Never Mind the Paper Trail! Have You Googled Yourself Lately?

A few days ago I got an email indicating I needed to approve a comment on the Squidoo lens I wrote about the death of my daughter, Sarah. When saw I the comment and who sent it, I was floored. It was from a friend I’d lost track of for a few years — a close friend. Both of us had moved and begun new lives, and that tends to make people busy and disinclined to keep up with people they rarely see. The urgent tasks in the present tend to blur the past a bit, for better or worse. Although there was no last name, I knew that those comments could only have come from my friend Dianne. But I couldn’t figure out how she found that lens about Sarah out of the blue. She hadn’t even known about Sarah’s death until she read it.

I was able to answer Dianne back through Squidoo, and I asked her how she ever found me and the lens. She replied that she had looked me up on Google. We have exchanged a few emails since then, but I was curious as to what Google had revealed to her. Tonight I finally had a few minutes and thought I’d take a peak. Amazing! So far I’m on page six of at least 15 link pages where my name is mentioned. I would expect to see my name on my blogs, web sites, and social networking profiles, but I was quite surprised to see the other places my name appeared — so far. I found that one statement I made was quoted on several sites. One article from my web site was quoted and credited, but with no link back to my web site.  It was also  summarized on a Chinese web site. I had forgotten about all the comments I had left on other people’s blogs. I even found myself listed in the county records as the informant of my mother’s death, since I was with her to the end and did report her death. Just now on page eight I filled out a form that appeared to give me a chance to correct company information on a directory listing. When I hit preview, I discovered it was a come-on to get you to pay for an upgraded listing. Boo! On page nine the listings start to be mostly  really not me or repeats.

What I discovered is what many have already said –  what you say on line tends to stay there. I try never to say anything I would be ashamed of if anyone I knew read it. I can see that when you start down the social networking road your name does get out there and stays out there. I suppose I also have a paper trail, but most of what I write is no longer on paper.

How Many of the Thirteen Best Children’s Books Have You Read?

In his New York Times Op/Ed column on July 4, 2009, Nicholas Kristof notes that many children fall two months behind in reading level during each summer break. He encourages parents to pry their children away from their keyboards and get them to read instead. He offers his list of the “Best Children’s Books Ever.” I have to admit that I have not read everything on the list and don’t like some of his choices. I was happy to see Charlotte’s Web, Anne of Green Gables, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Prince and the Pauper, and Lad, A Dog. (I confess I never read this last one, but a lot of my customers like anything by Terhune, and I know he’s a good writer.)

On to Oregon cover.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find two of my favorite children’s books on the list, however, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be and On to Oregon. I used On to Oregon as a read-aloud when we were studying the Westward Movement, and when we finally got to see many of the  sights along the Oregon Trail in 1989, the children were excited to actually see the places they had read about. I recommend the book, but it’s not as easy to find as it was when it was still in print. I bought a lot of them back then and I’m offering the paperback version in nearly new condition for only $7.43 on tomfolio.com.  I still like it as a read-aloud, since there is so much to talk about, but it’s still a good adventure story for those who want to do some independent reading.

Teh Dog Who Wouldn't Be cover

I also have The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, which focuses on Mowat’s boyhood on the Canadian prairies and his special canine friend — Mutt.  Mutt didn’t fit your usual dog stereotypes. He climbed trees and ladders (all the better to chase cats) , and when he rode in an open car, he wore goggles. Although he had no pedigree, he was a genius at hunting.
Mowat is a great writer. I also like his Owls in the Family, which is at chapter book level and relates a boy’s adventures with  his two pet owls, Wol and Weeps. If you don’t think owls have distinct personalities, this book will prove you wrong and keep you laughing at the antics of these strange pets who shake up a Saskatchewan  neighborhood and turn a household upside down. Wol outsmarts Mutt (the hero of The Dog That Wouldn’t Be), brings dead skunks to the dinner table, and rescues their young master and his friend from the neighborhood bullies.  Weeps, on the other hand, was afraid of everything and everybody but Mutt. This is also a wonderful book to read aloud.

