Did you know...skipping is a pre-reading skill?

As I am home again and thinking about all I learned at the NCHE conference, I am able to take a deep breath, let it out....and wait. That's right. Wait. "For what?, you ask? So glad you did! Charlotte Mason, who was an educator in England in the late 1800's and early 1900's, believed education was 3-pronged: it was an atmosphere, a discipline and a [way of] life. Her philosophy included lots of play and "hours in the outdoors" for small children; time to explore their world and study Nature. She also supported the delay of academics until the child was 6 or 7 years of age. Now I understand why. When young children get the opportunity to play and explore outside they are paving their way to a preparedness for academics.

All children are born with over one billion neurons in their brains but all those neurons are not yet fully connected to each other by synapses that are strengthened through "active interest and mental effort by the child". Active interest + mental effort= play! This is the start of early education! Young children (preschoolers) need opportunities to develop gross motor skills, develop bilateral coordination, cross their midline, work on fine motor skills and ocular (eye) motor skills. There are seven eye muscles that are important to a child's eye development so they can focus closely to something (like words on a page). Their eyes won't fully develop until age 6-8 AND many pediatric eye specialists confirm that children's eyes are made primarily for distance vision. James has been asking for an Xbox 360 since Christmas. I have told him that Daddy and I are thinking about it as a birthday gift. After learning about eye development, he is getting a bicycle for his birthday!

So. Skipping is a pre-reading skill. And here are some others:

• riding a bike without training wheels (bilateral coordination, gross motor skills, fine motor skills)
• can do jumping jacks (bilateral coordination, gross motor skills, motor patterning)
• pretending (visualization)

At this point, James can not skip, do a jumping jack or ride a bike. Those skills need to be practiced and perfected before he has the ability to sit down and attend to doing academics. And you know what? I am totally fine with that. I think that's how we (parents, teachers, anyone who loves the child) instill a love of learning. We wait and we watch, looking for those teachable moments. And if we try it and it doesn't work, well, we wait some more. And when they are ready, they will be willing and it will be easier for them. The hard part? Dealing with Society's perceived expectations. I can predict it now: "James is _____ years old and he isn't reading yet? James is ____ years old and he isn't doing addition and subtraction yet? Well what ARE you doing?" "For now, we are....playing.", I will reply in the most sweetest voice I can muster (for the record, I don't think it's very sweet so who knows what it will actually sound like)

Sources for this post: www.simplycharlottemason.com and Susan Chrisman whom can be found at www.lifelonglearnersonline.com