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Author: Debra Bell

  • Q: How late should I let my teen sleep in?

    It’s Dr. Deb Fridays…a weekly blog post about a pertinent question. I’ll weigh in with my thoughts but we’re looking to leverage the wisdom of the crowd on these pressing issues.

    My husband and I have always been early risers. Must be in the genes–his parents were both raised on a farm and maintained a lifelong habit of getting up before the crack of dawn. My parents, as teachers, likewise were always up quite early, talking loudly in the kitchen. During my homeschooling years, I liked to get things moving by 7 AM and stopped serving breakfast by 8. That changed as each of my kids entered early adolescence. They started sleeping later and later, and I often had to make several rounds before they were out of bed.

    School started dragging on the other end, too. I liked to be done by at least 3 PM so I could get dinner (that rare occasion in my house) or laundry going. But my teens liked to do school at night and they wanted my help even though I had that “OFF DUTY” sign around my neck. Because I had plenty of other fronts to maintain, I chose to let them set their schedules. It worked out for us just fine. My adult children are now all early risers, too.

    Teenagers do need more sleep during the height of adolescence. Their bodies are changing and their brains are growing. The average, doctors say, is nine hours a night, similar to the needs of a two year old (who likewise are experiencing dramatic, accelerated growth).

    What do you do at your house? Is there an absolute deadline for getting up and going to bed? What principles inform your thoughts in this area?

    Have a pertinent question you’d like us to crowdsource for you? Private message me on Facebook or send us an e-mail at info@debrabell.com.

     

  • You Can’t Teach Anyone Anything…You Can Only Motivate!

    I generated quite a bit of discussion on my Facebook page last week when I posted this provocative statement: You can’t teach anyone anything, you can only motivate someone to engage in learning. What do you think? Is that true?

    My point is this: If your child doesn’t choose to turn on her brain, focus her attention on the topic at hand and think about what you are presenting, it doesn’t matter how well organized or compelling your lesson is. You might be teaching, but the child isn’t learning. She has to flip on that light switch inside first.

    We learn what we think about, and the learner is always in control of just what that is going to be. You might be doing a tap dance and a jig at the front of the room, and your son might be staring right at you, but his mind could be a thousand different places.

    So, is there anything we can do about this? You bet: We can motivate. First, God has given your kids the gift of curiosity. Use that to your advantage.  One way to grab their attention is to pique their interest. You can do this by asking a provocative question (like I did in the first paragraph.) Another way is to show them something unusual or new. We are easily bored and lose interest in the familiar.  Or use the element of suprise. Break the routine. Announce a mystery guest or an unplanned field trip.

    One quick don’t. Don’t insist a child pay attention or use negative consequences and threats. I know this statement is controversial. We tend to view a lack of attention as a character weakness. And maybe it is sometimes. But here’s the rub: Our ability to learn is reduced when we feel upset, threatened or stressed. Any source of negativity decreases our ability to engage in learning. Think about yourself in a similar situation. Can you process a lot of information when you are upset? Can you give your full attention to reading a book or exploring new terrain if something stressful has just happened? That’s my point. We actually learn more when we are happy and relaxed. Laughter is even better — so start the day with a belly full of giggles as a warm-up exercise for the brains in your house.

    I see this process as God-designed. He wants us to view our ability to learn as a blessing and a source of enjoyment. That’s why He’s hard-wired us to learn, and lifelong learning is the secret to healthy brains and a satisfying life. Curiosity is the fuel that keeps our minds active — so leverage that the next time you call your kids to class.

    Are your children motivated to learn? What do you do when they aren’t?

  • Creative Writing: Interactive and Aware

    by Lilianna Serbicki, Aim Academy English Teacher

    While there are a myriad of writing guidelines and “best practices”, creative writing in particular has a very intuitive element. A delicate balance between discipline and individual expression is required. This is why detailed critiques – from both myself and student peers – are such a vital portion of my Creative Writing course. My students’ imaginations are given free rein and then continually “pared down”, with elegant and succinct writing as our goal.

