And here are both of my lovely daughters, singing their beautifully harmonized version of "Silver Bells" ~
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Merry Christmas 2011
We want to wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Van Houten family! We used to send pictures of the girls on postcards, but last year we posted a singing Christmas card here on the blog and everyone seemed to like it a lot. So, back by popular demand... here are the girls in their Christmas performance earlier this month. First, is Charlotte -- singing O Holy Night. Poor thing was sick as a dog at this performance -- if you look closely you can see how red her nose is. She'd caught a bad cold 2 days before the concert and was pretty miserable. We didn't even know if she could sing, but she knocked it outta the ballpark. Be sure to watch to the end -- where she pulls out all the stops! I was so proud of her!!!
And here are both of my lovely daughters, singing their beautifully harmonized version of "Silver Bells" ~
And here are both of my lovely daughters, singing their beautifully harmonized version of "Silver Bells" ~
Monday, December 12, 2011
Knitted Christmas Ornaments
My solution has been to try to hang only a very few breakable ornaments and to keep them as close to the bottom of the tree as possible -- so they don't have as far to fall. My hope is that the carpet will cushion their fall and preserve them. Having lost about 20 nice glass balls last year, I've learned my lesson. Since our newest cat is a mere 8 months old and cats can live as long as twenty years, I've decided I need a new approach to Christmas ornaments. This one took me about 3 hours actually. It's fairly fiddly -- fair isle and all, but I like the way it turned out. Somewhere in the back of my head, I have this delusion that maybe I could churn out one a day until Christmas (various patterns and colors -- here's the one I used this time). They have all kinds of cute patterns, including this one for Christmas lights that I'd like to make:
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Writing Tutoring On-line (and by phone)
I meet with the majority of my students in person, but lately I've had a number of students who, because of distance or time constraints, prefer to work on-line and over the phone. I've tried a few models for this (Skype, etc.), but have found the most successful set-up to be one where the student and I work together (in real-time) using Google docs and talk over the phone as we work. Skype is nice, but with writing tutoring we don't really need face-to-face interaction as much as we need the ability to edit the same document simultaneously. I just finished two such on-line tutoring sessions this morning and have two more scheduled for later today. It's really a nice solution for busy schedules.
All you do is create a document in Google docs and then invite the student to "share" it. They then receive an email notifying them and including a link to the document. This way they can simultaneously edit with you as you talk on the phone. If the student has already written a draft, just copy it into the shared Google doc and go to work. As the student writes, I see their changes (in real time) on my screen and we can discuss content, organization, sentence structure/mechanics, etc. It works really well!
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about how to set this up: hollyvanh-at-gmail.com (change the -at- to @ -- this is my attempt to thwart spammers). I'd be happy to explain in more detail how it works.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Entertaining World History Review for Older Teens
Dear George,
First and foremost, you are knitting. Love that! This makes total sense to me too. You are a creator and a thoughtful, contemplative type. Of course you knit. I can tell you find it soothing.
Also, you knit in public. Thank you -- you just made it a thousand times cooler for men to knit! That light saber thing -- it wasn't a phallic symbol at all was it? Nope -- intergalactic representation of a knitting needle. You are definitely a guy that understands deeper mythological meanings. I can see why you and Joseph Campbell are so tight.
Most impressive of all (though it's hard to be sure from the picture), it appears you are knitting a sock! Don't know if that's a self-striping yarn or what, but it's looking sharp. You've clearly been a knitter for some time and have developed quite a bit of proficiency. Even if it turns out to be a scarf, I'm still impressed and pleased. Most people don't realize the knitting history of socks and that men used to be the only ones allowed to join the Renaissance knitting guilds that professionally made socks. You have found your place in a great tradition, again.
Lastly, you are knitting at a Starbucks -- combining two of my greatest loves: yarn and coffee. Bless your heart! Linda Ronstadt was a fool I tell you... a fool to dump you!
Your admiring and now duly impressed fan, H
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Reading versus Audio Books
HOWEVER, listening to an audio book is NOT the same as reading a book on your own, especially for kids who are just learning or polishing their skills. It can be an important addition to a literature-rich environment, but it can't take the place of regular hands-on, or rather book-in-hand, eyes-on-page reading. Here's why -- WRITING SKILLS!
Yes, that's right. Reading is essential to learning how to write well. Some more sophisticated writing issues (organization, characterization, plot, pacing, etc.) can certainly be conveyed by an audio book, but it's the basics -- the mechanics of writing -- that kids absorb when they're reading the printed version.
I teach literary analysis and writing skills, but I long ago realized that when it comes to grammar and sentence mechanics -- my teaching efforts are a mere drop in the bucket. The vast majority of what we learn about grammar (and spelling), we absorb from reading -- from seeing them in practice on the printed page.
