Teaching Reading IS NOT Rocket Science!

I remember watching a program on PBS about teaching children to read. One statement that stuck out was “teaching reading IS rocket science…” Good thing I didn’t have a mouth full of liquids at the time. I thought it was a joke when I first heard the statement, but they were serious. A web search for “teaching reading is rocket science” brought up the article which I assume the PBS show was quoting. My reaction to the statement was “Only if you try to teach 30 children before they are developmentally ready!” For the average child learning how to read isn’t difficult; we make it difficult by expecting results so early.

Two of my children taught themselves to read. Any teaching on my part was purely accidental yet 100% effective. It wasn’t rocket science but my methods would be just as difficult to transpose to a classroom setting. I spent one on one time with each child for several hours a day. When my son was an only child I would read a stack of books to him during the day and another stack at night to try to get him to fall asleep.

Reading was an important part of our world. He lived 24/7 in a home that placed a high emphasis on reading and he spent much of his time sitting in front of a book or having a book read to him. We also wrote books together. He would say the words and I would write them down. I would fold the pages in half, punch holes in the paper, and secure the pages with ribbon or I would fold the pages down the middle and staple the folded area to create a spine. Our "readers" were written by the child. We created these books whenever we could and he could read these little books because he was the author.

Our refrigerator was decorated in refrigerator magnets shaped like the letters of the alphabet. We had alphabet puzzles, alphabet building blocks, alphabet shaped water toys, and many “ABC books.” Each day as we read side by side on a comfy couch I would point out a letter of the alphabet and then I would challenge my son to find the letter as I read to him. The only plan I followed was mother’s intuition. We did this almost every day until he learned how to recognize all of the letters. Eventually, I would challenge him find three letter words or common words. This family reading time eased him into becoming a reader. I didn’t teach him to read on purpose, it was purely accidental and natural. I followed a curriculum of love and a scope and sequence driven by mommy's intuition.



My daughter also taught herself to read but maybe because my time was divided between her and her brother she learned at a much later age. She and I didn't read 10 books a day. Still, I had confidence that she would eventually learn to read so I didn't force her to become a reader at an early age. At some point, using educational toys, she figured out how to read. She might be considered a late reader but she reads just fine now and she learned with little or no instruction.

I have one child who was an early reader and one child who was a late reader but both taught themselves how to read. I think the secret to their success might have been that they weren't taught how to read. They were allowed to learn when they were ready to learn – late or early. They lived reading and were read to often. Learning to read might be a lifestyle instead of some expensive miracle program.



There’s a point to all of this. Either children are smarter than rocket scientists or we are trivializing something that should be simple and natural. Are we trying to teach many children how to read too early thus making something as simple as child’s play seem as difficult as rocket science? Waiting until the child is developmentally and physiologically ready to learn would make teaching reading as easy as pie!

I know if I were teaching in a classroom I would be forced to observe the conclusions of the article that I mentioned and to understand why some people think that TEACHING reading is like rocket science. A child who is surrounded by love, books, and plenty of time and patience will find learning to read is as easy pie most of the time.

You want a nation of proficient readers? Then you want everyone to be the same and that's not reality. Read to your children daily, model the importance of reading by reading, and don’t expect all children to read so early. Let them learn when they are ready. I think children are better learners than we are teachers, anyway.

Here is the article "Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science." You have to give some of these people credit. They are masters at making something very easy and natural look like a very daunting task. Glad I didn't read this article ten years ago when I started homeschooling. They make a pretty strong case with their big words! As a homeschool mom I felt like the message of this article was "Don't even try it. It's too hard for you! Leave it to the 'educated' 'qualified' 'experts.'" Fact: Many homeschooled children are learning to read without these "experts" and some times before mom gets a chance to try to teach! I wish our public school teachers had to freedom to allow more time when it comes to learning how to read....

Homeschool burnout indicates a need for change.

A discussion of “free schools” over at the local Homeschool Yahoo! Group reminded me of one of my favorite memories of homeschooling my children. It was a time in my life when I had come out on the other side of a bout with "burnout." Burnout is terrible but it forced me to rethink “school” and “learning” and to decide which would take precedent in our home.

All teachers and students know what burnout is. For the teacher or homeschool mom it’s when going through the motions of school becomes drudgery and the family is stressed out. For the student or child it’s when the mind just doesn’t absorb anymore, the ability to focus is lost, and eager learning has been replaced with frustration; a learner’s block. Just going through the motions of school had replaced the excitement of life and learning in my home.

Burnout was inevitable, but it caused me to take an honest look at my goals for my children’s education. It forced me to ask myself some very important questions. Was I homeschooling my children so that we could play school at home or was I homeschooling my children so that we could take advantage of their unique learning styles and their individual personalities and interests? Was I homeschooling my children to play school with them or so that they could learn effectively? Was I trying to engage their short term memories or to change their thinking and their lives? Who should be in charge of designing curriculum publishing companies or children? Should a school day have a beginning and an end or should children be free to learn from their community all day long?

The answers to these questions were obvious to me. Burnout was the symptom and change was the only cure. I put the school books away and I told my children that they were now in charge of what they would learn. I told them to make a list of everything that they loved or wanted to learn about. My daughter dictated her list and her list consisted of various fluffy creatures that you would find in a zoo. How’s that for a curriculum? We took our two lists to the Victoria Public Library. I told each child to checkout books about one or two of the items on their lists. My children took home about 20 books each and we spent the next few days on the living room floor surrounded by several piles of books. My daughter couldn’t read at the time so I read to her.

