Sometimes Easy is More Fun

Bob Books makes one of the best sets of early reading books commonly available to us parents.  I think this is the hardest level to buy for, and you can't find it in the library - when your child can read a three-letter work like cat, but not much more.  You wouldn't think it would be that hard to write a book just using the short letter 'a' sound, but I guess not too many people do it!  When you do find the right book, and your child feels that pride of reading an entire book for the first time, it's an amazing experience.

Anyway, Damon received the first three sets of Bob books as gifts, but he was already past the first level at the time.  I was going to return Set 1 for something else more challenging, but hadn't gotten around to it.  A couple of days ago, he insisted on getting them out.

"But those are too easy for you, now," I said.

"But I want to read them!"

Well, OK.  You can't argue too much with a kid who wants to read, right?  He opened them up and started reading.  He read the first few on his own (there are twelve in the set), then decided to read to Dad.  Before we knew it, he'd gone through the entire set, reading one after another and elaborating on the stories by describing the pictures.

In the end, I was glad I'd let him open the books.  Not only did it give him a great sense of pride and satisfaction to go through the whole set so easily, he was able to show off his skills to Dad (who doesn't get to see him read as often as I do), and it helped solidify his skills.  You can never get too much practice, and taking that time to go back and reinforce the basics from time to time will really help him later on.

Sometimes we parents get carried away pushing all the time for our kids to do challenging work and keep progressing, but we forget that sometimes it's just more fun to not work quite so hard.  And fun is good.  I want my kids to love learning, and to have fun reading.  Sometimes easy is more fun.

More Than One Teacher

My son came home recently with new math homework.  He was proud and eager to show me.  "Look, Mom!  I'm doing double digit multiplication now!"

When it was time to do homework that evening, I sat down to watch.  I showed him I had confidence he could do it and let him show off his new skills to me.  After a couple of problems, I noticed he was circling one of the digits - something I'd never been taught to do.  I asked him what the circle meant and he explained it to me.  It helped them identify how many zero's to carry down.  OK, great.  Show me more!

I watched him do a few more problems, and noticed that some of the answers were coming out with too many digits.  I pointed one out, suggesting the number looked long for that problem, and asked how he got the answer.  This allowed me to identify what his thought process was and where he was making the mistake.  I followed by explaining it in a way that made sense to me.  "Here, try it this way."  We had a quick discussion on where different numbers went and what they meant.  We work as a team in these situation making sense of what each other is trying to say.

After a minute, he said, "Oh, now I get it.  Mom, you explain things better than my teachers!"  He redid the problems he'd made the mistake on, and this time got the right answers.  I continued to follow along, encouraging him as he went.  Occasionally he makes a careless mistake.  I point it out just by saying, "Are you sure that one's right?"  When he double-checks, he's able to find his own error.

The point here is not so much that I'm a better teacher than his teacher at school, but rather students need multiple teachers.  There are many different ways to explain the same thing, and different students will respond to different explanations.  The best teachers can explain the same thing many different ways.  Adding additional "teachers" to the mix (whether they're parents, tutors, siblings, or fellow students) is always a bonus.  The more different way something is explained to you, the better chance you have of, "getting it."

A Math Lesson at In 'n' Out Burger

Last week, we went to In 'n' Out Burger for dinner.  My husband and I play indoor soccer nearby, so it's the kids' favorite place for a quick bite after the game.

While we were eating, our five-year-old noticed the guy behind the counter calling out numbers.  I'm not sure what made the numbers so exciting, but he eagerly exclaimed, "Number fifty!  They said fifty!"  We explained they were calling out order numbers.  I pointed out that our number was 44, and asked how many more orders had been filled since ours.

We have high expectations of our kids, but try not to push them too hard.  Of course, "too hard," is a judgment call that can change from day to day.  The question wasn't too difficult for him - I knew he could figure it out, and I was happy to help if he needed it.  But, "I don't know," with no effort put in at all, wasn't acceptable to Dad.  Our little guy was tired and didn't feel like thinking about it, so I offered to help.  "I'll count up from 44 and you can count on your fingers how many numbers I need to go up," I offered.  He retorted with, "I don't need to use my fingers!"

Well, after a little back and forth with Dad, and again refusing assistance from me, he put his mind to work.  We could see him looking up and mouthing the numbers as he counted up.  "Forty-five, forty-six..."  He came back to us with, "five!"  After a pause from Dad and me and a subtle, "Are you sure?"  He looked up at his imaginary blackboard again, caught his mistake and announced the correct answer.  We gave him lots of praise for his efforts and rewarded him with a milkshake for dessert (which he was going to get anyway).

This was just a simple interchange, but it's an example of how we incorporate learning into everyday moments with the family.  And, once we challenge our kids to think about something, we do hold them to at least that - to think about it.

Bedtime Learning

The other day, I went upstairs to take Little Bro to bed.  I laid down with him with his new book from school.  He had just completed their phonics series, and was given his first beginning reader to take home from the Scholastic Reader series.  It was quite a jump from the short, simple books he had been reading.  I opened it up and asked if he wanted to read to me.  He said he was tired and the book was long, and asked if I could read it to him.  I said, "Sure."  These are the situations where I don't like to push too hard.  I want reading to be fun - not stressful.

As I started to read, I could hear Dad downstairs talking to Big Bro.  Dad had added a new fish to one of his many aquariums that day, and was talking with our son about it.  Big Bro takes an interest in Dad's fish, and likes to help out when he can.  Dad's an environmental scientist and knows a whole lot about water chemistry, biology and such.  He has lots to share with our kids, but is great at assessing their level of interest and not going overboard.  I was pleased to hear them engaged downstairs, and didn't mind that Big Bro was staying up a little later to share this moment with Dad.

As I read the first few pages of Little Bro's book, he told me more about the story and the pictures, laughing at the racing animals.  After a few pages, he said, "I got this, Mom," and took over.  He read a few pages, got tired and asked me to read again, then jumped back in after a few more pages.  We finished the book, then he quickly dozed off.