I was recently browsing my Facebook newsfeed when I stumbled upon a read-aloud math problem. “What if you read aloud just every other day in 2020? What if you read aloud only about 10 minutes every other day in 2020? That would be a lot. It all adds up.”

It does add up, just 10 minutes of reading aloud every other day adds up to 30 hours of reading aloud. At A One-Room Schoolhouse, we have 90 HOURS of read-aloud time scheduled into our school year.

You read that right… 90 hours! On top of that, our homework policy is comprised of two elements: reading and playing. So, why so much reading?

Benefits of Reading Aloud

Improved Language Skills

Kids who are read to have improved language skills. When children experience an engaging, language-rich interaction it helps them develop communication skills, patience, empathy, and literacy. They build better phonemic awareness, improve their vocabulary, refine listening skills, and strengthen their reading comprehension.

Jim Trelease, author of The New York Times Bestseller The Read-Aloud Handbook stated: “The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (22,000 students) found that beginning in kindergarten, children who had been read to at least three times a week had a significantly greater phonemic awareness (phonics) than did children who were read to less often and were almost twice as likely to score in the top 25 percent in reading readiness.”

Brain Development

When children are read to, especially when they are young they feel nurtured and well attended. Since 80% of a child’s brain is formed during their first three years of life, reading to a young child has positive effects throughout their lifetime.

Research has shown this by performing brain scans. What did they find?

“In preschool children listening to stories, greater home reading exposure is positively associated with activation of brain areas supporting mental imagery and narrative comprehension, controlling for household income. These neural biomarkers may help inform eco-bio-developmental models of emergent literacy.”

Improved Bonding

When we snuggle up with our children and a good book happy memories are created. That feeling of closeness and security is forever embedded in your child’s memory. These experiences will last a lifetime as a child feels nurtured by their parents and literature.

In a recent Time Magazine article, it was reported that even reports that reading to newborns in the NICU increased bonding. As parents read to their infant babies they felt more attached to their little ones and felt more like normal parents.

Reading Aloud Closes The Gap

No other intervention has been found to be more effective at closing the gap for at-risk students than being read to. Really.

Hart and Risley’s landmark study Meaningful Differences showed wealthy children heard 45 million words by age four, working-class heard 26 million, and the child in poverty heard just 13 million.

Reading to a child helps close that gap. Jim Trelease stated that reading aloud “gives the at-risk child a ‘head’ start, especially important since most instruction in school for the first four years is oral—the teacher talks the lesson to the class. The larger the vocabulary, the better the child understands the teacher and the lesson.”

Furthermore, in the landmark report “Becoming a Nation of Readers” from 1985 it states, “the single most important activity for building knowledge for their eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”

Expands Interest

When we read aloud to a child we expose them to new authors, writing styles, and literary genres. In Melissa Taylor’s article The Importance of Reading Aloud to Big Kids she states “Reading aloud can get kids hooked on a new author or series of books. Once a child falls in love with the story or author, it’s hard to hold them back from reading it on their own.”

The world is full of amazing stories, poems, and facts. When we read them to our children we open their minds to the world.

Quantity and Quality

Both quantity and quality matter. Yes, it is important to read to your child and the quantity of time spent reading really does matter, but don’t forget about quality.

If anything has become apparent about reading to your children it is this: what you read to your children sticks. It becomes part of their hearts and minds. So, choose wisely.

Jenny Phillips at The Good And The Beautiful is passionate about this. She wrote: “Do you really know what is in the books children are reading and how it is affecting them? Books are powerful, but they have been changing in the past century and in turn, changing the character of our children, the strength of our families, and our communities.” 

Check out Jenny’s powerful message about choosing the best books in her vlog “Be Brave About Books.” This is a powerful message about the importance of both quantity and quality.

Final Thoughts

As parents and educators, we are faced with so much information. We are constantly bombarded with what we should do as parents and educators. Books become trendy, websites blare new information at us, and social media gives us thousands of options.

We know little for sure about raising and teaching kids. We do know two things for sure about raising and teaching kids: read to them and go outside and play. Those two things work. Always. Period.

What will you read to your kids this year?

The post The Importance of Reading Aloud appeared first on A One Room Schoolhouse.

The other day my nephew posted a question on Facebook about the power of praise: “I want everyone’s opinion! When and how is the best way to praise children?” He is a college student and was doing a class project on praise. It got me thinking about the power of praise and the effect it has on our children, homes, and classrooms.

