Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Homeschool Spanish Curriculum Review

Most of the homeschool Spanish curriculum reviews that I have found online use a very traditional, classroom approach to learning Spanish. That's the type of class I had when I was in Junior High and High School. You probably had a similar class. You start with counting in Spanish. Then you begin naming objects. Lots of rote memorization of Spanish words is involved. I passed the class, but I didn't really learn any Spanish.

The classroom approach to learning Spanish just didn't work for me. So when I found myself scheduled for my first trip to Guatemala, I needed to learn Spanish. The trouble was, I only had a month to prepare for my trip. So, I searched online found a Spanish homeschool curriculum that worked for me. It was a class that promised to teach me just 138 words, and enable me to say just about anything I wanted to say in Spanish. I was skeptical, but the advertisement was convincing, and offered a money back guarantee.

I decided to risk it. When I purchased, I was given links to over fifty .mp3's with Spanish lessons. I could listen on my computer, or burn a CD and listen in my kitchen or car. There was also a textbook guide, a flashcard program, and bonus emails with fun supplemental words and phrases. The curriculum, called Synergy Spanish, isn't included in most homeschool Spanish curriculum reviews, because it's not marketed as such. But let me tell you, it works.

At the end of the very first 'homeschool' lesson, I was surprised at how many sentences I could say. Real, useful sentences. At the end of the month, the curriculum had me speaking an amazing amount of Spanish. I was able to tell about my family (even if I did accidentally call my husband a wife for an entire week). I could order things in restaurants, ask for things in stores, compliment children, and generally get my point across. No, I wasn't fluent, but I wasn't after fluency. I was after a working knowledge of Spanish that would let me understand and be understood.

Here's the thing that will interest homeschool moms looking for Spanish curriculum - by the time I completed the course, my son had learned to speak Spanish, too. He heard the CD's when I did, and learned right along with me. And the best part was that I wasn't even trying to teach him Spanish! And when we both went to Guatemala four years later, he could communicate with his newfound friends.

If you are trying to find a Spanish homeschool curriculum, I encourage you to give Synergy Spanish a shot. You'll be amazed at how quickly your kids - and you - pick up the language. Check out Synergy Spanish here. Maybe if more homeschool moms like me promote it, Synergy Spanish will be included in more homeschool Spanish curriculum reviews!

Monday, October 27, 2008

ADHD - A Walk in the Park

ADHD has been all over the news this week. I was particularly intrigued by a study in the Journal of Attention Disorders that suggested that nature walks improved concentration just as much as - and sometimes more than - medication. It's interesting that the walks in natural settings were much more effective than walks in a city setting.

At our house, my standard remedy to everything from inattention to arguing to stomachache is 'eat some raisins and run around the house'. (It's nice for my home remedy to get validation from a journal!) While going outside to play certainly isn't the cure all our kids would like it to be, we all need to make sure that our children are taken outside to play at home and at school. The fresh air and exercise are good for the body, the mind and the soul. So...you have my permission. Take a walk with your kids today!

Friday, October 24, 2008

If you are new to ADHD, or need a broad overview of what Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Order entails, check out Coping With ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is becoming one of the most diagnosed disorders among children and even adults these days. Many years ago, the acronym ADHD was virtually unheard of. When you get the word that you or your child has ADHD, you might feel overwhelmed wondering where you can turn for information on how to deal with this new thing in your life.

There have been as many as 750,000 children in America diagnosed with ADHD. Some say the actual number is much, much higher. With an ADHD child or adult, the first thing to do is to gather as much information as you possibly can. It’s imperative that you understand what ADHD is, what the symptoms are, and how to deal with those symptoms.

Coping With ADHD will help you gather the information you need, so that you can make informed decisions for the wonderful child in your life.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Formatting Papers

If your child's teacher requires the class to format papers in a certain way, consider having your child get several ready at home and keep them in her planner. We've also had our son write his name in the proper spot, then used a highlighter to mark the places the other items needed to go, like date, subject, and class period. A teacher we know tapes a model paper to children's desks if they need help remembering what goes where.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Positive Parenting

Try to correct your child without using negatives. Instead of saying, "Don't run" say "Walk". Instead of saying, "Stop arguing", say, "A little civility, please." Another option is to not saying anything at all - just make eye contact. (I'm not talking about the look, just passive eye contact.) When your child changes behavior, you can make a positive statement. And two positives make a positive!

Read about Postive Parenting on Amazon.

Turning Negatives into Positives

Try to correct your child without using negatives. Instead of saying, "Don't run" say "Walk". Instead of saying, "Stop arguing", say, "A little civility, please." Another option is to not saying anything at all - just make eye contact. (I'm not talking about the look, just passive eye contact.) When your child changes behavior, you can make a positive statement. And two positives make a positive!

