Gifted, Normal, or Handicapped??!!

Like many homeschool moms, I am a part of several online homeschooling groups.  We all share ideas that work and ask for help when things aren't working.  Some advice is great (which I frequently save in my head to use later, whether or not I have had the same problems) and some advice is exactly the opposite of what should be done.  When I have the inclination, I put in my "two cents," but frequently I just read what has been said and keep my comments to myself. 

Sometimes, though, something in a question or comment catches my attention and sticks with me. There is one phrase which I see very often and it is much worse than fingernails on a chalkboard (sorry, that reference is not for the younger generation of moms - fingernails on a white board just don't have the same effect. I mean it is extremely irritating.).  Every time I read this particular phrase, my teeth grit and I feel myself getting irate at a person I don't know and will probably never meet.  In the past two days, I have counted at least 6 times this one group of words has been in posts from moms who are either a few months into their first year homeschooling or those who are seriously considering homeschooling. Sometimes it is part of the question, sometimes this phrase is part of the information building up to the question, but my irritation (and sometimes outright anger) is still there. 

I am referring to a very proud parent talking about their child as one "who was tested by the school and found to be gifted."  They then ask for curriculum recommendations for this special child. 

Now, I have pause to say that every child is special.  I honestly am not discounting that.  Actually, every child was uniquely created for a special purpose by the one and only living God.  That makes every child infinitely valuable.  So please realize I am addressing this post to academic performance, not to the child himself.  Having said that, however, I will continue my rant.

Parents who say their child is "gifted" do not understand the reason why schools give these tests, nor do they understand what these tests entail or why the school gives them.  As a teacher in public schools for 12 years, I gave this test many, many times and saw which students were identified as "gifted," and I also saw how these children compared academically with other children.

The gifted test was given at some point to every child in the district where I worked.  They tried to give it to everyone in (I think) 1st grade, but if a child transferred from another district, or if they changed the test slightly, I had to give the test in another grade. 

The test is simply identifying patterns.  There are not many directions given before the test, basically telling the children to find the best match. I had a child who was in 4th grade and didn't even know all of his alphabet score as "gifted."  I've had children who truly were gifted score within normal range. It is simply a test. That is all.  I would look down the list every year (at least the years we were able to see the list) and it was like someone randomly selected a certain number of students. 

Let me tell you a couple of case studies.  I had one student who was tested "gifted," and he actually performed well on other academic tests. He could read on a 12th grade level in 5th grade. This child had almost straight Cs for grades because he did not apply himself in any way.  He was more interested in playing than in reading. He did his work too quickly to be accurate.  He did not care to "re-do" assignments and used his incredible gift for math to figure out how many he could miss and still get the grade which he felt was acceptable. This very talented boy either dropped out of high school or was expelled permanently in high school (I've forgotten which).  In any case, I do not think he finished.  Another student who scored very poorly on this test and was very low academically in elementary school.  He was unkempt and would rather stare blankly at the wall than attempt any assignment, no matter the academic level.  He worked hard as he got older and graduated with his class, getting himself out of the "special" classes and into "regular" classes with his hard work.  He was joining the military, the last time I spoke to him. 

Based on my experiences, I would say the "gifted and talented" test has no real correlation to academic success at all.  Don't give me Einstein - there should have been some pattern in the results if the test were valid, which there wasn't, so it isn't.  Don't give me the "he is bored" speech, either. I had some fabulous experiments and projects and still had students come to me in the middle of them and say, "I'm bored. Are we done yet?"  Student curiosity is what has been lost, not the fact that there aren't enough pictures in their AP History textbook.  I hate to burst your bubble, parents of "gifted and talented" children, but it was never real in the first place.  The real gifted and talented children use inquiry skills to discover things they are interested in, not just memorize facts which they spew back on a multiple choice annual state test.

So, why give the "gifted and talented" test at all? 

Money, of course.  The school districts get additional funds for every student classified as "gifted." The stated purpose was to get assistance to the gifted children for enrichment purposes, but most of the time the money never made it to any program identified as gifted.  Usually a reading specialist or a teacher in one of the arts classes was given the money and told to get something for the gifted students.  The years teachers were given more money for supplies, we all got things which could be used by the entire class, not just the "gifted" students.  When a gifted program was started, they usually just pulled the students out of the classroom during instruction time to play games, so when the child returned, he either had to figure out for himself how to do the work or the teacher had to teach a special lesson for that person, which is very difficult to find time for.  Most of my students just asked if they were required to go, then added that they preferred to remain in the classroom.

Another reason this phrase of a parent wanting special work for their "gifted" child bothers me is that homeschooling IS a gifted program.  You, as the mom, get to teach your child in an almost ideal teaching situation.  My daughter, who is academically delayed, has highly THRIVED in an environment where she is the only student.  My daughter gets the full attention of the teacher (or half of my attention, when I have another student here).  She can ask anything she does not understand and get immediate feedback.  She gets the opportunity to discuss what she has learned.  If she discovers something she wants to research further, she does it. You can't do that in a classroom of 27 students!  Homeschool IS a gifted program.

