Heart to Heart with Diane

Therapy. That’s what gardening is to me right now. It is so satisfying to go out in the sun and breeze and put seeds into the soil and watch for every green sprout to bob its head up.  The whole family gravitates to the garden, to work together and to witness each new day’s transformation.  Right now our lilacs are in full and fragrant bloom, along with bright white snowballs, so pure against the vivid blue spring sky!  In the veggie garden, we are pulling big fat white radishes out of the barely warm soil.  Have you tried these?

White radishes are amazing!  They are fatter and faster to grow than red radishes.  They taste like a fresh pop of springtime, crunchy and refreshing, very mild tasting!  And, as always, they are the very first crop—ready to harvest just 3 weeks after you put the seeds in the ground!  Radishes are a very rewarding gardening experience for the impatient!

If you haven’t tried white radishes,  I think you will be delighted, especially if you don’t like radishes.  If you can locate the seeds for White Hailstone Radish, you’ll have the mildest, most delicious radish! Leave just one in the ground to go to seed: it will send up a big stalk and eventually flower.  By fall time the seed pods will be dry and you can pick them off before they burst open and store them in a paper sack.  You’ll have more than enough to plant your garden with next year’s radishes.  If some pods do burst open and reseed themselves, less work for you!

Rather than planting your whole seed packet at one time, plant a new bunch of radishes every week and you’ll have a continuous crop.  Radishes like cool weather with plenty of water. If you let red radishes dry out and stay in the ground too long, they’ll turn hot as fire.  These white radishes are very mild, but I haven’t tried them in a hot summer.  We’ll see how that works.

Only 2 calories per radish, yet high in vitamin C and fiber, the radish needs more respect. Plant some now, and you’ll be eating white radishes before you know it.

My friend Katrina showed up at church today wearing a beautiful diamond studded crown.  She has courage!  Turns out her husband gave it to her on her first Mother’s Day and it has become an annual tradition. Her 6 boys won’t forget and she can’t get out of the house on Mother’s Day without it on her head.

What a sweet message!  Queen Mother. Just as it should be.  Honor and a crown for the one who loves so much and serves so constantly.

Sharing this to make you smile . . .

Can there be anything more exciting than having those phonics lessons finally “click” with your little one and hearing him read his first words? I doubt it! Listening to my children learn to read has been a thrill for me. I enjoy teaching them to read and I delight in hearing them read aloud.

When you start teaching the sounds of the letters, right away it seems that children want to “read a book” which, of course, is not quite yet possible. Just because they can blend a few phonics sounds doesn’t mean they are ready to read Huck Finn. Children just learning to read want to feel the accomplishment of reading a book, turning the pages and finishing with “The End”. I’ve used beginning phonics readers, such as Bob Books, Now I’m Reading or Decodable Little Books to fill that need. But it is fun to personalize and make your own!

In my homeschool, wanting more practice on the phonics lesson became the reason I started making my own little beginner readers. It is easy, it saves you money, and it can become a childhood memory especially if your little child illustrates his own books. Our homemade books have been used over and over again and loved by each sibling that I taught to read. Their older brothers and sisters remember those books with excitement and that makes it all the more motivational for little ones to be able to learn to read them. I use my children’s names in the book to personalize the story. Since every child can read his own name and most of the names of his family members, you have more words to work with than just those that can be easily decoded.

To make your own little readers, you will need cardstock weight paper to make a little book. I have used trimmed ends from the printer, old file folders cut-up, 4 x 6″ index cards, etc. Use whatever you can find: this is supposed to be a save-you-money project, so be creative. I  fold the paper in half, and then staple or machine sew 3 pages down the center fold to create a finished book of 6 pages. If I am using index cards, I staple 6 index cards along the left side so they open to a wide horizontal format. The first and last page can be fancier paper or a colored page decorated with drawings and stickers for the cover.

