How to Use Social Media for Learning--The Right Way!

Just in time for moms preparing for the new home school year, here is an excellent post about how to use social networking in a productive, educating, and respectful way. You will want to bookmark the link below for future reference!

Allison at Totus Tuus Family & Homeschool attended the Vatican Bloggers Meeting in Rome, she explains, and has become much more interested in the realm of social media and its possibilities.

As Catholic moms, I know you will agree with me that there are many pitfalls to social networks, but--as with all things--they also possess a potential that can praise Our Dear Lord and help teach our children in new and glorious ways. As always, it is up to the parents to provide the proper guidance.

If you don't know where to begin, here's a great place to start.

As my children are getting older (now both teens), they are aching to use more social networking, something I have been holding back. And I have been wondering how I can help them learn the beneficial ways to use the new medium. First, I need to educate myself. That's why I like this post so much. It gives specifics, sites and resources to check out myself.

Many thanks to Allison at Totus Tuus Family & Catholic Homeschool!

Totus Tuus Family & Catholic Homeschool: How to Use Social Media for Learning ... and homes...: "I just read this article that relates to the image above and wanted to capture it's message here and share it. Ever since my trip to the V..."

Homeschool Photos For Fun

Okay, only a homeschool mom would get a kick out of these photos. But I know lots of you are homeschool moms! So go ahead and get your kicks, just two. ;-)

A little paper sculpture that Max made while listening to my rendering of With Lee In Virginia by G.A. Henty. His hands are always busy! Max is our builder and inventor.

These pins would eventually label Ben's biology project, a dissected fetal pig, which led to his science fair project, Man & Pig: The Similarities Between Human and Swine Nervous Systems.

Homeschool Co-ops Are Excellent Resources. Here's a Genuinely Catholic One.

Check out Lacy's blog, Catholic Icing, to learn more about a Catholic resource for homeschoolers.

We have been part of a co-op for seven years, and I have to admit that I don't know where we would be without it. I do wish, however, that we would have had this option available to us, a genuinely Catholic program. The Catholic Schoolhouse is designed for elementary age children. (My boys are now in their teens.)

Check it out!

Catholic Icing: Catholic Schoolhouse- a New Resource for Homeschoo...: "Today I just wanted to share this unique (and brand new) Catholic resource for homeschoolers with all of you! I don't know how many of..."

Lessons in Writing Letters: Contacting Authors David McPhail and Elvira Woodruff

An interesting twist on the penmanship assignment, and a great way to include grammar, literary analysis, and spelling in one measure.

by Kathleen Blease

This year marks our seventh year of homeschooling. We started when Ben was entering third grade and Max first. Over the years, I've relied on some of my own educational concoctions, instead of turning to time-tested and prepackaged plans.

One year, I was trying to convey to the boys the importance of writing letters. Yes, it's old fashioned, but basic letter-writing etiquette and format are still necessary--even in this day of emailing, twittering, and texting.

To make the lesson more fun and less of a chore, I collected the names and addresses of the boys' favorite authors. One such address came to me in a funny way.

I was standing in line at our local pharmacy, when I noticed the woman in front of me. "Excuse me," I said sheepishly, "but are you, by any chance, Elvira Woodruff?" With a big smile and a ready handshake, the author made me feel right at ease. When I told her that my oldest son was a big fan, she quickly gave me her home address and encouraged me to have Ben write to her. With a little prompting, he did. Elvira responded very generously with several signed copies of her books, made out just to Ben.

If you've never heard of Elvira Woodruff, and you have a child who is between nine and twelve (especially a boy), then you owe it to your kids to go to the library and check out her books. At our local library, her titles take up just about as much shelf space as the books by Avi. What, you don't know who Avi is? Don't feel badly, I didn't either. Check him out, too. (To find these two authors, either click on their links, or click here to visit Kathleen's Book Shop for Kids.)

Back to the letter writing...

It was a penmanship assignment that, granted, was not all that sparkly at its onset. Boys are boys. They don't enjoy the details of forming proper letters in size, shape, and spacing. Their rewards came later, some sooner.

While Ben made contact with Elvira Woodruff, Max connected with picture-book great David McPhail. Tucked away in snowy New England, Mr. McPhail put together a little packet just for my son.

Here's an original piece of art from David McPhail. Remember Pig Pig?

And his note thanking Max for writing to him.

 He also sent along a signed copy of Henry Bear's Christmas, a real treasure. I always loved Mr. McPhail's picture books. In response, Max quickly wrote a thank you card. Grateful for his kindness, I included one, too, and mailed them off. Much to my surprise, he sent back another packet of art, this time with an original piece that had his handwritten note on the back, and it was just for me!

