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By Shawna, on April 30th, 2013 
Despite my love of reading, my memories of [public] high school English are not all that… memorable. We spent a great deal more time talking about what other people had written – and what it “meant” – than we ever did writing… and writing fiction wasn’t even on the schedule unless you had time to fit an extra English class in your schedule. (Bor-ing!) If I’d had access to a book like the one we’re using now, Writing Fiction [in High School], I’m certain I’d be much more confident in my fiction writing . . . → Read More: Review: Writing Fiction [in High School]
By Shawna, on April 10th, 2013 
I couldn’t find Chris’ Alphasmart the other day when I was taking pics of Chey’s, but he unearthed it so I could today.
Not quite as fancy a paint job – and the paint we used probably wasn’t the best kind to use, we’re learning now – but it’s still customized to his requested colors, and certainly much more appealing than the drab gray/beige that was the original shade!
One thing we love about the Alphasmarts is how portable they are – and how sturdy! The kids can tote these anywhere with them, they can even be used . . . → Read More: One More Custom Word Machine
By Shawna, on April 6th, 2013 
Forgot to share of pic of Cheyenne’s ultra-personalized writing machine – an old Alphasmart Pro we picked up in an inexpensive lot on eBay. They work like a charm, are ultra-portable and sturdy, and last almost forever on two AA batteries… perfect for homeschoolers, except the originals are UGLY.
So… we modify. And this is Chey’s.
By Shawna, on April 2nd, 2013 
Cheyenne is in writer-girl mode at the moment, and is attempting Camp Nanowrimo this month with a goal of 10,000 words. She’s dragged me into it as well… we’ll see how far I get. I’m making no promises.
Is anyone else doing Nano this month?
By Shawna, on November 10th, 2012 
I know – I had every intention of doing Nanowrimo this year, and so did the kids – but life just plain got in the way again this year. Thankfully, it’s not the total house displacement of last year’s “our landlord got foreclosed on” mess, but it’s been busy and disorganized enough – family life and otherwise – that we just don’t realistically see it happening. We’re considering doing Jan-no-wri-mo, or winter-mo-wri-mo, or something – sometime when the weather keeps us in, but there’s not so many other things going on!
In the meantime, for the writers . . . → Read More: Nanowrimo Update
By Shawna, on October 9th, 2012 
My daughter loves online learning, and she‘s always up willing to try out the latest and greatest new educational subscriptions. Headquartered in Australia, ZooWhiz is a relatively new offering that is open to users worldwide.
ZooWhiz has questions covering three content areas: math, reading and word skills. Word skills cover content and punctuation. Parents are able to adjust the difficult level individually for each child, and math and reading are designe dot enable it to be used as a reference material; up until age seven.
When students log in to ZooWhiz, they . . . → Read More: Be a whiz at learning at the zoo
By Shawna, on September 30th, 2012 
One of my favorite authors, Lynn Viehl, had a contest over at her blog, Paperback Writer, recently – she was going to send out journals for a few lucky winners. She always awes me when she posts pics of some of her journals – there’s just SO MUCH there. We can only wish to leave so much of ourselves for those that come after us to know.
It really got me thinking, though – I used to love journaling. Anytime I needed to think something through, I didn’t talk about it with people, I . . . → Read More: Journal: reflection of yourself
By Shawna, on September 10th, 2012 
Never really thought about how someone could plan it out in advance – I’ve just assumed that blogs that were later turned into books always did so by happenstance – but a book I heard of (via PBW) called How To Blog A Book makes an awful lot of sense – I think I’d like to get this book.
Marketing and writing, all at once. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Who’d have thought?
By Shawna, on August 26th, 2012 
Did you know that perennial homeschool favorite, Time4Learning, has a writing-specific site, too? It’s called Time4Writing, and quite a few of the Schoolhouse Crew members have been testing it out over the summer.
Time4Writing offers fourteen different courses covering elementary, middle and high school writing needs. (There is even a guide to choosing the correct course.) Each course is taught by a certified teacher who works one-on-one with the student to build writing skills. . . . → Read More: A time to write
By Shawna, on August 7th, 2012 
Writing, to me, is a hard subject to teach. It’s always seemed so fluid and intangible, compared to something concrete, like math. Math has right, and wrong, there’s no perception, emotions, impressions involved – math does not care how you feel, what you believe, how you react. It simply is. There is no room for negotiation.
Words, though – they’re powerful. They can draw people in, captivate them – or shut them out. And to use words to their fullest potential, we have to know the rules before we are able to break them.
I don’t remember learning . . . → Read More: A simple plan for teaching writing
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