Posts Tagged home school
If You Want a Better Listener, Try Oral Narration
Posted by Diane in How to Teach Homeschool Skill 1: READING on November 18th, 2009
Have you ever thought that reading a book in your home school is like having a conversation? The author creates an imaginary universe with characters, plot, and themes while the audience is responsible for interpreting and understanding the meaning of the story. Often an author provides a narrator within the book to serve like a museum docent who points out the interesting events and people along the way. I’m sure that as a parent who reads aloud to your home school children, you also provide an additional layer of understanding by narrating the content as you go along. While the two-fold combination of a narrator within the story and a narrator outside the story (you) is extremely valuable to enriching the child’s comprehension, the growing child also needs a personal opportunity to grapple with the text. Oral narration is just the tool for such a task.
Oral narration is essentially the process of “telling back” what has been heard, read, seen, or learned. You read a few pages of a story, then you stop and ask your child to tell you what just happened. If your child is reluctant or can’t seem to find the words, you can coax some understanding by suggesting something that did NOT happen. This shocking revelation from you is sure to grab your child’s attention, and the outraged (if not smug) child will suddenly remember all the little details.
One of the beautiful benefits of oral narration is improved listening skills. Even as adults, we sometimes find ourselves zoning out during long lectures or even during silent reading. If you knew that you were going to have to give a brief synopsis of what you had just heard or read, you would finely focus your attention in a way that classifies and connects information so that you could confidently summarize what you just learned. A little child will do the same thing if he knows that mom is going to ask him questions at periodic intervals during the read aloud time.
Personally, I have trouble recounting something that I have just heard or read if I don’t narrate my understanding to someone. For instance, I can scan the newspaper for interesting articles, and five minutes later, I have no recollection of what I just read. (I could blame my age, but I know that’s not the only cause of my memory lapses.) However, if I read an article or listen to the news with the intention of sharing what I learned with my husband or kids, then I notice my attention is intentionally focused on finding the keywords, the topic sentences, and the summary statements. I even visually outline what I want to say before I open my mouth to make sure I don’t lose my train of thought. Once I start talking, I realize my weak areas of understanding, and if my husband asks me questions (his perverse joy), I am able to clarify even fuller understanding or lack thereof. This process of oral narration serves me well because it results in increased comprehension and long-term retention. Your home school child and teen will benefit, too, from this essential element of classical homeschooling.
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Have you noticed the new envelope icon under my signature at the bottom of this post? Yes, you can now easily email this post to a friend! Why not send this to someone right now who could benefit from some homeschool teaching tips?
How to Guarantee Independent Reading
Posted by Diane in How to Teach Homeschool Skill 1: READING on November 4th, 2009
After several sacrificial years of systematic home school reading and phonics instruction, you expect a specific outcome: independent reading. Yes, every busy home school mom (especially those with lots of children) will honestly admit that she dreams of the fateful day when her child can read a book “on his own.” Independent reading is truly a major milestone that culminates after years of teaching the home school child how to read. But what do you do if you have a child who knows how to read independently but chooses to spend his free time engaged in other activities? Or perhaps you schedule independent reading time during the home school day but regularly hear the whiny plaintive cry, “there’s nothing to read.” How can you motivate your kids to read books without whining or complaining?
1. Give your child the power of choice.
One of the primary goals of an authentic classical Christian education is raising an independent thinker who has all the skills and tools for making wise decisions. Lay the foundation for this goal now by giving your early elementary age homeschooler the freedom to choose his own books. Get him his own library card, and make a commitment to go there once a week. Let him pick whatever books he wants (even if they seem silly to you — like Captain Underpants — he’ll eventually grow out of such humor), and let him check out as many books as your library allows. When budgeting your monthly expenses, always leave a little money for buying books, and never refuse to purchase a book that he wants at the book store or neighborhood garage sale. Building his own personal library is critical for establishing good independent reading habits. My kids frequently pick up a favorite book from their own library for a second, third, or even fourth reading.
