16 April 2012
Aesop’s Fables, Molecules and Physics
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Curriculum; Guest Writer; Preschool.
Guest Writer: Amy Delph
edisonmom.blogspot.com
Education is not about compartmentalising curricula and subjects as if they were independent of each other. The good thing about homeschooling is the freedom to break down the walls of compartmentalization and integrate learning across curricula. Amy Delph shares how a simple reading and comprehension session with her preschoolers became a lesson about physics and chemistry.
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TODAY I THOUGHT WE DO SOME WORK on comprehension and critical discussion of a reading passage with Katelynn. I chose an Aesop fable, “The Crow and the Pitcher”, from Teaching with Aesop’s Fables. It started out innocently enough. I had Katelynn read the fable by herself, but what happened next blew me away.
In the fable the crow is unable to get a drink on a hot day from a pitcher, so he adds stones one by one until the water level rises enough for him drink. We started out talking about the moral, but the discussion quickly moved on to how the crow could get the water to rise.
Read on »
26 September 2011
What curriculum?
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Curriculum; Reading.
USUALLY AFTER A FAMILY HAS DECIDED TO HOMESCHOOL, the first question that comes up is, “What curriculum should we use?” As I have said elsewhere, we did not invest in any formal curriculum until our two boys were 10 and 8 years old. In the early years of homeschooling, reading was practically the primary learning activity in our home.
Getting kids hooked on reading is the road to learning success, and countless studies attest to this. We read widely and voraciously. We borrowed books from the library, we did read-alouds that developed active listening skills, which led to conversation and promoted critical thinking. Eventually we settled on Sonlight because we were all readers to begin with, and you should see our boys’ faces when the package arrived!
Certainly we were overwhelmed as any new homeschooler would be when faced with the staggering amount of curriculum available, so polished and glossy, all screaming at us, “Buy me! Buy me!” Everything seemed more colourful and so much more interesting, you almost felt cleverer just looking at the titles.
Some caveats are in order, however:
Please note that you don’t have to buy everything all at once. And neither is everything necessary. Besides you can always try to source some material locally to save costs.
Second, you don’t have to stick to ONE curriculum or publisher all the way from Grade 1 to Grade 10. Yes, you are allowed to experiment, supplement, and even ditch the whole curriculum in favour of something more eclectic or tailored to a specific need of the student.
Third, it is possible to minimize expenses by using resources available in your local library. You can even homeschool using FREE stuff online – something pioneering homeschoolers knew nothing about in pre-internet days. For example, see Khan Academy, Charlotte Mason Curriculum Guide, or Homeschooling 4 Free.
With that out of the way, we’re back to the question: “What curriculum should we use?”
The short answer is, “Anything.” You can use anything and everything that you can lay your hands on. Literally.
The long answer is, well, considerably lengthier and it begins with the Big Picture. I’ll say more in the next post.
25 January 2011
Help, junior can’t read!
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Reading.
[Occasionally I pull out something from my blog archives particularly when it resonates with a recent train of thought. Since we're on the subject of reading, here's a bit of assurance for parents whose kids may not be reading at their grade level].
EVERY NOW AND THEN SOMEONE COMES ALONG to tell you how clever his or her little girl or boy is. “Only 3 years old, my boy can already read so well.” You offer a polite smile, secretly hoping you won’t have to admit that your little one is nearly 6 and floundering in the shallow end of the literacy pool. So what is it that makes readers out of preschoolers? Methods? Kindy? Tuition? Curriculum?
I’m not an expert, but I was an anxious parent too. Bowled over by a sales person, my wife Sook Ching parted with hard-earned cash for an expensive reading programme. The Monopoly-size box contained coloured posters, flash cards, object cards of musical instruments, a hard cover book, and something about giving your child “encyclopedic knowledge.” I was aghast. In retrospect, the boys did pick up words and recognised parts of the human skeleton and could tell a trombone from a tuba. But I must tell you that the whole experiment lasted no more than 6 months, maybe less. And it ended with us making our own picture cards, cut out of old magazines and calendars – that was an expensive lesson in making flash cards.
