After a long delay, I am finally back on track to test out the SpellQuizzer program.  So far so good. I’ve downloaded and installed the program and created my first list. Stay tuned for more…

Product Description

I was a military brat growing up.  We moved around – a lot.  And it didn’t really matter how often we did it, every time I came home to find mom packing I would start to get upset.  I mean, GEEZ!  I’d just made a bunch of great friends.  I’d just found out where all the cool spots around town were.  I was just starting to feel like I belonged.

As an adult who grew up as a modern day nomad, it is easy to forget how scary that move can be for little kids.  I mean, I’m an old hat at moving now.  Sometimes I even relish the adventure and excitement that change can bring.  But I can still remember the squeezing panic in my gut when I was a kid and it was time to start all over again in a new place.

Sarah Olivieri writes a pretty story about a little girl’s move from Puerto Rico to Indiana.  This is not every kids typical move story, but the feelings are the same – missing our favorite hangouts, losing friends, starting a new school.  It can all be overwhelming.  The book is full of encouragement and sweetness, the illustrations are bright, cheery, and colorful.  It is a perfect book for a move with relatively few complications.  There are even some tips in the back section for kids, parents, and teachers to help ease the transition of moving.

The reality is that moving is tough.  And sometimes things can go wrong – favorite toys get lost or left behind, pen pals don’t write back, you meet a bully at your new school.  But, excitement and change can be a good thing too.  New places to visit, new opportunities, new people.  Our lives are constantly changing and Elena’s Big Move helps young kids focus on the positive side of moving.

*Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists sent me a copy of this book to review.

Elena loves her home in Puerto Rico, but she just found out she will be moving to a strange, new place she’s never seen before-Indiana.  She’s worried that nothing will be the same again, so she takes pictures of her friends and favorite places and creates an album to remember them by.  When she finally moves, she finds that Indiana is very different than her old home, but she soon discovers that new places can be just as interesting as old ones.  With the help of her new friends, Elena starts another album to record memories from the many new places she will soon discover.

About the Author

Sarah M. Olivieri was born in San José, Puerto Rico and has a B.A. in elementary education from Purdue University Calumet. She currently teaches second grade and is a youth leader for the First Christian Church. She lives in Indiana with her husband, José and their three children.

Dan, the creator of Spell Quizzer has authorized me to host a give away of his new program.  YAY for all of you!

Now that school is in full swing, I will be testing the program out on my kids to see how it all works and letting you know all about it.  I am pretty excited because spelling has always been one of the more mundane and tedious aspects of teaching.  But it is so important, so anything that can make this job more fun and productive is definitely a good thing.

Stay tuned for the review of Spell Quizzer and the rules of the Spell Quizzer give-away.

Getting ready to start school again. Due to some family issues, we actually took the whole summer off this year. But everybody is ready to go now!

Every time I walk into the local big blue box store (yeah, you know which one I’m talking about) I am greeted with the huge back to school signs and fliers and school supply lists. But come on! Do you really need everything on that list? I mean, will you fail out of school if you don’t have a pack of colored pencils? *rolls eyes*. Now, don’t get me wrong. I actually love colored pencils, and art supplies are some of my favorite things. But the list of: one red pocket folder, one blue pocket folder, one green pocket folder, 12 #2 pencils (yellow only – no fancy colors)…. Sheesh. That was a bit obsessive. And how many of you parents still have your old Trapper Keeper? (Or God forbid, how many of you parents don’t even know what a Trapper Keeper is!)

So, what did we get?

• graph paper (makes math easier, used for graphs, used with certain art projects)
• college ruled lined paper (for the older kid)
• primary journal (for the younger kid learning how to write)
• sketch paper (for drawing and painting)
• colored construction paper

We already have:

• scissors (one for each kid, age appropriate)
• pencils (Mirado black warriors are our favorite, they sharpen nice, erase well, and write nice and clean)
• colored pencils (Berol prismacolor, because cheap colored pencils suck to use)
• crayons (Crayola really does make the best crayon, the other brands are too waxy – not enough color)
• markers (from my years of teaching I found that Sanford Mr. Sketch makes the better washable marker, it doesn’t rub off like Crayola markers do, and the colors are bright. It’s also a little cheaper if you can find it.)
• glue (we usually get Elmers, it works)
• ink pens (ah, everyone has their own preference)
• rulers (metal for better accuracy and if you’re going to be using it with an x-acto knife, otherwise the plastic ones work just fine)

What more do you really need?

