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Email Encouragement, A Biblical Board Game, Spelling Question

By Heather Idoni

Added Monday, July 12, 2010
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Vol. 11 No. 37, July 12, 2010, ISSN: 1536-2035
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© 2010, Heather Idoni - www.FamilyClassroom.net
==========================================================

Welcome to The Homeschooler's Notebook!

If you like this newsletter, please recommend it to a friend!
And please visit our sponsors! They make it possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Keystone School is an accredited and licensed private school that
offers teacher-supported distance learning courses for grades 6 – 12.
We have partnered with homeschool families for over three decades in
educating children at home through middle and high school. At Keystone
you can enroll your child in a full course load, or supplement another
homeschool curriculum with one or two Keystone courses. Whether your
child’s goal is to become conversational in Mandarin, get a head start
on earning college credit by taking AP courses or brush up on English
grammar, Keystone can help. Visit keystoneschoolonline.com or call us
at 1-800-255-4937 to learn more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
=================
IN THIS ISSUE:
=================

Notes from Heather
-- Our Wonderful Groups
Helpful Tip
-- Buying Glycerin for Bubbles
Resource Review
-- 'Journeys of Paul' Game
Reader Question
-- When to Start Learning to Spell?
Additional Notes
-- Newsletter Archives
-- Sponsorship Information
-- Reprint Information
-- Subscriber Information

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

For those of you who may be newer to our newsletter readership, I want to
mention that we have some wonderful email encouragement/fellowship groups
associated with our Homeschooler's Notebook.  I'll tell you a bit about
each group and give you the link to read more and/or join! -- Heather

Homeschooling Boys - This is a group I started almost 10 years ago because
I was sure there were "boy moms" out there that felt alone or just really
confused.  Boy, was I right!  We now have over 3,500 members and we enjoy
sharing ideas and answering questions.  If you have one or more boys, you
will feel right at home.  Just don't step on any Legos on your way in! :-)

(www.HomeschoolingBOYS.com is the associated website.)

Homeschooling Girls - A smaller, but decidedly more sane group. LOL

Homeschooling Gifted and Talented Children - This is a group of amazing
parents who face unique challenges in raising wonderful, precocious kids.
If you qualify for this category, you will feel right at home and receive
the sympathy you deserve!  Almost 700 members.

Homeschool Country Living - This is a group of over 1700 families who are
dreaming of the country life... or living it!  While the focus is not on
discussion of homeschooling, we do have that in common.  Come talk about
homesteading, raising livestock, making cheese, 4-H clubs and more.

---

Do you have comments to share? Please do!

Send to: mailto:heather@familyclassroom.net

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is absolutely a MUST TAKE class for all homeschoolers - new or seasoned!

"I cannot recommend it enough!  I have been homeschooling for a decade, and last
year lost all enthusiasm for homeschooling.  I was prepared to 'ship them all
off to school!'  Terri's class has helped me to refocus my goals, remember why
I wanted to homeschool and get out of the rut we were plodding through!" -- LeeAnn

http://www.familyclassroom.net/HomeschoolingABCs.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

==========
Helpful Tip
==========

Bubble Making Supplies

"Just something I learned when getting supplies for making bubbles:
Glycerin at the drug store (Walgreens) was behind the pharmacy counter and
expensive.  I found some in the cake decorating section (Wilton) at Jo-Ann
Fabrics and Crafts for about $3 -- and with a coupon or homeschool discount,
it would be less." -- Chris in VA

---

Do you have a website, tip, idea or experience to share with our readers?

Send to: mailto:HN-ideas@familyclassroom.net

===============
Resource Review
===============

Board Game - The Journeys of Paul
For more information or to order:  www.cactusgamedesign.com

---

When my children saw this game on display at a homeschool convention they
immediately came running to me saying, "Come and look at this cool game!"
Imagine their delight when the developers of the game provided us with a
copy to review!  The first thing that drew my family to The Journeys of Paul
was the playing surface -- a large, full-color map depicting the Roman Empire
in 60 AD.  The creators of the game believe in excellence and have made sure
the map is not only beautifully done, but historically accurate as well.

The game utilizes three different decks of playing cards, each with detailed
artwork.  This isn't your normal board game in a box either -- this game comes
packaged in a cool tube!

The Journeys of Paul is a strategy game that the whole family can enjoy. Set
during a time of growth and persecution for the Christian church, the object
of the game is to start cell groups and establish churches throughout the
region.  The winner is the first to establish 3 churches and arrive in Rome.