Yet, most of these moms who are "crowing" about their child's "giftedness" are also looking for a curriculum that they, as the mom and teacher, do not need to be involved with.  That, I do NOT understand. I ask moms occasionally what their child is studying in Science or Social Studies, and most of the time the mom doesn't know.  THAT, I do not understand. You want to pull your child out of a classroom WITH a full-time teacher (good, bad, or otherwise) and put them in a situation where they have NO assistance with their learning??  You take away any opportunity for your child to share what he is learning, and therefore removing a vital component to the learning process. Really??!! 

I know what schools mean by a "gifted and talented" student.  It means in 1st grade, he could randomly select squares that the test designers said held a pattern.  Even the truly "gifted" student needs a teacher sometimes. The real question to me is: What do these moms mean by a "gifted and talented" child?  I don't think even they know.

What curriculum will help a gifted child?

Any curriculum which encourages self-discovery, discussion of academics, and presentations of revelations found by the student will develop a gifted child. Yes develop them.  These three elements encourage a depth of thinking which most pre-made curriculum cannot provide.  This is why I LOVE the style of education called "A Thomas Jefferson Education," based on a book by that name by Oliver Van de Mille. Their website is:  http://www.tjed.org/ .  I love their website for resources and ideas for the teaching parent. 

It's really not that hard to encourage your child to think. Get rid of the worksheets and have your child come up with both the problems and the answers himself.  Don't give a worksheet of 25 x 73.  Instead, tell your child to make up 10 story problems where he is solving two-digit by two-digit multiplication problems. Then he has to solve the problem. That sounds very simple, but it's really a great test to see if he understands the problems. 

Get a list of questions designed for Blooms Taxonomy.  Let him pick one question to answer out of each "step."  You as the parent thinks he will pick the easiest problems.  You can't. The problems are stepped in depth of thought and understanding. My students learned more from creating a booklet with 6 pages (each page answering one question from Blooms) than they ever got with a pre-designed multiple choice test. If they didn't read (or understand) the material, they couldn't do the work.  It was just that simple. If they read it but didn't really care about it, by the time they finished the 6 questions, they had learned a lot.

Make your child think, research, and discuss academics. Put "Captain Underpants" and "Harry Potter" away (yes, I did say Harry Potter.  More pages doesn't mean the child is becoming a better reader).  Have your child research things in the real world around them or that they are reading about.  Develop curiosity and encourage the child to experiment. Believe it or not, they were designed to explore, and they end up loving studies on actual events and existing objects or creatures.  Take field trips regularly, even going back to the same museum many times in the same year.  Personal experiences are necessary for a well-rounded understanding of a topic.

Then, once your child has learned, let him discuss with someone who has similar experiences or who has researched the same topic.  Mentors in the Thomas Jefferson program cannot just be lazy teachers and pull out a teachers manual.  If a public school teacher had no idea what a child in his class were learning about, he would be fired (okay, not really, but parents would be upset - it's harder than that to fire a unionized teacher).  Why do some homeschool moms think they are exempted from involvement because their child was "tested to be gifted by the school"?  If you aren't letting your child tell you what he learned at least once a day, then he isn't learning it.

A child will be what you expect him to be.  If you expect your child to be successful, he eventually will be.  If you expect your child to struggle, he will.  Forget the labels of "gifted" or "better than the other children" (that phrase HORRIFIES me!! but I also hear it a lot).  Let your child be a child and not worry about being compared to other children. If he is interested in quantum physics in 6th grade, let him study it.  He will probably satisfy his curiosity and spend his junior year in high school studying the dietary habits of earthworms, or some such thing. Help him to learn and develop a depth of thinking which is missing in most school rooms today, as well as a curiosity to learn about the world around him. Even a developmentally-delayed child will become successful if she is given the right encouragement.

Don't tie your child down to be "better than others."  Let him soar in his own space and enjoy the heights and depths that only real education provides.

Write Your Own Story Problems

The purpose of Math is to teach people to think.  It teaches patterns that people can use in real-life situations to resolve problems.  Unfortunately, I think a lot of that purpose is lost in today's world of worksheets and lists of isolated "math problems."  Children (and adults) do not connect the value of higher level math to everyday life.  It is important that you teach your child (or children) how to connect what they are doing to the world around them.

If you are using the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract method of teaching, you are well on your way of teaching connections from "school work" to the "real world."  When I teach parents how to teach, I separate the 3 angles into separate lessons.  When I am using that method to teach children, however, they do not even notice that I've changed gears.  They just know I am asking them to do the next step.  Here's an example of a lesson I used this week with both my daughter and a 2nd grader whom I tutor.

I gave them the (abstract) problem of 17+26.  I write it vertically on a piece of paper (small paper, actually - a note pad).  I then asked them to solve the problem.  Both girls struggled a little, even though we've done similar problems in the past. 

Not waiting long for them get frustrated, I pulled out some dimes and pennies and had them show me 17 cents (one dime, seven pennies). Under those coins, I had them show me 26 cents (two dimes, six pennies).  I then asked them to put the pennies together and see if they had enough to trade for a dime. They, of course, could and I physically got a dime to trade for ten of the pennies. We stopped and marked on the paper that we now had 3 pennies (in the answer spot) and added one dime (over the tens place in the problem).  I then had them count the dimes and they added that answer (4) under the answer bar so that the answer was 43. 