With the benefit of hindsight I’ve learnt something more important: it’s not how early you start reading, but how well you read all through life. Surely that’s an indictment of many of us grownups who after graduating from schools and universities read nothing heavier than the local newspapers or Everyday With Jesus. Better a child who reads late, but who reads well into adulthood, and whose wide reading becomes a wellspring of knowledge and wisdom.
I’m encouraged by the story of homeschooler and Cornerstone curriculum publisher David Quine’s oldest son. Now a law school graduate at 26, Bryce did not start reading until he was 12! The Quines never gave up, but persisted in reading aloud while providing an environment that was conducive to a reading and thoughtful lifestyle. So be good to yourself and your kids, and stop the search for the holy grail of a perfect literacy programme.
Next to read-alouds, talking and stimulating discussions ought to rank high on your to-do list. In our home these conversations – books, sermons, news, politics, movies, issues, dreams, jokes – make our day! Then there are reading games too. For instance each child (and adult) takes turns reading on a pretend stage, in front of an audience comprising all in the family. Take a passage from the Bible, Aesop’s Fables, etc, and after it is read, let the reader retell the story in his/her own way.
These aren’t wallet-bursting ideas, but they are certainly smalls steps in the right direction.
Some related posts:
Raising boys who read
Reading and reasoning
Some thoughts on books and reading
17 January 2011
Thanx, ijust don’t read.
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Reading.
Ex-homeschooler and sophomore student Ethan writes on the lost art of reading for pleasure (and education).
IT NEVER FAILS TO BOTHER ME when I come across someone who dismisses the deep and endless world of literature with a callous “oh, I just don’t read.” Why not? Reading and learning are inextricably intertwined. How can one claim to have an education if there is no interest in reading? I’m a year into the American college experience. I’ve had a taste of what mass education does to a healthy book nerd. It killed me to discover, at the end of my first semester, that I hadn’t read a single book outside the classroom. I know another book nerd who said that, for the three years he’s been in college, he hasn’t read anything besides his required texts. The classroom suffocated my desire to read anything else. A lifetime detached from earning any teacher’s approval had suddenly been replaced by an obsession with grades. I found myself among a host of students who’d be more likely to complain about getting a B than the fact that they didn’t understand W.H. Auden. I became what I swore I’d never be: a good student.
Never mind that my Political Science professor would gush a little too much about the kid who was at the top of his class. The other students began to notice the Asian kid who was behaving exactly as an Asian should. One day a guy in my class asked me, how did I do it? What was my secret? I told him I read the textbook. He was amazed. He took my word for it and at the next test managed to bump his C to an A. When we got our results back he stood up and gave credit to Ethan, the guy who actually reads his textbook.
I suspect almost nobody reads their textbooks either. A senior I was talking to admitted that in his college career he’s not read any of his textbooks. “Just skimmed,” he shrugged. When I probed him about what, then, he reads instead of skimming, he uttered those words of death: “I just don’t read.” He’s going to graduate next semester with a degree in history. The implications are unsettling. One is that it’s possible to get through college with a modicum of reading and comprehension. The other is that the people who aren’t reading are also exhibiting zero interest in doing as much, and these people are going to receive pieces of paper that declare them “educated.” How can you pretend to have an education when you don’t read? It’s true that reading alone doesn’t necessarily make you educated, but college should have taught you that the two are inseparable.
If you don’t believe how far literacy has fallen, consider the numbers. A recent study by the Jenkins Group revealed that 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives, and 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college (these are American statistics, but still). There’s the argument that literacy is not withering, it’s simply changed its medium. We’re reading like never before on our phones and e-readers and laptops. We’re drinking long and hard from a stream of texts, tweets, status updates, and blog posts. But this compulsion to always stay “in touch” is eroding our attention spans so rapidly that the patience necessary to attend to a book’s circuitous train of thought is becoming heroic. Periods of solitude and silence are unthinkable. Is it any surprise that more and more college students are struggling with laying out a similar circuitous train of thought on paper?
