Intermittent thundershowers, hail, and rain cancelled our normal Saturday baseball schedule, but in between the precipitation was sunshine, so I herded the family outdoors to do some much needed weeding in the soft soil during the drier intervals. At the end of the day I went to hose the mud off of myself and encountered this fellow at the faucet.
Because he didn't immediately startle and fly away and, in fact, just sat there stone still, I first assumed he was injured. A thorough visual inspection turned up nothing wrong, however, and eventually I realized that this was a fledgling robin who was still building muscle and learning to fly. He couldn't swoop away into the trees or skies of safety, not because of injury but because of inability, or in other words, immaturity.
What first threw me off was his size. He was a full-grown bird! A little research* taught me that it takes just two weeks for baby robins to go from being super tiny, featherless things with bulging eyes and translucent skin to being the same size as their parents. They jump out of the nest at that point, unable to fly and still needing their parents to help feed them. It will take a while longer, with the fledglings hopping, running, flapping, and hiding, before they are self-sufficient. I had expected a fledgling to be smaller, so his size influenced my expectations.
I've been thinking about this in terms of people, and more specifically, children. How often do we allow appearances to influence expectations, and how often do we expect something from our children that they are simply incapable of at the point in time of our expectation?
As I reflected on my fledgling encounter and expectations of children, the first thing that came to mind was reading and the academic expectations public schools, legislators, and thus society places on children. It is both a blessing and a curse that early on in my homeschool journey I read Raymond and Dorothy Moore's Better Late Than Early. It changed my educational paradigm and shaped my homeschooling approach in very positive ways, as well as gave me greater insight into many things about children, family, and God. Those were the blessings. The curse is that because of this, it doesn't take much to frustrate me when I hear moms and reading aids and public educators in the halls of church, or grocery stores, or at the library discussing children who struggle to read; these well-intentioned but ill-informed people often have unrealistic expectations of fledglings who do not yet have the maturity to meet those expectations.
In short, the Moore's suggest that there are numerous factors, developments that must take place, before a child is ready to read. Reading isn't simply a matter of more instruction, more attention, or more practice. And though nowadays people push for earlier and earlier formal education, for reading in Kindergarten, for more time for children at desks, etc., this is all moving in a direction in direct opposition to what children need and are ready for.
Allow me to quote just a bit from the book. "Early education must take into account the development of the child's brain, vision, hearing, perception, emotions sociability, family and school relationships and physical growth. For each of these factors, there appears to be a level of maturity at which most children can, without serious risk, leave normal homes and begin typical school tasks. When we bring these factors together, we have an index to total maturity that we call the child's integrated maturity level (IML)....On the basis of a comprehensive review of many research findings..., we believe that the IML is seldom, if ever, achieved earlier than ages 8-10.
"When we found that neurophysiologists and learning psychologists arrived independently at the same ages--about 8-10--for the beginning of school tasks, we began systematically to review studies of the brain and of perception. Our attention was also directed to related research areas, such as vision and hearing. In fact, we found that a number of areas had been largely ignored by many educational planners...."
As you can see, there is a list of things needing to mature in children, few of which are visible to the eye. Our society tends to mete expectations based on a child's size, or at least his age, instead of a child's maturity or readiness.
Regarding vision alone, let's return to the book.
"One fact well accepted by neurophysiologists and most eye specialists is that the eye in an integral part of the brain."
"Some researchers and scholars insists that there is strong evidence that a child's eyes are not physiologically ready for continual and consistent reading until he is at least 8 or even older."
"As long ago as the turn of the century, famed American philosopher John Dewey quoted eye specialists in noting that children's eyes are made primarily for distant vision or for looking at large objects. To require the child to concentrate on near work or upon small objects for any length of time, he reasoned, would create undue nervous strain. He estimated that children should not be required to make these reined and cramped adjustments until about age 8...."
Regarding attachments, family life, and where young children truly belong: "Parents who love their children, who understand their developmental needs, will note that neither research nor common sense dictates sending children away from home in their early years. University of Michigan child psychiatrist Humberto Nagera declares that '...no other animal species will subject their infants to experiences they are not endowed to cope with except the human animal.' We would not force a flower to bloom before it is ready unless we were prepared to ask for less fragrance or to watch it wither away before its time....This, of course, does not mean that parents do not teach a child anything....Rather, it means that the young child does not require academic teaching--the typical skills of reading and arithmetic...."
