“A day that you tarry is a day that you lose.” (Jeremiah Johnson, film -1972).
Or, for a child, no time passes faster than a day of summer vacation and it is almost impossible to think about school and learning on a day of vacation. However, when we let a day pass without attending to what a child can learn, we lose that day just as assuredly as Jeremiah lost the beaver pelts that could have been traded if he did not attend to his traps every day. Now work, no pay. No new words, no new learning.
Words are the currency of education. When a child does not know a word that is heard or a phrase that is read, that child is out of business as a learner. The words might as well be Martian. It is easy to observe. Just watch a child’s face when she is reading and notice the small frown that appears between the eyes of the tightening at the corners of the mouth when an unknown word is encountered. Children are exposed to new words every day. They hear new words on television and in music. They see new words on a TV screen and in print in a book or magazine or comic. When they know the words they are reading or hearing, their learning is advanced. However, each word that is unknown stalls the child’s understanding and too many unknown words push the child backwards in the economy of learning.
The size of a child’s vocabulary is argumentative. The number of words that a child should comprehend depends upon the source of the research. The common truth in all vocabulary studies indicates one universal, however – vocabulary and background knowledge are required for continued learning, and, a stronger vocabulary and a richer background knowledge have immediate and real benefits for advanced learning.
Increasing a child’s vocabulary and background knowledge increases their readiness for new learning. Jeremiah just found the greatest beaver pond in the Rockies! (This does not make any sense if you are not aware of the character played by Robert Redford in a cult escape movie from forty years ago – background knowledge enriches our metaphors.)
Summer vacation is a perfect time for parents to increase the currency of their child’s education. The absence of grade level instruction in June, July and August means that every word a child learns that is relevant to the next grade level of instruction is a bonus. Each word and every family of words gives the child an advantage in their new learning in September.
What to do:
Add 1,000 words to your child’s vocabulary this summer. One thousand sounds like a large number but it is not. It is approximately ten words each summer day. It is two word families each week counting all of the ways in which a word is used, making a noun into a verb or an adjective or an adverb. It is 250 words with two synonyms and two antonyms for each word. Adding 1,000 words can mean the difference between a child being ready for new learning on the first day or playing catch up for months.
Talk with your children. Talk to them about meaningful things. Talk about what you did at work each day and let them hear the vocabulary that is important to you and the ways in which you provide for them. Use the words that are unique to what you do. Children really do want to know “what my mom or dad does at work.” Talk about real, local things like road improvements and the price of groceries and gas and that your lawn needs more rain or suffers from too much rain. Tell them they “whys and what fors” of repairing potholes and resurfacing beaten up streets and how the price of a gallon of gas is increased by “middle men.” Talk about the weather, they experience it every day so give them the words to understand what weather is. Children want and need to hear their adult’s thoughts and learn the words that adults use.
- Conversations: What I did today at work. What problems I had at work today and how I dealt with each problem. What I saw on my way to work and from work to home and what do I think about what I saw. What I bought today and what I think about my purchases. What the things we need cost and why things cost what they do. Explain the differences between gasoline, engine oil, diesel fuel and kerosene. Explain what might happen if you mistakenly substitute one of these for another.
- Conversations: Point at and name birds and small animals around the home. Use exact words to describe a bird’s beak and plumage and nesting and male and female appearances. Point at and talk about squirrels and chipmunks and ground squirrels and voles. Explain the differences between pets and varmints.
Use but don’t abuse electronic devices. If allowed their choice, my grandchildren will grab my I-pads and burrow into their electronic games for hours. They will play games on the Wii or PlayStation without needing adult supervision. Electronic devices have become the preferred pacifiers that keep children out of physical trouble and out of their adult’s way for hours on end. Electronic devices are for today’s children what television was for children in the 70s and 80s – free babysitting and child attention diverters.
- E-learning: I-pads also are wonderful learning aids. Along with games, load children’s books and magazines on your I-pad. Also, load word and math skill games. Balance a child’s time with an e-device between games and learning. Use the incentive of I-pad time to have a child read a story to you and your opportunity to help the child sound out and define new words.
- E-learning: Use the media. Listen, hear and read things that are made more important because they are E. Take a child’s enthusiasm and run with it.
Make a list of all the new words learned over a summer’s time. Children like to quantify things in their life. Numbering and listing things helps them to make sense of what they encounter. Just listen to a child’s talk when she is by herself and notice how often she counts or groups and regroups the things around her. Make and keep a list of words and meanings of words. Writing them down reinforces a child’s mental retention of the words and makes it more likely that they child will use and reuse the word or words that have similar meaning
- Whose list: The child should create the list writing new words on it each day. This is not your list.
- Whose list: Create your own list of new words you learn. Demonstrate that everyone, not just school-age children, learns new words. Post your list next to your child’s list.
A day that an adult tarries in his or her learning, is a day of new learning that an adult loses.