Archive for the ‘Fun Learning’ Category
Sunday, February 17th, 2008 |
Aiyana is continuing to thrive with homeschooling. Her reading improves each day and now she is excited about addition. She now comes up with her own problems and proudly shows me the answers to the questions. She reminds me of myself at that age I was eager to learn. Thankfully my mother and my teachers presented learning in a fun way so they kept me engaged. I rarely became bored. My daughter is very smart so yes I do have to think of innovative ways to keep her focused. Guess what? I was the exact same way. As I became older, it became even more of a challenge. My brother and I went to private schools from the kindergarten until we completed high school.
In high school, after listening to the teachers for a few months, they didn’t get my complete attention during class. My mind was elsewhere thinking of a book I wanted to read later or an upcoming sports event. I was involved in sports. I already knew the subject I always studied in advance, but for the most part the teachers didn’t deviate from our lessons. I wanted real life examples they didn’t supply that so off I went to dream of other things. I kept part of my mind in class after all I had to be aware if the teacher called on me, right? I wanted a challenge, and I wasn’t getting it in school even though I was taking “advanced classes.” Since I wasn’t getting a challenge in the classroom, I created my own challenges and worked on a variety of projects in my spare time.
At times people are amazed at the amount of things I’m involved with however, it is no different from what I did as a child. I’ve always been active. I have my parents to thank for that. They’ve always been that way. Since they were my first role models, I emulated them. I was active in sports playing throughout the school year and when it came to my education I actively worked on improving my knowledge. It’s something my parents encouraged. I do the same with Aiyana.
Recently, I started freelance writing. I don’t need to do it to pay the bills (my business and online monetization more than covers that) I do it because writing is something I enjoy and heck it’s nice getting paid to do something I truly love. One of my clients I write for is a large technology based website. I write almost exclusively about the Mac. I made the switch to Apple in October 2006. I came from a strong Windows background and traveled the US training support staff on various software applications I resisted purchasing a Mac because I didn’t want to start at ground zero. Naturally, I wasn’t content to have a computer that “just works” and learned the technical aspects about the Mac and look at me now I now write about the Mac on a highly trafficked technology based website. I have decided to write an article about Homeschooling parents and technology more specifically Mac technology I’m hoping to interview a few parents that use Mac in their daily lifestyle.
Apple has some great resources for those who work on a Mac and there are many software programs that have been made specifically for Mac users. What many people don’t know is that Apple offers discounts on their computers and software to students and yes Apple offers discounts to homeschooling families. Kudos to Apple for including us on the discounts.
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Saturday, December 8th, 2007 |
It’s been silent on A Homeschooling Resource, but we are still homeschooling. We were away for the Thanksgiving holidays and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Things are starting to settle down with my work so I’ll be able to post a few pictures of the things we have seen while we were away.
Aiyana is moving onto regular books with her reading and is tackling “big words” over six letters. She’s very proud of herself. With homeschooling my daughter I’ve never pushed her to read but this is something she has always wanted to do. I imagine, in her mind, this is normal. Homeschooling, I think, starts well before the child even materializes. I was reading to her when I was pregnant. Then I was reading the complete collection of Winnie the Pooh. It’s still one of her favorite books.
Although Aiyana can now read she still insists that I read to her at night or tell her a story. She likes me to make up stories for her. At times, I make up a story, but repeatedly I’ll turn the spotlight on her and tell her to create a story for me. It’s a fun exercise that really encourages her to be creative. I really need to start capturing some of her stories on film.
I’ve always been fascinated with history and Aiyana, seems to be interested in the history books and websites that I’ve been reading. I’m most fascinated with war history and the roles that minorities have placed throughout history. Since my daughter has shown such an interest in what I enjoy I’ve decided to include it in hour homeschooling sessions.
Mike Goad of Exit 78 wrote a post titled Ashamed to be Indian. My daughter is Indian, Black, Irish, and German. Not only is it important for her to know about the cultures she is a part of I also feel it is important to educate her about others. I’ll be reading the letter included in Mike’d post sometime this weekend. her great grandmother was Indian, Black, and Irish.
Although she was two years old when she died my daughter still remembers her and will tell you about various events that happened during some of their meetings.
I’ve always liked this painting by Norman Rockwell. He is portraying Rosy the Riveter. My grandmother, Aiyana’s great grandmother, was a Rosy Riveter, and she also was one of the first women to work in real estate.
My grandmother was very light and could pass for white. She did. In doing so she was able to receive better work than those who couldn’t. In our homeschooling session I’ll be talking about this and the reasons why some of those who could pass did.
