-by Mimi Rothschild

“Worksheets” can be almost synonymous with “boring.” For some homeschool families, the opportunity to switch from endless worksheets to hands-on learning is one of the reasons they’ve chosen to homeschool. So I was a bit surprised when my sons disagreed with me as I sympathized with them about having to do worksheets.

“I know worksheets are lame…” I began

“Not necessarily,” said one. His brother joined him in listing the benefits of worksheets:

• They let you practice things so you don’t forget.
• They help you figure out whether you really understand something you think you got – because sometimes you don’t.
• They’re fun, for students who like them.
• They’re easy, and sometimes you need something easy.
• If it’s hard to concentrate on a chapter sometimes, and a worksheet can help you focus as you read.
• They can be a good way to review and make sure you haven’t forgotten things.
• You can see how you did on it easily, unlike complex projects, and a good score makes you feel good.

“It depends on the worksheet,” one of the boys pointed out.

But worksheets do have their advantages. Especially if your students enjoy them. Here are some tips for making the best use of worksheets:

• Choose wisely. One of the benefits for homeschool parents is that worksheets are easy to find. They come with your curriculum, or you just go to your favorite search engine and type in “Multiplication worksheet” and print something out. But take the time to look over them before you assign them to your student, and make sure that they’re good quality. Errors in the worksheet, confusing directions, or sheets that are much too hard or easy for your student will make the worksheet frustrating rather than helpful.

• Balance worksheets with other kinds of practice and discovery. For example, you might read about a science topic, spend some time doing an experiment, and then cement that knowledge with a worksheet. Doing page after page of worksheets can be tiresome, and may not really show what your student knows and understands about the topic.

• Save the worksheets your student completes. It can be very encouraging to look back on earlier papers and see how far they’ve come. You can also make cumulative tests by pulling questions from earlier worksheets. Don’t save so much that you run out of storage space (maybe, if that happens, then you’re relying too much on worksheets), but keep a nice file for each student.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Are you struggling between giving your students the knowledge they need in the form of information, and helping them develop the skills they’ll need for life?

It can be a tough choice. We have limited time, and lots to cover. Sometimes we feel that knowing about Shakespeare might not be as important as being able to use the computer, or that being able to read maps might be less useful than knowing geography. We might even struggle to decide between teaching our kids how to multiply, and having them memorize the multiplication tables.

The question is made more difficult in some ways, as it seems that the amount of information available keeps growing, and the skills needed in the future work world become harder to predict.

How can we balance skills and knowledge?

First, let’s see what the Bible has to say on this subject.

In Exodus 31:3, God says, “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.” “Crafts” is a word we now sometimes use in the sense of hobbies, but a craft is a set of abilities: the craft of writing, or of drawing, or of building. The Proverbs 31 woman is a collection of skills. Jesus showed skill in all that He did, and indeed we’re told that God “doeth all things well.” The subject of skill arises repeatedly throughout the old and new testaments, as individuals are identified by their skills in everything from embroidery to warfare.

Yet the word of God also tells us that God’s knowledge is perfect (Job 37:16) and that human knowledge comes from God (Proverbs 2:6). We are advised to seek wisdom and knowledge, and knowledge is referred to as “riches” more than once. In fact, knowledge is included along with other fruits of the spirit in 2 Peter 1:4-6, in which we are exhorted to “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness.”
If we look at the many passages in the Bible that discuss skill and knowledge, we can see that God doesn’t distinguish these two things, considering one more important than the other. So why should we?

Is the skill of being able to read worth gaining without the chance it gives us to get knowledge from reading? Is knowing about technology useful if we can’t apply that knowledge?

Let’s follow God’s leading in this as we do in other areas of our lives, and help our children gain both knowledge and skill. When we teach information, we should give our students the opportunity to apply it. When we teach skills, we should practice them with worthwhile information, not with meaningless examples.

Have your students practice their handwriting by copying out Bible verses they need to learn. Let them practice math skills by preparing a family budget or planning to build a dog house. Encourage them to use their knowledge about nutrition to plan nutritious family meals, and to teach things they’ve learned to younger siblings.

This approach will encourage both skills and knowledge, for an efficient and well-rounded educational experience.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

The beginning of the school year is so exciting! We have fresh new books, sharp new pencils, great new ideas, and lots of enthusiasm.

By now, there may be foot-dragging when it’s time to gather for lessons, staring out the window when there should be diligent work going on, and even a little bit of whining.

If it’s just a reluctant day or two, there might be occasions when you should take some time out and come back refreshed. A “mental health day” every now and then is okay. A constantly reluctant learner is frustrating for the home educator, though, and is likely to fall behind and fail to be prepared for future grades, college, or adult life.

Here are some ways to cope with the reluctant learner:

• Start your day with prayer. There may also be times when you need to stop during the day and have a prayer break before you go on. Ask God to guide you and your students, to give all of you the joy of learning, and to strengthen your discipline. Proverbs 23:12, “Apply your heart to discipline and your ears to words of knowledge,” is a good verse to remember at this time. Another is, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23,24).

• Be an enthusiastic example. It’s so easy for us to lightly say, “I always hated science,” or “You’re like me. I just never liked to read.” Keeping guard over our tongues and sharing our own love of learning can make a difference in our children’s attitude. Let your students see you being diligent about your personal Bible study or your homework for Sunday school, reading for pleasure, and keeping to your housekeeping schedule conscientiously. Helping the kids seek out the interesting aspects of the things they’re studying helps, too.

