#study phonics

[rugrats-curious-minds]

The Importance of Teaching Children to Read Through Letters and Sounds

Reading is a fundamental skill that serves as a cornerstone for a child's education and future success. It opens doors to a world of knowledge, imagination, and critical thinking. One of the most effective methods for teaching children to read is through the use of letters and sounds, also known as phonics. In this article, we'll explore the significance of teaching children to read using letters and sounds, highlighting the numerous benefits it offers in their early development.

Building Strong Foundations

Phonics, the method of teaching children to connect letters with their corresponding sounds, helps build strong foundational literacy skills. This approach empowers children to decode words and understand how language works. By mastering the relationship between letters and sounds, children can read unfamiliar words and develop confidence in their reading abilities.

Improved Reading Comprehension

Learning to read through letters and sounds enhances reading comprehension. When children can sound out words, they gain a deeper understanding of the text they are reading. This understanding extends beyond simple word recognition to comprehension, as they can grasp the meaning of the words and the context in which they are used. This comprehension is vital for academic success across all subjects.

Increased Vocabulary

Phonics-based reading instruction contributes significantly to a child's vocabulary development. As children learn to read, they encounter new words regularly. When they can decode these words using phonics skills, they expand their vocabulary effortlessly. A rich vocabulary not only aids in reading but also boosts overall communication skills.

Enhanced Spelling Skills

Teaching children to read through letters and sounds goes hand in hand with improving their spelling abilities. When children understand the relationship between letters and their sounds, they can apply this knowledge to spell words correctly. This skill is invaluable throughout their academic journey and life beyond the classroom.

Encouraging a Love for Reading

Phonics-based reading instruction can help cultivate a lifelong love for reading. When children can read independently and enjoyably, they are more likely to choose books as a source of entertainment and knowledge. This love for reading not only enriches their lives but also supports their ongoing learning and personal development.

Enhanced Confidence

Reading can be a daunting task for children who struggle with it. Phonics instruction provides them with a structured approach that builds confidence. As they successfully decode words and read fluently, they gain a sense of accomplishment that motivates them to continue improving their reading skills.

Individualized Learning

One of the strengths of teaching children to read through letters and sounds is its adaptability to individual learning styles and paces. Each child progresses differently, and phonics instruction can be tailored to their specific needs. This personalized approach ensures that no child is left behind and that struggling readers receive the support they require.

Better Preparedness for Academic Success

The ability to read proficiently is a critical factor in a child's academic success. When children learn to read through letters and sounds, they are better prepared for success in all subject areas. Reading is the gateway to learning, and a strong foundation in reading skills sets the stage for future achievements in school and beyond.

Teaching children to read through letters and sounds, or phonics, is a powerful method that provides them with essential skills for life. It builds strong foundations, enhances comprehension, expands vocabulary, and boosts confidence. Moreover, it instils a lifelong love for reading and prepares children for academic success. As parents and educators, it is crucial to recognize the importance of phonics-based reading instruction and provide children with the tools they need to become confident and proficient readers. In doing so, we empower them to unlock a world of knowledge and imagination through the magic of words.

[ahmed5283]

Santa Letter Writing Activity | Santa Craft | Santa Writing| Christmas Writing

[hopelessromanfic]

it’s nearly five am and i got super pissed at my homework for a linguistics class i’m being forced to take so i deep cleaned my entire apartment and now i have nothing to do but sulk :(

[sarasa-cat]

Highly recommending this podcast series because I first learned about this story some years ago via:

Informative investigative journalism exploring the declining literacy rates among children through a podcast series. It’s not just the lack of phonic in reading lessons but the intentions for why such a thing has been going on for decades.

[dostoyevsky-official]

could you elaborate on your most recent comment on that post about college students struggling to read entire works? because you frame an excerpt from the article as "it's the phones" but the entire excerpt is about teaching-to-the-test pedagogy that prioritizes small sections of texts etc rather than giving students practice in the classroom with reading a whole book. clearly that's a different issue than phonics, but I'm just not sure why that was the excerpt you chose if your point is that it ISN'T about poor pedagogical choices.

the excerpt is about how phonics isn't the issue, responding to someone who was saying that phonics are the issue. i don't think it's phones in isolation, but it's the biggest root cause, by far. the piece spends quite some time on it.

we could approach the problem like good economists, asking if it's possible to isolate phones as a variable, ceteris paribus. and it is. out of curiosity, i read a few books related to the 1990s "closing of the american mind" phenomenon earlier this year, including hirsch's cultural literacy. he, like others, bemoans television and loosening standards for lower reading rates and poor retention of basic cultural information you learn in humanities classes that are necessary for a coherent society—if any information was retained to begin with. but kids were still reading.

