Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Resources

Where, oh, where do I begin on today's post? How did I get started on this quest to share so much information on such a broad topic? Oh yes, it started with sharing our curriculum for the year. A couple of people then asked me if I had ideas for low vision children in the primary grades. I had intended to provide tangible help...but, until this post, I have shared only general ideas and methods. But honestly, it was those general ideas that kept me calm and confident when my son suddenly became legally blind at the age of nine and we could no longer keep up with the type of curriculum I had used with my older children.

Perhaps your child doesn't have vision issues. I will include resources about Braille and low vision, as that is where my experience is, but they will be last in the list; and, most of the other ideas and resources should be very helpful for reluctant readers, as well. Also, I am Catholic so some (though not all) of my resources are by Catholic writers and some (but not all) of their resources may be Catholic resources. So, if you are not yourself Catholic, not to worry; there is still plenty here for you. I used to hear that the first rule of writing is "write what you know". I am writing what I know and love, and what I have dealt with. I am sharing with you what I have found in case it might help you in any way with what you are dealing with. And if your children are neither low vision students or reluctant readers, frankly, much of what is here could still be helpful.

If you are coming to this post without having read the three previous posts, I would like to invite you to scroll down (now or later), below my signature, to links where you can read those posts.

CHARLOTTE MASON HOMESCHOOLING
What Drew Me to a Charlotte Mason Education by Karen Andreola

Free Homeschool Curriculum (Charlotte Mason) - Ambleside Online

A Free Online Catholic Charlotte Mason Curriculum - Mater Amabilis

AUDIO AND ONLINE BOOK RESOURCES
Free Books Online!

BOOKS ABOUT GOOD BOOKS
A Picture Perfect Childhood by Cay Gibson
Includes many lists of beautiful picture books to get from your library or for your own person library, even including a list for "Teenaged Readers and Reluctant Readers"
Read an Amazon review of this book here.
For the Love of Literature by Maureen Wittmann
Includes lists of whole books for history, science, art and other core subjects.
Read my Amazon review of this book here.

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE RESOURCE FOR MANY LEARNER-FRIENDLY HOMESCHOOL BOOKS & SUPPLIES
Timberdoodle


WHAT ABOUT SHAKESPEARE AND CHESTERTON?
While I'm generally in favor of reading primary sources and "the real thing", sometimes it can be good to get the flavor of a writer, such as G.K. Chesterton, or the culture of a writer, such as William Shakespeare.
Easy-to-Read Shakespeare
Although I have not read these graphic novels myself, the Timberdoodle people recommend them. The caveat they offer is that although the books are written at a fourth-grade reading level, Shakespeare's topics involve humanity at its best and worst. I am thinking we might try these next year in our senior year of high school.
Tales of Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
This can be a great way to get a simple overview of the story lines, although it's not a substitute for hearing the language of Shakespeare himself.

Chesterton's writings are difficult for many adults (myself included). However, his Father Brown mystery stories, such as The Innocence of Father Brown, provide an interesting introduction.
The Father Brown Reader by Nancy Brown
Provides three of Chesterton's Father Brown stories, adapted for children (and interesting for adults, too!).
Read my Amazon review here.


LOW VISION
Children with low vision sometimes find it a lot of work to read with magnification. For some, it might always be work and might fatigue the eyes, but for some it's just about learning how to track, and getting comfortable with the adjustment. Some of this might depend partly on what the particular eye condition is.

Personally, I think it's great to let students do the fun things they want to do, and let them work up to doing the "school" things you want them to do in tiny steps. (Remember that you can always read to them, or let them listen to tapes, for content subjects.) My son learned to track with his CCTV (video magnifier) by using it one summer so that he could play Gameboy like his brothers and friends. He learned to use his hand magnifier when he wanted to look at Lego instructions in his bedroom (the CCTV being in the living room). He is improving his reading by reading articles in Sports Illustrated. One of my mottoes is: Whenever possible, let them learn skills by having fun.


All Children Have Different Eyes, Learn to Play and Make Friends by Edie Glaser and Maria Burgio, Ph.D.
This is a cool, colorful book for children, perfectly suited both to the low vision child and to other children so they will understand, in a positive way, the needs of people with low vision.
Read my review of the book here.

