Inspiring a Love for Classics

     Many parents and teachers, and college professors, encourage (perhaps require) teens and young adults to read Classics.  If you are pursuing a Leadership Education for your children, you know that Classics is one of the key components.  But our children should be gaining a love for classics well before they enter into scholarly studies.  If they love classics before they enter into more intense, scholarly studies, they will have an easier time tackling original classics as older students. 

            First of all, what do I mean by Classic?  In my canon, a literary work gains the title of Classic by meeting these three criteria:

1       The story has a timeless theme – teaches a timeless lesson about human nature or truth.

2      The author uses rich language and literary devices to enhance the theme.

3      The story contains a true hero – a protagonist who completes a full hero cycle (more about true heroes and the Hero Cycle in my next blog)

            Our children need to hear and read whole stories.  These are stories in which good is portrayed as good, evil is portrayed as evil, and good wins in the end.  Stories that blur the line between good and bad are confusing to young minds.  Save those shades of grey for older students, beyond puberty, who are ready to discuss the subtleties and true nature of goodness. Search out stories that teach universal truths about human nature and our divine life missions.

“Seeing ourselves as active characters in new and healthy stories

carries the power to transform lives.”

Daniel Taylor, The Healing Power of Stories

            Our children need to meet truly virtuous people in the stories they hear and read.  They need these hero models in a world that praises celebrity over character.  Classics give children a chance to befriend truly good people, observe how true heroes behave, and experience the consequences of choices in a safe environment.

“Our own characters are greatly shaped by the characters

in the stories in which we partake.”

Daniel Taylor, The Healing Power of Stories

            So HOW do you inspire a love for classics? If you break out Shakespeare or Dickens this evening and begin reading, you will most likely be met with yawns and objections.  And the greater danger is that your children will grow up believing that Classics are boring stories they never want to read.  Here are some steps to help your children get inspired:

1      Read Classics yourself!  And share your enthusiasm for the story with your children. Leave them feeling jealous that they are missing out on this great story.

2      Share children’s versions, especially those with good illustrations.  Simply familiarize children with the stories of classics.  The foundation needed is a familiarization with classics and positive associations (gained through reading together).  This way, when they are older and ready to read the original version, knowing the basic story will make understanding the elevated language easier.

3      Read different versions.  Fairy tales, especially have different versions of the same tale, such as Cinderella tales from around the world.

4      Tell stories.  Summarize the stories of the classics in your own words.  Encourage your children to tell the stories to you, in their own words.  Change the endings together.

5     Have them draw pictures of the characters and settings.

6      Watch movies together and discuss the similarities and differences from the original stories.  Which one do they prefer?  Why?

7      Teach them what a Classic is, so that they can discover their own classics.

            All of this applies to children in the Love of Learning Phase – typically between 8 and 14 years old.  But, if you have an older student who has not yet acquired a love for classics, try the above steps rather than pushing him or her to read the originals.  I will leave you with a passage from one of my favorite classics, Lord of the Rings.

            It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something….That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

Love for Learning and Public School

     Where should your children sit for school?  Although many families pursuing Leadership Education and a love for learning choose to home school their children, there are families who choose to place their children in public or private schools.  There are many factors that influence where and how your children will be educated.  There may be a family situation in which a child cannot be home schooled.  Or perhaps your child's learning style or personality type require more group learning than you can provide on your own.  Leadership Education and a love for learning do not require home schooling.  So how can you help your children gain a love for learning and a Leadership Education in a public or private school environment?  Here are some keys to a successful Love of Learning Phase while working with a public or private school.

1  Goals & Priorities
Make sure YOU understand your goals and priorities for your child's education.  You do that through your own study of developmental and learning needs for this crucial age.  For the Love of Learning is a great resource for understanding the goals and priorities for learning between 6 and 14 years old.  I also recommend Discover Your Child's Learning Style and Nurture by Nature.  Talk to your spouse and your children about educational goals.  Set aside quiet time when you can think deeply about the true goals and priorities for your child's education at this time in his/her life.  You will need a solid understanding of your goals and priorities for your child in order to communicate those to a teacher.

2  Communication
Be sure to communicate your goals and priorities to your child's teacher.  Preferably before school starts, set up a face to face meeting with your child's teacher and discuss your goals and listen to her goals.  Keep in mind that most teachers love what they do and value quality education.  Be respectful of her point of view, but don't assume she knows what is best for your child simply because she has been certified to teach.  Determine areas where compromise may be needed.  Be sure to communicate to the teacher that you want to support what she is doing in the classroom and work together on your child's education.