As I reflected on my fledgling encounter and expectations of children, the first thing that came to mind was reading and the academic expectations public schools, legislators, and thus society places on children. It is both a blessing and a curse that early on in my homeschool journey I read Raymond and Dorothy Moore's Better Late Than Early. It changed my educational paradigm and shaped my homeschooling approach in very positive ways, as well as gave me greater insight into many things about children, family, and God. Those were the blessings. The curse is that because of this, it doesn't take much to frustrate me when I hear moms and reading aids and public educators in the halls of church, or grocery stores, or at the library discussing children who struggle to read; these well-intentioned but ill-informed people often have unrealistic expectations of fledglings who do not yet have the maturity to meet those expectations.
In short, the Moore's suggest that there are numerous factors, developments that must take place, before a child is ready to read. Reading isn't simply a matter of more instruction, more attention, or more practice. And though nowadays people push for earlier and earlier formal education, for reading in Kindergarten, for more time for children at desks, etc., this is all moving in a direction in direct opposition to what children need and are ready for.
Allow me to quote just a bit from the book. "Early education must take into account the development of the child's brain, vision, hearing, perception, emotions sociability, family and school relationships and physical growth. For each of these factors, there appears to be a level of maturity at which most children can, without serious risk, leave normal homes and begin typical school tasks. When we bring these factors together, we have an index to total maturity that we call the child's integrated maturity level (IML)....On the basis of a comprehensive review of many research findings..., we believe that the IML is seldom, if ever, achieved earlier than ages 8-10.
"When we found that neurophysiologists and learning psychologists arrived independently at the same ages--about 8-10--for the beginning of school tasks, we began systematically to review studies of the brain and of perception. Our attention was also directed to related research areas, such as vision and hearing. In fact, we found that a number of areas had been largely ignored by many educational planners...."
As you can see, there is a list of things needing to mature in children, few of which are visible to the eye. Our society tends to mete expectations based on a child's size, or at least his age, instead of a child's maturity or readiness.
Regarding vision alone, let's return to the book.
"One fact well accepted by neurophysiologists and most eye specialists is that the eye in an integral part of the brain."
"Some researchers and scholars insists that there is strong evidence that a child's eyes are not physiologically ready for continual and consistent reading until he is at least 8 or even older."
"As long ago as the turn of the century, famed American philosopher John Dewey quoted eye specialists in noting that children's eyes are made primarily for distant vision or for looking at large objects. To require the child to concentrate on near work or upon small objects for any length of time, he reasoned, would create undue nervous strain. He estimated that children should not be required to make these reined and cramped adjustments until about age 8...."
Regarding attachments, family life, and where young children truly belong: "Parents who love their children, who understand their developmental needs, will note that neither research nor common sense dictates sending children away from home in their early years. University of Michigan child psychiatrist Humberto Nagera declares that '...no other animal species will subject their infants to experiences they are not endowed to cope with except the human animal.' We would not force a flower to bloom before it is ready unless we were prepared to ask for less fragrance or to watch it wither away before its time....This, of course, does not mean that parents do not teach a child anything....Rather, it means that the young child does not require academic teaching--the typical skills of reading and arithmetic...."
None of this is to say that no 4- or 5-year-old should ever read. It means that each fledgling child is an individual needing to mature and develop rather than all children being subjected to an expectation based on a calendar. As a mother who taught each of her 5 children to read, I can attest that each child's story is very different. None of them learned to read at the same age as their siblings. I watched over them and tested their readiness and we progressed when they were developmentally ready. Incidentally, my latest reader is my most avid reader.
Now, once again, I have a fledgling about to leave the nest. By all appearances, he is a man. Legally, he is an adult. He has matured a great deal and there is much he can do on his own. It's time to jump. This will be a hopping, flapping, running, maybe even hiding kind of summer. And, like a fledgling robin, he'll still need some assistance with food. :)
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*My curiosity about robins led me to a most fantastic website. Everything you want to know about the American Robin is here, and I especially like the slideshow pages for kids. We'll definitely be using this resource for a project. And it doesn't stop there. Annenberg Learner is chock full of other resources for every subject, and if you want to continue with the great nature pages, Journey North does the same thing for monarchs, hummingbirds, and more that it did for robins.
Now, once again, I have a fledgling about to leave the nest. By all appearances, he is a man. Legally, he is an adult. He has matured a great deal and there is much he can do on his own. It's time to jump. This will be a hopping, flapping, running, maybe even hiding kind of summer. And, like a fledgling robin, he'll still need some assistance with food. :)
*********************************************************************************
*My curiosity about robins led me to a most fantastic website. Everything you want to know about the American Robin is here, and I especially like the slideshow pages for kids. We'll definitely be using this resource for a project. And it doesn't stop there. Annenberg Learner is chock full of other resources for every subject, and if you want to continue with the great nature pages, Journey North does the same thing for monarchs, hummingbirds, and more that it did for robins.
