Sunday School Wednesdays: Who Licenses You?

The gate to my deck has 2 locks:)

I have a daycare licensing inspection this morning, and while I am prepared practically (just need to put the BBQ cover back on that blew off...) I've been thinking about Licensing this morning from a spiritual point-of-view.

Who licenses me to care for children? Websters defines license as 'consent to', or 'to make possible.'  From a human perspective my local Health Authority enacts the legislation of my provincial government which governs child care facilities.  But, this perspective does not have the strong foundation upon which I would like my license to rest. I mean, buracratic red tape, overwhelming case loads, multiple interpretations of legislation can make us disheartened.

How can I wisely and confidently take a stand against this disheartening perspective? I have found the answer lies in redeeming a human sense of licensing for a spiritual one.  A license is at it's core, an idea.  It is the idea that loving care for children is principled. Such principled love ensures that all involved are cared for: children, caregivers, families, officers & our community.

Care-giving is serious stuff!

As I consider that licensing is an idea, it follows that it is governed by Mind.  This government is loving, principled, spiritual, active, honest & caring - a firm foundation on which I would like my license to rest.  Thinking about my license being governed by Mind, or God, calms any fear about the human expression of licensing being misguided or flawed. It reassures me about the nature of the One who governs me. Equipped with this reassurance I can openly and honestly interact with my licensing officer as a team member. I view her as a partner in making it possible for me to care for children because I am confident where my authority lies.

If I could plagiarize my mission statement for daycare I'd take it from The Message. 



"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-ful', you find yourselves cared for.  Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives."

Matt:5 7, 14, 15.

Who could ask for a better job!? How could I wish I did not have a license when it is the foundation on which my care-giving is built.

Joyfully licensed,
Caz.

Discussions: Honouring Silence

I'm participating in a great Reading Circle right now on Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms by Stephen D. Brookfield & Stephen Preskill (Josey-Bass, 2nd ed. 2005) 

My discussion group humored me today and allowed me to test-run an activity with them that would invite the students to remain silent for 5 minutes before the discussion got started.  I found it a bit of a challenge to stay engaged for this length of silence in a facilitation role.  Generally I feel I am doing well if I silently count to 10 to allow enough silence to encourage others to speak. But there is something about this length of silence which held me more accountable. I couldn't just count in my head; I had to be mentally present for the activity. The five minutes gave me time to consider the question posed, allowed for some time to get distracted, and then re-think the question.

Brookfield and Preskill have some great points about silence in discussion which I think I'll try more actively to practice:

"Don't mistake students' silence for mental inertia or disengagement... Silence is the condition the media dread above all else - they even call it "dead air" - but real-life discussion is not a talk show! Effective discussion leaders take steps to ensure that periods of reflective silence became accepted as a normal and necessary element of people's deliberations." (p.65)

How can I include more reflective silence in my homeschooling?

• Pausing at meaningful times when reading aloud to silently reflect on the story and thereby invite the kids to do the same.
• Allow the kids to have some silent reflection after reading an article before we get started on projects.
• Try and pose analytical questions and then structure 5 minutes of silence in our work together. Perhaps when they are writing their weekly learning story I can get used to the idea that not typing is still attending to their work...
• Model reflective thinking when the kids ask me questions; "Interesting question. Let me think a moment..."
• Look for examples of silence in stories and movies that are powerful.

"Another mode of responding [to student comments] is through silence. The tendency to answer students without hesitation is a hard one to unlearn... We believe that even more time, up to a full minute, can occasionally be used to model unhurried deliberation and to emphasize the importance of reflection. Structuring silence can give participants a chance to take the time needed to think through a new idea, make sense of it, and fit it into an existing mental schema." (p.98)

Joyfully silent,
Caz.

Reminiscing about summer... Muffin Mouse

Being Kind

Sometimes I surprise myself... how can I have blogged so many times and not mentioned Stephen Covey even once yet!  While living in Northern B.C. my husband and I took a weekend workshop on Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families.  In many ways this weekend/book transformed our family life.

Something about the workshop allowed us to take risks. For one, the facilitator is an amazing man who I love (no, not Stephen himself!) and secondly, it forced us to participate in the seemingly hokey activities which we probably would not have bothered doing reading the book independently.