I remember that my son’s long list contained the word “rocks.” I remember “rocks” from that list because that topic took him on a self directed journey through various topics and subjects. It was amazing to watch my son’s list of interests morph and flow through these various topics. He was in about the 5th grade and his curiosities lead him from gems and minerals to a focus on diamonds which led him to try to memorize the periodic table of elements and then to learn how to convert Celsius into Fahrenheit – all knowledge that would never be tested on the fifth grade TAKS test or some standardized achievement test! One of the books on gems and minerals gave boiling and melting points in Celsius only. A reason to learn!

I remember my knee-jerk reaction when he handed me the periodic table of elements and said, “mom help me memorize this.” My first thought was, “But 5th graders don’t have to know this.” Isn’t that sad that my old mind-set would creep back in and limit my child? Allowing him to follow his interests actually freed him to learn about concepts that his 5th grade math or science texts didn't address. That year I learned about myself and my preconceived notions about children, learning, schooling, and testing. Do you think I learned to respect the TAKS test and it’s results that year?

Sitting on the floor in a pile of books exploring topics that my children were interested in was rewarding on a whole new level. I was connected with my children, learning with them, and my children were actively engaged in and in charge of their learning. I was a part of that learning journey and it did take us all, as a family, on a roller coaster ride through various subjects. Because they were learning about the things they enjoyed their days were filled with excitement and our home was full of eager learners once again!

When I feel burnout creeping back into my home these discussions of free schools, democratic schools, interest driven learning, and unschooling remind me to be more flexible and that change is needed in my home; a change that will free my children so that they can learn without frustration or drudgery.



We have experimented with many different educational philosophies and approaches over the years but that was as close to a "free school" as my family had ever been. I'll share other examples of my favorite memories of homeschooling later.

Greek and Latin Roots Binders

All we did this week for “school” was start on our Greek and Latin Roots binders. We are using "English from the Roots Up" as our guide. (You can find a list of common Greek and Latin roots on the internet and use that for free, but "English from the Roots up" has a list of derivative words and even a lesson to go with each root).

I printed out a little homemade sheet that has the name of the Greek or Latin root on the very top of the page and then a list of words that are derived from the root at the very bottom. I left a big space in the middle of the sheet for drawing and coloring. The child can then decide on how they want to illustrate the meaning of the root or the meaning of one of the derivatives.

For example, one of our roots this week was "tele" which means far away or distant. An example of one of the words was "telephone." Kelsey decided to draw a picture of a telephone to illustrate the meaning of the Greek
root “tele.”


(image is of Kelsey's art work showing "telephone" and then a page from "English From the Roots Up")

For the root “photo” which means “light” Christian decided to draw a picture of a person taking a picture (photograph) of the Eiffel Tower. I will put these sheets in those clear plastic sheet protectors that have the three holes so that they can go into a three ring binder. Instant organization!



By the end of the year each child will have a HUGE binder full of his or her artwork which can serve as review of their Greek and Latin roots or which can go in our book shelves with the other books.



I think it’s cool to see “Kelsey’s Greek and Latin Roots” printed out on the spine of one of our books in our book shelves. She decorated a sheet that we slipped into the front of the binder, too.

We did this years ago when Kelsey was Christian's age and we still pull out the binder from time to time!

How could we tweak this and make it work with my high schooler? I am thinking that he can create a power point presentation to show each root, its meaning and derivatives by using pictures and sound. This would be part of his High School Language Arts (vocabulary) and Computer Science "credits." OR he could actually make a little book and try to have it published with one of the many self-publishing tools out there......



We created binders for other subjects too. I like this idea of creating binders because then you can make your study of history (or whatever the subject may be) last for several years. It's an ongoing learning project that you can ad to it as you come across information. Not only that but it's also an awesome way to review! And if you have to document learning, there it is!

Some examples of binders that we have made over the years are "Kelsey's Artwork" which included artwork from the time Kelsey was three years old. I would ask "What is this" and then label it and date it and stick it in the binder! I only did this with Kelsey because art is her bent. Another binder that we made was a Science binder. It was really just a collection of Robert Krampt's (how do you spell that) science experiments. Matthan created a "mind bender" binder where he kept his collection of brain teasers and riddles. I am keeping a binder with course details for my high schooler.....

Here are some samples from our World History binder:

A print out from "The Story of the World" and then Matthan's name in hieroglyphs that we found on the internet at virtual egypt, I think.



A writing project and a word search:



A color page and a map from "The Story of the World" and then a page that we printed out with some information that we found on the internet to ad to our binder:



Another root sheet. For "philia" which means "love" Kelsey drew a picture of a fox because she loves foxes. But, it led us on a wild goose chase as we searched the internet for a word meaning "lover of foxes" and even "fear of foxes" and couldn't find any so we created our own: lover of foxes = "vulpinphilia." LOL



Anyway, I want to get back to "note booking" or keeping binders to document our learning. Not that it is required in Texas to do so but because looking back at our old binders is a great review, a sort of SHOW AND TELL to friends and family, it tricks people in to thinking that you are organized, and also brings back great memories (for me.) Which makes me think, WHY NOT SCRAP-BOOK OUR LEARNING JOURNEY??? Because I'm lazy. I guess you could BLOG your learning journey! Imagine a WORLD HISTORY blog! We actually created one for our History Co-op one year. Where you link to images or information about what you are learning........