• Recognize that we don’t always want to do what’s best for us. Choosing to go ahead and study even when we don’t want to is great practice for an adult life when we sometimes have to go ahead and work even when we don’t feel like it. With practice, making that choice will get easier. If we give in whenever our kids make a fuss, it will give our kids practice in refusing to work, rather than practice in discipline and diligence. Say, “I know you don’t want to study right now. However, I also know that you will enjoy having your free time when we finish the lesson, and you’ll feel good about what you accomplish, so we’re going to continue.”

• Be open to change. Having recognized that sometimes reluctant students just need to be more diligent, it is also true that there can sometimes be good reasons for learners’ reluctance. Are the lessons appropriate for the ability level of the student? Do they last the right amount of time for the age of the student? Do they work with the student’s learning style? Homeschooling allows us to accommodate the specific needs of our students, so we should take advantage of that freedom to tailor the lessons to suit our children. For some students, just moving to a more comfortable place, changing activities more often, or giving them more control over things like the order in which they study their subjects can make a difference in attitude.

• Prayerfully consider rewards. We’d like to think that intrinsic rewards like the satisfaction of learning are always enough, but our own experience will tell us that this isn’t true. As adults, we often work because we’ll be paid, or because we enjoy the company of the people we work with, as well as for the sheer joy of service. However, making rewards the center of schoolwork can backfire, causing our children to depend so much on rewards that they won’t study without them. Occasional, surprise rewards work best: free reading time when our students have made it through a tough math lesson, a special meal on Friday night when they’ve stayed on task well all week, or stickers on particularly good papers.

If all these things fail to solve the problem of reluctant learners, be sure to consider your students’ physical health. Sometimes an undiagnosed vision problem, allergies, or other physical problems can distract children from their studies. With good physical health, good habits, and time, our students can become enthusiastic learners.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of Learning By Grace, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Children are all different. This is one of the reasons that homeschooling is such a blessing for so many families.

Teaching your children at home allows you to respond to the different needs, the varied interests, and the strengths and weaknesses of each child. But there are some things that we can expect of children at a given age. Our four year old child needs to change to a new activity about every ten minutes. This doesn’t mean that he has attention problems or that he is not focusing on learning. It means that he is four years old.

Our teenager may have trouble imagining the likely consequences of an action or understanding the feelings of other people, whether in history books or in real life. That doesn’t mean that she is on her way to becoming a sociopath.

It means that she is a teenager, and the natural reorganization of the brain that takes place at this time has left her less logical in her outlook that she was before or will be in the future.

This doesn’t mean that our children know naturally how to behave in all situations, and whatever they naturally do is correct. ”Train up a child in the way he should go,” Proverbs 22:6 teaches us, “and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This tells us that we have to teach our children how to behave appropriately. This is as much part of their essential learning as reading and writing.

How can we tell whether a child is behaving appropriately for his age, or behaving badly? If we have the child in a setting that is appropriate for his age, he should be able to behave in ways adults consider correct for that situation. So our young elementary age children should be able to follow the dinner table manners we’ve taught them at home well enough to enjoy meal in a fast food restaurant without raising any eyebrows. They should be welcome in movies, and able to play cooperatively with other children on a park playground.

But we shouldn’t expect them to behave the way adults do at a concert. They may need time to be able to listen appreciatively to sermons in church. They may find it difficult to sit quietly through adult conversation at a formal dinner party. They may not be ready for these experiences, and it may not be realistic for us to expect to be able to take them with us to these events.

When we make it clear that being able to go to “big church” instead of children’s church or to attend a performance of the symphony is a privilege that comes with growing up and learning how to behave, our children will work toward that goal. When we have realistic expectations for their behavior, they will be able to meet those expectations and become confident in social situations. Our children will continue, as 2 Peter 3:18 puts it, to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Their behavior will glorify God and be a credit to our families.

This is certainly a goal worth striving for.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of Learning By Grace, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Here’s another brilliant article to add to your collection of homeschool resources.  This article examines mini lessons, how they work, and why they’re so important for your homeschool curriculum.

What Is It?

 

A mini lesson is a short lesson with a narrow focus that provides instruction in a skill or concept that students will then relate to a larger lesson that will follow. A mini lesson typically precedes reading workshop or writing workshop, but it can serve as an introduction to a social studies, science, or math lesson. Mini lessons can be used to teach particular skills, extend previous learning, create interest in a topic and generate questions, or introduce strategies.

 

Why Is It Important?

 

As Lucy Calkins explains in The Art of Teaching Writing, the mini lesson allows a teacher to convey a tip or strategy to students that they will use often (Calkins 1986). Sharing tips and strategies in this way allows students to gain valuable, relevant skills on a regular basis without spending too much time on drill and worksheets that might otherwise be used to teach the same skills. The lessons can focus on any number of topics, including reading, writing, problem-solving strategies and skills, or even classroom procedures. Using authentic student work as a springboard, teacher-created mini lessons can serve the needs of students by focusing on a single topic across multiple instructional levels.

 

When Should It Be Taught?

 

The mini lesson serves as a lead-in to a larger lesson in just about any subject area and can be as short as 5 minutes or as long as 15 minutes.

