Guiding Principles to Help Parents

In Homeschooling—In Relationship—To Government

Principle 1:

Licensing: The state wants to give us permission to have a home school. The state cannot give us permission to have a Christian home school. Only God can do that. Proverbs 22:6

Principle 2:

Render to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar. Our children are not Caesar’s and do not belong to Caesar.

Principle 3:

The state can have only what parents give to them. The Constitution preserves the rest to the parents. Parents are not to protect the rights of the state. The state was formed to protect parents’ rights and guarantee them.

Principle 4:

Parents do not want, nor should they accept state aid. That includes receiving “free tax credits”! There is no such thing as a “free” lunch. What the state gives the state controls. We will not sacrifice our birthright of freedom for a mess of governmental porridge.

Principle 5:

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” II Corinthians 6:14, 17. The same people who teach sex education, evolution, and place unacceptable materials in the public classrooms want to “help” you or “join”you in the teaching of “your” children.

Principle 6:

The state and federal governments want to become an educational monopoly. They are setting upon a course, Education 2000, which will destroy the quality education of our Christian home schooling parents. Monopolies destroy quality!

Principle 7:

The free enterprise system dictates that we must preserve the Christian home schooling as an entity separate and diametrically opposed to the state and federal monopoly. We have a product from God and cannot be controlled by humanistic competitors. The free enterprise system is the result of a traditional, Biblically-based philosophy of education.

Principle 8:

People should not be paying for the “inferior” product produced by humanistic, secular education. We have been forced to do so by doing nothing and by an autocratic government bogged down by an irresponsible bureaucracy. Sixty percent of Americans say they would choose an alternate to public education if they could afford to. They should be able to have that choice.

Principle 9:

A home schooler that is forced to be licensed by the state and is controlled and directed by the state is no longer a private citizen, but a puppet and subject of that state. That person has moved from a “republic” to a “socialistic” form of representation.

Principle 10:

There are no “public” schools any longer. State schools are now dominated by unelected, faceless, nameless individuals who are not accountable to anyone. Funded and sponsored by the federal government. Funded with “your” money wrestled from you by unelected, faceless, nameless individuals from the federal and state bureaucracies. Your money is spent by these individuals who are not accountable to anyone.

Principle 11:

Christian home schooling offers a safety valve to parents who are terribly frustrated by the above bureaucracy and who want to follow the Biblical mandate in the training up of their own children. Deuteronomy 6.

Principle 12:

Our religious freedom comes from God — not from government. It is not only a right, it is a responsibility to train up our children in the way God wants them to go — His way. Deuteronomy 6: 1-25. Proverbs 22:6. State education boards across all of America are at enmity with this principle.The state of Ohio has a code which reads as follows:

The natural rights of a parent to custody and control of their children are subordinate to the power of the state to provide for the education of children. Laws providing for the education of children are for the protection of the state itself.”

Foundations: Teaching Every Child How to Read

Foundations to Teaching Every Child to Read

This is the first of many articles that I am going to do addressing the issues of reading and setting a good reading foundation for any child.

I am going to discuss such issues as “Everyone and Everything Teaches”, “Seeing Affects Reading”, “Listening Affects Reading”, “Talking Affects Reading”, “Ways To Grow Into Reading” and many more.

Learning to read and learning to read well and with enjoyment is one of the most important achievements in a child’s early intellectual life.

Parents are the key to opening the door to the confidence, satisfaction, and knowledge that reading provides.

Researchers are finding more and more evidence to indicate that a child’s character, personality, and intellectual disposition are practically formed by two years of age.

“Train up a child in the way he shall go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

“And thou shalt teach them diligently…”

Parents play a crucial role in the intellectual growth of their children and also in creating good and happy readers.

First and most importantly, you must realize that everyone and everything teaches.

You cannot stop your child from seeing, touching, tasting, hearing and smelling. BUT these senses must be guided. You don’t have to understand how the brain works to teach well. Good drivers don’t have to know how the engine works.

Learning is natural. Try to stop it!

The brain, weighs about two and one half pounds of tissue which is connected to the sensory modalities and has an electrical and emotionally charged base.

If it is triggered by a laugh, smile, wink, pleasant touch, pleasant voice or pat, the learning machine purrs and is happy.

With the introduction of frustration, anger, violence or rejection, it gets clogged and learning is adversely affected.

A baby becomes frustrated if not fed, changed or LOVED. A child can be daunted and crushed by too many “NOS” or too many whacks. Parents can unintentionally discourage a child with learning materials or even toys that are inappropriate to his age.

Children mature at different rates as well as their body parts mature at different rates. Mental development is affected by a child’s physical development and both are influenced by surroundings and inheritance.

“Train up a child…”

Surroundings offer the opportunity for learning. Doing what others do. The surroundings can be rich or poor. The bedroom of the child can have books, bells and balls – or it can be bare and boring.

Abilities are affected by inheritance but they can be enhanced or retarded by the quality of experience the surroundings afford.

Examine your own background as parents. Heredity may determine whether your child is aggressive, passive, insightful, thoughtful, impatient or impulsive.

