Throwing Marshmallows

Can I just say for a moment that I am really enjoying having “older” kids?

I was not sure what to expect when the boys and I headed out to the National Book Festival today. They seemed excited about seeing Terry Pratchett in person (our new absolutely most favorite author…we are on the third book in the Tiffany Aching series, Wintersmith, and can’t get enough of Discworld and the Nac MacFeegles). But still, spending a day in the crowds on the National Mall listening to authors talk about their books? I wasn’t too sure how it would go over.

So I decided that we would go see Terry Pratchett (luckily he was scheduled for noon) and then play the rest of the day by ear, figuring that I wanted the kids to have fun and if all else failed I could watch the talks via the web.

We headed out and took the metro downtown, getting there in plenty of time (a small miricle for me). Walked around a bit, checked out where they were selling books but decided that we did not want to wait in that long of a line. Went over to the Science Fiction and Fantasy tent and got seats in the very back. I have to say that Terry Pratchett definitely lived up to my expectations. I wasn’t sure how much the boys enjoyed it because he talked a lot about his adult novels (he has kids books and adult books set in the same Discworld with overlapping characters…very fun!) But he was so funny that Jason especially really enjoyed it.

We then walked down to check out the kids activities, but did not find much interesting there (a lot of stuff for younger kids). Went back to the book signing, but realized that the line was way too long to even attempt. At that point, there were still a few authors that I wanted to check out, but we still had over an hour and half wait until the next one we wanted to see and I really was not sure that they would last that long. We decided to get lunch and see how we felt. The kids tackled played with each other out on the grassy area while I waited in the incredibly long lunch line.

By the time that we finished, we had only 15 minutes until Holly Black (co-authored The Spiderwick Chronicles) so we decided to head over there. Another great talk and she read from her new book Ironside. Also found out that there is a new Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles series…the first is called The Nixie’s Song. They are planning on 3 books I think.

We had another hour to kill before so the boys decided that they wanted to check out the book sales tent again. This time the line was reasonable, so we picked up The Nixie’s Song and Ironside (although I think that we will wait a bit for Ironside…I checked on Amazon and I think that some of the subject matter is a bit mature for him…it is actually recommended for 14 and up. That is one nice thing about books, they don’t go bad!). For Kyle we picked up Martina The Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale by Carmen Deedy and Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner.

Headed back to the Children’s Tent (did I mention that we did a fair amout of walking?) to see Carmen Deedy but had a little bit of time to kill, so I read Martina which we all thoroughly enjoyed. But I have to say that I did not do the story justice…which became very obvious when we heard Carmen tell it in person! My friend Parrish had mentioned that we should not miss her talk and she was right. Carmen is a fabulous storyteller! Jason commented on how she changed the story from the book and we talked a bit about the difference between storytelling and writing for a book.

Then it was time for MT Anderson. This was a bit drier for the boys, as he spent a fair amount of time talking about his book Octavian Nothing which is set in Revolutionary War times (which I, of course found fascinating). He did answer some questions about Whales on Stilts (the boys really enjoyed this). He talked a lot about what inspires his books…for Whales on Stilts he said that there had been a couple of whales that were washed up on a beach near him. This got him to thinking about what if whales, instead of being the harmless, gentle creatures we think they are, were instead just biding their time and waiting to invade complete with laser eyes. And how else would they do it, but on stilts? Neat.

After that, it was a crowded ride home on the metro. We finally got home around 6pm. Whew.

The only disappointment was that the lines for the book signings were way to long (and out in the hot sun) and that due to some sort of brain freeze, we totally missed Jack Pretlusky (we have some of his poetry books).

The neat thing is that we had an absolutely wonderful day. Despite all the walking and the waiting. I gave them plenty of chances to decide to go home, but they wanted to stay. I do think that Jason got more out of it as he really seemed to enjoy the talks. Kyle had fun, but tended to get a bit bored more often. And I only had to bribe offer ice cream once.

Amazingly, I just checked and they already have the webcasts up! That is pretty darned amazing. You can find the video on each author’s page. Neat! Definitely check it out. They are great. And I just noticed that they also have podcasts of interviews with different authors. How cool is that…

Now I am beat! I hope to get some pictures up soon. Did not have the energy to download them tonight.

I was reading Rick Riordan’s blog this morning (Rick is the author of Lightening Thief, one of the boys favorites). He posted a speech that he made at the annual conference for the Federation of Children’s Book Groups at Worth Abbey School in England. The theme of the conference was “Crossing Frontiers”.

This part in particular jumped out at me:

Recently I was asked in an interview to name the ten books I thought every child should read. I took issue with the question. Perhaps we should stop thinking about a universal canon of children’s literature. The ten books my twelve-year-old son should read are not the same as ten books his nine-year-old brother would enjoy, or that a fourteen year-old girl would like. Children are not the same. Perhaps instead of narrowing the field to define the center of children’s literature, we should be more active in pushing the boundaries and widening the edges. Let’s expand, not narrow.

Obviously I agree! Reading is such a personal thing and while I do believe in exposing kids to a wide range of literature, I also believe that kids should be allowed to develop and follow their own tastes.

~Stephanie

Check out the really neat, fun new tool, Literature Map. You type in the name of a favorite author and a “cloud” of related/similar authors appears. The closer the name is to the chosen author, the more likely you will enjoy them. You can then click on a new author and start following the trail.

Neat idea and after playing around a little bit, it definitely seems to be fairly accurate. Looks like I will have to poke around a bit and see who else I can find.

Thanks to Melissa on the UUHomeschooling email list for the link.

~Stephanie

Inkheart is one of our favorite books…I love it as much as the boys! We have listened to it on cd and it is so wonderfully done. Inkheart is about a bookbinder, Mo, who discovers that he can read characters out of books…he accidentally reads 2 villains, Capricorn and Basta and another character Dustfinger out of a book called Inkheart while reading his wife into the book. Mo and his daughter Meggie are swept up in the adventure that ensues as they try to stop Capricorn and rescue Meggie’s mother. Inkspell is the second book in the trilogy and I found this one just as exciting and captivating (if not more-so) as the first. Inkspell takes place in the book, Inkheart and introduces us to a wonderful new world as Meggie searches to find her mother. Inkspell also solidifies Dustfinger as one of my all-time favorite characters.

