American Heritage Educational Foundation, a TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Celebrate American Heritage Month in November!

“American Heritage Month gives us all an opportunity to reflect on our roots as Americans from a fresh perspective. It is a time to remember that we Americans have brought with us many different heritages, but we have joined together in this country as one people. The Declaration of Independence sets forth our fundamental values, and the Constitution serves to protect those values. Our schools, teachers, students, and other citizens help preserve and strengthen the miracle that is America. As Thomas Jefferson said, ‘If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.’”

The American Heritage Education Foundation, Inc.

 Copyright American Heritage Education Foundation,

www.americanheritage.org

One eye-opening presentation at the homeschool convention in Cincinnati in the spring was that of college history professor Larry Schweikart. He reminded me how important teaching our children *real* history is, making sure they get good foundations that are accurate and true. I want my children to have a better understanding of American history than I did in school. And now I have one tool to help me do just that.

American Heritage Education Foundation shares this perspective, and the founders have developed a curriculum that is built around four themes: FREEDOM, UNITY, PROGRESS, and RESPONSIBILITY. I've known about the American Heritage Education Foundation web site for a while. I've looked at elementary level lesson plans with my homeschooler in mind. For this review, the entire crew received the "An Adventure in Liberty" CD, valued at $150. This product is FREE to you, too! The information is available via download at the American Heritage Education Web Site or you may order your own free CD here (or you may purchase a printed copy for just under twenty bucks).

I have reviewed many resources that offered my readers a free *sample* or a discount, but reviewing a product that is free to EVERYONE is a first.

The CD contains material geared for general-ed elementary through high school levels with a Spanish option for the elementary level. The elementary level is 184 pages long, contains games, puzzles, quotes, info, and what to do for each grade level. The middle school level is 182 pages long and the high school level is 187 pages long.

The web site explains that, "

Each resource book includes an introductory essay regarding the curriculum rationale, lesson plans to specifically consider the American heritage themes, and activities in which students assess and analyze their own identities as Americans. The elementary school lesson plans include lessons about the colonists' experience under monarchy; the context for the writing of the Declaration of Independence; the creation of important American symbols, songs, and holidays; and the character traits modeled by great national leaders and presidents. The middle school lesson plans include lessons focusing on concepts within the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and other important texts and American symbols as well as the ideals for which many fought and sacrificed their lives. The high school lesson plans include lessons for in-depth analysis and understanding of the ideas, intentions, arguments, rights, and meanings addressed in significant texts from the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence to Federalist 47, the First Amendment, and a government letter on religious expression in public schools. A brief summary of each lesson plan can be found at the appropriate grade-level links."

The CD provides a wealth of information and activities and covers an incredible amount of territory -- I searched through the elementary levels for something to do with my daughter. My homeschooler is not quite ready for the first grade level -- I would rather begin with her when she's more ready (and the material would require fewer modifications from mom). The nice thing about getting all three levels is that customizing lessons for a child with scattered skills is something doable.

(A side note: The section on the U.S. Flag is interesting as two of my children have been responsible at school for raising and lowering the flag each day.)

My Crewmates with older c hildren, on the other hand, were able to use more of the resource than I. Check it out!To find out what my Crewmates think about this free to everyone resource, go here.

Shifting Attention

A parent on an RDI(r) and autism related internet group asked about how to work on attention shifting with a son.

Here's my question for that parent: Is his experience, "I don't have to shift my attention while sharing attention with people because someone will do that for me by telling me when to look or showing me with a point." ?

I'm a parent, too. So, this is unofficial, layman's viewpoint, parent-to-parent, unprofessional, I am not a professional nor do I play one on this blog kind of observation and advice from my experience as a parent. Thanks to Dr Gutstein for teaching me the concept that the child needs to feel himself or herself taking his or her own action.

Here's what I'm beginning to understand -- and it took a homeschooling-teacher-expert to explain it to me using the example of math. I blogged a little bit about it here. Functions like attention shifting always begin in the concrete. Abstract attention shifting is a later developmental step.

I'd suggest that the parent look for some ways to allow the child the opportunity to shift attention in really concrete (manipulative mode) ways, shifting his body, which is concrete and "manipulative mode" (not just his gaze, which is more abstract) to orient himself toward you. Give him the opportunity -- you have to think about it that way -- instead of trying to "get" him to do attention shift. It'll involve the parent slowing down and being quiet. (I blogged about the same expert and opportunities to learn here).