I then took it a step farther.  In the past, we stopped at that point, but now we needed more to develop the concept.  I had both girls write their own story problem for the math equation I had given them. I did the writing (no reason to make it more frustrating - they can do the writing after we've done this a few times).  I asked them each to name something that there could be 17 of.  My daughter said stuffed animals, my tutoring student said diamond rings.  I then asked them to tell me who has the stuffed animals or rings. My daughter said they were hers, my student said her grandmother had them.  I then asked if the addition symbol meant they needed more or less of the toys or rings, and they both said more. After writing 2 sentences, I told them the answer bar meant we needed a question.  They both needed help coming up with a question related to the problem, but I happily helped them at that point by giving them 2 different questions which would be acceptable and let them choose which one to use. I know that in the near future, I will not always need to help them so much, but it's okay to give a lot of help when learning a new concept.  Here are the Math problems we ended up with:

(1)  I had 17 stuffed animals.  I had 26 more in my tent.  How many stuffed animals did I have in all?

(2)  My grandmother had 17 diamond rings.  She had a girl party and got 26 more.  How many diamond rings did she have for the party?

(hmmm...If it's going to get me 26 diamond rings, I might want to figure out what this girl party is and have one myself -haha!)

We then read over the problem a couple of times, allowing the girls to each read aloud the story problem she had written and making sure they saw that it matched the numbers in the math problem we had solved first.  After that, we did one more problem in the same way, though for my tutoring student, we chose a subtraction problem (with regrouping).

NOTE:  these lessons were separate for each girl, but it would have been educational, also, if they had been at the same time so they could compare their story problems.

That was the entire Math lesson.  It took about 20 - 30 minutes, but I believe they got much more out of it than if I would have given them a worksheet with 25 addition problems on it.  I want them to understand how math connects to the real world, because when they become adults, I want them to be able to think for themselves, and math is a monumental piece to that incredibly complex problem of developing reason.

Regrouping with Addition Problems

Teaching some math concepts can be difficult.  If you have read this blog much, you know that for Math skills, I like to use the concrete-pictorial-abstract pattern for every skill.  Some basic math, though, needs a creative method to be able to make an idea "stick."  Regrouping, in both addition and subtraction, is one of those skills.

 Regrouping is a better word to describe what we used to call "borrowing" or "carrying over."  It is used in both adding and subtracting where you have to exchange values.

 

One thing I learned early on when I was a teacher is that children have to value something before they want to learn about it. I have also found that children (as well as adults) value money.  I use money often as a manipulative to teach difficult skills.  As much as possible, I use real coins.  This was very difficult to do when I had 27 students, as it was hard to gather enough coins needed and not worry about theft, but as a homeschooler or as a tutor, I just grab some coins out of our "change cup" which we keep on the refrigerator.  (My husband will never miss anything except the quarters!  And besides, they usually go right back into the cup when the lesson is over)  I discovered that before the child sees the skill itself as important, s/he will value the coins and/or bills that you are using to teach the concept. Either way, it gets their attention and, therefore, makes the skill easier to teach.   Also, when I had to reteach this skill to 4th or 5th graders, they did not feel embarrassed that they did not understand something which they should have picked up in 1st or 2nd grades.  In fact, the students who did not need to relearn this concept were often jealous that they were not included in this lesson! 

 

Before using these coins in your Regrouping lesson, make sure you have taught your child that a penny is worth one cent and a dime is worth ten cents.  Also help them understand that you can exchange ten pennies for one dime.  They don't have to fully understand that, as this lesson will have the added benefit of helping them understand that also, but it helps if you are not teaching two different new skills at once.  They also need to understand how to add two digit numbers without regrouping.

 

THE LESSON - Addition with Regrouping

Concrete:

Write the problem on a piece of paper:

  34

+28

 

Then pull out dimes and pennies.  I usually make sure I have 20 pennies and 10 dimes (per child) as a general rule.

 

Have the child show you 34 cents using dimes and pennies.  Have some divider to put the dimes on the left side and the pennies on the right side.  (I use the line down the center of my expandable table, but if you don't have that you can use a ruler, a licorice stick, a long toy- anything that is straight). 

 

About an inch below those coins, using the same dividing line as the 34, have your child show you 28 cents. 

 

Explain that they just showed you the problem. To add them, push the pennies together and the dimes together.

 

Now ask if they have enough pennies to trade you for one dime (which you take from the "extras" pile).  They should carefully count 10 pennies and push them to the penny "extra" pile.  You give them a dime, but put it on the dime side.

 

Pictorial:

Tell your child that you have changed the number of pennies and dimes you have, so you need to change the problem to show what you now have.   You added a dime, so you have to write a 1 to the dime side of the problem to show what you just did.

 

Now count how many pennies are left. Have your child write the 2 under the 8.  (for younger children, or even some older children, they have had hard time lining things up. Draw a line on the problem to separate the ones from the tens, extending it into the answer space.  This will resemble the separating line on the table, which helps).  Tell them you now have 2 "ones" because pennies are worth one cent.  (When I say an important lesson, I usually make them repeat it verbally a few times to make sure they heard me and know it's important). 

 

Now remind the child that they added a dime and point again to the 1 he added on the paper.  Then have him count the dimes.  Have him write the "6" in the tens column.  Tell him he has six "tens" because each dime is worth ten cents.  

