Friday, October 22, 2010
October 22
Last night I dreamed that the kids hated homeschooling and asked to go back to public school. In the dream, I did the walk of shame through the school and could practically feel the superiority of the staff and the teachers. They knew I would fail. This dream came about b/c of a conversation I had with L right before I went to bed last night. I told him that more than anything, I fear won't be able to teach Finch, our 5 y/o, how to read. The older kids and I love reading, we have tons of books in the house, and we go to the library at least once a week. But I feel I don't know how to translate all that into teaching. We've been doing the free trials at Headsprout and Reading Eggs, but frankly, he finds those boring. He has asked that I teach him instead. So next up is The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading which I requested from the library. Today is our last weekday of "free time" before we jump into working from a curriculum on Monday. We're planning on doing a science experiment and DD Wren is going to do some research on Siberia which we heard a little about on NPR this morning. I definitely love being to learn about something when we feel like it without time limits or expectations and I know the kids do too.
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I think that those fears are always there a bit, whether homeschooling or attending public/private school. I think that having siblings is a great advantage. They pick up so much from one another. If I had to pick one thing that helps a child to read, I'd say that it's finding books (even advanced field guides) on a subject that your child loves. I suppose that is a given. Before Paige got into reading novels and stories, she read Calvin & Hobbes and encyclopedia entries about animals/biology.
ReplyDeleteI have great faith in you.
I'll agree with Jodi's comment on the reading. Also, it takes a minute to get into a groove with homeschooling. I ran into another homeschool mom in a used bookstore recently and when I said this is our third year, she asked if I felt like I was just getting into a groove. Her question was spot on and I was encouraged by that. You'll be fabulous.
ReplyDeleteAt my son't 6th b-day, he couldn't spell his own name; 5 months later, he could read ANYthing.
ReplyDeleteI picked up activity books from the bookstore to teach basic letters, spelling, writing, etc. They were more fun than academic, but it kept him interested. I would catch him trying to read food labels, baseball cards, toy instruction manuals, comics, road signs, etc; it's all valid reading material. And when it came time to play his favourite games on the computer, he needed to be able to read the instructions. So it kind of just happened, and very quickly; I didn't expect it.
I guess the secret, if there is one, is to show him something he wants to read and he will learn to read it. Now my guy reads to his 5yo and 2yo sibs. It's amazing.