Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Teaching Self Government is Essential to Sustaining Free Societies

 This past month we had the privilege to participate in the semi-annual general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The speakers at the conference delivered two straight days of uplifting sermons that were extremely poignant to meet the concerns of our challenging times. The speakers at the conference clearly reacted to the trying social conditions that are raging around us and gave important counsel for the relief of social ills threatening our peace.


Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke to the immense importance of adherence to time tested and divinely given principles in the sustaining and flourishing of human society. He said, “The concept of sustainable development is an interesting and important one. Even more urgent, however, is the broader question of sustainable societies… Sustainability is not guaranteed, and a thriving society can fail in time if it abandons the cardinal virtues that uphold its peace and prosperity.”


It is the connection between sustainable free societies and teaching our children to adhere to principles that uphold that peace and prosperity that I would like to focus on this month. Specifically I would like to focus on the need to practice and teach self-governance, both at home and at school. Many of you may be familiar with the author and speaker Nicholeen Peck and her book, “A House United; Changing Children’s Hearts and Behaviors by Teaching Self Government,” but if you are not I highly recommend her work to you. Nicholeen Peck has provided countless parents the structure and tools to better practice and teach self-government in the home and as such has changed many lives for the better. In her book Nichileen Peck said:

“The time for strong families is now. The world around us is complicated and depraved. Our homes need to be refuge from the storms which rage around us and our children. I want my home to give all who enter the feeling of warmth, peace, strength and courage to face the challenges of our times. I want my home to give a message to the world. I want people to see something different in my family than they see in the rest of the world. Not only does a home like this strengthen my family, a home like this strengthens many families in the world around us.” To have this kind of home Nicholeen Peck teaches that each person in the family must be responsible for governing his or her own behaviors and emotions. This is the kind of self-discipline that leads to self-government.”

Self government is: being able to determine the cause and effect of any given situation and possessing a knowledge of your own behaviors so that you can control them. 

If you teach a child how to govern his own behaviors, you will teach him how to change his heart. This change of heart is more important than any behavior change. This change of heart and change of behavior based on divinely given principles is the only real power there is on earth to sustain families and by extension free societies. Latter-day Saints should be particularly acquainted with the principles of self-governance. When I think of this critical principle of sustainable liberty I often think of the long ago story of Joseph Smith, recounted by John Taylor, the third President of the Church. He reported: “Some years ago, in Nauvoo, a gentleman in my hearing, a member of the Legislature, asked Joseph Smith how it was that he was enabled to govern so many people, and to preserve such perfect order; remarking at the same time that it was impossible for them to do it anywhere else. Mr. Smith remarked that it was very easy to do that. ‘How?’ responded the gentleman; ‘to us it is very difficult.’ Mr. Smith replied, ‘I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.’”

A lesser known account from Brigham Young, the second President of the Church, reported: “The question was asked a great many times of Joseph Smith, by gentlemen who came to see him and his people, ‘How is it that you can control your people so easily? It appears that they do nothing but what you say; how is it that you can govern them so easily?’ Said he, ‘I do not govern them at all. The Lord has revealed certain principles from the heavens by which we are to live in these latter days. The time is drawing near when the Lord is going to gather out His people from the wicked, and He is going to cut short His work in righteousness, and the principles which He has revealed I have taught to the people and they are trying to live according to them, and they control themselves.’”

It was this personal allegiance to God given law that Elder Christofferson spoke of at this last conference. He warned of the consequences to our society when people turn from a sense of accountability to God and abandon the institutions of the family and religion. “When one has no higher god than himself and seeks no greater good than satisfying his own appetites and preferences, the effects will be manifest in due course.” 

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), is rightly renowned as the father of conservatism, Burke Championed "Ordered Liberty" a philosophy which relied on the rule of law governed by the moral restraints of the individual, he said it this way: “But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.” We live at a time when our children are constantly being taught by the world to throw off moral precepts, to askew personal responsibility and accountability, to doubt the wisdom of age-old commitments to chastity before marriage and fidelity in marriage, and to misunderstand the indispensable relationship between virtue and liberty.

Increasingly voices in our society champion freedom of choice without any expectation of constraint. They talk about freedom as a matter of choice without consequences. There is an expectation that social safety net programs will provide individuals with relief from debauchery and never discriminate against personal choice, essentially subsidizing dysfunctional and dangerous personal conduct that tears apart the fabric of family. Individual freedom has become a twisted virtue that turns a blind eye to the pornification of our culture, supports legalized prostitution, drugs, and any sexual deviancy imaginable. Americans seem to have decided that what goes on in a persons’ private life has no sway on their public ethos. I avow that there can be no separation between private morality and public character. What goes on behind closed doors sends shock waves through our families, culture, and institutions.

Burke did not place individual liberty as high as to be untempered by the law and the moral restraint of society. Burke argued that these abstract rights are extreme and unrealistic as they provided that men were free to act anywhere according to their pleasure, without any moral tie. He denied that such rights ever existed. 

“Men have a right to live by that rule; they have a right to justice.... They have a right to the fruits of their industry; and to the means of making their industry fruitful. They have a right to the acquisitions of their parents; to the nourishment and improvement of their offspring; to instruction in life, and to consolation in death... But liberty is not license to act from sheer self-will. Rather, it is “social freedom."

In an article titled, “Behold, the Enemy Is Combined”. Neal A. Maxwell asked, “How can there possibly be a disturbing loss of individual impulse control without a corresponding loss of collective freedom?” He cited historian Will Durant’s warning that “If the hunger for liberty destroys order, the hunger for order will destroy liberty.” He went on to say that “while I would not shrink the circumference of freedom, the size of that circle is not the sole measure of social well-being. Hence, to exult, as some do, over how much decadence is permissible at the edges ignores the erosive effects of such grossness upon all within that circle.”

The world is preoccupied with the pollution of our physical environment and completely unconcerned about the harm done by the pollution of our moral environment. Which is the more pressing danger facing the sustainment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? It’s uncomfortable to be expected to govern one’s self and to rein in personal freedom for the guarantee of collective freedom, however It is incumbent upon us to spend our lives in the pursuit of it, to sacrifice our comfort in obedience to it, and to be willing to lay down our lives in the protection of it.

Burke taught that to be fit for freedom, people need self-control and morality. “Men are qualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

The family is the single greatest antidote to the poison in our world. It is therefore in the inculcating of divine virtue and true principles of human conduct in our homes that our primary energy must be applied. It is in the training our children receive at home that they will learn to bridle their passions and develop the wisdom of temperate and dedicated self-governance. In so stating I do not wish to diminish our role and responsibility to defend principles of truth in the public square or engage in critical work to strengthen institutions of government, education, or culture. Clearly if we retreat into our homes and leave the public institutions to decay we will find in short order that even our homes are no longer safe from the advancing forces of evil in our world, but our community role is a topic for another article. 

My purpose today is to emphasize the importance of religion and the institution of the family for the purpose of endowing both individuals and communities with the virtues that sustain an enduring free society. As Nicholeen Peck observed that, “Not only does a home like this strengthen my family, a home like this strengthens many families in the world around us.” As we attend to this critical teaching, may we apply the principles of agency in harmony with God’s plan and give our children the room to develop personal responsibility through agency and accountability. It is my hope that we will realize the importance of teaching self-governance to our children and view it as our greatest contribution to the strengthening and sustaining of our free republic.


