My Little Robins

Loving and Learning in the Nest

Teaching Reading With Nursery Rhymes

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It might sound too good to be true- that nursery rhymes are the perfect tool for teaching reading skills at many stages of development. You can find them easily in classic books and all over the Internet for free, after all! But, I have used nursery rhymes to teach literacy skills since toddlerhood, and they truly make a great tool for pre-readers, alphabet learners, and those year one students beginning to read. 

This is the second post in my Charlotte Mason Reading series. In my last post, we dug into what I find to be the important principles behind Charlotte Mason reading by sight lessons. One principle is that the reading materials we give to our little learners should be living. (If you aren't familiar with the idea of living books, read this!) Nursery rhymes are just that: engaging and filled with interesting ideas. 

This post contains affiliate links for nursery rhyme books. You can read more about affiliate links in my policies. 


Nursery Rhymes for Phonemic Awareness

From infancy, we have read sweet little books full of nursery rhymes to our children. At this stage, we don't do much more than read the rhymes, but that simple act has a big effect. 

Phonemic awareness is one of the most important early literacy skills that a child can develop. This skill is basically the ability to hear and differentiate the sounds in words. Nursery rhymes help develop this skill thanks to the rhyming words. I found this PDF, produced by a school district, to be very helpful for understanding how beneficial nursery rhymes are for phonemic awareness development. 

Learning the Alphabet With Nursery Rhymes

Recently, I started teaching my curious second child his ABC's using The Mindful Alphabet, the preschool literacy lessons guide I created a few years ago. It uses Mother Goose's nursery rhymes to introduce the alphabet. Charlotte Mason said that learning the alphabet should be like one big game, and nursery rhymes allows it to be playful and fun. 

To introduce letters using nursery rhymes, read a rhyme, and then pull out one of the main words in it. If I were to read the rhyme "Hey, Diddle Diddle," I'd introduce the letter D for "diddle" and C for "cat." 

Nursery Rhymes for Reading Lessons

Charlotte Mason wrote about the first reading lessons in Home Education, pages 199-222. She taught "reading by sight" using whole words from nursery rhymes. Nursery rhymes offer far richer reading material than the "Cat sat on the mat" books that many of us remember from growing up. She said that even the first reading lessons should offer meaningful, living words. 

Modern research shows that nursery rhymes "awaken responsiveness" in children, delighting them and engaging them (see PDF). 

Where to Find Nursery Rhymes

One of the best part of nursery rhymes is that many nursery rhyme books are in the public domain, so you can find them online for free. The Real Mother Goose is our favorite. When I went through the Mindful Alphabet with my daughter, she called this her reading book. If eBooks are not your favorite, you can find it here. I happen to see this book at thrift stores very often!

There is also The Big Book Of Nursery Rhymes by Walter Jerrold, that's available in the public domain. 

The website All Nursery Rhymes has an index filled with any nursery rhymes you could imagine. 

I've made some nursery rhyme cards for reading lessons, along with pointers for teaching a Charlotte Mason reading lesson. You can get them through the subscriber form below! 




Principles of Charlotte Mason Reading Instruction

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What are the principles behind Charlotte Mason's recommendations? This is a question I always ask myself, and I think it helps me manage the overwhelm I feel over sorting through so many recommendations. But even though I've written about Charlotte Mason reading instruction before, I've never though to get write about the principles behind the method. 

This post will kick off a Charlotte Mason Reading Series, which I hope will help you tackle teaching your child to read with confidence, and, if you choose, without a curriculum. 

You can read Home Education, pages 199-222 to understand her methods on your own, but I wanted to break them down into some key ideas that I think will help you implement them more easily. 

I've used affiliate links to share some books with you. You can read about affiliate links in my policies.

 

Principle 1: The Big One

Charlotte Mason's first principle is the idea which much of the early years revolves around, and also a big important aspect of reading instruction. 