BRAILLE
When you think of Braille, perhaps you think of blindness, not "low vision". Actually, there is a fine line between "low vision" and "blind"...or more accurately, there really isn't much of a line. At any rate, I am glad that my legally blind son and I took the time for him to learn how to read Braille, even though it has not became his primary reading medium. I recommend it, so that your child can read restroom signs, labels on tapes, and so on. And if there is any chance that he or she might lose more vision, learning Braille now will make it all the easier for him or her to become proficient with it if it ever becomes necessary.

Kester Braille
A great introduction to Braille for the young child...and especially friendly for parents who do not already know Braille themselves. Developed by a retired Braille teacher.
Read my review here.

Patterns: Primary Braille Reading Program
If your child is legally blind, you should be able to borrow this book on Federal Quota funds. If you don't know what I'm talking about...or if you want any other information on homeschooling blind and visually impaired children, I would suggest joining the Yahoo group where you can ask questions and there's always someone there to help:
Blindhomeschooler



Post 1 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Reading Readiness is Not Just for Preschoolers

Post 2 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Reading Aloud is Not Just for Kindergartners

Post 3 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Writing What a Child Dictates is Not Just for First Graders

Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Writing What a Child Dictates is Not Just for First Graders

When I was a little girl, I remember the teacher passing around this cool newsprint with widely-spaced lines on the bottom half and, on the top half, a big blank space for drawing a picture. She would talk us through making up a story, and then she would write it on the chalkboard. We were then supposed to copy it onto our paper and draw a picture to go with it.

When my youngest son became legally blind at the age of nine, I didn't expect him to do much writing by hand, as we struggled with his magnification needs. But he didn't yet know how to do keyboarding either. So while we taught him keyboarding as one subject; as part of another subject, I would sometimes sit down at the computer and ask him to describe for me a book-on-tape that he had just enjoyed. While he narrated the story, I would write it down for him. Then I could read it back to him, as well as put it in his school portfolio to demonstrate that he had both read and understood the story.

As my son grew older and mastered keyboarding skills, I would sometimes give him a writing assignment for literature or history. He would be discouraged, trying to combine his great ability to explain and describe something with his slowly-growing writing skills. The one was no match for the other. So I told him to just write, not to worry about capitalization, punctuation and spelling for now. After he finished writing, I would read and grade it for content. Then I would clean up the "mechanics" and let him read the polished version. At another time of the day, as part of an English class, he would be studying capitalization, punctuation and spelling. This has worked very well for us.

The other day I was telling one of my college graduate sons that when I grade a paper for history or religion or science, I grade that paper solely on content. Is it comprehensive? Does it show an understanding of the topic? Does it show that the student is really thinking about it? I save grading the English mechanics for English class. My son told me that most of his college professors did the same thing...not all of them; a few might grade on spelling and punctuation for a history class. But he said that most of them graded based on the class subject.

So, again, as with reading, my suggestion for teaching children to write is to have two separate classes (the younger the child, the shorter the classes). In one period, the child is learning how to write, whether it is handwriting or keyboarding, whether it is structure or mechanics. In another period, he is dictating about some topic of interest, while the parent or a mentor writes for him what he says, or writing without worrying too much about the mechanics, and someone helps him with that afterward.

In this way, the child can learn at his own pace how to write, while at the same time experiencing the joy of seeing or hearing his intelligent thoughts expressed as written words.



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Reading Aloud is Not Just for Kindergartners

Post 1 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students -
Reading Readiness is Not Just for Preschoolers

Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Reading Aloud is Not Just for Kindergartners

When each of my children learned how to read to themselves, I stopped reading aloud to him or her. You might be nodding in agreement or you might be shaking your head. Neither response is wrong, exactly...and all of my grown children have gone to college...and still love reading. So I don't look back and feel that I short-changed them. And yet...

Yet, I am more and more convinced that the philosophy of reading to your children at a level substantially ahead of their reading level can be a great thing. Here's how it works. When your child learns to read at a first grade level, he can read little first grade readers and maybe some picture books (some picture books are easy to read; others are not). When she can read at a second grade level, she can read second grade readers and maybe little chapter books. Personally, I found that the Boxcar Children and Magic Tree House series of chapter books were interesting and simple enough to get many second or third grade kids to enjoy reading on their own. "Simple" is good when it comes to the child decoding and understanding the words on the page - and delighting in his or her ability to do so. But "simple" isn't everything. It doesn't always stretch the mind and lift the heart, and provide the depth and breadth that we can soak up from really good literature.

