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Life's Special Seasons; Spelling Advice for Katie

By Heather Idoni

Added Thursday, November 3, 2011
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Vol. 12 No. 40, November 3, 2011, ISSN: 1536-2035
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(c) 2011, Heather Idoni - www.FamilyClassroom.net
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Welcome to The Homeschooler's Notebook!

If you enjoy this newsletter, please recommend it to a friend! 

Not a subscriber? Get your own subscription to The Homeschooler's Notebook here:
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And please visit our sponsors -- they make our publication possible.

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Thousands of lessons and educational resources for ALL school subjects, with more being added every week.

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Want to try it out for free first? No problem! Take a look at our free tour, and download the Daily Free Lesson (one every day from now until the end of the year).

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=================
IN THIS ISSUE:
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Notes from Heather
-- Life's Special Seasons
Winning Website
-- Guilt-Free Homeschooling
Helpful Tips
-- Movie Review Site
Reader Question
-- Spelling for Katie's Son
Additional Notes
-- Newsletter Archives
-- Sponsorship Information
-- Reprint Information
-- Subscriber Information

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Notes from Heather
===================

Special Seasons of Our Lives

Right now our family is centered on caring for my elderly father-in-law who has been diagnosed with a disease similar to Parkinsons. It is his wish to remain in his home, so his 5 sons, of whom my husband is the eldest, have decided to honor that wish by arranging for 24 hour care in his home -- by family members rather than strangers.

My boys have the most availability, having no institutional school obligations like the other grandchildren, so they are being blessed with the opportunity to spend nights at their grandfather's home. They are taking turns going and caring for his needs during the night, and the responsibilities include medical care as well as cooking and cleaning to some extent. I can see so much deep heart/character molding going on as they tenderly care for their grandpa and get to share in this precious time near the end of his life!

My husband has been spending the days with him and taking notes on the stories from his Dad's life as he has strength and presence of mind to share them. All in all, it is a precious season in our lives and I'm so blessed our children are not so preoccupied with academics and obligations that would have caused them to miss out on what God had planned for us.

Has your family experienced a season of caring for an elderly grandparent or a similar situation which has both blessed and perhaps disrupted the structure of your lives? I would love to hear from you and to share your story with our readers! I know it will encourage me to hear from others who have been down that path, so I'm sure it will be an encouragement to everyone who wonders about facing a similar season in their lives.

Please, please share your experiences -- both the struggles and the delights. I will share them with everyone in an upcoming issue. :-)

In the hands of Grace -- Heather

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Your feedback is always welcome! -- mailto:heather@familyclassroom.net

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All About Spelling - Another Parent Testimonial

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"I love the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling. With this method we mainly cover our language arts instruction using copywork. However, I've noticed that a couple of my kids need some extra help with spelling.

All About Spelling (AAS) is a multisensory approach to spelling that uses the three primary pathways to learning: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The reasoning behind this approach is to speed up the learning process for all types of learners. In Level 1 the emphasis is on learning the phonograms. The student is taught how to hear each individual sound in a word, thus making it easier to know how to spell it (insert 'DUH!' here). When I began using this with my kids, it was like a light bulb coming on above my head. Of course learning to hear all of those sounds is SO much more effective than just handing them an arbitrary list of words to memorize. I was able to see the effectiveness of this program right away." -- Kristen


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Winning Website
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Guilt-Free Homeschooling - Equipping parents for homeschooling success

"The Guilt-Free Homeschooling blog is a valuable resource, written by a veteran homeschool mom and daughter, Carolyn Morrison and Jennifer Leonhard. GFHS offers encouragement to sustain you through the hard days, ideas to enliven the dry days, support for the lonely days, and been-there-done-that-don't-make-my-mistakes advice from your personal homeschool mentors. GFHS contains 200+ articles that cover every phase of homeschooling and tackle the harder issues in a down-to-earth, practical voice, providing information you can use today."

www.guiltfreehomeschooling.org

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Helpful Tips
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Movie Review Site

"Another good site for movie (as well as book and other media) review is Focus on the Family's www.pluggedinonline.com.

It's good for all ages, including adults, and reviews from the standpoint of plot content, sexual content, drugs/alcohol/smoking, language, violence, spiritual content, positive and negative messages.

I haven't used the reviews of books and other media but I'd assume they're similar."

-- Kay

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Do you know a military homeschooling family?

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is offering a free year of access to the magazine for military families!

thehomeschoolmagazine.com/ThankMilitary

==============================
Last Issue's Reader Question
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"I have been working with my son on pre-k spelling. I try to make learning fun. He is only 4 and I am new to homeschooling. At first he was excited. He still likes to learn new words, but is bored with reviewing. 'I already know these' is what he tells me. Any ideas on ways to review spelling words in a fun way? Any help is appreciated!" -- Katie

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Our Readers' Responses
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"One thing you might try is using post-it notes with a word spelled on it minus a letter. For example: [ _able ] placed on the table or [ bo_k ] on a book, etc." -- LW

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"Dear Katie -- I've been homeschooling for 13 years and I would suggest that you hold off on teaching your 4 year old to spell. Allow your 4 year old to enjoy his childhood and explore his world. Please don't rush the formal education because you don't want to stifle his learning later on. You might want to read Charlotte Mason's approach to education or Dr. Raymond Moore's books. Let your child learn naturally at this time since he's only 4.

You also might want to subscribe to a homeschooling magazine or newsletter. You'll be amazed at what he learns and you'll know when to increase his knowledge.

Enjoy this time of learning without the formality of education. One of the best things for you to do now is to read to him. Reading aloud does wonders and you should do that throughout his education, even when he's a teenager! A lot of lessons and conversations come from those read alouds. Enjoy your homeschool journey!" -- Cindy

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"My first thought is -- why review them if he already has proven mastery of the word? If you feel the need to periodically check to be sure he hasn't forgotten them, how about mixing in the words to be reviewed with the ones he's currently learning so he doesn't feel like it's another list review? When he gets old enough to create and write sentences, words can be reviewed by asking him to make up a sentence or story using those words." -- Kay

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"Katie, I believe that your son is too young for formal spelling instruction. What he needs now is lots of exposure to language. Read extensively to him. Spend lots of time talking and listening with him. Those will both be very enjoyable to him; then when the time comes a few years down the road, he'll be motivated to study spelling so he can continue to grow in his love of words." -- Mary Beth

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New Reader Question
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"Hi -- I am homeschooling my 7th grader and also a 3rd grader. My husband is adamant that we send the kids to 'real' high school. We can afford private Christian school, so that is not an issue. Also, there are so many resources schools have, like science labs and foreign language, which I cannot supply at home. I do not want to be a homeschool mom who spends all her time driving her kids from one class to another -- that is not homeschooling to me. Can anyone offer any input on this situation? Thanks so much!" -- Concerned Mom

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Would you like to respond to our reader's question?
Please send your email to: hn-answers@familyclassroom.net

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Ask YOUR Question
=====================

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Send it to mailto:hn-questions@familyclassroom.net and we'll answer it in an upcoming issue!

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ADDITIONAL NOTES
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All contributed articles are printed with the author's prior consent. It is assumed that any questions, tips or replies to questions may be reprinted. All letters become the property of the "Homeschooler's Notebook". [Occasionally your contribution may have to be edited for space.]

Again, I welcome you to the group! Feel free to send any contributions to mailto:HN-articles@familyclassroom.net or mailto:HN-ideas@familyclassroom.net.

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