Plan out 7 simple sentences, one for each side of the page. The last inside page will say “The End”.  To fill my book, I choose words that will reinforce a phonic sound that my child is learning. For example, when I taught the phonic unit “ee”, I made a little book called “Weeds and Beets”. It was spring gardening time, so the subject was a natural. Since my daughter Emily (at 4 years old) already knew the short vowels and consonants along with the words “a” and “the”, I focused on having her learn to decode that “ee” sound. Here is the little story page by page:

Outside front cover-Weeds and Beets
Inside front cover- blank
page 1- Weeds, weeds!
page 2- Emily has a beet seed.
page 3- A beet seed in the weeds.
page 4- Big weeds and a red beet
page 5- Emily gets a big weed.
page 6- A bee sees a beet.
page 7- Emily gets the beet!
page 8- The End
Inside back cover-blank
outside back cover-blank

With young ones, I draw simple illustrations and let them color them. Children that are a little older will be able to draw their own pictures to go with the story. Books that turn out to be a wonderful treasure can be unstapled, laminated, and re-stapled to make a sturdy book that will last many years. I have one of these that has lasted 25 years so far! The colors are still bright and the pages clean.

As your child masters phonics skills, it can be fun to put together little books whenever a memorable event occurs in your family. When Nathan was 18-years-old, he was driving our little car home when a pickup truck hit him, totaling the car. After going to the emergency room to retrieve our son who was very fortunately not hurt, we visited the towing yard to see the damage to our car. Looking at that squashed-flat car made us amazed that Nathan had not been killed. This experience made a profound impression on my little ones, and Emily (then 7 years) wrote and illustrated a little book entitled Nathan’s Crash. She knew her phonics sounds well enough to be able to write it with very little help.  Here’s a few pages:

To create little books for a new beginning reader, use the consonants that he has learned along with one short vowel. For example, you could use the short vowel “a”, along with the consonants “c”, “s”, “b”, “m”, “n” to make these words: cat, man, rat, hat, sat, bat, at, Matt, cab, tan, sad, can, etc. From these you can make up a short story with just a few words per page. It is exciting to include your child’s name as a character in the story too!

It will amaze you how well your child will learn, and will love reading these books too! And what a treasured memory they will become. Have fun!

P.S. If you want them ready-made, here are some of my favorite beginning phonics books:

Louisa is getting credit for her homeschool cooking class

Why not just take the ACT (or SAT) exam to get into college?

The simplest way to get into college is with a good high school transcript, so you save yourself a lot of pain if you get credit along the way.  Without a transcript, then the weight of college acceptance falls upon the ACT test (or SAT test, as each college differs).  And not all students take tests well, so that can cause problems. When my daughter Emily took the ACT test, she came home discouraged. The test was based on math, English and science, specifically physics in her case (there is a random variable unit to the ACT test and she ended up with physics).  She excels at history, and other subjects that are not tested on the ACT.  So the test was not really an accurate assessment of her knowledge and education.  She ended up being accepted into the university of her choice, mostly because of her transcript.

How do I organize a curriculum for high school?

Every high school offers a different twist on graduation requirements and every college has its own entrance requirements, but they all have these basic requirements in common:

• 4 years English
• 3-4 years Math
• 3-4 years History/Government
• 3-4 years Science
• Financial Literacy
• Health
• Fitness for Life
• Physical Education
• Computer skills
• Fine Arts
• Elective credits

We sit down at the beginning of each year and decide on what needs to be done to get us one year closer to our goal (a full high school transcript), and what credit we can get while exploring my teen’s pressing interests. Generally, a high school student needs 7 credits per year to graduate.  Considering each class as counting for 1/2 credit per semester, you can see that a year long (2 semesters) class in English, Math, History and Science will give you 4 credits.  Now you can choose the other 3 classes/credits each year.  For example, cooking, sewing, photography, computer graphics, music, art, sports, and much more can fulfill the basic graduation requirements.  Fine Arts includes homemaking skills, music, and art, so there is a lot of credit that can be gleaned in these areas which many teens enjoy.  Sports interests can complete the Fitness for Life and P.E. requirements. Just document what you do (activity, date, duration) and you’ll have a syllabus that can be used to get credit. I always take a few photos of the activity, such as canoeing, hiking or whatever other sports we do.  They add to the credibility of your claim to credit.

My daughter Louisa has been putting the finishing touches on her Cooking class notebook, assembling recipes and photos she has taken all year long of the dishes she has cooked, how-to notes she has taken, and new recipes we have created together. She has lots of photos, recipes, and experiences that more than qualify for a year of cooking class credit.  I am absolutely sure she learned more in my kitchen under my tutelage than she would have at the high school.  Best of all, she has learned to cook with natural, wholesome, whole grains and healthy foods.

So, it isn’t too restricting or difficult to fulfill the required high school classes in an interesting, enjoyable way in homeschool, receiving credit for the good educational experience at home.  Just make sure to keep your documentation, your notebooks, so that it is plainly evident that you did the work and deserve credit!