 

Have him tell you how many "tens" he has.  Then tell you how many "ones" he has.  Then have him read the answer.  Many children, especially at first, will say something like "six and two."  Help them see that if you take away the line, it is "sixty-two."  You write the word "sixty-two" under the answer.

 

Abstract:

Now go back and solve the problem you just did together.  I use "touch math," so at this point, I or my child writes the dots on the digits of the problem.  (you can skip that step if you do not want to use touch math.  If you don't know about it, look it up.  It is a fabulous method of teaching counting, and it ends up being much more accurate than fingers.  They have some free materials so that you can see where to put the dots, which for me is all that I used from the program). 

 

Then have them add the ones.  I usually say this several times, trading out the words "pennies" and "ones" so they can connect them in their brain.  Do NOT use the actual pennies at this stage unless your child is completely lost, in which case you probably need to spend more time counting single digits instead of going on to double digits.  Remind them you traded ten pennies for one dime, so they should trace over the 2 in the answer place and the one that you added above the dimes.  Get them to explain to you why that "1" was added.  (Even if you just said the answer, the more your child can explain, the more you know he understood the concept).  We put the dot in the center of that "1" for touch math.

 

Next, add the tens.  Talk about what they are doing, using the words "dimes" and "tens" often and interchangeably. 

 

Have them read the answer (which you already wrote in words).  Then have them copy the words below where you wrote them.

 

Do 3 - 4 more problems, then stop for the day.  You want to give your child time to "stew over" the method of solving the problem.  This should be done  3 - 5 times per week for at least 2 weeks (about 5 problems per day) before you use problem with hundreds in them.  After a few days, you can start having problems with a hundred in the answer, but you will need to have a dollar to trade for ten dimes.  Use the pennies and dimes every day, but as your child understands the concept better, you will find that they are using them less and less.  It's okay for them to like playing with the manipulatives (the dimes and pennies), as long as they are using them correctly to solve the problems.  He will stop playing with them as he gets excited about solving the problem correctly.  It shouldn't be rushed because this will actually hurt the learning process. 

 

Don't use the virtual money (meaning the programs on the internet) until AT LEAST 2 weeks of successfully using the real or play pennies and dimes.  Anything online requires a higher level of understanding and your child will lose a lot of the value of this type of learning if you ignore the physical money and go straight to the virtual world.

 

Have fun!

Best Math Method

My favorite method of doing math is to use the concrete-pictorial-abstract method with every problem. Concrete means they use something they can move around to show the concept. Pictorial means they draw a picture showing the concept. Abstract means they use numbers and symbols to show the concept.

 

When they are first learning a concept (at the beginning of the year), you do all or most of the work in the concrete stage. As they progress, you add the pictorial and abstract stages, doing less with the concrete stage but not eliminating it all together, even after they show they fully understand. This type of learning is not a quick "how many can you finish in 2 minutes" type of learning. I tried to never do more than 10 problems per day, sometimes only doing one to three problems. The children will spend a lot of time on whatever stage they are most comfortable with. In the concrete stage, all they want to do is play with the manipulatives (whatever you are using to demonstrate the concept). When they start to understand the concept better, they will get very detailed in their drawings for the pictorial stage. They want to put whiskers on the cats or make the "x" representing the dogs have a face to match that animal in the concrete stage. That's okay. It means they are progressing in understanding the concept. When they start to feel comfortable in the abstract stage, you still want them to demonstrate the other stages, but you will want to start using story problems rather than just the raw numbers and symbols. If a child understands the basic concept, go on to harder numbers but don't change the overall concept you are working on for the year. Also, don't forget to include learning about money at each stage. That will have to be after they've worked with the concrete items and are starting to feel comfortable with the pictorial or abstract stage. Measurements can also be added, but be careful not to go too fast. If you're teaching the counting concept that year, think about using other objects besides rulers, etc., when you measure. "That couch is 10 of Daddy's shoes long!" Don't introduce fractions of a measurement before you have talked about fractions, for example. It will be very frustrating and your child will probably regress.

As a teacher, I couldn't believe how many 4th and 5th graders did not fully understand counting! Teaching it this way ensures that they know what they are doing it and can use these basic math concepts when they get to harder problems. Let me give you a couple of examples at different ages.

(1) When my daughter first stayed home, she could count but she could not match the numbers with objects (one-to-one correspondence). For the "concrete" step, I gave her a small box and had her fill it with stuffed animals. She lined them up in the living room (this took an excruciatingly long amount of time because she had to explain to each one why he was chosen before the others, but that was okay because she needed to do that). We then took some store-bought number flash cards and put one number next to an animal, in order. Then we went down the line, counting them as we went. I would do things like trade the places for the animals and we would count again to see if the total changed. That was math for the day (it took about 30 - 45 min. to do it). We did this several days using My Little Ponies, Barbies, Noah's Ark animals, etc. so she could get the concept. She would never have gotten tired of playing with her toys, so I had to decide when to change the activity - which was about 2 weeks. (I was bored, but I wanted her to really understand so I had to find a way to be excited about it). At the time, she had a severe fear of writing (thanks to public school), so we had to skip the pictorial and abstract, but if we didn't skip it, the pictorial would have been to draw a circle or an "x" for each animal and write the total number next to it. The abstract step would have been to write tally marks (teaching her to bundle them together) and put "=18", or whatever the total was.