Enter the "read-aloud-to-your-children" philosophy...a thing I had mistakenly thought was just for preschoolers and kindergartners. Busy moms might say, "I already don't have time for everything." The beauty of this is that you can read while nursing or sipping a cup of tea. Older siblings can read at their older level of reading. Grandparents can read. And, although the child can't snuggle up to an audiotape (or CD), he can listen to someone who has read and recorded the literature. Listening above the child's own reading level can provide a depth and breadth of literature that can help give him or her a love of reading, a love of learning, and a love of creation.

For children who are still struggling to learn how to read the words on a page, or who may be slowed by issues of low vision or other reading challenges, enter the read-aloud-philosophy. If this is great for the young reader who is reading "on schedule" (whatever that is, and not to worry, half of my children did not, and yet became great readers)...if this is great for the average child learning to read, think how great it can be for the child who has not yet learned to read and the child who is struggling to learn to read.

I do not advocate auditory reading as a substitute for learning to read for oneself. I think everyone should learn how to read, even if the process develops slowly over a number of years, or even if it has to be done with magnification or in Braille, depending on the challenges of any particular student.

The two different processes - listening to someone else read great literature - and learning how to comprehend the written words on a page - can work side by side, not interfering with one another but complementing one another.



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Writing What a Child Dictates is Not Just for First Graders

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Post 1 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students -
Reading Readiness is Not Just for Preschoolers

Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Reading Readiness is Not Just for Preschoolers

After my post about our curriculum for the coming year, I received requests. In essence: "Do you have suggestions about homeschooling low vision children who are younger?" I do. I always have ideas when it comes to educating our children. And I know that if you are homeschooling - or parenting - you do, too. And I think that if I share ideas with you, it might trigger additional ideas of your own.

Unbelievably, it has been a month since that post. (I'm so sorry.) I've jotted notes on various scraps of paper (Where are they?). I've thought about how I can combine low vision with other reading difficulties. (Will it be too cumbersome?)

I've struggled to figure out just how to write this. So I am going to stop hemming and hawing, and just begin. So here goes...

First of all, I feel badly that we are getting closer and closer to a new school year and here I am finally writing this. However, I don't endorse any one particular curriculum as having all the answers, anyway, so it's not like I'm "too late".

Reading Readiness is Not Just for Preschoolers
Learning is about life and life is about learning. Children with low vision, and children in general, comprehend more of what they read or study when they have some familiarity with the topic. Let me go a step further and say that this applies to all ages. The books I enjoy the most (both fiction and nonfiction) usually have some aspect - whether geography, characterization, history, philosophy, or whatever - that I am already familiar with.

My #1 recommendation: Saturate your children with wholesome "life experience".

Our children have always - from "babes in arms" through high school (and sometimes the college students) - gone with me to do the weekly grocery shopping. I have never made a contrived teaching experience out of it, but what a great place for intuitive learning! Just a few of the things that can be learned in the grocery store include: thrift; marketing and advertising; math; foods from different countries; seeing (and sometimes talking with) people of different cultures (especially if you live in a big city); seeing different kinds of work...not just the cashiers, but the managers, butchers, bakers, and the custodians. As my children see me treating the person who runs the store and the person who cleans the store with the same friendly respect, they learn a lesson I could not teach them from any book.

I might be spending too much time on one facet of my family's education. (Maybe I should be writing a book instead of a blog post.) But the fact that this one thing has been important in our lives fits with something I feel strongly about: What is important in your lives? What do you do well? What do you love? Music? Crafts? Gardening? If you can, share that with your children. Don't force it on them, or expect them to love it as you do (some will; some won't). But share it with them; give them opportunities.

What do you or your husband do that you don't particularly love but that you do well or often because it needs to be done? Home repairs? Cooking? Sewing? Share it with your children...and you may even find that one of them does love it. (Ah, and the serendipity of it is that now you might not have to do as much of it anymore.) For me, cooking has always been something to do because I like to eat...and feed my family, but definitely not my hobby. However, I always let my children help - from the time they could stand up on a chair at the counter - and not only did it increase their math and reading (without any intentional "school-type" lessons), but some of my children love to cook (thank you, thank you).

