Fly Swatter as Educational Tool

My son Cowen is a kinesthetic learner. In plain English that means Cowen is a boy and therefore CANNOT HOLD STILL TO SAVE HIS LIFE.

I have such fond memories of Miriam curled next to my side, soaking in the reading lessons, happy to be with Mom and more than willing to actually look at the words on the page.

Not so with my son. He cannot hold still long enough to look at more than one letter of a word, and so he makes wild guesses at what a word says based on the first letter. Or, if glancing at the word is too much trouble, he just guesses without referring to the text at all. While the guessing and glancing is going on, he's also busy sliding off the couch, turning upside down, making strange noises, and flailing his limbs about in boy abandon.

I've reduced reading time to three measly pages a day. It is all I can handle.

However, a university student of mine told me about a great idea she got from watching a kindergarten teacher that I now use with my son (did you follow that?). The kindergarten teacher gave her students fly swatters and had the students hit things.

Brilliant.

Imagine my son's utter happiness when I handed him a fly swatter and told him to whack the letter that makes a "sssssss" sound.

He gives himself extra points if he makes any letters fly off the table from whacking so hard.

We've used the fly swatter idea for a variety of activities. We started with hitting the correct lower-case letter (he is a lot stronger with upper-case than lower-case). He's also whacked the letters that make certain sounds. It can also be used for sight words.

He loves it.

Don't imagine that he actually stays standing on that one chair. No, no. He stands on one chair, hits something with the swatter, jumps to the next chair, crawls around to the bench, jumps to the ground to get the letters that have flown to the floor, does a few kicks and scrambles around, and then winds up on the first chair again.

It drives my hubby bananas to watch it.

Most days I think Cowen is hilarious.

Other days, I wish he'd snuggle next to me and hold still for a few minutes.

But mostly I think he his hilarious.

PS--Another good trick for kinesthetic learners is to focus on writing. My son enjoys writing because it involves movement. He loves to make up sentences that he thinks are funny, like: "My Dad sat on a cactus." If you put that sentence on a paper and tried to get him to read it he'd act like it was written in Chinese. However, he has no problem writing it.

Another good idea is have your kinesthetic learner spell out words with letters spread over a table or the floor. The more he/she has to move to get to the letters the better. So spread out the letters and then say, "Write the sentence: Mom is fun." The learner finds the letters he/she needs and puts together the sentence. Works like a charm because there is no holding still involved.

If you have a kinesthetic learner at home--good luck!! We need it. :)

What Else We've Been Doing: Reading

I'm sure it comes as no surprise, considering I don't think children should attend school until they are 8, that I am adamantly opposed to teaching children to read in kindergarten.

Especially boys.

ESPECIALLY BOYS.

Here's why. Most boys are not ready to learn how to read as early as girls are. Their brains usually focus more on physical things and less on abstract/academic things during the early years. By early, I mean until age 8.

As a teacher I saw firsthand what happens to students who fail to read at the ridiculously young ages that we try to teach them. They give up. They tune out. They hate school. And most importantly, they think they are stupid.

Let's review a very important child development fact: anything you teach a child before said child turns 8 is pretty much a permanent fixture in the child's brain and almost impossible to change their mind about. That was confusing. In essence, before 8, a child believes everything you teach him/tell him and it is almost impossible to convince the child that the information is wrong later. So if a child thinks he is loved before age 8, he always will. If a child thinks he is smart before age 8, he always will. If a child thinks he is NOT SMART before age 8, he always will.

Eight is a magic number in child development.

So what happens to the child in kindergarten, the grade in which reading is currently being taught in most elementary schools, who is not ready to learn to read? You guessed it. The child assumes he is dumb and believes it the rest of his life.

I am opposed to teaching children, especially boys, to read before they are seven or show many different signs that they are ready.

But, you say, won't the later learners be behind?? No. Research shows that early and late readers generally reach the same reading competency by age 11. Meaning, it all evens out before they hit middle school years/adolescence.

So, you say, explain the picture below.

Hmm.

