Zera Hall

Showing off my future student

2011-08-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted a list of "get ready for kindergarten" ideas presented at our church's Sunday School classes on education. Today I captured of video of this list in action that I thought I'd share.

My daughter-in-law-friend, Kathy, is great at teaching "school" concepts to my granddaughter Amara as they go along with everyday life. Amara will be two next month and has recently started counting from 1 to 11 independently. I think she's brilliant, of course! Today she even made it to 20 with me saying every other number - when she got to eleven I said 12, expecting her to repeat it. Instead she said, "13" and so on up to 20!

I can't wait to homeschool this girl!

Apostolic and Church Age Terms

2011-07-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

At Zera Hall, we use a year-round educational calendar based on the traditional church year. This calendar was created by a homeschooling family at our church and is being used and developed by a group of us educator-moms. The year begins with Advent and ends with what I call Confession Term. The first four terms follow the life of Christ as the church year does with Advent, Epiphany, Lent and Resurrection & Ascension terms. After Ascension day we enter what is known as "ordinary time" in the church year.

In using this calendar, I try to match our memorization, history and class projects to the term we are in. This was easy to do for the first four terms, but harder once we got to ordinary time. So, to continue following the work of Christ with our classwork, I gave the ordinary-time terms themes that continued to follow the history of Christ's church: Apostolic Age, Church Age and Confession Terms. We are currently finishing up Apostlic Age Term and will be entering Church Age Term in a couple of weeks.

During Apostolic Age term we follow the work of the early church from Pentecost through the lives of the Apostles. This looks a little different every year. This year we worked on memorizing the names of the Apostles in song and learned the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23 in keeping with Pentecost.

I love using the church calendar for our school year as it focuses our minds on following Christ in everything we do. Since we do not follow a secular educational model, we are not limited to a secular school calendar. I appreciate many aspects of this calendar - working year-round, regular rest and work routines, etc. - but especially that it gives me a focus for each term. Each year as I use this calendar, I develop a bit further ways in which to tie each of our subjects into the period of the church year we are in. I enjoy having a tool that trains both the girls and myself to think of all we do in light of Christ's work in our lives.

I am excited to take up Church Age term this year and begin the girls' study of Christ work in history - Veritas Press History Cards here we come!

Getting Ready for Kindergarten

2011-07-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

In our Sunday School class last week, Connie Meyerdierk gave an excellent talk on how to prepare your little one for kindergarten. Our church just wrapped up a 10-week class on Christian education. At the final class, Connie gave wonderful direction on child-rearing in the early years and preparation for school from birth to kindergarten. Below is a list of suggestions she offered as preschool goals. This list includes more than I would expect from students entering Zera Hall; although, I would love it if every little girl had all these skills! I thought her list an excellent resource for parents looking forward to school as they teach and train their baby daughters from infancy through the preschool years.

For our Zera Hall friends out there - if any of you missed Connie's presentation last Sunday, she will be giving the same information more informally at my Ladies' Fellowship Breakfast August 12th.

Enjoy!

Goals for Preschool: by Connie Meyerdierk

These are mostly gleaned from recommendations by Michele Lewis, Abecedarian Academy Home Preschool, and it is in no way exhaustive…you can also google Preschool or Kindergarten Benchmarks for more ideas.

Read daily...choose from variety of styles (poetry, nursery rhymes, stories of various length)

o Discuss story to build comprehension skills

§ Feelings of characters

§ Choices that were made

§ Look at pictures...can you guess a little bit about the story from the pictures? Extract as much detail out of the pictures as I can to help develop their power of observation (color, sizes, where are things located, etc)

§ Ask them to retell me the story

o Let them see me reading (Bible, magazine, books of interest, etc)

o Encourage good care of books...may look at as long as you handle gently

o Understand reading is downward from left to right and is able to turn the pages in the correct direction for me

Say alphabet without singing it

Make counting a game...count everything in sight.

o Count out loud to 20 (age 3: to 50...age 4: to 100)

o Count objects to 20 (counting objects is a completely different skill than counting out loud)

o Age 4 – writes numbers to 20 from memory, recognizes numbers to 100...can read addition equations using proper terminology (five plus one equals six)

Recognizes different coins (names and their value)
Learning to tell time (age 3 by the hour, age 4 by the half hour)
Understands simple comparisons (bigger/smaller) and special relationships (under, on top of, beside). (Mom: use a lot of descriptive adjectives when speaking)
Science instruction through observations and explorations / encourage good stewardship over everything God entrusts to our care:

o Spend time together outside and explore it using all five senses to the degree it is appropriate. Pick up a pinecone, watch an ant...observe various creatures (tactile and visual); Take a deep whiff of a fragrant flower...explore scents (smell); Watch and listen to a rainstorm together (hearing); Pick and eat a variety of garden foods and berries to distinguish tastes (taste)

o Understand that God made everything...Creationism should be the foundation of science instruction.

o Recognizes a variety of domestic and wild animals as well as the sounds they make...and where they live (ex: cows on farm)

o Knows the names of outside objects (trees, sky, grass, sun, etc)

o Age 3: Understands that animals need food, water and shelter to live and plants need water, sunshine and soil to grow

o Age 4: Understands the concept that seeds grow into plants, babies grow into adults (animals and humans)

