Structuring Unit Activities

Book & Essay

Vocabulary

Cover various genre ~ Choose age appropriate books ~ Keep a flexible schedule check notes daily ~ Review rough draft ~ Suggest revisions Choose grade-appropriate books based on your childs reading level. Balance the genre selections. Check the content suggestions to lay out a varied reading schedule that covers your content goals. Try to achieve some balance between suggested content and your childs reading preferences. Establishing a love of reading is a prerequisite to learning in any subject. While the bulk of your selections will probably be novels, be sure to include some non-fiction works of good narrative quality, as well as engaging biographies to reinforce religion, history, science, and math. Some Catholic home school programs conceive of great books as only those books that have been in the informal canon for decades and centuries. These are quality books and can be really enjoyable to students. Consider, though, that there could be some really engaging books of high literary and moral quality that are newer. Our reading suggestions take this into account. Do what you think is best. Our reading suggestions are organized by general genre and take into consideration whether particular selections are typically more enjoyable for either boys or girls. Once again, choose according to your childs preferences. There really is no absolute distinction between boys books and girl books. Be flexible on the reading schedule. You may find youve assigned too much or too little, so be attentive to your childs pace and other feedback. Its better to slow down the reading amount than to sacrifice comprehension and retention. It is essential that students keep notes on their reading. Check these notes daily to insure proper reading. The rough draft of the essay is central to your extended conferences with your child. Several subjects are rooted in it. During conferences, read the essay aloud and mark it up, looking for: (1) thesis/support; (2) grammar, punctuation, and spelling; (3) mechanical issues with the writing. Does the essay achieve the proper depth and is it articulate? When youve finished reading and marking up the essay, note any follow up activities that need to be done: a possible second draft, frequent errors in spelling, vocabulary, or grammar. You will want to adjust your assignments to correct these errors in subsequent lessons until the skills are mastered. Check daily ~ Require 3 student-generated terms/day from reading ~ Require flash cards ~ Give oral tests for each unit ~ Allow correction & retesting Students choose vocabulary terms from their reading. They will notice the more challenging words. Check every day or every other day to see that students are writing down appropriate terms. If you suspect any slacking, scan parts of a few chapters and check for vocabulary level. Adjust the list accordingly. Students should write definitions for around 3 terms per day. Check these definitions to insure accuracy. Simplify wordier definitions if necessary. Each term, once defined, should be written into a sentence for practice. Sentences should be specific enough to prove correct use of each word. Students should copy

Spelling

Grammar

each word and definitions onto index cards to generate a set of flash cards to study. At the end of each week, give each student an oral test in which you say each word and the student spells the word and defines it in his/her literature/grammar notebook (labeled properly with book, student name, and date). These tests are the main part of the vocabulary grade. You can have students retake missed terms for partial credit to insure mastery. You may also decide to give points for each days words and definitions to insure timely completion. Consider requiring students to write simple etymological notes with their definitions (usually provided in dictionaries). This is a helpful way for students to pick up on root, prefix, and suffix patterns. It is also helpful to have students write the sentence from which each of their vocabulary terms has been taken. Can use vocab terms ~ Pull spell-check terms from written work ~ Corrections & retesting Spelling can be made of the vocabulary terms for the unit, but try to include any misspelled words you encounter in the students written work. Require student to write each missed word in his/her notebook 7-10 times to solidify it in the students memory. It is appropriate to retest missed terms for partial credit, but you should judge whether this is helpful for your children. Student generated ~ Use grammar guide ~ Consider using periodic intensive grammar course on a limited basis ~ Redundancy & reteaching are useful options Grammar is one of the subjects parents feel most dependent on a grammar text. This programs philosophy is to avoid texts as much as possible because they tend to be uninspiring and rely too much on a worksheet approach that conflicts with the integrated approach were trying to achieve. We have developed a grammar guide to keep handy when students are applying grammar principles to their literature reading assignments. It covers the basics but its not exhaustive. It helps if the parents have some grasp of proper grammar. Most do until it comes to really advanced concepts or obscure exceptions. It is not worth jumping into a comprehensive workbook approach to grammar just because were afraid of advanced and obscure concepts. Most of these trickier elements are just a mouse- click away. Most of us learn grammar simply by reading and speaking the language. We should be careful not to over-program our approach to language. In the end, we can run our students through all sorts of grammatical gauntlets, but if we create in them the impression that language is too complex theyll dislike using it. Grammatical principles can be addressed in the everyday use of language, in which we politely correct misuse and seize teachable moments. We can also address it in our review of students written work. When we see a weakness, we can do some reteaching in subsequent units/lessons. It is our firm commitment that introducing a workbook-type text here and there is letting the camels nose under the tent. For this reason, we see them as a last resort and encourage parents to make the effort to be independent and try not to over-plan. Still, if this is too far outside parents comfort zones, there is one resource I can recommend because it is only used periodically: Analytical Grammar

