VeggieTales Connections

 Good Will has a listing for Veggietales Connections.  eBay does, too!  This looks like a year-long Bible Study for kiddos.  What fun!

Portfolios

It’s that time of year: portfolios!  Each year I review several for home-school families.  I’ve been on the other side, preparing portfolios, too.  They are a lot of work! Let’s examine both aspects, reviewing and creating portfolios.  This may help you assemble materials for your own portfolio to submit.

Let’s talk reviews.  When I review portfolios, I prefer to interview the family—kiddos included!  The first time I work with a family, the interview takes hours.  What is their home-school philosophy?  What is the family’s style?  Is there a dedicated space?  Do the children work on their lessons daily?  Is school year-round?  There are many ways to home-school successfully.  Once I have a better idea about the family, I look at the program of study.  Does the family use a defined curriculum?  Are they enrolled in an on-line school?  How many hours and weeks do they teach?  Which courses did the children take?  Then it’s on to specifics.  I like to see work samples, reading logs, textbooks, essays, tests, certifications, and photos.  The kiddos tell me about their work, their interests, their favorite books.  Moms share anecdotes.  During the interview I take pages and pages of notes.  Once the interview concludes, I review my notes and draft a letter.  Sometimes, I contact the mom with more questions.  Next I craft a letter.

In Virginia and West Virginia, the school districts require a letter. Here is an example from last year’s review.  (BTW I taught Jacob in Bio and Comp.  I sat with him in Algebra 1, and tutored him in Latin.  I had plenty of material.)  

My reviews are positive.  I might make suggestions to the family; however I do NOT write negative comments in a letter to the school board.  Home-school families are sharply scrutinized.  I don’t invite more.  Once I get acquainted with the family, I can rely on work samples.  Although, several families prefer an interview at their homes.  My friend, Michelle, pulls out all the books, samples, and syllabi.  Another mom of eleven, Mrs. S sends me digital files in pdf and png format with photos, work samples, test scores, essay, etc.  I’ve reviewed her children’s portfolios for many years, initially in her home, occasionally from her van!  Mrs.S’s family is also enrolled in an on-line school.  I trust these submissions.  

How do you create your own portfolio?  Here is one I assembled and submitted to Kolbe Academy quarterly.  I like to include photos of the textbooks in Google Slides, with the subjects as titles. It is helpful to include work samples, tests, essays, etc from each quarter.  I just took photos and added them to the slide deck.

 Mrs. S creates one, annual portfolio for each child.  In each portfolio is a copy of Seton’s curriculum, work samples for each subject, a reading log (at my request years ago), tests, and transcripts for on-line classes, such as Rosetta Stone Spanish.  Mrs. S’s younger children have many more work samples; the teens have more essays and course transcripts with test grades because they take more of their classes on-line.  Every year, she includes over 50 photos and a summary for each child, with his or her strengths and weaknesses.  Why?  Mrs. S is documenting field trips, service projects, sports, and milestones.  The letters for her children’s portfolios are a breeze!

What about a child with learning differences or special needs?  Mrs. S has a child with Down’s and was very concerned about her portfolio.  This child, L, has a host of medical needs, too.  L. receives a myriad of therapies, all part of her education.  Remember you are home-schooling to address your child’s unique needs.  With L I’m looking at her development.  Has she learned new words?  Can she sing?  Tie shoes?  Copy letters?  What exactly can she do this year she wasn’t able to do last year?  L has had a number of surgeries which delay development.  All of that type of information goes into my portfolio, review letter.  Mrs. S and her family use every tool available to help L grow and learn.  

If your child has learning differences, emphasize his or her progress.  Reading is one of those areas where kiddos can make a big jump after several, very frustrating years.  If your kiddo is still struggling to read, explain your strategies.  Are you reading aloud as a family?  Taking turns with each page in a book?  Listening to audio books?  The same can be true of math facts.  Do you practice them anyway?  Use manipulatives?  Model strategies?  Some kiddos need devices to write because their hand-writing is illegible.  Do you practice handwriting, too? (Okay, maybe printing, not cursive.)  Is the child making adequate progress, not necessarily blazing new trails?