Start to understand basics of good health principles...diet, hygiene, exercise, sleep...teach by example, routine and instruction so good habits will form early on
Start to understand basic safety principles...look both ways before going out on street, do not touch stove, etc
Social studies...familiarize them with surroundings via conversation/observation...informally quiz periodically...Family member names (immediate and extended known to you); Names of common foods; Names of articles of clothing; Names of things around house (rooms, furniture, supplies); become familiar with a variety of occupations and parts of the community (bank, fire station, hospital, etc); familiar with different modes of transportation. Age 4: Understands concept of rules/consequences within a community (no littering, obey stop signs, etc); familiar with several different countries; knows a little bit about the state you live in (name, where located on map).
Bible and Spiritual Growth

o Familiarize with major stories from old and new testaments...emphasize doctrinal truths and character traits

o Memory Verses, Sing Songs and Pray daily, encourage confession of sin, thankfulness (provision and protection), petition (prayers for self and others) and praise (adoration of God’s power, goodness, etc)

Readiness skills

o Identifies colors red, blue, green, yellow, purple, pink, orange, brown, black and white

o Remembers colors from memory (example, what color are peas?)

o Identifies following shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, star, arrow, cross, moon (crescent). [Cookie match game]

o Sits still and quietly while listening to stories without interrupting...patiently train her (tell her she may comment at the end or when Mommy stops to let her interject something, but she is not to interrupt)

o Sequencing...listen carefully and obey a list of up to 3 commands given at once

o Age 3 – cuts along straight line with scissors, uses tape and glue stick, draws straight line with ruler, beginning computer skills, understands concepts of same/different, understands simple opposites (hot/cold, wet/dry)

o Age 4 – colors in lines, draws shapes from memory, can fold paper in half correctly, can draw simple pictures from memory like houses, people, trees, flowers (good enough to recognize), can line objects up in order of size, recognizes patterns, recites full name/full address/phone number/parents full names.

Arts/Crafts...have fun with creativity...get messy...use bold colors and distinct textures
Music...instill a love for music...listen to a variety of styles

o Keeps simple time and rhythm by clapping hands

o Uses simple instruments

o Growing familiarity of different instruments (what they look like and the sounds they make)

Physical Education...focus on coordination and balance...runs, jumps, hops, chases, dances, etc...age 3, plays games like Duck, Duck Goose and understands proper use of playground equipment (care of equipment and safety rules)...age 4, increased coordination (hopping on 1 foot, walking along balance beam, increased tumbling skills), understands taking turns and sportsmanship.

New Students

2011-07-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

It's summer time, the sun is out nearly everyday and the girls poke around in the garden and berries looking for treasures on their "breaks." School is in session 3 days a weeks to give families nice, long 4-day weekends to play in while the girls still keep up with their progress in reading and math. Most other people are off school and won't be thinking about it again until September. Zera Hall is looking toward September with an eye for 2 or 3 more students.

Our little class would benefit from filling out a bit more and so is actively looking for 2 to 3 more students. If you know of any family who would enjoy the kind of educational help and school environment that Zera Hall offers, please spread the word!

Our school year follows the church calendar and after the Advent holidays will begin anew in January. Since most parents think of school as starting in September, 4 & 5-year-old students usually begin in the final term of our year at the end of September. However, with our flexible "7 terms of 7 weeks each" schedule, students can join at the beginning of any term.

Because summer is plan-for-next-year time in the educational world, I'd like to encourage our friends to be thinking of Zera Hall this summer for the little girls in their lives. To that end, I'm offering a summer referral program that will end Labor Day weekend. Anyone who refers a family to Zera Hall will receive a $100 gift certificate** to our favorite bookstore, Exodus Books! Share a link to our blog: www.zerahallgirls.blogspot.com, get an information packet to handout or have your friends email or call me. Your friend may find just the help they need to start their daughter's educational journey and you will get $100 worth of treasures from Exodus! What's on your summer reading wish list?

Have a lovely summer soaking up our perfect mid-80's Northwest sunshine. While you're soaking, take a moment to think about it; do you know anyone who is looking for a different option in Christian Education for their little girl?

*Here's the fine print to earn a referral bonus: referrals must contact Zera Hall before Labor Day 2011, the new student must join before the end of January 2012 and must be enrolled for 2 full months before the bonus is valid. Bonus will be issued after 2 months tuition has been received and will be given in the form of a gift certificate to Exodus Books. Any restrictions on the use of gift certificates is at the discretion of Exodus Books.

Resurrection Term Progress Reports

2011-06-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Progress reports will be arriving in your inbox today. The girls have made wonderful progress this term! They are on the cusp of becoming independent readers and have made a very good start on their new Alpha book in Math-U-See. This is very encouraging considering the long break we took this term.

The coming Apostolic Age term will find us beginning our study of history using Veritas Press History Cards and enjoying the sunshine while we study the insect world. Don't forget that summer terms bring us to our 3-day school week. Friday through Monday the girls will be free to run around and exercise their imaginations as they do fun summer kids stuff. Tuesday through Thursday we will keep on track with our progress in reading and math and keep their minds sharp and full of new information to feed those hungry imaginations.

Enjoy your Family Camp break!

Things a Teacher Loves to Hear...

2011-06-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

From one of my girls today in school....

"Teacher, remember I told you I thought I knew how to read? I decided I wanted to read better, so I turned off my T.V. because I didn't want to watch cartoons, I wanted to read. So I tried to read and I DID!"

