Homophones

It is amazing how easily and quickly children learn! Maybe I am surprised by it since I spent so many hours struggling to help children to "get it" within the confines of a classroom. While there were definitely successes there, it amazes me how much my own children just kind of absorb without sitting at a desk.

A few weeks ago Madeline said to me, while we were riding in the car, "'be' and 'bee' those are the same." And I replied, "Yes, those are homophones," hoping that I was remembering the correct term for them, but thinking that she would probably never remember anyway, so it really did not matter.

The next day, again while riding in the car, Madeline said "'be' and 'bee', what are those called again?" Well, I had not double checked whether the correct term was homophones or not, so I somewhat reluctantly replied "homophones", and decided I had better check it out when we got home.

A few days later we were again driving (Madeline must do a lot of thinking in the car), and Madeline asked "'to' and 'two' are those homophones?" I had luckily checked it out, and homophones was the correct term, so I said, "yes, 'to' and 'too' and 'two' are homophones," which lead to a whole discussion about how to spell all 3. Then she proceeded to brainstorm other homophones.

Madeline now spends lots of time trying to come up with homophones and telling me about them. I know I learned about homophones in elementary school. I remember them being part of a spelling lesson and struggling to remember what they were and how they were spelled, and I was older than 5. Madeline has so naturally and easily learned about homophones.

I think this is one of the greatest reasons we homeschool the girls. The knowledge is not forced on them, they learn at their own pace, mostly from teachable moments like this one, and they love it. They truly want to know more. It is such a great joy to watch this process!