When I work with struggling writers, I find it's much better to separate writing skills from spelling and mechanics. I've never met a kid who didn't have LOTS to say about all kinds of different topics, but if you ask them to write their ideas -- they clam up. Why? They're just too intimidated by what they think (or know) is their lack of "mechanical" writing skills. This is why it's so important to begin their "writing" lessons with dictation -- but more on that in a later post.
The bottom line is if you use audio books as much as I do, it's easy to convince yourself that your child is doing a lot of "reading." My point is -- yes, and NO. They are hearing great literature and learning many wonderful things from the experience, but they are NOT getting that visual understanding of how words and sentences are put together to form these stories.
And let's face it, this is the easiest part of education. Sit a kid down with a book for an hour or so a day, and they'll learn these basics as if by osmosis. The trick is to find books they LOVE, so that they're as eager for that hour as you are. With boys, that often translates to non-fiction or even "hobby" related reading -- though there are some great books out there that boys find very appealing. I'll also write a future post listing some of the novels I've found to be "Boy favorites." Girls are often easier -- there's so much good literature out there -- and girls sometimes take to novels more naturally.
If you can instill this habit early on -- you child will have a much easier time mastering writing skills. Ideally, you want your child to feel as comfortable communicating through writing as they do speaking. And reading -- eyes-on-the-page reading -- will help make this a reality.
Don't toss the baby out with the bathwater though. Audio books are a fantastic supplement. My kids can "hear" a book at a higher level than they are capable of reading. My nine year old recently listened to To Kill a Mockingbird, Great Expectations and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (much harder than Tom Sawyer) and LOVED them. She wouldn't have read these books on her own, but hearing the stories was great. When she's older, I'll put these books in her hands and she'll love them again in print. She's already asked for a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for Christmas and now that she has experience with the story -- it will motivate her to read through the tougher sections of the novel. The key is to combine both!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
New Class Schedule Available
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Horrible Home Repair
Our home is a geodesic dome and when we bought it, it was inspected by someone our real estate agent (who worked in the same office as the owner) suggested. Obviously, he wasn't going to look at anything too closely. He assured us the place was just spiffy! In the last five years we've had to completely redo the septic system, many areas of the roofing, the plumbing and in many places the electrical -- all were jimmied with the cheapest possible equipment and the lowest possible skills. To a man, every single professional we've had in here to make repairs has expressed astonishment at how horribly the job had been done by the original builder and anyone making subsequent repairs. There were truly scary risks everywhere.
 |
| Lovely wiring job, hmmm? A fire waiting to happen... |
Here's just one small example, the owner warned us to get the chimney swept before lighting a fire in the fireplace. He said it had never been swept for 37 years and it was a good idea to get it checked. Um... ya think? There wasn't a chimney sweep on the mountain who would touch it. The fire department came, declared it a disaster and asked that it all be torn down. The fireplace was zero clearance and would most certainly cause a fire if lit. On top of that, the massive chimney was not securely fastened and its ominous swaying at any sign of a breeze was a disaster waiting to happen. We had to tear the entire thing out to avert a likely collapse. That was fun...
But the latest problem truly takes the cake. As I said, these people saw us coming a mile away and apparently saw the word "suckers" printed on our foreheads. It turns my stomach to even think about the deceptive tactics they used on us. The original owner knew quite well he'd built this place with the cheapest materials and to the lowest standards allowable by code in the late 1970s. He knew this house wasn't going to last much longer. We first noticed the stucco peeling away from the exterior within 6 months of buying the place. We were already dealing with multiple roof leaks and had begun to get leaks through the walls. We did spot repairs for awhile and learned from the neighbors that the owner had lightly re-stucco'd areas and repainted to hide the problem shortly before putting the house on the market.
We have been hurt by the recession as much as anyone and the cost of these repairs is burying us.
Obviously, this is my assessment of the situation and these are my opinions. We've been dealing with this for years and today literally broke the straw on this camel's back. I don't know how I'm supposed to sleep at night knowing that the second floor of my house may fall. Everything on the outside is a mess -- our next project will be to start opening walls to see what disasters await us on the interior. I realize life is not always fair, but in my opinion, we were duped. I hope the original owners are able to sleep at night, knowing what they've done to our family.
The Perfect Knitted Sock
As I chose a pattern for this gorgeous yarn (Malabrigo Sock - Arbol, in case anyone's wondering), I realized that because my mind was so full of details related to multiple work obligations and home repairs, I needed a simple sock to work on. Anything fiddly at this point, might just put me over the edge. Thinking about it, I put together the elements I like best for wearability and durability in a sock and so far, I think it's ideal, or as my blog title indicates, the "perfect sock."