The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a fascinating article, titled “The Shadow Scholar,” that highlighted illiteracy and cheating in college. The author of the article made a living writing papers for students with too much cash and too little brains. The internet has not only made us as smart as the next guy, it’s also made fudging that much easier. This writer wrote everything and anything, from history to cinema, philosophy to literature, and even completed 12 graduate theses. None of his clients was caught. After finishing one monster 160-page graduate thesis, the client was so happy that she sent a message that read: “thanx so much for uhelp ican going to graduate to now.” The Shadow Scholar’s claim that this is widespread is strangely plausible:
“In the midst of this great recession, business is booming. At busy times, during midterms and finals, my company’s staff of roughly 50 writers is not large enough to satisfy the demands of students who will pay for our work and claim it as their own.”
There will always be the genuine students eager to learn, and they will. But the system itself doesn’t do the masses any favors. Students are fueled by grade grubbing and the threat of failure more than anything else. I know. I know because I’ve become one of them.
That’s why last semester I gave myself a good kick in the rear. I was sick of doing little else besides mugging what I was supposed to mug. Last semester, I made the rash decision to read more and plunged into Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” I tore through Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Eating Animals.” I chuckled violently at Reinhold Niebuhr’s “The Irony of American History.” I’ve never felt more accomplished. It’s not much, but it’s something, darn it. I’ve realized my professors are as good as a bunch of doorknobs. I need them to open some doors, sure, but the rest is up to me. My education is in my hands, and I want more than a degree. “The man who does not read good books,” as Mark Twain once said, “does not have an advantage over the man who can’t read them.” That’s why I’m going to force myself to get back to reading. And for the first time since I started college, it’s like I actually learned something.
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ABOUT THE WRITER: Former homeschooler Ethan Tan is a sophomore student at Hardin-Simmons University, Texas. Not having spent a single day in a school classroom (other than a 1-month stint in a kindy when he was 5) he also wrote about leaving home for college in a post entitled, The first days of spring.He occasionally blogs here.
30 November 2010
Raising boys who read
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Reading.
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article that addresses a very real present-day dilemma: why aren’t our boys reading? You will agree that this American problem is a Malaysian one as well.
HOW TO RAISE BOYS WHO READ
By: Thomas Spence
Hint: Not with gross-out books and video-game bribes.
When I was a young boy, America’s elite schools and universities were almost entirely reserved for males. That seems incredible now, in an era when headlines suggest that boys are largely unfit for the classroom. In particular, they can’t read.
According to a recent report from the Center on Education Policy, for example, substantially more boys than girls score below the proficiency level on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test. This disparity goes back to 1992, and in some states the percentage of boys proficient in reading is now more than ten points below that of girls. The male-female reading gap is found in every socio-economic and ethnic category, including the children of white, college-educated parents.
The good news is that influential people have noticed this problem. The bad news is that many of them have perfectly awful ideas for solving it.
Everyone agrees that if boys don’t read well, it’s because they don’t read enough. But why don’t they read? A considerable number of teachers and librarians believe that boys are simply bored by the “stuffy” literature they encounter in school. According to a revealing Associated Press story in July these experts insist that we must “meet them where they are”—that is, pander to boys’ untutored tastes.
For elementary- and middle-school boys, that means “books that exploit [their] love of bodily functions and gross-out humor.” AP reported that one school librarian treats her pupils to “grossology” parties. “Just get ‘em reading,” she counsels cheerily. “Worry about what they’re reading later.”
There certainly is no shortage of publishers ready to meet boys where they are. Scholastic has profitably catered to the gross-out market for years with its “Goosebumps” and “Captain Underpants” series. Its latest bestsellers are the “Butt Books,” a series that began with “The Day My Butt Went Psycho.”
The more venerable houses are just as willing to aim low. Penguin, which once used the slogan, “the library of every educated person,” has its own “Gross Out” line for boys, including such new classics as “Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger.”
Workman Publishing made its name telling women “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” How many of them expected they’d be buying “Oh, Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty” a few years later from the same publisher? Even a self-published author like Raymond Bean—nom de plume of the fourth-grade teacher who wrote “SweetFarts”—can make it big in this genre. His flatulence-themed opus hit no. 3 in children’s humor on Amazon. The sequel debuts this fall.
Education was once understood as training for freedom. Not merely the transmission of information, education entailed the formation of manners and taste. Aristotle thought we should be raised “so as both to delight in and to be pained by the things that we ought; this is the right education.”
