The Three R's discussion

Ruth Beechick does a great job of breaking down what exactly the k-3 child needs to know. She also teaches the parent how to teach the three R's without expensive textbooks. She explains how exactly, for example, spelling books choose the words for their lists. They either choose them based on the most common mistakes made at that grade level, or based on categories of phonics rules. Once you understand this, you can easily make your own spelling lists for the children by both studying the words the children misspell and categorising the words under different phonics rules. She shows you how simple it is to teach young children any subject at all with just a notebook and a pencil! This is a terrific resource for any homeschooler who is just starting out.
Her book is really very insightful. She discusses the origins of our grammar rules and cites studies proving that studying grammar rules does not in fact improve writing, which I found fascinating. In fact, she says, good writing develops just like good speech: We learn to talk by listening a lot and then practicing our speech over and over, and we learn to write well by reading and reading and then practicing our writing over and over. This was a new perspective for me, who always felt that some people just have it and some don't. I recommend this book highly to anyone thinking about homeschooling.
M.