At Omaha HAVEN we strive to assist families in transitioning between public and home-school settings and provide opportunities for Latter-Day Saint home-school families and their friends to connect in meaningful ways. Everyone is welcome to utilize this resource and participate in activities as we each seek to fulfill our divine charge--to build families that are respectful, educated, compassionate, faith-filled contributors to a civil society.

This website and its contents are not sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We invite you to view their official webpage here

Thursday, May 21, 2020

You GOT this!! Getting Started with Home-school

by: Crystal Young

Two months ago the world was a different place. There is a good chance you thought of homeschooling as the last option, or maybe you were just a little intimidated by the whole idea of being solely responsible for your child’s education. Then you read the CDC recommendations for re-opening schools and began rethinking school this fall, or perhaps you have enjoyed being connected with your children during quarantine. Now you are considering home-school and BIG questions loom. How does a person “register” to home-school?? Will I have to buy an expensive curriculum? What can I do if we only home-school one semester?

The good news is there are answers to those questions and it’s a blessing to have home-school as an option in these uncertain times. To begin the Omaha HAVEN website has links to all the information for Nebraska home-school law and multiple suggestions for curriculum, also we encourage you to fill out our contact form and join the network so we can create support systems for like minded parents. You can begin by filing paperwork at the Nebraska Exempt School Program (Home School) website. Part of the information required in the State home-school paperwork will be a declaration of the curriculum you plan to use to progress your child in five subject areas: Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science and Health. Don't let that intimidate you, you can list what you intend to use now, but it is OK to change your mind later.

Once you start looking into home-school curriculum it can feel completely overwhelming because of the vast number of options on the market. We have created a shorter list of recommendations at Omahahaven.com from our combined experience. There is no one “right” curriculum. Each child is different, learning styles of children and parents differ and one of the great strengths of home-schooling is that you can meet the individual need. Home-school is flexible and that's a good thing! Home Education maximizes our opportunity to use a philosophy that fits your family culture and the needs of your children.

Overwhelmed? Don’t be. No need to panic. Health can be easily covered in the For Strength of Youth pamphlet. Minute Physics and dozens of other online resources can accompany nature walks, sketching and observing the world around us to make science come alive. Gratefully there are several curriculum available to help cover all the bases in language arts, math, and social studies.

Home-school needs not be expensive. There are several programs that offer FREE curriculum. In Easy Peazy Home school Curriculum the Parent Representative selects which subjects and the desired time frame. The Program spits out a schedule for each subject. The Good and The Beautiful is another excellent curriculum available in free PDF downloads if you prefer not to buy the student workbooks. Eureka Math by Great Minds offers a free PDF curriculum that I felt comprehensive and manageable. These three examples offer K-12 in all subject areas. As a parent you can pick and choose which subjects by which provider fits your child best. Learning becomes accessible, and comprehensive. Both the student and the parent feel empowered and successful.

From my perspective most children will be able to navigate back to the public system successfully from a home school experience. The key to success is to nurture a love of learning while encouraging personal responsibility for his/her education. Education should not imprison us; it should empower us.
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A Short List Recommendation of Go-to Home-school Curriculums

The strength and the challenge of home-school is the way it is tailored to the individual needs of your child instead of being that one-size-fits-all box. It's an adventure finding the best fit for your child so we've provided some suggestions for curriculum to get your started.

Things to keep in mind:
  • Read some reviews and, if you can, get your hands on the curriculum and peruse. Ask home-schoolers in your area what they use and if they would allow you stop by to check it out. Some areas have home school curriculum fairs or home-school conferences with vendor presentations.
  • One thing is certain, follow your intuition. You know your child better than ANYONE in the world and you will recognize what will fit them when you see it.
  • As you and your kids get used to home-school there are some reasonably priced curriculum options that will help you dip your toes without breaking your budget.
  • Take it easy and give your kids time to adjust to home-school, we long time home-school parents call this period, the unschool period. During this time rely heavily on reading together, art, project based learning activities and basic reading and math materials to keep them progressing in these areas.
  • As you settle in and as you work with your children your sense of what curriculum programs will work for your child and your family culture will become more clear. During this time, get to know other home-school families in your area and soak up what you can learn for those families with a little more experience.