2. Identify his thematic and literary preferences.
Involve him in taking an inventory of the books that he has read and truly enjoyed. Sit down with him, and brainstorm a list of books that he has read. Create a column for pros and cons; use these columns to list the things that he did and didn’t like about the books. For instance, maybe your daughter didn’t enjoy the animal battles in Brian Jacques’ youth classic, The Long Patrol, so put warfare in the negative column. But maybe she really enjoyed the conversations between the animals; if so, put personification in the positive column. Right away this chart has helped to clarify the fact that you should help your daughter find ‘happy ending’ animal books with minimal conflict. Perform this inventory for 10-15 books so that you and your child begin to see patterns. Create a rating system, and let your child assign so many stars to each book just like the journalist gives 1-5 stars in favorable and unfavorable book reviews.
Don’t assume that just because you loved a book at that age your child will love it, too. We are all individuals with preferences, and what you might find appealing to read may be extremely boring to your child. Pay close attention to his likes, and guide him toward books in the library or book store that reflect his past pleasurable reading experiences.
3. Reserve free reading time during the day.
We all live hectic lives, and unfortunately this is not only true for us as adults but also for our children. We schedule sports, fine arts, playtime, entertainment, home school co-op classes, and even worship into our busy ‘run here-run there’ days and nights. Often, the first thing to fall off the schedule is free time for independent reading. Please don’t make this mistake! You will reap the consequences down the road with a dependent, uninterested teenager who hates to read if you don’t make reading a daily, enjoyable ritual. You must allow time for practice. Mastery never emerges overnight, but reading skills gradually improve the more we use them. Practice, practice, practice!
David and I intentionally decided as parents to reward independent reading by giving our kids the option of reading at night in bed before the lights went out. If the child chose not to read then the lights went out immediately, but if the child opted to read independently, their bedtime was extended for 15-30 minutes depending on their age. This simple decision has been instrumental in creating a love for reading in our household. What child wants to turn the lights out? An additional benefit is the relaxed sleepiness that reading induces making nighty-night a pleasant expectation.
4. Model the behavior you want to see in your child.
I know that you know this, but your kids will pattern their behavior after the behavior that you model. In this case, that means that if you want to raise a child who enjoys reading, your kids need to see you and your spouse doing your own independent reading every day. You can certainly read the newspaper before they get out of bed, and of course, you are allowed to read your favorite novel in your own bed after the kids go to sleep, but make sure that during the day the kids see you reading. If all they see you do is watch television, then guess how they will choose to spend their free time as adults? Wind down at night with a good book; turn off the TV, and invite the whole family to grab a book and a comfortable position for reading on their own. One easy way to get your homeschooling husband and dad involved is to give him an illustrated classic for reading aloud to the entire family.
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Motivating your child to find pleasure in independent reading is a challenge that you can achieve. All you really have to do is let him make his own book choices, identify his reading preferences, make time for practice, and model the behavior you want to see. Pretty soon you’ll begin to see improved reading fluency, expanded vocabulary, and contextual knowledge which will contribute to his reading confidence and pleasure. I guarantee it!
Punctuate Your Reading with Meaning
Posted by Diane in How to Teach Homeschool Skill 1: READING on July 16th, 2009
The other day I was in the children’s section of the local library pulling example books for a homeschooling workshop that I was giving at our state convention on the benefits of reading aloud. As I advanced further and further into the shelving, I began to hear a sweet little voice confidantly reading aloud. Every now and then she heroically pushed her way through an unfamiliar word, but by and large, she successfully managed the written word. I peeked around the corner and discovered not one little child reading to her mom, but several little kids gathered on the floor with picture books carelessly scattered. The simultaneous voices of children (one reading to her mom, another reading to a friend, and a mom reading to her son) cheered my heart and brought a knowing smile to my face. My spirit swelled, “ah, thank you, Lord, for books and the simple pleasures of reading aloud!”
Where did this precious little girl learn to read with such feeling and emotion? Surely her parents or siblings have consistently demonstrated the skill of inflection because she couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old, yet she tackled that picture book with as much sensitivity as a little child can muster. To inflect an object is to bend or curve it. Words can be inflected as well. All you have to do is change the pitch or tone of your voice. But this is not as simple as it sounds.
In fact, reading with feeling is a difficult task that takes lots of practice. At first, all a beginning reader can do is decode the pronunciation. Next comes comprehension. Eventually the child learns how to glance ahead so that he can decide what kind of emotion to put into his voice. Here are three ideas for teaching your homeschool kids how to express themselves when reading aloud.
What Does the Punctuation Mark Mean?
