Importance of Knowing How to Read

This post is about my very favorite activity of the whole slavery unit. Mostly because it was designed to help my children appreciate the power that comes with knowing how to read. My homeschooling buddy Julie and I put together this activity and it worked out great. I was very pleased.

First, I did a lot of frontloading. I started by reading the two books pictured below.

Up the Learning Tree by Marcia Vaughan is about a slave boy who is required to walk his young white master to school and back every day. The slave boy realizes that if he is up the nearby tree, hidden in the leaves, he can hear the teacher and see what she writes on the board. He then practices his letters by carving them into the tree.

The risk, of course, is great if he gets caught (which he eventually does). My children were captivated by the story and it provided a perfect gateway to talking about why he would risk so much just to learn to read.

Liberty Street by Candice Ransom is another book about a young slave risking a great deal to learn to read. In this story, a free black woman forms an underground school for slaves in her town. All the children who attend this school take an incredible risk to learn. My favorite part of this book is that it showcases the power reading gives to people, but also that slaves used a variety of methods to take power. The mother of the young slave who is learning to read uses her washing to signal runaways that a boat is ready to take them across the river to safety. The kids and I talked about how learning to read helped the slave girl broaden her options and understanding and ability to escape, while her mother's bravery (despite not knowing how to read) helped numerous other slaves.

After reading those two books, we talked about Frederick Douglass and how learning how to read affected his ability to remain a slave. My son was excited about that because he played Frederick Douglass in one of our mini-plays and his big line was, "I can read, I can think, I will be free!"

Reading the books and discussing them were helpful but I really wanted to drive the point home that reading=power. Julie and I decided to meet at her house for a scavenger hunt with prizes (books, of course) for the kids who could reach the end of the hunt. Julie wrote the clues, however, in morse code. We picked morse code because my daughter already knows how to read so English was out. Also, picking a different language would make it really hard for the kids to unscramble the message. With an older child, a different language would work well, but not with our youngsters.

Julie wrote the clue on a big bulletin board and then wrote a smaller morse code explanation sheet. We told the kids that there was a great prize for them if they could find it and then we told them the first clue was on the table. The kids ran off, excitedly, only to weep and wail minutes later when they saw the morse code. We took a few minutes to talk to them about how the slaves must have felt, seeing a map but not being able to decipher it. Then we pointed out how they might decode the message and they took it from there.

They were very, very proud when they got the message all decoded and found the prize. Overall, the activity was a good one for really driving home the point about reading giving you access to information (power).

Rewards for Playing

I'm getting on my soapbox again. This time about the ridiculousness of giving kids treats after sporting events. This is just so wrong for so many reasons.

1) You are in essence rewarding children for getting to play a fun game.

2) You are basically saying--hey, playing a sport isn't enough fun, and me paying for it and driving you to it, and staying to watch and cheer for you isn't quite enough. You deserve more. Here's a treat.

3) Getting a child involved in sports is a good way to encourage a healthy, active lifestyle--the best offense against obesity and diabetes in children. Giving children a sugary treat afterwards does the exact opposite.

4) Providing treats for a whole team costs money. Some people don't have money. It creates an awkward situation for those people.

5) It promotes competition amongst the parents.

6) It makes the child more excited about the treat after than the activity. (Don't get me started on people who take treats to primary for all the kids in complete disregard of the manual!)

7) It makes it harder for me to feel good about giving my kids treats at home when I know they are going to get sugar from other places. In my house, we really only have treats for FHE and sometimes Sunday night if I'm feeling the need or my hubby makes cookies. But, I don't like giving my kids a treat on Monday if they had a treat in primary on Sunday (every single Sunday!!! GRRR!) and they are having a treat two days that week for a sporting event. Count up how many treats that is. Yep--too many.

I know, I know. I'll have sisters reading this post shaking their heads and muttering, "Take a chill pill, Ans." I recognize that while I'm not completely OCD about what my kids eat, I'm close. But surely there are other people out there who want a treat to be a treat. Not a daily occurrence. And I'm sorry, as much as we like to talk circles around it, parents are responsible for childhood obesity. Not the children.

Chalk another one up to she's a crazy red-head who is getting crazier all the time. That's okay, I get it. Or, join me in my anti-treat revolt and let t-ball be about teaching kids to run some bases, not about teaching them to eat ding-dongs.

PS My children are definitely not on board.

Guest Post by Becky

Making the Decision to Homeschool, Part I:

Just so you know, I’m not afraid of the act of homeschooling. I find most of my trepidation comes from the inherent fear of how the world around me will react to me for choosing a path so different from the one everyone else has chosen. I’ve already dipped my toe in, tested the waters and came back with a few piranha bites. Boy oh boy, do people have opinions about homeschooling! And since you’re here at this site reading this post – I don’t have to defend any of it to you’all.

