Home Education - Language Arts
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When Children Are Later Readers
All my boys have been a little late at reading, not taking off till well after seven however Michaelangelo has been even later. He learnt his sounds about the same time as his brothers. However he wasn’t that strong and then he plateaued, he didn’t seem to be ready to connect the fact that together these sounds made words. Learning rather belatedly from my experience with Carpenter whom I pushed too hard too soon I backed off and waited till he was ready. A long time went by and he still wasn’t interested, we dabbled with reading from time to time but the desire still wasn’t there. Late last year…
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Reading in Our House During 2007
Our family is a ‘reading family’. Not a day would go by without seeing various members reading throughout the day and everyone curls up in bed with a book at night. Books spill out the book shelves and are stacked in various piles throughout the house. Boxes are constantly being carried back and forth between our house and the shipping container in our yard where more books are stored. Books are the basis of our education, they transport us to other lands, other times, new ideas. They impact on our speech, our thoughts, they are simply part of us. Reflecting back over 2007 I notice a change in our reading…
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Koala has read her 60 Books!!
Koala has finished her bookworm! As I shared previously she had to read 60, it sounds like alot, but well, she is a speed reader and an incredibly voracious reader so it seemed fairly comparable to the boys’ target. Due to my rules, she has only just completed her target, truth be told in this time period she has most likely read 180 books but Trixie Belden and Enid Blyton don’t cut the ice with me. I thought it may be of interest to share her list here for those readers whom like me are constantly on the look out for book lists. The list is rather eclectic reflecting the…
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Our Bookworm
Ours is a reading household, I read, PC reads and most of the children are readers. We are surrounded by bookcases, all overflowing with books. It was with great shock that I realised that one child in particular wasn’t reading, not real reading in the sense that I mean. Sure he was reading Hardy Boys and Phantom comics but that doesn’t count. Casting around for a way to improve this situation I came up with the ‘Bookworm’ idea and the introduction of ‘silent reading’ time during our lessons. It reminds me of the SSR, Sustained Silent Reading we had in the school system in the 80s. I never thought I’d…
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Beatrix Potter
For any Beatrix Potter fans Elizabeth has done an incredible job putting together some wonderful links and idea. My favourite though is the Beatrix Potter unit study. I’ve been having a browse and we may revisit Beatrix Potter as it makes a wonderful spring ‘rabbit trail’.
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Carpenter read a book in one day!
I am so happy I could spin cartwheels:) Carpenter read a book in one day!! As I was heading off to bed at a quarter to midnight last night I noticed the boys’ bedroom light still on. When I opened the door Carpenter was just closing the book, he looked up at me with a beaming smile and said, “Finished, I’ve read it in one day.” This is my child that doesn’t read enough, at least not in a reading household like ours. I’ve lately taken time aside from his lessons to alot a half hour reading slot per day. And it seems to be working, this is his fourth…
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Australian Bush Fairies
If inspirational beauty speaks to you then you need look no further than the new blog Serendipity. I have been reading the wonderful lesson plans of Along the Alphabet Path and looked at the beautiful inspirational art which was partly inspired by Cicely Mary Barker’s books. The saddest fact is that I had a number of Cicely Mary Barker’s and I either have them lost in storage or have given them away by mistake:( In my search of inspiring ideas for a Spring theme I found Jan Wade’s Australian Bush Fairies These are delightful illustrations of Australian flower fairies accompanied by poems and information on native fauna. Signs and Wonders…
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Re-visiting Phonics
February 12th, 2007 This year we are commiting to having a major focus on phonics. With two beginner readers and older children who still need to improve their spelling it is rather a timely commitment. We are quite excited about this really and looking forward to seeing the results come to fruition. In the past the children have learnt their sounds via flash cards which have served a purpose to a point. The point being that several have learnt to read and read fluently. However once we have mastered reading we tend to ‘drop’ the rest of the sounds so therefore have never progressed through all the phonetical sounds in…
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Oral Narration by Mum
October 24th, 2006 Today as I sat at the pool with dd5 waiting for her siblings to finish swimming training I made an interesting discovery. I can’t narrate very well. Here I am expecting great feats from my dc and I can’t achieve this excercise myself. I was trying to distracte dd who was cold and wet and wanted to go home NOW. As I didn’t have any books to read with me I decided to tell her stories. Somehow I managed to stumble through David and Goliath, however I did have to keep going back adding in the bits I forgot. After stumbling through an imperfect rendition of the…
