Grammar and Creative Writing
Posted by mjl in Homeschooling, Mary Leppert, Writing on January 25, 2012
By Daniel Schwabauer Q: Should we throw out grammar, spelling, and rules during the creative process? A: Yes. I was fifteen the first time I drove a car. Mr. McAfree, my Driver’s Ed teacher, slid into the vinyl-clad passenger seat as Craig Sulley, another student, buckled up in the back. Even though McAfree was nearing retirement, he looked uncomfortable. I chalked it up to lack of self-confidence and revved the engine before pulling out into traffic. For ten minutes or so everything went smoothly. I followed his instructions quickly and with perfect attention to detail. And then it happened. We were charging along a busy four lane street in Kansas City when Mr. McAfree made a rookie mistake so silly [...]
Berkshares – A Revolutionary Economic Response from the Cradle of the Revolution!
Posted by mjl in Homeschooling, Mary Leppert on January 25, 2012
By Emerson Sandow It does not surprise one that a revolutionary idea in dealing with a sagging economy comes out of the Berkshire region of Western Massachusetts. This land of beautiful rolling hills and quiet valleys lies between Boston and Albany, NY, and saw much secret activity during the pre-Revolutionary period of America. Many of the Founders traveled through – and stayed overnight – in the Berkshires’ many inns and no doubt plans were whispered that ultimately gave us our United States. Now, a group of businessmen have devised a brilliant but simple plan to stimulate and protect the commerce of local merchants and services: BerkShares! Berkshares keep the “money” in the local pockets and provide a slight discount to [...]
Go for the Gold in the Scholarship Olympics
Posted by mjl in Homeschooling, Mary Leppert on January 25, 2012
by Jean Burke Let the games begin! Looking for scholarships can seem like a marathon. The competition is fierce, but hard work can pay off in scholarship gold. With the right knowledge and some persistence, students can put themselves ahead of the game and bring home the prize in the way of college money. Finding college scholarships is not as hard as you may think. Begin looking at your local high school guidance counselorís office as well as in your own community. Local organizations often have contests for area students who will represent their companies well. And the fastest growing scholarship resource is the internet with sites such as www.fastweb.com and www.collegeNET.com. Many are offered at the beginning of the [...]
The End of Eloquence? Not on Our Watch!
Posted by mjl in Homeschooling, Mary Leppert on January 20, 2012
By Andrew Pudewa, http://www.excellenceinwriting.com “Most of the young people we have to hire these days really can’t communicate clearly. They can’t speak three sentences without saying ‘like’ and ’cuz’ and ‘stuff’ several times. They can’t write two complete sentences with correct grammar and capitalization . . . and forget about punctuation! And they can’t think. When something goes wrong, they just sit there and wait for someone to tell them what to do! It’s infuriating!” Traveling around the country, I constantly meet professionals from all walks of life: Managers and business owners, teachers and professors, supervisors and graduate students. Though their histories and circumstances are often quite different, they all have one universal frustration, which when voiced, sounds very similar [...]
Let’s Sing!
Posted by mjl in Homeschooling, Mary Leppert on January 20, 2012
by Gaby Pryer Cesar can’t wait to go to camp. “The bus leaves at 7:15 in the morning next Saturday?” he yells. “Goody, I’ll be there at 6:30 in the morning!” “I like it because I have good experiences,” says Jennie. “I get to know friends – and I can’t wait to go to England.” Andrea likes it because “there are different ages of kids, and I love the challenge – we are grouped by ability and we learn different languages.” What are these kids talking about, anyway? Scouts? Soccer? Summer Camp? No, they’re talking about their chorus – about singing in a choir. Throughout the world, children’s choruses rival sports, scouts and supervised goofing around as a popular way [...]
Allsaid & Dunn – The Reading Game
Posted by mjl in Homeschooling on January 19, 2012
2727 De Anza Rd. Ste. SD21 San Diego, CA 92109 (858) 412-3442 www.thereadinggame.com ages 4 and up by Santiago Soto The process in teaching a child to read should be simple, fun, and effective. The Reading Game by Allsaid and Dunn, incorporates all three of these elements into a learn-to-read game for children ages four and up with guidance from a teacher or tutor. The contents of the game include six decks of color-coded playing cards that correspond to an animal-themed story book. They are: red with skunk, orange with snake, yellow with bear, green with penguins, blue with unicorn, and purple with zebra. Within each colored/animal deck of 60 cards, there is a subset of 10 [...]
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