Do you think a child should learn how to read at their own pace?

   The image above is our oldest Bailey reading and Sadie, who decided she wanted to join in the fun.

         Do you think it’s a better idea for a child to learn how to read at their own pace or should they know how to read at a certain level at a certain age? I personally think a child will learn when they are ready, as long as they are getting their daily language arts and reading lessons. I have seen it happen in our household. My oldest at age eight had a hard time reading, but as soon as she hit nine years old she was flying through books. I was in shock, because I am her teacher and I was thinking we needed to change her curriculum for the following year, when all of a sudden she could read everything. I was so excited to see how well she was reading too. So I do truly believe they learn at their own pace and do very well when it does click. Now when I look at my middle child who is in second grade, she is doing the same thing as her older sister.

       Except this time I believe she will need a lot more extra reading, and activities with reading added to her daily lessons, because I think she has a little more of a struggle paying attention on top of the reading difficulties. Again this is the beauty in homeschooling I fit my curriculums to my children’s learning styles. I totally believe there is not a “one size fits all” kind of thinking when it comes to what I teach. I know my middle child needs extra attention compared to her oldest sister. Her oldest sister just gets everything when my middle child sometimes seems like she is on another planet when I am asking her a question. I feel blessed to have the older sister who is reading at a high level where she helps her out and reads to both her sisters throughout the day when school is not in session. I mean as you can see in the picture above it’s my baby trying to mimic her big sister and that to me is a great example of good influence and helpful with showing our littlest one about reading. As our littlest one Sadie grows and follows behind her big sister I hope one day she will know how important reading is.



        Some parents don’t agree with idea that a child will read when they are ready to read approach. When a lot of homeschooling families do believe in this way of teaching like myself. This type of approach “they will read when they are ready” focuses on the love of reading rather than early reading (Keys & Crain, 2009). The school system tries to use the one size fits all way of thinking. When you compare my children they have two very different types of learning styles. So reading has to be formed to fit their individual learning styles. Children learn at their own pace with reading when homeschooled in most cases and this helps nurture a child’s inner wisdom and then allows a child to follow their own bliss (Keys & Crain, 2009). So it would not be such a demand to have to know how to read before a certain age as the one size fits all motto in the public school system. Parents just want their kids to love reading to where this is a lifetime love (Keys & Crain, 2009). Again some people think children should know how to read before they are the age of six while others will learn on their own anyways in most case before they are eight years of age. (Keys & Crain, 2009).



       Some parents that choose to home school still give a certain amount of instruction as I think I do. Overall we don’t want to be pressuring to our kids to read because we have seen our oldest just flow right into a high level of reading as stated on her test scores at the end of the school year. So why force something that will come in time. They love to read anyways, so it’s exciting. I myself was never a big reader so I really hope my children will just naturally love to read for life as they do now without having to do it at such an early age. Parents try and do a lot of read aloud to help bring their children in and let them decide for themselves if they are ready to figure it all out and read on their own (Keys & Crain, 2009). Parents try to be sensitive and let their children figure it out for themselves when it comes to reading (Keys & Crain, 2009).



          Like I have said before parents will choose what’s right for their children and I would never judge a families decision to send their kids to a public school system but I do hope to change the opinions about homeschooling. So it’s just as acceptable as a public school system in societies eyes .Each child has their own way of learning and we as parents are just trying to do what’s best when it’s comes to our children’s education. Each year of homeschooling I get so excited because my children score above average at the end of year testing in everything. They continue to amaze me. It just shows we have made the right decision as a family to continue their education at home. I have three very smart amazing beautiful girls. My life is so busy but I would never change a thing about it. One day they will be off doing their own thing and I hope one day to look back and say we did everything possible to make sure our children had the best influence and schooling we could offer as parents. This is our journey as a family and we moving right along year by year.



     Take it from me it’s not easy but it’s an easy choice when it comes to education. Our children are only small once, and we hope to be a part of every moment as much as possible. Not smothering kind of way either, just the love of being around them from the time they wake up till the time they hit the sack. Time moves fast and that is one thing I never really paid attention to when I was younger. Then I hit my 30’s and had my own kids and I see how valuable life is, how valuable your time is here, how valuable your children are and how fast they do grow. What seems like a routine everyday turns out to be nothing like that when you look back it’s just a year passed with all kinds of different things that went on and the biggest thing is your children turn a year older. Before you know it they are getting married and having their own children. So this is why we choose to spend as much time with our children and educate them with our values and beliefs and they score above average every year. Plus I love my time with our girls, even though it’s tuff it’s so rewarding in the end.

                                                                                        

Annotated Webliography: Where does the day go in our homeschooling home?

Keys & Crain, (2009) , Parental patience and children's reading , pilot study of homeschooled children, Encounter, Retrieved Winter 2009, from Academic Search Complete.

This article talks about homeschooling parents choosing to let their children learn to read at their own pace. So they gain a love for reading. Not being pressured to learn how to read at such an early age. Most kids being homeschooled still learn how to read by the time they were 8 years old“they will read when they are ready approach”.

Visual Rhetoric 2

                                    (Johnson, 2010)

This cartoon is geared to the homeschooling audience or to those parents who are unsure of how they want to educate their kids: home schooling versus public schooling?

           The image above shows the stereotypes of homeschooling, both the myths and the reality. The image also shows public schooling: what parent’s desire and the result when parents send their children to public schools.

          Myth: Homeschooled child: The cartoon shows a lonely fish being homeschooled; he is an un- socialized, sad fish.

         Reality: The homeschooled fish is free to interact with other fish of different ages and types.

        Myth: Public schooled kids: On the other hand, parents of the school of fish want their kids following the same path as kids their age, just like a school of fish, only to find that the outcomes have not matched their desire.

       Reality: Public school: The children are packed in public school classrooms like sardines. The school of fish (children) is screaming for help because there is no room to move and be themselves.

       Reality: Public school: There is not enough one to one teaching and learning.

       When I first read this comic I loved it. It makes me happy to see positive things being said about homeschooling (pathos). I think public school audiences would not like this image as much and would upset a family who send their kids to public school because the reality is public school systems are over packed with no room to breathe, creating frustration (pathos).

         For families that are unsure about the choice to educate their children, this cartoon might help this audience think about homeschooling. In other words, the argument of homeschooling versus public schooling addresses parents' logic and reasoning (logos). This cartoon can be trusted (ethos). As a home-school teacher, this cartoon confirms my knowledge and experience (logos & ethos).

 Source Cited:

Johnson, C. (2010).  Homeschooling vs. public schools. No Homeschool Agenda. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://www.noagendahomeschool.com/blogs/news/5388642-homeschooling-vs-public-school. 

Visual Rhetoric 1

        

     The image above shows how the media and the way society criticizes homeschooling. It shows a man of the media trying to convince society that homeschoolers are hiding evidence that it does not work. When in fact there is no bad evidence. On one table there are cobwebs showing nothing has been on that table in a while, meaning there has not been any bad evidence on homeschooling because the webs have not been disturbed. When right across from that table is another table showing all the good evidence on home schooling, and it’s actually overflowing into another box with no cobwebs. When they both are compared, homeschooling turns out to be good instead of bad even though society is trying to make it look bad with no evidence. I think the objective in this image is to convince society that home-schooled children are not hiding anything and that the proof of good evidence outweighs the bad. Even though society still tries to point out the bad even though there is no evidence to prove it!


     The man pointing and trying to convince society that homeschoolers are hiding something is meant to provoke our feelings of outrage (pathos). Pathos is used to engage TV audiences on the news channels, which presents the news with the dramatic feel (pathos). This picture also shows how good homeschooling is when compared to the bad. This makes me feel happy when seeing this. Although the character almost seems frustrated because there is no evidence that proves homeschooling is bad. Because I am a home-school teacher, the cartoon shows the truth and how society tries to make homeschooling look bad, but never seems to find the evidence to prove that. Thus, the cartoon is arguing its case to an audience of reason and intellect (logos), because this cartoon about homeschooling only shows good evidence when compared to the bad evidence (logos). The counter message in this cartoon is that society wants a way to prove the good evidence wrong, and the medial supports the negative image that homeschooling must be hiding something. The counter message is saying, “Don’t trust homeschooling” (ethos).Finally, the message of logic and reason to support homeschooling is geared towards the community of homeschooling families and those who are undecided (mythos)!

    I would say this is a great comic and made me smile because it is very true in many ways because a many in the society don’t even do the research but yet listen to the negative claims; many do not look at the evidence that discusses why homeschooling is good. Research is a good thing and, believe it or not, this comic has a lot of truth about it. I do like the added sarcasm to make the message to have a feel-good feeling for a homeschooling family when we are presented to the public eye.





Source Cited:


Brittany (2012). Adult homeschoolers speak out: college? Prepared or not? BAM. Retrieved from the web on November 17, 2012 at
http://mengalings.blogspot.com/2012/06/adult-homeschoolers-speak-out-college.html

Why do people believe homeschooling familes are just Conservative Christians?

                                  This image shows a conservative religious idea of the post I am writing about.

             

             Why is it homeschooling is mostly stereotyped as Conservative Christian families? We as a family do believe in God and we also teach about God in our daily lessons. I personally do tend to lean towards the conservative view too! But with that being said, we don’t seclude are kids to only conservative Christian families or views. Because we do believe in teaching our girls that there are all types of families with different views out there. Yes, we do choose to teach subjects with bible verses and we do say the pledge of allegiance every day before we start our daily lessons. It’s very important to recognize “Gods’ country” and the troops and veterans that are serving and have served to protect all of us.

