TODDLER SPEAK

Ethan is a late talker. Some people comment about that but it's no big deal for me. I don't want to rush him nor pressure him. I just want him to take his time, to take things in stride. And now, he's practically a chatterbox. I hate it when people make everything a competition. "My daughter talked at age 1 1/2, he was potty trained at 2, she was reciting the alphabet when she was 3, he tied his shoelaces at 4". Frankly, who cares? As long as my kids are happy, healthy and have a love for learning, I'm contented. The world is a tough place and I don't have to add to the pressure.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/childhealth/1935/a-toddler-of-few-words

A Toddler of Few Words
Posted by Robert Needlman, M.D.

It's often hard tell if a child is developing normally. Everyone knows that most children take their first steps around a year of age, and a child who isn't walking by 15 months is behind schedule. But language development -- the child's ability to speak and to understand -- is harder to judge. And language development is crucial

By age three, a child's ability to understand and speak is the single best sign of intelligence. You know you have a smart two-year-old if you hear her say, "Just one more story, mom!" Young children who don't speak also can be brilliant, but it's harder to tell. (Einstein was a late talker, apparently.)

Take Jeffrey.* He was born about two months early. He was healthy and grew well. At 16 months he could run, jump, and climb with the best of them. He could take off all his clothes and put most of them back on, with just a little help. He could give hugs, play patty-cake, and throw tantrums like any toddler. What he couldn't do was talk.

Jeffrey knew four words, all of them names of family members. He pointed to his nose on demand, slowed down when told to "stop," and followed other simple orders. His older sister, who was not premature, had been way ahead in the language department when she was his age.
I handed Jeffrey a shiny new board book. All the children who come to MetroHealth for checkups get new books at each visit, starting at 6 months of age, as part of our Reach Out and Read (ROR) program. The main purpose of ROR is to encourage parents to read aloud to their children, so that their children grow up loving books. But it's also a good way to learn about a child's developing skills.

Jeffrey took the book in both hands, and pried open the covers. He glanced at the picture (it showed Spot, the dog, looking for a ball), then closed the book, then opened it again. He kept this up for a long time, a look of concentration on his face. His mom stood next to him, helping him support the book, keeping quiet.

"Jeffrey seems to be very interested in how that book works," I remarked. "He has been paying attention for a long time; he must be learning a lot." Children tend to practice any new skill, again and again and again, until they have nothing more to learn from it; then they stop. But Jeffrey's focus on the physical book meant that he was missing out on the language learning.

To help Jeffrey learn more words, his mother would need to become much more talkative. She would need to shower him with words, not just sprinkle them around. I suggested that she could look at books with Jeffrey at least twice a day, every day. She could use the books to remind her to talk more, since chatting did not come naturally to her. Research shows that talking about picture books with a young child is one of the very best ways to teach the meanings of words, and to encourage the child to talk and understand more.

The trick is to work the words in, while still letting the child feel some control. Jeffrey's mom was wise not to swoop in and insist that he hold the book open and look at one picture after another. Instead, she started talking about what Jeffrey himself was doing. "That book's open; now it's closed. Now it's open again. Look, there's Spot; oops, now he's gone! Let's see if we can find him again." Once she got the hang of it, she managed to do a lot of language teaching, while playing "book" with her son.

Jeffrey is actually doing pretty well, developmentally. He might have turned out just fine, without any special attention from his mother. On the other hand, when you combine prematurity with a non-talkative mother, the chances of a child showing significant speech and language problems goes up. Ultimately, Jeffrey is almost certainly going to learn to talk. But the longer he stays delayed, the more likely he is to have behavior problems and long-term problems learning to read. So, I'll see Jeffrey back soon to make sure that his language really is picking up, and to build up his picture book library.

WHAT TO DO

I'm still undecided on what the boys and I are going to make for my mom on Mother's Day. It seems like there's a whole lot of things we could make but only one person to give it to! Quite a quandary. But maybe we'll make 3 projects then pick out the best. I'm sure the boys will have a blast making a mess once more. =D

.....

Ethan is talking more and more everyday. He's still having some difficulty with pronunciations but he can get his message across now, unlike before when he would get all frustrated and would just scream at me or his dad everytime we stare blankly at him because we had no idea what he was trying to say. I understand Ethan's need to scream and yell sometimes. He's a very emotional boy and uses his emotions to communicate with us or he screams and yells so we would know that he's in a cranky mood. Hopefully, when he starts to really speak he will also learn to control his emotions and frustrations when needed. I am sure Nikki will be a good role model for him since Nikki is quite practical and easily understands what we want of him. For now, I won't hold it against Ethan but I'll still keep close watch on his behavior of course.

SWINGS

Ethan and Nikki having fun at a family restaurant. =D

MORE ON HOMESCHOOLING

HOMESCHOOL
by Chris Jeub

She innocently asked, "So, where do your children go to school?"
Of all casual questions one teacher could ask another, this one always creates butterflies in my stomach.

"Well, uh, my wife and I tutor them," I say. Then I try to think of something to change the subject. But I never think of anything quick enough.

"Tutor them?" she might say, squinting her nose and ruffling her brows as if I had held a cockroach up to her face. "You mean, you home school them?"

These situations inevitably lead to an hour-long apologetic on why we educate our kids at home. This should not surprise me. Home schooling is still unusual and a bit radical. Teachers and others in education--or in any field, for that matter--naturally question new, innovative practices.

But home education is not so rare anymore. Twenty years ago there were roughly 15,000 home-schooled students in the United States. By 1991 the U.S. Department of Education figured there were 350,000 home schools in the U.S. and 40,000 in Canada. Today estimates stretch over 2 million home schools nationwide.

