Prefixes and Suffixes: A Positive Start to Our Home‑Education Day
Learning about prefixes and suffixes today was an absolute breeze — both children were surprisingly confident right from the start. My son immediately came out with the example of how the prefix “un‑” changes the meaning of the word detectable. A strong start, and I allowed myself a tiny internal celebration.
More discussion on prefixes and suffixes
We moved on to look at tele‑, auto‑, and anti‑, using a workbook from Marks and Spencer that I’d picked up in a local charity shop. I asked the children to define words like anti‑ageing, anti‑bacterial, and anti‑freeze.
The Anti‑Ageing Debate (Oops… My Influence)
They both went to town on anti‑ageing, mostly because they’ve heard me rant more than once about the expense of anti‑ageing products and how they seem designed to build company wealth while reinforcing the myth that women aren’t good enough as they are.
Note to self: attempt not to brainwash my children — even accidentally.
Inspired Guesses and Toothpaste Warnings
My son thought anti‑freeze might be something to help with hypothermia, which I thought was a genuinely inspired guess. When I explained it’s used in cars, he immediately clarified that we should not put it in toothpaste. Good safety awareness, if nothing else.
When Suffixes Cause Sibling Drama
Things went a little awry when we moved on to suffixes, looking at ‑cian and ‑ist. The word beautician came up, and my son promptly told my daughter that she “obviously needed one.”
At that point, my strong‑willed daughter downed tools entirely. I’m learning that this is OK — she’ll come back to things later in the day or even later in the week. Home education really does teach me as much as it teaches them.
Quick Definitions of prefixes and suffixes
To round things off, we revisited the basics:
- Prefix — letters added to the beginning of a word
- Suffix — letters added to the end of a word
They get it. Tick on prefixes and suffixes.
Moving On: Peter Pan and Numeracy
After the drama, we moved on to the absolute joy of reading Peter Pan, which restored the calm beautifully. Then came the less obvious happiness of tackling factors in numeracy — not quite Neverland, but we managed.
A Realistic, Positive Start
Learning about prefixes and suffixes gave us a positive start to our home‑education day, with just a little bad behaviour from my son. I suppose real teachers deal with that in classroom settings too. We’re all learning together.