Aiyana reminds me a lot of myself at her age. I had an insatiable thirst for knowledge; I still do. I was eager to learn anything that my mother or teachers gave to me. I was hungry for information. It learned to read early, just like Aiyana, simply because I felt in reading I would be able to get more information.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, Exit 78, Mike Goad, history, Rosy Riveter
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 |
I thought we would have a homeschooling break while we were on vacation this past week, but there were so many topics to discuss, the drought that Summerton, South Carolina is facing that homeschooling naturally was part of our vacation experience.
The bald eagle we saw while looking out of our condo, the sea shells we picked up on the beach. There didn’t use to be a beach but the drought has now supplied Lake Marion with a nice size beach. It was interesting to see the little worlds that the waters of Lake Marion had hidden.
I’ll be posting pictures we’ve captured and the homeschooling lessons that my daughter and I learned while vacationing to South Carolina. It was a wonderful experience, and I enjoyed my vacation but it surely feels good to be back home. We arrived home this past Sunday.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling
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Monday, November 19th, 2007 |
My daughter and I will be heading to Summerton, South Carolina tomorrow. We’ll be returning to Maryland this coming Sunday. We both are excited about the upcoming trip. I won’t be working as hard as I normally do with work. It’s going to be a great time to bond with relatives. There will be plenty of Aiyana’s Aunts and Uncles in attendance (I have sixteen total.) She’ll also have plenty of cousins to play with.
It will be interesting to see the reactions about homeschooling. The majority of them do know that Aiyana is homeschooled. I’m sure a few of them will be “testing” her to see what she knows. Three of my aunts are schoolteachers, and one of the schoolteachers actually teaches her two children at home.
We will be staying in a condo that overlooks Lake Marion. It’s truly beautiful. Sumter, South Carolina is not too far away and I’m planning on taking Aiyana there for a brief history lesson. I love history. Civil War broke out between the North and South on April 12, 1861. Fort Sumter, surrendered 34 hours later. It’s truly fascinating teaching my daughter. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I try to present our lessons in an exciting way. She enjoys hands on learning.
Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving, homeschooling
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Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 |
I wasn’t eating worms this morning but I did awaken early. This morning I awoke at 1:30. I’m usually awake by 3:30 or 4:30. Since I had a lot of extra time on my hands I wisely took advantage of the situation and knocked out most of my work. We will be on holiday next week so I’m trying to get a lot of work completed this week. I don’t want to be working while I’m away and I’m seriously thinking about taking a break from the internet while I’m on vacation.
The great news is my work is completed and now I can hang out with my daughter for the majority of the day but first she will be hanging with her grandparents while I go to the gym. I should have been there already but work comes first. Why do I have a crazy amount of energy? I’m on a juice cleanse this week. I already have a lot of energy but I’ve found that my juice cleanses send me over the top.
Homeschooling is continual Aiyana is always being taught something. We don’t have a set time to start out lessons although we usually start in the morning and then pick up in the afternoon and end shortly before she goes to bed. She now can read short stories to mommy at night. Of course it takes her a while to read but she’s proud that she’s able to do it. I didn’t push her to read it’s something she has wanted to do.
What’s on our lesson today? We are learning about Malaysia. One of my blogging pals lives in Malaysia and she sent her postcards from her county. Aiyana loved them. They had turtles on the postcards. A few days ago Aiyana learned about whales.
Coloring is part of our daily routine. She loves to draw and color pictures. If we are discussing an animal. I usually label the different parts of the body and she has fun playing, “Where’s my body part?” That usually involves me talking like the animal (in a very silly voice) saying give me my body part PLEASE! It has the desired effect and she collapses in a fit of giggles as she tries to put the body part in the correct place.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, fun learning
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Friday, November 9th, 2007 |
A fun homeschooling project is on our plate. Alright so Aiyana thinks all of our projects are “fun” however this one is more “crafty fun”. What is on the menu? One of Aiyana’s dolls, “Jenny” is in dire need of a makeover. Her hair has started to matt (because my daughterrarely plays with her) and she really good use a rerooting.
I told my daughter that we could give Ms. Jenny a makeover. She’s excited. It’s going to take a lot longer than a day to root Ms. Jenny. She has a big head after all. We’ll be going to the craft store and picking up the needles that are needed for this makeover and poor Ms. Jenny will be beheaded for a few days. I’m hoping to give Ms. Jenny a full head of human hair. I’ll be purchasing a book about dollmaking. I’m still searching to before I decide up a book that we will use but Aiyana is really excited about this project.
I thought this would be a fun way to learn about doll making with Aiyana. I made a doll when I was around fifteen. It’s funny because didn’t play with dolls too much when I was young.
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