The world of education has had to adjust to this exploding movement. There are many magazines and newspapers for home schools, numerous home-school curriculum distributors and countless home-school network and contact groups. Why do parents choose to teach their children at home?

Social Reasons
Home-schooling parents believe that children can learn basic life skills — working together, sharing, showing respect for others — without formal classroom experience. The students can develop social graces by being involved in community and church activities.
Pat Farenga, publisher of Growing Without Schooling, a catalog of home-school resources, has written: "Group experiences are a big part of education, and home schoolers have plenty of them.

They write to us about how they form or join writing clubs, book discussion groups and local home-schooling groups. Home schoolers also take part in school sports teams and music groups [in nearby public schools], as well as in the many public and private group activities our communities provide. These young people can and do experience other people and cultures without going to school."


Our children have many church and neighborhood friends. Our community has a home-school contact group where they often get together for field trips and outings that give our kids more than enough socialization. We have gone on camping trips, facilitated soccer tournaments, traveled to speech and debate tournaments and coordinated educational classes.
But not all socialization is necessarily good for a child. Certain social plagues like drugs, alcohol, premarital sex, violence and gangs damage a child's growth and development. A home-school environment frees the child from the increasingly persuasive peer pressure prevalent in many schools.

The positive side of socialization — building respect and communication, getting along with and relating to others — is wonderfully fulfilled in a home-school setting. Behavioral psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner concluded that "meaningful human contact" is best accomplished with few people.




more to follow tomorrow...

NIKKI

Nikki on the piano playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star one hot evening. =D

SIBLINGS

When I met up with an old dear friend the other day, I brought Nikki along with me. Ethan was having his nap and since I didn't want to bring a cranky baby with us, I thought it best that we leave him behind. My friend and I decided to have our get-together at a family restaurant so that the kids could play on the swings and slides. While chatting now and then, I was observing Nikki closely. I noticed that although he was surrounded by kids, he was not as active as the times he was with Ethan. When we went to that family restaurant (we go there almost every week) I noticed that he would be running around, he would be sliding non-stop, and be playing a sort-of race with Ethan on who would be the first to climb the stairs to the slide. But that day, he just sat on one of the swings and just played with the soil around the area. Every once in a while, he would ask me if we were going home. I suppose he missed Ethan. I really thought that he would be having more fun since Ethan won't be around to bug him or he would have time on his own. Apparently, I was wrong. So, I called my dad and asked him to pick Nikki up because I could tell that he was not having fun any more. As I was thinking about this, I realized that this was another benefit to homeschooling. In an article I posted earlier, it said that "homeschooling fosters a strong sibling relationship". I suppose it's true. In another article, further benefits include: ability to teach and encourage younger siblings and more time together to build a strong family and good Christian character. Don't you just love it? Now I know that even if my 2 boys quarrel from time to time, they still can't live without each other. It's really a wonderful thought that despite their differences in personality they still appreciate each other. Hopefully, as we continue to homeschool, not only will they learn to live with each other but they will also learn to accept their differences and uniqueness.

ETHAN'S DRAWING

This is a drawing Ethan made of the handy dandy notebook from Blue's Clues. I think it's really really cute. The thinking chair looks really puffy! =D

READING FUN

http://www.parenthood.com/articles.html?article_id=3019


10 Ways To Raise A Strong Reader

One of the most significant discoveries in recent reading research has been the importance of providing children with a language-rich environment right from the start.

The following are 10 simple ways to bring literacy into the lives of your young children:

• Talk, sing and play with your child.
• Make time to read together each day.
• Choose books with care.
• Surround your child with reading material.
• Slow down and have fun.
• Read it again … and again. Even if this means the same story every night for weeks.
• Foster your child’s awareness of print and how we use it. Point out signs, labels, instructions, and words in public places.
• Provide a variety of writing tools and materials.
• Don’t pressure your child about what or when to read.
• Show your child that you value his efforts.

Adapted from Raising a Reader, Raising a Writer, a brochure published by theNational Association for the Education of Young Children in conjunction with the International Reading Association.

NIKKI'S WORKBOOK

This is one of Nikki's workbooks. I found this at Robinson's Place Manila when I met up with a friend there 2 months ago. I liked this workbook because it's very comprehensive. As it says on the cover, it covers Phonics and Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Writing and Punctuation, Addition, Subtraction and Multiplication, Simple Fractions and also includes an answer key and stickers. Of course, I don't let him do/answer the more difficult pages because I don't want him to feel frustrated, but for those lessons that I know he would feel challenged, I let him give it a try. He's quite happy answering the workbook from time to time and I don't press him when he's not in the mood. If you didn't notice, this work book is for second graders and Nikki is only 5! So as far as I'm concerned, Nikki is already doing so well on his own. I'm very proud of my little boy.

SPIDER

We found this little spider after I showered the boys one evening. It was hiding behind the bottles of body wash and I only noticed it because it moved a bit. When I saw it, I showed it to Nikki and Ethan. Of course, they were fascinated. Then I realized that it was a perfect learning tool. So then and there, we reviewed about spiders. Nikki already knows that insects have 6 legs and since the spider has 8, it's not an insect. Since he could not pronounce arachnid perfectly, I let it go and just told him that the spider belonged to a different group entirely. I let them look at the spider closely and see the different lengths of its legs, the coloring, the size, and how different it looked from other bugs. I also told Nikki that spiders eat insects and bugs but bigger spiders eat bigger animals like frogs and such. And with that, our short lesson on spiders ended. Thankfully, the spiders in the Philippines are not poisonous. Just creepy. =D