We Were Created To Be In Nature

June 10, 2020 by Leahbmartin Leave a Comment

A downpour recently showed me how my life has been enriched by the addition of nature. Standing at the checkout counter at a store, I heard infuriated rain hitting the roof. I looked towards the doors and saw a huddle of people standing and waiting. They waited for weather more pleasant. Less abrasive.

What to do? I wondered, though only for a moment. I whispered encouraging words to myself ( "Suck it up, Buttercup,") and I left the comforting shelter of the store to face the sensation of sheet-like rain.

Head down, I raced to my car, splashing through puddles and probably looking a fool to those who chose shelter over showers. I plopped into the seat of my car dripping wet, and you probably won't guess what I did next--

I took a selfie.

In that moment, I was so surprised by the person I had become in contrast to the person that I had been. I remember, at 20 years old, waiting inside a campus building for 30 minutes during a rainstorm so that I wouldn't have to walk home. The time I waited was at least a round-trip walk there and back, but the wasted time was worth dry hair and unsmudged makeup.

Nature was a foreign place to me. But I see now how my spiritual life is connected to my nature life. The farther away my body gets from the earth, the bigger the distance between my heart and God's. There's correlation, and most definitely causation. As He draws me nearer, I want to spend more time in His creation. Romans 1:20 says,

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

We Were Created to be in Nature

In the garden, humans were created. They lived in the land under the shelter of trees and ate straight from the earth. And as a result, humans continue to reap the benefits of nature, even after the fall.

We feel less stressed.

Our anger and stress are reduced.

Heart rates and blood pressure go down.

Our eyesight improves.

We can clearly see, and clearly see Him.

And yet, collectively, we are spending less time in nature. Children today spend half as much time outside as their parents, some research suggests. We see increased obesity and increased mental health problems, while faith in God is becoming an unmentionable in some communities. We were created to be in nature, and separation from it is not without consequence.

In July, I will work on giving my children the habit of nature through books and ideas in Idea Nest. Sign up to have Idea Nest sent to your inbox.

Engaging Young Learners in American History

May 26, 2020 by Leahbmartin Leave a Comment

When H was in Kindergarten, I pieced together a curriculum that would make her feel the wonder of learning, but wouldn't seem like the same formal lessons that would soon follow. I wanted Kindergarten to be a good introduction to learning, while still being lighthearted and different than the rest of her schooling.

This is a sponsored post for Sonlight. I was compensated for this review, but wasn't required to share a positive opinion. These are all my honest thoughts about this product.

Now that Mr. E's Kindergarten year is peeking out over the horizon, I'm looking for options. Piecing something together again honestly sounds exhausting: I'll have another child to educate, and a toddler in tow. I've been on the lookout for something that is open-and-go, centered around living books, and is not a mini-rendition of the formal lessons to come. Exploring American History: History/Bible/Literature K from Sonlight will be a great option for us, and for your gentle Kindergarten year, too.

Kindergarten American History Curriculum

Exploring American History: HBL K is designed specifically for young children ages 5-6 in Kindergarten or first grade. There is an instructor's guide, two volumes of Heroes and Happenings, picture books, and short chapter books. (We received the instructor's guide and Heroes and Happenings books, but you can get all of the living books included.) Miss H helped me unbox and test out the curriculum, and immediately fell in love with the Heroes and Happenings books. They are colorful books filled with stories from history, ranging from the Vikings to modern history-makers like Temple Grandin.

Sonlight wanted to create a curriculum with lots of picture books for young children, but knew that keeping the cost down would be difficult. The Heroes and Happenings book solved that problem! The two volumes are well-written and engaging. Miss H has been asking to read them every morning on top of her regular lessons.

The teacher's guide has a laminated map that can be used while reading through the books with your child. My kids always find maps to be magical, but they don't know that we're easily integrating another subject, geography, as we map different locations around the world.