Give your heredity garbage to the Lord and ask for wisdom in freeing yourself as well as your child from your inherited and his inherited emotional baggage and frustration. Supply him with a Godly enriched environment and educational opportunity. One you maybe did not receive.

Developmental Overview-The Infant

In the first year of your child’s life you will see an incredible process of differentiation occur. At first the infant will not know the difference between mother and father. But through the first year he not only learns to make these distinctions but to see himself as separate from the people and things around him.

During the first months of life a child physically responds to hunger, noise, and discomfort in one way; he cries.

He learns to display one obviuous and general emotion, excitement, by three or four months and he can learn to express both positive and negative excitement.

By the twelfth month he will be manipulating adults with a smile more than a cry.

Body control moves from the head downward during the first year. Neck and head muscles develop control before the trunk. This control travels from the “inside” to the “outside,” from the arms to fingers, from large muscles to fine ones. The child will go from no grasp to a firm grasp, holding objects between thumb and finger to clapping to a rhythm and even babbling a song.

The child matures from lying to grasping to crawling to walking.

The first year, let things happen naturally.

Encouraging performance before the physical readiness may retard ability. In other words, Don’t Push!!!

The One Year Old

The one -year old knows Mom, Dad, Grandma, definitely Grandpa, and DOMINATES all of them. Many walk by one, or at least stand alone.

The one -year old now walks into experience. He explores every room, nook and cranny in the house.

His pupils seem to be enlarged as he stares at things and people and information of every kind pours into his brain.

Adults are especially scrutinized, so be VERY careful of your behavior and those around you.

“Train up a child…”

From twelve to eighteen months a child concentrates on standing, walking, and stepping over obstacles with balance, and finally climbing.

During this period, a child develops from creeping to walking, to climbing and running. Before long he shows a preference from reaching with one hand. He can scribble in circles and play catch. He can walk backwards and is ready to operate a kiddy car. He will learn to fill and empty and pull and carry.

In the second half of this year, there is a shift to language development.

Between eighteen and twenty-four months, a child’s vocabulary will increase from fifty simple words such as

Hi! ; Hot ; Bottle ; No/uh.huh ; Spoon ; Daddy ; Pretty ; Boat ; Me too ; Baby ; Mommy ; Light ; Truck ; Hat ; Doggie ; and names of pets and family members, to more than three hundred words.

The Two-Year-OLD

He can walk, run, and climb. He then must “explore”.

He is beginning to speak but communication isn’t entirely effective. Mom and Dad and child quite often don’t understand each other.

He is coordinated enough to pile six blocks. He can climb up and down stairs alone and copy a vertically drawn line. He can kick a ball. He can carry a load. He does not cooperate at play except to play simple catch and toss with a ball. He holds and hoards and doesn’t like to share.

After two he will participate in art play, l haikes to see action toys work and he loves clay.

Toilet training occurs, and since he likes water play – WATCH OUT!!

He can fit pieces in a puzzle and fill and empty. He likes to touch, watch, imitate, and be dependent on his Mother.

Words, words and more words. He learns words easily and uses talk when he plays. His attention span is short. He responds to BRIEF commands.

The Three-Year- Old

He has learned a lot of forms and concepts and has been flung back and forth between frustrations and paradoxes. BUT HE MADE IT!!!

He begins to see himself with identity. He is more sure of himself and can begin now to understand that there are one or two people in the world besides himself.

When we see him control himself, we appreciate it.  Suddenly, a whirlwind love and affection courtship develops, which makes the child’s behavior even better. He loves and is loved.

He has dominated the physical world. He now turns to the social world. He is so anxious to learn he even asks questions. “This go here?” as he helps set the table. “Hammer go here?” as he puts things away.

He walks with balance, not with arms outstretched. He can alternate standing on one leg. He can jump, march and run to music. He can unbutton. He can roll a ball and throw underhand. He can dodge, throw, stop and go and turn abruptly.

He can count to three and may even be able to point to three objects. He can compare objects and point out likenesses and differences. He enjoys building things. He can draw lines and even intersect them to form crosses. He can sort and combine and even WAIT HIS TURN!!!

He begins to share toys and become sensitive to people. He tries to please and likes to guess. He likes to get “dressed up”. He loves parties. He can rest for ten minutes. He takes turns. He talks to adults. He listens to stories. He enjoys praise and simple humor. He loves trips.

This is a great year – ENJOY

The Four-Year-Old

Expansion of mental energy. Thinking occurs. He can make up  rhymes and loves big new words and explanations. Thought creates more growth.

He forms bigger and bigger words and bigger and bigger thoughts.

He can count to five. He points to the number “8” and says, “That is “66”!”

His world stretches to big and little fibs and tall tales. He calls names and threatens people he shouldn’t – like big brother and sister!!!

He is an expert at bugging adolescents. He always wins, doesn’t he?

He has the words in his head but he hasn’t learned the rules.

A cow can be purple. A tree doesn’t have to be green. Anything can be anything!!

Four-year-olds like skills. He is getting ready to be five and he talks about that. He is getting ready for school.

He wants to have “real” school and his own “school books”!!!

