Graduate 2!

GirlofGod is officially a FREE ELF!  She graduated in May of 2015. This is one proud Momma.

Really? REALLY??

How can it be possible that my oldest child is graduating??

Rest assured, you who have little ones. Bible centered and literature based education works. My daughter has done well and is prepared for whatever the Lord brings for her future.

A Struggling Reader Story

Some of my children have struggled to learn to read.  Some have picked it up quickly.  Some take a while, but end up successful in not TOO much time.

With one of my strugglers, I took a new tact this year.  He had been working through 100 Easy Lessons, and reached a little over halfway.  Each day, he struggled through it, guessing some sounds, forgetting what he had "mastered" yesterday... It's the way his brain works.  I know it.  He knows it.  We try not to get too worked up about it because when it clicks, it will click!

We tried Pathway Phonics, too, among other things, but it advanced too quickly for him so we set it aside and returned to 100 EZ Lessons.

When school started this year, I sat this son down and talked about how last year went.  We discussed how hard letters are for his brain to remember and how repetition is the key.  Then I "broke the bad news".  I told him we were going to start 100 EZ Lessons over again, rather than pick up where we left off before summer break.

He wasn't happy.

However, ten weeks into our school year, I can say it was the right decision!  He is breezing through the book, reading successfully and with more speed and accuracy.  He actually is interested now in learning to read and is practicing outside of reading time!  He has correctly sounded out words and phrases in real life, even during free time.  He's not fluent by any means, but I see a being a Reader in his future THIS YEAR!

Sometimes, it just takes a reset button.

Hooray for Thrift Stores!

My dear husband took me thrift store shopping today and I found quite a few wonderful books.  I was especially happy to find a copy of "Anno's Counting Book", Michael Hague's "Favorite Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales", "The Columbus Story" by Alice Dalgliesh and "The Mexican Story" by May McNeer and Lynd Ward.  I found a number of other books, as well.

After we returned home, I began sorting the books.  I make two piles: one to pass along and one to keep.  I have to admit the Keep Pile was higher than the Pass along pile, as is usually usual.  I also make a third pile: Books To Check.  I have ...several... bookshelves and it can be hard to remember if I have a certain book or not. I also compare books to swap out for better copies if I can.

 In my Keep Pile was a copy of Old Befana by Tomie de Paola.  I like Tomie.  I have quite a few of his books.  Seventy-five to be exact.  Yeah.  I'm a fan. So, picture it...I am going through my Tomie shelf to see if I have a copy of this one, because I didn't think I did...and I was right.  So I sat there on the floor in my library and started to read my new Tomie book.  I opened it up and found this:

Hooray!  It's the first inscribed Tomie I have ever found!  Good find, indeed!

Learning Bursts

My daughter, Missy, is developmentally delayed.  She learns differently than all of my others, even her twin brother.  Over the years, I've discovered that she learns in fits and starts.  She'll learn new things, whether academic or physical, and be "open" to learning for a while.  Then she'll plateau for weeks at a time, not able to learn anything new, even struggling to remember what she had so recently learned.  Then, seemingly without reason, it's like a switch turns and she's back to learning.  I have begun calling these her "learning bursts".

During her academic plateau times, we simply review the basic things she knows.  We cement them into her brain. She reads the same phonics stories and does the same type of math over and over, and gets enough wrong, or needs enough help, that I know her brain is "off".  I continue in these times to read aloud rich literature and have her narrate.  She continues copy work and other hands on projects.  I continue having her sit in on lessons with siblings, even if she doesn't seem to be absorbing the information.  Then, suddenly, she starts getting pages done super fast, without help and reads her stories easily.  I know it's time to introduce new things.

During her most recent learning burst, I had her begin to do her math without the assistance of blocks.  It had taken her over half of a school year to master the use of blocks.  The last time I asked her to attempt problems without blocks she was unable to complete even the simplest of problems.  It was simply to much for her brain to take in.  This time, however, she easily accomplished it.  She did page after page, (asking for more!), and scored 100%.

Today I introduced subtraction.  I explained it and had her try without blocks.  Best to skip a step, right?  Well, that was too much, at least at first.  So she completed her page using blocks and got 100%!  We'll see what tomorrow brings.  I love learning bursts!

He's a Reader!

Troubles has begun to read! He's been doing 100 Easy Lessons since we began school in the fall. He has flown through them. He would want to do two or even three lessons at a time. Since he wasn't all that challenged at first, I let him. At about Lesson 20, he slowed down to one lesson a session. Last week I introduced him to "Hop on Pop". He was thrilled to have a book to read. He wanted to read it right away, so, of course we did.

He felt so good to be reading a Real Book. He asked to read several times a day. It didn't take too long to get through it! Maybe we'll try Fox in Socks next. Do you have a favorite book suggestions for beginners?

Book Organizing Project

We're taking some time off for Thanksgiving, so I am undertaking a HUGE project. I am noting the titles (and other information) of ALL of my books, and reorganizing them. I began a couple of days ago with novels. Here's the stack that the Lambies brought:



This isn't all the novels, by all means, but they are the ones from my elder daughters' room and from several of the library shelves. I can only work with so many at once! By Friday afternoon I was done cataloging them and putting them back into order. That stack had 840 books in it! I even found a small stack of doubles and "I don't really need this one, I guess" 's. School books will be next, and then I'll begin the science section.

Incredible Progress!!

This masterpiece of writing was penned by my darling daughter, Missy. She was participating in our first day of "Sequential Spelling" Vol. 1. The children were writing "We are all beginning to be good spellers." by dictation. This was her surprising version. Isn't it magnificent??!!



Take THAT developmental disabilities!!!