What I will get on my soapbox and defend is this – I know with every fiber of my being that American schools are systematically stripping children of their love of learning…as they fill in the school year with benchmarks and focused lessons and department (if not state-wide and soon to be nation-wide) testing – and do all of this as they strip the schools of their arts, music and physical education programs. The level of redundancy is ridiculous, the actual time spent learning (average of 10 minutes to every hour) is a staggering waste of time and the narrow focus on scores and rankings is astounding – and defeating.

In addition to this, the social implications of sending your children into the mosh pit/lion’s den that is public education is to send your child into an environment where the greater percentage of kids are exposed prematurely to drugs, sex and rock&roll. Now don’t get me wrong, all of us need a little bit of the sex and rock&roll in our lives (and if ben&jerry’s can be considered a drug, that as well) – but at an appropriate age and within the appropriate constructs of monogamy and whatnot. Listen, I subbed for a number of years and was initially shocked when kindergarten students told me they were tired because they stayed up all night watching horror movies and eating their boy weight in cheetos. But the shock quickly wore off when I realized a majority of my students were living lives with very few boundaries and very little constructive parenting. It sad, but even our kindergartners aren’t safe from the slew of permissive parenting running rampant across the land.

And yes, I recognize that many live in areas where going to public school is like going to private school because of parental demographics and local income levels – but for me, this is not the case. I live in a town where 50% of the population has been and will continue to be below the poverty line. And while I love the diversity and small farming town feel of my little burb…it leaves a lot to be desired…

Sum Total: The public education system and American parents are not producing capable world citizens. It doesn’t mean a few aren’t eeking out, but for the most part the percentages are shifting in favor of my belief…that the current education model paired with permissive parenting is creating entitled ignorant brats who know very little about the world around and feel very little responsibility to better said world.

Next Time…The Things I Want my Kids to Learn and Why I Completely Disregard the Value of the Modern Liberal Arts Education.

Note from me: I actually love public education. I think our country provides some of the best free education available in the world. There are parts of it with which I disagree, but on the whole I am a huge fan and supporter. However, it is fun to see why other people homeschool and share opinions. Expect more from Becky. You can read more about her here. Also, watch for my guest post about public school myths. I'll link it here when it is posted.

Yankee Peddler

Once upon a time, I asked my hubby to make me a tree. On our wall.

I envisioned a little tree. Nothing too fancy. In short, I expected what I could create. But I asked my artistic hubby to make it because I hate doing crafty things like . . . coloring . . . let alone making trees.

My hubby likes doing artistic things so even though making the Liberty Tree for homeschool wasn't high on his list of things to do that particular night, he was inspired by the challenge.

And I was inspired/amazed by the result.

The idea behind the tree came from http://www.courageousbeings.com/b1.html. When Miriam was starting kindergarten, I was pregnant and a lot was going on so I bought A Noble Birthright: Defenders of the Title of Liberty. It was very well-put together and had tons of great ideas and resources. It was also, for me, a waste of money. I just plain like to write my own curriculum too much to use other people's, regardless of the quality of the curriculum. I used a few ideas and then the rest of the gigantic binder of good ideas sat on the shelf. However, if I was ever to buy curriculum again, I wouldn't hesitate to buy more from this website and these designers. It was really good stuff.

The tree was one of their ideas. Make a Liberty Tree on your wall, then award your children leaves when they do good things, and then when the Yankee Peddler comes around your children can use the leaves as currency to buy items from the Peddler. It was a great idea and my children loved it. It also reminded me to use positive incentives, since I have a tendency to only use negative incentives.

The above picture is my husband working on his Peddler costume. I, ahem, only sew straight lines and the thought of cutting off pants to make them into something else was all too much for me. My hubby put together his own costume. Yes, I lucked out in the matrimonial department.

That's the Peddler on his first visit. My children were enraptured, but also confused about whether or not it was the Peddler or their dad. Baffled them the whole time he was there. I finally explained to them that it was Dad acting the part of the peddler. Their disappointment was intense, but short-lived.

If you ever study Colonial America, I highly recommend involving a Peddler in some way. It didn't cost much because we bought all the "wares" at second-hand stores, and the Peddler affixed prices based on the number of leaves the kids had. If the kids were flush, the merchandise went up in price.

Fun times. Back when I only had three children. Crazy.

