A+ Job Skills for Generation Y
My teens recently toured backstage at a Broadway theater. A lead actor from the play Wicked gave this advice to aspiring young actors,”Work hard. If you can get in your mind that the world doesn’t owe you a job or money, you will be ahead in the job hunt.” He went on to tell about his disappointment with the new generation’s lack of motivation to put in extra effort. “They want high salaries without the long hours of work.”
Our teens are part of Generation Y, or the Millennial Generation. They are defined as young people born between 1979 and 1994. They are digitally savvy and used to constant contact and instant feedback. Whether we agree or not, today’s younger generation has a reputation of believing they are entitled to high salaries and interesting jobs that won’t interfere with their personal lives. They are also characterized as having a lack of respect for the older generation.
Although generation gaps have always existed, today’s gap is so wide that the young people are called Technical Natives while those in the older generation are known as Technical Immigrants. Most middle-aged adults can text and e-mail, but if they want to do much else, they must find a teenager to help. Computer lingo seems to be the native tongue of our youth.
These differences impact teenagers as they seek to enter the work force. Strengths in the younger generation can become liabilities without job skill training. Never has this teaching been so important. The unemployment rate is over 10% for adults. In some places, it is double that for teens. Competition for after school jobs is steep. The jobs will go to those who know how to conduct themselves in an interview and how to interact with older employers.
I recently spoke with an area McDonald’s upper-level manager. She agreed that today’s youth come to the job with certain gaps in their skills. “They are very technically savvy, but they’re not used to manual labor. I have to teach them how to work hard. This generation requires more motivation than the young people of the past.”
I asked her if she had advice for teens as they go out on a job interview. “They need to remember that presentation is everything. How they dress, speak, and fill out the application are still as important as ever. The younger generation does not care about appearances, but they need to remember that they’re interviewing with an older generation that does value professional attire and behavior.”
What we consider basic common sense for on-the-job behavior still needs to be taught to our children. We will do our children a huge favor by reviewing job search skills while addressing specific problem areas pertaining to the Generation Y mentality.
Search the Internet for desirable employee traits and you will find promptness, reliability, honesty, and friendliness mentioned often. What do these qualities look like in the interview and early weeks on the job? Following is a list of pointers to go over with your young adult:
Talking Point for Teens:
- Dress professionally when you go out and apply for jobs. Different jobs require different attire. You would look odd applying at a food service job wearing a suit. The best rule to follow is to dress a little better for the interview than you would for a day on the job. Make sure your clothes are neat and clean. Do not wear t-shirts with offensive slogans. Flip-flops and tattered jeans are cool but not for interviews or work.
- Be prepared to fill out applications. Have a list of references and their contact information. It is best to discuss this with the references beforehand and have their approval before listing their names. If you have worked previously, have the employer’s address and phone number. Don’t sell yourself short. If you have experience through scouts or volunteer projects, list those under experience. You want to have your social security card with you when you apply.
- Practice interviewing. Hold a practice interview with your parents so you will be more prepared. Many Websites offer typical interview questions that you can use. Several teens and their parents could get together for mock interviews.
- Be on time. Be a little early, but do not be late.
- Turn off your cell phone during the interview or better yet, leave it in the car. Although your peers perceive phone calls or texts as acceptable interruptions when you talk, it is a job interview killer.
- Good old fashioned manners never go out of style. A firm hand shake while looking the potential employer in the eye are rare among young people. Thank the interviewer and consider a follow-up thank you note. Remember, they have done you a favor by taking time to interview you. You are not doing them a favor by coming in to apply.
- Follow up with a polite phone call if you have not heard from them in the time they stated. If you are turned down, thank them for the chance to apply and interview. Don’t burn any bridges; you don’t know what opportunities may open up in the future.
You’ve landed a job, now what? Certain skills will help you keep it.
- Always arrive on time with an attitude that says, “I am ready to work.”
- Remember that employers have paid for your full attention during work hours. It is not time to talk on the phone or text. You are hired to work, not visit with other employees.
- Never complain about your job, boss, or employer in front of customers or other employees. It will usually come back to haunt you.
- Use sick days sparingly. You don’t want to gain a reputation as being undependable.
- Address customers with friendliness and respect and look them in the eye.
- Be willing to work hard at your job and learn new skills. Be a self-starter and one who can finish projects without constant oversight.
With pointers from parents, practice interviews, and a warning list of job taboos, I believe our teens will be in high demand in the workplace.
What experiences have you had in your family with working teens from Generation Y? What advice would you add?