I never considered that my children--and myself--would benefit so much from this crazy penmanship/letter writing assignment. It was fun and a pleasure to connect with authors. Being a writer and editor, and after working in a major house in Manhattan, I also had the underlying objective to impress upon my children that creative people (in both the sciences and the arts) are living and breathing individuals just like ourselves. And in this way, I was hoping my boys would see that they, too, can create and affect other people's lives in a positive way.

Making contact brought the people behind the creations to front and center!

Maybe you'd like to try the same assignment, so here are a few of the steps/requirements we followed. This lesson can easily fill a week. Take it slowly; don't try to squeeze it all into a day or two. If your child is overwhelmed, the value of the lesson will be lost.

Letter Writing  and Penmanship Assignment: Steps to Writing to Authors 

(and how to include grammar, literary analysis, and spelling lessons)

1. Mom hunts down authors' mailing addresses. Many times (most times), I simply used the publisher's address, which is found on a book's copyright page. Publishers have assistants who forward all the mail.

2. Child is taught the proper form of a letter.

3. Child drafts a letter with mom's help. His letter introduces himself, tells the author which book he likes, and explains why he likes it. He finishes the letter by thanking the author for his work. This is an excellent way to discuss stories, both picture-books and chapter books, and introduce your child to literary analysis in an informal yet effective way.

4. Mom sits down and checks all spelling and grammar. This is a good time for a simple grammar lesson. For younger children, it's great to ask questions like, "In this sentence, can you point out all the nouns?" For older children, you can discuss proper tense and usage, and so on, to help them grasp strong writing. (Need a brush-up yourself? Check out Strunk's and White's  Elements of Style.)


5. After all spelling and grammar is checked and corrected, your child then copies the final letter in his best penmanship. Lined paper appropriate to your child's age is just fine. Pencil is fine, too, unless your student is in high school.

6. Child is taught how to address an envelope, and it's first done on scrap paper. When all is checked, it's carefully copied onto an envelope. Again, pencil is fine. For small children, you might want to pencil in exactly where the postage stamp must go.

That's all there is to it! Again, take your time and spread the assignment over a week, to avoid tears. You will find, if you are diligent, that you can mark your day schedule as completing the following subjects: penmanship, grammar, literary analysis, and even spelling. By collecting the words your child consistently misspells while drafting the letter, you can create a personalized spelling list to study the following week.

Have fun! And happy letter writing!

A Little Homeschooling Post: Teaching Your Child to Read

If you're looking for help with teaching your little one to learn to read, Angie at Many Little Blessings has some helpful tips for you.

She has also included a link-up where you can find lots of homeschooling moms sharing their insights and blog posts.

Go homeschooling!!  God bless.

"Your Kids are Stuck in the House All Day." Really? Socialization is Homeschooling's High Point!

  
by Kathleen Blease 

We had just finished dinner and the dishes were in the dishwasher when there was a knock at the front door. It was our neighbor from down the street, chaperoning his daughter who was selling cookies. As usual, the little girl handed me the order form in a shy manner, looking down at the floor. A sweet and quiet girl. Dad did all the talking. As I filled out the form, I heard him blurt out, "Your kids are stuck in the house all day." It was truly out of context, and I could only guess that it was something very much on his mind. Perhaps he really intended to ask me if my children were confined to the house, or if they were involved in various programs, for which I would have gladly explained. But in his embarrassment, he quickly took our order and left.

This Fall, we will begin our seventh year of home schooling. As the years have gone by, to tell you the truth, I've found that this dad is not unusual in his concerns. Here are a few questions and comments I've volleyed, with my responses in parentheses:

"I don't know how you do it. I would kill my kid after the first day."
(Homeschoolers get frustrated, too. But wouldn't you like to give your child the best? Why do you want to work with a third party? You can solve problems on a one-to-one basis., and there is no question as to whom your child views as the authority in his life.)

"You spend only a few hours on lessons? How can you get away with that?"
(If you would spend three hours one-on-one with your child everyday, wouldn't you get a lot done? Most parents nod their heads in agreement, with a wry smile. Add time for independent work and homework, and you have a very full school day--one that is productive at that. Imagine having productive school days each and every day. Some more so than others, but productive in any case. There's quite a bit of learning going on!)