There is something about this series that I just absolutely adore…maybe because it revolves around books? Or taps into a secret desire to be read into my favorite books and meet my favorite characters?

Turns out that the movie is currently in production and will be out in Spring of 2008. The article talks about how they will handle Gwin, the horned marten (they were able to stick small horns on a ferret). They also mention that Meggie reads Toto out of the Wizard of Oz and he helps her throughout the movie…that is definitely not from the book. We’ll have to see how it works. They also did not mention Basta in the article, so that has me worried…he was such a great villain and plays a large role in both books….not sure where they are going to go if they do not include him.

And another great thing…the 3rd book in the trilogy, Inkdawn, will be out in Spring 2008!

So much to look forward to!

Thanks to Book Moot for the link!

~Stephanie

Christine wrote in the comments from my last post I love surprises:

Just out of curiosity, how do you find all of these author blogs/websites, etc? Do you just google authors you like? Is there a website that lists stuff like this? My kids would be very interested, I think, along with their “book geek” of a mom.

Thanks to the wonder that is the internet, there are tons of great email lists/blogs/websites out there to indulge our “book geekiness” if we so desire. I have found that “child’s lit” makes up the core of our homeschooling…we do a lot of reading together and always have an audio book going. And to be honest with you, I think that I enjoy this part of our homeschooling as much as the boys!

I have discovered a wealth of great authors and books by hanging out around Child Lit lovers. There are tons of folks discussing and writing about it on the web. Some of my favorites are:

Child Lit email list: By far the best resource. Ongoing discussions about anything and everything to do with Child’s Lit. This is not a homeschool specific list, but is made up of lovers of Children’s Literature…list members include authors (Jane Yolan, Philip Pullman, Bruce Hale and many others), teachers (all levels, elementary through college), librarians, English/Children’s literature majors, parents and homeschoolers. I have learned about so many great authors that I never would have known about and I love the conversations…especially interesting to hear the teachers and librarians. You can tell that these folks just love children’s books!

Mother Reader: My favorite child’s lit blog written by a mom (who doubles as a librarian’s assistant). We share similar tastes in books and I love her sense of humor. She is the one who turned me onto Mo Williams blog and the National Book Festival. And many, many great books.

Educating Alice: A great blog written by an awesome 4th grade english teacher that I “met” on the Child’s Lit email list. She has some great ideas for teaching kids and is the type of creative teacher that everyone would love for their kids (if they are not homeschooling that is!)

Other Child’s Lit blogs that I check out:

• Fuse #8
• Chicken Spaghetti
• Big A little a
• Book Moot
• Scholar’s Blog

It also seems that most authors have a website or even a blog nowadays. If you have a favorite author, google and see what you find out. You never know where it might lead. I am hoping to have time soon to update my blogroll to include favorite author sites…

Hope that these get you started…but I warn you, there are tons of great Child’s Lit blogs out there…it is easy to get totally hooked! And now I find out about great new books when they first come out which drives me crazy…because I have to make the decision of whether or not to wait to get it in paperback! And what is it with this need that I have where if I find a book that I (or the boys) really love that I have to own it…even if we have gotten it from the library and already read it?? I think it is a sickness…
Happy Reading!

~Stephanie

I love surprises. Especially a surprise that should not have been a surprise! A couple of months ago, I responded to a request by author Bruce Hale (writes the really funny Chet Gecko mysteries…one of Jason’s favorite series).

He posted on a Children’s Literature email list (run through Rutgers University), looking for teachers to participate in an online focus group…answering questions about what we would like to see in a DVD on kids writing that he is developing. He was offering participants signed copies of 3 of his books.

When I wrote to ask if he was interested in homeschooler feedback, he responded that he most certainly was. I completed the survey and then promptly forgot about it.

I got a package in the mail yesterday and as promised, we are now the proud owners of signed copies of 3 Chet Gecko books! The boys thought that it was really cool and so did I!

The internet really is a neat thing…I know that I never had much of a concept of authors as real people growing up…now they have blogs and websites and you can see videos of talks. So cool.

But then again, I am a book geek…

~Stephanie

So Kyle and I were checking out Mo Willems blog when I remembered that MotherReader (gosh, she is going to think that I am stalking her like she stalks Mo Willems now…two blog references in two days…) also had a link to a webcast of when Mo Willems had given a talk at the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival earlier this year.

We decided to watch it and what fun! He read from Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late, discussed his new book Edwina, the Dinosaur that Did Not Know She Was Extinct, showed how to draw the Pigeon and talked about writing and drawing and doing what he does. He was incredibly entertaining and Kyle loved it (as did Jason when I showed him it later). They especially liked how Mo explained that the Pigeon does not like Mo writing books about anyone other then himself, so he ends up sneaking into Mo’s other books.

Then we poked around some more and found Tony DiTerlizzi’s (author of the Spiderwick Chronicles and other fun books) webcast. Wow! What a great speaker. Again, he read from his new book and talked about being an artist. What was really cool is that he said how he got started was when he was 8 or 9 and would make up stories about how aliens would try to take over the world but the dinosaurs fought them back and ate them and then got destroyed by a meteor (I am not doing him justice at all here!). But it sounded a lot like the stories that Jason loves to tell and reminded me that I really need to start writing down more of his stories.

What I really love about these two is that you can tell that they really love what they do. And I love how they talked about getting started and about the goofy stories they used to tell when they were kids. And how they loved to draw all the time…I am sure that a lot of right brained kids would relate.

