Hippiemommy

Category: Homeschool

  • Nothing but love for “Teach a Child to Read with Children’s Books”

    I can’t even tell you how much I love this program!

    We started our reading program by using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  It sucked the fun out of the room.  We were getting the job done, but it was not enjoyable for anyone.  I decided to back off when my ds said that he didn’t like it, but I was afraid that we were going to have to go back to it and that he’d be miserable.  I am so thankful that a friend recommended Teach a Child to Read with Children’s Books.  That simple recommendation helped us to make a wonderful u-turn in our reading lessons.  Hallelujah!

    The idea behind TaCtRwCB (how’s that for an abbreviation?) is that you use actual children’s books and not dry readers.  He goes through an entire sample lesson based on a program that has been used in some public schools when they were able to give one-on-one attention.  The elements of each lesson include books that your child knows well, books that they recently learned, word building based on those books, writing small stories, and then introducing a new book.  It uses a mix of phonics and sight-reading to help them build their vocabulary.

    The wonderful thing about the skill level of the books is that they start with ones that are repetitive and use words that many kids know.  That means that they can have the accomplishment of reading an entire book from the beginning of the program.  That is so much more satisfying than just reading nonsensical words (“….ab….”, “….ar….”)  Although we’ve officially been doing the program with my 5yo, my 3yo has picked it up just from watching.  She is now able to read as well.  Both of them beg for me to start our lessons for the day, and they are sad when we finish our books.  I wake up in the morning to them asking if the library has any new books on hold for us that they can read.  It is so phenomenal to see the difference between the way that they approached 100 Easy Lessons and the way that they are approaching this method.  They love it, and this is what I dreamed of for our homeschooling experience.

    When we retire a book or run out of new books, then I just look at the lists in the back and pick a book that is the appropriate level.  I place them on hold at the library and keep them in a basket next to our couch to become our new book that we introduce at the end of each lesson.  It takes very little planning, and the kids enjoy going through the basket to pick which book they think we should read next.

    We do most of our word building with magnetic letters on the fridge.  When there is a word that they are stuck on or that keeps popping up, then we work on it and on the entire word family on the fridge at the end of our lesson.

    So yeah, I highly recommend this book.  My son already knew his letter sounds when we started, and my daughter knew some of them, but the book guides you through it even if you’re not to that point yet.  I’d love to hear from you if you try it!

  • Socialization

    The older that my kids get, the less that I am worried about “socialization”. I went to a mix of public and private schools. My dh was homeschooled up until 7th grade and then went to private school. I never even considered homeschooling before my children were born, because I thought that the way that I was raised was the best way. Meeting my husband definitely changed my mind on that one 🙂 Today I was reading some more Charlotte Mason while at the park with my kids, and I really loved this section on children with their peers.

    The Society of his Equals too stimulating for a child.“Let us follow the little person to the Kindergarten, where he has the stimulus of classmates of his own age. It certainly is stimulating. For ourselves, no society is so much so as that of a number of persons of our own age and standing; this is the great joy of college life; a wholesome joy for all young people for a limited time. But persons of twenty have, or should have, some command over their inhibitory centres. They should not permit the dissipation of nerve power caused by too much social stimulus; yet even persons of twenty are not always equal to the task of self-management in exciting circumstances. What then, is to be expected of persons of two, three, four, five? That the little person looks rather stolid than otherwise is no guarantee against excitement within. The clash and sparkle of our equals now and then stirs up to health; but for everyday life, the mixed society of elders, juniors and equals, which we get in a family, gives at the same time the most repose and the most room for individual development. We have all wondered at the good sense, reasonableness, fun and resourcefulness shown by a child in his own home as compared with the same child in school life.

    I love this.  It is so true.  Why is it that our country has become so fixated on the thought that healthy development can only come by being surrounded by people only your own age?  John Taylor Gatto addresses this in his book, Dumbing Us Down, and I wrote about it once before.

    Discovering meaining for yourself as well as discovering satisfying purpose for yourself, is a big part of what education is. How this can be done by locking children away from the world is beyond me.

    Yesterday I went to the library and saw the vast number of books in the collection that were devoted to getting kids excited about going to Kindergarten.  It was really really sad.  Kids aren’t made to be taken away and taught by their peers just because they turned 5.  Now that my son is 5, I am feeling more sure about this than ever.

  • Obedience – a difficult word

    Today as I was reading in Home Education by Charlotte Mason, I was thinking about how many different parents (including myself) now shy away from the word “obedience”. So many of the less desirable parenting styles have taken it over, and so it is hard to use it and still convey the proper message. I realized that I tend to use other words in place of obedience because of this. The section that I read today really reminded me that it is all in how you use it. I really like how Charlotte Mason approaches it as the child’s responsibility to obey, and not our job to make them obey. This is very much in agreement with grace based discipline 🙂 She has a couple of points that I’d slightly rework, but hey, the text is 100 years old, so I can see how there could be some difficulty communicating.

    Charlotte Mason says

    It is said that the children of parents who are most strict in exacting obedience often turn out ill; and that orphans and other poor waifs brought up under strict discipline only wait their opportunity to break out into license.

