BAD EDUCATIONAL EXAMPLES AND MY UNSCHOOLING FREEDOM
It's the 2nd year now, when my son is unschooled.
We've our own speed and plan what to do, and it's absolutely free, so I can change it any moment.
Do I know general school program? No.
I don't support it, it's one of the reasons why we are not there, so for now I have a chance to be free from it.
This example I've faced today during our educational hour has shown me that I really don't need the school program.
One of the most discussable topics in the first years of studying at schools is a topic of sounds, letters and transribtion.
In English it does help to read the world in a proper way.
In Russian - it does help to read, but not to write and not to know its right spelling. And it's a great difference.
In Russian words are pronounced not like they are written according to the spelling rules! We've numerous rules of writing that drive crazy all foreigners who study Russian. Kids can have difficulties with them especially if the educational program doesn't give the logical and clear system of rules, but just a mixture of everything that exists in the language.
Kids of 7-9 years make the first steps in their own language rules and writing. They remember the first rules, and they do need the logical structure of them.
And here - hi, transribtion! That shows the opposite situation - the word has to be written according to absolutely different rules!
And letters should be changed by other ones!
I do remember these awful lessons suring my school years. I didn't get why I had to know it at my 8 years?! The topic that just makes mix of sounds and rules in my head!
Now when I am a grown up and graduated from the University of linguistics I do understand what these tules mean, but kids of 8 years old don't need them at all!
Many parents and teachers of Russian are against these topic because it's too much for first school years of studying. It isn't logical and it isn't necessary.
When I open my Soviet Russian textbooks I don't see these topics there, at least at this age. And the Soviet education was really worth of attention....
So I let my son pass by these topics for now. I explained him the main types of sounds but that's it. No transcribtion for now. No mix in his head. No modern system plan.
What's the result?
His vocabulary is great for his age, and he writes almost all words in a proper way. That's the main.
Transcribtion will be invited to his head much later, if he needs it.
This school program is weird. Not how I learned to read at all, and I'm familiar with five different writing systems (Roman, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, and Katakana). Honestly, this is giving me flashbacks to a horrible curriculum that used to be all the rage in America: Hooked on Phonics. It was such a disaster that it became the butt of a rather famous joke:
HUKT ON FONIX WURKT FOR ME
"Hooked on Phonics worked for me." No it didn't, it didn't work for anyone. Oh, one other thing: when a particular consonant goes from voiced to voiceless in English, the letter actually changes if it isn't at the end of a word. Thus, the noun form of the verb "transcribe" is "transcription." On that same token, if a word ends in a voiced consonant, that consonant usually remains voiced in its pronunciation (unlike in Russian), though there are plenty of exceptions. English has many more exceptions to the rules than rules to begin with (e.g. why is the suffix "-tion" pronounced "шан"?!), it's maddening.
When I was homeschooling my sons, I recall the joke as 'Hookt ahn fonix rilly werkt fer mee.' You have a vastly better education than do I, and are the right person to provide the information to Talia at the end of your comment regarding transcription. I'm glad you did.
Thanks!
a great example;))
English has its own pecularities and maddening, you're right:))
I remember how huge eyes of Russians who only start to study English are when they see 1 English word and 100500 variants of its translation in vocabulary:))
And, of course, tenses....these 100500 tenses (most of which aren't used at all but are studied by students). All kids and adults are afraid of them;))
and irregular verbs!;))
I'm greatly encouraged to see good people educating their kids today as I did decades ago. We don't have to be perfect to be vastly better, and preferable to our kids than indoctrination camps schools have become - particularly in the West today.
Your love and responsibility for your kids makes my heart grow.
Thanks!
thank you so much!
Russian certainly seems like a challenging language to learn! Not impossible since there are lots of people and smart people who learn and do well with it but that’s tricky!
I’m glad that you’re doing your own thing with your son. It’s important to do that when you can! Even if we can’t it’s crucial to supplement with learning in the home with them so that we can foster their development and improvement!
thank you!
Russian isn't easy for sure;)) But English irregular verbs and dozens of tenses? what can you say about it?:)))