How embarrassing. Caught *gulp* teaching my five year old son to read.

My only explanation/defense is this: sometimes my children don't care about all my education expertise and INSIST that I teach them what they want to know.

In other words--Cowen was showing a lot of signs of reading readiness.

For example, if I asked him to spell a word like "hat" he could do it by sounding out the different letters in the word.

He knows all his sounds and letters.

He knows how to tell when a word starts and stops.

He understands that a period marks the end of a sentence/idea.

He turns six in March and has been begging me to teach him to read for two years now. He wants to read Ranger's Apprentice. And every other book with cover art that includes a knight/sword/hobbit/horse/or cowboy.

He's desperate to be able to do what Miriam does.

There was no need to wait any longer. He was ready. We're proceeding slowly and cautiously--ready to slow down even more if any signs of trouble pop up. For now, he's progressing rapidly and loving it.

There are several methods/programs out there for teaching reading. Most are junky. Most are overpriced. Most introduce too many words too quickly.

I taught Miriam how to read using a white board. When she knew her sounds, I wrote "at" on the white board and showed her how to combine the two sounds. Then I added different letters on the front of "at" to make "cat," "hat," "sat," "mat," "fat," etc. When she was reading those words confidently I would write a silly sentence like "Miriam sat on the cat." I would read her the sentence, she would giggle, and then I would have her circle the words she could read.

Then we moved on to "it" and all the words that end with "it."

Etc., etc., etc.

Until she was comfortable with the concept of sounding out.

Then I moved her into the following program called Little Books: Set One.

http://iseesam.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_9&products_id=1

When you first see this series you will think it is plain and possibly non-academic because it is all black and white pictures. Trust me, the color of the pictures matters not. In fact, every once in awhile I would copy a picture for my daughter to color to keep her interest level high.

These books are fantastic. They introduce new words and new word families and new sounds very slowly so a child always feels success. That is very important.

I used the whole first set with Miriam and half of the second set. By then she was ready to move into early readers at the library so we discontinued using them.

Cowen spends ten minutes with me every day on reading because he insisted. That's plenty for a wiggly boy child. He started with the white board until he was comfortable spelling lots of easy sound-out words. (Oddly, Cowen could spell words long before he could read them. Boy brains are weird--I'm just saying.) Recently, I let him get out the first Mat the Rat book (what my kids call the Little Book books). Cowen was THRILLED. Learning to read is a big thing at our house--a privilege of sorts.

He's currently passed off the first three books and is still practicing with Level One: Book 4 and Level One: Book 5. He's still loving it. He's still feeling very successful.

Yeehaw!!

If you have a baby, the best thing you can do to raise a reader is to read yourself. That's even more important than reading to your child. If you lack time, like myself, I tell my children about different books I love. As I walk by my bookshelf I'll casually pull a book out and skim through it and mutter to myself, "I love this part." My children will beg to know more.

There are a whole bunch of preliteracy strategies and they work. The more you make your child want to learn to read, the better reader the child will be.

Other preliteracy strategies include ordering a monthly magazine for your child so the excitement of getting mail transfers to reading the mail. I recommend the National Wildlife Federation magazines. We started with Animal Baby, moved on to Your Big Backyard, and now adore Ranger Rick. There are a lot of good options.

Reading a story so many times that your child can recite it is also a good strategy. Then have your child "read" the book to any person willing to listen. Heap praise on the child for his "great reading!"

There are others. My basic point--be very, very careful with reading. Preliteracy is key. Absolutely essential. Then, don't start teaching reading until you know your child is ready. Set them up to succeed. Always praise, praise, praise when it comes to reading. And if you have a boy that is not reading as early as you think he should--relax. Most boys will be ready to read by age 7, but some not until they are 8. It will be fine.

Hope some of this info was useful.

I also recommend reading: Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences by Leonard Sax.

And The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon by David Elkind. This one is a little dated, but it still provides excellent food for thought.

Happy reading!

What Else We've Been Doing: Handwriting

While shapes dominated our math time for a week or so, handwriting has become a staple every single day.

