Look, look. See, see. See Echo Read!

Ok, here it is. I can't remember the process that was taken when I learned to read because I read when I was barely 3.

I do know the story though.

Because my oldest brother knew how to read before going to school - and had a teacher who couldn't handle that - he absolutely ended up hating school in grade 1. So my parents worked hard to not let their other children learn to read before school.

However, one day when I was young, my older sister got out a "Dick and Jane" reader and played school with me. I'm not sure how long she played with me that day, but before she was done, I was reading. My parents shrugged their shoulders, and got out the rest of the "Dick and Jane" readers.

Jump forward a couple of decades, and I have been working on teaching Delta and Echo to read. But by now, the "Dick and Jane" readers are looked down on, as being a part of the illiteracy problem. So, I started the phonics program. It worked ok for a while, but none of the kids enjoyed it after getting to a certain point. And reading just was such hard work.

So, I talked to my Dad (who was a teacher), and he said that a mixture of reading instruction types works best overall. This was also about the time I discovered Charlotte Mason. I then made up some Doman type flashcards from "Teach your baby to read" and made a few homemade books. That worked well with them as a bridge. I started Delta on the Treadwell/Free Primer, and he did well. Reading is still work, but he is reading fairly well. I hope fluency will come soon.

But Echo.... she was to the point that she needed something other than just the phonics - but the Treadwell/Free Primer was too difficult. Then I had the flash go off in my head. If I learned how to read so easily with "Dick and Jane", then maybe my kids could too. I did a bit of looking, and found that my library had a couple of treasury books, and I requested them.

Well, what a joy! I sat with Echo, and she has read a couple of the "readers" in the one treasury with hardly any help at all. The phonics she has done allows her to figure out the word - and the repetitaveness gets the word in her head so that she doesn't have to figure it out each time - so it moves quicker. She is thrilled because she is reading a story, and a book, not just sentances. Delta has read both treasurys by now, and is enjoying reading without the effort. They have both spent a lot of time with them on their own.

So - I will be adjusting the learning reading suggestions on the blog. It is just exciting seeing them love the books. (And scarily enough, I remember the stories and pictures.)

I will admit that Mike finds the repetative stories annoying, and rolled his eyes when he saw the books from the library.... but I find them nostalgicly interesting.

When things don't go as planned.

A lot has been happening here at Maple Hill Academy. Of course, they were all unexpected, and included things such as sickness. Besides not having time to Blog (which I'm sure you all noticed) - it has put us behind our homeschool plan.

It would be easy to panic at this point - especially as I expect to be very busy around the end of June, meaning that further delay may stop us from completing the entire year.

So - what do you do when things don't go as planned?

As "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" would say "DON'T PANIC!"


Especially in Year 1, there are really only a few things that I feel need to be completed to keep us over-all on track. Those are the good old-fashioned 3R's.... Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic. Is your student learning their math? Is he learning to read? Is he learning to write? Even if you don't finish the whole program, if those are well on track by the end of the year, you have succeeded. And the chances are, your student will have learned a LOT more then that. "Gaps" won't be a huge deal -- remember that even at public school, if a student is sick - he just misses anything learned that day. At least in subjects like math that are sequential, we can make sure our student doesn't miss some important concept!

Even in the later years, if you end up having to skip a reading book, or miss a chapter or two of the history book, I think your student will still be far ahead.

So, what is my revised plan? We will just keep working with the schedule - who cares that we are not on the week that I wanted to be? At the end of the year, I can see where we are at. For stuff like Math, I have the choice of starting Year 2 wherever we have stopped in Year 1 - or we could spend a little bit of summer time finishing it up. For other subjects, that are not so sequential, I can decide to either skip some items - or for some of the reading books we could always read them together during the summer. Again, our choice.

I think the main thing is not to panic - not to get frustrated - not to let the student know that he is behind - and not to throw out the program!

Year 0 Music

On a message board I frequent, there was a question on what a mom can do about music instruction with their Year 0 (and Year K) children when they can't afford lessons and don't feel confident enough to teach them themselves. This mom did intend their children to do Piano when they were older. Here is my response.


What you can do at home on your own may depend a lot on what music skills you (or other family members) already have. Listening to good classical music is a HUGE part of music education, even if you can't do anything else. That can make a huge difference when the child later learns an instrument. Find quality recordings by good artists. (I'd buy the Suzuki CD's for the Piano, or whichever instrument you are thinking of for the future - even if you don't plan to do Suzuki.)

And as hard as it can be for an adult - for year 0 kids, I would say that repetition can be more important than a huge selection. (My 18 month old "sings" the notes to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Allegro" because she hears them so often. (My older kids do Suzuki violin, and the oldest is doing home-taught piano based on Suzuki Piano. So we listen to the CDs for Violin 1 and 2, and the CDs for Piano 1 and 2 every day) (As violin has 6 different rhythm variations of Twinkle on the CD, and Piano has 8 Twinkle variations on the CD - my 18 month old hears a variation of Twinkle 14 times a day at least from the CD's - and then hears it at least a couple of times from daily practice of the older kids.))

