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Reading and Writing on the Web© Joan Archer
How has your homeschooling been going? I, for one, have been pushing poor Jasper way too hard, in some ridiculous need to meet a "schedule". Every once in a while, I need to stop and take a breath, and remember exactly WHY I am homeschooling this child, and learn to be patient and take it easy on him, as well as myself. I have no one to prove anything to, and Jasper is doing his best. Other home-educators I have spoken to also report that, at times, they feel the need to live up to the (always high) expectations of an invisible someone else, someone who just knows we are not the competent teachers we know deep inside that we really are. Confidence breeds patience, when we realize it is just our own silly need to prove ourselves. So, if you need to do so, try taking a deep breath this week, and let your child be exactly where they are, which is a beautiful place. Try not to let your own lack of confidence poison your homeschool atmosphere, and your children will reward you with their happiness and competence.
As for the topic today, I would like to share some of my favorite websites for reading enhancement. Use of the computer to enhance reading lessons can entice reluctant readers sometimes better than the actual story subject matter, so we have had a lot of success with computer time. Your child can play a Madlibs game at http://www.eduplace.com/tales This game asks for words according to their part of speech (i.e., nouns) and then the game places the words in the story, making for some very hilarious tales. Kids of all ages enjoy this game, even if your teens snicker when you ask them if they want to play it. They will get into it, I promise. For the older writer in your family, you can go to http://www.fictionfix.com. This site has links to places where writers can write and get paid for their efforts, but it is mostly for those with adult understanding of writing. They also have a free newsletter, and support for those writers who need it. There is also another site, http://www.inkspot.com which is also for the more mature writer. For your junior writers, there are many places for them to express themselves at. For instance, they can go to children's magazine sites, such as http://www.cricket.com where there are opportunities for self-expression. In fact, quite a few of the children's magazines allow children to enter poetry contests, as well as fiction/non-fiction contests. For those children with dyslexia or other writing/language difficulties, it helps for them to write out their stories on paper first, and then copy them onto the on-line forms. There is no greater incentive for such children than for them to be recognized by someone outside of their family. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Reading and Writing on the Web in Homeschool is owned by Joan Archer. Permission to republish Reading and Writing on the Web in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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