This is not a Bible trivia game and no knowledge of the Bible is required in
order to play.  There are directions for playing basic or advanced versions of
the game.  Having never played a game like this, we had a hard time visualizing
things when we read the instructions, so decided to learn as we went along.  It
didn't take us long to catch on, though!  In fact, the game is very easy to
play and we've now graduated to the advanced version.  During each turn,
players state whether they are traveling by land or sea toward their next
destination or building a church, then they draw an Event card which may
prevent the player from advancing as planned. (One word of caution - some of
the drawings on the Event cards may be disturbing for very young children.)
Some of the obstacles that occur are Political Unrest, Sickness, Arrest, and
Member Disunity.

At the beginning of the game and during each turn, players draw an Opportunity
card.  These cards, if played wisely, allow you to counteract the negative
impact of the Event cards and also allow you to establish your church more
quickly.  The events and opportunities portrayed on the cards are things that
the early church and the Apostle Paul really faced.  The game took us a little
over an hour to play and definitely left us eager to play more!

There is a lot of educational value packed into this game!  Thinking skills
are strengthened and History, Bible, and Geography are all brought to life.
The Journeys of Paul gave our family a deeper appreciation and better
understanding of the struggles Christians faced in the 1st Century.

Cindy Prechtel, www.HomeschoolingFromTheHeart.com

=============================
Last Issue's Reader Question
=============================

"When do you start spelling?  Do you wait until they can read?  I'm starting
Kindergarten this fall and one of the websites I'm using has a spelling section
for kindergarteners.  Not sure if I should include this or not.  Any opinions
or thoughts?" -- Cafe

=========================
Our Readers' Responses
=========================

"At that young age, I would recommend focusing on reading and phonics.  Wait
until 1st grade to add spelling.  Christian Liberty Press has a nice and
inexpensive phonics workbook." -- Kris

---

"I do wait until they are reading fairly well before starting spelling.  With
my girls, that was 2nd grade; with my boys, it was 3rd grade.  That just made
sense to me." -- Janet

---

"I didn't start spelling until my child was reading fluently, but neither of
my children had any difficulty learning to read.  There are cases when you
want to do them concurrently.  If your child has trouble seeing the letter
combinations, you may want that." -- MaryEllen

---

"I would wait until they can sound out some words. My son struggles with reading
but is great with sight words. He has an unbelievable ability to memorize things
heard or seen.

I got a K level sight word workbook from Spectrum. It gives about three words at
a time. In the back of the workbook it has each word on a flash card that you
cut out. I copied them onto cardstock. Once he knows the words on sight we work
on spelling them.

I took a file folder and on the right inside page I put six pockets made from
index cards and numbered them 1-6. On the left I put two pockets and labeled
them 'Spelling' and 'Done'.

I point out any phonics rules the words may follow or I point out something
about the word to help him recognize it and remember the spelling. I have him
look at the word, close his eyes and 'see' it in his mind, trace it with his
finger, and then spell it out loud and/or on paper. We practice spelling out
loud a day or two, then do a written test.

If he can read the word right off it goes in the spelling pocket, if he still
needs practice I move it into the #2 pocket. I move the cards up to the next
pocket until he can read them easily. He'll ask me to test him a couple of times
a day.

We also play Hang-man with the spelling words. We have an actual game with two
boards so he gets to have me guess at words as well. He actually gets two words
to spell per round because he guesses my word and has to come up with one for me
to spell, too.

He loves to play a spelling game in the car or when we are sitting outside where
we each spell a word out loud and the other has to 'guess' it or we say a word
and the other has to spell it. This is great for auditory practice and
practicing 'seeing' the word in your mind.

All this has helped tremendously with his reading. I think it helps a lot to
learn to read a word and spell it at the same time." -- Sandy

=========================
Answer our NEW Question
=========================

"I am home schooling a 5 year old who is reading along the first grade level, and her
math is around the same way.  She loves the computer, but all the free interactive
websites I can find are for pre-school aged kids and she finds them boring, or I find
stuff meant for much older kids.  What websites do you recommend for reinforcing
kinder and first grade skills that are free or very inexpensive?  Thanks." -- Bran in TX

---

Would you like to share some website ideas with Bran?

Please send your email to: mailto:HN-answers@familyclassroom.net

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

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!

=======================
Need Immediate Help?
=======================

Visit our Homeschool Encouragement Center! This is a live 24/7
'chat' area where you can talk with our homeschool counselors
by typing in a box. When you get there, just introduce yourself
and let them know that Heather sent you!

This ultra-safe chat is supervised by experienced moms who are
there to serve and share their wisdom... or just offer a listening
ear and encouragement.

http://www.HomeschoolChat.us

==============================
Subscription Information
==============================

Here is the page where you can subscribe to all of our newsletters!

http://familyclassroom.net/screensubs.html

And here is our searchable archive of recent newsletters:

http://www.familyclassroom.net/archives.html

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SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION
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=====================
ADDITIONAL NOTES
=====================

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.

Our main website is:
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===========================
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===========================

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Next - Off to Philadelphia!  Plus... Science Simulations, 1st Grade Sites
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