 

What Does It Look Like?

 

The mini lesson may be taught to a whole class, a selected small group, or individual students. The mini lesson should be short and focused on one strategy, skill, or concept. Teachers introduce the topic; demonstrate the strategy, skill, or concept; guide student practice; discuss the topic; volunteer more examples; and talk about what was taught. At the end of the mini lesson, teachers should give directions for the next activity, the literacy centers, or independent assignments.

 

How Can You Make It Happen?

 

A great place to find ideas for mini lessons is right in your own classroom. What are your students struggling with? What errors pop up in their work over and over again? Take those errors and turn them into learning opportunities.

 

1.       Primary

 

If students are having trouble with bigger words, the strategy of finding little words in the word might help. Take a sentence that contains a big word, such as sentence in the following example, and write it for students to read.

 

There were many words in the sentence.

 

Model what would happen if you came across the word and did not know how to read it. Thinking aloud, try to find a little word in the word you don’t know. Are there any words that you know? Show students that you can find the words sent and ten in the big word. You could take the big word and write each letter on an index card to show students clearly how the little words can be found. Then you might ask, “What things have many words in them?” The answer might be dictionaries, books, paragraphs, sentences, and so forth. Tell students that finding little words within a bigger word might help them read a word they don’t know.

 

2.       Intermediate

 

A common problem that intermediate students have is how to use the words there, their, and they’re. Searching through student writing is likely to turn up several cases of correct and incorrect usage of these words. Taking a few sentences from student work to analyze with students allows them to think about the words in an authentic context. These words can also be found in books the students are reading.

 

You might start a mini lesson on the uses of there, their, and they’re by showing four or five sentences from student work that uses these words. Some teachers put sentences on transparencies and use an overhead projector. You might also use a computer to link to a TV monitor to display sentences from student work. Allow students to try to figure out which sentences are correct. From this discussion, guide students toward describing the correct usage of each word.

 

Ask students to find a passage or two from books they are reading that contain the words. Students can use these passages to confirm their ideas about the correct usage of words that they came up with in their previous discussion.

 

As a class, create two correct sentences for each word. Post these sentences on the wall of the classroom so that students will be able to refer to them as they write in the future. This mini lesson might lead into writing workshop.

 

3.       Middle/High School

 

Teaching students to elaborate on their ideas can help them better support and clarify their ideas and write more commanding essays and papers. Reflecting on and evaluating ideas is a strategy that students can use both in discussions and writing.

 

Model how to interact with texts in different ways to show students what it looks like to elaborate on an idea. Think aloud as you model how to clarify, speculate, observe, or argue with texts.

 

Some prompts students can use when clarifying ideas are:
I think ___ because…
I was surprised by ___
This is the same as ___
Now I see ___
One example of ___ is…

 

After modeling these strategies using the prompts, have students practice using the strategies by discussing texts with a partner.

 

How Can You Measure Success?

 

To measure the success of the mini lesson, look at student work to see if it has been affected by the topics addressed in the mini lessons. For example, a week after a mini lesson on there, their, and they’re, look to see if the words are being used correctly more often. What about a month later?

 

It may be necessary to do more than one mini lesson on a given topic before improvement is seen throughout the class.

Here’s part two of the “Think Aloud Strategy” article I posted earlier this week. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it and also about your homeschooling experience!

How Can You Stretch Students’ Thinking?

Reflective journals and learning logs are a natural extension of thinking out loud. By jotting down what you say, you can model the journaling process as you model thinking out loud. As students start to keep journals or learning logs, review them on an ongoing basis to monitor the students’ metacognition and use of essential strategies.

When Can You Use It?

Reading/English

The process of thinking out loud can be used in K-12 classes during all phases of the reading process. Before reading you may think out loud to demonstrate accessing prior knowledge or to make predictions about the text. During reading, model reading comprehension using fix-up strategies or examining text structure to maintain meaning. After reading, model using the text to support an opinion, or analyze the text from the author’s point of view.

Writing

Thinking out loud can be used to model all phases of the writing process. In pre-writing, model the strategies writers use to get the process started; during the drafting process, model creating “sloppy copies”; during revision, model how to ask questions and think about readers’ needs; and during the editing process, model how to use conventions to help readers understand the message. As students engage in reciprocal think-alouds, they dialogue about their texts. This dialoguing helps students to internalize their sense of audience and fine-tune their craftsmanship as writers.

Math

When teaching a new math process or strategy, think aloud to model its use. Ask students to work with a partner to practice thinking aloud to describe how they use the new process or strategy. Listen to students as they think aloud to assess their understanding.

Social Studies

In classroom discussions of difficult social studies topics, such as capital punishment or affirmative action, ask that students not only give their opinions but explain their reasoning by thinking out loud. Model thinking out loud yourself as you read a difficult text or express your own opinion on a complex issue.

Science

Think-alouds can be used to model the inquiry process in science. During instruction, have students continue the inquiry process using reciprocal think-alouds and then reflect upon the process in their journals or learning logs.

Below is an excellent article about thinking out loud that will benefit both homeschooling parents and their children.  Learning can happen in a variety of ways.  One way to problem solve or better understand a concept is to think out loud.  Read more below. 

What Is It?