Storytelling is an area where I really want to encourage Jason…he hates the physical process of writing, but he LOVES telling stories and is good at it too. He gets a gleam in his eye when he is working on one. He and his Grandpa Elms have had this running oral story that they have been doing since Jason was around 3 or so called Baggerbusters. It has morphed several times (I think that now it is about developing spaceships and weapons to take over the universe) but he really looks forward to doing it each time they get together. And he and I have done what I call collaborative stories, where we start with an idea and then gradually make up the story together. These are a lot of fun and I mostly play the role of asking questions, helping him think a bit and fill in more detail.

We have not gotten to check out the other Children’s Lit authors yet, but plan to do so. And I am kicking myself for not going! (it was held here in Washington DC.) I had heard about it back in September, but did not really realize exactly what it was. I think that we would have had a blast and it would have been cool to actually see them in person (not to mention getting our Pigeon and Spiderwick Chronicles books signed!). Ah well. I will definitely keep my eye open for it in 2007.

Oh and then to top off the afternoon, I just found out that Lane Smith (illustrator for Jason’s favorite books The Stinky Cheeseman, Math Curse, and Science Verse) has a new book out called John, Paul, George, and Ben about the founding fathers. It looks really neat and from what I can tell has a running “big underwear” gag throughout which might be what it takes to finally interest the boys in my favorite part of history!

Man! I love the internet! The only problem is that I keep finding out about these neat new books when they first come out and then I have to debate about waiting to get them when they come out in paperback. Thank goodness for libraries!

~Stephanie

Appeared in the 52nd Carnival of Homeschooling.

I just read over on MotherReader that Mo Willems has a blog! What fun. He is the author of the incredibly funny Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (and various other Pigeon Books like Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog) and Knuffle Bunny.

Kyle has been a big pigeon fan for awhile now and I have to say from a parent’s perspective I love these books too. If you have to read a book over and over again, these are the books to choose. They have become one of my favorite gifts for young kids. I have yet to meet a child who did not think that pigey was just too cute (and could totally relate to him!). Even Jason (who is usually a bit too old for these kind of books) thought that it was really funny.

Oh, and be sure to check out MotherReaders blog…she is a p/t children’s library assistant (I think somewhere near me here in Virginia actually) and has great book suggestions (maybe because she has two girls the same age as the boys!).

I love her blog…great book info and a great sense of humor. I have found many, many a new book to try through her. The latest one being Chickens to the Rescue which was a huge hit (with both boys). Check her out!

~Stephanie

Well, I can blame it all on Lissa. She wrote this great post about comics and happened to mention Mouse Guard. I have been looking for books that might grab Jason’s attention and comic/graphic novels are definitely up his alley (very visual obviously and not as intimidating to read).

So I tracked down the nearest comic book store (which happened to only be about 10 minutes away - great find!). Turns out that they had Issues 1, 3, 4, and 5. Issue 1 and 2 are difficult to find (I got the last Issue 1 and am still on the hunt for Issue 2). These comics are gorgeous and about sword fighting mice, so what is not to love! It is going to be hard to wait until Christmas to give these to him.

While at the comic book store, I happened to find this wonderful graphic novel…the 2nd volume in the Owly series called Owly: Just a Little Blue. What is unique about this novel is that there are no words. The entire story (all 128 pages) is completely told in pictures! It is a sweet story about an Owl and his friend Wormy. They decide to build a birdhouse, but the birds do not want to come. I really think that Kyle will like it (although it is supposedly for slightly older kids), especially that he can read it himself. And I am sure that Jason will like it too.

So of course, I had to come home and jump online to see what I could find. No luck in finding Issue 2 of Mouse Guard, but I did find Volume 1 and 3 in the Owly series on half.com (actually found more then those but needed to exercise some self-control!)

In reading up on the Owly series on amazon, I found a link to the graphic novel Bone which I had heard about on the Children’s Literature email list I am on. I checked it out (amazon had an excerpt) and it is awesome! Funny, well written, interesting with a dragon to boot. So back over to half.com and I found the first 3 volumes. I contemplated getting the complete one book set (13 years worth and over 1,000 pages!) but decided that it was a bit too hefty and could not imagine Jason lugging that much of a brick with him. Again I exercised some restraint.

Now I can’t wait to get the books…I may need to give them a read through before they go under the Christmas tree…what fun!

Anyone else out there have any favorite comics or graphic novels? Jason loves Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side, but it is kind of fun to discover lesser known comics too.

~Stephanie

Shannon over at Phat Mommy wrote a great post this morning in response to all the “experts” lately (Dr. Phil, Luis Huerta in the New York Times article and Bonnie Erbe in her US News and World Report column) who seem very concerned about unschoolers “making it in the real world”. In It’s the Parenting, Stupid she muses:

What I’d like to know is what about parenting? I don’t have any statistics handy, but I’d be willing to bet that a statistically greater percentage of people with problems struggling to succeed and survive in the “real world” - petty criminals and the like - can trace those problems back to the way they were parented than to the way they were schooled.

Shannon makes some very good points, definitely take a moment to read it.

In the comments a poster asked several questions about unschoolers who did not teach their children to read until they were “ready”. I responded over there, but also wanted to expand on that response a bit over here.

What is your take on unschoolers who don’t teach their children to learn how to read until they’re “ready”? This can mean 8, 9, or 10 from what I have been reading.

I know that the first time I read about homeschoolers who had kids who were so “late” in reading, I was a bit surprised too. This goes against everything that we commonly hear…reading is the key to learning. Early reading is important.

Many schools nowadays are pushing reading so that if kids are not reading by the end of kindergarten it is recommended that they take summer classes to “catch up”. So the idea of a child of 8 or 9 or 10 not reading seems like it must be the kiss of death. And probably in school it would be. But for a homeschooled child, it does not have to be and in actuality can be what saves the love of reading for that child.

I learned to read when I was 4, and even though I didn’t always “like” learning, I truly believe it one of the best things my parents ever did for me. I feel as though a fondness for reading is CRUCIAL to success in any capacity and should be cultivated early.

