Why Can't Kids Just Be Kids?

So I realize my last post about teaching Micah to read at an early age may sound a little crazy and over the top -- "Why can't kids just be kids?" -- but really, I don't think it's all that serious. Learning to read is an essential skill, and it's really quite simple. Contrary to the lyrics of "School's Out for Summer", learning is a good thing; school is a good thing. Were that not the case, I wouldn't spend my days (and oftentimes, nights) laboring in the education business.

As Mike and I start planning for our firstborn's schooling, lots of thoughts are bumping around in my head. Do we want to wade into the craziness that is the Chicago Public School system? No. Can we afford private tuition? Maybe, depending on where/how much. Could I home school? I'd like to, but don't know if that's the best fit for Micah. How about public schooling in the suburbs? Sure, but the housing market is rotten and I don't want to risk carrying two mortgages.

Regardless of where we end up sending Micah to school formally, I really do believe that parents are a child's first, and oftentimes best, teachers. I know everything about him; I know what he's capable of; I know what motivates him. As parents, we teach our children from the time they are born. Not only do we cheer our kids on through the milestones of babbling, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, cruising, and walking, but we also teach them through our actions, attitudes, and priorities. For me, that means it's my (and Mike's) responsibility to create a home environment that encourages and nurtures intellect and stimulates curiosity. Raising my boys to be lifelong learners begins with me. That's my stance, and I'm sticking to it.

Because, after all, this is not an uncommon attitude in America these days:

Well we got no choice

All the girls and boys

Makin' all that noise

'Cause they found new toys

Well we can't salute ya

Can't find a flag

If that don't suit ya

That's a drag

School's out for summer

School's out forever

School's been blown to pieces

No more pencils

No more books

No more teacher's dirty looks

Well we got no class

And we got no principles

And we got no innocence

We can't even think of a word that rhymes

School's out for summer

School's out forever

School's been blown to pieces

No more pencils

No more rule-books

No more teacher's dirty looks

Out for summer

Out till fall

We might not go back at all

School's out forever

School's out for summer

School's out with fever

School's out completely

Quite sad, if you ask me.

BOB books

Even though Micah is only 2 1/2, I'm thinking about ways to begin teaching him to read. He learned the alphabet, or at least the ABC song, quite a while ago, and we've been working on numbers lately. He has one through 10 mastered; now we're working on going backwards.

I've been contemplating home-schooling lately -- both the general idea of home-schooling and whether or not it might be a good fit for our family -- and have been reading The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Editition). One of the ideas the book provides is to use something called BOB books to teach your child to read. I searched around and found these: Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers. Costco actually has them at a great price right now, since it's that back-to-school time of the year, but Amazon is my go-to first stop when doing any kind of initial product research.

I bought the first set for Micah, and my initial reaction was that the books look kind of boring. The set consists of thin but well-made (stitched, not glued) paperbacks, each of which is comprised of line art, simple black, red, blue, and yellow colors, and brief storylines. As I thought more about them, though, I realized that's exactly the point; kids are meant to focus on the words and learn how to read, not get swept away by rich illustrations.

Micah likes the books so far and has requested to read them several times. As of now, though, I am trying to work on letter recognition. While he can say all the letters pretty well and spell C-A-R (his most favorite thing in the entire world), he doesn't yet recognize them. I'd love to create several alphabet placemats and have them laminated so that we can work on this during mealtime, but that may be beyond me at the moment, since work is crazy and my 5 month old will only sleep for 4 hour stretches at the most! at night before rousing and crying like there's no tomorrow, leaving us all pretty tired.

If I Built A Car

My older brother and my sister-in-law love Micah to bits. Not only are they generous in love, they are also generous in "prizes", as Micah likes to say. Over the weekend, they brought a special prize for Micah, a book titled "If I Built A Car".

It's truly a gem, especially for my car- / motorcycle- /truck-loving kid. The story follows the whims and creativity of a boy who starts with, "If I built a car..." Not only are the illustrations rich and engaging in a retro kind of way, the book is also fun to read because the lines rhyme and roll right off the tongue. Micah brought the book home last Sunday after dinner, and we've read it to him at least 15 times since then.

If you have a little guy or girl who's into cars and making things, this book would be right up his or her alley!

Mama, Read Me Book

I have had a deep love of reading for as long as I can remember. Even though the days of roaring through a book in one sitting are long gone -- to be replaced by the sweet sound of "Mama, read me book!" -- I still love reading.

One of my favorite memories is of my mom hauling us kids off to the local library, plastic grocery bags in tow, and spending the afternoon milling around the towering wooden shelves of plastic-covered storybooks. Right when you entered the children's section was a display table of the newest books that had just arrived, but the area I really loved was further away. On the dusty carpet, in small corners, I would sit with a new treasure and get lost in the story.

When it was time to go, we left with tall stacks of books, precariously stuffed into the thin grocery bags that promised to give way at any moment. Now, I'm amazed that my mom kept track of them all and didn't allow us to misplace our library books.

Years later, when we moved back to town and I was in high school, I spent countless hours in that same library with my friends as we worked on our Freshman year research paper. Way in the back, I discovered, hid another room filled with study carrels, where my friends and I sat in hushed silence (most of the time) and scribbled away on our 4 X 6 index cards.

I love the idea of reading, of being able to imagine a whole new life separate from one's own. Before my 2 year old, Micah, was born, I had a picture in my head of snuggling with my kid at bedtime and sharing the wonder of reading to him, and then tucking him in with a kiss and leaving him to drift off to sleep with stories of wonder and excitement floating around in his head.

That's a pretty common idea, I think, but for me, this is one memory I really want to create with/for my kids. Especially in this age of digital everything--toys that move and make all sorts of noise, cartoons, TV ads even in the checkout line at the supermarket -- I want to create a home environment for my kids that fosters creativity and imagination.

It brings me great joy to see Micah head to the bookshelf, contemplate for a moment, and bring a book (or two, or three, or a whole stack, as the case may be) over and say, "Mama, read me book please."