 

(2) Addition was done with the same toys. Concrete: we got 3 plush dogs and 2 plush cats and put them side by side. We counted how many dogs we had, then how many cats and then talked about how many animals there were total. (I picked out the toys we used this time). Since my daughter was still afraid of writing, I did the drawing of the pictures, but I was just very basic. I used circles for dogs and x's for cats. Then I wrote the number 3 under the dogs, the number 2 under the cats. Then I circled them and wrote 5 outside the circle. It would have been better if she had drawn it, but with her fears, I had to take what she was willing to give, so she leaned against my arm and we talked through everything I drew. On the same page, I wrote 3+2=5. We talked about the problem, I had her point to the right animals, the drawings, and the abstract numbers so that I knew she understood the concept. I think 5 was the maximum we did. As she learned how to add, I let her pick the toys we would use. For subtraction, we did the opposite.


For multiplication and division, I will use what I did when I taught school (my daughter isn't there yet). We would take objects and group them.

(3)   Multiplication is simply repeated addition (3+3+3=9 or 3x3=9). I taught them that the "x" symbol meant "groups of," so 3x3 should be read "three groups of three." Then we used these objects (we used much smaller items in the classroom than stuffed animals because we're dealing with large numbers) to create the problems. 7x8 meant 7 groups of cheerios with 8 in each group. Then we practiced counting by multiples to find out how many of the items we actually had. Pictorial stage was shown by putting an "x" inside a circle for each group, separating the groups and writing the numbers outside each circle, then drawing a large circle around the entire group and putting the total number near that circle. Abstract would be to write a multiplication problem. After they understand this concept very, very well, then you can teach the entirely abstract concept of larger multiplication. Look into Lattice multiplication when you get to this stage. I taught both the traditional method and Lattice Multiplication. Every problem had to be done twice. We only did 10 problems per day, but they knew what they were doing!

(4) Division is taught just the opposite of multiplication. Division is simply repeated subtraction (9-3-3-3=0). You start with the total amount and divide the manipulatives into smaller, equal groups with remainders. Draw the pictures by drawing the total amount and then circling groups out of the whole. In the abstract stage, though, you will want them to write every division problem 3 different ways.
          
54÷6=9

         9
 54√‾₆‾ (sorry, this one didn't come out on Word well)

54/6=9 (should look like a fraction)

Go on to "long" division only after they fully understand the basic concept. I did not teach "short" division to every child because it should only be taught if they fully know what they are doing with long division.

(5) This method can be continued with the higher math skills, as well. In Singapore, they require all three stages (concrete-pictorial-abstract) to be used through the top grade in High School. One vital concept in algebra is to make sure both sides of the equation are equal. Use a balance scale to get this concept across. The pictorial stage is very important, because it's hard to find different weights to show these concepts. You can use different lego blocks sitting on a scale drawn on paper to show the concept

Phonics or Whole Language: Which is Right?

Reading programs boast that they can teach your child to read in a few months.  Professional tutoring businesses guarantee that they can raise your child’s reading ability one to three years.  What is the best way to teach reading?

           

Phonics and Whole Language are the two prominent methods for teaching this basic skill.  The two systems are complete opposite ends of a wide spectrum, yet both have been very successful with children and adults.  Heated debates continue in Teacher’s Lounges and in classrooms all over the world, supporters of each side holding to his preferred method being the best.  It is not new – the debate goes back over 500 years (click here if you’d like more about the history of phonics vs. whole language argument).  The real difference is the person who is learning and the way his brain is wired. 

Phonics is a system where each letter is assigned a sound, and some of them, like vowels and the letter c, are given more than one sound with accompanying rules to explain the difference.  These letter sounds are then added together to create a word.  As the student progresses, he begins to learn more patterns with letter combinations, such as “when two vowels go walking, the first one says its name.”  The problem with learning such rules is that the English language has so many exceptions that it can be confusing to a new reader.  In public schools which support this type of instruction, it is taught from the earliest years, pre-k or Kindergarten, until about third grade. 

Whole Language instruction, on the other hand, takes a very different approach to the same skill.  This method teaches that the reader should look at the entire word and memorize the word.  This begins with a set of high-frequency words, such as the Dolch word list, as well as signs placed near common objects in order for the student to mentally connect the object with its written word.  As the student progresses to more difficult words, they learn word origins and basic spellings and meanings of root words (also called base words).  Latin, Greek, and Old English origins are taught so they can recognize these influences in larger words, which they can break down into chunks of recognized portions and put together to make new meaning.  They memorize affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and use those meanings to add to the understanding of the word.

Which is right?  As you have probably recognized, most reading systems use a combination of the two methods.  This is called an integrated approach to reading, and this is my preferred style of teaching.  You will notice in my other posts about reading instruction that I use the Dolch word list and other whole language methods to teach automaticity with the language, while I supplement phonics instruction to be able to sound out the various sounds and letter combinations.  However, the fact is both styles have been very successful, but the person learning is really the one to determine the best method. 