Resource List:
Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
Young Person’s Career Skills Handbook
Websites:
therebelution.com – Alex and Brett Harris
About.com – Career Planning – Teen Job Skills
Jist Publishing – America’s Career Publishers
Job Interview Strategies for Teens Part I
Job Interview Strategies for Teens Part II
Rhodema lives the parenting adventure with Calvin, her college sweetheart. They have two adult daughters and two teenagers still at home, a girl and a boy. Their homeschool style is eclectic with a great love of living history books. Rhodema teaches women’s Bible studies and is a MOPS speaker. Her blog for moms is Herding Worms.
Review: Steady Days
March 10, 2010 by Karin
Steady Days: A journey toward intentional professional motherhood is artfully written by Jamie C. Martin, mother of 3 and author of the popular blog, SteadyMom.com.
Steady Days is divided into forty readings, presented in short digestible chapters.
We live in a world that places a high value on organization and many of us were picture perfect examples of what that looked like before we had kids. So what happens after we have kids? Organization is a blessing to our family. So why is it so hard to get motivated? Why are simple things, such as getting dressed and looking presentable put to the back burner after we become mothers? You know the joke about the mothers who live in their pajamas or sweat pants with their hair piled on top of their head in a messy bun or ratty ponytail. Is this really the image we want to project about motherhood?
A prepared mother looks professional. Why are we walking through life doing the most important job in the world while looking the least professional?
Steady Days is about sharpening your skills and parenting with purpose and intention. If you’ve never been organized, you owe it to yourself and your children to question everything and begin to make small changes toward greater good.
It is possible to develop a plan for your day that allows you to juggle the many hats that you wear as a mother and homemaker, while still spending creative and flexibly structured time with your children.
Jamie Martin offers practical ideas for busy mothers that are thoughtfully challenging but not overwhelming. Her book offers encouragement and helpful tips for those struggling with organization and implementing manageable routines in their home.
Steady Days is a quick read that will get you on the path towards professional parenting and less harried days.
Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 10 months. You are invited to follow her homeschooling adventures at www.PassportAcademy.com and her adventures as a mother, wife, homemaker, decorator and organizer at www.MommyMattersBlog.com
Why I Decided to Home School
March 9, 2010 by Peggy
I usually stick to informational articles but this time I wanted to share why we decided to home school our kids. It is a clear illustration to me how God is always with us and has a clear plan for our lives.
My husband and I married relatively late in life and had the first of three boys. It wasn’t until our oldest was school age that we began to realize he wasn’t like other children. Intense meltdowns, delayed potty training, not wanting to play with other children and poor eye contact had us going to several doctors. Many evaluations later we were told he was on the autism spectrum. Autism? You mean like ‘Rainman’? No, actually more like ‘Temple Grandin’. (If you have the chance please watch the HBO movie. It will be on DVD this summer and probably on itunes as well. I cannot rave about it enough.)
I had thought about homeschooling before he was school age. The thought of putting my precious boy on a bus and being away from him all day did not sit well with me. Also my husband and I were growing deeper in our Christian faith and we wondered what path God wanted us to take. I read and researched but the local school seemed wonderful and so off to Kindergarten he went.
It was bad. It was very bad. It was too noisy, too bright. He was overwhelmed. He couldn’t keep up with his classmates and he knew it. He had horrific meltdowns. By this time I was convinced I couldn’t teach him – he needed experts, right?
Our middle son went to the local Pre K program and was soon diagnosed with autism as well. As for our youngest? I knew he was different from the minute he drew breath. He literally screamed in the car for the first six months of his life and I went places I only absolutely had to go until we could turn him around in his seat. After a long hard fight on my part it became apparent to even the ‘experts’ that he was on the spectrum also.
By the time our oldest was in third grade I was starting to realize public school was just not going to work for our children. His teachers really didn’t want to have anything to do with a kid who had meltdowns and couldn’t bear to be touched. He was also showing signs of having trouble reading, though the school insisted that it was due to his autism. I knew it wasn’t but we couldn’t afford a private evaluation at the time. Our middle son was being bullied and the school wouldn’t do anything about it and started to have meltdowns of his own.
By the end of that year I was adamant – I wanted them home.
I started researching and reading again and even bought a curriculum. But my husband asked me to try them at another school that had a year round schedule and a smaller class size. If it didn’t work then we’d bring them home. Our youngest started the Pre K program and seemed to do well.
At first it worked. My oldest son had a wonderful teacher and my middle son seemed to like the smaller classroom. Then the bullying started. Here we go again.
We spent hours at school. IEP’s (Individualized Education Plans), FBA’s (Functional Behavior Assessments), BIP’s (Behavior Intervention Plans) were all written and either poorly implemented or not at all. I literally sat with my middle child most of the school day in his class. My children were suspended, restrained, thrust into ‘time-out’ rooms and finally my oldest one was charged with assault for – as the outraged juvenile probation officer put it ‘a clear manifestation of his disability’. (The charge was dismissed – my oldest is hypo sensitive and cannot verbally relate when he is sick. He had raging case of strep when he had this meltdown) Then our middle son had his own meltdown and the school called Social Services and accused me of medical neglect due to an utterance he made. (This despite the fact that my cell phone records showed I called our therapist the minute I stepped out of the school building.) Social Services found the complaint ‘unfounded’ but I cannot begin to tell you how much it hurt to have my mothering skills called into question like that.
