I love this. First, one key component that you mentioned - quality literature. Most books today use "age appropriate" vocabulary and it drives me nuts. Kids will only learn words they hear and use. Older children's books are vastly superior in this regard. Not that modern books are all bad, but for the purposes of vocabulary building, you can't beat something written at least 40 years ago.
Secondly, I'd add that the other simple answer is to use the vocabulary ourselves. Kids model adults and we shouldn't talk down to kids. They understand more than we give them credit for.
Excellent thoughts. I know that my mother read to me a lot from a very early age. I had the extraordinary luck to be a quick learner and an early adopter in this regard. I have no meaningful memory of it, but I was told that I was told that I began reading at a reasonably sophisticated level at three. Since then reading broadly and intensively on some subjects. I wonder how many young children could have had the same luck that I have had had their parents done for them what my mother did for me.
I just asked my mom how I learned to read. She didn't read a lot to me that I know of, but we drove a lot and I used to bug her about every sign. She swears I learned to read off highway signs (which partially explains why I love to drive so very deeply). After that, I was totally dedicated to reading anything I could get my hands on, from the dictionary to the bible to the family encyclopedia to any book that caught my fancy at the local library -- my mom did take me there all the time.
I could be wrong about this, but I think that early reading may be a direct result of the transmitted love of the printed word osmotic to lap-sitting story-reading with mom or dad or mee-maw. And I think that love carries through all your years, even if you're distracted by work or your cell phone.
The families who do it will believe this fully. The families who don't will probably blame the schools. (And, clearly, I do believe our schools own a lot of the blame.)
It's in the article, but I was checked out most of the time. I did all my work and finished it very quickly. In elementary school, the teachers would let me go to the library as soon as I finished my work. I spent a lot of time in there. In middle/high school I read as soon as I'd finished my work. A couple of times teachers would get mad at me for it, but mostly they just left me alone because I got my work done in class. Only teacher who ever got really upset at me was my AP US History teacher because I would ignore his lecture and still do very well on exams.
We ended in a truce because he loved Jimmy Buffett and would let me borrow his tapes. My mom was into AC/DC so Buffett was anathema to her, but I really liked "Pencil Thin Mustache". LOL.
area where I was the beneficiary of great luck. I had a succession of talented teachers through high school who invested effort in me foremost being my fifth grade home room teacher who, along with academics, taught me leadership and the obligation that my good luck imposed on me to help those who didn't have such luck. He was a gifted teacher who identified with his students and suffered some mockery for it in later life, culminating in a savage mauling of one of his books and of him personally that was perhaps the most scathing review I ever read in the Sunday Times Book Review section. Sorry to go on at such length.
Excellent, as always, "Dissident." A tower cannot be built higher than the foundation will support. Most have no idea how to lay the foundation anymore, so great job breaking it down and showing why it's so vital!
Thanks, Dan. You and I both know this job is impossible. The answer has always been to scale it down to the family level. I may adjust this for teacher use later. Thinking about hucking all my stuff on teachers pay teachers too for teachers who are interested in teaching the old-school way. We succeed or fail at the margins, I guess.
I love this. First, one key component that you mentioned - quality literature. Most books today use "age appropriate" vocabulary and it drives me nuts. Kids will only learn words they hear and use. Older children's books are vastly superior in this regard. Not that modern books are all bad, but for the purposes of vocabulary building, you can't beat something written at least 40 years ago.
Secondly, I'd add that the other simple answer is to use the vocabulary ourselves. Kids model adults and we shouldn't talk down to kids. They understand more than we give them credit for.
I doubt you need it, but you should check out my booklists for young readers. So many great things to explore there.
Books to Build Great Americans, lists by age:
3-7: https://educatedandfree.substack.com/p/books-to-build-great-americans-ages?r=b8lae
8-12: https://educatedandfree.substack.com/p/books-to-build-great-americans-ages-a62?r=b8lae
13+: https://educatedandfree.substack.com/p/books-to-build-great-americans-ages-8ff?r=b8lae
And Historical Fiction related to US History: https://educatedandfree.substack.com/p/warriors-must-know-who-they-are?r=b8lae
Excellent thoughts. I know that my mother read to me a lot from a very early age. I had the extraordinary luck to be a quick learner and an early adopter in this regard. I have no meaningful memory of it, but I was told that I was told that I began reading at a reasonably sophisticated level at three. Since then reading broadly and intensively on some subjects. I wonder how many young children could have had the same luck that I have had had their parents done for them what my mother did for me.
I just asked my mom how I learned to read. She didn't read a lot to me that I know of, but we drove a lot and I used to bug her about every sign. She swears I learned to read off highway signs (which partially explains why I love to drive so very deeply). After that, I was totally dedicated to reading anything I could get my hands on, from the dictionary to the bible to the family encyclopedia to any book that caught my fancy at the local library -- my mom did take me there all the time.
I could be wrong about this, but I think that early reading may be a direct result of the transmitted love of the printed word osmotic to lap-sitting story-reading with mom or dad or mee-maw. And I think that love carries through all your years, even if you're distracted by work or your cell phone.
The families who do it will believe this fully. The families who don't will probably blame the schools. (And, clearly, I do believe our schools own a lot of the blame.)
What was your experience of school, if I may ask? That was another
It's in the article, but I was checked out most of the time. I did all my work and finished it very quickly. In elementary school, the teachers would let me go to the library as soon as I finished my work. I spent a lot of time in there. In middle/high school I read as soon as I'd finished my work. A couple of times teachers would get mad at me for it, but mostly they just left me alone because I got my work done in class. Only teacher who ever got really upset at me was my AP US History teacher because I would ignore his lecture and still do very well on exams.
We ended in a truce because he loved Jimmy Buffett and would let me borrow his tapes. My mom was into AC/DC so Buffett was anathema to her, but I really liked "Pencil Thin Mustache". LOL.
area where I was the beneficiary of great luck. I had a succession of talented teachers through high school who invested effort in me foremost being my fifth grade home room teacher who, along with academics, taught me leadership and the obligation that my good luck imposed on me to help those who didn't have such luck. He was a gifted teacher who identified with his students and suffered some mockery for it in later life, culminating in a savage mauling of one of his books and of him personally that was perhaps the most scathing review I ever read in the Sunday Times Book Review section. Sorry to go on at such length.
Excellent, as always, "Dissident." A tower cannot be built higher than the foundation will support. Most have no idea how to lay the foundation anymore, so great job breaking it down and showing why it's so vital!
Thanks, Dan. You and I both know this job is impossible. The answer has always been to scale it down to the family level. I may adjust this for teacher use later. Thinking about hucking all my stuff on teachers pay teachers too for teachers who are interested in teaching the old-school way. We succeed or fail at the margins, I guess.