I Have Young Learners Again!!

After, I taught my big girls their math facts, good reading skills and strong study disciplines, they took off. The time I am needed in their academic pursuits is minimal. What do I do as a home-educating mom of a 6th grader and 10th grader? I plan, buy and provide resources, check their work and make suggestions and encouragements. That is it!! We face occasional challenges, but with determination we work through them. My oldest has worked her way from Saxon 4/5 (4th grade) to Saxon's Algebra 2 level course without my help. All I do is check and track her work. She self-educates, as many home-educating children do.

No need to feel sorry for them!! They will never face the limits of being under a teacher and all teachers have limits to the amount of academic meat they can provide. These children are given tools to reach unlimited possibilities, rather then being dependently spoon-fed. This is why a well-disciplined child does not need teachers who are "specialized" in certain subjects or grade levels. Give a self-educating child books and he/she will devour them. Dr. Art Robinson's essays and methods were helpful in getting us to this point...

...this post is about my young learners right? Even though I had already taught two children to read, I wondered if I could do it again. After all, I am no spring chicken. Perhaps, my ability to lead little ones to the trough of information through deciphering words was...well... dead already. :)

Good news!!

By God's generous grace, I am still alive and I am teaching young'uns again!!

Aaron will be four after Christmas and Victoria will be two after Thankgiving. I am thrilled that Aaron has been so motivated to learn the letters and their sounds. He can even sound out a few short vowel--consonant combos. Today, I caught him staring at a page of words, NO pictures, just observing the letters and words. This is very encouraging to me. I have been nervous because he is my first boy, and I understand that many boys just aren't ready until they are much older even though they are just as intelligent. I had prepared myself to relax with him.

Victoria likes whatever her big brother likes. She is has proved capable to learn the letter sounds and is going to be so easy- a gimme.

Now, all children are different, but I am sensing that my boy is NOT ready to learn to write quite yet. I have found that the even my girls were ready to read long before they were capable of writing and that is okay with me. We can tackle that at a later point when fine motor skills are better developed and it will be an instantly successful and tear-free event.

I have noted few things that I think help my little ones learn to read:

*Severely limiting TV and video viewing. They seek more creative and stimulating ways to entertain themselves--like reading.

*When naming letters, I call them by their sounds instead of their names. I don't even think they know the alphabet song. I have cut to the chase and provided the phonetic sounds right off the bat. All they need to do is learn to apply them. This is an idea I learned from Ruth Beechick.*READ, READ, READ- Reading aloud is how I spend a significant portion of our time. I read around 3 or more books per day to just the little ones. (I welcome repetition during the early years.) Their big sisters read to them, too. They have access to books they can explore when no one is available to read to them. I try to provide only well-written, interesting and morally uplifting books. It is helpful to be picky in the selection process.

I read a vocabulary lesson, current event articles, informative articles and books that challenge everyone, including myself at times. These are geared toward my older girls, but I require my little ones to sit still on a blanket or bean bag during these read aloud sessions. You would be surprised how much they absorb. We just assume it is over their heads! To our surprise, they start asking questions about something you were reading in that "big book". Just tonight, I was reading about missionary Steve Saint when an encounter with a Jaguar was experienced. Our boy did not know about Jaguars, so questions came like a flood. We had to get to the computer to learn about them as soon as reading time was over. He also pointed out a word that I read--"vast". He mentioned that he had heard that word to used to describe outer space. These little ones are observant.

*At night, while my tots are settling to sleep, I read stories to them. No picture books at this time,, and nothing with high adventure that would stimulate them. Passages from God's Word are a good thing to hear when falling asleep, especially when spoken in the voice of a loving mother or father.

The only curriculum that I "loosely" follow for this age group is Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row.

It's your turn! I would love to hear what has brought reading success to YOUR home!