Maybe you have your own favorite children’s books you’d like to share. Please use the comments section to add your recommendations for good summer reading.  Keep your children’s reading levels up by encouraging the reading of interesting books this summer. Maybe your children’s reading level will even be higher when school begins again.

Previous Knowledge in Content Areas is Essential to Reading Comprehension

As a supplier of educational resources for teachers,  I probably sell more materials to help teach reading skills — especially comprehension — than for any other subject area. (Those are available here.) I know teachers are under the gun when it comes to preparing for those all-important standardized tests, but maybe they should take some time away from the reading comprehension workbooks and spend more time in science, social studies, art, music, and even sports. I’ve always believed this is important, but now I’ve found a short video that makes this point very well. I turned off the sound because I found it distracting; having it on won’t add to the content.

Most home school families have already discovered the value of  using a lot of “living books” — those books which capture the imagination as they satisfy a child’s thirst for information. Many children, especially boys, are more interested in the real world than in fiction. They want to understand how things work. They want to explore the world of nature. They like true stories about real people who made exciting discoveries, explored far away places, and had exciting adventures in various periods of the world’s history. Girls will also appreciate nonfiction about their interests. Historical fiction will also help children acquire a frame of reference for what they may later read.

Other  resources home school families have more access to than school classes, as budgets are cut, are field trips and educational travel. There’s nothing quite like taking children to visit historical places or science museums to help them make connections when they later read about places they’ve seen and processes they’ve observed. How different my understanding of the Civil War was when I visited Gettysburg’s Battlefield, saw the peaceful rolling hills, observed the living history enactments and  saw the maps of the battles light up in the visitors center as I listened to the narration of the battle events during those bloody days of war. Visiting the living history parks at Sturbridge Village, Salem, Jamestown,  and Plymouth helped me understand the early history of America much better than reading about places I hadn’t seen.  Something as simple as visiting a local working  farm, post office, newspaper,  adobe, or factory can supply a lot of information children can later draw on. I still remember visiting the old Helms Bakery  and a paper factory in Los Angeles on school field trips when I was a child.(The picture here is of Carl’s Sandburg’s family Bible on display in his childhood home in Galesburg, Illinois, which we visited on our way to Massachusetts in 1989.)

On one of our first family vacations after we had adopted our two children, we visited the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. If we had been reading an unillustrated book about these Native American homes, even if they were described in words, I doubt if the children would have really understood what they were. But we walked past them, went into them, and then went to see some dioramas in the visitor center. When we got back to our cabin by the lake, re went into relax while the children played outside. The picture you see here is how Sarah processed the information she received from that portion of the Mese Verde visit.

When we were home schooling we our children had many more chances for this type of field trip than they would have had in school. But even if your children are in school, you can take them to places where they will learn. Go on nature walks sponsored by your local parks. Have a scavenger hunt for bugs, different kinds of rocks, leaves, pine cones, acorns, or other things to be found in your yard or on your block. During the summer, take your child to the local court house to see a court case being tried. Read a book about it together first so your child will understand what he is seeing — and so will you. Since our children were in the foster care system, and then adopted, we had a lot of required trips to the courthouse. Our children had some personal experience about what social workers do and how protective services works. Visit an animal shelter. Visit the closest zoo. Do anything that will expose your child to first hand information he would not otherwise have.

Another wonderful place to visit is your local library. Find books that will help your child learn more about the things that interest him.  Bring them home. If they are above your child’s reading level, make sure they are well-illustrated so your child will have something to look at as you read to him. If you can’t get to the living history museums, check out these beautifully illustrated books that will show you what you would see there.  Even very young children can learn more about the world they live in by reading (or having you read while they look at ) a Gail Gibbons or Ruth Heller book.  Crabtree also publishes some wonderful books on science subjects which are illustrated with  full color photographs of animals, habitats, life cycles, and more. Whether you are a parent or a school teacher, you can use your vacation time or weekends to give your child a better frame of reference in subjects that will help fill those content knowledge gaps, and that will make your child a better reader. You will all enjoy those shared experiences.