History

Math

by Robin Finley and Erin Carl. Analytical Grammar comports well with this program because it offers a comprehensive and systematic approach that occurs in brief, intensive units that are taught only periodically and then tabled until the next developmental milestone. This allows students to get right back to the more integrated, literary approach in which they learn best. Use historical fiction & biographies ~ Check notes daily ~ Require written analyses of context Sadly, history is one of the most hated subjects among intermediate and secondary students. Their exposure to history centers on memorizing disparate bits of historical trivia that have no overarching story. They miss the drama and the personal dimension that brings history alive. We suggest using historical fiction and biographies (even some videos, if trustworthy and engaging) because they bring history to life and let the students discern historical principles by reading between the lines. Students should have to think to learn history. They should have to find the historical factors that drive human events and reason to their own conclusions about them. Most history texts used in schools oversimplify the material into uncritical, bold print concepts. Engaging biographies are more comprehensible than standard school-issue texts in that the historical events they portray are seen in the real world. Similarly, historical fiction activates the imagination to engage the student on a deeper level than simple information gathering. It is imperative that students write down the historical facts/principles they encounter in their reading after they have finished their reading for the day. Ideally, they should not take notes while theyre reading because it messes up the flow of the reading and makes it tediously choppy. It is better to go back after reading and recover the context underlying the story. Once students are finished with the book, they should be able to piece together the primary currents of the era in which the biography/fiction was set. You can have students write a few paragraphs about the historical big picture to wrap up the book. Use established home school curriculum ~ Explore literature possibilities ~ Look for field trip opportunities Math isnt opposed to literature; its just written in a different language. Because it is a language of its own, it requires a specialized focus. We recommend the use of any of the major homeschool math curricula. Saxon is a favorite of many homeschooling families but Singapore Math, and MCP are also popular. Saxon has a curriculum that incorporates the Singapore math approach. Math-You-Can-See is gaining a following in the homeschool world. It works hard to achieve a hands-on approach to math that emphasizes using math to solve real world problems. We recommend that you use manipulatives in the earlier grades if they are available in your math curriculum. Manipulatives offer a more holistic experience of the concepts. There is some math literature out there for the intermediary grades. They are included in our literature recommendations. There is plenty of room in math to research the application of particular operations in the world around us. One of the best ways, though it takes some extra planning, is to arrange a tour of a factory, business, or lab that uses math-intensive processes in its work. Most operations