“Plato before him,” writes C. S. Lewis, “had said the same. The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likeable, disgusting, and hateful.”
This kind of training goes against the grain, and who has time for that? How much easier to meet children where they are.
One obvious problem with the SweetFarts philosophy of education is that it is more suited to producing a generation of barbarians and morons than to raising the sort of men who make good husbands, fathers and professionals. If you keep meeting a boy where he is, he doesn’t go very far.
The other problem is that pandering doesn’t address the real reason boys won’t read. My own experience with six sons is that even the squirmiest boy does not require lurid or vulgar material to sustain his interest in a book.
So why won’t boys read? The AP story drops a clue when it describes the efforts of one frustrated couple with their 13-year-old unlettered son: “They’ve tried bribing him with new video games.” Good grief.
The appearance of the boy-girl literacy gap happens to coincide with the proliferation of video games and other electronic forms of entertainment over the last decade or two. Boys spend far more time “plugged in” than girls do. Could the reading gap have more to do with competition for boys’ attention than with their supposed inability to focus on anything other than outhouse humor?
Dr. Robert Weis, a psychology professor at Denison University, confirmed this suspicion in a randomized controlled trial of the effect of video games on academic ability. Boys with video games at home, he found, spend more time playing them than reading, and their academic performance suffers substantially. Hard to believe, isn’t it, but Science has spoken.
The secret to raising boys who read, I submit, is pretty simple—keep electronic media, especially video games and recreational Internet, under control (that is to say, almost completely absent). Then fill your shelves with good books.
People who think that a book—even R.L. Stine’s grossest masterpiece—can compete with the powerful stimulation of an electronic screen are kidding themselves. But on the level playing field of a quiet den or bedroom, a good book like “Treasure Island” will hold a boy’s attention quite as well as “Zombie Butts from Uranus.” Who knows—a boy deprived of electronic stimulation might even become desperate enough to read Jane Austen.
Most importantly, a boy raised on great literature is more likely to grow up to think, to speak, and to write like a civilized man. Whom would you prefer to have shaped the boyhood imagination of your daughter’s husband—Raymond Bean or Robert Louis Stevenson?
I offer a final piece of evidence that is perhaps unanswerable: There is no literacy gap between home-schooled boys and girls. How many of these families, do you suppose, have thrown grossology parties?
Mr. Spence is president of Spence Publishing Company in Dallas.
(Hat tip: No Soul Left Behind)
6 July 2009
The learning home
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Reading.
When we first explored homeschooling, we initially thought we would have to replicate a classroom in some corner of the house, complete with a whiteboard. Well, we did have a whiteboard, but that was as far as we went. I don’t want to knock the idea of a classroom-in-the-home because I have since heard that there are homeschoolers who think that’s the way to go. (Pix: The boys in the study circa ’97)
More important to me is setting up a home that is conducive to learning. But what would such a home look like?
A home that values learning is one that promotes reading. When I was growing up, I had a dad who bought books and subscribed to news and educational magazines. I wouldn’t say he was a voracious reader, but he made sure we had access to reading materials. I remember devouring children’s encyclopedias and learning about Vikings and Valhalla, tales of the Odyssey, and the Roman Empire. How fascinating it was for a young boy in a small town to be navigating the seas with Magellan or riding with Genghiz Khan and the Mongol horde.
As children (there were 4 of us then) each had to wait their turn for the weekly TIME or Newsweek magazine, and that old family staple Reader’s Digest. We swapped stories, challenged each other to quizzes and ticked off the number of Enid Blyton books we had read. It was an easier time, with lesser distractions. No surprise then that I ended up a school librarian. The environment I was raised in had a profound effect on me.
To say reading is an important part of our lifestyle would be an understatement. Today many of the opportunities given to me to develop as a reader have been offered to our boys. As a homeschooling family, the largest space we can afford in our home is devoted to the activity that holds the highest priority – reading.
Books and reading materials remain one of the biggest expenditure in the Tan Family. If you’re homeschooling, invest in good strong bookshelves, and be prepared to fill them up quickly. Well, that’s what happened in our home!
