My secret weapon for teaching Spanish

I have a new secret weapon for teaching Spanish, and it is muy efectivo!

Your kids may already be familiar with this powerful tool, and think that it is just a fun game they stumbled upon online. But they do not know the whole truth.

Akinator, the Web Genie, is a popular game, wherein the user chooses a character and the Akinator attempts to guess the character's identity using yes/no questions. My kids introduced me to the game last year, and we have been playing ever since, trying to stump the Akinator with characters we hope he will not be able to guess.

The character you choose can be a real person, like a celebrity or historical figure, or you can choose fictitious characters from books, television, movies, or video games.

The Akinator has successfully guessed all sorts of characters, from Thomas the Tank Engine to George Washington, and just about everyone in between. In fact, one of the only characters I have been able to stump him with was Phronsie from the classic book, The Five Little Peppers. The Akinator seems to know just about everyone in this universe and beyond.

How the Akinator helps us learn Spanish

There is no better tool for helping a student learn than one they love to use. When my kids started taking Spanish this fall, I found a few resources I thought they might like. I even ordered a subsciption to People en Español. But when I remembered that the Akinator game was available in several different languages, including Spanish, I knew I was on to something awesome.

Being new to Spanish myself, I was excited to play a familiar game and help my kids and I build our vocabulary at the same time. We gave the Akinator a trial run, using a character we knew he was sure to get. It only took him 14 questions to get to this one: "¿A su personaje le picó una araña radiactiva?" (I'm pretty sure he meant radioactiva.)

Si! Si! And now, thanks to Google Translate, we know that una araña radioactiva means a radioactive spider. We have new words!

Let's play again!

We decided to try another character, this time a real person chosen by 9-year-old daughter. Within just a few questions, the Akinator was on the right track.

¿Su personaje está relacionado con el mundo de la música?

¿Su personaje es un cantante?

¿Su personaje tiene pelo rubio?

¿Su personaje suelen llevar los labios rojos?

Is my character related the world of music? Is she a singer? Does she have blonde hair? Red lips? Oh my gosh!

Yep, the Akinator got me. My character was Taylor Swift. I'm going to have to think a lot harder if I want to stump him next time, but look at all the new vocabulary words we've picked up just playing a couple of times. Check it out. It's free to play, and a whole lot of fun!

How we learn for free with Universal Class

I am always on the lookout for a great deal. Cheap curriculum is good, free is even better, but only if the resources are high quality and serve my purpose. I don't have time to waste on lousy resources, even if they don't cost me a dime.

That's why I decided to do a test run when I learned that Universal Class offered free classes through my local public library. I've been burned by free classes and extraordinarily cheap offerings on sites like Groupon before. Never again. This time, before adding anything to our fall semester, I spent a few weeks trying out one of the free classes as an enrolled student, just to see how effective the course would be.

Choosing a course wasn't easy. Universal Class has more than 500 classes in their course catalog, on everything from aromatherapy to precalculus. And although individual courses can cost more than $100 if you pay for them yourself, I had access to the whole smorgasbord for free if I logged in through my library portal. Which one would I choose?

Whatever they've done, it will be okay

She's sitting on her bed, a tear rolling down her cheek, feeling completely and utterly alone. She's embarrassed, and ashamed, and she doesn't know what to do. No part of her can believe that you will understand this thing she did. Or forgive her for it. She's never done anything like it before. She doesn't even understand why she did it, or why she was tempted to do it again.

Maybe God can't even forgive her. She tries to pray, but feels so ashamed and unworthy.

If only you knew this secret she carried, you could take her in your arms and promise her it would be okay. You could reassure her that you love her, no matter what, and that God loves her even more.

His capacity for forgiveness is immeasurable, and because it is a gift that He gives freely, there is no question of being undeserving. Nothing we ever do could make us "deserving" of God's love... He just loves us because He does, even when we screw up monumentally.

If she would just come to you, you could share with her your own frailty, and your own confidence that you have been forgiven, maybe for things even worse than this horrible secret that is eating away at her. You could help her see that there are ways to make things right, and even if something can't be undone, there are ways to start over on a good path, to rebuild trust, to feel better. What can you do when you don't even know she's hurting?

There are literally millions of ways to homeschool

If you live near a Sonic Drive-In, you probably already know that they are famous for their amazing array of drink combinations. In fact, according to a 2016 press release, Sonic's menu had reached an astonishing 1.3 million different drink combinations, up from the "more than 168,000" it had boasted in 2007. 

Now, that would be one heck of a menu if all the possible combinations were listed, but thankfully, they are not. Instead, there is a menu of possible choices, from which thirsty diners can pick and choose and customize the perfect drink for each member of the family. 

If you think Sonic has a lot of choices on their drink menu, you should take a look around at all the different curriculum options available today. There are so many different choices, way more than there were a decade ago. 

Some folks still like to go with a boxed curriculum where the whole package is set up for them, much like the customers who order a plain Coke. That's okay if it works well for them, especially if they are new and might find the abundance of choices a bit overwhelming the first year.

But most of the experienced homeschoolers I know like to choose from all that's available: one option for math, another for language arts, something else for science and history. Mixing and matching they come up with a unique combination all their own. Instead of that basic Coke, maybe they have a cherry,vanilla, Dr. Pepper, or a grape, raspberry, frozen lemonade with sour candies mixed in. The variety is virtually endless.

