Grammar Resources

Helping your kids succeed in school may mean homework for you too.  Here are a couple of good  resources & website I've found helpful.

There are many approaches to teaching grammar, but I have found a couple I really like.  They are easy for parents to implement.

                1)     http://www.rfwp.com/

                       4 level analyses are simple & I think easy to learn. 

                2)     https://www.shurley.com/

                      This is similar to the other one, but uses jingles for memory work.

Both of these sell to “homeschoolers”- so you can buy them & work with your child in the summer, weekends, etc.  This is something they really need to master!

 The Grammar Blue Book
http://www.grammarbook.com/

Grammar Bytes- great siteJ

http://www.chompchomp.com/menu.htm

Summer: Make it Count!

     Statistically all American students take a backward slide during the summer.  Black kids fare worse.  Aimless Summer don't help Black Students, especially in the area of reading.  Honestly, my kids had great summers- camps, sleeping in, spend the nights, etc.  Academic enrichment was always a part of summer plans though.
   *One note here- parents tell me their kids don't want to do these things and my answer to that: kids have parents because they need them.  Kids, are not capable of knowing what they will need in the long run. Plan for what they need not what they want-  kids generally want to lay around, eat junk, not bathe, and stay up all night.  I gave my kids about a week of that, but then I became a benevolent Dictator.  Here are a few things that I did with my kids every summer. 

1)  Got a Summer Bridge books.  These books reinforce the grade completed & ready the child for the next grade. Get these at Books-a Million, BN, Amazon -Not optional.  Before they went anywhere Summer Bridge pages had to be completed. 

2) Vacation Bible School- I grew up on it & my kids did too.  My own church didn't do daytime VBS, so I took them to another church.  When we moved to Alabaster, Al  Nick was in K5 & went to Westwood Baptist's VBS until the 6th grade.  My good friend Yolanda sent her son's too and this became a yearly norm. Who doesn't like Crafts and Snacks??
    
3)  Library Book Program-  This also was a ritual part of my own upbringing.   Jefferson County has some of the best libraries I been too!  Even though I live in Shelby County, for $50/ year I pay out of county fees.  So worth it! Every library has a Kick-off party and you get a little book bag with a reading logs, book marks and a calendar of activities.  I normally go to Hoover, but have gone to most.  When Devin, my middle son, was little we joined Irondale, Hoover, Homewood & Central one year LOL.  All the programs were so good!  Kids get prizes for books read.  I started taking Livi at 3.
Not so much for High School kids- so we strike our own reading goal prizes:).

4) Camps- I would try to get at least a week or two of a camp the kids really wanted.  We never could afford expensive ones, so I would find cheap or free ones.  When Devin was 12 he was really interested in Aviation.  I found a "Aviation Camp" at the Southern Museum of Flight.  It was $85/week 8-5.  Sports camps can be high, but some take payment plans like the Point Guard College Nick went to last year.  Civil Air Patrol camps and Boy Scout camps are cheap.

5) Volunteering- teaching our kids to be grateful can be hard, giving back helps.  Devin  volunteered at UAB hospital for 2-3 summers.  My older two were camp counselors at inner-city camps. Mission trips and Habitat for Humanity were other things they've done.


     For the past two weeks I've been scouring the internet, googling that is, for camps to send my 10th grade son to.  He will be a junior next year and yes I still make plans for his summers. Maybe it's a boy thing, but left to his own Nick would vegetate all summer & I can't stand bodies not in motion lol.   I try to look for things he would like and that are free or cheap.   No sports camps this year- time for career exploration, so I found a

a)  Camp @ UAB - Material Engineers Camp and it's FREE.
b)  Camp at Tuskegee- not free- but cheap - PACT (Preview Architecture & Construction Science)
c)  Camp @ the CDC in Atlanta FREE - Disease  Detective Camp

Deadlines are approaching on most of these- for High School students- here are links

 http://www.uab.edu/engineering/home/departments-research/mse/materials-camp

 

http://www.tuskegee.edu/academics/summer_programs.aspx

 

http://www.cdc.gov/museum/camp/detective/index.htm

 

http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2013/12/12/80-free-summer-programs-for-high-school-students/

 

http://www.whatkidscando.org/featurestories/2012/04_summer_academics/

 
http://www.uabmedicine.org/volunteer-services/

Over the years I have grown to think of summer as a time to assess and regroup.  Catch up in areas we struggle and explore new things too.  Start planning now for a summer your kids will love and won't fall behind in.

Gloria J. Adams
Fortify!

