The "Overview Source Method" for Research Report Writing

One of the students in my classes to test my books--working on his Overview Source Method and Color-Coded Research

In my curriculum books (Character Quality Language Arts, a complete Christian language arts program for grades two through twelve, and Meaningful Composition, composition books for grades two through twelve), I teach an approach to research called "The Overview Source Method."

One of the language arts books I have written, Character Quality Language Arts Red Book--Level C (high school)

I happened upon this method years ago as I was teaching kids how to write research reports. I have always taught students to write using a paragraph-by-paragraph method. (I don't like the 100 word report, etc., approach as writings {essays, reports, and even books}.) 

In the paragraph-by-paragraph method, the student decides ahead of time what each paragraph in an essay or report is going to be about. This early determination helps him in his research, choosing of quotations, sequencing, and more. To use this method in research writing, a student must work in this order: (1) Choose topic; (2) Research enough to write thesis statement (and write it); (3) Choose paragraph topics (from the source(s); (4) Research each paragraph's topics/take notes.

Highlighters and colored pens are musts for research in the Overview Source Method and Color Coded Research approach

When a young student (third or fourth grade, for instance) writes a research report, he is usually just starting out with the myriad of skills that are involved in writing a research report, so he generally begins just using one source. That is fairly simple--his teacher helps him choose a good source, such as an encyclopedia entry or web site, a source that has a lot of headers, sub-headers, sidebars, etc. to help him determine his paragraph topics.

As students proceed through middle school, however, my expectations in research writing are heightened. I want the student to begin using multiple sources for one paper. I want him to learn how to merge a few sources (two at first) into one paper. This multi-source research can be especially challenging in the beginning.

Thus, "The Overview Source Method" of research to the rescue!

In this method, the student chooses his first source, his "Overview Source." This source will be the first source he consults in laying out his paragraph topics. It will be the first source that he uses to start taking notes beneath each paragraph topic. It will be the source that helps him determine what each paragraph of his report will contain. 

One of the beauties of the "Overview Source Method" is that once a student learns it in, say, sixth grade, he has a skill for life. He can continue to use this approach all through his high school years and even into college. 

Three sources that are "color-coded" and ready for note taking

Choose a source that has any or all of the following:

a. Headers and subheaders that provide a sort of "outline" of the topic (Hint: At first, I tell my young students to find these great headers and choose three of them to be the paragraph topics (for three paragraphs) for his report!)

b. Glossary or other place where terms are defined

c. At least four times the number of paragraphs that the student is assigned to write. (If he chooses a six paragraph source for a four paragraph paper, he is back to using almost everything in that source, and he will not learn to choose the parts of information he wants to use in his paper.)



Once he chooses his Overview Source, he does any or all of the following:

1. Finds the headers that are above the material that he wants to use in his report. We start out telling students to choose one aspect or sub-topic of the topic per paragraph. (This also solves ALL paragraph break problems! No more running paragraphs together!)

2. Begin the Color-Coded Research (more on that later!) by highlighting each header in the Overview Source with a different color.

3. Using the color of the first header you chose for your first aspect (and first paragraph), highlight everything about that topic that you think you might want to take notes on for your paragraph in that first paragraph.

4. Using your other source(s), continue with that first color of highlighter. Find information about that color's topic and highlight anything in the second source that you might want to use in your notes.

4. Continue doing Steps 3 and 4 for each aspect/paragraph.


I will write another post on the Color-Coded Research in more detail later. In the meantime, teach your students to use the Overview Source Method--that is, find one good, solid source that will help him to determine his paragraph topics. These are the initial baby steps to research that will build confidence in your student to write longer and more detailed research reports in the future.

Think Fast Grammar Quiz Answer Key

image from wordmr.

If you have a newer edition of CQLA, you likely have weekly quizzes called "Think Fast Grammar Quiz." When we created these, we originally thought that parents would use the Grammar Cards (available in Level B and C books and in the Teacher's Guide) to grade their students' quizzes.

Then we began teaching/testing the editions that contain these quizzes and discovered that it wasn't as easy as we had previously thought to just use the Grammar Cards to check the quizzes--and to help your student categorize and study the grammar words.

