Take Five! for Language Arts

 High School, Language Arts, Middle School, Writing  No Responses »
Feb 062012
 

One of hardest subjects for me to teach is writing, especially creative writing. As a long time homeschooling mom, I appreciate that I don’t know everything about everything.  Two of my children are gifted writers and it has always been a challenge to offer them interesting writing programs, stimulating them to tap into their creative juices. Finding a resource that meets my high expectations is like finding a treasure!

I received Take Five! for Language Arts as an electronic download to review. I knew immediately upon opening the file that I was going to be able to use this with my high school age son AND he was going to enjoy the simple but imaginative assignments.

  • The assignments are actually written for practice in critical thinking and just happen to include creative thinking and writing as well. These are not your usual hum-drum writing assignments.  Some of the prompts have you make a list or chart, sometimes you actually do a quick sketch before writing, or some of the prompts build on each other from day to day.
  • Each activity is intended to be done in five minutes so they are easily worked into an otherwise busy high school schedule.
  • The price is a little high at $23.95 but since the target age group for this book is grades 6 – 12. I could have used this as a resource making it a part of a larger language arts program in middle and high school making it a good investment.
  • This book would complement many styles of homeschooling including classical, Charlotte Mason, eclectic, or even unschooling.
  • There is just enough variety to make it interesting, leaving the writer wondering what tomorrow’s assignment will be. Yes, anticipation for the next assignment!

Things to note:

  1. Sometimes you need more than pencil and paper to complete an activity but never anything you wouldn’t already have in a well-stocked homeschool.
  2. I found that Take Five! for Language Arts was really something I needed to be involved in, reading the narrative, prompt, and extensions together with my son. This way we could adapt the assignment if needed or go a little farther if we found it was a “bell ringer” of a topic.
  3. I do not assign a score or grade with these assignments. The task is always to complete the prompt, share it, and receive feedback. I think this gives my son a little more freedom to write or create in a way that fits him.
  4. There is an index at the back of the book categorizing the prompts by language arts skills involved and I found that to be very helpful. For example, if I was looking for a prompt that used persuasive writing, I could scroll to that section and read down the list of prompts working on that genre of writing.
  5. You can download the Table of Contents and a Sample Activity from the publishers website: Maupin House.

My teenage creative writer and I give this program a big thumbs up!

Written by Barb-Harmony Art Mom.  I blog at Harmony Art Mom and am the creator of  Harmony Fine Arts. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges at the Handbook of Nature Study.

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Scribblenauts Game for the Nintendo DS

 Elementary, Language Arts, Preschool  6 Responses »
Jan 292010
 

We are a household of gamers.  While the games we like to play are different from one another, right or wrong, we all seem to answer the call of that gentle glow of an electronic game.

In particular, I am a fan of the Nintendo DS.  Although I have never personally played it for more than a few minutes, I like that my boys (who both have some fine motor delays) are forced to use a stylus to play, thus getting some great fine motor practice.  At this point, I hope that I haven’t lost some of you who are scratching their heads and saying, “What does this have to do with homeschooling?”  But wait – there is a game that is fabulous for both spelling and critical/creative thinking skills, and I couldn’t wait to share information about it with you.

The game Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS costs just under $30 (this does not include, of course, the cost of a Nintendo DS, which can be sizable).  In the game, the player plays as the main character, Maxwell.  Maxwell goes through a variety of challenges (there are 220 of them), always trying to capture Starites (sparkly stars).

Catching these Starites are not easy, however.  For instance, in one easier challenge, Maxwell is on the ground and the Starite is in a tree.  It is then that the magic of this game comes to life.  The player decides what Maxwell will do to get to the Starite.  The player will use either a keyboard or notepad that shows up on the screen and may type (or write) in LADDER.  Magically, a ladder appears, and you can move it next to the tree for Maxwell to climb.  Of course, maybe the player prefers to use an AX to cut down the tree.  Then again, maybe a BEAVER can gnaw the tree to the ground.  With over 30,000 items recognized, it’s really up to the player’s imagination.