Ahhhhhhhh. Balm to a Teacher's soul! :)

Journey Chronicles: Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child:...

2011-03-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

Journey Chronicles: Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child:...: "Distract the Child with the Shallow and Unreal “Modernity is a form of confinement: a way of life wherein we are free to ‘express’ ourselves..."

A good friend has been blogging her way through the book Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. I have been eating up every post. I have always admired this young mother's style of motherhood and wifelyness and find myself heartily agreeing with her thoughts on childhood. It sounds as if this book expresses a lot of what I think about childhood development and early education. She's promised to loan it to me when she's done. I hope she hurries up!

I was musing the other day on the fact that in just my lifetime, childhood has changed dramatically. I'm only 33 and yet I grew up in a world without home computers, VHS, DVD or cable. The closest we got to children's television shows were PBS shows like Sesame Street and 3-2-1 Contact. Now parents have to choose vigilance to even provide opportunity to do anything but T.V., video games and "learning" shows. And we wonder why so many children no longer love to read or have to be put on Ritalin to sit still when they turn 5?

In my mind, all of life is education. What we do with our 8 month old affects how they will learn in school. In an age of so many privileges and tools, we have to be particularly thoughtful and purposeful about how we use the electronic blessings in our lives. It's all too easy to do what is available without thinking and Destroy the Imagination of our children. Without imagination, children cannot learn.

Your Baby Can Read?

2011-03-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I taught a class at Exodus Provisions on how to use the phonics program I have used both with my own children and at Zera Hall. This program, Teach America to Read and Spell or TATRAS, is a vertical phonics reading program. Over the years I've come to believe very strongly in both the use of phonics to teach reading and specifically the benefits of vertical phonics.

Every couple of years or so it seems that some learning company comes out with a new program to teach your child to read very young with little or no effort from Mom and Dad or Teacher. The latest one I've heard about is called, "Your Baby Can Read." Typically these programs promise your child will be reading in no time as they learn to recognize words. Songs, flashcards, videos, you name it - every program has a method to get your child to "read."

It is my contention that none of these programs is actually teaching reading, but rather are actually hindering your child's ability to read.

Why?

Usually these systems use some form of whole-word recognition, also known as "see-and-say" or "sight-words" to teach reading. What they are really teaching your baby or child is to memorize, something children are extremely good at from a very young age. Even a toddler can memorize a shocking number of words very quickly and, so it would seem, learn to read very quickly.

However, memorization is not the same thing as reading. Reading means seeing the connection between letters and sounds, putting them together and understanding the words they create. Whole word memorization methods do not accomplish any of this. In fact, because the child thinks she is reading, this method actually hinders acquiring true reading ability. Once the vocabulary of what she is reading outstrips her memorization speed, usually around 400 words, she will be stuck. Because she hasn't actually learned how to "sound out" words, she will not be able to read anything she hasn't yet memorized. This is how many young children start to "hate" reading and/or school at about 3rd grade. They are now trying to read books with many words they haven't yet memorized and they have no skills for decoding words they haven't yet seen.

Phonics, on the other hand, eliminates all of this. While it may take a bit longer to learn in the beginning, the child is actually learning the fundamentals of reading. Because they know how letters, sounds and words are connected, once they have complete an entire phonics program they have the skills needed to unlock any word in English. A phonics system that teaches every sound a letter or letter combination (also called a phonogram) can make gives a child a storehouse of information with which to approach new and unfamiliar words. The more new words they tackle with these tools, the better readers they become. There is no memorization wall to hit. In theory, the only thing between the child and the next level of reading ability is their next trip to the library.

I particularly like TATRAS because it teaches Vertical Phonics. This means that every sound of a letter is taught at once rather than going through short vowel sounds first, long sound later and leaving the rest to be "irregular" sounds. Once a child has learned her phonograms, she simply must try each sound until she has sounded out, or decoded, the word in front of her. There are no mystery sounds she hasn't yet learned. She can be given any children's book to read and isn't limited to readers written with only short-vowel sound words.

I also like that it is based on the Most Often Occurring Words in English and leaves very few of these to be "irregular words" that have to be memorized as sight words. Because English is such a hodge-podge of languages and sounds, any phonics system will have some words that simply have to be memorized as "sight-words." The word "the" is an example. However, the fewer of these irregularities a system of phonics creates, the more words a child will be able to sound-out long after finishing their phonics system.

Phonics teaches children how their language works. Sight-word reading simply allows them to pretend to read by memorizing a bunch of words and then they are embarrassed when they get far enough to be stuck. It's a method that caters to the instant-gratification addiction of our culture. Who doesn't want to show off their baby reading? Who really wants to take all the time and effort to teach a bunch of letter combinations and sounds before showing Grandma that Susy can read?

Then again, don't we want our children reading beyond babyhood? It's my conviction that only phonics allows our children to understand words and be able to read in such a way that their love of reading continues well beyond their early school days. Like all good things, reading is worth waiting for.

For more info. on our reading program at Zera Hall see the TATRAS website.

REMEMBER!

2011-03-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Just a little reminder that school schedule is a little off this week!

Monday - no school
Tuesday - early dismissal 3:30pm
Wednesday - no school
Thursday - regular hours
Friday - regular hours

Thanks!

