Michaela Elizabeth: homeschool

I received If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages free for this review, but everything below is my own, honest thoughts and opinions.

I contacted Carole P. Roman, the author, a couple of months ago because I was interested in reviewing If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages; she not only sent it to me, but also sent me If You Were Me and Lived in... Viking Europe. Both are part of her "If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient History" series, which is a sequel to her "If You Were Me and Lived in... Countries Around the World" series.

This was a couple months ago. A couple months! I can't believe it has taken me so long to get this written! I have absolutely LOVED reading If You Were Me and Lived in... Viking Europe and If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages to my girls! The girls're a little bit young for the books, since I would estimate them geared for ages 7-10, but that just meant we took longer to finish the books. We read probably 2-3 pages at a time before one or both girls were ready to do something else.

Both books are written directly to the reader, in a "you are" form, and while educational, the narrative is easy to follow. Carole P. Roman did a good job at keeping me interested through the story, and I was surprised that I even learnt something while reading her books. I liked that she included a glossary and pronunciation guide at the end of each book, as well as defining the words in context; however, her pronunciation guides don't follow any standard guide I've used in the past, so I was a bit thrown off by some of the words. But it is geared towards elementary school students, so perhaps the phonetics are ones I've forgotten or are more intuitive for the target reading level.

If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages and If You Were Me and Lived in... Viking Europe are the most recent books in the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient History" series, and I'm excited for when my girls are a little bit older to get the whole series! I'll post a list of all the books in the series, as well as a few of the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Countries Around the World" series, after the sample images, below. Honestly, the biggest demerit I've run into about this is that Carole P. Roman published directly through Amazon, and her website doesn't organize anything other than linking directly to her Amazon author page, so it's been kind of difficult to find the rest of the series.

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Middle Ages cover artwork
[Image description: nearly square paperback book cover with series, author and illustrator names (Carole P. Roman and Mateya Arkova, respectively) in white, and installment name in red; pastel artwork shows a girl in a simple but traditional red dress, with yellow trim on the square collar and wide sleeves, from the Middle Ages. She is wearing a garland headband and her hair in a long braid that appears to be blowing in the wind. She is standing on a grassy hill and her arm is outstretched towards a brown bird and tree that is barely visible. In the distance there is a second hill with castle and a winding dirt path. All is backed by a nearly clear blue sky, with a single white cloud behind the castle and tree. There is a vertical red stripe just to the left of the title.]

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Middle Age sample page
[Image description: two-page book spread with the same traditionally dressed girl from the cover, her braid laying gracefully over her right shoulder and her hands clasped in front of her. She appears to be standing on a grassy field just a bit off of a traditional town. Between her and the town is a a bridge and a waterway. Near the bottom right corner is a single, small cottage, isolated by by trees. On the left-hand page, backed in white, are 4 paragraphs of text describing possible girls' and boys' names, family name and race. All text is addressed to "you" as the reader., for example, "You were called Norman because your family came from Normandy..." The lower outside corners display page numbers 12 and 13, and the book is held open by a ringed hand.]

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Viking Europe cover artwork
[Image description: nearly square paperback book cover with series, author and illustrator names (Carole P. Roman and Mateya Arkova, respectively) in white, and installment name in yellow. Pastel artwork shows a Viking or Scandinavian boy wearing dark blue, long-sleeves with a long, lighter blue tunic on top, that is cinched with a brown belt; all over green leggings and mid-calf brown boots. He is holding a bow, with a quiver and a few arrows slung over his shoulder. He is standing on a rocky outcropping, with waves of the sea crashing on the rocks. He is looking away, over the water towards a Viking sailboat and another landmass, which has a dock, a path and 3 cottages. The sky is cloudy, starting white near the land blended to a light teal. There is a vertical yellow stripe just to the left of the title.]

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Viking Europe sample page
[Image description: two-page book spread with the same traditionally dressed boy from the cover, with one hand on his hips/waist, and the other holding his belt. He is standing next to a traditionally dressed girl with a red dress, white sash around her waist, and yellow or gold chain accents around her neck. She has long, curly reddish-brown hair that comes to her waist, and she stands about as tall as the boy's elbow. They are standing on a grassy plain, with cream sheep, the teal ocean, and blue sky behind them. Off to the right side, there is a green hill, a small cottage with a green roof, a path and a fence in the background. On the left-hand page, backed in white, are 3 paragraphs of text describing possible girls' and boys' names, and family name designation. The lower outside corners display page numbers 10 and 11, and the book is held open by a ringed hand.]

