Public School and Literacy

Public school was quite an adventure for us - and a surprise. I went to public school as a child, but there was so much I didn't remember - in fact I barely remembered anything from public school. What surprised me the most about our year in public school was the push for literacy. Now I know, literacy is important, but for Emily (5th grade) and Sarah (3rd grade) literacy and book projects seemed to be everything they did. They came home with projects like: read a book of your choice and design a new cover for it, read a book of your choice and make a mask representing the main character, etc. etc. For kids who already read well above their grade level it seems unnecessary, but there's nothing you can do about it because everyone's getting the same education.

Claire's experience with literacy was quite different. I had assumed that Kindergarten in public school would be all about phonics and reading. One of my friends told me, upon enrolling Claire in school, that they don't teach kindergarteners to read, that instead kindergarten is about following directions and staying in line. Of course I thought she must not know what she's talking about - I mean, the kids are there for 6 hours a day - how could they not be learning to read in all that time? The first few months, Claire brought home lists of sight words and little reader books. But...Claire wasn't learning to read. I kept thinking I must be missing part of the "program." So in February, I went to see her teacher to ask her: what about phonics? Why does Claire have a reader with the word "shouted" in it if no one has taught her the "sh" sound or the "ou" sound? Her teacher responded by saying that in Kindergarten they focus on sight words and fluency (which for Claire meant read the sight words, look at the picture, and guess everything else), and they start phonics in 1st grade. I was floored. Really, no phonics or reading in kindergarten. That's when I decided I had to do it myself, so everyday when Claire came home from school we'd have reading lessons together. Within a few weeks, words started making sense to Claire, she started decoding.

Literacy is a big reason I decided to homeschool again. I want to unlock the world of reading early for my kids, before they lose interest or don't have time to read all the books on the shelf. For Claire, why should I send her to school if I have to teach phonics myself at home anyway? And for Emily and Sarah, why should they have to do "literacy projects" when they are beyond advanced in literacy, and don't need encouragement to read. (We take away books for a punishment.) The time could be spent doing things they are not so proficient at, like chemistry or critical thinking.