Guessing

2011-03-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

As the girls are on the verge of becoming fluent early readers, parents can help watch out for a pitfall that most new learners fall into. Learning is a skill. It's a new skill for your girls. It's a very exciting skill. They are suddenly awakening to the fact that they are able to learn things they don't know. The temptation and pitfall we want to help them avoid is guessing. It's so exciting to know something new that often children will "guess" an answer to show off their knowledge rather than take the time to use their new skills and actually discover the true answer.

At this point in the learning process children need to start recognizing what real learning is and is not. Learning something is not the same as remembering. The temptation for the girls will be to think they remember a word or math fact or answer to a new problem because it looks similar to something they've already learned. It's so tempting to shout out, "set!" when they see their new word "sit" and to be so proud that they, "already knew it!" Young learners rush to an answer after seeing just the first sound, without looking at the full word.

You can help your girls grow through this phase of acquiring new knowledge by encouraging them to learn and not to guess. If they are guessing at words at home, encourage them to "read it, don't guess," or "sound it out." If they pretend to know the answer to something because they want you to be proud of how much they know, show your pride in their ability to figure it out instead. It's very important at this point for children know that what is praiseworthy is taking the time to figure out and learn something unknown. Learning is just as praiseworthy as knowing.

Of course, they are learning enough that they may often guess correctly. However, guessing correctly can become a crutch used to avoid the work of actually understanding what they are doing. True learning comes by understanding. Young children can memorize very quickly and so make many good guesses. However, what we're looking for is the ability to understand how to do the work so that they don't need to guess. If they develop a bad habit of relying on guessing first, they will get pretty stuck when it comes to building new concepts on previous knowledge.

Make your new favorite phrases at home,

"sound it out!"

"read it!"

"how much do you have altogether?"

"how much more do you need?"

and help your daughter be a good learner of knowledge and not merely a quoter of facts.

Last Day

2011-03-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Acacia's last day at Zera Hall and so we had a little "going away party." The girls will miss her friendship, generous spirit and servant's heart. We all hope Acacia has a wonderful time making new friends in her new home and school. We love you, Acacia!

Going Away Day

2011-02-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

Hi Zera Families!

I hope you are all enjoying a week home with your girls. I wanted to let you know about something that will be happening on our first day back to school.

Next Tuesday will be A.T.'s last day at Zera Hall. Her family is moving as so will need to change schools. She gets to join us for one last day so we can say goodbye. So, on Tuesday we will have a little going away party. If the girls would like to bring cards or gifts for her, we will have some cupcakes and send her off with our love.

This does leave a hole in our class, so if you know of anyone who has a daughter the right age for our 1st grade class please feel encouraged to share about Zera Hall. :)

Thanks - see you soon!

Mrs. Hayes

Epiphany Term Wrap Up

2011-02-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

Whew! I can't believe Epiphany Term is already over and Lent is upon us!

The girls had a good term. Despite a lot of side drama going on with sickness, family emergenices for Teacher and other distractions, everyone made progress and developed new skills.

Reading took a big step forward this term! The girls passed 1-minute timings and moved to new levels in TATRAS, started reading "real" books from the Abeka primer series and made it nearly through the 1st half of the phonogram chart. Everyone seems to have a good grasp on "sliding" their sounds to make words and understanding that words make sentences. Hurray!

Spelling was another Epiphany Term achievement. We started working daily on our calendar skills and each day after writing the date we worked on spelling words that start with the same phonogram as the day of the week. On F-Friday they spelled fun, fan, fast, free and so on. Everyday for the past few weeks they've spelled at least 5 words, sounding out each word themselves and then checking them together when finished. Ariana especially is a speedy speller and is always ready with her word correctly spelled first!

Winona was our math champion as in the last week of term she conquered adding and was able to do the "plus 1" speed drill. The girls are over halfway through their first math book, Math-U-See Primer, and will be moving onto the 1st grade book, Alpha, in the coming weeks. In Lenten term we will be tackling Time skills.

Another new skill we added was labeling. During our story time we are now not only narrating the story in pictures after our reading, but the girls have started labeling the major characters in their pictures. Acacia is our best narrator and can remember every detail from every story and has show major improvement in her drawing skills since school began.

All three girls memorize Isaiah 60:1-4 for Epiphany this term and learned 1 or 2 new songs, despite Teacher's off-key example. :) We've almost finished the Old Testament Bible books and the continents and oceans of the world. Lenten term will find us making maps of the world and starting Geography Songs to help us memorize the countries of North and South America.

If you have questions about your daughter's individual progress, please contact me. Since I spoke to most of you individually about how Epiphany Term went, I do not plan to type out progress reports. If you would like a written report, I will be happy to send you one, just let me know!

Have a great holiday week and I'll see everyone on Tuesday!

Epiphany Term - Week Two in Review

2011-01-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

The highlight of week two was our Math Vitamins! The girls learned that just like vitamins help their body get better when they are sick, math vitamins help them get better at their math skills.

Each girls now does a Calculadder drill to begin our math session each day. Calculadder worksheets are timed math drills that help the girls practice their math facts until they memorize them. Doing a timed math drill helps the girls get focused as we begin our math time. Everyone is able to start at their own level and then progress at their own speed as they only move on if they can do their current level in under two minutes. The first set of Calculadder drills are designed to help the student first be able to write their numerals quickly, without thinking about it, and then to memorize the addition and subtraction facts to 10.

