Morning Watch: Ex. 34:6
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Morning Watch: Eccl. 8:4,5
July Links and Ideas
**July is National Blueberry Month! How about using Pickyourown.org to find a U-Pick blueberry farm near you? What about whipping up a batch of blueberry muffins in time for National Blueberry Muffin Day on July 11th? Yum!
**The Nature Conservancy’s bird of the month is the Bald Eagle. Why not spend a few days learning about this beautiful creature?
**International Day of Friendship is July 30th, giving you time to write and mail letters to new friends and old.
**Apollo 11 orbited the moon in July 1969. Check out this kid-friendly NASA website and find out what’s going on in space right now.
Research topics/ideas with a July connection:
Amelia Earhart
Annexation of Hawaii
U.S. Patent Office
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sitting Bull
Wait for It, Wait for It….
So your three year old is telling you about the new swing at the park. The story is taking forever and a day. You are so tempted to finish his sentences for him! Here are a few reasons to ‘wait for it’ and let your child get that story out on his or her own.
Your child is developing his oral narrative skills. Your child is learning how to put sentences together that focus on a central thought or theme. She increasing her descriptive vocabulary by repeating words and phrases that she has heard you use to tell her story. He is practicing sequencing skills in relating what happened first, then next and finally. She is beginning to clue in on the idea of cause-and-effect. Those skills are a vital part of speech & language development; foundational skills for learning to read and write.
Take a deep breath. Listen and be encouraging as the story progresses. Remind yourself that this is homeschooling at its most organic. No lesson plans needed.
References:
Ripley, Kate. Developing Narrative Skills. March 2012. Rosebowl, Southampton.
Reading Aloud is for All Ages!
Becoming a Nation of Readers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott and Wilkinson, 1985) presented among its findings that “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” This landmark Commission on Reading report also indicated reading aloud in the home is an essential contributor to reading success, and that reading aloud… is “a practice that should continue throughout the grades.”
What powerful motivation to include reading aloud as part of a homeschooling schedule! Most families however, see read-aloud time as
an activity for younger children only. But as the report states, the practice should continue because the benefits of reading aloud don’t diminish as children grow older.
Pre-Readers
For the very young child, being read aloud to sends a multitude of important messages. The time spent with the reading parent is a vitally important bonding time. The young child gets the message that the act of reading is important, fun and desirable. Even though the child may not begin to read himself for several years, the underlying knowledge needed for reading success is being developed.
Emerging/Growing Readers
As a child enters his emerging reader years, the act of being read to still maintains a place of importance. Motivation becomes key factor in reading success, and being read aloud to keeps that motivation alive. It shows that reading is important and is a skill valued by the family. While the emerging reader listens, he takes note of the sounds of words, how punctuation is used, and begins to develop a personal vocabulary. As the books read aloud become longer, and the words become more difficult, a growing reader is able to gain access to new material with support.
Older Readers
One might think that reading to an older child is not a valuable exercise, but that is far from the truth. It is one of the best ways to promote independent reading in older readers. Because most children listen at a higher level than they read, reading aloud is an opportunity to present material they may have difficulty accessing on their own. Reading aloud may motivate a reluctant reader to try material previously thought too difficult. Reading aloud to older readers also stimulates fluency and vocabulary growth. In addition, taking the time to discuss the reading material is excellent preparation for higher level critical thinking and writing.
Morning Watch: Prov. 12:5
Uplifting Summer Listening
The thirty-two chapters of Christ Our Savior would make excellent listening on a long summer road trip. It’s also perfect if you are looking for something different for morning or evening worship. Christ Our Savior is a child’s version of Desire of Ages. Follow the bold link to find the free audio files available as individual chapters or altogether as a zip file.
The Adventist Home Educator 