Logically, I know my sons have more doctors than my eighty year old grandmother and DSS concurred, but it HURT. I cried out to God and He answered me. I was looking to the wrong ‘experts’.
That was it as far as my husband was concerned. God could not have made it any clearer if He’d rented a neon sign and put it in our yard. The boys needed to be home.
And they’ve been here every since. That was three years ago and though I go through periods of panic and worry that they aren’t getting the education they need, I truly know better. My oldest son does have dyslexia and we are now beginning the remediation process late. My middle son has Central Auditory Processing Disorder and the quiet environment of our home has helped him tremendously. Our youngest – who would have gotten the ADHD label if he’d stayed in public school – now knows square roots. At age seven. It’s hard having teaching kids that are smart in areas that I struggled with in school. I’m starting to realize my own education was sorely lacking and my love of self learning has returned. I’m learning alongside my boys and I love it!
So that’s our journey to homeschooling. It was a hard road to get here but I am ever so glad that we are here. God showed me that He is the ‘expert’ when it comes to our children and He knows their every need. He makes it clear to us that He has plans for each of our boys.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Peggy Dalley has been married to her best friend and husband for 13 years. She uses the eclectic approach to homeschool their three sons, 12, 10 and 7. Her interests include writing unit studies, Bible study, history and she is working hard to become a Proverbs 31:10 woman instead of a Proverbs 21:9 woman.
Reviews by Karin: Wordly Wise 3000
February 28, 2010 by Karin
I first learned about Wordly Wise while I was standing in an enormous line at our state’s annual homeschool convention. I felt like I was the only one in the line not holding a Wordly Wise workbook and even worse, I had never heard of it. What kind of Review Specialist did I think I was? Out of curiosity I purchased a workbook and I’ve been hooked on the program ever since!
What is Wordly Wise?
In a nutshell it is a systematic, sequential vocabulary program that develops the critical link between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Flexible lesson plans allow for lessons to be completed in 20-25 minutes, 3-4 times per week.
In books K–1 students are introduced to vocabulary through a carefully sequenced
progression of exercises that develop sophisticated oral vocabulary. Books 2–6
incorporate the use of context clues, word study (Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes), reading comprehension, and writing. Students in grades K–6 will significantly build the vocabulary they need in order to successfully comprehend content area texts.
Why start a vocabulary program so soon?
We all know that toddlers understand more words than they can say. Children can also understand a greater vocabulary orally than they can read or spell independently.
There are 120 key vocabulary words selected for instruction in the Kindergarten book and 150 in the first grade book.
How does it work?
-Children are taught each word directly and then shown how it works in a meaningful context.
-It focuses on connections between words and concepts, as well as prior knowledge, instead of just memorization of meaning.
-Children interact with words in a variety of ways to gain fluency.
- The word lists are developed by literacy experts and are age appropriate. The words are carefully chosen to be challenging but are still developmentally appropriate.
Although the program is written to be used in a traditional classroom, I find it is easily implemented in the home.
Program Components and Features:
Colorful student books provide a variety of vocabulary building activities that reinforce key vocabularly concepts.
A section called, “My Word Lists” at the back of each student book provides a place for children to collect and categorize vocabulary words they have mastered. Words can be words that were learned through stories in the book or words they already know or read elsewhere. There is also a page for them to write any words they wish.
Concept cards and picture cards help introduce key concepts and vocabulary words for each lesson and help show words in different contexts.
The Teacher’s Resource book provides lesson plans and a script for introducing each lesson and vocabulary word, as well as ideas for extending the lesson. The lesson plans are clearly outlined and easily adaptable into shorter or longer lessons. The back of the book contain reproducible black line masters that can be used for review.
At Heart of the Matter we evaluate curriculum programs in their entirety, in the manner they are developed to be used, with the understanding that each family should and will adapt them to fit their own individual needs. With the Wordly Wise program I have noticed that some homeschoolers only use the workbooks without the teacher’s guide or other supplemental materials. I really feel that all of the components are valuable to the program and should be strongly considered.
While I’m not usually a fan of “instruction scripts” in Teacher’s Guides, I gladly follow the scripts in Wordly Wise and my children are none the wiser.
Here are a few sample scripts:
Picture Card 27: decay Say: Decay means rot. You know it’s important to brush your teeth so they don’t decay, but sometimes, decaying is useful. When dead leaves and other plants decay, they turn into soil. Then new plants grow in the soil. Look at these pictures. The y show how dead leaves and grass slowly decay and become soil. Let’s say decay together.