Here's a Curriculum Short List...

ONLINE PRIVATE & PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
BYU Middle & High School
K-12
Liberty University Online Academy
Omaha Virtual School

FREE CURRICULUM:

AFFORDABLE & COMPREHENSIVE:
MATH:


A Patriot’s History of the United States

HEALTH/PE:
Outdoor Activity
Play
Community Sports

ART:


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Consider Dyslexia: If Your Child is Struggling

by: Stephanie Morgan
05/21/2020

By the age of 7 a child should be showing all the signs that they are ready to read with the base knowledge of letters and sounds they have learned in their early ed years, learning that can come through interactive play based strategies. Most children will already have begun reading their first words and blending simple letter sounds, some will already read sentences or even paragraphs at 7. For some children reading comes more naturally than others, some show more interest in reading and with verily little effort will begin to read. If however, your otherwise bright 7-8 year old is struggling to learn the names of the letters, having trouble connecting letters to their sounds, confusing or substituting words, having difficulty decoding (sounding out) single words, making consistent errors, reversals of letters or words after the 2nd grade (7-8 years old), is generally frustrated with school work -- especially those assignments that require reading and writing and/or rote memorization -- having problems with attention, and reading is very slow and painful, you likely have a dyslexic child.

It is estimated that 1 in 5 human beings (20%) have dyslexic brains and dyslexia is the most common “learning disability” affecting both reading, writing, and arithmetic, yet it is the most misunderstood and largely unmet challenge in education today. Teachers colleges in the U.S. devote no significant time to the study of dyslexia and the average teacher receives practically no training in appropriate instruction methods to meet the needs of dyslexic learners. What is most tragic about this is that the curriculum and methods that work best for dyslexic learners are also excellent curriculums for all learners, and yet American schools do not use these curriculums or methods.

Dyslexia is often referred to as a learning disability, but more accurately it is a learning difference resulting from an entirely unique brain structure and brain processing which can now be seen through fMRI technology. Dyslexia is genetic and therefore a family history of late reading and learning difficulties should be present, however, it is difficult for families to identify their family trait because of the poor diagnosis of dyslexia and the fact that dyslexia in adults looks very different than it does in children. Dyslexic thinkers have both gifts and challenges, in fact, it is their unique brain structure that results in valuable brain strengths which have trade offs in early education. Dyslexia is observed in differing severity and dyslexics are often referred to as having mild, moderate or profound dyslexia. Because of the spectrum within dyslexia many child dyslexics will never have their dyslexia identified. The only sure way to diagnose dyslexia is to have a child thoroughly evaluated by a neuropsychologist with special training in diagnosing dyslexia. However, for most home-schooled children it is not necessary to seek a diagnosis for dyslexia since a home-school can equip itself to meet the challenges of educating a dyslexic thinker without seeking special ed services. In cases where dyslexia is profound (severe) a diagnosis may be needed to receive accommodations in college entrance and college coursework and testing.

Dyslexia is a lifelong condition, it is not a developmental lag, because it results from a completely unique organization of the brain and the unique brain processing style. For this reason a dyslexic does not grow out of dyslexia, they do not “overcome” dyslexia, instead they learn in spite of the challenges presented and their strengths compensate for their weaknesses. Early intervention and correct instruction methods can help reduce the frustration and stress a dyslexic will experience in learning but it will not eliminate it. The best prescription beyond choosing the right methods and curriculums is to educate yourself about dyslexia and be patient and persistent in your child's instruction. If you think your child might be dyslexic I would encourage you to read about dyslexia. I highly recommend the book “The Dyslexic Advantage, Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain,” by Brock L. Eide M.D. M.A. (Author), Fernette F. Eide M.D. (Author), as the place to begin.

My Recommendations:

The curriculum and teaching methods I will recommend for Elementary ED are excellent for children with dyslexic brains or your average brain. The good news there is that if you use these curriculums and you discover that your child is dyslexic at between 8-10 years of age (the most common period for which dyslexia is recognized due to the serious education lag that occurs in this range) you will feel confident that you have been using methods suited to their brain differences. If however, your child is not dyslexic and has no cognitive impairments, you will find these curriculums thorough and easy to implement. For this reason I believe these programs to be the best programs for teaching reading and writing that I have seen.

My Treasure Trove of Education Resources for Elementary ED instruction

ELA (English Language Arts):
  • All About Reading & All About Spelling
  • “Writing Skills” by Diana Hanbury King
  • Extra Writing Practice: Learning Without Tears Writing has some writing building work books I like
  • Handwriting Without Tears: They have an early ed program as well, they do a great job in how they introduce writing and they also continue with cursive for grade 3 and up. **If I did it again I might consider teaching cursive from the beginning instead of teaching print. They do it that way in England and it works wonderfully.
  • Keyboarding Without Tears, teaches typing early on. Very helpful skill for dyslexics who struggle with handwritten tasks.
  • Extra Phonic Practice: Explode the Code workbooks & online
  • Notability App: Is a great resource for kids when doing longer writing assignments. They can use text to type to get their ideas down and then do edit and revision right in the app. They can add pictures to their stories and reports and save their work easily.
  • School House Rock: Grammer Rock
  • Story Cubes game
  • Dr. Suess Early Readers
  • Bob Book Early Readers (for very first reading, which may already have done in early ed)
  • Usborne Early Readers (have various levels for advancing readers and the usborne illustrated classics are interesting for older readers who may still need an easier reader)
  • Scripture Readers from the LDS Gospel Library
  • Read straight from the scriptures Once they establish relatively fluent reading let them read quality literature that interests them. Early readers are only instructional but kids grow out of them quickly. For a late reader the early readers become a problem because they are too mature for the stories but their reading level is too low for things that would interest them more. I have found that scripture reading and the scripture readers are enjoyable for them because the stories are meaningful. I also find that Dr. Suess holds the attention of all ages as well as being good early readers.
  • A list of Quality Children’s Literature (not a comprehensive list, but a good start): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YQGKpN3ox6vI_64VQzTPKenjW5J7cNOXDZP-paPwBqs/edit

Some apps we like:

Math:

  • Math Inspirations: Emily Dyke will teach you how to teach math in a way that will build a logical thinker who is able to solve problems not just proform rote memorized algorithms. I find that her method for math is especially powerful in early ed and elementary ed because of how it builds foundations for higher level thinking. I took her teacher training and it has framed how I instruct in math every since. I have not done her program exclusively but it has made me a better teacher.
  • Teaching Textbooks: I moved my son into teaching textbooks his 3rd grade year. He had already established a strong number sense and base for arithmetic in Math Inspiration and more free form manipulative math instruction. Teaching textbooks helped him advance to middle school math and learn common instruction and testing techniques.
  • Schoolhouse Rock: multiplication rock
  • Math Fact Practice: APPS -- Math Ninja, Pet Bingo, Quick Math -- Triangle flash cards in addition/subtraction and multiplication/division.
  • Prodigy -- Math Practice Online, they have an app too
  • Game Apps: such as Unroll me, BlockuDoku, Blokus, Flow, Tetris, Sodoku, etc.
  • Logic/Math Games: Sumoku, Math Inspirations “100 Math Games Book” Science:
  • Dr. Jay L. Wile: Science in the Beginning, Science in the Ancient World, Science in the Industrial Age, Science in the Scientific Revolution, Science in the Age of Reason
  • Supplement with Usborne science books, and other science encyclopedias.
  • Science Documentaries.
  • Enrichment Books & Experiments such as: Catastrophic Science, Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction
History:
Art:
  • Usborne Art Books and Curriculums; such as The Usborne Art Treasury
  • How to Draw Books
  • Art Ideas on Pinterest
  • Original Art Work
  • Art Hub for Kids on YouTube
  • I try to work art into everything we do 

Other Science and Technologies:
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Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool Curriculum Review

Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool

This FREE Homeschool curriculum is the perfect system for beginning or transition-to- homeschool families. It offers parents multiple course options for CORE subjects and electives, as well as detailed daily assignments for each of the chosen subjects. On the website, parents build a family account and then create a unique schedule for each of their children. Children (and/or parents) log into the account to see daily assignments and mark/track completed items. The curriculum and assignments are based on FREE resources found online, so families do not need to purchase anything to complete learning tasks. That said, families can order hard copies of the books used in this system. Some of the highlights:

  • Free
  • Accessible anywhere
  • Custom made courses for interest and ability*
  • All inclusive: both core subjects and electives
  • Multiple resources combined in one-saves me time!
  • Tracking system so parents and child(ren) are aware of progress
  • Wholesome, reputable curriculum (McGuffy Readers, Kahn Math, etc)

If parents are looking for an easy, pre-planned, ready to go system, this is a great option. You can create an account and begin working on assignments in a matter of a few clicks!

*Example: If you have a 3rd grader, you can choose 5th grade math, 2nd grade spelling, and 3rd grade science, all based on your child’s ability level.
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Friday, May 15, 2020

Introducing Omaha HAVEN: A Home & Virtue Based Education Network


Dear friends,

As members of the home, private, and public school community in the Omaha area, we have seen a need for an organization which, though not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, connects the entire community of Latter-day Saint families striving for a virtuous education. To meet this need, we have decided to create Omaha HAVEN, a Home and Virtue-based Educational Network. Our mission is three-fold: 

1. Assist in the organizing of family-centered educational activities by
  • Holding social/informational gatherings,
  • Sending out a monthly newsletter highlighting local resources and activities.
  • Providing for those of similar interests to connect and form their own small groups through a directory of members,
2. Support and mentoring for families who are interested in making educational changes including
  • Beginning a home-school experience,
  • Moving between home, public, or private school situations,
  • Modifying home-school curriculum.
3. Provide information related to education for the purpose of empowering parents such as
  • Uplifting reading lists and materials,
  • Homeschool Curriculum options,
  • Local resources including extra-curricular activities.

Membership in this organization is free! Please sign up online at www.omahahaven.com or click HERE

We look forward to connecting with you, learning from you, and assisting your families in any way that we can as you continue your educational journeys.

The Omaha HAVEN board,

Katie Burton, President, Tech Support, Adventure Groups
Rachael Vilburn, Secretary
Tiffany Rose, Treasurer and Adventure Groups
Angie Blad, Board Member
Ame Burton, Board Member


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Monday, May 4, 2020

Omaha HAVEN: A Community Network to Enrich Education and Empower Families

When in the course of human events you suddenly find yourself in charge of your child’s education, remember.....you are not alone. 

Parents have the right and responsibility for the whole and complete education of their child, regardless of where they attend school. And what an incredible journey that can prove to be! Whether your child uses public, private or ‘home-school’ options, there are plenty of resources here to enrich and empower you for the divine task to "train up a child in the way they should go." (Proverbs 22:6)

We, who are in the midst and tail end of that journey, have recognized the need for a place where every parent may come for timely information, support, resources, and education as you pursue your own journey.

Omaha HAVEN is a new and developing organization. We are just beginning in our efforts to connect the larger Latter-day Saint home-school community in the greater Omaha area and compile important information and resources to support families in their efforts to educate their children. We hope you will join with us and help us build this umbrella of support. As we develop our vision we plan to provide many valuable resources and helps in an easy to access space.

At Omaha HAVEN you will find...
  • Connections with other families who are striving for a virtuous education.
  • Small group connections that support positive education experiences.
  • Service opportunities for all ages—organized and frequent.
  • Information on large group home-school co-ops and home-school community activities.
  • Resources ideas to enrich or supplement the school day.
  • Parent reviews and recommendations pertaining to education and parenting.
  • Resources to assist you in understanding and working in harmony with your child.
  • Educational research to support and inform you.
  • Current and recent legislation which affect families and education.
  • Questions and answers we all face on this journey.

Combining the breadth and depth of our experiences over the years in all educational institutions--as educators, parents, and participants--we hope that our offerings here in a central place will become a valuable tool in your hand. And we look forward to hearing and learning from you too! Welcome!

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