    Um yeah, totally true.

    Exactly so; because, in these cases, there is no gradual training of the child in the habit of obedience; no gradual enlisting of his will on the side of sweet service and a free-will offering of submission to the highest law: the poor children are simply bullied into submission to the will, that is, the wilfulness, of another; not at all, ‘for it is right‘, only because it is convenient.

    I am so glad that she addresses this. The fact is that many of the popular Christian parenting philosophies are all about bullying into submission and forcing the child to do it, not of their own free-will. This can never last. If the child is not choosing it for themselves, then why would they continue doing it when they no longer have to?

    There is no need to rate the child, or threaten him, or use any manner of violence, because the parent is invested with the authority which the child intuitively recognises. It is enough to say, ‘Do this,’ in a quiet, authoritative tone, and expect it to be done. The mother often loses her hold over her children because they detect in the tone of her voice that she does not expect them to obey her behests; she does not think enough of her position; has not sufficient confidence in her own authority.

    Yes, yes, yes. I find this so true in my own voice. When I am calm and respectful, so are my children. If I am getting flustered or upset, then my kids don’t have a calm role model anymore and they start following in my bad habits. I was sitting around watching moms today while I was at a drop-in Kindergarten for my kids, and I was struck by how true this is. It is true amongst the teachers, the parents, anyone in authority. Those who spoke calmly and were clear of what they expected had no problem with the children following through. Those who seemed to be asking the child a question did not get the same results.

    Like I said, I don’t take every word of Charlotte Mason like the Bible. Even still, I think that her beliefs, especially considering how old they are, are very sound and impressive. As I mentioned above, I would choose not to use the word “obey”/”obedience” because of the negative connotations that it now has for so many people, but I also realize that when she wrote this it wasn’t the same problem. She gives me a lot of food for thought though. Most of it is not “new”, but rather a gentle encouragement that I am on the right track. That is so perfect, since that is what we are to do for our children as well 🙂

  • I should be a little more open-minded to other Christians

    I’ve had some good food for thought today.

    I took the kids to a drop-in Kindergarten class for homeschoolers (which they loved, btw) and while I was sitting there I started browsing through their lending library.  I saw that they had Teri Maxwell’s Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, so I decided to grab it and check it out.

    When I was a new mom, I had looked at the Maxwell’s site.  I was really turned off by their forums.  I’m pretty sure they either took their forums down or made them non-public.  Whatever they did, they’re not there anymore.  The advice that I saw on the forums was very punitive and certainly deep on the end of wife-only submission.  They link to the Pearls and suggest their books, which is enough to make me run away screaming any day.  Some of their articles, including one entitled “A Trip to the Woodshed” make me uncomfortable enough that I decided that I didn’t want to support their ministry by buying books.

    On the other hand, there have been quite a few discussions on GCM about their other book, Managers of Their Homes (AKA “MOTH”), and a lot of moms have been blessed by it.  They have another book called Managers of Their Chores (“MOTC”) which has also blessed several women on GCM.  I highly respect these women, and they said that they found it relatively easy to eat the meat and throw out the bones.

    Because of the latter position, I decided to skim Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, and I’m really glad that I did.  Did I agree with all of it?  Absolutely not.  However, several of the sections were wonderful reminders and fit in well with my grace-based and gentle style of teaching and disciplining my children.  I particularly liked some of the things that Mrs. Maxwell had to say about organization and time management, which is clearly one of her strengths.  I’m assuming that’s why she’s known for MOTH and MOTC.  I can see how some of the moms at GCM were blessed by her ministry.

    This has led me to think a lot today about the ministries that I choose not to support.  I still don’t think I want to support the Maxwell’s ministry, because I don’t believe in at least half of it.  Despite that, I gained some knowledge today and God has already used some of it to stretch me as a wife and a mother.  I’m wondering where the balance is though.  I have a feeling that I’ll be pondering it for the next few days.

    Let me also say, and say clearly, that I have read books by the Pearls and Ezzo just so that I could be educated on what I’m against, and they icked me out to no end.  I gained nothing from those books, except frustration and a wish that I could write the authors back to point out all of their logical flaws.  Those books were all bones – bones and gristle.  I am certainly NOT trying to say that any book written by a Christian is worth putting into your mind.  I do think that there are probably some more people on the fringe who could teach me a thing or two.

    ….still thinking…

  • Who is the truly “peer-dependent” one?

    I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently as I’ve become more involved in homeschooling groups.  As much as homeschoolers like to say that they are proud to raise children who are not peer-dependent, it seems that those at greatest risk of dependency are actually the parents.  I am currently reading The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook and I was pleased to see this exact topic mentioned.

    Peer dependency?  If you are an average adult, you are so peer dependent that you’re scared sick to stand out from the crowd–your relatives, neighbors, school. and church friends.  And failure’s grisly head makes your fears horrific!  … Anything but standard practice scares you, unless you see how easily Susie is doing it down the street or realize you’re destroying your children’s love for learning.