Picture Card 29: skeleton Say: What do you see in this picture? Yes, it’s the skeleton of a dinosaur. A skeleton is made up of all the bones that support the body of a person or an animal. Let’s say skeleton together.
Wordly Wise provides vocabulary programs for grades K-12 and are available from a variety of resources, including Rainbow Resource.
Downloads:
K-6 program overview
Grades 6-12 program overview
K-12 Vocabulary word list
Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 10 months. You are invited to follow her homeschooling adventures at www.PassportAcademy.com and her adventures as a mother, wife, homemaker, decorator and organizer at www.MommyMattersBlog.com
Look First, Learn First
February 28, 2010 by Patty
You know there are times when we wish to really bury the past. It haunts us, reminds us of what was, and terrifies us of what could be. And it colors everything we do, because it dictates who we are and what we have become.
For me, my past placed a deep shadow on the subject of reading.
I have a mild case of Dyslexia, nothing major and I can normally work around it by being careful. Re-reading sentences that don’t quite make sense, using spell checker religiously, and having my wonderful husband read things for content.
However, learning to read for me was a nightmare. My mom ran out of patience LONG before I learned the alphabet. And when there was no where to turn for help, reading became a “painful” learning experience. Back then, Dyslexia wasn’t known, and learning disabilities were spoken of in back rooms only. So for me to have such difficulties, well let’s just say it’s a miracle I don’t have a complete block when it comes to picking up the written word.
Now though I love to read. I love making my escape in far off lands, fighting dragons, falling in love with Romeo and finding buried treasure. And so when I began homeschooling, my greatest desire was to instill in my children that same love and desire. My oldest two girls were public schooled for a while and so someone else taught them the basics. I soon discovered though that my second child was facing the same difficulties as I did. She could sometimes recognize the high frequency words, but she couldn’t spell anything, she couldn’t read words in order and she couldn’t sound things out in the proper order. In short, she couldn’t read and her teacher didn’t care enough to work with her. She was falling more and more behind and so we brought her home to learn.
But remember what I said about the past and wishing to bury it? I soon found that I was ill equipped to teach her something that I had such ill memories of. I would lose patience so quickly, and the more frustrated she got, the more tense I became. So I had a good talk with myself and did what any good mom would do–I put it off until I knew what the heck I was doing!
I searched the internet for the answer–Hmmm, PHONICS right? I knew any good reader needed to under stand phonics so that’s where we began. I took a full year to review her phonics. I used Phonics Pathways, Flash cards, White boards, and the like. My patience was tested beyond my limits, but I had learned from my mom–to just back off. As soon as frustration was setting in, we packed it away for the day. It was a VERY slow process. And I never thought we were getting any where. After about 12 months of frustration and self-doubt (for both me and her) I went looking online again. I just knew there had to be an answer that I was missing.
What I found was Back on the Right Track Reading (www.righttrackreading.com) . It was a remedial reading program that took you through the next step. It helped you review the sounds, and then place them together, in a different way than Phonics Pathways (which took the Ba Be Bi Bo Bu approach). But this new program took it to their hands! You used 2 inch tiles that you wrote the sounds on. And you used them to work on taking the step from just saying the sounds to creating words. By using this hands on approach it took the need for my daughter to have to visualize the words in her mind and actually had her creating them in her hands. There was no need for her to keep it straight in her mind–as long as they were straight in her hands. She could just keep at it until she got it right. Her frustration level was reduced instantly!
Over the next school year my daughter went from barely being able to read (not necessarily comprehend) an early 2nd grade level–to a mid 6th grade comprehension level. Being able to switch gears and teaching style made all the difference. I have learned that for her, anything that I can get her to do hands on, is an instant success. Anything that she has to do internally is a long drawn out process. Her dyslexia has created a need to not only see things, but to work with them. Since this discovery, I have taken this into the other subjects that she struggles with. Such as math–every lesson is now done with manipulatives.
So what about the past? Do I still wish to bury it? Well yes and no. It’s not very pleasant memory-wise, but that memory did teach me to walk away when I was out of my depth. To look first, learn first, then teach it. Being a parent to a struggling child has its challenges. We just have to take the time to find out where the problem lies and keep looking for that solution.
Patty has been married to the love of her life for 14 years and has 4 kiddos she lovingly refers to as her monkeys. She is constantly threatening to run away to the Circus–unfortunately, she keeps being informed she’s already there! She loves throwing together this and that to create a unique learning experience that encourages a love of learning. Come feed their school mascot Shiver and check out her blog at Shiver Academy.
Great Homeschools have Socratic Dialogue…or Maybe Not
I always believed that great homeschools practiced great Socratic dialogue. After reading, families would enjoy deep and rich conversations about the nuances of famous literary works. They would have meaningful discussions about historical perspective and relevant insights contrasting classical and modern literature.
