This week’s Charlotte Mason podcast focuses on the all-important task of teaching our children to read. No other subject holds such promise and so many anxieties for the teacher who embarks on teaching this fundamental skill. The ladies share their own experiences and what Mason had to say to help us in the reading lesson.
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“But, as a matter of fact, few of us can recollect how or when we learned to read: for all we know it came by nature.” (Vol. 1, p. 200)
“Probably that vague whole which we call ‘Education’ offers no more difficult and repellent task than that to which every little child is set down–the task of learning to read. We realize the labor of it when some grown man makes a heroic effort to remedy shameful ignorance, but we forget how contrary to nature it is for a little child to occupy himself with dreary hieroglyphics–all so dreadfully alike!–when the world is teeming with interesting objects which he is agog to know.” (Vol. 1, p. 214)
“‘What a snail’s progress!’ you are inclined to say. Not so slow, after all: a child will thus learn, without appreciable labour, from 2-3,000 words in the course of a year; in other words, he will learn to read, for the mastery of this number of words will carry him with comfort through most of the books that fall in his way. Now, compare this steady progress and constant interest and liveliness of such lessons with the deadly weariness of the ordinary reading lesson. The child blunders through a page or two in the dreary monotone without expression, with imperfect enunciation. He comes to a word he does not know, and he spells it; that throws no light on the subject, and he is told the word; he repeats it, but as he has made no mental effort to secure the word, the next time he meets with it the same process is gone through. The reading lesson for that day comes to an end. The pupil has been miserably bored, and has not acquired one new word. Eventually, he learns to read, somehow, by mere dint of repetition; but consider what an abuse of his intelligence is a system of teaching which makes him undergo daily labour with little or no result, and gives him a distaste for books before he has learned to use them.” (Vol. 1, pp. 206-207)
“We must remember the natural inertness of a child’s mind; give him the habit of being read to, and he will steadily shirk the labour of reading for himself; indeed, we all like to be spoon-fed with our intellectual meat, or we should read and think more for ourselves and be less eager to run after lectures.” (Vol. 1, p. 228)
“He should have practice, too, in reading aloud [from the books] he is using for his term’s work. These should include a good deal of poetry, to accustom him to the delicate rendering of shades of meaning, and especially to make him aware that words are beautiful in themselves, that they are a source of pleasure, and are worthy of our honour; and that a beautiful word deserves to be beautifully said, with a certain roundness of tone and precision of utterance.” (Vol. 1, p. 227)
“The attention of his teachers should be fixed on two points–that he acquires the habit of reading, and that he does not fall into slipshod habits of reading.” (Vol. 1, p. 226)
If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent’s Review articles that would be helpful for this episode’s topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy.
Home Education, pp. 199-222)
Better Late Than Early, Raymond Moore
Thirty Million Words, Dana Suskind
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Thank you for another great podcast episode! Once a child knows their basic letter sounds, is it necessary for them to spend a period of time doing only word-building before moving on to learning to read from books (with spelling/word building exercises on alternating days)?
Erika,
As I understand Mason, it seems that the word-building, or what we commonly think of as "phonics" occurs hand-in-hand with sight reading. Mason suggests an alternation of these days with short (10 minute) reading lessons: one day word building, one day reading practice. I do not think first reading lessons need to be limited to those learned in word building, but you may teach a few sight words (perhaps limited to those in the poem or short story attempting to read), in the same manner as for copy work: visualize with eyes closed, recognizing it in a line of other words, etc. Read and reread for ideas from vol. I, page 199-239. Move slowly and review words learned the previous lesson each day. Patience, perseverance, lighthearted and encouraging atmosphere.
-Liz
Thank you!
-Erika
Ok! Ok! Fine! I'll trust Charlotte's method! LOL! How many times do I need to hear it before I just do it already?! I used Teach Your Child To Read with my oldest 2 and it worked great! But, it has NOT worked with my #3 and 4. It is exactly like you said in the podcast. They read it but don't remember it. I can't take it anymore!!! I've actually been considering sending #5 to school for kindergarten so someone else can teach him to read! Thanks for reminding me AGAIN and giving me the kick in the pants to do it Charlotte's way. I know it will be better. Starting it today. 🙂
Stacey, we're smiling–and sympathizing. Just promise you won't send your next one to someone else!
-Liz
UPDATE: We've been doing CM reading lessons with my 6 and 8 year old boys (I have 5 boys, 12, almost 11, 8, 6, and 3). Our 8 yo has been working his way through the Pathway Readers, but is still enjoying building words. Our 6 yo is loving building words also. They beg to do their reading lessons. TYCTR always seemed easier from a teaching perspective, less labor intensive (Honestly, all those letter tiles out at the same time makes me anxious! Ya know getting all mixed up an stuff and dropped on the floor, etc. Type A right here!). But, doing it CM's way is actually less frustrating for me and for my kiddos. Sidenote: Thanks for talking about the whole reading/brain development/boys stuff. We were getting concerned that our almost 11 yo was never going to "get" reading even though he "learned" how when he was 4. Well, over the last week something connected and with the help of JK Rowling he read his first real chapter book in less than a week! You ladies always have a way of lowering my anxiety. lol! Thank you for being such a blessing! Keep up the great work!
Stacey,
It's good to know our advice lowers stress–it is definitely cheaper than medical care. I'm even more excited that your boys are making headway in reading lessons. Keep it up.