i graduated an extremely intensive, extracurricular-focused, top college prep-aimed high school in 2014. i had an iphone since 2012, a facebook, twitter, instagram, and tumblr account each since ~2008, but this was before the psychological abuse of each was maximized through streamlined app design. a lot of classes in this high school were also geared "towards the test," in this case, APs, and a chunk of it was devoted to polishing SAT scores and college essays. some classes focused on excerpts, and by far not everyone was Doing the Reading (one skill you learn in college and certainly in grad school is how to gut a book, not reading the whole way through—nobody does the entire reading). yet enough students were still reading the whole of the book for enough books, even if sparknotes was ubiquitous. phones, by the way, were confiscated on sight.

many issues were already destroying students' ability to read, including poor pedagogy. but something happened between the early 2010s and now that made the problem much, much worse. what was it?

there's a lot of anecdotal evidence from professors and other articles on phones as the issue, including some academic research on psychological effects—i don't know why this particular article is gaining traction here and on twitter, maybe because it's well-written, in the atlantic, concise—and it seems pretty unambiguous that phones and social media are destroying attention spans, not matter whether child or adult.

an interesting, just-published study, " Library in the Palm of Your Hand? A Randomized Reading Intervention with Low-Income Children" looks at what happens when you direct children's attention towards reading, providing them with easy access to books, instead of phones:

...

...

this happened in germany, by the way. i don't know about german school pedagogy, but i'm not sure they abandoned phonics.

it's phones. it's 100% phones.

[sapphia]

Can I get more info about what's going on in nz? I watch global news regularly and nothing about this has come up and I find this highly disturbing.

we elected a neoliberal nightmare of a government who are destroying our health system, water system, ferry and rail system, environment and democracy for profit. people are literally dying in hospitals because there is no doctor in hospitals in multiple rural towns and they just have a consultation on an ipad. the government are trying to frame Health NZ as having a budget deficit of 1.5 billion when in reality that deficit exists because they provided like 3 billion dollars with of tax cuts they couldn’t afford. National cuts spending to health every time they get in government and the disjointed DHB system has been unable to keep up financially with the growing population and health needs.

i personally have just been FUCKED by national as for the last two years i have been navigating our labyrinth of a health system, not working due to being intensely suicidal, trying to find therapy to get better and there just isn’t any available. so i payed for a private autism diagnosis to try and access funding for therapy through the ministry of disability and also get under their umbrella because they actually treat you like a person there and also don’t actively seem to want you dead like they do in the mental health system. but the process took so long that by the time i got my diagnosis and through the referral system, national had yoinked the funding and deemed that therapy will no longer be covered by the disability funding system. all therapies. for disabled people.

oh also they’re like trying to start a race war or something as both minor parties in the 3-way coalition government are trying to negate the Treaty of Waitangi in law, and they’re also attacking the judiciary and had to be told to stop by our attorney general, who they ignored obviously.

our prime minister answers every question with “i say to you” followed by just a literal lie, they’re all just lying through their teeth, i literally have an OIA request about when David Seymour, our deputy-PM-in-waiting (don’t ask) said that preschool education needed to be reviewed because they were being prevented from teaching phonics. they’re not. someone just expressed concern that that might be happening to him, and apparently he is basing government policy on that?? or at least using it to falsely justify it to the nation.

their ideas are all bad and disproven by evidence-based studies, despite their slogan being “we’re going to make evidence-based decisions”. New Zealand has hit a funding wall where we’ve kicked the can too far down the road on like everything and it’s all starting to collapse at once and this government are not only letting it happen, they’re actively helping it along because they’ve all got shares in private rival companies or mates they want to give contracts to (our former national PM got paid insane money to write an insanely biased report attacking our ministry of social housing) or they’ve had their careers helped along by lobbying firms or they want to work for lobbying firms after they leave parliament.

the speaker of the house (who is right now being accused of not dealing with racism within his own party because of course he isn’t, he’s gerry fucking brownlee, the most hated man in christchurch) has allowed lobbyists unprecedented unrecorded entry to parliament. the minister for conservation keeps “forgetting” to write his lobby dinners in his diary. one of them told an mp “he’s not in mexico anymore”. no one is getting in trouble for this shit while the left are being raked over the coals. there’s like so much more. no one can keep up. and nothings being done about it.

tldr; help

[reblogandlikes]

Dyslexic Feyre

Probably already stated, but dyslexic Feyre would have been a vibe. Her being dyslexic would have explained how she was illiterate at 19 when she still would have access to formal education before their family wealth got totalled. Perhaps she found difficulties due to her dyslexia and instead of focusing on her studies, her being a child, found other things that made her happy e.g. exploring as a way to distract from things that made her feel different. Another barrier between her and her sister's upbringing.