My daughter, as hard as I’ve worked for my normal, integrated method, learns through the Whole Language method.  When I start breaking a word down into phonics, she panics.  I recently talked to a mother whose son read very early, but he had reached a plateau.  He was diagnosed with a form of dyslexia and could not seem to progress in his ability, which was very frustrating for both of them.  She had tried several phonics courses over the years, and none of them seemed to help.  I suggested she try using more Whole Language.  Use sight words on flash cards (or with technology today, I use PowerPoint). Learn parts of words with their origins, also teaching affixes.  She immediately recognized that when they did those activities, he had done well, so she was very excited to try this approach.

Know your child and help your child learn to read through the method which suits him.  Phonics, Whole Language, and an Integrated Approach all have the potential of teaching your child to read well or confusing them to the point of tears.  Find what is best for him.

Stress: What kind is in my Home?

         “Everybody's going through a lot of stress these days, no matter how well off you are and how many advantages you have, it's a stressful time in everybody's lives.”   Chris Frantz, drummer for the rock band The Talking Heads, described my life perfectly.  We usually think of stress as being bad, though some people insist that stress can be good.  Truthfully, stress can be divided into two broad categories:  eustress and distress.  How can I help my child have more of the stress that is helpful and less of the kind that is damaging?
           Eustress literally means “good stress.”  We experience this when we have a drive to accomplish something, and it helps us improve or enhance the work that we are doing, such as strength training, mental drills, or other challenging work (both physical and mental).  With eustress, we feel ready and able to conquer the obstacles which block our progress to our goal.  This encourages us to excel in ways we were unable to before and it results in achievements and positive feelings.  This type of stress is fantastic, and should be encouraged in both adults and in children so they will want to strive for success in their goals.
           Conversely, distress is what we call the bad stress.  This results when we are unable to adjust to changing events for an extended period of time.  In these settings, we feel out of control and unable to work toward improving a particular situation.  Experiencing negative stress over a short period of time can be a way to learn difficult lessons, but it’s a different story when the situation continues over time with little or no sign that anything the person does can change the situation.  Distress refers to stress over an extended period of time, and it can result in both physical and mental illness.  Children enduring this type of stress demonstrate it though antisocial behavior and attitudes, including aggressiveness, passivity, or withdrawal from social situations.  As a parent, we need to help our child going through distress to find positive methods of compensating with the situation around them and build steps so that the child knows he can affect (and improve) his circumstances.
           So, which stress is in your home?  If you are like most people, there is some of both.  Eustress shows itself when our family feels empowered to accomplish the work which needs to be done to accomplish individual goals.  Distress is found when we do not see results from our work for an extended period of time, or the results we see are not positive.  If a child misses a birthday party because he has to finish his homework, what he feels is probably negative, but not necessarily distress.  If this happens occasionally, it can act as a learning experience and end up with positive results in producing a good behavior in completing his work before the next social event.  However, if a child always misses every party he is invited to, always needing to do work that does not produce results that are important to him, then this continual negative stress becomes distress and is not good.  It can result in depression or the other antisocial behaviors listed above.
          How can I affect the stress in my home?  Doing activities in which we can see results helps increase our eustress.  Things like housework (ugh!  Yes, I did say that) produce positive results that we can see quickly.  Physical exercise also encourages positive feelings which help us feel as though we are more able to handle the situations in which we find ourselves.  Positive mental activities include challenging games in which a person must use a skill which he knows he either has or can develop with repetition.  As parents, we should find ways to help our children develop skills they need so they can accomplish their goals, turning distress into eustress. 
           Eustress and distress can be used to strengthen or weaken us and our children.  Doing activities which help us feel in control and that give us a feeling of accomplishment should be increased, while activities which make us feel out of control and not able to affect our situation should be limited.  Learning to cope with stress in our lives, while difficult, determines our overall view of life, and as such, is worth the effort to manage.

The Clockwork Universe, by Edward Dolnick

The Clockwork Universe

By Edward Dolnick

            I have started looking for “classics” for my daughter and I to read when she gets into middle and high school years.   If you have not yet read my blog about A Thomas Edison Education, then I highly recommend for you to read it so you understand my purpose for looking for educational classics (of course, I recommend you read the BOOK, too, not just my blog!  ..lol..)

          In the Thomas Edison book, I was surprised to discover that there were “classic” books in every field of study, not only in literature, and so I started a quest to discover books written by the “great minds” of history.  The first which I found was a book written by Euclid.  Since that book was written by him, with notes added by another, more modern mathematician, I had no idea who he was or why I wanted to read about what he said about the subject of Math – it was simply the first name on a list which I made of names to look for.  While I learned a fabulously easy way to find the Greatest Common Factor, the rest was difficult for me to follow. I would not recommend reading Euclid to begin reading about the classics (although I discovered that the MOST boring parts of the book were not actually Euclid’s writing at all, but instead were the writings of the person who chose to edit his works!).  I will probably eventually go back to him, but I’m not ready yet (and my daughter certainly isn’t!).

             The book I am reviewing today, The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick, was my second attempt to discover a Mathematical Classic.  I think I struck gold! 

