I have been trying for a year now to find the right logic curriculum for my kids now that they are in the “logic stage” of their education. I tried samples of recommended curricula and realized that none of it seemed to work for them.
When my kids were toddlers, and come to think of it even as babies, I always spoke to them with a full complement of adult vocabulary. I never understood the baby-speak that some people use with their kids. Plus, truth be told, I am a chatty person. Just ask my beleaguered Hub. I can go on for hours. And with my kids I have. Hours, and hours, and days, and weeks, and months, and years. And as a result their vocabulary and comprehension has always been on the top end of the scale. But it never occurred to me that even though I spoke to my kids as if they had the mental capacity of an adult, I could assume they had the mental capacity to understand college texts.
A few months ago I randomly happened on a logic book written by David Kelley called “The Art Of Reasoning.” I checked it out of the library and tried reading it to my kids. It turns out they love it, even though it really is on the dry end of the scale.
The magic to making this happen is for me to read to my kids. If I read to them, they learn anything and everything without trouble. So now I read. And I read. And I read.
We start each morning with me reading to them for an hour or two (a different core subject each day). Then in the evening I read literature to each of them in their rooms, about an hour apiece. I can read to each kid beyond their vocabulary comprehension level and they pick up meaning and understand more complex writing styles. And all that time spent listening helps to further their imaginations.
One added side benefit of all the reading aloud is that I have been developing noticeably better breath control, which pays off in the swimming pool with my daughter and attempting to jog with my son. Who knew that furthering your child’s education could directly effect your own physical stamina. No one ever cites that as a benefit of homeschooling!
The most surprising outcome of this experiment came with the realization that a couple of children could be excited by something as adult as a treatise on logic and reasoning. The moral of the story is that it does not hurt to try your child out on material you think they couldn’t possibly be ready for. The result may just surprise you.
2 Responses
I love the bit about improving breath control on account of reading aloud, and how that pays off in the swimming pool or the pavement (jogging). What fun to have that as an unexpected benefit of your logic curriculum!
Thank you! It really surprised me.