Would have been even better if her dyslexia had stayed after turning fae. Now she's an adult without the distraction of her "duties to her family," she could have taken the time to find her own mode of learning that's accessible to her - maybe something the humans didn't know about. Because writing random self-important sentences about a dude for a few weeks does not suddenly remedy illiteracy. If that was the case, then it could be said that she held herself back if learning became so easy. She was her own barrier, narratively seen when she refused Tamlin's offer to help initially with poetry due to...embarrassment? Clearly it's something she hides well if even she own sisters weren't aware.

Either way, having her so vocally forward when speaking with other HL's but still stammering when trying to read Nyx's children's book would be so real. Don't know how she can suddenly grasp courtly documents, though. Let alone her level of comprehension to internalise that would lead to solutions.

If there wasn't a clear reason why she couldn't read before, then it shouldn't have been a plot point, is all I'm saying. Create another reason to have Lucien in a cage that wasn't reliant of Feyre knowing basic phonics and blending. I dunno. Test her stamina where she has to hold the rope attached to the mechanism that would skewer him. His survival dependant on her frail strength and pure determination to save a fae. A testament of character. Make it more twisted with having another fae she knows and then having to choose which survives and which dies.

(Came across a man teaching himself how to read on insta and I was honestly so proud of his progress. His frustration, his joy, his focus and dedication - amazing. Then I got reminded of Feyre and how reading is randomly no longer a barrier, so I came here to rant.)

[bethanythebogwitch]

All of my recent Wet Beast Wednesday posts have been about relatively small animals, so this time let's go big. This week's topic is on the sperm whale, a winner of multiple size-based records, including being the largest toothed predator and largest of the toothed whales. These absolute units are known for their famous rivalry with giant squid and their history with the whaling industry.

(image id: a mother sperm whale and her calf. They are both large, long, grey animals with squarish heads. The calf is behind the mother and about half the size. The calf also appears to have multiple remoras attached to it)

First of all, why is it called a sperm whale? When I started researching for this post, I thought it must be a quirk of translation or a word that changed meaning over time and surely couldn't be named after THAT sperm, right? Well, I'm sad to say that's not the case. It really is the cum whale. More specifically, it is named after spermaceti, a substance inside the whale's head, that was believed to be semen. Spermaceti even translates to "whale semen". Yeah I'm not happy about that either. Sperm whales are also called chacalots and nobody really knows why. There are suggestions that it comes from old French words for "big teeth" or the vulgar Latin word for a sword hilt. At least it's not sperm this time. Its scientific name is Physeter macrocephalus, which means "blowhole big head", which is also fortunately lacking in references to sperm.

(image id: a sperm whale seen from the font and left. It is just under the surface of the water, with the tip of its snout touching the surface.)

Sperm whales are big even by whale standards, though there are still baleen whales that are bigger. In an extreme example of sexual dimporhism, males can be 30 - 50% larger and three times as heavy as females. An average adult male reaches an average of 16 meters (52 ft) and 45000 kg (100000 lbs) while females reach an average size of 11 meters (36 ft) and 15000 kg (34000 lbs). The average sizes of sperm whales has decreased since record were first kept. This is likely a result of the largest individuals being targeted heavily by whalers, resulting in only the smaller animals being able to pass on their genes. Some recent studies suggest that trend may be beginning to reverse itself now that the animals are no longer actively hunted.

(image: two sperm whales seen from above. They are at the surface of the water, with their backs avome the surface. One of them is releasing a spout of water vapor from its blowhole)

Possibly the most notable feature of a sperm whale is that giant, square head. Cetacean heads contain melons, organs filled with oily or fatty tissue that are used in echolocation. Unlike other cetaceans, the sperm whale has two such organs: the spermaceti organ and the junk, the latter of which is analogous to the melons of other whales. The spermaceti organ is a sac filled with the spermaceti, a waxy substance composed largely of wax esters. Harvesting of the spermaceti was the main reason sperm whales were hunted as it could be used for lubrication and as candles and lamp oil. Spermaceti is liquid when within the whale and solidifies at around 30 degrees C. A single whale can hold up to 1,900 liters of spermaceti. An air tube runs through the head and ends in a pair of phonic lips (the sperm whale has a single pair while all other toothed whales have two pairs). The lips produce the clicks used in echolocation and that sound travels through the spermaceti and reflects off another organ called the frontal sac, which acts as a sound mirror. Think those satellite dishes that you can whisper into and people standing way away from you can hear it. The frontal sac reflects most of the sound through the junk, which amplified it further. The sound that does not go to the junk is reflected back and forward through the spermaceti organ to create multiple clicks with each vocalization. The spermaceti organ and junk amplify the sound of the clicks to such an extent that the sperm whale is the loudest animal on earth, capable of making 230 decibel clicks. That's louder than a jet engine at takeoff. Side note, why is a jet engine the default comparison for loud things? In addition to echolocation, sperm whales also use vocalizations to communicate with each other. Types of vocalizations are learned from parents, creating multiple distinct "dialects" of sperm whale sound. The Spermaceti organ and junk are also believed to add protective padding to the head. One hypothesis says that the spermaceti is also used in buoyancy regulation. The idea is that before a dive, the whale would pump cold water through tis head, cooling and solidifying the spermaceti to reduce buoyancy. Then on the dive, body heat and heat transfer would melt the spermaceti again, increasing buoyancy for the trip back to the surface. This hypothesis is considered poor due to a lack of evidence and the fact that solidifying the spermaceti would impede echolocation right when the whale would need it the most.

