UHEA Conference part 1

I attended the Utah Home Education Association’s conference on Saturday. I came away from this conference, more than ever before, feeling that I heard exactly what I needed to hear and that, “I can homeschool!”
The first two classes I attend were Penny Gardner’s on Charlotte Mason. She talked about using living books, rather than textbooks. Read biographies, historical fictions and well-written core books. Penny said Living books capture imagination, changes your life, gives new ideas and broadens your mind.
A Charlotte Mason quote: “Persons matter more than things. Don’t say anything that will leave a sting.”
I’m going to give you my notes for the rest as I took them, if you have questions, let me know.
Language Arts:
Narration is the retelling – “act of Knowing”
Steps to becoming a good writer:
-Oral Narration
-tell a story – oral composition
-read linear stories together, then have child narrate
-Make it fun!
-Make a book and give as a gift
-bean bag toss- “your turn- what happens next in the story?”
-cube toss: six sides: plot, theme, setting, character, compare/contrast, favorite part
-encourage kids to tell Dad about the book
-show a picture, write a list- tell what they saw
-maybe make into a poem
-act the story out
-draw a comic strip
-make a poster
-Copywork or Transcription
-Worry about penmanship around age 7 or 8
-have kids trace
-use Italic Handwriting
-handwriting is an art
-“People will judge you on your handwriting”
-have a jar or basket with favorite quotes for copywork
-short, focused lesson
-copy great literature
-there they will pick up spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, vocabulary, capitalization
-let kids make their own Book of Mottos – special quotes
Dictation
-do not repeat
-learning listening, attention, concentration, memory
-start with short things
-start with something they already know
-should use neatest penmanship, spelling, punctuation
Spelling
-take words from reading
-notice how the words are spelled
-picture the word in your mind
-spell orally
-repeat
-pronounce words correctly
-write with eyes closed
-write word in sentence
Grammar
-speak correctly
-restate properly
-learn Latin
Transitions from Oral to Written Narrations
-start as written, move to oral
-alternate between student and parent writing