The think-aloud strategy asks students to say out loud what they are thinking about when reading, solving math problems, or simply responding to questions posed by teachers or other students. Effective teachers think out loud on a regular basis to model this process for students. In this way, they demonstrate practical ways of approaching difficult problems while bringing to the surface the complex thinking processes that underlie reading comprehension, mathematical problem solving, and other cognitively demanding tasks.

Thinking out loud is an excellent way to teach how to estimate the number of people in a crowd, revise a paper for a specific audience, predict the outcome of a scientific experiment, use a key to decipher a map, access prior knowledge before reading a new passage, monitor comprehension while reading a difficult textbook, and so on.

Getting students into the habit of thinking out loud enriches classroom discourse and gives teachers an important assessment and diagnostic tool.

Why Is It Important?

By verbalizing their inner speech (silent dialogue) as they think their way through a problem, teachers model how expert thinkers solve problems. As teachers reflect on their learning processes, they discuss with students the problems learners face and how learners try to solve them. As students think out loud with teachers and with one another, they gradually internalize this dialogue; it becomes their inner speech, the means by which they direct their own behaviors and problem-solving processes (Tinzmann et al. 1990). Therefore, as students think out loud, they learn how to learn. They learn to think as authors, mathematicians, anthropologists, economists, historians, scientists, and artists. They develop into reflective, metacognitive, independent learners, an invaluable step in helping students understand that learning requires effort and often is difficult (Tinzmann et al. 1990). It lets students know that they are not alone in having to think their way through the problem-solving process.

Think-alouds are used to model comprehension processes such as making predictions, creating images, linking information in text with prior knowledge, monitoring comprehension, and overcoming problems with word recognition or comprehension (Gunning 1996).

By listening in as students think aloud, teachers can diagnose students’ strengths and weakness. “When teachers use assessment techniques such as observations, conversations and interviews with students, or interactive journals, students are likely to learn through the process of articulating their ideas and answering the teacher’s questions” (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2000).

How Can You Make It Happen?

Modeling Thinking Out Loud

Asking students to use a strategy to solve complex problems and perform sophisticated tasks is not enough. Each strategy must be used analytically and may require trial-and-error reasoning. Thinking out loud allows teachers to model this complex process for students.

For example, suppose during math class you’d like students to estimate the number of pencils in a school. Introduce the strategy by saying, “The strategy I am going to use today is estimation. We use it to . . . It is useful because . . . When we estimate, we . . .”

Next say, “I am going to think aloud as I estimate the number of pencils in our school. I want you to listen and jot down my ideas and actions.” Then, think aloud as you perform the task.

Your think-aloud might go something like this:

“Hmmmmmm. So, let me start by estimating the number of students in the building. Let’s see. There are 5 grades; first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, plus kindergarten. So, that makes 6 grades because 5 plus 1 equals 6. And there are 2 classes at each grade level, right? So, that makes 12 classes in all because 6 times 2 is 12. Okay, now I have to figure out how many students in all. Well, how many in this class? [Counts.] Fifteen, right? Okay, I’m going to assume that 15 is average. So, if there are 12 classes with 15 students in each class, that makes, let’s see, if it were 10 classes it would be 150 because 10 times 15 is 150. Then 2 more classes would be 2 times 15, and 2 times 15 is 30, so I add 30 to 150 and get 180. So, there are about 180 students in the school. I also have to add 12 to 180 because the school has 12 teachers, and teachers use pencils, too. So that is 192 people with pencils.”

Continue in this way.

When reading aloud, you can stop from time to time and orally complete sentences like these:

• So far, I’ve learned…

• This made me think of…

• That didn’t make sense.

• I think ___ will happen next.

• I reread that part because…

• I was confused by…

• I think the most important part was…

• That is interesting because…

• I wonder why…

• I just thought of…

Another option is to videotape the part of a lesson that models thinking aloud. Students can watch the tape and figure out what the teacher did and why. Stop the tape periodically to discuss what they notice, what strategies were tried, and why, and whether they worked. As students discuss the process, jot down any important observations.

Once students are familiar with the strategy, include them in a think-aloud process. For example:

Teacher: “For science class, we need to figure out how much snow is going to fall this year. How can we do that?”
Student: “We could estimate.”
Teacher: “That sounds like it might work. How do we start? What do we do next? How do we know if our estimate is close? How do we check it?”

In schools where teachers work collaboratively in grade-level teams or learning communities, teachers can plan and rehearse thinking out loud with a partner before introducing the strategy to students. This is especially useful when the whole school is focusing on the same strategy, such as using learning logs or reflective journals in content area classes or applying fix-up strategies when reading informational and story texts.

Reciprocal Think-Alouds

In reciprocal think-alouds, students are paired with a partner. Student take turns thinking aloud as they read a difficult text, form a hypothesis in science, or compare opposing points of view in social studies. While the first student is thinking aloud, the second student listens and records what the first student says. Then students change roles so that each partner has a chance to think aloud and to observe the process. Next, students reflect on the process together, sharing the things they tried and discussing what worked well for them and what didn’t. As they write about their findings, they can start a mutual learning log that they can refer back to.

Assessment

After students are comfortable with the think-aloud process, use the strategy as an assessment tool. As students think out loud through a problem-solving process, such as reflecting on the steps used to solve a problem in math, write what they say. This allows you to observe which strategies students use. By analyzing the results, you can pinpoint the individual student’s needs and provide appropriate instruction.