Science

provide some detailed explanation of their manufacturing processand its almost always connected to some function of math and science. Some are willing to let student visitors ask questions of their engineersa great time to ask how math is integrated in their work. If you arrange a tour with other homeschooling families, your hosts might pull out the stops more. Journaling approach ~ Look for connections to other subjects ~ Guided research There is a lot of emphasis on science today because we live in such a technology driven world. Keep in mind that science and technology are not exactly the same. Technology is an application of science. Most technology only partially relies on science. Aesthetic creativity factors highly in the development of most technology. Inventors have to think beyond existing products and visualize new solutions (some radically different). Science is bigger than technology. It is a philosophical habit that attempts to find out why things happen by forming and testing hypotheses. This habit, furthermore, seeks to use conclusions to ask new questions and make connections to other types of knowledge. Science has never been an isolated specialty. Standardized tests may unwisely treat it this way, but no true scientist would reduce science down to the ability to remember and apply various formulae. Perhaps the most enjoyable thing about science is that it rises up naturally in our curiosities. Kids have a natural inclination to science because theyre always asking questions about themselves and the world around them. Our approach to science capitalizes on this inherent sense of inquiry by allowing students the room to ask questions and go find answers. The intermediate years, because they attain to science in a general way, are great for developing the habits of curiosity and hypothesizing. In the Stella Maris program, students are asked to keep a science journal. They are to write down their questions about the world and then research the answers. Kids have all sorts of questions about how the human body works, how geological phenomena occur, and what makes up outer space. We give them room to write these questions down as they occur naturally, and then dig around for answers in the local library or on the internet (supervised). When you plan your learning schedule for the week, ask to see your childs science questions (there will likely be more than he/she can tackle in a week) and ask him/her to write down their hunches (hypotheses) about it. When they do their research they can compare their findings to their hypotheses and start to develop a knack for the scientific method. If you see several new connections to their research, bring them out in subsequent research tasks. Your not on a strict time schedule so dont feel you have to fly through your childrens questions. You may find that your study of history and literature sparks some science questions. Capitalize on that. For example, when studying World War II, it is possible that your child will wonder about how a nuclear bomb works. Despite their destructive capacity, nuclear bombs are marvels of nuclear principles. Its a ready-made path to introducing the basics of atomic structure and behavior. If you are able, the research part of the science journal is a great opportunity to visit the public library and guide your kids through the research process. The internet can be a helpful resource but going to the library may communicate a more serious and deliberate search for answers. Going to the

library and having students write their journal entries while theyre there gives students a preset window of time to work in so they stay focused. Handwriting Built into written work ~ Assess periodically ~ Offer continued practice ~ Use a cursive letter guide Handwriting is a skill that has already been somewhat developed by the time students reach the intermediate level. However, like any skill it needs plenty of practice. Working in a handwriting workbook was one of our kids least favorite activities and it was yet another subject that had to be planned and graded. We propose that handwriting be practiced in the written work students turn in. You can designate which written work is to be done in cursive, but just be sure its enough to get daily practice. You will benefit from using the cursive handwriting guide we provide. In the intermediate years, it is no longer necessary to buy special handwriting paper. In the beginning of the intermediate level, just use wide-rule paper notebooks (the same notebooks in which they are already putting their written work). Later, you can move them up to college rule notebooks. In your conferences you can review their handwriting and point out any problem spots for correction and practice. You can hand out a grade for handwriting based on the accuracy and neatness of their written work, but you can also do this informally by giving input and grading handwriting as a criterion of the overall grade of written work. Integrated into other subjects ~ Use simple guides ~ Incorporate Scriptures ~ Religion Introduce catechetical works for popular audiences in higher grades Catholic home schooling programs of any brand naturally incorporate religion. However, religion does not have to be a separate subject. Many Catholic homeschool families prefer to make religion part of each subject in the curriculum. Again, the purpose of Stella Maris is to integrate. We want to communicate to our kids that faith and morality are part of everything we do. All of the subjects we study have religious dimensionsespecially literature, history, and science. Math, too, has religious significance but it is often a kind of appreciation or impression more than overt theological concerns. We recommend reading selections that have strong connections to moral virtue and faith. Some books are devoted entirely to the lives of saints or the work of God in the world. The Bible is a staple in every level of Stella Maris. It is the worlds only divinely inspired literature. Some families incorporate Sacred Scripture as part of their daily devotions or hear the Liturgy of the Word in daily Mass. As in history and grammar, we recommend the use of simple guides that help pull information togetherbut they are used as references more than as texts (see book recommendations). In the latter years of intermediate education, it is recommended that students read a few popular works of Catholic catechesis those that have a continuous narrative rather than an encyclopedic approach.