Little Bears Family Homeschool Study Notes
English
Language and Literature
(See also Drama)
CONTENTS
* Introduction:
Language-learning is a progression *
* Listening: read-aloud literature *
* Speaking: Narration * Learning to Read * Learning to Write *
* Learning Reading & Writing Together * Teaching Resources *
* Textbooks/ Worksheets * Internet Resources * Notes on Literature *
* Recommendations * Suppliers *
Language-learning is a progression
My understanding of (mother-tongue) language-learning is along the lines of a progression from hearing language spoken: listening -> speaking -> reading -> writing. Therefore, we will concentrate on reading to our children first of all, encouraging discussion on everything we read (actually, that seems to be happening instinctively already. See also "narration" below), and this will hopefully lead on to reading (Tommy is already curious about what words mean) and writing in turn.
LISTENING
Read-aloud literature
We will most likely do a whole lot more reading together than could be achieved at school, concentrating on classic children's literature and shying away from picture books. See "Recommendations for Literature" below.
SPEAKING
Narration or Comprehension
We will also encourage "narration", a word that Charlotte Mason used to mean the children telling-back stories in their own words (similar to "comprehension" in schools). This practice is central to Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education as, apparently, it is said to encourage concentration and aid memory, with children never needing to "cram for exams" (short term information-gathering) as this method leads to long-term retention of knowledge. (Note: CM did not require narration until the age of 6).
I understand that current thinking on learning to read concentrates on a method called "phonics". To begin with, I did have some problems with this, since English is not a truly phonetic language. However, "phonics" apparently does take account of this, and attempts to show the child "phonemes"; that is to say, letters and groups of letters which can represent sounds in English.
Reading Readiness
How do you know when to start teaching reading? One of our main reasons for choosing to home educate was in order that we could avoid the teaching of reading (or formal education generally) at too early an age, having read reports that European children [who do not start formal education or reading until 6 or 7] are far in advance of English children [who may have started at 3 or 4] in terms of reading ability, when compared at the age of 9.
Generally speaking, the child will show you when he/ she is ready to learn to read. The signs to watch out for are (a) a knowledge that printed letters and words carry meaning, and (b) an interest in knowing what letters are/ what words say! Obviously the age at which this occurs will vary from child to child, and whereas it can be as early as 3 it could well be as late as 7 or 8.
Go To Resources for Teaching Reading
I am confident that a child will follow a natural progression and want to learn to write if encouraged, especially by example. I am a keen letter-writer, list-maker and note-taker, and we often make greetings cards rather than buy them.
LEARNING READING AND WRITING TOGETHER
Whereas the progression from listening to speaking is clear, reading and writing may not necessarily have to follow that order, and may indeed develop together (although in our case we have noticed a keen interest in reading but great reluctance in writing).
Reading
First Step: Learning the Alphabet
In Scandinavia, children are encouraged to become familiar with letters individually by way of, for example, finger-painting their shapes NOTE: recommend covering one letter a week, making sure that your child is confident with a given letter before moving on to the next.
We have started out with our own home-made giant (filling A4 size paper) lower case and capital letter "worksheets" (letters printed in light grey or border only) with pictures for each letter of the alphabet, using words that are familiar to the child .
The "Alphabats" series by Paul Sellers seems to be a great way to familiarise children with the letters of the alphabet. Very popular in our household! They are £2.50 each though, so we have borrowed some from the library. Available through www.Amazon.co.uk
The Early Learning Centre produce various reading resources including an "Alphabet Snap" Game, alphabet frieze and so on.
Usborne: "Farmyard Tales" series: "Alphabet book" £6.99 hb, Usborne First Learning: "Letters", "Ready for Reading", "Alphabet floor puzzle", and "Letter Lotto" game £7.99
Reading Schemes
I'm using the Ladybird reading primer scheme, as this was the way I learnt to read all those years ago (and I remember really liking it as a child, which obviously helps), but at £1.50 each the whole series - 36 books (1a - 12c) it could work out expensive. We have managed to get odd ones second-hand at book sales, so my advice is to keep you eyes peeled and just buy the ones you can't get hold of! (Also available is a parallel series called the "Read it yourself" series but I haven't seen these yet).
Learning to Write
We are using the "Early Writing" workbooks from Schofield and Sims. (Available for sale in libraries or by mail order from CER) Book 1 starts with simple lines and patterns and then graduates in Book 2 towards letter-type shapes. NOTE: This series is based on a slanted manuscript which is easy to then adapt to Italic or cursive.
Usborne "Farmyard Tales" series: "First Letters", "Better Letters", "Letters to Copy" and Usborne First Learning: "Ready for Writing" NOTE: The Usborne books use manuscript writing rather than italic or cursive.
Developing Handwriting
Highly recommended is "The Italic Handwriting Series" by Getty & Dubay, Books A-G £3.95 from CER in the UK or $5.75 each from Greenleaf Press or The Elijah Co.
Also available from Ladybird: "Learn Cursive Writing"
Spelling
Recommendations welcome
Grammar
"Writing Strands" Levels 3-7 £* in the UKfrom CER or $18.95 from Greenleaf Press in the US
"Simply Grammar" by Charlotte Mason & Karen Andreola $24.95 from Greenleaf Press
The National Curriculum for English at Key Stage 1
Awesome Library http://www.neat-schoolhouse.org/english.html
UK Schools Subject Resources http://www.liv.ac.uk/~evansjon/english/menu.html
Blue Web'n:- http://www.kn.packbell.com/wired/bluewebn
My personal recommendation would be to avoid overly "busy" picture books where possible, the idea being to have few enough pictures to emphasize the importance of the text, and of a sufficiently high quality to get the idea accross that the text contains something exciting.
"Read-aloud" books with quality literary content right from the beginning will fire your child's imagination and encourage them to want to read in a way that picture-books will not do, at the same time as they're advancing their knowledge of the language without realising it! (our primary language learning is absorbed in this way, doesn't it make sense to carry on?!)
Reading Primers
What about "readers" or "primers" (works of literature, abridged or re-written for a younger age-group than that intended by the author)? This is a tough question - obviously we want our children to read "the best" literature on offer, but why the rush? Charlotte Mason was dead against it. Why not leave the reading of more advanced literature for an age when the child can really appreciate it in its original form!
READ-ALOUDS
Our favourite recommendation is the "Thomas the Tank Engine" collection of stories by the Rev. R. W. Awdry. The whole collection is available in one volume at rrp £30 but it is available much cheaper if you search for it! (We managed to get it for a mere £3.50 from a book club!)
The Twaddle-free bookstore and Reading List is a list of literature categorised by age:- http://members.aol.com/BeeME1/bookstore.html
In addition, the following books contain lists of literature for children (I haven't seen either of them yet, but they are both recommended by Charlotte Mason Educators):-
"Honey for a child's heart" by Gladys Hunt
"Books children love" by Elizabeth Wilson
GLS Dudley has a good selection of resources for English in their language section. For details of GLS Dudley and other stockists mentioned on these pages, take a look at our resources page.
If your firm is able to offer special reduced rates to home educating families and would like to be mentioned here, please e-mail us at littlebears@tesco.net
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Comments & Suggestions Welcome
© Sharon
Mortemore
12 February, 2000
