Listening- An Important Part of Home Schooling

 

Bear is a funny picture to post when dealing with listening and home schooling, huh?

 The reason-

It's his book that stirs me to remember how important it is to listen.

You see, one of the boys recently picked it up at the library and it's been REALLY easy for all of us to LISTEN to 'updates' every few paragraphs since we're big fans of Man VS. Wild.

We also have military interests so it was pretty cool to hear that Bear was in the SAS.

(Some say this is the hardest military training in the world.)

But- even if I'm not particularly interested in the subjects that they're reading, it's still VERY important to listen.

Listening to them retell what they've read helps ME to be sure that they're comprehending what they're reading.

I've read that it's also good to involve as many of the senses as possible and reading is fantastic, but when a child is telling what they've absorbed from words on a page, they are hearing , thinking, processing, and often seeing in their mind's eye an entire story unfolding. 

That process helps them remember and builds vocabulary as they learn to place new words into their own sentences.

This 'listening' came easy with some of my children, because they are natural-born chatter boxes.

Others were more quiet and I've had to coax it out of them. It became very important for me to pay attention and really listen to the 'quiet' children when they did start to talk about something they had read. I've actually cut everything on low or off, on the stove, just so I could walk away and listen. (However, I'm not perfect. Sometimes, regrettably, I do miss opportunities, but that is my reminder to be on guard next time.)

Book reports are good too. We've done our fair share of those and will do more in the future.

But I really love looking into my children's faces when they've been truly stirred by a book, a story, a character, or a new word- and I'm able to share in that experience with them.

It's just good!

James 1:19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear..