Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: Day 9

November 17, 2011 By 1 Comment

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner

Tweens & Teens:
Pursuing Passions!

“They know enough who know how to learn.”
The Education of Henry Adams p. 314

BJ was a quiet kid – like his dad. He enjoyed playing the piano and messing around with his friends. There was one thing that really got him excited, though, and that was computers. As soon as he finished his studies each day, he would spend whatever time he could on the computer. His mom got him books on programming and he pored over them. What he read, he put into action on their Mac. Over the years, his interest grew. He really wasn’t sure he was interested in going to college; he really was sure he was interested in computers!

His parents took the money they had saved up for his college education and bought him a state-of-the-art computer, printer, and many peripherals. He had learned so much about computers and programming over the years, they believed he would learn what he needed to know to be a valuable employee or entrepreneur if just given exposure to the right equipment.

Right about this time, BJ began volunteering in the TV studio at their church. He started out sweeping the floors and emptying waste cans. Just by being there, he was learning much. Folks began to notice that he had an incredible amount of interest and aptitude in the use of computers in television and movie production and was even able to help them through various difficulties which arose. Soon a paying position opened up; BJ applied for and got the job.

Then the homeschool graduate was making good money doing what he loved. Now, years later, his reputation in his city for being the fellow who ‘knows how to handle problems’ that arise in computer and film production is well established. BJ is in demand for this type of consulting and is happily doing his life’s work.

 Experience is the Best Teacher…

…. so the saying goes. Many young people are taking advantage of the enormous opportunities available to them as home educated students. The flexible schedules they usually possess, as well as the ability to take the time to really focus on an area of interest, are of great value.

However, these opportunities don’t usually just jump into your lap. It takes an alert, caring adult to:

  • search out possibilities
  • turn occurrences into opportunities
  • encourage the student to participate.

There are adults who would be pleased and honored to share their vocation with an interested young person.
Do your student a favor – help him/her find one!

<"Maggie;

Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our
10 Day of Adventure between November 7th-18th!
I love these ladies and I know you will too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Family, High School, Homeschooling, Maggie Hogan

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: Day 8

November 16, 2011 By 1 Comment

10 days of Raising a Life-Long LearnerLife-Long Learners: Tweens to Teens

Hobbies to Apprenticeships to Careers

Does your young person have a pastime, a hobby, a consuming interest? Hobbies often lead to life-long interests, college degrees, or career choices. Tweens and teens who are encouraged to pursue their passions tend to be more focused on what they want to accomplish with their lives.

When time is built into the homeschool for serious hobbies,
the stage is set for life-long learning.

  • Those with artistic natures who have ample time to immerse themselves will improve their talent—whether it’s their writing, art, or music, etc.
  • Those who have an academic passion will find they have more time to read, work on the computer, and follow their interests to a deeper level.
  • Students who are planning a vocational or technical career may begin an apprenticeship in their chosen field.

With the proper guidance from their parents, these young people will enter adulthood poised, confident, and with a solid academic and work ethic background. Responsible and independent problem-solvers are always gladly welcomed into colleges and the work place!

Keys to Raising a Life-Long Learner

Support them and provide numerous occasions to practice:

  • study skills
  • time management skills
  • life skills
  • rebounding (from failure) skills
  • hard work and perseverance

Spend time in the Word yourself and live out the practical applications of your faith.
At no other age is the
“Do as I say, not as I do” adage less likely to work!

 Real Life Story #1 Lauren and Flossie the Cow

“Is it my imagination, or is Flossie standing exactly where and how she was last night?” Janice asked her family aloud. Her eleven-year-old daughter, Lauren, assured her that it was not her imagination and that she had been trying to tell her mom that Flossie looked sick.

Their two acres out in the country—filled with a variety of animals—was exactly to this middle child’s liking. She willingly worked hard on the property and had earned the title, “Farm Manager.”

They called the vet who came out and examined the pregnant cow, Flossie. It was a good thing they called her because it turned out that Flossie was in pretty bad shape.

Thus began their relationship with a large animal vet. Being the child who always loved animals, Lauren was extremely interested in all the procedures the doctor performed on her many visits.

Lauren was so very interested in learning more about how people help sick animals that eventually the vet was asked if Lauren could accompany her on her rounds one day. The answer was positive, and sure enough, the day came when Lauren was invited to go along. She loved it and went again and again. Lauren treasured those experiences and longed for more.