Meanwhile, I got comments like “Great book, mom…. What’s next?”
True confession: I really admire people who do literary analysis, but I simply wasn’t capable. I used a literature-based curriculum, so it seems strange to say, but I hate literary analysis.
We read books all the time. I used Sonlight Curriculum which requires a lot of reading, and I fed my book-hungry children even more literature from The Well-Trained Mind, and other reading lists for the college bound. Much to my chagrin, we didn’t do any “literature analysis” we just enjoyed the books.
The truth is I always felt guilty about not doing literary analysis. Every homeschool mom has her “thing” that keeps her awake at night, and literature analysis was mine. On tests and worksheets my children seemed to do terrible in reading comprehension, and yet they were reading all the time. They read all day long and late into the night. The laughed and cried and gasped when they read silently to themselves. They begged me to continue when I was reading aloud to them. How could they do so poorly in reading comprehension questions when they seemed to understand what they were reading?
How do you know when you have succeeded in teaching your child English? I knew my kids loved reading but still I was stressed. Every year, I spent an inordinate amount of time looking at Progeny Press, Learning Language Arts Through Literature, and other curriculum choices. Why was I failing? Why couldn’t I teach literature analysis? Every time I asked my kids “how did you like the book?” all I ever got was: “it was great” or “it sucked.” So much for insightful dialog about the deeper meanings of literature.
I finally decided that my goal for literature would be the same as my goal for Bible study. I decided that my goal in teaching the Bible was for the kids to LOVE their Bible, not analyze their Bible. Therefore I would teach them to LOVE literature instead of analyze it. I didn’t want to “beat the love of books out of them” by analyzing everything.
In retrospect, it all ended up great. Ironically, they both ended up in a “Great Books” honors program, analyzing literature at a college level by their own choice! They are able to do college literary analysis in their honors class without a problem, getting great grades. Their only frustration with the class is reading the occasional book synopsis. “I would rather read the whole thing – they miss the best parts!”
I failed at teaching literary analysis, so in that sense I may have lost that battle. But I won the war. My children LOVE reading. When the kids came home from college, I felt like I could finally say I had succeeded in my goal. “For fun” they went to the library to get some reading material. My son Alex read the entire Shakespeare collection, my son Kevin read CS Lewis and some Dostoevsky. I may have been stressed out when they were in high school, but I can honestly say that I achieved my goal: they LOVE reading.
With my hard-earned 20/20 hindsight, I look at my college children and feel successful, but at the time I stressed over “reading comprehension” more than almost anything else. Keeping the focus on “love of learning” is hard though, when you are faced with a kid who may only answer “fine” when you ask them about their reading. Remember, it is the love of reading that matters, not literary analysis.
Lee Binz is a veteran homeschooling mom of two and the owner of The HomeScholar. Her mission is “Helping parents homeschool high school.” Her DVD Preparing to Homeschool High School will remove your fear and teach you what you need to succeed in homeschooling high school. She has a free mini-course called “The 5 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make When Homeschooling High School.”
5 Fun Early Learning Reading Games
February 28, 2010 by AmyS
Dolche Words
I wrote the 100 most common sight words on index cards and punched a hole in the upper corner of each one. I placed all the cards on MY metal ring. When he was able to read a word he got to “steal” it from me and place it on HIS metal ring. He loved this because it was a competitive game and he really enjoyed seeing my stack dwindle. If we reviewed his whole stack and he forgot one, I got to take it back. It was a lot of fun for both of us.
Treasure Hunt
My son LOVED going on treasure hunts. For anything and everything. So I took advantage of this by writing some of his toy names on index cards. First, I hid the toys around the house. Next, I took the cards and placed them in the treasure chest. He drew a card, read it and went off in search of the hidden toy. Sometimes we did this in reverse, where I hid the cards and he chose a toy from the treasure chest.
Word Ladder
I drew a large ladder on a piece of cardboard and let him use his favorite action figure to climb the ladder. With each correct word, the action figure got to climb a ladder rung.
Pancakes, Pancakes
I use the Dolche sight words again and wrote them on circles of tan or cream construction paper, to resemble pancakes. I would place a”pancake” into a frying pan and tell him that he had to hurry up and read the word and flip it with the spatula before it burnt.
CH-SH-TH-WH
I wrote out these 4 digraphs on a large piece of cardboard. Each one had it’s own square large enough for him to stand in. I would call out a word (such as shoe, whale, couch, or three) and he would jump to the corresponding square.
Amy is a devoted wife, Classical homeschooling mom to a six-year-old Superhero and the co-owner of Heart of the Matter. She has a passion for genealogy and is aspiring to be a Proverbs 31 lady. Be sure to visit her blog at Milk and Cookies.