Thanks to numerous commenters who insisted that Handwriting Without Tears was heaven-sent, I took the plunge and bought the kindergarten, first grade, and pre-school books along with some of the special paper and the box of "special" pencils.

I am in love with this program.

Miriam had the worst handwriting on the planet and after only one short month it has improved by 3000%.

I was and am amazed. Seriously amazed. Not only because Miriam's and Cowen's handwriting has improved but because they love to practice their handwriting. One of the most boring subjects on earth and they beg to do extra pages! Incredible.

As for the specific items I purchased, here is a little run-down on how I feel about them.

1) First Grade Book. Yes, Miriam is technically in grade two, but her handwriting was so terrible that I decided we'd better start with some remedial work before moving into her grade level book. I think it was a wise choice. I haven't seen the second grade book to know how similar/different it is, but I am glad that there is another book with which to practice printing before she hits the cursive books. And yes, we'll be sticking with this program for years to come.

2) Kindergarten Book: I am glad that I started Cowen off with the kindergarten book. It moves through the letters more slowly than the first grade book with more practice for each letter. That is good for my son. Although his handwriting is just as good as Miriam's--I want him trained thoroughly and properly from the get-go. None of this repent and retrain that I'm doing with my oldest.

3) Pre-School Book: Essentially a waste of money for people wanting to use it as a handwriting/get ready for school book. Then again, that is what I think about 99.9% of preschool products, so it might just be me. However, I am grateful I bought it because 4 year olds want to do what the big kids are doing and it keeps Emeline happy and busy. Well, happy as long as I don't tell her what she's supposed to be doing and just let her decide.

4) Extra specially lined paper. Good investment for me. I don't know that it would be worthwhile for other people, but Miriam has really entrenched bad habits. Since starting the program we've used the special paper for ALL of Miriam's writing (spelling words, for example) and that has really helped solidify the new concepts for her and given her extra practice.

5) Draw and Write Notebook. We haven't used these yet because I am saving them as a "reward." My children practically salivate every time they see the books, but first they have to do all the pages in their practice books. The concept is common--blank space at the top for an illustration, lines at the bottom for the writing. So far they've worked great as a motivator!

6) The box of pencils. When I first saw the pencils I was a little disgusted with myself for having purchased them. I was thinking they were the extra thick pencils. They are not. They are exactly the same diameter as any other normal pencil. They are just really, really short. However, I no longer regret the purchase. It didn't cost much for a huge box of them and the "wow" factor for my kids made it worth it. Part of the fun of doing handwriting is getting to pick a pencil out of the box. So, yeah, sort of lame, but also sort of fun.

Overall--I highly, highly, highly recommend this program. I spent $40 for all the above (a really huge expense in my homeschooling budget) but I don't regret a penny. Yes, I definitely could have done it cheaper, but I'm glad I didn't. These are the first books I've bought that my children can write in (I usually have them write on a separate sheept of paper or put it in a page protector and have the kids use white board markers), and I definitely think that is the way to go. However, if you are strapped, you could buy the extra paper and the practice books, and just have your child practice on the extra paper.

If you can though, and you are in the market for an excellent handwriting system, I'd get a practice book for each child and let them write in it. I absolutely love this system.

Poetry

Poetry is serious business around our house, as you can see from my girls' intent expressions.

I love poetry. Love it. I've been reading poems to my children all their lives, but this year, with the release of the new Fancy Nancy book about poetry--I decided it was time for an "official" introduction.

This is the whole gang writing/illustrating poems.

This is my favorite collection of poems for children. I've owned it for about ten years and love the poetry. Perfect for kids. My children are big fans of the dog section. If you were ever to buy a collection of poems--I'd recommend this one. (Unless you're anti-Halloween or goblins or fairies--then don't get this one.)

We have a lot of Shel Silverstein, which my oldest daughter loves more than is perhaps healthy. We also have Caroline Kennedy's collection, A Family of Poems. It is pretty good.

But like I said, Piping Down the Valley's Wild, is definitely the best.

