Getting Them to Read

When we began homeschooling in 2001, I knew I wanted to instill in each of my children the love of learning.  I began simply by telling them after each meal, "Go find your favorite book, get in to a comfy position (I don't care if you sit on your head) and read for half an hour!"  This is simply how we began.  We had electronics back then, but just a couple super old desk top computers that were 8GB and maybe 16GB on their hard drives.  We had educational computer games, lots of wonderful educational posters on the walls in the dining room, watched educational shows on TV and DVDs and used our Bibles to learn how to read aloud.

You see, reading is essential to learn anything in life.  Unfortunately, electronics are taking over books, but this Momma is steering her young folks to find information in good books and literature first.  There is something that happens to a person, no matter the age, when you hold a book in your hands.  You can adjust, get comfortable, and let your mind get involved in the book.  When my children were younger, we did "Read Aloud" time where after lunch was cleaned up, they curled up whichever way they were comfy and listened to me read.  They would always say, "Momma please read another chapter!"  And I would happily oblige.  These were the times that I knew would form them for later in life and they would be precious memories for me, so I obliged.

As they grew and read everything on their own, our "Read Aloud" times became Bible races.  They would race to the scripture verse and whoever got there first read the verse.  

As with everything, reading comes with writing and speaking.  In order to communicate well with others they had to learn how to spell.

They also had to learn to find out information for themselves.  It is bittersweet, but had to be done.

They had to learn to read to know how to do things like read patters and follow directions.

And read their own Bible on their own.

And study Biology 2.

They've each learned at their own rates, with their own sets of challenges from ADHD, kinesthetic learner, Dyslexia & Dysgraphia.  I have researched until my eyes hurt in how to help my kids learn how to read and they each read very well now with very little issues.  If they do have any issues, they know how to self correct.  This is what reading is all about.  Gaining the skills to learn, research, understand, communicate in writing and speaking, as well as how to correct themselves when they know something didn't sound right.

And it all began with telling them to find their favorite book and get comfortable even if it meant sitting on their head! (Seriously!  I used those words! And they laughed!  LOL)

My job was to find out what they were interested in and supply them with TONS of quality literature.  Going to the library wasn't always convenient for us, so I scoured Amazon for good books very cheap based on their interests and reading levels.  I remember buying 3 different books on General Custer, all on 3 different interest and reading levels.  Over the years we've resold many many books, but they were all worth it.

Where do you begin? 

If I had to begin again in 2001, I would begin with this book.  I read this book after our first year of homeschooling.  I would have loved to read it before we began, but I didn't know about it.  So, as a result, I encourage all new homeschoolers to read this book IMMEDIATELY.  It will change your homeschool for the better!  It will help you understand your own learning style in order to learn your child(ren)'s learning styles.  Once you do that, you'll better understand where they need to be and how they need to study.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!  There is no such thing as a stupid question.

God Bless,

Home Schooling Curriculum--Part VI--The Rest of it all.

This particular part of our home schooling curriculum topic encompasses everything.  Yes, you read that right.  It encompasses everything.

How?

Well, one could say that this last chapter would be considered "Religious Education" and honestly, they're probably right.  Then one would have to ask the question, "Does Religious Education encompass all of life?"  To that I would resoundingly answer, "YES!"

::::making a long story very short::::

My husband and I did not grow up in homes where scripture was read aloud often.  My Dad made a feeble attempt at it, but other things got in the way.  Mr. G's Dad had not been in charge of any type of religious education at all in the home.  He stayed quiet on the subject all of their growing up years.

How do we, who have no formal training in matters of religion, train up or bring up children who are strong in the faith and knowledge of God?

This is where the learning curve comes in.  We didn't have much before we had kids.  After our children came along, the seeking increased as time went on.  When we decided to home school, the online home schooling circles helped us to find some wonderful resources.  One sight that was phenomenal [and still is] was Doorposts.

I would encourage you to look through what they have to offer.  We've incorporated much of what they publish like the Brother Offended Checklist, If-Then Chart, Blessing Chart, Instructions in Righteousness and now Plants Grown Up and Polished Cornerstones.

In the Plants Grown Up and Polished Cornerstones, there are topics of interest that will help you as a parent to steer your children in whichever direction you'd like them to go.  If they're needing more direction in leadership or organization, it is in there.