Janice, Lauren, and the doctor talked and came up with the following arrangement: Lauren would accompany the vet once a week in exchange for doing weekly chores at the vet’s office. The following year was a very happy one for the young farm manager.

She was essentially functioning as a nurse-assistant. Her expertise grew to where she could anticipate what tool was needed during surgery and she was invited to tag along whenever there was something interesting happening. She even looked forward to performing the mundane work on her volunteer evening. Sometimes she washed the trucks, sometimes she did paper work, sometimes she filled pill bottles, sometimes she cleaned the office. No matter, Lauren worked hard and enthusiastically.

During the year this shy middle child grew into a self-confident, knowledgeable young lady. The following year it became apparent to the veterinarian that her business had grown to the point where she needed to hire part-time help. To whom do you suppose she offered the position? Lauren was excited! It not only was her first paying job, it was a job at which she was skilled and one she dearly loved.

When it came time to figure out her high school science requirements, it was easy assigning her credit for the many hours of labor and incredible knowledge she had gained. Nine years later Lauren earned an RN degree from Johns Hopkins University!

In my next blog post I’ll share Real Life Story # 2:
Ben’s Computer and Video Adventures 

<"Maggie

Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our
10 Day of Adventure between November 7th-18th!
I love these ladies and I know you will too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Books, Maggie Hogan

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: Day 7 — Baby Steps

November 15, 2011 By 2 Comments

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner

Baby Steps

Kaylee: Determined Doer

 

Avalon: Patient Watcher

Meet my granddaughters. The cutie on the left is Avalon—at this writing she is 9 months old. (Picture is at 6 months.) The spitfire on the right is Kaylee, pictured here on her second birthday. (She is now 2 1/2.) The joy of having them close by and raised by Godly parents is more than I can express! It’s also been quite a learning experience for me. Seeing them through the lens of time and experience is very different from when I was in the “parenting a toddler” era. They are also prime fodder for this column :-)

Take Avi, She is a watcher. She watches and watches and watches. She doesn’t miss a minute. She is quiet and reflective and willing to try new things but she operates in a world of gentle pacing. She is learning to walk but doesn’t get all stressed out and crazy when she falls or can’t get up. She is capable of many things but is also content if Grandmom wants to give her something or do something for her.

Now take Kaylee, she is a doer. As in I WILL DO IT MYSELF, ALL BY MYSELF, AND LEAVE ME ALONE I AM BUSY DOING IT. Whatever “it” is – Kaylee is absolutely positively convinced that she, and only she, can do it. She tries and tries again until she “gets it right.” Put shoes on the correct feet? Done. Dribble a full sized basketball with Granddad? Just about. From the very beginning, she has wanted as little assistance as possible and is offended if you try to help without her asking for it. She is non-stop run, play, and figure everything out kind of a kid.

Which of these two personalities strikes you as the best candidate for being a life-long learner? The correct answer? BOTH of them are. Why? Even though they were born with very different personalities and traits, they both have parents equally aware of their needs and of God’s Word. Parents who will work WITH their personalities to guide them into adulthood and who will encourage them in the process of being Life Long Learners.

Have you watched a baby learning to walk? Some get up, fall down, try again. Some get up fall down, cry, try again. Some just get up and fall down and get up and fall down over and over again. It’s fun watching the process and seeing how different each child reacts to failure (falling) and how much perseverance a particular child exhibits. Some just seem determined from the beginning and no amount of falling down will change their perseverance. Others appear to give up more easily. Yet others have their efforts helped (or hurt) by too much or not enough parental intervention.

What Type of Parent are You?
 Do you jump in and help that baby, toddler, teen accomplish their goals:

  • Before they fall?
  • While they are falling?
  • After they have fallen?
  • Do you provide an environment that allows for growth, trial & error, even failure, in a safe place?
  • Does your “baby” give up easily because mom or dad will quickly come to the rescue?
  • Does your “baby” become exasperated because you almost never come to the rescue?

It’s a fine line, isn’t it?

We want our kids to succeed at their challenges, their goals. We want to protect them from pain (physical, mental, emotional) along the way. But we also want them to become life-long learners & problem solvers, which includes learning some things the hard way.

It is so important to know your child’s temperament.

