Mom Is Teaching

Cathy Puett Miller has sent you a message.

Date: 6/05/2009

Subject: Reading: Beyond the Snuggle and Cuddle Stage

Join host Allen Cardoza and me for an important discussion on his show, Answers For the Family. We’ll be discussing reading with older kids - how to make it valuable, navigate the world of the pre-teen, tween and teen years and have your child come out at the other end a reader. Many of you may know a family who struggles with the transition time or is worried about their growing young person and their attitudes about school and learning. Be sure to recommend they tune it.
The show will be live at 11AM PDT on Monday, June 8. Anyone can listen live at www.latalkradio.com or visit a podcast after the fact at www.answers4thefamily.com. The more the merrier!

As you know, we discuss reading around here more than anything (once we finally got of the who does it better  homeschoolers or public schools) and there are so many methods out there of teaching children read it is unbelievable.  As I mentioned before my son wasn’t very successful with phonics.  Now, he can read the book off of a label right and left and drive you insane, he just didn’t’ learn what he has learned through true phonics.

If you are familiar with reading and reading techniques, especially since we have discussed teaching adults at this time, you should check out Pennington, Publishing Blog.

If you read the article, you know that there are many techniques that are the same when you start teaching adults to read as there is when teaching children to read.  First of all the students will need to learn the curricular components of spelling, syllabication phonics, fluency, sight words, vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Yu will need a balanced approach between instructional approaches and reader and pre-reader strengths and weaknesses in phonics awareness. 

And as if this even needs to be said, you will need lots of book around that fit the appropriate reading level as well as interest level of the ate group.  And, finally, one of the most important aspects is you are going got need to be patient.

Cross posted as a series on Health

Having suffered from insomnia in one of the worst ways ever as a child, I feel a lot of empathy for my children when they have a hard time falling asleep at night.  The summer months are much easier to deal with because we can let them play outside for hours and hours on end.  Then, we can fill their little bellies, put them in a warm relaxing tub and the generally fall right on off to sleep.  But, in the winter, when their outdoor time is limited, it is harder.  My husband who puts his head on the pillow and conks out cold has no clue what it is like to feel the frustration of sleep deprivation.

We actually disagree on this matter quite often because honestly, if you’ve never suffered, then you don’t understand.  So, as I’ve taken this to a series of posts about sleep, I think it is important for you to know that I really and truly believe and have for sometime that a majority of the behavior problems in school (and I am not talking the severe stuff, I mean the general run of the mill behavior problems) are due to sleep deprivation.  And, when parents are asked, they usually are surprised to find out how little sleep their child actually gets compared to what is recommended.

Our peers think that we are nuts because we have an early bedtime, 7 pm in the winter and usually 7:30 in the summer (just because putting them to bed when it is broad daylight is difficult).  But, then, we they start to tell me of troubles at school or daycare, I simply smile and say, bedtime…..it rules.

So, do you know how much sleep your child should get.  These are just some recommendations that I found around the internet but they seem to be pretty consistent.  Most school-age children need 10 – 11 hours of sleep per night and although some studies show that teenagers need less sleep more like 8.5 to 9.5 hours, many experts believe this to be totally untrue.  Studies show that there is a reason your teenager wants to sleep half the day on Saturday and Sunday and any other non-school day…..their hormones are changing and it simply affects their bodies in many ways. 

So, how about your kids?  How much sleep do they get?  How much do they need?  Can you tell a difference in their behavior as it relates to sleep?  Just curious what the real experts (the parents) think on this matter.

Cross posted as a series on Health

So, I covered what it was like when the adult was missing sleep.  But, when children are sleep deprived, it is most definitely an ugly and pathetic sight to see.  How many times have you been in a restaurant or store and see a small child rubbing his eyes and usually whining but not necessarily crying?  How many times have you, because that’s just what life does, found yourself feeling that same way at some time or another. 

