What's the Point?

Homeschooling I often need to remind myself of Cynthia Tobias' question, "What's the point?" Point being defined as aim, goal, desired outcome.

Here's an example: Sometimes we have work pages. You know the kind, five letters down the left side of the page and five pictures down the right side. The child is to draw a line matching the letter to the picture of the object that begins with that letter. Simple, right?

I'm not sure if it is normal or abnormal children that draw a single straight line from letter to object, or maybe it is children who are (or were, like me) conditioned in a classroom situation that is the way it must be done, but K. never learned that, so she likes to make her lines wander about a bit before ending up at the desired destination. It isn't that she doesn't know where to draw the line, she'll tell me before she starts her line, this is just more interesting, or something.

Now, it is easy for me to get frustrated because it is much simpler, faster, easier, etc. to draw a straight line. So that is when I need to step back mentally and ask, "What's the point?" Is the point on this worksheet to be able to draw a straight line? No! The point is that she knows 'apple' starts with A and 'elephant' starts with E. Does her wandering line show that? Yes! So we've come to a compromise. It is okay for lines to wander, but each line must be a different color so I can easily tell what was matched.

Then next time you start to get frustrated, step back and ask, "What's the point?" It may save you and your child some unnecessary frustration.

The Four Year Old Game Plan

I wanted to do something a bit more scheduled when K. turned 4, but I didn't want to have a whole school day. I decided that 30 minutes a day would be just right. I planned this 'school time' between two other activities so that I couldn't go past the 30 minute limit.

On Mondays we have Social Studies.

• We are learning the names and locations of the states.
• I put a large map of the US on a bulletin board.
• For 26 of the states we have OLD View Master reels. I used yarn to map the trip through these states. We look at the reel and then move our car to that state and add a picture of something we saw in the reel.
• For the last 24 states we will use books from the library to look at pictures about each state.
• We are learning about our world.
• First we learned about the farm. I used Down on the Farm from Teacher Book Bag.
• Now we are learning about our community. I am using Exploring My Neighborhood from Teacher Book Bag.

On Tuesdays we have Science.

• I found the book Science Experiences for the Early Childhood Years (7th edition) at a second hand store. There are 4 to 8 experiments for each topic, plus activities to integrate each topic into math, music, literature, etc.
• It depends on how interested K. is in a subject as to how much we do. I thought she would be very interested in Plants, but she wasn't, however, she was captivated with Water.

On Wednesdays we have Writing.

• I discovered Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing at the library. Part One of the book has eleven activities that teach pencil control and telling well-organized tales. This is the only part of the book we are using until K.'s pencil control is ready for writing letters.

On Thursdays we have Math.

• The math section in Down on the Farm is a country store where K. uses pennies to purchase groceries. She picks her groceries, puts out the number of pennies for each, then counts all the pennies.
• I found more activities at Bringing Learning to Life.
• Part One of Games for Math by Peggy Kaye has games for counting, size, shape, patterns, and more.

On Fridays we have Reading.

• We practiced our phonics. K. enjoyed learning a phonics song. You can find lots of them on You Tube.
• Using clip art I made some worksheets for matching pictures to their beginning letter. (If you'd like these you can e-mail me.)
• Now we are reading three letter words. I made rhyming word lists. A page for each short vowel. As K. sounds out each word we use it in a sentence or talk about what it is because reading isn't just about sounding out groups of letters, but understanding the meaning of those groups of letters.

Teaching to Count, Part 2

After K. learned to count to 30 she got the idea that you just add the -one, -two, -three, etc. to the 30, 40, 50, and so forth. She did real great if I supplied the 40, 50, 60 . . ., but she had trouble remembering them in the right order. Since she is a visual learner, I decided to make this way to practice. It involves both visual and kinesthetic learning.

I took 4 x 6 cards and cut them in half, then wrote two sets of the numbers 1 - 9 and three of the number 0. Lay the first set out like this and have your child count 0 - 9, pointing at each card when they say the number.

Then have your child take the 1 from the second set and move it along the columns of numbers as they say the numbers. Do the same with the 2, 3, 4, etc. counting to 100.

This exercise really helped K. understand how the numbers progress.

Carolyn Haywood

I'm so EXCITED! I was just on our library website requesting some of Carolyn Haywood's books. It appears that some of her books are being re-published. This is what is said:

From Carolyn Haywood, author of the beloved Betsy series, here are four more classics for young readers. These adorable stories of childhood adventures are as fresh today as when they were written more than a half century ago. And now, thanks to dynamic new covers, they're ready to charm a whole new generation of readers.

Hopefully these will get a great reception, and they will re-publish all her books!