"I can barely get through homework, much less homeschooling."
(Homeschooling is nothing like homework. You plan the lesson, so you know exactly what your child needs to do. When your child brings an assignment home from school, you have to guess at what objective the teacher is aiming, and this is frustrating for both child and parent. When my boys were in school, I found that very little instruction for the parent (from the teacher) came home with the work. Even a first grader was expected to remember the objective. Good luck.)

"Your kids are stuck in the house all day."
(Really? When my kids were little, I took them to the Y to swim. While I swam laps, the retired folks who paddled about in the shallow end enjoyed chatting with my boys. How many grade-schoolers are comfortable talking with the elderly? Today, they belong to Scouts and have earned umpteen advancements. And they belong to a homeschooling group where they take core classes every week with more than one hundred children of all ages. No friends? When we hosted a pool party last year, twenty-five children attended and they had a great time. I'd say they have friends.)

"But what about socialization? Do your kids see other kids? How do they learn to get along?"
(See above...and add this: Those twenty-five kids were the best behaved and happiest youngsters I ever met. Older children were very attentive to younger children. In addition, at the end of the party, each one personally approached me and thanked me for the wonderful day. They didn't leave the thank-yous for mom and dad to deliver.)

"They have to get out into the real world sometime."
(When's the last time a 25-year-old man worked with only 25-year-old men? When was the last time you worked with only people your own age? Schools, out of necessity and common sense, need to create an artificial environment by grouping children by their ages. Homeschooling does not require this in order for learning to take place. The real world is much better represented in the homeschooling environment.)

Well now, if you don't mind, and if you can stick with me, I'd like to address more accurately socialization, the one area of concern that seems to strike the heart of parents most.. It does indeed seem to the biggest stumbling block, the one that keeps parents from considering homeschooling. (Interestingly, few parents ask me about academics, or address the sad state of the public (and even private and parochial) schools and the experimental and modern methods of education.  And if one is Catholic, one would think our faith would be of greatest concern to parents. Yet, I don't hear these expressed very often.)

There is a fear among parents that a child who spends all or most of his day with his folks will become ill suited and backwardly prepared for the real world, which apparently rears its ugly head only after one's education has ended. Parents need to keep in mind that the real world is not something that mystically appears upon one's graduation. The truth is, the real world is here and now, and we must educate our children to live in it without being of it. As a homeschooler, a parent can make apparent  the difference between the two and keep at bay the materialism and relativism kids receive in heavy doses at school. In fact, this is job #1 for all parents, according to Pope John Paul II, who made it clear that the parents are the primary educators. In the end, parents really cannot blame peer pressure or school environment for problems in rearing their children. It is a responsibility they must personal grasp themselves.

When I'm asked about the social opportunity in homeschooling, I say, "I like it!" and begin to outline the various activities (which have led to friendships) available to my sons.  Their scope is much broader, since they don't sit in a classroom with the same teachers and the same children everyday, and they approach opportunities with a different outlook. This summer my sons will be attending Boy Scout Camp. One scout's father is dead-set against homeschooling because of the "socialization issue."  Ironically, his little boy approached my younger son and asked if he already earned a certain merit badge he was interested in. When my son told him he already earned the badge, the boy asked him to consider repeating the program so there would be someone in the class who he knew.  My son assured him, "At first you won't know anyone, but you will get to know the kids. You'll do fine!" My children are accustomed to meeting strangers and working in a group of children they do not know. They are not forward nor do they walk into a new situation and try to take charge. They are quiet and observant, and my younger son has been described as "living in a shell" by non-homeschoolers. Yet, he has learned how to assess a situation before jumping in, and (surprise!) he is the youngest member of the leadership corpse in our scout troop, a troop of an unbelievable 105 boys.

Maybe it would do us some good right now to define exactly what "socialization"  is. To get to the crux of the matter, perhaps it would be easier to first state what it is not:

Socialization is NOT compiling a list of friends on Facebook. It is NOT spending all day, every day in a classroom with the same teachers and the same children who are the same age. Just when will this ever happen again in your child's lifetime?  Socialization is NOT having girlfriends at the age of 12, and a long list of buds to chat with on the cell phone. It is NOT video games, the latest movies, the hippest jeans, or the right color shirt. When children limit themselves by thinking that this is what socialization IS, their world shrinks significantly. This indeed is a shallow and lonely existence, yet peer pressures in school can raise these litmus tests to the top of a child's priority list, even for the kindest and most gentle child. In the end, a child who appears to be socialized in school just might grow into an adult who will testify that his greatest time in life was high school; from there, it was all down hill for him. Go to a high school reunion and you'll meet many of these "kids."