You studied to late, or partied too much and then you have to get yourself up and moving.  And, generally it causes you to be irritable.  So, it only stands to reason, in my mind anyway, that if small babies react this way when they are short on sleep and adults are agitating and difficult to deal with when they are sleep deprived, then the folks in the middle (children, generally ages 5 to 18) most definitely suffer from the problems of sleep deprivation as well.

I made an observation many years ago while teaching that a large number of children are sleep deprived and then it manifest itself in behavioral problems.  And, parents fail to see the problem.  What they see is a child who is getting in trouble at school.  What the teacher see’s is  a child who is restless and tired.  With so much going on after school these days, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that our school age children are sleep deprived and in many cases, getting enough zzz’s would solve a lot of the problems that occur in the daily run of the mill classroom across America.

There’s an article on Blissfully Domestic that addresses this exact same set of circumstances.  Children being sleep deprived, feeling exhausted and tired and then acting out because what they really need is some sleep.

Cross posted as part of a series on Health

I am a sleeper.  I sleep when life is good, I sleep when life is bad, I sleep when I am depressed, I sleep when I am happy so basically, I just sleep.  People over the years have all diagnosed me with something or another in reference to my sleeping issues when in reality, part of the time, I was depressed other times I was simply exhausted and who knows, sometimes I think I slept out of boredom. 

But, as any parent of a newborn and you will quickly find out that all that sleeping can’t be stored.  No matter how much sleep you have in your reserve tank, it’s all for naught in those first few weeks of an infants life.  The around the clock attention that newborns require can put a strain on even the best sleepers. 

For me personally, I have a couple of sleeping disorders so it would take me longer to go to sleep than it would for the baby to eat, sleep and get up ready to eat again.  And, during the night, once I was awake to feed the little scoundrel, I was wide awake and had to go through the process of “falling asleep” again. 

I was lucky that I had a husband who first of all doesn’t require a lot of sleep and due to his tour in wartime, he can sleep with a small war going on right beside him.  And, could go to sleep just as easily.  Yea, lucky for me he was willing to handle night time sleep duties a lot and let me sleep when I could. 

I have one more thought to go with this……keep reading…

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• PurpleTrail Design center : We are launching a revamped design center. It’s faster, has more features and tools and a completely new collection of design elements and invitation designs to choose from. You can now create stunning looking invitation designs like never before. Give it a try and you will never go back to standard invitation designs ever again.  Visit the PurpleTrail Design Center and click on ‘ Design your invitation’
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• Custom subject for emails: You can now customize the subject line for the emails you send out.  Again, this is a feature you will find only on PurpleTrail.
• Others: Also a host of smaller improvements like a better RSVP box to increase the response rate for your invites.

  

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My kids aren’t really old enough just yet to be hitting the on-line sites.  They do have a few games they play but as for surfing?  No, thank goodness.  Just listening to my buddies who have children who are starting to want email accounts, facebook pages and the like, makes me a little scared. 

But, if you are looking in all the right places, you can find good cyber-control or Cyber-Patrol if you will to help you protect your children and prevent them from just running up on pages they need to be immune to for a few more years. 

It isn’t that hard to run up on pages by accident either because I’ve done it myself.  So, if you lave a kid in charge of his own surfing and searching, he/she could easily find pages that are simply too mature for them.

So, go find you a place to help your kids surf safely.  What about the Cyber Patrol I mentioned earlier.  I was fortunate enough to get a year subscription to check out the product.  And, it works quite well and for that matter, I tried to beat it.  I tried to disable it and it was no easy task. 

As a matter of fact, I’ve been trying for a week to no avail.  I only wanted to uninstall it because I’m an adult and my kids don’t play on my computer……but trust me, it’s not as easy as one might think.  And, I happen to know that most kids know more about hacking than we think but even my husband couldn’t get in to this one.  So, yea Cyber Patrol…

This is officially Read Across America Week and almost everyone I know is participating.  March 2 was the onset of the National Education Associations calling for every child to read in the company of a caring adult.  My son who didn’t attend school yesterday came home today with a paper for me to fill out regarding the books that he reads with me. 

