Have you ever wished that you could customize worksheets for phonics or other skills easily and quickly, as you need them? How wonderful would it be to have those worksheets in the same handwriting style that you’re teaching your children, allowing you to teach a skill and have your children practice handwriting at the same time? We’ve found a reasonably priced program that allows you do all of the above and more. You can download Startwrite directly from the internet to begin using immediately!

Startwrite works similar to a word processor making it very user friendly. Some of the features that we found attractive include:

• Fonts, in a variety of sizes, that are actually handwriting styles: manuscript, manuscript-simple, modern manuscript, italic and cursive.
• Handwriting helps such as guideline lines, again in various sizes and colors; dotted, dashed and solid letters; starting dots and directional arrows.
• Clip art to make pages interesting and unique.
• You can design relevant copy work and handwriting materials to integrate subjects and books.
• You print out the portrait or landscape worksheets on your own paper instead of having to buy handwriting book and copy work books that aren’t as relevant to your history and science topics.
• Spell check allows you to make sure your worksheets are accurate.

Initially, we viewed this software as a great resource for phonics. In fact, we used Startwrite to create all of the phonics worksheets in our Kindergarten curriculum. Eventually, we realized that there were so many other opportunities to use this software! Some ideas we have utilized, other than phonics, are as follows:

1. Copy work – with my son, I pulled sentences and paragraphs out of the living books we were reading (for history, fine arts and science). I looked for material that emphasized a specific event or accomplishment, a concept or a language arts skill that my son needed to learn. I printed it out in the handwriting font he was learning. Early on, I simply used the lightest font or dotted letters so that he could trace the words. As he grew, I used the regular handwriting font and printed out lined blank paper so he could copy onto the same size lines as he was reading.
2. Creating books – by printing out the pages half lined and half blank, you can have your child write on one part of the page and illustrate on the other half. You could put photos on the other half and have your child write about each. For a very young child, you could type up what he tells you and let him trace the writing. One idea we did that I really loved was taking poetry selections and making our own anthology to give away at Christmas.
3. Letter writing and other models – I still have a thank you letter from one of my dear friend’s children that was created on Startwrite. Any type of written model may be created with this program from a basic friendly letter to addressing an envelope to learning to write the heading on an assignment. We used this software to model how I wanted vocabulary set up. By having my son trace the first few words and definitions, it instilled how vocabulary should be completed when writing on his own.
4. Worksheets for any subject – You can create all kinds of worksheets for any subject using creative and fun clip art to assess your child’s learning. This program is so flexible that it even includes Spanish letters and math fonts!

While there are many tools and resources for homeschooling, we feel strongly that Startwrite has the attributes of a resource that every homeschool mom needs because it: saves money (no more workbooks to buy!)

• saves time (you can quickly and expertly put together the specific materials you need when you need them)
• integrates subjects (working smart rather than hard)
• makes learning relevant (you choose the skills that your child needs to learn).

It’s not often that you read one of our blogs and we’re endorsing specific products. However, with this program we felt that too many moms had never heard of it and were missing out on its value.  Incidentally, we never endorse something we don’t own and use ourselves.

If you currently use Startwrite or decide to try it after reading this blog, please comment and let us know what you think. We’d love hear about any creative ways that moms use the program. If you have a Startwrite worksheet that you liked to share with other moms, email it as an attachment to info@epikardia.com and we’ll forward all worksheets to our mailing list of Epi Kardia moms.

I hope this product review was helpful and that you’ll find the program as useful as we have. May all of your homes be Christ-filled and joyful!

In Him,

Beth

America n History I

Colonization through the Civil War

You’ve been asking for it and we’ve been listening! Our newest high school course is days away from publication and you won’t want to miss out on the great savings during the first week of availability!

Just a little peak to let you see why we’re so excited about this latest Epi Kardia publication! Your student will be able to:

• Learn history from a Christian worldview and develop a healthy, realistic view of our true American heritage with God as the Designer and Orchestrator of our nation!
• Read living history books that truly make history understandable and relevant, with many primary and secondary sources included!
• Examine and evaluate real historical documents such as letters from Benjamin Banneker and poetry written by Abraham Lincoln!
• Learn about who our founding fathers really were and not just what they did!

With over 140 pages including teacher’s notes, book lists, specific assignments, evaluation tips including tailor-made rubrics for all major assignments, and many additional tools, you and your student are sure to have a greater understanding of our country’s history upon completion.

So, watch your email and our blog for this awesome opportunity to share our nation’s childhood with your high school students and bring history to life!

God’s blessings,

Beth and Dana

“Our motto is,–’Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.’ When we say that education is an atmosphere we do not mean that a child should be isolated in what may be called a ‘child environment’ specially adapted and prepared, but that we should take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere both as regards persons and things and should let him live freely among his proper conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down his world to the ‘child’s’ level.”

We don’t often talk directly about Charlotte Mason in our curriculum, but most of Epi Kardia curriculum, as well as our homeschooling philosophies as expressed on our blog, are inspired by her teachings.  Volume 6 of her works is my favorite, as it was written about forty years after her first volume. (In other words, after her teaching practices were, well, finely tuned by experience.)

“We all know the natural conditions under which a child should live; how he shares household ways with his mother, romps with his father, is teased by his brothers and petted by his sisters; is taught by his tumbles; learns self-denial by the baby’s needs, the delightfulness of furniture by playing at battle and siege with sofa and table; learns veneration for the old by the visits of his great-grandmother; how to live with his equals by the chums he gathers round him; learns intimacy with animals from his dog and cat; delight in the fields where the buttercups grow and greater delight in the blackberry hedges.”

Rather than sitting all day in an artificially contrived environment, Charlotte believed that children should experience life directly.  They should interact with nature; they should have relationships with their parents, siblings, and neighbors next door, the grocery store clerks and the pharmacist.  They should be exposed to some of the realities of life, helping make a meal for the friend who just had surgery or take care of the yard work for an elderly neighbor.

It is no wonder that the homeschooling movement has whole-heartedly adopted Ms. Mason’s philosophies!  It certainly sounds like homeschooling to me!

Thankful for this precious time with my kids,

Next:  Education is a Discipline