It goes without saying that parents have to model what they teach. We are readers ourselves, and it would be a sacrilege if anyone in our family of four were found without a book in hand or nearby.
Next to reading, conversation is just as important to a learning culture. It has been reported that fathers spend 25 minutes per week (or 3.5 minutes per day) in genuine conversation with their children. I don’t know how they arrive at the figure but that’s 25 minutes too short. Fathers especially need to talk to their children and talk often (and I don’t mean lecture them). Meal time usually gets us talking about books we’ve read, movies we’ve seen, and sermons we’ve heard. Don’t just talk about things; don’t be afraid to include ideas in your conversations as well. Since most of us get our news from the Net these days, issues and global events that make the news have increasingly become table topics. The key is to make conversation intentional and give everyone a hearing.
A couple of years ago we came up with the idea for a Reading Night. Each one of us would share a book that he or she was currently reading, and then pick a passage to read aloud. It allowed us to engage our teenage sons in stimulating conversations, get into books they were reading, and sometimes we’re challenged to address unfamiliar points of view. Now a planned event like this is tough on my weekly schedule and I must admit it’s been shelved as new demands eat into our family time (but plans are afoot to revive it soon!)
What I’m trying to say is, a learning culture flourishes in a learning environment. And you have to plan for it and make it happen. If you need to, get rid of the TV or restrict computer games. Our home went without tv for a season (ok, it lasted 5 years) while to this day, computer games are only allowed on weekends. Whatever it is, as parents you have to draw the line somewhere, and the sooner you do the better.
Of course not everyone will read at the same pace or at a similar intellectual level, and they don’t have to. Yet one hopes with sufficient encouragement, a child will learn to read well and read critically as the years go by. What we’re doing is to make lifelong reading and learning as natural as breathing. I can think of no better way for homeschool to succeed than to build an environment that nurtures this.
18 May 2009
Elliot on reading
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Reading.
It is no secret that reading is a big thing in our home. It’s something we have consistently encouraged by a) modeling the culture of reading by being parents who read, b) building a home environment that is conducive to reading c) introducing books and reading to our kids as soon as they were ready. When our son Elliot was 12, we asked him about his reading habits and here’s what he said:
Q: Do you remember when you first started reading?
E: I don’t remember when I first started reading but from what I’ve asked mom and dad I started quite early, when I was about three or four. Mom used to read aloud to us when we were younger too. She also used flashcards.
Q: What sort of books do you enjoy reading?
E: I enjoy reading most books though I like fiction best.
Q: What happens if you come across words you don’t understand?
E: If I do come across words I don’t understand I normally just guess the meaning. Not a very good example, I’m afraid. Sometimes I ask Mom or Dad about some words.
Q: Name some books you have recently read, and say something about them.
E: I recently read the book `The Mirror Cracked’ by Agatha Christie, who is a famous murder mystery writer, in which the hero was a 70 or more-year old lady named Jane Marple who solves a murder. The story continues with a few more deaths and tension begins to rise. It’s very good. I also read ‘Murder in the Mews’, by the same author, in which the hero was a Belgian detective named Hercule Poirot. This book contains a few stories about murders with some clever detective work to solve the crimes.
Q: Name some books you are currently reading, and tell us what they are about.
E: I’m reading Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ – unabridged version. I have read the abridged version before, so I know the plot.
Q: Where do you go to learn about books to read, and how do you get hold of these books?
E: I don’t go anywhere to learn about books to read. Most of the time I just ask mom for a good book to read or I reread a book that I have enjoyed.
Q: How do you tell if a book is good or bad?
E: It depends on what you mean by good or bad. A bad book is one which is poorly written and it doesn’t challenge the imagination or interest me. It’s good if it’s interesting to me and I can’t put it down.
Q: What would you say to parents who want to encourage their children to read?
E: I would suggest that they restrict their kids from using the TV and to set a good example by reading books themselves. They can also read books aloud to their children. They can visit book stores and buy good books for them.
For further thoughts on reading, go the related posts below:
Help, Junior can’t read!
Reading and Reasoning
29 July 2004
Reading and Reasoning
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Reading.