So, we sat down, we done the already monstrous amount of obligatory homework, which includes the need for crayons, scissors and glue which I just sent to school this morning because apparently the $150 in supplies that I sent at the first of the year simply didn’t last long enough. 

The children are supposedly dressing up as the days pass this week and honestly, I understand the idea that school needs to be engaging in order to keep the children’s attention, but we have these strict dress code policies that prevent all kinds of normal clothing from being worn and shirt tales being tucked in, yet we encourage them to wear hysterical costumes and the teachers do much of the same.

Is this necessary?  I mean, you know, basically we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and if you happen to be familiar with the book, you know that the level of readership is far above a kindergarten level.  Yes, I know, they read it all the time in kindergarten but for the 5 year old to actually read the book, that’s amazing in my opinion.

I know I seem nothing short of a public school hater but the fact of the matter is this, the folks involved have made me this way.  I am/was a public school teacher, I wasn’t raised to buck the system, but when the system is repeatedly failing my children, I have very little choice now do I?

Yea, I am so not kidding you.  I see things all the time that are marked for kindergarten or first grade, then it happens to be labeled, “Algebra”.  What is that about?  Am I that old?  That far behind the times?  Is there really no turning back?  What happened to letting our kids be kids?

I know I know, I sound more and more like you precious homeschoolers every day uh?  Not too bad of a thing to be in my opinion, I’d actually like to see more parents adopt the way of thinking and then insist that our public schools find a way to incorporate some ….some….crap I don’t know what it is.  I simply want these folks to get a grip.  To slow down and let my kid be a kid. 

The pressure to perform is so great.  Why can’t the pressure simply be performing on the jungle gym instead of freakin’ algebra? 

So, now that I’ve regressed back to complaining about my son’s school district on a regular basis, I’m going to try to get back to more important matters.  Well, more important for you guys, not me necessarily. 

By that, I mean, there’s a great resource for helping your high schooler with Algebra.  I don’t doubt at all that by the time my children have reached high school, Algebra will not be algebra but will indeed be more like calculus three or something. 

Anyway, the folks as Blissfully Domestic Homeschooling have sited a place to find help for those of you who are in a position right now of need.  Hippocampus.org offers assistance will several levels of high school math.  And, as I said, it could get worse before it gets better, unfortunately.

Ok, so I know I haven’t been very homeschool friendly necessarily lately but I did try with the Valentine’s crafts.  But, now, now I must make my admission of geography illiteracy.  I am not kidding you.  Once while on vacation with my best buddy from high school, we sat bikini clad on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale Florida.  We were imbibing a little and taking in much sun.  We had already been to the Bahamas and back and were headed to Disney in a few days.  So, as you can imagine, much money was being spent.

So, when a radio DJ approached us with the following task, “Name this ocean and I’ll give you $50 right now”.  I guess maybe since were somewhat thin, frail and dumb looking he figured it was a good choice and a way to keep his $50.  He was right.  Neither of us had a clue what ocean that was.  I was more than a little embarrassed.

My friend quickly retorted, “but she (meaning me) can say the counties in Alabama in alphabetical order”.  He was shocked I think.  I did it.  He laughed and kept his $50.  Just FYI, we were forced to learn them in our senior democracy class and well, that was something that stuck with me…unlike most geography which went totally over my head.

I told you all that to say this….go check out this interactive map of the United States…..it is awesome and obviously I have failed miserably at it for several hours now…oops!

I make no bones about how much I love the relaxed state of sleep.  I can sit down and watch TV, talk to people, hang out and never ever get sleepy.  But, once it’s quiet and I am in my bed, all my necessities assembled (necessities mean cpap machine, 3 pillows, cool room, cool sheets, big cover, dark dark room), I can fall into a deep slumber that is completely ridiculous.