What one child needs and can deal with in terms of hands-off would absolutely crush a different child. Some need much more direction in learning perseverance, others need more in the way of limits! Know your child. Read your Bible daily, and commit this to prayer:

Lord, please give me wisdom in training _______ in perseverance so that he/she will grow into a person who has Godly character. Help me to know when to help and when to back off; when to offer advice, when to keep silent; when to encourage, when to admonish. Please Father, give me insight into their needs and personality so that I can be wise in their upbringing.

There is no definitive answer for how often or quickly a parent should come to the rescue.
But the Bible offers general principles. Regardless of whether you intervene quickly, or not at all, one vital component toward raising Life Long Learners is training your children to stay on task in order to complete their goals. This is one of the most valuable gifts you can provide. Parents, don’t forget that you need to persevere so that your children finish well! Here are some verses to read, chew on, and from which to seek wisdom.

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version (NKJV).

Proverbs 24:16
For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again,
But the wicked shall fall by calamity.

Romans 5:3-4
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

2 Peter 1:5-7
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

2 Chronicles 15:7
But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!

Tomorrow: Tweens and Teens

<"Maggie
Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our
10 Day of Adventure between November 7th-18th!
I love these ladies and I know you will too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Family, Homeschooling, Maggie Hogan

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: Day 6 — Research Ninja Skills, Part 3

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner

Ninja Research Skills (Part 3)

Absolutely Indispensable Reference Helps

Yesterday, we talked about sources for finding out pretty much anything and how to discern which sources are reliable.  Today, let’s discuss specific books and sites.

Bibles

I highly recommend owning several versions besides your family’s preferred translation.

  • One of my favorite websites is www.Biblegateway.com  which has easy-to-look-up versions in a myriad of translations and nice on-line commentaries too, including Matthew Henry’s.

Dictionaries

Sigh, so many dictionaries to love and so little time to read them…

Thesauri

NOTE: The one in your word processor DOES NOT count.
The paperback that has words just arranged alphabetically isn’t much better.

  • Do yourself a huge favor and spend under 20.00 for the best, most useful thesaurus ever invented: Roget’s International Thesaurus. Spend an hour to learn to use it and you will wonder how you ever wrote without it. All high school students should be well acquainted with this book!
  • Younger students would be best served to start with a simpler thesaurus like the Scholastic Student Thesaurus by John Bollard

Almanacs

Do you know what amazing information a good almanac contains?
Optional, but every home library would benefit from a recent almanac.

[Warning: sadly, many student almanac's contain pop culture so
please look through yours carefully before handing it off to a child.]

Quotations

A book of quotations is best arranged topically in order to
find just the right quote. These are great for history papers,
storytelling, inspiration, and enlivening dinner conversation!

Favorite Writing Reference Books

  • I don’t know what I’d do without the Chicago Manual of Style. Be sure to get the latest (16th) version which includes: how to treat punctuation, names, numbers, tables, quotations, dialogue, abbreviations, etc. PLUS must-know guidelines for web writing and references. This book (or website subscription) is a MUST for the serious high school or college student.
  • For simpler needs, another go-to resource is the Big Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. There is an online option for it, as well.

Well, I ran out of time before I got to atlases (possibly my most favorite reference material of all. Or maybe not. So hard to have a favorite child!) but that’s how I roll. So, here’s hoping you stop back for Day 6:

A Close Look at Atlases:
Ninja Skills for Finding Your Way!

<"Maggie

Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our
10 Day of Adventure between November 7th-18th!
I love these ladies and I know you will, too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Books, Family, High School, Homeschooling, Maggie Hogan

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: Day 5 — Research Ninja Skills, Part 2

November 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner

Ninja Research Skills (Part 2)

Guest post by Tyler Hogan (Maggie’s son)

Read Part 1

When researching, how do you know if the information is credible? Choose and analyze sources properly. Different sources have different uses.
Here is the Ninja Quick Guide to choosing the right sources.

Magazines

Magazines often contain good information about current events. That said, be careful about your choice of magazine. Tabloids like the ones in grocery stores are not reliable sources.(Shocking, I know!) Choose more credible magazines like World or Time for research.

Make a distinction between an article describing what is currently happening and an article providing someone’s opinion of what is happening. Typically, when a TV or movie personality writes about political events, the article is that person’s opinion—not a reliable source of information.

Magazines are useful for pop culture trends. If you are doing a paper on popular diets, for example, magazines are generally full of the latest ones. Look through issues of the same magazine from a previous decade and see how things change (or don’t)!