Now assemble work samples.  Scan math tests, essays, spelling lists, etc with your cell phone.  Scour your phone for photos of things your family has done.  Do you keep chickens?  Did you visit a museum?  Did you take a Co-op field trip to the park with a ranger as a docent?  Does your family garden?  Think of all of the ways you educate your child, which includes piano lessons, Latin, soccer, and tutoring.  

Organize your thoughts.  Are you working with a teacher, who will write a letter of evaluation?  What would you like the teacher to tell the school board?  I think it’s important to emphasize all of the ways the kiddo is making progress and developing rather than focusing on his deficits.  Put your thoughts on paper for the teacher to paraphrase in her letter.  Guess what?  After all of this exhausting work you are going to be even more resolved to help your kiddo learn next year!

Homemade PE Equipment

 I was looking for sports and science when I ran across this ERIC document, Homemade PE equipment.  The article has plans to build a net, use a magazine to make a baton, parallel bars, and milk jug bowling pins.  It’s summer!  What a good time to collect recycled materials for a backyard playground—complete with homemade equipment!

Montessori

 Did you know Good Will has Montessori materials?  It does!  Take a look!

Food and Nutrition Curriculum for Kiddos!

 I’m on the hunt for meaningful summer projects.  How about nutrition?  It’s a great elective.  Super Snacking is easy to follow.  I like 4-H projects; they just seem a bit more balanced: My Plate, 4-H Cooking 101, Food and Fun, and Food and Nutrition.  Each program has a different emphasis.  Look at Get Fit, That’s It!

Nutrition has a plethora of resources, including Nutrition and Food Safety Education.  Food Hero has a bingo game and scavenger hunt. Surprise!  SNAP has a good curriculum.  University of Wisconsin has loads and loads of links: Got Veggies?, Cooking with Kids, to name a few.  Some links are broken.  I love Got Milk, especially some of the site’s nutrition information.  

The Homeschool Mom has suggestions for creating a nutrition program.  Start at the library!  Get a stack of cooking and nutrition books from the children’s stacks.  Decide your approach.  Will you explore cooking?  Are you more interested in vitamins and minerals?  Healthy lifestyle?  Balanced diet?  Basics?  The School House has reviews of some commercial curricula.  I’m an Apologia fan.  This summer, let’s do practical lessons with the kiddos!

Shop Good Will!

 I shop Good Will online and locally.  There are so many interesting listings.  While I have had great luck buying TI 83/84 graphing calculators at Good Will, I have NOT had much luck with electronics, such as microscopes.  My advice is to avoid any electronic or telescope, binoculars, etc.  Below is a sample of current listings.  See?  There are so many interesting, educational materials.

More American Girl Unit Studies

 I’m still going down the rabbit hole of American Girl dolls.  I have several young friends who adore the original Pleasant Company dolls.  My friend, Jen, is teaching her daughter, Sophie, a unit this coming fall. The six historical dolls (plus Kit) offer an excellent range for American History.   

1. Portraits of American Girlhood (POAG) and the Welcome to the World books are frequently cited in the Well-Trained Mind Community, a highly reliable forum.  POAG is a curriculum, which uses the American Girl books.  

2.  Look at the Historical Craft Kits once sold for American Girl dolls.  Jen’s plan is for the girls to make rag dolls. I recommend using a felt doll pattern and yarn hair.  Felt is easy to sew.  Here is a more authentic rag doll pattern.  Use a quilt cheater panel kiddos can sew up quickly into a doll quilt.  

3. Look for Recipes, Pioneer Potato Soup, Addy’s Shortbread, and Historical American Recipes are all free and open the door to another rabbit hole!  

4. What about science?  In this Unit Study for Kirsten, one topic is tornados, perfect for a science study!  Make a Zoetrope, made popular is the 19th Century.  Schools made Milk Plastic as a science experiment. Students from 1900s on grew plants and created School Gardens.  Any focus on practical farming would be consistent historically.

5.  Write a book report with a simple book report template.  Your kiddo can practice hand-writing, spelling, and recap her favorite American Girl book.  You can add questions.  What is the time period?  Where is the story set?  Would you change the ending?  How?  Write a Movie vs.Book report.  Which is better?  Does the movie capture the book?  (Spoiler alert!  The book is always better!)