Welcome to the Education Page!

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This time of year there is a lot of talk about gifts, what we’re giving, what we hope to receive. Much of the giving centers around children and creating a magical holiday for them.

Within the circles we run in there is also a lot of discussion about how much is too much, minimizing the materialistic, consumerist driven aspects of the holidays and focusing instead on the intangibles, the things that really matter. It’s got me thinking about the gifts that we give, as parents, to our children, not at holidays, but everyday, over the long haul of a childhood. The gifts that affect who they ultimately become. The gifts that were given to me and how to intentionally craft those into the next generation.

I’ve given it a lot of thought and there are many really important gifts to give our kids, but I keep coming back around to one: Self-Sufficiency. Maybe you’d argue that there’s another, more important gift to give, and that’s okay, because there are certainly many that are indispensable. It’s not like we can give only one gift to our kids, we give hundreds of them, every day. But for me, Self-Sufficiency is the best gift my parents gave me, and the one I’m most determined to pass on. Let me tell you why. Click to read more…

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Teaching Writing to Young Children

For many parents, simply that title is enough to strike fear into their hearts.

Writing:

• That hated high school subject.
• The chore most dreaded following Christmas (WRITING those thank you notes).
• The most nebulous portion of the SAT (how DO they actually grade those essays?).
• The college class we all put off until the last possible moment and yawned our way through.

Writing.

Some say it can be learned. Other’s say it’s a gift. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, although leaning strongly toward the “learned” camp.

In the new millennium, few people truly write.

• E-mail doesn’t count.
• Neither does your grocery list.
• Nor does that note to get your kid out of gym class… no matter how creative your explanation of his sprained ankle was.
• Most of us don’t even write letters, much less memoirs, or articles or books.
• Most of us sit down at a computer, or stare at a blank paper and ask the same question we asked in tenth grade: “What do I write?”
• Or, we know what we want to write, but are disappointed with the end product because we lack the mechanics as well as the art to really do our ideas justice.

It is difficult.

It is bad enough to struggle with one’s own writing. It is entirely another thing to, with great fear and trepidation, try to teach our children to write.

It is one of the most frequently asked questions. One of the greatest concerns of home educators: HOW can I teach my child to do this terribly difficult thing that I myself find mortally painful and am only marginally successful at?

The 3 R’s

The answer, is blessedly simple. I call it the three Rs (no, not those 3Rs)

They are as follows: Relax, Read, Respond. Of course, this is a highly simplified version, but it will carry you quite a long way.

RELAX!

The first, most necessary thing, is for parents to take a deep breath, and relax. If your children see that you are terrified of this and that you think it is the hardest thing ever, they will adopt your attitude and you’ll all be miserable.

• STOP looking at what curriculum everyone else is using.
• STOP freaking out about what kind of assignments your child is NOT completing.
• START engendering positive feelings about writing in yourself and working towards a “print rich environment,” as the professional educators among us would call it.

Attitude is everything. Relax. You can do this.

READ!

Next, read. Read, read, read, READ to your children. If you’re pregnant with #1 read to her. If you’ve got ten around the dinner table, read to them.

Whether they are toddlers and it’s picture books or they’re middle aged kids and it’s Ben-Hur and the Colonists (our two right now, though not in the same book, of course!) or whether they’re young adults and it’s the Wall Street journal for dinner time debate.

Read to one another.

This is perhaps the single biggest factor in teaching a child to write. Why? Because it is through reading that vocabulary is developed, that the differences in style between Mark Twain and E.B. White are appreciated, and that the flow of good language washes over the ears and into the hearts of young children.

Writing styles are not developed in a vacuum.

A teacher cannot expect a child to find his voice, literarily speaking, if he has not first listened to the voices of many others.

It is the same as teaching a toddler to speak. They listen for nearly two years before they find much to say for themselves. Why do we expect children who have not “listened” adequately to be able to “voice” themselves on paper?

Do not make the mistake of assuming that once your child is functionally literate and is reading “Captain Underpants” or some such pop-culture nonsense that your job as family reader is over. It is our job as parents not only to direct the literary diet that the child himself consumes, but to continue to spoon feed him (force feed if necessary!) the good stuff as long as he’s under our roof. Even adult children like to be read to… I know, I am one!