The most transformative activity for me was writing our Family Mission Statement. I so love the one we wrote - our older kids were preschoolers at the time and it includes their language.  It is framed in our living room, and while many will never notice it, it holds a prominent place in our heart and life.

Over the years we have re-visited the book many times. Both my husband and I read it regularly. I'm fortunate that one of my best friends reads it too - we have a common language when we discuss our families and hold each other accountable to commitments we know are in the book.  It is the basis for the kids' personal planning studies this year.

One of the activities we have maintained for many years is under the heading Being Kind; "Little kindnesses go a long way toward building relationships of trust and unconditional love. Just think about the impact in your own family of using words or phrases such as thank you, please, excuse me, you go first, and may I help you.  Or performing unexpected acts of service such as helping with the dishes, taking children shopping for something that's important to them, or phoning to see if there's anything you can pick up at the store on the way home...not just at times of special achievement or on occasions such as birthdays but on ordinary days, and just because your spouse or children  are who they are."  (Covey, 1997, p.51) 

We look for ways to share our gratitude for the small things family members do for each other. For a long time we kept a jar and would write notes to each other during the week to share on family night. Recently I was inspired by a post of a favorite blog Amongst Lovely Things and created a simple dry-erase system to write thank yous to each other on the fridge.

The whole project cost me $6 at the Dollar Store and about 10 minutes to make (including the time it took to route through my paper in the storage room, and the dry erase markers at 3 for $1!)

They are simply small fridge-magnet picture frames. I put a square of scrap-booking paper in one for each family member and we write on the plastic frame.

Of course kids and dry-erase markers go together like PB & Jelly. We're all so excited to use them that we're hard-pressed to read a note of gratitude from someone before it has been erased and replaced by another eager pen-holder. Well, in the big scheme of things I think this is a happy dilemma.

Joyfully appreciative,
Caz.

Family Daycare - Practice Makes Perfect

So often when we plan curriculum it is to teach new skills and ideas. But, I think we loose something in this approach - I mean it gets busy, frantically creating 'new learning opportunities', and photocopying activity sheets...

Where is the opportunity for kids to practice in this revolving door of new skills?  Wouldn't we be doing the children a better service by creating a gentle place to practice their current skills? Wouldn't we be doing ourselves a service by exchanging our time spent photocopying worksheets with time spent in a child's world?

I think the importance of practice in curriculum planning gets lost and we must reclaim it; "...frequent repetition of activities develops a sense of comfortable familiarity and mastery, which not only helps children learn but builds self-esteem." (p.9 Klein, M. Diane et al, 2001.)

Banana Bread learning to walk

This is illustrated simply when we think of a child learning to walk. In order to learn to walk independently a child must take hundreds of thousands of steps cruising/holding on furniture. It is the hundreds of thousands of steps of practice that result in the mastery which leads to independent walking.  Offering the child new ways to walk, comparing the child to other walkers, or calling their name across the room will not promote their walking. Practice will.

Practice is key to mastery, and it should be the foundation of our curriculum planning to provide natural, un-pressured opportunities for children to practice skills. Such a curriculum  supports learners in an infinitely better way than frantic, busy classrooms do.

Here are some practical tips (Mahoney & MacDonald, 2007) to incorporate more practice in your teaching:

• Keep the child for 1 or 2 more turns than usual (gradually extend the number of turns the child stays engaged in interaction with you.)
• Repeat activities the child enjoys (children persist in repetitive play because the object or action they are doing is interesting to them - continue the play even if you are getting bored!)
• Find ways to allow practice in your everyday routines (slow down and allow the child to practice even if you can do the task more quickly:)

A great read on this topic is Einstein Never Used Flashcards.

Joyfully repetitive,
Joyfully repetitive,
Caz.

Being Disciplined and Getting Things Done

"Yes!" finally a post about discipline and whipping those kids into shape!  Ahhh, if only :) As I thought about children this week the idea of 'discipline' kept coming to mind. But, not so much in the context of how to discipline others, and more about how my being disciplined allows me to do more of what I want (much more self-serving!)

