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Imagine with me for a moment. The morning is cool and crisp. You hold a warm cup of coffee in your hand. From the next room you hear your children listening to a video in Latin, and you smile as they laugh at a joke in an ancient tongue. You pat yourself on the back for being so wise and choosing to homeschool. You are abruptly torn from this fantasy when your pre-teen shrieks, “Mom! He’s not wearing any pants and the curtains are open!”
No? Just me? I think we all begin each homeschool day hoping that it will be the one where our children (preferably through osmosis or Divine Intervention) wake up and say, “Dearest mother and father, I must unburden my curiosity and seek out knowledge. Where is my literature reading!?” This probably seems even less likely when you have a child in need of an Individualized Service Plan (ISP). Let me speak hope and truth to you today. It is possible. Ok, the fantasy version may never come to pass, but your child enjoying learning and growing in knowledge can be a reality. Our family benefits from the realistic approach we’ve received by asking for an ISP. We now have more realistic goals for our day. We started with little changes in our routine and in my way of thinking. Full disclosure: both my husband and I were public school students. Shocking, I know. Due to this, we both were burdened with the idea that the grade measures the person. Let me give you peace and say the grade is NOT your student. They can help guide you, particularly if you have a student like ours who is a talented thinker but often misplaces work, but the grade is not the child. My focus is more on where did my kids begin and where did they grow now. The ISP didn’t just help my child- it also helped me to reassess which part of the teaching was most important for me as well. Our homeschool day is not picture perfect. We lost my cat under a pile of papers once (he’s a very relaxed cat). We will never achieve perfection in our day, but maybe we need to stop seeking that and seek more of Christ. If Jesus realistically expects that we will stumble and need His help to get back up, then we shouldn’t be afraid to reach out and ask for a hand for ourselves and our kids when it comes to the academic day either. For our family, an ISP has brought us a newfound peace…not pants…but peace. Julia McCall is the hard-working mom of two kids, Kathleen in 6th Grade, and Ian in 2nd Grade. She has been at Christiana since 2016, currently tutors 7th & 8th Grade History, and also works as CHA's Director of Programming. A copy of Christiana's Individualized Support Plan (ISP) overview is available on Parent Resources on Google Classroom. If you see a need to consider this process, please contact Erika Adam, Dean of Academic Support, at [email protected].
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Every CHA parent has undoubtedly heard the words “It’s too hard!” from our sons and daughters- perhaps more often than we might like! But when it comes to reading, how can we tell if our kids might actually be right?
Thankfully, there’s a simple test that can help parents find books their children will be able to read without help or instruction from an adult. It’s called the “Five Finger Rule,” and it’s so easy that anyone can use it (even your child). Just pick up any book, open to any page, and hold up a finger for every word on that page your child doesn’t know or can’t pronounce. Books with 0-1 fingers will likely be too easy, and books with 4-5 fingers up will likely be too hard for your child to read without some help. But books with 2-3 fingers up are usually just right! These are books that your child will probably be able to read, understand, and enjoy without any assistance. However, quite a few books your child encounters might fall into the “too hard” category. These might be books they pick from the library on subjects that interest them, or even reading assigned by CHA. The good news is- these books are often the best learning experiences. It is not a matter of whether your child “should” be enjoying these types of books, but rather a question of how. Books which are “too hard” to be enjoyed alone can easily be enjoyed together. While it’s important for kids to be working on their independent reading as well, the learning which takes place together is the learning that has the most impact. It doesn’t take a trained specialist to help most kids engage with a demanding text. Timothy Shanahan, Founding Director of the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Literacy describes the results of recent studies, noting the following:
How much more can we as homeschooling parents accomplish with our kids if we read, support, and discuss with them? Here are some concrete suggestions that parents can put in practice to help their kids reap the many benefits of a text which is “too hard”:
Every child engages with reading differently- but it is key that every child comes to love the written word. As homeschoolers, we have the invaluable opportunity to build strong relationships with our kids- and reach them on an individual level in ways that no group program could. Through a strong family culture that values reading together, kids can learn to love books and reading in ways that will enrich their lives far into the future! This is part of the CHA Bits: Tips, Tricks, and Hacks series. Is there a question about CHA or homeschool that you would like answered? Submit inquiries to [email protected]. |
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