Don’t wait until your homeschooler is officially studying English grammar to teach the meaning of punctuation marks. As you read aloud with your child, use your finger to show them that each sentence ends with a special mark that is not a letter like the ABCs, and sometimes these funny marks show up at the beginning or middle of sentences when someone talks or when a series of things are being listed. Tell him that each punctuation mark has a special purpose that requires a certain vocal response. Demonstrate these common punctuation marks when you are reading aloud to your homeschool children:
Period – come to a complete stop (take a breath after the period to force yourself to stop)
The puppy played with the sock. [stop and breathe]
Comma – pause when reading
Noel, [1 second pause] please put your dirty clothes in the laundry room.
Question Mark – bring your voice pitch up at the end
Can I please have a chocolate chip cookie? [cookie should be higher than can]
Exclamation Point – verbally punch the thought with excitement or alarm
Tommy left his bicycle in the street! [add some tension to your voice]
Quotation Mark – talk as if you were the character
Granny said, “my old feet are aching after all that walking at the garage sale.” [trembling voice]
Parenthesis – lower your volume like you’re telling a secret or go back to your own voice as narrator
The crowd cheered with excitement (Dad wouldn’t mind if I took a quick peek). [whisper]
Practice punctuation responses every time you read aloud. In fact, this is a great exercise to do every time you ask your child to read until he gets the hang of it.
How Does the Punctuation Mark Sound?
Now that your homeschooler knows what the most common punctuation marks mean, practice making these sounds out loud without words! Yes, you read that correctly…without words! Substitute your favorite sounds for the words, and read the “sentence” out loud using the proper inflection for the mark like this:
Da da da da da. [stop and take a breath] Da da da da da? [bring your voice up at the end of the sentence] Da da daddaa. [stop and take a breath]. Da da dadada! [increase your volume and act surprised] Da da da, [pause for 1 second] da da da da da. [stop and take a breath] Da da da, “da da dadaaada.” [talk with the character's voice then stop and take a breath] Da da da da (da da da). [lower your voice like you're telling a secret then stop and take a breath]
You can type out a conversation with your favorite nonsense sounds to practice this skill, and eventually, your reading child will be able to look at a written text and substitute “blah blah blah” for the words and see only the punctuation marks.
How Would Your Emotion Change the Meaning?
Even little kids understand the idea of emotion. Children experience feelings just like grown-ups, so give them a list of emotions and have them read simple sentences as if they were feeling a certain emotion. For example, take the following sentence and read it five times using a different emotion each time:
The dog ate my last brownie.
Read it as if you are: shocked, distressed, amused, afraid, and outraged. Now choose a basic sentence and give your child some options as to what feelings she wants to express, then have her read the sentence out loud. You can do this with singular words, too, like “hey, well, and no.”
Learning how to read with appropriate expression can really add depth and meaning to the written text. Start teaching punctuation and inflection today, and your young reader will eventually delight and entertain his or her audience by creating lasting images and bringing home school books to life.
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Have you signed up for my free homeschooling parent workshop called “Classical Home Education 101” yet? Several home school moms have been working their way through the tutorial, and the feedback that I am receiving is very good. Many of them have completed the questionnaire, the roadmaps to mastery, and some are already working on their customized strategic semester plan for this fall! All you have to do is subscribe to in the right sidebar, or send me an email if you are already a subscriber, and I’ll send you the password.
Five Ways to Win Your Audience
Posted by Diane in How to Teach Homeschool Skill 3: SPEAKING on March 23rd, 2009
Giving an effective homeschool speech requires a lot more than just preparing, memorizing, and delivering content. All across the country, home school teens are giving public speeches, but few are connecting with the audience. Reciting written content without incorporating techniques to foster two-way dialogue, the speaker comes away feeling like the speech just didn’t connect, and in fact, it probably didn’t. Distracted by the lack of personal connection, the audience dutifully played their part by politely clapping at the end, but they were not moved by the speech. Really, they just couldn’t wait for another boring speech to conclude.
But every now and then, a speech by a home school student is totally engaging. The energy in the room is palpable as the speaker seems to be talking personally to every person in the room. The audience really enjoys the homeschool speech from the provocative hook before the introduction to the echo back to the hook at the end. Moved to think about the content, the audience leaves the room feeling like they have just had a one-on-one conversation with the student surprised at how quickly time seemed to fly. Next time an opportunity to hear this homeschool student arises, the members of this audience will eagerly anticipate another great presentation.