(image id: a diagram showing a side cross-section of a sperm whale's head. Most of the head is taken up by the spermaceti organ (top) and junk (below). Below the junk are the upper and lower jaw bones)

Sperm whales are master divers. They hunt in the deep ocean and of all marine mammals, only the elephant seal and Cuvier's beaked whale dive deeper. Their dives can reach up to 2,250 meters (7,382 ft) deep and can stay underwater for up to 2 hours, though most dives last around 45 minutes. To accommodate for such deep dives, special adaptations are needed. Their lungs can collapse under the pressure and their ribcages will close to protect them. The lung collapse reduced excess nitrogen intake (which can lead to nitrogen narcosis) and they can slow their metabolisms to reduce oxygen usage. Their muscles contain more myoglobin (which stores oxygen) and they more red blood cells than most animals. When oxygen levels get low, they can redirect blood flow to the brain and other essential systems. Their eyes are the largest of all toothed whales and they have good vision and sensitivity to light, helping them see in the deep ocean. Their jaws are also adapted to hunt their prey. The jaw is very skinny and has teeth only on the lower mandible. The teeth grow rings like trees, allowing them to be used to age whales. The teeth do not seem to be essential for feeding as toothless whales have been found still well-fed. They are carnivores who feed primarily on squid but will also eat octopi, bony and cartilaginous fish, and salps. While sperm whales are famous for eating giant squid, most of their diet is composed of medium-sized squid weighing between 12 and 650 grams (0.026 and 1.43 lbs). We do know they eat giant and colossal squid both from finding squid beaks in the stomachs of beached specimens and from the scars left by the suckers and hooks of the squid on the whales' skin. While classic depictions of the hunts depicted a titanic struggle between two equals, with the squid eating the whales just as the whales ate the squid. Now its believed that the fights are entirely one-sided with the whales winning the vast majority of encounters. Tagging has shown that the whales swim upside-down as they hunt. They are likely looking for the silhouettes of prey against the surface or for bioluminescence. They also hunt with echolocation. While it has been suggested that their sonar clicks are powerful enough to stun prey, recent research has show this is likely not the case. Sperm whales eat about 3% of their body weight every day. Sperm whales, as well as other deep-diving predators, help circulate nutrients in the ocean. They consume nutrients in the deep ocean, then defecate in surface waters, releasing those nutrients where they can fertilize plankton. This also helps carbon sequestration as phytoplankton fertilized by the feces remove carbon from the atmosphere and carry it to the deep sea when they die. It is calculated that whaling in the Southern Ocean resulted in a release of 2 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year.

(image id: a pod of sperm whaled beginning their descent into the deep sea. There are 8 individuals, three of which remain parallel to the surface of the water. The rest and aimed downward)

Like other cetaceans, sperm whales are social animals. Females and juveniles live in groups called pods while adult males live outside the pods either alone or in small groups of other bachelors. Sperm whales who live together do so in groups called social units that are often, but not always, the same as their pod. Leaving and joining social groups is rare, leaving their membership very stable. When socializing, sperm whales use unique patterns of clicks called codas. It was formerly thought that codas were used as names, not it is now known that whales will use multiple codas. They also spend time nuzzling each other. They are also believed to use group hunting tactics to herd prey. The only predator of adult sperm whales is the orca, and they prefer to target calves or weaker adults. Orca pods will attack sperm whale pods to try to isolate a vulnerable member. Pod members will protect these vulnerable members by circling them, usually facing tail-out. The tails are capable of delivering powerful blows that could kill an attacking orca. This formation is called a marguerite formation. Lone males may come to the defense of a nearby pod under attack. On some occasions, sperm whales will swim alongside other cetations and there is a recorded instance of a pod adopting a bottlenose dolphin with a spinal deformity for unknown reasons. Sperm whales sleep together, suspended vertically just under the surface. While most cetaceans only sleep half of their brain at a time, it is possible that sperm whales can sleep their entire brain at once.