Labels - Goths and Emos and Unschoolers and School-at-homers...

Thoughts tonight in response to an e mail thread on the A2Z Yahoo! Group:

Goths and Emos and Unschoolers and School-at-homers...

This thread reminds me of the many times I asked or saw others ask "What is the difference between 'unschooling' and 'homeschooling'" which reminded me of a question my daughter asked the other day. With her fingernails and toenails painted black she asked, "What's the difference between GOTH and EMO?" "'Emo' and 'Goth' aren't they both freaks?" was my first reaction. I bet when anti-homeschool people see someone ask, "What's the difference between homeschooling and unschooling" they think the same thing, "aren't they both crazy?"

In our search to find the answer, to the Goth vs EMO question, we realized that there were as many definitions for each label as there were people who claimed to be one or the other. There also seemed to be much concern about who was a true GOTH and who was just a wanna be. Sure, there were some common characteristics for each, but still, the definitions were fluid.

I said, "Be above the labels." Don't worry about the labels or other peoples' image wars. Look at how they both claim that they aren't "conformists" but aren't they conforming to each other? There's a type of peer pressure to adhere to these peer-produced not-so-norms.

And then we found out that there were not just "goths" and "emos" there are "punks" too. Just when you thought you had figured out these two labels you find out that there are not just unschoolers and homeschoolers but there are "eclectic" homeschoolers and even "John Holt unschoolers" too!!! What the heck.

We didn't get anywhere. So we played around with some GOTH paper dolls and she realized that it was actually all kind of silly. People want to belong. It's what makes us cling so tightly to a group or label.

I told her that I loved the way that she dresses! I love her camo capris with all the pockets and buttons and how her t-shirts are always so long. I love her flip flops and her hair in her face. I love the way she is and everyone should be just like her - she's so neat! She should be proud of who she is and not worry about other groups. She's such a cool person! Then I realized, "Hey, I was GOTH and EMO before they had a label for it!" (went through that phase 25 years ago.)

But, seriously, I want to be above the labels. I don't want to be an "unschooler" or a "school at homer." We are just a family living and learning together and that means we can fit into all these labels or none depending on the mood. I can identify with all and with none. I love the way we are and I love the people my children are becoming. Let other people who are so inclined entertain themselves by trying to define us. I am not worried about their conclusions.

Don't identify with a label and don't try to fit into one. If you don't wear your label like a banner you won't be offended when you feel someone isn't on your team. There are only imagined teams anyway. GOTH vs EMO wars or the UNSCHOOLER vs School-at-Homer wars - hey, we are all freaks when it gets down to it. Be above the labels.

We've had some fun with this EMO GOTH thing. When I was taking this picture she wanted to make sure that some of her hair was covering one eye. When I was uploading her images to Xanga, Kelsey said, "See you later, I'm going to go write some depressing poetry!" She has also painted her little brother's fingernails BLUE.

I like to say, "ELMO instead of EMO." (Reminds me of that cartoon where the little boy opens his Christmas present and finds a "POLKA MAN" inside. His parents say, "you wanted a polka man, right?")

And speaking of LABELS and STEREO TYPES - THE BREAKFAST CLUB has been on T.V. lately! I love that movie!

Thank goodness the black nail phase gave way to a more summery nail phase....

Alphabet Soup

Learning happens all the time and doesn't have to look like school; it can look like play or even lunch.

I'm ecstatic that my three year old understands that there exists tiny squiggly lines that he calls, "A B C's." That's all a three year old needs to know about reading. This is the first step towards literacy. My intent, at this stage, is to just refer to those squiggly lines as "ABC's" and to make no distinction among them. Though some letters you can't help pointing out. The "O" looks like a circle or a ball and the golden arches are hard to avoid. Is “M” the first letter all children learn?

At this same time he is going through a stage where he won't eat and I'm trying desperately to find some food that will be palatable to him. While at the grocery store, I told my children to pick out anything that they would eat. My three year old picked out several cans of "ABCs." I asked him if he thought that the soup would taste good just because of the large, colorful, puffy "A" "B" and "C" printed on the label, and of course he said 'yes.' I warned him that it was a can of chicken noodle soup and that he didn't like chicken noodle soup, but he wanted "ABC's." So we bought several cans of alphabet soup.

Today, when I asked my children what they wanted to eat, my three year old shouted, "ABC's!" As he stared into his bowl, I took his spoon and fished out some letters. His big sister pointed out the "H for hhhhhhhhiney" so I dragged a refrigerator magnet 'H' down to where he could see it. As he captured individual "ABC's" in his spoon he would ask, "what this one do?" and we would tell him, "That's a W for wwwwwwwwwow" or "that's P p p p pop pop." We did this over and over again until I thought he was finished.

I began cleaning up some dishes at the sink, and he called me over again, "what this one do?" In his spoon was a green pea. He knows what peas are. I thought about telling him, "That's a pea," but then I realized how confusing that might sound in light of our recent conversations. I told him, "That's an O like a ball." I should have said, "That's a vegetable," or something like that. I didn't think that he might be asking because he knew the little green thing in his spoon was a "pea" but I had just told him that the squiggly noodle shaped like a "P" was a pea. This little inconsistency stuck out in his mind. He had to question it.