The purpose of some magazines such as Popular Mechanics or Popular Science is to make somewhat more scholarly information easily accessible to the general public. These can be good sources, but keep in mind that they are not as heavily researched or scrutinized as Journals.

Journals

Academic journals are typically very reliable sources of information because they are written by scholars, reviewed and edited by scholars, and read by scholars. When researching, they can be a good source of information. The down side, however, is that they can be difficult to understand unless you already know something about the topic. Journal articles typically have a good bibliography, which is useful for finding other sources. Peruse them also just to discover what has been researched on the topic already.

Newspapers

Newspapers are good sources of information for local, national, and international events. They’re also useful for finding opinions (both popular and expert) and commentaries on various subjects. Look at the editorials pages(s).

Books

Books are a vital part of research. In a good book, one should find accurate, detailed information on a topic. The quality of the book is the key factor. There are many things look at to determine a book’s reliability.

1.   Check the author’s credentials. Does he/she have a degree? If so, what level (Bachelors, masters, doctorate, etc.)? What is his experience with the topic? If a person does not have a degree, but has a lot of personal experience with the topic, he is usually qualified to write on it.

2.   Check the preface and look at the back to see who endorsed the book. Are these people good sources with either degrees or wide experience in the field?

3.   Check the author’s bibliography to see if he had good sources for his own research. Did he use good first-hand sources or only second hand sources? You can also track down the author’s research to do your own.

4.   Check for biases when dealing with controversial topics. A book on the Vietnam War written by a pacifist will likely record information differently then one written by a veteran.

5. Look at the copyright date and at the publisher for clues as to quality and accuracy.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias are typically a reliable source of information. Most only find a broad overview of any given topic but these concise explanations can provide good background research for your topic. They may point to main ideas and concepts worthy of additional research.

The Catalog and Periodical Index

Each library will have a catalog – detailing what resources the library owns and where to find them. Many libraries also have a periodical index, which help locate articles in magazines, journals, and newspapers kept on file.

The Internet

The internet is a fast source of information – when using reliable sites. Keep in mind that anyone can post something and call it “fact.” There are several ways of being able to tell if a source is reliable.

1.   Who sponsors the website? Is it an official institution or credible individual?

2.   Does the information have an author listed? If not, don’t use it unless it is backed by a legitimate institution. If the author is named, look him up. Check to see if he is credible to speak to the topic. Credibility is usually based on education. If he has a PHD in his field, he should be reliable. If he has a Masters or a Bachelors degree he may also be a reliable source. Don’t cite someone who writes about the topic as a hobby. Credibility can also be based on a person’s experience in the field. If you are doing a paper on Islam, for example, a person who is (or was) a Muslim would be a credible source (regardless of education).

3.   Look for a bibliography of sources the author used—it will show he did research.

4.   Again, check for biases when dealing with controversial topics.

Correspondence

Often, a person’s letters and other documents are kept on file. C. S. Lewis, for instance, had a large record of letters which can be cited as primary source material. Your own personal correspondence with a witness or expert (either through e-mail, snail mail, or interview) is also fantastic source.

2 Rules of Thumb

1. Try to use first-hand rather than second-hand sources. First-hand sources can be hard to find or non-existent. But if you are doing a research paper on the philosophy of Plato, for example, try to quote Plato more often than you quote commentaries about him.

2. When doing scientific or archeological research, be wary of outdated sources. New discoveries in these fields are made constantly. Although you can still quote old books in order to show what was believed, you will want more up to date material to show what is now believed to be fact. An encyclopedia published in 1966 is not a reliable source for research on the atom.

Do you have a favorite research source? Please share!

In our next post we’ll dig into resources from
Atlases to Quotations in our quest for
Ninja Research Skills in: Raising a Life-Long Learner.

<"Maggie
Please be sure to visit these brilliant women during the
HOTM’s “10 Days of …” adventures between November 7th-18th!

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Books, High School, Homeschooling, Maggie Hogan, Tyler

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: Day 4 — Research Ninja Skills, Part 1

November 10, 2011 By 2 Comments

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner

Ninja Research Skills

People!! Are there more important life/work/college/school skills than knowing how and where to find information?! (Well, ok, maybe there are… but not many.) My goal in homeschooling was not to try and teach my sons everything but rather to Teach Them How to Learn – so they could find what they needed to know.

