15 Ways to Make the Most of The Public Library
Are you getting maximum benefit out of your local public library? Here’s a past blog post with 15 very useful ideas.
Author: Ann
Blessed to homeschool in rural east Texas. Two graduated, one to go!
July Links and Ideas
**July is National Blueberry Month! How about using Pickyourown.org to find a U-Pick blueberry farm near you? What about whipping up a batch of blueberry muffins in time for National Blueberry Muffin Day on July 11th? Yum!
**The Nature Conservancy’s bird of the month is the Bald Eagle. Why not spend a few days learning about this beautiful creature?
**International Day of Friendship is July 30th, giving you time to write and mail letters to new friends and old.
**Apollo 11 orbited the moon in July 1969. Check out this kid-friendly NASA website and find out what’s going on in space right now.
Research topics/ideas with a July connection:
Amelia Earhart
Annexation of Hawaii
U.S. Patent Office
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sitting Bull
Reading Aloud is for All Ages!
Becoming a Nation of Readers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott and Wilkinson, 1985) presented among its findings that “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” This landmark Commission on Reading report also indicated reading aloud in the home is an essential contributor to reading success, and that reading aloud… is “a practice that should continue throughout the grades.”
What powerful motivation to include reading aloud as part of a homeschooling schedule! Most families however, see read-aloud time as
an activity for younger children only. But as the report states, the practice should continue because the benefits of reading aloud don’t diminish as children grow older.
Pre-Readers
For the very young child, being read aloud to sends a multitude of important messages. The time spent with the reading parent is a vitally important bonding time. The young child gets the message that the act of reading is important, fun and desirable. Even though the child may not begin to read himself for several years, the underlying knowledge needed for reading success is being developed.
Emerging/Growing Readers
As a child enters his emerging reader years, the act of being read to still maintains a place of importance. Motivation becomes key factor in reading success, and being read aloud to keeps that motivation alive. It shows that reading is important and is a skill valued by the family. While the emerging reader listens, he takes note of the sounds of words, how punctuation is used, and begins to develop a personal vocabulary. As the books read aloud become longer, and the words become more difficult, a growing reader is able to gain access to new material with support.
Older Readers
One might think that reading to an older child is not a valuable exercise, but that is far from the truth. It is one of the best ways to promote independent reading in older readers. Because most children listen at a higher level than they read, reading aloud is an opportunity to present material they may have difficulty accessing on their own. Reading aloud may motivate a reluctant reader to try material previously thought too difficult. Reading aloud to older readers also stimulates fluency and vocabulary growth. In addition, taking the time to discuss the reading material is excellent preparation for higher level critical thinking and writing.
Uplifting Summer Listening
The thirty-two chapters of Christ Our Savior would make excellent listening on a long summer road trip. It’s also perfect if you are looking for something different for morning or evening worship. Christ Our Savior is a child’s version of Desire of Ages. Follow the bold link to find the free audio files available as individual chapters or altogether as a zip file.
Curriculum Review: Mastering the Basic Math Facts
“Students who simply memorize math facts miss a prime opportunity to expand their understanding of equations. Problem solving is the central focus in today’s math classrooms. To be a successful problem solver, students must be able to accurately compute answers, but more than that, they must be able to figure out how to build equations that correspond to problem situations.” – Susan O’Connell and John SanGiovanni.
My two new favorite elementary math homeschooling resources are Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction & Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Multiplication and Division. Both books are by Susan O’Connell and John SanGiovanni . Two simple books jam-packed full of resources to help your student move beyond simple rote memorization and into an understanding of number relationships and how to use those relationships in math problem solving.
What I enjoy most about both books is that they move far beyond pen and pencil drill sheet practice. In the addition and subtraction book, each chapter focuses on a specific set of addition facts. Within the chapter you are given ways to help your student see the “big ideas” of that set of facts, activities to do to explore the facts and targeted practice work. Lots of fun games and practice work ideas are given that meet a variety of learning styles. The addition facts are then connected to their related subtraction facts to complete the picture. The same process is used with multiplication and division.
There is a literature link for each set of facts. The literature link is a fun way to introduce a math concept using a picture book. I was able to find videos of almost all of the picture books being read aloud on online. The books are also easily found at your local library. Mastering Basic Math Facts includes guidance in how to connect the featured literature to the facts as well as math activities based on the picture books to help your child make math connections with other ideas that they know and understand.
The VERY BEST feature of these two books is that the purchase of these books includes a link to 350+ pages of downloadable resources to accompany the book! Each game, worksheet and literature activity mentioned is a pdf printable in English or Spanish. The resources are organized by chapter so it is easy to print what you need for the day. 
Although the book is meant for a classroom setting, I have found it totally accessible for a homeschool parent. I have worked through the Addition and Subtraction book with my student and look forward to completing the Multiplication and Division book. The math games are fun and don’t require much effort to put them together. The targeted practice activities were engaging, and I appreciated the higher-level thinking skills that the thought questions require.
This is a valuable book if you are looking to strengthen your student’s basic math fact skills or introducing math facts for the very first time. If you have a hands-on learner or a very visual student, this book will help meet their needs. Parents of special needs students will the strategies included This book also makes for great summer math practice with low prep for the parent. The table of contents, a sample chapter and a free downloadable sample of each book is available at the publisher’s website.
June Links and Ideas
June is here! A few links and ideas to add a bit of interest and learning fun to the month.
Nature study ideas for June- The Nature Conservancy’s bird for June is the Cerulean Warbler. The rose and honeysuckle are the flowers for June. Why not take a day to learn more about these beautiful creations?
June is National Safety Month. Have a family safety meeting. Do your children know how and when to call 911? Ask your children to draw maps of your home and label the best exits in case of emergency. Then have them organize and execute a family fire drill.
June 17th is National Eat Your Vegetable Day. Chayote anyone? Why not browse the produce section with your children and together choose a new-to-you vegetable to prepare and eat together?
Are you headed to camp meeting this month? Perhaps you will want to mention that on the AHE-List and arrange to meet up with other homeschooling families. Make a few new connections!
Research topics/ideas with a June connection:
Author Helen Keller, architect Frank Lloyd Wright and American patriot Nathan Hale were all born in June.
D-Day in Normandy took place on June 6th, 1944.
King John set his seal to the Magna Carta on June 15, 1215.
Seashore Adventures Science Camp – For Homeschoolers In/Near California
Seashore Home School Camp at Albion Marine Station in Northern California is coming up June 5-10, 2016. They do have a few cabins left. This could be a once in a lifetime experience for some kids, as they don’t offer it very often. We’ll be tide-pooling in the mornings and there are classes are for all ages from 3-18.
“Announcing the 55th Home School Science Camp and Outdoor Education Week. Come join us at the Albion Field Station for an unforgettable experience exploring God’s world at the edge of the sea . Come away from the library, from inside the house, and learn more about God’s Creation while you’re right out in it! Meet some other home schoolers who intend to have some serious fun, tidepooling and learning about the creatures that live between the tides. Schedule includes worship, early morning tidepooling, class instruction, and outdoor nature study activities. Camp Orchestra: If you play an orchestra instrument, we are going to have a camp ORCHESTRA for this camp to play for the song services and to do a special number for the program. Be sure to sign up for this if you want to participate so you can get the music ahead of time to practice AND so we can plan on you.”
The link to the application http://www.riverlight.org/creationadventures/Seashore_Application_2016.pdf.
The Adventist Home Educator 