Author Archives: Courtney O.

I distinguish between parenting during the early years and homeschooling. Homeschooling happens when you introduce formal curricula, and for most children, that won’t happen until the kindergarten years, about age five. When you introduce formal curricula, the curricula should center on reading (decoding and read-alouds), math (with manipulatives), and developing handwriting. I do not recommendContinue reading “Homeschooling in the Early Years”

When I went to undergrad, I had chem lab, and I was terrible at it. To be fair, my fine motor skills are not the best, and I did end up paying several hundred dollars for extra glassware, but the worst part was the math. We did a lot of dimensional analysis. Dimensional analysis tendsContinue reading “Dimensional Analysis”

The Cult of Smart by Fredrik deBoer, 2020, St. Martin’s Publishing What is intelligence? A book whose thesis seems to be ‘the unintelligent will always be with us, so it’s our moral duty to take care of them’ should spend some time carefully defining terms, but instead deBoer uses a slew of synonyms, not unlikeContinue reading “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics”

Math: RightStart A, B, C (primary curriculum) Saxon Math (daily, morning meeting only) Kumon Simple Addition Grade 2 Subtraction Grade 2 Addition Grade 3 Addition & Subtraction My First Book of Money: Counting Coins Math Mammoth Light Blue Series Lollipop Logic: Grades K-2, Book 1 Primarily Logic, Grades 2-4 English Language Arts Reading: All About Reading Pre-readingContinue reading “Youngest Child’s Curriculum List, K-2”

Over the last 30 months or so, I’ve taken my youngest daughter from unable to recognize all her letters to maxing out a phonics and high frequency word recognition test, and sliding into a reading comprehension test at a “grade level equivalent” of 12.8. (This does not mean that my daughter can read at theContinue reading “My Baby Can Read”

Written discussion is one of the ways in which teachers can assist students in building camaraderie within the course. Shy students, students with low processing speed, students with facial recognition issues, students with high anxiety levels, students with speech delays, and so on can feel especially isolated. Having written discussions helps give students a low-keyContinue reading “Why Use Discussion Questions?”

Philosophy of Education   Have you got one? Why should you have one? What are the main areas? Contrary to my MA in secondary education, I don’t think this has anything to do with constructivism. That’s a pedagogical style, not a philosophy. Instead, I offer you these four contrasting ideas in tension with each other.Continue reading “Curriculum — and What It Isn’t”

We are counting down the number of lectures in my algebra classes. Only two more left, and then my math students have an end-of-year, cumulative final exam. One question for every concept we’ve covered this year, 70-90 questions. Naturally, students are feeling a little stress. My email inbox is full, with requests for assistance onContinue reading “algebra in 100 minutes per week”