Planning for Fall

It's that time of year: time for graduations and picnics, wrapping up the schoolyear, and looking forward to enjoying the summer. Yet it's also time to think about the fall. Maybe we don't want to think about crisp autumn air and falling leaves right now. But we can still start planning what we're going to do about school when that time comes.

Yesterday I placed my orders for my two high schoolers for the coming school year. If you're interested, you can read that post at my personal blog:
http://margmary.blogspot.com/2007/05/were-committed.html

But maybe you don't have high schoolers and consequently aren't remotely interested in what I'm doing for high school. Whatever the age of your child, I would like to share some thoughts with you...some questions, perhaps, that you can ask yourself, whether you're new to homeschool or whether you're a veteran like me.

What method of homeschooling appeals to you for your child? Do you picture your homeschool as being like a school in the home? Do you prefer to have pre-packaged lessons plans and textbooks? Or does a more creative or flexible approach appeal to you? If you tried a more creative approach, would you take the initiative to provide plenty of learning opportunities and to make sure your child learns basic skills?

What religious convictions do you want to pass on to your child? What books, materials or methods will best support your family values? What personal talents and interests do you have that you can you share with your child?

Now, you will want to find what materials are compatible with your preferred methods, beliefs and values. And how you can get those materials in the best accessible medium for your student. There isn't one right answer to these questions and challenges. There is no easy answer for some of them.

In subsequent posts, I will try to explore some of the various options.

American History

Each family and each child is different, so there are many different ways to homeschool. Some like to homeschool using traditional textbooks. Some of us like to use a variety of "regular" books. The latter has been my choice for most subjects for my visually impaired son. So, where do we get the books? For literature and history we use the Library of Congress books.
See post about the Library of Congress books at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/2007/03/treasurehouse.html

Once your child is signed up for the Library of Congress tapes, you can go to the kids search page to choose books to request. Here is the link for the Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/nls/

You can put in the search box such terms as: American History, American Explorers, U.S. History, American Revolution, Civil War, and American Inventors. Each book is described, along with the grade levels for which it is recommended.

We don't always get all our requests, so I request more books than I necessarily need. I have my son read a variety of books on various aspects of the history that we are studying that year. I also help him write at least one report per quarter about, or related to, one of the books he has read.

Of course, field trips and videos can also contribute to the history studies.

Braille Charts

Just discovered a new resource! It's the website of a Braille transcriber who provides neat Braille charts for us. Check it out.

The URL is: http://teacherweb.com/UT/Granite/VisionBraille-CharlotteWOvard