RESPOND!

The third R is Respond. Having been read to in a relaxed environment, the child should, after a period of time, be asked to respond.

This does NOT necessarily mean in writing.

• A four year old can respond to a paragraph long passage from Aesop’s Fables by retelling the moral of the story.
• A seven year old can retell a whole chapter.
• A nine year old a whole book… if you have enough time to listen!

The first response that ought to be required of a child is oral.

Have your little children narrate (re-tell) what they have heard you read. Then ask them what they liked best and why. In this way they will parrot the style of the author, use new vocabulary in context and form a personal connection with the literature. Make it relaxed, light hearted, and fun.

When children get a little older, say seven or eight, they can begin writing short paragraphs. It is at this point that most kids start to cry, and some mothers too. The child, if he has been read to enough, will have lots to say and an active imagination… but the mechanics of writing will still be difficult.

What’s a mom to do? Stand over the child and yell? Steal the joy of writing by making him rewrite fifteen times to dot all the Is and fix punctuation?

No! It’s so much simpler: have the child tell you what he wants to write, you faithfully transcribe his words, and then, he copies it neatly into his writing book.

In this way a child enjoys the creative aspect of writing. He learns proper form (by copying yours). And he has none of the negative reinforcement of that dreaded red pen that haunts you to this day. This approach should take you through the first several years. After fourth or fifth grade, the child will quite naturally start writing on his own, for fun, and at that point, you can begin a formal writing course, without fear.

Until then, Relax, Read and allow your child to Respond. Relax.

What has worked (or not) in your family to inspire your kids to love writing?

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With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I find myself counting blessings more than usual. Our “Thankful Tree” is getting full and our Thanksgiving projects are in full swing. We spend a lot of energy this time of year on reading about Pilgrims, constructing Native villages, learning Thanksgiving poems and songs and educating ourselves about the colonization of this great land and the first Thanksgiving that was celebrated not so far from where we now live.  This is a wonderful time of year, full of educational opportunity.  Yet, I wonder, are we neglecting the year ‘round education of our children in the true message of the season? Click to read more…

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NaNoWriMo isn’t the newest gadget or latest dance craze. It is a marathon for writers: a contest which challenges participants to write one novel of 50,000 words in the month of November.

As a writer and marathon runner, this contest appealed to my thirst for out-of-the-box, yet fully attainable challenges.  Like completing a marathon, winning NaNoWriMo is a goal that requires a dedicated effort and a no-holds-barred mentality.

And, it’s for all ages.

In addition to NaNoWriMo for adults, the National Novel Writing Month also has a Young Writers Program, which is a perfect way for home educators, who also happen to love creative writing and slightly crazy challenges, to make NaNoWriMo a family event.

Young writers have the option of selecting the appropriate word count, based on grade level or ability. From pre-readers, who only need a few words, to teens, who can write 30 to 50 thousand words, the contest is open to all. The web site suggests word counts for all levels and offers free curriculum from high schoolers to pre-readers.

Not only does NaNoWriMo give advice and support for young writers, but educators can set up a virtual classroom on the YWP site, free of charge. Many libraries, schools, homeschool groups, and community centers offer writing workshops throughout the month of November.

Most of my children love writing, but not all, so NaNoWriMo is a perfect way to get them to use their imaginations and expand their vocabularies without the fuss and stress of English grammar. The mere act of writing (and finishing) will spur their creativity, which will translate into other areas of life, even if they don’t become best-selling authors.

In NaNoWriMo, the focus is not on grammar or editing or even having complete sentences—and diagramming is absolutely out the window. Rather, the point is to increase language skills while having fun (editing can come later).

The contest is all about the flow of ideas, building of plot and wrapping things up in a happily (or not so happily) ever-after conclusion.

NaNoWriMo is designed to jump start the writing process and to spill those thoughts and dreams onto paper. The time crunch and word count work together to keep the writer focused on moving the story forward, rather than getting stalled by linguistic technicalities.

I have a lot of goals for myself, for my kids, and for their friends in our homeschool group, who are taking this writing journey with us. Hopefully, our class of writers will learn to…

Not be overly critical.