I have been really working to be more disciplined this past year. As a simple definition, I think of being disciplined as 'doing what needs doing first, then doing what I want to do.' Interestingly as I practice this principle, I have found it makes me happy, and more efficient.  I think it's because doing what needs doing first allows me the mental freedom to then do what I want without distraction, guilt, regret etc.  Often the things that need doing don't take so long - it is just a matter of getting started.

Some things I've discovered as I work on being more disciplined:

• A friend shared an idea which changed my point of view about evening chores. She suggested that evening is a time of preparation for the morning, and not a time to unwind from the day. I love to wake up knowing I'm ready for the day:)
• A few years ago I started following the Fly Lady 31 Beginner Baby Steps to help me learn to be more disciplined with housework.  The Fly Lady starts with an assumption that you live in chaos and gives you baby steps to learn how to manage your housework.
• A simple time management technique is to ask myself; "What is the best use of my time right now?" It creates mental space to complete tasks that can pile up. "8 minutes until we leave for swim club? Perfect, I'll run the laundry piles to each room." I'm embarrassed to admit that I may have taken this to an extreme... It takes 60 seconds to make my smoothie in the Vitamix in the morning and I often race to get the dishwasher unloaded in that time:)
• Simple, but effective, write a list and cross items off as you complete them.

 Although it seems counter-intuitive at first, being disciplined creates more order in my life which frees-up time and head-space to do projects which are priorities for me (read with my kids, volunteer, watch a movie with my hubby etc.)

Being disciplined creates time to do what I want - like walk in the snow with Muffin Mouse.

Thanks to my friend, Jodi, for inspiring this post today. A true friend who texted me a flattering message after my horrifying re-telling of my run on the treadmill today. Girlfriend, I may not always look pretty doing it, but I get it done:)

Joyfully disciplined,
Caz.

Organizing: Paperstuff

Having a lovely Snow Day here!  Just a quick post about organizing before I head off and tackle some chores on my to do list...

I've learned to be pretty ruthless with paper stuff while running daycare and home school. I contain all our homeschool supplies and most daycare craft stuff in one cupboard in my kitchen.

Basket on top: Hole punch, extra pens, paper folder....

Top shelf: Novels and books. Most of our reading is from the library, but some friends passed down a few book series' which the kids are hoping to read.

Middle shelf: Pink container with craft supplies for daycare (stickers, glitter etc.)

Lower shelf: Binders (each child has a homeschool binder and I have a daycare one), textbooks, reference materials.

Closed cupboard: Paint & playdough supplies.

This is the complete system with a basket on the kitchen table to hold the IPads, keyboards and some puzzles.

Joyfully paper-free,

Caz.

Homeschooling: Portfolio Assessment

I've been reflecting on my recent post about fitting homeschooling into our day.  A key component to how we make it fit is that we use portfolio assessment.  Essentially, portfolio assessment is a collection of student work which illustrates growth, competencies, and best work.

Portfolio assessment was the 'buzz word' when I took my teacher training. It was presented as a way for students to demonstrate their knowledge in a personally meaningful way (students have a high degree of choice in how they choose to present.)   Portfolios also require the student write a reflection on each piece submitted justifying why it is in the portfolio thereby encouraging them to think about how they learn.
Why portfolios are such a good fit for us is because I don't need constant written assessments to have a clear picture of how the students are comprehending.  With only 2 students I have almost instant assessment feedback on their performance when teaching them (if something is unclear I can read their body language, or they stop me and ask for clarification), whereas a classroom teacher requires frequent formal assessment to get a clear picture of each student's understanding.
Since I know my students have comprehended each concept, their formal work is a demonstration of knowledge for their distance ed teacher, and an opportunity to practice literacy, research, and project management skills. It is a change of paradigm as to why and what we assess.

