The Growth Mindset

I have been really delving into how kids learn. I have been reading and studying how children learn, and why some methods work better than others. This is fascinating to me because my children, in school, would have been or have been labeled "learning disabled".  At home, they may struggle occasionally, but overall, they thrive.

Dad, helping Laura with her new Language Lessons

Some of the materials I have used in the last seven years of homeschooling show my progression of learning how my children learn.  I have went from traditional to literature-based to Charlotte Mason to eclectic and then back to mostly Charlotte Mason.  Truthfully, I find that when my children use traditional materials, they only remember enough to pass the tests.  Then, they forget most of what they learned, or can't apply it to real life.  All their knowledge is disjointed and separated.

This came to light for me in my oldest child still at home.  She has mostly used traditional grammar and language arts texts her entire schooling life.  The exception is when her old tutor used Winston Grammar to help her really see the parts of speech.  My daughter was in public school until ninth grade.  She spent years in tutoring.  She excelled, when we brought her home to be homeschooled, in grammar studies.  She can diagram a sentence so well that it is like a game to her.  However, it doesn't carry over to her writing.  She can pass the tests, but it isn't a practical skill for her.

 I found myself inspired over the last couple of days by an English book.  I purchased Queen's Homeschool Language Lessons for the Secondary Child Volume 2 for my middle child.     My creative, talented, loves to write daughter needed something besides her "traditional" program that we had used for a couple of years.  I had her write some poetry, and discovered that she is very talented.  She had always focused on stories.  I had used Queen's Language Lessons with her before, and she loved it.  I had switched form it in the past, afraid that she wasn't getting enough grammar instruction.  How silly of me.  This gentle approach, with all the writing and copywork, is perfect for her. I switched her back to what worked for her before.  This program, used years ago, sparked a fire in my daughter to write.  She wrote stories to go with her picture studies.  She then moved on to writing longer stories in composition books, and hasn't stopped in years.

My oldest student flipped through her sister's Language Lesson's book.  Her eyes lit up.  "Mom," she pleaded, "Can I do something like this?"

I thought about it as I was planning the lessons.  As I flipped through the book I knew that my oldest student actually needed more practice writing.  For years she had done a traditional English and Language Arts program.  She could diagram a sentence with ease, but her writing didn't show it.  What good is diagramming if she can't apply it to her own writing?  Could the copywork that is in the Language Lessons help?  I decided it was worth a shot.  I looked at the high school levels and decided, since my daughter had struggled so much in English with writing and reading comprehension, that I would have her do the same level as her sister.  

I added a bit of extra work, though.  The copywork in Language Lessons for the Secondary Child volume 2 contains great American speeches, such as the Gettysburg Address.  However, I doubted that the girls understood it or many of the other speeches contained in the book.  They have read it before, but I doubt they ever went through and actually read it for understanding.  So, I decided that they would do the copywork twice.  The first time wouldn't be an exact copy of what was written, but would be written with the words and phrases they didn't understand replaced with definitions of those words.  Wow!  What a difference!

Suddenly the passages came to life.  The girls began with a poem for copywork.  As they looked up the words, the meaning of the poem became so very impacting.  They then would copy the original, but instead of it being just words on a page, it held so much more in the passages. Both girls were a little upset that I was making them look up the meanings.  But, how amazing that it works so well!  The girls will do two lessons a day of shorter passages and grammar portions of Language Lessons so that they can move through the lessons and get to the high school levels.  Grammar has been emphasized for many years.  They both have great knowledge of grammar, but just don't seem to use it well in their writing.  Queen's Language Lessons teaches how to apply that grammar knowledge into their writing.

Last week my youngest daughter, age seven, just melted down.  I had ordered the worst curriculum for her I possibly could.  Why?  Well, all I can say was that when I ordered curriculum, we were in the process of packing up to move.  I was stressed and wanted easy.  So... I ordered easy.  Within two weeks I knew that I had made a HUGE mistake.  I quickly packed up those workbooks that I KNEW were a dumb purchase.  I grabbed out some old curriculum that I had saved.  I then looked into what else I could do that wouldn't break the bank.