Stay tuned for some new lesson ideas!

I just came across an article of a charter school in Wisconsin that recently participated in an experiment. Central Alternative High School in Appleton, Wisconsin is a charter school for students with behavioral issues. Like most alternative schools, Central Alternative was plagued with problems. Then, in 1997 Natural Ovens of Manitowoc, WI initiated a five-year project to bring healthy food into area schools. The goal was to show that fresh, nutritious food can make a real difference in the student’s behavior, learning and health. And what a difference it has made. Grades have improved, truancy and arguments have drastically decreased. Students are more focused on learning and staying healthy. They have recognized the relationship between good health and the ability to function and learn. All of this was made possible by simply changing the lunch program and eliminating the availability of junk food on the school premises. There are no more vending machines or soda machines. And the school cafeteria provides homemade foods made from old fashioned recipes with all natural ingredients and whole grains. Essentially, they eliminated chemical laden over processed foods the are in most people’s diet.

This is so groundbreaking, not because the idea is new, but because most schools throughout the nation insist on installing soda machines to increase revenue and serving low grade cafeteria crap to students. Remember ages ago when the lunch ladies actually made the food. Those days are long gone. Now all lunches are outsourced to companies that bring in their prepackaged junk and serve it to the kids. My first year teaching was at a high needs school in north county Missouri. Their “nutritious” breakfast was a package of fruit rollups and an orange-flavored drink (NOT 100% juice, but, essentially, a non carbonated soft drink). Yeah, I was totally appalled.

I sincerely believe that diet is the basis for health. Without a good diet, nothing else really matters. And this program just goes to prove how important it is.

If you are interested in reading the case study you can do so here.

Peering out of my rain-lashed window with the cool breeze blowing in through the back door, I wonder how I can call it summer time. Yet, it is almost June, band is finished for the season, and it is time to start planning for the next round of school projects.

We have had a good year so far. Pork Chop has been working on learning how to research and write. His last report on Frank Hopkins was really interesting. He just needs to remember to leave out the contractions in formal writing. He’s also been journeying into the land of physics, Newtonian/Classical physics on motion. He’s been struggling a bit with building his mousetrap car, but once he gets over the hump I’m sure he’ll be okay. He’s also continuing his study of computer coding and web design. I’m surprised at how much he is picking up. Pumpkin is more of a reader than she would care to admit. I think she still likes story time where mom and dad read TO her more than she likes reading herself. So that is limiting her displays of literacy. However, when we sit her down with a book she reads, stumbling over only the more advanced words like anxious and mangled (it was a book on horses). She does struggle with the ‘th’ words. but we are working on those.

So, for the summer… more reading! Of course. Pork Chop will also be learning the basic skills of planning and goal setting as well as a little bit of American history with the Federalist Papers and other founding documents. There will also be a bit of geography for both of them.

And let’s not forget… plenty of outside time, exploring nature and getting plenty of sunshine (keep our vitamin D levels up). Oh it should be so much fun.

Pork Chop has been going to the public school just to attend band classes for the past two years. The poor guy was a real champ jumping through all the silly little obstacles the public school dished out to him. But then… he REALLY wanted to be in band. Oh, he had to ring the bell to get the door to open, then sign in EVERY DAY. He also had to keep track of any time the band class had a change in schedule, like for assemblies, career day, half days. You name it. He also worked with the teacher to get a heads up if there was going to be a substitute teacher so that he wouldn’t waste his time showing up on a day when there would be no instruction.