Most families can find something routine from their day like setting the table to offer some concrete (manipulative mode) attention shifting that involve some physical shifting as well.

You offer him each plate and wait silently for him to orient himself toward you, accept it from you by reaching for it (feeling himself taking his own action), and set it on the table. You hand him each utensil. Each napkin. Each condiment. By shifting your own position (slightly) with each item, he'll have to take a slightly new action each time, and over time, with lots of opportunities, he'll make the discovery that he's got to reference dynamically (with attention shifting/gaze shifting).

Once you get some practice with using yourself differently in a routine activity, you'll begin to see more opportunities to offer him throughout your day. And gently, in a developmentally appropriate way, you'll begin to hand him responsibility for his own attention shifting.

Things that make you go, "hmmmmm"

The kids and I have been sick with the crud all week -- Kid #3 has it now. The doctor says it's the flu, and going by what the CDC says, they're calling it all H1N1, without testing for any flu. (Strep tests were negative.)

I'm weary. Coughing. Want to rest. But I can't. We need groceries. And venturing out means going to several grocery stores because of the gluten free casein free diet. I routinely go to several stores to get everything I need because not one store has everything. Sometimes, I enjoy it. Not today when I need to be resting. I wore gloves so I wouldn't leave any germs. I have not run a fever.

On the way TO shopping, I get behind folks going five-to-ten miles BELOW the speed limit. It's a pet peeve of mine.

Later, I waited at the meat counter at the grocery store longer than usual this afternoon. Two employees were conferring over something I could not see toward the back. I was the only shopper pushing a cart the length of the meat case, looking at the sales, waiting for one of them to notice me. Finally, one of the employees waited on me, and as I pushed my cart away, I heard her wait on another customer, who informed the employee that SHE was there before *I* was and the employee had waited on me out of order. What?! The employee was stunned (as I was) and apologized for not even seeing her (I didn't either), and the woman went on to explain that she rolled her cart by and made eye contact, so the employee would know she's in line.

Since when does rolling your cart by and making eye contact and then rolling away constitute a place in line to order at the meat counter at the supermarket?!?!?!?!?

Hmmmmm. I've been studying non-verbal communication for several years now, and, I have to tell you, I've never read any definition of rolling by the meat counter and making eye contact equaling "next in line" if you don't stand there and WAIT to be WAITED ON.

I felt like I did something wrong -- or like she was accusing me of doing something wrong. If I'd have known she was waiting before me, I'd have said so to the employee. But seriously: I. Didn't. Know.

And on the way home from shopping, I got behind someone going 10 miles below the speed limit, doing 35 mph in a 45 mph zone, with an aggressive male driving an SUV behind me, riding my tail as if he could make me speed up by being aggressive and riding my bumper. Is he stupid or mean or both? He's taller than I am -- surely he can see there's a lady wearing a big bun on the top of her head driving ahead of me 10 miles below the speed limit.

Pet peeves. And things that make me go, "hmmmmmm."

And then, I realized that I forgot to get an important beverage condiment that we must never run out of: ketchup. I'll have to go back out, because we're on our last bottle.

Gary Null Testifies in NY Regarding Vaccine Safety

Be sure to head over to YouTube for the other segments of the testimony.

Big Thoughts for little people; a MamaBuzz Review

Big Thoughts for Little People by Kenneth N. Taylor
Ages 3-7
Hardcover retails for $14.99

Best-selling children's book author Kenneth N Taylor and illustrator Andrea Petrlik Huseinovic have published a new book: Big Thoughts For little people, ABC's to help you grow. It is written for young children, and I requested it because I'm looking for developmentally appropriate books for my daughter who is playing catch-up, developmentally.

She and I have enjoyed this book!

I like the way Taylor set up the text and Huseinovic's illustrations are delightful. It's a winner from beginning to end.

Each letter of the alphabet has two pages. On the left side of the fold is a giant letter accompanied by four pieces of what I'll call "text". First is a short poem that uses the letter several times. Second is a short paragraph, each five or six sentences in length, that talk about something that is happening in the illustration on the right side of the fold. Third are three questions for the child and parent to ask and answer. And last, is a Bible verse (some from the Old Testament and some from the New Testament) that is related to the poem, paragraph, questions and illustration.

