The Classical Scholar

How to Guarantee Independent Reading

diane@classicalscholar.com (Diane B. Lockman) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:00:06 +0000

After several sacrificial years of systematic home school reading and phonics instruction, you expect a specific outcome: independent reading. Yes, every busy home school mom (especially those with lots of children) will honestly admit that she dreams of the fateful day when her child can read a book “on his own.” Independent reading is [...]

What Homeschool Books Do I Recommend?

diane@classicalscholar.com (Diane B. Lockman) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:26:24 +0000

If you’ve explored The Classical Scholar Book Store, you know that I’ve been selecting homeschool books for babies (birth to 9 months), books for toddlers (9 months to 3 years), books for preschoolers (ages 4-5), books for beginning readers (ages 6-8), books for preteens (ages 9-12), and books for teens working on high school credit [...]

Sight Words + Phonics = Reading Success

diane@classicalscholar.com (Diane B. Lockman) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:27:44 +0000

Once I read a forum post by a homeschool mom who had tutored reading for 16 years. In this thread, she proudly stated that anyone who knew how to teach reading knows that sight words and phonics don’t go together. Well, I may not be a reading tutor, but I have taught my own kids [...]

Three Tangible Benefits of Reading Aloud

diane@classicalscholar.com (Diane B. Lockman) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:42:42 +0000

Did you know that if you spent 15 minutes a day reading aloud to your homeschool children, they would be better readers, better speakers, and better writers? In this online course for homeschool parents entitled “Reading Aloud: The Key to Language Development,” I’ll show you three pieces of evidence that clearly demonstrate the tangible benefits [...]

Sound It Out, and Solve the Reading Puzzle!

diane@classicalscholar.com (Diane B. Lockman) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:39:28 +0000

Why are we so concerned as homeschool parents about teaching our children how to read? Because individual words have meaning, we string selected words together to represent ideas. Classical education is primarily about teaching the fundamental skills of the trivium (reading, thinking, and speaking) so that your teen can grapple with timeless ideas. Therefore reading [...]