Her first principle says that children are born persons, and because of that, they have a thirst for knowledge. We don't have to water everything down for them because they want to know and are capable of processing knowledge.

When we teach our children how to read, this is important to remember. There are so many gimmicks and teaching programs that fight for a child's interest. They try to entertain rather than offer up something worthy and beautiful. This is not Charlotte Mason's approach. We take this piece of knowledge and offer it to the child without first decorating with bright colors or animating the alphabet.  

Related: The Mindful Alphabet

5 Little Principles

Through studying Charlotte Mason Reading by Sight lessons for several years, I've been able to take out what I think are the most important parts. Her lessons revolve around these big ideas, so if you can remember these, I think it will be easy to apply her methods. 

1. The lesson material should be living, and not silly.

In Home Education, Charlotte Mason mentioned nursery rhymes and books of fables and tales, like Parables from Nature. Because children are born persons, they don't need to read silly books, even while beginning reading lessons. We can choose living books and rhymes, those that inspire and appeal to both parent and child. Is it possible to read some simple stories? Yes. Simple stories can be beautifully written too. Frog and Toad, Little Bear, and classic fairy tales have been engaging young readers for decades. 

2. Words should be taught as a whole, instead of breaking them down into phonics patterns. 

Once we have some beautiful rhymes or a short book, we can teach our child whole words from it. This is the meat of Charlotte Mason's 'reading by sight' approach. If we start by teaching whole words, the result is that our children can read almost immediately, and that is infinitely rewarding! On the day of Miss H's very first reading lesson, I recorded her reading Little Robin Redbreast. She was so proud of herself for being able to read! That is a natural reward. Using the traditional phonics-heavy approach, it can take children weeks or months to read anything meaningful. 

3. Phonics should be taught as secondary to reading whole words.

A common misconception about this method of reading instruction is that it doesn't include phonics. There is too much research out there to completely omit phonics from reading instruction. Instead of ignoring phonics, Charlotte Mason said that it is just not the most important part, that it should come second to learning whole words. Much of what Charlotte Mason referred to as "spelling lessons" were very similar to what we would call word-work now in a modern classroom. Children have the opportunity to build words with wooden letters and notice patterns. 

Related: Phonics, Whole Language, and Charlotte Mason Reading Instruction

4. Practice whole words out of context

Charlotte Mason gave the example of making a column of words for a reading by sight lesson, and having your child read down the column. It mixes up the words so your child can practice reading and not necessarily just reciting a rhyme or story that they're familiar with. This can be done in other ways, too, like flipping word cards face down, turning them over, and then reading the word. 

5. Make sure your child really sees each word.

Engage your child's mental imagery by asking him or her to really focus on the word, and then envision it in the mind. This will help your child make a more meaningful connection with the word so it can move to long-term memory, and will also help them with spelling in the future. 

Because we are teaching whole words slowly, supplemented by phonics, it's important to move slowly. There is no reason to rush! I've made a PDF freebie for you, that has these five principles, ideas for Charlotte Mason reading lessons, and nursery rhyme cards. You can get it through the form below. 


 Don't miss our Thinking Love podcast on reading instruction!




Online Resources with a Charlotte Mason Vibe

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I keep telling my daughter, "We're in this together." Suddenly, the whole world has changed and it's hard for little ones and big ones alike to process. Our routines will be shaken, whether we are homeschooling or sending our children to school. 

Amidst questions about what our days will hold and how to keep children engaged in learning during these changes, I decided to round up some Charlotte Mason-friendly online resources for your home. We'll have some extra time on our hands with our homeschool enrichment program and mother's day out being cancelled, so I'm going to introduce some of these fun learning opportunities as a meaningful way to spend our cooped up days. 

 (Note- I've used affiliate links to share some of these resources with you.) 