So we created the document below to be used both as an Answer Key as well as a study guide for the Think Fast Grammar Quiz. It will be in a future edition of the Teacher's Guide, and when our new website is done this fall, it will be available there as well. In the meantime, we are emailing the document to anyone who calls or emails us asking for it--and we are putting it here at the blog in the hopes that word will get out and parents will find it.

We use it to grade our testing students' quizzes, but we also use it in the following way:

1. We have the student fill in as much of each part of the quiz as he or she can---then highlight the line in which he left off on his own. Then we have him look in the AK to find more and finish filling in the lines with the ones from the AK. This shows us what he already knows and what he had to look up, but it also helps him to learn more of them by writing them out as he looks them up in the AK.

2. We also assign portions of the AK for homework. For example, we will have all students study the section in the AK that has opposite prepositions or prepositions that begin with B, etc. This makes the AK into a sort of Study Guide for the student and has really helped them learn the words in categories as opposed to long lists of them.


Please share this post with fellow CQLA users so that we can get the word out that there is a lengthy, detailed, helpful Answer Key for the Think Fast Grammar Quiz! ;)



https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9s1gDz0XKhwVW9YcDRpSHpHZU0/edit?usp=sharing

Final Tips on Independent Work Lists--Especially for Older Students

image helpformothers

Today I would like to leave you some tips for Independent Work Lists--especially for older students (junior high through high school). These will be in no true order--just some things that I want to re-emphasize from the younger ages as well as things that pertain only to olders.

So here we go:

1. Consider the document or chart that works best for your age child now. Most kids in junior high and high school no longer want cutsie charts. Once you decide you want a genuine paper document, then you have to decide how you want it filled in:

a. As he goes, he lists what he does each day, sort of a daily school journal.
b. You write in a planner each week for him for the following week (page number, number of pages, lesso number, etc.).
c. You have a standard daily Independent Work List that you create in your scheduling program or Excel---that you can customize when something changes, etc. You print this off, put it on a clip board, and have him highlight or mark off as he does things each day.


2. Consider if you are going to make his Independent Work List for him completely or if you will have his input. We liked to choose our high schoolers materials, schedules, lists, etc., with them, so that they have some input in the process--and to help model for them/teach them how to organize, prioritize, etc.

3. Still use some of the elements from the earlier suggestions (for younger kids) that are universal, such as:

a. School is your child's occupation. It is what he should be about during the day.
b. Put the daily tasks in sections according to time of day or importance--and also in order according to when they should be done.
c. Do your part to be sure that charts are updated, printed, and ready. I know from personal experience that if we are laxed in this--they become laxed real quick!
d. Have a system that works for you every day. Have his list on a clip board that he carries with him/keeps in his school area. Have him highlight as he does things. Have him leave it on your desk when he is done, etc.
e. Develop a "no exceptions" approach to daily independent work. A student doesn't go to basketball, girls group, youth group, etc., until his daily independent work list is done.


4. Have blanks on the chart to add in any work from outside classes, music lessons, Bible quizzing, etc.


5. Put things that are not dailies where ever they go. This was always a little bit difficult for me. Do twice weeklies go on Tuesday and Thursday (but Thursday is our lesson and errand day...). Do three times weeklies always go M-W-F, even though Wednesday is our "cottage class day" and extras do not get done on that day. This might take a while to get in the groove, but it is worth it to tweak things and make it work.


6. For junior high kids, consider that you might need smaller chunks (maybe two math sessions at 30 minutes a day, etc.). Again, you know your student and  your family situation, so do whatever works best for you.


7. Consider if you want this Independent Work List to be his total chart/list for all aspects of his day at older ages:

a. Do you want to put his devotions, music practice, and outside work on there too?
b. Do you want it to contain meetings/tutoring sessions with you?
c. Do you want it to also be his chore list?

There are some definite advantages to a junior high or high schooler having his day right in front of him in one spread sheet. However, this can also get overwhelming to some kids.