The Power of Praise Rate

When I was getting my special education teaching credential, my professors were serious about the power of praise in the classroom. Every time we were observed teaching, our evaluator would take a praise rate. In order to score in the “A” range, we had to average 6 praise statements per minute during the observation!

Yep, you read that right. A praise statement every 10 seconds.

You had no idea when they were going to take your rate, so you had to be constantly positive. For a statement to count it had to be unique and specific. You could not just rattle off a million “good jobs”. You had to say things like “Sally, nice handwriting.” or “John, thanks for raising your hand.”

It sounds ridiculous at first, but the more I praised students at this rate, the more I felt the change as a teacher and in my classroom.

Pouring on the praise was like a shower of sunshine on my students. They felt more confident, worked harder, and tried new things.

My professors said that students with a healthy self-concept needed 2 to 3 praise statements for every 1 corrective statement to maintain their positive view. For students that struggled with their self-esteem or that were frequently corrected, this rate could rise to 10 praise statements for every 1 corrective statement to change the tide of negative emotion.

That was the reasoning behind the almost ridiculously high rate of praise required in our observations. We were teaching students with special needs that often carried the burden of very frequent correction and even ridicule.

To change the tide of negativity in these little student’s lives, the teacher needed to literally drench them in praise.

And, you know what? It worked.

The Power of Praise In The Home

At about the same time that my nephew posted his question on Facebook, I was listening to Ralphie over at Simply On Purpose on Instagram. She stated that we spend 85% of our communication in our homes correcting behavior!

Ouch! If you go back to what my professors said about praise rate, positive self-concept, and combine that with Ralphie’s correction percentage, you have some very sad praise math going on!

This all hit me pretty hard as I knew the paise math in my home was not at a great ratio. Just based on my kid’s behavior, I knew our ratio was off.

After a season of stress and change, correction had become frequent, voices had become raised, and praise was just not happening.

In an effort to change the tide of negativity in my home, I reflected back on my professional training and these timely social media reminders. I spent some time brainstorming the best praise tips I had gathered over the years from other great parents, teachers, and mentors.

Praise Tip List

• When you need to correct a behavior, find someone doing the behavior and praise first.
• When things are getting tense, stop, and mentally give yourself a little praise. “You can do this; you are a great parent.” Then turn and find someone doing something praiseworthy.
• Set yourself a praise goal each day. Put rubber bands on your arm and move them to the other arm every time you praise a child. (Changing coins from one pocket to the other works well too!)
• Correct privately and praise openly.
• Be specific.
• Praise effort.
• Look for close approximations of the correct behavior and praise the progress.
• Let your kids overhear you praising them to another adult.
• Privately tell another adult what a great job a child did and then ask that adult to praise them.
• Post praise statements around your home or classroom for frequent and diverse reminders to praise regularly and uniquely.

Two Magic Questions

The power of praise is amazing and can change the entire mood of a home or classroom. But, to really supercharge the power of praise, combine it with the two most powerful questions I have found to change behavior.

First: Can you tell me more about that/it?

This question is SOOOOOOO powerful. The word “that/it” can be a feeling, a word, a behavior, an assignment or anything that is going on with a child. This question invites MORE. More talking, more listening and more chances to praise.

Some examples:

• (Child is frustrated with an assignment) Can you tell me more about your frustration with this assignment?
• (Children are fighting) “I will listen to both of you. Can you tell me more about why you need this toy?
• (Unidentified, big emotions) Can you tell me more about your feelings?
• (Child is ignoring a direction) I want to listen, can you tell me why you will not….?”
• (Child is giving one-word answers) Can you tell me more about that/it?

Then… listen and praise!

Second: But if not, what?

This second question is something to ask yourself, not your child. Sometimes you are just not going to get the behavior or skill you desire right now. Development might not be ready to meet the expectation. Emotions might be too big. Stress levels might be too high.

The list could go on forever. So, when things are getting tough, emotions are high, and behavior is crazy, ask yourself: “But if not, what?” But if not this behavior, what will I be okay with? What is a close approximation that may lead up to the desired result?

But if not…

• the whole assignment, maybe part of the assignment.
• eating all the dinner, maybe half of the dinner.
• reading the book, maybe you can listen to it and follow along.
• joining us at the table, you can take a break in your room.

Then, be okay with the alternative. You can work with the child when they are not in crisis to get the original, desired result. Praise the close approximation and move on.

Finally…

Have you seen the power of praise in your home or classroom? Drop me a note and let me know how you have seen praise help your children. Review A One-Room Schoolhouse’s mission statement to see how praise is at the core of our beliefs.

