Well, we thought God was preparing our hearts and home for homeschooling Peep3 next school year. It looks like it will be much sooner! My heart is ready. My mind is ready. I feel overwhelmed with the list of to-dos that need to get done in order to make this happen though.
Here's a break down of where we are today.
Reading: We tested her the end of last school year and she was at 4.6 reading level (fourth grade). She just started 5th grade and is now reading at a 5th grade level! WOW! Thank you, Lord! This is amazing for her. So this means she will graduate from her IEP in reading soon!
Math: She still needs help. So the IEP remains. And we will take her to these classes 4 days a week while homeschooling until she meets her goals there.
We will start out with Handwriting Without Tears and Writing Strands. We will be reading some great classics starting with Anne of Green Gables and including reading responses, a report, and spelling words with this. I'm excited to start a Unit study on Anne of Green Gables for other subjects! Independent reading of her choice. And Bible reading, discussion, and writing verses weekly. I want to introduce to Peep3 women of the Bible and how we can learn from them!
Although we're still searching for a complete math curriculum, we've signed her up with IXLfor lots of math practice. IXL is a great program for kids to practice all areas of math from K-8. It will give the parents reports of how well they did in each area and how long they practiced. You're able to see what areas need more instruction. This is a great resource for all school aged kids. And it's on the computer! Not a workbook. "L's" teacher is using this for her class homework. And she recommends it because there is detailed help for the questions they get wrong. Also, we will be purchasing Times Tales from Trigger Memory. This was highly recommended for to make math more fun and for those with dyslexia!
I will be implementing a workbox system . I read Sue Patrick's Workbox System and it was helpful, but I will be creating our own system from these ideas. Here's a link to Rockin' Granola's workbox post for more ideas. I think I will keep the same boxes out in order for a weeks time. And will change it up a bit here and there. This will help lessen my planning time. I'll have a couple of boxes set aside to add in during the week to keep it fresh. I also need to get a couple of timers to help her know how much time to spend on an activity. She can spend an hour on one assignment as it is. This could be really freeing to her. Also this should cut down on distractions as I will place all the needed items for that subject in that box. Nothing else but a timer will be left out of a box, including pencils, paper and erasers. This is a huge stumbling block for Peep3 right now at school.
We are considering hiring someone to come in one day a week as a Mother's Helper to give Peep3 and I more instuctional time during the week. I am hoping that my Mother-in-law can come one day a week as well. We are talking about this. I was all gun-ho to find someone and then this morning I realized that I want to try Nana coming in first and really see what our needs will be and time frame before hiring someone. So I will put that on hold for a bit, but will still ask around. Here's a great post from Steady Mom that talks about how when something looks perfect, "except when it isn't!" Thanks Jamie, I needed to read that today!
Friday School will start up in February and give Peep3 a chance to choose some classes and get to see old friends and make new ones at our church. I will quit MOPS at that time so that we can stay home 4 days a week and keep Fridays as our big day out. I'm hoping to replace MOPS with an evening bible study so that I can be fed and have some fellowship once a week. We'll see if Daddy Rooster is on board with that! The big peeps already go to church at that time, so it's perfect timing.
This list is long, but most of it is done! I'm very excited and writing it down really helps. That way I can look back and see what our goals were and what's working or not! This list is just about Academics which is only half of the reasons why we want to bring her home! I'll post more about that next!
Look for these upcoming posts: The "D" Word - Dyslexia - How learning disabilites have impacted our children and our family! and The Most Important Reasons to Bring Her Home!
Showing posts with label dyslexia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dyslexia. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
1st Grade Starts With Fair Day
September 2002
Peep1- First Grade
Peep2 - 4 years old
Peep3 - 3 years old
We started out our year with the fantastic Western Washington State Fair. This is the 7th largest in the country! It is big and we got to go free on the first Friday of the fair each year. Since this was such a "big" deal in our area, we decided to host our own "Fair Day". Several homeschool families came to our house to "show" their animals (stuffed), show off their baking skills ( I got to judge all the entries...yummy), and their latest creations (lego, forts, etc.). We set up a ticket booth at the front door, where my kiddos got to learn about money (fake of course). We awarded each participant with Blue Ribbons for a variety of things! It was a total blast! The kids all loved it too! It was such a great way for them to try public speaking when showing their animals. And boosting self-confidence by showing off their hard work and so much more!
We loved My Father's World Kindergarten so much that we decided to follow with their First Grade curriculum. I loved it because the student got his own Bible to color and learn to read. I'm a huge believer in studying creation and the Bible as much as possible while they are young. It is the foundation to everything else they will learn later on! L&A got to do preschool along with MFW and went to co-op classes with their brother.
We plodded along pretty well. However, writing became a huge frustration quickly. If I had know then, what I know now, I would have put every writing assignment away (except for practicing the ABCs) quickly! This skill was so difficult (not that MFW asked for much) that Peep1 would sit at the table, white knuckled, the whole time. Tears for him. Total frustration for me as well. This continued into 2nd grade. So I took the lessons away and we spent more time on the couch reading great books. I gave him a writing journal and as we read he was to write words if he wanted to or draw pictures that related to the story. It was just for him to get used to a pencil in his hand w/o any pressure. It helped our relationship greatly! I love those precious times snuggled on the couch! I had forgotten until I read Salt Box: Tactile Penmanship Practice that we worked on tactile learning with salt and sand as well.
Reading three letter words was going pretty well. But by second grade his progress went very slowly. Looking back I remember all the worry and frustration I had over his progress. And now I see so early on the signs of what we would later learn was dyslexia!
Peep1- First Grade
Peep2 - 4 years old
Peep3 - 3 years old
We started out our year with the fantastic Western Washington State Fair. This is the 7th largest in the country! It is big and we got to go free on the first Friday of the fair each year. Since this was such a "big" deal in our area, we decided to host our own "Fair Day". Several homeschool families came to our house to "show" their animals (stuffed), show off their baking skills ( I got to judge all the entries...yummy), and their latest creations (lego, forts, etc.). We set up a ticket booth at the front door, where my kiddos got to learn about money (fake of course). We awarded each participant with Blue Ribbons for a variety of things! It was a total blast! The kids all loved it too! It was such a great way for them to try public speaking when showing their animals. And boosting self-confidence by showing off their hard work and so much more!
We loved My Father's World Kindergarten so much that we decided to follow with their First Grade curriculum. I loved it because the student got his own Bible to color and learn to read. I'm a huge believer in studying creation and the Bible as much as possible while they are young. It is the foundation to everything else they will learn later on! L&A got to do preschool along with MFW and went to co-op classes with their brother.
We plodded along pretty well. However, writing became a huge frustration quickly. If I had know then, what I know now, I would have put every writing assignment away (except for practicing the ABCs) quickly! This skill was so difficult (not that MFW asked for much) that Peep1 would sit at the table, white knuckled, the whole time. Tears for him. Total frustration for me as well. This continued into 2nd grade. So I took the lessons away and we spent more time on the couch reading great books. I gave him a writing journal and as we read he was to write words if he wanted to or draw pictures that related to the story. It was just for him to get used to a pencil in his hand w/o any pressure. It helped our relationship greatly! I love those precious times snuggled on the couch! I had forgotten until I read Salt Box: Tactile Penmanship Practice that we worked on tactile learning with salt and sand as well.
Reading three letter words was going pretty well. But by second grade his progress went very slowly. Looking back I remember all the worry and frustration I had over his progress. And now I see so early on the signs of what we would later learn was dyslexia!
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