Impressed by Impressions of Impressionism
February 16, 2010 by Kristina
This is one fun project that I did with a group of boys, last year, to present at an art show in our town. The first thing I had the students do was a lesson from one of my personal favorites: Drawing Textbook, by Bruce McIntyre. It doesn’t look like much on the surface yet it packs a mighty punch of information that you and your family can use from age six to adult.
You can read more about it here: http://www.avdp.com
I then reviewed the Seven Laws of Perspective. This is what I taught, in a nutshell:
- Surface ~ things that are closer to the eye are drawn closer to the bottom of the picture
- Size ~ things that are nearer to the eye should be drawn larger
- Surface lines ~ these lines wrap around the object you are drawing to give it three dimensions
- Overlapping ~ things that are closer to the eye overlap the further parts
- Shading ~ this is used to give volume to the object that you draw
- Density ~ things that are closer to the eye are drawn with more detail than things farther away
- Foreshortening ~ the whole object is foreshortened, to give proper dimension
I have found that students really like the fact that there are rules to art and once you learn them, you get to have fun “breaking” them! We often know what looks good to our “untrained” eye, but not why certain things work for us and others do not. The Seven Laws of Perspective lend a lot to helping a person appreciate a particular piece of art or not.
The lesson for this particular day centres around Impressionism, using acrylic paint on paper.
What you hope to achieve: students will attempt to create an Impressionist painting following the directions given from the DickBlick lesson plan. You can find a ton of lesson plans at the site: www.dickblick.com or go here, specifically: http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans
Think of this project like pixel-izing the image, in a way, breaking the image down into pieces that come together to create the whole.
Webster’s Dictionary defines a pixel as “a discrete element that together constitutes an image”.
Small brush strokes make us think of Seurat. More like pointillism, with very fine strokes. Large brush strokes imitate Van Gogh. Larger brush strokes are also very visible, individually, but together create a full picture.
What you need:
- Paper to paint on
- Brushes
- Water to clean brushes
- Paper towel to dry brushes
- Acrylic paint in the following colours (or whatever colours you have handy), if I am going to go technical on you:
- Marseilles Yellow (put on your best fake French accent to say that one)
- Scarlet Red
- Lapis Blue
- Olivine Green
- Mummy Brown
- Ivory White
Now, I’ll let you in on a simple secret … I went to the Dollar Store, here in my small town, and picked up dollar acrylic paint. Easy.
You can choose to mix colors, copying what is shown in the sample, or actually buy paints in the colors you want to have in your finished painting. We also liked the idea of having our work framed so I bought cheap canvas boards to paint on, also at the local Dollar Store. You can paint on cardboard, painted white first, if you want something more stiff than paper. Get creative! Just because I suggest you go out and purchase paint does not mean you have to!
The biggest challenge is in the brush strokes you must use. All your strokes must be vertical and on the small side. Paint the flowers first, entirely in yellow. To apply the paint, all you have to do is touch the brush to the canvas or paper, laying down the bristles of your brush, then pick the brush up again. The paint should be fairly heavily applied in order to imitate the impressionist brush strokes.
You also need to continue painting wet. Don’t let the layers of your flowers dry out in between colours. After the yellow petals have been painted, use the orange that you either mixed (yellow and red) or bought. Leave some areas of the flower solid yellow.
- Then add the red, leaving some spots solid yellow and some spots solid orange.
- The leaves are formed first in yellow, then greens.
- Water is a combination of blue and white. Use the white paint to “highlight” certain areas, mimicking light.
- Shading is done by using brown mixed with blue.
Hope you are equally impressed!
Kristina is a happily married wife in her eleventh year of homeschooling the flybytheseatofyourpants method. So far her two boys seem intelligible and relatively unscathed. She is an intern Educational Therapist with NILD and in her spare time loves to scrapbook, paint, make linoprints and write novel study guides. In your spare time, check out her blog On Fire at: www.kristinacamp.blogspot.com
Homeschoolers Can Earn Their Diploma from a University?
February 8, 2010 by Tracy
This is how my family is doing it!
Expanding the Options for Home Schooled High School Students: Dare to Compare High School Diploma Programs from Excellent Colleges and Universities Nationwide
Students can broaden their prospects of acceptance into college after graduation from high school through support available from the National College Counseling Center and earn their high school diploma from a regionally accredited college or university.