“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”
― Malcolm X

The Art of Learning = Work

     There is an art to Learning- work. With some people learning is automatic.  My middle son Devin was a natural learner, a virtual sponge.   I was not.  I had to work at learning things.  When I was in nursing school, I made flash cards in every class and then I would push Devin in a stroller & memorize the terms.  After I felt I had learned them, I would write them down.  Then I would recreate the outline from my notes or book. I could teach the material by test time.  This method took time, but earned me almost all A’s & the highest grade point average in my class.        

       Our children must be taught the art of learning.  It takes three simple steps. 

1)  Input (Knowledge)- (Who, What, Where, and the When of a subject)

First, they must learn the vocabulary that is common to the discipline. This means memorization.   For example, in mathematics: addition, addend, sum, subtrahend, minuend, difference, etc.  As well as formulas, times tables, etc. Each subject has its set of terms, without knowing them a student can't participate in the discipline.  The one area I struggled with in college was math.  I was one of those people who had to take all of the developmental courses.  Realizing not knowing my times tables was a huge stumbling block was an eye-opener.  Insisting your kids know all the terms and formulas necessary to be “fluent” in math falls on the parent.  The teachers may teach them, but they can’t make sure every kid knows them.   Repetition helps to ingrain new knowledge into the mind which helps the mind to make sense of the information faster. By absorbing as much as you can about the subject, the more “stuff” you have to work with and organize, make sense of--- the better one “knows” something, the better one can “understand” it.

  

 2)  Processing (Understanding)-(Why of a subject.)

In the Processing stage, all of the information you absorbed in the Input stage is now put in orderly, deeper patterns.  Does all of the information agree with one another, how does it all go together?   We line everything up – it's good to write info down in order and relationships.  For example: terms come 1st & then formulas in math. Sum, Product,  Area of a triangle, the order of operations, etc.  We come to know what something is by “making sense” of the information.

3)  Output (Wisdom)- (How of a subject)
Output is where our understanding of a subject is then put into our own words as we move the information from the mental to the verbal.  Fully attained wisdom is knowing, learning a subject in such a way that you can teach it.  Not simply to know or understand it. At this level -when the information can be taught, or written out in an essay or passed on a test- your child has learned it.  Wisdom deals with the application of Knowledge and Understanding- in written, oral or test forms.

     If kids start out really learning, they will increase in wisdom.   If they never learn to learn they will not be equipped for college and higher learning.

   The good thing is- these are habits that can be developed.  A way of using our God given brains and it’s never too late. I was 30 learning my times tables, but I excelled in nursing school after that. 

 Your kids will probably resist, but teach them anyway- they might hate you now, but they will love you later.
  www.quizlet.com is a great place to find flash cards or to make them & there is an App.:)

Gloria J. Adams
Fortify! © 2015

 

Question of the Day

There's an old saying that "More is Caught than Taught"-
Here's the Question:

Do you personally model Literacy in your kids lives?  How much do you read? 
Please answer this poll by posting your answer in the comments  section below.


Reading Amounts in 2014:

0-1 books/month   
2-4/books/month
Greater than 4 books/month

Fortify! starts a small group

      On Sunday afternoon, I had the pleasure of hosting a group of young scholar-athletes in my home.  It was the first meeting of an ACT/College prep small group that grew from talks with a couple of phenomenal mothers ( D. Gamble & Y. Harrell) .  The aim of the group is to- in the long run-develop tools needed in college and in the short run - raise ACT scores for college admission.
      Sharing the articles I started this blog with was eye-opening for these young men, who are sharp and capable of succeeding in every arena in life. We also looked at several other articles: what makes you middle class, the 30 best paying majors & the 25 worst paying majors.  Many black students major in the worst paying majors, resulting in a less than "middle class" income.
      After a time of assessing everyone's baseline knowledge- the guys were assigned some "homework" for next week.  I guess you could say it's "enrichment"! 
      The moms had  assignments too, so they can provide accountability.  Informed parents are the key to our children's future.  Fights about education never seems to stop in the government and parents are subjected to yet another "new" educational reform.  Before they ever figure it out, what's going to work -your kid will be grown.  Helping parents to make sure their own kids get an education in the meantime is my goal. 
      My next post will be about -Learning.  Look for it soon.

Gloria J. Adams
Fortify!
 
 There is no more powerful advocate than a parent armed with information and options."
-- Rod - Paige, Secretary of Education

101 Books for College-bound Kids

  101 Books for College-bound Kids starts with a list for middle school kids, so don't be afraid to pick a great book for your 5th or 6th grader.  These are great books to read with your kids.  They're challenging and therefore College Prep.   Read the 1st couple of pages aloud to get them started.  Then go back & forth if need be- the goal is to get them to  read from good books with rich language. 

 *A note of caution- every book does not have to be hard- ideally kids should read 400 pages/month.
It's good to read a variety: easy, just right and hard books.