To that end: in the next few posts I’ll share my favorite sites for finding what you need to know. (And, knowing how to determine if a site is a trustworthy source!)

Simple List Time. Bookmark these. Trust me.
(Even if your kid-lets are little, you will want these yourself
and they will need them in a few years.)

On the web you will find many “OWLS” (Online Writing Labs). My absolute favorite is the one hosted by Purdue University. They state:
“The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects.”

  • www.aresearchguide.com/
    “The goal of this web site is to provide all the necessary tools for students to conduct research and to present their findings…provides a Quick Click to Search Engines, annotated Research, Writing, and Style Guides (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.), housing some of the best education sites in a Virtual Library arranged by the Dewey Decimal Classification System.”

The site also provides guidelines on:

  1. How to write an A+ research paper.
  2. How to effectively deliver a presentation.
  3. How to format a research or term paper.
  4. How to quote passages.
  5. How not to plagiarize.
  6. How to write Footnotes and Endnotes with examples pages.
  • www.writinghelp-central.com/
    There are many free and valuable examples on this site (do be aware there are also lots of opportunities to buy his ebooks). I especially like his section on writing different types of letters.
  •  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
    The CIA World Factbook is one of my all time favorite and most oft-used sites. Although this site is not especially intuitive, if you poke around you can find pretty much you’d ever need to know about any given country. It provides “…information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, and military for 267 world entities.”

Tomorrow we’ll start Digging for Golden Sources
in our quest to develop Ninja research skills in Raising a Life-Long Learner, Part 5.

<"Maggie
Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our
10 Day of Adventure between November 7th-18th!
I love these ladies and I know you will too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Author, Homeschooling, Maggie Hogan

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: WowBooks Part 3 – Conclusion

November 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner
Day 1 I gave an overview of what WowBooks are.
Day 2 I provided examples of WowBooks well suited for six different learning styles.

Today, I’ll provide examples of ways to use WowBooks for Bible, history, and science.

Bible WowBooks? Absolutely! Let me say first off that this is totally not disrespectful. I am not suggesting we are improving on the Bible, rewriting the Bible, or dumbing down the Bible. In fact, if you think about it: the Bible is the ultimate notebook. It’s God’s record for us.

In it we find stories of:

  • danger and intrigue,
  • faith and perseverance,
  • sin and judgement,
  • redemption and renewal.

We read incredible descriptions of people’s lives—their hopes and fears, terrors and triumphs. We find history, geography, science, literature, philosophy, government, health and so much more. Using:

  • first person narrative,
  • parables,
  • poetry,
  • proverbs,
  • and a variety of writing styles,

God has left us with the most amazing and powerful notebook every written!

Two of my favorite Bible WowBooks arose from a course I taught to a small group of homeschooled 13-15 year olds. Their assignment was to “present new information–on a topic of their choosing–in an interesting manner.” It had to have a visual component and I did NOT want a “book report.” These young teens all did such creative projects! Out of this assignment came my favorite WowBook of all time: The Book of Esther ABC book.

What is an ABC book and how could it be a high school level activity? I discovered these my first year of homeschooling and used them throughout my boys’ schooling. The concept is simple: for every letter of XYZ topic, find a word or concept for each letter of the alphabet, define it, and illustrate it. (When my sons were young we did a family ABC book on Ancient Egypt. It is usually not realistic to assign 26 letters to a single pre-teen. Either cut down the amount of letters or pair students to work together.) Of course, you have to provide parameters as they grow, for example, my 6-year-old could use “N is for Nile” on Ancient Egypt but my 11-year-old would need to find something less obvious.

Queen Esther Wowbook

I digress. Back to my story. Our youngest, Tyler, choose to do an ABC book on the Book of Esther in the Old Testament. Esther lived during the time period we were learning about but she had not really been a part of the course. He was interested in learning more about her and that made it the perfect choice!

He began combing the Book, taking notes on important words or concepts as he read, and read, and re-read Esther. Over the course of 3 or 4 weeks (this was an End of Unit Project, one was required every 8 weeks so he had plenty of time) he got his ABC list together, defined the words, and began the process of illustrating it. Tyler choose to use a combination of simple timeline figures, stickers, and markers. Not especially sophisticated but that wasn’t the goal—it just needed to be visually interesting.

The day before it was due he showed me what he had and I was pretty pleased. I decided it was worth covering each page in contact paper and so sat down to help him do so. While we worked together on this, a young lady from our church stopped by to visit and the following conversation ensued.