(image id: a pod of sperm whales sleeping. There are six positioned vertically in the water, with their head facing up. A seventh members remains horizontal and appears to be awake)

An individual whale can live for up to 70 years. Females reach sexual maturity at age 9 and bear a single calf at a time. The calf will nurse for an average of 19 - 42 months, but sometimes significantly longer. Sperm whale milk is extremely fatty, consisting of 36% fat (compare to 6% fat in cow milk) and has a texture like cream cheese. This high fat content helps the juvenile develop its blubber and its thickness keeps it from dissolving the the water. While giving birth, a mother will be protected by other members of her pod. After birth, other pod members sometimes jostle and bite the newborn. Most females give birth every 4 to 20 years and these rates were higher during the peak of whaling years. Females seems to become infertile in their 40s. Older, post-fertile females will lead the pods and provide assistance to younger mothers. Males provide no parental care. A male will mate with multiple females and they do fight each other for dominance and access to mates, but do not form harems. Fights seem to involve ramming each other and biting.

(image id: a sperm whale calf nursing. The mother is positioned vertically and her front half extends beyond the picture's frame. The calf is suckling at her side near the ventral surface. A cloud of white milk is around its mouth)

Like other whales, sperm whales were highly affected by whaling. While the spermaceti was the main target of whalers, they were also hunted for their blubber, teeth, and ambergris. Ambergris is a substance that forms in the intestines in response to irritants. The sperm whale can't digest the squid beaks and while it can vomit out a lot of them, some pass into the intestines. To prevent the sharp beaks form damaging the intestines (which can reach 300 meters/948 ft long and are the longest of any animal), the bile duct secretes the ambergris to surround the beak and ease its passage. It can be considered analogous to an oyster forming a pearl around a grain of sand. Ambergris is a think, waxy substance known for its extremely pungent, fecal smell. It was famously used as a fixative in perfume recipes and was therefore incredibly valuable. Now that whaling is much rarer, most ambergris is found when it floats to shore and perfume companies have switched over to artificial fixatives. The teeth were used for their ivory and were often carved into ornamental pieces called scrimshaw. Sperm whales were notable for their ability to fight back against the whalers, often by ramming the boats. At least a few whaling ships were sunken by their would-be targets. Famously the sinking of the whaling ship Essex inspired the writing of the novel Moby Dick. Large whales, including sperm whales, were nearly driven to extinction by whaling. The International Whaling Commission gave the species legal protection in 1985, though Japan still hunts them and has caught an reported 51 individuals since 2000.The peak of sperm whaling happened in the 1960s, causing the population to drop dangerously low. Since then, the population has been recovering and is currently estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Sperm whales have recovered from whaling better than many other species and are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. Threats include illegal whaling, global climate change, and noise from ships that appears to increase beaching numbers.

(image id: a chunk of ambergris. It is an irregular object with multiple lumps. It is a pale orange color. Part of a squid beak is visible at the side, appearing as a smooth surface with a dark orange color)

jizz whale

[kikijackson-blog]

A Is For... Arsonist? Phonics - Angel Edition

Here is is, readers' choice Angel. Hope you all like it.

Readers 18+ only

Warnings: Language, Alcohol

No smut in this one ladies, sorry.

Music blasted through the speakers so loud that you were becoming increasingly irritated that you couldn’t hear your girlfriends over the sounds of Guns n Roses’ Welcome to the Jungle. It was a song you hadn’t heard in a long while, but your best friend happened to find this club by accident. She’d met some dude on a dating app a couple of months ago and they’d agreed to meet here. The date had been a disaster from the star but at least she found this little gem. Rock from the 80’s how you loved those hair bands. It had quickly become your little girl squad’s hang out place, where you all would unwind after work but today you just weren’t feeling it. You were completely stressed from work, alcohol wasn’t helping like it should, the beginning signs of a migraine were becoming more apparent, and the music was only starting to aggravate it.

“That’s because you need to drink more!” Your friend the trouble maker shouted.

Somehow you got the feeling that there was not enough alcohol in this club to do the trick. You needed something more. Unable to pinpoint what the was, the frustration of it all finally got to you. You shot up from your seat and excused yourself from the girls who probably hadn’t heard you because they were too busy flirting with some guys who in the witching hour were 10s but in the daytime probably more like 2s.

Tonight was just not your night you thought as you made your way outside.

“Sit your ass down, motherfucker,” you heard a male voice shout. “She's way outta' your league man.”

You rolled your eyes and headed to the door. Definitely not your night.

“Fuck you Coco, I could totally get her.” Creeper countered.

“No, you can’t.” Coco laughed.

Angel shaking his head stood up and took one last sip from his beer before setting it down on the table. “Nah Creep you can’t, but I can.” and headed straight to the door you just walked out of.

He saw you sitting at a table outside alone, trying to light a cigarette.

“Damn you, you stupid little shit” your lighter chose the perfect moment to decide to fuck with you and not start.

“Allow me,” a deep voice said, lighter in hand and that little flame was like a tiny ray of hope for you.

“Oh my God, thank you, you’re fuckin’ heaven sent. You’re like a goddamn angel waving around your celestial flame.”

He chuckled as he took a seat next to you. “My name is Angel. What’s your name gorgeous?”

