20 order through October 8th.

History Scribe

History Scribe books enhance your history studies by inviting your children to draw pictures of and describe what they have learned using their own words. The workbooks, spanning grade school to high school, cover American, classical and religious history, science, geography and more.

As pointed out over at Mother Crone's Homeschool,these books provide children with a wonderful space to "simply record their thoughts and ideas on a topic." And that can encourage further thought, research and learning.

Be a Wizard at Spelling

WizardsSpell is an online interactive spelling tool. Students log in to their word list, then see a word and hear it used in a sentence. The word then fades away and the student is asked to spell it. The program is flexible and can be customized to meet your child's needs. Make your own word lists or use their lists, then track how your student is doing.

There is a monthly fee to use the site, and they offer a few different pricing options for individuals or groups. Check out the free demo here.

Make Your Own Board Game

Kiddley (which is one of the BEST blogs for parents) recently posted simple instructions for making your own board game. This project has so much potential, my head is spinning. Just creating the game teaches shapes, patterns, colors, counting, drawing, writing, reading, and uses oh so much imagination!

Once you make a basic playing board, you can create new sets of cards for any of your children's interests, making the game as simple or complex as you desire. If you create a game, please share your ideas with us in the comments. I can already see the creation of a Star Wars-themed game in our not-too-distant future.

board game, homeschooling, project

National Vocabulary Championship

In an effort to emphasize the importance of language arts skills and encourage high school students to better prepare for their futures, GSN, the leading interactive television game network, today announced the first-ever National Vocabulary Championship™ (NVC). The competition is open to students ages 13 to 19 who are legal residents of the US. The prize? $40,000 toward a college education.

Students can enter online at http://www.winwithwords.com and take a qaulifying exam.

While the rules don't specifically include homeschoolers, a public relations rep assured me that homeschoolers are eligible.

National Vocabulary Championship, homeschooler