I definitely agree that a love of reading and books should be cultivated early. And this is exactly what I did with Jason. He has always had a passion for good books and good stories from a very young age. A fondness for reading and books however does not always translate to early reading.

Reading is like walking (or any other developmental area such as crawling and speaking) which has a “normal” range of anywhere from about 9 months to 15 months. Some kids are ready to read early around 4. Others are ready to read at a later time like Jason. I read somewhere that the average age of reading is 8.

You can not make a child walk before they are ready. You can not make a child read before they are ready. You can however make a child think they are dumb or learn to hate reading if you push them before they are capable.

It seems like many people (educators and the general public alike) think that learning to read is just a matter of being taught. If you “get them early” you can give them a “head start”. But some kids (especially visual-spatial kids) need more time to develop then others. They just are not ready. And no amount of teaching can change that.

Sure you can start teaching them early, but if reading has not “clicked” with them, it really is like throwing those marshmallows. Why push, why make reading something “hard”, why risk having a child start thinking that they are dumb when waiting can bring out the same (or better) result?

Also, just out of curiosity, how does other learning get done without the ability to read?

The same way it does when kids are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or… By being read to, by doing interesting things and by playing. This is one of the great things about homeschooling. Not being able to read is not a hindrance.

In the years before he learned to read, Jason learned in all sorts of different manners…I read books all the time, he listened to tons of audio books, he watched lots of videos and tv shows, he played computer/video games, we performed science experiments, we played all sorts of games, we talked (a lot!). Now that he is reading we still do all of the above…reading is just one additional way that he learns. (Don’t get me wrong…reading is very important and makes a lot of things easier…but it still is only one way out of many in which kids learn).

Not reading did not hold him back. Now obviously, this would not work as well with a teacher who has 30+ kids. He/she would not be able to spend that much individual time with each child. Reading is critical for learning in school given a typical school model. But learning can and does happen with or without reading at home because we are free to change this model.

And the most important thing is that even though Jason learned “late”, he still absolutely loves books and and does not hate reading. And I can hear the sense of pride in his voice when he talks about his reading ability these days.

Now I am also not saying that you should always wait until kids are older…some kids wind up figuring it out for themselves at an earlier date. For other kids it becomes clear that they are ready earlier.

And I am not saying that you sit back and do nothing for kids who do not seem to be ready. There are tons of things (such as reading and talking about letters and sounds and so forth) we did before it clicked for Jason. But his not reading was not the focus of our homeschooling. I did not try program after program to figure out what the “problem” was. I had faith (thanks to listening to other homeschoolers who had gone through the same thing) that when he was ready it would click and I would know what he needed. And that is exactly what happened.

Waiting for a child to be ready also works for kids who are ready on a more “typical” timeframel. Last year when he was 5, Kyle became very interested in learning to read. He is much more of a sequential/typical learner, so I figured that we would give it a shot. After doing some lessons in 100 Easy Lessons it became apparent to me that he really was not ready. He loved the lessons but they were not sticking and I could see that he just was not totally getting it. So I stopped suggesting that we “do reading”. Kyle did not notice or remind me. We continued doing what we normally do…read and talk about reading and letters.

This fall, he again became interested in learning to read so I decided to give 100 Easy Lessons another try. The difference is incredible! He totally gets it. And remembers it. He reminds me to do his reading. It is coming very easily for him.

Now I could have spent this past year slogging through the lessons. But why risk him possibly learning that “reading is hard”? By waiting until he is ready, he is learning that “reading is easy” and reinforcing the belief that “reading is fun”.

And that, for me, is the best possible outcome…a child who enjoys reading and loves books.

~Stephanie

We have been into some good books lately, so I figured that I would mention them…

In the car, we have been listening to The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. The boys absolutely love it. As in we sit in the car in the garage when we get home so that we can listen to the end of the chapter. As in they get excited if we have to drive anywhere because they get to listen to it. It is about a 12 year old boy who finds out that he is Poseidon’s son…a half-blood and has to go on a quest to retrieve Zues’ lost master thunderbolt. Lots of humor, (I love the titles of the chapters) and lots of action. It is great to find a book that both boys (and myself) really enjoy.

Kyle and I have been working our way through the Time Warp Trio books by Jon Sczieska. Kyle is just getting into longer chapter books (he still enjoys longer picture books as well). I am just glad that I survived the Magic Treehouse Books. The Time Warp Trio books are similar, but much more enjoyable to read. They have a lot more humor as well. They are about 3 boys who have a magic book that takes them back into different time periods.

Jason and I are reading The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. Good fantasy book with a kind of complicated plot. We are about half way through and I am not sure how it is going to turn out. We both are enjoying it.

Jeff and Jason are reading Gregor The Overlander. Jason likes it a lot, I don’t think that Jeff is as thrilled with it. I may need to get the second book on tape for Jason.

We are also reading lots of other miscellaneous books. Jason is really enjoying the Theoni Pappas math story books like Fractals, Googols and Other Mathematical Tales and we have started reading the Murderous Maths series that are really funny and talk a lot about different math topics.

Kyle is still very much into birds, so we have been reading a lot of Usborne books and DK books on birds. Hummingbirds seem to be his favorite and we may need to try to set up a hummingbird feeder this spring.

I had thought at one time that it would be neat to keep a record of all the books that we read, but I realize now that would be impossible. We do enjoy our books though!

~Stephanie

While surfing around some of my children’s literature blogs, I came across a link to this post: Patrick’s Summer Reading Blues. The post caught my eye because Ginger Pye happens to be the book that we are listening to in the car (where we always have an audio book going).

Rick talks about how Ginger Pye (the “required summer reading” for his 8 year old son) turned out to be “problematic” in that his son (and Rick himself) found it very slow-moving and hard to relate to:

Patrick is eight years old, and he has already started forming opinions about school and reading: School is boring. They make you do things that don’t matter. Reading is boring. The books aren’t fun and they don’t mean anything to him.