Our portfolios cover each subject area and we submit them at the end of each semester:

• Language Arts - Weekly dictee samples (We use Spelling Wisdom), creative writing journal, book reports/reviews, learning stories.
• Social Studies - One project per month (We use What in the World? and include reading notes, question & answers/rough work, and final project (often a Powerpoint) for each project), book reports, learning stories.
• Science - One project per month (We use Classroom Ready Science News and include the pre-work as in Socials), book reports, learning stories.  
• Math - We use a web-based program which meets the provincial outcomes for each grade. I receive weekly reports on the kids' progress and share the login with their distance ed teacher to review when he likes. I chose this site because it requires the kids master each outcome and don't sail through a unit without full comprehension. We include written calculations in the portfolio to demonstrate thought-processes. IXL Math
• Fine Arts - We include a written summary of the work completed with their instructors each semester, art samples, and a sample of their music or dance on video. 
• Physical Education - We include their journal of Daily Physical Activity (a BC requirement), goals in their sport and summary of achievements, and photographs.
• French - Not included in the portfolio. As the kids are former French Immersion students they are completing French 8 by distance ed and submitting assignments online regularly to their teacher.
• Personal Planning - Each week the kids send their distance ed teacher a Learning Plan for the week. We also include book reviews, learning stories, and course certificates (such as Home Alone program.)

As the kids complete projects I file them in the portfolio and we work together to organize them at the end of each term and drop them in the mail for marking.

Joyfully yours,
Caz.

We use an expandable file folder as it is easy to mail.

Teaching: The "It" Factor

Banana Bread

Some teachers just have it; They can engage students in such a genuine way that it is effortless and transformative.  The more time I spend with children the more convinced I am that great learning is relational.  Responsive interactions may not be the best strategy for learning a discrete skill, but it is highly effective at teaching a different, more critical, class of developmental behavior - the process or activities that children must do themselves in order to learn.

We're still reading!

I think many would agree that great teachers teach children how to learn, not just disconnected pieces of information.  Gerald Mahoney & James MacDonald have identified 5 responsive interactions parents and teachers exhibit that promote this more critical behavior development (see www.responsiveteaching.org for more information on their research):

1. Engage in balanced reciprocal interactions with children. Interactions are reciprocal when teachers and children engage in balanced, back-and-forth exchanges with each other. So after I've said something I wait for the child to respond before I talk again.
2. Respond contingently to activities children initiate. Refers to adult interactions that have a direct relationship to the previous behaviors produced by the child. So if the child is talking about cars you resist the temptation to change the subject to tidying their room!
3. Share control insofar as encouraging children to control the focus of interaction as often as they do. Responsive teachers limit the number of times they direct children so that they respond to the children more than they direct them.
4. Are affective and animated while interacting with children.  Expressing enjoyment at being with children, and the children react with pleasure and excitement at being with them. Consider consciously smiling more - it can become a positive habit!
5. Match children so that what they ask or expect the children to do is influenced by the child's actions, state, or behavioral style. Responsive teachers make it easier for children to understand what they are saying, doing, or requesting by matching or adjusting their behavior to the children.  I've had to work at this one in learning to match enthusiasm and excitement with children when my natural tendency is to maintain peace and calm - hello, sometimes kids want to have fun!

I find choosing one of the strategies at a time to practice is the most effective way to make measurable progress with these skills. A great place to start is reciprocity (making sure you only take one conversational turn at a time... stop talking so much!)

George scrapping Nana's car this morning:)

Joyfully yours,
Caz.

Sunday School Wednesdays: Get a life!

Yes, I realize it is Thursday, but in a freakishly linear desire to make sure my 'blog labels' are consistent I am blogging about Sunday School today and pretending it's Wednesday:)


I have been thinking a lot about Sunday School teaching this week and have an almost overwhelming sense of gratitude for the opportunity to think and pray about my church community, and Sunday School, which the position of Sunday School teacher affords me.

The most common response I receive from people when I tell them I've recently started teaching Sunday School is; "Gosh, but you have so much on your plate. Are you sure you have time?"  Absolutely YES! The suggestion (while well intentioned) is that church work can be laborious, and suck the life out of one's free time.  I am finding it to be the exact opposite. Church work is getting a life!

Mary Baker Eddy says; " On the contrary, if aught [anything] comes from God, it cannot be mortal and material, it must be immortal and spiritual." p.479:5-7 Read Science and Health: With Key to the Scriptures online.

Using the dictionary I studied the meaning of the key words in the above quote:

CHURCH WORK IS NOT:	CHURCH WORK IS:
Mortal; dead; death; deadly.	Immortal; life; lively; living.
Material; limited; weak; trying.	Spiritual; limitless; powerful; ordained.

