Dispelling the Educational Myth of the FLY-Over

A Fly-Over. 

You know, you do it once to check things out-you are not really committed and then you move on. 

There's a myth in the field of education that suggests if you cover an idea, topic or subject once the student should get it. Yeah, it's bad pedagogy all the way around.

I often hear two things
1. Queries about what curriculum to use for a specific grade/subject area.
2. How knowledgeable our kids are in a few specific areas, specifically history.

To the first question I want to explain that lasagna learning, i.e.  layer upon layer, is much more effective than hitting something once and expecting the kids to own it. Repetition is the mother of learning, after all. For most of us, we need to read, memorize, review, rinse, repeat. And then maybe repeat some more.

My kids are rock-solid in history because we often do a couple of history programs at once, along with excellent historical fiction, a timeline, movies and field trips. We layer- a lot- year after year. We did U.S. History (again) 2 years ago (in addition to a couple of other "histories"). This past year Cub delved deep in to America History, the Founding Fathers and source docs all related to the Republic and surrounding the issues of "Freedom." This summer we are going to back to the east coast (do you hear my inner happy dance about the deciduous trees we will soon be surrounded by?!) where our history loving posse will reveal in all manner of historical places, re-enactments, and sites.

Back to the regularly heard comments: Yes, you should focus on multum non multa- not many things (multa) but much (multum). Don't get buried in curriculum and choices but do layer and layer some more so that your students experience a rich and varied taste of the chosen subject matter. Take the long view- You CAN do more than 1 history a year. You CAN do more than 1 grammar program. You CAN pick and choose pieces from various publishers that you like. You can simply focus on skills work, like memorizing and a timeline and copywork. Take time to lay down a solid foundation and then intentionally build on it, and then build on it some more.

For instance, we are using Henle Latin as our Latin spine. I also have Visual Latin -which is great for short snippet lessons to get clear about what we are learning in Henle AND First/ Second Form Latin- which hits verbs first, while Henle goes after nouns. So, there's cross-over and in that, we are building a greater understanding all the way around. However, less is often more, so if you totally get Latin (which is skill versus content based) with one program, just use that one program. But for content based subjects (Bible/ Theology, History, some Science, Literature) wide and varied builds copiousness.

So, don't get tied down to the idea that a student will "get" something just because they've seen it once, And do get ahold of the fact that repetition, in various forms, will allow long-term memory to take place. The once-over is great for over-view, but often far too simplistic for true long-term memory learning.

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Lasagna Learning

Lasagna Learning is my take off on Lasagna Gardening. Layer upon layer. Take history for example.

We are reading The Famous Men series, outloud, again. In addition, Flower (and sometimes Cub) are listening to The Story of the World, volumes 1-4, again. Along with that we are watching The Last 100 years- last night's snippet on the Armenian holocaust was horrifying, and we usually have some kind of history book going. We are also doing a lap book of sorts on the Great Empires, reading BAR and the Economist and everyone has a book or two going- often historical fiction, that has us checking maps and cross checking people groups with each other. We are 1/2 heartedly memorizing VP cards again- 1/2 heartedly becaue our schedules are pretty full and the kids have it far more clear in their heads than I do in mine - though I can usually give you a 100 year ballpark of many historical events.

We do the same thing with English- diagramming, using FLL or Mary Daly's First Book of Diagrams, grammar and language study with MP Latin resources, along with modern language studies via Rosetta Stone.

Math- Perplexors, text, 1/4 Mile, Lone Star.

Seems like every subject we do, we utilize several resources so that we can hear it, see it, touch it, know that we know it. When you have a choice between 2 good curriculum's instead of asking, "should I use this or this," maybe a better questions might be, "when should I use x and when will I use y?"

 

Math, Science and History - Homeschooling High School

I've written a bit already on how we teach Math, Science, Biology and History in our home. Check out some previous posts:
Godly Patterns in Homeschooling
Discovering Patterns
Social and Physical Sciences 
Classical STEM
VCF-Globe Trotting

I've also talked about lasagna learning in our  homeschool. This is a very classical approach to learning. What I mean by lasagna learning is layer upon layer; overview, review, mastery. Going over material one time, in simple form, might be just enough to whet an appetite, but to really get a-hold of an area, to own it, love it and be able to play with it, requires familiarity, understanding it from multiple sides, from different depths and perspectives.

I am always a bit perplexed by people who talk about nailing down the one perfect curriculum for a specific subject area- especially those areas that are content rich, like Bible and History. We grab as many resources as we can find and do, what is probably best described, a yearly smash up in content areas. For instance, in Bible, my kids have their own reading/study; will be doing some serious Apologetics in CC, have spent the week-end immersed in presentations by a Rabbi from CJCUC, took part in a Middle East study last fall presented by former Missionaries to Turkey, etc. Their history reading delves into church history, as does Timeline memorization, along with much of the fiction that they read. Yes, we do actually intentionally purchase curriculum, but at this point, in High School, it's more pre-determined by who they are studying with, any outsourced classes they are taking and areas of interest.