It's nothing fancy, a cuff that's a basic k2p2 rib, but with twisted knit stitches (i.e., through the back loop), and then a basic k3p1 rib for the rest of the sock (w/a basic short row heel and soon a kitchenered toe). There's absolutely not a fancy thing about it -- in fact it's so plain, I'm thinking of adding a picot edging to the top of the cuff just to girl it up a bit. Still, it's been a very satisfying knit. The fit so far is perfect and I'm seriously in love with the color. So happy to have one simple thing in my life right now!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Reading Aloud to Older Children
First let's clarify the goals. Most parents would like their children to enjoy reading and be able to complete any necessary academic reading with strong comprehension and (hopefully) retention. If you're a homeschooling parent, the entire burden is placed at your feet. You take them through all the stages of teaching them to read and then expanding their literary choices. However, there are so many subjects to teach, park days and field trips to attend, enrichment classes, etc., that it's easy to lose focus once the initial steps have been taken. Plus, kids start to fight against being asked to read books they find boring.
And yet, the HABIT of reading is the most important. In my own family, I have found that reading together at night has helped keep us in the habit. I'm a strong proponent of Jim Trelease's philosophy in The Read-Aloud Handbook. I've always loved reading -- enough to major in English, get my Masters in English and American Literature and spend an additional 5 years in graduate school working on a doctorate in Renaissance English Literature. From the get go, I wanted my kids to LOVE reading. Happily, I read Trelease's book when my first daughter was a baby and it inspired me to establish a nightly reading routine, which we've maintained ever since.
Reading aloud to kids before bed is hardly revolutionary. Most parents do this to some extent. What is a little different is that we have never stopped and have no plans to stop anytime soon. My oldest daughter will shortly be 13 and shows no signs of wanting to stop our before bed read-alouds. Too often, once parents have taught their kids to read, they stop reading TO them. Left to their own devices, many children just don't continue the habit. We have a fairly established bed-time (usually between 9-10pm -- we go until 10pm in the summer as it stays light so very late). We always head up to bed though by 7:30. It helps that my two daughters share a room. I read to them for at least an hour and they read on their own for at least another 30 minutes.
As integral as read-aloud time is in our family, I have important reasons for making sure that each child is also reading independently for at least 30 minutes every day -- though usually it ends up closer to 1-2 hours a day (either by their choice or because I require it). More on that in a later post.
We all know it's important to model reading if we expect our kids to become life-long readers. Family read-alouds and shared reading hours certainly do this, but they accomplish far more than this as well. We inevitably find ourselves discussing what we read. At first, when my children were younger, these discussions were primarily about the fantasy characters of imaginative literature. These talks were fun, but didn't usually raise subjects we wouldn't otherwise discuss anyway. As my children have grown though, we frequently find ourselves discussing far stickier issues and I'm so grateful to have this opportunity with them. When we read Bridge to Terabithia, we were confronted by the pain, guilt and despair surrounding a child's death. The story-line had a huge impact on my daughters and they had lots of questions and worries they wanted to talk about. Some were prompted by the events in the novel, but others I discovered had been on their minds for quite awhile.
Lately, it seems that almost every book we pick up leads to these kinds of discussions. Often these are topics that really wouldn't come up for any other reason and it has led us to engage in really important conversations. My kids are fast becoming teens and I don't know how much longer they will look to me as their most important and trusted source for information and understanding. Of course, I hope they always will, but I expect it will wane and wax through various stage of their lives. For now though, I'm grateful for the chance our "read-alouds" together offer me to help them sift through some of the more difficult issues.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Creative Writing and Keyboarding Games
Wednesdays: 2pm
Ages 9-12
Are you the kind of
typist who has to hunt and peck for every letter? Slow and frustrating isn’t it? We all know the value of computer keyboarding
skills, but not everyone realizes how much proper keyboarding technique and
high typing speeds improve your writing skills.
Word processors are essential to writing in our internet age and
revision (the key to all strong writing) happens far more often if students can
type as fast they think. So, why don’t
all students have these skills? Well,
“Learn to Type” computer software can get boring very fast. This class will teach students proper QWERTY
keyboarding skills through games and creative writing! We’ll learn proper finger placement through
games like “Typing Football,” “Story Starters,” “Keyboard Bingo” “Dinosaur
Duels,” “Keyboarding Baseball,” “Simon Says,” and many others. We won’t however, just be giving our fingers
a good workout, we’ll be stretching our creative writing muscles as well as we
learn how to craft a well organized story.
We’ll use plot outlines and story-idea maps to help us sketch outlines
of our stories and then we’ll create interesting characters and settings to
keep our readers enthralled. Our big
project for the class will be compiling a portfolio of each student’s best stories
to show our friends at Huck during the End of Semester show! This is a wonderful creative writing
opportunity for students and will allow them to pick up those all in important
typing skills as well. For students to
write with ease, they really need to be able to type as fast as think. This class will get students on the road to
improving these essential skills.
Read to Write: MYSTERIES: Classic Detective Stories!
