Posted in Learning on the Narrow Path
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There are a lot of things I love about homeschooling. But my #1 favorite, first place, all time list topper is that children can wait until they are ready to learn concepts. We have run the gamut in reading instruction, for example. I embarked on a rigorous phonics, spelling and reading course with my second-born at age 4. She seemed ready, and was. We never made it to year two because she took off. My next child taught himself to read when I wasn't looking so I call him my "stealth reader." He took off as well, despite only three months of formal phonics instruction at around age 6. The next child up to bat was far more interested in physical activities than sitting with books. She learned the alphabet on a large hopscotch pattern I drew for her, and learned to spell her name while jumping rope. She wouldn't sit still for phonics, but will read now if the book catches her interest. Her younger sister is "all emotions all the time" and learned to read by listening to and reading emotionally-charged stories like The Velveteen Rabbit and Charlotte's Web. We got out the phonics book and looked through it with her. My youngest is only interested in important reading. She won't sit still for a story from the Pathway reader, but she will often get out a Bible and read it aloud, asking for help with unfamiliar words at the end of a sentence. I didn't even get out the phonics book for her. She seems to understand spelling instinctively. My #1 favorite, first place, all time list topper example, though, is my subtraction with regrouping story. When I was in school, we called it "borrowing" and it took up three full months of math instruction. Some kids caught on the first day, others took the full three months and came away not quite understanding still. One day, my nine-year-old came to me and asked how to take 26 from 135. Five minutes later, she walked away with an answer to her question and an understanding that stuck. Boom, she got it. No reteaching, no constant review until it finds a home in her long-term memory. That is my kind of teaching, and I love it when it happens. It's teaching "in the zone", like hitting that perfect tennis shot when the zing of the racket vibrates your arm all the way to the shoulder; or the perfect powmmmmmm of the bat when you hit the sweet spot and the ball sails over the outfield wall. Not all our days are filled with successes like these. But every one of them has earned a spot on the Teaching Hall of Fame in my mind. |
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Posted by Kim in MI