And just like choosing your drinks at Sonic, you can choose something different for every member of your family, trying out different options until you find favorites, and then switching things up again when needs, or tastes, change. 

Don't feel like you have to homeschool the same way as your neighbor, your friend, or that really experienced homeschool mom at co-op. Yes, it's a great idea to gather opinions and thoughts on the different options available, but in the end, it's your school. You get to decide, from the literally millions of different curriculum combinations and make your homeschool work for you. 

Get your copy of The Unplanner, 2017-2018 Edition today!

Back-to-school is in the air! Studies may have already resumed in your house, or the first day back may be coming up soon. Either way, it's not too late to visit my store and get your copy of this year's edition of The Unplanner. 

If you are not already familiar with The Unplanner, it's a different kind of organizer made just for those of us who are a bit overwhelmed by the planners with too many pages and way too many blanks. If you're the sort who is looking to do some light planning, and mostly keep track of what your kids have done through the year, this is the organizer for you!

With month-at-a-glance pages for keeping track of upcoming events and appointments, weekly pages for scheduling lessons, attendance sheets and pages for keeping track of the curriculum you use, the books your kids are reading and the learning adventures like field trips and experiments you will want to remember forever, The Unplanner has all the pages you want and none of the extras you don't.

And at just $7.99, this handy 6 x 9 inch, professionally bound book with a pretty floral cover is less expensive than many of the "free" printables you might place in a binder or have bound at the local printer. Treat yourself to a copy of The Unplanner today!

What comes after Algebra 1?

"What should my high school student take after Algebra 1?"

That's one of the most commonly asked questions among homeschoolers, and it's not so simple to answer. Where do you go next, into Algebra 2 or Geometry? Ask this question in any large homeschool group and you are sure to get a lot of debate.

When I was in school, most students enrolled in Geometry right after Algebra 1, but I chose to enroll in Algebra 2. It made more sense to me to cover that material immediately following Algebra 1, and I did well taking the courses in this order.

There is a strong argument to be made, however, for taking Geometry immediately after Algebra 1, because a student would have more exposure to those concepts before taking the PSAT, thus potentially raising their score.

As my twins were approaching the end of Algebra 1 this year, I realized it was time for our family to make this difficult decision. I had curriculum for both courses ready to go, and had reviewed the first several chapters of each. I just needed to pick which one we would do first.

After a lot of thought, I decided to try a different approach. We're going to do both Algebra 2 and Geometry simultaneously. Now, that doesn't mean I am doubling the workload on my kids. No, in fact, they will be maintaining the same weekly schedule as they did with Algebra 1. But instead of doing one full course and then the other, we are going to do one small section at a time, and switch back and forth between courses.

Some folks have called me crazy for trying this approach, and others have called me brilliant. I'll settle for a little of both, so long as the plan works well for my kids. We can always revert to doing one course at a time if the alternating schedule doesn't work out, but I think that my twins are bright enough to handle switching back and forth.

The best part of this plan is that both Algebra 2 and Geometry will be fresh in their minds when it is time to take their PSAT next fall. We do a year-round schedule with intermittent breaks, and they should be finished with most of both math courses by next October. If everything goes the way I hope it does, this will give them their best chance to score well, and hopefully earn some scholarship offers.

I'd love to hear what you have planned following Algebra 1, or if your students have already moved on through higher math, how they did using one approach or another.

Around and around we go

I love riding a Ferris wheel. Next year will mark 125 years since George W. Ferris built the first Ferris wheel in Chicago in 1893. Ever since then, thrilled riders have hung on as wheels around the world took them to new heights, showing them unique views of the world around them along the way.

My favorite part of riding the Ferris wheel is not the exhilarating, non-stop ride you enjoy once the cars are full and the wheel gets up to speed. It's actually the many stops along the way, each one at a different point on the wheel, as some riders get off and new ones get on. Every stop brings a new view, a new perspective to sit back and enjoy. Sometimes even the air seems different at a new stop. I love to just look around and take it all in, enjoying every moment before it passes, always too quickly, and the wheel starts moving again.

Life as a homeschooler is a lot like a ride on a Ferris wheel. Each year we go around and around again, sometimes letting one child off as they graduate and leave the home, other times bringing a brand new student on board as a little one joins the learning crew. And along the way there are stops, each at a new point with so much to discover.

It's a brand new school year, and as I sit here in my recliner, organizing the resources I will use for the classes my kids will be taking in the fall, my heart skips a beat. I feel like I am sitting on a Ferris wheel, near the top but not quite, my gondola swaying in the breeze as I look at my children. My twins are about to start 10th grade. How did they grow up so quickly? They'll start driving this year, and taking concurrent enrollment classes at the local university. Don't move, wheel. Not yet.

My youngest will be starting 5th grade this semester, a year ahead of where she would have been if she'd started kindergarten in public school at age five. She's excited for the changes this year will bring, as she joins a new co-op and maybe makes new friends.

I feel the wind change and I know that the ride is about to take off again. This year will be different than any of the ones before. After eight long years, I finally retired my post as leader of the local homeschool group, and going into this school year I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I laugh in anticipation of a fun year, thankful for the mom who took over my duties so I could change my focus. The view is different from here.

School starts back for us full time next week. The Ferris wheel is about to start spinning again. I take a deep breath and one last look around. I'm ready! How about you?