    My creative writing class has a three-pronged focus: literary analysis, student writing, and peer critiques. Each section of the course focuses on a different element or genre: Character, Dialogue, Setting, Tone, Conflict, Point of View, Plot, Science Fiction, Realism, Poetry, Drama, etc. As we explore each topic, we analyze a work that highlights the appropriate element, complete a creative piece, and participate in peer critiques. We study short pieces by authors such as Flannery O’Connor, Stephen Crane, Jack London, Katherine Mansfield, James Thurber, Tennessee Williams, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and others.

    The goal of isolating literary elements is to help students write with a greater awareness. All of my recent students were bright, enthusiastic, eager readers. However, even a well-read high-schooler who is working independently may not consider how individual elements such as tone, point of view, and dialogue enrich a piece of fiction. A writer must deliberately use each of these elements to tell their story in the best way using the best choice of words; last year we often worked through several drafts of a single short story to experience how writing evolves. As we added new elements to our repertoire, students were able to “build upon” the skills learned in each project.

    I am immensely proud of my creative writing classes the past few years. My students were able to build a full writing portfolio for use in their homeschool portfolio, contests applications, literary magazines, and other venues. Several students have won  Scholastic Art and Writing Awards; others have won college scholarships for their writing.

    I look forward to a wonderful 2013-2014 year! I will close with a few words from Creative Writing student Carmen Paddock. Carmen’s sympathetic analysis of human nature and keen ear for dialogue made her pieces uniquely poignant!

    “Mrs. Serbicki’s Creative Writing class is a must not only for those students interested in fiction and poetry, but for any student wanting to expand their writing horizons beyond the research paper (and have a great time while doing so)…Covering both the elements and forms of fiction made it unique and well-rounded among the other online creative writing classes that I’ve seen.

    While there was some variation in the structure, we read and discussed a famous piece of fiction one week and then worked on a related fiction project the next; while prompts were (thankfully) often provided, there was a lot of leeway to pursue our own ideas and plot lines!  We also had weekly Skype chats which were wonderful for that jolt of inspiration – chatting with Mrs. Serbicki and classmates was a great way to free writer’s block!  Over the course of the year my favorite projects were the character study, the dialogue study, the speculative fiction assignment, and the poetry weeks…I feel that Mrs. Serbicki’s instruction helped me get past my fear of writing fiction – under her guidance I actually finished stories – and fine-tuned my narration and plot development, steering me away from melodrama into honest, engaging tales.  I highly, highly recommend this class to any high school student interested in honing storytelling skills or just looking for a fun alternative to traditional English courses.”

     

     

  • 21st Century Homeschooling

    One of my most popular sessions at conferences this season has been 21st Century Homeschooling: The Road Ahead. At the FPEA Leadership Forum (@ Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, FL), I presented an extended 2 hour version. Here is the PowerPoint as a PDF.21st Century HSchooling

  • How Do You Get Kids Interested in Writing?

    It’s Dr. Deb Friday, and this week’s discussion question is about writing. Some children naturally love to put their thoughts down on paper and they start composing stories early. But many find the creative process daunting and the expectation that they must write things down frustrating. What do you do in the latter case? And is this practice even important?

    First, it is important. The process of composing our thoughts and crafting them into written language is a powerful brain-building technique. Many kids find writing difficult because there are so many choices to make: What is a good idea to write about? What words should I use? What order should I put my thoughts in? We can help them embrace this process by assuring them that making all these decisions is great exercise for our brains. The more they practice generating and ordering their ideas, the faster they will become at this decision-making process. More importantly, the practice of writing regularly is the key habit that produces good writers. And the future belongs to the eloquent. No matter what path they head down up ahead, they are going to have to use written language to open doors of opportunity and to complete their daily tasks on the job and at home. Look at how often you or your spouse must write today! E-mails, Facebook posts, texts, letters of protest or appeal, proposals, job queries, journal entries. We communicate far more often with written language these days than face to face.

    Here are 10 tips for getting kids interested in writing:

    1. Set aside a regular time to write. Stick to it. Slowly, even the most reluctant will start producing ideas to put to paper.

    2. Let them choose what to write about.

    3. If they are stumped, give them two or three suggestions, but let them choose.

    4. Find new experiences to prime the pump. “Hey kids, why not jot down what you noticed about some of the animals you watched during our field trip to the dairy farm this week.”