Assign a task, such as solving a specific problem or reading a passage of text. Introduce the task to students by saying, “I want you to think aloud as you complete the task: say everything that is going on in your mind.” As students complete the task, listen carefully and write down what students say. It may be helpful to use a tape recorder. If students forget to think aloud, ask open-ended questions: “What are you thinking now?” and “Why do you think that?”

After the think-alouds, informally interview students to clarify any confusion that might have arisen during the think-aloud. For example, “When you were thinking aloud, you said . . . Can you explain what you meant?”

Lastly, use a rubric as an aid to analyze each student’s think-aloud, and use the results to shape instruction.

For state-mandated tests, determine if students need to think aloud during the actual testing situation. When people are asked to solve difficult problems or to perform difficult tasks, inner speech goes external (Tinzmann et al. 1990). When faced with a problem-solving situation, some students need to think aloud. For these students, if the state testing protocol permits it, arrange for testing situations that allow students to use think-alouds. This will give a more complete picture of what these students can do as independent learners.

In case your not familiar with the different learning disabilities that educators have identified and defined, below is a comprehensive list of definitions related to learning disabilities that Dr. Jean Lokerson has put together.  I highly recommend that you homeschooling parents become familiar with the terms in this list so you can better recognize if your child has a learning disability and/or how to assist your child with their learning disability.

ACCOMMODATIONS: Techniques and materials that allow individuals with LD to complete school or work tasks with greater ease and effectiveness. Examples include spellcheckers, tape recorders, and expanded time for completing assignments.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: Equipment that enhances the ability of students and employees to be more efficient and successful. For individuals with LD, computer grammar checkers, an overhead projector used by a teacher, or the audio/visual information delivered through a CD-ROM would be typical examples.

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD): A severe difficulty in focusing and maintaining attention. Often leads to learning and behavior problems at home, school, and work. Also called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

BRAIN IMAGING TECHNIQUES: Recently developed, noninvasive techniques for studying the activity of living brains. Includes brain electrical activity mapping (BEAM), computerized axial tomography (CAT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

BRAIN INJURY: The physical damage to brain tissue or structure that occurs before, during, or after birth that is verified by EEG, MRI, CAT, or a similar examination, rather than by observation of performance. When caused by an accident, the damage may be called Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

COLLABORATION: A program model in which the LD teacher demonstrates for or team teaches with the general classroom teacher to help a student with LD be successful in a regular classroom.

DEVELOPMENTAL APHASIA: A severe language disorder that is presumed to be due to brain injury rather than because of a developmental delay in the normal acquisition of language.

DIRECT INSTRUCTION: An instructional approach to academic subjects that emphasizes the use of carefully sequenced steps that include demonstration, modeling, guided practice, and independent application.

DYSCALCULIA: A severe difficulty in understanding and using symbols or functions needed for success in mathematics.

DYSGRAPHIA: A severe difficulty in producing handwriting that is legible and written at an age-appropriate speed.

DYSLEXIA: A severe difficulty in understanding or using one or more areas of language, including listening, speaking, reading, writing, and spelling.

DYSNOMIA: A marked difficulty in remembering names or recalling words needed for oral or written language.

DYSPRAXIA: A severe difficulty in performing drawing, writing, buttoning, and other tasks requiring fine motor skill, or in sequencing the necessary movements.

LEARNED HELPLESSNESS: A tendency to be a passive learner who depends on others for decisions and guidance. In individuals with LD, continued struggle and failure can heighten this lack of self-confidence.

LEARNING MODALITIES: Approaches to assessment or instruction stressing the auditory, visual, or tactile avenues for learning that are dependent upon the individual.

LEARNING STRATEGY APPROACHES: Instructional approaches that focus on efficient ways to learn, rather than on curriculum. Includes specific techniques for organizing, actively interacting with material, memorizing, and monitoring any content or subject.

LEARNING STYLES: Approaches to assessment or instruction emphasizing the variations in temperament, attitude, and preferred manner of tackling a task. Typically considered are styles along the active/passive, reflective/impulsive, or verbal/spatial dimensions.

LOCUS OF CONTROL: The tendency to attribute success and difficulties either to internal factors such as effort or to external factors such as chance. Individuals with learning disabilities tend to blame failure on themselves and achievement on luck, leading to frustration and passivity.

METACOGNITIVE LEARNING: Instructional approaches emphasizing awareness of the cognitive processes that facilitate one’s own learning and its application to academic and work assignments. Typical metacognitive techniques include systematic rehearsal of steps or conscious selection among strategies for completing a task.

MINIMAL BRAIN DYSFUNCTION (MBD)  A medical and psychological term originally used to refer to the learning difficulties that seemed to result from identified or presumed damage to the brain. Reflects a medical rather than educational or vocational orientation.

MULTISENSORY LEARNING: An instructional approach that combines auditory, visual, and tactile elements into a learning task. Tracing sandpaper numbers while saying a number fact aloud would be a multisensory learning activity.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION: A series of tasks that allow observation of performance that is presumed to be related to the intactness of brain function.

PERCEPTUAL HANDICAP: Difficulty in accurately processing, organizing, and discriminating among visual, auditory, or tactile information. A person with a perceptual handicap may say that “cap/cup” sound the same or that “b” and “d” look the same. However, glasses or hearing aids do not necessarily indicate a perceptual handicap.

