Believing what you read

Since I have kids of all ages I have been struck by the natural progression of learning and that what the books say about their cognitive development is absolutely right. I studied these developments in school but how many people get the chance to see them all at the same time and have the experience with each age level to see the end result. I still agree with my resource in Mr. Maloney in Teach Your Children Well, that some kids need to hear things ten thousand times before they remember it. It is not just that kids turn ten and they magically learn. I do think that cognitive leaps do help, but the poor mom has to wait for that. Nervous laughing.....

I have also been a little ticked off at the homeschooling grammar world. There is Simply Grammar and other such curriculum that gives them just a little bit of grammar a day. The Well Trained Mind recommends Rod and Staff and now that I see it in action I know why! When we homeschoolers scoff at busy work, we need to stop and think what is the difference between busy work and work that trains, trains, trains the child in sentence structure and writing in general through writing the problems out. This seems probably obvious to some people but I do wish I had my older children do more of this when they were younger. Now they are back peddling and having to learn this stuff late and without a lot of time to put it into practice.

When someone tells me their child couldn't spell till high school, I will now believe them. I have had my share of kids who spell in gibberish and now......are starting to get it. I will still bang my head against my portable board when it takes literally years to reach these points but hey, they are reaching it and so there is hope for the younger ones showing signs of late blooming in spelling.

It is easier to relax while beginning Benjamin's reading journey. Most homeschoolers start having panic attacks as the grandmas quiz their grandchildren on what they are doing in school. "Well, he is flopping around between rooms and hopes to be recognized and communicate with someone or.......they flop around hoping mom won't notice them quietly leaving the room." Benjamin goes to Science with Mrs. H. but doesn't know how to read???? I love homeschooling. He is very proud of his Botany time.

Ingrid is napping so time to.......RRRRUUUUNNNNNNN!!!!!