What about field trips? It was not until this past year that my son and I went on field trips with a homeschool co-op. That was great and we enjoyed it a lot...but anything can be a field trip. Over the past 25 years of educating our children, most of our field trips have been with Dad on the weekend or on a family vacation. What's in your area? What's enroute to Grandma's house? Your child (and you) can become fascinated with nature, history, science...as you explore parks and museums...and even as you just take walks in the neighborhood or work in your backyard.

What in the world does all this have to do with reading?...or with educating a child who is low vision or a child who is a reluctant reader? Well, first of all, although I am an avid reader myself, and a great believer in the importance of reading, I have learned that reading is not where all learning comes from. Secondly, I believe that life experience is the best preparation for both life and learning.

I will write more - and cover some other aspect of learning, some aspect of teaching reluctant readers and low vision children - in another post. Hopefully, we won't have to wait a month for the next post. I say "we" because I have enjoyed writing this and sharing with you. I hope that you have enjoyed it, too.



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Post 2 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students -
Reading Aloud is Not Just for Kindergartners

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Post 3 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students -
Writing What a Child Dictates is Not Just for First Graders

Then:
Post 4 on Reluctant Readers and Low Vision Students - Resources

Plan Next Year's Homeschooling - Check!

After weeks of research and contemplation, I think it's finally done! I put in my last orders this morning. I'm a bit taken aback by all the money I have spent, but as an old friend in California once said to me, "sometimes you have more time than money and other times you have more money than time". Not that I have so much money...but since I am now working a job, I can squeeze a little more out of the budget to get materials that my son can use a little more independently...which is good for both my schedule and his development. And since he's going into his junior year of high school, his development is becoming more and more important.

"What to do for U.S. History?" has been on my mind a lot these weeks. This past year, his primary resource for what I call "World History and Culture" was movies (from Netflix). I used the book, Learning with the Movies, by Beth Holland to get ideas, along with doing a bit of research for myself. We discussed the movies, discussed time lines, discussed world events...and he wrote essays. I'm really pretty pleased with our "program"; however, for U.S. History, I wanted to be a little more comprehensive and cohesive in presentation of material. Because my son is legally blind, it isn't easy for him to read very much at a time...and I didn't really see anything in auditory format. So I was delighted to discover the Graphic U.S. History series. Somewhat like comic books in appearance, they are written at the level of a newspaper (easy to read but interesting for all ages), and it looks like they provide lots of great history knowledge...and in timeline order. We will continue to use movies and essays, as well.

Most difficult to decide was what curriculum to use for Spanish, simply because I had a hard time bringing myself to pay the cost. However, we finally decided to get what I hear and hope is "the best"...Rosetta Stone. There is even a homeschool edition with tracking capabilities. I ordered ours through Timberdoodle, a homeschool supplier in Washington State (the same company where I discovered the Graphic U.S. History). Why did I go through Timberdoodle for the Spanish? ...because their catalogs have helped me find such great materials over the years...over the decades...and, of course, it doesn't hurt any that they're from my home state, either. :)

For Algebra 2, we will continue to use Teaching Textbooks, which we already possess from the next older son having used it. As I have watched newer and more homeschool-friendly materials develop, this has been my very favorite. The kids just pop a CD-Rom into the computer, watch the problems as the authors discuss the lesson, and then work the problems in the book. Peter has used this for Algebra 1 and Geometry, and done beautifully (it might not hurt, either, that math is his "thing").

For English, I went the "spend time rather than money" route. I don't know if there's any other way to go for composition, anyway, than to spend time with the student and their work. Well, you might think I can easily teach writing, since I'm a writer, but the one doesn't necessarily follow from the other (especially since I pretty much "play by ear" when I write). What I have been wanting, I think, for teaching writing, are the right materials. I hope I have found just that in Jensen's Format Writing, which I ordered from Catholic Heritage Curricula. This book can be used in one high school year or two, and covers single paragraph formats, five paragraph essays, business writing, major papers, and etc.

This past year for science, we used Biology 101 by Wes Olson and I was very pleased with the program, which provides hours of interesting, basic instruction on DVDs, accompanied by a guidebook for adding reading, field trips and labs to accomplish enough learning and hours for an accredited course.

