Kinda Daily Links for 10th and 11th April 2010

Playing catch up at the moment hence the out of whack dates :)

Home Education

  • The first link is entitled When Rote Learning Makes Sense and I came across this blogpost via Why Homeschool and the part of the article they included in their blogpost really resonated with me as well. I can remember clearly being envious of people who were able to recite their favourite poems and passages when I was younger – and to be honest this has certainly not changed.
    As far as our Home Education goes, we already do a little recitation each day with our current rhyme, song, and virtue affirmation. Haven’t quite got to learning poetry on top of this and I think I’ve been putting this off subconsciously until we’re comfortable with our current workload.
    The original blogpost also included this passage:

    Learning Aloud
    Just as we use our mouths to repeat a phone number over and over to retain it in short term memory, other things can be learned in the same way. One key point here to remember is that the cycle of repetition must be short and quick and no less than three times.

    Another point is that if students cannot pronounce a word, there is no way they can remember it. When reviewing flash cards orally, for example, students need to do it quickly, pausing only a second or two for recall.

    If it doesn’t come, then they need to look at the answer and repeat it aloud, then go on. If done quickly, by the third or fourth iteration, most students can have 100 percent accuracy. The danger is when a student gets stuck on one card for too long, all of the other information in short term memory is lost, making the study ineffective.

    One way to help students learn how to do this is to do the flash cards with them, modeling the speed and what happens if the student can’t remember: let them look at the answer, but making sure that that student gets a chance to respond correctly again. If the students are in a line (or even better, several lines), the first student answers a card, and then goes back to the end of the line while the rest of the students in the line give their responses to the cards one by one.

    I’m keen to see how I can adapt this advice into the phonics part of the day, which right at the moment I’m experiencing some reluctance to even try – the alternative I see if all else fails is to back off for the moment, which I’m hesitant to do as I know how absolutely overjoyed she’ll be when she’s at the stage where she can read independently.

    I should also mention that the comments on the original blogpost have quite a bit of content in them themselves.

  • Miscellaneous

  • Here is a blogpost extolling the uses of aluminium foil. I can testify that the tip on using it to Protect Young Plants works. I had a huge problem with slugs and snails grazing on my seedlings germinating in seed trays. No matter how high I would put them the snails would sniff them out. However placing the trays on a sheet of aluminium foil foiled those annoying slugs. The only caveat is that the tops of taller seedlings mustn’t be touching anything nearby as the snails will use it as a bridge into the tray.
    I’m currently using aluminium foil to line the inside of a seedtray that I have filled with Jiffy-7 Peat Pellets (I purchased them from Bunnings) that I’m trialling at the moment. This works dually as a deterrent for the slugs and snails once again, and also because the foil is fairly strong I can water my seedlings by pouring water into the lined tray and the peat pellets soak up the water that way. And an added bonus is because there’s no spillage and no seedling mix involved I can keep my trays inside without any mess.
    Some of the other tips are intriguing; I’m keen to see how well the aluminium foil ball works in the dryer – just need to wash something that creates static. I gave the tip to use foil to sharpen scissors and that one worked for me.
  • Well, think I’ll call it quits at two links for these two days. :)

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    One Response to “Kinda Daily Links for 10th and 11th April 2010”

    1. Sometimes It’s The Small Things - Vicarious Thoughts Says:

      […] finally, here is a cheaper alternative to the Jiffy Peat Pellets I’ve mentioned in an earlier post – the Toilet Roll Seed Starter! (via Parent […]

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