How can I make sure the books I use for textbooks meet the National Standards?

I spent a little time bothering with this in my own homeschool, and gave it up.  For one thing, who decides what the National Standards are? Not God. So, some person or committee determined what all American children need to know, possibly influenced by special interest groups or political agendas.  I think the right decision-making committee for what is important for your child’s education would reside right around your dinner table.  In my experience, homeschool curriculum or other good quality instructional books out on the market most often exceed the requirements for National Standards.

What if my school is “unworkable” as to giving credit?

There are other ways to get credit.  There are businesses that will give you credit which the colleges recognize for homeschool high school classes that meet their standards, for a fee.  You will find them on the internet.  You can also get online credit from the electronic high schools.  My concern with online classes is that it is more time on the computer, less time in relationships and face-to-face interaction:  the opposite of what a teenager needs. While I haven’t found these classes to be as good as homeschooling, they can give some foundations that you can build on in homeschool, while still receiving credit. Check with your local high school for online school.

Does it help in college entrance to have a partial transcript from high school?

Most colleges consider a partial transcript insufficient.  However, taking AP (Advanced Placement) classes does make a difference to colleges, so if you are considering a few classes at the high school, taking AP would be the best choice from college acceptance perspective. But ballroom dance, choir and other non-core classes are my preference, as they provide the most social connection and give your teen the much needed group classes, that cannot be done alone at home.

Please leave a comment here.  Thanks!

Louisa's Chemistry notebook cover

It’s that time of year . . . time to get all our schoolwork wrapped up so we can present it to our high school counselor.  It’s time to get credit for all the hard work we’ve done this school year!

Credit matters beginning with the 9th grade.  Before then, there is no reason to obtain it, but there is every reason to get all the education you can, of course. Once your student is in the high school years, grades and credit matter, if they want to receive a high school diploma, or apply to a college (other than a community college that does not have academic entrance requirements.)

Not every school district is amenable to giving credit for homeschool work, but it is getting more common, as homeschooling and online courses becomes more and more popular. You may find it easier to work with charter schools or online schools, rather than traditional public schools. But if your child has done the work, he deserves the credit!  If you find the schools in your area unwilling, you can always use an accreditation program that will grant credit for homeschool work that is acceptable to any high school, for a price. Because of the expense, I have never used them.  I prefer to find a way to get the well-earned credit via the school system if possible.

It helps to develop a relationship with your high school counselor so that he knows you are trustworthy, that your family is serious about learning and will go above and beyond the requirements for the sake of real education. The first time we approached a high school counselor about getting credit, he was unfamiliar with it and it was “iffy”. The next child’s attempt was easier, and by the time my last child came in, work in hand, he knew we had a high standard, and he trusted us.  My children enroll in high school for one or two classes, receiving credit for both their high school classes plus all those classes done in homeschool.

How do we prove we’ve done it?  At the beginning of the school year or course of study, we create a notebook for each subject. Designing a “wow” cover page for the notebook helps it look professional, helps your student recognize which binder is which all year long, and having a notebook creates a learning record to refer back to.  We buy those 3 ring binders with a clear front that allow you to slip in a sheet.  If  your student knows how to create a collage on the computer with a graphic design program (Gimp is free online), all the better!  That is how Louisa made her Chemistry 101 notebook cover.

Inside the notebook, the first entry is the photocopied cover of the book we used (be it textbook or anything else we have chosen), plus the table of contents.  As each chapter is read during the school year, the student checks it off on the table of contents pages.  At the end of the year, when the entire textbook has been read, word for word, and checked off, it makes quite an impressive beginning to your student’s request for credit for each course!

After the cover and table of contents, put in a set of dividers and build the work behind each tab.  For English, we include Grammar, Vocabulary, Spelling, Book Reports and Essays.  If we have used a write-in workbook, that is tucked in the back. The notebook for our Chemistry DVD course this year (Chemistry 101) included these dividing tabs:  Syllabus, Guidebook, Notes, Experiments, Reports and Quizzes.

When the notebook is presented, chock-full of a year’s worth of well-done work and quizzes with 100% scores, it is evident that the course has been fully-completed with an “A” grade.  The only credit we ask for is “A” or “D.O” (do over). If there is an area of weakness or insufficiency, we ask for direction in how to “do over”.  We’ve never yet been asked to do anything over, but that possibility always exists.  Credit granted for work completed will go on the high school transcript, and be a helpful resource when it comes time to apply to college. How do we manage the 100% quiz scores? Learn the subject well. Re-take the quizzes as many times as necessary (different versions) until mastery occurs. That is what we were aiming at, right? Education! Mastery of the subject!