The girls seem to enjoy their "vitamins" quite a bit and ask every morning, "When can I do my math test thing?" :)

We also changed how we begin our school day at Zera Hall. Since everyone arrives at a different time, I have started leaving a simple worksheet on each girl's desk after they go home. Upon arriving each girl goes straight down to her desk and does the worksheet she finds there until everyone has arrived and we begin our Opening Exercises together. This helps the girls start out focused and not be distracted with toys and such before school gets going.

Our new phonograms for this week were:

Y - /y/ellow, bic/y/cle, funn/y/, m/y/
C - /c/at, bi/c/ycle

Epiphany Term - Week One in Review

2011-01-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

Despite a few distraction and delays, the girls were excited and happy to start Epiphany Term. I was pleased to find that we didn't lose too much ground during the long break. The girls all did well in remembering their phonograms, math facts and memory verses. They were mostly able to pick right off where we left off.

Epiphany term celebrates the coming of the so called "wise men," Gentile king-makers, to bring king-gifts to the child Jesus. During Epiphany Term we talk about all the nations coming to glorify King Jesus and our being kings and queens in His Kingdom. The girls were excited to wear their Epiphany crowns and we talked about being princesses for Jesus so that all people will want to come to our light.

A few highlights for Epiphany Term:

We are memorizing Isaiah 60:1-5
After we review the continents' names, we will add the oceans to our map skills following the bibilical imagery of the seas representing the Gentile peoples
We are talking about how to act like princesses so that were are a good witness for King Jesus

Also, please note changes to our holiday break schedule for the next few terms as noted under the "calendar" tab. Doug and I were given a trip to Ireland which is scheduled for May 7th-24th. To accommodate the time off of school, the Term holiday weeks for Lenten and Resurrection Terms and Easter holiday will be rescheduled. If you have any questions about the weeks off, send me a note or talk to me in person. Thanks!

School Starts!

2011-01-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

Parents of Students:

Adam's surgery went well today, Praise God! Epiphany Term will finally begin tomorrow (Wednesday)! Due to inclement weather and my need to visit the hospital in the morning, we will start 1/2 hour late at 1:00pm. I look forward to getting back to school and seeing the girls again. If you have any questions, give me a call on my cell phone.

End of Term

2010-11-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

Progress reports are on their way out today! Watch your inbox for your daughter's personalized school update. Have a great Advent holiday!

Last Week!

2010-11-15T14:15:00.000-08:00

Amazingly enough, we have reached the last week of school before the long holiday break! We have accomplished more than I hoped in our first term and I am very excited about what the girls are doing and what they will be able to start with in January.

While we are on holiday break, there are a few things you can do to help the girls keep up on their schoolwork. Spending just 5 or 10 minutes doing a few review exercises every day and keeping a regular routine of sleep, work and play as much as possible during the busy Advent season will allow each of the girls to come back to school refreshed and ready to jump back into the next thing. This way the girls won't forget everything they've accomplished over the past 7 weeks and have to relearn "going to school!"

Ask your daughter to recite Matthew 22:37-39
Practice saying the books of the OT through Ecclesiastes
Have her say the sounds of the first 16 phonograms at least once a day (let me know if you need a chart!)
Spend a few extra moments practicing the sounds of the vowels "a" "e" and "i"
Say the sounds of a few phonograms to her and have her write them down on a piece of paper or coloring board
Count to 25 and ask her "what is one more than X"

Individual term progress reports and holiday activity suggestions will be emailed out this week.

Late Start

2010-11-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

I will try and tell you all in person today, but just in case...

This THURSDAY we will have a 15 minute late start. I will be driving to Newberg to pick up Adam at 11:25am and should be back by 12:30pm. However, just in case we are running late, please plan to drop of your girls at 12:45pm on Thursday. If you are early, make sure I am here before leaving your girls. Thanks!

Two more weeks!

2010-11-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for your patience while I took a day off to be a new Auntie! I took a nap and slept in a little and will be ready to get back to school on Monday afternoon. :)

We have just two weeks left until our long holiday break. The girls have made a lot of progress in their first term and we will spend our last two weeks making sure they have these first facts down before their holidays. I will be sending home a comprehensive progress report for each of the girls along with some holiday homework at the end of term, week after this.

See you all tomorrow!

School Schedule

2010-10-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Your girls have now completed a full month of school! We have been working and learning for five weeks now and have just three weeks left before we will break for Advent term. Even in this short time, the girls have all shown improvement and success in learning new things. Some of the highlights so far have been:

Completing their first memory assignment
Learning enough phonogram sounds to start reading their first word lists
Correctly identifying all the lowercase letters
Learning to correctly form several lowercase letters "between the lines"
Beginning their understanding of "place value" in math

As we continue on with the remainder of this term I will be noting carefully what to have them work on at home during their long holiday break and what will be most important to start back with in the new year.

I would like to hear from parents how our weekly schedule is working for each of you. Has it been awkward or difficult to have Tuesdays off rather than Fridays? Have you been able to manage the 12:30pm drop off time? Is there any changes or improvements you would like to see in our weekly schedule?

I will be taking time during the holiday term to reevaluate our schedule and curriculum and it would help me to know of any concerns or ideas you may have.

Have a good weekend!

Memorization

2010-10-27T14:10:00.001-07:00

Note our new memorization assignment on the Memorization page! The girls have successfully learned our class verse of Matthew 22:37-39 and have started learning the books of the Old Testament. Congratulations on such a quick start to Bible memorization!

