Know How You Learn

Recently, my son and I were meeting about our novel. Joshua started to describe the changes he thought we should make to a particular scene and told me I could just jot down whatever I thought I needed to. I told him to hold on for a minute while I got a blank sheet of paper, then I promptly did the following:

1. Numbered each note as he spoke
2. Put sub notes under the note with the character's initial and the motivational changes that Joshua thought we needed (M: Needs to begin this scene....)
3. Drew arrows to and from things as he spoke

Then when I was ready to rewrite that scene, guess what I did? I typed those notes all up--complete with the numbering and sub-numbering, etc.

Why am I telling you this? If you are a student, pay close attention to HOW you learn. I could not have written from paragraph notes. I could not have written with a word or two for each point. I could not have written from my handwritten notes--I needed to type it up in order to further understand it.

Whatever you do as a student to learn tells you a lot about how you learn! Utilize this information for test preparation, writing projects, and more. And like I always tell my students: "You know more than you realize you know!"

day 76: creating a reading environment

I don't want to re-invent the wheel--and I also want to be sure to keep LL 365 short....or I might lose my privileges (or so my family says!)...so while I am going to spend a little time on helping  your struggling reader in this month's Homework Help, I am not going to spend too much time on reading in general.

So...I will direct you to our sister blog, Positive Parenting, a weekday parenting blog for Christian families. The link below will lead you to the first of three entries about creating a reading environment in your home for new readers. There are so many things that parents can do to create a learning environment--and build a love for reading, whether your children go to school or homeschool.

Blessings to your family as you seek to help your children in the areas of language arts, reading, and writing!

http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-244-creating-environment-conducive.html