It is easy to spend hours on one paragraph, but the NaNoWriMo challenge won’t allow this. Writers have to plug away regardless of whether the product is pure garbage or Nobel worthy.

Save editing for later. After writing my master’s thesis, I began at page 122 and worked backwards, sentence by sentence, editing all the way back to page one. I’m pretty sure training monkeys to type would have been more enjoyable. And most young writers probably feel the same way.

Grammatical rules for the English language can be confusing and daunting, and trying to make every sentence perfect can hinder the flow of creative output. This is why so many children never finish writing stories they begin. Granted, editing should be done at some point, but it’s just not vital in this mad dash to the NaNoWriMo finish line.

Use strange, new words. The thesaurus will become my best friend, and hopefully, my children’s best friend too. Who doesn’t like to hear their 7 year-old use words like “jauntily” or “flounced?”

Spew words like a lidless blender! Analogies, similes, metaphorical language: we are going to reach for the stars! Metaphors are like digital photos: out of the 749 you snapped on your trip to Paris, only 2 are worth keeping for later use. The process of using analogies and metaphors will get writers, young and old, to paint word pictures, without using the obvious adjectives.

Utilize action. Even when I write middle grade fiction, I find myself spending way too much time painting the scene. The clock will ensure that I don’t spend too much time Austenizing my work for 10 year-olds.

Meet a high goal. So often in life, we settle for what is easy. I want to present my kids with a high, yet doable challenge. Many times my kids have come up with great stories that remain unfinished. The challenge presented by NaNoWriMo will inspire them to finally finish something they have started.

Have fun. A lot of kids are not enthusiastic about writing. And I admit, it’s not always a joyously inspired act. Sometimes words come out painfully slow, as you stare at that blank page. But NaNoWriMo presents a different spin on writing. The goal is merely to write, no matter what, and to have fun with the story.

While I am forcing all of my kids (and a few others) to participate in NaNoWriMo YWP, the results will be worth the effort. But more importantly, the journey itself will be a quest we undertake together, without leaving home.

For educators and young writers:

www.ywp.nanowrimo.org

For adult novels:

www.nanowrimo.org

Since our children were tiny it’s been important to us to impart to them a multi-generational vision for their lives and as members of our family, something greater than themselves.

There are lots of way to do this, of course from sharing mealtimes to living daily life with our kids in an integrated fashion instead of sending everyone off to do their own thing. One way that’s been meaningful came from my Dad.

For years he’s collected quotes and thoughts that were meaningful to him, some his own, some from others. Some he found, some that others have passed along to him over the years. He calls this collection “The Wisdom File.”  He gave a copy to my husband and my brother and a few others one Christmas and it was instantly a family treasure.

When Gabe turned 13 my Dad contributed selections from his Wisdom File to Gabe’s life book.

From time to time I get it out and thumb through it, finding there the essence of my Dad and his philosophy on life. It’s continually being added to, growing and changing, just like him, just like our family.

It occurred to me that, perhaps, other families would like the idea and so I’m sharing some of the quotes here, with you.

I’d be interested to know what you think, and if you have anything great that we could add.  Click to read more…

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From the time he was little Elisha has been my grocery store buddy. He loved nothing more than to have my undivided attention for thirty minutes each way in the car to talk my ears off. He loved the anticipation of wondering if I had a stray quarter in my purse so he could ride the yellow horse that neighed and played the stereotypical cowboy music outside the grocery store. He loved to push the cart.

Our grocery store has two sizes of carts: the regular sized ones that were strewn all over the parking lot and inside the store, and the few and far between, super huge carts which are identifiable by their red rims and the trail of duckling children strung out behind whichever Mama is pushing.

Small families do not use these carts. In fact, I think most of the members of the “red cart club” know each other… and a good proportion of us home school our kids, which means that we take our kids WITH us to the store on a Wednesday afternoon. Come to think of it, maybe that red rim is a warning sign to all of the other shoppers: “Look out, family of eight coming your way!”

Sometimes I need two red carts.

Elisha pushes that cart with the concentration of an Indy car driver. He always cites the rule to me upon entering the store:

• “If I touch anybody or anything with my cart I lose the privilege to drive, right Mom?”
• “Right.”

I think driving the cart must be the video game deprived child’s answer to “Driver.”