3  Get and Stay Involved
Set up a regular time when you can be in your child's classroom.  Even if you must work during the day, you may be able to find just a couple of hours, maybe early one morning, to be in the classroom.  See, first-hand, what happens in the classroom and how your child responds to that environment.  Keep the lines of communication open throughout the school year.  Become the teacher's friend and ally, so she is more likely to turn to you when she needs support.

4  Advocate for your Child
Give the teacher insights into your child's personality and learning style. Continue to communicate with the teacher, but don't criticize.  Talk to her about how you can help meet your goals for your child. Don't just complain; offer productive solutions that involve your help.  Remember that you are the expert for your child.  Even a talented and loving teacher is dealing with at least 20 children, each with different needs, personalities and learning styles.

A child can receive a quality and Leadership Education and gain a love for learning within a public or private school.  The key is your involvement.  If the environment at one school is not a good fit for your child or for your goals and priorities for your child, look for an alternative.  Even public schools, within the same district, can differ quite a bit.  The environment at each school is created by the administrators, teachers and even parents, so find the best one for your family.

   

Creating a Story

The Peasant Wins the Princess

A Fairy Tale

by Sammy Edwards 

(6-years-old)

     Once upon a time there was a peasant boy.  He was in love with a princess.  She had a lazy lady-in-waiting.  The princess said, "Lady-in-waiting, I'm waiting!"

     Then there was a prince, and he was a knight.  His name was Jack.  

     The peasant went to a wizard, because he wanted to be made irresistible.  So the wizard turned him into a cheeseburger.  The wizard said, "Everybody loves cheeseburgers."  But the peasant said, "But they don't marry them!"

     The peasant and the prince entered a joust.  The peasant lost in the joust, because his armor fell off.  But the prince was really afraid of dragons, and so the peasant defeated the dragon and won the princess.

The End

     This is a story that my son narrated to me recently.  I wrote it all down as he said it.  The words are all his.  The spelling and punctuation are mine.  Then I typed up each part onto the bottom of a piece of paper, printed out all the pages, and gave it to him to add pictures.  

     Creation requires material.  Although he put all the pieces together, he used material from his environment.  This story is the result of books we have read, movies and TV we have seen, and experiences playing with friends.  It's just fine that he's repeating parts of stories he has heard elsewhere.  Simply piecing his own version together is an important step in writing.  Even Shakespeare took his basic plot lines from well-known stories.  

     To help your children become writers: 

 - Create a rich environment for them.  Read good books to them.  

 - Write your own stories, especially about them or even about your own experiences as a child, and share them with your children.  

Then: 

 - Listen to their stories

 - Write them down

 - Encourage them 

 - Don't criticize (all unsolicited advice is criticism).

Writing Naturally

     I want to teach writing in a natural way, because I believe that is the only way to inspire a love of writing and develop confident writers.  Throughout nature, we can see cycles.  When a plant is permitted to move through its natural cycle, it develops and grows into a beautiful flower, with little interference from us, and absolutely no force.

Natural.  Nature. Cycles!

     There is a natural cycle to writing, and understanding this can empower you to inspire your children to love writing and grow into great writers.  Some home school parents neglect writing in the early years, only to stress highly academic writing as college entrance approaches and they begin to panic.  Although we should not force our children to write when they are in Love of Learning Phase (typically before puberty), that does not mean that we neglect the development of writing.  So what can you do that will lay a foundation for great academic writing--essays and research papers, and perhaps a publishable novel--when it is needed (later)?

     The seeds of the natural writing cycle are stories.  Any stories.  Stories about dreams. My son loves to tell me about his dreams, and then I record it in a journal with space for him to add a picture.  Stories about their every day life.  Each evening, sit down together and ask your child about his favorite thing that happened that day.  Record his life stories in a journal.  Write these stories exactly as your child describes them--verbatim.  Do not correct wording or even comment on the stories at this point.  You can insert correct punctuation, which is a great way to model punctuation, but don't explain the punctuation unless the child asks.

     Have you noticed that you are doing all the writing?  Before the child writes, you write for her.  Allow her to simply tell her stories.  Speaking, narrating, simply forming her life and dreams into words comes before she does any of the writing herself.  All children are different, and each child will want to write down her own stories at different ages.  Allow your child to be the guide.  Do not push and decide for her when she should do the writing herself.  If you encourage your children in telling their stories, and then show them the stories in print, they will want to write on their own eventually.

     Many children evolve to creative stories, and you can record these as well.  As the child and the stories mature, you can ask questions to help the child embellish the stories--question the details of the setting or physical appearance of characters.