He can skip on a line and throw overhand. He is almost there in motor control. He is self sufficient in personal care. He is very social, poised and proud of what he can do.

He quotes Mom and Dad and any other authority figures like they are god. He likes rules if they have been laid down!!!

The Five-Year-Old

A child’s emotional pattern – the way he reacts to a problem, whether he is angry or happy, demanding or withdrawn – are evident. The foundations of his personality are already in place.

The five-year- old will generally take time out to organize himself. He has gathered in a lot of things in the past four years and needs to consolidate the gains. He will give a succinct answer, while the four-year-old embellished it.

The five-year-old has his place at the table, his bed, his bike, his hat, his universe, and can cross the street safely. Mother is usually the center of the world.

Physically, the five-year-old can sit longer, explore the neighborhood, lace his shoes, hang from a tree limb, and knows right from left.

Socially he is cooperative at play and enjoys playing house or trucker. He conforms to adult ideas and seeks adult help when needed.

“Train up a child…”

His interests widen swiftly and have a purpose. He asks, “What?” and “How?”. He knows his address and telephone number. He should be able to count and say the ABC’s.

This is the time he will play drums or cymbals in a rhythm band, build stores with blocks, be an animal trainer for the circus, visit the fire station and the green house, plant seeds and watch plants grow, cook for a seasonal party, play with puzzles, talk about new baby, nap on a rug, sing happy songs with fingerplays, be read to and have a place at a library table, hear Christian Mother Goose, and play active and quiet games.

Focus of all this – preparing for reading.

WHEN IS A CHILD READY???

When a child can do the activity. If you put a marble and a container in front of a child and he reaches out and plumps the marble in the container, there is readiness for that action.

If you stand him on his feet and he takes haltering steps, he is ready to walk and can learn to walk.

Before three, spontaneous behavior is the key to whether the child is ready to learn something particular.

Famous People With Reading Problems

Thomas Edison ; Albert Einstein ; Winston Churchill ; Michael Heseltine ;  Woodrow Wilson ; George Bush ; George Patton ; Jackie Stewart, a racing driver ; Duncan Goodhew, an olympic swimmer ; Tom Cruise, actor ; George Burns ; Whoopi Goldberg, actress ; Susan Hampshire, actress ; Danny Glove, actor ; Cher, actress, singer.

Fable for School Children

Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of “A New World”. So they organized a school.

They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact better than his instructor; but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he became only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so no one worried except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running but had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class, where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He also developed a “charley horse” from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class he beat all the others to the treetop but insisted on using his own way to get there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal, retarded gopher that could swim exceedingly well and also run, climb and fly a little had the highest average, beat the system, and was valedictorian.

How Should We Discipline Our Children?

This question is probably the one most frequently asked by parents. Not only is this generation of parents concerned, but each preceding crop has been plagued by the same blight. Some time ago, while preparing a speech on the topic, I cam across a statement summarizing fifty years of advice from child psychologists:

1910–Spank Him
1920–Deprive Him
1930–Ignore Him
1940–Reason with Him
1950–Love Him
1960–Spank Him Lovingly

Do you suppose that for 1970 we will add “Teach Him?”

To discipline literally means to educate or to train, yet most of us use the word synonymously with “to punish”.

Perhaps one of the reasons we get in such a dither on the subject is that we are concerned over infraction of rules which we have not really taught our children to understand. Are we angry with the children for disobedience or with ourselves for being inadequate teachers?

Not long ago I was topped by a policeman. Although I knew the law and the speed limit, and was fully aware that my foot was heavy on the gas pedal that afternoon, I gazed up at him contritely, remorsefully, hopefully. A useless effort! He calmly and politely handed me a ticket. With equal grace the judge accepted my payment of the fine. The only remarkable part of this story is that neither the policeman nor anyone in the traffic court yelled, screamed, nagged, or spanked. The teaching was through: The law was fully known and understood and there were even signs along the road to remind drivers of the speed limit. The penalty for breaking the law was also known and understood. I was aware that I was violating the law. The penalty for violation was administered quietly, without anger, and I learned that I had to pay for my own actions.

Ever since that ticket I have tried to remember the calm, unruffled policeman when disciplining my own children. With very little success at emulating him, mind you, but I do remember him!

In Proverbs 6, Verse 23, we read, “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.” Thus, there are rules of conduct which, combined with instruction, can light our way. The “reproofs of discipline” are the guard rails which help us to stay on the path.

Rules of conduct define the specific limits of liberty allotted to the various members of the family. These limits should be determined, of course, by each individual’s ability and understanding, as well as the collective good and interest of the family community. Obviously, specific rules for the three year old will differ from those for the ten year old or teenager, but every member of a given family must respect the rights and privileges of the family as a whole.

The nature of such rules will vary from one family to another depending on the values and characteristics of those in authority (the authors of the rules) — mother and father, together. These rules should be based on principles which the parents have taught the children – principles which the children can understand and respect. Children who are taught to obey principles rather than parental whims are less often confused, rebellious, or misled by temptation.