He maneuvers that cart around big displays of chips and candy, milk and meat, peering under the handle bar with his eyes peeled for old ladies with walkers and little children who’ve lost their parents.

Survive the obstacle course and win the game. Five extra points if he doesn’t break the eggs.

It occurred to me, in the produce section of one grocery expedition, that among the many things we teach in the grocery store, I have overlooked Geography. It happened over a five pound bag of carrots, conspicuously marked with “grown in Canada.”

• “Look Elisha, these are Canadian carrots… remember that carrot farm in Nova Scotia where we took a rest and they told us all about carrot cultivation and harvest?”
• “Yeah, and we ate strawberries…” he added.

We reminisced about that lovely afternoon as we picked up our onions and potatoes, grown in California and Idaho, respectively.

The Games

When Hannah and Ben were two I made grocery bingo games.

• On each card were pictures of various items found in the store.
• I provided each kid with a page of dot stickers and they passed a pleasant hour hunting for tomatoes and artichokes while I shopped.

Later we made math games and treasure hunts out of our shopping trips.

• Each child has $15 of imaginary money to spend, they need something from each food group to win.
• Older children figured unit costs for canned and boxed goods with a goal of saving the family $1 per trip
• A list of ten obscure items was provided to each child and the winner was the fellow who found the most of the “treasures” on his list.

Recently the oldest two have taken over half of the shopping list and take their own red cart around the store.

I’ve decided to institute a new game: Grocery Geography.

I’m going to have two versions:

The little people version: in which they are given a list of countries and we look together for items originating in those countries.

The continents version: in which they carry a laminated map and add dots for each food they find for a particular continent.

The geography super stars version: in which points are awarded for each country you find that no one else finds, and each food you find that no one else finds.

• Here’s a hint: spend time in the deli section where the fish and meats are. Look also in the produce section (for carrots!)
• Keep in mind that the foods must actually be PRODUCED in a foreign country, not just be a parody of food from that country. Example: Thai Coconut Milk does not count towards Thailand because it is produced in southern California.

Let me know if you decide to play along and send in the weirdest foods and countries your kids find… I’m sure the results will be different in different grocery stores around the country!

Photo by Emily Sutherland

This post is a short and sweet round up of cool stuff and free stuff that we’ve run across in recent months.

Hopefully some of these are helpful to your family.

If you’ve got some unusual resources you’d like to share with us, please send them along and we’ll include them in a future post! Click to read more…

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It’s a concern common to home schoolers.

You’ll hear Moms of Many discussing it in the back of a convention hall and Moms just beginning the journey with one five year old and two toddlers worrying in advance about it. The question goes something like this:

“How can I be everything to everyone? How can I teach letter sounds and square roots at the same time? How do I manage all of the lesson plans for several children and minimize the prep time required? I’m spending hours each week preparing eight to ten sets of lessons per child, for two or three or four children… how do I keep all of the balls in the air?”

You’ve heard it before, maybe you’ve asked it, most of us who’ve home schooled for a while have worried over it on some level. As with most questions related to home schooling, there are multiple answers, the one presented here has grown out of a careful study of educational history, our family’s multi-generational legacy and a good dose of common sense. Click to read more…

“Hold my hand; listen, please; sit back; buckle up; come here; halt; quiet; don’t kick; load up; line up; single file; wait your turn; be patient; look me in the eye; time out!”

With all the buckling, strapping down, forced wiping of sticky faces, and tugging sweaters over writhing little bodies, it’s no wonder parenting in the early years feels like one long lesson in child restraining tactics.

While there are moments when restraining your child is important for his own safety (toddlers on the train platform, for example), far too many parents miss valuable opportunities for allowing children small doses of independence. Click to read more…

Sunday is Mother’s Day and my card will probably arrive late, as it sneaked up on me this year. A late card, however, should not be confused with a lack of appreciation or attention to my mother. In fact, I’ve been spending a lot of time this week considering the gift that my mom handed me, wrapped with a silver bow, of eighteen years of her undivided attention and the very best beginning any girl could hope for. I didn’t appreciate it nearly enough, I suppose no one does, until they become a parent themselves.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I’d like to share ten things that I’ve learned from my mom over the years and why they matter to me: Click to read more…