In my experience, the teacher or department head or counselor that reviews our notebooks is very impressed with the amount of work completed!  One English department head confided to me that he would be thrilled if his students did 1/10 the writing that we had done.  If you do your work thoroughly, your notebook will speak for itself and credit will be granted.

Often my student will be asked by those granting credit, “Wow! Did you really read the entire textbook?” when viewing one of their science notebooks with the very long, multi-paged table of contents (Apologia science) all checked off.  Or the table of contents from the entire 11 book series of The History of US. It is gratifying to hear my teen answer with a resounding, confident “Yes!”

You might enjoy:

The History of US

Apologia Science books

Curriculum Kits

I had a very healing dream last night, and it gave me so much peace when I woke up this morning that I wanted to share it with you.  In the dream, my son Ammon and I were out in a lush garden area, with overhanging trees and bushes.  It was very peaceful and shady.  Ammon was following behind me with a basket over his arm, full of bright orange carrots with their green tops hanging down over the edge of the basket.  Ammon was being led along by me, unable to say much, as he acts currently (rather than his former self).  He is a handsome and pure young man and it made a very pretty picture with him holding the basket of carrots in such a lovely place.  And the words came to me, “Life is precious in all its states of awareness”.

That was a very comforting, sweet dream.  I woke up very happy and grateful.  I understood that no matter how much mental capacity Ammon has, his life is precious.

I have been struggling these past 4 months with discouragement and grief over the apparent lost future of my son and feelings of the senselessness of it all.  The dream surrounded me with light and peace and ushered in the realization that Ammon’s life is a blessing, no matter how his recovery turns out.   I have hope and pray fervently that he will be healed, but no matter what, I have peace.

Read more about my son Ammon here:

Our Christmas Miracle

Update on Ammon

Does the Journey Seem Long?

Hope Smiling Brightly Before Us

Today my friend Angie came over and we talked about home school. She described how her kids lie on the floor during homeschool and moan—not having fun!  She got me going on my favorite topic:  school needs to be fun!  Life needs to be fun!

Did we forget what it feels like to be a kid? Remember the church meeting that lasted 64 hours?  Or the Social Studies lecture that caused overwhelming sleeping sickness?  Or the aunt that gave you too-long of an explanation and the struggle to keep that yawn from popping out? It hasn’t been that long, has it?  As adults, we have the freedom to get up and leave an ultra-boring meeting or change the subject when Auntie gets long-winded.  Children are at our mercy!

So, don’t forget that learning sticks best when it is enjoyed!  I can remember high school history class right after lunch (yawn). I can remember endless handouts with a series of dates to memorize for each test.  Do I remember any of the history? Nope. Sorry, but nothing stuck.  It was such a boring class.

But my kids can vividly remember a homeschool lesson we had on the ocean.  I laid out a dark blue sheet on the floor and got out different types of dried beans, split peas, and other legumes to sprinkle on the sheet demonstrating the layers of life in the ocean, and what percentage of plankton and krill that lives there. They drew pictures of the bigger sea animals, and before long we had a very concrete visual aid on our living room floor.  It was super memorable. I can’t take credit for the idea—I got it out of a book—but I can take credit for being willing to do it . . . and my children will never forget it!  (I do remember cooking mixed bean soup, too.  It was a bit of cleanup!)

Every lesson does not have to be a big project, but every school day can be approached with an attitude of making learning as  fun and memorable as possible.  Educational games are a wonderfully “easy” way to incorporate fun into school.  Math games and word games were a mainstay in our homeschool.  It is amazing how much can be learned in the format of fun. My phonics program, Happy Phonics, is comprised of games, and the kids hardly realize that they are learning to read in the process.  They just want to play! (Happy Phonics just won the award for “Best Homeschool Phonics Program“. Yay!)

