RobinP – Thank You!

I’m glad you were encouraged.  No…it did not come naturally to him!  That’s why it was so hilariously funny to us.  🙂  He was always the math/science guy with all the stereotypes.  Couldn’t spell his way out of a paper bag.  He struggled with getting thoughts down on paper for a very long time.  Honestly we didn’t do much in the way of formal writing instruction.  No specific curricula.  It was very organic…discuss things like punctuation, sentence structure, etc. as it came up in his writing.  “This should be capitalized because…”  or “This is called a run-on sentence because…and it should be written like this.”  Sometimes if he had trouble organizing his thoughts for a narration, I would have him simply make a list of the order of events.  That was easier for him to then flesh them out.  I mentioned in the earlier post about how we wrote a 5-paragraph essay.  He had almost no formal grammar as in using a curriculum.  I remember looking at a couple of writing curricula early in high school and thinking they seemed very forced and dreadfully contrived.  I knew we would both hate it.

He has always spoken very well.  Loves word plays, puns, etc.  He really has a way with words.  And I attribute it to the books we’ve always read.  I think by the time he got to college, he had matured to the point that these things began to come together.  His spelling is flawless now.  The way he expresses himself is really beautiful.  Not flowery.  He is an engineer after all.  😉  But really lovely language.  He still reads at every opportunity.

I know Charlotte said in Vol. 1, I believe, something like “writing lessons should be like snakes in Scotland…there are none.”  I know she was referring to the younger years and her older student did have some formal instruction if I’m not mistaken.  Her students probably had more than my son did!  I’m not encouraging anyone to necessarily do what we did.  Each parent and child is different.  But I do believe the books are key.  If the language going into their hearts and minds is beautiful, it stands to reason that the language that comes out of them will be beautiful.  If the grammar they hear and read is exact, the grammar that comes out of them will be exact, whether or not he knows the definition of the grammar concept.

Will my two younger boys have the same experience?  I have no idea.  I suspect my youngest (adopted from China at age 6) will need more help.  (Although he is sitting beside me right now reading to me from his current favorite book.)  🙂  That’s probably why my own sentence structure is pathetic right now!  My brain is split between high school composition and Edward Eager!  🙂

One thing I would encourage is to NOT panic if it’s not coming together.  I really think time and maturity are necessary.  Sure you have those children (mostly girls??) who can spout off pages and pages of descriptive writing but if it doesn’t happen until much later, I really think that’s OK.  Not to say you shouldn’t teach them or guide their writing but sometimes I think we expect some things way too early for many children.

I don’t know if that was helpful at all but it pretty much sums up our experience.  If you have other questions, I’ll try to remember more specifically.

Oh wow!  I know TN is a very long state and I’m in the upper NE corner but if you ever come to the Smokys give me a holler.  I’m about an hour away.

You inspired me.  :). I just rattled this off.

http://childrenslegacylibrary.blogspot.com/2016/03/taking-up-residence.html

I don’t know if that answers your question but yes we narrated and yes we discussed.  But I’m just an informal person.  We just talk.  I never worried if I hadn’t read the book.  If I didn’t get enough of the plot and ideas from his discussion, I would say “That sounds interesting.  Tell me more.”  Then we would have a conversation.  Again, very organic.

Yes that’s it exactly.  When books are such a central part of life, it’s bound to spill over and “infect” even those who are not readers.  🙂

And please don’t get the idea that we’ve done anything wonderful.  Michelle from this forum, dear friend and library patron, told me our story was on FB (I’m not so I wouldn’t know) and I thought, how embarrassing!  We’ve done nothing!  Honestly much of it was that I was barely hanging on.  John was an only child until he was 13.  Then all within about a year, we had another baby at age 40, bought our pharmacy, my mom had a stroke and required much care from me, we moved.  Some of what we did was because it was all I could do.  If anything it’s about God’s faithfulness.  (I just don’t want to portray that it’s OK to be negligent of there is truly a need to step in and be more proactive.)  But Charlotte was right…education is indeed a discipline…and it is indeed an atmosphere and a LIFE.