Sailor Boon

Taken from Practical Homeschooling Magazine, September/October 2013 issue
www.home-school.com

 

The list of “things you can learn at home” just got a bit longer.

Offshore Sailing School and the BoatUS Foundation have put together – wait for it – an “Online Learn to Sail” course.

The narrated curriculum includes “easy-to-comprehend video, animations, and Offshore Sailing School instructors teaching aboard the Colgate 26.”  The curriculum distills “best practices learned over nearly 50 years of Offshore Sailing School instruction.”

While it won’t teach you the muscle memory and reactions necessary to keep from, say, knocking yourself into the water when you come about, it is designed to help you learn the new terms and definitions that recreational sailors need to know.

The cost is $75, but the course will be available for a limited time at the introductory price of $55.  It can be found at www.BoatUS.org/offshoresailing.

The school has educated more than 130,000 students since 1964 and is ranked #1 by Practical Sailor in both instructors and curriculum.  For more information, go to www.offshoresailing.com.

The BoatUS Foundation offered the first free online boating safety course in 1997.  Since then over a million boaters have taken their online courses.  Funded primarily by members of BoatUS, it offers only free online, NASBLA-approved boating safety courses recognized by 33 states.  The Online Learn to Sail course is the first of many more advanced online learning courses the Foundation plans to offer.  Fore more information, go to www.BoatUS.com/foundation.

 

Contemplating Grammar

Published with Permission
Written by Andrew Pudewa
www.TOSMagazine.com

 

It seems that the pattern of the Trinity permeates creation: body, mind, soul; harmony, melody, rhythm; truth, goodness, beauty; ethos, pathos, logos. The illustrations could continue. Therefore it should not surprise us that the thing called “grammar” can also be understood in three parts—integrated and organically connected but in three aspects, which when understood individually, strengthen our understanding of the whole.

I first began thinking about the question of grammar more than ten years ago, when I met a professional author—a man who had for decades earned his daily bread by writing. We were working together on a project, and he mentioned to me, somewhat casually, “I don’t know any grammar.” Though he was being candid, I was surprised and even confused. How was it that a professional writer didn’t know much grammar? And the obvious extrapolation was this: if it’s not necessary to know grammar to write well, why do we pile year after year of grammar workbooks on our children? Are we missing something here? (more…)

How to Use Binders (and Individualize Lesson Plans for BiblioPlan or Preprinted Plans)

Written by GFG on AUGUST 8, 2013
http://gratefulforgrace.com/2013/08/how-to-use-binders-and-individualize-lesson-plans-for-biblioplan-or-my-fathers-world/

 

A few years ago, I made the switch to binders for each kiddo and it has been a huge help to our homeschool.  Let me show you how they work.  Specifically, the lesson plan binders.

Each child has binders for different areas of our homeschool and they are color coded (this is another terrific time saver and organization tip I highly recommend).

The contents of the binders change every year or so, but they always have the lesson plans.  Last year and this year, the binders are also for memorization work, Latin, science, grammar, and writing (the high schoolers don’t have the grammar and writing binders, but ones that match specific courses).

Binders WEB

(more…)