History Through Living Books

On top of the Heroes and Happening books, living books are scheduled throughout the week. Some of the books go along with the history topics, and some are general read-alouds. Miss H was so excited to see the book list. We've found some books that we might read before Mr E's scheduled kindergarten year; we're just too impatient!

I think the living books appealed so much to my daughter because they are not the same titles that we've been reading for four years. Normally, Kindergarten and early years book lists contain lots of repeats. While there are some familiar reads here, most of them are new to us.

One thing I think I will adapt is to skip the comprehension questions, that mostly begin with "what" and "why." Instead, I'll use narration for comprehension. I really like that the teacher's guide says to use the questions if you think your child needs them. Do what works best for your family! There are some discussion questions that get into the ideas of the books, making those ever-important conversations flow easily.

Bible

Each day has a Bible reading from the One Year Bible for Children. What a gorgeous edition! Several Bible stories are read each day, and there is a new memory verse every week. The Sing the Word CD corresponds to each memory verse to make scripture memory easier. When I've tried to do weekly memory verses in the past, we usually lose momentum in a few weeks. Having the memory verse planned out and written in front of me is crucial for us!

Visit Sonlight

Is It a Complete Kindergarten Curriculum?

Depending on your state's requirements, or your own personal wishes, this curriculum is mostly complete. You can add in math and science from Sonlight, and you'll be all set. You also might want to add in phonics and "the riches." For me, since I like to keep kindergarten informal, it will be plenty of learning for my little guy!

One thing I love is that it schedules four days of lessons. That is so helpful for busy families that have activities, enrichment programs, and church groups throughout the week. The teacher's guide is so well-organized that staying on track and doing the daily lessons will take very little prep.

For busy families, or for those wanting to simplify Kindergarten, this is a curriculum definitely worth looking into. You can request a Sonlight catalog here!

This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and over.

Preschool Pond Play

May 4, 2020 by Leahbmartin Leave a Comment

One thing I love about giving my kids lots of time to play is that they come up with the most fun imaginative play scenes! May's Idea Nest nature study topic is ponds, but I only had to read one of the featured books before they started creating a pond in our backyard. It didn't involve a flood or an excess of water, thankfully.

Although I had planned to offer different materials for pond play, they did their own thing, which is perfectly fine with me. Amazingly, their play turned into an explanation of the frog life cycle, complete with story stones that they asked me to whip up quickly with front yard rocks and a few Sharpies.

In case you need a little inspiration, here are some ideas for pond play.

Related: Introducing the Idea Nest

Make An Outdoor Pond

This is not as elaborate as it sounds. A pond could have water in it, or not. It could be small or large. It could involve mud (a huge hit in our family!) or be tidier. Basically, you need a container or designated spot for a pond. Here are some suggestions:

A blue plastic baby pool
Sticks arranged in a circle (it won't be able to hold water but maybe mud?)
Plastic storage container (this is what my kids chose to use!)
A large soup pot (they used this, too! It's about their favorite outdoor "toy")
Tarp wrapped around two drainage pipes, a trick I learned as a Tinkergarten Leader!
An unused birdbath or flower pot

Once you have a container, fill it with pond goodies! At first, the pond that my children made was clear with rocks and shells floating in it. It didn't take long to be filled with mud, grass, and bark. It looked like a legitimate pond! Here are some more pond-like additions:

Rocks
Leaves
Mud
Sticks
Toy reptiles and insects
Rocks painted with reptiles and insects

Pond Play

Setting up a pond is obviously the best part of this pond idea, but my three still found ways to play with their pond for hours!

Retrieve items from the bottom of the pond
See what floats
Make frog story stones
Let the frog rocks explore the pond, hop away, and basically try to survive

Indoor Pond Play

This post would be incomplete if I didn't tell you about one of my very favorite pond play ideas that we did this month! I usually don't get into fancy sensory bins because clutter, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Since we've been homebound for six weeks now, I bought a loose parts frog pond kit from Mulberry toes on Etsy for something a little special. To go along with it, I bought a playsilk dyed like a pond from Kitchen Dye Works. The result was a gorgeous, imaginative play scene that kept my kids engaged and happy for days!