Someone actually suggested that our own children read because they got their parents’ genes. Well, genes have nothing to do with reading habits in the same way that being being born of Christian parents does not a Christian make. But I admit that the environment plays an influential role.
In our home, reading takes the place of TV (ours broke down 4 years ago and we have not replaced it). Yes, there’s the occasional movie (our TV receives video signals from the player only), but as adults who are already avid readers, we tend to read 2 or 3 books at any one time. Understandably, libraries, bookstores, second-hand bookshops, and book sales, become popular haunts. It’s not hard to imagine therefore why our kids got bitten by the book bug. Friends who visit are surprised at the library that’s the Tan Residence. “Have you read all these books?” they ask for the 1000th time. My guess is they know the answer (no, I have NOT read all the books on our shelves) but as conversation starters go, it beats being asked if our children have a social life!
More than just books is the attitude we share for life-long learning. Whether we read for instruction or for leisure, we tell our children not to be afraid of questions and ideas, because they’re essential to learning. I realise of course that it’s not the number of books you read but how well you read that matters. Reading well is reading critically – which is what good readers do. Reasoning is the corollary of reading. It’s the ability to separate fact from fiction, what’s true from what’s real, and finally, the profound from the trivial. With practice, the mind is sharpened and our esteem for truth deepened, wherever it’s found – because all truth is ultimately God’s truth.
The great protestant theologian John Calvin has this to say:
“The human mind is fallen as it is, and corrupted from its integrity, is yet invested and adorned by God with excellent talents. If we believe that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we should neither reject nor despise the truth, wherever it shall appear unless we wish to insult the Spirit of God.” (emphasis mine)
If we want to develop our critical faculties, reading ranks high on the to-do list. This is followed closely by reflection and discourse. These last 2 disciplines are hard to exercise these days, because both require time – preferably lots of it. You need space to think through what you’re reading; you need time for meaningful exchanges, to talk things out. Sadly, our activity-mad culture has already encroached into our churches and homes, robbing us the quiet necessary for reflection, meditation, talking, and listening. (Hmm, reminds me of that bumper sticker maxim – God made us a human BEING, not a human DOING).
In an age where truth has taken a back seat, it does not take a genius to figure out this dismal state of affairs. It makes me wonder if we will be able to emulate Paul’s courageous defense before Festus in Acts 26:25: “What I am saying is true and reasonable.”
Making an argument for faith on the basis of truth and reason starts with reading well. I sure hope our children will be able to take a stand like Paul and echo his words with equal passion and confidence.
20 September 2002
Homeschool Liberties
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Guest Writer; Reading.
GUEST WRITER: Grace Koh
Tears began to well up in her large, dark eyes. Her mouth, usually formed into a mischievous grin, began to take on an inverted U-shape.Then she began to cry. Loudly.
“Okay, okay. We’ll do something else,” I said wearily. I put away the book and resigned myself to the fact that my fourth attempt had ended in miserable failure – like all the previous attempts. I made a mental note to look for someone to donate the book to.
My daughter is bright, intelligent, inquisitive and one of her favourite words is ‘Why?’. She knew her alphabet and could easily recognise various words she sees around her. But she couldn’t read. Or rather, she wouldn’t.
I was trying to get her started on reading by using the time-tested `Peter and Jane’ series. Clearly it was not working. As newcomers to homeschooling, I cannot even begin to describe how discouraged I was feeling, having to face this setback so early on. I was completely disheartened.
As the days passed, I began to feel better as I observed how happy Beatrix was, busying herself with her usual ‘activities’. I then recalled the moment she had announced her educational preference by telling me emphatically, “Mummy, I don’t want to go to school.”
That was a year ago from then, when she was about two plus and I had been collecting brochures and scouting around for a suitable playschool/kindy. Her clear intention not to attend school hurled me into a world of turmoil and eventually, pushed me into the unchartered territory (or so I thought – then) of homeschooling.
As I began to explore this educational possibility, it seemed to me to be more and more viable in more ways than one. It took me a good six months of (part-time) research and plenty of encouragement from other homeschoolers before we officially decided to go the homeschool way.