You laughed until it slowly dissipated as you study his features. “[y/n]. No really what’s your name?”

“I told you, it’s Angel.”

That’s when you noticed one of the rings he wore on his fingers had angel wings so you figured that actually was his name and not just some witty line. His smile was quite angelic but then you take in his leather and scoffed.

“Yeah right more like fallen angel.”

“Yeah well an angel none the less.” He then gave you a devilish smile. “And, I don’t believe I specified what kind of angel.”

You gave his rings one more glance and saw a skull on one. You leaned in a little closer to him and slowly whispered, “Angel of death.”

He inched the gap between you, “Maybe, but you’re a little arsonist.”

“Arsonist?”

“Yeah arsonist, cuz you started a fire in my heart.”

“Did I?” You move in even closer feeling the heat radiating from his body. This one’s a daytime 10 for sure.

He closed that last sliver of space between the two of you and pressed his lips against yours and gave you exactly what you had been needing. Soft but demanding, there was a gentleness to his kiss laced with danger and it was intoxicating.

“A goddamn blaze.”

****************************

More Angel?

[talonabraxas]

Science and the Rainbow Body

We have looked at some aspects of what modern biophysics, biophotonics, phonics (sound), and neurology can bring to our understanding of the Light Body. And the anatomical discovery of the microscopic primo vascular system and fascial tissue give us new perspectives on tsas, nadis, meridians, and the body’s energy channels in general. But at some point science is left in the dust. It cannot keep up with ancient esoteric knowledge, cooked for millennia in the crucible of direct inner experience, not intellectual theories. This particularly refers to the science of the Five Elements, and the loss and distortion of this knowledge in Western intellectual culture, medicine, and religion.

That massive misstep began long ago. While ancient Greece is taken to be the fount of our Western scientific tradition, it is also where materialism took hold fiercely, relegating scientists to the study of physical objects, functions, and ever smaller components. It’s only now, thousands of years later, that physics—and a good dose of Eastern spirituality—promise a revived view of a living, conscious universe. In nature, and in the realm of biology, it is grids of information-energy that rule supreme. Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen could not abide the idea of five intangible formative forces and downgraded the elements into gloppy fluids sloshing about in the spaces of the body. To be fair, this was in response to the Egyptian and Babylonian perspective, held for thousands of years, of the elements as deities. Empedocles famously called these deities “roots,” turning them into a proprietary system and establishing his place in history. But the notion of a space element, already an integral part of Pythagorean knowledge adopted from Egypt and Babylon a century before, was out in the cold. This left us with the fantasy of hydraulic fluids running the body (the humoral theory), which would pervade European and Middle Eastern thought right into the modern era—tainting astrology, alchemy, and reflected in the truncated four-part psychology of Jung, Keirsey, and Myers-Briggs. But while this artifact of materialistic thinking affected a hundred generations of beings, the true knowledge of elemental forces has remained intact, preserved in Tibetan Buddhism, Indian Shaivism, Sufic healing, and the Western gnostic lineages. That is a good thing, since they play a central role in the development of the Rainbow or Light Body. That is as it should be, since it is not myth that we are composed, mind and body, of five dynamic patterns of meaning and manifestation.

In the process of creation, of manifestation, the higher is separated from the lower: gravity and levity, roots and fruits, sky and earth. Now, we reverse the process, climbing back toward union. But a simple reversion to the primordial state, to a pure unity of warm consciousness incomprehensible to our dull intellect would miss the point. Our journey as an embodied five-elemental being is not just a movement within an illusion of time and space where “nothing actually happens.” The return is everything, and in many ways the fulfillment of creation itself. It is the ouroboros, the snake that devours its own tail, the completion of the circle, which is itself empty and contains everything.

This elemental transformation process is commonly portrayed in Tibetan thangkas and repeated in almost every ritual. Within a human skull cup we visualize five kinds of meat (forbidden foods, according to Brahmanical literature) and five kinds of bodily fluids. Their specific names are not important for this discussion, but they represent the Five Elements in their female and male aspects. This mishmash is the sum of our physical existence. Here is biology; here is embodiment; here is incarnation—being in the flesh. But here is the possibility of the birth of a new, non-material form as a vehicle for a renewed consciousness. These elements will be cooked and transformed into wisdom nectar, due to the magical addition of Om Ah Hung. In Tibetan, these three syllables represent form, energy, and consciousness, although I prefer G. I. Gurdjieff’s more colorful nomenclature of “Holy Denying, Holy Affirming, and Holy Reconciling.”

