Love of reading

In homeschooling her three children, one of my mom's main goals was to inspire within each of us a love of reading. She succeeded, and I am grateful that she did! The love of reading opens up SO many doors of learning which might otherwise remain closed forever. When a person reads for their own pleasure, when they devour every good book they can get their hands on, then they are exposed to much more than they ever could have been without this. Their minds are given thoughts, ideas, situations, stories; different cultures, experiences, and perspectives to chew on and consider. All these books the person has experienced gives them much knowledge to draw on, it expands their imaginations and nourishes that hunger.

Of course, there are many books in print today which are complete garbage; but it is the good books of which I speak.

One of my favorite childhood memories was when we would all gather together for read-alouds after dinner. Cozy in the living room, sometimes with warmth and dancing flames coming from the fireplace... my dad would read out loud to us. The Chronicles of Narnia - The Hobbit - Lord of the Rings - The Lost Prince (a revised version) - etc. etc. Childhood imagination soared, we hung on every word... enjoying good stories, enjoying the time together as a family. Sometimes we'd sketch scenes from the books while we were listening, and sometimes we would be still. Also, my mom would read to us as we homeschooled in the day. I have great memories of cuddling up on the couch with her while she read The Little House books to me, or drawing at the table while she read historical fiction or other good books to my siblings and I.

Children thrive on good stories read aloud to them! Before they are able to read for themselves it is especially important, but even after they're devouring books on their own - still, the read-aloud time is not to be abandoned

Narrating back what they have heard is also a great part of the read-aloud sessions. After each chapter, the reading can be paused so that one of the children can tell back in their own words what has transpired. It helps them to know that they understand what's going on, and, as I remember it was described in For the Children's Sake, the story becomes part of the child, once they have put it in their own words they own it. They can appreciate it more. Also, if they have any questions, they can ask. If there's anything that strikes up a discussion, then what a wonderful learning opportunity! And just the act of putting what they've heard into words is greatly educational on its own. Their communication and storytelling skills grow through this. If there are two or more children being read too, they can take turns narrating chapter by chapter, or perhaps each could narrate part of the chapter.

Another great thing about reading lots of books - and rereading our favorites again and again! - is that they show us how to write. Indeed, the love of writing is so often inspired by the love of reading. There are few writers who were not first bookworms! ;)

Reading is one of the most crucial parts to a solid educations. Books can take us anywhere!

Let's become bilingual early!

Why is it that a second language is taught in high school? Why is it that it is taught like a list of facts to memorize? Why is it that the majority of the population don't speak more than a few words or sentences of another language, when they took at least a year of foreign language in high school?

I believe that a second language enriches an education in amazing ways I can barely begin to imagine! And I believe that, like writing, a language is something which is acquired, not taught. And this should happen well before high school! The older a child gets, the harder it is to learn a language. Don't we all know this? But who acts on it? Too few, too few. I've always been interested in languages, even since I was a small child. And even though I knew it would be harder to acquire them when I was older, I hardly looked into learning at all. Sure, I glanced at some Sign Language and Spanish dictionaries or curriculums... but I didn't commit myself and follow through. I wish it had been part of the education I was given, instead of an interest on the side which I could postpone.

Don't take me wrong - it's never too late to learn a language, if you are interested. I took one year of Sign Language and one year of Spanish in high school, and I plan on acquiring more, until at last I am fluent in these. But that is for my own interest. I believe that a young student should become fluent during their elementary years. Think Rosetta Stone. It's a software which teaches by pictures and situations, dynamic immersion, it is called, which basically means picking up the language the way a baby picks up their first language. You can give it a go on the free demo here: http://www.rosettastone.com/demo#

In elementary school, children could easily become fluent, whether you use Rosetta Stone or find another good source. How about a trip to the zoo or a nature walk where no English will be spoken? How about writing letters to each other in the second language? Fun, fun! Like writing or speaking in a secret code! How about going to the library events where people gather to practice their foreign language fluency? How about reading books/listening to audiobooks which are in/have been translated to that language? I've enjoyed Spanish audiobooks of the Narnia series! But the point is, language learning should be alive and part of the student's world, not merely a lesson in a book where they get graded on how well they remember the meaning of words. No, let life bring the joy of learning and the reason of learning! Let there be a reason to remember how to speak these foreign words. Let them be a fascinating and challenging method of communication, not the most boring of all boring subjects!

Even if you don't speak another language, you can learn right along with the children! They'll learn faster, but they will help you, and it will be lots of fun. ;D And they will thank you later for this gift you've given them, at the time in their lives when their minds were most able to receive it.

Writing - quantity produces quality!

Ah, writing! It is such an amazing thing, to put down words on the page! To convey meaning, to weave together thoughts and opinions, or stories and poems, or any other form of literary creation!

