The question that plagues modern homeschoolers, in the same way that men and women in the middle ages wondered if the world was flat, is: are we making any progress and are my kids really learning anything? I say ‘modern homeschoolers’ because I don’t think the pioneer homeschoolers asked that question. For them, it wasn’t
Children love toys. From the colorful mobile overhead that attracts a baby’s attention to the tower of LEGOs built by your little architect, well-designed toys stimulate your child’s mind. Young ones absorb messages from toys through all stages of their growth. The kinds of toys selected and how your youngster plays with them will influence
Most good spellers aren’t born; they are made. Good spellers are simply those people who learn the most effective spelling strategies and apply them on a routine basis. If your student masters effective spelling strategies, she masters spelling altogether. There are four categories of spelling strategies: phonetic, rule-based, visual and morphemic. A successful and effective
Drawing upon more than 30 years of experience in helping teachers and parents identify learning problems, Bonnie Terry is our guest this month as we talk about ways to help our struggling learners. She holds a master’s degree in special education and is a board certified educational therapist. TOS: Welcome, Mrs. Terry! I’m confused about
By Maggie Hogan How can you tell if you’re the parent of a gifted child? You regularly ask your 6-year-old to troubleshoot your computer problems. Your 14-year-old speaks and writes a foreign language fluently . . . one of his own invention. Your 2-year-old insists on putting together his jigsaw puzzles “color-side down” so it
By Stephen Guffanti As we were sitting down to dinner, Alex, a wiry 4-year-old, finally stopped running and took his seat. Turning to his mom, I remarked, “When your child starts kindergarten in public school, they will want to put him on drugs for ADHD. Don’t do it.” She replied, “I’ve been concerned about
Students are going to make spelling mistakes. Making mistakes is all part of the learning process. It’s your job to correct those mistakes without interrupting the learning process or creating other difficulties. Here are some specific techniques to correct spelling mistakes both during the lesson and at other times. Correcting spelling mistakes during the lesson: