Unusually quiet around here

For the next few months this humble blog may seem rather silent. School will continue as scheduled, but my free time will look quite different. My husband has started a three month sabbatical. He has a great job, that he is quite good at, if I may say so. His job can be rather intense. To compensate for that his employer gives all full time workers a three month sabbatical after every five years of work. It is an amazing deal. I assure you that during those five years of work he wakes up every morning prepared to pour himself out each day.

The kids and I are thrilled to have him home. As my seven year old was setting the table on the first night she asked me, "will Dad be home for dinner?" It was wonderful to answer, "yes."

I am sure that I will read several blogs as I prepare for next school year, but I might not post too often myself. I will be enjoying my husband's company and relishing backyard baseball games.

Math - -join the conversation

As I posted a few months ago, I have been carefully reviewing math in our school. I have enjoyed reading the posts that Sylvia has written (there are three, so be sure to read each one). I have also enjoyed reading the comments that were added by her readers.

At the end of May I am going to sit in on three "how to teach math" sessions at the state homeschool conference. I am looking forward to compiling all of this information and making a final decision about math for next year.

Thanks to those of you who have been a part of the conversation. I certainly benefit from reading your ideas. I am sure that others do too.

TOG library style

For the last quarter of the school year (Year 2, Unit 4) I have tried using the library for all of our books. Overall I am pleased with the result. By relying on inter-library loans, I have been able to acquire most of the books that we will need. There were about 10 books that I was unable to match perfectly. In most cases I have been able to find a reasonable substitute.

Last day to enter the give away

If you haven't already entered this give away you have one day left. Tapestry of Grace will be giving away ALL OF THE TEACHER MANUALS AND SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL to five families. This amounts to nearly everything that you would need for history, literature, and geography for K-12. That is one amazing give away.

You mean that you were listening?

Do your kids ever surprise you? Are you ever fully convinced that they are ignoring you only to find out that they are listening to your every word?

We have nearly finished Year 2 Unit 3. That also means that we have nearly finished reading Colonial Living by Edwin Tunis. Though the book is fascinating, it has been a challenging read aloud. Several times I have allowed the girls to work on a craft project while I read to them. Today we only had a few pages to read, so I thought that we could just sit on the couch. They kept talking, getting up, and trying to play with their two year old brother. I assumed that I would need to re-read the passage later in the week.

Tonight at dinner my seven year old explained in reasonable detail how dogs were put on treadmills that were attached to the spit so that the meat would turn over the fire. (see what I mean about fascinating?) Well, who would have guessed that she was listening?

A drawing worth entering

As you know, I use Tapestry of Grace for most of my subjects. I have been so pleased with every aspect of the curriculum. Tonight I learned that they are holding an awesome drawing. Five lucky families will receive ALL FOUR YEARS of Tapestry of Grace and the supplementary products. Since all Tapestry year plans have K-12 teacher guides you would be set for quite a long time! Click here for the details on how to enter the drawing.

5 families will be given a gift worth more than $1,200. Make sure that you give yourself the chance to be among them.

The learning is the reward

For several years now my mom and I have talked about the fact that rather than rewarding young children for academic work, parents and teachers should guide students to understand that the work is the reward. This conversation started when my oldest daughter entered kindergarten At the first parent/teacher conference my husband and I were politely chastised for not writing down each book that we read to our daughter at home. We assured the teacher that we read to McKenzie daily. At the time we had three children, ages 5, 3, and 6 months. My husband was recovering from meningitis. We didn't understand the desperate need to record what we had always thought to be a sweet way to finish out the day. Then the teacher explained, "But that is the only way for her to get the free pizza."

Oh.

My husband and I both grew up under this system. I am sure that many of you can relate. Reading meant pizza, good grades meant movies, and good behavior was rewarded with popcorn. And really, what did this communicate to a school full of learners? My mom would argue that it communicated that reading is a chore. I agree with her.

"The learning is the reward" is a lovely catch phrase for a teacher to adopt. However, without concrete examples, the phrase is meaningless. Here are a few ideas from my bag of tricks. Please leave a comment sharing ways that you remind your student(s) that the learning process is the reward.

• books are given as treats (vacation entertainment, Christmas presents, just because . . .)
• a map reading geography adventure
• handwriting practice becomes a letter exchange between friends
• increasing freedom in the kitchen (my oldest is often allowed to assemble simple recipes; math and reading; I suppose that one could argue that there is still an edible reward at the end of the process. I assure you that she enjoys the actual work involved. Most children are quite proud to help with the family meal.)
• casual dinner table discussions reviewing the week's history lessons (most recently my husband was explaining that in the 1600's many people came to America searching for religious freedom; "yes, that reminds me of reading about the Huguenots," was the reply. The "reward" for such detailed reading? A huge grin from dad.)
• saying things like, "oh, I love these kinds of problems" or "wow, this is a thinking question! You will feel great when you figure it out." That may sound cheesy, but you are the gauge by which your student will set his attitude. You can coach him towards the mindset that challenges are to be relished or towards the mindset that challenges are to be avoided. You can validate a student's sense that this problem looks tricky without bemoaning hard work.

My mom recently published her fourth book. In one of the chapters she offers suggestions for classroom teachers to build "intrinsic motivation." While the book is written for a teacher facing a room full of students, I think that teachers with only a hand full of students will find it thought provoking and motivating. Hopefully intrinsically so. After all, for any teacher, and especially for a homeschooling mother, the work is the reward.