Phonograms

2010-10-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

As you know, we are using the Teach America To Read and Spell Saltmine & Hipwif reading program. The girls are doing well at learning their first phonograms. They have each passed one minute timing on the first 8 phonograms which means they have all started reading their first words from the Penny Primer!

To help you give them extra practice times with their phonogram charts at home, below is the correct pronunciation for their first 9 phonograms. The more they repeat these sounds correctly, the easier their first reading lessons will be! In the case of letters with more than one sound, they should say all the sounds in a row without saying the word "and" in between them.

a -   3 sounds: a, ay, aw
        b/a/t
        c/a/ke
        m/a/m/a/

s -    2 sounds: s, z
        /s/it
        plea/s/e

t -    t as in /t/able

l -     l as in /l/ittle
        NOT "lu" It is important to know that letters like L, B, R and others
        should be said without adding a "u" sound at the end "rrrrr" not "ru"

n -    n as in /n/eighbor

e -    2 sounds: e and ee
        /e/lephant
        b/ee/
        NOTE: the girls often say i as in b/i/t for the first sound of e
        instead of e as in /e/gg. This is an area that parents could really
        help them all on - remind your daughter to always say e-ee not i-ee

m - m as in /m/other

i -    3 sounds: i, ii, ee
       /i/n
       l/i/ke
       sk/i/

o -   3 sounds: aw, oo, ew
       l/o/g
       h/o/pe
       wh/o/

Half-way

2010-10-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

We have finished our third week! That means we are halfway through our first term. The girls are settling well into "going to school" and the class is finding its rhythm. Everyone seems to be enjoying school - especially in this sunny weather when they can play outside on "break."

A few highlights from week three....

The girls finished their first memory verse! They can all say Matt. 22:37-39 and will work on polishing it next week.

We have nearly completed the first 8 phonograms and it is looking like everyone will be able to start sounding out their first word list before the end of term!

This week we started our new math program - Math-U-See. The girls love it so far and I think it will help each of them differently. They are each able to work at their own pace and will move through the book as quickly or slowly as necessary to give them a solid grounding in number concepts. Best of all - they all jump up an down and cheer when I say it's math time!

The girls are all bringing home lettering worksheets to do over the weekend. These will help their coordination muscles remember the letters they are learning right now.

Have a good weekend!

An Updated Look

2010-10-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Parents,

If you check our school blog regularly you will have noticed by now that we have a new look. I am working to redesign the Zera Hall blog to be more user friendly for both current and prospective parents. The overall look has also changed so that our school t-shirts, blog, classroom and materials are more similar to one another. If you have any problems using the blog over the next couple of weeks, or have any suggestions for our update, please be sure to let me know!

First Week

2010-10-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Our first week has come and gone and we are under way! The girls all had a great first week. They seemed happy and eager to do well. Everyone got along and they really enjoyed their time together. Progress reports for the first week have been emailed out. Have a wonderful, restful weekend and I'll see everyone on Monday!

New Class First Day

2010-09-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Our first day went great! The girls all had great attitudes and did well at participating throughout the day. It was a long day for little people who aren't used to having to listen and be still for that long, but they did a very good job. One of the things we started going over today was our "school rules." These rules come from our school verse:
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

If you would like to help your girls keep up at school, reinforcing these rules at home will be a useful first step!

School Rules

Obey Every Time,

the First Time

with a Happy Heart

Love God with your Mind

by doing your best work every time

Love God with your Heart

by being thankful

Love your neighbor with your

Hands – keeping your hands to yourself

Mouth – speak kind words all the time

Heart - ask for forgiveness if you are unloving

& Mind – thinking happy thoughts about others

Looking forward to continuing our first week on Wednesday!

New Student Fellowship Night

2010-09-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

Parents of new Zera Hall students mark your calendars!

Tuesday, September 21st at 7:00pm there will be a dessert fellowship evening in the Zera Hall classroom. This evening will allow your daughters to meet one another, visit their classroom, talk to Mrs. Hayes and generally get acquainted with the new world of "school." Parents will have a chance to ask questions of Mrs. Hayes about the upcoming school year, deliver their daughter's school supplies (see list below) and fellowship with the other Zera Hall parents. They will also receive the first term school handouts, including school calendars. I strongly encourage everyone to attend so that all the girls will feel comfortable and more at ease on their first day. If possible, the whole family is welcome, but if circumstance prevent everyone from attending, at least one parent is requested to join us with their pupil.

Let's celebrate the beginning of new school year together on the 21st! Please RSVP to Mrs. Hayes via email at amyineccl3.11.13@gmail.com

School Supply List

Please bring the following items to the fellowship night so that your student's desk will be stocked and ready to go on the 27th!

1 box #2 pencils

1 water bottle

1 box washable markers

Parent Notification

2010-09-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

Zera Hall Parents,

Please note at the bottom of the page that I have added a new feature to the Zera Hall site. This feature is an email subscription that will allow you to receive email updates every time I make a new post. By subscribing to the Zera Hall site, you will be sure to receive all school information when it goes out. I will use blog posts to send out reminders, new information, school calendar updates, etc. Please take a moment to subscribe both parents email addresses below before school begins. Thank you!