The post The Power of Praise appeared first on A One Room Schoolhouse.

Background

To start, Susan Wise Bauer is one of the go-to gurus of the homeschool world. Many refer to her book The Well-Trained Mind as the “Bible” of homeschooling. Many homeschool groups refer to this book as “required reading”.

Furthermore, www.welltrainedmind.com offers a comprehensive classical curriculum, classes, training, and a host of other academic resources. The blog is insightful, informative, and extremely useful.  Additionally, Bauer is a professor of American literature at The College of William and Mary.

(Side note, I did my graduate work at William and Mary. At the time, I had no idea that a professor worked on campus that would become such a huge influence on my life! Crazy!)

First inspiration

I was on my weekly Friday trip to library storytime with my kids when inspiration grabbed me. In the new release display, something caught my eye: Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child’s Education by Susan Wise Bauer.

I checked out this book and devoured it. It spoke to every one of my concerns about public education! (I talked about my concerns in this post.)  It was a validating, inspirational read that gave me the idea for the structure of A One-Room Schoolhouse. Additionally, it gave me the courage to take action.

Overview

I can’t count how many times I have recommended reading Rethinking School. I found it to be a balanced and honest assessment of our public-school system. In addition, you will be presented with up-to-date and accurate information about the many educational choices available to every family.

Rethinking School will help you understand the modern education system and how you can help your children get the best education possible. I especially like how this book presents ideas for every family to help “flex” the school system regardless of your ability or opinions on homeschooling, public schooling, or private schooling.

Questions

Some of the most important content in Rethinking School are the questions that this book answers. Even as an experienced educator, I found much of the content new and informative.

I knew little of my educational choices outside of public, private, and charter schools. The answers to many, if not all, or your school choice questions will be answered in this well-researched book.

Here are frequently asked questions to which Rethinking School provides current, well-reached answers:

• Should my student attend an accredited school?
• What courses are necessary for my student’s education?
• Does my high school-aged student need a diploma?
• When should I start my student in Kindergarten?
• Should I allow my student to be held back a grade?
• Should I allow my child to skip a grade?
• How do I get my student special education services?
• What are an IEP and a 504?
• How much homework is really necessary?
• How can to get my child help without making an enemy out of the teacher or principal?
• What are my other educational options outside of the public-school system?
• What is the “common core” and why is everyone so mad about it?
• Does my student really have to take all those tests at the end of the year?
• How do I homeschool my child?
• If not college, then what?

Takeaway

My takeaway after reading Rethinking Education was simply: one size does not fit all.

Students are unique as the snowflakes that fall in the mountains or the waves the crash on the beach.  Every student comes to school with their own strengths, weakness, and learning styles. Many even come with disadvantages, disorders, and disabilities.

Seldom are these individual traits a perfect match for any given classroom.  But, in modern education, students are asked to conform and learn.  They are the square peg and the modern classroom in the round hole.

The way we do school is not natural.

Children are not prone to sit for six to seven hours a day at a desk with a group of same-aged peers, learning a prescribed set of objectives, in a uniform amount of time.  In many classrooms, each child must conform to this routine to become a successful student.

This is the system we have come to believe is the only option for children. But it is not. I challenge you to think beyond this system; to believe that there are students that might fit in the round hole, but that the round hole is not the only or necessarily the best choice. In Rethinking School Bauer states:

“That’s because artificial systems, like our K-12 educational system, are powerful. They acquire a life of their own and become the framework that organizes our existence. In other words, the way we currently do education has become a paradigm, or a matrix: an invisible pair of glasses through which we view everything else.”

Think Outside the Box

If you are looking for educational answers outside of the box, this is the book for you. After reading Rethinking School, I felt empowered as an expert in my children’s education. It has helped me create A One-Room Schoolhouse for my children and others that are joining us.

Have you read Rethinking School? I would love to know what you thought. Drop a comment below or send me an email.

The post Book Review: Rethinking School appeared first on A One Room Schoolhouse.

As I mentioned here in step four, I was terrified to tell anyone about my idea to start a hybrid homeschool group. Terrified! I needed the courage to say something! Was I a public school sell out? Were my kids going to be weird, unsocialized homeschool kids? Maybe I was just trying to be a private school yuppie?

(Please, no offense to any of these groups, but these were the honest, stereotypical ideas running around my head!)

Read part one, part two, and part three of the series.

In my heart, I am none of these things.

