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!!!!!
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2 comments:
Karin, for SO many of my children, busy work was a complete waste of time. They knew the material. Rehearsing it wouldn't improve anything. They knew it already. But now, with my last one, she needs ten thousand repetitions. And I'm having to rethink so many of the ways we have "done school."
Well, I think I wouldn't call Rod and Staff busy work per se but just the act of putting the grammar to work and putting pen to paper is a skill that I have found my boys especially have needed. I think I missed the 'grammar stage' with them and should have had them go through a grammar book like Rod and Staff earlier and then it wouldn't be such a struggle now. I missed the stage where writing out lessons was FUN for them. My grammar stage kids LOVE grammar and want more, more, more. I think I duped myself into thinking grammar WAS busy work. Busy work to me is workbooks, more phonics books when they already know how to read, lots of math pages just to keep them.....busy.
Oh Susan, I definately know the ten thousand times kid in this family and know that you have experienced this. I am not sure this thought of going through grammar applies to this child. Said child 'gets it' at the moment but later it is Greek. Then taking a breath and praying for patience kicks in or.....not. I know what you mean.....
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