New Class Beginning Fall 2010

2010-04-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

If you've ever been interested in what we do here at Zera Hall and have a daughter who may be ready to start school in the fall, now is the time to contact us for your information & admission packet!

This September there will be a new class of K/1 girls starting at Zera Hall and we are looking for 1 or 2 more girls to join us. If your daughter is ready to begin her education and you would like some help, please contact Amy @ amyineccl3.11.13@gmail.com for more information. The K/1 class will begin the last week of September and will work on a 4-day week Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays from 12:30pm to 4:00pm. There will be a mixture of year-round and summers-off students, so you will be free to choose which path you prefer your daughter to be on. Admission packets are being accepted now and parent meetings are in progress.

Join the fun and love God, love your neighbor and love learning together with us at Zera Hall!

Meet Amy and learn about Zera Hall

2010-01-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

If you would like to meet Amy and talk one-on-one about our class and educational experience at Zera Hall she will be at the annual Christian Education Fair in Oregon City March 5-6th. This fair is hosted by Reformation Covenant Church http://www.reformationcovenant.org/. Amy will have a booth for Zera Hall both days and would happy to spend time visiting with you about the Zera Hall class. You can also pick up an information packet, registration materials, testimonials and more at the booth. Registration is currently open for kindergarteners in the 2011 class.

Join Amy for a Phonics Seminar

2009-03-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Years ago our family discovered the Teach America to Read and Spell phonics curriculum. It remains one of my all time favorite textbooks and is possibly my most indispensable tool for early education. Next month, I will be giving a 4 hour seminar teaching anyone who is interested how to use the TATRAS manual and the basics of phonics instruction. If you're in the area and have a child ready to start on their reading journey, please come and be encouraged to get her off to a good start! Information packets and brochures about Zera Hall will be available as well and it will be an excellent opportunity to meet me and talk about my class if you're interested. If you'd like to preview the TATRAS materials, you'll find a link to their site on the right-hand side-bar. I plan to have TATRAS kits available at the seminar as well. Hope you'll join us! Below is a link to Exodus if you need directions.

Educational Materials, New and Used Books, Family-Friendly Literature, and More!

An Encouraging Word....

2009-03-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

The mother of my current 3 students recently sent me this email to add to the new information packets I am assembling for our local Education Fair in Oregon City this weekend. Her students will be switching to home schooling soon as the economy has taken a toll on their family finances. However, she has been very encouraging in her support of our class and I thought I'd post what she had to say about Zera Hall here as a frame of reference for those of you who may be interested in our little school, but don't know our families or myself personally. For further references, in the left side-bar I have listed email addresses for parents of my students who are willing to discuss their families' experience at Zera Hall with you.

"Zera Hall has been wonderful for our three children who attend and a Godsend for our family at large. Mrs. Hayes runs a well-planned classroom that is strong on curriculum, interesting for students, and communicative with parents. Our children have flourished under her tutelage and come home from school happy each day. We have been delighted with the quality and breadth of their education from Zera Hall. Thank you, Mrs. Hayes!

Rachel Shubin"

Teaching through the Church Year

2009-02-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

One of the unique aspects of our little school is our use of the church calendar as our educational calendar. This idea was developed by a church friend of mine and I love it! It provides not only the benefits of year-round schooling, but centers a child’s life on the life of her Savior, rather than an arbitrary secular school system. For a full explanation of the calendar by clicking on the title of this post or on the solisortus link under Educational Influences below.

Teaching with the church calendar means the pattern of our school year follows the traditional Christian holidays beginning with Advent and going through the seasons of Epiphany, Lent, Resurrection, Ascension, Apostolic and Church life. It also copies the pattern set out by God in Creation by using cycles of seven. We have 7 terms, each 7 weeks long. This gives us only 49 weeks, so the remaining 3 weeks are vacation weeks. Again following the pattern of creation, we rest for 1 week and work for 6 weeks of every term. This allows regular times of refreshment and renewal for students and teacher. It works especially well for the early elementary years. There is no 12 -16 week summer break during which learning retention is lost. Also, resting one week out of the seven-week term prevents young children from “burning out” on school and enables their teacher to regularly reevaluate their progress and class-work and make adjustments suitable to each child’s needs.

Most importantly, however, is the way in which this unique calendar trains a child to think of all of life in relationship to Christ. Schooling is the vocation of a child – it is the work God calls her to and is the largest part of her growing up years. When you take this largest part of her life and make it revolve around her Savior’s life, she learns to see all of life as flowing from her relationship to Christ. When she defines time by the days of Creation, she learns that the Bible has something to say about everything she does. When she sees each new term bringing an exciting new area of study based on what period of Christ’s life we are celebrating, she sees Christ’s life as the joyous model for her own. Which pattern would we see our children follow in their lives – the pattern of secular America or the pattern of the life of Christ? Having a school life patterned after the latter draws a child towards patterning all of life after her Savior.

This term we are celebrating Epiphany at Zera Hall. If you’re like I was and don’t really know what Epiphany is about, it commemorates the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles in the coming of the Magi. It also reminds us of Christ kingship in the kingly gifts which the Magi brought. So, at school everyone gets to wear a tiara for Epiphany term and we learn how to act like queens in the kingdom of Christ. We also learn how to reveal Christ to the Gentiles (unbelievers) by our winning speech and manners. Thus, in addition to the fun of wearing a crown at school everyday, we learn to wear our crowns well with a winsome testimony to the world by learning good manners in Protocol class and good speech in Language class. We’re having a fun time learning our “Manners Matter 5” every week and seeing who demonstrates them best and earns the right to wear their crown each day! Small steps like these encourage young minds to seek Christ in all things and what better thing could be learned in any time of life?

