Charlene says:

I can appreciate trying to give many sides to educating/teaching children, and the section on science was great. I especially liked the authors point of not “how smart is this child?”, but “how is this child smart?” “However, other chapters, not so much. The reading section sang the praises of whole language and mentioned a phonics based reading as not complete and that it would” bore children” to just learn the sounds of letters. The authors apparently felt like learning words like bridge and elephant only in a story read to them- the examples they gave- (so basically they learned what those group of letters said in that book) but could not identify it in isolation or in other stories was OK. They will develop the “awareness of the sounds naturally” and isolation sounds (like say, learning the letter d makes the “duh” sound) will “go in one ear and out the other”, because words must be “personally meaningful”. Really? How meaningful is it when you tell a child, all about how to pronounce bridge but that the silent e isn’t making the i the long sound like it does in other words like, well, like. Oh, and the a in elephant sounds like the u in bug, but not like that a in phantom. (even though it also has a phant grouping) And the first e sounds like a short e, but the second e sounds like a short i which you usually get in a word like ship, but not might…….. How meaningful. And somehow WAY better than starting out with sounds they can use and building up to exceptions which they can grasp because they know the foundation from the beginning. The section on social studies also discusses the importance of knowledge that is “meaningful”. Children are encouraged to see how they fit into their community, family etc. Interviewing their parents and grandparents on how they communicate eg phone, fax, email, verses what they did as children is a great idea. Unit studies of this kind really do encourage kids and it is meaningful. But how about other aspects of history? How about Christopher Columbus who brought tomatoes back to Europe and eventually Italy and Marco Polo who brought pasta to Italy- two foods we always think of as Italian! And knowing his first voyage was in 1492 (the authors do not like memorizing dates) gives children a mental timeline and shows how far we’ve come. (or that Christopher Columbus thought Cuba was Japan?!!?) How about the sacrifices that the 56 men who signed our Constitution went through? And their families- homes burned, families held prisoners, fortunes lost. That seems to me to be pretty meaningful and not a “lot of dates to memorize” that they “will just forget”.

In short, if you are searching for what you need to know to better assist your child in their education journey- talk to your child’s teacher directly, encourage a love of learning at home, and use the good sense God gave you. Parents are the first educators after all!
Rating: 1 / 5

Anonymous says:

This book brings to light the latest research in how kids learn best. It gives parents an idea of how to encourage teachers to incorporate the newest strategies without being confrontational. It shows teachers how to implement the findings into their curriculum and gives lists of possible questions parents may (should) ask. It also gives parents a checklist of what the classroom should look like, how the teacher should be with the children, etc. Finally a book on every child’s side. Years of research have proven that children have different learning styles and teachers need to address that. As a mother and teacher, I will be using this book constantly as one of my greatest sources.
Rating: 5 / 5