Feel free to ask questions here on FB about the Independent Work Lists--I will try to answer them. I can't imagine not having homeschooled without our three daily task lists: (1) Morning routines; (2) Chore charts; (3) Independent Work Lists!

Independent Work Lists for Elementary Children

I is for INDEPENDENT WORK!

Chart by picstopin.com

If you don't start Independent Work Charts/Lists with your littles, you will definitely want to start it in elementary school after your child learns to read!

 (Some people feel that they have very little to put in an Independent Work Chart for little kids. We always managed to find things as I felt it kept my littles learning and exploring all the time--and it helped my preschoolers to NEVER be bored!)i

Here are some tips for creating Independent Work Lists for elementary children:


1. Either make it on a chart that the child uses wipe and write markers and mount it somewhere--or make it in Excel (or your favorite record keeping program) and place it on a thin clip boards.

Trust me: loose papers never make it back to mom at the end of the day. (Spoken from true experiences--plural--you would think I would have learned this the first time or two! ;) )




2. Put things in the order of importance on the chart--in the order that you want them done.



3. And/or put things in sections.

I used to have mine in order and sections--the first so many items needed done before the child met with Mom or before the child had a morning snack or before lunch chores, or whatever. Never underestimate the value of teaching children time management, prioritizing, etc. via these daily checklists.



4. Explain to your child that this is his daily accountability list.

He is to get these things done each day. (Hint: We taught our children from their earliest recollection of school that school is their occupation. It was what they were supposed to be about every day. No questions asked. No exceptions (unless we parents wanted an exception for sickness or family trips, etc.--in other words, the child doesn't choose to do school or not do school--ever).



5. For things that you are uncertain of/change-ables, put time or generic wording, such as "30 minutes of uninterrupted CQLA work" or "All CQLA assignments from previous meeting with Mom," etc.



6. Be sure to include drill work, silent reading, etc.--all the extras that you want him to do each day.

 (I even put the things that they would often do as I read aloud on this list in the section marked "During Read-Aloud"--such as coloring in educational coloring book, penmanship page, building something with Legos, etc.)



7. Be sure there is a time in which it is turned in each day.

This is kind of another subject, but it fits here as well: A child should not go to basketball practice, Girl Scouts, youth group, or any other activity if he doesn't do his school. Period. We have so many parents come up to us at conventions and say, "I just can't get my fifteen year old to finish his school each day, and he keeps getting further and further behind." Then we ask, "Does he go to sports practice in the afternoon? Does he go to youth group that night?' etc. etc. None of those things should ever happen if he doesn't do his school. School is non-optional.

If your child's independent list is on a clip board, he can simply put the clip board on your desk at the end of the day--all checked off and ready for the next day.


8. The Independent Work Checklist is, in part, to help keep the child moving as you are working with other kids, walking your college kids through a difficulty on the phone, or helping Grandma with something. In other words, you want to teach your student to get up and start on the list right away--and to go back to the list any time he is not meeting with you or doing chores, etc. (I even put things like "Read to Jonathan for 15 minutes" and "30 minutes of morning devotional book and journaling" on the list--everything the child does (outside of chores) was listed on this chart.


I just can't stress enough the benefits of the Independent Work Lists--for Mom and for the student. It takes away gray areas of parenting (something crucial that we teach in our parenting seminars). It helps the child become an independent learner. It teaches many character qualities--perseverance, prioritizing, resourcefulness, responsibility, diligence, timeliness, and much more. Yeah, I am pretty crazy about my thirty years of Independent Work Lists! ;)

B is for Back to School!

Edudemic (clip art)

B is for BACK-TO-SCHOOL!

Do you start back on the traditional school schedule? Or do you school in the summer to get some days in? Or do you school year round and take breaks throughout the year?

Homeschooling provides flexibility in all areas (not just starting school but literally EVERYTHING) that we don't even begin to appreciate fully. (I didn't until my kids started taking college classes, and they were so locked in to schedules and no time off!!!!)





B is for BACK-TO-SCHOOL!