            It is not that this book is an especially deep thinking book (thankfully! – I don’t think I was ready for another of those so soon!).  What struck me as exciting about using this book for our homeschooling instruction in middle school years is that this book tells me about several of the mathematical geniuses.  I have heard of Sir Isaac Newton, Aristotle, Kepler, and Galileo.  Descartes’s name came up in some of my reading, though I couldn’t remember EVER having seen his name before my recent readings.  I knew that between the 1600’s and the 1900’s there had been a lot of changes in the way Science and Mathematics were viewed, but I quickly discovered that I had never really read or been taught about any of that in any depth. 

            TheClockwork Universe, I believe, is a good book to start with in educating your children about Mathematical and Scientific classics.  It gives a brief biography of these early geniuses, and allows us to see a brief glimpse of how their thought processes worked.  It shows how in their day, science and math were not separate subjects of study.  They were also not designed to be taught separate and apart from the real world, but instead, the real world demonstrates daily what math and science prove.  Most importantly, to me at least, it does not take today’s view of ignoring a person’s religion altogether when writing about what a person did in his life.   Whether or not he agrees that the God of the Bible is the one and only true God, Edward Dolnick acknowledges throughout the book that these great scientists believed that, and a good many of their experiments and discoveries were designed to prove what they already believed. They saw beauty in the orderly system of nature, and fully believed that only a divine being who was much greater than we are could have created so much precision and beauty. 

            The Clockwork Universe tells me who these people called geniuses actually were, why they did the experiments they did, what serious mistakes they made, what serious misconceptions they maintained through part or all of their lives, and who their contemporaries were.  It tells how the bubonic plague affected many of these men, either directly or indirectly, and gives some insight as to each person’s personality.  I can use this information as a springboard to dive into other studies in the future, this time understanding a little better who I will be reading about and knowing why I care what they have to say.

            Whether you’re homeschooling, helping a child who attends public or private school, or just interested in learning more on your own, The Clockwork Universe gives interesting insight into the men who helped advance our mathematics and sciences into the technological advances which we have today.

How Deep is Your Ditch?

              Ditches are long narrow passages made in the ground by digging.  People dig ditches for various reasons, at varying depths and varying purposes.  Someone once compared the educational system to men digging a ditch.  How deep is your ditch?

              If you think about it, ditches have different lengths and depths, depending on their proposed purpose.  Some ditches are for laying pipeline, necessary for water or sewage.  These have to be dug at a certain depth so that they avoid problems with weather, but not so deep that the diggers have to dig through rock and other obstacles that are unnecessary for the purpose.  Some ditches are short but deep, like a trench used by soldiers on a battlefield or a trap used to catch animals.  Other ditches are designed for directing run-off water, and the depth of those depends on the amount of water expected at any one time.  The purpose of the ditch decides the depth and length which it will be dug.

              So how does this compare with education? The depth of a person’s education shows how much that person understands a particular skill.  The length of that education shows how many individual skills in one particular subject that person learns.  If someone spends a great deal of time and energy understanding a particular topic, then we can say that person has a deep understanding.  If that same person knows many things about a special subject, then we can say that person has a long “ditch.”  People only have a limited amount of time in school, whether homeschool, public school, or private school, so how “deep” and how “long” should a person’s educational “ditch” be? 

              This person who compared today’s schools to a ditch (sorry, I cannot remember who it was) said that if America’s Educational System were a ditch, it would be 2 inches deep and 2 miles long. Wow!  That is a really long ditch!  There are many purposes which could be satisfied by a ditch that long! But, only 2 inches deep?  Really?  What use is that to anyone?  Good question.  And that’s where you should be examining your own educational program.

              How deep are you teaching the students in your life?  Whether you teach one child or thirty, teaching them a lot of things on a checklist with no depth to each item is not really valuable, is it?  Just like a 2-inch deep ditch, there is no purpose for it.  Instead of teaching a little of a lot of things, teach a few things with a lot of understanding.  Like a person digging a deep ditch, you may spend a lot of time in the same place, doing the same thing, but you will end up with a product that can be of value later, once this “ditch” is finished. 

              What does a “deep understanding” look like?  Let’s take something many teachers teach a lot of but frequently don’t teach with depth – addition.  Typically, children will learn to count their numbers, then they will learn how to use either a number line or their fingers to add single digits.  From there, they go on to double digit addition, and then harder problems.  (Yes, I am skipping subtraction skills, which are usually taught with addition, but subtraction is not my focus right now).  Many children fully understand that when you have five apples and your friend brings you 2 apples, then you will end up with 7 apples.  However, most math programs may only have one or two questions that are written that way.  Usually, the child sees 5+2=___.  What does that mean?  Some children see it as the same type of problem, but other children do not.  Are these children behind?  NO!  These children are exactly where they should be developmentally – they understand things concretely but not abstractly (see my other article “Not Just a Little Adult” to understand more about concrete and abstract). 