The reason for this transformative possibility in the first place is that the Five Elements exist within us in a multi-layered context. We contain the five material elements, but also the five original, pure Wisdom Elements, the cosmic spark as it were. The Hindu tradition describes five koshas or levels of existence, from gross to subtle, from bioenergetic to pure consciousness. The Buddhist world speaks of three bodies or kaya in a similar spectrum. The Kabbalah describes five worlds in a descending chain of existence. Whether we count in threes, fives, or beyond, the problem remains—how to unite the lower and the higher to create something altogether new. Traditionally, we perceive each of the Vajrayana chakras as the center of gravity of one of the elements—but containing an inner structure of five subelements. And so we have elements within elements waiting to be impregnated with divine radiance and to ascend to their true potential.

Cooking the elements

Down in the depths of our viscera, in the dark recess of the pelvic container, is a secret bindu, an energetic sphere, a “bubble” of immense import. The yogin or yogini will have long prepared, through visualization, mantra recitation, focused meditation, and the gathering of blessings, creative forces, and the richness of material, planetary, biological, and spiritual energies. Prolonged purifications have taken place, readying for this moment. Now, in this most secret of places, the alchemical process, the gestation of a new Light Body begins. Conception took place long ago, in different forms of initiations, meetings with the guru, or even a direct download from transcendent sources. Now the quickening begins, the “cooking” process. As in our visualized skull cup of animals and fluids, we ignite the fire in the belly and fan it with the reversed turbulence of our “downward descending wind.” The digestive and liver fire is harnessed, and winds are drawn down and held in the vase of the belly. The anus and lower doors are drawn up and sealed. As the sub-navel furnace blazes, the Earth mandala in the belly dissolves and is drawn upward by a natural osmosis, the force of levity, of ionic attraction, in the oldest dance in the universe.

Spiral dynamics

In this “mating” process, the flame rises up to melt the Wisdom Elements dwelling in the head. This inner heat or tummo process involves spiral energies. The heavenly father energies move clockwise, always. The earthly mother energies move in an anti-clockwise spiral, always. This is clearly seen in the way that a mantra circles within the heart, depending on whether one is self-visualized as a male or female yidam or deity form. The male mantra circles to the right and the female mantra always circles to the left (from the perspective of your own body’s orientation). Spiraling down, the flow moves through the chakras producing the “four joys.” But it spirally ascends to the head again, thrusting through the chakras with another more intense effulgence of innate bliss and the experience of pure awareness (or emptiness, as it is misleadingly called).

By this process, each element in its lower or biological state is transformed, united with and blended with its wisdom form. But what is very surprising here is that, in the Vajrayana tradition, the story somehow ends. We rest in this new state of unfabricated being-knowing, merging it with various aspects of mundane existence, including arising thoughts and feelings and experiences. All is painted with a new brush. The “doors of perception” are cleansed in a utopian brave new world of consciousness.

Beginning, not ending

But the journey is far from over. What has been described above in traditional terms involves a massive movement within the water-based electron grid of cells and interstitial tissue. It is a volcanic eruption and lava flow of the packets of massed biophotons from the cerebrospinal fluid and brain’s ventricles. We have every reason to understand that photons are the vehicles of consciousness—or that consciousness is an intrinsic quality of photons. And we have clear indications that the structured water in cells, tissues, and blood is the electron-source of prana or lūng itself. As a result of this co-mingling of side-to-side, front-to-back, and finally top-and-bottom, the Light Body begins to form in earnest. Each of the elemental chakras is now part of the Rainbow anatomy containing a mandala of subelements brimming with pristine Wisdom Element force. Channels, energy, and consciousness—tsa, lūng, and tiglé—are all benefactors of the primary template of all things: the Five Elements known as Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space.

Rainbow Body by Talon Abraxas

Rainbow Body by Talon Abraxas

[fangirltothefullest]

School has become so down to the minute that teaching feels impossible. You must do lexia twice a week you must do iready twice a week you must do cursive for no more than ten minutes every day you must use intoreading you must use this envision math book you must use this science curriculum three times a week you must have social studies twice a week you cannot akip your sel block you must have spelling tests you must give homework but that's in addition to the lexia they have to do at home you must give them science projects they must wear uniforms you much tuck in your shirts there will be no talking in the halls at all you must use shitty ass phonics lessons becUse nobody learned it in first grade. Make sure you use your smart board that won't cast make sure you have them practice paragraph writing they need GROUP WORK DAILY!!