Choosing the right column as my mindset for work enables me to prioritize the work effortlessly. I can't imagine a more enjoyable way to spend my free time - frankly, dabbling in the left column for leisure doesn't sound like much fun to me!!!

Joyfully yours,

Caz.

Homeschooling - When does it all get done?

George hunting for worms.

 We had such a beautiful day for getting outside that it is easy to blog about the joy and flexibility of homeschooling today!  We are fortunate that hanging outside for a couple of hours each morning is the norm for us - so, "How do you get all your schooling done?" I hear you ask.

Right from the start I intuitively knew that we would not need a whole day for the kids to meet the Provincial curriculum. Simply looking at child:teacher ratios makes a solid case for a why a limited amount of one-on-one instruction can accomplish what a classroom teacher requires hours to instruct (given class sizes approaching 30 students.)

So with this principle in mind, I developed our homeschool schedule in September which includes one hour of direct instruction per day, plus one hour of self-directed study, four days per week.  Our direct instruction involves lessons and readings that meet the Provincial Outcomes (language arts, math, social studies, science, French, & personal planning.) The hour of independent work is essentially pulling together a project in each core subject area per month.

Muffin Mouse dog training today.

It feels like we have found a gentle rhythm to our days, although it took some tweaking to get here. Essentially, the kids are given the autonomy to plan their days based on the following guidelines:

1) No electronics from 8am - 4pm (except for school work) M - Th.

2) The kids must be up and ready to come outside by 9:30am. I didn't plan for this to be a rule, but without some structure to starting the day, and mandatory fresh air, I found the kids would be sluggish and argumentative.

3) The kids must schedule their 1 hour of direct instruction with me at a time that is convenient for me (generally during nap time.) Springing a need for lessons with me on a whim is a recipe for disaster :)

Based on the above guidelines, they choose when the following daily tasks are completed:

Banana Bread playing at the park.

• 30 minutes minimum of Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading
• 1 hour of self-directed school work
• Music practice
• 1 hour of direct-instruction school work
• Dance practice (Muffin Mouse); Hockey practice (George.)

They then choose to bake, read, play, write, or use their pocket knife (!) during their free time.

After 4pm we generally hit the road like many families filling our evenings with hockey, swim club, dance classes, music lessons, & creative writing classes. I find without homework stress, and with well-rested kids, these evening activities are more enjoyable than they used to be when we were schooling.

Joyfully yours,
Caz.

Learning Stories in Family Daycare

“Infants and toddlers respond well to responsive caregivers who can read their cues and appreciate their stages of development. If educators observe and interpret carefully, they will be able to provide more appropriate responses than if they were to design activities before such individual observation... Responsiveness is the heart of the educator’s role. If the process of becoming more responsive is the intention of the educator, observation skills need to be practiced and finely tuned.” Gonzalez-Mena, 2007.

I must admit I've been a bit slow to warm to the Pedagogical Narrations (Learning Stories) endorsed by the BC Ministry of Education's Framework for Early Learning. www.bced.gov.bc.ca/early_learning/pdfs/from_theory_to_practice.pdf  At first glance they seem overwhelming to implement in a classroom - they are detailed documentations of an 'ordinary moment' in the classroom which the teacher writes, shares, assesses and uses to direct planning for an individual child.

After some trial and error I have found a way to use Learning Stories in my family daycare and have grown to love them. 

• I write a story for each child once per month and place is as the cover page for their daily communication binder.
• While I take many photos during the week to email the families, I find it helpful to photograph the learning story with intention. I take a number of photos of the ordinary moment then put the camera down and write a running record observation. I find the observation notes key to enriching the story, adding quotations, context, facial expressions etc.
• I write the story from the child's perspective; "I am so excited to be painting today..." This helps the story come across with warmth and love, and reads less like a developmental assessment; "John reaches to grasp the block with a radial palmar grasp..."
• While I don't write the story with a developmental tone, I do analyze the story to provide appropriate responses and then design activities .
• I then include a "Possibilities and Opportunities" section and highlight some planning ideas to reinforce the child's interests and needs.