Now let's give a broad brush to what socialization IS. Socialization IS the ability and willingness to work with others, regardless of gender, age, creed, or social standing. Importantly, this does not overshadow one's personality. If a child is more outgoing and enjoys being the center of attention, this can be to his advantage, if he learns to temper it well. If a child is more introverted and carefully assesses each situation before jumping in, this can be an advantage, too, and a parent can spend time in coaching and ensuring her child one-on-one. A well socialized child uses his own nature and uses it well.


Socialization IS also the use of proper manners and conduct at all times under all circumstances. When a child spends six hours a day with other children, it only comes to reason that his instruction in this area would come from other children. Peer pressure surely is the most significant tool youngsters apply throughout the day. And parents desperately try to combat these "lessons" in the few hours their youngster spends at home. If your child is in school, I'm sure you know what I mean. When my boys attended school, correcting what had been taught to them all day by other boys was a very difficult task indeed.

Still, above all these concerns is the very essence of socialization.

To be truly socialized IS to have the ability to live and work among  family and friends as God created you! If a child is socialized, then he will know the value of his soul, his talents, and his treasures, and he will recognize this value in others. Parents often struggle to shovel away all the un-Godly debris a child brings home from school. In homeschooling, socialization is provided by parents who have life experience, guidance from prayer and contemplation, and their number one adviser and coach is Christ himself.

Is it an easy road to pave in homeschooling? I can tell you hands-down it certainly is not. It is rough and curvy, but it is also directly  in the hands of the parents, not the peers, or the educators who struggle to manage so many children on a daily basis. Socialization is a challenging job under all circumstances, but homeschooling parents have hope and opportunity in living out their role as the singular loving authority. Unfortunately, the parent of a school-attending child will most likely be fighting to be merely heard and respected as the authority in the home.

This morning, I had a long conversation with my son about attending Boy Scout camp, just two weeks away. He is counting the days. Last year, he enjoyed repelling and rock climbing. This year, he has decided to try something brand new--small boat sailing. He also outlined for me how he would like to spend his summers in years ahead. My builder, inventor, mechanic, pilot, talker, reader,  introvert of a son has a mission in mind, and I can see his excitement in planning new adventures that will bring out his natural talents. No one ever told him he couldn't, or that he was geeky, or that he wasn't cool. In a word, he's socialized!

God bless.

(photo source: http://www.jjjump.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Swing-dude.jpg)

Busy, Busy Bee!

Here's something I think you might like. It's been long known that the bee population has been declining, and we depend on them for our crops. Would you like to be a citizen scientist this summer? At The Great Sunflower Project, you can help determine what's happening to these busy and necessary workers. Grow the sunflowers, or others flowers the Project lists, and count bees for just 15 minutes per day. The Project will send you the seeds. It doesn't matter if you live in a city, a suburb, or out in the country. Plants in fields. Plants in pots. Plants on balconies. Plants on patio. They are all important to the count. What a great project for you and your kids! Click here to learn more and sign up!

Thanks to homeschooling moms DeDe and Laurel for bringing this to our attention.

God bless.

The Princess and The Pack Mule or Why I Home School

It's that time of year for homeschooling moms--when the yellow bus lumbering down the neighborhood street is looking pretty inviting. For some reason, March is the month when most moms want to throw in the towel. Let's face it: In this lifestyle of educating at home, you and your wee-ones are waging a countercultural war, one that's being fought both inside and out. I know you know what I mean. Yes, it can all get a bit tiring. And as Catholic homeschoolers, the burden can feel a little extra heavy at times. But fear not! Click here to visit The Totus Tuus family blog for a healthy check on your perspective and read The Princess and The Pack Mule or Why I Home School by Denise Mira of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Enjoy and God bless.

Rewrite, My Friend! Rewrite!

by Kathleen Blease

My son's 7th grade paper. Three drafts to an A.

The science fair is over. The classroom is cleaned and the rubber cement has been scraped off the floor. One research paper is finished and another is in the mix.

In a past life, when I worked at the Times Books imprint at Random House, Inc. in Manhattan, a young author by the name of Robert Wright had just completed his first book, Three Scientists and their Gods. If memory serves me, Bob just started, scarcely in his 30s, as the editor in chief of the Atlantic Monthly. He was tall and slender, topped with blonde hair and a boyish face. He wore a tweed jacket and a certain look of intellectual exasperation. “Bob,” I inquired, “I’m putting your book into production. Is there anything you would like to do before I send it downstairs to the production editor?” “Yeah,” he said as he ran his hands through his hair, “You can let me re-write it!”  I smiled: “Why? It’s good!” His hand punched the air to make a point. “Oh, but I can make it better!”