PREREFERRAL PROCESS: A procedure in which special and regular teachers develop trial strategies to help a student showing difficulty in learning remain in the regular classroom.

RESOURCE PROGRAM: A program model in which a student with LD is in a regular classroom for most of each day, but also receives regularly scheduled individual services in a specialized LD resource classroom.

SELF-ADVOCACY: The development of specific skills and understandings that enable children and adults to explain their specific learning disabilities to others and cope positively with the attitudes of peers, parents, teachers, and employers.

SPECIFIC LANGUAGE DISABILITY (SLD): A severe difficulty in some aspect of listening, speaking, reading, writing, or spelling, while skills in the other areas are age-appropriate. Also called Specific Language Learning Disability (SLLD).

SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY (SLD): The official term used in federal legislation to refer to difficulty in certain areas of learning, rather than in all areas of learning. Synonymous with learning disabilities.

SUBTYPE RESEARCH: A recently developed research method that seeks to identify characteristics that are common to specific groups within the larger population of individuals identified as having learning disabilities.

TRANSITION: Commonly used to refer to the change from secondary school to postsecondary programs, work, and independent living typical of young adults. Also used to describe other periods of major change such as from early childhood to school or from more specialized to mainstreamed settings.

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Note: The content of this digest was developed by Dr. Jean Lokerson, DLD President, 1991-92; Associate Professor, LD Program, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Check out the book list below, it’s specifically geared towards students with disabilities.  I only included part of the list, you can click the links to find more great books!  Let me know what you think and what you discovered.  I’d love to hear some of your recommendations!

This list has been sorted by the books’ readability levels. To find what you want, click on a readability grouping below:

AC = Adult Read to Children. For Pre-K to Grade 3, ranging from 10 to 30 pages, with illustrations; typically designed for parents to read to their children.

JE = Juvenile Easy Reader. For children who are beginning to read on their own, such as those in Grades 1-2; ranging from 30 to 80 pages; illustrations are included to break up the text.

JF = Juvenile Fiction. Children’s fiction or chapter books; for children in Grades 2-6; ranging from 60 to 200 pages, the books are generally divided into chapters, contain fewer illustrations, and have more complicated plots or concepts than either AC or JE books.

YA = Young Adult. For young adults in Grades 5-12; more complicated plots and topics of general interest to the young adult population.

A = Adult. Contains language and/or content that may be unsuitable for young adults.

