Teaching from the Known to the Unknown

I was working with the Chaucer unit in Excellence in Literature: British Literature this morning, and thinking about the ways in which The Canterbury Tales can be made accessible to students. These stories are funny, startling, and sometimes appalling, and most students will enjoy them, if they’re presented in the right way. Let’s look at alternative ways of introducing Chaucer:

1- The Do-or-Die Method Read more

An Autumn Poem for Copywork

I believe that Charlotte Mason’s method for teaching language arts provides an excellent foundation for future language arts learning. Copywork is the step that begins the process of learning to write. First, read the entire poem aloud, using appropriate inflection. Practice ahead of time, if necessary!

Students of any age can use copywork to practice the mechanics of writing and to internalize the sound and rhythm of the written word. For young students, copy up to four lines of the poem on wide-ruled paper, skipping a line between each line you use. Be sure to use your best handwriting style, whether printing or cursive, and space the letters evenly. This will be your student’s model, so make it as beautiful as you can.* Read more

The Discipline of Writing & NaNoWriMo

I was sitting at a sidewalk table last week, enjoying a cup of coffee, when I overheard a group of twenty-somethings at the next table talking about the writers’ conference that was starting over the weekend. The conversation turned to the art of writing.

“It just takes so long to get inspired…”

“I get stuck making the first paragraph perfect, and never get any farther.”

“I get this great idea, then the phone rings, and it’s my friend, and I end up going out and when I get back the idea is gone, and I don’t have anything to say.”

“There’s just not enough time. I get home from work, and it’s dinner, catch the news, work out, go out with friends, walk the dog, call my mom, whatever. There’s just not enough time to write.”

“When I write, I have to get my music going, light candles, make sure everything’s perfect, then I can get in the the mood, and it will all flow.”

“I can write pages and pages, and I know it’s good, so I don’t even have to go back to read it. Someday, I’m going to sit down and write a whole book.”

Anytime I hear a conversation about writing, I’m fascinated. Writing is my avocation– something I’ve done steadily since childhood, at one level or another. Although I started with some of the same ideas as the young people I overheard, I’ve since learned a few things. Read more

Teaching, Learning, and Growing Despite Current Events

The current news cycle has presented us with some very useful opportunities for teaching and learning this fall. There’s the election, of course, which offers a perfect opportunity to do a unit study on American government. Next, there is the tsunami of negative economic news. What a perfect time to read and discuss Richard Maybury’s books!

Finally, there’s the blessing of autumn itself. Here in Virginia, we’re just starting to see leaves shading from summer greens into the rosy reds, clear yellows. and warm oranges of fall. The dogwoods are sporting bright red berries, while the pyracantha is blanketed with a heavy crop of rich orange berries. Squirrels are bustling busily with winter preparations, cheeks full of acorns as they make innumerable trips up and down the trees.

I mention these three things together as a reminder that even in the face of political uncertainty, financial stress, and negative news, there are still the steady seasons and cycles of creation to appreciate. Children can be very sensitive to stress and bad news, so as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it’s important to limit the inflow of negativity. This doesn’t mean mean ignoring important teaching opportunities; rather, using them in a limited and controlled way. Read more

You Need a Budget: A Review

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. Charles Dickens

With all the scary economic news swirling through the airwaves, many people are suddenly realizing they need to dig in, retrench, and get a firm grip on their finances. Tracking every penny comes naturally to a few lucky folks, but for many of us, it’s an uphill battle.

As a bibliophile with a confirmed visual-verbal learning style, I have come to realize that numbers, and anything related to them, don’t come naturally to me. In order to be a good steward, and to teach my boys good money management habits, I went looking for something that would not only work, but make sense to me.

After trying all the usual suspects (Quicken, Quickbooks, MSN Money, and a few spreadsheet-based programs), I finally found a financial management system that makes sense. Best of all, it’s quick to learn, easy to use, and very reasonably priced!

What is this miracle tool? It’s called, aptly enough, You Need a Budget. Trust me, you really do, and this is the one program I’ve ever found that helps you create a budget that is based on what you actually spend, and how much money you actually have. It uses an incredibly simple method to automatically build the budget, using real-life numbers, not your rough estimates or hopeful projections. Doing it this way creates a budget that works, and you don’t even have to be a math genius to make it happen! Read more