So, Mom . . . can you do something to make school just a little more fun? Read one chapter of an adventure book* aloud to begin the school day.  Get out watercolor paints and put on some classical music to paint by.  Play a word game, such as Anagrams. Louisa is in 10th grade this year, and she seriously learned more vocabulary words and spelling rules through playing Anagrams with me daily, than through a whole school year of vocabulary books and spelling tests. Seriously. Serious fun. We love playing Anagrams, dictionary by our side.  She is getting faster at looking up words in the dictionary, spelling a lot more accurately and learning a lot of new words—and we are enjoying every minute of it. Her goal is to beat me, and she is getting so good that I am being threatened daily.  But the real winner is what she is learning!

Textbooks have their place, but maybe not on your child’s lap.  I use textbooks to give me an outline for the school year. The internet can provide great pictures of the topic you are studying.  When we studied Astronomy, we used the Apologia Astronomy book as a basis, but we found wonderful fun on the internet. When we studied meteors, we discovered a webcam on the internet that was focused on a snowfield in the icy north when meterors fell to the ground regularly—we could actually watch them strike the ground over the webcam!  We live in a day when making homeschool interesting is amazingly easier than ever.

I think we get so afraid of meeting some state or national requirements that we forget to love learning—as if college entrance was the highest goal of life.  I hope we don’t let our fear that our kids won’t “keep up” squelch the fun right out of learning.

Make it fun, Mom!  You won’t regret it!  Your kids will love you for it, and they will learn so much.   Enjoy!

“Don’t let school interfere with your education.”  —Mark Twain

*Some fun adventure books to read aloud to your kids:

• Mr. Popper’s Penguins
• Call it Courage
• Sign of the Beaver
• Indian Captive
• God’s Smuggler
• Night Journey
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

You might enjoy:

Make these quick and hearty pancakes easily in your blender!

Put into your blender:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour*
• 1/4 cup flax seeds (optional)
• 1/4 cup chia seeds (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 + 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 1 +  3/4  cups sour milk or buttermilk**
• fresh blueberries

Blend all ingredients except blueberries until smooth.  (Sour milk varies in thickness, so you may need to add a little more or less to get the right pancake batter consistency.) Pour batter from blender onto a hot griddle lathered with coconut oil.  Quickly dot 5 or 6 fresh blueberries on top of batter of each pancake. When the bubbles in the batter pop, flip over pancakes just once.  Don’t flip more than one time, and definitely don’t press them down with the pancake turner.  We want these to be light and fluffy!

Serve with cream cheese and sliced fresh fruit.  I like strawberries or peaches for a whole grain healthy “bakery-pastry-tasting” delight.   It might look and taste like dessert, but these are 100% good nutrition!  Serves 4-6.

Note:

*Store freshly ground whole wheat (or kamut or spelt) flour in the freezer so you can have it handy for quick pancakes!

**I use raw milk that has gone sour, which really boosts nutrition.  You could use grocery store or homemade buttermilk, or make your own sour milk by adding one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to one cup of regular milk or reconstituted dry milk.  Let it stand a few minutes to clabber before using.  See several ways to make your own “sour milk” in the Hopkins Health Home Cooking recipe book.

You might enjoy:

Flax Seed

Hopkins Cookbook

Buttermilk Powder

What an amazing, awful, exhausting, educational, love-filled journey we have been on.  Feels like one of those thrill rides at Disneyland!  Every morning we wake up to new surprises, not all good. I yearn for just one “normal” uneventful day.

Our son Ammon is in the midst of the long and painful process of recovery from brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation during a cardiac arrest while on a mission in Chile. He is only 20. But he doesn’t know that.

We are learning so much!

I am learning that kind people can make the darkest day suddenly sunny. The doorbell can be the sweetest sound as neighbors and friends have dropped by food, lessening my load tremendously. Or flowers, doing their magic of cheer. Or hugs, a tender heart and a listening ear—the best gifts of all.

I am learning that hope is a most precious commodity, and without it, life is bleak indeed.  Hope keeps my husband and I trying, keeps us getting up every morning and racing off to yet another doctor appointment, keeps us open-minded and willing to lay down our hard-earned money to try yet another healer, program or supplement to bring our son back to us.  Hope jump starts our day. We live off hope.

Hope doesn’t fare well in the presence of asking “why?” So I try not to ask it, although it follows me like a shadow.  “Why not?” is a more appropriate question.  Is our time on earth supposed to be a party?  Easy and carefree without sore trial?  Are we supposed to glide through day after day enjoying without adversity and the resultant growth? Why not? And why not us?

Things can change. God can work miracles! Scientific breakthroughs happen. Healing can take place.  Hope is always . . . ever . . . smiling brightly before us.