Teaching Reading With Treadwell Readers

April 21, 2020 by Leahbmartin Leave a Comment

When we teach children how to read through the Charlotte Mason approach, it is not meant to be a quick process. We can take our time (insert sight of relief). But even though we don't want to rush them from nursery rhymes to chapter books, it has to happen at some point. I often recommend the Reading-Literature Books by Free and Treadwell for making the transition to reading longer stories. These books were a part of our learning-to-read curriculum for Miss H, and we had great success with them.

This is my final post in this Charlotte Mason Reading Series. You can go back to the beginning of this series here, and catch all the help I've shared, or save it for later.

Reading Series

What are Reading-Literature Readers?

These readers, which are officially called Reading-Literature, were written in the early 20th century By Harriett Treadwell and Margaret Free. The books start with the Primer, and continue on through volume eight, although the higher volumes are more difficult to find today. Treadwell was a teacher, principle, and activist who believed that children could be taught to appreciate good literature early on, and that teaching to read contained a few essential principles that are easy to grasp.

The primer, meant for young children, contains repetitive folk tales that children might be familiar with. Level one includes rhymes, and level two contains fables and fairy tales.

Why I Like These Readers

Besides the obvious point that they contain real literature and get children appreciating literature, I think these are a great next-step reading material for several reasons.

1. They Repeat Sight Words

No flash cards needed to learn sight words. Sight words don't necessarily follow phonics patterns, but appear often in text, so they're important to know. With the repetitive nature of the primer, sight words are introduced naturally, without needing to "drill and kill" them.

2. The stories increase in difficulty

The first story in the Primer, the Little Red Hen, starts with 30 simple words. Some of those words are repeated throughout the book. The final story has close to fifty words, many of them that haven't been introduced yet in the book. This approach balances new words with familiar words, giving children confidence to keep reading.

3. They keep classic stories alive

I love that new readers get to read real stories, even if they are familiar with them. It gives children a reason for reading, and gives them a feeling of accomplishment that they've read something real. And, it keeps classic, cultural stories alive.

How to Use Treadwell Readers

If you follow Charlotte Mason's "reading by sight" approach, you can use it with these readers, too. Choose a few words that your child doesn't know from the text, and introduce them before reading. I like to take some of the words and write them in a Word Processing doc, to be able to move them around, as Charlotte Mason suggested. (It's nice that we don't have to chop up books anymore, like she did!)

I recommend having your child read two or three pages a day to build endurance while reading.

Check out My Little Robins' reading lessons to use with Treadwell Readers. There are 9 weeks of lessons, with four lessons each week. A color-coded list tells you which words haven't been introduced yet, and each lesson introduces a few of the new words by sight. Two or three phonics lessons each week make sure your child has built a strong reading foundation.

Charlotte Mason recommended that children keep a little journal of the words that they've learned. I like to organize this by phonics skill. This allows me to see if there are phonics skills that we need to review or that we've missed teaching altogether. My Little Robin's Treadwell Reading Lessons have phonics headings for your child to paste into a notebook to keep organized.

You can find The Free & Treadwell Reading Literature series in the public domain or on Amazon. A free eBook version is also available from The Momma Knows.

How to Help a Struggling Reader

April 17, 2020 by Leahbmartin 3 Comments

When you homeschool, having a struggling reader can be nerve-wracking. You know that you are the one in charge of getting your child to read fluently, but despite your best efforts, it just hasn't happened yet. Don't worry, it's going to be okay! I have some ideas for you. In this post, I want to dig into some reasons why your child might be struggling to read, and what you can do to help.

This is the fifth post in my Charlotte Mason reading series. You can start from the beginning using the button below.

Reading Series

Why is Your Child Struggling to Read?

There is a bit of irony in a situation I've observed regarding struggling readers. In homeschool circles, dyslexia is often suggested as one of the first reasons a child might be struggling to read. This is ironic to me because when I was a public school teacher, throwing out the possibility of dyslexia was always one of the last resorts. Every possibility and remedy was exhausted before jumping to diagnose a learning disability.