My goal of the Learning Story is to document the child's growth and development for both myself and the family. That said, I don't want the child/family to feel I am caring for the child in a fishbowl - secretly assessing their every move. I view the Learning Story and my day-to-day interactions with the child through a loving lense. I step out of this perspective occasionally to problem-solve or plan, but do not allow myself to remain in an assessing mindset.

Joyfully yours,
Caz.

SAMPLE (20 mos old child)
PHOTO

“Bang, bang, bang” the slide is noisy when I hit it. I play a rhythm on the slide and then look-up smiling at everyone. “You're making music.” I wonder if my friends would like to join me? I laugh out loud and they laugh back. Lisa comes over to the slide and I show her how to make the noise. She gives it a try and we both smile at each other. In no time at all we create a Symphony in the Park before running off to climb the steps and slide down our music maker.

Opportunities and Possibilities:

• Encourage cooperative play with friends to enhance these joint activities.
• Active play outside encouraging creative uses for routine materials.
• Providing opportunities to extend her interest in rhythm and music with instruments and singing.
• Offering new books which highlight rhythm patterns and melodies.

Family Daycare - Toy Rotation

Our main play space (living room and play room.)

One of the lessons I've learned in family daycare is the importance of toy rotation. I change my daycare environment every 2 weeks.  I love this for many reasons:

• Each change in toys is a fresh perspective on the needs of the children in my care ensuring the toys continue to meet their developing interests and needs.
• I find the change in environment mentally refreshing - it's like cleaning your desk at work, or setting-up a new filing system :)
• This pace for toy rotation allows the children to engage with the materials for an extended period of time without boredom setting in. I find this really sets us up for harmonious days together.
• I don't put out many toys at a time. This allows for a less cluttered environment, encourages the children to focus their attention, and makes clean-up efficient.
• I use theme boxes from my local Child Care Resource and Referral Program http://www.childcarevictoria.org/ I find returning them every 2 weeks (there is a 4 week loan period) helps me stay on top of the materials and minimizes misplaced items.  This relates to the point above too - I am doing a visual check daily on borrowed items and know when a minuscule item is missing from a play area and keep my eyes open for it!  
• With each toy rotation I provide the parents with a summary sheet highlighting the toys and experiences being provided. I find this keeps me accountable for maintaining a high quality of care and also facilitates family-caregiver communication.

In an attempt to keep a balanced perspective there are a few minuses to the system I should highlight:

• I hesitate when purchasing toys knowing that any one item may only see floor time for 2-4 weeks of the year. This is significant when looking at both cost and storage.  As a result I tend to steer toward furniture purchases that are versatile (carpets & baskets) over toy purchases.
• Occasionally a child will become attached to a particular toy and could play with it for a little longer than the 2 week period. I keep this in mind and keep it on the floor (if I own it) or rotate it back on the floor sooner than usual (with borrowed items.)

Joyfully yours,

Caz.

My storage room (rarely looks like this!)

Sunday School Wednesdays!

Banana Bread

Yay, so I thought I'd come-up with an easy blog entry for Wednesdays. As a new Sunday School teacher for the 5-6 year old class, I was simply planning to share my lesson plan each week (which I write on Wednesdays in preparation for the upcoming Sunday...)

Trouble is, I think this would be a bit misleading. On the one hand, reading other people's lesson plans is not usually very inspiring as you don't get a picture of the intent/feeling behind them.  Also, writing the lesson plan is the least substantial part of my Sunday School prep.

So I'm taking a completely different approach to Sunday School Wednesdays (insert huge collective sigh of relief...) I think I'm going to share what I really do to prepare for Sunday School.  Often times it has very little to do with my lesson topic (we're starting a unit on the Lord's Prayer, by the way) and a lot to do with how I think about children.

For example, I'll start my week cherishing all the qualities I know to be to be true about children. Often while I am considering this an idea will come to mind that could use some more exploration. Some weeks it will be an "issue" I need to pray about (such as a feeling that children can be 'reluctant readers') other weeks it will be a particular quality I want to get a better handle on (such as what does 'innocence' really mean anyway?)  I then spend the week thinking about this idea and exploring references and definitions for it until I have a clearer sense of who children really are.