Yes, indeedy, anything written can be made better (except the Word, of course). Now, there are a few types of editors: copyeditors read manuscripts for tiny details and make sure that all the t's are crossed and all the i's are dotted. Line editors read them for grammar and smooth-sailing sentences; clunky ones are nixed and rewritten. Then there is the developmental editor. Ah, yes. We are cut from a different cloth. We don't have the master eye for details like the other two; we obsess over logic. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How are our best buddies. They go with us everywhere and drive everyone crazy. When there’s a hole in the writer’s logic, it’s the developmental editor who introduces him to the 5Ws and How. And we don’t stop there; you see, we can’t sleep at night if chapter one should be chapter three and chapter three should be chapter twelve. Or, Heaven forbid, a lame paragraph sends the reader down the wrong path, only to meet the dead end of confusion. It kills us to see logic wasted. Linear, my man, linear!

The developmental editor is the editor about whom authors have strong opinions. Some rave over how she makes beautiful books out of the piles of spaghetti plopped on her desk. After all, it's not the editor's name that graces the covers; these authors send thank you cards and breathe a great sigh of relief. Others pout and cry uncle: “You’re making me redo this? One time is enough for me!” For these authors, the developmental editor is more than happy to take it upon herself to re-write the manuscripts as she sees fit, on the sneak. Better to re-write than to face the mobs with an incoherent diddy of a book, and (gasp) with her name listed in the acknowledgments. I can only speculate that these authors breathe a sigh of relief, too, but thank you cards are not forthcoming under these circumstances.

After some years in the biz, I now have my newest victims-- my boys. They are young, fresh, and very reluctant. Oh, to be the son of a professional book editor. The torture. Rewrite! Rewrite! Ever since my guys have been old enough to fashion a paragraph, I have impressed upon them that they should never be married to what they write. There is always a new way to express an idea. Writing is an exploration and a journey; and the more you dig in, the more you grow. To get right down to the crux of the matter: Like many tasks in life, it's better to be in love with the process than the outcome. If you’re looking to get it right the first time, you’re heading for an experience that’s about as exciting as the dentist’s drill! Heady stuff for a third grader, I know, and my sons have gone through as many as four drafts before hitting the editorial home run.

My oldest son, in 8th grade, is now accustomed to my edits. He leaves his paper dutifully on my desk and asks me to "give it a read.” The red editing pencil comes out, and the work begins. I follow a few basic guidelines. Sentences and paragraphs that are well crafted receive a positive note. I use standard editing marks to show him how to fix sentences that are grammatically incorrect or clunky. Or if I suspect there would be a better way to explain something, I ask him, in the margin, to think about another approach. On the other hand, sentences that could be rewritten to sound more mature are left alone. After all, it’s his paper, not his mom’s, so it's better to let the youngster's voice shine through. Nevertheless, holes in logic are noted with my trusty 5Ws and How. I treat him just like I would an author. And, you know, he tackles it (the whining has subsided over the years to a small sigh), searching and researching to find the materials, crafting his work to make it right—or as Bob Wright would want “better!” Over the years, I have found that fewer sentences sound less than mature, and his paragraphs are more fleshed out without his mother’s prompting. Well done, son!

Now a note about red pens and pencils: I once read in a well respected home schooling magazine that red pens and pencils are a no-no. Children, apparently, find them insulting and become overwhelmed by a paper covered in red marks and comments. This, the expert said, leads to tears and disappointment. Hmm. I never thought of this. So when we visited Staples at the start of the school year, I happily asked the boys what color pens they would like me to use. I heard that purple was a favorite among the school age sect. I presented a few gel pens for approval. My boys screwed up their faces, simultaneously. (I love when that happens.) “Why?” they said. “If you use purple, we won’t see it all that well. No, we like red. Get red.” So much for educator’s psychology. The checking and editing pencils made by Ticonderoga are perfect for the job—red and erasable (hey, even us editors need to erase!).

Well now, whatever happened to Robert Wright? I hear he’s still out there, thrashing out the big ideas he loves to explore to get the kernels on paper. I haven’t read his more recent titles, but I suspect that he’s finding out why book critics are called book critics. It's a tough world, publishing is. Well, Bob, you were right. Big ideas take an enormous amount of patience and most of all, yes-indeed, rewrites. Enjoy the journey! God bless.