Comments on: How Children Benefit from Adult Conversations

By: Gone Visiting . . . « Bear in Mind

Gone Visiting . . . « Bear in Mind — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:22:52 +0000

[...] As a child, I was getting a “verbal bath” without any effort … According to How Children Benefit from Adult Conversationsa “verbal bath” is: … the shower of language which occurs when children interact with [...]

By: Little Tikes

Little Tikes — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:17:00 +0000

Great advice that i will try to incorporate with all my children. My father used to talk to me like an adult from a very young age – which I beleive helped me a lot. What a great blog post – going to have to put you on my blog roll.

By: heatherhead

heatherhead — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:28:00 +0000

Wonderful post! Even though I was public-schooled, my parents made a point to “bathe” us in adult conversation on a daily basis (always at dinner, and often before and after as well). I thank them for this, and strive to continue the tradition into our homeschooling family. Thanks for providing excellent material for my musings.

By: Lori Bourne

Lori Bourne — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:13:00 +0000

Ah, but what you describe:

"we talk about things constantly, we don't dumb down our language, and read aloud often"

is the verbal bath, right there in a nutshell. So rather than thinking of it as "homeschooling parents don't need to do this", it's more accurate to say, "homeschooling parents do this more often than other parents might, as a natural part of spending so much time with their children".

And, even as a homeschooling parent, I believe there are ways of communicating with my kids that I don't always take advantage of. In other words, although my children are in a language-rich environment, it's nice to shake things up a bit and use a method of communication that might be new.

Not all homeschoolers may be aware of things like dialectic or the Socratic method, and no other kind of communication can replace those particular methods of oral analysis; they are very specific. So a homeschooling parent would have to be very deliberate about including things like that in their curriculum.

Since my readers include teachers, Montessori parents who don't homeschool, and homeschoolers, I suggested things that everyone and anyone can implement, whether they homeschool or not.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:49:00 +0000

I agree and realize that for many parents this has to be a choice, though I am not sure that for homeschooling parents a “verbal bath” approach is necessary. Our kids are with us 90% of their awake time, we talk about things constantly, we don’t dumb down our language, and read aloud often. (Of course in our household tv is seldom an option and even the video games they play are ones that are played together and discussed.) It seems to me that in such an environment children will naturally grow in their language skills much more than sitting in a class being asked questions.

By: Lori Bourne

Lori Bourne — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:59:00 +0000

Oh, yes, Michelle, you are right! Discussion is always more valuable than multiple choice or true/false. You think of new ideas while you’re talking, just from hearing the people around you talk and share.

So glad you’ve started JGB – I have many fond memories of being in that program when I was in school. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the usual diet of workbooks, etc.

By: Michelle Irinyi

Michelle Irinyi — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:31:00 +0000

Lori -

I am "piloting" the Junior Great Books this year in my LE classroom. Until now, the school has used old SRA and SSS as the only instructional reading in the classroom. The children are not discussing what they read; only circling A, B, or C.

Since beginng the Junior Great Books 3 weeks ago, my students are excited to read, asking when the next lesson is and what the next story is going to be about. They've discovered that they can talk about a text and that it's ok to have different opinions. It's been a lot of fun and the parents are glad to know that I'm helping them develop higher level thinking skills that will help them throughout life. So much better than circling A, B, or C.

Michelle

By: Lori Bourne

Lori Bourne — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:46:00 +0000

Yes, I purposely wanted to include the 9-12 age group; as you said, they are often forgotten when it comes to subjects like this. But they benefit greatly from adult conversations, especially as they begin to figure out their place in the world.

By: Bridget

Bridget — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:41:00 +0000

Thank you so much for this! What great ideas for older children as well – ages groups that often get forgotten. The ability to express oneself only comes with practice.

By: montessori_lori

montessori_lori — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:32:00 +0000

You’re so right, Jessica. People forget that kids can be engaged in very meaningful conversation if the adults around them talk to them respectfully.

Children can often surprise us with their thoughtful observations if we just take the time to listen.