Keyboarding vs Penmanship

The debate rages on: Keyboarding vs Penmanship. Schools have stopped teaching penmanship and are focussing on keyboarding. I know that I personally have students who cannot read cursive handwriting in the 6th grade. With Common Core standards being adopted by so many states, parents are becoming alarmed that their child(ren) are no longer learning penmanship and cursive writing skills. While I understand the need for keyboarding skills, I still believe in teaching students tidy handwriting, forming letters and numbers properly, and all the skills involved with writing friendly letters and thank you notes.

The most common method of teaching children to form letters and master penmanship is the D'Nealian method. D'Nealian takes children from learning basic letter formation up through cursive handwriting. Spending 15 minutes each day during your lesson time teaching handwriting is guaranteed to pay off. How can you incorporate handwriting into your everyday world instead of just sitting writing numbers and letters over and over again? Have your child write your grocery list as you dicatate it, have them write thank you notes for gifts received, even have your child fill out their own birthday invitations. The oportunities are endless and take very little time for big rewards. Someday your child will be an adult in the workforce and they will have a leg-up over their peers from the time they first fill out the application.

Check out this episode!

Penmanship vs Handwriting

http://www.dnealian.com/lessons.html

The debate rages on: Keyboarding vs Penmanship. Schools have stopped teaching penmanship and are focussing on keyboarding. I know that I personally have students who cannot read cursive handwriting in the 6th grade. With Common Core standards being adopted by so many states, parents are becoming alarmed that their child(ren) are no longer learning penmanship and cursive writing skills. While I understand the need for keyboarding skills, I still believe in teaching students tidy handwriting, forming letters and numbers properly, and all the skills involved with writing friendly letters and thank you notes.

The most common method of teaching children to form letters and master penmanship is the D'Nealian method. D'Nealian takes children from learning basic letter formation up through cursive handwriting. Spending 15 minutes each day during your lesson time teaching handwriting is guaranteed to pay off. How can you incorporate handwriting into your everyday world instead of just sitting writing numbers and letters over and over again?  Have your child write your grocery list as you dicatate it, have them write thank you notes for gifts received, even have your child fill out their own birthday invitations. The oportunities are endless and take very little time for big rewards. Someday your child will be an adult in the workforce and they will have a leg-up over their peers from the time they first fill out the application.

Read the article that sparked me to write this post and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

 http://news.yahoo.com/states-preserve-penmanship-despite-tech-gains-190737500.html

Time Tracker Form

**Copy and paste the form style into whatever wordprocessing program you are using. Directions for using it are found below. Week of ________________ to __________________
Daily Time Tracker
Time in Ten Minute Incriments
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	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Reading/   Literature	Language Arts/ Writing	Math	Science	Social Studies/     History	Art	Music	PE
Elective 1		Elective 2		Field Trip		Religion
How to Use the Time Tracker: Color the subject area box to use as a key. Color the corresponding number of minutes spent daily working on that particular subject area.

Well, I did it. I went ahead an started using Twitter. Until recently I just didn't get it. I mean, what use could I have for 240 characters? What could I possibly have to say? Follow me to find out! See this cute bird? Just find him on the left side of my blog and click on him to follow me.

Pagan Homeschooling Network Episode 2

This episode touches on state laws with regards to homeschooling, using math manipulatives, TeachersPayTeachers.com website review, a Teacher's Toybox segment, and reading statistics that show why reading daily is so important.

Links for this episode:

Homeschool Legal Defense Associaton www.HSLDA.org

Educational Website Review www.TeachersPayTeachers.com

Teachers toybox Game Review: http://astore.amazon.com/educ8rkids-20/detail/B0066WCQ0I

Thank you for listening. Please feel free to email or leave feedback at www.educ8rkids.com.

Phoenix Pagan Pride Day 2012

This episode was recorded at the Phoenix Pagan Pride Day in Glendale, Arizona on November 3, 2012. Have a listen as I fill the audience in on the basics of homeschooling and answer questions they pose.

Here are the links I discuss:

Homeschool Legal Defense Association www.HSLDA.org
Oak Meadow School www.OakMeadow.com
Khan Academy www.KhanAcademy.org
Wanda Phillips Materials www.EasyGrammar.com
Sprial Scouts www.SpiralScouts.org

Please note that I flubbed. A subject and a verb are never found in a Prepositional Phrase, not the predicate. I fixed it in post-production, but wanted everyone to know that I caught it. I don't want to confuse anyone.

Thanks to all those who came and participated!

Homeschool Supply List

School Supplies for the Homeschool Classroom

·         Lined Paper

·         Plain Paper

·         Notebooks (8.5 X 11 and Composition)

·         Pencils

·         Pencil Sharpener

·         Pens

·         Colored Pens

·         Crayons

·         Erasers

·         Ruler

·         Yardstick

·         Meter Stick

·         Measuring Tape (Standard and Metric)

·         Protractor

·         Compass

·         Markers

·         Binder Rings

·         Binder Clips

·         Tape

·         Double Sided Tape

·         Clear Page Protectors

·         Binders

·         Construction Paper

·         White Out

·         Stapler

·         Staples

·         Paper Clips

·         3-hole Punch

·         Single Hole Punch

·         Scissors

·         Calculator (basic for Elementary through Jr. High; Graphing for High School and College)

·         Printer

·         Computer

·         Internet Access

·         Headphones

·         Timer

·         Dice (6 Sided X6, multiple colors as well)

·         2-Color Counters

·         Highlighters (4 Colors)

Specialty Items that Are Nice to Have Available

 

·         Cooking Parchment Paper (for Anchor Charts)

·         Chart Paper

·         Poster Board

·         Foam Core Board

·         Popsicle Sticks

·         Tongue Depressors

·         Magnifying Glass

·         Clear Contact Paper

·         Books, lots of books!