How to Write a Grant: Step One

 The kids are going to learn how to write a grant for a Montessori School.  It’s part of my Composition class.  Hey, it’s an adult, I write for a reason!  Here is the slideshow I use when I train groups how to write grants.  (In another life I wrote grants and led grant workshops.  I’m working with a Montessori school and an individual wanting to get a federal grant.). The first step is to brainstorm ideas.  I asked the kids, ‘If money were no object, what would be the ideal backyard?’  I explained that the Montessori school has limited area.  The kids suggested animals, such as sheep, alpacas, hens, and rabbits.  Hens and rabbits might work.  One student said she her family had raised sheep for wool and felted the wool.  It might be feasible to have local farmers give demonstrations or fiber artists teach the kids how to use a drop spindle to make yarn.  

What’s the lesson?  Consider any constraints and then brainstorm any ideas.  The more original the idea, the better.  Interesting projects are more likely to be funded.  You’re off to a great start!

Memoria Press Composition Series

 Are you familiar with Memoria Press?  I’ve used the Classical Composition: Fables with a ten year old, fifth grader.  Here is a student guide sample and a teacher guide sample.  The ten year old, Paul, wasn’t thrilled with the lessons.  However the exercises are excellent!  The child is exposed to Fables!  He or she can learn how to outline!  Look at samples for the Narrative and Chreia & Maxim levels.  This series targets elementary aged students, but might work well for middle-school aged students.  Look at the samples.  You’ll know immediately whether or not this series is a good fit for your family.

Composition Class is in Session!

I started class by asking the kids how they learned how to write.  Here is a summary of their responses.

Then we talked about their individual goals.  I acted as the scribe.

 Class Goals:

1.  Write better essays

2.  Write lab reports

3.  Write a cogent response

4.  Learn how to write a grant—my class goal

Tuesday, the kids are bringing in newspaper articles from WSJ to edit and revised Birthday paragraphs.  Additionally, they’re working on a grant for a Montessori School in Ohio.

I love the idea of taking fiber from sheep and making a felt toy—one of the ideas from the kids.  It’s going to be a magical class.

Last note!  A friend in Mississippi is writing a grant using AI technology.  Our class is going to help edit some of the narrative.  I can’t wait!

How do online home-schools teach Writing?

 Our local Co-op is quite large.  Families use a variety of approaches to their respective home-school instruction.  We are most familiar with Seton, Mother of Divine Grace (MODG), and Kolbe.  Composition is traditionally offered in ninety grade.  It is helpful to see sample curriculum: MODG, Kolbe, and Seton.  Some families do not enroll in an online home-school, especially long-tenured families.  

Are you designing your own program?  Consider three books: Warriner’s Complete Course, Sadler’s Vocabulary Workshop, and Write Better Essays. See images below.  I’m using these for class, too.  I’ll reference topics as we go along.  Sadlier’s Vocabulary Workshop books have levels which correspond to grades 1-12; Level D is 9th grade.  Warriner’s also has different course levels.  Just buy a used copy of the complete course.  Below are some pix; I need to see the book to be sure I have the right copy.

Composition Class Update

 Here are some revised plans.  Since there appears to be interest in Composition, the kids are going to help me document the class.  We’ll take 15 minutes at the end of class to post here, in the blog, explaining just what we did.  The kids might share their writing; some of these kids are brave.   Bear in mind, much of the class is discussion.  Yesterday, we had an impromptu lesson about ‘due to’ vs ‘owing to’ and diagramming compound subjects.  Yes, I have formal workshops planned.  We’ll share our ideas and strategies here.  I am grateful for the interest.  After all, we write because we hope someone will read our work.

Composition: Day One

 The kids wrote about their birthdays for 15 minutes.  (Yes, I set a timer.  Ten minutes might be better.)  Here are a few, introductory sentences.  The kids are revising their birthday paragraphs to add a hook and make them funnier.  We had a lively discussion about commas.  My plan is to do a  Commas Workshop and maybe a lesson about appositives.

I introduced Claim Evidence Reasoning with a Far Side Cartoon.  (This process is useful for lab reports.). We discussed ‘hooks’ and edited a grant proposal I’m writing for a Montessori school.  Lastly, the kids are doing scavenger hunts at home to see which grammar, citation, or editing books their families already own.

Math Resource Guides

 I don’t teach math; my husband, Rob, does.  He does not like most tech—except spreadsheets.  In another life I taught in both private and public schools.  The textbook companies give teachers loads of extra resource materials. We had a closet full of these collecting dust.  Now older editions are online.   Here is an example, Chapter 1 Resource Masters for Glencoe’s Algebra I textbook.  There are quizzes and answer keys.  These resource guides abound.  (See screenshot below.). One caveat.  Frequently, the resource guides are NOT well edited.  Sometimes the answer key is incorrect.  These guides are useful if your child needs more practice in a specific math topic.  The guides have a table of contents with the names for each math topic. My husband, Rob, was confused.  Each chapter has roughly 100 pages of resources.  Really.  There are also ‘homework practice workbooks’.  Happily, all of the chapters’ homework practice problems are in one teacher source.  The number of workbooks also abound. (See screenshot below.)  Here is loads of extra practice when your child just isn’t getting a math topic.