Home schooling of children has occurred since this nation first began, yet has become a growing practice over the past few years to levels never before seen in America. Societal acceptance of home schooling has also increased, as it has become more common for people with children in public or private school settings to have friends, co-workers, or others in their congregation in church that home school their children. There are many reasons why parents choose to home school their children: For some, it is because of their remote location, especially in remote farm areas. Others who live in heavily populated areas realize that their children are not getting the attention that they need in overcrowded classrooms where the student-to-teacher ratios essentially eliminate any possibility of individual support to students. In other cases, it is to provide a safer environment for their children, Regardless of the reasons, students typically do quite well in academic achievement when taught in a home school environment. Most states require that students take standardized academic achievement tests to ensure they are meeting or exceeding the expectations for the grade levels completed. Research in the past revealed that home school students scored exceptionally high (in the 70th to 80th percentile) on standardized academic achievement testing and that 25% of home school students were enrolled in courses one or more grades above their age-associated public and private school peers. What an excellent testimony to the success of home schooling in this nation. However, some high school graduates who were home schooled face obstacles in entering into the college or university of their choice – barriers that can be easily overcome, as will be described in this article.
Let’s face it … the entire nation is currently facing economically difficult times, which is impacting both large and small businesses, as well as government agencies. Anyone who has watched the news this past year has seen the reverberations of the economic downturn; however, what many do not realize is how this is impacting higher education across this nation. Education and employment are intrinsically related – the more education one has attained, the better the prospects of employment, retention, and promotion in the workplace. Enrollment at degree-granting institutions has actually increased over the past few years, even in these tough times. For example, the State of Tennessee reports that they have experienced a 6 percent increase in enrollments at State Colleges and a 15 percent increase at Community Colleges for Fall Semester of 2009. Although it may at first seem illogical, when the economy turns downward, enrollment in degree granting institutions turns upward. Similar results to the example in Tennessee can be seen across the nation. When economic downturns occur, as we have experienced over the past year, many organizations downsize and those employees remaining may need to sharpen their skills academically to carry the additional workload. Many are seeking to earn a degree when they are away from work in case they do later become a casualty of the downsizing and closures that have been all too common in America this past year or more. Take a look at the nationwide results that are reflected on this graph:
Notice the sharp upward line that presents the unprecedented growth in attendance at degree-granting institutions that has occurred over the past five years. As you can see by the lower green line, when the Department of Education projected growth over a ten-year period from 2002-2012, they expected an additional 900,000 to 1 million students to be attending college at the half-way point. When they received the statistics from the mid-point, the 2007-2008 academic year, they discovered a growth rate 5 times that which they had previously forecast. We now have more than 18.2 million students pursuing degrees in America.
What does this have to do with High School students? It means that the competition is tougher than ever to get into the college or university of their choice, as institutions of higher learning are being stretched to the limits with the new students seeking enrollment. How can high school students, particularly those that are home schooled, sharpen their competitive edge to help them get into the college or university of their choice after graduation? By not getting a home school high school diploma. Whoa, now! Don’t stop reading.
We’re not saying high school students should stop being homeschooled. On the contrary, the superior academic achievement of home schooled students testifies to the effectiveness of the process, as we stated in the beginning of this article. What we are saying is that high school students may be better served when they have their high school diploma is conferred from a regionally accredited college or university, rather than through their home school program of study, if they intend to compete for acceptance in top ranked colleges and universities across the nation. Read on to find out how easy this can be:
Although research has shown that home school students typically outperform students at public and private schools across the nation, many colleges and universities are hesitant to accept a home schooled high school graduate into their student body, even though academic achievement tests are required by most states throughout their secondary education. Some institutions of higher learning even require home schooled high school graduates to pass a GED for admission into their college. This can be very discouraging to students and can place students at a competitive disadvantage when seeking admission into a very selective college or university. There are numerous regionally accredited high school programs offered at a distance from higher education institutions across the nation. These include the University of Nebraska, the University of Alabama, Indiana University at Bloomington, the University of Missouri and many more. Students are typically required to complete just a few courses from the institution online to meet their academic residency requirement. The remaining credit may be completed through the student’s home school program of study, as long as it aligns with the curriculum requirements of their high school diploma program. The National College Counseling Center has created the most technologically advanced degree exploration program in the nation, Degree Quest, which, in addition to thousands of degrees from hundreds of colleges, also includes the curricula of high school programs of study from regionally accredited institutions of higher learning. They are able to empower students and their parents to compare where the student should stand toward these programs of study and provide them with a detailed plan to take them from where they currently are to the finish line – graduation and conferral of the high school diploma from one of the participating colleges or universities.
Take for example, Anna R. – a high school student in Central Georgia who aspired to attend the university in another state that her father graduated from many years ago: After reviewing several high school plans created in Degree Quest by the National College Counseling Center, Anna selected the University of Oklahoma to earn her high school diploma through. The university required her to complete five courses through them online, allowing the rest to be completed through the home school program taught by her mother using A Beka courses that aligned with their curriculum requirements. When she graduated from high school, she actually received her high school diploma from the University of Oklahoma, which helped fast-track her into the university she desired to enter to pursue her degree.