I have mixed feelings about it all being over. I am sad that he doesn’t have that outlet anymore. I know he loves music, but he’s not continuing on the the high school band for a myriad of reasons. And then at the same time I am so relieved that all this schlepping around is over. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we’d have to take him for 30 minutes. (yeah, class was 30 minutes long!) Then Tuesdays and Thursdays he’d be there for lunch from noon to 2pm, then back again for after school practice 3:30-5pm. Keep in mind that he is not the only child and we have some still taking naps between 2-4pm. Yeah. It was an organizational nightmare. But it is over. He did so great and I am so proud.

Sometimes I can get really frustrated with home schooling. And it’s not what you think. Home schooling itself is easy for me. I don’t have problems with teaching or disciplining or creating ideas or projects. That’s easy for me. What I find frustrating is connecting with other families who home school. Sometimes I feel like I am in a vast ocean with my family on a life boat and there is no other friendly face in sight.

It’s not that I’m looking for affirmation or advice. I don’t really need that. I just miss the real connections. I do get tired of the weird looks I get from people who think home schoolers are complete nutters. I just want some real community. I’ve tried joining social networking groups and stuff… but they just seem to be filled with whining and complaining. And I don’t want that.

So… if anyone has any ideas on how to connect with other home schoolers… I’m all ears! Let me hear about it. Home schooling is supposed to be the fasted growing area of child education. So, what is everyone doing?

And remember… FREE is good.

My husband and I are about to realize a life-long dream.  Our school is almost ready to open (scheduled for fall 2009 if all goes according to plan).  Yay!  This is a culmination of everything we have been working on since we started training to be teachers.  It’s a totally different kind of school.

It’s essentially based on the principle that each student is an individual with different needs and interests and that learning can easily take place once you focus on those individual needs and interests.  It’s really IEPs the way they are supposed to be.

I always used to get frustrated when dealing with IEPs at public school because I never really understood how it was helping the student.  “Johnny has problems with spelling so teachers will not penalized him in grading for spelling errors.”  Now come on….  How does that help Johnny overcome his difficulty with spelling?  IEPs have just become an excuse to not perform at an acceptable level and helps the schools pass students who are not ready to graduate.

IEPs are used by the school to excuse all kinds of learning lapses.  Grammar, mathematics, dates, spelling, reading comprehension.  Instead of using it as a tool to help the students overcome their difficulties, they are used as an excuse.

And don’t get me started on ADHD.  Yes, there are some (very few) children that have a serious medical issue that require the use of such hard core drugs like Aderall and Ridalin.  But the majority of the children on these drugs are just bored in class.  If you had to sit still in a stuffy classroom waiting for the teacher to handle the classroom management only to get started on some dull rote skill work with no understanding of how it fits into real life, you would be fidgety and bothersome too.

But our school is going to change all that.  A custom-fit education for everyone.

Everything is almost ready.  We’ve even been to the bank and they want to work with us.  We’ve just got to finalize some paperwork and come up with a major down payment.  Sigh.  It always comes down to money.  But I am confident that the money will come…  simply because this school needs to be a reality.

You can read more about the school if you are interested at Pomegranate Gardens School

Pork Chop had his solo and ensemble competition last weekend.  He scored 1st place on his clarinet duet, 1st place superior on his Pep ensemble, and 1st place on his clarinet solo.  The only thing they said he really needed to work on was RELAX.  So that’s a good thing.  I am really proud of him.

He’s also making headway on his independent project.  He’s decided to look into 3D animation and the coding involved in it.  So that’s a lot of research and a lot of work.  It’ll be interesting to see what he comes up with.

Pumpkin is spending a lot of time exploring and it has been helping with her temperament at home. She tends to lash out and be extremely whiney and pouty when she doesn’t get her outside time.  She also has spontaneously started addition and through that is starting to figure out basic multiplication.  Things like 2 + 2 = 2 X 2 and 2 + 2 + 2 = 2 X 3.  Really amazing stuff.

Squirrel is now counting only 2 1/2 and he can count up to 12 and understands that the numbers can represent how many.  He’s a whiz at his colors too.  Purple is his favorite.

And last, but not least, Hummingbird says please and thank you, hello, bye-bye, and yes and no.  She’s learning her routine, especially at bedtime (she loves to brush her teeth).  She’s such a charmer.

So, learning is happening everyday. You’ve just got to know where to look.