Chemistry was my son's next choice for science and I did a lot of research to try to find the right program for us. This might be another subject where I will have to put in a little time - and I'm not a "science person", but Friendly Chemistry looks very...well, friendly. I emailed the authors some questions about our special needs and they emailed me back promptly. Also, I liked that there are experiments which use materials that are readily available.

Last night I finally decided what to do for religion. I ordered the Catechism of the Catholic Church on CD-Rom as reference material. He also has the New Testament on tapes. For the meat and potatoes (and dessert), I plan to join Pius Media, online Catholic DVD Rental Club...which appears to work a lot like Netflix. I had fun last night browsing the selections, where it looks like we should be able to get talks on apologetics and doctrine, as well as both instructional and devotional Bible presentations, along with stories of great people and what they have done.

I'm not sure where in the world he will find the time for this last item, but I know it's important. We have a CD-Rom for preparation for the S.A.T. pre-college exam, which we obtained for the cost of shipping as members of Homeschool Legal Defense Association.

If you have read this far, I am guessing you either have a high school student or you are a family member or friend interested in how I do it (including a cyber-friend? ). If you reading this simply because you are my friend or relative, thank you for your interest! :)

If you are reading this because you yourself are trying to plan your own homeschool curriculum, and if you happen to be a Catholic homeschooler, I'd like to recommend one more resource for you. You can listen to a Homeschool Connections webinar given by Alicia VanHecke on June 10th about "Choosing Worthwhile Homeschool Materials". Homeschool Connections, founded by Walter Crawford and my friend and homeschooling colleague Maureen Wittmann, presents free webinars for homeschool parents, as well an interesting offering of webinar classes for teens.

And now, please excuse me while I go work toward finishing up this past year's schoolwork...

Catholic Homeschool Co-op in Baltimore

Do you know any Catholic friends or family members in Baltimore who are starting to homeschool...or do you know anyone moving to Baltimore who is a Catholic homeschooling family? If so, you might like to let them know about our homeschool enrichment co-op. We are very economical (all you need are transportation to where we are and a willingness to participate). We are very democratic (we have a council form of leadership - which looks to the members to all decide together what activities we want to pursue).

At the present time, we mingle and grow friendships over lunch, board games, and projects (this fall the kids had fun making a rocket). Then we have a spiritual element, one week a Gospel reflection and the next week a Catholic apologetics quiz-type game. We follow that with P.E., led by a P.E. teacher who is now a homeschool parent.

We are blessed with resources. The kids love our old Catholic school building, complete with lockers (part of a current parish, which generously shares their facility with us). We have several classrooms, a fenced parking lot to play in, and our own arts and crafts supplies.

If you know someone who would be interested, they can get in touch with me at:
margmary53 at yahoo dot com

Busy, Busy...Preparing for High School Again

Time to get ready for school!

Actually, it was probably time a while back...but I was busy moving...and busy working...and busy traveling to Joe's Air Force graduation. Of course,we did do quite a bit of our planning a few months ago. It's just a matter of pulling it all together now.

For example, I still need to sign up for Netflix. Yep, that is going to be a part of our curriculum for world history. Since Peter is visually impaired but not blind, he enjoys movies a lot. I bought a guide to help me find pertinent movies, called Learning with the Movies by Beth Holland. If you're interested in bringing the cultures of historical times to life for your student in this way, in addition to this great book, there is also a Learning with the Movies website.

We still need to get Peter signed up with Hadley School for the Blind for their English Skills correspondence course. He will get the lessons on cassette...and then, of course, write or type his work.

For science, we bought Biology 101, also from Timberdoodle. It's a Christian program presented on DVDs. They say this about the course:

"Biology 101 is best for students who:
1. Would benefit from an overview before an intense biology study.
2. Struggle with textbook learning but readily learn via discussions.
3. Are not college-bound but need the basics of biology."
BUT, they go on to say: "With initiative, Biology 101 can also be used as a fullblown accredited biology course. Towards that end a printable PDF file with a 12-page Course Accreditation Program booklet is included on disc 4." We plan to make it into a "fullblown accredited biology course", because Peter definitely plans to go to college in a few years.

Once again, I am so grateful for the new (well, "newer") made-for-homeschoolers' math programs, called Teaching Textbooks. I would recommend these for everyone, but they do work particularly well for my son, as he can do the lesson from the book, using his video magnifier...after listening to the author present the lesson in real voice. While the lesson is being presented, he can watch the numbers, using his computer's screen magnification software.