Wednesdays: 12:30pm
Ages: 13+
Those who love logic can’t help but be drawn into a good detective
story. Intellectual analysis is at the
heart of this genre. Detective novels
are marvelously engaging reads for teens and this semester we’ll be reading
some of the classics… books that will grab even the most reluctant
readers. Discussing them with friends will make them all the more
memorable and organizing their ideas through their writing will help each
student hone their analytical skills. The novels and short stories for
this semester are all cornerstones in the development of detective fiction and
all provide a wonderful opportunity for students to learn and practice literary
analysis:
Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes): A Study in Scarlett and The Sign ofFour – The Sherlock Holmes stories are some of the greatest detective
stories ever produced. They were
incredibly popular in the late 18th/early 19th Centuries
and are still well-loved and well-read today.
These were the first 2 short novels and we’ll read them together to give
set the stage for our semester of intrigue.
Edgar
Allen Poe: “Murder in the Rue Morgue,” “The Purloined Letter,” – Poe is the
undisputed father of detective fiction. Arthur Conan Doyle called him “a model
for all time." Poe created the
amateur detective and his narrator friend, the locked-room mystery, the
talented but eccentric amateur sleuth outwitting the official police force, the
solution and explanation by the detective, and other ingredients that spiced up
the multitude of crime stories that followed.
In these two short-stories, he introduces the world to C. Auguste Dupin
and inspires an avalanche of crime fiction.
Wilkie Collins:
The Moonstone - T.S. Elliot says The Moonstone is "the
first, the longest, and the best of detective novels." Oliver Wendell
Holmes called The Moonstone "The best there is," and
Dorothy Sayers believes it is "Probably the very finest detective story
ever written" and "comes about as near perfection as anything of its
kind can be." With such high praise,
from such eminent authorities, you know this book is nothing short of
amazing. Collins focuses on a simple mystery and its solution: who stole the
diamond known as the Moonstone, and where did it go? With wonderful exposition
and a marvelous parade of characters this book is definitely a page turner and
essential part of the history of detective fiction.
Agatha Christie:
Murder on the Orient Express – With this classic, we enter what’s
known as “The Golden Age” of detective fiction.
If you haven’t yet met Detective Hercule Poirot, you’re in for a
treat. This is a favorite of many and
for good reason. Agatha Christie tells a
gripping tale and manages to explore a number of themes involving morality and
justice.
Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon – In this last
novel we enter the world of the “Hard-Boiled” detective. This novel is considered by many to be the
best “American” detective novel of its time.
Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett’s cynical, sardonic detective, outmaneuvers
both the police and the crooks as he solves the crime. Written in the objective
style – the reader sees what each character does and says, but never what they
think. Such a style lends itself
perfectly to film and the movie rendition of “The Maltese Falcon” is classic
film noir. We’ll watch the film as part
of our work on this novel.
As we
read these compelling books, students will not only have an opportunity to
express their ideas, argue their opinions and demonstrate their knowledge in
our class discussions, but they will also organize, develop and argue those
ideas in their writing. For our class projects, we’ll be incorporating a
"literary criticism" approach -- each student will take on a specific
position (Character Analyst; Thematic Advisor; Symbolist; Historian/Biographer;
or Passage Illuminator) for each novel. Over the course of the semester,
students will write five 2-3 page essays related to their “position” for each
book. By the end of the semester,
the class will have created a full-fledged book entitled “The Read to Write Guide to Mystery & Detective Stories” (We’ll
publish this as a paperback book and copies will be available for purchase). Take a look at last semester's class project book HERE! Students will also participate in a
variety of other creative writing activities to help them engage with these
novels. Students will also have the option of writing longer (4-5 page)
essays, so that they may practice developing their ideas and analysis in more
detail. Because writing is one of the
most important and essential skills a student can learn, we’ll be emphasizing
the entire writing process – from planning through drafting and revision.
Writing well allows students to express their ideas, argue their opinions and
demonstrate their knowledge. As they write about these novels,
students will go through the process of organizing, developing and clearly
articulating their ideas -- an excellent way to learn about any subject.
We will look at essays together as a class so students can also learn about the
reactions their writing elicits from others and offer helpful feedback to aid
with the revision process. This class will be a great opportunity to
enjoy some wonderful novels and practice essential literary analysis and
writing skills.
Novels to Knowledge: Writing & Literature Through History (Middle Ages)
Wednesdays: 10:30am
Ages: 10-13
Travel back
to the Middle Ages with some fantastic Newberry Winning books. There are
so many engaging, entertaining and educational historical fiction novels for
this age group and over the years, Newberys have been awarded to the very
best. This semester we’ll be reading books with storylines from Medieval
England, Poland and Korea …and they're all FANTASTIC stories:
Catherine, Called Birdy – 1290 (1995 Newbery Honor Book) – Unhappy
about her impending, arranged marriage, 13 year old, Birdy, daughter of an
English Nobleman, keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life. Birdy details a wealth of information about medieval
England (it’s food, dress, religious beliefs, manners, health, medical
practices, and (un)sanitary habits). Kids LOVE this book!