Instead of asking “What shall we do about discipline?”, perhaps we should examine first the rules of conduct we have set within our family (not the Smith or the Jones family, but our own). Does every member of the family understand and know the rules? Are they based on principle or parental whim? Is the correction for infraction of the rules (the reproof or guard rail) clearly understood by all and can it be applied consistently, without anger? (Remember the policeman). Most important, do we as parents have self-discipline?

Plato has said, “The best way of training the young is to train yourself at the same time; not to admonish them, but to be always carrying out your own admonitions in practice.” This may be the best answer.

How to Raise a Crook!

1. Begin from infancy to give the child everything he wants. This way he will grow up to believe that the world owes him a living.

2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him. It will encourage him to pick up “cuter” phrases that will blow the top off your head later.

3. Never give him any spiritual training. Wait until he is twenty-one and then let him decide for himself.

4. Avoid the use of the word “wrong”. It may develop a guilt complex. This will condition him to believe later when he is arrested for stealing a car that society is against him and he is being persecuted.

5. Pick up anything he leaves lying around — books, shoes, clothing. Do everything for him so he will be experienced in throwing the responsibility onto others.

6. Let him read any printed matter he can get his hands on. Be careful the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but let his mind feed on garbage.

7. Quarrel frequently in the presence of the children. Then they won’t be too shocked when the home is broken up.

8. Give the child all the spending money he wants. Never let him earn his own. Why should he have things as tough as you had them?

9. Satisfy his every craving for food, drink, and comfort. See that every desire is gratified. Denial may lead to harmful frustrations.

10. Take his part against the neighbors, teachers, and policemen. They are all prejudiced against your child.

11. When he gets into real trouble, apologize for yourselves by saying, “I never could do anything with him.”

12. Prepare for a life of grief — you will have it!

–COPIED

Education: A Poem written by a Student

Education

He always wanted to explain things.
But no one cared.
So he drew.
Sometimes he would draw,
and it wasn’t anything.
He wanted to carve it in stone
or write it in the sky,
and it would be only him and the sky and
the things inside him that needed saying.
It was after that he drew the picture.
It was a beautiful picture.
He kept it under his pillow
and would let no one see it.
He would look at it every night
and think about it.
When it was dark and his eyes were closed,
he could still see it.
When he started school,
he brought it with him,
not to show anyone,
just to have along like a friend.
It was funny about school.
He sat at a square, brown desk,
like all the other square, brown desks.
He thought it should be red.
And his room was a square, brown room,
like all the other rooms.
It was tight and close and stiff.
He hated to hold the pencil and chalk,
his arms stiff, his feet flat on the floor,
stiff,
the teacher watching and watching.
The teacher came and spoke to him.
She told him to war a tie
like all the other boys.
He said he didn’t like them.
She said it didn’t matter!
After that, they drew.
He drew all yellow.
It was the way he felt about morning,
and it was beautiful.
The teacher came and smiled at him.
“What’s this?” she said. “Why don’t you
draw something like Ken’s drawing?
Isn’t that beautiful?”
After that, his mother bought him a tie,
and he always drew airplanes and rocketships
like everyone else.
And he threw the old picture away.
And when he lay alone looking at the sky,
it was big and blue and all of everything,
but he wasn’t anymore.
He was square inside and brown,
and his hands were stiff.
He was like everyone else.
The things inside that needed saying
didn’t need it anymore.
It had stopped pushing,
It was crushed,
Stiff.
Like everything else.

This was written by a high school senior in Alton, Illinois, two weeks before he committed suicide…

Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Paul Cates, Ph.D.

The strength of this country has always been directly related to the vitality of the traditional family unit. The authority and responsibly to raise and nurture children has always been reserved for the parents. Regardless of personal religious beliefs, society has historically upheld the concept of parental and family preeminence. Notable among exceptions to this rule are those periods of history when a despot has feared a strong and cohesive community standing in opposition to a tyrannical government, i.e., Hitler, Stalin, etc. The process has been remarkably similar in execution…redefine the “traditional” family, separate children from parental morals and values, encourage civil and social disruption, and then offer to solve the resulting chaos.

The U.S. Supreme Court has accomplished the process of redefining traditional family and social values, and Congress has now come forward with the legislation “to solve the resulting dilemma.”

An example of our Congress and legislation “to solve the resulting dilemma” is “Parents as Teachers” (PAT). It was piloted in Missouri, and has the parents of the state in an uproar. The basic idea of this program is to identify “at-risk” children as soon as possible, which is probably why PAT initiated children and parents into the program before a child is born by recruiting pregnant women to prenatal clinics and private doctor’s offices. If they slip through the net there, the Department of Education of Missouri has a mandatory video tape advertising the program to new parents in the hospital before they take their baby home.

What determines “at-risk” children? Twelve computer code definitions which includes over-weight parents, adverse functioning family (death in family, loss of a job, moving to a new home, parent that travels frequently), family history of hearing loss and very few toys in home. There is no code for normal!

To summarize, if a child isn’t happy at school or acts up, talks to much or otherwise misbehaves, the “certified parent educator” may prescribe mental health services, or perhaps a drug like Ritalin. Missouri Division of Family Services states that one reason for a child abuse hotline call is “refusal to take recommended services.”