In high school, I was the creator/organizer/leader of the creative writing community/club. I tutored many of the students in their writing, and I was shocked to see how some high schoolers had such poor writing skills!
As a respected writer and aspiring author, I can speak from experience on how one learns to write well. Ask any writer, and they will tell you. Writing cannot really be taught, in the traditional sense of the word. English teachers, creative writing teachers, they can help - but they can't teach. At least, they can only teach one to write in the same way that they could teach one to ride a bicycle. The theory can be explained - the practice has to be learned by experience.

And so it is with writing. The only way to become a proficient writer is to write! That's how I tutored the new writers - I kept them writing. I encouraged them, I wrote with them, I kept them going. And over the course of a year, I saw students who could barely put together a cohesive paragraph turn into very decent writers.

It's very encouraging to know that simply writing, along with a few pointers, will improve one's writing ability so drastically. But isn't it sad, that so many students make it through elementary and middle school without acquiring this treasured skill? It's easy to see why they do not. They write a paper for school, turn it in, and have it returned with red marks all over it. How discouraging is that! Why would they ever want to write, when they're just going to get a bunch of red marks scribbled across that piece of work they put so much effort into? When you write something, it is part of you. You poured something of yourself into those words on the page... It is sacred and special. If a child writes something, it should be appreciated, not corrected. Don't worry about their spelling and grammar! Those things will correct themselves, as the student writes on. The way to reach quality writing is by quantity writing.

There is a joy in writing. A great joy and appreciation to see one's words on the page. But one has to be given air to breath, one needs to write without fear. Only then will this joy begin to open up, like a flower bud slowly opening. Whether the writer is a young child who's only just learning to read and spell, or an older child or adult who simply doesn't know the mechanics of good essay writing or story telling - they will learn and grow and find this joy if they write without fear.

The Wonder of History...

History is a truly fascinating subject! Stories, a million stories of those who have gone before us... But we need a reason to care. What does it matter when such and such battle was fought, why it was fought, who fought it, where they fought it, and who won, if we don't care? Why will we remember any of these details, if we have nothing to connect them too in our mind? They're meaningless, if the only emotion they inspire is boredom!

Think of a time when you've read a good novel or short story. What's one of your favorite books on the planet? Why did you read it? Probably, because the story interested you! You cared about the characters, you kept turning pages in order to find out what they do, and what happens to them. Honestly, I can list all the battles fought in Middle Earth, Narnia, Alleble, Amara, and other works of fiction better than I can list them from our own world. I cared about the characters. I knew what struggles went on in their hearts, what hopes and dreams they had, what goals they were pursuing, and what stood in their way. The pages turned rapidly - I had to know more!

There are millions of historical facts and events which may look boring if you flip through a textbook, but in reality they are stories of people, people as alive and interesting as any character of fiction! And the plots of their tales, their stories, the history of our wold - it is all just as interesting as any fiction, too! More interesting, perhaps, because this is real. And this is ours. OURS. It belongs to us. It is our history. This is what befell our ancestors. These are the stories played out in our world.

One of the ways to bring history alive is to read historical fiction books. I assume everyone knows what historical fiction is, but I'll define it just in case. Wikipedia words it: "Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the main characters tend to be fictional. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, attempt to capture the manners and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due attention paid to period detail and fidelity."

Ah, how I love historical fiction! I've read many such stories over the years, but not as many as I would like to have. I'm working on that now. ;) Back when I was in high school, my history class was as boring as they get... The curriculum was dry and dull, and the teacher was no help at all. But I enjoyed World History a little bit, because it strung a timeline in my mind, connecting all the historical fiction books I'd read! I would often be saying to myself, "Oh, I know who that is! I know what this is about! I know what's going on here! Wow, this is amazing! It's like reading a brief summary of the outline from these great books."

You can read historical fiction out loud to younger students, (more about reading aloud in another post) and older students can read it themselves (more about inspiring a love of reading in another post). 

This is just one idea for bringing history to life. There are many, many more!

Dream with me, will you not? =)

Imagine an education system that wasn't boring... imagine learning and enjoying the process... imagine that your education was alive, not merely a lesson from a dull book. Imagine giving this education to your children or students...

I am a young woman with big dreams in education, inspired passionately by the model of education presented by Charlotte Mason in Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's book, For the Children's Sake. This blog will be filled with all the ideas my active imagination can come up with for bringing the subjects - Social Studies, English, Science, Math - and so much more, to life.

It is my dream to someday have a small class of students in the future, precious children whom I may lead to the rivers of knowledge. Perhaps I'll even have children of my own someday, whom I would homeschool. We'll see what God has in store for the future.

So, yes, that's who I am, and that's the purpose of this blog. =) I hope you'll be inspired! Those of you who are courageously homeschooling your children, those of you who want some fresh ideas to bring to your classroom, those of you are at all interested in living education: this blog is for you.