Homeschooling in the News
Easy English for Simple Homeschooling: How to Teach, Assess and Document High School English (Coffee Break Books)
Lee Binz (Author)
(1)
Download: $2.99
(Visit the Hot New Releases in Homeschooling list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)
7 Habits of Highly Effective HomeSchooling: Secrets to Homeschool Success (Unconventional Homeschooling Guides)
Ellyn Davis (Author)
Download: $8.97
(Visit the Hot New Releases in Homeschooling list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)
McGuffey’s Eclectic Primer (Illustrated) (McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers)
William Holmes McGuffey (Author)
(13)
Download: $1.99
(Visit the Hot New Releases in Homeschooling list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)
McGuffey’s Second Eclectic Reader (Illustrated) (McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers)
William Holmes McGuffey (Author)
Download: $1.99
(Visit the Hot New Releases in Homeschooling list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)
Our family loves to read, but one thing that is lacking in our reading repertoire is a good dose of classic literature. Do you have the same problem? Every summer I have instituted some sort of reading program. My boys have always loved this, and would often be lost for hours in a grand adventure or thrilling mystery.
To encourage summer reading in your house, set up a cute book nook area for your kids with a basket chock full of some of the books on their list. How about a gift card to your favorite book shop to help them kick things off? Set up comfy spots in every room with oversized pillows or inexpensive backrests. No reading program is complete without incentives! Here’s some that have worked for me:
1. Money. I paid a penny for each page read, and after they turned in a brief (one page/100 word) book report they could collect their earnings. Throw in a buck if they list and define ten to twenty unfamiliar words from the book.
2. Privileges. Short on cash? Give something else that will boost their reading enthusiasm: stay up late, have a sleepover with friends, have a day off, earn more screen time…
3. Treats. Movie night with popcorn, mini-golf, favorite dinner, home spa or make-over for girls. Foot massage machine was unbelievably popular. I wonder if we still have that in the basement? Individualized coupons, date night with daddy or mom, afternoon tea, no chore day…so many options.
4. Praise. Never cease to tell your children how proud you are of what they have accomplished. Enthusiastically cheer them on. Leave them little notes of encouragement. This will motivate them way more than any other incentive, I guarantee it.
Reading list for advanced readers (12+)
*
Hamlet Shakespeare*,
Romeo and Juliet
Count of Monte Cristo*
Poems
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Across Five Aprils
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Treasure Island
The Hound of the Baskervilles
A Boy’s War
Calico Captive
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl*
Number the Stars
Good-Bye, Mr. Chips
The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day
How Green Was My Valley*
In His Steps
The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1)
The Two Towers (LOTR Book 2)
The Return of the King (LOTR Book 3)
Rascal
The Miracle Worker
The Moonstone*
An American Plague J
Lincoln: A Photo-biography
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Onion John
The Last of the Mohicans*(or other selections)
Gulliver’s Travels* Swift, Jonathon (314 pages)
And Then There Were None*
Watership Down*
Profiles in Courage*
Hunchback of Notre-Dame* Hugo, Victor
Les Misérables*
Ivanhoe*
The Once and Future King*
To Kill a Mockingbird*
King Solomon’s Mines*
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (The Wolves Chronicles)
Old Yeller
Gentle Ben
If they read an hour or more a day, I estimate they will accumulate about $100 each. But whatever the pay off, they will be prepping themselves for higher learning, and gain a priceless addition to their education.
Happy Reading, and I welcome your comments and additional titles or incentive suggestions. ~Kathy
Taryn Hayes Launches Seekers of the Lost Boy with Bishop Frank Retief | Books LIVE
You don’t often find youth novels in which the lead characters are home-schooled – this is one of the reasons why Taryn Hayes wrote the book Seekers of the Lost Boy (Naledi Books), with characters and events that home-schooled children can relate to…
Hayes, who home-schools her own children, admitted in conversation with Bishop Frank Retief at the book’s launch last week that she used to think that people who do that are “strange”. “I felt sorry for home-schooled children because I thought that they were unsociable.” However, when she fell pregnant with her first child and felt unhappy with the official school curriculum at that time, Hayes did more research on the home-schooling option. She realised that her preconceptions were wrong. “Home-schooling has a lot of benefits in terms of flexibility,” Hayes points out. “And you can cater to your child’s specific learning needs.”
We have three boys. The first two were a relative breeze to teach. Then came along our third. He marches to the beat of his own drummer, not content to fit into the methods or curricula of his older brothers. He s a very smart kid. He just doesn’t do school.
I have to confess we have thought about, even threatened to, send him to a government school. As we step back and think for a moment, we realize that we, his parents, are his best hope. Despite the “trained professionals” in the school system, schools simply aren’t able to tailor instruction to the individual.
We consulted many sites, books and experts in trying to understand our son. We are still learning. Here are some books on various learning challenges that might be particularly helpful to homeschoolers.
Homeschooling Your Struggling LearnerSee our review of this book back in 2011. This book has been a great resource to us.
Kathy Kuhl homeschooled her struggling learner for 4th-12th grades. After he graduated, she interviewed 64 homeschoolers with children with different learning problems, including autism, learning disabilities, AD/HD, and other conditions. She distills their wisdom while conveying her own experience and insights. See www.learndifferently.com
Homeschooling the Child with ADD (or Other Special Needs): Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the Child with Learning DifferencesMore and more parents are realizing that homeschooling is a great option for children with ADD, ADHD, and other special needs, Homeschooling parents can tailor the learning experience to precisely fit their child’s requirements, a critical neccessity in the develpment of special-needs children.
