Recently I was introduced to an article that piqued my interest. I read the article carefully to make sure I was understanding it, and to make sure I wasn't skipping any clues that the author might be a crack-pot. Plenty of people think I'm one, so I suppose I should be able to recognize one when I see it.

The article is called, "Can Dyslexia Be Artificially Induced in School? Yes, Says Researcher Edward Miller" and it's written by Samuel L. Blumenfeld, a name many homeschoolers should recognize because he's the author of Alpha Phonics.

Now, I admit that I know next to nothing about dyslexia. So I thought I'd do a little research on what dyslexia is. Interestingly, it isn't just about seeing and writing letters backwards or upside down, that is only one symptom, and someone with dyslexia may not have that symptom at all. Basically, it's anyone who struggles with reading. Not necessarily a dislike of reading, but someone who truly struggles with decoding and comprehension. That is not a medical description, but the sum of what I read from several dyslexia help websites. All of them agreed, however, that dyslexia is always either inherited or neurological in nature.

Mr. Blumenfeld and Mr. Miller disagree with the above theory. They believe that the cause of this artificially induced dyslexia is caused by the sight word reading method and they offer evidence that backs their theory. Read the article, it's very fascinating! (Note: There was one "bad" word in the article but not so bad that I didn't want to write this post and link you to the article. Just be aware that's it's there and I know that it's there.)

Now one of the things mentioned in the article are the Dr. Seuss books. Dr. Seuss himself apparently thought sight word reading was a lot of twaddle. Still, he wrote the books and made tons of money. Why this interested me is because two of my children went to bed one night with Green Eggs and Ham and the next day they could read nearly anything I put before them. Wallah! The mystery of decoding words was revealed! So if sight reading can cause dyslexia why could my daughters read anything and with a voracious appetite? The simple reason is that I had been teaching them phonics, not how to sight read. They didn't memorize the words in the book, they sounded them out.

My youngest daughter didn't learn to read until the end of her third grade year. She struggled with reading until that point. All of her symptoms pointed to dyslexia. After reading the linked to article, I began to think more about the change. If what the article says is true, then my youngest daughter should still be dyslexic, and yet three months after she started learning to read she was reading The Hobbit. It struck me that what I had been using to teach my daughter to read prior to the few months before her night with Green Eggs and Ham had been sight word books like Dick and Jane, and Rod and Staff Pathway readers. The books themselves don't teach using phonics, but I was still trying to use them to do just that and supplementing with phonics because I knew phonics was the best way to teach reading. My daughter was caught in that limbo state mentioned in the article.

Because my daughter struggled with reading, I kept reading her schoolwork to her knowing that when she was ready to read, she would. We never made a big deal out of it. Then in the middle of her third grade year I switched to just a phonics reading program. The night my daughter went to bed with Green Eggs and Ham she read the words by sound, not sight. She then took off with her reading, the method of reading set. Praise the Lord it was phonics and not sight reading! By fourth grade many of the students reading method is set, and for many of those it was set before then. I think my daughter wasn't set before that because we weren't forcing her to learn to read like they would have in the public school.

All I can say is that the article totally fit the pattern that my family experienced. I know that it was teaching reading by sight that caused my niece in public school no end of struggle and tears for many years. The public school system still believes that sight word reading is a valuable tool and it refuses to look at the evidence that shows the dangers of it. I won't say that sight reading is bad for all students, it is used to teach the deaf, but we are talking about a handful of students who need to learn to read this way. If the schools would quit pushing students to learn to read before they are even ready, and use phonics to teach reading in the mean time, they would have a much better success rate at making children literate.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

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Nov. 11, 2009 - Courtship in the 24/7 Era

My friend, Kim, has a saying on her Facebook, "A woman's heart should be so lost in God, that a man has to seek Him in order to find her." But this generation seems to be lost to Facebook and their cellphone making it way too easy not only to find her but everything about her too. The combination has made any rules of engagement (pun intended) obsolete.

David Brooks examines how cell phones have changed the dating game.