    I find this to be so incredibly true in many of my groups.  There are, of course, those moms who are confident and able to make decisions on their own (the “Susie” of the above quote), but there are so many more who are always wanting to jump to where the grass looks greener.  Why is it so hard to read something that connects with you, see if it works with your kids, and not panic about the fact that other people are doing it differently?  I know we all want our kids to be successful, but I really believe that if you are consistent in any method, and your kids enjoy it, then you don’t need to fear that they will learn.  In the long-term everyone’s enjoyment, your attitude, and some kind of consistency seems to be enough to carry you through.  When I look back on my schooling, I see that what made me do better than the kids around me was the way that my parents encouraged my love to learn.  There was no magic workbook or curriculum that made me intelligent.  There’s no such thing.

    So that’s my thought for the day, as I read a bunch of moms who are panicked about what curriculum to use for next year.  If you current curriculum isn’t working, then of course you should change it, but there’s no need to switch to classical education because everyone else is…  If it fits, then great.  If what you are doing works, then just enjoy it!

  • Can you tell I’ve been sick?

    Man, this pregnancy has been hitting me hard. I feel like an amoeba. I am tired all the time… well, except when I’m throwing up. I am getting too old for this!

    So please forgive me for my lack of updates. I’ve hardly even been reading. It is pathetic!

    The one (adult) book that I have finished was Teach a Child to Read with Children’s Books. My son already knew basic phonics, and we played around with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons last year, so we had a bit of a base, but we are both loving this new method. There is something so much more satisfying for him when he reads an actual book and not something nonsensical like “Fat pat sat on a rat. Rat, Pat, rat!” People don’t even talk like that.

    I highly recommend Teach a Child… if you are interested in a more literature-centered reading curriculum. It has been so lovely for us. The book lists in the back are great and if you need (or want) to keep records then he has some great sheets in there that you can print off. We checked it out from the library, so it was easy on the budgt and even Compact-friendly. 😉

    Well, I’m off to make dinner and probably throw up again. I’m sure I’m making you all jealous. <rolling my eyes>

  • Our book diet – Day 4

    It is amazing to see my children’s attention spans already lengthening after only a week of consistantly cutting back tv and increasing their book intake 🙂 They are begging for more books, and we are now taking daily (rather than weekly or bi-weekly) trips to the library. My daughter (2 1/2) likes to re-read her favorites, but my son (4 1/2) loves the adventure of a new book. He has started checking out non-fiction books about dinosaurs, boats, and airplanes, and now that’s his new favorite category. They are both back to reading books while we drive around town, which was a habit they had started to lose.
    Not only can they pay attention longer, but their imaginative play is increasing by leaps and bounds. They seem to be making up for lost time! My kids didn’t even watch that much, and yet still we are seeing a dramatic improvement. May I also mention that they are much less frustrated and getting out a whole lot more energy. Something about reading for half an hour really calms them down. Watching TV for the same amount of time leaves them all revved up.
    My quote for the day, as I reflect back on the amount of Dora and The Backyardigans my kids were watching , from The Read-Aloud Handbook:

    The vocabulary of television is lower than nearly all forms of print, from comic books to children’s books and newspapers and magazines. A study of the scripts from eight programs favored by teenagers showed a sentence averaged only seven words (versus eighteen words in my local newspaper). Since TV is a picture medium, a fair comparison would be with children’s picture books:

    • 72 percent of the TV scripts consisted of simple sentences or fragments/
    • In Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, only 33 percent of the text is simple sentences.
    • In The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, only 21 percent of the text is simple sentences. (p. 203-204)

    Thus one can say even good children’s picture books contain language that is at least twice the complexity of television’s. Imagine how much more complex the novels are.

    Its only a little past noon, and here’s what we’ve read so far:

  • Book Diet – Day 3 (Weekend)

    Here’s my weekend edition of our book diet 🙂 We’ve read more books than this, but this gives you a good idea. Here’s my thought for the day, courtesy of The Read-Aloud Handbook

    NAEP studies reported the more printed materials found in a child’s home, the higher the student’s writing, reading, and math skills. (NAEP 1992 Trends in Academic Progress)

  • Book Diet – Day 2

    Its a snowy day, so we’re having lots of time to read! I’ll update it later once we’ve done all of our reading for the day. Here’s our list so far:

  • Our Book Diet – Day 1 (10/25)

    As many of you know, I am working through Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook. It has really inspired me to make sure that I am not just reading to my kids at bedtime, but rather making read-aloud time a big part of our day. I have decided to focus from now until Thanksgiving on making sure that my kids are getting a healthy “diet” of great books. We’ve slacked a lot due to our impending move, and this is something that I don’t want to see fall by the wayside.

    Feel free to join me! I’m going to try to post at least 10 books a day that we’ve read. That’s my minimum. My kids would probably read 100, but 10 is a good goal for me, as it is a reasonable amount of my day to spend on reading to them without it being too overwhelming for us right now. 🙂

    Yesterday was almost all chapter books (Winnie the Pooh especially), so today is lighter fare 🙂

    Today’s picks: (2 of these were read to me by my 4yo…)

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