What is the difference between the boring one-way speech and the scintillating two-way conversation between homeschool speaker and the audience? The speaker in the second scenario used dialogue to engage the audience. Here are five tantalizing tips to generate favorable audience reaction.
1. Make a personalized provocative statement.
Startle your audience with shocking statistics or other little-known but meaningful facts about your topic. Stimulate their thought. Surprise them. Illustrate a different way of thinking about the subject matter. If you were judging a homeschool speech tournament, and two students both chose to give an expository speech on the effects of caffeine, which statement would you find more provocative?
“Caffeine is found in many plants and acts as a natural pesticide.”
“While it takes an average adult 6-8 hours to metabolize one serving of caffeine, it can take up to 30 hours for that same serving of caffeine to metabolize in a young child.”
If the audience is full of caring mothers, the second statement is immediately relevant and should cause them to listen closely for more shocking facts. Unless the audience is full of horticulturalists trying to eliminate pesky insects, the second statement if more effective.
2. Ask a direct question of one audience member.
Dialogue is a conversation between two people. Although the homeschool speaker is addressing an audience of several people, he can still ask questions of specific individuals by using the pronoun “you” and making intentional eye contact with certain people. Continuing the caffeine illustration, consider these two approaches:
[while surveying the entire audience] “Energy drinks like Red Bull contain nearly three times the caffeine of a Coca Cola.”
[while looking at one person in the audience] “Are you aware that energy drinks like Red Bull contain nearly three times the caffeine of Coca Cola? How many times a week do your kids drink caffeinated drinks?”
A probing question directed to one audience member personalizes the speech. Most people will nod or speak their response out loud. This powerful technique establishes an immediate connection between the homeschool speaker and the audience because it takes the focus off of the speaker and places the focus on the individuals in the audience. Suddenly, the speech is about them, and they are listening.
3. Tell a compelling story.
Humorous or touching anecdotes are extremely effective at winning the attention of the audience. We all love a good story especially if it is personal and told in an honest, transparent way. Vulnerability on the part of the homeschool speaker invokes trust. The audience begins to see you as a real person with real challenges just like them. Personal stories are especially effective at generating an audience reaction because they realize that you are the authority on the subject matter since you have walked that path, and they want to learn from your good and bad experiences.
4. Bring something to illustrate your points.
Audiences love visual aids. In fact, as home educators we know that the best way to ensure our children are learning is to engage all of the senses - visual, auditory, tactile, taste, and smell. My personal favorite way to teach an idea is to show you how it works or how to use it. Showing is a more efficient use of time and energy than using words to explain every last little detail. It is so much easier to learn something, too, if you can see how it works. Let’s say that your homeschool student is giving a speech on the historical development of can openers. He could bring a pocket knife, a one-piece punch-type can opener, an rotary handle opener, and an electric can opener to illustrate his point. Or he could use photos and drawings to point out the progression. If you are using text as a visual aid, limit your text to the most important words like the dates “the 1920s” and “the 21st Century.”
5. Act out selected portions of the speech.
This weekend my family watched a funny video of a Christian comedian named Jeff Allen. He was really good at sprinkling his routine with purposeful action. Once he was talking about a schoolteacher that he had as a child who thought he had ADHD. This male teacher placed a stiff right palm perpendicular to his forehead, crouched down in Jeff’s little 8 year old face, and shouted “FOCUS!” That shocking behavior was funny in a bittersweet sort of way. Throughout the routine, Allen periodically reminded us of the story by putting his own stiff palm to his forehead and shouting “FOCUS!” Audiences love it when the speaker becomes animated and surprises with unexpected movement.
These 5 simple ideas are easy to incorporate into a homeschool speech if you are intentional. Deliver a great speech that makes each member of the audience feel like you are talking directly to them, and they will walk out of the room eager to hear your next homeschool speech!
Wait on Jesus to Call the Plays
Posted by Diane in Various Essays for Homeschool Parents on December 2nd, 2008
Homeschool touchdown! Scoring more points than your opponent is the ultimate aim of an American football game. The team with the ball, known as the offense, strategically moves up the field in anticipation of scoring through passing, field goals, or extra points. The defending team, anticipating the offensive strategy, does their best to protect their end zone and prevent the offensive team from scoring. If the defensive team intercepts the ball, the roles are reversed.
