Jun. 26, 2006 - My Favorite Resrouces
I
thought I'd share some of my favorite resources and materials I use for
our cottage school/home school. (I teach my own three boys and a
handful of others at the church everyday.) My own children have
learning issues. My twins have autism and are developmentally delayed
by about three years. So I am very much into modifying and adapating
things for them and for my other special needs students. I have
students who have ADHD, MR and other emotional problems that keep them
out of a typical classroom.
We study in a one-room-school
environment, are classical/Charlotte Mason/Trivium in our approach and
philosophy and it is very easy to teach multiple grade levels using all
the following materials. I have students from Preschool through 10th
grade. Here is what we do and use!
1. Nature notebooking. We do a lot of nature walking and studying
what we find and draw, etc. Every student has a blank sketch pad at
the beginning of the year and we fill it up! I glue a big envelope to
the back inside cover for them to put their finds in and study them
when we get back (things such as leaves, twigs, nuts, etc.) They also
have bug boxes that I got at the dollar store. These have little
magnifying windows in them to look through.
2. Grapevine Bible Studies. (http:// Grapevinestudies.com)
3. Math U See (http://mathusee.com)
4. Art of Eloquence (http://artofeloquence.com)
5. I have used so many different things I love for for English and language. Spelling Power,
Daily Grams,
and Writing Strands,
and this year I'm going to use Institute of Excellence in Writing.
6. Fallacy Detective (for logic). (http://triviumpursuit.com)
7. English from the Roots Up; Rummy Roots.
  
8. Hey Andrew! Teach me Some Greek! (http://greeknstuff.com)
 and Latin
10. KONOS -- I love this program. I have taught it all in the past, but for now I use their ideas but do not follow the curriculum completely.
11.
Empty notebooks for journaling daily. Sometimes I give a topic and
sometimes I don't. Sometimes I give an opening sentence.
12. Empty notebooks for copying quotes from great writers and thinkers and for dictation.
13. I use the SAT vocab list that you can get on to practice vocab.
14. Thomas Kinkaid's art currciulum from Alpha Omega publications.
15. Suzuki violin method.
16. Mystery of History; Timelines; History of the Ages; Notebooking pages (I just ordered an ebook full of great templates), History Scribe (love this program -- my kids wrote their own history text books last year), and I use Story of the World by Susan Bauer as an extra resource.
17. Christian Kids Explore Biology from Bright Ideas Press. This is a really fun program. My kids loved it.
(I pretty much design my own science and history program from "real"
books. For 10th grade this year I think we might look into Switched On School House. I haven't decided yet!)
18. Doorposts -- all their stuff is wonderful.
19. I like everything and anything from Bright Minds.
20. Hold that Thought products
-- we are going to use their ancient history cut outs this year and
their world timeline book is so reasonably price for this year's
timeline.
21. I read out loud a LOT. I read out loud several hours a day--
usually out of two different books. We usually read the classics. I
haven't chosen my classics for this year. What do you recommend for a
read aloud for ancient history? (Historical fiction.) The Henty books
are awesome, and since I have mostly boys in my cottage school, they
work out wonderfully. I also like Nancy Rue's books but they are out
of print now.
We love the Thornton W. Burgess books for nature and Gene Stratton
Porter's books are also my favorites for nature studies here in Indiana
since this is where she lived. I actually live not very far from where
she grew up. We go to the state forest a lot and the kids love
imagining they are in the Limberlost.
I want to be able to afford to give my kids cameras they can use that
take good pictures. I think that's such a great way to notice details
around you.
These are just a few of my favorites. I have so many!
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Post A Comment!
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May. 18, 2007 - Using Bluedorn materials and Hey Andrew |
| Posted by Anonymous |
I too have a daughter with developmental disabilities and we have used Hey Andrew Level 1 and 2 but
encountered some problems at Level 3 year before
last so we took a year off. I want to try this again, but we need to review the Greek Alphabet. Would it
be a good idea to get the Greek Alphabeterion and The Greek Hupogrammon and then start on Level 3
Hey Andrew? Thanks for your help. |
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May. 18, 2007 - Yes! |
| Posted by KarlaKAkins |
Yes, I do think the Hupogrammon would be great for a review, as well as the Greek Alphabeterian put out by the Bluedorns. http://www.triviumpursuit.com/catalog/index.php
I work with a young lady in 10th grade who is still struggling to learn the sounds of her Greek letters, but I think that's most important before we move on. The above books are ones I plan to use to help her continue to review these sounds next year.
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About Me
I have 5 children and three grandchildren. My oldest two children are married with children of their own. My youngest three are still at home. My middle child is 15 has bipolar, semantic-pragmatic disorder, hypothyroidism, adhd, dyslexia, giftedness and other issues. My youngest children, twins, are 11 and have autism, mental retardation, communication disorder, and all the behaviors that go with those lovely diagnoses!
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