Do you have a command center? Regardless of whether you use charts, sticker posters, wipe and write, or clip boards for your schedule/chores/organizational systems, I recommend you follow this one tip first:

Get the first hour of the day down pat before you try to "perfect" everything else.

When the first hour of your day is good, the whole day can be good!

http://www.remodelaholic.com/2013/07/family-command-centers





B is for BACK-TO-SCHOOL!

While we are blessed not to have to buy, buy, buy...clothes, supplies, etc., every August just because everybody else is (sometimes I do think it would be fun to go "back to school" clothes shopping with the kids though!), do pay attention to the sales during this time.

For example, we use a lot of three-pronged, two-pocket folders for each monthly unit of work (for storage when the month is done), and those are available now for fifteen cents each vs. up to sixty cents each during the "off season."

Plus, I just have to get some scented markers, cool sticky notes, or other fun thing for the teacher! 

A is for ATTENDANCE!

CLK Clipart

A is for ATTENDANCE!

What does attendance mean in your state?

In our nearly thirty years of homeschooling in Indiana, we have had laws that have read something like this: "A student between the ages of seven and sixteen (not sure what age this is now) must attend public school or have equivalent instruction" and equivalent instruction has usually meant 180 days of "instruction."

More on this later--such as attendance keeping AND what constitutes a day of school--if our child is home, isn't he "in school"?







A is for ATTENDANCE!

If you live in a state where you are mandated to keep track of your days (your kids' "attendance"), I recommend keeping it simple!

Even if you use an elaborate lesson plan or other tracking system, I would still get a dollar pocket calendar and write the days on it. It can be as simple as putting in the corner of each school day 4/180 (day four of attendance out of 180 total).

The reason for this is that if all you really HAVE to have is 180 days recorded somewhere, then do that in a simple, non -fussy way so that you can be sure that it gets done. Then if you want to record it i your lesson plan, tracker, etc., as well, that is fine.

However, even if your more elaborate system breaks down somewhere mid-year (or your computer loses it!), you will still have your pocket calendar with the minimum that you are required taken care of.

More on WHAT to count as a homeschool day later!






A is for ATTENDANCE!

How do you know when something should be counted as a full day or half day or no day?

There are plenty of ways to look at this: (1) must complete all regular daily work to be a day; (2) schools take half days all the time for movies, inservice, etc., so it won't make that much difference; (3) a certain number of hours equals a full day; (4) field trips count/field trips don't count; (5) other!

The point of this isn't to solve your "what do I count" dilemma but rather to make us all aware of the need to give our children the best we can and the need to be above reproach at all times.

We personally have decided what to "count" as a day in different ways during different seasons: (1) as long as language arts and math were done, we would count a half day of art and gym or library and cooking along with that for a day; (2) a certain amount of time. We used an hour counting approach (hours worked on academics or training-only non academics (PE, art, home ec, etc.--not daily/routine activities) that went something like this:

a. 2 hours for K-2nd grade
b. 3 hours for 3rd-5th
c. 3.5 hours for 6th-8th
d. 4 to 5 hours for high school

Regardless of how you count your days of ATTENDANCE, please consider the following:

1. Always be above reproach

2. Always do more, not less--and teach your children to go the extra mile while doing this

3. Consider the non-book learning as long as it is true training including audio, video, hands on, etc. (again, not routine, like regular daily chores or skills that are already full developed like making breakfast, etc.)

4. Be consistent. Either count time or count books or count classes, etc. Or count field trips all the time or do not count field trips

5. Keep your system simple--just a simple calendar marking system or tick mark/running day total in your daytimer, etc.

6. Be excited for each day that you complete! 

F is for FUN: Some Fun Things We Have Done

I promised you a list of fun things we have done, so here it comes. It won't be long, but hopefully some of the ideas can prompt more ideas within you. If you have heard me speak of creating a love for learning, you may have already heard of some of them. 

I pray that your family can find that fine balance between fun and just plain hard work. Homeschooling is a long, sometimes lonely, and always challenging endeavor. As I have mentioned before, if we try to make it all fun and games all the time, our children will miss valuable lessons. However, if we omit fun from our homeschool entirely, we risk making everything else look better to our children than home. 

