By Robyn Martijena
Many elementary age students resist grammar because they feel overwhelmed by a flurry of unfamiliar words. Labels that they are expected to use – subjects, predicates, imperatives, and as if pronouns aren’t enough, we throw in complementary pronouns. It often seems like a bunch of unnecessary fluff when all they want to do is write down a simple thought. But I’ve found that when we give these fluffy words some substance or meaning, children are able to make a connection between these previously-misunderstood labels, and sentences that clearly express their thoughts. Kids inherently ask questions and want more information. So creating a link between the labels and life is much easier than you might think.
Decompression from School FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
by Cafi Cohen
"He just won’t do anything!" say the parents of new teenage homeschoolers. Novice homeschooling parents always begin with such high hopes. They envision their children industriously attacking thoughtfully-selected curriculum, running a business, publishing a book, graduating early, and winning big scholarship money – or at least catching up in math!
Some of those things may happen, but – in the first days and weeks and months of homeschooling – reality bites. Most new homeschooling families with teens deal with an adjustment period I call decompression.
by Gary Grammar
Here is a common scenario: Having purchased a new software program for your computer, you seat yourself, ready to install and use the new program with heaving breath; racing mind. You wend your way through the initial steps contained within the user's manual, only to find that something is not right. You back track and start anew only to reach the same dead end. Depending upon how new you are to such a journey, you repeat the installation or run procedure a number of times, reaching the same non-conclusion, until your patience and enthusiasm are finally exhausted and you leave your computer as quickly as possible to relieve your disappointment and consternation at the sloppy work someone has done with the user's manual. The culprit is poor proofreading.
With the recent news stories and T.V. features about teenagers being bullied to death, it makes a person wonder when will non-homeschooling parents get it? All of us have long suffered with the silly question: “What about socialization?” and we usually try to be polite the first 100 times we hear it. The questioning non-homeschooling parents don’t sound very thoughtful, to have such a question be the first or second one they ask regarding homeschooling. If they can ask us such a question and bullying is such a rampant problem in many schools and communities around the country, you have to ask yourself: “What are they thinking? They call this tragic state of affairs desirable socialization?”
The Increasing Prevalence on Online Learning in Education
Online learning is a broad and dynamic area of education whose significance is receiving increasing attention. Bill Gates recently predicted that in five years much of college education will have gone online. In keeping with this prediction, the Gates Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation, together with nonprofit educational organizations, have invested $20 million in accelerating the development and use of online learning tools for post-secondary online courses, with another round of grants for high school programs scheduled for next year. The United States Department of Education has been developing a National Education Technology Plan, aimed primarily at kindergarten to high school education, which urges the use of technology for individualization of learning experiences for students and for professional development for teachers.
Michigan Technological University Pre-College Outreach
When was the last time you had the opportunity to walk on water? Students attending the recent Einstein Project Science Expo in Green Bay, Wis., can tell you all about it; they spent the day dashing, running, and dancing across the surface of a non-Newtonian liquid called oobleck, a sticky white substance that will grab your feet and hold them fast if you dare to slow down.
Practical Learning Online for Entrepreneurship Education
By Michael Leppert
At first glance, the current economic climate seems to be completely gloomy and without a future, but it is not. As in past times of turmoil and upheaval, this is the perfect climate for independent thinking and entrepreneurship – even on small, neighborhood levels. Bright, driven young people who wish to push themselves onward and upward can find a myriad of opportunities to express their abilities and achieve success. People with marketable skills who have been laid off, now may have the reasons to make their own businesses of their skills.
- Patterns