A Miracle in Reading: Intensive At-Home Remedial Reading ProgramThere is an entire series of Miracle in Reading at-home reading tutoring by Valerie Arredondo. This book (Green Level) contains the parent manual and all of the student consumables for level A, B, C and D. These books can also be purchased separately. This program was designed to be used by parents to give their children high-quality remedial reading instruction such as you would typically find in an expensive tutoring center, but at a fraction of the cost. This program can be used by any child, but will be especially helpful for children who have a reading disability or dyslexia, children who struggle with traditional workbook, pencil or writing approaches to learning.
Choosing Home: Deciding to Homeschool With Asperger’s SyndromeChoosing Home will take you into the homes of Asperger families as they journey from survival of the playground bully to making it work at home. Hartnett embraces those pertinent questions raised by parents: Will I be limiting my child’s emotional and social development? How will I know if my teaching is good enough? What if I can’t cope? These questions and many more are answered in this touching and insightful narrative. This is a book of hope and encouragement to all parents with an interest in home schooling.
FIVE EASY STEPS FOR LEARNING TO READ ~~ With Activities and Stories for Beginning Readers of All Ages (Programmed Learning)Follow the five steps in this book and help a non-reader to learn to read. Just spend a few minutes daily with your wishful reader of any age and work through the steps.
Homeschooling Curriculum for ADHD ChildrenThis publication is designed to offer comprehensive information and guidance to parents and other adults that are in the process of cultivating a homeschool curriculum for a child that has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect SpellingWhile appropriate for K-2 emergent readers, this award-winning book has also been used successfully with adolescent and adult learners, as well as second language learners and students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
Achieving Brilliance at Home: How Teach Your Child Almost Anything (Volume 1)Is your child taught by the very best teachers available in your district? Are the best educational practices known to date utilized in teaching your child? Is your gifted child limited to flying just under the clouds because your school district doesn’t have the advanced classes he needs? Worse, yet, is your special child in an educational free fall to be delivered to you, uneducated or undereducated, as a young adult? Catch your child now (before it’s years too late) and save the future of your entire family. Learn how to teach your child almost anything…today!
I just released my first public WordPress plug-in Affiliate easel for Amazon.
The purpose of the plug-in is to allow WordPress bloggers to easily insert images, data and prices from Amazon.com and to use affiliate codes to make some money. It enables individual items, whole categories and a search widget to be added to any WordPress site. (It’s very similar to the Amazon links on this site. In fact. it’s based on it. This site needs some changes before I replace this links with my widget however.)
Here’s an example, using the plug-in to display book info:
I hope that review sites and niche sites will find this a good, helpful tool. If you are a WordPress user, please download it, try it and rate it.
Today American Library Association announced it’s literary award winners. We have only read a few of the books awarded and look forward to reading many more.
John Newbery Medal for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature
Four Newbery Honor Books also were named:
Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children
Two Caldecott Honor Books also were named:
Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults
Four Printz Honor Books also were named:
Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults
One King Author Honor Book was selected:
Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award
One King Illustrator Honor Book was selected:
Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award
“The Rock and the River,” written by kekla magoon, is the Steptoe winner. The book is published by Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.
Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement
Walter Dean Myers
Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience
Three Belpré Illustrator Honor Books were selected:
Pura Belpré (Author) Award
Two Belpré Author Honor Books were named:
Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience
young children ages 0 to 10.
Schneider Family Book Award for middle grades (ages 11-13).
Schneider Family Book Award for The teen (ages 13-18)
William C. Morris Award honors a book written by a first-time author for young adults
Odyssey Award for excellence in audiobook production
Three Odyssey Honor Audiobooks were named:
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for most distinguished beginning reader book
Four Geisel Honor Books were named:
Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults
Jim Murphy
Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children
Three Sibert Honor Books were named:
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award
Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children’s video (The video is unavailable so I linked to the book for now.)
Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book translated from a foreign language and subsequently published in the United States
Three Batchelder Honor Books also were selected:
Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences
May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award recognizing an author, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site
Lois Lowry
When You Reach Me 
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice 
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate 
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon 
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Newbery Honor Book) 
The Lion & the Mouse 
All the World 
Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors 
Going Bovine 
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith 
The Monstrumologist 
Punkzilla 
Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance 1973 
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal (Exceptional Social Studies Titles for Intermediate Grades) 
Mare’s War 
My People 
The Negro Speaks of Rivers 
The Rock and the River 
Monster 
Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day; Celebremos El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros 
Diego: Bigger Than Life 
My Abuelita 
Gracias / Thanks (English and Spanish Edition) 
Return to Sender 
Federico Garcia Lorca (Cuando Los Grandes Eran Pequenos/ When the Grown-Ups Were Children) (Spanish Edition) 
Django 
Anything But Typical 
Marcelo in the Real World 
Flash Burnout 
Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken 
In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber (Bloody Jack Adventures) 
Peace, Locomotion 
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball 
Benny And Penny in The Big No-No (Toon Books) 
I Spy Fly Guy 
Little Mouse Gets Ready (Toon Books) 
Mouse & Mole, Fine Feathered Friends (Mouse and Mole) 
Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day (Dial Easy-to-Read) 
Truce 
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream 
The Day-Glo Brothers 
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover)) 
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! 
A Faraway Island 
Big Wolf and Little Wolf 
Eidi: The Children of Crow Cove (The Children of Crow Cove Series) 
Guardian Of The Darkness (Moribito) 
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope 
The Bride’s Farewell 
Everything Matters!: A Novel 
The Good Soldiers 
The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir 
The Magicians: A Novel 
My Abandonment 
Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) 
Stitches: A Memoir 
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories (P.S.) 
The Giver