So...F is for FUN!

1. We always started our day with Bible reading/character reading together--and ended that reading with a fun chapter book that we worked through together. (This was after each person's morning routine and chore list, usually, and was sometimes during the kids' breakfast eating.) Everybody looked forward to our continued chapter book readings.

2. While we tried to get curriculum that fit each child's strengths, interests, learning styles, etc., and I (Donna) did the bulk of the choosing, for extra things, we took the kids with us to smaller conventions (or let them look in a catalog to choose), and they picked out their fun "extras"--including chapter books they wanted to read that year, educational coloring books, audios to listen to, etc. (Yes, we spent a lot on our kids' school. We live in a very old, tiny, non-fancy house with used furniture and old vehicles with lots of miles. We financially (and time and energy-wise) prioritized our kids' education and family times over everything else.)

3. While we did many weekday field trips, we didn't limit our field trips to school days. It wasn't uncommon at all for us to take a Saturday to go to museums and zoos with Dad or to plan a long weekend vacation museum-hopping in Chicago. The kids knew that their education was important to both Dad and Mom--and wasn't just something that Mom did, thought about, planned, and carried out.

4. In addition to our morning chapter book, I usually had chapter books going with various kids. I would have one that I read aloud to each of the three olders--plus another that we did as a family with Dad. Everybody worked hard so we could do our reading. 

5. I should say after the #4 reading one that we did not have access to television stations or even computers with our olders. We had a big old television hooked up to a vcr--and we limited everybody's watching to five hours per week (usually together). I need to include that here because when  you don't have television or computers, reading aloud together becomes a fun activity. While I don't think we should run away from our society (not have a computer, act like technology doesn't exist, etc.), we recommend highly limiting and controlling it so that the little things in life become sweeter. (See The Fun Factor in Homeschooling.)


6. Read the book/watch the movie. We didn't do this formally, but we did it quite often. With so many book/movie combos out today, I would make this a homeschool tradition!

7. Add fun subjects. Our kids always got to do extra things they enjoyed like art, music, pottery, sewing, science kits, etc. We tried to expose them to different fun things to see what they were good at and where there interests took them.

8. Make PE a family affair. We tried to do a lot of our kids' PE at home together. We had other families over to play. But we also just played as a family. We loved making up new games with various sizes and styles of balls!

9. Get cool school supplies. We didn't do back-to-school clothes shopping, but we did let them pick out their binders, pens, crayons, etc. They weren't limited to a list from a school with boring "16 Crayola crayons--no more, no fewer"---any style or color or pattern of school supply works at home! ;)

10. As our kids got older, we let them plan their subjects for the next year--and sometimes even choose the books.

11. Also, as our kids got older, we let them plan their school schedule/order with us for the year. As long as it worked and they completed their lists, they could continue to make choices about these things.

12. School with another family. We often did field trips, activities, unit studies, days away, etc. with another family or two of kids. We got together to do gingerbread houses and crafts, etc., every Christmas. 

13. Do anything different than what kids around you are doing! Our kids loved the fact that they didn't have to get on a bus early or they didn't have to stay inside at a desk if it was nice out. Or we could go to the park for lunch and some PE on any given day. Point out the fact that homeschooling affords us so many activities and opportunities that those in school can't do or enjoy.

14. Take fun field trips! If you have heard us speak or read our newsletter, you know that our older kids are extremely proud of the fact that they (along with Mom and Dad) slept at the top of the jungle gym at Science Central, in the snake room at the zoo, and on the soldiers' "cots" at the fort. Go for the unusual, and they will remember them and love homeschooling because of them.

15. Do storytime from birth. There is nothing like shared picture books with little kids. And there is definitely nothing like the memories of reading picture books every afternoon with momma for ten years. I'm telling you--this is what memories are made of.


I could go on forever and ever about how much we love homeschooling; how we tried to make it fun (but not so fun that normal wasn't enjoyed!); how we put our time, money, strength, and energy into raising our children in this homeschooling lifestyle--and how much they, as adults, are grateful to us for it.