One of the best practical educational ideas I've gotten from the book The Well Trained Mind is how to use the library for our children.

One of the authors of the book described how she went to the library with her children. She told them they could check out seven books each: one biography book, one science book, one history book, one practical or arts & crafts type book and three books that can include fiction, poetry or non-fiction. She said she went in weekly, which is why she chose seven books, I'm assuming.

I have modified this is bit. Our library checks books out for three weeks. Some of the books our children choose will take more than a week to read, at least for the older boys, so I have them pick out books monthly rather than every week, and I choose subject appropriate stories, histories, science books, biographies, etc. each week, according to where we are in our study of history. Elijah and Amira get stories from their preschool program each week, plus their monthly picks, and all of them have pretty much free reign over the books we have here.

I've also changed some of the book categories. I add autobiographies to biographies, and I want them to read good fiction, so it is a required category, leaving two "free" books that can include more fiction, the poetry or non-fiction of their choice. This gives us both a framework and a place to start when we are at the library. I help them find age appropriate and parental approved material, but subject matter and type of story are pretty much up to them. It has been amazing seeing what they have learned just from reading what they want to read.

Most parents, when their children are young, think in terms of children learning to read. This kind of provides the reading to learn. Dominic loves African and Middle Eastern mythology. Alexander is interested in all things avian. Both read adventures and mysteries like they are going out of style. They read books of science experiments like novels and come up with the ones they want to do at home.

I really despise the trend to make learning "fun." Not because I think it should be drudgery, but because there are parts of it that are, and I think even children should be trained to do what isn't fun for the value and reward that comes of doing it. However, this is a little bit like making fun into learning. They'd be reading anyway. All of the children love books, reading and being read to, so it's no great stretch that we spend time in the library anyway. This way, what they're reading and hearing puts something beautiful, truthful and useful into their minds.

One thing I've learned to relax about is what age the children learn to read. It was a huge deal to both Rich and me that Alexander and Dominic were not reading fluently until kindergarten. Both of us read early, around three and a half and four, and so we did not get why the boys were taking so long. I was starting to get especially worried about Elijah, who in kindergarten now, still doesn't quite grasp reading, though he's making the connections slowly. Amira, on the other hand, is raring to go, and she is learning letters and words, and memorizing stories to "read" to Jerome.

The research I've read basically said that a child who learns to read at four and a child who learns to read at seven or eight both end up with the same level of comprehension at ages 10 and 12 and later. So, since I read about statesmen and authors and scientists and more who didn't learn to read until they were eight or nine, and since compulsory schooling isn't even required until age eight in our state, I've let it go.

Elijah is excited about books and words, and he can read very simple things, spell his name, and wants to learn. That's the big thing for me. I just make sure that when he wants me to read to him, I am available to do it. Since Jerome shows the same kind of interest in books that Amira has and that I had, I imagine he will be ready to read much earlier than his brothers. I just don't have the personal stake in it that I felt like I had with the older boys. As long as we are willing to teach them, and read to them, and expose them to books, they'll learn to read and love reading more easily than if we force them to sit down and work on the letter A all week.

Labels: Family, Homeschooling