various thoughts by Wendi Capehart
The following is from CM Books, volume 1, #1- this was an online ezine that the Advisory and others used to publish. It's now defunct.
Books: Does Research Support
various thoughts by Wendi Capehart
The following is from CM Books, volume 1, #1- this was an online ezine that the Advisory and others used to publish. It's now defunct.
Books: Does Research Support Quality Over Quantity?
Compiled by Leslie Laurio, with permission, from posts by Wendi Capehart and Karen Glass
... As for real research on some of the other issues, particularly being careful not to let children overload on twaddle, slower reading (keeping in mind as you consider this idea that CM reading is more complex than the average child's fare) and so on, Dr. Jane Healy's books Your Child's Developing Mind and Endangered Minds are interesting reading. Here's a quote from Endangered Minds (thanks to Sandy Fairchild for pointing it out):
"The Importance of Words without Pictures" Any activity that helps children use their brains to separate from the "here and now," to get away from pictures and use words to manipulate ideas in their own minds, also helps them with the development of abstract thinking... Even more important, however, is understanding words alone as the main source of meaning. Because the words do not come with pictures attached, the child must come to grips with "the symbolic potential of language... Experiences with pictures attached, even when they involve looking at picture books and learning new words, are not as valuable, says Wells, because the child needs to learn "sooner, rather than later" to go beyond just naming things that can be seen. He concludes: 'For this, the experience of stories is probably the ideal preparation... Gradually, they will lead them to reflect on their experience, and in so doing, to discover the power that language has, through its symbolic potential, to create and explore alternative possible worlds with their own inner coherence and logic. Stories may thus lead to the imaginative, hypothetical stance that is required in a wide range of intellectual activities and for problem-solving of all kinds.'" (p. 91-92)
This, previously posted to the CMSeries list, might be interesting as well. This is some of the latest brain research on the importance of stories to the human intellect. Dr. Renee Fuller has made startling progress in teaching mentally retarded children and adults to read, including those with IQs in the 30's! She is successful because of her understanding of the importance of stories to the human mind. I read about this woman and her work about twelve years ago, when we first started homeschooling. I wanted to pass on some of her ideas here, but it had been so lon