Why a girls school?

2009-01-23T12:57:00.000-08:00

Or perhaps more curiously, why are there pictures of a BOY on our girls school website?!

Zera Hall has developed from the Lord providentially placing students in my path. It started with my daughter’s friend home schooling with us for 2 years while her mom was recovering from cancer. Then another friend asked one day if I would be interested and willing to help her out by home schooling her 3 children so she could pull them out of an expensive private school. It seems God has teaching yet for me to do even as my youngest children move towards the end of their home education.

I decided if this was going to continue, I wanted to think more self-consciously about what my classroom should look like. If I accept more students, what specifically am I trying to accomplish in teaching? The answers my husband and I came up with to these questions led to Zera Hall. One of the conclusions we came to is that, while I continue to teach the students I already have, including a boy, the direction I want to move in is toward establishing an all girls school.

God created boys and girls differently, that much is obvious. Any parent quickly learns that the differences go beyond the physical. Girls learn, grow and mature differently than boys. They respond to different kinds of motivations and instruction than boys. There are different areas in which they are more likely to struggle. If there is an opportunity to develop a learning environment self-consciously directed to the specific needs, strengths and learning styles of girls, that is exciting and interesting to me. This is what I aim to create at Zera Hall.

The goal is to accomplish this in two ways. One, I will teach subjects that are particularly interesting to many little girls and endeavor to teach all subjects in ways from a girls perspective. For instance, every summer we have a term doing hands-on math. This past summer we did that through a cooking class. Many boys love to cook too, but I don’t know any 5-year-old girl who wouldn’t love to come to school to put on an apron and learn her fractions with measuring cups! When we learn history in 3^rd and 4^th grade, we look at the people and their lives, which to most girls is the most interesting part. Boys generally want to know about the wars!

Secondly, I look for ways to teach that take into consideration how girls need to be treated and what they best respond to. This subtle part of teaching just girls includes things like taking into consideration that most girls are much more emotional than boys, that girls often will not speak out or participate as strongly if there is a boy to take charge of the class, and other personality traits characteristic of girls.

I realize that not every one of these boy-girl traits is strictly true of every boy or every girl. However, if we agree that boys and girls are different and can find ways to specifically be helpful to girls, why not teach the girls on their own, in a way most useful to them? There are many reasons why I think girls can excel more if they are working on their own. I’d love to talk with you about my thoughts on gender-specific education, but we’ll have to do that face-to-face as there just isn’t room here! It is sufficient enough to say, I enjoy thinking of ways to make learning a happy experience for a group of little girls and what I can do to get the most into their minds and out of their work in their first four years. Focusing on just their girlish needs and joys make teaching a girls class unique and fun!

Why 1st through 4th?

2008-11-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

At Zera Hall I teach a small combined classroom of 1st through 4th graders. People interested in what I'm doing often ask why I chose those grades instead of a full elementary span of K-6th. With Zera Hall, I'm attempting to be thoughtful about each thing we do and the direction I take with our class, and so this grade range, like everything else, has been chosen for specific reasons.

I start with 1st graders because in my experience it simply doesn't take a full school year to get through kindergarten material in a home-school-like setting. I can see needing a full year for a kindergarten class if you have a classroom of 20 or 30 5-year-olds whom you need to teach to stand in a line, work as a class body and follow class rules. However, if you are working with 4 to 5 students individually, each working at their own speed and ability level with materials specifically chosen to suit their own particular strengths and weaknesses, there's no reason most 4 or 5 year olds can't accomplish both kindergarten and 1st grade material in one year. I've made a kindergarten introductory packet for prospective parents that gives suggestions on what they can do with their daughter to get her ready for school. In my view, if a child is showing she's ready for formal learning, she'll do fine starting from the beginning and going through both kindergarten and 1st grade material in her first year at Zera Hall. So, instead of teaching Kindergarten, I make Kindergarten a part of the 1st grade class.

My end point of 4th grade was chosen because I want to be able to focus on a particular educational developmental stage in my classroom. First through 4th graders are in a similar place in their level of comprehension and stage of learning. Once a child reaches 5th and 6th grades, she is using many different skills than previously and is doing a higher level of classwork. Many things come into play that a 1st to 4th grader isn't working with yet. A 4th grader is of course different and more developed than a 1st grader, but they are still doing similar kinds of classes and processing information in similar ways. If you are familiar with the classical trivium way of thinking about education, 1st through 4th graders are all still in the "grammar" stage, whereas a 5th and 6th grader is moving more into logic stage of thinking. I wouldn't feel I was able to give the level of attention and focus to each student that I desire if I attempted a less focused grade range which covered both the beginning learner and the advancing student.

In the 5 years I've been teaching students other than my own children and in the 3 years those students have been just 1st to 4th graders, I've been blessed to see how well these grades work together and how much we accomplish in our 4-hour school day. Children of these ages seem to work well together helping one another be challenged and having fun. There are different things to enjoy teaching and to like about the upper grades, and I enjoyed the students I took all the way through middle and high school. However, I am certainly finding it a joy and challenge to focus on these little ones everyday!