If the parent refuses the recommended service, the state can remove the child from the home, place him in a residential treatment center and force the parent to take psychological counseling for an indefinite period. Even if the child is allowed to return home, the state may choose to retain legal custody and control.

Another example of our Congress and legislation is Goals 2,000. It emphasizes more spending and regulation.

It allows Federal school-reform funds to be used for anything “reasonably related to reform.” It claims to allow public school choice, but the actual language merely promotes magnet schools. It allows Federal funds to be used for school-based clinics – coordination of health and social services. It allows Federal funds to be used for Outcome-Based Education, psychological testing and values manipulation. It promotes “parents as teachers” meddling, that is, invading the home to tell parents how to parent through Parental Information and Resource Centers. It potentially paves the way to race the norming of educational tests (Se 213 (f) (2) (B) (ii) and employment tests (Sec. 403 (d) (1) (B) (ii) (lll).

This bill allows no parental opt-out right. No Parental privacy provisions. It creates a new national school board, the National Educational Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC), to develop mandatory national opportunity to learn standards, set “voluntary” national curriculum content and performance standards, and devise national testing systems. We don’t need national curriculum content and performance standards. God made us as individuals, not with a cookie cutter or on a mass assembly line.

It creates a union-dominated National Skills Standards Board to develop “voluntary” national skills standards to be used by industries in hiring. the next step, will be “mandatory”. Although children that are home schooled or attend a private or religious non-funded school are exempt from this bill, it still is detrimental to those who must attend our “public” schools.

Another problem that is creeping up on many of us and we are unaware of it is the changes in requirements for teacher certification. Many of our colleges are going along with this “hook, line, and sinker.”

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was established in 1987 as an outgrowth of a Carnegie Corporation initiative. Teachers and others have wondered just exactly what standards and criteria would be used in judging qualification for teacher certification.

The independent national NBFTS board is made up of a majority of classroom teachers, but is not accountable to the voting public.

Another entity, the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASCTEC), has been working on the new “standards” for teaching being developed by the NBPTS. It is evident from a review of their literature that the teacher of the future will be measured and evaluated according to OBE standards. Predictably, teachers will be required to exhibit the politically correct attitudes and beliefs. More importantly, these attitudes and beliefs will be measured by the extent to which these teachers engage in politically correct behaviors in the classrooms.

The “mission of NASDTEC is to assist individual states in developing essential standards required for the initial professional teaching certificate and entry into the teaching profession.” This is stated clearly as “outcome-bases teacher education and certification.” In this process, NASDTEC “expects to respond to the needs of states” methods to measure the “knowledge, professional skills and attitudes” of prospective teachers. It is quite clear: O.B.E. for teachers will also require the “correct” attitudes just as it does for students.

To underscore this, the document states: “The focus is on what the beginning teacher should be able to do, think, and feel; not on what the prospective teacher should study.”

The “underlying assumptions” for teaching O.B.E. mirror those of Spady and Marshall (1991). According to this draft, “This means that curriculum content is no longer the grounding and defining element of outcomes (Spady and Marshall). NASDTEC outcomes are role performances derived from job analyses of beginning teachers…”

The child is referred to repeatedly throughout as the “Client.” This is a term that means teachers will be certified based on a model that the child is a “client-driven person… and he must fit the needs of the society that is using him… implementing this is part of teacher certification.” This is Hitler’s technique refined in 1994 terms.

Standards suggested from NASDTEC Annual Conference held June 1993 in Orlando, Florida are:

Standard 1.0: Readiness for High School means that “the beginning teacher must support all adolescent students as they assume greater responsibility for their own learning and planning career goals.” …To conduct research on the students to know who has the “characteristics” of dropouts. The teacher must identify students who have “negative self-concepts and peer relations.”

Standard 2.0: Student development requires the teacher to make accommodations for adolescents’” “intellectual, physical, emotional, psychological and social developmental characteristics,” which includes “attitudes towards learning” and conduct a survey of students to profile “their academic, social, recreational, and career needs.”

Standard 3.0: Curriculum brings in the “developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive, higher order, challenging, and integrated subject matter” which includes some content like math, science and history, but also includes “healthy lifestyles.”

Standard 4.0: Instruction includes the same things listed above, but for the purpose of “responsible citizenship, employment in a global, knowledge-based economy, and lifelong learning.” The teacher must analyze “effective instructional strategies used in other countries.” She must “focus groups of student” to identify needs and organize teams of students to solve a real world problem.”

Standard 5.0: Assessment bring in “classroom, district, state, national, and international assessments.” The teacher is required to use portfolios, criterion-references tests and field-tested performance tasks on students.

Standard 6: School improvement asks the beginning high school teacher to identify, interpret, generate and measure group and individual student development data to improve “the school’s culture, climate, and mission.” The high school improvement plan of this teacher must be based on “shared values,” among other things. “Service learning activities” and “mentors” are suggested for the new teacher.