The illustrations are full of items and actions that begin with the corresponding letter.

It's adorable!

RDIers, the "same but different, different but same" "variations on a theme" possibilities are big in this little book. My daughter becomes quite anxious when she sees what she thinks is "too much" text on a page. When I opened the package and began to look at the book, she curled up next to me, and I waited for her reaction. Our first read-through, we read JUST the poems and looked at the pictures. We didn't try to read the paragraph or answer the questions until a later read-through. We've really enjoyed the book. I think it would be a wonderful addition to a church nursery or toddler room or a sweet gift for a baby or toddler.

* Mama Buzz, and reviewers, were provided with a complimentary copy of this book for blog tour purposes* "This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by Tyndale House for this review."

Passing along another resource: Lives in the Balance dot org

I opened an e-mail this morning from the author of "Lost at School" and "The Explosive Child". I blogged about "Lost at School" here. I was privileged to hear Dr Greene speak a year ago about CPS (Collaborative Problem Solving).

Dr Ross Greene has a new web site, called Lives in the Balance. Here's a portion of the e-mail I received:

"A NEW RESOURCE AND VOICE

First, I'm delighted to announce the creation of a new non-profit organization aimed expressly at disseminating the Collaborative Problem Solving approach. The organization, called Lives in the Balance, aims to make the CPS model as accessible as possible to parents, educators, staff, and mental health clinicians, primarily through no-cost web-based programming and support. So, when you visit the Lives in the Balance website -- www.livesinthebalance.org -- you'll find lots of streaming video describing key facets of the CPS model and showing what Plan B looks like (and ways in which it can go awry). You'll also find streaming video of people describing their use of CPS (and the different hurdles they had to overcome to find success with the model), content related to model updates, and a bunch of additional resources. New content will be added to the site continuously. So check it out when you can... whether you're a veteran of the CPS approach or a newcomer, I'm hoping you'll find just what you need.

On the homepage of the website, you'll see that I'll be hosting a new web-based radio program for educators starting on Monday, November 9th, at 3:30 pm Eastern time. The program will air weekly during the school year (you can access it through an internet connection), and will provide lots of useful information on how to implement the CPS approach in education settings, including interviews with people who are already doing it in their classrooms or schools. There's a mechanism for calling into the program to comment or ask questions, so I hope you can join in live...if not, you can listen to a recording of the show at your leisure. By the way, I'll be hosting a similar web-based radio program for parents starting in January."

I hope this information is helpful.

AVKO Educational Research Foundation; a TOS Crew Review

How do I teach a child with a learning disability to read? I am not a teacher by training. I had no trouble learning to read. What do I do first?

I realized a couple of years ago that the public school system is not equipped to teach my child how to read. A reading problem was lumped under all-things-autism and not addressed in the same way it would have been had she not have had an autism label.

A trip to a workshop offered by our local ISD (intermediate school district) left me picking my figurative chin from the floor as I learned what services are offered to general ed students that are often not offered to students with a label.

So, I withdrew my girl from public school and set about the task of giving her experience in pre-reading, pre-literacy foundations. The public school system expected her to arrive at school with all of those in place, assumed that all of those were in place OR that they were impossible to attain. Either way, she was not going to get those pre-reading, pre-literacy foundations at school.

Fast forward a year and a half. My girl, who was always proficient at memorizing sight words, is still a sight-word-memorizer. She guesses a lot. We've been working on comprehension of NON-text (aka wordless books and stories), but what do I do as we move into text again? We've got to work on some phonics. But how? And how will I learn to teach her? I am confident that I am capable of teaching her. I need a teacher or a guide.
Enter AVKO Educational Research Foundation and a couple of AVKO's many e-books and MP3 recordings that individuals as members ($25/year) may access at no additional charge. "The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: A Continuum from Kindergarten through College" is a 364 page e-book that is available with an AVKO membership. "The Teaching of Reading and Spelling Starting from Square One," is a 316 page e-book that walks me through teaching reading and spelling. Individually, each is priced at $59.95 in book form. Members may also access the e-version of AVKO founder Don McCabe's story, "To Teach a Dyslexic" (free w/ membership or $14.95 in book form). The e-books are a few of the first things I found when I was given a membership in order to use and review it for TOS Homeschool Crew.