*I highly recommend Nicholeen Peck’s book as a guide to the teaching of self-governance in the home. You can find her books here.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

When an Otherwise Bright Child Struggles to Learn

By seven years a child should be showing all the signs that they are ready to read with the base knowledge of letters and sounds they have learned in their early ed years; learning that can come through interactive play based strategies. Most children will already have begun reading their first words and blending simple letter sounds, some will already read sentences by age seven. For some children reading comes more naturally than others, some show more interest in reading and with verily little effort will begin to read. If however, your otherwise bright 7-8 year old is struggling to learn the names of letters, having trouble connecting letters to their sounds, confusing or substituting words, having difficulty decoding (sounding out) single words, making consistent errors, reversals of letters or words after the 2nd grade (7-8 years old), is generally frustrated with school work -- especially those assignments that require reading and writing and/or rote memorization -- having problems with attention, and reading is very slow and painful, you likely have a dyslexic child.


It is estimated that 1 in 5 human beings (20%) have dyslexic brains. Dyslexia is the most common “learning disability” affecting both reading, writing, and arithmetic, yet it is the most misunderstood and largely unmet challenge in education today. Teachers colleges in the U.S. devote no significant time to the study of dyslexia and the average teacher receives practically no training in appropriate instruction methods to meet the needs of dyslexic learners. Most perplexing is the fact that most  reading intervention specialist in public schools are not equipped with appropriate training or curriculum to properly instruct dyslexic learners. The curriculum and methods that work best for dyslexic learners are also excellent curriculum for all learners, and yet American schools do not use these curriculum or methods.

Dyslexia is often referred to as a learning disability, but more accurately it is a learning difference resulting from an entirely unique brain structure, and therefore entirely unique brain processing, which can now be seen through fMRI technology. Dyslexia is a lifelong condition. Dyslexic do not grow out of dyslexia, they do not “overcome” dyslexia, instead they learn in a different way and their strengths compensate for their weaknesses. 

Dyslexia is hereditary. A family history of late reading and learning difficulties should be present, however, it is sometimes difficult for families to identify their family trait because of the poor diagnosis of dyslexia in the past and the fact that dyslexia in adults looks very different than it does in children. 

Dyslexic thinkers have both gifts and challenges, in fact, it is their unique brain structure that results in valuable brain strengths which have trade offs in early education. Dyslexia is observed in differing severity and dyslexics are often referred to as having mild, moderate or profound dyslexia. Because of the spectrum within dyslexia many child dyslexics will never have their dyslexia identified. 

The only sure way to diagnose dyslexia is to have a child thoroughly evaluated by a neuropsychologist with special training in diagnosing dyslexia. However, for most homeschooled children it is not necessary to seek a diagnosis for dyslexia since a homeschool can equip itself to meet the challenges of educating a dyslexic thinker without seeking special ed services. In cases where dyslexia is profound (severe) a diagnosis may be needed to receive accommodations in college entrance and college coursework and testing.

Early intervention and correct instruction methods can help reduce the frustration and stress a dyslexic will experience in learning but it will not eliminate it. (Read my post on the dyslexic struggle here) The best prescription beyond choosing the right instructional methods and curriculum is to educate yourself about dyslexia and be patient and persistent in your child's instruction. If you think your child might be dyslexic I would encourage you to read about dyslexia. I highly recommend the book “The Dyslexic Advantage, Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain,” by Brock L. Eide M.D. M.A. (Author), Fernette F. Eide M.D. (Author), as the place to begin.

The curriculum and teaching methods I will recommend below are excellent for children with dyslexic brains or your average brain. The good news there is that if you use these curriculum and you discover that your child is dyslexic at between 8-10 years of age (the most common period for which dyslexia is recognized due to the serious education lag that occurs in this range) you will feel confident that you have been using methods suited to their brain differences. If however, your child is not dyslexic, you will find these curriculum thorough and easy to implement. For this reason I believe these programs to be the best programs for teaching reading and writing that I have seen.

My Treasure Trove of Education Resources for Elementary ED instruction

ELA (English Language Arts):
  • All About Reading & All About Spelling: Primary Instruction is from All About Learning press, these programs are mostly direct instruction with short application activities. These programs are strong multisensory reading instruction programs based on Orton-Gillingham reading science.
  • “Writing Skills” by Diana Hanbury King: Writing Skills is a systematic incremental writing program to give your child the foundational skills necessary to become a solid writer. The lessons are easy to teach and the student will not be frustrated because the lesson are so logical in their incremental order that they feel confident in their abilities to complete the assignments. The assignments begin simply and it is not a time consuming program. For extra writing practice use supplements and creativity.
  • Handwriting Without Tears & Writing Without Tears: Handwriting Without Tears has a simple easy to learn format for handwriting, both print and script. Don't worry, the style you use when teaching handwriting does not impact the child's adult writing style. All people settle into their own writing style as adults regardless of the instruction style used in the classroom in their youth. Learning without tears has some great workbooks for extra writing enrichment and practice beyond the Writing Skills instructional program. I bet your handwriting style is verily close to one of your parents handwriting but you were taught in different schools and with different styles, that's because handwriting is more about DNA than instruction style. **If I did it again I might consider teaching cursive from the beginning instead of teaching print. They do it that way in England and it works wonderfully.
  • Explode the Code workbooks: For additional reading skill practice the explode the code workbooks are easy to use, inexpensive, and follow solid phonetic instruction.
  • Dance Mat Typing: A simple free typing program for kids that has 4 levels. Teaching typing early and consistently is extremely helpful in unleashing spelling and writing, especially for dyslexics.
  • Notability App: Is a great resource for kids when doing longer writing assignments. They can use text to type to get their ideas down and then do edit and revision right in the app. They can add pictures to their stories and reports and save their work easily.

Once they establish relatively fluent reading encourage them read quality literature that interests them. Early readers are only instructional but kids grow out of them quickly. For a late reader the early readers become a problem because they are too mature for the stories but their reading level is too low for things that would interest them more. I have found that scripture reading and the scripture readers are enjoyable for them because the stories are meaningful.

Favorite Math Curriculum & Instruction Models:
  • Math Inspirations: Emily Dyke will teach you how to teach math in a way that will build a logical thinker who is able to solve problems not just preform rote memorized algorithms. I find that her method for math is especially powerful in early ed and elementary ed because of how it builds foundations for higher level thinking. I took her teacher training and it has framed how I instruct in math every since. I have not done her program exclusively but it has made me a better teacher.
  • Teaching Textbooks: I moved my son into teaching textbooks his 3rd grade year. He had already established a strong number sense and base for arithmetic in Math Inspiration and more free form manipulative math instruction. Teaching textbooks helped him advance to middle school math and learn common instruction and testing techniques.
Favorite Math Resources:
If your child is struggling to master those basic skills -- reading, writing, and arithmetic -- be diligent and keep going but DON'T WAIT for their skills to catch up in order to expand their education into science, history and all the wonderful learning the world offers. Too often children who struggle to establish these skills loose their love of learning because the daily trod is so discouraging and difficult and without any joyful educational pursuit, education begins to feel like complete drudgery. The most difficult thing to do with a struggling learner is to give them the vision of what education really is and what they are doing all this daily tedious practice for. Show them that they can learn from hands on activities, play, audio books, and documentaries. Help them discover their strengths and develop their talents. Let technology aid your child in helping them learn what they want to learn.
Favorite History Resources:
Art:
Other Science and Technologies:

Friday, May 22, 2020

The Deficiencies of Homeschool vs. The Deficiencies of Public School

I'm a writer, almost everything I write ends up as an essay. This essay started out as an email to a fellow home-school mom as a follow up to a short conversation we had at our home-school co-op last week. Noticing the wide disparities in reading and writing ability among a class of 5-8 year old's, we engaged in a brief discussion about whether or not, as home-school moms, we are doing an adequate job instructing our children in basic skills. Some home-school children read and write early and others just begin to read and right at 7 or even 8 years old. Others may struggle for several more years. It's the 7 and 8 year old late bloomers that we were discussing that day. As part of that conversation the question arose in my mind, "Is it evidence of educational neglect if an 7 or 8 year old is just beginning to learn to read and write?"

Public School parents often view home-school parents as "out of the mainstream" so-to-speak, but they aren't so different that they don't find themselves comparing their kids basic skills to their kids peers. Unfortunately, we are all guilty of that. As I pondered this question I evaluated it by making just these kinds of comparisons, after all my son is just barely 7, and he is just now learning to read and write. In comparison, there are home-school peers of his who are significantly ahead of him in these skills and some who seem to be behind him. Likely, he would be behind his public school peers in these areas at this time. Does that stress me out? Sometimes, but not for the right reasons. Comparisons are funny that way, they are rarely made for the right reasons.

My son began writing his letters and numbers at 6, and not at 3 and 4 like so many other American kids in pre-k programs, and his progress in language is slow. His handwriting is neat but slow, and he can't write in small print. Despite these challenges he practices daily now without stressing over the copy work and I am happy with his progress. His reading is slow, and he must sound out many simple words still, but he is progressing and that is what matters to me. I feel confident that he is at the perfect developmental stage for both reading and writing and I have added more direct instructional methods as he has been able to handle them without stress. I feel content in his abilities and progress.

There would be some, maybe even a great many people, who would not feel the same about a 7 year old being at a beginning level in reading. Some may observe this and jump to the conclusion that there is some degree of educational neglect in my home, but as a home-school mom I made a choice not to push reading and writing as young as the public schools do. I made a choice not to use the same methodologies, curriculum, and lesson plans as the public schools do. I made that choice based on my own experience, research, and desires for my sons development. I made these choices based on my belief that there are other more valuable types of learning that can and should be done with kids between the ages of 4 and 7 then using direct instructional curriculum to teach them to read and write. Clearly that choice would naturally result in my son being behind his public school peers (in some areas, ahead in others) at 7, but I don't believe that means he will be behind them in 2 years.

It is logical that there is great diversity within home-school families, much more than the public school classroom, and that the reasons that families home-school vary widely, their personal beliefs about education and how it should progress differ, their instructional models differ, their curriculum differ, but the overall statistical evidence is that in the end as a group home-schooled kids perform as well or better then their public school peers. Are their failures in home-school? Certainly, but they are not more serious than those failures that take place in public school. Overall it comes down to choices. I'm sure that there is some level of educational neglect among home-school families, but I don't think it's higher than the national averages of public school kids who struggle and/or fail in the public education system because of poor home environments and/or the deficiencies and failures of their public education methodologies.

I think a person might judge the effectiveness of one home-school environment over another depending largely on their own unique experience within their local public school. A person in an under performing public school is more acquainted with the examples of education failure and neglect that happen in public schools across the country, however, a person whose children attend school in an affluent area in an affluent state, where their kids are surrounded by peers who largely grow up in stable intact families, experience the best of the best public school has to offer nationally. Thus judgments made about the effectiveness of home-school, which are largely comparative in nature, will differ as widely as do the educational outcomes in public schools. I had my older son in such a school district with the kind of excellent teachers those districts attract, for all of his foundational years, and he has a solid foundation, and for the most part I was satisfied, but not fully.

What I've learned from my exposure to education as a parent, teacher, then a political policy advocate in education, and through my research and study of the issues facing our education systems in America is that there are deficiencies in public school institutions that are no less serious in the way they affect the development of thought, and morals, as well as the development of problem solving skills and independent learning. I believe much of what we see wrong with society today either stems from or is compounded by these deficiencies in public education. As Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” -- Not only does this principle truth extend to the civil government, but the government of the family and most importantly the government of self.

In respect to the government of self, the transmission of morals, the development of character, and the development of independent thought, that I believe home-school is superior to public school. I love this quote from Thomas Jefferson that contains what people of his time believed the purpose for education was:

"The objects of this primary education are to give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business; To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts, in writing; To improve by reading, his morals and faculties; To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed. To instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests and duties, as men and citizens, being then the objects of education in the primary schools, whether private or public, in them should be taught reading, writing and numerical arithmetic, the elements of mensuration...and the outlines of geography and history.” ~ Thomas Jefferson (August 4, 1818)

As you can see much of what makes up a quality education deals with character traits that are not based in skills alone. I've highlighted some of these such as, problem solving, independent thought, articulate expression of independent ideas, the improvement of ones morals and the subsequent behaviors, the faithfulness to ones "social relations," i.e. duty to God, family, community, and nation, and finally the ability to instruct (to teach others, first of which is their own families) others their rights and duties.