Slavery books for independent readers

Miriam is an avid reader. That is wonderful and challenging at the same time. When you have a six year old reading several years above age level, finding books becomes a challenge. That is where historical fiction becomes so valuable. History is fascinating (stop grimacing) and the best stories are often the true stories. While I had a hard time finding books on certain historical topics (mountain men, for example) there is a bounty of historical fiction books on slavery and the Civil War.

A small caveat: I have not read these books. I cannot keep up with what Miriam is reading. However, at the end of the slavery/Civil War unit, I asked Miriam to show me her favorites and these are the ones she picked.

Lincoln and His Boys by Rosemary Wells



Escape North!: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Monica Kulling






The Brother's War: My Side of the Story (Melody and Marshall) by Patricia Hermes. This is two books in one, which is a very clever idea. My daughter was thrilled that she could turn the book over and read a completely different story about the same story. She showed it to everyone who walked through our door.



The Drinking Gourd by F. N. Monjo










President of the Underground Railroad: A Story About Levi Coffin by Gwenyth Swain













North Star to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad by Gena K. Gorrell

All of these titles are available from the Davis County, UT library system.

Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Alexander is great hero of mine. I read his Prydain Chronicles (The Black Cauldron, etc.) when I was very young and because of it, I wanted to grow up and write fantasy novels. I still do. I don't think anyone should grow up without reading Alexander. It should be illegal. Or something.

This post is a reminder of why Alexander still rules supreme in the world of fantasy and why all children aged 7 on up, should be reading his stuff.

Vesper Holly is a very energetic and intelligent young woman who travels around the world with her guardian finding a whole lot of danger in the process. It is fun, clean, and has an Indiana Jones feel to it. I love them all, but my favorite is the Philadelphia Adventure. This series is great for girls, 10 and up. I don't think boys would hate it either.


The Westmark trilogy is geared toward older youth. I'd peg it at about twelve and up (Lloyd Alexander really does write for the younger crowd). The story follows a young man, Theo, who gets into trouble with the law and has to flee his home city. He hooks up with a shyster and a young girl, Mickle, who later turns out to be someone slightly more significant than anyone thought. Later, Theo has to lead an army. The story follows his evolution from gentle, peace-loving, compassionate hero to war leader. This is my favorite series of Alexander's. It has a lot of depth and character development.

The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man is about what you'd expect--hilarious. Lionel decides he wants to try being a human so he convinces a magician to change him. When Lionel heads to the city a great uproar ensues as he manages to enrage the two major political heads of the city within the first fifteen minutes of his arrival. There's also a girl. It is hard for a cat to figure out how to impress a girl. Tons of fun.

The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha is my favorite stand-alone book by Alexander. The story is about a young rascal, a street rat, who volunteers to help a magician win over the townspeople by sticking his head in a bucket. Of course, he doesn't believe anything will happen but it does. Yes, indeed it does. Lukas winds up in a different time, different country, and certainly different social status. What he learns during his "second" life surprises him.


The Arkadians is a frolic through Greek mythology. Basically, Alexander takes some major myths and writes about how they got started. Only he does it through a story of a two travelers and a donkey (so three travelers) who don't intend to make anything of significance happen as they travel along. It is very fun to be reading along and then recognize, suddenly, just what myth Alexander is working in next. Fun, fun.


Alexander's best known works are his Prydain Chronicles including: The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. These books follow the adventures of Taran, Assistant Pig Keeper, after he loses his pig and stumbles on treachery and war.





The cast of characters are fantastic including Gurgi (who loves to eat), Fflewddur Fflam (who cannot tell the truth), Eilonwy (who refuses to be merely decorative), Prince Gwydion (who is supposed to save everyone), and Dallben (the wise man). I love them all.




It is unfortunate that Disney ever made the animated movie. Do not watch it. I repeat, DO NOT WATCH IT. It kills the book. However, if the people who made the new Narnia movies wanted to make the Prydain Chronicles into movies, I would wholeheartedly support the idea. Not that anyone cares what I think. I'm just saying.

Alexander wrote dozens of books and they are all wonderful. I've read just about everything he's ever written, and the man was brilliant. He had a great sense of audience and always made the stories fun and charming without including anything that was too mature. That's hard to do. How many books for third graders do you choose to read? Exactly my point. I pick up my Alexander books all the time. They're that good.

First Hike of the Season

I'm sure there are educational reasons to take your kids hiking. Like, um, botany. Or wildlife appreciation. Or, perhaps, metereological studies. We don't actually do any of those things. Mostly we just have fun as a family. I highly recommend it. Not hiking, necessarily, but having fun as a family. Here's to much summer fun for all of us and our families!