There's a quick-start page here and an articles and essays page here. The articles and essays page features McCabe and other authors.

For non-members, AVKO offers a list of freebies HERE. The freebies include a wealth of material to help parents and teachers better understand reading and spelling and how to teach it to all students, whether the students struggle in areas of reading and spelling or not.

A heads up: Please read materials before giving them to your children. Some of the puns and cute questions pages contain material that I'd put in a category of adult humor and not something I want to explain to my children.

Benefits of AVKO Individual Membership

• Discounts on AVKO printed materials
• Hundreds of dollars worth of FREE e-books (PDF)
  • The Patterns of English Spelling (All 10 Volumes) with Word Families in Sentence Context
  • To Teach a Dyslexic
  • Starting at Square One
  • The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College.
  • The Reading Teacher's List of Over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words
• Access to the Member Only section
• AVKO Newsletter with freebies, discounts, resources, and promotions
• Access to Don McCabe's most popular workshop recordings in MP3 format.
• Supplemental Curriculum Materials including word games, worksheets, activities, and more!
• Access to Pretests and Placement Tests
• Access to the Answer Keys for the Unscramblers and Family Reunion exercises of the Engaging Language Kits

I continue to enjoy the AVKO perspective. Don McCabe gives me new insight and inspiration as I chart a course for my child. He helps me look through the eyes of my child. I like that. AVKO has an incredible amount of information for me as I learn more about how to teach my daughter. I know some folks who rave about Sequential Spelling. I don't have enough information yet to know if I'll purchase Sequential Spelling or one of the other products, but having seen the member section, for me. there is a college course or two of information available to me in it. I wish I could read it more quickly -- seems I am always interrupted. If I can't get through it all during my complimentary period for this review, I"ll purchase a membership. I think the information is worth the price for our situation. Don McCabe and AVKO are a wealth of information and experience. AVKO's giving me a new perspective and lots of information to process.

Here's what I don't like: The large books that I'm studying are in .pdf format, which means that if I want to look at the full page on my screen, the font is too small to actually read, even with my reading glasses. And when I enlarge the view, I cut off part of the page and the scrolling feature leaves a lot to be desired. They're a little bit cumbersome. I wish the books were set up like the digital magazines I'm learning to like, where I can turn pages like I turn pages in a real book in my hands.

To read my Crewmates' reviews about this product, go HERE.

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The Tallest of Smalls; a MamaBuzz Review

*This book was given as a complimentary copy to Mama Buzz and reviewers, for blog tour purposes.*

The Tallest of Smalls by Max Lucado
Ages 4-7
Retails for $16.99




__._,_.___

Max Lucado with illustrator Maria Monescillo brings us "The Tallest of Smalls", a book written for young children about self worth, "a parable from Max Lucado's "Fearless" (according to the book jacket).

The story took me back in time to games in PE that had two team captains choosing, one at a time, team members from the students in the class. I was much older than the 4-7 year old crowd that this book is written for. "Pick me!" runs though the mind of every child in the class, who is hoping NOT to be the very last person chosen. Loyalties of friendships are often set aside during these team picks as the captains try to stack their team with the better athletes. It's a set up for a lot of hurt feelings.

"The Tallest of Smalls" is about a boy named Otis who is the smallest of Smalls, and he's waiting, begging, to be chosen to receive a pair of stilts so that he can parade around among the folks in town who were not chosen. When he gets his stilts, he is a mess. He stumbles and loses his stilts. He soon learns that doesn't matter, because with Jesus, we all already matter.

The story is written in rhyme, with short sections of a Du Seuss-like poem on each illustrated page. Some of the illustrations are what I'd call cute, and some are notsocute. (I think some the faces of the people in the story are a bit scary looking -- some of them have no noses and some have no mouths.)

For a child with language delays, I think this poems that make up this story may be a challenge to grasp, although the ending is clear as Jesus tells little Ollie, "You're precious, my Ollie, not too short of too small; I made you, remember, you're mine after all."

H1N1 or Something Else? Who knows?!!!!

One of my children has a headache, stomach ache, sore throat, and stuffy/runny nose, fever, aches, the works. The headache and sore throat are the prominent symptoms.

I took the child to the family doctor today.

The rapid strep test is NEGATIVE.

