I am currently making flashcards to quiz and sharpen the minds of my children. There are several apps (applications) out there for such an endeavor. The one I am trying out first is GFlash+ (now defunct). Very simply, you create a Google Spreadsheet (need a Gmail account), add your info in columns A and B, [...]
Just as no one ever says the word *therapy* without the word tried preceding it - as in "We tried therapy"....hardly anyone ever wields the word lecture all by itself. Hence the expression *boring lecture* is now a redundancy. In 2012 there is almost NO REASON and NO VALUE in any sort of live academic [...]
One of the MAJOR PERKS of individualized, parent-led education is geographic independence. Last week we hit the road for the more temperate winter climate of South Florida. My wife and I knew we'd have a book problem with John - a voracious reader if there ever was one - especially given the 20 hours in [...]
When I read books, I use a piece of paper for my bookmark. On it I take notes and have for some time now, perhaps dating back to high school....I also write down every word that I don't know. (I only read non-fiction!) And when I finish the book, I type up my notes on [...]
My kids received this CD collection for Christmas from their grandmother (at our behest). There are 18 of them and each one covers the life and music of a different famous composer. First we did Tchaikovsky (Swan Lake, Waltz of the Flowers, etc.) and then we moved on to Wagner and Schubert. We listen to [...]
Now I don't endorse this type of school, because I believe it creates a fantasy world for children; and because it separates them from the real world of family (parents) and work. But still, I do agree with its premise - that children can only reach their full potential when they have time and freedom [...]
I just read and thoroughly enjoyed - Marva Collins' Way. Marva was a teacher who achieved amazing things with underprivileged children in Chicago. Watch the clips: Her secret? Well I would say that she taught in the manner of a loving parent! And technically, she engaged her students in the same *individualized* manner in [...]
Emboldened by the success of their Thanksgiving Day poetry presentation... I decided to ramp it up for Christmas! I gave John a longer poem (544 words) and we only worked on it for a mere 5 days - as opposed to the 3 weeks we devoted to *Over the River and Through the Woods* (306 [...]
Reading, Phonics, Vocabulary Bananagrams. My HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. There's just so much educational power in these tiles - and that's for students ages 3-103! This game is sooooo much better than traditional Scrabble. Scrabble Slam. Another good game to promote phonics and expand young vocabularies. Demo here. Big Boggle. Good for kids and a lot [...]
That's the status of our library account right now! We almost never have fewer than 60 books checked out. 8-10 of them are *parental* and the rest are the kids'. A lot of people are neither aware nor take full advantage of the library resources available to them. Most local libraries are part of [...]