It is these fundamentals you find that the purpose of education is not revealed by mere skill. Education is about the development of a human being. What that human being is able to accomplish academically is reliant upon the character that is forged, character is not forged through academic pursuit alone. As a society we are often dismayed by the level of general ignorance that seems a glaring evidence of the failure of American education, but we will not succeed at growing well educated youth in a society where the mass of its citizens are lacking in sound moral character, mature thought, self-restraint and selfless duty to a greater good.

A Developmentally Appropriate Education: Early ED

When I ask young mothers who are feeling drawn to homeschool why they want to homeschool, one reason stands out, they want to preserve the innocence of their children and make learning joyful. 

It is not hard to notice that a growing number of parents are following their intuition which is telling them that there is something very wrong happening in formal education today and that it is their job to save their children. Not all of these new homeschool parents can explain exactly why they feel homeschool calling to them, but they feel confident enough that they can provide what their young children need better than our educational institutions. This is good. What is not good is when, out of ignorance, well meaning parents simply copy the public school model at home without understanding that it's not just pernicious social influences within the education systems that are dangerous to children but the order and structure of how and when academic skills are taught that is causing harm.

One of the questions most asked by new homeschool parents is about what curriculum to use for their young child just starting out in homeschool. In this blog post I hope to impart some sound advise on how to build a developmentally appropriate approach to education in your home. With this knowledge you will be able to recognize what to teach and when to teach it and your search for good resources and curriculum to help you meet your goals will not seem as daunting.

What Public Schools Are Doing Wrong:

Our formal systems of education today use instructional models based on standards and testing requirements that are not developmentally appropriate. This means that the standard requirements that have been set and the type of instruction that is delivered to meet those requirements are not fitted to the developmental needs appropriate to the age of the student. In simple terms, our public schools teach the wrong skills at the wrong age and in so doing they stifle essential stages of cognitive development.

All modern state led education initiatives such as, NCLB, Race to the Top, and now Common Core, are built on the pernicious beliefs that education is a race—and that the earlier you start, the earlier you finish. They assume that learning follows the same principles at all age levels—ignoring the science of brain development and the fact that academic skills, which in their logical complexity and difficulty, are not suited to all stages of brain development. Thus we see schools trying to teach algebraic concepts to five year old's and structured writing skills to 1st graders, while time in their seats in direct instruction is continually increasing and the stress of standardized testing dogs them every year they are in school.

How is a Developmentally Appropriate Education Different:

In a developmentally appropriate education the question isn't what curriculum to use when a child is five years old, but rather what should I teach and how should I teach it. Resources like apps, games, manipulatives, and curriculum can be helpful in teaching your children the foundations of education; reading, writing, and arithmetic, but more important than all of these components is an understanding of how children learn and the basics of human development science.

In a developmentally appropriate classroom (home), children are busy taking care of plants and animals, experimenting with sand and water, drawing and painting, listening to songs and stories, and engaging in dynamic play. It is hard to believe that these young children can learn more from work sheets than they do from engaging in these age-appropriate activities. For home instruction to be superior to public school one must first free their educational philosophies from the cage of public school instruction and build a dynamic developmentally appropriate learning environment for their home.

