Home Economics Elective

Managing a home can be an elective course.  Here is a good overview of Home Science.  I love imaginative electives.  Here is a 36 week Home Economics course.  It includes valuable lessons: Basic Sewing, Time Mangement, and The History of Chocolate.  There are other lessons with baking, meal planning, cooking, gardening, organization, and more.  Have your teen read Home Economics Lessons to Use in Adulthood before you launch your class.  You could teach one topic a week or run regular seminars, say lessons on  bread baking, cooking to survive on your own, or jarring jam.  Title your course Adulting 101.  I bet you have all kinds of lessons!

Are you taking full advantage of your library?

 Our local library system, CRRL, has loads of resources.  Library services vary from tiny rooms to enormous systems.  But, it pays to see just what your library offers?  Our library system hosts Tax-Aide and art shows, and  lends Chromebooks, hotspots, drums, and games.  There are book sales; the library a MakerSpace, with badges, to allow clients to use the 3D printer or sewing machine.  Our system has online courses.  

Even some of the smallest libraries has any number of services.  Look at the Columbus AFB Library.  It has one large room; yet the library offers several programs.  Check out the Handley Library System’s webpage.  See?  Loads!

Supplements for Composition

Let me share a few supplements we like to use in Composition: Editor in Chief, Easy Grammar, and Diagramming Sentences.  If your family hasn’t done much in the way of grammar, editing, or diagramming, start teens at the Middle School level, say grade six or seven.  Catch up on the fundamentals, first.  Look at English as a bunch of topics: Composition,  Grammar, Vocabulary, and Reading.  When you select a supplement, vary how frequently you use it, say once a week.

We use Warriner’s English Grammar, a thesaurus, and MLA handbooks, too.  However, most of the time, we use these as references.  Editor in Chief is the favorite by far.  The teens like to see who can locate the most errors.  Easy Grammar is an excellent supplement for families unfamiliar with basic grammar.  We use different resources as needed.  I’m doing a little sentence diagramming next week with a paragraph to edit.  

Write a Letter!

Our Co-op Composition Class is studying Holes.  We’re writing letters. Yes, I’m old school. My husband and I volunteer with Tax Aide.  One of our clients was missing an ID number and her return was rejected.  She had filed electronically with a land line.  Her message box was full.  She did not answer the telephone.  (We called over a dozen times hoping she would pick up the phone.) We couldn’t text; she only had a land line.  We wrote her a letter with a number to call us.  Yeah!  She responded.  See?  I’m very old school.  You should write letters, too.  Below are three examples. 

1. In the book, Stanley writes letters home to his mom reassuring her he’s having a great time.  My teens are doing the same thing.  They’re writing about all kinds of fun camp activities: color wars, hiking, s’mores, fishing, sports, talent shows, etc.  

2. Have you studied Pride and Prejudice?  One popular assignment is to write a letter to Mr. Bennett from Mr. Collins, basing the style on letters from the book.  

3. Write a letter thanking a military service member.  Our class wrote letters to the Military Police on base in Okinawa, where my son serves as a priest chaplain.  (We sent a box of goodies, too.)  

Road Trip Fun!

 We play two car games on long trips: Funny Bunny and Have you ever seen?  I got both ideas from the original ‘Mother’s Almanac’.  Funny Bunny works like this.  You give a glue, Silly Rabbit.  The answer is an adjective which modifies a noun and rhymes.  Have you ever seen has word plays: mousetrap, housefly, etc.  The problem with these games is that after miles and miles on the road, your imagination is limited to words like tree, road, asphalt, sign, bored, etc.  We like the alphabet game, too.  It starts with I’m going on a trip and bringing an alligator valise.  

You may want to print out a few games: Free Printable Car Games (classics, such as Road Trip Bingo), 30 Printable Road Trip Games, and Best Free Road Trip Printables (Restaurant I Spy).  Here is How to Actually Enjoy a Road Trip with Kids.  It included audiobooks, a tip which has been a lifesaver for our family.  We are listening to James Herriot books via Hoopla right now.

Can your kids read in the car?  Bring along a big stack of books.  Our family loves Calvin and Hobbes. Full disclosure: we have resorted to using DVDs.  But we reserve movies to really long trips after we’ve exhausted every other trick, including singing favorite songs.  Joe’s Got a Head Like a Ping Pong Ball has many, many fun songs.

Metrics Mnemonic

 The Algebra I Co-op class is going over exponents and scientific notation.  My husband, Rob, and I also teach science classes.  We’re adding a review of metric measurements and unit conversions.  Here, here, and here are sample worksheets.  I use the mnemonic below for metric prefixes.

Mini Printer

  Let add a note about the mini printer.  I bought the mini printer on Temu.  It’s a thermal printer and burns the image on to the paper.  We’re using it to print tiny images to label on graphics we create. We love a new toy—except for my husband, Rob, who loathes all things tech.

1. Download app to iPhone or iPad.  (Take screenshots of the images you want to print in advance and save them in Photos.  Try black and white clipart.)

2. Turn on Bluetooth.

3.   Plug in the mini printer.

4. Push on the printer.

5.  Open the app.  I used my Google ID to log into the app.  

6.  Select the image icon.  It opens the camera on the iPad or iPhone.  

7. Select the small photo icon on bottom of the screen.  

8.  Select an image from Photos and click the check symbol.

9. Print.

10.  The app clearly indicates whether or not you are printing.