Back to the reading bit. Some time after the final abortive attempt at `Peter and Jane,’ we went to our favourite bookstore to browse. My daughter loved to be read to, despite her seemingly reluctant attitude towards reading. She had wanted to look for a new Tigger story. It was then that a range of reading books caught my eye – a series of twenty books with catchy titles, interesting stories and fascinating illustrations. I leafed through Book 1 and showed it to my daughter, tentatively asking, “Would you be interested in this?”
She took the book and flipped over the pages. “Yes!” came the excited reply.
The book was a smash hit! Beatrix enjoyed it tremendously and would even pick it up herself to read after we had gone over it a couple of times. Soon we went on to Book 2, then Book 3, then Book 4.
By relating this story, I am by no means suggesting that everyone should abandon Peter and Jane and turn to the reading series we are using. What I am saying is that there will always be alternatives available if ‘classic’ ones don’t work. And homeschooling gives us, as teachers, fantastic opportunities to choose those best suited for our children.
Alternatives which would otherwise be disallowed or not even considered in conventional schooling. Homeschooling my child has made me realise that, just like adults do not all learn the same thing in the same manner, neither do children. They are, after all, ‘little adults’.
As homeschoolers, we have the blessed luxury and treasured liberty of choice.
My short path so far along the homeschooling road had been rather bumpy. My friends, well-meaning though they may be, never tire of showing me their horrified expressions when they meet me and find out that Beatrix, now five, is still ‘not in school’. They always dutifully point out and warn me of the dire consequences she would face as an adult if she were not exposed to the ‘real world’ via the school system.
As for my relatives (and my husband’s) well, that is another story altogether!
But I have a lot more resolve now than I did a year ago, and anti-homeschool sentiments from friends and families alike are affecting me less and less. Each time I hit a trough, all I have to do is to look at Beatrix and I feel more convinced that we have made the right decision for her wholistic education.
Now, if only I can find a way to effectively teach her to be diligent in clearing her always-overflowing table.
About the writer: Grace Koh’s daughter Beatrix was 5 years old when she contributed this piece in 2002
15 April 2002
Help, Junior can’t read!
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Reading.
Every now and then, someone comes along to tell you how clever his or her little girl or boy is. “Only 3 years old, my boy can already read so well.” You offer a polite smile, secretly hoping you won’t have to admit that your little one is nearly 6 and floundering in the shallow end of the literacy pool. So what is it that makes readers out of preschoolers? Methods? Kindy? Tuition? Curriculum?
I’m not an expert, but I was an anxious parent too. Bowled over by a sales person, my wife Sook Ching parted with hard-earned cash for an expensive reading programme. The Monopoly-size box contained coloured posters, flash cards, object cards of musical instruments, a hard cover book, and something about giving your child “encyclopedic knowledge.” I was aghast. In retrospect, the boys did pick up words and recognised parts of the human skeleton, and could tell a trombone from a tuba. But I must tell you that the whole experiment lasted no more than 6 months, maybe less. And it ended with us making our own picture cards, cut out of old magazines and calendars – that was an expensive lesson in making flash cards.
With the benefit of hindsight I’ve learnt something more important: it’s not how early you start reading, but how well you read all through life. Surely that’s an indictment of many of us grownups who after graduating from schools and universities read nothing heavier than the local newspapers or Everyday With Jesus. Better a child who reads late, but who reads well into adulthood, and whose wide reading becomes a wellspring of knowledge and wisdom.
I’m encouraged by the story of homeschooler and Cornerstone curriculum publisher David Quine’s oldest son. Now a law school graduate at 26, Bryce did not start reading until he was 12! The Quines never gave up, but persisted in reading aloud while providing an environment that was conducive to a reading and thoughtful lifestyle. So be good to yourself and your kids, and stop the search for the holy grail of a perfect literacy programme.
Next to read-alouds, talking and stimulating discussions ought to rank high on your to-do list. In our home these conversations – books, sermons, news, politics, movies, issues, dreams, jokes – make our day! Then there are reading games too. For instance each child (and adult) takes turns reading on a pretend stage, in front of an audience comprising all in the family. Take a passage from the Bible, Aesop’s Fables, etc, and after it is read, let the reader retell the story in his/her own way.
These aren’t wallet-bursting ideas, but they are certainly smalls steps in the right direction.