Deep Roots Learning

27/06/2024

Singing words of wisdom here.

Time for this reminder!

This is my most widely shared post. And rightly so, it’s an important one. These are “prewriting patterns”, with the average (but not prescribed) age at which children are developmentally ready to achieve these patterns listed below them in years and months. Being able to process visual information and produce a movement in response (e.g. copying these prewriting patterns or letter formations), is known as “visual motor integration”.

Note that an X is not typically achieved until 4 years 11 months, and a triangle at 5 years 3 months. If a child can’t form these basic shapes...then they probably won’t be able to form letters. ⠀⠀
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It is quite concerning then that there are 3 year 7 month olds starting formal schooling (in Western Australia at least), where they’re soon expected to write. Not only are their visual motor integration skills not developed enough, their hands are also physically under-developed. In addition, recognising letters, understanding phonics and beginning to read are all needed in order for a child to write meaningfully, skills which children starting kindy (and preprimary) typically don’t have. We also know that when a child learns something that doesn’t hold meaning, it‘s unlikely to stick.
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So if you have a 3-4 year old who spontaneously asks or attempts to write letters, that’s great; otherwise, there is no need to initiate or worry about this. Unfortunately there is a misconception, particularly with the way that the current curriculum and expectations stand, that earlier is better. Earlier is not always better.

Preschool children should be focusing on the foundation skills needed for writing, and most of this can be achieved through PLAY. Big body movements like running and jumping and climbing to strengthen the core, shoulders and hands; playing and tinkering with small parts and toys to develop fine motor skills and the coordination and strength needed to grasp a pencil; drawing and experimenting with shapes; and finally guidance from adults on how to form individual letters efficiently, BEFORE writing words and sentences.

Please note that this message does not translate to “don’t teach prewriting patterns” or “don’t get help if you’re concerned” - it is more to ease the minds of parents who may be concerned that their child is “behind”.

Source of shape and age ranges: Beery Buktenica Test of Visual Motor Integration, 6th Edition

06/06/2024

20/03/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/bJEuWVy9fpEmx6ko/?mibextid=WC7FNe

14/08/2023

💛💛💛

26/02/2023

I have thought this many times in my career and upon reflection of my own experience at school.

“You’re Making It Worse” (with Missing The Mark)

When a child is struggling at school and become reluctant to attend, their parents are given advice. A lot of it is about how to ignore their child’s distress. Other parents say ‘We just don’t give them the option’ and professionals say ‘You need firm boundaries’. Parents are told that their child’s misery is ‘behaviour’ and that it will be reinforced if they ‘give in’. Others are told that it’s anxiety, and that by allowing children to avoid school, the anxiety will only get worse.

This puts parents in an impossible situation. They are caught between their child’s obvious distress, often expressed through meltdowns, stomach aches and tears, and the advice which tells them to persist regardless. They’re told that if they are just consistent enough, things will get better. As one book on ‘Getting your Child Back to School’ says ‘Their complaints will taper off’.

This puts children in an impossible situation. Nothing that they say is really heard, because it is all framed as ‘behaviour’ or ‘anxiety’ – which means, we shouldn’t take what they think seriously. They should do their breathing exercises and challenge their negative thoughts. They should stop complaining because it will make no difference. If they continue to shout, they’ll lose their iPad time. Parents should ignore their cries, for if they give in (they are told), it will just make things worse.

If it’s not working, the answer is to do it more.

This is because the solution to difficulties with attending school is almost always said to be more school. Success is 100% attendance, no matter what the cost. No matter how unhappy the young person is, or how many times they wake up at night worried that their parents might go to prison. No matter how little they are learning when they are there. Getting through those school doors and staying there is the aim.

Parents and young people tell me that the impact of this focus on attendance lasts for years. They tell me that young people stop trusting adults to listen to them. They tell me that they develop trauma symptoms to anything to do with school, that they start to panic when they see the street where the school is and won’t go near a reading book. Parents tell me they feel under threat when they get an email and wake up at night with their heart beating fast, worried about the next morning drop off.

What if there really is a problem with school for some children? What if it’s not a place where all children can thrive? What if our system is becoming ever more rigid and restrictive, with less account taken of child development and how children learn? What if the way we are defining ‘learning’ is too narrow and it limits children’s lives?

We will never find out, whilst we frame children’s communication as ‘behaviour’ or ‘anxiety’ and completely miss the reality that behaviour and anxiety are reactions to the world around us. We’ll never find out, whilst parents are told that they just need to show more ‘tough love’.

We’ll never know any different, if we continue to tell parents and children than the only answer to the way that school makes them feel is more school. We must stop assuming that school is right, and children are wrong.

Change will only happen when we allow ourselves to consider whether for some children the school system might be the problem, and that more of the same cannot be the solution.

12/02/2023

I really enjoyed math as a kid from the perspective of patterns, geometry, art, nature and it’s occurrence in every action we make… but I really struggled with being pushed along into the next concept before I had an authentic opportunity to understand.

All too often this happens for many young people… and big people. A quick brush over a concept before truely getting the hang of it and a chance to embed it in to the mind, is not learning. Furthermore, it can act like poison, causing the person to have toxic feelings towards mathematical concepts.

What if the approach was not to ensure that we teach these concepts in a set time frame but that we sit with the concept for as long as we need? Taking the learner back to the level of material play, then to a pictorial level and lastly to an abstract level.

Then the learner can step forward confidently, inquisitively and willingly to the next concept.

YES

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18/01/2023

Such a wonderful gift for Steve Biddulph to share with all families to access. I have viewed these talks several times and each time I learn something new or I am reminded of something I knew but had overseen with my own journey as a parent. Highly recommend!!

The world renowned classic talk on Raising Boys, covering boys of all ages. Life changing, unforgettably moving, and funny too! The 3 stages of boyhood, Testosterone.…

08/12/2022

BAM!!! This is a good one.

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See 100+ more of the best homeschooling and education quotes here.
https://fearlesshomeschool.com/best-homeschooling-education-quotes/