For Religion, I plan on using the apologetics CDs by John Martignoni of Bible Christian Society, discussing them with him and having him write some appropriate papers. Since I have not yet listened to all of the CDs yet myself, this will be a learning process for both of us, and I will see what we think as we go along, remaining open to adding other resources as well.

The only thing left to work out for this year is what would be best for him to use to improve his Braille skills. He can read just about anything in Braille, but quite slowly. Because he can read print with his video magnifier and with computer magnification, and because he has excellent auditory comprehension, Braille has not been our primary focus the past few years. But I've been encouraged that it would benefit him in the future to become more proficient in Braille...which of course is why we taught him Braille in the first place. So I need to decide whether I will braille selections for him myself with the software and his Braille embosser; or whether we will have him just practice reading Braille books; or whether we should sign him up for a course with Hadley School for the Blind.

If you are a homeschooler, and you, too, are getting ready to begin schooling...well, I was going to wish you well...and I do; however, I'll bet you already have all your plans in place! If so, this tortoise will catch up with you when you stop for your nap.

Preschool Resources

As I was searching for just the right pictures for my preschool class at our homeschool co-op, it occurred to me to share with you my updated list of resources in case you are interested, or know someone who would be.

Websites for Pictures to Color:
My Friend Magazine (Wide variety of Catholic pictures)
Apples 4 the Teacher (Lots of choices)
Lucy Learns.Com (good source of some simple animal pictures)
ABC Teach (Patterns for coloring or making shape books)
St. Jude's Coloring Book (explaining the Mass to children)
Coloring Saints.Com (Rosary pictures and Saint pictures)


Craft Books I've Gotten from the Library:
The Big Book of Bible Crafts by Kim Sullivan Fiano
Arts and Crafts Projects for Preschoolers by Judy Nayer
Preschool Arts and Crafts by Grace Jasmine

Note: Please observe copyright requests. For example, some say you may print the picture as long as you leave the copyright on the page.

Humorous Video about Homeschooling

Here's a humorous video about homeschooling, set to the tune of the Adams Family.

I don't know who the people are who composed it or starred in it, but I enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

Thrifty Homeschooler

Here is the ultimate support and resource for homeschooling…or for just living a frugal lifestyle. Maureen Wittmann started the Thrifty Homeschooler Yahoo group over four years ago. I've been a member for probably at least three of those years, and I still eagerly open my emails from Thrifty Homeschooler. It’s still going strong today, helping families to manage and thrive.

“The goal is to support homeschooling families, most living on one income in a two-income economy, by offering ideas and tips on how to save money in your home and school.”

This is not your ordinary list. It’s community learning with a difference.

Does the volume of emails from a group list fill up your inbox? Not to worry. Do you not want everyone to know your full name and your email address when you ask a question or contribute something? Not to worry. If you have a question, you send it directly to Maureen. She will include only your first name when passing your question on to the group. She then invites responses, sent directly to her, and gathers all the responses together into one email for everyone’s reading pleasure.

To join the more than 2600 people who are signed up to benefit from the Thrifty Homeschooler Yahoo group, you can go here.

You may also like to visit the Thrifty Homeschooler Blog. This is a different format, with different information, provided by the same devoted homeschooling mother and author, helping us out wherever she can.

High School Math and Science at Home

"How do you homeschool high school math and science?" I've sometimes been asked. Some of those who ask this don't even realize that my own math and science are particularly lacking, with probably the equivalent of an 8th grade education in those two subjects. Yet our kids manage to get into college with honors!

Over the years, my answer has been pretty consistent: "I give them the tools for learning, by teaching them how to read well, and how to study and work independently. Then I find the best materials that we can afford, and they teach themselves." Dad helps them with math, when they need it, though his work hours are long. And now we have the Teaching Textbooks math program, which is more self-teaching than any we've had before!

But now my visually impaired freshman is having a bit of a struggle with Dr. Jay Wile's Apologia Biology, which is quite understandable, considering he has to listen to it on tape, or read it under a video magnifier...making it a little harder to skim and just look something up quickly. In schools, the teacher does (sometimes) actually teach (rather than just handing the kids books and assignments), so I suppose it's okay for me to help him through this course. But now I'm going to have to actually learn it with him.

