A Well-Trained Mind

In the Book A Well Trained Mind, Jesse Wise talks about these younger grades being information sponges. From first grade to I think fifth grade, she suggests just filling your kids heads with fact after fact while they are able to soak in so much. (This by the way is contrary to EVERYTHING I was taught at BYU as an El Ed Major).

Today we were reading a book about maps called There's a Map in my Lap. It's in the style of Dr Suess and gives a basic, yet extensive introduction to maps and their uses. It mentioned puzzle maps and I told Ethan that we had a puzzle map of the U.S. downstairs. (I hadn't gotten it out because I figured he wasn't ready for it.) He begged me to get it out and spent the following hour using his basic phonics skills to figure out the names of all the states. He now can place and name 18 states all by himself. We wrote that number on the whiteboard so he can work on it later and improve.

It amazes me how well both the boys soak up the information I give them, especially Ethan. It doesn't matter how advanced the information, they truly have a gift for language at this age which translates into vocabulary as well. The premise of dA Well-Trained Mind is to fill their heads with facts and then in sixth grade start to sort out, apply and make sense of those facts. If they have all that knowledge already at their disposal, they can more easily understand and make use of it at a later age.

So basically, all those worksheets and rote memorization that was part of a classical education actually has some merit, contrary to popular education today. Our Elementary schools emphasize creativity and tactile learning. Wise argues that has a place, but in the later grades, when they have a basic vocabulary and a general understanding of the subjects. It's a must read for any homeschooler and public school parent alike.

I'm inclined to believe that both tactile and rote learning are valuable at this age, unfortunately our current learning trends vastly under emphasize rote learning, which is probably why our children test so poorly against other countries.

Money Madness

I've been trying to teach the concept of money to Ethan and Sean, but it's not sticking. Also, lately they have been resisting the sit-down/workbook type of lesson, so I had to come up with something more relevant (aka, unschooling). I posted this list on the fridge and directed them toward a jar of pennies on the counter. They loved it!

Ethan and Sean are learning what "cent" means and the concept of buying something.
By and by, Jenna is learning to count.
(Sorry about the nakedness, I can't keep clothes on her to save my life!)

After a day or two of just pennies, I'll throw in a couple of nickels and slowly work our way through all the coins.

Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!

We go to the zoo a lot, so I figured I better make it educational. I wrote up a little Animal Worksheet with generic questions about animals (i.e. what does it eat, what does it look like, etc.). Now Ethan and Sean take this worksheet to the zoo and pick an animal. Sometimes we can get some of the information from the zoo, but it usually happens that we write the name of the animal down, then check out books at the library to learn more. (This is how the Stingray Report came about as well.)

So this time, Ethan chose Orangutans and Sean found a Bengal Tiger. After choosing the Tiger, Sean is now obsessed with them, especially the white ones. The Orangutan was fun; we sat and watched him for a while. At first Ethan wrote down that he eats paper, but then he realized the orangutan was just playing with the phone book.

Ethan's Stingray Report

The sound isn't very good, turn your volume up.

Slowly working our way up to speed

I've started school back up this week, but our expectations are much lower. We have been pretty successful at doing a math and reading lesson each day, and I'm happy with that. We started out with Saxon Math 1, but I've moved on to a workbook series that my mom gave me (from her kindergarten teacher friend) called Harcourt Math. I've loved it so far, it's actually a bit challenging and includes games and activities that are engaging. And it's shorter than our daily Saxon lessons, which the kids are appreciating. Always better to have lessons be too short than too long.

We still keep part of the Saxon Math lesson: the Meeting book. This has been at the beginning of each math lesson we write out the date, make a weather graph for each month, count to 100 in various ways and someone leads the group in "left and right." I like how this part of the lesson incorporates science and writing.

Jenna has been participating too. Through our math lessons she has picked up her basic shapes and a few colors. Play-doh is also a great way to practice naming the colors.

Hiatus

We're on a bit of a break from schooling since Junior #4 (Aaron) was born two weeks ago. I've been trying to at least do our five minute reading lesson each day, but even that gets swept under the rug occasionally. Our Math lesson is next priority and only happens about once a week. The last one we tried to do only got half finished. But an unexpected bonus has emerged: the last two days the boys have been completely engaged in entertaining themselves all day long. They have fully discovered "pretend play" which has never been a huge part of our day before. Now they spend all day building forts, putting action figures in train cars, playing "family," etc. I often will hear the a call of "Mommy!" only to get a confused look when I answer. Oh! The big truck is the Mommy truck.

At times I feel a twinge of guilt knowing that most other kids Ethan's age are getting a whole days worth of stimulating structured activities in their kindergarten class. But I have to remind myself that free play is just as important as any other activity at this age (if not more), and we will make up for it later when I am more able to predict our daily routine.

Creative Fridays

We do our academic schoolwork Monday through Thursday, but by the time Friday rolls around, Ethan is ready for a lesson-free day. So we do an art project (collage the last few weeks), a five minute piano lesson, story dictation (they tell me a very meandering story and I type it up while they tell it), and the highlight: play-doh. I hate play-doh, but have recently discovered they love it, especially Jenna. So I'm going to make an effort to get it out once a week. I have to sit down with them and focus my full attention on those little bits that escape the table, but I suppose it's worth it in moderation.

I'm understanding the art of quitting while you are ahead. I have to consciously remember not to push too hard, or Ethan will resist the next time we get the lesson out. Keep it fun! Save the pushing until he is older and can see the benefit of self motivation and mastry.