• Title: Andy and His Yellow Frisbee
  Author: Mary Thompson
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 6510 Bells Mill Road, Bethesda, MD 20817; 1996
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-933149-83-2
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Sarah is a new girl at school who is curious about why Andy spins his yellow frisbee every day by himself on the playground. When Sara tries to talk to Andy, Rosie, Andy’s older sister, watches and worries about how her brother may react. Rosie knows that Andy is in his own world most of the time, and that he has trouble finding the words to express himself.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: A Picture Book of Helen Keller
  Author: David A. Adler
  Publisher: Holiday House
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8234-0818-3
  Disability: Deaf-Blind
  Story Profile: Some salient details in the life of Helen Keller are described in this pictorial biography; her frustration and untamed behavior and the radical changes effected by Anne Sullivan Macy.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Armann and Gentle
  Author: Kristin Steinsdottir
  Publisher: Stuttering Foundation of America, PO Box 11749, Memphis, TN 38111-0749; 1997
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-933388-36-5
  Disability: Stuttering
  Story Profile: A six-year-old boy, Armann, stutters when he is frustrated.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: A Very Special Friend
  Author: Dorothy Hoffman Levi
  Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, Kendall Green, 800 Florida Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002-3695; 1989
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-9300323-55-6
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Frannie, a lonely little girl, discovers a new friend when a deaf girl her age moves in next door.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: A Very Special Sister
  Author: Dorothy Hoffman Levi
  Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, Kendall Green, 800 Florida Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002-3695; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-930323-96-3
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Mixed feelings are experienced by Laura, a young deaf girl, upon finding out her mother will soon give birth. Her initial excitement is replaced by worries that the new child, if able to hear, would be more lovable.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Be Good to Eddie Lee
  Author: Virginia FilIing
  Publisher: Philomel Books, Putnam & Grosset Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-399-21993-5
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Eddie Lee, a young boy with Down syndrome, follows the neighborhood children into the woods to find frog eggs. They are resentful and try to make him stay home.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Big Brother Dustin
  Author: Alden R. Carter
  Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co., 6340 Oakton Street, Morton Grove, IL 60053-2723; 1997
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8075-0715-6
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Dustin, a young boy with Down syndrome, learns that his parents are expecting a baby.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Cat’s Got Your Tongue?
  Author: Charles E. Schaefer, Ph.D.
  Publisher: Brunner/Mazel, Publishers, 19 Union Square, New York, NY 10003; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-45-2 hard copy; ISBN-0-945354-46-0 paperback
  Disability: Communication Disorders, Mutism
  Story Profile: Anna, a kindergartner, is diagnosed as an electively mute child.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Eukee: The Jumpy Jumpy Elephant
  Author: Clifford L. Corman and Esther Trevino
  Publisher: Specialty Press; 1995
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-921629-8-1
  Disability: Attention Deficit Disorder
  Story Profile: Eukee is a smart little elephant who likes to chase butterflies,
  blow bubbles, and do cartwheels. He always feels jumpy inside, however, and can never finish the march at school. Unhappy that he doesn’t have any friends, he consents to a visit to the doctor where he learns he has ADD.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Clover’s Secret
  Author: Christine M. Winn and David Walsh, Ph.D.
  Publisher: Fairview Press, 2450 Riverside Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55454; 1996
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-925190-89-6
  Disability: Child Abuse
  Story Profile: Clove attempts to hide family violence. She feels much better when she confides in her teacher and the family receives help.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Danny and the Merry-Go-Round
  Author: Nan Holcomb
  Publisher: Jason and Nordic, Publishers, PO Box 441, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648; 1987
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-944727-00-X
  Disability: Cerebral Palsy
  Story Profile: Danny, who has cerebral palsy, visits the park with his mother and watches other children playing on a playground. He makes friends with a young girl after his mother explains cerebral palsy to her and points out that it is not contagious.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Happy Birthday Jason
  Author: C. Jean Cutbill and Diane Rawsthorn
  Publisher: IPI Publishing Ltd., 50 Prince Arthur Avenue, Suite 306, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 1B5 Canada; 1984
  ISBN #: 0-920702-37-6
  Disability: Reading Disability, Dyslexia
  Story Profile: A delightful story that will help children better understand their world by understanding Jason’s. His story reveals that children with learning disabilities are more similar to other children than they are different.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Having a Brother Like David
  Author: Cindy Dolby Nollette and Others
  Publisher: Minneapolis Children’s Medical Center, Early Childhood Center,
  2520 Minnehaha Ave., South, Minneapolis, MN 55404; 1985
  ISBN #: N/A
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Marty’s brother, David, is autistic. Marty explains that David looks a lot like other children but has special needs.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Ian’s Walk: A Story About Autism
  Author: Laurie Lears
  Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company, 6340 Oakton St.,
  Morton Grove, IL 60053-2723; 1998
  ISBN #: 0-8075-3480-3
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Tara feels frustrated while taking a walk with her autistic brother, Ian. After she becomes separated from him, she learns to appreciate the way Ian experiences the world.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title:Keith Edward’s Different Days
  Author: Karen Melberg Schwier
  Publisher: Impact Publishers
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-915166-74-7
  Disability: Down Syndrome; Physical Disabilities
  Story Profile: Keith meets a variety of people with differences, including Down syndrome and physical differences, and learns that being different is okay.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Knots on a Counting Rope
  Author: Bill Martin and John Archambault
  Publisher: Henry Holt
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8050-0571-4
  Disability: Blindness
  Story Profile: A boy is told a story by his grandfather of a boy born blind.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Lee: The Rabbit with Epilepsy
  Author: Deborah M. Moss
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fisher’s Lane, Rockville, MD 20852; 1989
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-933149-32-8
  Disability: Epilepsy
  Story Profile: Lee is a young rabbit who experiences occasional
  blackouts and trances. After Dr. Bob, the wise owl, administers a series
  of neurological tests, Lee is told she has epilepsy.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Leo the Late Bloomer
  Author: Robert Kraus
  Publisher: Harper Collins, 1971
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-87807-042-7
  Disability: Developmental Delays
  Story Profile: Leo is a tiger cub who just can’t keep up with what the other animals are doing. He can’t read, write, or speak, and he is a sloppy eater; he’s a late bloomer.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Luke Has Asthma, Too
  Author: Alison Rogers
  Publisher: Waterfront Books, 98 Brookes Ave., Burlington, VT 05401; 1987
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-914525-06-9
  Disability: Asthma
  Story Profile: Luke has an older cousin who teaches him some aspects of asthma management and serves as a general role model.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: My Brother, Matthew
  Author: Mary Thompson
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-993149-47-6
  Disability: Mental Retardation
  Story Profile: David is a young boy who describes life with his younger
  brother who was born with a mental disability.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: My Mom Is Handicapped: A “Grownup” Children’s Book
  Author: Barbara Turner Brabham
  Publisher: Cornerstone Publishing, PO Box 2896, Virginia Beach, VA 23450; 1994
  ISBN #: ISBN-1-882185-22-6
  Disability: Physical Disabilities
  Story Profile: A six-year-old boy describes life with his mother, a teacher with physical disabilities.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Otto Learns About His Medicine: A Story About Medication for Hyperactive Children
  Author: Matthew Galvin
  Publisher: Magination Press/Brunner Mazel, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003; 1995
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-04-5 hard copy; ISBN-0-945354-03-7
  Disability: Hyperactivity
  Story Profile: Otto, a fidgety young car that has trouble paying attention in school, visits a special mechanic who prescribes a medicine to control his hyperactive behavior.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Russ and the Apple Tree Surprise
  Author: Janet Elizabeth Rickert
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fishers Lane,
  Rockville, MD 20852; 1992
  ISBN #: 1-890627-16-x
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Russ, a five-year old boy with Down syndrome longs for a swing set. All his backyard has to offer is an apple tree. When his grandparents visit, Russ discovers the job of picking apples and making them into apple pie. He decides that his apple tree may be just as good as a swing set.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Russ and the Fire House
  Author: Janet Elizabeth Rickert
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fishers Lane,
  Rockville, MD 20852; 1992
  ISBN #: 1-890627-17-8
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Russ is a young boy with Down syndrome whose everyday life experiences – not his disability – are the subject of books in this series. Russ goes “on-duty” with his Uncle, a fireman. Their shift includes a full inspection of the fire equipment, including keeping it clean. He also encounters Spark, the firehouse dog. At the end of this exciting day, all the firemen thank Russ for his hard work and invite him back for another visit.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Russell Is Extra Special: A Book About Autism for Children
  Author: Charles A. Amenta III, M.D.
  Publisher: Brunner/Mazel, Publishers, 19 Union Square, New York, NY 10003; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-43-6
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: This portrayal of an autistic boy and his family is designed to help children (ages 4 to 8 ) and their parents understand this serious developmental disorder.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Silent Observer
  Author: Christy MacKinnon
  Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, Kendall Green, 800 Florida Ave. NE,
  Washington, DC 20002-3695; 1993
  ISBN #: ISBN-1-56368-022-X
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Christy MacKinnon is a young girl born in 1889 on a farm on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada who became deaf after having whooping cough. She describes her life in adjusting to deafness, her relationships with family, and her problems trying to understand and be understood by hearing individuals.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Talking to Angels
  Author: Esther Watson
  Publisher: Harcourt Brace, 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495; 1996
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-15-201077-7
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Christa is an autistic girl who is described in this picture book by her sibling. Her behavior is described and illustrated in mixed media, including her favorite sounds and textures, occasional staring and fixation on stimuli, and interactions with others.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: There’s a Little Bit of Me in Jamey
  Author: Diana M. Amadeo
  Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co., 6340 Oakton Street, Morton Grove, IL 60053-2723
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8075-7854-1
  Disability: Leukemia
  Story Profile: Brian struggles with the fact that his brother Jamey has leukemia and submits to a bone marrow test, which leads to a transplant.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Thomas Alva Edison: Great Inventor
  Author: David A. Adler
  Publisher: Holiday House
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8234-0820-5
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Thomas Edison’s life and his many inventions, despite his deafness, that shape our lives today are explored in this book.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: What Do You Mean I Have a Learning Disability?
  Author: Kathleen M. Dwyer
  Publisher: Walker and Company, 720 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10019; 1991
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8027-8102-0
  Disability: Learning Disabilities
  Story Profile: Ten-year-old Jimmy is having problems at school and believes he is stupid. After a parent-teacher conference, he is tested and found to have a learning disability.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: What It’s Like to Be Me
  Author: Helen Exley
  Publisher: Friendship Press, 1984
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-377-00144-9
  Disability: Various Disabilities
  Story Profile: Children from all over the world write about themselves and their disabilities. They tell us how they see themselves and how they want to be seen. All of the illustrations are created by the children.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: You Can Call Me Willy. A Story for Children About AIDS
  Author: Joan C. Verniero
  Publisher: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003; 1995
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-60-6
  Disability: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
  Story Profile: Willy is an eight-year-old girl with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Describing her life, she shares her hobbies, friends, family life, and aspects of her medical care and how it impacts her activities.
  Reading Level: AC