Rick continues:

And I think Patrick put his finger on a problem that still troubles the world of children’s literature. What kids read is dictated by adults – from the writers and editors to the booksellers and librarians. We are all well-intentioned. We do our best to decide what will be good reading for children, but sometimes we pick what we think kids should like, not what they do like. And when we don’t promote books children actually want to read, what happens? We produce generation after generation of nonreaders.

He seems to be saying that if Newberry Award committees would pick better (more interesting) books to receive their award and if teachers would pick better books as required reading, then kids would learn that reading is fun.

I think that he misses the point.

The problem is not that the books are not interesting enough. Or that “good quality” children’s literature is more based on what adults want rather then what kids find interesting. The problem lies in the concept of “required reading”. There is no way that a teacher can assign a reading list with books that every child in the class will enjoy. Reading is much too personal of a thing. One kid’s favorite book is another kid’s drudgery. My guess is that there were some kids in Patrick’s class that did enjoy Ginger Pye. It sounds like there were many that did not.

Kids learn that “reading is boring” when you take the choice to finish a book away from them. And make passing a test (or some other way of “getting credit”) the only reason to finish a book. It is human nature…who likes being forced to do something that they do not enjoy?

I asked Jason (9 years old) what he thought of Ginger Pye. This led to a really fun discussion and he came up with a ranking system for the books he has read:

• X - Best (must be written in red flaming letters (at least I got the red part))
• A - Great
• B - Very Good
• C - Good
• D - OK
• E - Bad

He gave Ginger Pye a C - Good. I personally agree with Rick that Ginger Pye is not the most exciting book…the brother and sister seem almost “too good” and while they sometimes debate with themselves about “the right thing” they always choose the right thing. And they always get along with each other. I am starting to find them annoying. I asked Jason if he wanted to finish listening to it and he does. I think he is curious to find out who kidnapped Ginger Pye. I know that he has a theory because we have discussed it. He also knows that we do not need to finish the book. We have started listening to/reading books and decided not to finish them (Poppy by Avi is one that comes to mind…we all decided that it was a little too dark and depressing for now).

I find it interesting (and not surprising) that his rated X - Best books are all fantasy books (Harry Potter, Inkheart/Inkspell, Children of the Lamp, Eragon/Eldest, Edge Chronicles and A Wrinkle in Time)…can’t say that I blame him! But I do try to pick a variety of books to read to him. One of the biggest surprises that I have had is when I brought home The Secret Garden. I did not really expect him to enjoy but I had never read it, so I figured that I would give it a try and see if he liked it. As we got into it, I asked him several times whether he wanted to continue and he consistently said that he did (I actually think that he liked flow of the language). I asked him tonight what he would rate it and he smiled and gave it an A - Great. I also found it interesting that he did not rate any of the books E - Bad. I asked him if he had ever read a bad book and he said “nope”.

I have created a new page on my side bar with Jason’s Book Ratings that I hope to continue to update. He and I really enjoyed remembering and talking about the books that he has read and I really enjoyed getting his perspective.

Another point…these are not necessarily books that Jason has read himself. Right now the majority of the books on the list are books that Jeff or I have read to him or audio books (he goes through these like crazy). Mainly because his comprehension/enjoyment level is still above his reading level (although the two are getting closer and we have found books that he enjoys to read on his own). Here again, I encourage him to read books on his own by constantly looking for books that I think he will enjoy (we have had the most success so far with the Captain Underpants books). But he is not required to read a certain number of books or read for a particular amount of time each day/week. This is another practice that I feel can kill a child’s enjoyment of reading. It has been fun watching as he has gradually started reading more and more on his own.

How Jason learned to read may not have been overly typical but it has been on his time schedule and had been wonderful to watch unfold. And it has happened without any kind of required reading. Jason has a true love for books which is a joy to see.

I have to say that this is my favorite part of homeschooling - finding and sharing great books with the boys.

~Stephanie

Coincidently enough, two of my homeschool email lists had posts from moms wanting to relax their homeschooling and asking what a “typical unschooling” day looked like. Well, we never really have a “typical day” around here as much of the time we are winging it. I have general ideas of things that I want to accomplish each day and we have our activities schedule which drives the schedule somewhat. A lot of what I capture on my blog is “typical day” stuff and so I have added a “Typical Days” category.

Yesterday was not exactly a typical day, but I thought that I would write about it because I think that it illustrates what a lot of people worry about when they start becoming “more relaxed”. That the kids won’t learn anything if they don’t “do school”.

I woke up all set to get the kids moving to their dentist appointments at 11am. Kyle woke up not feeling well and said that he had a headache. Turns out that he was running a fever. Time to rework our plans! Luckily other then the dentist appointment, we had nothing that we had to do. We had a very busy week…drove back from the beach on Monday. Tuesday we had co-op and karate. Wednesday we went to a cool traveling show called Native Lands and spent the whole day outside. Thursday we got our hair cut (and man did we need it) and games class. So today we were going to hang out at home. Which I guess is what we wound up doing, just slightly different then planned.

Since Kyle was feeling so badly and I had some things that I needed to get done for VaHomeschoolers I decided that it would be fine to have a total veg day. Which meant that Jason played a lot of game cube and we all watched a lot of movies. And did nothing that looked like school. So what did we do all day? Let’s see…

Jason spent a lot of time working on his Paper Mario game. The interesting thing is that in the course of playing that video game, he needed cheats. Which meant that he needed to use the computer to find them (I am letting him do his own research and typing with my help). And once he found them he needed to find the applicable part. Which meant not only was he reading but he was skimming (the cheat was over 100 pages long and had walkthrough and tons of other game information) and using the info that he was reading to figure out where he was. Not an easy task for a kid who has only been reading for a year. Oh and don’t forget that since he was using my laptop he spent quite a bit of time using my touchpad (working his fine motor skills - this was not really easy for him!) At one point in the cheats they had written the answers to some riddles backwards…at first this really challenged Jason, but by the end he was getting the hang of it (this was a great use of his visualization skills - something that he works on a lot in OT). Then the game itself is just a series of problems to solve, trial and error. Lots of critical thinking and problem solving and experimentation going on there. At a couple of points during the day, Jason did go outside and ride his scooter and jump on the trampoline as well.

