Curriculum, Learning Styles, and Choices… Oh, My!

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Curriculum learning stylesAs a new homeschool mom with an arsenal of degrees and certifications to show for my years of college and experience in the preschool and special education arena, I thought I was prepared. I handled a class of 25+ students in the sixth through ninth grades of Specific Learning Disabilities classes. Surely I could handle two children who were my own.

So I set off as many of you do, to recreate the school within the home, only to find it was a dismal failure. Well, not totally. We loved waking up each morning to a hot breakfast, and then I’d take my second cup of coffee and my two little ones to my room where we’d snuggle up and I’d read the Bible, a biography, and often we’d end up back there again to read after lunch. My oldest child had some learning struggles and he was not getting math. Simple facts were beyond him and asking him to memorize the multiplications facts in later years was like asking him to recite the Pythagorean Theorem.

That’s when I discovered that while I could read most things and remember them, I had hands-on learners who loved exploring and delving into things, getting their hands dirty, and loving it! So instead of just talking about rockets, we turned the refrigerator box into a space ship, complete with countdown to blast off music. My children wore bicycle helmets and pretended to be astronauts.

When our lot flooded, I would have been happy to read about the flood plain, and use words like – “cypress slough” in a sentence or learn about all the animals that like the flood water habitat using an illustrated children’s nature book, but, nooooo, not my children! They had to don boots and drag their brand-new red wagon my parents purchased for them around our flooded yard. They would play outdoors for hours. One day my son ran in all excited and asked, “Is it red-on-yellow kill a fellow, and red-on-black friend of Jack?”  Do you see a recurring theme here?ChristinaSpaceShip

These two were not happy to read about nature in a book, they had to experience it, and so when I happened upon Cathy Duffy at a homeschool conference, it finally made sense! Learning styles, yes – I remember learning about those in my special education classes and then it hit me! Our styles were completely different and not only those of my children, but mine as well.

That doesn’t mean it happened overnight, nor does it mean that I couldn’t encourage my strong visual child to learn things orally as well. It just meant that I wasn’t trying to fit a square peg into a round hole any longer. I finally was able to hit on some compromises that worked for our family and we happily became a unit study, Charlotte Mason, textbook, workbooks, biographies, fiction author, eclectic type of family. One size does not always fit all – and I’m a case in point.

Have you struggled finding curriculum that works for your family? Or did you finally have an, “Aha!” moment like I did?

 

Felice Gerwitz is the host of Vintage Homeschool Moms show that airs on Monday at noon eastern time. Her guest is Cathy Duffy.

Curriculum & Learning Styles – Cathy Duffy

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

CathDuffyInterviewListen as your host, Felice Gerwitz interviews her special guest, Cathy Duffy. They discuss everything for why Cathy began homeschooling her three boys, now adults, to the difference between learning styles and modalities. Cathy tackles the hard questions in regard to Common Core standards and how homeschoolers perceive this pointing out a very interesting fact – data collection, which we should all be aware of and guard against.

Don’t miss this great interview with curriculum specialist Cathy Duffy.

Visit Cathy at CathyDuffyReviews.com and subscribe to her enewsletter and connect with her on Facebook as well CathyDuffyReviews

Cathy is author of the book – 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum

 

Stalemate Continues …

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

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History is being made as the stalemate continues! We are on the forefront with questions from our amazing live audience!

Moderator, Felice Gerwitz hosts this session with Professor Wilson. Professor Wilson begins with a recap of the events of our government stalemate as well as an explanation of political terminology students will hear in the media.

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Government shutdowns generally occur when two houses of Congress (or Congress and the president) cannot agree on a certain topic. These generally are budget related and happen right before a new fiscal  year or before the deadline. It means that all the federal programs and agencies will not have all fund to operate. In this case, it is between the Republican House and the Democrat Senate.

Each federal agency develops its own shutdown plan, following guidance released in previous shutdowns and coordinated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The plan identifies which government activities may not continue until appropriations are restored, requiring furloughs and the halting of many agency activities. However, “essential services” – many of which are related to public safety – continue to operate, with payments covering any obligations incurred only when appropriations are enacted.

 

This episode is a follow up to the original government shutdown show! visit it here  https://ultimateradioshow.com/govstalemate/

ACA-Affordable Care Act & Government

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

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Affordable Care Act (ACA) & Government

Professor Woodrow Wilson launches the first show with a discussion about the ACA, the “Affordable Care Act,” also known as Obamacare. He analyzes the differences between Republican and Democratic views on this issue as well as delving into the origin of their differences. In this show we will examine the shut-down of areas of government run facilities, and the constitutionality of what is currently taking place.

The main objectives of this program are to reform the private insurance market, to expand Medicaid to the working poor with income up to 133% of the federal poverty level, and to change the way that medical decisions are made.

Here we will examine these policies among others to make informed observations on these