Crispin, the Cross of Lead – 14th Century (2003 Newbery Winner) -Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant
boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a
larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.
The Single Chard – 12th Century Korea (2002 Newbery Winner) -- A thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under
a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate
celadon ceramics himself.
The Door in the Wall – Middle Ages (1950 Newbery Winner) - A crippled boy in fourteenth-century England proves his
courage and earns recognition from the King.
The Trumpeter of Krakow – 15th century Poland (1929 Newbery Winner) - A Polish family in the Middle Ages guards a great secret
treasure and a boy's memory of an earlier trumpeter of Krakow makes it possible
for him to save his father. This one is
a classic!
Reading,
discussing and writing about these five novels will create a truly amazing
literary and history experience for mature and focused 10-13 year old students
eager to expand their analysis and essay writing skills. For our class
projects, we’ll be incorporating the "literary circles" approach --
where each student takes on a specific role (Character Analyst / Thematic
Advisor / Summarizer / Historian / Passage Illuminator) for each novel. Over
the course of the semester, students will write five 2-3 page essays related to
their “role” for each book. By the
end of the semester, the class will have created a full-fledged book entitled “The Novels to Knowledge Guide to Historical
Fiction (Middle Ages).” (We’ll
publish this as a paperback book and copies will be available for
purchase.) Take a look at last semester's class project book HERE! Students will also participate in a variety of other creative
writing activities to help them engage with these novels. Because writing
is one of the most important and essential skills a student can learn, we’ll be
emphasizing the entire writing process – from planning through drafting and
revision. Writing well allows students to express their ideas, argue
their opinions and demonstrate their knowledge. As they write about
these novels, students will go through the process of organizing, developing
and clearly articulating their ideas -- an excellent way to learn about any
subject. We will look at essays together as a class so students can also
learn about the reactions their writing elicits from others and offer helpful
feedback to aid with the revision process. This class will be a great
opportunity to enjoy some wonderful novels and practice essential literary
analysis and writing skills.
Creative Writing: How to Outline Your Way to a Terrific Story!
Mondays: 2pm
Ages 12+
J.K. Rowling outlined
her Harry Potter series for 5 full years before she began writing the 1st book! This
method allowed her to develop ideas, maintain cohesion and create connections
throughout ALL 7 novels that surprised and delighted her readers. Before
we even put pen to paper in this class, we will disable, bind and gag our
“inner editors” to free ourselves to create and imagine -- uninhibited (don’t
worry we’ll eventually free them, but only towards the end J). We’ll then start in on our work by looking
closely at the characteristics of great novels and drafting our own “Story-Idea
Maps.” We’ll then move on to character
and conflict development as we make “Scene Cards” to help chart our
stories. We’ll use the concept of
“roller coasters” to figuratively outline our plots. Once our plots are outlined we’ll explore
and create various “settings” and “moods” for our scenes before turning to the
tricky art of writing strong dialogue.
We’ll use “cartoon strips” to help us develop and sharpen our dialogue
before we move backwards to examine “great starts” and how to hook a reader in
the very first pages. Narrowing our
focus, we’ll then move on to “details, details, details” and create “Theme
Spiders” to make sure our stories have a meaningful impact on our readers. We’ll then utilize character interview
“lists” to help sharpen and individualize not only our protagonist and
antagonist, but supporting characters as well.
We’ll spend two weeks participating in “Revision Workshops” where
students can ask for help from the class on particularly tough scenes, and
finally, mercifully, unleash our inner editors to rage their way across our
pages before submitting our “novellas” to “Lulu.com” for self-publishing. Take a look at previous semester publications HERE, and HERE! Each student will leave the course with a
published, paperback-bound version of their book in hand (with more available
for friends, family and general readers to buy online). We’ll even
design “book jacket” advertisements for each book to hand out at the “End of
Semester” show! Although we’ll be
utilizing our outlines to create fiction, the techniques we learn will be quite
useful (in fact, invaluable) in expository and argumentative writing as
well. The ability to outline quickly and efficiently is especially
crucial for timed writing tests. Organizing ideas into a cohesive whole is
essential for good writing of any kind and students will enjoy learning to
wield this useful tool through creative writing.
Writing Adventures in Storybook-Land
Mondays: 12:30pm
Ages 7-9
Kids should LOVE
writing!! I have gathered a marvelous set of children’s storybooks ABOUT
WRITING that will spark you child’s imagination and inspire wonderful and
thoughtful writing. This is a class that
will delight even the most reluctant writers.
