Making Reading Fun

I have begun to incorporate more of Charlotte Mason's ideas in my reading lessons. The purpose is to learn the elements of our English language through reading real and interesting material, and not just a list of words. It is also combining sight reading with phonics. I am choosing poems that I would like Sarah to read, and from those poems I am creating her phonics lessons.

For example, here is the poem we began today:

A Kite

I often sit and wish that I
Could be a kite up in the sky
And ride upon the breeze and go
Whichever way I chance to blow

Today Sarah read the first two lines to me. I allowed her to pronounce the word "often" incorrectly, with the normal short o sound. I asked her if that was a word, and then explained to her how in some words the o makes a different sound. I told her the word and she continued to read. The next word I knew she would need to learn is "could". Again, I told her the word and she continued up to the word "sky" which also needed an explanation since she has not yet learned the sounds "y" makes.

Next I wrote a list on our little whiteboard of other words in which o makes the same sound as in "often", such as: off, soft, dog, cloth, etc. I asked her to read those words to me and she did splendidly!

Next I showed her a flash card that had the letter combination of "ould" on it. I told her the sound those letters made together and wrote "ould" on the whiteboard three times. Then I put three different letters or letter combinations in front of each "ould": could, would and should. She read those words to me and now we will need to drill the "ould" flashcard daily as she becomes familiar with that odd letter combination.

Tomorrow I will have her read those two sentences again, review what we learned today and then explain that "y" at the end of "sky" is the long i sound. I'll make a list of other words such as cry, shy, and even longer ones like dragonfly. The next day Sarah will read the last two lines of the poem, and through doing so, she will learn the sound "er" makes (Whichever...under, after, number, person, government, sister, verse, thunder...just to name a few) and then she'll learn "ay" (Way...clay, May, tray, etc) and "ow" (Blow...grow, snow, bowl, window, yellow, elbow, etc). That is how the lessons work.

Eventually she will not only be able to read the words in the poem, but also words that are in the same "word family" whenever they come up. And she will probably have the poem memorized by then, naturally, just by reading it so much! This is just an example of how Charlotte Mason's ideas can be incorporated into reading lessons.

This is a great combination of creativity and imagination ( in the poetry), but also phonics and drill (as we will drill "ow", "ay", "er", etc. with our flashcards daily). This is the approach I will be taking with the rest of Sarah's reading lessons. It makes it a bit more interesting both for her and myself:)

So Thankful for Real Education

I just have to write a "homeschooling blog" today because I am so very thankful that the Lord has introduced me to the methods of Charlotte Mason, and to Ambleside Online. Now, I know that last spring I made up a homeschooling blog, but that I have decided will be for reference. I want to keep all my blog posts here.

If you look at my sidebar you will see some info on Charlotte Mason and Ambleside Online. These methods of education are rich and full.

Well, today I read a "fairy tale" to the children as they ate lunch. Yes, a fairy tale. They can be SO wonderful for teaching our little ones morals. Not preaching morals at them...but letting them think about how these morals are worked out in stories and therefore in their lives.

Today's tale was called "Prince Darling" and you can...and I recommend you do...read the entire story here online: Prince Darling This is true literature for children. Stories that are both well written with vocabulary that stretches them, and with morals and lessons within the tale. And there were SO many in today's reading!! This story was perfect to read to my six year old. One of the many great stories in The Blue Fairy Book.




Well, reading the above tale today, just made me thankful again for the curriculum I am using, which is based on Charlotte Mason's methods. Earlier today, we also read a wonderful Bible story (about Jacob's dream and how he knew God was his friend) and a fable from Aesop. You know Aesop - the boy who cried wolf, the tortoise and the hare...those are just two of the many fables he wrote. Each one is short and has a moral or lesson taught. After I read the fable, Sarah told it back to me in her own words, which I wrote down and she then illustrated. As I read the Bible story the children colored a picture of it. We put all those into their Bible notebook. Bible time is my daughter's absolute favorite time!!



So many wonderful books are scheduled in Ambleside Online's Year 1 curriculum. Story books faithfully teaching history and science and more. Parables of Nature is another excellent resource...and I mean EXCELLENT. Jesus taught in parables. Using nature to teach is just awesome! Read this first story in the parables book and you will get a taste for just how rich this book is: A Lesson of Faith



Ambleside has scheduled the book Pilgrim's Progress Book 1 to be read over two years. Year 2 and Year 3. So in September, I will begin that with my children, but I may use the unabridged audio version. To prepare them, I am currently reading Little Pilgrim's Progress to them, which is written for children. They LOVE it! LOVE IT! I am doing this in order to get them familiar with the storyline before we move onto the original version written in the original language.

Some may wonder about this- the original language you ask? Yup! Listen to the advice from this one mother:

"I bought my children -- when they were very young (five and seven) -- the Orion's Gate cd's of this book, and they have listened to them all the way through at least once a year since then. They are now 13 and 16, and both insist that listening to this book when they were young, and in the original language, was the most character forming literary experience of their early childhood. There are long passages of this book that they can quote at length in the original. Phrases from this book float through their heads and out of their lips frequently.

I do not, for one minute, believe that they would be quoting those passages now if they had heard them in stale modern English!

It's the richness of the language in which these great thoughts are conveyed that captured their imaginations back then, and that's what keeps them coming back to it now."

Also, I will never forget what was shared in the book For the Children's Sake regarding the original Pilgrim's Progress:

"All children should have an excellent diet of mind-food to be nurtured on...let us apply this principle to the actual detailed practice in schools or homes. A seven year old happens to need a short period of phonic practice, followed by reading a story out loud to you haltingly every day. He then laboriously concentrates on learning the machanics...this does not mean to say that his mind should be left "frozen" at the level of his skills. When the essential, regular, practice has been completed, the child puts all his little books and papers away, and turns his full attention to the adult. She will now be the medium through which he can "read" real books...

Perhaps she reads a short portion from Pilgrim's Progress. She must, of course, be a person who wants to understand and enjoy this herself...Pilgrim's Progress will be read perhaps twice a week...by the time such educated children are nine or ten they will, of course, have been reading for themselves a long time...they will enjoy and understand a really rich diet of books, letters, essays, plays and poetry. They will have thought, discussed, and shared these ideas...is it idealistic? Does it work? The answer is, yes.

I had a child of six, Kirsteen, in a bright little school. She was happy enough and learned to read and write after a fashion...when she came home, she sometimes talked about something that had happened. But there wasn't much to discuss. Kirsteen's older sister, Margaret, was faring worse, at ages nine and ten. She...had no interest in education. One January day, God opened a door for them into a school where true education was going on...After the first day, Kirsteen came home glowing with life and interest. "We had the most exciting story today, but Mrs. Norton stopped at just the wrong place. I can't wait to hear the next part of the story!" And what was this exciting, vitalizing story? To my astonishment it was Pilgrim's Progress, read to them in the original.

The quite electrifying change in those two children is truly indescribable. They had so much to talk about! A wealth of literature, history, art, which was so glorious to work through. Their eyes became brighter, their minds alert. We had grand discussions, again and again...Some people were incredulous. "It's not possible", they responded. "Children just aren't up to that." But they are-if the door is opened. There is only one problem that I can see. The adult...has to be able to enjoy and understand what he or she is reading with the children."

There you have it.

I love this method of education. And it is not all reading, so don't think that. It is also based on real life experiences...getting outside to watch nature as the most important science. We watched the transformation of caterpillars to butterflies firsthand...and will do so with tadpoles, etc.

Little Pilgrims Progress

(Johannah Bluedorn's art: http://www.triviumpursuit.com/xcart/home.php?cat=252)

I have been reading this wonderful gem to my children- a 6yo and 4yo- for a couple of weeks now. They love it so much! The four year old is even taking to this book more than the classic Winnie the Pooh! After one reading last week, my daughter began drawing a map of Christian's journey and my son was building the city with his blocks. I did not even suggest they do those things but the story is having such an impact on them!

The Reading Mother

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings —
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a Mother who read to me.

- Strickland Gillilan

When Mother reads aloud, the past
Seems real as every day;
I hear the tramp of armies vast,
I see the spears and lances cast,
I join the thrilling fray;
Brave knights and ladies fair and proud
I meet when Mother reads aloud.

When Mother reads aloud, far lands
Seem very near and true;
I cross the deserts' gleaming sands,
Or hunt the jungle's prowling bands,
Or sail the ocean blue.
Far heights, whose peaks the cold mists shroud,
I scale, when Mother reads aloud.

When Mother reads aloud, I long
For noble deeds to do...
To help the right, redress the wrong;
It seems so easy to be strong,
So simple to be true.
Oh, thick and fast the visions crowd
My eyes, when Mother reads aloud.

I love these poems. That is my greatest desire in reading to my children and in the books they will encounter: that they would "long for noble deeds to do, to help the right, redress the wrong"; that "wholesome life to the boy (or girl) heart brings"; that the stories would be ones that "stir with an upward touch."

I highly recommend the above book and I highly recommend all parents to read to their children!