I think that's how children's minds work! If something doesn't make sense they set out to solve the mystery or to understand it! That's wild untamed learning. Children are scientist-detectives, naturally. He only asked about each letter once as if he remembered which letter he had captured and inquired about. Do you think he remembered each one? I don't know, and maybe not in the way I would prefer him to because he later told me that "H hhhhh is for butt. "

A Bad Day

My "paragraph panic attack"


March 3, 2004

I am schizophrenic when it comes to living my philosophy of education. I remind myself of a two headed dragon. One head looks like your stereotypical librarian and carries a crop and the other has chocolate all over the face from eating bonbons with the children. Unschooling is a natural but sometimes terrifying lifestyle for me. I freak out every once in awhile and panic because ‘we are not doing enough.’ Yesterday, that fear reared its ugly head and compelled me to dig up my son’s old Language workbook, which I wish I had thrown away.

Looking where we left off, I realized that we should be learning about paragraphs: what a topic sentence is, how to construct them. I tried to show my son how important it was to learn about “paragraphs,” so I got out seven Language text books; texts that would be used from 6th to 12th grades. These texts were some used by our local public school and had been given to us. I opened each of these seven books to the section on “paragraphs” and placed them all out on the floor in front of my son. I said, “See! If we were using and keeping up with our curriculum we would be learning about paragraphs every year for seven years! That’s how important it is to learn about constructing paragraphs!” Something about saying those words out loud ended my panic attack.

If my son were in public or private school or we were using a traditional curriculum he would be learning many of the same things over and over each year. Not only that, but each year starts out with a review of the year before. Traditional education is much like a soap opera: you can jump in at anytime and easily pick up on the plot.

I showed my husband how the table of contents were the same in EACH book year after year. Even Language books sold by other companies have basically this same table of contents. Why?? My husband said, “Well, we kept forgetting the information so we had to learn it again each year.” If this is true, why not learn the information that final year, like, in 12th grade? Even in my college freshman English course we had to purchase a book with a similar table of contents including how to construct a paragraph. Another suggested book was Strunk and White's, "The Elements of Style," which I highly recommend to anyone. It starts out with an explanation on "how to form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's." So, if you didn't pick up how to add an 's to show possession somewhere during the 13 years of your public education, Strunk and White will be right there to teach you so that you can pass your Freshman English course! I still use this book to this day because for the life of me I can't remember how to properly use a colon and a semicolon. I am sure that I passed the 'colon and semicolon tests' in Junior High and High School.

I figure that as long as we are: keeping journals, reading books together, and researching whatever interests us; we will be fine! Basically, if my children enjoy reading and writing, they will have an advantage over children who are forced to read and write all of their lives and who might end up hating reading and writing.

Looking at how traditional curriculum is basically the same information year after year, helped me to relax. Even if we start “formal” academics in High School we won’t miss anything. I am totally delaying “formal academics” and focusing on relationships and having fun together while my children are young. Childhood is so brief and our home is not a school. I don’t want to create childhood memories of school work and stress, instead, I want to create good memories of being a loving home.

We flew kites outside in our front yard. I would rather my children fly a kite than sit in a desk learning how to construct a paragraph. They’ll have plenty of time for that. Right now they are gaining the experiences that they can one day write about.

I’m not for burning books or banning books, but, I think a practical hobby for my family should be origami. I can think of at least seven books with hundreds of pages with which we can start.

A Good Day

Selection from my Journal

February 15, 2002

Today I woke up to find Matthan looking through various History books. The name of one, in particular, is "The last 1000 years" by Dempsey Parr. I thought to myself, "If he is looking through a history book, I am not going to stop him for school." Was it Mark Twain that said, "I never let schooling get in the way of my education." I decided to fold clothes and wait until he got tired of the book, but he was really involved! In the back of this book there are many lists: Important battles; Prime Ministers; Notable People, etc.

While I was unloading the dishwasher, Matthan quizzed me on the U.S. presidents and then made fun of some rulers' names. He noticed that there were Danish Monarchs who were named, "Christian" like his little brother. He later asked, "Mom, why are there still Kings and Queens?" He had noticed that many countries who had once had Kings or Queens, didn't have them any more, but a few countries still did. He then went to the computer to look up Elizabeth II in the encyclopedia. This, strangely, lead us into a tour of Composers. I didn't know that J.S. Bach had a son who was a composer. His son's name was Christian! We listened to several excerpts of classical music which somehow lead us to World Languages, then we hopped to population growth charts which lead us to probability.

Our Encarta Encyclopedia has an "interactivity" section involving probability using a pair of dice. The computer can instantly generate and graph the results of up to 6,000 rolls which, when the results are graphed, would create a bell curve.** We made our own chart and rolled our own dice to see these results for ourselves. Then we flipped a penny about 100 times to see if we could show that there is a 1 in 2 chance of it landing head side up or tail side up. Then we used a paper cup! You know out of 100 tosses it landed on it's side 85 times! I think we might have tasted a bit of what John Taylor Gatto meant when he said that there is a difference between "school" and "education." What did Matthan and I learn? Nothing! But, Christian learned about gravity!

I had no idea that "chance" (probability) was a field of Mathematics! Things that seem random, might not always be, or they are predictably random.