Oh but you can teach however you want. :))))

[southsuns]

unpopular opinion (as a homeschooler, who had visitation for years, who was physically neglected and emotionally abused in one home, notably NOT the one where i was being taught…) but if you’re homeschooling and you cannot teach your child basic skills and knowledge like reading, writing, math, science, geography, history, if your child cannot tell you who the leader of your country is or where they live at 10-12 onward (And yes, I have and continue to see this among homeschooled people i know) You are neglecting your child. and i KNOW you, as the parent may well be trying your best, and you may not have a lot of options and it’s hard. you may be taking them to all the co-ops you can. but all of that trying doesn’t make up for the myriad of ways the kid is behind. yes i know learning disabilities exist this isnt about that. this is about the perfectly abled 11 year old i know who struggles to write 3 full sentences every day on paper, who finds that the most miserable part of his schooling, this is about the 8 year old who can barely read basic phonics books. who actually cries trying to read complex phonics books (as in, more complex than “mat sat. sam sat. sam and mat sat.”) and these kids are stunted in ways they may not be ABLE to recover from. studies in the limited forms they exist suggest the height of our language acquisition is until 12 or so, and after that point, it is incredibly difficult or impossible to grasp language. and this will affect them in EVERY aspect of their life FOR THEIR WHOLE LIFE. and we act like it’s just an unfortunate reality of american education. i feel fucking bad for these kids. i lucked out and i loved reading and my mum taught me well and we found ways to push through subjects i didn’t like because she knew it was important, or to make them fun by using different books (science via textbook vs “let’s learn about basic physics and science by making a tiny catapult!”) like holy shit. holy shit

[the-ellia-west]

How does one create a language

Teach me your ways

VULGARLANG

THE SITE

(And also studying a shit ton of phonics & linguistics, brainstorming with friends, ect.)

[mystacoceti]

and since it's on my mind now I guess I want to say something again about the Science of Reading/Whole Language debate

it's obvious why Republicans have fixated on whole language pedagogy for a few decades now. it's couched in hippy dippy rhetoric about allowing each individual child to flourish in their own unique way free from the ruinous and stifling influence of authority/the teacher/phonics drills. but that's the rhetoric, which doesn't necessarily have much to do with actual practice. for all the talk about supporting each individual child to become each of their realized, individual selves, the whole language proponents can actually get really fucking shirty when the question of learning disabilities and difficult students comes up. the kids are seen as drags on the other, better students, and, at the most callous, as wastes of resources. and often these programs aren't even set up to give struggling students meaningful support in any way. but still, it's "progressive" education so it divided a lot of people in that same old knee-jerk way

then you get some big, national moment and everyone can come together and say that was bad, with the pseudo-objectivity of longitudinal studies and cognitive science to support the superficial agreement of people all across the political spectrum, from left-wing substack scholars who promote progressive education to far right legislators who believe public education and teachers unions are nuisances.

in the United States, we're already moving on to the Science of Reading as the paradigm, and we can already see it will probably come with a needlessly strict blanket focus on phonics — in spite of what researchers suggested, regardless of what individual students need, political value of whatever it is we're doing be damned. the contradictions of why seemingly disparate groups would come together on this issue gets lost or brushed aside with the truism that "we're doing this for the kids." but that's okay, because when all's said and done the most important thing, whether in OECD rankings or SAT scores, is sticking it to the Chinese

[wamtorical]

September 1898 - [Jemima, Alena and Emma mucking about.]

In the months following the beginning of Jemima's school attendance, she'd learnt to ignore the jeering voices aimed towards her and began to form a friendship group of her own. Her brash, confident and funny personality drew the other's in and Jemima began to gain some popularity of her own.

During that time, March had passed and Leroy was now two and a half years old. He was much more talkative than his brother Amos, who struggled with his speech, and developed quite an appetite and liking for his mother's food, helping him grow bigger in size from his small stature that he was as a mere infant.

As for the loan, things had been quite stationary for a while and on one evening, Ethel came to visit. Though Jemima had been told to stay upstairs and study her phonics, eavesdropping came natural to her and she decided she preferred that instead.

"Oh, Ethel, it's always so lovely to see you. I hope you're doing well." She heard her mother gush; Claudia adored Ethel. "But I must say, what a surprise this is! Surely you've visited for a reason?"

Ethel smiled and leaned forward, anticipation visible in her expression, "Yes, actually. I have a proposal. The idea only came to me the other day, and well, I'd hate for you to take this the wrong way but -"

"Oh, you could never! Isn't that right, dear?" Claudia claimed, nodding to her husband and recieving a mumble of agreement in response.

"Right, then! I was thinking, with just a couple hundred pounds left to go, I could help out with the remainder of the loan." Ethel gleamed.

Claudia, despite her initial statement, felt taken aback at Ethel's proposition. She walked over to the rocking chair and Jemima rushed back up the stairs in fear of being spotted, confused as to why her mother was so seemingly upset at such a generous offer.

"Ethel - th-that's such a kind offer but you musn't strain yourself helping us poor sods, we'll find the money -"

"Thank you, mother." Elmer intervened. He knew there was no use arguing against her, and the stress he was under due to the amount of work he was doing and managing only to provide enough for food and comforts was beginning to become tiring.

Claudia stayed silent as Ethel began to excitedly write cheques she'd brung in advance. She knew they could do with the extra money, but she felt their hard work was going to waste if they weren't finishing it themselves. It felt like a cheat. But the loan did need paying off as soon as possible ...

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