              If a child is given a problem of 5+2=____, the teacher should use the concrete, pictorial, abstract method for this problem.  First, for the concrete part, the teacher should get 5 items and 2 related items (these could be 5 red grapes and 2 green grapes, 5 stuffed animal dogs and 2 stuffed animal cats, 5 red cars and 2 brown cars, or whatever you have available).  Have the child take them out and put them in 2 separate piles, then push them together and count the entire group.  Write the answer.  Then get another set of 5 items & 2 items, so they can see that you can apply this type of problem to many things, not just what you took out. Do this 2 – 3 times.  Then, go to the pictorial method.  Have your child draw 5 circles in one box, then 2 circles in another box.  Have them put the plus sign between the boxes and put an equals symbol after them.  In a box after the equal symbol, have your child draw 7 circles, crossing off one circle from each of the other boxes as they put them in the equal box.  Then count what is in the box and write the numeral 7.  Do this again, only this time, cross off the squares (or whatever you have them draw) and count aloud. This time they do not need to draw them in a box on the other side of the equal sign – only write the answer in numeral form.  Finally, after a couple of different problems, have the child write “5+2=____.”  Then they can answer this problem.

              That seems like an awful lot of work to solve one problem!  It would take FOREVER to have the child do an entire worksheet full of those addition problems, especially when it is so much easier to teach them to count on a number line or their fingers.  If this was your thought, then you are in the habit of digging 2 inch, 2 mile ditches.  Yes, it would take too much time to do an entire worksheet full of these problems (doing 3 concrete examples, 2 – 3 pictorial examples, and 1 abstract notation for each problem), so don’t! Only do 3 – 5 problems like this or possibly only one problem if the child becomes very frustrated.  However, where only a few students understand what they are doing when they count by number lines and fingers (an abstract concept), almost EVERY student would understand what they are doing with the depth method (which begins concretely).  THAT is your goal, isn’t it?  To make sure they understand what you are doing.  As a 4^th & 5^th grade teacher, it was very frustrating to find students (very intelligent students, by the way) who did not really understand what they were doing when they were adding.  Since multiplication is simply repeated addition, it meant even less understanding of the multiplication tables.  These students were on a downhill slide of education which is harder to stop the longer they are allowed to continue.  If they don’t know what they are doing when they are multiplying (just writing down something they memorized), then how can they understand Algebra?  Geometry?  Trig?  If they can understand the basics, then the “harder” work will be much more readily understood.

              Math is not the only subject this is true for.  If children have a chance to play with water, then they can be ready to understand the three forms of matter (solid, liquid, gas).  If they take field trips to a nearby lake or cave or mountain, they are more able to understand landforms and varying bodies of water.  Education should be useful, not just philosophical.

              How deep is your student’s ditch?  Spend time in the same place, doing the same thing over and over.  When you feel they understand one part very well, go to the next step (instead of 5+2, learn 7+6).  Just like when you dig deeply in one place it makes it easier to dig deeper in the next step, when your student deeply understands one thing, the next step is much more easily understood, and probably won’t take so much time.  Dig ditches that will be the foundation for a valuable education – your student deserves it!

Stone Tool Expo

I'm taking a quick break from retelling the book A Thomas Jefferson Education. Basically, in Elementary ages, the author suggests that students learn to read, learn basic math facts, and learn how to write.  Beyond this, he says children need to explore their environment.   Over the past couple of weeks, that is what we have been doing - exploring.  Even better, we've been able to go with our neighbors, who also homeschool - and, as an added bonus, my neighbor is so much better about taking pics than I am!  I would like to take a couple of blogs to share our recent field trips, as well as prove that these trips are very education, not just for fun (although they certainly were fun, as well!).


Babygirl and I have just started studying simple machines in Science.  In preparation for that, we have been looking at various tools which people use today and in the past.  Fortunately, a Stone Tool Expo was held at a lake about 30-45 minutes from our home, so we made it a point to go. 

They had a tepee set up to demonstrate how they create stone arrowheads and other tools without the use of metal implements.  At the time we walked past, however, the demonstrators from several tents were surrounding one demonstrator, who apparently was much more skilled than they, because they spent most of the time we were there around this guy instead of "manning" their booths.  This was good for us, because we were able to take a fun pic of all the kids inside the demonstration tepee.

As we looked at the various booths, we were slightly distracted by the riding stables across the road.  Of course, we had to go investigate (with permission from the owners, of course!).



Notice the name of the storage shed in the back of the property.  I think I have a "Black Hole" at my house - it's called the garage!



They had bins of inexpensive glass arrowheads, colored whatever color they wanted.  They made great souvenirs.  (yes, we left the "Stone Tool Expo" with glass tools - go figure!)



 Babygirl had to pick a pink arrowhead, of course!



We tried our hand at pottery, as well.  Our neighbors got much more interested in it than Babygirl did.



Babygirl got distracted from the clay to play her other souvenir - her reed flute (no, it's not stone, either).



She added background music for our friends, who made some beautiful pots (sorry, I didn't get pics of those).  Babygirl thoroughly enjoyed playing her flute, and tried to get creative about which side of her mouth made the best sounds.





We had a fabulous time at the Stone Tool Expo. We learned how they use one rock to "break" an arrowhead out of rock (and I guess other demonstrators learned this, as well, based on their questions for the "Master Rock Breaker," as I named the guy who attracted all the attention). We saw turtleshell purses, made from real turtle shells, and lots of other primative tools made of various natural materials.  Was it worth spending 2 hours (once we found the Expo, we found we had come the long way to get there!) in a car with 5 children (I guess the 11 month old didn't make it in any of my pics)?  Absolutely!  Nothing can beat true hands-on exploration when you're trying to learn something new!