Knowing the problem is your first step to helping your struggling reader. As I mentioned in another post in this series, What Makes a Good Reader? a struggling reader is not the same as a disinterested one. For the purpose of this post, I am talking about readers who have trouble with decoding sounds, reading fluently, and understanding what they read.

1. Development

It is very possible that your child is not ready to learn how to read. Child development has not changed its timeline to cater to the ever-increasing demands that are placed on children. I once had a student who came into first grade struggling with reading, and left flourishing. That year was just what she needed: she was finally ready to read..

It is possible that children older than first grade age aren't developmentally ready for reading. When I taught fourth grade in a public school, I was keenly aware of the "fourth grade slump." This is the term that refers to research around the likelihood that children won't catch-up to their peers if they are behind in fourth grade. The gap just widens. Homeschool children don't have anyone to catch up to, but I think this research is helpful.

2. Phonics

If there are holes in your child's phonics instruction, then they will struggle to read. Charlotte Mason's reading by sight method doesn't rely solely on phonics, but it is an included and important part of it. Research says that leaving out phonics can deter a child's ability to read and spell.

3. Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness, as I mentioned in my post about early literacy skills, is crucial for reading. Some children will pick these skills up naturally, and some children need direct instruction in them. If a child has had speech or hearing problems in the past, this is a sign that he or she might have phonemic awareness problems.

4. Genetics

If struggling with reading is common for family members, then your child might be genetically predisposed for this. Dyslexia is a very real possibility, but it's worth exploring the other issues I've mentioned first. Here are the signs of dyslexia at different stages of childhood.

How to Help Your Struggling Reader

If you were easily able to determine your child's struggle with reading, then you might not need to read any more! Some of the solutions are obvious. If your child is struggling with phonics, teach phonics! But, I do have some ideas and tips for you, no matter the struggle.

1. Wait

One of the first things I did as a teacher if I had a struggling reader was to look at their age. A child younger than the other students in the class would just need a little more time. The unfortunate thing was that we just had to keep pushing through with reading lessons, knowing that the child wasn't developmentally ready to read. You don't have to keep going, though. Take a break. Start again during the next term or school year.

2. Teach Phonics

Maybe you feel uncomfortable with phonics, or just haven't taught much of it yet. You got this! There are so many resources out there. Even with out a curriculum, you can find lists of every phonogram, and teach them through nursery rhymes or stories Charlotte Mason style. The key is to be systematic. Don't just teach random phonemes. Know which phonemes you have taught, and which ones you need to teach.

My Little Robin's Reading Printable packs have just been updated to include more phonics, so you can teach in Charlotte Mason's way, without neglecting phonics instruction.

3. Phonemic Awareness

Even a 15 year old who struggles with phonemic awareness will need direct instruction with it. So, if you've determined this is your problem, congrats! Teaching this set of skills is so easy and kind of fun! I wrote about this in my early literacy post, so I won't go into detail here, but the short answer is work on rhyming, blending, and segmenting through spoken games.

4. Intervention

If you have a family member who struggled to read growing up, talk to them. Learn what worked for them and what didn't. If you have a family with dyslexia, then the likelihood that your child has it also is high. In most states, you can request to be tested through the school district.

A child with dyslexia needs intense, systematic phonics instruction. An Orton-Gillingham approach, through a curriculum like Barton, is probably the best option for a child with dyslexia. (Note; I've never used Barton's program and this isn't an affiliate link, just a suggestion based off of my understanding of reading curricula!)

5. Habits

I threw an extra reason in, one that doesn't line up with any of the reading problems I've mentioned. But, whenever someone shares a homeschool problem with me, my first reaction is to think about what habits might need to be developed to improve the situation. In the area of reading, could attention be preventing your child from learning? Or, maybe working on the habit of memory could help? Prayerfully consider what areas could improve in order to support learning.