The family doctor says that they're being told to assume everything flu-like that is not soomething else (tested for) is H1N1. He said that's a good way to promote more mass hysteria. The CDC has not been counting H1N1 for months and now we're not testing for it and are calling anything that looks like a flu bug the ol' H1N1.

Doc said he saw a bunch of sick people, adults and kids, who would fit into that criteria, last week. He thought a couple of them probably truly have H1N1.

So, count one in our family as an unofficial, unconfirmed, whoreallyknowsforsure, H1N1.

abcteach, a TOS Crew Review

The fact that I didn't know about abcteach at all and didn't expect to like it when I first logged on set me up for a huge surprise. I had no idea how much I needed a resource like this one until I began using it in order to review it. I even subscribed to the member section after our review period was over.

abcteach explains on it's website that it's aim is "to be a user-friendly educational site that provides quality printable materials for immediate use by teachers, education majors, and parents." Topics include math, reading, science, social studies, Montissori materials, shapes, art & music, foreign language, test taking, theme units, seasonal activities and and and.

Created by a retired schoolteacher, it's target student audience is pre-school through 8th grade. That's right up my alley! :)

There is a FREE section that offers users more than 5,000 documents, ranging from single page worksheets to "full ten-page units".

The MEMBERSHIP section provides subscribers access to more than 35,000 printables that include the handiest document generators I've ever seen, all in ONE place. "abctools are designed to help teachers create the documents they need for their classrooms when they can't find exactly what they are looking for elsewhere. We currently have tools for creating handwriting worksheets (ZB-Style Font, D’Nealian, Handwriting Without Tears, and Queensland), crossword puzzles, shapebooks, word walls, word unscrambles, word searches, math_worksheets, and sudoku. You can try all of our tools for free!" I get a kick out of creating my own word searches.

My (incorrect) first glance impression was that abcteach is a web site of busy work. MY FIRST IMPRESSION WAS WRONG.

I use abcteach a lot more than I thought I would. Because my homeschooler's academic skills are scattered from pre-school to 1st or 2nd grade, I can pull from different grade levels. I am a collector of workbooks, and they take up room on bookshelves and require time to browse through as I search for the "just right" page or lesson. abcteach is set up in a way that makes browsing on-line easy and quick, because I can search by grade level and subject matter. (Yes, I've wasted some time here just looking at it all, too--it's so much more comprehensive than my workbook collection! I wonder how long I will need in order to browse everything on the member section? I haven't seen it all, yet.)

Several times, I stumbled across something in abcteach that compliments a curriculum or resource we are already using. (Yeah, baby, print that and put it in my stack!)

abcteach sends members a weekly newsletter, which spotlights new items, which are sometimes seasonal in nature. I was able to print some October activities right away, even before I had the idea to do some October and autumn themed activities. I probably get a little bit too excited when I see the newsletter in my in-box. I've learned that abcteach always spotlights something I can use right now, for where we are.

There are fine motor activities for little hands that include cutting, coloring, and pin-pushing on abcteach.

abcteach also gives me the ability to print some activities that I know my daughter can complete independently along with some that she and I will complete together. Several times, I've studied some of the worksheets without printing them in order to get ideas on how to teach a new concept to my daughter.

If you have a child who needs visual supports at home, abcteach offers a section of graphic organizers and another section that is a nice variety of daily schedule cards. Some of them are more school oriented, but there are many that can be used at home, too.

We live 600+ miles from relatives, and I think that I'll print some activities for our next drive back "home". I need to start a folder of activities to take along when I know we're going to be in a waiting room.

Here's the pricing:

$40 per user per year / $70 two years — individuals/groups 2-9
$35 per user per year — groups of 10-2
$25 per user per year — groups of 30 or more. **SUPER SITE LICENSE pricing available for groups of 100 or more. Contact support@abcteach.com for details.

Obviously, once you purchase a membership, there are other costs involved. You'll need a printer, toner, paper, and maybe card stock.

There are enough documents on the free section of the web site for you to take a good look and decide if you'd like access to the membership section. Please take a few minutes to browse and see for yourself, and watch this intro video to learn more.

abcteach provided me free access to the subscription area of the web site for several weeks so that I could use the web site and review the product here for you.

My experience with abcteach has been limited to preschool and early elementary levels. Some of my crewmates are homeschooling older children. To read what my Crewmates thought of this product, go HERE.