 Online Resources

Language Arts

  • Read, Write, Think- Here, you'll find some sweet resources for learning to appreciate and write poetry, among other language arts lessons
  •  International Children's Library- Get free books through this site.
  • Hoopla- Join through your library (if it is offered!) to get ebooks and audiobooks on lone.
  • Scribd- This is my favorite place to get eBooks and audiobooks! I have a monthly membership and have no limits to how many books I download. 
  • The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts- You can download the language arts course sets from this company for free if you're in a jam! It's not necessarily a Charlotte Mason approach, but focuses on art, copywork, etc. like a Charlotte Mason education does. 

Geography


Science

  • MysteryScience- Find nature-related science lessons and other mini-lessons for free on this site. 
  • The Burgess Animal Book and resources- We're planning to use this book and these resources next year for science! 

Math

  • MEP- This is a free online math curriculum that Charlotte Mason homeschoolers love! 
  • Virtual Math Manipulatives- Learn new concepts in a digitally hands-on way with this site.  

Virtual Field Trips

Copy Work/ Handwriting

Art Lessons

Current Deals

At the time of this blog post, many companies and small businesses are sharing great deals on resources that can be used during this time of uncertainty. I'll add more deals as I see them. 

Early Childhood Ideas

If your concern is not so much with keeping your child's academics up to par, but keeping your young child from growing restless, here are some ideas. 

  • Circle Time Fun- This site has free videos for young children, including interactive ideas and parent/child play ideas. 
  • Idea Nest- My monthly preschool resource that is free during 2020 would be perfect for days spent at home!  
  • You Version Bible App- This is the only iPad app that my kids are aloud to play/listen to, and it's fantastic. 

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Maybe We’ve Taken This “Teach My Kids Not To Need Me” Thing Too Far

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Earlier this evening, I helped my daughter (almost 7) clean her room. As I hung up a getting-too-small dress in her closet, an adage that I've heard dozens of times popped into my head: Don't do anything for your kids that they can do for themselves. I was uncomfortable the first time I read those words, and have been uncomfortable with them every time an older mother, as well-adjusted as her children are, tells me this. Since when do we not help each other?

In our community, there is a teen suicide every few weeks. The sadness and "if onlys" reverberate through the town until the next sad event occurs. Nearly 50% of people who participated in Cigna's loneliness index in 2018 felt lonely always or sometimes. The former surgeon general of the United States said that isolation is the most prevalent threat to health in our nation. 

This makes me wonder: are we taking this "Teach my kids not to need me" thing too far?


Our culture is slightly obsessed with the idea of independence. When I taught full time and had an infant at home, people told me how good it was for her to learn independence from me. When she got older and we decided not to put her on that big yellow bus, but to homeschool instead, the obvious concerns about her ability to be independent were written all over the furrowed brows of strangers.

But, I need people, and my children need me. This is not wrong or weak. This is human nature.

A few weeks ago, I went to the grocery store and saw a mom that I know from my MOPS group. Her child had broken a glass container, and she ran to grab paper towels and was wiping up the mess when I saw her. I went to help. She was fully capable of cleaning it up on her own, but I wanted her to know that I had been in that sticky situation too. At the same MOPS group, just a week earlier, a mom of grown children (Laurie Wildenberg) spoke to the crowd of  tired young moms, and said, "I don't want my adult children to not need me. I want them to call me when they need help.  I want them to come home for dinner and to still have a relationship with them." 

Related: Your Secret Weapon for Forming Positive Habits

Physically Independent

Is it possible to teach our children to not need us physically, but to still learn to rely on others? Yes. We were created for community. We first see our need for others, for helpers, in Genesis. "It is not good for man to be alone."

I can teach my children how to do the laundry and tie their shoes, and allow them to do these things on their own. But what if the simple act of offering to help in physical ways like these is valuable for our relationship or our child's mental health? Why do we sacrifice relationship and mental health for that little golden statue called "independence"? 