I’ve always been a sleep-lover.  As a teenager I could sleep for hours on end and I took solace in napping.  On the rare occasion that I didn’t have some type of after school activity, my father and I would come in from school (he was a teacher) and crash on the sofa.  It was a sectional and he would take one side, me the other and we would snooze for 30 minutes or so.

I don’t recall feeling too terribly sleep deprived in high school even but because but I assume that’s because I knew my limits.  I liked to sleep.  I did suffer from insomnia a great deal of the time but when I was sleeping, I was resting. 

The schools around here (meaning in Alabama) all start around the same time.  Somewhere between 7:45 and 8:00 for all ages.  But, there is a small group of places in other areas that have a staggered start time with teenagers getting the later starting times.  And the reasoning is explained in Sleepless in Seaholm.  Basically, the idea is that teenagers need more sleep and we are doing them no favors by forcing them to get up and get moving so early.

From the time I wrote my first post here bashing homework until just a few minutes ago, I’ve remained steadfast that homework is not good if it is not good homework.  And, teaching a child to study is way more productive than assigning boatloads of homework. 

One night several weeks ago at Walker’s basketball practice (which is on Friday nights by the way), there was a high school student with a stack of post cards.  She had words on one side, definitions on the other.  She was carrying them around.  She would study for a few minutes and if someone came by and spoke to her, she would speak and then return to studying.  On a Friday night people?  Yea, on a Friday night.

I remember those days but unfortunately for me, no one introduced that actual method to me until  I was in college.  I mean, I made all kinds of pretend tests for myself in order to study but the method this girl was using, I was in college before I remember seeing someone do it or hearing the suggestion. 

Well, the time is nigh and my children will not have to wait until they are in college and have no clue how to study to learn at least one method to study.  Some of you are rolling your eyes and saying, “flashcards have been around forever” but the truth is, I don’t remember doing them as a child and I never remember being encouraged to make my OWN flashcards.

Here’s another method if you want to check it out. 

Angela Norton Tyler, of Family Homework Answers. Angela is a teacher and parent from the Sacramento, California area. She has been a classroom teacher, an elementary school reading specialist, and has taught courses at the college level. With a special focus on helping parents help their children become better students, Angela has put her energies into teaching parents how to improve the homework and reading skills of their children. In 2005, Angela published Tutor Your Child to Reading Success, and now conducts seminars about reading and homework for parents and teachers all over the west coast of the United States. She also publishes Family Homework Answers, a site “devoted to helping parents and their children deal with homework.”

I took my first class in college on Teaching Reading Techniques.  And it scared the begeeezes out of me.  I am not kidding.  It caused all sorts of trauma.  I knew then, that without a doubt, I did not want that responsibility.  I have plenty of relatives (older ones all be it but still people I know well) who can’t read.  How is that possible?

And, when I started learning all the various methods of teaching a child to read, or even an adult, I started to freak out.  Seriously, the biggest issue I have right now with homeschooling is how in the world would I ever teach someone to read.  I am not kidding. 

The reason this subject is resonating within me so much right now is my son is not learning to read through using phonics.  He simply is not phonetically inclined.  He can sound out words until the cows come home but he can’t then blend the sounds.  He did his Dibels and he excelled but the fact of the matter is, when he gets to a word he doesn’t know, it is a major headache. 

Site words, he can do those.  He knows those, he can remember those, he can read anything that contains the 100’s of site words we’ve been through.  And, he can “guess” really well using the context of the sentence already, but phonics?  Nope, he can’t do it. 

So, what’s our other option?  I know his teacher doesn’t have time to cater to his particular need, but I do.  I have plenty of time to help teach him to read…if I weren’t scared to death of the whole prospect.

I’m trying to be informative even if I find that I’m not telling you anything that you couldn’t find somewhere yourself.  But, hey, if you find it here, then it’s just that much easier, uh?