Learning for young children should always start as play. Children should learn almost entirely through play and physical work up to the age of 6-7, and remain a component of education through elementary school. Those calling for hours of direct academic instruction of the young don’t seem to appreciate that math and reading are complex skills acquired in stages related to age. Children will acquire these skills more easily and more soundly if their lessons accord with the developmental sequence that parallels their cognitive development. Don't start too early on concepts your child’s brain is simply not yet ready for. If you wait for the right developmental stage you will discover that teaching a child reading, writing, and arithmetic will not be as hard or stressful for either of you. There are some exceptions with children who have serious learning challenges, such as a child who is dyslexic, but for struggling learner it is even more imperative that you do not push direct instruction and book work too early because their needs will require multi-sensory and systematic approaches at the right age.

What is most important in Early Ed is not a “rigorous” education but rather an enjoyable one. For young children learning should be fun, an education where creativity is cultivated, and curiosity is not squashed. The environment for learning is more important than the curriculum and teaching methods more important than resources. Don't stress yourself out, ignore the public schools standards and methods, and remember that a healthy happy child can learn what they need to know at any age (and much more quickly at the appropriate developmental phase) so there is no reason to be in a race or comparing your child to other children. 

"Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire." -- William Butler Yeats

MY READ FIRST LIST:

Here I would recommend some important reading: "How Children Learn" by John Holt, "The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents" by Peter Grey Ph.D., Much Too EarlyBy DAVID ELKIND, and study Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, there are many sources for this as his work is foundational to our understanding of how children learn, here is a summary. And finally, I recommend that you and your spouse begin ordering your homeschool using principles taught by Nicholeen Peck in her book: "Parenting A House United: Changing Children's Hearts and Behaviors by Teaching Self-Government"



Relax and Have Fun, and Good Luck,

My Treasure Trove of Education Resources for Early Ed instruction

Here are the apps I like the most (they are in the apple app store):
  • Endless ABC
  • Endless Reader
  • Endless Numbers
  • Phonics Farm from 22Learn
  • TallyTots
  • Bob Books Apps
  • Quick Math Jr.
  • Phonogram Sounds: All About Learning Press
  • Duck Duck Moose Apps: all the apps in this family of early ed apps are great the ones that you start with are
  • Fish HD
  • Reading HD
  • Park Math
  • Letter School App: This is a handwriting app that has the Handwriting Without Tears font as well as two other standard programs.
  • MakeChange App: For learning money
  • TT Clock: For learning time

Activities that help prepare a child prepare for reading and math:
  • Leaf Frog Alphabet Magnet Toy
  • Leap Frog "Letter Factory" DVD (other Leap Frog Videos)
  • Word World program on PBS (Streams on Netflix)
  • Read out loud to them!
  • Doing Puzzles
  • Learning Patterns (string beads in patterns), they make large wooden beads for toddlers
  • Coloring; some toddlers won’t tolerate coloring and building things, painting, or clay would be better.
  • Cut & Paste activities (and other small motor activities), Legos words for fine motor skills as well.
  • Connect the dots; again, some toddlers and young children, especially kids who are likely dyslexic will not tolerate this kind of activity.
  • Storytelling Activities
  • School House Rock: all of the old stuff
Games we Love:
  • Sequence for Kids
  • Monopoly for Kids
  • Rummy Card Games
  • "Chunks: The Incredible Word Building Game" by Smart Kids: (for beginning readers; age 6)
  • Bananagrams: You can use this for lots of early learning activities and you don't have to play the intended game. Early on I would have Charlie put a set of random letters together and we would try to sound out the word he made. Most of the time the words were a jumble of sounds, but it was funny and helped him understand that letters need to be placed in the order with vowels to make sounds and words we can understand.
  • Learning Resources "Pop for Letters" game: All of their games are fun.
Curriculums Worth Having (just in case they seem ready before 6 or 7 years, I used some of these at 4 years old):
  • “Parenting: A House United” by Nicholeen Peck (and her children’s books that go with the method)
  • Explode the Code Primers
  • Handwriting Without Tears
  • All About Reading & All About Spelling: Level 1
  • Horizon Math: Level 1
  • Math Manipulatives, such as, base ten blocks, cuisenaire rods, abacus, teaching clock
  • Math Inspirations Method