Parents of home schooled high school students are encouraged to check into these excellent opportunities for their children to earn a high school diploma from regionally accredited colleges and universities nationwide, especially with the support of the National College Counseling Center serving as advocates for their students. These opportunities also can serve as a means of having experts provide instruction in those subjects in which the parent feels least prepared to teach their high school student, while allowing them the liberty of teaching the other subjects they enjoy sharing with their children as they follow their trek to high school completion. In addition, the National College Counseling Center provides students with access to their student support website, HERC – the Higher Education Resource Connection. On HERC, students will be able to access hundreds and hundreds of resources to help them succeed in their educational endeavors, including nearly 300 semester hours of tuition-free college courses that may be used to prepare them for national college examinations. These may not only be used to help students complete requirements for their high school diploma, but can also give them a jump-start on earning a college degree.
The upward trend in college enrollments is not expected to subside, so the time to sharpen the competitive edge of your high school student is now. As we pointed out above, the surge in attendance that occurred between 2002 and 2008 is continuing, as evidenced in the 6 to 15 percent increase in enrollments that occurred in this 2009-2010 academic year. The National College Counseling Center can provide assistance to home schooled high school students across the nation and offers a significant discount on their one-time administrative fee to home school families.
(This article was presented by Tim N. Scoggins, a retired Lieutenant Commander and former head of the US Coast Guard Voluntary Education Programs from 1994 to 1998, and the founder and president of the National College Counseling Center.)
*Visit www.NC3degrees.info or call 850-819-3891 and use the support code: Tango35 if you decide to register! My family who is enrolled gets referral credit!*
Tracy is first and foremost a Christian, a military wife and mother. She grew up as a military brat all over the USA and is married to her Air Force, pastor husband of 15 years. They have 2 beautiful teenage children that they home school. She is photographer, and owns Shots From the Heart Photography and loves to do what she calls “Capturing the Fingerprints of God!” in her images. Tracy also created a workshop called Mommytography, where she teaches Mom’s how to take better pictures. You can visit her at her blog: Lighthouse Academy Home & School
9 Homeschool Resolutions for Parents of High School Students
January 25, 2010 by Lee
Work on these easy resolutions and in only a few minutes you can feel confident in your ability to homeschool high school!
1. Start Record Keeping!
You can initiate a record keeping system in 5 minutes or less. Just grab box, and put it in an out of the way corner. You can use the box as a record keeping system, just by remembering to put things in it. Sure there are better and fancier ways to keep records, but ANYTHING is better than nothing.
2. Mark your Calendar!
Mark your calendar with important dates now, while this year’s calendar is still looking empty! Find the dates for important tests on the College Board website. Most high school kids take the PSAT in fall of 10th grade and again in 11th grade. The SAT or ACT test is taken in the spring of junior year.
3. Have a Parent-Teacher Meeting!
Go ahead, talk to yourself! Review your high school plan with your spouse and students. Every college has different requirements, so check with a possible college to see what is required. Usual requirements are: English 4 years, Math 3-4 years, Science 3 years,Social Studies 3-4 years,Foreign Language 2-3 years, PE 2 years,Fine Arts 1 year, Electives enough to make 24 credits.
4. Adjust Curriculum!
While you are looking at your high school plan, think about what is working for you. If it doesn’t work, throw it out! Try a different strategy that may work better. It doesn’t matter how wonderful the curriculum is, what matter is if you children are learning. Out with the old, and in with the new!
5. Try a Transcript!
You don’t have to finish, your goal is to just START your transcript. The way to make your transcript accurate and professional-looking is to work on it regularly. Spend just a few minutes writing down what you have already done.
6. Identify Specialization!
Check your annoy-o-meter and in 5 minutes or less you can determine your child’s area of specialization. What is your student most likely doing when you say “Will you PLEASE put that down?” Is it possible that is your child’s specialization? Their interests may be annoying, so look closely at what they are doing when you feel frustrated.
7. Estimate SAT score!
Quickly estimate an SAT score from PSAT results. In each subject area on the test, add a “zero” to the end of their score. For example, a 50 on the PSAT math section would be approximately a 500 on the SAT math. Knowing this number can help you determine what college would be a good fit, and if SAT preparation is important.
8. Make a Reading List!
On a piece of paper, print “Reading list.” Then have your students collect books they have read in the past 3 months. They can practice typing skills while listing the name and author of each book.
9. Sip Tea!
Each of these resolutions is is very quick and easy, and you could get through this list in a few hours. Once you have accomplished these resolutions, and now it’s time to take a break. Your job is to sip some herbal tea and relax.
Lee Binz is a veteran homeschooling mom of two and the owner of The HomeScholar, “Helping parents homeschool through high school.” She has a new free minicourse called “The 5 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make When Homeschooling High School”. You can sign up for her free email homeschool newsletter, The HomeScholar Record and get your daily dose of wisdom via e-mail from her homeschool blog, The HomeScholar Helper.