“Tyler, what are you doing?”
He replied, “Making an ABC book about Esther.”
“Esther who?”
“You know, Esther, in the Bible,” he said.
No, she didn’t know. From a non-churched family and only a recent attendee at our church, she had never read the Old Testament.

Now Listen for the WOW: I sat quietly as Tyler proceeded to tell her, practically paragraph by paragraph, the entire Book of Esther. Amazed, she said to Tyler, “Wow! I never heard that before. I can’t wait to get home and read this book myself.”

I still get goose bumps, people!!! He had digested the book of Esther due to all his time spent in it looking for ABCs. He had hid the Word in his heart.

Now truly, it took all I had to not then suggest that he do EVERY book of the Bible this way! Yes, I get carried away sometimes…

Check out these other WowBook ideas! Click on the name to go to picture & description.

History & Geography
1. Spice Books
2. Money Book
3. My Geography Autograph Book
4. Native American Games
5. George Washington’s Pancakes

Science

1. Biology WowBook
Using information from Christian Kids Explore Biology, this fold-out WowBook consists of legal sized envelopes trimmed to contain cards about each Unit. The front & backs of the book are made from corrugated cardboard, decorated simply, glued to the fold out envelopes, and tied together with string.

2. What Planet Are You From?

What Planet Are You From?
Research from Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space turned into a fun, glow-in-the-dark WowBook! Black paper and gel pens turn an ordinary report into something visually exciting!

Planets Folderbook
3. Look at the Day 1 post for pictures and descriptions of two more science WowBooks!

Are you excited by the possibilities yet?! Because really, WowBooks can be used in more ways than I can imagine and there is the perfect WowBook for your students to discover for themselves. Help them to find what works and show them the power and beauty of owning information by capturing it in a way worthy of their time and effort. This act—this assimilating and presenting new knowledge—will serve them well all of their lives!

Check back tomorrow for Day 4 of Raising a Life Long Learner!

<"Maggie

Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our
10 Day of Adventure between November 7th-18th!
I love these ladies and I know you will too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

 

 

 

 

 


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Homeschooling, Maggie Hogan

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: WowBooks – Part 2

November 8, 2011 By 2 Comments

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner
I prefer to think of learning styles as learning preferences. Some people have strong preferences in how they assimilate information. Others find a combination of styles work best for them and a few may actually have little preference. It is smart to consider their styles as you teach (or you may pay the consequences in unhappy, disinterested kiddos).

As students learn, they need a way to organize their thoughts and then explain what they have learned. This is where WowBooks really shine! Using your students learning preferences (and their input) help them to present their new knowledge in a manner they enjoy.

As they become experienced with creating WowBooks, they will think of innovative ideas that work for them. Over time, they will become increasingly able to sort and organize information and then turn around and teach/show it to others. Yes! This is what we want: a wonderful skill for college, work, parenthood, and life in general!

Below is my summary on Learning Styles from information I received from Richard M. Felder and Barbara A. Soloman’s site on Learning Styles and Strategies.

Auditory Learners learn best by listening and speaking. They enjoy:

  • interviewing
  • debating
  • oral reports
  • discussions

Silly Old Bear – great for auditory learners and non-writers. In this project, the child picked out the most important elements of the story and found items to represent them. She was then able to retell the story, using these as reminders. (Although this project, done using an Altoid tin, highlights a young student’s oral report, this same idea can be used for all ages.) Think outside the box tin!

Silly old bear

Visual Learners are able to recall what they see and prefer written instructions. They are sight readers who prefer reading silently, learn by observing, and enjoy working with the following:

  • computer graphics
  • maps, graphs, charts
  • cartoons, posters, diagrams
  • graphic organizers
  • text with a lot of pictures

Tree Book – this high school student enjoyed using photos and PowerPoint to catalog trees found in Delaware as part of her Biology course.