As promised, the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient History" series (numbered by publication date, from oldest to most recent, since her volume numbers don't match the publication order):

The complete (to my knowledge) list of the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Countries of the World" series (also numbered by publication date, from oldest to most recent, since her volume numbers don't match the publication order):

Disclosure: I was compensated for this review, and this post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission on purchases. For more information, see my Disclosures page.

I am going to start right off the bat by making my credentials (or lack thereof) clear: I do not have a degree or any other advanced certificate in easily childhood education. I did take a couple of practicum-type credits as a dual-enrollment option in high school, as well as a few early childhood prerequisite courses. But, my Bachelors degree is mostly unrelated, and not in Education. I also worked in a state licensed and nationally accredited early childhood facility for 3 or 4 years, and attended and participated in the trainings that were required during that time.

However, in that time, I learned a lot about the importance of having a teaching philosophy, and, as I contemplate the option of homeschooling our girls, I just wanted to organize my thoughts, and perhaps share them for others to see.

I believe that play and hands-on experiences are the best forms of early childhood (and, in most cases, lifelong) education.

While experimenting with a few different systems over the past year with Big Sister, I have found that I can't teach "forced" lessons. One curriculum I tried was entirely focused on the letters. There was no overarching theme; and I felt like all were were doing was making a long, drawn-out letter book that tried to also incorporate numbers and shapes. Big Sister didn't enjoy it after the first few lessons, and I refused to make learning a fight.

Recently, I've tried casually assessing what skills and knowledge Big Sister has developed in the past year, and I am surprised to learn that she already knows a lot more that I thought, just by having conversations, reading, and interfacing with her directed play.

I believe that learning should be incorporated into every aspect of life, and, just as important, themes and lessons should be child-driven.

One example just occurred the other day: I was cleaning out some of my supplies, and Big Sister found a coloring page with a picture of a pelican, to which she asked, "what's that?" Instead of just answering her with, "a pelican," we jumped on the Internet, found fun facts and pictures of pelicans, watched a video of how pelicans really eat, found a pelican to color/cut/glue, counted pelicans in the video and pictures, and compared which pictures had more/fewer pelicans. After finishing at the computer, we colored the pelican coloring page, and Big Sister tried cutting out the pelican pieces (for the record, this was her first real experience with cutting, so I roughly cut apart each piece, and she "trimmed" them.) She then glued the pieces together, and proudly put her pelican on the fridge. We then pulled out our foam letters to make the word "pelican." As the girls would pull apart and hand me letters, I'd name them, and we'd build other words.

It was a very fun, mostly casual, but there were a lot of learning objectives and skills wrapped up in that hour or so.

Another example of child-driven learning occurred yesterday as Big Sister was playing with a computer keyboard. We talked about how the keyboard talked to the computer and tells the it what to do. I then started tracing letters with my finger on our couch, and Big Sister looked for the matching letter on the keyboard.

Both relatively simple to implement, but by being involved with her interests and play, they became much more meaningful.

I believe that intellectual skills supercede academic skills.

I recently read this article that gave me terms for something I've always thought: skills related to the current standards of reading, writing , and 'rithmetic (academic skills) are less important than the ability to question, explore, and reason (intellectual skills.) One thing the article pointed out, that I didn't already connect, is that unless a child has developed the background, foundational intellectual skills, attempts to force academic skill will deter any real learning, and may decrease/slow the child's ability to learn the rote memorization.

My biggest role as a parent, teacher and/or mentor is to facilitate a life-long love of learning, as well as a desire to always improve.

I love learning new things. If I'm not pursuing my curiosity and/or developing myself one way or another, I get bored and frustrated, and I think that's evidence of successful parents, teachers and mentors who have helped me realize that there is so much that I DON'T know, but I can get closer and learn whatever I'm interested in.

If I can tool my girls with the ability to ask questions, and then know how to find the answers, they will be well on their way to passionate, meaningful learning.

Michaela Elizabeth

Pages

Saturday, October 29, 2016

"If You Were Me and Lived..."

Thursday, September 1, 2016

My Early Childhood Teaching Philosophy