They will laugh and have fun reading these clever picture books in class
and the books will help inspire their own creative writing. The
earlier students become comfortable writing the better! This class is
designed to give young students a chance to participate in some really fun,
hands-on, creative, expository and descriptive writing tasks, while serving as
a captive audience for one another. Kids will love these story books, but
I guarantee their favorite part of the class will be reading aloud what they’ve
written and enjoying the writing of their classmates. These students will
be PROUD of their writing and eager to share! I’ve seen it again
and again – there’s nothing so encouraging to young emergent writers as seeing
that they’ve entertained others with their creations! I imagine this will
be a noisy, boisterous and fun class, as we learn how to get our ideas about
those subjects down on paper. This course will introduce our youngest
students to strong writing skills and stretch their creativity in a fun and
engaging way. Each class will begin with an inspiring picture-book about
writing, followed by a discussion of the book to spark their own creative ideas
and then writing sessions and a chance to share their writing with their
classmates. Because students will be
sharing their writing, they’ll have an opportunity to work together on revision
skills. Here is the schedule for this semester:
Week 1: WhatDo Authors Do? (By Eileen Christelow) – This wonderful children’s book
explains the writing process step by step.
We’ll enjoy the book together and write our own stories using each of
the steps described in the book. Focus: The Writing Process (Narrative Writing)
Week 2: AuntIsabel Tells A Good One (By Kate Duke) – Here we’ll focus on character and detail
as we read about how Penelope, a young mouse, and her Aunt Isabel work out all
the elements of a clever story using lots of details. For example, Aunt Isabel adds villains as she
explains to Penelope that stories must have problems to be resolved. As a class we’ll discuss what elements make a
good story and for our writing project students will write a story with a very
memorable character. Focus: Details (Narrative Writing)
Week 3: I’min Charge of Celebrations (By Byrd Baylor) – This joyous celebration of the
earth will help show students how to find ideas for writing in everyday
life. We’ll come up with our own ideas
for imaginative holidays and write down descriptions of how and why they should
be celebrated. Focus: Exploring Ideas (Expository Writing)
Week 4: If You Were a Writer (By Joan
Lowery Nixon) Writers think a lot about words – words that make pictures and show what is happening. They also play with ideas asking “what if”
about the things, people and events that surround them every day. They invent a character to fit their ideas
and give that character a problem to solve.
This story about a little girl “figuring out” how to write stories will
inspire our own. Focus: Writing Process (Narrative Writing)
Week 5: I Wanna Iguana (By Karen Kaufman
Orloff) – In this story, young Alex gives his mother lots of reasons why he
should have an iguana for a pet. It also
shows students how to organize ideas to make them persuasive. Students will each write a persuasive essay
about something they want. Focus: Organization (Persuasive Writing)
Week 6: Voices
(By Anthony Brown) – This is a wonderful story for teaching young students
about “voice.” A day at the park told
from different perspectives allows students to understand how to create
individual characters and tap into their own individual style. We’ll explore how to find our own “voice,”
discovery new “voices” and match “voice” to purpose. Focus:
Voice (Creative Writing)
Week 7: TheBest Story (By Eileen Spinelli) – When a young girl enters a writing
contest, she gets all kinds of writing advice:
“The best stories have lots of action… plenty of humor… they make people
cry… or have lots of romance.” But
finally her mother tells her “the best story is one that comes from the
heart.” The girl learns to write about
her own experiences and we will too as we take an event that really happened in
our lives and make it into a great story.
Focus: Generating Ideas
(Narrative Writing)
Week 8: Show;Don’t Tell! (By Josephine Nobisso) – This beautifully illustrated book will
take students on a romp through different ways of using the five senses to
bring descriptions alive. The author
demonstrates how to use not only adjectives and nouns to liven up writing, but
also metaphor and simile. Focus: The 5 Senses (Descriptive Writing)
Week 9: YouHave to Write (By Janet S. Wong)– This delightful book will encourage kids
to mine their own experiences for writing ideas. We’ll take incidents from our own lives and
create “stories of us.” Focus: Voice/Invention (Creative Writing)
Week 10: Max’sWords (By Kate Banks) – The main character in this wonderful story book has
a special collection. It’s not a stamp
collection or a coin collection; it’s a word collection. Words can be shared and (best of all) made
into stories. We’ll create our own word
collections and use them to write stories.