This year we did something a little differently with our children.  I checked off the topics we'd already studied and told them to pick their own topics based on the knowledge they have of their own weaknesses, but that they couldn't repeat any of the previously studied topics.  I thought you would like to see an example of what is in the Plants Grown Up (young men) and Polished Cornerstones (young women) to help you see what is studied in each book.

This is what DA(16) came up with~
1).  Faithfulness in the Church Body
2).  Self Control Over Thought Life
3).  Scriptural Manhood
4).  Perseverance in Trials
5).  Sharing the Gospel
6).  Loving a Wife
7).  Developing godly Relationships
8).  Fleeing Temptation
9).  Conquering Laziness
10).  Courage

There were a number of books listed for all of these chapters as resources.  Each book had a chapter or two that pertained to the topic, or the author suggested the student read the entire book.  Here is just a sample of books suggested--A Homework Manual for Biblical Living, Vol. 1, Man in Demand (both student and teacher), Read Any Good Books, The Homeschooling Father, Heirs Together, Pilgrims Progress, Foxe's Book of Martyrs...just to name a few.  There were 19 books in all, not including magazine suggestions as well as tapes to listen to.  In times past, we hadn't purchased all the suggested books, but just a few of them at a time.  This year, we tried getting as many as we could find to have in our own library at our disposal.

This is what HJ(14) came up with~
1).  A Peacemaking Woman
2).  A Humble Woman
3).  A Thankful Woman
4).  A Courageous Woman
5).  A Patient Woman
6).  A Determined Woman
7).  A Just Woman
8).  A Trusting Woman
9).  Joyful Woman/Mother
10).  A Respectful Woman

There were a number of books listed for all of the above chapters for resources just like DA had above.   A few of those books were--The Virtuous Woman, From Forgiven to Forgiving, The Peacemaker,  His Perfect Faithfulness:  The Story of Our Courtship, Of Knights and Fair Maidens, Guidelines for Courtship and Preparation for Marriage, The Art of Choosing Your Love, God and Government, Vol. 1...just to name a few.  The list was 26 long with not being able to find 9 of them.  If you would like a list of the items I couldn't find, please let me know and I'll post them in the comments section to this post.  I would be willing to pay a reasonable price plus shipping for the item(s).

This is what JL(12) came up with~
1).  Finishing What We Started
2).  Faithfulness in the Church body
3).  Showing Hospitality
4).  Giving to Those in Need
5).  Serving Others With a Cheerful Heart
6).  Hiding God's Word in Our Hearts
7).  Honoring God's Day of Rest
8).  Bible Skills
9).  Self-Control Over the Thought Life
10).  Self-Control of the Emotions

There were a number of books listed for all of these chapters, but many of them we already had or were covered in the list of books for the older two children.  However, with JL's list of 10 books, only One could not be found.  It is called The Principle of Biblical Charity by Jacob Abbott.  The other books that were on his list were--Open Heart, Open Home, Giving and Tithing, Bringing in the Sheaves, God and Government, Vol. 2, A Day of Delight, Making Sunday Special, How to Study Your Bible, How the Bible Came to Us, and A Visual Survey of the Bible.

We will begin our 2012-2013 School year on July 16th.  We will do a couple hours of school each day during the hottest part of the day from noon until 3, then we'll either head to the swimming pool or to walk in Cook's Forest.

But what about Music?  Art?  Home Ec?  Physical Education?  Civics?  Economics?  Literature?

Those topics are absorbed in to our daily life.  When you go in to your kitchen to make a meal, do you call your children and say, "Ok, children, now is when we're going to do Home Ec.  We'll learn how to make tuna salad sandwiches today for lunch!"  Or, like most of us, around a certain time of day, we meander in to the kitchen and put on a pot of eggs to boil, setting the timer for the eggs, then go off to clean up something, get out the dinner meat to defrost, check email, grade papers, switch the laundry or any number of other things.

Art is incorporated in to our History/Geography studies, so that isn't a concern.  Music is too, but the kids also take piano lessons.  Physical Education is simply done by hard work, studying the body, and simply walking, doing the elliptical machine, doing Denise Austin Yoga and Pilates videos, swimming, hiking and those sorts of things.  It isn't separated out of our day, delineated by a "topic name", but instead flowing naturally from one thing to another.

How about you?