Language Arts in Campfire

CAMPFIRE’S LANGUAGE ARTS APPROACH! We also have a podcast on this over HERE if you would prefer to listen! Here’s the rundown of this post: 1. Our overall approach for all 2. Spiral vs. Mastery 3. Our high school approach 4. What we do NOT include OVERALL APPROACH: Campfire Curriculums has an in-depth language arts approach for those utilizing our Core Connections.  We focus on different levels of skill for different age groups. So for instance, Campfire has some units that teach on adjectives and nouns, predicates, verbs, etc for the younger students. Meanwhile, the older students …

Sources

 How to check your sources… Campfire’s stance on sourcing… This is an overview of Campfire’s stance on sourcing!  While this is textbook (or school book) specific, the same criteria and information can be applied to all–history, news, books, reports, biographies, etc.  When is it okay to use certain sources and when is it not?  What is wrong with encyclopedias?  Should you use History .com or other such sources?  What are validated secondary sources vs. tertiary sources?  All your questions are addressed below! WHAT ABOUT WHEN THE TEXTBOOKS DON’T LIST ANY SOURCES?  **THIS IS KEY FOR THE REST …

Response

Response: We have waited about a week, very intentionally, before posting.  We did so because the Bible says: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…”  We know a lot of people wondered if we dropped off the radar these past few days, and we haven’t.  We have been exercising patience and prayer.  We’ve also been incredibly busy trying to catch up on emails!  We love the homeschool community so much, and because of our love of homeschool we wanted to elevate it and elevate parents… holding …

Unit Studies – But are they real curriculum?

If you were looking for “How to Use Unit Studies with High School Students,” go HERE instead! “But… is a unit study actually curriculum?  … or is it JUST a unit study?” A unit study is a broad term that can often mean many things (just like “school book” is a broad term).  In our definition, a unit study is a cross-curricular and/or interdisciplinary approach to education.  This means multiple academic disciplines are combined into one, or there is instruction that intentionally applies academic disciplines simultaneously.  The unit topic is often interesting, to invoke passion-led learning or …

COLLEGE PREP

“But what do I put on the high school transcript?!”  What is it that colleges want to see?  How can you help your student stand out?  Here are some tips which we hope might be helpful to you, in regards to college preparation.   IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE BEFORE WE JUMP IN: Some students are not headed toward a post-secondary education, and that’s okay!  Other students desire career fields which may require a degree, and we understand that, as well!  There is not a “better” or “worse,” “more intelligent” or “less intelligent” approach.  My husband and I both come …

Language Arts Approach

CAMPFIRE CURRICULUMS LANGUAGE ARTS APPROACH Here is the written version, for  a shorter recap!  Or, you can view the podcast below! I know these are supposed to be podcasts… but you know, that’s why the “ish” is on the end of it. 🙂  There are just a couple of notes we needed to add (an important one around the 2:15 minute mark), so that’s why it looks like a video.  Enjoy! Return HOME Go to ALL PODCASTS

NON-AUDITORY LEARNERS

WHAT DO I DO WHEN I HAVE A NON-AUDITORY LEARNER THAT TUNES OUT? We are asked for our opinion on this a lot because many parents who utilize our curriculum are very in-tune with their child’s learning style.  So, what do you do if you have a “kinesthetic learner” (etc) that tunes out during reading portions of any curriculum?  We’ll share our opinion below by copying/pasting our response to someone who recently asked the same about their 7-year-old child. THE SOLUTION (OUR OPINION): We will try to give some personal feedback, but please know you can take …

Notes

HOW TO: NOTE-TAKING Jump to… WHAT DOES NOTE-TAKING LOOK LIKE (WITH PICTURE)? WHAT TO SAVE FOR THE STATE? WHAT IF YOUR CHILD GIVES YOU A BLANK STARE? WHAT IF THEY HATE WRITING? ELEMENTARY VS. HIGH SCHOOL? REAL LIFE! *HIGHLY ENCOURAGED APPLICATION IMAGES OF YOUR CHILD’S WORK . WHAT DOES NOTE-TAKING LOOK LIKE? Honestly, note-taking (or note-booking) can be as structured or as unstructured as you want it to be.  We DO encourage it to be slightly more structured as the student gets older.  For now, we will share a couple examples to help answer, “What is note-taking?” …

HOW DO THEY?? – “WITHOUT WORKSHEETS”

WANT HELP ANSWERING PEOPLE ABOUT “NO WORKSHEETS” WITH SOME EASY ONE LINERS? WE’VE GOT THEM HERE! You know how homeschoolers get asked silly questions like, “Wait, so how do your kids get socialized if they’re homeschooled?”  [ghastly whispered, as if it is a curse word] Or how about this: “But like…. will they be allowed to go to college?!” HAHA! Okay, so UNFORTUNATELY there is another question that has carried over from homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike: “But you don’t use worksheets?  So are your kids actually learning anything?! How do you know?” After reading the rest of …

Is Campfire the “Dessert” or the “Meal” of homeschooling?

**IMPORTANT CURRICULUM POST. WE HIGHLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO READ—THOSE WHO ARE CUSTOMERS AND THOSE WHO AREN’T. WE PROMISE THIS WILL BE WORTH YOUR TIME AND ALSO AN ANSWER TO A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION** The written version gives you an answer in less than 3 minutes and then continues on for more reading (optional); the audio version is a 25-minute listen… both are worth it.  Audio version is HERE. — Our curriculum has obviously evolved since the beginning, so new people have asked us a very important question: Is Campfire Curriculums only the “awesome dessert” to the “meal”? …