Sister
School at the Richman'sSister
School at the Richman'sMy kids play a lot. And one of the things my younger two daughters like to play is Sister School. Molly is now 9 1/2 and Hannah is 5 1/2, and Sister School has already been going on for years now. I'd like to share here some of what they do and how it's helped both of them learn and grow. We're well into the high school years at home here, and Sister School is the little girls way of keeping us all young.
First I want you to know that this is their game, and not something I dream up for the girls to do because I think it will be good and educational for them. I wouldn't have the time to plan all the good things they do. This is something they do when I'm busy, something they plan for and think about and have all sorts of little routines for. I'm not part of it, except as an admiring audience and good listener who enjoys hearing about it all afterwards. And that is a pretty important role-- who knows if they'd have Sister School so much if I wasn't supportive and encouraging (or at least not discouraging) about it all. I even have Sister School listed as a valid "check-off" on their weekly charts of things they do (our log forms).
So what's Sister School like? Well, Molly often reads to Hannah (helping me get over my guilt at not reading to my fourth child like I read to my first child....), choosing old favorite books she loved when she was little. She doesn't just stick to storybooks either, but may read Ranger Rick nature magazine or a simple history book for little kids, or anything else from any subject area.
Molly often looks through our many, many "idea books" and chooses little art projects or simple science experiments they'll try together (you know, all those books that I buy and stockpile on the shelf-- the proper shelf, mind you-- and rarely use or open. I'm grateful that Molly opens them!). They've done simple origami together, gone on little nature hikes to pick the first spring flowers, made potato prints and simple puppets, done lots of vinegar and baking soda type experiments, had little piano lessons where Molly will teach Hannah how to play the Suzuki "Twinkle" variations, and on and on.
Lots of time Sister School makes a huge mess-- I'm upstairs, or off doing something with the boys, and come down later to see the aftermath of some project still strewn about the floor. But (if I'm not feeling too crabby!) I'm usually pretty indulgent about this sort of thing-- after all, they were busy and productive and happy together, allowing me to concentrate on whatever else I was doing, and creative to boot. I'll just remind them to cleanup later-- and they actually usually do now (or at least at some point before nightfall usually somebody cleans it all up....). Yesterday the Sister Schoolers made honey icing in all different colors (found the food coloring over with our home chemistry stuff) and are planning on making some sort of cookies tomorrow and they'll decorate the cookies with all the colors of icing. (Yes, the kitchen was a bit of a mess, but Molly cleaned up quickly when reminded!) And when Sister School gets into cooking they are very nice about sharing their endeavors with the rest of us. That is, if it's not just a tiny treat concocted specifically for a Sister School tea party, set out on their tiny picnic table with embroidered little tablecloths and doll dishes-- then the rest of us just get to watch.
And Molly might plan a little math time with Hannah. She found some great first grade level problem solving materials (another thing sitting on its proper shelf untouched by human hands for several years), and has gone through much of it with Hannah. Hannah loves these, as they are not too hard, but just challenging enough to be fun. Molly might use Cuisenaire Rods or little things to count out or add up. The other day she even made up a little Sister School Math Olympiad for Hannah. Here are the problems (the "suggested times" are given by Molly because that's how the real Math Olympiad does it.... and Sister School is always a stickler for proper details....):
2 minutes: How many squares can you find in this pattern? [hand-drawn picture of a square divided into four]
3 minutes: Amy had 5 cookies. She ate 1. She gave 1 to Anna! She fed 2 to her cat. How many does she have?
2 minutes: If you do 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 you get 8. How many 2's make 12?
1 minute: If A + A = 4, what is A?
2 minutes: What is next in the pattern? 10, 20, 30, 40, _____.
Hannah was just thrilled with this little "test", and got a perfect score (with a little whispered coaching from her "teacher"). Again, I was probably on the phone, or who knows what while this was going on. I just heard about it later. I was thrilled too.
My guess is this type of play is more common among little girls than little boys-- or at least my boys never did anything like this, and they never did anything like this with Molly when she was little. Molly is a born teacher somehow, and just loves to think up things to do, and lead someone little in it. She's very patient, very flexible (usually!), very encouraging to Hannah. She tries very hard to make whatever they are doing fun and interesting-- she knows that if she does something to frustrate Hannah that the "game" would soon be over and Hannah might run off crying. And Hannah is usually a very cooperative "student" in Sister School-- after all, that's part of the game too. Sometimes Molly comes in to whisper to me some teaching secret she has, like "I've told Hannah that if she finishes everything very well, she'll get a surprise at the end-- that keeps her from stopping part way through and keeps her happy."
Last week they put on a little play together-- a Sister School Acting Company version of The Tortoise and the Hare. They made costumes, props, draped a games table in the living room with a flowered blanket for a hill, and even printed up little programs. Molly typed up a little script, they practiced and practiced, and gave the little playlet to an admiring audience of Mom and siblings, and even some friends at Writing Club. (And do you ever feel as guilty as I sometimes do about NOT doing little impromptu creative dramatics with my kids? Sister School helps me out a lot in the guilt area-- they somehow often do together on their own just what I'd do with them if I had time....).
And Hannah has learned to read in Sister School-- with a bit of help from me on the side of course, too! Molly, a really truly bonafide early reader, was bound and determined that she would help Hannah be an early reader too. Didn't always work-- Hannah was certainly not as eager or motivated or ready as Molly was at a young age, and she has sometimes balked at Molly's "instruction." But generally Molly's reading lessons with Hannah have been a real help-- they've played little reading games, read through easy reading books together, played alphabet games, and more. Molly has made Hannah little pretend certificates and prizes for reading accomplishments, and always encourages her along.
Molly's method probably generally involves something as simple as unobtrusively whispering the hard words to Hannah, so that then Hannah can "read" them herself. She tries to remember what books she learned to read with, and doesn't try to just stick to a "phonics" reader series. (The language in all phonics readers is so stilted that it really is hard to read them-- they never have sentences you would really read in "real life". Molly instead sometimes picks out books that I'd think would be much too hard-- but they aren't as hard, because Hannah already knows and loves that story.) Molly remembers helping Hannah learn the alphabet when she was younger, both upper and lower case, through little matching games and alphabet puzzles, and very occasionally a little workbooks exercises (more often probably Molly would prefer making her own little workbook for Hannah-- that would just seem so much more suitable to a game. And remember, Sister School is primarily a game).
So you can see maybe now why I never know quite what to say when some very nice, earnest, and anxious new homeschooler with young children asks me on the phone just what curriculum I use with my little ones. Or do I plan my own? Do I do "unit studies"? What reading method do I use? How much do different curriculums cost, and where do you get them? And I look out into our project room, or the living room sofa, or the backyard, and see Hannah and Molly concentrating away at their Sister School game, and wonder how to put it. I feel blessed. I use the "Sister School Curriculum"-- price: love. Address: homegrown.
{Note: Molly and Hannah are artists. The drawing at the top of this page is by Molly (age 12). The drawing at the top of the "Who We Are" page is by Hannah (age 8).]
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