All of my children (ages 5 through 10) love Scribblenauts.  I love it for them.  I am thrilled every time my oldest son, who struggles horribly with spelling, eagerly grabs for this game. Although he sometimes has to ask for some assistance, this game appears to be helping his spelling with a very unconventional method.

For my son, I also like that Scribblenauts has a feature that assists a struggling speller.  First, if he decides he wants to place a house in a spot, and types in HOSE, he will, of course, get a hose.  This helps him to self-correct his spelling.  He suddenly realizes that house is not spelling as H-O-S-E.  Given this, his next attempt might be to type in HOWSE.  I was initially afraid that the game would then just leave him frustrated, but instead, it then gives a list of options with a “Did you mean…” on top.  My son’s spelling is improving and he is having fun. This is a lot more than I can say for many of the spelling curriculum pieces we have chosen.

I also would be remiss if I didn’t also say that this game has been great for my five year old preschooler. She is already able to spell some three letter words, but, of course, a CAT can’t always help get that starite.  So, she has me assist her with spelling words that she doesn’t know how to spell.  Instead of giving her the spellings, we always work on sounding out anything from PROM QUEEN to ABRAHAM LINCOLN.  She happily comes up with the craziest methods to solving the scenarios, and I get to smile that she is eagerly attentive to listening to me say things like, “Yes, that sounds like a Y, but that sound is made by putting a W and an H together.”

You probably aren’t going to find Scribblenauts on a table at your next homeschooling conference, but if I had a table of things I recommended to homeschoolers, it would definitely be on it.

Do you have any favorite video games that are also great for learning?

When Angie is not busy with other projects, she enjoys writing at her blog Many Little Blessings about faith, family, and household management topics. Angie is the founder of The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online.  She is also the co-founder of Homeschool Lifestyle Media.

Prufrock Press Logic Resources

 Mathematics  4 Responses »
Dec 142009
 

Rather than focus on one product this time around, I’d like to highlight an entire area of products from one company.  Prufrock Press puts out super logic resources! I’ve had the pleasure of using five of their logic/critical thinking books for elementary children and would recommend them to anyone.

Logic Safari Books are leveled for 2nd/3rd, 3rd/4th and 5th/6th grades.  They include traditional logic puzzles that use clues and grids to answer questions like the following:

Four friends went to the barber shop and had their hair cut by four different barbers.  Use the clues and grid to determine which barber cut each friend’s hair.

I’ve used logic puzzlers such as these with my children since they were in the 1st grade.  My kids LOVE these.  We typically take one day a week during math time as a logic day.  Puzzlers like these are some of the resources I’ll use and they literally beg me for logic days.

The Logic Safari books are progressive in that they start out simply and move to harder puzzles within and throughout the books.  Black and white illustrations make the pages attractive to my children, while thorough, but uncomplicated explanations and clues are attractive to me.

You can see sample pages for each book by clicking on the graphic of your choice above.  At $8.95 each, I feel like these are a bargain!

Lollipop Logic for grades K-2 and Primarily Logic for grade 2-4 are critical thinking resources.  They provide worksheets that introduce and reinforce skills such as analogies, syllogisms, relationships, sequencing, deduction, inference, and others.

Again, the pages are clean and attractive to make these high-level thinking skills seem like fun.  You’ll be pleased with the connections your child makes and the excitement that these books produce.  These, too, are resources I might pull out on our logic days, and my children haven’t complained yet.

Again, you can find sample pages by clicking on the graphics above.  With 64 jam-packed pages, the price of $11.95 each is very fair!

Prufrock Press products focus on gifted learners.  Don’t let that scare you!  As homeschool teachers, we have the awesome opportunity to introduce our children to all sorts of studies one on one.  This means that what might be considered gifted in public schools will easily be grasped by our children simply because we get to sit with them and make sure they “get it”.  Another awesome opportunity we have is presenting our children with lessons on their level – no matter the age or “grade”.  If after looking at some of the sample pages, you feel like a particular book might be too hard – go down a level or two.  Who cares?  Don’t miss the chance to open your children’s eyes to the wonderful world of logic!

-Written by Cindy, an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and Shining Dawn Books.