Any homeschoolers in PA?

[OCLittleFlower]

I don't know much about early childhood and elementary education, but doesn't the ability to sight read sort of come naturally after kids have learned the principles of phonics and have learned a bit about how language works?

Common Core is so, so, stupid; it will create a nation of automatons, making us more moronic and more complacent than we already are.

that's what I thought.  People naturally learn sight words by having someone read aloud to them.  When I'm home, I usually spend many hours reading to him so I'm sure he'll pick it up without being taught.  The best "homework" you can do with your kids is reading to them

Also, when I was really little (like 2 or 3) I watched TV a LOT.  I was on dialysis and there was never any children's shows on... It was always "Learn to Read" on  PBS, which was geared toward illiterate adults.  It explained how phonics works, and I was reading at a very early age without being taught formally

I never learned Phonics -- still don't know it.  I learned to read via my mom, dad, and grandparents reading to me and I showed up to school knowing how to read.  Some of the Phonics type stuff might have to be taught by my DH, in fact, because I'm beyond learning it (they even had tutors try to teach me for years before deciding that it's pointless to waste resources on a 3rd grader who can read college textbooks via sight reading alone).

[OCLittleFlower]

I don't know much about early childhood and elementary education, but doesn't the ability to sight read sort of come naturally after kids have learned the principles of phonics and have learned a bit about how language works?

Common Core is so, so, stupid; it will create a nation of automatons, making us more moronic and more complacent than we already are.

Yes, but they do sight words instead of phonics. For some reason phonics is considered too much work, or too hard, or not cool enough. It's better then it was, but considering the literacy rate, not enough.

That's the whole mentality with Common Core--previous methods don't "meet the needs of today's learners" because they are too old-fashioned, which really means "too difficult" or "too troublesome." I really fear what this country is going to look like in twenty years when today's Common Core students are breaking into the workforce.

Those of us who homeschool or send our children to a good traditional school will find that our kids are among the few decent job candidates around.     I do feel sad for the rest, though.

[Kaesekopf]

That's the whole mentality with Common Core--previous methods don't "meet the needs of today's learners" because they are too old-fashioned, which really means "too difficult" or "too troublesome." I really fear what this country is going to look like in twenty years when today's Common Core students are breaking into the workforce.

Society has been dumber.