**There are 36 possible different outcomes when you roll a pair of dice which will add up to either 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12. You have a 1 in 36 chance of rolling a 2 - "snake eyes," or a 1 in 36 chance of rolling a 12, with 7 being the most probable with a 6 in 36 chance or a 1 in 6 chance if you reduce the fraction. There are six different ways that the dice can land and add up to 7. See how this can create the bell curve?

The Eight Parts of Speech jingle

1. All names of person, places, things,

Are NOUNS, as Caesar, Rome, and kings.

2. PRONOUNS are used in place of nouns:

I think; she sings; they work; he frowns

3. When the kind you wish to state,

Use an ADJECTIVE, as great.

4. But if of manner you would tell,

Use ADVERBS, such as slowly, well.

To find an adverb, this test try:

Ask, “How?” or “When?” or “Where?” or “Why?”

5. PREPOSITIONS show relation,

As with respect, or in our nation.

6. CONJECTIONS, as their name implies,

Are joining words; they are the ties

That bind together day and night,

Calm but cold, dull or bright.

7. Next we have the VERBS, which tell

Of action, being, and state as well.

To work, succeed, achieve, and curb—

Each one of these is called a VERB.

8. The INTERJECTIONS show surprise,

As Oh! Alas! Ah me! How wise!

Thus briefly does this jingle state

The PARTS OF SPEECH, which total eight.

(Some authorities give a ninth part of speech, the ARTICLE. A and an are called the indefinite articles, and the is known as the definite article. The words are, in reality, adjectives….)

This is from an English course copyright 1930s. “The New Self-Teaching Course in Practical English and Effective Speech” by Estelle B. Hunter, Ph.B. The Better-Speech Institute of America Chicago USA

"Let the questions be the curriculum" Socrates

Matthan's Favorite Photo

Here is a really neat picture that Matthan took from outside of the house looking through the glass door to the inside of the house where kitty was. It looks like a double exposure but it’s not. The light was behind Matthan so everywhere his shadow is you can see the inside of the house and kitty. Everywhere else you can see the reflection of the outside. You can see our outdoor UT welcome mat and then our indoor Persian rug. I like how you can see the white house bricks and then the inside tile. We thought this was a really neat ‘inside and outside’ picture!

Field Trip to HEB

We went on a field trip the other day to H.E.B. Plus. It’s our latest and greatest supermarket. You may wonder, “A field trip to your grocery store??” But, it was really nice! When we arrived the lady gave each child a crown, a buddy buck, and a balloon. Then we all got free cocoa. It was a very cold and rainy day – flood warnings even – so the hot cocoa really hit the spot. My son was the first to spill his all over the floor. We then toured the produce area and learned to use the scale to weigh our produce. We then learned about where some of the snow crabs, fish, and other seafood came from. The children got to see a live lobster up close and listen to some facts about them. They got to go inside the store’s main cooler and the milk cooler and then each got a group picture over in the photo area. Then the group ate lunch at chic fil a so that the little ones could go crazy in the play area.

Matthan's Photographs

I'm impressed with my son's pictures that he has taken for his photography class. I am also impressed with his subject. His little brother is such a camera hog:

New Year's Eve

The children love smoke bombs on New Year's and July 4rth.

Organization

The one thing that has eluded me in my 10 years of homeschooling is organization. Wait, two things: organization and consistency. Coincidentally these are the two most important prerequisites to my peace and sanity. One I can't control. Children change and grow; interests wax, wane, and morph. Maybe consistency will, understandably, forever be elusive. We have tried everything to remain organized here in the home but nothing has "stuck."

Our home doesn't have much storage and we have no built-in book shelves for my obsession - BOOKS! Giving each child a crate for their materials worked very well because if we ever had to leave the house and stay with a family member we could just grab our crates and go! The little one had blocks and coloring books to tow. The downside was that the high-schooler's crate could only be lifted by Hercules.

One year I emptied out part of the pantry and put all of our most used books, games, and materials right by the dining room table for easy access and clean-up. This was wonderful until our family grew, or we acquired more junk, and we needed the WHOLE pantry for food and kitchen materials.

One year I decided that each child's room could house their learning materials and books but that was the same year we lost many of our educational investments to the abyss of the toy boxes or closets.

For this new school year I cleaned out our laundry room-mud room and lined one side of the room, floor to ceiling, with bookshelves. I gave each child their own level of shelves to store their own books, educational games, and writing utensils. This worked beautifully for the first few months but you can imagine the chaos that eventually resulted! You have probably already wondered, "MUD and BOOKS are you a paper wasp??" We would find missing books under the pile of dirty clothes.

Since we do most of our learning together as a family we have morphed into a system I can only describe as rotating learning stations. We seemed to all gravitate to the cozy couches in the living room while learning about history so I have put all of the books we use for history in the living room. I also placed the globe in the living room on the coffee table so that we can easily spin it to find the country or region on which we are focusing. We seemed to all sit at the dining room table for math so I put all of our Math materials in the dining room: a little television for our videos and a dry erase board to solve problems. The supplies and manipulatives can quickly and easily be removed if the President comes for dinner. Science seems to happen in the kitchen but that will change when we have specimens to dissect and store. Maybe Biology will happen on the picnic table in the back yard!

Only one thing has remained the same in those ten years - CHANGE! Maybe two: inconsistency and disorganization. Maybe three: inconsistency, disorganization, and insanity! That's not good when your three most prominent character traits start with "in" and "dis."