I read several books to Kyle while he laid on the couch and we watched part of the original Pink Panther movie. The boys did not really like it too much, so we switched over to Ice Age. I love that I now have a laptop because I can spend more time with the boys while they are playing or watching and I can get things done as well. It is fun to just hang out with them and we had some really nice and fun convesations. Kyle napped on and off throughout the day and I got some things done around the house. Then I remembered that we had taped a program off the science channel called the Unfolding Universe…all about black holes and space and cool stuff. We watched that until bedtime. Jason really got into it and was asking all sorts of questions and was surprised by some of the things that he learned (like how when the sun becomes a red giant it will engulf the earth’s orbit so that the earth is just an ember rotating within the sun).

So here we basically had a day where “all” we did was watch tv and play video games. Yet I can see where learning did take place. Does this mean that all I want is for my kids to sit around and play video games and watch tv all day? No…but not because learning won’t happen (because it does). Rather because there is so much to life and part of my job is to expose them to new and exciting things. So we do many different things, but those things also include video games and tv. For us, it is all about that ellusive thing called balance.

What I have found is that seeing the learning that happens when we are “doing nothing all day” helps me become more comfortable with relaxing my homeschooling. As my friend Shay likes to say, “there are no educational emergencies”. If you “miss” something and it is really important enough, there will be plenty of other opportunities to learn it.

So my advice to you, if you want to relax your homeschooling, is to start small and ease into it. Start letting go of your “school work” gradually and start looking for the learning that is going on. My personal feeling is that everyone has their own comfort level and you need to work with that. Of course others recommend to go cold turkey at first…whatever works for you! There is no right way or right destination. Follow your gut, look for the learning and see where it takes you. That is the beauty of homeschooling. You are never stuck. If something is not working for you, keep looking until you find something that does work. It is up to you.

And now it looks like I caught what Kyle had. Joy of joys. I think that we may need to find a friend for Jason to go play with so us two sickies can crash all day. The fun never ends…

~Steph 

I have come to the realization that there are just too many good authors and books out there. I have so many books I want to read with the boys and just not enough time to do it! Not to mention books I want to read for myself.

We always have an audio book going in the car, Jason listens to books in his room every evening and I read with the boys as much as I can…but there are still so many books out there! Currently I am reading Stuart Little with Kyle, Eragon with Jason and we are listening to The Boggart in the car. I picked up a few poem books to read to both the boys. One is entitled Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh…Jason actually picked it up after I got back from the library and read two on his own! I am finding that he seems to enjoy poetry (if the subject matter is fun)…I think that he likes that they are short and he likes the rhythm. And I am just starting The Golden Compass (actually a young adult novel by Phillip Pullman that is supposed to be really good) and John Adams by David McCullough which I am really enjoying.

I have decided to periodically share books and authors that we have discovered along the way with you all. Hopefully you will find something that strikes your fancy! And please remember…all kids are different, so I recommend that you pre-read (or at least skim) these books to make sure they are age-appropriate for your kids. Don’t just take my word for it!

Diana Wynne Jones
My favorite new author we have found so far. I find myself getting lost in her books…and Jason enjoys them too! Interestingly, I have found that sometimes her books start a little bit slow but as I keep reading I get more and more hooked. Please note that she writes for all ages, including young adult, so be sure to check the books out first before choosing them for your child. I have to admit that I am enjoying this part!

The Chrestomanci Chronicles Volume I
Made up of 2 books: A Charmed Life and The Lives of Christopher Chant A very unique take on wizards and witches. In these books, there are multiple parallel worlds created when a major event takes place which could have more then one outcome (such as a war being won or lost or a major event like the Industrial Revolution taking place). In some of these worlds, witches and wizards exist. In order to keep them from taking over worlds without magic, the Chrestomanci (a very powerful enchanter with 9 lives) must keep watch. These stories are about how 2 Chrestomancis come to learn about their special gifts and destiny.

The Chrestomanci Chronicles Volume II
Made up of 2 books: The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week These books take a slightly different approach…instead of being about the Chrestomanci, they are actually stories where the Chrestomanci plays a small but key role in the outcome of the book. The books themselves focus on different characters. The Magicians of Caprona focuses on a magic family in a culture similar to our Italian culture. An unknown enchanter is capitalizing on an ongoing feud between the two main magical families in Caprona. The two youngest members of each family find that it is up to them to figure out what is going on before it is too late. Witch Week is set in a boarding school in a world where witches and wizards are feared and hunted by inquisitors. Someone in class 6B is a witch but no one knows who. This story has a wonderful message but also deals with some of the more cruel kid behaviors. I actually have not read this one to Jason because he has not had much exposure to this type of behavior and I am not sure he would get why they were acting this way completely. Those of us who have been in school would definitely be able to relate though. So I will let him get a little older and bit more wordly ;o) before we read it.

Mixed Magics
This book is made up of 4 short Chrestomanci stories. Since the stories are shorter, they do not have quite the same depth as the other books, but they are still fun. They pull familiar characters from Volumes I and II.

Conrad’s Fate
The newest book in the Chrestomanci series. We have not read it yet, but are looking forward to it!

The Dalemark Quartet
My favorite series so far of her books. I started pre-reading these and got totally swept up in them. The Quartet consists of 4 books: Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, The Spellcoats and The Crown of Dalemark The first three books seem to not have much to do with each other…other then being set in the same place - Dalemark. However each holds a piece of the puzzle which is pulled together in the fourth book. I could not put the fourth book down…I was fascinated with how it was all coming together and needed to know how it ended! I still want to re-read these to see what I missed in the first reading. Which is a good because I still need to read them to Jason!

Well, this has gotten really long and I have not even gotten off my first author! Or mentioned two other books of hers that we really enjoyed: Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Air.