-Liz
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is probably one of my favorite episodes. 🙂 Just so much understanding and compassion from three REAL ladies who are doing this or have done it in their homes. Sigh. So refreshing! I created a little CM reading lesson kit a year and a half ago and THIS pushed me to just use it. My 7 yo and I are LOVING it. We don't dread reading lessons so much anymore. Thanks for the poke, ladies! Amy
I was wondering if the 10-12 new words that a child would learn each lesson include the variations he/she makes from the initial word. For example, if the word was "rain", would brain, chain, main count toward the 10-12 words per lesson, or would it be 10 words that are completely different from each other, each of which the child would build a list of similar words from?
Erika,
I am not sure if that is ever stated clearly, but considering the lesson is ten minutes, it makes sense to me that the words formed off the first word would count.
-Liz
We ended lessons today with heavy hearts. I needed to hear everything in this podcast. I'm so grateful to you ladies for providing such encouragement. I've been feeling like I'm failing my son and that maybe he really would be better off in public school with a "real" teacher. Thanks to the Lord for sending me to this podcast, I feel truth and hope restored to my heart and I'm ready to try again tomorrow
Amy,
We are very thankful. All of us get weary in the daily trudge up the mountain to farther reaches and companionship helps us make the effort to stretch on a little higher.
-Liz
After listening, I assume you would consider the "Bob Books" Twaddle?
On what criteria could you call them otherwise (not that you are defending them, of course)? Do they spark imagination, have a narrative thread, give living ideas, challenge the child's intellect? I believe they are a mechanical tool directed at the child's inability and ignorance, rather than capturing imagination or inspiring knowledge through living ideas. I agree with Mason that strings of 3-4 letter words only slow down the reading process. They dumb down, talk down, and disrespect the child's personhood and intellectual powers. If a child needs the gratification of finishing a book, why not take a real story with interesting words within his ability to comprehend, and make a little book of that?
-Liz
Not defending, just inquiring. 🙂
Stephanie,
I took it that way, but many times other listeners have similar
questions. Just for the record, I used Bob books with one of my
children years ago…
Liz
This has been incredibly helpful. My first podcast that I've been able to listen to. Thanks!!!
We're glad it was helpful, Katie. Thank you for your feedback. We hope you have a chance to listen to more of them.
~Nicole
Is there anything as a step by step guide like the bundle for math? I am diving in to a CM education with four children this year 5.5 years to 12 and it is a lot of change for them and for me. I know it is best but feeling like I need as much step by step guidance as I can get. I was feeling so lost with math till watching the video and now reading is what is causing me stress! ?
Thank you for another wonderful podcast! I agree with the previous commenter, a step by step guide would be wonderful as I don’t know how to exactly implement this with my 8 year old struggling reader. Or a suggestion for a CM inspired reading program to follow? Thank you!
Thank you for another wonderful podcast! I agree with the previous commenter, a step by step guide would be wonderful as I don’t know how to exactly implement this with my 8 year old, struggling reader. If no step by step guide is possible, do you have a suggestion for a CM inspired reading program to follow? Thank you!
One question that’s been rolling around in my brain has to do with my second son with autism. He’s always loved letters, to the point now where people know that we collect letters and give us all manner of them. He has quite the collection! 🙂 He can see a word once and reproduce it with 90% accuracy with his letters. The thing is that I don’t know where his comprehension is. Thoughts on how to figure out if he can read? He frequently will bring me to the words he’s spelled and have me read them aloud. He accepts my spelling corrections now and he’s repeating after me. He (and both of his brothers) have oral motor weakness plus he (and his older brother) have apraxia, so this impacts articulation and prounciation of words. I’m reading through the Discover Reading book that Amy Tuttle wrote about CM and teaching reading. He’s done so many of the pre-reading activities on his own accord before I ever read that book or CM. I’m just feeling so unsure how to know what to do next. I mean, I can work on blends and word making, but he may not be able to pronounce them. Even though I’m a bit uncertain, it was good to hear your experiences with learning difficulties. At least I’m not alone!
Also, my soon to be !0 year old has been reading independently for a long time. He taught himself to read at age 4. He naturally reads out loud to himself and quietly to himself. Is that ok? In his free reading obviously it’s fine, but do I need to specify what lessons he reads aloud versus quietly? I’m also not comfortable having him read lesson books out loud to siblings since his intelligibilty is iffy but sometimes I’ll have him read a well-loved picture book to his siblings. He is so proud to be able to do that and they will tolerate it since they already know the story. I hope that’s ok. It sounds like it would be. 🙂
I’m so glad I have CM’s permission to ditch BOB books. I dislike them but assumed they were a good place to start. My daughter liked them ok but would get frustrated and I would get bored. I think she would much prefer the poems, nursery rhymes and fairytales you mentioned. Thank you for that recommendation!
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Once a child can read their lesson books out loud well (currently 1B) when do they begin silently reading to themselves? Is it always they read everything out loud and then narrate?
Amanda,
When it comes to children, there is probably no “always” rule in reading. You might find guidance in our reading Q&A download at http://www.adelectableeducation.com.
In general, I think it important that a child read aloud in something every day. Moving to silent reading is usually a progression, like learning to read, reading aloud. I would begin with having her read silently a short passage, then narrate it to you, and increase the amount gradually based on her comprehension.
Liz
Do you recommend Simply Charlotte Mason’s “Delightful Reading” program?
While not necessary for everyone to use in order to implement CM’s reading lessons, there are elements of their program that can be useful to you if you understand the principles Mason lays out in her chapters (p. 199) and apply them appropriately. You also may find that you don’t use all of the recommended games, etc.