IDEA Home ~ Curriculum Fair 2005 Home Page

Juneau ~ Fairbanks ~ Anchorage ~ Soldotna

 

I.D.E.A. Curriculum Fair 2005
Special Speakers

 

 

Debbie Rathbun

Workshops: Report Writing ~ Teaching Writing to Reluctant Learners
Debbie Rathbun, a certified Alaskan teacher with experience teaching in public schools, has home educated her two children for the last six years.  She has especially enjoyed using the Institute for Excellence in Writing methods because it is easy to use and produces great results. Debbie and her husband John reside in Fairbanks , Alaska .

 

 

Janet Beckett

Workshop: Report Writing ~ Writing the Essay
I am pleased to have this opportunity to share with you the writing materials that the Institute for Excellence in Writing has to offer.  For several years we have used this material in our school and have found it to be material that all students can have success in using.  I will share with you some tools to help your student have success in writing reports and times essays. I hope that you will join me for the workshops on “Report Writing” and “Writing the Essay – for the new SAT” during the 2005 IDEA fair.  

Now to tell you about myself…I have been a home educator for the past 12 years.  My husband and I have 5 children.  In the past few years our family has graduated two of our children with the IDEA program.  My daughter is currently a student at UAF majoring in electrical engineering and Russian and my son is presently in the United States Marine Corps security forces.  Both of these children have successfully used the IEW material.  All three of our other children are currently using the IEW material.  This is the first year for my second grader but she is already comfortable writing key word outlines and easy reports. During the IDEA fair I will be sharing with you how IEW has worked for our family and hopefully be able to help you determine if it is right for your student.

 

 

Janelle McCrackin

Workshop: Reaching the Reluctant Reader ~ Homeschooling the Montessori Way
Janelle has taught in traditional classrooms, started a Montessori charter school and is currently a homeschool mom.  All three experiences have taught her important lessons on teaching reading.  She holds an M.Ed. in education focusing on language and literacy and started a small business developing and selling Montessori learning materials called Little Schoolhouse Learning Collection.  

 

 

Julie Atteberry

Workshop: Tired of Textbooks and Ready for a Change?
Julie Atteberry and her husband Dean have two home educated children and reside in Owasso, OK.  Nicole is a junior in high school and Phillip is in 8th grade. Their family has been active in the homeschool movement since 1992 along with Boy Scouts. Julie also leads a homeschool group, Heartland Home Educators, coordinating classes through high school. Also speaking and encouraging homeschool families through homeschool leadership for the past eleven years. She and her children are actively involved in T.H.E. Academic Co-op which uses the TRISMS curriculum. Julie teaches as well as encourages everyone around her. Her ORU degree in management and marketing is useful for managing life and marketing a variety of ideas.

 

 

Karen Brooks

Workshop: How the Literature Approach Creates Family Memories

Karen Brooks has worked with children since starting her own Sunday night children’s class at the age of thirteen.  She has been invited to make special presentations in public schools, asked to speak to a variety of audiences, and coordinated children’s programs with themes varying from pirates to chess.

Karen has taught her five children in her home for the last nine years and created a school for other students in her home.  After years for searching for the homeschooling experience she desired for her family, Karen began publishing through her company, WinterPromise Publishing.  Her efforts have produced a curriculum that combines the best of all homeschooling approaches into an enjoyable learning experience for the entire family.

 

Kathleen Cotter Lawyer

Workshops: Fractions the Way You Wish You Had Been Taught ~ Teach Math Right From the Start Using the Abacus
Kathleen Cotter Lawler is the daughter of Dr. Joan A. Cotter, author and creator of the Activities for Learning RightStart™ Mathematic program. She was one of the first children to grow up under the Activities for Learning principles and play the math card games. Kathleen has a degree in Home Economics from the University of Minnesota and is currently pursuing her Masters Degree from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. Kathleen is the mother of four children ages 8 to 13 and lives on a fourth-generation ranch in North Dakota where character strength is required and life is good.  In her spare time, Kathleen designs and sews math quilts.

 

 

Kelly Painter

Workshops: Reading in the Content Areas ~ The Calvert Curriculum: What is the Difference?
Before joining Calvert School as an Education Counselor in 1993, Kelly Painter had over twenty-five years of classroom experience teaching history and geography in both public and private school settings. Her association with Calvert began in 1975 when she became an Advisory Teacher, working with seventh and eighth graders enrolled in the Calvert home instruction curriculum. Since 2000 Kelly Painter has been the Director of Academic Services in the education services division of Calvert School. Kelly earned her M.A. degree in Leadership in Teaching from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

 

 

Mark Osterink

Workshop: Why Art is Essential to Your Child’s Education

Mark Osterink has a degree in Speech Communication from California Polytechnic University. He is a passionate advocate for children’s art and has been working in the area of visual art for over 10 years. Mark was instrumental in defining and developing the "Atelier" homeschool art product line, which is used by thousands of homeschoolers throughout the United States.

 

 

Myrna Martin

Workshop: Math + Hands-on Materials = Fun ~ Earth Science is Fun for Everyone

Myrna is a science consultant and conducts math and science workshops throughout the country. She is the author of many science books on Earth Science. Myrna is a former elementary and middle school science teacher. She now runs a family business with her husband and son that produces science and math materials for homeschooling families.

 

 

Stephen Guffanti

Workshops: ADHD vs. Kinesthetic Learner Part 1 and ADHD vs. Kinesthetic Learner Part 2 ~ How to Choose a Language Arts Curriculum ~ Picking the Right Reading Program for Your Child!

Stephen Guffanti, M.D., was a featured speaker at home school conventions the past two years and received rave reviews. As a medical doctor, teacher, tutor, author, and homeschooler, Dr. Guffanti brings a unique background and tremendous insight to his talks. He is also loved by his audiences for his warmth and sincerity. Born with a passion for education, Dr. Guffanti, dyslexic and a kinesthetic learner, has served as the medical director of a rural clinic specializing in learning disorders, and has focused on creating education that meets the needs of all children.

Dr. Guffanti is the author of the book ADHD vs. Kinesthetic Learner: Which is it? This is the book about which parents say, “This saved our family.”  He is also the creator of Rocket Phonics, a reading program so unique it has a patent pending. Rocket Phonics combines the best of phonics and sight words in a revolutionary way, with revolutionary results: In a recent study, students using Rocket Phonics gained over 3 times the reading skill as students using all other programs
.

 

 

Sylvia Davison

Workshop: Multi-Sensory Phonics Techniques, Games, and Songs

Sylvia Davison is a 38-year teaching veteran. She taught 2nd grade for 25 years. During the first years of her teaching career, she realized there were some students who just weren’t “getting it” using the language arts core curriculum. They needed a more building block approach. She took courses on the Slingerland Method for providing multi-sensory phonics instruction. Because of her training and expertise, the next 18 years were spent teaching whole classes of 2nd grade dyslexic and struggling readers. She incorporated the Slingerland Method – a classroom adaptation of the Orton Gillingham Method for one-on-one instruction.  Using this multi-sensory phonics method both one-on-one and in the classroom has proven highly effective for teaching students with language-based learning disabilities. Sylvia Davison received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Renton School District in Washington. Since retirement 14 years ago, she has tutored well over 200 struggling and non-readers with an average load of 22 students a week. She is the author of the Go Phonics Program partnered with daughter Holly Davison – a 30-year veteran in her field of graphic design, illustration, publishing, and marketing.  Together, they developed a cohesive set of materials that became Go Phonics in 2001.