I know that not everyone can afford lessons..... but look into bursaries. A lot of programs out there do have bursaries or scholarships for people that need it. Sometimes deals can be worked on a barter system, if you have a skill that the instructor could use.

For older kids, some Orchestra's have programs to help teach kids musical instruments that aren't as "popular" - ones where there tends to be a shortage of players for the orchestra... (Things like Bassoon, or Oboe, or Tuba - I'm not sure which ones but there are ones out there...)

Back to what you can do now - besides the listening a lot - I would say that rhythm is a major thing. (If you do get the Suzuki CD's, you will here the Twinkle Variations that are different IMPORTANT rhythms in classical (and other styles) of playing. They were selected for a reason. I don't know the reasons for all of them, but as we go further in music, I see the rhythms over and over. Clap these, or other rhythms. Get some cheap rhythm instruments. We have used plastic coffee cans from Mike's for drums... we have real maracas, as well as some toy ones. Cheap tamborines from the $ store. Shakers. Some of this can be homemade - but I think that if you can get quality real ones, the sound is noticable. Practice "marching" to the beat. rhythm is SO important in music.

If you have a piano at home - start singing some of the notes. (make sure the piano is tuned!) Play a C key, and sing "Seaaaaa (C)" do the A key and sing "Aaaaaaa" (try to match the key). If you start doing this young enough, your child is very likely to develop "Perfect Pitch" which is loved by choir directors and music teachers of any instrument. If they don't develop "Perfect Pitch", they will probably still have a very strong "Relative Pitch", which is also very helpful. Note that you are not trying to teach the child where those keys are on the piano - you are teaching them that that tone or sound has a name, and this is the name.

Additions to Year 1

see here

In looking for more Canadian Content, I have found a couple of books that I am adding to Year 1.

They are both a picture book, but with a fair bit of story. These are free reads that shouldn't be missed!

• "A Fiddle for Angus" - Budge Wilson. Based in the Maritimes, is about a boy that chooses to learn the fiddle so that he can play music with his family. (Note that one of the illustrations includes Natalie MacMaster - a famous Canadian fiddler)
• "Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt" - Barbara Smucker Although mostly based in the States, a family moves to Upper Canada to avoid the Civil War. Generations of the family are tied together via a quilt.

Also for Year K, I have added "The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier. You can hear the author read the story at the CBC archives!

Yahoo Group for Files

I have created a Yahoo Group for important files. These will include Schedules, and copies of the out-of-copyright books being used in the curriculum.

Please join, and use the help!


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maplehillacademy/

Book of Years

An important part of keeping Historical events straight for a student is a Book of Centuries. This is generally started in year 3 or 4 - before that either things are done with a family Book of Centuries, or else a Timeline or Timechart is used for the earlier years. (I think the timeline helps more with the continuity concept for the younger student.)

This is, of course, not a new concept. It is easily done with a page for every 50 years, causing a 100-year spread across the pages of a book. Many people will make the pages hold more years in the BC and earlier times, and hold less years in the later years - although I do wonder if that can cause confusion in the younger student.

I have also recently heard it suggested that for US (or Canadian) history, that a "Book of Decades" might be useful - because of the large number of things that occur in the last couple of centuries. I think this is a great idea.

Well, I had what I think is a great idea. I was thinking that we should make a "Book of Years" - actually a few of them. A 100 page book will give a beautiful space to put major events of each year of a person's life on a page. (even a 2 page spread). What a great way to learn about mom and dad during that portion of family history. And what a lovely way to keep track of each child's life - letting them pick out a few events to put in their book. I think this could create a treasured keepsake without a lot of work for "mom" as each child starts to take care of each of thier own "Book of Years".

Computer Programming Resources

An "extra" subject that we have always planned to teach at Maple Hill Academy is Computer Programming. It has benefits similar to a new language, as well as logic and math concepts - as well as being potentially useful as a career. Mike asked recently about what we were going to do for it - and I suggested that we look into "logo".

Logo is a computer language that was developed years ago, in 1967, for educational purposes. It is designed to be easy for children to learn the basic concepts of programming, math, and logic. Although some implementations of Logo involve a turtle robot (from 1969 on), most places use a turtle "cursor" (often just a triangle shape) on the screen that draws a line as it moves. The student learns how to make the turle draw things. Although I have never used Logo myself, I am aware of it, and I do know that it is more powerful than just drawing pictures.

So, Here are some resources I have found. Logo can be learned (with help) from children that are even Kindergarten age.

Free Logo programming environment (note there are other options out there if you do not like this one.)

Free Logo Workshop

(basically lesson plans for you!)

Another Logo resource - including links to download books.

A School's site on using Logo - has some nice ideas / lessons. Possibly more friendly than the workshop.