Standard 7.0: Home, school and community means that the teacher should engage in “home-school- community partnerships’ plans” and contribute to the ”social and emotional” needs of parents, as well as “fostering family involvement in adolescents’ education at home.” This requires a belief in “collaboration” between these three institutions. It is suggested that the teacher use a “parents needs survey instrument.”

Standard 8.0: Technology requires the teacher “to use technology as a motivation for higher order learning, and to produce computer-assisted solutions to real-world problems.” The teacher could make use of an “international information network” such as Internet.

Standard 9.0: Support services states that adolescents and their families need to “access discrete or integrated support services from health, social, juvenile, human resources, and other community agencies,” such as Planned Parenthood. Therefore, the teacher must recognize these needs and refer “students and their families to available in-school and community support service agencies.” Included in this is “in-school health clinics, counselors, and school-based assistance teams… multi- service centers, drug and pregnancy prevention progress, employee assistance services and recreation centers.” The teacher, it is suggested, could conduct a “survey of an in-school health clinic to determine levels of use and levels of student satisfaction with the services.”

Standard 10.0: Resource management means that the teacher will be competent and an effective manager of people, resources and community partners. One suggestion involves “relations to environmental problems.”

Standard 11.0: Youth Service is mandatory/voluntary community service for youth. The teacher is required to organize, operate, and continuously improve “a youth service program” for the purpose of developing “positive self concepts and an awareness of and concern for others and to become productive, caring and effective citizens” in the students. The teacher is supposed to develop “personal values, beliefs and strategies about service” and develop “empathy for people who could benefit from such activities.” The students are expected to gain a “sense of personal effectiveness” by doing this. One suggested activity is to guide “a student through a reflection activity (guided imagery) of what was accomplished in a service activity.”

Standard 12.0: Workplace know how requires the teacher to translate and align “classroom expectations, climate, and instructional practices with workplace competencies, skills, and personal qualities.” One sample portfolio entry, assessments, could require the teacher to analyze “student performances on local and state performance assessments.”

It is readily apparent from the above examples, after wading through the jargon, that teachers of the future will be required to fit the “role performance” in order to obtain and renew certification. This “role” may be odious to some teachers. They will be expected to go with the flow and fit the new mold of the reinvented school of education reformers’ dreams. They will be required to violate their conscience and convictions in numerous instances outlined above, such as demonstrating that they know how to refer their students to the local in-house or down-the street school-based sex clinic for condoms and abortion referrals.

Teachers will have to demonstrate by measurable behaviors exhibited in portfolios that they are going along with all of the outcomes for students and doing their best to implement them. They are required to analyze, survey, assess and respond to students’ personal values, beliefs, attitudes and behavior.

In the near future, teacher certification will not be possible for the true God-fearing, Bible believing Christians.

In part two of this article, I will cover the topics of The Ungraded Classrooms, Whole Language Approach and Year Round Schooling.

Bring the Cow into the Classroom

Consider your reply if you were asked to list the words most frequently missed in reading, spelling, and/or writing by the child with a learning disability. In spite of the fact that teachers are familiar with these words, authors have continued to record this information in various ways. These words have been printed on cards for the teacher to flash before the child’s eyes; others have included these words in “high-interest” stories for all age groups. The words “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why”, and “how”, regardless of the presentation, remain an abstract language concept if the emphasis is continually placed upon the visual configuration of the words.

Nebulous hypotheses have been proposed and devised to “cure” a child of this strange phenomenon – the inability to read. By some miracle, a few are helped to continue their struggle with the visual code while many others are doomed to the label – a reading problem. In recent years, the list of possible approaches has become longer and more complicated. To mention a few – some advocate physical activities, such as crawling, walking a board, or swimming. If one must swim before he reads, then this author can assume that all excellent swimmers are fluent readers! Others recommend a visual approach, emphasizing the configuration of visual symbols. The recommendation for initial training consists of recognition of form, manipulation of puzzles, color clues to show relationship of the parts to the whole, reproduction of designs, and exercises to strengthen eye movements. If the academic subjects of reading, writing, and oral language are ignored, the child does not learn to read, write, or consider which part of the total program can be accredited with the final results. In isolation, neither eye exercises nor angels in the snow can teach Japanese or any other language to students.

This author is of the opinion that the abstract concepts of the language and the words that describe the child’s world and the world beyond him are the important factors that have been completely ignored by educators. Language can be learned if it is taught. The deaf child who learns the language has perfect perceptions of his world; the deaf child who does not learn the language could have the same difficulty as the hearing child who does not learn the language because he may have imperfect impressions of his world. The blind child can learn the language if he has been able to grow with intact perceptions of the environment; the blind child who has not been able to perceive the abstract conceptions of his world can be expected to have the same difficulty as the seeing child with a learning disability. This child with a learning disability must begin to learn the language as the normal child learns to speak.