I will have to continue tomorrow…and the next day…and the next day….and the next day…

The boys and I just finished reading the latest issue of the Moo Cow Fan Club on Egypt. It was wonderful! We really love, love, love this magazine.

It is relatively new and only comes out 4 times a year and is really great. No advertising, no pop culture tie-ins and the boys love it. Jason is not big into magazines…does not like Spider, Highlights or Ranger Rick but he really likes Moo Cow. And Kyle is just now starting to really enjoy it as well.

They cover a single topic each issue (prior topics include Japan, Aztecs, Space, Forests, Scotland, Ancient Greece, Sports, Baby Animals, and Games) . It is really well done with a mixture of article types including comics, hands on activities, recipes, stories, articles and some pretty funny regular columns and characters.

I met the creator at a hsing conference a couple of years ago and really liked her approach and what she wanted to accomplish with the magazine. She was just starting to reach out to homeschoolers (and later I saw that she published a letter to the editor from a homeschooler which Jason thought was really cool). They publish pictures/drawings/letters from their readers and since they are small there is a good chance that if you send one in it will make it in.

Definitely check it out and spread the word!

As I mentioned earlier, Kyle wants to learn to read, so we have started using 100EZ lessons. I wasn’t 100% sure that he was quite ready yet but I figured that it couldn’t hurt to give it a try. We are on lesson 19 and I am amazed at how well he is doing! And I am also amazed at how differently he is learning when compared to Jason. It is obvious that they really do process things differently (Jason is a more right brained, big picture kind of kid where Kyle is more left brained, sequential kind of kid). Really neat to see…

With Kyle, I can see how he really does see each individual letter…sounding out words makes total sense to him. He sits there and sounds out each letter, blends them and gets the word. Jason, on the other hand, takes in the whole word and has to work at breaking it down into letter sounds. He does a lot more “guessing”, using the context and beginning sounds as a clue to figuring it out. I can tell that Kyle is totally focused on each letter and does not realize exactly what he is reading until he sounds it out and puts it together. He needs all the pieces before he can figure out the word.

The other interesting difference is that Jason seems to learn words faster…it takes him fewer times before a word is “his”, stored in his sight word memory. Most likely because he stores words as pictures, making it easier to recognize. Kyle will come upon the same word and not recognize it until he sounds it out. And often even immediately after he has read it, he will not remember it and needs to sound it out again (I have noticed this with myself as well with words that I do not know). Kyle stores words as groups of individual letters and as he gets more practice with translating the letters to sounds he will get faster at recognizing words.

The neat thing is that neither way is right or wrong…they are just different. And a reminder of how critical it is to work *with* the strengths of each.

The first memory I have of Kyle and books when he was about 6 months old and I had this moment of realization that I was not reading to him! Jason had loved books at that age and I felt like a very neglecting mother for overlooking this critical activity. So that night, after Jason went to bed, I pulled out a board book and snuggled up with Kyle and started to read. Kyle wanted nothing to do with it! He had just learned to crawl and he was too much on the go to want to sit and read. Made me feel much better! I wasn’t neglecting my poor second born.

So I continued to read to Kyle periodically as much as he would let me. We gradually progressed to Dr Suess and Go Dog Go somewhere around 3. The interesting thing is that Kyle not only wanted to listen to the story, he wanted know more about the characters and would ask tons of questions on each page. My favorite was when we were reading Go Dog Go…he started telling me how the green bird was best friends with the green dog. Sometimes it made getting through the book rather difficult! I found it very interesting how he saw a story as a springboard to his own imagination…always wanting to know more about the characters or why they were doing things. I still worried because we did not read as much with Kyle as we had with Jason, but I realized that this was by his choice. And I also realized that he loved books and being read to just as much as his brother, just in his own way.

When Kyle was 4, I decided to try reading a chapter book and picked My Father’s Dragon, but I could tell that he was not quite following it, so I went back to the longer picture books that Kyle really enjoyed like Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel. During this time we also played around with letters and letter sounds a bit. He did not at this time know many of his letters although we talked about them often, they just did not seem to “stick” so I did not push him. Kyle enjoyed rhyming games and some games from Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye.

Around the time he turned 5, something seemed to click. He got interested in learning his letters and really liked to play a version of hopscotch where I made a board of various shapes on the driveway with chalk and put different letters in each box. Then I would call out the letter and he had to jump to it. We also put letters in the bottoms of muffin tins and threw pennies into the tins. If he could name the letter, he got to keep the penny. Around this time I also started reading My Father’s Dragon again and he really enjoyed it. He still loves his picture books as well so we would read one chapter from My Father’s Dragon and 2 picture books before bed.

Kyle is now 5 and a half, and he does know all his letters. He is very interested in learning to read and has been asking me to show him how, so we have started 100 EZ Lessons. I was not 100% sure he was ready, but after about 8 or 9 lessons, he is doing great! And he wants to do the lessons (we only do 1 or 2 at a time and not every day). He is very proud that he can now tell me what sounds different letters make and is constantly pointing out sounds/beginning letters of different words he comes across.

What amazes me is how natural this whole process has been. Every once in awhile I would panic about not doing enough with Kyle (like when he turned 5 and still did not know his letters) but I have to say now that, like his brother, he learns things when he is ready. And the other interesting thing is that his path has been completely different then that of his brother! At this point, I do not really think that he has too many sight words (maybe a few from his video games) but he is not having any problems picking up the phonics we have covered so far. It seems to make sense to him.

I am not sure exactly when Kyle will make the leap to reading. But he is definitely on his way there. And I am glad that I am along for the ride.

When Jason was younger, I never really set out to “teach him to read”. But he has always liked books and being read to so we did that a lot. He loved board books starting at around 6 months. We moved on to Dr Suess and short picture books. At around 2 he would easily sit through Cat and the Hat and longer picture books. Around 3 or so we started on chapter books…Thomas the Tank and Winnie the Pooh (AA Milne not Disney). He loved them! During that time we also played around a lot with letters…had the refrig magnets and read alphabet books (Dr Suess again was a fav).