Morphing Educational Philosophy

(I found this in my draft folder)

I was rambling earlier:

My philosophy of education has changed since I first started teaching my own children. I started out teaching the way that I had been taught and our style here at home was very much like a public school. Playing school was very comfortable to me and I've had plenty of practice. I went to public school for 13 years of my life and was raised by two public school teachers. I would often help my mom grade tests. Not only that, but I used to line up my plush animals and teach to them, create tests for them, and then take those tests for them so that I could grade them. Yes, I even kept report cards for each of my plush students and sent them to the principal's office when they misbehaved. Guess who their principal was. You got it. I find myself constantly rediscovering our family learning style and reevaluating my philosophy of education. The definitions of the words "learn" and "teach" have dramatically changed over the years, for me, and I can see a difference between "education" and "schooling."

I decided to homeschool my child while obtaining my degree in education. I didn't have anything against public schools, I wanted to be a teacher, and my parents were teachers, but I really wanted to teach my child myself. I was really excited about the concept of home-education. I had all these wonderful fantasies playing out in my mind of me, the teacher/mom, teaching to my very interested and attentive student/child.

HA! (Shouted like the 'basket case' when she interrupts Molly Ringwald's pity party in THE BREAKFAST CLUB)

When I first started homeschooling my now 13 year old, we ordered the K5 Abeka, but he was already reading when it came in the mail, UPS was on strike that year. Needless to say, much of my purchase was a waste of money! We had been playing around with refrigerator magnets and reading many books together. I think that THAT interaction or life-style was enough to make him a reader.

He quickly learned Math in pretty much the same way. He could count, so with a Math Blaster computer game and an abacus, he learned quickly how to solve basic math problems so that he could save the world. (He had to work about 10 Math problems before he was allowed to fire at invaders..) He learned basic math skills so that he could save the world. What motivation! His kindergarten Math book was completed before Christmas, "for the fun of it."

I liked Abeka because it was what my brothers and my sister were using at their private school and I was very comfortable with it. I had helped them study for tests by quizzing them. I guess I tried really hard to play classroom here in my home but it just wasn't working out that way! I lacked the 20 other students to help encourage my son to sit still? That was hard for me!

I can remember reading out loud to my son as his body would move very much like the minute hand of a clock: his head would start out pointing to the 12:00 position, like in my fantasies, but would end up at 6:00, 9:00, and 3:00.. feet in the air. He always knew what I had just read, but his body couldn't be still! In fact, if I forced him to be still, he couldn't comprehend what I read because he was focusing so hard on trying to be still! It took some rethinking of what "learning" meant to allow me to accept my son's hyper-learning style. It wasn't a discipline problem, but how he learned. One of the reasons I decided to homeschool him was because he was very advanced but not when still. Can you imagine how that would have translated to a classroom setting?

He seemed to be learning in non-conventional ways. He learned better when he played educational games or read what he wanted to read or researched what he wanted to research. He was so far ahead that we didn't use curriculum for a few years - just let him collect and label bugs or focus on whatever other hobby he wanted to dive into. He had the audacity to continue to learn without school or without the aid of ‘schooly’ things! I experienced what Mark Twain meant when he said, "I never let schooling get in the way of my education." I don't know if I would have ever understood that quote before I saw it lived out in front of me.

For third grade, we tried to use Abeka again and we lasted a whole year! We did the tests and kept report cards! (Though that's not required in Texas.) He made all A's, of course. When you homeschool you don't move on to the next concept or lesson until the child has mastered it, so you can't make a C or fail! It's not possible. (No pass no play? No pass no turn the page!) I was so proud of his A's and it was a very fun year and I felt so productive! Maybe playing school was the ticket.

The next year I decided to start out by quizzing him with some old tests that he had previously aced. I was shocked and appalled that he couldn't remember most of the answers! The facts and details of what he had learned for the tests the year before didn't seem to make their way to the long term memory or to survive the summer! Had we wasted a whole year? That's when I realized that I probably didn't remember the answers to many of the tests that I had passed either! He could still read, thank God. I guess learning to read is like learning to ride a bicycle, without the skinned knees.

I decided that "tests" and "grades" would not be our educational goal, but rather skills that he could use for the rest of his life. For example: What if we focus on finding the answers and asking the questions instead of memorizing the answers? What if we made research a major part of how we learn here in our home? This skill can come in handy when he is in college and expected to write a research paper or thesis. My favorite quote is by Roger Lewin, "Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve." While looking into Classical Education I ran into another quote that I really love. It is by Dorothy Sayers: "Is not the great defect of our education today...that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils subjects, we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning." If I remember correctly, she was referring to the Nazi educational system. They had taught much about what to think, but no one seemed to be able to think for themselves or to think. She warned that when people are not able to think for themselves they will easily be controlled by a tyrant.

Instead of doing a traditional study or course called "English" what if we learned all we could about our language by learning where each word originated and what the history behind how the word came to mean what it means today? What if we focused on our language and its rules in action and in context by reading often, aloud to each other and silently to ourselves? We could learn the rules of our language from a deductive approach instead of an inductive approach. (I asked ZOLAonAOL to define 'inductive' for me and she said, "The act of eating waterfowl" so I am not sure if I am using 'inductive' and 'deductive' right.) Becca I. had mentioned that Jack London taught himself to write by copying the writings of his favorite writer, Mark Twain. We would learn Greek and Latin roots as a family and read together often!

