Monthly Archives: April 2015
The Tonic of Wildness
“We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” – Henry David Thoreau (in his…
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Homeschooling the Gifted Child
“Caleb is only five, but he knows all of his multiplication facts.” “Kari just created a replica of the Eiffel Tower out of building blocks.” “Maria gets perfect scores on every test I give her—and she’s a grade level ahead already!” You may have heard comments like these or perhaps even offered a similar observation…
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Research Says Writing is Important
Writing is one of those skills that is applicable nearly everywhere. Communication is at the center of all relationships, whether it’s emailing colleagues, texting family members, or writing letters to a friend. It’s not surprising then that research says writing is an important skill to develop. What may be surprising, though, is the extent to…
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Scholastic Highlights the Importance of Reading Aloud
Scholastic has released its latest Kids and Family Reading Report. Scholastic is dedicated to increasing literacy and publishes classic children’s books, such as Clifford the Big Red Dog. Their new report, which you can read here, shares some key data on families and reading. What Makes Frequent Readers? Scholastic defines frequent readers as children who…
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Do Your Kids See You Write?
My wife, who is a real writer, unlike me, journals every day. She likes to sit at the kitchen table in the morning with a warm cup of coffee and write. Nicholas and I will often notice her writing or typing away on her laptop as we go about our daily tasks, and we’ve grown…
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What Makes Demme Learning Unique?
Some of you that follow Demme Learning might have wondered what makes us unique. Of course, we have Math-U-See, a hands-on, mastery-based math curriculum that has been around for 25 years. But did you know that, just in the past year, Demme Learning has introduced a great spelling product called Spelling You See, and a…
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Writing to Reflect
Some people start a diary as casually as they start golf, stamps, or a new digestive cure. Whereas to start a diary ought to be a solemn and notable act, done with a due appreciation of the difficulties thereby initiated. The very essence of a diary is truth—a diary of untruth would be pointless—and to…
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Copywork: An Old-Fashioned Tool for Today’s Learner
In today’s fast-paced digital world, the value of writing by hand is often questioned. Copywork—physically copying a selected passage by hand—is a technique often thought to be old-fashioned but one that is now used by many modern homeschoolers. Is copywork just a tedious waste of time, or is it actually an important tool for learning?…
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Writing: What, Not Where
Most of us want our kids to have basic writing skills, yet we often place too much emphasis on what medium our kids should be proficient in. We should focus more on what they are actually writing. In today’s 21st century world, ‘yours truly’ has given way to TTYL (talk to you later). Our kids…
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