Distinguishing between limudei kodesh and chol

>> do you distinguish between limudei kodesh and limudei chol? I haven’t listened to your husband’s talk yet, so if he addresses it, you don’t have to answer this one.<<

This question came from someone who listened to a recording of the talk I gave at the homeschool conference in June.  In that, I explained my approach of how to teach children of varying ages different subjects.  I specifically didn’t speak much about the limudei kodesh, since my husband was giving a talk about that and I didn’t want it to be redundant for those attending both talks.  But because he spoke more about the holistic approach to Judaics, I really could have talked about how I handle the specific skill building without preempting him – I didn’t know how he’d handle the topic, though, so I erred on the side of caution.

If I’m understanding the intent of the question correctly (and I’m not sure that I am), I don’t very much distinguish between Judaic and secular learning in terms of how I approach it.  I use pretty much the same approach for all that we learn – I strive for an integrated and meaningful way of learning for whatever we do.  The kids learn Hebrew writing just as they do English writing- beginning with a basic workbook to learn letter forms, and then continuing with copywork.  Unlike with English, we do teach Hebrew reading.  We keep it relaxed, using one of three Hebrew primers.   That’s pretty much it for the basic skills necessary before they can use the independent learning approach that I explained in my workshop and have also addressed here on the blog. 

Once the kids have independent learning skills, they go on to do chumash on their own, building their tranlation skills over time and eventually going on to the commentaries.  As they get older, they develop interests and follow through with that – for example, this morning ds10 told me he wants to do more halacha on his own this year.  There are other examples of that, but the point is that children naturally find their interests that relate to Jewish living just as they find interests that relate to other areas.  When a child wants to pursue something, his learning will be much more valuable than if we push it on them because it’s part of a ‘curriculum’.

I see learning as natural and integral to living, and that’s especially true of Jewish learning.  After all, if we’re living a Jewish life based on the Torah, aren’t our days filled with relevant applications?  My husband is great about using the meals to enhance the Jewish content of our learning.  He learns halacha (points of Jewish law) at every meal with the kids, and we do a lot of discussion about holidays, philosophy, etc.   We say tehillim (Psalms) at the end of our dinner meals (not every single night but on a fairly regular basis), and one of the kids leads the tehillim.  This is a natural way that they practice their reading skills and I can assess them without doing anything formal while participating in something our family finds meaningful.

If I downplay the discussions we have on a wide variety of topics, it would really be missing an integral way that we cover a lot of topics.  That’s constant and ongoing.  For example, today we discussed the Jewish view of modesty and makeup usage, using quotes from Chazal (Jewish sages) and the gemara (Talmud).  We also discussed entitlement and financial responsibility (this is a topic I return to again and again), specifically today as how it relates to adult married children and the Torah view.  This is spontaneous and unplanned – if I read an article or post that I think has points to consider, I often read out loud to the kids, and we discuss them.  The older kids particularly enjoy this and so do I – it gives us a chance to talk out ideas and perspectives.

I hope I answered the question, but as always, if something isn’t clear, anyone is welcome to ask!

Avivah   

6 thoughts on “Distinguishing between limudei kodesh and chol

  1. Do you teach any chumash “skills” or is everything self-taught? How do they teach themselves (ie. use an Eng. translation, etc)?

  2. I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t do anything but help them learn to read and then they figure everything else out on their own. I give them guidance, but especially when they’re younger try to find low pressured ways to build their comprehension and vocabulary. I have a set of shorashim (Hebrew roots) cards – there are 100 of the most common shorashim , with Hebrew and a picture on one side and the English translation on the other. This is something a 9 or 10 year old can easily review on their own – a year ago I started ds off with a suggestion of learning ten words. I’ll start dd8 this year on them.

    Once they can read and have some basic vocabulary under their belts, they can use an English translation to start translating independently. They may aquire skills on a different time frame than kids in school, but they get the skills and they don’t get burnt out or turned off in the process. For someone hung up on doing exactly what the schools are doing when the schools are doing it, this isn’t going to work.

    Ds10 mentioned to me a couple of days ago that he figured out how to read Rashi script. He only mentioned this since he was looking at some Rashi and wasn’t sure what one of the letters was, and asked me. This is pretty standard for how things go around here. When the desire is there, it’s not hard for kids to pick up the skills. Without the desire, nowhere near as much can be accomplished.

  3. Thank you for your reply. I realized that you must have some role and I was just curious to know how far you were directly involved on a regular basis. I certainly didn’t think you were letting them raise themselves 🙂

    I am finding that because my son can’t read English yet, it has caused him a lack of ability to learn certain things independently (and he’s a VERY curious little guy). Although, I also realize you probably don’t teach English reading at my son’s age anyway.

    I really like how naturally the learning process almost evolves within each child in your home.

    1. It’s a set of 100, with the Hebrew root on one side, on the other side is the Hebrew root, English definition, and a picture. I got it from the Center for Jewish Education’s store. On the cards it says Rabbi Eliezer Kessler. You can probably contact the CJE about purchasing and see if they’ll consider shipping them. They’ve been a very worthwhile purchase for us (I think they were about $11).

  4. Can you specify which Hebrew readers you have, and why you like them (or not)?

    Do you teach (or facilitate the learning of) conversational/Israeli Ivrit? If you use a program for it, which one(s)? Thank you!

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