Focusing on a Greek or Latin root a week gave us a small history lesson, as the root usually had a story behind it. Focusing on roots also introduced us to a list of new words (spelling) and helped with our vocabulary! I made it my goal to find other ways to combine several subjects into one - to free up time for more important things like playing or traveling or visiting friends.

Each time we read a book together something mentioned in the book sparked an interest or curiosity about some other topic. When we read "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" we became interested in researching and learning more about orbits, satellites, and eventually the solar system. I guess we allowed literature to provide us with ideas on what we could research and learn more about. The children's curiosities provide the energy, but following those curiosities is a bit like trying to steer a sailboat without a rudder: we are moving, forward maybe, but I don't know what our destination is or when we will 'arrive.' There is always more to learn about any topic or subject!

I pray for God to be our curriculum guide and to bring educational opportunities into our lives and to help me be able to recognize and take hold of 'teachable moments' in our every day lives. When I start out our day with that prayer and mindset the random dots that pop up throughout the day seem to become connected and to form a more tangible picture of where we are going.

(WOW, I need to take my own advice!)

Rebecca

"Let the questions be the curriculum" Socrates

Play is synonymous with learning

Here is the e mail I wrote when Kelsey “discovered” the concept of multiplication in her room while playing with her many beanie babies:

I believe and have observed that there is a direct link between children's play and the development of common sense. A common sense intuition about how the world works. It is through play that children learn and internalize scientific or mathematical concepts that they won't be formally taught or required to put a name to until jr high, high school, or maybe even college. Without this experience - this internalization, the book knowledge is empty. (No one ever said that books were better than experience, I know.)

Children are naturals at the scientific process and experimentation; they are wired to learn about the world they live in - by playing. Watch them on a slide; they are gaining experience and living "object in motion stays in motion" until they hit the ground. They learn about friction when they realize that if they take off their socks they can slide much faster or that the baby doesn't go down the slide very fast if he is naked. Rub your socks on the carpet and shock your friends and family members, literally. Then try it in the dark and see the spark! How many times did it take the cat to run when he saw you rub your feet on the carpet? Hmmmm association and conditioning?

You know, the more children are seated on a merry-go-round, the harder it is to stop? The children seated on the inside of the merry-go-round aren't actually spinning as fast as the children on the outside? A child in a bathtub causes displacement, experiences some buoyancy, and learns about what type of toys float and what types sink. Some of the toys that usually float will sink when filled with water. What about those bubbles? Children might notice that when they get out of the bathtub, the water level seems to drop. (When mom gets out it REALLY DROPS!) After playing in the mud, there might be a ring around the tub! A washcloth appears darker when it is wet. The wet cloth can actually stick to the side of the tub, but a dry one can't. The wet cloth, after a few days falls off of the tile and hardens - molds if left in the hamper... (great time to talk about seeds, spores, and buds)

I've observed my children's discovery of mathematical concepts through play! And not just with the abacus and Math Blaster at the computer. When my daughter ran out of fingers and toes to count on, she found that beanie babies were great for counting. She learned that she could divide her 25 favorite beanie babies into equal groups of five's, but she couldn't divide them up into equal groups of 3's or 4's, however, if she tossed ONE beanie baby and only played with 24 beanie babies she would divide them up into equal groups of 3's or 4's!!! This discovery thrilled her and she explained it all to me. When I realized that she had discovered the concept of division and multiplication on her own, I knew that she would be able to understand these concepts if I explained them to her. It was her hint to me that she was ready. I just participated in her play and showed her many other ways to divide up beanie babies. "By the way, you know how to divide and multiply, Kelsey." My daughter also discovered, on her own that, "If ten plus ten is twenty, then ten plus eleven is twenty-one!" She announced this to me before she ever heard of place value or had any type of lesson on adding two digit numbers.

These simple concepts that children discover or experience while playing have scientific explanations that they won't have to learn until later, but they have internalized examples of these concepts. What if instead of letting my daughter play with her 25, then 24 beanie babies, I had made her sit down to do seat-work for math? I could have filled up her busy play days by teaching these concepts in a very organized and structured way. Maybe she would have learned these concepts earlier. Maybe I could have bragged to my homeschool friends or family members. Would the lessons have been as important to her? Would these same concepts that she learned on her own, been as important to her if I had sat her down and taught them to her?

My daughter learned many similar mathematical concepts by playing with her many beanie babies! Not only did she learn these concepts on her own while playing, but she OWNS these concepts. They weren't mom's ideas or some concepts dictated by a scope and sequence, they were HER discoveries. She is learning to learn from life! Unfettered play is soooo important to learning and common sense.

Go play.

"Watching" a basic math "course?"

I never thought I would find myself using a basic math course to teach basic math to a 10 year old. I have a degree in elementary education and elementary math is pretty easy and fun! I didn’t even intend to use this course for instruction here at home. But, it’s the best thing that ever happened to us.

So, if I could do it all over again, here is what I would do for math:

1. Nothing!
2. Nothing for a few more years!
3. Play fun games that teach basic math skills like “Math-It,” “Multi-flyer,” and “Knock-out” when the child is about 9 or 10. This would give competency in the subtraction, addition, multiplication, and division fact tables. By this age the child has already discovered and has a working knowledge of these basic concepts. (I remember that Kelsey “discovered” the concept of multiplication while playing with her many beanie babies by organizing them, sorting them, and grouping them - I wrote about it and maybe I will share that in another post.)
3. “Basic Math” over the course of 1-4 years or as long as it takes to ease and relax through math. No hurry!
4. I guess then, when they are ready, programs like Teaching Textbooks, Classmates Math, or Video Text could be used for high school math courses….