So, what is it that I want to steal and share today…….Well, Angie from Many Little Blessings also writes for Blissfully Domestic and she has some great tips for "teachers/parents/coaches/facilitators" on how to handle the kiddo’s as they start to learn to read.  And, I was quite pleased with myself to find that I pretty much already knew what she put out and I basically followed those guidelines.  So, that should make me like……teacher/parent/coach/facilitator of the year, right?  Wait, I was trained a little….heck never mind, that makes me nothing then doesn’t it. 

Never mind all that self-bashing.  Let’s get straight to it.  Here’s her thoughts on working with early readers…

1. If the mistake still makes sense, don’t worry about it. For example, if your child says, "house" and the word was "home," just let them continue reading.

2. If the mistake doesn’t make sense, don’t immediately correct them. Wait to see if they notice that it doesn’t make sense. They might try to go back and fix it without you saying anything.

If your child doesn’t correct the error, you can say…

3. "Can you try that again?"

4. "Did that make sense?"

5. "Did what you read look right and sound right?"

If they still can’t get it…

6. Tell them the word.

Angie can be found writing about faith, family, cooking, cleaning, and trying to live a more content life at Many Little Blessings.

And, at the same time, since we are talking about reading, Kris from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers has some reading tips for you.  What she means is, you do the reading, you do the learning…and she has some books to recommend as well.

As you know, or if you  have forgot, I haven’t done much reading over the last several years except for when it was online.  But, once I started writing this blog, I found some of the greatest book suggestions on-line and now I find myself with a book in my hand often.  I even read in the car on the way home from our trip today. 

But, back to these suggestions by Kris.  She lists some of her favorites as

Homeschooling:  The Early Years by Linda Dobson

The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith (I think someone here as mentioned this book to me as well)

A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levinson (I’ve never heard of this one so I would love to hear from someone who has read it)

The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Baur (again, another one I’ve never heard of but would love to hear from someone who has read it)

The Relaxed Home School by Mary Hood

If you have favorites, I’d love to hear from you too!

The thing about vacationing and learning new things is it isn’t specific for kids…I’ve learned all kinds of things on this trip.  Today I learned about insomnia…and how to get the kiddo’s to avoid the pool too.

Yea, that’s right, we skipped the pool today.  Never mind that even with an indoor heated pool, I just can’t get into it when it is cold outside…don’t know why.

But, today has been one of those really odd days because…..I never went to sleep Sunday night and then last night or rather around 2:30 this morning I took a sleeping pill so I could go to sleep.  I’m not sure why I’m having such extreme difficulties with insomnia but I am. 

If we had a babysitter so we could go out and party tomorrow night..this insomnia would be a good thing I suppose.  And, the server at dinner tonight said that this place is awesome (if you like to be about 120,000 people) on NYE.  They have a sky thingy (Space Needle) that they drop a ball from just like in NY…….But, we have no babysitter and we can see a few feet of the top of the sky thingy (Space Needle)so IF we are awake, we might be able to see that much.

And, trust me when I tell you, I’ve heard the word Space Needle but I’ve never really had a reason to use it in a sentence nor have I had the knowledge to know to use it in a sentence.  And, just look how many times I’ve used it in this post alone.  Ok, I’m jabbering, so let’s move right along.

Back to the insomnia…I have a wonderful husband and only because I have a wonderful husband, I slept finally.  He took the boys to the game room (which trust me was like heaven for him as well as them) while I slept off some of the sleeping pill and managed to get some rest.  I arose around 2:30 this afternoon when they returned.

Strange thing about this crap, I have a horrible headache right now though.  I’m not sure why but I’m not waiting til 2:30 in the morning to take sleeping pills anymore.  Whew! 

The candy making was really cool and I’ve seen it done dozens of time, the taffy and the chocolate but it never gets old and for some reason, I really don’t remember the actual seeing of it in the past, I just know that I have done it every time I’ve ever visited here.

Anyway, so here are today’s pics from the Last Vacation of 2008….

this kid is going to be the death of us…talk about the class clown…Mini Me that is….Ditto Boy just talks too much….

But, look what a cool picture I made…..testing that fresh off the candy maker taffy…yummmy!