The year, Cub will be delving deep into American History. We just finished Notgrass' 900+ page 2 volume series on "America the Beautiful." This year he'll be reading source documents and thinking and writing deeply on issues such as Free Market Economics and Liberty. Is redundancy wasted time? Hardly, if it is done with intentionality and purpose, and not as a time -filler- it takes the studetn from passive to active learner. Love that. 

In between, and for fun, he is reading The History of the Renaissance World and the Story of Science by SWB, so it's not like he'll be solely focusing on American History for the entirety of high school.

Skill specific subject areas like Math and the hard sciences require a different approach. For these classes, memory work has to happen. Laws, Rules, facts memorized make everything go so much more smoothly. Then, time on task. You can't get through much math if you don't actually sit down and do the math. I do have a math slug and for that student I set the timer. They work hard while the timer is going and when the hour is over, they are done with that subject; otherwise they'll spend all day in front of their math book, getting more and more discouraged, not getting anything done and feeling guilty about their lack of motivation.

Check out more on Math, Science and History.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag30/Lisa_Nehring/siggywithflower_zps2ffa66ba.png @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

VCF: Week 3 The Social Sciences

It's week 3 of the Virtual Curriculum Fair!

This week's topic is history, geography, world cultures, worldview, biology, botany, geology.

Do you hear/see me doing the happy dance?

These are topics that I L.O.V.E.

 

First of all, you do know that Dr. Dh and I are social scientists at heart and vocationally, right? Secondly,  let me re-iterate that I am a lasagna educator (you know, layer upon layer). I like having a plethora of rich (read diverse) resources.  We utilize CD's, DVD's, books, time lines, history cards, magazines, maps, globes, people, language and whatever else we can get our hands on to re-iterate the lessons and learning that we are doing about specific topics.
If you've read my blog for very long, you've probably realized that literature is the back-bone our educational life. We love Sonlight, Veritas Press, Bethlehem Books, TWTM  reading lists and are always for another great read.

By far, one of the simplest resources that we use is a large wall map. I've had a couple over the last couple of decades and there is usually one on our wall somewhere in the house. The one we have now is a laminated world map. We refer to the map regularly- when reading, when talking about the news or looking up stuff from a magazine. Get your kids in the habit of looking at the map and pretty soon they'll be going there first.

We also try to contextualize history for our kids. One of my pet peeves is how often folks judge history by today's values, economy or politics. I love doing forensic history. Years ago BAR (Biblical Archeology Review) looked forensically at why Herod (you know, the guy eaten by worms) died. It was disgusting and very fascinating. I love that kind of thinking and we try to keep in mind the context of what people's lives were like at the time they were living, rather than what their lives were like compared to ours (which is why I still like and use G.H.Henty's books- sure they are pedantic and formulaic and I guess Henty is a racist if you want to look at it that way. But the real thing is that Henty was a man of  his times and rather imperial, more than racist, if you ask me. If you want to learn the details of a historical time period, his books are a great place to start).

We try to have good, intellectually based magazines around the house; National Geographic, BAR, Science News. These magazines not only frequently offer a distinct world view from our own, but they examine issues scientifically and intellectually. We don't always (often) agree, but it's great discussion/thought fodder.

World View is current groupie talk for where are you coming from. Our world view is Biblical. It is decidedly Christian, but directed by principal, not doctrine. We do teach world view. We do this by talking with our kids about what we are reading and thinking, sharing our opinions, which they appreciate or not, and having a family life that is actively, vibrantly pursuing a walk with the Living God. This is worked out in our worship, study and prayer life. We pray with and for our kids. We pray about simple and profound things. We take time to pray and to listen. We study the Word, which informs our wold view. This includes language, history, archeology, and of course, great books like those written by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, L'Engle and others.

Science is something that we love 'round here. We read/study a ton of science. We are great observers of nature. Our kids get the scientific method. The best curriculum I know for teaching your kids science is to have a science obsessed parent (read Dr. Dh, here). He is an astronomy, archeology, weather buff. So are his kids. They love the NASA and NOAA web-sites. They read BAR and science news. I wish I could take credit but by far my best contributions have been introducing the Magic School Bus books and teaching my kids to draw so that they can record their observations.

I'd also like to throw out language study as a great way to understand culture. We've played with learning Latin for way too long (that pesky first law of the Teacher haunts me) but have gotten some Spanish, Latin and German study under our belts, along with some ASL. We're not fluent, but we understand a bit, along with the important and relevant fact that culture defines and determines language. I love movies that reflect this, like the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice.

And of course, don't forget travel to learn about history, world view and cultures. We have traveled (and lived) across the U.S. and we seek out living history re-enactments, plays, shows, museums, along with aquariums,  nature preserves, and national parks. 

