When the Love of Learning is Stripped Away

After yesterday, I was afraid we'd never get back on schedule. Of course, after yesterday, I had to redo the schedule. The only homeschooling Laura got done yesterday was math and English. Tasha worked on some, but even she didn't make much progress. One concert and the whole routine was shot for the day. The girls didn't even get home until after noon. By three we gave it up for the day (their attention was not in schoolwork) and we went to support our youth group at a fundraiser.

Last night I fixed the schedule. (I'm so glad I learned to plan in pencil.) Today, Laura and Tasha jumped into their work. Laura got two new books in the mail today that I ordered for her Heart of Dakota program. She will soon begin The Trojan Horse and The Young Christians Introduction to the Bible. Getting new books always puts me in a cheery mood. Tasha is reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I haven't read it yet. I have to wait for Tasha to finish it before I borrow it from her.

Tasha isn't a huge reader. This makes me sad, and I wonder often how this happened. I am a huge reader. My oldest daughter loves to read. Laura loves to read. Tasha loved to read until Middle School. I'm not sure what happened, but I have my theories. In elementary school, Tasha read well and read a lot. She loved to read then. The books in elementary school were always fun. There was always a contest for reading. Tasha never missed a month without earning her Book-it certificate and her own pizza. Elementary schools know that kids aren't reading like they should, so I do see a lot of effort to get children to enjoy reading. There's lots of book fairs and free books given away. The classes go to the library every week...sometimes twice a week.

Even the public libraries get in on encouraging the elementary students to read. Summer reading programs are geared toward the younger children. Our library has Accelerated Reader contests in the summer where the elementary aged children get rewarded for how many books they read and quizzes they pass on the computer. A couple summers ago each age group had a winner of a big prize for who read the most in that group.

Then, in sixth grade, everything stops. The books that were being used suddenly turn into textbooks for every subject. I don't remember seeing many living books once any of my daughters started sixth grade. My step-daughter is in sixth grade this year. I haven't seen a library book in her backpack all year. She often has two or three hours worth of homework, which is boring and frustrating, and none of her homework includes one wonderful story. It's spelling, math, science, social studies, and more math. Where is the things that should be fascinating? You know what, if all I had to read was this junk I would hate reading too!

Anyway, back to Tasha. It was around sixth grade that my little reader decided she didn't like reading. She has never looked back. I've tried to get books that might interest her. Sometimes I get lucky, but most of the time she tosses it to the side. Once she began High School, suddenly the grade level requirements for English put some books back into her world. However, by this time she had already made up her mind that she isn't a reader, that it isn't for her. So, she would read the one or two required books and, even if they were good, she would put in a half effort. Of course, she wasn't reading to be drawn into a story. She was reading to pass the quizzes, worksheets, tests, or the assigned book report.

I don't have much of a chance to change things for her. I would love to make her senior year an adventure in books, but she would totally rebel at this point. So I've only made a few requirements. She has to read the assigned reading for her English. I'm hoping that because they are good quality living books they might draw her in a little more. Secondly, since it usually takes her only a couple hours to do her school work on a normal day, I tell her she must read daily. Even though it isn't the literature I would love her to read, she has started getting into Melody Carlson books. I let her choose those, and once in awhile I slip in a book that I think she will love if she just gives it a chance. I also use her to read to her sisters when I can. I realize it isn't quite a challenge for her, but maybe the love will come back with fun stories.

It's frustrating for me. My daughter has lost a lot of her love of learning. She enjoys math and science, for which I am grateful. Yet, I often wish I would have understood about how a child can just be obliterated by a school system. The total concern of the school for years after grade school was the test scores on the standardized test every year, and cramming a bunch of stuff into the kids to meet the requirements. How did that help? If her love of reading and learning had been nourished instead, those other things would have come naturally.

Being in 11th grade, my time with Tasha is limited. Soon she will graduate and be off to college. However, I still have Laura and Megan. I am doing what I can now to prevent them from falling into the same trap.