Focus: Word Choice (Creative Writing)
Week 11: Diary of a Worm (By Doreen
Cronin) – This is the hilarious story of a worm who keeps a diary of daily
events. We’ll play with perspective for
this project and imagine ourselves as someone or something else and keep a
diary from that point of view (maybe a pet, a parent or a sibling J) Focus:
Point of View (Creative Writing)
Week 12: ThePlot Chickens (By Mary Jane and Herm Auch) – As Henrietta Chicken begins to type her story (hunt and peck system, of course)
students will learn the seven cardinal rules of creating a story from finding a
main character to developing a plot to making your story come alive by using
all five senses. We’ll write our own stories following her advice. Focus:
Plot, Details (Narrative Writing)
Week 13: NothingEver Happens on 90th Street (By Ronni Schotter) - The main
character in this inspiring picture book is searching for something to write
about as passing residents share words of wisdom: watch carefully, don't
neglect details, use words in new ways, stretch the truth if necessary, make
something happen. She follows their
advice and so will we as take on a similar writing task. Focus:
Invention & Word Choice (Descriptive/Narrative Writing)
Week 14: Portfolio
Preparation. Today we’ll celebrate our
last day of class by assembling and artistically illustrating our semester
portfolios. Students will treasure their
collection of stories and other writings from our class and will be eager to
share and show them off at our End of Semester show.
Effective Essays: Writing Persuasively
Mondays: 10:30am
Ages 10-13
Writing is one of the
most important and essential skills a student can learn. Students who can organize their ideas and
analyze well have a huge educational advantage. This is a class for students
who already write paragraphs and short essays well and are ready to move on to
longer persuasive essays. This class
will take students step by step through the process of creating a strong essay. Students will begin by learning (or
reviewing) the basic five paragraph essay structure and then expand their ideas
with even longer essays. We’ll begin at
the beginning, by learning how to create an engaging introduction that
clarifies the overall topic and provides a strong and focused thesis. We’ll then create body paragraphs that
develop specific topic sentences and provide details to support our arguments. We’ll work on how to transition between
different points and then create a thoughtful conclusion that ties it all
together. This class will use engaging
and thought provoking argumentative topics to help elicit strong writing from
students. We’ll use these to practice
developing our ideas and then organizing them into strong persuasive essays. Students will gain valuable experience
planning, drafting and revising their essays.
By the end of the semester, each student will have completed a special
“writing project portfolio” containing their polished essays. Students will definitely work hard in this
class and do a lot of writing. There
will be weekly homework assignments, in addition to our in class work, to
provide students with lots of opportunities to hone their skills. We will use a Roundtable Writers’ Workshop
format to look at essays together as a class so students can also learn about
the reactions their writing elicits from others. Writing is, first and foremost,
communication, so we’ll look at both ends of that transaction: the writer and
the reader. Whether you want to prepare
for the type of writing you’ll need to master for high school success, or just
want to practice your persuasive writing skills, this is the class for
you. Everyone will need access to a word processing program to aid with
the revision process, so students who don’t have strong typing skills may also
wish to participate in the Keyboarding Class this semester.
Writing Courses for Homeschoolers
As our fall classes our winding down, I'm astonished (as always) with the impressive amount of quality writing my students have completed this semester. Often, I think my main job as a writing mentor is to encourage kids to write early and often. When they take my classes, this is exactly what happens. They absorb all kinds of guidelines and advice about how to improve their writing, but the very act of writing regularly yields amazing results. Beyond this, the next best thing you can do for your young writer is to provide them with an audience. In my classes students read their essays aloud to each other and serve as an audience for their fellow authors. They exchange advice (with my guidance) and benefit from both ends of that exchange. As an author, they have an opportunity to understand the impact their writing has on others -- they can see first hand when they've interested, entertained or puzzled their readers. As an audience member, they must articulate what about a piece of writing should be improved and really think through the best way of accomplishing the necessary revisions. Alas, this is rarely an environment that individual homeschoolers can easily create working one on one with their kids. Finding a homeschool writing class or co-op is often the answer.
I like to give students a wide range of writing opportunities and I think the classes I have planned for this next semester will do just that. If you live in the Los Angeles area and are interested in enrolling your child in one of my classes at the Huckleberry Learning Center for the spring 2012 semester (beginning in early February), the following links will take you to more detailed descriptions. The Huckleberry Learning Center website - www.hucklc.org - will be ready for registration within a few weeks, but here's a preview:
I like to give students a wide range of writing opportunities and I think the classes I have planned for this next semester will do just that. If you live in the Los Angeles area and are interested in enrolling your child in one of my classes at the Huckleberry Learning Center for the spring 2012 semester (beginning in early February), the following links will take you to more detailed descriptions. The Huckleberry Learning Center website - www.hucklc.org - will be ready for registration within a few weeks, but here's a preview:
Mondays: 12:30pm
Mondays: 2pm
Wednesdays: 10:30am
Wednesdays: 12:30pm
Wednesdays: 2pm
Thanksgiving Preparations
If you're looking for some fun and educational activities to do with your homeschooled kids this Thanksgiving, try one of these great links:
For games and crafts: http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Thanksgiving/
For more historical information and interactive education games: http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids
Happy Prepping!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wine Sock!
What? Like you don't have socks for your wine? You know you want one. J I'm telling you -- this thing is just crazy cool! Now, I say that about all kinds of hand knit designs, but I think we can all agree that a well-socked wine is an idea whose time has come!