    5. Don’t emphasize spelling and grammatical correctness. Save that for only a few drafts you polish to perfection. Make their ideas what you talk about most.

    6. Give them an audience for their writing. It can be sharing in a regular writers’ group or around the family dinner table once a week.

    7. You write too and share your compositions as well.

    8. Give them cool writing gear or an online portfolio: a special pen, a unique journal, a personal blog or Facebook page they can share with family and friends.

    9. Encourage them to illustrate their stories and reports.

    10. Find opportunities for them to connect with favorite authors — most have websites where they interact with readers. Watch for author visits in your area to libraries, schools or book stores.

    What ideas can you add to the list?

  • Who Says Science Isn’t Creative?

    by Vicki Dincher

     

    Creativity isn’t just for the arts and humanities. It requires a great deal of creativity to think like a scientist. In fact, some of the world’s greatest scientists were also accomplished musicians and writers. One of the best ways to encourage a love of the sciences in your children is to foster their innate creativity when it comes to learning science principles. Think about what an engineer goes through as she attempts to design a new package to keep Oreo cookies fresh and unbroken until we get them home. (Did you know this is quite a large industry and pays newly graduated engineers big bucks!) There is a lot of creative thinking that goes into designing and refining the perfect package. And determining where to start and how to tweak things to produce desired results all require creativity. The same can be said for all great scientific advancements. Imagine where we’d be today if Alexander Fleming didn’t think creatively when he found mold growing on his petri dish of bacteria! Cultivating creativity in your home school science curriculum can help improve critical-thinking skills, motivation, and engagement in reluctant learners as well as helping students begin to understand the vital role of creativity in the development of new scientific information.

    So, what might this look like? Well, picture the average 8th grader who is studying the concept of motion. He should certainly read about motion and Newton’s laws, but I’m not sure how motivating and engaging that might be. But if you assign  him the
    project of designing a water rocket that will fly over a specific distance (say 50 meters or more) and then to spark his creativity tell him to study the physical characteristics of a variety of different balls (baseball, tennis ball, football, etc.) as they travel through the air, he just might learn something in spite of himself. (As a note, I do think these types of active learning approaches are great in small groups, so definitely include siblings or a small co-op class and you’ll find even more engagement occurring.)

    Make sure your student investigates the relationship between the ball’s physical characteristics (like mass, volume, density, shape, material, whether solid or hollow, etc.) and the distance it travels when thrown. Allow your student to decide how to analyze each relationship and how to control as many variables as possible – this will definitely bring out his creativity! For example – should each ball be thrown in the same manner, bringing the arm back to just the same spot, releasing the ball at just the same spot? how many throws for each ball should there be? how can we figure out where the center of gravity is? – see what I mean?

    After the data is collected, it should be analyzed in light of Newton’s laws and momentum and then another creative opportunity arises—designing a water rocket that has similar characteristics as the ball that traveled the farthest. With just a two-liter soda bottle, water, tire pump, and various household items used to modify the shape of the bottle and add ballast, students should be given the task of designing, creating, testing, tweaking (lots of creativity involved in testing and tweaking – how much water to use? ballast or no ballast? etc.), and sharing the ideas that led to their rockets. This, by the way, is the same process that engineers and working scientists use every day. I guarentee that your student will walk away with a better understanding of Newton’s laws of motion—not to mention how to approach and try to solve a problem—when learning through a water rocket experience than without one. And remember, there are no failures with this type of active learning. As Thomas Edison so wisely pointed out, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” If you’d like a little more background information on building water rockets (but let your student figure things out on their own) check out the websites below.

    We can use water rocket (active) learning for all concepts of science. It does take a little more time and it might get a little messy (make sure to launch your water rocket outside), but the payout is so much greater. And isn’t that part of the reason that we home school?

     

    https://wwong.homestead.com/rockets.html

    https://www.instructables.com/id/Soda-Bottle-Water-Rocket/?ALLSTEPS

     

    Vicki Dincher has been teaching science to home educated students for 17 years and teaches physical science, biology, and physics for Aim Academy.