Proud Mom Stuff, Wayfinding Skills, Cursive Early?
By Heather Idoni
Added Thursday, October 08, 2009
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The Homeschooler's Notebook
Encouragement and Advice for Homeschool Families
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Vol. 10 No 74 October 8, 2009
ISSN: 1536-2035
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Copyright (c) 2009 - Heather Idoni, FamilyClassroom.net
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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Notes from Heather
-- Proud Mom Stuff
Helpful Tip
-- Five Minute Mysteries
Winning Website
-- CompassDude.com
Reader Question
-- Cursive Early?
Additional Notes
-- Newsletter Archives
-- Sponsorship Information
-- Reprint Information
-- Subscriber Information
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Notes from Heather
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Just want to give a little teaser for some very PROUD MOM news
I'll be sharing in Monday's high school edition --
Due to specialized training which he began at age 12, my oldest
son just landed a job he is very excited about!
Some of this training involves skills any child can begin learning
at a young age (with help from his or her parents) at our "Winning
Website" featured in today's issue.
I'll share more about Ben's new job on Monday! :-)
-- Heather
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Do you have comments to share? Please do!
Send your emails to: mailto:heather@familyclassroom.net
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Would you like your kids to LOVE Spelling?
Introducing... ClickN SPELL!
Test drive a FREE lesson here --
http://familyclassroom.net/ClickNRead.html
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Helpful Tip
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"I just wanted to pass along a website that I use with my boys.
A friend told me about it a month or so ago after her children
started using it. She saw it on an ABC news feature. They give
two new mysteries every week. My children have really enjoyed
them. They are working on becoming top sleuths but still have
a ways to go. The site is about $10 per year and they also do
fundraisers for groups." -- Jean
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Do you have an idea, experience, or tip to share? Please write!
Send to: mailto:HN-ideas@familyclassroom.net
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Winning Website
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Compass Reading -- Finding Your Way with a Compass... and More!
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Headings, bearings, orientation, triangulation, declination (Oh,
boy -- I JUST learned about declination!) -- if these words are
Greek to you, then you might want to take a look at this site!
http://www.compassdude.com/compass-reading.shtml
As you finish reading one page, click the link near the bottom
to graduate to the next level of learning. Even if your children
don't anticipate using these skills in a career, you never know
when you might be very glad they understand the concepts.
I never really "got" North, South, West and East until I was an
adult. Equip your kids early with the knowledge of determining
their location and direction in any situation at this great site!
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Last Issue's Reader Question
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"My 5 year old son has already learned to print, but I recently
read that teaching cursive before manuscript (print) can help in
many ways. Identifying words as a whole and preventing dyslexia
are two of those, as well as helping the student be able to read
cursive later and have the ability to write a legible hand-written
note. It just makes sense to me that our founding fathers and
children all the way up to the 19th, maybe 20th century did this.
Also, children in Cyrillic countries learn to write the cursive
equivalent in their language first. It makes sense to me to teach
him cursive for several other reasons. I think it will help his
overall handwriting in the long run. Since he does know how to
print, I have decided to continue to use the print to reinforce his
spelling and phonics, but I am also slowly teaching him how to write
cursive. I found great sheets on DonnaYoung.org that are bigger
than most.
I have really gotten very little, if any, support or encouragement
from anyone. My question is this: Has anyone else done this or
taught their child cursive earlier than the 'normal' 3rd grade?
What helped? What made it harder? Thanks." -- Nicole
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Our Readers' Responses
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"Yes, my son was ready for cursive at age 7. We used Handwriting
Without Tears -- http://www.hwtears.com -- for printing, and HWT
has a 'cursive readiness' test in their materials. While he was
still working on printing, we added the cursive. He found it much
easier due to how the letters are connected, which cuts down on the
number of times one has to lift the pencil. HWT's program is gentle
and fun for an audio-visual learner. It is fairly inexpensive, and
there are hundreds of free downloads on the HWT site.
My main reason to learn cursive was so my son could choose between
the two which was more comfortable for him. I do a mix of print and
cursive when I write. I also wanted him to be able to read cursive
-- like the letters his three grandmas send to him!" -- Julie C.
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"Nicole -- My 6 year old learned some basic printing in kindergarten
using Handwriting Without Tears. It was just enough to learn to
recognize and write the letters, but very little emphasis on penmanship
of any kind. But this year I am teaching him cursive handwriting and
have been amazed at how easily he has picked it up and how it seems
that the writing practices have helped develop his fine motor skills.
Best of all, he really enjoys learning cursive and gets quite impressed
with himself as he sees his own improvement. I've been using Abeka's
Cursive Writing curriculum for first graders. It's a perfect level
for young ones because they introduce one letter at a time and combine
it with words and sentences for early readers. I believe that with
a relaxed and encouraging environment, learning to write in cursive
is perfectly appropriate for first graders. In addition to the
cursive writing, I have him copy things like days of the week, colors,
Bible verses, phonics charts, etc. in his printing so he'll also have
a strong foundation in Manuscript writing." -- Vicki B.
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Answer our NEW Question
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"My question concerning homeschooling high school is for the student
who probably isn't interested in going to college. I have one who
is a real 'hands on' learner. He loves making things, building things,
creating things, fixing things, inventing things even -- as long as
it's with his hands. Not that those things don't require using his
brain, mind you, but he's not a book learner. Let's just say, college
would not be his first choice as a goal for his future.
Would you recommend he be coaxed a little more toward the academics
he would need to attend college? Or should I settle (with him as a
freshman) on teaching basic math and minimum requirements on science,
for example, rather than higher level courses? What would you
recommend to get him ready for the work force or entrepreneurship?
Thanks." -- Lynda
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Your answer to Lynda's question will be featured in Monday's special
High School Edition of our newsletter!
Please send your email to: mailto:HN-answers@familyclassroom.net
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Ask YOUR Question
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Do you have a question you would like our readers to answer?
Send it to mailto:HN-questions@familyclassroom.net and we'll see
if we can help you out in a future issue!
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Need Immediate Help?
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ear and encouragement.
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