If you are not so lucky as to have a sister who will knit socks for your wine, you needn't suffer and feel deprived. You too can knit a wine sock: the pattern for this jazzy creation is here. I made mine with Noro Silk Garden: Color #47. It took almost an entire skein and if I'd wanted a longer tie I probably could've used the whole thing. I just didn't want to have to tie a bow on it. If I do a cutesy pink one someday, I'll go a bit wilder with bows and such.
You'll note that the pattern designer does in fact call this a wine cozy -- but I forgive her for that because she took the seaming out of this project and for that I really am quite grateful. Variations of this have been around for quite some time in a variety of gorgeous designs. But almost all are knit flat for some weird reason. I just can't knit a circular object flat and think straight. So, I was grateful to find a simple version, knit in the round, that did the job quite nicely.
You know you want one!
And Nick, if you're reading this before you've received your gift - act surprised :)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Mindless Needling - Basic, But Beautiful, Socks
Sometimes you just need an easy, no brainer-type project. Over the last week or so, this pair of socks filled that niche for me. They're just a basic ribbed pattern knit from a stunning yarn by Colinette's Jitterbug (Copperbeech). As usual, the flash on my camera does a wicked job of over-brightening colors. In reality the brown on these is more of a deepish brown/red and the colors mixed in (reds, blues and yellows) are far more subtle than they appear in my photo. The picture below is far more accurate:
Romeo & Juliet - Mountain Shakespeare Festival
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is the quintessential tale of lovers valiantly fighting against the external forces trying to thwart their love. Not only do their families feud, but time and space seems to conspire against them. They are indeed star-crossed and no matter what they do or where they turn, their fates are sealed. Part of the tragic tug these two young characters exert on our hearts stems from that inevitability. We know from the first lines of the play that their fortunes, written in the stars, have been predetermined. Still, we can’t help but wish, each time through, that Romeo could indeed “Defy the stars” and foil the destiny decreed by parents, society and the universe.
Shakespeare here makes it clear that all of cosmology conspires against these two. In a world of darkness, they see each other as light. Juliet is Romeo’s “sun” and he to her is “day in night,” but together they are like the “lightening, which doth cease to be ere one can say it lightens.” They give each other light and heat, but like supernovas, they implode and the darkness, inevitably returns. Their struggle is like that of Sisyphus – and though at times it appears as though they can steer their own course, their struggle is mythical and they are ultimately unable to “shake the yoke of inauspicious stars.” We watch as they push their rock of love up a mountain of obstacles, hoping each time that the outcome will be different. But they’re trapped in their story and their story remains the same. Much as we’d like to redirect the outcome of their “death-mark’d love,” they are indeed “fortune’s fools.” Shakespeare here reminds us that perhaps we are too.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Yosemite Waterfalls & Moonbows... "Blessed Mountain Evangels"
My first picture above is Bridalveil Falls and the name says it all... gorgeous. The little hike to the falls is rather damp, but well worth it. When you get to the viewpoint, it really feels like you're in a drizzling rainstorm... as you can see from the droplets in my pictures. Below is Cascade Falls and and my equally gorgeous daughter gives a good size perspective there in front of the massive boulders. We all scrambled up and behind those boulders to get as close as we could to the base of the falls.
If you're not familiar with a moonbow, think rainbow -- only lunar powered! They're sort of a double reflection that forms when light from the sun is reflected by the moon and then reflected in a spray of water (like that from a waterfall). You need a full moon and a clear night. They're very rare and can only be seen in a handful of places around the world -- Yosemite being one of the most famous. In Yosemite, you generally want a full moon in April-June. Well, last Sunday night was indeed the full moon, but we were thwarted by cloud cover. Since we were unable to see it or get pictures, I'm including a stock picture to give you an idea of what one looks like.
Friday, April 8, 2011
A Beautiful Bedjacket
. The Ravelry page with other iterations of this gorgeous piece is here and my Ravelry page project link for it is here. I knit it out of a cotton (Cascade Yarns Luna in Red #707) and I'm really happy with the look and the drape. It's such a sweet, comfy, old-fashioned thing to have a Bed Jacket to wear over nightgowns. It will be warm and cozy on our cold, snowy nights here in the mountains and frankly I'm jealous. I'd make myself one, but frankly this thing required so much seaming and so many fiddly little finishing techniques (it took about 8 hours to steam and seam all the parts together, crochet the edging and embroider over the seams) -- I think I'll pass. If my younger daughter eventually asks for one, I guess I'll have to do it again, but otherwise I'd prefer to just admire this one and let it go at that.Ironically, the one day I had 8 hours to spend all in one sitting was actually last Friday, April 1st -- my sister Kate's birthday. So I think the jacket really is a tribute to Kate in its own way.
It really is quite lovely and opened up, it has quite a gorgeous "winged" look. The entire thing is one big circle and the lacy edging is quite dramatic.
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