Here’s part two!  I’d love to hear your thoughts and also about how your homeschooling experience is going this year!

How Can You Stretch Students’ Thinking?

Here are some general questions for students to consider when summarizing either fiction or nonfiction:

• What happened?

• Who was involved?

• What was the outcome?

• Is the essential piece of information included?

• Are interesting but nonessential facts or details eliminated?

• Would someone who read my summary really understand the main points of the text?

Some students may get paraphrasing and summarizing confused. Explain that summarizing is similar to paraphrasing because both strategies require students to put the main ideas of a story or article into their own words. However, the major difference between the two is that a summary usually recounts an entire article or story whereas a paraphrase recounts specific information within an article or story. For example, you might ask students to paraphrase a passage in a chapter of their textbook and to summarize the entire chapter.

When Can You Use It?

Reading/English

Have students summarize stories, a chapter from a novel, an act from a play, a poem, or an entire short story. Ask students to summarize the life of an author or a piece of science fiction or historical fiction.

Writing

Have students use a story map to summarize a work of fiction or nonfiction in a paragraph. Have them write a paragraph that summarizes a style of writing that their favorite author uses.

Math

Have students summarize an important theorem in geometry such as the Pythagorean theorem, the quadratic formula, or how to do long division. Have them summarize the life of an important mathematician such as Pythagoras.

Social Studies

Summarize the events leading up to an historical event such as the Civil War. Have students summarize an interesting case such as the Dred Scott case or the life of an important historical figure such as Martin Luther King, or Abigail Adams.

Science

Have students summarize the process of photosynthesis, a recent science experiment, or the life of an important scientist such as Marie Curie or Thomas Edison.

Lesson Plans

• These lesson plans are for primary students:

Summarizing, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
This lesson is designed to expand primary students’ summarizing skills using the book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Summarizing, Nate the Great
This lesson is designed to establish primary students’ skills in summarizing a story using the book, Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat.

Summarizing, Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia
This lesson is designed to introduce primary students to summarizing a story using a part of the book Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia.

• These lesson plans are for middle or high school students:

Summarizing an O. Henry Short Story (fiction)
During this high school language arts lesson, students will summarize, verbally and in writing, the short story “Confessions of a Humorist” by O. Henry.

Summarizing a John F. Kennedy Speech (nonfiction)
During this high school language arts lesson, students will summarize, verbally and in writing, a speech that John F. Kennedy gave about the need for America to land a man on the moon.