Once upon a time — in what we might think of as the “Happy Days” era — courtship was governed by a set of guardrails. Potential partners generally met within the context of larger social institutions: neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and families. There were certain accepted social scripts. The purpose of these scripts — dating, going steady, delaying sex — was to guide young people on the path from short-term desire to long-term commitment.

Over the past few decades, these social scripts became obsolete. They didn’t fit the post-feminist era. So the search was on for more enlightened courtship rules. You would expect a dynamic society to come up with appropriate scripts. But technology has made this extremely difficult. Etiquette is all about obstacles and restraint. But technology, especially cellphone and texting technology, dissolves obstacles. Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments.

As a parent, we've encouraged our young adults to establish appropriate guardrails which will help them navigate the temptations that are ever before their eyes. But it isn't easy for them or us. We understand the traps that lay before them that could derail their hopes and dreams, but frequently our young people only see another "friend" to add to their growing list.

In the "Happy Day's era as Brooks identifies it, a young man thought longer before he reached for a phone and called a girl. More importantly, the ring of the phone and one-side of the conversation were heard throughout the household. Now, the instantaneous access to a new friend through cell phones makes it easy, very private, and speeds up the courtship process. Add in social networking sites like Facebook and young adults quickly learn what their new friend's favorite food, music, song, and a whole lot more before the first date. They become emotionally bonded and "in a relationship" before parents and others in their social sphere know they even exist.

Even parents like us, who have encouraged our children not to commit to a long-term relationship until they are ready for marriage are struggling how to navigate these waters. The only "script" seems to be written by the next generation as they go along, eliminating many safeguards that prevented heart break or at least softened the blow.

God said it was not good for man to be alone, so He created woman and said it was very good. We created technology that has become our constant companion and what is happening to our generation because of it isn't so good.

-Spunky

Cross-posted, with permission, from SpunkyHomeSchool

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Nov. 10, 2009 - Reaching Homeschoolers

At a homeschool convention last year, another vendor and I struck up a conversation. He had a lot of energy but seemed a bit uptight; however, he readily admitted that he felt totally out of place because he didn't homeschool and this was definitely not his "typical convention." Not really interested in finding out what his "typical convention" was like, I smiled and assured him that we all knew he was out of place the minute he walked in the vendor hall, but we're a polite group and so we didn't point or stare as we talked about him to each other. He grinned and relaxed a bit.

"Obviously, you're a pretty direct person," He said. "So I was wondering, how does a guy who knows nothing about homeschooling sell his product to homeschoolers?"

Ignoring the fact that this out of place "greedy capitalist" was there just to make a profit, I chuckled and asked him, "Why do you think homeschoolers would even want to buy your product if you know absolutely nothing about us?"

He didn't seem to want to answer that, so I continued, "Get to know us a bit and you'll figure out it's not that hard to sell to us. We're pretty frugal but can be gullible in the right circumstance with a promising product, especially at a homeschool convention."

"Fair enough." He replied. "Then I'd like to show you my stuff and see what you think. But first there's one thing I've been wondering about homeschoolers for quite a while now."

"Oh, and what is that?"

"Why do you homeschoolers have so many kids?"

"Umm, gee, maybe it's because we have more exciting things to do than watch Jay Leno after the kiddos go to bed?!?" (Okay, I didn't really say that but I did think it.)

Instead, I politely tried to explain that for some of us homeschooling isn't just an educational choice but a life decision based on a belief that children are as a blessing from God. He wasn't getting it and I was getting hungry so the conversation quickly died of natural causes.

If I ever run into him again, however, I'm sending him over to Ethan Demme (of Math-U-See fame) who gives a much more thoughtful and complete answer to the question, How do I reach the homeschool community? His post is directed at politicians but he starts from the same premise that you have to know something about us, past and present, in order to reach us.

As a homeschool grad and marketing guru, Demme provides an excellent round-up of information and resources to understand this growing but changing movement of homeschool radicals who actually believe they can teach their children at home and live to blog about it. Check it out and keep in handy if you ever run into my vendor friend at your state homeschool convention.

(Note to Demme: Please add a paragraph on fecundity and homeschoolers, thanks in advance.)

-Spunky

Cross-posted, with permission, from SpunkyHomeSchool

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