Robert Rows the River

The setting of Robert Rows the River by Carolyn Haywood is the River Thames in England. The book takes place over a five week holiday from school. In the book Robert befriends a Romani boy, Aaron, who has a monkey for a pet. Robert has to deal with the prejudice of his other friends toward his new Gypsy friend. The boys have all sorts of adventures and at the end of the story all the children become friends.

Betsy's Little Star

We finished Betsy's Little Star by Carolyn Haywood a couple days ago. Now I am re-reading the chapters K. liked best.  This book is about Star, who is 4 years old at the beginning of the book and so not quite old enough to start kindergarten in September when all her friends do. In the last two chapters Star turns 5, her birthday is December 24th, and she starts kindergarten when school starts back up in January. In between Star had some wonderful adventures.

Carolyn Haywood writes such good books! You will find mention of Sunday School, prayer, God, and scripture in her books. However there are a few things to watch out for:

• Most of her books have a chapter on Halloween. In the 1950's when these books were written Halloween was just something everyone did. I remember I was in 5th or 6th grade when Christians started saying "What is Halloween and should we be involved?" (that was the mid 1970's). Since we haven't discussed Halloween yet and K. isn't reading yet, I just change wording as I go along so they are having a costume party.
• Most of her books have Santa Claus in them. Depending on the content, I either change wording or skip the chapter.
• The children have a lot of freedom. Star, at 4 years old, was allowed to go around the block and cross streets by herself. Again, in the 1950's that may have been okay, but today?

The Cricket in Times Square

I read K. her first long book when she was 3 years old. It was The Cricket in Times Square by Garth Williams. At first she wasn't very interested, but I would read, one chapter a day, while she was eating her lunch or dinner, and she enjoyed looking at the illustrations that were every few pages. When we finished the book she wanted me to read it again, and she always wants to look for "Chester" cricket when out on evening walks. I'm sure we will read it again when she is a bit older. It is such a fun book!

Read-Aloud

I have five books that I draw upon as a source of quality books to share with our children.

• Reading with Babies, Toddlers, and Twos by Susan Straub
• Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt
• Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson
• The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (mine was published in 1985)
• Adventuring with Books edited by Mary Lou White (here is the 1985 edition)

There is some overlapping of books between these bibliographies, but then you know those books are really, really good!

Teaching to Count

When our oldest child was about 3 years old one day I heard her counting. I was a firm believer in "better late than early" so hadn't taught her to count, so I tried to figure out how she had learned. She had learned by listening to me count trophy parts (we have our own business).

When you teach your child to count, count objects so they aren't just memorizing the words, but the words actually have meaning. Count everything. Count the number of apples your buying at the store. Count the number of seeds in your slice of watermelon. Count the spoons for setting the table. Count the number of times you brush her hair. Count toys as you put them away. Count their socks, underwear, shoes, fingers, toes, hands, etc.

Don't forget zero. It is a very important concept. Before you put the glasses on the table, there are zero glasses on the table. Before any toys are in a container, there are zero. And so forth.

Teaching the Alphabet

Here is how I introduced the alphabet. What you'll need:

• 26 manila folders (or large sheets of construction paper)
• felt tip pen
• large envelope or a 27th folder (to keep cut letters and pictures in)
• magazines to cut up
• scissors
• glue

Write one letter of the alphabet on the front of each folder. For letter recognition, cut out the large letters from titles of articles in magazines. Show one to your child and tell them the letter. Then let them glue it on the outside of the folder. Once they have learned the letter names, show them a letter and ask what letter it is, or let them find the folder it goes on. Letting your child do the glueing can be time consuming, messy, and frustrating, but it is really part of the learning process and the more they do it, the better they will get at it!

After your child know the names of letters (you don't have to tackle all 26 at one time), cut out pictures that your child will be able to identfy. The conversation might go something like this:

• Mom: What is this?
• Child: Bus
• Mom: That's right. Bus. B..B..Bus. Bus starts with the letter 'B'.

After you've been doing this awhile and your child is learning the sounds of the letters, the conversation would change to:

• Mom: What is this?
• Child: Bus
• Mom: That's right. Bus. B..B..Bus. What letter does bus start with?
• Child: B

Then find the B folder and let your child glue the picture inside the folder. Each time you open a folder have your child name all the pictures in the folder. Try to only get 1 of each item, unless you find a really neat picture that just has to be included! As your child gets older include him in the selection of pictures.

We would only average 10 pictures at a time and usually only about 3 times a week.

Hint #1: If you don't have magazines, ask relatives and friends for old magazines, purchase them at a second hand store, or request a free catalog from a place like Oriental Trading (once you're on their mailing list they'll send you catalogs forever!).

Hint #2: You will find that some magazines use thicker paper than others. It is much easier for children to glue pictures from these magazines as the thinner paper tears easier when wet with glue.