Some day maybe I'll write an article about all this; but for now, I'm off to high school. Wish me luck!

Free Catholic Printables

What a network of friends we have here! This afternoon I was preparing lesson plans for the upcoming one-afternoon-a-week preschool class at our homeschool co-op. I decided to write to my blogging friend Alexandra at Happy Hearts at Home to ask her where I could go to print out free Catholic coloring pages.

Her answer is here at her blog! If you have children, or work with children, or know someone who does, here is a wonderful list of resources!

Thank you, Alexandra!

Mission Statement for Our High School

Last night I wrote a mission statement for our high school homeschool. Some of this is what I've always done. Some of it is what I've learned over the years is important, or am trying to adjust a bit. As someone who's going into her 14th continuous year of homeschooling high school, I want to say to those of you who are new to high school, or looking toward high school in the future, that what I've written are my ideals to reach toward; they are not mandates that I have to accomplish perfectly in every way. We as parents do not have super powers, nor are we perfect, which is good for our humility. We will make mistakes, and also life will often deal blows for which we are totally inadequate. But we pray, do our best, and then leave the rest to God, and to the children themselves...who will sometimes shock us, but more often amaze us. Praise God in His mighty works!

My Mission Statement for 2007-2008:
1) To prayerfully provide our children with the information, inspiration, and accessibility to the Church that will allow their Faith and love of God to grow.
2) To help them to acquire the skills they need for their personal care and economy, household care, and travel.
3) To encourage them to have self-motivation and healthy interdependence in all aspects of life.
4) To provide them with the materials, environment, support, and guidance for them to learn all they need in order to graduate from high school, and to be able to go on to a higher education, if they so choose.
5) To provide opportunities for them to seek discernment for their own personal vocation and/or career.

Preparing for a New School Year

"Check the date!" That should be my new motto. I was visiting the blog of Maureen of Trinity Prep School, and I clicked on a link "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective New School Years". I saw there was a meme going on, and thought I'd join in. I followed her links to a lot of other articles on the same topic, some by a few of my favorite bloggers. After writing mine up, I went back to get her link to give you, and guess what? I was trying to attend last year's party! I hadn't realized at first that she was linking to an article she wrote - and a meme she invited people to participate in - approximately a year ago.

Well, her article is still interesting and timely, and the links I clicked on that other people had done are still interesting and timely. So you can still check it out. And I'm still going to share what I wrote, even if I'm really, really late to the party.

In order to join in, I decided to skim through The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People again (a book which I highly recommend), and apply its principles to homeschooling. So this may be life-changing for me. It certainly got me thinking. Thanks, Maureen.

By the way, for anyone who doesn’t know, I’m going to be homeschooling two high schoolers - the first time in 23 years that I haven’t had anyone younger than high school. (Just in case I might miss having children, I have been asked to take a preschool class at our co-op. But the following resolutions are about my high school homeschool.)

1) I will choose to be “present” and “in the moment”. While the boys are working on schoolwork, I will do housekeeping, grading, or writing; but avoid email, telephone, and running to the mailbox - anything that might cause me a major emotional distraction. My motto will be EPA: emotionally present and available (hmm, you might refrain from telling my kids this).
2 I’ll sit down this coming week to re-evaluate and re-define our mission statement.
3) I’ll set general goals for each subject for each student in order to get through all the material by the end of the year. But then I will have a weekly goal-setting session with each son to set up and adjust the lesson plan on a weekly basis.
4) I will try to make regular deposits into the Emotional Bank Accounts of my husband and children, taking into consideration their strongest love languages.
5) I will discuss such subjects as religion, literature and history, trying to really listen to what my kids have to say.
6) We will try to be a team, working out shared computer time, enjoying lunch time, and working toward making this a memorable last year before the youngest becomes the only student homeschooling.
7) I’ll plan time for myself: for prayer, exercise, learning, and social activity.

Home Sweet Home

Today I visited the beautiful home of a very gracious homeschooling mother, who did our review. We belong to an "umbrella school" for accountability. In our new state the choice is to have the school district review our work at the end of the school year or to belong to an umbrella school and have a member parent review our work. (This decision was a no-brainer for me.)

So, tomorrow I will mail our paperwork to our umbrella school, Churchville Christian School, and we will be finished with school for the year! Yes, it's late July, but hey, at least we actually finished.