The above book, I Did It Because: How a Poem Happens by Loris Lesynski, is awesome. We checked it out from the library and fell in love. It has a poem about dawdling. My oldest is a dawdler. I made her act it out and then we laughed and laughed. Almost all the poems in this book are great for read aloud and acting out. The book also has great ideas for writing your own poems. We love this book. It was the backbone of our poetry unit.

The above is a collection of modern haiku selected by Paul B. Janeczko. The poems were lovely (I'm a fan of haiku), and the photographs were beautiful. My three older children were riveted the whole time I was reading it. I highly recommend this as an introduction to haiku or as a nice read-aloud.

There is something about Prelutsky that appeals to boys. These poems aren't my favorites, but my husband picks it up all the time and reads a few out loud to the kids. My husband is a very emotive reader so it leads to a lot of uncontrollable giggling from my children, and myself. A great poet--especially for those of the male persuasion.

The first time my hubby picked up this book, he read some of the poems out loud to my children and then he turned to me and said, "I love this book." It is chock-full of nonsense, and we all love it. I checked it out of the library, hoping it would be good because most of the limerick books I scanned while at the library were lame. Hate to say it, but while the library has sixteen gazillion poetry books for kids--not all are created equal.

This one is great. It has mostly limericks, but a few other nonsense poems as well. My four year old goes around chanting, "Cinderella, dressed in yella," etc. And my 7 year old can explain to you the rules of limericks. Overall, a great book of silly poetry for kids.

Fancy Nancy is a favorite at our house. I love the vocabulary the books introduce, I love the illustrations, and I love how much my children love the books. As soon as amazon "alerted" me that this book had become available (yes, amazon emails me regularly--and yes, it does increase their sales, darn it), I knew we had to have it. It is wonderfully done. Nancy's class at school is studying poetry, so the incomparable Ms. Glass (Nancy's teacher) introduces her students to all types of poems, including odes and couplets and free verse. It is a great way to introduce a poetry unit.

As for our actual unit. We spent one week and it was very laid-back. The first day, I gave my children their new poetry books: Fancy Nancy and New Kid on the Block. We spent a happy hour reading through those two books.

The second day, we read through the first half of I Did It Because and acted out a lot of the poems. We also clapped out the poems to practice rhythm. Again, it was very relaxed. We were mostly just enjoying the sound of poetry.

The third day, we read the section in I Did It Because concerning writing poems about yourself. Then we moved to the table to write poems about ourselves. Miriam did an acrostic poem with her name. For Emeline, I did a cloud poem--so I wrote her name in the center of the page, and then asked her questions about herself and wrote the answers in no particular pattern around her name. She ended up with words like ducky and yellow and meat floating around her name. After I helped her write the words, she happily illustrated her poem. Cowen wanted to draw his poem, so that's what he did. When everyone was done, we hung all the poems on the wall.

My kids laughed at my poem. I wrote my hubby's name down the side of the paper like I was going to write an acrostic poem about him, and then I wrote a poem about going to the market, but keeping his name's letters as the first letter in each line. My children thought that was soooo funny. I love how easily amused children are. So that was fun. I write terrible poetry, but I enjoy the process.

On the fourth day we read Pocketful of Nonsense and talked about the rules of limericks and how some poems have rules and some don't. Then we read Stone Bench in an Empty Park and talked about the rules of haiku. I pointed out that haiku is often effective because it uses descriptive words that are unexpected. For example, one of the haiku we read compared a giraffe to a crane (not the bird--the construction thingy). Once I pointed that out, my oldest spent the next half hour completely engaged in finding unexpected comparisons. It helped get the point across that poems are descriptive in a way stories are not. So that was a fun day.

On the fifth day we read a bunch of poems from Piping Down the Valleys Wild. I shared with my kids some of my favorites and talked about why they were favorites of mine. Then we talked about all the poems we had read and any favorites my children had.

Ever since the poetry unit, my children have insisted we read a few poems after devotional--before we jump into the rest of our day. I am more than happy to oblige.

Do you have any favorite poems, or collections of poems, I can share with my family?