Tree Book

Tactile Learners learn best by touching. They benefit from directions that they write themselves and from using manipulatives.
Their favorites include:

  • drawing
  • playing board games
  • making dioramas
  • making models

Sea Shells – this collection was cataloged and described in a box that included index cards with info, maps, and actual examples hot glued into the box. Portable, simple, and Wow!

image_7

Kinesthetic Learners learn by touching/manipulating objects, but they also need to involve their whole body. They excel at:

  • making models
  • following instructions to make something
  • setting up experiments

Volcano – students who need to touch and be involved enjoy putting together projects that include models, folderbooks, samples, and reminder of a science experiments. Really? Totally Wow!

image_6

Global learners are spontaneous and do not like to be bored. Information should be presented in an interesting manner with appealing materials. Good options for them include:

  • writing stories
  • computer programs
  • games
  • group activities

Countries Pizza Book – Using information from The Ultimate Geography & Timeline Guide, this student created a quiz and added flaps and pop-ups for extra fun.

image_5

Analytic Learners are both logical and detailed. They need to plan and organize their work. They prefer:

  • information presented in sequential steps
  • lessons that are structured and teacher-directed
  • clearly defined requirements and goals

Delaware State Folderbook – this student used an outline map from WonderMaps and then filled in state forms (found on-line), and included postcards and brochures of places visited to create a comprehensive overview of his state.

Delaware Wowbook

In the next (and last) post on WowBooks, I will give you ideas for Bible, science, and history projects. Including my very favorite WowBook ever!! Hint, my son Tyler made it when he was 13 and we were studying Ancient Civilizations! Don’t miss it!

<"Maggie

Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th! I love these ladies and I
know you will too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Maggie Hogan

Ten Days of Raising a Life-Long Learner: WowBooks – Part 1

November 7, 2011 By 3 Comments

10 days of Raising a Life-Long Learner
With so many different methodologies of homeschooling touted by every book, magazine, and workshop speaker, is there any educational process that works for virtually all homeschoolers? Yes: and I call it WowBooking!

Got creative kids? Make WowBooks. Got pencil resistant kids? Create WowBooks. Got kids mad about horses or sports? Yup, WowBook it. Want to get away from the same old book or history reports? I’m here to tell you—WowBooks are the answer. Teens need a new challenge? Repeat after me: WowBooks.

Colonial Culture
WowBooks, Journals, scrapbooks, Lapbooks™, notebooks, copybooks, diaries, (or whatever you want to call them) is the ultimate collection for learning experiences. Textbook families can use these to bring more active learning to traditional studies. Unit study fans find them useful for tying all the pieces together. Notebooks are an important part of the Charlotte Mason method. The Classical Approach relies heavily on notebooks as does the Principle Approach. Even the hands-on crowd likes to have something to show for the work they did. WowBooking is truly one process universally useful to the homeschool community.

But even more important than the ability to record homeschool experiences is the fact that
WowBooking is a tool that grows with you, creating a habit of lifelong learning.

Now, what exactly is a WowBook? It’s a term my friend Terri Camp and I coined years ago to describe “any container that holds the summary of a study.” And the act of WowBooking “consists of recording and organizing what one is learning in a permanent and attractive way.”

This chronicling and presenting information is a hands–on process that I call active learning. The expression “What you perform – you remember” is a truth that parents and teachers have known for years.

Putting together a WowBook is an effective, hands-on method of documenting
research, hobbies, field trips, books read, and so much more!

Whether one is learning about one’s self (diaries), history, hobbies, the Lord God (Bible studies, prayer journals), or any of a zillion other topics–WowBooks provide an exciting and permanent activity and record.

Let me cast a vision for bringing an active style of creative record keeping into your homeschool. Do you have a child who hates to write or perhaps one who disdains arts-and-crafts? WowBooks can work well even for pencil-resistant kids. Plus, by adding pictures, postcards, journaling, timeline figures, artwork, origami, photos, etc. the project becomes a rewarding experience for anyone. Variety is the key to successful WowBooks. Each family, and each person within the family, can find their own perfect fit.

Volcano Wow-Book
Over the next few post I’m going to show you more photos and walk you through several awesome WowBook projects both to: get your creative juices going and to show your students. After all, if we want our kids to try something new, it’s best if they buy into the idea, right? Some will want to create WowBooks similar to what they see here; others will just take the general idea and run with it. And yes, there will be a few who determine it’s not for them. Don’t give up. Based on personal experience, I will give you tips for capturing the interest of reluctant students. So tomorrow check back in for a practical and purposeful post.  “WowBooks Part 2.”

<"Maggie

Be sure to visit these brilliant women during our 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th! I love these ladies and we know you will too.

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy


This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please refer to the disclosure policy.
Filed Under: 10 Days of Lifelong Learners, Homeschooling