I could go on and on about this topic but I'll wrap up by sharing some of our fav curriculum resources:
Rosetta Stone language (we currently have and use Hebrew and German- love it).
Powerglide languages
Classical Conversations memory work CD's and geography PowerPoint discs
Veritas Press history cards
Story of the World CD's and history books (my kids never tire of listening to the CD's)
Mystery of History CD's
Apologia eled Science CD's (brilliant idea, Apologia!)
Smithsonian Mag
Nat'l Geographic and Nat'l Geo for KidsMag
Ranger Rick
Biblical Archeology Review
Science News
National History Day (haven't done it yet but I've sure been tempted!)
NOAA and NASA web-sites
Memoria Press Geography

For more great curriculum finds:
Exploring Eastern Cultures with Sonlight by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Cell Unit Study - Mitochondria and Energy by Julie @ Highhill Education
Our Blended Social Studies by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science by Leah C @ As We Walk Along the Road
Exploring Canada by Annette @ A Net In Time
Project Passport: The Middle Ages by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings
Virtual Curriculum Fair- Exploring Our World by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me
Our Absolutely Positively Favorite History Curriculum Ever by Wendy @ Homeschooling Blessings
Science: learning to use what you are given by Piwi Mama @ Learning & Growing the Piwi Way
Historical Significance by Kristi @ The Potter’s Hand Academy
How We Are Exploring Our World as Homechoolers by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World
VCF:  Week 3 The Social Sciences by Lisa @ Golden Grasses
A Trip Around the World:  Homeschool-Style by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun

Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Exploring Our World:
Biology by Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool

Virtual Curriculum Fair: Learning about our World  by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Managing the Pressure of High School

Homeschooling High School Can be a daunting propsition. The courses get more difficult, the kids have more ideas of thier own and there are a ton of "extras" that can be added in. The kids are driving, working, texting and have a social life. It can be crazy busy. I've found the only way to keep track of the schedules and requirements (ours and the states) and the want-to's is to Plan our Work and Work our Plan.

Feeche is our 3rd homeschooled high schooler. His schedule and work load looks distinctly different than his two older sisters did. We have different resources, a different kid and different goals. He worked part time all last year and through the summer but recently quit in order to fit in some fo the extra's that he wants to do this year.
First off, I made a general "by the month" schedule- this included core classes: Pre-calc, Physics, For Language, Lit, History and misc stuff we're working on, along with how much work needed to be accomplished for each course each month.

Then I made a general daily schedule. Monday, Wednesday, Thursdays are the same schedule; and Tuesdays and Fridays are a different schedule.

You'll notice spelling on there- here's the deal. My son is incredibly bright. Spelling is his achilles heel. He wants to continue working on it, so we do. We are finishing up Sequential Spelling and using IEW's High School Vocab and Spelling program. It won't go on his transcript because details like spelling, vocab, grammar, et al are subsumed by general catagories such as Lit or English.

From there I make a weekly schedule, using one of Donna Young's scheduling pages.  As Feeche completes the work, he highlights it on the page. Then on Sunday, I go through and see where he's at for the next week. He schedules appointments with 2 outsourced tutors (math and PO- he's hoping to add art to that line-up) during times we are in town. Friday afternoons are open. He manages his own P.T. (Physcial Training, ballrom dancing on Fridays) and Devotions.  He  has 4 weeks out of pocket planned (2 weeks for Challenge staffing in October and Paging at the Capital in Jan. That means he's working ahead on things now, in order to finish classes in the spring and graduate.

You might also notice that Physics includes the text and study guide and then "GC." This refers to the Great Courses Physics that he and Cub are watching together. It's part of my lasagna learning approach- layer upon layer of information. And since Cub is doing Jr. High Phyics with the amazingly talented science guru Mrs. J, it works out for both.

You'll also notice that some of the stuff is elementary- music theory for instance. I love the quote on Master and Commander when Lucky Jack is leading the memorial service for Midshipman Hollam and declares, "the truth of the matter is that not all of us are the men we'd hoped to be." Same for educating our kids. There's ideal and reality. Reality is that my kid can do some serious home improvement projects (he's already hired out as a drywaller), get himself around the country with money he's earned and tickets he's purchased, understands and can quote serious chunks of Shakepspeare,etc. etc. There's only so much time to go around. So, he's still learning  basic music theory. Not my ideal, but it is what it is. And, btw, he is loving it.

I'll be adding Khan Academy programming to the list this week and once he's done with Latin he's probably switch to RS Hebrew (along with the German) based on his plans for next year. We're playing Powerglide Latin in the car during trips to town (lucky him) and watching stuff like "The Art of War" and DownTown Abby- which isn't officially school, but certainly counts towards History (20th century overview - loving Speilvogel ; ).

That's our system. Thoughts?