Life as a Christian homeschooler is like football in a basic sort of way. Some days you advance at a quick pace with little interference. Other days you spend enormous amounts of time defending your position against aggressive opponents. But whether you find yourself on the offensive or the defensive your immediate call as a follower of Jesus Christ remains the same: wait on Him to call the home school plays.
Promise
After Jesus was resurrected, He appeared to His followers for a period of forty days. Right before He was taken up to Heaven, He shared with them two critical pieces of information for living the post-resurrection life: (1) you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and (2) you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8 NRSV) This two-fold promise requires nothing of us. Jesus shows grace to those who follow Him by abiding with us through the constant presence of His Spirit. Secondly, simply by abiding in His Spirit, our lives will be different, and people will know it from our closest family and friends to our casual acquaintances. We cannot DO anything to earn His Spirit, and we are not called to DO anything to be His witnesses. God is the one acting, and all we have to do is wait for His instructions and be obedient under all circumstances whether they are tough or easy.
Wait
Before Jesus left the disciples, He told them to wait for the promise of the Father. (Acts 1:4 NRSV) Wait. Expect. Be ready and available when the gift of His Spirit comes. Initially, every person who is called to follow receives the gift of His Spirit. After that, we wait on Him to deliver specific directions for living in real time every day. Our anxiety or impatience is fruitless because He is always faithful and delivers what we need at just the right moment.
Some of my kids’ home school friends like to log on to Google Talk and call each other through the computer. The funny thing about these calls is that these teens don’t just get to the point of the call and then disconnect like a busy adult who quickly takes care of business. They leave the communication line open while they are working on other things so that they can talk whenever they feel led to talk. To a pragmatic person like me, this phenomenon of open chat seemed strange at first. Connor would be working away on home school debate research when all of a sudden one of his friends would make some comment. Connor would respond, then it would get quiet again for a while. Sometimes the periodic conversations are frivolous, and sometimes the conversations are very serious, but the fact of the matter is this: these friends are in relationship, and they are immediately available to each other.
Now I see how live chat is like our relationship with the Lord. Because of His constantly abiding Spirit, He never disconnects from us, nor do we want to disconnect from Him. Sometimes the chatter is relatively inconsequential, and sometimes there are urgent messages that require immediate response. If we listen, we will hear Him leading, advising, suggesting, and requiring. He calls the plays minute by minute, day by day, in rough times, and in easy times, whether we find ourselves on the offensive, or whether we find ourselves on the defensive. All we have to do in our Christian homeschool is listen and obey.
Obey
In the promise of Acts, Jesus says we will “be” His witnesses. The word witness is used as a noun and not as a verb. We are naturally His witnesses by sheer association with His indwelling Spirit and our response to the guidance of His Spirit. We are not called “to” witness; we “are” His witnesses. Of course, being good witnesses requires that we respond in obedience to the daily conversation that He is having with us. Some days are worse than others. Some days are chaotic with seemingly endless demands. Some days are more relaxed and offer time for rest. Irregardless of the nature of the day, Jesus’ Spirit is available, and He is ready to lead you. Don’t deceive yourself into acting without consulting Him…you don’t see the entire picture so your call may not be adequate to advance or defend the play. He is the one with all the answers. He has already written a comprehensive playbook for the game. He knows all the possibilities, and He wants you to succeed. After all, you are His witness. You represent Him to your family, your neighbor, your friends, your grocer, your dry cleaner, your hair dresser, and every other individual you encounter whether in person, on the telephone, or in written correspondence. Let Jesus be the Coach who calls the home school plays on a minute by minute basis. All you have to do is wait and obey.
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My sincere apologies to those of you who recently received two strange email from me: one on Mark Twain and the German language and another long one on several published posts. I did not intend to send you spam! My internet service provider was making some technical changes to my website and Feedburner mistakenly thought that I meant to send you email. Thankfully, Midphase has corrected the problem. More exciting changes are coming soon with a brand new website design and the announcement of my new book for the Christian homeschool, Trivium Mastery: The Intersection of Three Roads, but I haven’t planned any more erroneous emails. Thanks for sticking with me, and happy homeschooling!
