If homeschooling came with a motto I think it'd be:
"Homeschooling: Thy name be Trial and Error!"
Six years ago I began my homeschooling adventure with the kind of naive enthusiasm that guarantees almost immediate failure.
Yes, I was one of those parents. The kind who knew exactly what the perfect homeschool day should look like. You know, where the children sit obediently at their desks, listen intently to every word you say and do there assignments in a timely manner... And then reality happened and I've been scrambling to keep my grip ever since!
Don't misunderstand me. I -L.O.V.E- homeschooling. And I relish the challenges it offers. I have spent quite a few hundreds of hours over the years scouring the internet for help. So, when I find something that just "clicks" with me I'm anxious to share my find with anyone out there who is also seeking.
This weeks "find" wasn't actually found.
It was created (kind of) by yours truly.
I call it: PLANNERS.
Like I said, I didn't so much as it create it,
as tweek it around to suit my needs.
If you google "homeschool planners" you will receive over a half million results. And there is every type of planner you can imagine.
Some are weekly, some are monthly and *GASP* some are yearly. Yes Virginia, there are some amazing super-homeschool-parents who can actually plan out an entire year of curricula *and stick to it* !!
I am no such parent. I am quite comfortable planning out one week at a time. And when life throws us speed bumps, it's easy to move a missed assignment without messing up your entire life.
But even knowing what kind of planner I wanted, I still wasn't able to find a planner that suited our schedule and curriculum. Most of the weekly planners I'd found online break up the day into hourly increments. We don't roll like that. Considering that my kids are the ones doing the work, they choose which assignments and projects they want to work on first. Sometimes they follow the order of their planner, but most times they tackle the harder subjects first and then move on to the less intimidating assignments.
In the end, after all of my Googling and Trial-and-error-ing I had a general idea of what I wanted and sat down to make my own planners.
I ended up making two.
One for the High-school kid.
One for the Elementary kids.
This is the elementary school planner:
I like this planner because it is simple and very easy to use.
Each
day of the week has a place for me to write the assignment in the upper
part of the box. When the assignment has been graded I enter the
grade in the lower half. And here is that same planner in use:
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The planner for the high-schooler was different because I don't need to record my daughters grades on her planner. I just need to give her a general guideline of what she's expected to complete each day. (We're using Time4learning so at the end of each week, I log-in and print out all of her grades and staple to them to the corresponding planner.)
This is the weekly high school planner:
And again, here is the high school planner in use:
If you think either of these planners would be a good fit for you and your classroom, email me at Fiorefamily14@aol.com and I'll be happy to send you a blank. (Please be sure to tell me how many subjects you want on each planner!)
After years of trial and error I think I've found the last language program we'll ever need for our high-schooler.
And we have tried quite a few programs.
- We've tried the ol' textbook approach. (In which you order used textbooks from ebay and hope for the best) And they are impossible to teach from unless you're already a fluent speaker.
- We've tried Muzzy. Which is a great program but definitely aimed at a much younger student.
-We've tried LiveMocha. An internet site that specializes in language. This was a good program while it was free, but about a year in, they started to charge for different parts of the site. It also requires community interaction which had some minor drawbacks as well. It just didn't suit us.
But now, I think, I've found a winner.
I present to you duoLingo !
Why do I love this program?
1. It offers multiple languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Which, you can learn simultaneously if you so wish.
2. It is so easy to use!
3. It is very interactive.
4. And not only is it 100% FREE , there are absolutely no ads. None.
Now, I downloaded Duolingo from the Apple iStore and the review I'm offering is based on our experience using it on an Apple iPad.
So, let's explore!
When you open the program you'll see this screen:
I chose to learn German, but if I wanted to change to Italian or Spanish, I'd click on the flag to the right of the duoLingo text. Next, click on the first lesson. "Basics 1"
When you click on that box, this screen pops up:
You can scroll left and right. This section has a total of 5 lessons.
Notice that tiny little icon in the upper right corner that says "Test Out". If you think you're skill set is beyond the basic lessons you can take a short quiz that will let you "test out" of that lesson. If like me, you are not that proficient: Click on lesson 1.
This screen will pop up:
In the top right corner you'll notice you have 4 hearts.
4 hearts = 4 lives. When you run out of lives, the lesson is over.
But do not fret! You can start over immediately!
The first question is pretty simple, translate the sentence from English to German. You do this by choosing the tiles at the bottom of the screen and placing them in the correct order. When you think you've got it right, click the green "check" by at the bottom of the screen. In this instance, I was correct and the green banner popped up. Click the green "Continue" button to move on.
This is a slightly different format.
In this question you're asked to translate from German to English.
You can click on each German word for a pronunciation and a definition. Then choose the proper tiles at the bottom of the screen and drag them to make the correct sentence.
I would choose the tiles "A", "boy", "is", "eating", "an", & "apple" to form the sentence: "A boy is eating an apple."
This next set of pictures shows a multiple choice question in action.
Here is another way a question can be formatted:
Now, this is my favorite part of duoLingo:
The audio questions.
First, read the instructions.
In this question you're asked to say: "Du bist eine Frau".
Click on the large round microphone button.
It is ready when the microphone turns blue.
Next, say the sentence clearly and slowly.
(I've noticed if I talk to fast it can't always identify each word)
When you've stopped speaking the blue light will turn off and it will say "grading".
If you've got it right the green banner will fly, if not it will allow you to re-try a total of 3 times.
You won't always get the questions right.
In those instances the dreaded red banner will fly and will steal away 1 of your red hearts.
Most lessons have 10 questions.
When you reach the end, this little screen pops up:
Woohoo!
Followed by this one:
Remember the home screen? Let's look at it again:
I did well on "Basics 1", but I don't really want to move on to "Basics 2". Not yet anyway. If I want to refresh, I can click on the blue "Strengthen Skills" bar on the bottom left side of the screen. Now, I can review vocabulary and work on sentence structure before moving on to the next lesson.
And there you have it!
I am so excited that I stumbled across duoLingo, and I'm happy that I can pass this invaluable resource on to you and your home classroom! If you have any questions, feel free to comment in the comments section!
The day I've been waiting 5 years for is here!
Time4learning announced that they are FINALLY adding the high school curriculum we've all wanted!
Little is known at this point about it, but it should be available around the middle of August.
I'll add further updates as we know them, and I'll give an in-depth review after we've used it for a few months!
Check it out!
http://www.time4learning.com/curriculum/high-school.html