Except for the disability of nominal aphasia (the approach will be the same) the words that are most easily understood are concrete – the “who” and “what” words. As an example, consider the first words the child learns. These are usually Ma-Ma and Da-Da. They are concrete; they are the “who” words within this child s experience. The vocabulary increases as the child gains experiences and is able to project himself out of his home environment to the world about him. His vocabulary increases to “what” words, such as dog, or he will point to the sky to identify the airplane. Very gradually discrimination begins to occur in the language as Ma-Ma can be used as I, mother, woman, teacher, she, and her – the ambiguities of the language are endless. The oral language becomes complicated and particularly so for the child with a learning disability. The teacher can only project these to the difficulties encountered with the printed and written word. These “who” and “what” words “do”. The language becomes even more complicated as the “do” words change form according to the time when “who” and “what” are involved in action.

The language is now dependent upon the child’s ability to analyze “when”. The child with a learning disability, who cannot discriminate between present, past, and future, is further inhibited with this lack of concept. Teaching the “do” words will be dependent upon concept of time.

The “where” words are as equally dependent upon the concept of spatial relations.

Everything must happen someplace! Note, the abstract concept that the child must be able to project to understand. The child’s weird perceptions of himself, the people around him, the things that are happening, and the places and times where they are happening cannot build perfect concepts of his world. How can we expect him to interpret letters on a page relating to the abstract world?

Let’s make it concrete for him. Let’s make his perceptions of the world concrete. Picture in your mind the totally impractical idea of the teacher who could bring a cow into her classroom. On the side is written these words:

  • cow – what
    walk – do
    today – when
    in the classroom – where

These questions are then written for the child:

  • What is in the classroom?
    What did the cow do?
    When did the cow come?
    Where did the cow go?

This is an example of a concrete experience for the child. Replicas of objects and, secondly, pictures can provide similar experiences for development of language. The importance of the material is secondary and not the primary concern for the teacher and the child.

The material used initially will be replicas of objects within the child’s experience – e.g. home, school, and community. After the initial ground work of language, printed word, and written words are established as labels for the child within his experience, then and only then will the child be able to use the transitional concrete models or pictures which will assure understanding in a vicarious or abstract setting.

The presenting of concrete materials is of utmost importance as well as the use of modality for learning. The symbol or visual code must be interpreted and reproduced first auditorally, secondly from the visual symbol, and finally reproduced to a visual code.

Simply stated the child learns to decode most readily auditorally initially.

Both types of disabilities need an auditory approach – the first type of disability to strengthen or integrate visual to auditory, and the second type of disability to integrate the visual to the auditory. The process is a reverse process of visual to auditory and opposite auditory to visual. In both cases the child is unable to code visually or to code auditorally; but, in both instances, the two processes of visual and auditory perception must be synthesized in order to complete the cycle of being able to understand spoken language, produce spoken language, read language, and write language.

In conclusion then, all problems for all these children are basically language problems based upon concept formation. It would seem that if we approached all learning disabilities from this approach, many confusions of different types of disabilitation would be clarified. Further emphasis should be placed upon the child who seemingly is without disability in visual areas; this child codes visually but encounters difficulty in math and/or social studies. It is this group of children who have fooled teachers for years. This is reflected in the stock answer, “but he reads well.” Many of us can “read” highly technical material with absolutely no understanding of the content. It is “parroting” visual code the same as the child that can parrot speech. Perception of the visual code or auditory code of language is only the first step to learning. The second is dependent upon the first. The second step must be comprehension, integration, association, and finally memory of the language so that the third step of reading with understanding, writing, and speaking will enable the child to communicate in his environment.

In contrast to a child without a learning problem, this child cannot learn incidentally but must be taught language concepts deliberately. They must be taught with concrete examples which are first taught auditorally and second visually. It must be concrete before the abstract symbols are conceptualized. Training through either the strong or weak auditory modality is the same for each type of disability.

The magic for learning is not contained on any printed page. Text-books have been written for the child who can advance in learning from 1 to page 200 and for the child who needs remediation on page 110. It is time we face up to the fact that remedial reading cannot be remedial if the child has no concept of the language upon which to base his reading. If remedial reading has worked, why do we still have the child with a reading problem? We, as teachers, have been spinning our wheels; the child has been practicing his mistakes!

This author challenges you to really observe a child with a reading disability in a classroom setting. He becomes withdrawn for his lack of communication and his face reflects the lack of communication in its mask-like countenance, or he learns to hide his concern with a perpetual grin that is more acceptable or more infuriating to those about him. In either case, he “covers up” for his lack of communication with people.

This author recalls experiencing a reversal problem while driving in the car. When approaching the street sign at an intersection, the sign read “spot” instead of “stop”. Past experiences and perfect concept would not allow letters to remain reversed, as the letters soon reverted to the proper message. Teaching would be simplified for the child if we could find the “cookbook” for dealing with such problems.

However, it remains that the teacher must bring the cow in the classroom, as it will be “for real.” The “real” is now for understanding and the basis for understanding the yesterday and the tomorrow. The direction problems, the sequence problems, the co-ordination problems, and the behavior he will learn to live with because, as with the blind or the deaf, they are his handicaps to live with the remainder of his life.

Teaching Guidelines – Linguistic Skills

TWELVE TEACHING GUIDLINES FOR BASIC LINGUISTIC SKILLS

1. If the child has a problem in Auditory Reception, follow these rules:

a. Use short, one concept phrases.
b. Ask short questions.
c. Give visual clue whenever possible, i.e., gestures, written material, etc.
d. Use visual aids whenever possible.