     The next step in the natural writing cycle is the seed of essay writing.  It is the act of encouraging a child to express his opinion in writing.  These are not formally structured essays.  They are simply the child's opinion, and eventually some evidence to support that opinion.  Young children may write a note to their parents to express their discontent with a family rule or situation.  Great!  They are viewing writing as a tool of personal expression.  I don't recommend assigning topics before the age of 12-years-old, and only within the context of a class or project the student has bought into.  But we can encourage children to express their opinions and to include their reasoning and any evidence or examples they can think of in writing.  They can even incorporate that story-writing to make their opinions more compelling.

     According to the California State Standards for Language Arts, children should be writing paragraphs by 1st grade (that's 6-years-old for any home schoolers not keeping track), and essays by 4th grade (9-years-old).  The standards then explain how the essay is continually taught for the next 5-6 years of school.  What a great way to get kids to hate writing!  I disagree with this approach.  Students do not need to be introduced to essays until they are 12-years-old (about 6th or 7th grade).  And it doesn't take 5 years to teach essay writing (unless you start too early).  However, they do need a foundation that is building up to that point.  Allow them to tell you stories.  Write down their stories, and (very important) show them their stories in print.  Encourage them to write down their stories.  Encourage them to write down their opinions and then support them with stories and examples.  If children gain this foundation between the ages of 8 and 14, then teaching essay writing becomes very simple.

     Happy writing!

For more information about LOLIPOP Learning check out our Facebook page or the book For the Love of Learning.

This is Just a Test

     What comes to mind when you hear the word "test"?  Most people don't get happy or excited about tests. Most home schoolers despise testing, and many cite it as one of the main reasons their children do not participate in public school.  Even the families who do allow their children to participate typically take great pains to explain to the children how meaningless the standardized testing process is. I am not a fan of State Standardized Tests, but I do believe that "testing" is an important learning environment.

     Why do we test? If you ask that question to most mainstream educators, the response is to "assess learning and comprehension" or to "asses readiness" of a student to move into a particular subject or onto the next level.  But testing should be used primarily as a learning environment--just one more tool to enable learning.  When a student thinks hard about what he has been learning, digests it, and then reproduces it in the form of a test, that helps his brain fully process the learning. Making connections is what solidifies learning. Here are two views of testing--think about which one you hold currently, and which one you feel is correct.

1  Testing is how students prove what they know to the teacher.  The teacher wants to uncover what the student has NOT learned yet.

2  Testing is one of many tools a teacher uses to help students connect personally with what they are learning.  The teacher wants to uncover what the student has learned, and build the student's confidence by showing him how much he has accomplished.

     What is testing?  When I say "test", do you think of Scantrons and multiple-choice worksheets? Do you imagine a student who is questioned under pressure? These are forms of testing, but they fall under the first view of testing described above.  I use testing every day as I teach my own children and the students in my classes.  But if you asked my children, they would tell you that they never take tests.  You would get the same answer from my younger class students (I will explain about my older class students a little later).

     Here are some ideas to consider.  I give "oral exams" when I stop reading a book and ask questions:
"What do you think is going to happen next?"
"Do you think he's a bad guy or a good guy?"
"Why do you think he said that?  What did he mean by that?"
"Are there any clues about how this will end?"
I give oral exams when I ask a child, during a science experiment, "What do you think will happen next?"

   I give "written tests" when I ask my children or students to do tasks such as:
Draw a picture of your favorite character (go back through the story to find out details about him/her).
Write another story about the same characters.
Write a story in the same genre (a fairy tale or adventure or historical fiction).
Rewrite the ending (if they didn't like the author's ending).
Write out what happened in our science experiment, so we can remember what we discovered.
Draw a picture of that flower or tree or bug we are looking at outside.

     I am asking my children to digest the learning on a deeper level and interact with the book or experience, rather than passively receive knowledge.

     I also teach classes for students between 12 and 16 years old, and they participate in tests as well.  For the younger students, about 12-14, most of my "tests" are in the form of Quiz Games, and the students work in pairs or teams, so no one student feels all the pressure.  For my older students, I do administer formal oral and essay exams.  But these students know that the purpose of these tests is to help them learn the material and articulate what they know, and to build their test-taking skills.  I teach test-taking strategies and give feedback to help them do better the next time.  The process is helpful and confidence-building, not demeaning and frightening.

     Life is full of tests.  Help your children and students gain the confidence and skills they need to succeed through life's tests, but keep it appropriate for their age, developmental stage, and individual needs.  Give them the chance to shine!

To learn more about development stages and how they impact a child's learning, read For the Love of Learning, available here.

Follow LOLIPOP on Facebook here.