I have the utmost respect for the public school system. Public schools work great for many students. I have worked with and for some amazing educators in the public school system. These people are heroes working on the front lines of children’s lives, making the world a better place.

Homeschool families are amazing. So many are shaping their family’s hearts and minds in a way no large, standardized education system could. Homeschool parents are working two full-time jobs as both parent and educator. I have only glimpsed the strength and perseverance of these families and I am in awe.

I have worked at and visited so many inspirational private schools that serve a specific need in the educational gamut. Religious schools, special needs schools, arts schools, and many more are learning environments that meet so many student’s needs.

An Idea

But I had an idea. I wanted to try something different. I just had to have the courage to say something.

In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time thinking through what I would say. Most of the time when I started talking to people about my idea for a hybrid, I became a very excited, rambling idiot. REALLY. It was bad.

My advice: spend some time writing and practicing what you will say. You need an elevator pitch!

Elevator Pitch

From Google, an elevator pitch is “a brief, persuasive speech that you use to spark interest in what your organization does. You can also use them to create interest in a project, idea, or product – or in yourself. A good elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride of 20 to 30 seconds, hence the name.”

My struggle is being brief. I want to tell you ALL. THE. THINGS.

When I first sat down to write my pitch, I started around 2 minutes of material. I took some time to hone it down, slowly working my way down to the target time limit. Here are some guidelines and what I came up with.

How to Craft an Elevator Pitch

• Who Are You?
  • I have been working with a few other parents to develop a different kind of school. It’s called A One-Room Schoolhouse.
• Background
  • This is a hybrid of traditional education (like a private or public school) and a homeschool experience.
• Provide Context
  • We are flexible, rigorous and individualized. We honor a child’s need for play, time in nature, and socialization. All of this is done in a family-centered Christian environment.
• Connect and Ask (This will vary greatly depending on who you are talking to.)
  • Sam is just finishing up his preschool years at Hickory Christian Preschool. Have you considered something other than the public school for his education?
  • You have been a homeschool family for a few years now. Have you found a support group that meets your needs?
  • You have said in the past that you were not happy with your local public school, but that homeschooling seems overwhelming. What would you think about enrolling in a hybrid of both homeschool and traditional school?
• Close
  • Here is my card. Check out our website and I will email you some more information.

Look for my upcoming post all about different pitches for A One-Room Schoolhouse. I will post in the next few weeks. Until then, I would love to hear your pitch in the comments below!

Finding People

The first person I talked to about my hybrid school idea was my husband. This was long before I had a pitch and this conversation lasted for hours over many days. But, after all of our talking, he was as excited as I was about my idea.

After my husband was on board, I talked to a few family members for support and brainstorming. My mother was an amazing sounding board as I talked about my ideas and dreams. Find someone that can be your sounding board.

Next, I needed to get outside the safety of my family and start talking to other people.  First, I started talking to a few close friends. I remember each of these conversations very clearly. One friend, I cornered while paddling together in a canoe (REALLY!), another in her playroom, and another in her backyard. And guess what? They were all very kind and listened! Really listened!

One of these conversations developed into true interest. Bryan and Stephanie Duford joined with my husband and me, becoming part of our founding board. It is so important to find your core people.

Some people I talked to were in no way interested in actively being part of a hybrid. They were happy with the educational choice they had made for their children. That was fine. What many of these wonderful friends became where my cheerleaders.

These cheerleaders asked me how the hybrid was developing. They encouraged me as I worked my idea. Some cheerleaders even offered me their wisdom in marketing, blogging, and legal advice. Find your cheerleaders…they will be such a support to you!

Your Say Something Checklist

1. Have an idea
2. Craft an elevator pitch
3. Brainstorm with your sounding board
4. Talk to your core people
5. Get support from your cheerleaders

Your Idea

What is your idea? Who are your people? What is your elevator pitch? Drop a comment below and tell me what you are working on. Be bold!  Have the courage to say something, right here, right now! I can’t wait to hear your ideas.

The post The Courage to Say Something appeared first on A One Room Schoolhouse.

After so much thinking, praying, and writing I had decided to start a one-room schoolhouse. (You can read my reasons here.) I was over the moon with excitement, but I had no idea how to begin. This is what I learned during my one-room schoolhouse journey.

My accreditation experience

Previously, I had taken a school from an old house to a fully accredited private school. That process went so well, that at the accreditation visits, the supervisor asked if I would accompany him on other such visits. On these visits, I saw a wide variety of schools with varying degrees of readiness for accreditation.