My youngest is a tough one.  She LOVES to read!  In fact, when we began this year's phonics, she soared through a semester of work in a week.  We had spent all summer reading so that she wouldn't lose any skills.  Instead, she gained. She reads constantly, reading books in the car and before bed and during dinner.  I speed to the second semester phonics work, and then wondered what to do for English, since her skills were beyond the area where we left off.  The workbooks that I thought she would use became a nightmare with three different books with a couple pages a day per book, all for one subject.  Spelling, reading, and grammar are all separated in traditional programs.  My daughter, who is reading way ahead of her level, broke at all the workbook pages.

Isn't there a way to do these together?  I decided to try. Could Charlotte Mason work as well for my youngest little girl?  Could the Language Lessons series, which my older daughter enjoys so much, work for my little reader? I ordered and downloaded Language Lessons for the Very Young, Volume One.  I was thrilled that I didn't have to wait for the mail to deliver this book, since it was available as an ebook.   We've worked in it for over a week now, and her tears have stopped.  She loves it just as much.

My next challenge is teaching my little one math.  My older daughters have settled into Teaching Textbooks for the upper levels of math.  I'm proud of the fact that they are doing well, because math is NOT my favorite subject to teach.  I've used at least four different programs with my middle daughter in the seven years we've homeschooled.  Most would work for awhile, and then the effectiveness would fade.  She's not a kid that enjoys math.  I finally, last year, had her working through Khan Academy lessons and CLE math.  I was petrified that she wasn't going to be ready for Algebra because math has always been such a struggle for her.  I was actually SHOCKED that she has gotten very good grades with Teaching Textbooks Algebra.  I assumed that I would end up having to find the money for the pre-Algebra program or hope that she could grasp enough from Khan Academy because she wasn't ready.  I guess all that bouncing and all the differing methods wasn't as damaging as I feared. 

I was sent an email by Sal Khan of Khan Academy. It linked to a video entitled You Can Do Anything.

 http://youtu.be/wh0OS4MrN3E



Viewing the brain as a muscle, one that can grow and learn, is fundamentally important. God didn't create us to be stagnant, unable to move beyond what we believe are barriers in our lives. He created us to learn and grow, so that we may use our skills and knowledge for His glory! How wonderful it is to know this is true! How sad to realize that your children don't believe it.

My middle daughter spent years struggling with math.  She struggled to retain the facts, to remember how to do certain skills from one year to the next.  In that struggle, I feared that she was never going to "get it".  I feared that she would always be slower to grasp math concepts.  But, according to Sal Khan, maybe it was that very struggle that helped to grow her brain in such a way where something that isn't a "natural" ability can still be formed and developed.

I see the same struggle in my youngest daughter in math.  However, I don't want to go through four different curricula, hoping to find that "magic" one.  While I don't mind seeing her struggle to figure out tough concepts, I don't want her to develop that intense dislike of math.  The drill and kill method isn't working for her.  Right now I am going over flashcards once a day.  I am going through a fact family every day or two and adding those to the flashcards we review.  Other than that, for now, she is playing math games on the computer.  I want more, and am researching my options.  I like the look of a couple of different curricula.  I am very curious if the story style of Life of Fred will benefit her since she loves reading so much.  I also am curious, if in keeping with a more Charlotte Mason style that has worked so well with my children, if I shouldn't look into Math Lessons for a Living Education.  For now, we are going to keep working on what we are doing until we have the extra money to purchase these things.

One lesson I have learned is to not push.  Often children will grow bit by bit, and then stop for awhile.  Then, all of a sudden, they will grow really fast.  They learn the same way, in spurts.  I am excited about what God is doing in my homeschool, in my children.  We have had a slow and a bit of a rough start to our year.  Of course, we have had a rough year anyway, with moving and my oldest two grown daughters having such severe health issues.  I am sure that I can be forgiven for making some purchasing errors under stress.  God will provide.