This system seems to be working for us today, September, 18, 2006, but, as anything does when you follow your child’s lead, it could change tomorrow! But, it will “change” to something that works better, so it’s ok! Well, there might be a bumpy transition…..

Cool things about MATH

I thought I would share some of the cool things I’m learning while watching my 10 year old’s “basic math” course with her. (“Watching” a basic math “course?” You might wonder. I’ll defend my silliness in another post.)

Did you know that the sign for multiplication (the little line with a dot on top and underneath) actually symbolizes a fraction? I had never heard of such a thing, but it makes so much sense. AND in a multiplication problem the remainder is always the numerator when you express the problem in fraction form. I guess when my teachers taught me math (they had their work cut out for them) they never used mathematical language. Math is so deep and rich if you go beyond the memorization of steps to get an outcome. I was just told HOW to solve mathematical problems; how to get a correct answer with little regard for the layers and layers of conceptual information that could be pointed out and used to further expand my knowledge and understanding of math!

When I compare Kelsey’s experience with formal math to my experience I feel joy. I feel a sense of freedom for her that I didn’t feel: the freedom to do in life what you want to do without being limited by your mathematical ability. The freedom to declare a major without concern for the math requirements… Ok, she’s just 10. But, she did factor trinomials with her brother when she was 9…. (that's really just basic math)

I hated math...

…until I had to teach it to my children!

 

I am learning so much from Kelsey’s basic math course.  (I’ll tell you some cool things in another post)  It amazes me how little I know about math as an adult, after attending public school for 13 years, and then college for what ended up in a bachelor’s degree.  (That’s nothing to be impressed with, let me tell you, if I can get a degree anyone can.)  I was never good at math and I took Algebra twice in high school and twice in college.  I was ahead in math up until I hit Algebra. 

 

I don’t think that my inability to grasp Algebra was because of a lack of intelligence but rather because of a lack of maturity and interest.  I was one of those goofballs that had to take a Basic Math course in college.  The first time I took Algebra in college I got a D and then I tried again a few years later and I got an A or a B, can’t remember, but it was easy for me in my 20s.  I later took Trigonometry in college one semester because it fit my schedule and I got a B.  Math wasn’t as difficult anymore, but I had chosen a major which did not require much math so I was free.

 

Teaching my children is teaching me to enjoy and not to fear Math.  I’ve learned that sometimes people aren’t ready for a topic or a concept and if they aren’t ready it’s a waste of their time and life to force or demand proficiency in that subject.  This is easy to see with reading and children but I can now see it with children and teenagers when it comes to math.  

 

Just a thought on how I was terrible at math and always hated it until I was older.

 

 

 

 

Math workbooks have PROBLEMS!

I don’t know if any of you knew that Kelsey was very “behind” in Math. You might ask, “Behind what?” To which I would answer, “You know, like if a comet fell on me and she had to go to public school NOW, she would be considered behind – grade-wise.” (Grades are for eggs?) Anyway, we had been so relaxed here and I just didn’t make her do the tedious work found in her math workbooks. She was always drawing, playing with the cat, or pretending that she was a cat. She was happy and free. But, she was 10 and still hadn’t finished, and maybe I should admit, hadn’t really started her 3^rd grade math workbook! More confessions: We never bought the kindergarten, first, or second grade math books! This was starting to make me very stressed out.

I got nervous and decided to just get out the game “Math-It” and NUKE the basics within her. I wanted to make sure that she at least knew her basic math facts. I created a plan that would guarantee proficiency in all her facts in just three weeks. I learned that “Math-It” could be just as boring as workbooks! I guess anything can become boring when forced on a child. We also played around with “Multi-flyer” on-line so that she could get extra practice with her multiplication facts.

I decided to buy a “Basic Math” course from the Teaching Company. The course was geared towards high school students who needed remediation in Math. It was taught by a college professor but for some reason I thought it could help. Looking at the workbook that came with the program I feared it would be worthless to us. We had just learned our basics and here was a book with big problems. All math books have problems. Well, for example, the division section started out with long division! That’s the only concept that gave Matthan a problem in Math – which meant dividing monomials and polynomials would be our next stumbling block….

Kelsey loved watching the lectures. She had no problem doing the big problems in the work book. I only made her do five a day. This was not tedious! She now loves Math! And guess what? Long division came easier for her than it did for Matthan!

I’m not saying it’s this particular program that helped. I think it was the waiting until she was more mature to begin formal math coupled with avoiding the tedious work.

Now WHEN Kelsey does math I only require that she work just five problems; five challenging problems. She works each out on a dry erase board so that I can watch her every mathematical move.

Now if a comet falls on me she will be right on track like a good little train.

Biology test boo boo:

Today, Matthan took his second Biology test over Module #1. (Don't ask.) Anyway, he was doing so well and I thought he would score 100% until he got to this question:

To which Kingdom does mankind belong?

a. Monera
b. Animalia
c. Fungi
d. Protista

Well, Matthan answered "a. Monera" to which I wrote in big red letters:

Is mankind a bacteria or a pathogen?

How come we don't know the obvious things, but can grasp the hard stuff?????