Although it may be tempting to think this would leave me unprepared for Sunday morning, it has the opposite effect. The details of the lesson plan naturally fall into place. I also don't have too rigid a notion on how the lesson needs to unfold - I simply spend my Sunday morning 'seeing' the result of my clearer sense of children. Hot darn, it is so much fun to spend an hour with these kids - they always say something infinitely more profound that I can come up with in a lesson plan!

Joyfully yours,

Caz.

A mind-map on exploring 'how children are raised' from a week of Sunday School prep.

Raising Readers

I've been thinking about raising children who love to read lately. In many ways teaching reading is a bit of a mystery. Most of my language arts training was a 'whole language' vs. 'phonics' debate. Our discussions were mainly in the theoretical and I'm afraid to admit that I graduated from my teacher training with no idea how kids learned to read!

Hey, I'm homeschooling my kids in the middle school years, it doesn't really matter now right? - they know how to read!  Yeah, but what if they don't want to? 

It's simple questions like this that become imperative to a homeschooling mum. The buck stops here.  Can't say I've got a total handle on this yet, but I have spent the past 4 months giving it considerable thought. Here's what I've come up with:

1) Reading Aloud -All the research I've read on reluctant readers attest to the need to continue to read aloud to your kids way into their teen years... Really!? How come no one tells you this?   The research says that kids need to fall in love with great stories and these stories may be considerably over their reading ability.  Kind of like the idea that your kids understand a lot of what you're saying before they learn to talk themselves.

2) U.S.S.R. - You remember these acronyms from elementary school? Uninterrupted, Sustained, Silent, Reading.  Essentially it means everyone (parents included) stop and read, without interruption, for at least 30 minutes per day.  I've always liked the idealized notion of the family sitting around reading, but the research says that practice is essential in learning to read. Practice, practice, practice....  One upside of implementing USSR in our home is that I am also reading fiction for fun again. I mean, I LOVE to read, but when I looked at what I was reading (textbooks, research articles, religious books etc.) I wasn't actually modeling the love of the Classics or the foundational fiction which I wanted for my kids.

3) Charlotte Mason - I love the Charlotte Mason approach to education. I'm sure I'll prattle on about her ideas many times on this blog, but a foundation in her approach is oral narration. This encourages the parent to read aloud to kids and have the children narrate (speak) back what they understand at the end of the reading aloud. This never ceases to amaze me - my kids are great at recalling names, places and events which I long forgot.  It holds the kids accountable for giving their undivided attention to the reading, and is also a great quick assessment for the parent to see what the kids have grasped. For some quick overviews on this approach visit www.simplycharlottemason.com

Here's the exciting thing... IT WORKS. I was inspired to write about this today because at the end of our USSR both kids asked to continue reading their novels!!! They read for over an hour (although, I'm embarrassed to admit that after 30 minutes of Heidi I dozed off!)  Just another example in my constant need to maintain humility and give my kids a break if they're too tired to read some days :)

This happy home schooling mum confesses that there is no saving face in home schooling, but I am tickled that my kids read while I snored quietly next to them on the couch!

Joyfully yours,

Caz.

Introducing my kids and their blog pseudonyms... Trust me, I asked their input and this is what we came up with. George's first choice was Jack A.S.S. how funny is that mum???

George

Banana Bread

Muffin Mouse

And We're Off!

If you'd asked me a year ago if I would be at this place, I would have thought you were mad! I seem to have a heightened sense of privacy and it has taken a year of playing with social media to convince myself that the privacy settings actually work!
I am grateful to a number of amazing people in my life who have encouraged me to blog. Some of these people are friends I have never met, but whom I turn to for advice and ideas on their blogs. Others are friends who blog and model how to do it sooo well. Lastly, my sister, with whom I constantly chat and reflect on my life - her insight and questions will be the primary the source of my blog posts I am sure!

My goal is to share my thoughts ad practical strategies as I find my way in homeschooling and managing a family daycare. Underlying all this work is my prayer-life, both the living it day to day and also that precious hour in the morning when I am alone with my thoughts.

Hold onto your hats ladies, we're off!

Caz.