Now I get the pleasure of planning for the coming year. We've already bought most of our curriculum, but I want to write weekly lesson plans.

Well, as I said at the beginning, the home I visited today was beautiful. Beautiful isn't even the word. It was big. Big isn't even the word. It was massively gorgeous! But it's theirs, and ours is ours, and there's no place like home. After a lovely visit, I had several errands to run, and finally drove up our driveway. As I saw the beauty of our apartment buildings and trees, I felt joy and contentment at being home, and I thought, "Home, Sweet Home!" How does it go? "...Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." Thank you, God, for our simple, cluttered but comfortable, happy home.

Free Interactive Lessons on the Catholic Faith

"Catholic Home Study Service (CHSS), sponsored by the Vincentian community and the Missouri Knights of Columbus, has been offering free courses on the Catholic Faith for more than seventy years. It is based at Saint Mary's of the Barrens, historic "motherhouse"of the Vincentian Community in America. Father Oscar Lukefahr, C.M. is the Director of Catholic Home Study Service."

We are going to try this program this fall for one of my sons. They send the book and workbook, you send in the answers and any questions, and they return feedback to you. We're looking forward to trying this. If you'd like to see what they have to offer you can visit their website here.

School

Except for two math problems, Peter is done with school for the year! We can now say of the year what he used to say of the day, when he was little, "I'm done with school for the day; yay, yay, yay, yay!" I've even finished putting his portfolio together, and gotten the record sheets filled in, ready for our review. I have a secret though: I decided not to do grades for him this year. It's not required, and he's not in high school. And I can just tell him, "Wow, you did great!" ...which he did.

Not so easy with Robert, who's a junior. That's where I'm keeping my old reputation. After we'd lived in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky for a few years, we went back to Los Angeles for a visit. A homeschooling friend asked me how school was going, and I told her I was behind on the grading. She said, "Margaret Mary, you're always behind on the grading!" Oh. Everyone knew but me. I always thought it was this month, this year, not "always". Planning, you know, is just so much more fun. But, hey, maybe next year I will keep up on the grading. And maybe next year things will go smoothly with no major interruptions/disasters in our lives, too. Hmm, let's not think too much about next year at the moment, huh?

One thing struck me today as I was looking over Robert's first three years of high school. This is our first year in a state where we register with an umbrella school to keep us legal. And it dawned on me this morning that they do just that. What are required subjects for graduation, and what are required items for record-keeping, are not necessarily the same as what's most helpful for getting into college...at least based on my past experience in another state. So, in addition to filling out these forms, I'm going to make up my own "expanded transcript", highlighting what the courses contain...in case we ever need this type of documentation again. Besides, it's kind of fun...if I ever get through with the grading.

Free Typing Speed Test

Have you ever wondered whether all this computer use has improved your typing? Have you ever had a child ready to apply for jobs and wanted him or her to know their typing score in case the question comes up?

Thank you to Alicia at Studeo for providing a link to a free online typing test.

This is a great test site, as you don't have to register and there are no bells and whistles. There's a paragraph, a place to type the paragraph, and two buttons to click on: one to start the clock and one to stop the clock. Type the paragraph, hit the "stop the clock" button, and your speed and accuracy are shown.

Have fun!

Big Sale

Do you like sales? Do you like books? Maureen Wittmann is having a big book sale. These aren't just any books; they're various books she's written. You can check it out here.

What if You Don't Homeschool?

This post is supposed to follow the post, "Why Do I Homeschool", but of course on blogs the most recent post appears first. So if you haven't yet read that one, you might want to scroll down and read that post before you read this one.

The following is a copy of my response to a comment at Philosopher Mom's blog:

I wanted to respond in a separate post to the lady who asked if choosing a Catholic education makes her less of a Catholic than the homeschooling moms. I'm sure you mean "in our eyes". Not in mine!

I have wonderful friends whose children went to (or currently go to) Catholic schools...and also to public schools. There are "success stories" coming from Catholic (and other Christian) and public schools, as well as in homeschooling; and there are "failure stories" in homeschooling, as well as in religious and public schools. (Although there really is no such thing as failure when we speak of a person!)

As parents, we pray for guidance, make our decisions, and do the best we can, day in and day out, one step at a time. We need to do what we do - do our best - for love of our children and love of God, and then leave the results in God's Hands...and respect one another.