          This is something that has been taken out of the public school systems for the most part. Along with Merry Christmas being another thing that is slowly being taken out of the system too. I am not sure why this is? I mean our country is the one we all live in. If you live in America, you need to be proud and thankful to live in a country where you can choose what you believe personally! I have noticed with the results of Obama taken office that a lot of people are not happy with this, rather it was a Democrat making fun at the Republicans rubbing this in or vice versa the Republicans are very sadden by the results so anger is surfacing. It’s getting out of hand with the hate between all the divisions rather its religion, politics, and education. They all tie in with each other. Not one person has it all down. I am constantly learning on a daily basis. I still think each of those issues is individually approved instead of just accepted. Ok maybe someone doesn’t believe in my views of homeschooling or that I believe in God and teach this to our children. This is our choice because we do live in America, just like I accept you for you and what you choose to do with your children. I have never judged one because they choose to put their children in the public school system. Nor have I ever judged someone because they don’t believe in God or something else! We all have our own journeys to lead; everyone should come together and not fall apart! I do feel like this is why there are so many issues with home-schooling being accepted in society’s eyes. I have many friends who have their children in the public school system and are from all walks of life. I would never separate my children from them. These are great, smart children too I might add. This is America and while we have the right to choose what we believe and how we educate our children, we should try and care about everyone. We need to accept that people are different. Homeschooling is different, to some extent but not by much when compared to public schooling. It’s definitely an issue to a lot of people though. I do think that a lot of people who look down on homeschooling have not done any research to prove their ideas of home-schooling. If you are one of those people take time to do the research before jumping to conclusions that homeschooled kids are unsocialized, conservative, religious, weird kids. I usually hear one of those remarks if I am in conversation with someone who has not done their research. The biggest stereotype in homeschooling is homeschoolers are super religious.

         Even though we believe in God, we are not religious. There is a difference too! We also believe in Republican views more than we do Democratic views. I still care to listen to everyone’s views and ideas though. I just wish everyone thought this way really. The freedom of homeschooling allows us as parents to teach what we believe as a family and this is why it’s appealing to religious conservatives (Kunzman, 2010). This is one of the many reasons why we choose to home-school too. Also the flexibility to choose what I want to teach my children was really exciting. Darwinian evolution and its teaching in the public school system is another big reason a lot of homeschooling parents are against their children being in the school system (Kunzman, 2010).This issue matters a lot to my husband. He always looks over the material I get each year to teach our children. So it is not teaching false information. Now I am not a teacher in the sense of being ready to teach large groups of kids I don’t know but I do know there is No One who can teach my children better than I can (Kunzman, 2010)!

      When society knows someone is being home-schooled they automatically categorize them as Conservative Christians, when in fact Muslim-Americans are among the fastest growing homeschoolers in the United States (Kunzman, 2010). Again you can be from all walks of life and still home-school your children. I do hope one day people will understand that homeschooling children are just as normal as a public school educated children no matter what kind of book work and beliefs they are being taught at home. Parents should have authority over their children’s education with barely any state regulation (Kunzman, 2010). This is a God given right to conservative Christians (Kunzman, 2010).

        Understanding why homeschoolers choose to home-school is the first step. A 2007 survey on parents who decided to home-school were asked why they chose to do so and 83% pointed at moral and religious reasoning’s (Kunzman, 2010). Homeschooling Mom’s strive to be strongly involved in their child’s day to day life while at home (Kunzman, 2010). I do really try and be a part of my children’s life and know what’s going on with each of them personally each day. It’s important to know the influence a child is receiving too. Rather it’s from an adult or child, children are truly impressionable and will follow what they see. Shrugging it off and saying their interactions in a public school setting is real life lessons is just plain out ridiculous. It’s crazy to me to see people go straight to that as their reasoning on why a child should be in the school setting. All I have to say is “really”? I wonder who started this theory. I hear this from people that have no clue what home-education is. The fact is homeschoolers deal with the real world on a daily basis. They actually deal with all types of people and children. Not just a specific age group. All while interacting in the actual real world every day.

        Times are changing and people need to catch up! We need these next generations to be strong and know how to love and accept people for who they are. Also when it comes to politics, religion, and education we need to come together as a nation and not be so divided. They all relate in one way or another believe it or not. Always remember to not be so quick to judge and makes false statements about homeschoolers before doing your research on your own. Hearing what society says in general will just be false in some cases just like most things in life. Especially when you get your info from someone who does not truly understand what home education is. Don’t follow the crowd and educate yourself. You might be surprised!

        

          

      

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Webliography:

Kunzman(Kunzman, 2010), Homeschooling and religious fundamentalism. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, Retrieved October 2010, from Education Research Complete.

We are Christians and we believe including God in our homeschooling lesson is important when teaching from each subject. We are not super religious but we do believe in “God”. Homeschooling allows for a family to add their beliefs in daily lessons as well. This article share opinions and examples of families who are Christians or other religions that home-school. Homeschooling is great because of the flexibility and the way a family can add their views with each daily lesson.