2. If the child has a problem in Visual Reception, follow these rules:

a. Allow child to auditorize whenever possible.
b. Use phonic method of reading.
c. Check comprehension carefully, giving auditory clues.
d. Permit child to use records, tape-recorder, or other method of auditorizing materials to be learned.

3. If the child has a problem with Comprehension of Auditory Information, follow these rules:

a. Ask one concept question, eliciting several short answers.
b. Accept concrete answers.
c. Supply more abstract cues for him.
d. Provide visual cues where possible.
e. Give ample time for response.
f. Give child a written question to think about before answering.

4. If the child has a problem with Comprehension of Visual Information, follow these rules:

a. Permit him to trace correct responses first.
b. Provide an auditory cue.

5. If the child has a problem in Verbal Expression, follow these rules:

a. Provide opportunity and time for oral responses.
b. “Show and Tell” may require much help from teacher.
c. Give visual cue to help child describe events.
d. Encourage oral reports, but with use of notes permitted.

6. If the child has a problem in Motor Expression, follow these rules:

a. Do not insist on demonstration before class.
b. Let child express ideas verbally.

7. If the child has a problem in Grammatic Closure, follow these rules:

a. Encourage imitation of teacher s phrase.
b. Provide records to memorize (short poem).
c. Provide visual cues whenever possible.
d. Check sound-blending abilities before pressing phonics.
e. Work on sight vocabulary.
f. Check visual closure abilities.

8. If the child has a problem in Auditory-Sequencing, follow these rules:

a. Permit child to use visual cues.
b. Have him write as he memorizes.
c. Use short, one-concept sentences.
d. Use visual aids.

9. If the child has a problem in Visual-Sequencing, follow these rules:

a. Permit child to use an auditory cue.
b. Permit him to trace when possible.
c. Use audio-visual aids whenever possible.
d. Flash cards to be traced.

10. If the child has a problem in Visual Closure, follow these rules:

a. Check and teach part-whole concepts.
b. Give him time to examine pictures.
c. Ask questions leading to more detail.
d. Ask questions going beyond seen details.

11. If the child has a problem in Auditory Closure, follow these rules:

a. Teach blending.
b. Give ample time.
c. Teach progressively rapid word recognition skills.
d. Keep meaningfulness high.

12. If the child has a problem in Blending, follow these rules:

a. Teach composition of words.
b. Teach letter sounds.
c. Teach blending.
d. Keep meaningfulness high.
e. Teach vocabulary skills.

Home Schooling

Welcome to the Home Schooling page. I hope you find your visits in the future here of real benefit to you and your family. We want to address topics here to help you in having the best home schooling program that is possible in preparing your children as they are being prepared to be the leaders of the next century. This should be an exciting time in your life. You have been entrusted by God to prepare the next generation of leadership that He will be using to be the “light” to a very dark world. We are the “salt” of the earth and we need to be that salt that affects everything in a positive way for the times that are ahead of us.

In this session, I would like us to take a look at a very important component of our home schooling program – reading. Reading is the foundation of how well our children do in all the other basic subjects.

I want us to begin to understand reading and what reading is and what reading is not.

I want us to realize what a total reading program is for our children and to evaluate whether we are providing a total reading program for them or not. I will be making curriculum recommendations so you can have a total reading program if you do not already have one.

There are seven major components to reading. All seven are essential for teaching reading whether to a pre-school child or to a high school child. There will be a break down somewhere in your home schooling program if all these seven components are not developed and taught. The seven components are: 1) Phonics. 2) Reading Comprehension. 3) Word Comprehension. 4) Vocabulary Development. 5) Listening Skills. 6) Oral Reading. 7) Silent Reading.

The first component is phonics. Phonics is the engine to reading. You cannot have a total reading program without having phonics as part of it. Phonics teaches us how to break down the English language and decode it so we can read. There are many programs that teach phonics. We will not list them all here but will mention a few of them.

Spalding: The only 100% phonetic approach to phonics — The Writing Road to Reading — Christ Centered Approach to Phonics — A-Beka Phonics — B.J. Phonics — Alpha Phonics — MCP Phonics — Victory Drill — Explode the Code — Starting Phonetically — Starting Visually

All these programs are excellent. The real job at this point is to find the best program for your child. To do this you need to discover how your child learns. Is he/she mainly a strong oral or visual learner. That is going to make a difference in which program will be the best match for your child.

Our children all are different. They develop differently. They develop at different levels and at different speeds. We must keep all this in mind when we begin to teach phonics to our children. One of the most important things to consider at this point is when is my child ready to learn how to read. One very important developmental step is his/her ability to discriminate different sounds. Especially different sounds that are associated with the various letters of the alphabet. If this ability has not developed then we need to spend time in a readiness activity called auditory discrimination. Readiness is very important in teaching any child to read. There are numerous activities that a child should be able to perform at the readiness level before we begin to teach him formally how to read. We will cover those areas in the next article.