These experiences taught me that accreditation does not, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that a school is a quality educational organization. A school can have the lowest level of accreditation approval and the general public would have no idea unless they did a lot of research. Furthermore, colleges would have no idea either, unless a very curious admissions officer did a lot of Googling!

The schools that fall at these lowest levels are NOT quality educational organizations.  I would never recommend ANYONE attend these schools. The curtain had been pulled back on accreditation and I knew it was not something I wanted to deal with!

I wanted something different for my one-room schoolhouse. I did not want to jump through someone else’s hoops to design an educational program. But, if not standard accreditation, WHAT?

A religious school wouldn’t work as I had no sponsoring church, nor did I want to lock myself into a specific denomination. A charter school had so many state regulations that it gave me flashbacks to the accreditation experience. Hum….

My first inspiration

I was on my weekly Friday trip to library storytime with my kids when inspiration grabbed me. In the new release display, something caught my eye: Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child’s Education by Susan Wise Bauer.

I checked out this book and devoured it. It spoke to every one of my concerns about public education! (I talked about my concerns in this post.)  After feeling completely validated, I read the chapters on educational choice. A new idea was presented: a hybrid school.

What is a hybrid school?

Simply stated: a hybrid school is a mix of other types of educational models. This is a very new, cutting edge school model. It melds the best of private, character, public and homeschool together.

Example of hybrid models…

• In most states, according to state law, your child is a homeschool student.
• The student attends for some of their academic instruction.
• Some hybrids do a half-day in the classroom and a half-day at home.
• Other hybrids do a partial week in the classroom and the rest at home.
• Even others offer a whole week of classroom instruction with the parents actively participating in the hybrid on a regular schedule.
• Hybrids are often set up as nonprofit homeschool support groups to avoid heavy state regulations.
• They do charge tuition but rates usually lower than private schools due to less time being spent at the hybrid and significant volunteerism. 
• Hybrids often are centered around a specific educational model, homeschool philosophy, or religious denomination.

After reading about this option, I knew that this was the structure I wanted to use for my one-room schoolhouse. Finally, I had the general structure, but I had no idea HOW!

How do you start a hybrid?

I started by doing what any modern mom does: I turned to Google. I found a few hybrid schools in my home state of Pennsylvania. Next, I started emailing and calling some of them.  I received so much valuable advice from these educational pioneers. I will forever be in their debt.

One of the best pieces of advice I got was to check out HomeschoolCPA run by Carol Topp, CPA. This website is full of information for the homeschool support group! Furthermore, Carol Topp has published four e-books that I would highly recommend.

Below are some of the resources I found most useful on HomeschoolCPA:

• Under the Recourses tab, start by clicking on Articles. The tab even says start here. This is great beginner information to get your feet wet in the process.
• Next, visit Checklist under the same tab. This will take you through the three phases of setting up any homeschool support group.
• The third click down under Recourses is a goldmine! The sample documents will help you write up all the important legal supports for starting your group.
• The FAQ tab is also very helpful. Many of my burning questions were answered here!
• Also, check out HomeschoolCPA’s blog, podcast, and videos. These have been so useful to our group.
• Finally, Carol Topp offers her professional services. These consultations can be priceless!

Moving forward

Armed with this information, I had a basic game plan for starting a one-room schoolhouse. My to-do list looked something like this:

1. Start a nonprofit homeschool support group. (see this post)
2. Select a curriculum and clarify educational philosophy. (IE: work out all the millions of logistics!) (see this post)
3. Find people who are crazy enough to join me in this process. (see this post)

With that list, I started my journey. Three easy steps! (right….) Each of these steps had ten or more sub-steps, which became overwhelming at times.

Expect some potholes…

My journey was not without potholes. When I began I had three children, aged three and under. Then I got pregnant with child number four about half-way through the process. At that point, I had to put the whole project on hold while a barfed for a few months due to severe morning sickness.

Many people thought I was nuts. The paperwork was totally overwhelming. I often thought about how much easier it would be to just put my kids in public school or just homeschool!

However, as I write this, I am very near checking all three items off my to-do list. The dream is in sight. And yes, it has been totally worth it!

Let me hear from you!

In the next few posts, I will talk in detail about the three steps of starting a one-room schoolhouse. First up, I will write about starting a homeschool support group. After that, I’ll tackle choosing an educational philosophy and curriculum. Finally, I will write about engaging other people in this process.

In the meantime, click over to our hybrid overview. I would love to know what you think about our model!

The post How to Start a One-Room Schoolhouse appeared first on A One Room Schoolhouse.