May 5, 2010

Being in the non-profit world, it is not often that I get to actually put money or value into the hands of our supporters.  Instead we rely upon you to sacrificially give in order to put value into the hands of others whom many times you’ve never met.  If you think about that fact, it makes what you all do that much more amazing.  I am often broken by the genuine caring of our friends.  But now, I get to feel like a real business guy and help you. Yea! 

Summer is a great chance for parents to make sure that a student’s skills have been shored up, to see them prepare for next year’s work, and to enrich them in areas that they may have missed all together in school.  Last month, I left you with a little teaser about some things that you can do with your child this summer.  I am going to follow up with these tips on how to help your son or daughter become one of the strongest students in his or her class in an hour a day five days a week.

Yes, you too can be a homeschooler.

Okay, maybe you aren’t going to keep your kids home all year and have three or four hours of school per day, but if you have them at home for the summer anyway, why not use the time for an hour a days worth of strengthening and enrichment? 

1) Your student can benefit from going back over the basics – especially in math.  Use this great free website http://www.math-drills.com/ to download math worksheets for everything from the most elemental addition and subtraction problems all the way up to Algebra and Geometry.  These really shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes a day.  We’re just keeping sharp here.

2) For Kindergarteners through sixth graders, make the economical purchase of the Core Knowledge Series’ of What Your____ Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. www.coreknowledge.org.  The series consist of 8 books and begins with the things that your pre-schooler should know and goes through what your 6th grader should know.   The books are only $15 each, and you can buy one per year to grow along with your child, or get them all at once in order to shore up things that perhaps your older student didn’t know from previous years.  The Core Knowledge books are excellent comprehensive liberal arts type texts, covering things like what math problems and formulas and skills the student should know - with explanations and practice sets, important Natural Sciences facts, Physical Science principles and biographies of famous scientists.  The series also contains sections on the arts; music theory and famous composers as well as art theory, history and famous artists are covered.  The Language Arts section goes over the English grammar and parts of speech that a student should have mastered, explaining the elements in detail, so that both the parent and child can understand the ideas. It also covers many of the stories, tales and myths that a child should know in order to understand other classic literature. 

Perhaps the most valuable, is the series’ sections on Geography and World and American Civilization.  This covers ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome, Europe in the Middle Ages and Renaissance and U.S. History.  It also covers much of the missed world geography that is important to being a sound student.  These sections along with those dealing with the Fine Arts and Language Arts, alone, make this series worth its cost many times over.  Use the Core knowledge books for 40 minutes a day.  The books are conveniently broken up into five disciplines. One for each day, but do math and science each day.    Older students can use the books on their own to learn the things that will likely be missed in school, or to reinforce those things already learned.  You, the parent, can follow up with questions or check their work.  Don’t forget to go back over materials learned on previous days. 

Skip some of the week long camps and devote time to mastering one thing

It may sound nice to tell others that your child attended a week long language camp, a week long music camp and a two week science camp.  However, unless they are older and are going to learn advanced materials, a week is likely to be forgotten, and your child has learned dilettantism rather than commitment and mastery.   If you want your child to experience something, then you should commit to it whole heartedly, and expect them to do so too.  This will likely mean a whole summer of one special discipline such as learning to play a musical instrument or to speak a foreign language.

Music lessons can be inexpensive and comprehensive. Here at The Bessemer Classical School, we have a great relationship with The Music Opportunity Program of Birmingham.  They offer individual beginner’s stringed instrument lessons during June and July on a 4 to 8 lesson schedule.  These private lessons are once a week for a thirty for only $100 per month.  The beauty of this set up is that your child commits to a month or two of study, and has to practice all week between lessons.  The student will learn more than simply how to hold the instrument and some rudimentary moves, but will actually learn to play the violin, cello, viola or bass. The student can then continue to take lessons from there if desired.   For more information on this program go to http://www.musicop.org/ws/ or call 231-9509.

As far as languages, why not handle the elementary stuff yourself?  You can pick up a book and begin teaching them vocabulary and basic phrases.  Who knows, maybe you will enjoy learning a language too. Later on they can go to advanced camps when they want to learn the future perfect tense of “to go”.  The key is committing to it regularly – perhaps 3 days a week for thirty minutes.

High school students

• Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World is a great way for even older students to gain a firmer grasp of history from its very beginnings all the way through Egypt, Greece, the middle ages, early American History and modern history.  Read this 4 book series ($22 each) once per summer to make college Western Civ. a breeze. 
• Try Vocabulary from Classical Roots to help build a SAT busting vocabulary (15 minutes a day). 
• Begin strengthening your student’s knowledge of the faith and how to defend it.  Brandon Robbins of the Apologetics Resource Center in Birmingham, notes that 70% of 18 year olds are leaving the church when they leave home.  The ARC is conducting its Jericho Project this summer, and it is a great way to prepare your high school or early college student to deal with things that they WILL encounter on ANY college campus, such as naturalism, atheism, agnosticism, postmodern relativism, pluralism, attacks on the Bible, homosexuality and same – sex marriage, the problem of evil, and more.  The ten week course will be conducted on Tuesday evenings from 7-9 at the ARC’s offices.  At $50 for ten weeks, this is an easy recommendation for me to make to you.  You may find out more by contacting the Apologetics Resource Center www.arcapologetics.org.  Jericho is good for interested adults too.

So, now The Bessemer Classical School has given back to you.  Boy, do I feel better!  Most of these suggestions will cost you less than $100 for a summer, but I trust that through a modicum of effort, you will see amazing improvements in your child from year to year, and you will be more likely to see a young adult who is well informed and prepared to take on everything from physics to the smart-aleck philosophy professor with confidence and skill.  This only really takes an hour a day, but you very well may find a student that becomes highly interested and wants to do more.  This is when you know the program you’ve instituted has been successful.

Best wishes to you in your work.