Visit our website at http://www.goaskmom.com.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Demonic Mnemonics

Sometimes the small things make all the difference. Like in memorization. My first introduction to the word Mnemonic came with the disclaimer that it was a 'demon' to pronounce. I never forgot that word. Nor will I ever forget the following devices, that I hope will help your child, too.

The place values in the metric system:
King Henry Doesn't Usually Drink Chocolate Milk or King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk
Kilo Hecto Deka Unit (or Base) Deci Centi Milli

Order of Operations:
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
Parentheses (and other symbols of inclusion); Exponents; Multiplication and Division, in order from left to right; Addition and Subtraction, in order from left to right.

The first ten elements in the periodic table:
Ha. HEalthy LIttle BEggar BOys CAtching NEwts OR FIsh
H HE LI BE BO CA NE OR FI

The Great Lakes, in order from west to east:
Sam's Horse Must Eat Oats
Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario

The colors of the rainbow, in order:
ROY G. BIV (pronounced like a person's name)
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

The planets in order:
My Very Educated Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas
or My vampire eats marshmallows just sitting under new planets.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Disclaimer: Pluto has lost its planetary standing, now, so we'll have to learn a new one.

How to remember the difference between the spelling of hear and here:
You hear with your ear.

And another spelling hint is:
The Principal is your pal.

For those of you who are boaters, or for the rest of us who just read about it:
We left port and went right to starboard.

If you're looking for a mnemonic for something specific, Google it like this: "Mnemonic for _________". You'll be amazed at the memorization hints. And for even more ideas, go to Google images. If you're enjoying this way too much, browse through the books on Amazon. There are mnemonics books for everything from anatomy to Spanish to pharmacology. And nice mundane things like math and biology.

Friday, October 17, 2008

"Homework Doesn't Get Any Better..."

An ADHD mom writes..."My daughter is in 8th grade and is doing Algebra! Her homework last night was to solve quadratic equations with variables on each side. Of course, I had to refer to the textbook (which she gets to keep at home thanks to her 504 accommodation!) to help her with it. She used a large (24"x18") white wipe board and colored markers (lime green, bright pink, yellow) to work out the problems. The wipe board makes it easy for me to watch how she is working the problem out because she writes bigger than she could on her binder paper, and it makes it easy for her to erase a mistake quickly (and not get distracted) so she can get back to solving the problem. The colored markers keep it fun--and when she gets bored with one color, she moves on to the next one! Once she has solved the equation, I copy it down onto the binder paper for her (being a secretary for my children has helped them tremendously!). This method has made math homework a creative and fun "game" instead of another rigid activity. We even sit on the living room floor, reclining against the sofa, drinking chocolate milk shakes. Homework doesn't get any better than this!"

Don't miss one of the great hints imbedded in this: the large writing surface, colored markers, reteaching, the parental supervision, "being a secretary", making homework relaxing and fun...What great hints - and what a great mom! I'm afraid that Algebra was never this fun at my house. Maybe we should have tried chocolate milk shakes.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Staying on Task


Staying on task is HARD. Trying to write this, I keep getting distracted, and I don't have ADHD. To help bring attention back to the task at hand, our family LOVES a little gadget called the Triple Tell Timer. It flashes, buzzes and/or beeps at regular intervals to simply remind you - or your kids - of what you are supposed to be doing. You program it with the frequency you need, and it does the rest. Our guys used to fight over this thing. Of course, there are many variations on the theme. There are lots of cool gadgets - medication reminders, watches, alarms, you name it! Check out our new page on reminder clocks at http://www.goaskmom.com/GoAskMomProducts/reminder_clocks.html.

For more great hints on how to help your child focus, visit http://www.goaskmom.com/that_works_adhd_inattentive/focus.html.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Teaching the Test

If your child brings home a test with a lower grade than you would like, take some time to review the test. First of all, find out what sort of mistakes were made. Did your child simply not have a grasp of the material? Were the wrong things studied? Were the mistakes careless? Were there transposing errors - especially in math - where numbers were reversed? If the test was multiple choice, did your child get the right answer on the scratch sheet, but circled or bubbled the wrong answer?

Then find out which type of answers are hardest for your child. Multiple choice often require your child to choose between two or three possible answers. Short answers demand that your child have certain names or vocabulary memorized. True/False answers are always tricky. The dreaded essay questions can be horrors for our kids. And sometimes there are other little things that teachers count off for - incorrect spelling and punctuation, for example. (Or not writing a name on the paper...or messiness...not that our kids would ever have problems with that...)

Explain your findings to your child, and help her bone up on her weak areas. Ask the teacher for help as well; he may have practice tests or ideas that will be of great benefit.