Jason loved anything that rhymed. We would play rhyming games in the car…I would call out a word and he would give me something that rhymed…sometimes a real word sometimes a goofy made up word. He knew the names of letters somewhere around 3 (maybe 4??) or so. That, coupled, with his love of books led me to believe that he would be reading “on time” if not early. I was in no rush though (I have always believed in letting kids do things in their own time) and in my research into homeschooling had learned that kids can and do learn to read without being pushed or formally taught. So I continued to read to Jason and we played around with words (he was really interested in how words that sound the same can be spelled differently or how words that are spelled the same can have different meanings). He slowly started picking up sight words..his first being stop (from seeing stop signs) followed later by play and exit (from his computer games). Occasionally I would try playing a game from Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye, but he pretty much was never interested and I never forced the issue.

Sometime around 5, we were talking and he told me that he was afraid to try to learn how to read because he thought that it might be too hard. I reassured him that when he was ready, he would learn just fine and that everyone became ready at different times. He has very perfectionistic tendencies so I did not push the issue (not to mention he was only 5!).
So I kept reading to him and talking about letters and letter sounds and words etc. At 5 he was thoroughly infatuated with Harry Potter and the Redwall series. Jason also picks up words incredibly easily…he has always had an awesome vocabulary…if he hears a word in a story it becomes his and he will go on to use it appropriately (my favorite was telling me that his little brother “cut a comical figure” when he was 5 and my mom loves to tell the story of how at 2.5 he told her that the puddle had evaporated!).

So we pretty much went on in this manner for the next year or so. I continued to read to him (and he also LOVES audio books…we go through so many of these..thank goodness for the library). He gradually picked up more and more sight words. I would talk about/point out letter sounds and sometimes try to show him how to break down words into phonics but it never seemed to click and he honestly was resistant to hearing it. I could tell that he was not ready. I will admit though when he was 7 I started worrying about if he would ever be ready! Luckily I had heard many stories on homeschool email lists about kids who read “late” and caught up quickly so I just kept doing what we were doing. One nice thing about homeschooling is that his not being able to read did not stop him from learning…I just kept reading to him about the subjects he was interested in and we also watched a lot of discovery/science channel shows. Not reading did not slow his learning down but I do know that it bothered him to not be able to read…he was very aware that other kids his age and younger could read. We had lots of conversations about kids being ready to do things at different ages.

Somewhere around 7.5 I realized that he actually had amassed a pretty large number of sight words that he could read…mostly from seeing them in books we read and from seeing them in video games. He did not consider this reading, however, even though I did. I also realized that he seemed to not quite understand that there were rules for figuring out how to sound out words (despite my talking about and showing him phonics informally throughout the past years). He seemed to be struggling a bit at pulling the whole thing together. At this point I thought that he could benefit from something that explained phonics in a more structured way. At first I checked out Phonics Pathways from the library. It was an utter disaster…it focused very much on letter sounds and letter blends. Jason hated it and did not see the point…he did not want to sound out letters…he wanted to read words! We did not stick with it very long.

I then decided to check out Teach Your Child to Read in 100EZ Lessons. I was a bit turned off by the strange notations they used and the directions to the teacher that said that I had to read the text exactly as written or it would not work! Needless to say we ignored that. Actually we ignored a lot of the directions and just took what we needed from it…we did not do the writing section, I stopped doing the reading comprehension questions after the first couple of ones when it became clear that Jason had no problems understanding what he was reading. We did not do the number of repetitions they recommended either because Jason did not need them (and had no patience for them). Basically we used it to explain the basic phonics rules and as practice in reading words and sentences. It got him reading words in the first lesson or so and sentences very quickly so he could see results while still giving him the phonics info. It also turns out that since he is such a visual kid, the strange notations they used were just what he needed and he progressed naturally from needing the visual cues to reading normal text.

I would say that his reading has really clicked only in the past year or so since he turned 8. But now that it has clicked he has be progressing very fast. He still is not reading books for pleasure but that is because his reading comprehension is well above his reading level. He wants to be reading Star Wars, The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, the Spiderwick Chronicles, Redwall, and Harry Potter, not “easy readers”. One easy reader that we have found that he enjoys is the Commander Toad series by Jane Yolen. He has absolutely no problems reading his video games now and he is constantly catching me off guard by reading something that I know just a few months ago he could not (menus, signs, posters etc). I have no doubt that he will in time become a voracious reader…he loves books too much not to. He goes through audio books like water…I just brought about 10 home from the library which will probably last us a bit over a week.

One thing that I notice also is that even though he does know phonics, it is NOT his reading method of choice. He very quickly stores sight words (as opposed to me who has to sound out an unfamiliar word many times before “knowing” it) and is awesome at using the context and look of the word to figure out what it is saying. He is a visual/spatial learner ( also know as a right brained learner) and as I read more about his learning style, his journey towards reading makes more and more sense. He sees things in pictures, not words. So he needed more time to be able to recognize and make sense of words (in the beginning I noticed that the words he had the most trouble with remembering were words with which he could not associate an image…the, and, what, here etc) Basically he is a big picture/concept break down type of learner (as opposed to a learn the individual parts and build up learner). He needed a large number of sight words in order for phonics to make sense to him. Traditional phonics made no sense to him until he had a context in which to put it into…learning the “building blocks” made no sense until he knew what he was building. But even now that he knows the building blocks, he still prefers not to use them! And it is not holding him back. I am amazed at how quickly he adds to the words he knows by sight…there are many words I know that I have never shown him that he has just picked up from the context of things that he has read.

It has been a very interesting journey and I am not sure who has learned more…him or me! Although he did not follow a traditional path when it came to learning to read, he followed the one that works best for him. And knowing him, I am sure this won’t be the last time he takes a different route to get where he is going!

Also published on Life Without School.