Growing Up

As my little girl hurdles closer to her seventh birthday, her responsibilities at home will increase. But when she accidentally spills the eggs that she's mixing in the bowl, I'll help her clean it up. When she can't find the pencil she needs to do her work, I'll help her find it. I want her to know that she can come to me and ask me for help as her life problems shift from missing pencils to navigating relationships or making major mistakes. In the distant future, I want her to call me up and tell me about the tough situation she's facing, not to run away and try to face something difficult entirely alone. 


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Guidelines for Making Big Homeschool Decisions

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We're quickly pulling up to the season where we'll have many decisions to make as homeschooling moms: curriculum choices, co-op choices... it can be overwhelming, and, if you're like me, paralyzing. Sometimes it's just easier to not make decisions than to weigh and analyze all of the information you take in. 

We worry about which curriculum to choose for the next school year. Will this one adequately prepare my child for the future? We stress about which books to read during which year. Will this title be too difficult this year, too simple for years to come? Will this co-op surround my child with people that will build her up? 


We put a lot of weight on these big homeschool decisions.

When Charlotte Mason discussed authority, she said that the authority we project over our children should be based in right or wrong.  Our authority isn't based on what we want, our whims. It should be based in morality because God has placed parents in authority over their children. To set arbitrary rules over little ones, and to make arbitrary decisions, is to exasperate them.

I think this applies to the decisions we make for our homeschools. Some things, even Charlotte Mason's recommendations, are arbitrary. Does it really matter if formal lessons start at five-and-a-half versus six? Do we have to read that book, the one that has obscure language and I'm dreading to read?

Related: Thinking Love Podcast Authoritative Parenting 

Homeschool Decision-Making

Last spring, I spent months researching books for Miss H's curriculum. I pored through Home Education, to see what Charlotte Mason suggested, pulled book titles that she had used in her school, and researched how much time to spend on each subject. Even though these things weren't rooted in right and wrong, I used another Charlotte Mason idea to guide me. 

I thought of her "code of education from the Gospels," which she wrote about in the opening pages of Home Education:  "Take heed that ye OFFEND not- DESPISE not- HINDER not- one of  these little ones." She based this idea off of three verses in the book of Matthew. (Take a peek at the graphic below!) 

How can we apply this educational code to our decision making? 

  • Choose interesting, lively lessons. Boring lessons are an offense to children. 
  • Take our parenting roles seriously. Don't undervalue habit and character training. If we do, we despise, or have a low opinion of, our children. 
  • Feed a child's relationship with God, instead of hindering it.  


When we are faced with decisions, we can evaluate them by this Biblical code, and then decide whether or not they are worth a whole lot of mental and emotional energy. 

Decision-Making Freedom

I think of an analogy I heard several years ago. When you are struggling with making big decisions, imagine yourself in a wide meadow, full of fragrant flowers in hues of pink, yellow, and violet. 

You could go left, right, forward and back and still have access to beauty. It wouldn't be wrong to go each way. 

 But in the distance, beyond a wild strawberry patch, there's a cliff. Going near the cliff would be foolish and dangerous. Stay away from the cliff. 

The meadow is our freedom in Christ. We are free to choose, as long as we don't choose what is morally wrong, or ignore what God is clearly telling us. He can, and will, work with our decisions. 

If we have freedom in Christ, then we surely have freedom within Charlotte Mason's philosophy. 

Guidelines for Homeschool Decision Making

1. Think about whether or not this decision is arbitrary, then devote a proportionate amount of time making it. 

2. Pray about it. Ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance. 

2. Gather your information. Don't over-research and enter into "analysis paralysis!" 

3. Consult people who are integral in your homeschooling, like your spouse, family members, or even your children. Be careful from whom you seek advice! 

4. Think about the "offend not, despise not, and hinder not" code, then make your decision.  

5. Stick with it. Something will always seem better. That is our human nature. Console yourself with the knowledge that your decision was prayerful, research, and rightly considered. 



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